The 18-year-old amnesiac found wandering around Times Square has been identified as Kacie Peterson, a troubled teen from rural Washington reported missing Oct. 2, police said.
Peterson’s relieved father, Henry, said he’ll travel to New York today to reunite with her.
“She’s fairly typical, but she’s super quiet,” Henry Peterson said from his home in Colville, Wash. “She lost her mom about 11 years ago. It hit her really hard. It’s been tough ever since. She’s trying to find her way.”
The young woman was identified when a person who had known her in Washington, but now lives elsewhere, recognized the girl in a news photo published last week.
“I send my heartfelt thanks to that person,” said the father, choking up as he spoke.
Kacie Peterson had recently left Colville, in the eastern part of the state, where she had grown up with her father, and gone to live in Kitsap County, near Seattle, with a friend of her deceased mother.
But she suddenly vanished shortly after enrolling in high school there, said Kitsap County Deputy Sheriff Scott Wilson.
Wilson said the girl had experienced one amnesiac episode in the past.