LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – A Lake County teen has returned home days after he was originally reported missing, according to the sheriff’s office.
In a release over the weekend, deputies announced that the teen — Blayne Caruso, 14 — had gone missing on Saturday in the area of St. Thomas Avenue in Umatilla.
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Deputies said they learned that Caruso had told a sibling that he was planning to run away, but due to an approaching wave of cold weather, deputies scrambled to locate his whereabouts for his own safety.
“The sheriff’s helicopter and drones have flown the area, and deputies have searched diligently on foot using a bloodhound,” the release reads.
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But on Tuesday afternoon, the sheriff’s office issued an update stating that Caruso had returned home.
According to investigators, Caruso purposefully spent Saturday night in the woods near his home, and he’d spent the previous two nights in one of the sheds on his family’s property.
“He was never lost in the woods,” the update says. “He was intentionally hiding from our deputies and our volunteer search teams.”
No additional information has been provided at this time.
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