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Search Menu Login Reset Password Home Weather Archive Sign Up for Alerts Full Site Close Menu Hannah Thomas-Garner poses last year for a photo posted on a Facebook page devoted to returning the 17-year-old to her Ashland home. Photo courtesy of www.facebook.com/bringhannahomesoon HANNAH THOMAS-GARNER Ashland police confirm Hannah Thomas-Garner is safe with her father By By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune March 08, 2015 - 6:07 PM The news Ashland residents awaited for three months arrived Saturday night when Jeff Garner told Ashland police his daughter, Hannah Thomas-Garner, was safe and he was with her in Santa Cruz, Calif. Ashland police asked for photo confirmation and got it shortly after Garner phoned Oregon authorities between 9 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday. "This is a positive conclusion," Sgt. Bob Smith said Sunday. "She is safe, with family and that's the best result we can hope for." Authorities don't know exactly when Thomas-Garner, an Ashland High School senior who disappeared Nov. 30, called her father in Texas. "He told us he booked a flight and verified they were together Saturday night," Smith said. Once the photo was in hand, Ashland police removed Thomas-Garner's entry from the national runaway computer system. Garner didn't immediately return a telephone message Sunday. "We're giving her some time with her dad and then we'll fill in the gaps," Smith said. Although police will want to know where she was and who she was with during her absence, Smith said runaways generally don't reveal a lot of information. "In cases like this, they are understandably reluctant about giving us details, but it's part of the process," he said. Thomas-Garner and a second Ashland High student, Sylvia Davis, took off after attending a party off Dead Indian Memorial Road on Nov. 30. Police said Thomas-Garner, Davis and a third girl had formed a runaway pact. The third girl decided not to go and Davis later turned up safe in Petrolia, Calif. Within the first couple of days after Thomas-Garner disappeared from town, police received reports she was hitchhiking in Northern California. Witnesses said they spotted her hitchhiking in the Dunsmuir area on Dec. 1. A girl matching her description was seen at a Redding convenience store the next morning. In the weeks that followed, social media was flooded with messages to Thomas-Garner along with community events to keep her disappearance at the forefront of people's minds. "We know from best practices that we just keep following the clues," Smith said. "Those clues and information told us she was planning to run away, and did it." When her blue 2012 Ford Focus was found damaged and abandoned in the city of Mount Shasta, speculation abounded. "People who were not part of the investigation came to their own conclusions," Smith said. "We never believed (she was harmed) and continued investigating it as a runaway and followed as best we could." Police were tipped off last month that Thomas-Garner might have been spotted in Florida. A girl matching Thomas-Garner's description gave people several different names, one of which was Hannah and the other a nickname by which her Ashland friends know her. However, the girl proved to not be Thomas-Garner. "I can't say that was a hindrance," Smith said. "Any lead we get gives us a place to look. You never want to dismiss what comes to your knowledge." Of the 28 runaway reports in 2014, he said, this one got the most attention. Smith said there wasn't the same urgency in this case as when young children disappear or are kidnapped. "That's when time is really important," Smith said. "It was kind of a waiting game, where we were waiting for something to break loose. In this case, she called her dad, and we're thankful she decided to do that."  Vanessa Houk, the mother of an Ashland High student, and leader in the #BringHannahHome social media movement, said the news was "absolutely perfect." "Hannah needs to know the community still cares," Houk said. "Even beyond her family there are people that care about her."       Popular Today Mail Tribune All-Star Basketball Classic starters ballot Special election: Jackson County voters OK marijuana tax Pot gardens may fail the sniff test Drug search warrant leads to two arrests 'Why?' still unknown in case of runaway teen Frohnmayer, 74, dies; tributes pour in Don't over-regulate backyard pot gardens Latest Photo Galleries home search Full Site video weather daily archive txt alerts about mobile website limelight deals jobs real estate © Copyright Local Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Local Media Group Publications | Full Site