Authorities said Friday that a missing Maine woman, her ex-boyfriend, and their 2-year-old daughter were found safe weeks after they went missing during a family vacation.
The Sanford Police Department stated that they spoke with Nicholas Hansen, Jill Sidebotham, and Lydia Hansen over the phone and through video chat. The three vanished after leaving on a three-day camping trip on June 27.
“The Sanford Police Department can report that each party is unharmed and safe, and no evidence of criminal behavior has been observed,” police said in a Facebook post. “We also had verification that they were safe from local law enforcement who met with them in person.”
But police did not say why the trio left town in June or where they are – and relatives still haven’t heard from them directly.
“At the involved parties’ request, no information as to their location or motive for departing the Springvale area will be disclosed,” the police said.
Investigators looked into several leads during the search for the trio, who were seen on June 29 and July 2 at a Walmart in Mexico, Maine, about 100 miles from Sidebotham’s home in Sanford.
The Maine Warden Service led two aerial searches for the family in Mexico and Rangele.
This was a unique situation for police, said Lt. Matthew Gagné. It wasn’t clear there was a crime – and the scope of the search went far beyond Sanford.
According to Fox News Digital, despite reports that Hansen was abusive, police have no evidence that Sidebotham was in distress and claim she went on the trip voluntarily. Hansen had no violent convictions on his state criminal record.
Images released by authorities at the time showed the three entering a store at the Coos Canyon Campground on June 29. In different screengrabs from the surveillance video, both parents can be seen carrying Lydia.
Sidebotham’s family told the Boston Globe in July that Hansen asked her to go on an impromptu trip on June 27.
Her parents advised her not to accept Hansen’s invitation to go camping, the elder Sidebotham, who did not respond to Fox News Digital’s inquiry, told several media outlets.