Parents of Caitlyn Frisina 'Relieved' She's Been Found, as Lurid New Details Emerge in Case
Caitlyn Frisina and her very relieved parents have appeared at a press conference in their Florida hometown, a week after the 17-year-old disappeared with a school soccer coach.
The teenager did not speak to reporters, but her mother Scarlet expressed joy in having her daughter home.
"We are looking forward to a very merry Christmas and an extremely bright future for our Caitlyn," she said.
After a search that attracted national attention, Frisina was found safe Friday when the coach's car was pulled over by police outside Syracuse, N.Y., roughly about 150 miles from the Canadian border.
The coach, 27-year-old Rian Rodriguez, is facing a charge of interfering with child custody. At a court appearance Monday, he was ordered extradited to Florida.
Frisina was reunited with her parents over the weekend. In a photo from that moment, she is seen with her eyes closed and resting her head on her father's shoulder. She appears emotionally drained.
Her father, who coaches at the same school as Rodriguez, struggled to find the words to express his relief.
Meanwhile, new details are emerging in the case as cops say a student at the school went to officials back in August, claiming he had heard Frisina and the soccer coach were "in a relationship."
Officials investigated the rumor and concluded it was "a false allegation." The boy reportedly recanted his claim.
Rodriguez even confided to another student about taking Frisina to a local "corn maze," according to an arrest warrant.
Although Frisina reportedly wiped her phone clean of data before she vanished, her father managed to salvage Snapchat messages from her SIM card. Cops say they revealed explicit exchanges between her and Rodriguez.
Rodriguez allegedly wanted to the teenager "to leave the country with him.” She said she “didn't know how to get out of it" and feared "he would mess up her life," according to police.
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