Wed. Jun 4th, 2025
alert-–-missing-utah-girl,-15,-is-found-alive-six-weeks-after-vanishing-into-thin-airAlert – Missing Utah girl, 15, is found ALIVE six weeks after vanishing into thin air

A 15-year-old girl missing for six weeks after she vanished from outside her school has miraculously been found alive. 

Alisa Petrov, 15, vanished without a trace on April 21 after being dropped off at school in Utah, getting on a train out of town.

Nothing was heard from her until she walked into a police station in Colorado Springs on Sunday night and identified herself.

Police said the teen was ‘in good health’ but it is still unknown where she was or if she was being held against her will.

‘Alisa’s parents have been notified of her location and are working with South Jordan Police to bring her home,’ police said.

Hours after she went missing, her frantic parents Olga and Nikolai Petrov discovered their daughter had a terrifying double life when her secret iPad was found hidden in her dresser.

The teenager dug the long-forgotten device out of a dusty old box and was chatting with three accused pedophiles, who are all now behind bars.

Alisa Petrov, 15, disappeared after she was dropped off at her school in American Fork, Utah, on April 21 and has only just been found alive

Alisa Petrov, 15, disappeared after she was dropped off at her school in American Fork, Utah, on April 21 and has only just been found alive

Alisa skipped school and got on a train to Provo, Utah, then tried to go to Las Vegas to meet one of the alleged pedophiles. He planned to fly her to his home in Miami via Los Angeles

Alisa skipped school and got on a train to Provo, Utah, then tried to go to Las Vegas to meet one of the alleged pedophiles. He planned to fly her to his home in Miami via Los Angeles

On April 21, Alisa was dropped off at her school, Canyon Grove Academy, in American Fork, about 32 miles south of Salt Lake City. 

Instead of going to class, she bought supplies at a nearby gas station and convinced a man there to drive her to the local train station.

Alisa got off the train in Provo, about 14 miles south of American Fork, and asked multiple people there to help her get a bus ticket to Las Vegas, where she had arranged to meet Matthew Nicholas Menard, 35.

Olga last week told DailyMail.com her daughter had about $1,000 saved from pocket money and birthday gifts that she didn’t spend after she turned 15 on April 16, just five days before running away.

‘Somebody else is either helping her and we don’t know who or where… I’m not suspecting the worst,’ she said.

‘That means she’s with somebody else and we don’t know if it’s a good person or a bad person.’

She was spotted on surveillance footage making a purchase at a local gas station before boarding a UTA train.

She was spotted on surveillance footage making a purchase at a local gas station before boarding a UTA train.

Alisa as a young girl with her parents Olga and Nikolai Petrov, who say they did all they could to keep their daughter safe

Alisa as a young girl with her parents Olga and Nikolai Petrov, who say they did all they could to keep their daughter safe 

Alisa dug a long-forgotten old iPad out of a dusty box and was chatting to three accused pedophiles, all now behind bars

Alisa dug a long-forgotten old iPad out of a dusty box and was chatting to three accused pedophiles, all now behind bars 

Alisa has not explained why she ran away, but messages on Discord and Snapchat between Alisa and Samuel Teancum Mitchell, 41, another of the accused pedophiles, revealed deep animosity she apparently felt for her parents.

‘Within their chat, the juvenile mentions suicide and that she hates her parents,’ police wrote in a probable cause affidavit for Mitchell’s arrest.

‘Mitchell advised he had met a girl online who was mad at her parents and had started cutting herself.’

Alisa also requested multiple times for Mitchell to ‘kidnap her’ and eight days before she ran away sent him locations of where she would be, the affidavit alleged.

The pair allegedly tried to arrange a meeting, Alisa asking: ‘like r we [for real] meeting?? like please confirm please before tonight confirm if we r meeting pls bring condoms’.

Mitchell replied saying he was sick and couldn’t meet and Alisa instead ran away to meet another of the three men in Las Vegas. 

After Mitchell turned down seeing Alisa due to being unwell, he told police she ‘mentioned that she met an FBI agent in Florida and had an interest in that guy’, the affidavit alleged.

Alisa allegedly Mitchell to 'kidnap her' from a family ski trip (pictured on that trip) the weekend before she went missing

Alisa allegedly Mitchell to ‘kidnap her’ from a family ski trip (pictured on that trip) the weekend before she went missing

Olga (pictured with a young Alisa) said the iPad was so well hidden that she and her husband missed it when they searched their house for clues after she didn't come home

Olga (pictured with a young Alisa) said the iPad was so well hidden that she and her husband missed it when they searched their house for clues after she didn’t come home

That man is believed to be Menard, a tech sales executive, not an FBI agent, who allegedly spent months grooming Alisa for sex.

Just two days before she disappeared, Alisa messaged Mitchell at 12.34am ‘IM RUNNING AWAY, please don’t contact me’.

This was allegedly because Alisa had switched her plan to meeting Menard when he was on a business trip to Las Vegas, before flying to Los Angeles and then his home in Miami.

Police detailed in affidavits the disturbing messages between Alisa and Menard dating back to January 17.

The pair never met, as police in Miami seized his phone on April 30 after messages were found between them on Alisa’s iPad.  

Menard was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, enticement of a minor, and three counts of criminal solicitation on May 20, and surrendered to police eight days later.

Another man Alisa was allegedly talking to, William Taylor Glines, 37, from Texas City, Texas, was arrested on May 8 and remains in custody.

Samuel Teancum Mitchell, 41, an accused pedophile arrested for allegedly sexually exploiting Alisa online before she disappeared

Samuel Teancum Mitchell, 41, an accused pedophile arrested for allegedly sexually exploiting Alisa online before she disappeared

William Taylor Glines, 37, from Texas City, Texas, allegedly had graphic sexual conversations with Alisa before she ran away

Glines was charged with aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, attempted aggravated exploitation of a minor, sexual exploitation of a minor, enticement of a minor, and criminal solicitation

William Taylor Glines, 37, from Texas City, Texas, allegedly had graphic sexual conversations with Alisa before she ran away

Matthew Nicholas Menard, 35, from Miami was charged with aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, enticement of a minor, and criminal solicitation 

Glines was charged with aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, attempted aggravated exploitation of a minor, sexual exploitation of a minor, enticement of a minor, and criminal solicitation.

He was also charged by police in Texas with possessing more than 50 child sexual abuse images or videos. He is yet to enter a plea. 

The probable cause affidavit detailed disturbing conversations between Glines and Alisa, including how he allegedly convinced he to send nude photos and videos. 

Mitchell was arrested last Wednesday and thrown in the Salt Lake County Jail charged with five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.

Police found no child porn of Alisa on his phone, but allegedly found disturbing conversations with two other girls, one confirmed to be 15 and another who appeared to be about 12, and nude photos and videos of both of them.

Olga said she and her husband were vigilant in protecting their daughter and educated her about the dangers of talking to strangers online.

‘We regularly check her phone and there was nothing suspicious. Everything seemed to be normal, just classmates, neighbors,’ she said.

‘We never thought she could be talking to strangers in this way… but she was sneaky and we didn’t know. I wish we figured this out sooner and could help her.’

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