http://www.wsmv.com/news/17689796/detail.html
2 Students Return Home After Running Away
POSTED: 4:21 pm CDT October 10, 2008
UPDATED: 6:01 pm CDT October 10, 2008
COLUMBIA, Tenn. -- In the past few weeks, four Maury County teens who attended different schools have either not come home from school or left home without letting their parents know.
Brenda James stands at her front door hoping her sister will come home.
Amber Elizabeth Cates was 16 years old when she was last seen in Columbia in April of 2004. Police said the trail has gone cold and they have no leads.
"No leads, every lead they get is a dead end," said James.
Cates is just one of a handful of teenagers in the area who have gone missing in the past few years.
Sarah Elizabeth Hale, 16, is one of the four Maury County teens who was reported missing within a few days of each other after fall break.
Jamie Rodgers, 17, and Thomas McCall Gage, 16, are back home after running away.
However, Dominique Lawrence, 17, is still nowhere to be found, and Tyler Michael Yates is still missing as well.
Maury County Sheriff's Detective Randall Hickman said all of the teens appear to have nothing in common except the time-frame of their disappearances, which was just after fall break.
Police said most of the time missing teens eventually come home, but authorities said they have to always assume the worst and work leads until they know differently. They are treating each case as a missing person spending hours looking for them.
Police said someone called and said they saw Hale in the Lawrenceburg, Tenn., area, but by the time Hickman got there, she was gone.
James has a heartfelt message for young people who may be running away from home because of rebellion. She said predators are waiting for opportunities like this, while loved ones are hurting.
"Don't make your parents worry and wonder like I have. I'd love to have her home," said James.
Sometimes the eight detectives in the Maury County said that the sheriff's department can spend as much time looking for missing people as they do investigating burglaries and other crimes.
Police said Cates was last seen with a man four years ago who goes by the name California.
Anyone with information about Cates or the other missing teens is asked to call police.
