Amber Alert
Issued Saturday, March 1.
Canceled Monday March 24.

Lindsey Diana Ryan

15 Yrs. 5' 115 lbs. with blond hair and braces missing from Jones MI, USA. Possibly wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt.


A CHP trooper stopped a suspicious-looking vehicle near Susanville, Calif., northwest of Reno, said CHP spokesman Tom Marshall.

Lindsey Diane Ryan was riding in the truck with Terry Drake, 56, Marshall said. Drake had met the Ryan family in church and he and the girl later corresponded by e-mail.

Drake, a convicted murderer, had been considered to be heavily armed, in part, with weapons stolen from Ryan's home.

The white pickup had been painted black, but "something about the truck caught (the trooper's) attention and the license plate matched up," Marshall said. "He got her out of the vehicle," then arrested Drake without incident.

"She appears to be in good condition," said CHP Commissioner D.O. "Spike" Helmick.

Previous updates:

Lindsey Ryan's blonde hair had been dyed black, according to witnesses.

The Cass County Sheriff's Department along with authorities in California say there has been another sighting of Lindsey Ryan and Terry Drake. They were last seen on Tuesday, the 18th in California.

The sighting took place around 1:15PM California time, which is 4:15PM South Bend time, at a Jack-in-the-Box restaurant in Susanville, California. The California Highway Patrol says that Drake’s white Dodge Dakota pick-up truck was spotted in the drive-through at the fast food restaurant by two people who were on lunch break from work, also using the drive-through.

Apparently those two people went back to work and logged on to America’s Most Wanted to check the description of Drake and the partial plate number they had written down. They called 911 and America’s most wanted about ½ hour later. The Cass County Sheriff say the two people did see Drake driving and Lindsey in the passenger seat.

California Highway Patrol told NewsCenter 16 they patrolled by air U.S. 395 between Susanville and Reno Nevada all afternoon after the sighting. But they did not spot Drake’s vehicle.

Lindsey and Drake were spotted by a truck driver Sunday night, the 9th of March, about 20 miles west of Gila Bend Arizona on Interstate 8. The driver stopped to help them with some car trouble and they left after the repair headed west. Drake reportedly said they were headed o the San Diego area. The were in the '95 Dodge pickup with Indiana plates and a white camper top.

Cass County Sheriff Joseph Underwood Jr. said Lindsey and Drake, 56, a convicted murderer who lived in Middlebury, were previously spotted at a motel near Grass Valley, Calif. early Thursday morning the 6th of March.

California authorities have issued an Amber Alert for Lindsey, who had dyed her blonde hair black. The teen met Drake at church before developing a relationship with him on the Internet.

Officers from the California Highway Patrol, sheriff's offices and police agencies northeast of Sacramento searched camp sites and motels for the pair Thursday.

Anne DaVigo, a spokeswoman with the patrol, said Drake had made statements that he planned to camp along the Yuba River in Downieville, about 30 miles north of Grass Valley, she said.

Lindsay's parents, Patrick and Carol Ryan of Jones, Mich., have pleaded with Drake through the media to drop off their daughter at a church, law enforcement agency or other safe location.

Lindsey was discovered missing early Saturday when her mother went to wake her in her first-floor bedroom and found the door locked. After Ryan's father broke down the door, the parents saw that the window was open and that Lindsey was gone.

Cash and firearms were also missing from the home, her aunt, Catherine Nichols, told CNN. A computer's hard drive had also been erased, she said.

Two 14-year-old friends of Lindsey's have since revealed that Lindsey was carrying on an e-mail relationship with Drake, whom the family met through their church, Nichols said.

Although unsure how long the two were corresponding, relatives said the relationship was at least several weeks old, and that a diary and notes in Lindsey's room mentioned Drake.

Lindsey's friends now feel guilty for not revealing her Internet relationship sooner, her mother said. "They thought it was something that 14-year-old girls could handle."

Several police agencies in Michigan report that Drake has a history of kidnapping and murder in Knox County, Ind. Drake was convicted of murder in August of 1978 in Knox County, according to Knox County police. Drake served prison time for the conviction in Michigan City

Anyone with information is asked to call the Cass Cnty. PD at 269-445-2481 or dial 911.