Courtesy of the Catasauqua Police Department
A teen couple who left suicide notes with their Catasauqua area families Thursday night, threatening to jump into the Lehigh River and prompting a massive search, were found hiking near Bath on Friday afternoon, police said.
Both were safe.
Warren Houtling and Mariah Lopez, both 16, were found at 4:30 p.m. Friday by Colonial Regional police in East Allen Township, Catasauqua Chief Douglas Kish said. Colonial Regional police said a motorist spotted the two on a bike trail that parallels Route 329 and called police.
"We're glad they were found safe," Kish said.
The teens, who had left notes declaring each would jump from a bridge, were taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg for evaluation.
"At this point no charges are being filed," Kish said Friday night.
Myrna Lopez said her daughter told her that she and Houtling spent Thursday night in the clubhouse pavilion at the Willow Brook Golf Course in North Catasauqua.
As soon as police notified her that Mariah had been found, Myrna Lopez rushed from her home on Third Street in Catasauqua to the hospital, where she met up with her husband, John Weiseman.
"At the hospital in the area they had her, she saw us and ran for us," Myrna Lopez said. "She was happy to see us."
The Houtling family could not be reached for comment. No one answered the door at their home in the 1000 block of Second Street in North Catasauqua.
After dive crews spent much of Friday morning searching the Lehigh River in Catasauqua and North Catasauqua, they called off their hunt.
Mariah's mother said Friday afternoon that police were trying to trace the teens' cellphones by pinging cell towers, and Mariah's phone was briefly turned on somewhere in Whitehall Township.
"We're hoping and praying they return home," Myrna Lopez said then.
Jessica Dieppa, who came from Harrisburg when she heard Mariah was missing, said her cousin's disappearance was shocking. "I was very upset because that's my baby cousin," she said. "We grew up together in Allentown."
Mariah is a shy girl and never would have run away on her own, Dieppa said, adding that Mariah had been dating Houtling for a month. Dieppa said she is relieved to know Mariah is alive.
Even before her daughter was found, Myrna Lopez was thanking family, friends, police and fire crews for their exhaustive search for the teens. She said friends blanketed the area with fliers and photos of the teens and sent numerous alerts to hundreds of people via Internet social networks.