By By GREG KATSKI
Community Editor
Two 16-year-old girls missing since Jan. 4 were found Friday evening, according to the Belhaven Police Department.
Gregoria Alcantar and Renita Chase, each of them a Belhaven resident, were located “somewhere in Greenville” by an aunt of one of the teenagers, who then took the girls to her house in Cary, Belhaven Chief Frederick Clingenpeel said.
The Belhaven Police Department notified the Cary Police Department as to the whereabouts of Alcantar and Chase after receiving word of their move to Cary, which is just west of Raleigh.
“We had a Cary officer stop by and make sure they were OK,” Clingenpeel said.
The Belhaven department closed the case Friday night after talking to the girls’ families.
“We did what we could for them,” Clingenpeel said. “I know that the families don’t think they’re missing anymore.”
The Belhaven department had been following up on leads since the girls were reported missing the evening of Jan. 4, including reported sightings of them at the Williamston Wal-Mart and Elks Mobile Home Park in Chocowinity.
Belhaven police Sgt. D.S. Whitehurst said he obtained information about Alcantar and Chase’s whereabouts from their peers at Northside High School, leading investigators to the Chocowinity trailer park.
Clingenpeel said the girls couldn’t be located in Chocowinity.
“Nobody would tell us (where they were),” he said.
Clingenpeel said one student at Northside High School had been keeping in touch with the girls.
“One juvenile knew where they were, but would not comply (with us). He thought it was a joke,” Clingenpeel said.
Clingenpeel said the girls called their parents Friday. He said the girls told their parents they wanted to come home, but they were worried about getting into more trouble upon returning to their homes.
“That’s the mind of a 16-year-old,” Clingenpeel said.
On Monday, it was unclear if the girls had returned home or remained in Cary.
The Belhaven Police Department would like to thank the Cary Police Department, Martin County Sheriff’s Office and any other agencies that assisted in the investigation, according to Clingenpeel.