Taxi Driver: 1 a.m. College Pickup Wasn't 'Out of the Norm'

The cab driver who picked up two local teenage runaways early Sunday morning in Wenham – launching a day and a half long search all over the Northeast – told police he didn’t realize the pair were so young.

The two teenagers evening near “Occupy Newark.” But by calling a cab to pick them up at at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday. They were able to distract the cab driver that picked them up with their clothing, Capt. Tom Perkins said. One of them was wearing a winter hat and hoodie and it was dark outside.

The parents of Laura Dixon, 14, of Wenham reported her missing at about 4:30 a.m.

From there, police began trying to figure out where Dixon, and her boyfriend Connor Southard, 13, of Manchester-by-the-Sea, had gone.

It was good police work that led police to the taxi driver who picked up the teenagers at Gordon, Perkins said.

Police began calling local cab companies as part of the investigation, trying to eliminate some of the possible getaway methods.

The runaways choice to be picked up by a taxi at the college – versus outside their home, for example – was likely the key to their getaway.

Perkins said the taxi driver would have likely become more concerned if they were picked up in a dark Wenham neighborhood at that hour.

Instead, in an “in depth” interview with police, the taxi driver said it “isn’t out of the norm” to make a pickup at a college campus at 1:30 a.m.

“In retrospect, (the taxi driver) feels terrible about it,” he said.

In addition, it is the holiday season and it is not common for college students to be headed out all hours of the day to catch a plane, train or bus.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Wenham police had not spoken directly to the two teenagers. That left several unanswered questions, including whether their destination was Newark and the there or if they had planned to continue traveling.

Perkins said he did not believe the pair had set up camp at “Occupy Newark.”

“They were wondering around the area,” he said.

They were convinced by a member of the encampment to turn themselves in.

Before the teens turned themselves in sometime between 4 p.m. an 6 p.m. on Monday, police had not confirmed a sighting of the two since they went missing.

While reports came in from all over – from Cape Cod to New Hampshire – after investigating police deemed none of them credible.

“We did not have any leads that they were in Newark at that time,” Perkins said.

Investigators, on Tuesday afternoon, had also not determined how the pair got to Newark. But a Greyhound bus leaves South Station at 2:15 a.m. on Sunday mornings, just more than 15 minutes after video surveillance footage showed the pair entering the station.

A spokeswoman for Greyhound did not return a phone message and e-mail from Patch on Tuesday seeking comment on how a 13 and 14-year-old may have taken a bus without a parent and, likely, without ID.

The trip to Newark would have taken nearly eight hours by bus and costs $40 per person. Police said the couple likely had more than $200 on them after paying for the cab ride.

After turning themselves in, they were placed in the custody of the Division of Youth and Family Services and underwent a physical examination at a hospital.

As of Tuesday afternoon, it was still being worked out exactly how the teens would get back to the North Shore.

“We’ll probably be following up on the situation when they get home,” Perkins said.