closed cases > Sierra Lillie-found (closed case)

Erie teen found after tip from motorist in Arkansas

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goinsfl:
BY KARA MURPHY
Published: April 18. 2009 2:30AM


A concerned motorist's call from an Arkansas highway brought 14-year-old Sierra Lillie back home to Erie.


Clarksville Police Chief Greg Donaldson said his officer was dispatched Thursday evening after a motorist reported seeing two young people trying to hitchhike through Clarksville on Interstate 40.

At first, Donald Ray Cates gave officers false names and birth dates, Donaldson said.

"He was not very forthcoming with information," Donaldson said.

When officers continued questioning him, Cates tried to run.

"He tried to go over a guardrail to get away," Donaldson said. "They stopped him."

Cates was traveling with 14-year-old Sierra Lillie, whom he met two years ago online.

Lillie told her parents he was 17. They are unsure if she knew his real age.

Michelle Lillie said Friday she'd had a chance to speak with her daughter by phone Thursday night.

"She sounded confused. She sounded scared," Michelle Lillie said. "I don't think she even yet realizes the background he has."

Cates, of Lewistown, Mont., faces trial there on charges that he forced five underage girls to have sex in 2005.

A first trial there ended in a mistrial. On March 31, the Montana Supreme Court ruled the trial could proceed.

Twelve days later, Cates was in Erie. Lillie's parents aren't sure if she knew Cates was coming to Erie.

She took no extra clothes with her, though she left behind a note for her parents.

She told her mother on the phone Thursday night she wore Cates' extra clothes he carried in a large backpack.

She said the two were on their way to Arizona to visit a friend of Cates' when they were stopped by police in Arkansas, 1,055 miles from Erie.

Michelle Lillie said her daughter told her they hitchhiked the entire distance, relying mostly on truckers for rides.

"I just can't thank the police there enough for getting her back for us," Michelle Lillie said Friday morning.

She and her husband planned to travel to Arkansas on Friday afternoon to reunite with Sierra and bring her home to their apartment in the 1400 block of Buffalo Road.

The Diehl Elementary School eighth-grader disappeared Sunday after Easter dinner at her grandmother's house. She told her parents she was spending the night at a friend's house but never came home Monday.

FBI, state and local investigators participated in the search for Cates and Lillie.

Michelle Lillie said telling her 8-year-old daughter that her sister was coming home was something she'll never forget.

"She had the biggest smile I've ever seen on her face," she said. "It was bigger than her smile on Christmas morning."



http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090418/NEWS02/304179880

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