OWENSBORO, Ky. (WEHT) The Owensboro teenager, found in Texas after she was reported missing last month, returns home.
The parents of Alina Bartolon, 14, say she arrived back home this past weekend after going missing for nearly a month. The Colorado man charged, Emery Wayne Trombley, is still in a Texas jail.
Elizabeth Bartolon, Alina’s mother, says her daughter was back home this past weekend after the family picked her up in Childress County, Texas, while Emery Trombley waits in a Texas jail for his next hearing.
“Relief,” she said. “I was just glad to know that she was alive, and that she was safe, and that we could have her back.”
Texas Department of Public Safety says Alina was found in a vehicle with Emery Wayne Trombley last Wednesday unharmed.
“I was really excited to see her again. I was happy that we were going to pick up our daughter, and I was a little bit nervous on how she would react, and how she would be,” Elizabeth said, describing her emotions when she saw her daughter again in Texas.
Bartolon says Alina is doing O.K. She was reported missing Christmas Eve. And found last week near the town of Childress, Texas with Trombley. Bartolon says private investigators helped find information on the man she was with. Family, friends and volunteers searched across the Owensboro area during her disappearance, which Bartolon says was a trying time for everyone.
“It was difficult. It was very stressful. I just, we just had to keep looking. I knew I couldn’t give up, making sure she was safe,” Elizabeth said.
Trombley was arrested shortly after the couple was found. Daviess County Attorney Claud Porter says a request to extradite him back to the commonwealth has been filed. Bartolon says her daughter is still processing what happened, but is thankful she’s back home.
“We’re just very happy to have her back,” she said.
No official word from Texas officials yet on if or when Trombley will be extradited to Kentucky to face the charge against him.
(This story was originally published on January 25, 2022)