Randy and Stacie Illingworth, of Westminster, had a surprise visitor this past week that gave them an opportunity to prove there are still good people in the world, and who reminded me why I have never regretted my decision to have a career in policing. On Wednesday night at about 9 p.m. my pager went off. I looked at the screen and saw that I needed to call my wife immediately. This alone was surprising, because Bonnie has never had me paged before. When I called home, Bonnie told me that she had received a call from our neighbor Stacie. Stacie had heard a knock on the door and when she answered it, she found a young girl, a mere second grader standing on the stoop. With the setting of the sun, the temperature had quickly dropped and the seven year old was shivering from the cold. The girl told Stacie she had left her home because of a family fight. As the daylight faded and the cool air moved in, the girl sought help and went to the first house she saw with a light on, the home of the Illingworth's. Stacie brought the young lady into her home, wrapped her up in nice heavy blankets. She talked to the girl and learned her name and the reason she was out alone. Stacie and Randy as parents themselves intuitively knew that parents
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somewhere were in a panic and that the police needed to be called. When the young girl was told the police were going to be called, the girl said she didn't want the police called. Stacie told her that her neighbor was the sheriff, and the girl said she would talk with me. After speaking with my wife I called the Vermont State Police and learned they had received a report of a missing girl in the Westminster area, and a supervisor was on the way to girl's home to gather critical information so a search could be started. I told the dispatcher the story I had received. The descriptions matched as did the timeline. I spoke with the VSP sergeant; he agreed to go to the house to speak with the parents while I spoke with the girl. Upon arrival at the Illingworth's I found Stacy holding the young girl like her own daughter. The girl was still wrapped in blankets to the point all I could see was two eyes and part of a nose. I introduced myself to the girl and surprised her by calling her by her first name. We talked for a while. She told me about some of the things going on in her home, about her brothers, her mom and dad, and why she had left. After a few minutes of chat, she agreed to me taking her home to her worried parents. The girl was safely returned and her family and neighbors relieved to see her safe and sound. The VSP sergeant and I spoke with mom and we were convinced that the girl was going to be safe. I left the house glad to have reunited a family and that a young, scared runaway felt she could talk to me. I also want to thank the Illingworth's for being great neighbors to my family and everyone else in Westminster.