A hopeful break emerged Wednesday night after a Kentucky man was detained at a gas station, possibly in connection with missing teen girl, Savannah Leigh Pruitt. The FBI reportedly said, however, that the man is likely not a suspect in her disappearance, although they are still investigating.
NBC 18 reports that the Knoxville FBI said the suspect probably isn’t connected after Kentuck FBI agents, along with law enforcement officers, detained a man at a Marathon gas station in Leitchfield, off of 800 block of South Main Street.
An employee at the store told local station K105 that the suspect walked into the store at around 6 p.m. When he walked out of the store, authorities surrounded him as “several FBI agents took him to the ground.”
Savannah, 14, was last seen on January 13 at her family home in Madisonville, Tennessee, at around 11 p.m. One of her two cellphones pinged close to Corbin, Kentucky, on January 14 at 5:30 a.m. Corbin is around 130 miles from Madisonville. Both phones are now inactive and Savannah hasn’t been active on social media since she disappeared.
UPDATED FLIER: Savannah Leigh Pruitt (14 yrs.) of Madisonville,#Tennessee. last seen 1/13/2019 at her place of residence. She is a Caucasian female, 5'3" tall weighing 110 lbs. She has blonde hair and blue eyes. Dial 911!
RT ASAP! https://t.co/EywDHgKt9n pic.twitter.com/mSmurtG1qs— Steve Raw (@Steve_Raw) January 28, 2019
Detective Jason Fillyaw with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said he doesn’t think the teen wanted to run away, but he also doesn’t think she met someone online who wanted to abduct her.
“There has been nothing in any of that reporting that led us to believe that she intended to run away or was speaking with anybody that would try to abduct her,” Fillyaw said.
Savannah also has ties to Georgia. Her family moved to Tennessee from Lawrenceville, Georgia, in December. Her parents said she’s a “sweet and bubbly” girl who never misbehaved.
Both Kentucky and Georgia authorities are aware of the missing girl and are actively involved in trying to find her. She’s described as a white female who stands 5-feet-3-inches tall and weighs around 110 pounds. She has blue eyes and brown hair.
Sheriff’s Office Asks for Public Assistance: Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation…
Posted by Monroe County Sheriff's Office on Saturday, January 26, 2019
Anyone with any information on Savannah’s whereabouts is urged to contact the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department at 423-442-3911.
[Feature Photo: Savannah Pruitt/Handout]
