Thursday, August 12, 1999 Older Editions

Runaway found after search in state forest

By Rebecca Lipchitz

As Arielle Tejada sat on a rock in Harold Parker State Forest, her family and local emergency personnel frantically searched the area for the 10-year-old girl, who walked away from her family after an argument.

Arielle ran away from her family Monday as they prepared to leave the campground at Camp Lorraine in Harold Parker State Forest.

Lost & Found -- Arielle Tejada, 10, was missing for several hours Tuesday when she walked away from her family's campsite off Lorraine Road in Harold Parker State Forest. Here, Arielle is escorted from the woods at 1:10 p.m. by a phalanx of police and fire officials.

She was found by Andover Fire Department after an hour-long search with the help of the Andover Police, North Andover Police and the State Police.

Police were considering calling in a helicopter search before members of the Andover Fire Department found Arielle less than half a mile from where her family was camping.Meanwhile, the narrow roads of Harold Parker State Forest were lined with ambulances, fire trucks and police cruisers Monday as local emergency workers, state park staff and some generous campers searched the forest for the girl.

Walking through campgrounds, one heard fewer bird calls or rodent rustlings than calls from fellow campers: "Arielle! Where are you?"

By noon, more than 35 emergency workers were scouring the forest looking for the girl with long, wavy, dark hair, blue pants and a white shirt.

Searchers were told that Arielle had made friends with some campers in the area, and probably didn't go far.

She was found not 50 yards from Jenkins Road, says Doug Ramsden of the Fire Department. She was sitting on a rock and cried quietly but gave firefighters no argument as they escorted her to the camp office, he says.

Dwarfed by a wall of blue uniforms behind her, Arielle was reunited with her mother and her mother' s boyfriend near the camp office shortly after 1 p.m.

Arielle is embraced by her mother, Heidi Peterson, and Mario Caez, both of Haverhill. A search party of 35 police officers and firefighters from Andover, North Andover and North Reading searched the state forest to find Arielle.

While his girlfriend, Heidi Peterson, readied their new apartment in Haverhill, Mario Caez, 51, of Haverhill, was camping in the park with her two children, including Arielle.

"I have known her for seven years. She has never done anything like this," says Caez, standing with Arielle's brother after they found her.

Caez, a tall, soft-spoken man, says he left the country in 1987 but returned to take care of his son and Peterson's children, including Arielle.

Arielle had been warned to be careful about talking to strangers in the campground, but playing with other children also camping there was acceptable, Caez says.

As they packed up to leave the campsite, Caez says he asked Arielle to help clean up, and she refused. He told her to wait in the car, which she did for a while, but just before they were about to leave, she got out of the car and walked away. About a half-hour later, Caez notified Peterson, who called police just before noon, he says.

When police must search for missing persons, their first order of business is to make sure the call for a search is not an attempt to cover up some foul play, says Sgt. John Pathiakis of Andover Police.

Monday's search team included State Trooper David Crouse of the special operations emergency response team and Sgt. Cleve Coats of the canine section of the Tactics division, State Police. Coats is called to searches for missing persons across the state.

Luke Brackett, state park ranger for Essex County, says the Department of Environmental Management (which includes the park service) must search state parks for missing persons about twice a month.

People are more easily found in parks such as Harold Parker State Forest because it is surrounded by roads, but people lost in parks in western Massachusetts, which are surrounded by more rural areas, can be lost for days or weeks, Brackett says.