Girl’s Disappearance Blamed On Internet

A missing 14-year-old girl from New York state may have run off with an AWOL airman she met on the Internet.

Ceara O’Connell of Brighton, N.Y., and 22-year-old Senior Airman Brooker Maltais vanished more than a week ago after exchanging “boyfriend-girlfriend”-type computer messages, said Maureen Chisholm, a sheriff’s captain in Monroe County, N.Y.

In a recent message, Maltais wrote: “I couldn’t guarantee how much time we could spend together. But at least it would be TOGETHER.”

O’Connell last was seen Dec. 19, when her mother dropped her off at a mall near their home outside Rochester.

Maltais, who works in aircraft maintenance, went on vacation Dec. 19 and did not return as expected the following Monday.