The Key to the whole situation is Bipolar disorder. I personally have had experience with a family member that will still just take off for 3 -14 days and not really know why they did it. The cops need to better understand mental illness.

Why? Because millions of people are mentally ill to a degree and are on the streets and unmedicated. Mirror Nashville,TN police they do pretty good.

I'm so glad she returned unharmed.

God bless the whole family!

Whoever posted that the Friel's need to have watched their child more closey is obviously finding fault in their own parenting skills. Have you ever noticed that people who are failing at something are the first ones to cast the stone???

I am extrememly disappointed in how the police force took action with this case. Runaway or not the child was not at home where she belonged. It took her parents to find her. Thank goodness they stepped up to the plate. If I were a taxpaying citizen of Columbia still, I would check out where my dollars were being spent in regards to police services.

I think everyone out there should be looking at the big picture. Maybe this teenager did runaway. Her parents were doing everything in their power to bring her home safely. There is nothing normal about a child leaving a note saying she will be back tomorrow and not having any communication for 11 days. Think about how terrified you would be. These are 2 very loving and patient people. I hope anybody with any kind of sense about them could see this.

I am proud to say I know the Friel's. Keep up the good parenting.

The country has been living in Disneyworld for the past 30 years or more. All these teen services and medicaid never existed before the "reforms" in 45-71. Once the country goes into a depression public welfare will be bankrupt period. There has been no country in history with welfare in a depression, it will be a dog eat dog world that I guarantee you.

We wouldn't have these problems if people would teach their children better & watch them closer.

We wouldn't have these problems if people would teach their children better & watch them closer.

If you're saying that teens will eventually be considered adults at puberty, then I think you're very wrong. One main factor is single parent households that depend on child support for a child up to the age of 18 and even 22 if they go on to college. Granted, some states have different cut off ages but the majority are those listed in above context. Too many bleeding heart liberals would deem it unfair to just emancipate that many children and let them fend for themselves. Public assistance and Medicaid cases would definitely sky rocket as well. It will never happen.

I as a parent would have been furiou if this was my child. It upsets me enough knowing that the columbia police department just assumed she was a run away because of a note and was 15. Regardless if there was a note left or not they should have treated this like a missing child. I see amber alerts all the time but never saw an amber alert for this child. This just upsets me to no end. Is this really what our local law enforcments get paid to do, is just assume our children are run aways? Then to hear that the new police chief assistant is getting paid over $100,000. What is this money used for, to tell us our children are just run aways. Maybe we should look at this situation with the police department different. It is wrong a missing child is a missing chld regardless if they are suppected to be a run way or not.

Some people commenting are still very dellusional. The country is on the verge of bankruptcy, in a couple of years teens will leave like any other biological adult on their own accord, and police will not have the money to force them to go to a specific location.

Up until the Vietnam war the age of majority was 21, not 18 yet you still had plenty of people under 21 leaving home (not running) and often times getting married or having children of their own. The age of majority was created for estate/inheritance purposes period. The seperation between child and adult is puberty. The US and a few other western countries (not all) are the only ones in the entire world that actually recognize teenagers as 'runaways', and that definition is going to change dramatically soon whether you like it or not.

I still can't believe how The Columbia Police Department dropped the ball on this. The family was told for 10 days not to say anything to friends, or do anything else, as it may have interfered with the investigation. It wasn't until the family had had enough and took matters into their own hands that progress was made and Ashley was brought home.

Our thoughts are with the Friel family and hope they can get through this difficult time.

Regardless of whether a child runs away or not, they are still "missing". To assume that a child is completely safe just because they leave a note is absurd. How many times have we heard about runaways that are taken advantage of or who are never seen again? A child who runs away is distressed and they need to be found and helped through whatever they are dealing with. It was completely the right thing to do, to rally together and make some noise, and broadcast this so that Ashley can get the support that she needs! Thank you to all of the people who never gave up! Thank you to KRCG for taking this seriously! jg

I do not know the family, I live in TX, and I found out Ashley was missing via email from a friend in FL. I have no clue how she found out. I did a bit of checking and corresponded directly with Ashley's mother before I posted to my Facebook and notified "my friends" by email. We all have to be at least as responsible to checking before posting something like that. The Center for Missing Children did NOT have her missing on Wednesday morning, and now I hear the police were not treating her as missing. This, I feel, was a huge problem. I don't know if there was a link in the police and The Center for Missing Children having her listed or not. I can tell you FOR SURE, I would be VERY upset it were my child. I'm not saying the detectives didn't help, but not considering this a missing person seems wrong to me.
(What if my posting to my information pages HAD led to her being found ....But, .... what if I hadn't been able to contact her mother directly to confirm her missing, what if I hadn't posted because the Center did not have her as missing? Now, If I hadn't posted, and maybe a hundred others had not as well- because they could not confirm this was real... well, I think you get the idea.)
I'm very glad the TV News media did the story even though "she wasn't really missing", cause NOW she really isn't! Good work KRGC!

This girl is 15 years old. I don't understand what difference it makes if she is a runaway or is "missing." Isn't it the same?

I believe that even as the teen was a runaway the police dept still should have treated the situation in the same manner as if she had been missing. Something still could have happened to that girl. This upsets me as I have children and I would EXPECT the police dept to do their job whether they have a certain THOUGHT in their mind. The police dept saying they wouldnt release the girls info just makes me angry!!