South Sound News

Bonney Lake teen found safe by Puyallup police

By Deborah Horne, KIRO 7 News
By Deborah Horne, KIRO 7 News
The Bonney Lake Police Department says 15-year-old Lily Christopherson has been found safe by the Puyallup Police Department, and has been reunited with her family. 
The Puyallup Police Department says Lily was found around 3:00 p.m. Sunday at a bus stop in the 2200 block of South Meridian in Puyallup.
“We promised to hold accountable everyone involved in the exploitation of Lily,” said Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist. “There’s nothing more important than protecting our children from this seedy and dangerous world of sex trafficking.”
A passerby saw Lily at the bus stop and alerted the police, and when police arrived Lily was still there. 
Her mom, Lena Winters, told KIRO7, “I finally got to hold my baby girl in my arms today. No words could express my gratitude to everyone that has helped me find my daughter.”
Police say Lily was alone and no one else was detained at the time of her recovery.
KIRO 7 will continue to update this story as more information becomes available. 
Previous Coverage: 
The reward to find a missing Bonney Lake teenager has been raised to $10,000.
But there's still no sign of 15-year-old Lily Christopherson even after a third person was arrested in her disappearance.
A May 23 photo from Lakewood shows Christopherson in a white button-up shirt and printed pants. See it above or at this link. She appears to have dyed her hair a different color and had cut it since May 10, officials with the FBI said Saturday.
It's reported that Christopherson was last seen on May 24 or 25 in Tacoma.
KIRO 7 retraced the places investigators believe she was taken after she was kidnapped.

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Court documents lay out the journey this teen took from Federal Way south to Tenino. And there have been confirmed sightings of her in Tacoma.
The RV is where Lily Christopherson's friend, Alex T. says they were taken back on May 9, off Military Road in Federal Way. They used DMT, a powerful psychedelic drug related to LSD. But a woman spotted there would not answer any questions about the missing teen.
The 15-year-old's ordeal began three weeks ago at the Federal Way Transit Center. Court documents show she and Alex met two adults, convicted sex offender Christopher Fitzpatrick and his girlfriend, Maria Ann Counts.
They convinced the teens to go with them, first to the RV, then to a Federal Way apartment less than two miles away where they met two men.
The woman who came to the door declined to answer any questions once she knew we were asking about the missing teen.
This is where Alex says he was asked to leave. The authorities aren't sure where Lily went after that. But their search took them to a shed at Offut Lake near Tenino, where they found Lily's "clothing, lingerie and 'sex clothing,'" but no sign of her.
"For this little community, we are blown away," said Rob Pogue whose family owns the Offut Lake Fishing Resort. 
He says evidence that the teen was here has hit this community hard.
"Terribly," he said. "I mean there's search parties going on, I know, just downtown Tenino. And then hearing that they found articles of her things out in this area, there's a lot of concern."
Lily's mother, Lena Winters, was sobbing as she talked on the telephone. But she did confirm the reward is now at $10,000.
"Maybe this will help us bring my baby home," she said.
Anyone who knows anything about this teen's disappearance is asked to call 911. 

NOTE: Lily's photo has been removed from KIRO7.com stories because she is no longer missing.

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