Colorado teen found safe days after she vanished from high school football game

A 14-year-old girl from Colorado was found safe 10 days after she vanished during a high school football game, police said.

Chole Campbell was found at a residence in Thornton around 5:30 p.m. on Monday, some 30 minutes from her own home in Boulder, according to Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold.

“While investigators continue to believe that Chloe ran away, there is an ongoing investigation about where she was and what occurred while she was separated from her family,” police said. “Some details are being withheld at this time to allow for a thorough investigation.”

Chloe was seen on September 30 leaving a Boulder High School football game and then walking along the Boulder Creek Trail soon after with a pair of men, according to her family. Her disappearance kicked off a desperate search effort, but no Amber Alert was issued because authorities never had “any evidence to suggest that an abduction had occurred.”

Her parents later told CBS News they received a photo of Chloe through an anonymous source.

“She looked injured and unwell,” her father told the station.

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But Chloe had always been considered a runaway — authorities in a previous release said that “investigators have received some information from friends who appear to have been in contact with Chloe.”

Despite breaking off contact with her parents, “there have been a few reported sightings of her in and around the Boulder area,” police said. “However, no one in her family has spoken with Chloe since Sept. 30.”

Police planned to issue a missing and endangered person alert if Chloe had not been found this week.

Boulder Deputy Police Chief Stephen Redfearn on Monday said it’s still too early in the investigation to say whether there will be any persons of interest in the case. He told reporters authorities at this time do not believe the men had anything to do with Chloe’s disappearance. Instead, he said the teen took “considerable steps” to avoid contact from her family and law enforcement.

“We have no belief at this time that she was held against her will,” he said, noting that she did not have any “readily noticeable injuries” when she was found.

Chloe is now undergoing a mental and medical evaluation.

“We are incredibly grateful for the partnership of state and federal agencies, who through a variety of investigative efforts, helped our detectives bring Chloe home,” Herold said. “We are also appreciative of the outpouring of community and media interest in this case,”