Missing teen found after catching coal train to Texas, police say

Credit: John Moore

Credit: John Moore

A Texas teen who went missing last week while visiting Colorado with her family was found about 300 miles away after she hopped on a coal train bound for the Lone Star State, Colorado Springs police said Wednesday.

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Adalie Rivera, of Lubbock, Texas, vanished on the morning of March 17 after leaving the Quality Inn Colorado Springs Airport hotel room that she was sharing with her family.

Police said she got onto a coal train in the Colorado Springs metropolitan area and traveled to a farm community near Dumas, Texas, about two hours north of Lubbock.

"She actually got out of the coal car because she ran out of Skittles and she was hungry, so bless her heart," Colorado Springs police Lt. Howard Black told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.

A farmer on Tuesday found Adalie covered in coal dust and notified the Moore County Sheriff’s Department. Deputies took custody of Adalie until her family could get her.

She was found safe, despite being missing for about four days, police said.

Authorities don’t expect to file any charges in the disappearance.

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