A missing Monterey Park teenager was found safe Tuesday outside the offices of a television station in Glendale.
There were no signs of foul play surrounding Alison Jillian Chao's disappearance, according to Jose Romero, an attorney hired by Alison's father, Jeffrey Chao.
Romero said at a news conference Tuesday that the 15-year-old had left her home “of her own volition on her bicycle” on July 16 and showed up at the Los Angeles-based KABC-TV site in Glendale on her own.
Her father said Tuesday that Alison is “a very intelligent person and a godly person with a very good heart.”
On Tuesday, the Monterey Park Police Department interviewed Alison and the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services had been contacted, according to Romero. As of Tuesday afternoon, her family had yet to meet or speak with her.
A Glendale woman who declined to give her name for privacy reasons told The Times on Tuesday that she saw a girl who looked like Alison walk past a security guard at KABC's Glendale offices and alerted him. She said she heard the girl say she wanted to tell the news station her side of the story.
Romero declined to comment on a YouTube video circulating online in which Alison refuses to go to a “facility” at the urging of her parents, apparently the day before she disappeared.
“Under current litigation in family law courts, whenever there is a minor involved, they are afforded various levels of protection,” Romero said. “No comment can be made on that due to pending litigation.”
A spokesperson for the Monterey Park Police Department confirmed Tuesday that officers were interviewing Alison and continuing to investigate the case.
Alison had reportedly left her home in the 200 block of North Ynez Avenue in Monterey Park at 5:32 p.m. on July 16. Monterey Park police launched a missing person investigation at 9:36 p.m. that night, according to a department news release.
The teen was riding a blue mountain bike on her way to her aunt's house in nearby San Gabriel, her family told KTLA.
The trip was supposed to take about 20 minutes, but Jeffrey Chao's aunt called him around 8 p.m. to let him know that his daughter had not yet arrived.
Alison's mother, Annie Chao, posted a statement on Instagram on Monday.
Police had informed her that her daughter was missing after Alison's father reported her missing. The teenager was due to be taken to her mother's home that Wednesday morning.
“Please remember that Alison is a child,” Annie Chao said in the statement. “I kindly ask that you do not speculate, attack or post anything that does not help find her.”
