Whitefield Woman Found Safe With Friends In California

The Lincoln County Sherriff's department says a detective has talked with Brittany Binns by phone. They say Binns told the detective she left Maine of her own free will, and that she is now living with friends in Anaheim, California.

Binns disappeared from her parents' home in Whitefield sometime during the night on October 8.

Her family found a note stating she had left, but said leaving that was very uncharacteristic for the young woman, and feared something had happened to her.

Lt. Mike Murphy of the Sheriff's Department says the family received an unsigned letter a few days ago, asking for Brittany's birth certificate to be sent to an address in California. They alerted Anaheim police, who went to that address and met with Binns in person to confirm she was all right.

Lt. Murphy says Binns later told one of his detectives that she had been planning to leave Maine for a while, rode her bicycle to a restaurant in Chelsea in the night and met an unidentified person who helped her get to California.

The Sheriff's Department says their investigation is now closed.