UPDATE: Isabella Orner was found safe Thursday afternoon.
First responders and trained civilians are continuing to search for a nonverbal, autistic York County teenager who ran away after getting scared on a walk with her family, authorities said Thursday.
Isabella Orner, 15, was reported missing around 7 p.m. Wednesday from Heidelberg Township, Spring Grove, according to the York County Department of Emergency Servcies.
Orner was on a walk with her family when she got scared of a swarm of bees and ran into a nearby cornfield, said Ted Czech, external relations officer for the Department of Emergency Services.
Other than one sighting around 9:15 p.m., Orner has not been seen or heard from since, Czech said during a Thursday morning press conference.
“The search never stopped,” he said. “Her family has been very active with the search and rescue. They’re very worried about their daughter and want to see her home as soon as possible.”
Numerous law enforcement officers and trained civilians have been searching for Orner since she was reported missing in the area of 6400 block of York Road, where police said she was last seen. Czech said Thursday the search area began in a half-mile radius from York Road, but has since spread to other, unspecified locations.
The search includes the assistance of drones, 10 K-9s, and on-the-ground searchers, Czech said.
Firefighters, police, EMS from roughly 30 different agencies, as well as trained search-and-rescue teams, are contributing to the search efforts. Police are considering bringing in a helicopter, but depending on cloud coverage, this may not be the most effective search method, according to Czech.
Czech said Orner’s autism and the terrain in the Spring Grove area — comprised of corn and soybean fields, woods and some bodies of water — may searching for the teenager more difficult.
However, Czech said searchers are doing everything possible to bring Orner home safe.
“We’re doing everything we can to find her,” Czech said. “It was difficult [searching last night], we didn’t have the sunlight and we had some rain, but we persevered and never stopped searching.”
Orner is 4 feet, 11 inches tall; about 120 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a pink T-shirt, light khaki pants and flip flops.
She could be confused and at special risk of harm or injury, police said. Anyone who sees her should not approach her, but should call 911 and attempt to keep her in eyesight. Sightings or tips can also be reported to Northern York County Regional police at 717-854-5571.
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