Tag: Missing

Mich. teen recounts MySpace romance to magazine:

Our favorite runaway to the Middle East, Katherine Lester, is back in the headlines again for telling her story to Seventeen Magazine…

GILFORD A Michigan teenager who flew to the Middle East to be with a man she met on MySpace.com has detailed her online romance and the fallout her trip caused in Seventeen magazine.

In the article in the October issue of Seventeen, which hit newsstands Tuesday, 17-year-old Katherine Lester writes about how she has worked to regain her parents’ trust since her romance was revealed and became international news.

“While my parents were supportive through the legal issues, I can see how much our relationship has changed because of what I did in good ways and bad,’ Lester wrote. “No matter how many times I say I’m sorry, I can’t get back their trust.”

Lester developed an online romance with Abdullah Jimzawi, a 20-year-old Palestinian who lives in the West Bank town of Jericho. For months, she kept the relationship secret before disappearing June 5 from her mother’s home in Gilford, 80 miles north of Detroit.

“I couldn’t imagine going halfway across the globe,” she wrote in the magazine. “But I realized I didn’t want to wait either.”

Her father, Terry Lester, who lives near Flint, has declined requests from The Associated Press to interview his daughter. He said Thursday that she is back in high school for her senior year.

Katherine Lester wrote in the magazine that she and Jimzawi talk daily on the telephone for about an hour. And she reiterated her plans to marry him.

=”Although a lot of people, including my parents, don’t believe us, we really do love each other and we are going to get married someday,” she wrote. “Love is full of tests, and we’re going to pass ours.”

What a great message Seventeen is sending to its readers. It’s ok for girls to run off to marry someone at the age of 16. It’s a guarantee that he’ll love you forever. Please.

And why is her father still allowing her to talk to Abdullah Psycho every day for an hour?

This whole thing is starting to smell of cashing in. I’ll lay odds that a Lifetime movie gets made about this.

Prosecutors to drop runaway petition against teen:

Another chapter in the ongoing drama of Katherine Lester…

SCARO, Mich. (AP) — Prosecutors on Thursday agreed to withdraw a runaway juvenile petition they filed earlier this month against Katherine Lester, the Michigan teenager who flew to the Middle East to be with a man she met on the MySpace.com Internet site.

The decision was part of an agreement reached between Lester, her parents and the Tuscola County prosecutor’s office that requires her to surrender her passport, finish high school, complete counseling and not leave the state without written consent from her parents or a court order.

If Lester, 17, fails to comply with any of the terms, the prosecutor’s office may reauthorize the petition.

Following her return, Lester had been living with her father, Terry, near Flint, in part to escape media attention following her trip. But Renee Wood, a lawyer who represents Katherine Lester’s mother, Shawn, said she stayed with her mother this week and will be back in shared custody.

The teen is a member of the National Honor Society at Akron-Fairgrove Junior/Senior High School. Wood said Lester and her parents have not decided whether she will attend the school for her senior year next fall or go to a different high school.

Katherine Lester and Jimzawi still talk online, and she has said she wants to marry him.

Wood said Thursday that Shawn Lester is unhappy that the pair continue to communicate, but said she wants her daughter to make informed decisions about her future and to be honest with her.

How long before she bolts again?

Teen’s Journey May Have Legal Consequences:

More incredulous words from the ever-increasing spectacle that is the Katherine Lester situation…

“Now that our relationship is out in the open, I feel like I don’t have to go there to talk to him or to be with him,” she continued. “I plan on him coming here and us being together over here.”

Her father has declined requests from The Associated Press to interview his daughter but says her story should serve as a warning to families _ not about the dangers of the Internet but instead about the importance of good family communication.

“She’s her same old self,” said Terry Lester. “She knows what she did was wrong and she’s willing to accept the responsibility.”

In my opinion, it sounds like a grab for US citizenship. Not only that, if there was good family communication, she wouldn’t have run off to the Middle East in the first place. He sounds like one of those parents who is trying to be a friend rather than a parent.

I received a comment on my very first entry about Katherine Lester. I thought it made such a good point that I decided to share it with you. It’s from a commenter named Mary…

If you know Katherine, please give her this message: I have a god-daughter who began dating a guy who was just like Katherine’s “soul-mate.” He’s handsome, a sweet-talker, said all of the right things, treated her great and said he could not imagine life without her. She kept their relationship a secret from me and married him behind my back, then wrote me a letter & brought it to me, telling me about their marriage. What a betrayal….what a hurt! Though she is not my birth daughter, I love her as if she were and pray for her, always. Several weeks later, the mask came off: He was not Italian (as he had been telling her) he was a Muslim and demanded that she convert, or else. She refused. All Hell broke loose, including physical fights, destruction of her property (her car, clothes and condo) and finally, threats of death. After many bizarre and scary months, she was able to get the marriage annulled. (He refused to have sex with her unless she converted). The threats continued, however, for a year or so after the annulment. Katherine and her parents need to understand Islamic customs and practices. Once she marries this guy, she will no longer have a voice of her own – Islamic women are seen & not heard, and speak only when spoken to. Going from a woman young woman accustomed to personal freedoms to a nameless non-entity will no doubt be Katherine’s undoing, unless she is prepared for that type of sacrifice. She has entered very dangerous waters that may appear placid on the surface, but underneath lurks a turbulence that will have very harmful effects on both her and her family. (I know – I’ve been there with my beautiful god-daughter) and would not wish this experience on ANYONE. The fact that he asked her or allowed her to violate her parents trust, speaks volumes about him. Tell Katherine that true love would never ask nor allow her, to violate the love of her parents. I’m praying for Katherine and her family.

Granted, it’s only one person’s story, but it’s still a real possibility.

Teen Plans to Marry Middle East Man She Met on Myspace.com:

Oh, cut me a break…

GILFORD, Mich. A teenager who flew to the Middle East to be with a man she met on MySpace.com said Friday she intends to marry him.

“I love him very much,” 17-year-old Katherine Lester said of Abdullah Jimzawi, 20, who works in his father’s business delivering goods to West Bank convenience stores.

Lester appeared on ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America” with her father and stepmother. Jimzawi also spoke with ABC during a taped portion of the segment, describing how the pair “can’t live without each other.”

After hearing what Jimzawi said, Lester began weeping.

“It’s true,” she said. “I love you. That’s all I can say.”

The two have resumed communication online since she returned home.

“Our initial reaction was to isolate her, to lock her up and just keep her safe here in America,” said her father, Terry Lester. “But that’s unrealistic because you can see the love they have for each other.”

Ok, I can honestly say that her father is an idiot.

How many of us that are in our 30s can look back and say we were honestly in love at 17? I can’t. How about you?

New details come in Katherine Lester case:

MID MICHIGAN (WJRT) – (06/22/06)–There were new developments Thursday in the case of Katherine Lester. The Mid-Michigan teen flew halfway around the world two weeks ago to meet with a Palestinian man she met on MySpace.com.

Thursday her mother’s attorney asked a judge to rescind a decision made Monday in which her father was granted temporary custody.

That petition was filed in Tuscola County’s Family Division of Judicial Court Thursday morning.

The judge in the case, Judge W. Wallace Kent, denied the petition, and she will remain with her father until a hearing is scheduled.

In the petition, Lester’s mother’s attorney states numerous reasons of why she should be returned to the custody of her mother.

One of those reasons is an interview ABC12’s Bill Harris had with Lester, her father and stepmother.

Am I just dense? Because I don’t remember any article mentioning her parents were divorced. Not that it matters. But if this situation was a television show, I’d turn it off for being too corny.

Michigan teenager involved in Web romance charged with being a runaway:

She’s not being criminally charged, but this article clarifies some things regarding Katherine Lester…

DETROIT — Authorities have filed a runaway juvenile petition against a Michigan teenager who flew to the Middle East to be with a man she met on the MySpace.com social networking Internet site.

The paperwork was filed Monday in Tuscola County Family Court by the county sheriff and prosecutor against Katherine Lester of Gilford, said Kyle Jaskula, the court administrator.

At a hearing on Monday, Judge W. Wallace Kent Jr. ordered Lester to give up her passport and undergo counseling. He did not rule on the validity of the petition, and further hearings have not been scheduled.

If the judge finds that Lester is a runaway, she could be placed under court supervision until she turns 18. Such supervision usually means she would be monitored by a probation officer and made to undergo counseling, Jaskula said.

The petition is not a criminal offense, Jaskula said Tuesday.

So it’s like being on parole but without having committed any crimes. And for those of you who are whining that it’s not fair, then she should have thought of that before she ran away.

Think about it for a second. If they had succeeded in getting married, do you know what kind of international incident this would have caused? She should be thankful that she was stopped before they did.

And here’s some advice from Ol’ Uncle Trench to the teenagers who are supporting them. 99.999% of the time, the guy or girl you date at 16 will NOT be the person you spend the rest of your life with.

Get over it.