Cleveland EMS worker who went missing for 6 days remains hospitalized after found safe
A Cleveland EMS worker who was found safe Thursday after disappearing for nearly a week remains hospitalized but is expected to recover, her family said Saturday.
Lachelle Jordan, 30, was last seen wearing a blue and white East Cleveland Fire Department sweatshirt near Fairfield Avenue in Cleveland on May 6, authorities said. Her family reported her missing the following day, prompting law enforcement and her family to ask the public for help finding her.
Cleveland Police Department Chief Dispatcher Tina Wickline confirmed to ABC News early Friday that Lachelle Jordan had been found safe.
Her father, Joseph Jordan, told reporters Saturday that Lachelle Jordan is currently hospitalized with unspecified injuries and is getting medical treatment, but "she's gonna be okay, as can be expected."
"Lachelle has had some trauma. She has had some injuries," Joseph Jordan said during a press briefing with several family members.
Her family expressed gratitude for the efforts to find Lachelle Jordan.
"A miracle did happen -- Lachelle came home," Joseph Jordan said. "The community stepped forward. That made me proud to be a citizen of Cleveland."
The circumstances around Lachelle Jordan's disappearance remain unclear. Her father did not provide any details on what happened to her during Saturday's press briefing.
"We want [details] just like you," he told reporters. "We don't know him yet because the investigation is ongoing."
When asked by a reporter what it took for Lachelle Jordan to come home, her father responded, "She ran."
"I'm gonna say that in the simple way. She ran," he said.
In a surveillance video obtained by Cleveland ABC affiliate WEWS, Lachelle Jordan can be seen walking into a convenience store barefoot with torn clothes Thursday night. The convenience store, Open Pantry, is roughly three miles from where she was last seen.
Jahid Islam, who was working in the store at the time, told ABC News that Lachelle Jordan entered the store at roughly 10:50 p.m. and asked for a phone to call the police. Islam described that Lachelle Jordan appeared "very weak."
"She asked me to give the phone, then she called the police first," Islam said.
Her father previously told ABC News that his daughter was being stalked by Michael Stennett, who she was preparing to testify against in a rape an abduction case. Joseph Jordan said that Stennett violated a restraining order multiple times, both when Lachelle Jordan was at home and work. ABC News reached out to Stennett's attorney Daniel Misiewicz for comment.
Cleveland police said earlier this week there is no evidence connecting the Michael Stennett case to Lachelle Jordan's disappearance.
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Joseph Jordan said Saturday the family is going to have to "make a lot of adjustments" going forward.
"We're not going to be normal ever again in the way we were before," he said. "We've got to look at other safety features, because we know things are different."
Cleveland EMS worker who went missing for 6 days remains hospitalized after found safe originally appeared on abcnews.go.com