The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
HOW MISSING TEEN WAS REUNITED WITH FAMIILY
Aubrey Jayce Carroll hadn’t been seen since May 24, 2016.
The then-15-year-old boy — donning a short hairstyle, goatee and piercing in his left ear — left his high school early that day and didn’t return to his Griffin home, an FBI missing persons flier said at the time.
It was believed Carroll was staying with friends and that he was going to Jones County, where he had ties.
On Tuesday, a long-maned, bushy-faced 17-year-old Car- roll emerged after a twoyear search for him, Spald
ing County Sheriff Darrell Dix said in a statement.
“Thank y’all so much for your prayers and reaching out to my mom,” a sprightly Carroll said in a video message posted on the Spalding County sheriff ’s Facebook page.
The quest to reunite Carroll with his family had been a week in the making.
The Spalding sheriff ’s office, along with the FBI and Texas Rangers, briefed loved ones April 10 on Carroll’s whereabouts and showed photos of him on a Facebook page, which he had under an alias.
In the time since his disappearance, Carroll had five interactions with authorities from Alabama to Arizona under his alias, Dix said. Carroll, an extensive traveler of the West Coast and Midwest, had become part of a group of barterers, who only used cash and traveled the U.S.
The plan was simple: Local authorities would wait until Carroll had another encounter with law enforcement to begin the reunification process. Since Carroll was no lon- ger a juvenile, the FBI and Spalding County District Attorney’s Office determined there was no lawful way local deputies could force him back to Georgia. Sheriff ’s deputies would instead meet him in another state, where he would be detained until they arrived for questioning.
The reunion was on Carroll’s terms, which included deciding whom he spoke to and where he would go when he got to Georgia. He also agreed to meet with Dix and Spald
ing sheriff ’s Lt. Mike Morris for questioning.