Crime & Safety
UPDATE: Man In Custody, Identified in RI in Case of Missing Medfield Teen
The 30-year-old man is expected to attend a hearing at U.S. District Court in Providence at 12:30 p.m. on Friday.
A 30-year-old man has been taken into custody in the case of Brittany Thompson, a 17-year-old girl from Medfield, MA who was missing for almost three days after she left her town's library with a man. She was found in Coventry on Thursday morning in the company an unidentified man.
Fox Boston reported on Thursday night that Stephen Ardrey, 30, is expected to make an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Providence Friday.
In a release earlier Thursday, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Rhode Island said they had taken a person into custody in the case, but did not offer an identity or explain the charge or charges.
According to a release Thursday afternoon from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Rhode Island, the U.S. Attorney's Office, detectives and officers from Coventry and West Greenwich and agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) were working together on the case.
"The first priority of all of law enforcement was to locate and reunite the young woman with her family. Now that the young woman has been reunited with her family, law enforcement is working diligently to gather and analyze the facts of the woman’s travel from Massachusetts to Rhode Island and any related activity up to the time that she was located today in Coventry," the release stated.
Around 8:30 p.m. Thursday, HSI Agents were conducting a search at the Super 8 hotel at 101 Nooseneck Hill Road in West Greenwich where they believe Thompson had been staying with the man. Authorities deemed the search "successful", but have yet to release information about their findings.Brittany's parents told media on Thursday that they felt overwhelming relief when they were notified early that morning that she'd been found in Coventry.
Find out what's happening in Coventrywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“I can't tell you how relieved I am," Maureen Thompson told reporters, according to a post on the WHDH-TV website. "It has to be because of you guys here and for everybody else that really watched out for her that she is with us today. It would not have happened without all of you, so thank you so much."
Ardrey is expected to attend a hearing at U.S. District Court in Providence at 12:30 p.m. on Friday. Officials have yet to release information regarding what charges will be brought against him.
Find out what's happening in Coventrywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
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