Missing Maryland Student From Toms River Found Safe in Texas: Police

COLLEGE PARK, MD — A Toms River woman and student at the University of Maryland who has been missing for six days has been found safe in Houston, Texas, police said Wednesday morning.

Kaitlyn George, 21, of Toms River, who had been reported missing after she failed to meet her boyfriend for a planned hiking trip on Thursday, Nov. 10, was located Wednesday morning, police from the University of Maryland said in a post on Facebook.

In an update posted on Facebook at 10:44 a.m., University of Maryland police said George had been found in Houston at a fast food restaurant. Maryland police were notified shortly after 8 a.m. by Houston police, the post said.

George was alone and is okay, University of Maryland police said.

University of Maryland police said the report of finding George safe would be the final update on the case. Police had earlier said they would keep searching until she was located and her safety verified.

Late Tuesday evening University of Maryland police said further investigation had turned up surveillance footage showing George entering the Greyhound bus station in Baltimore on Friday, Nov. 11. She then bought a ticket and boarded a bus that afternoon that was headed to Norfolk, Va., with stops at Union Station in Washington, D.C., and in Richmond and Hampton, Va., before its arrival in Norfolk.

George, a graduate of Toms River High School North, disappeared after leaving her dorm and heading to another campus building to pick up more camping gear, police said.

According to a report by CBS Baltimore, George's family said she was being harassed before she went missing, and that the disappearance is out of character for George.

Neighbors of the George family told CBS News New York that Kaitlyn is the oldest of four sisters and had been the rock of the family since the death of her father, Angelo George, in a horrific mid-air collision between two small planes in August 2000. Angelo George was a project manager at Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst — now part of the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst — and was one of 11 people killed in the crashbetween a small-plane shuttle and a pilot seeking an advanced license who was practicing with an instructor, according to a New York Times report on the crash. Neighbors told CBS New York that Kaitlyn's mother, Janet, had raised the four girls by herself.

Police said Kaitlyn George was supposed to be meeting a friend at the Eppley Recreation Center, a building on campus, about 5 p.m. on Thursday to go on a hiking trip. A report in the campus newspaper the Diamondback said George, who is a junior aerospace engineering major, was supposed to be going camping with her boyfriend.

When she did not arrive, the boyfriend went to the police station to report her missing, police said.

In a news release, police laid out the timeline of events they have uncovered in their investigation:

• On Nov. 10, security footage showed George leaving Allegany Hall, which is her dorm, at 4:42 p.m., with a camping style backpack and a pink bag.
• At 4:34 p.m., a white taxi cab entered campus via South Gate.
• At 4:44 p.m., George got into a white taxi cab in front of Annapolis Hall by herself and on her own accord, police said. Investigators located and interviewed the taxi cab driver, who told them George was dropped off in front of a marina in the Federal Hill neighborhood of Baltimore.

University investigators met with Baltimore City Police Department investigators to review security footage from the marina and the footage revealed that just after being dropped off by the taxi cab, George appeared to get into another waiting vehicle, an SUV, on her own accord and by herself, police said.

A witness reported seeing George on a Charm City Circulator bus, which is a free shuttle bus that runs in Baltimore, on Friday, Nov. 11, about 8:40 a.m., and security footage showed her at the Greyhound bus station three hours later, police said.

Photo via University of Maryland police