A 21-year-old Warsaw woman reported missing last week has been found safe and sound in Iowa.
Emily Lynne Jones, 21, of East Ridge Drive, Warsaw, went to Iowa on a bus Aug. 15, and was last heard from Friday when she called her parents saying she needed help.
Wednesday afternoon, Lori and Mark Shortz were in contact with Jones. Lori Shortz said Jones will be staying in Iowa.
"As long as she's safe, I'm OK with it," Lori said.
According to a report from the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department, Jones has Asperger's Syndrome, which is a form of autism, and has had a stroke that affects her thinking. Her mother, Lori Shortz, has legal guardianship that was approved in August 2007.
On Aug. 8, Jones packed two bags and a pillow and tried to hitchhike to West Des Moines, Iowa, to visit a man, Dale "D.J." Cobia, who she met online. After that attempt was stopped by her mother and stepfather, Jones reportedly told them she was going to get to West Des Moines one way or another.
After a discussion, Shortz made arrangements for Jones to go to Iowa on a bus. Jones told her parents that she had a place to stay and someone to pick her up from the bus station.
According to her parents, Jones did make it to Iowa, but she had lied about the arrangements for her stay. Jones and Cobia reportedly stayed at a homeless shelter for a couple of nights but then left.
On Friday, Jones attempted to make a collect call home. When her mother answered the phone, an automated operator said there was a collect call from, and then Shortz heard Jones say, "Mom, please help me."
Since the Shortzes have no long-distance service, the call could not be accepted, and that is the last time Jones has been heard from.
An officer from Kosciusko County contacted Nancy Yeager in Wes Des Moines because that is where Jones was supposed to stay.
Yeager told officers that Jones did come to her residence, where Cobia had been staying, on Aug. 15, but Yeager's son told the couple they could not stay at the house. Yeager's son reportedly took Jones and Cobia to a homeless shelter, but the couple left because men and women are not allowed to stay in the same area of the shelter.
Yeager's son later talked with Cobia, who asked to be taken to a hotel, and that was the last time he saw the couple.
Yeager told police that on Aug. 28, she heard that the couple were planning to go to Nebraska, possibly to get married.
Before Wednesday, no one had heard from Jones or Cobia since Friday, and Jones was been listed as a missing or endangered person in the national directory. She has since been removed from the list.
