Adrian "Grace" Burchfield
Tallulah – Every parent’s fear came true for the family of Adrian “Grace” Burchfield on Saturday morning.
But on Sunday evening, they breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Burchfield was found more than 14 hours away in Oklahoma City, Okla., one day after she was reported missing to the Graham County Sheriff’s Office.
“I’m just glad it ended well,” Sheriff Joseph Jones said. “We’re really lucky with the way this played out.”
Family members discovered Burchfield missing from the residence on Tallulah Road after going in her bedroom. Authorities were immediately dispatched and in the initial check, partially-packed bags were found at the residence.
“We couldn’t really find anything gone, as far as clothing or anything, other than probably what she had on,” Jones added.
It is not clear when Burchfield left the home, but Graham County officials quickly began piecing a recent chain of events together. Family members – including Burchfield – had corresponded with someone – later identified as 21-year-old Oklahoma City resident John Wilkerson Wall – over Xbox Live. Authorities later found that a package had been delivered to her residence, with a name but a scrambled address.
When officials cracked the code, the chips began to fall in place. Graham County reached out to the Oklahoma State Police, U.S. Marshal Service, State Bureau of Investigation and District Attorney’s Office.
During the search, an emergency order to ping cell phone towers was issued. Wall’s mobile device was linked to the Xbox account in question and there were even phone calls made to family members by Wall, stating concern that Burchfield had gone missing.
“He told them that he would come up and help them look for her,” Jones said.
Burchfield was finally located at the home of Wall’s aunt, with the latter at work at the time of discovery. Even after Burchfield was located, Wall contacted the family again, still proclaiming his innocence.
Wall was initially detained, but no charges have been filed as of press time.
Barring any further red tape, Burchfield should be returned to Graham County later this week.
“That’s the thing with this online stuff: you never know who you’re talking to,” Jones said as a word of caution. “You never know who’s on the other end. We can’t stress enough to these kids – and even adults – you have no clue who this person is.”