MyKensie Martin Still Missing In Brazil

Her parents should be arriving there today. Last ATM withdrawal was for $12, but she is said to have not had enough for a bus ticket to a religious event and hitchiked, instead.

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) - A 17-year-old American exchange student missing in Brazil was seen trying to hitchhike to the capital the day she disappeared, Brazilian authorities said Wednesday.

MyKensie Martin, a senior at Summit High School in Bend, Ore., was reported missing Sunday, said Kreg and Judy Roth of the Rotary Youth Exchange Program in Bend.

A witness spotted the girl Sunday evening on the side of a highway leading to Brasilia from the town of Unai, about 80 miles from the capital, said Unai police detective Celso Avila Prado.

also coverage here

h/t B

Comments

[absynth_minded]

Never fails... you get a couple high profile cases and then a slew of others pop up.

[Northerner]

Hitchhiking is never a good idea. Especially for a lone, young female. Sad but true.

[MoscowGirl]

It's going to be really hard to drain Rio Negro and Rio Branco, and stop the flow of Foz D'Iquzzu.

Not to mention practically impossible to search every favella in Rio and Santos, and every container boat leaving Port Niteroi and Port Alegre..

Not to mention impossible to dig up every quarry in Mato Grosso....

And every 2nd guy on the streets looks like "Prospective Criminal after Young American Chick"... :=)

So I say, Americans, start boycotting Brasil now.... :=), pleeeeeesae, because the Carnivals are getting rather crowded lately, and you make way too much noise at the Sambadrome... :=)

[Jody]

This missing person case will take a back burner to Natalee and Beth, just like all the others.

[LDK]

I feel terrible for this young lady (God forbid anything bad happened) and her family, but what would possess a teenage girl to go hitchhiking in South America, especially considering all the missing/murdered young females we've been hearing about lately? Let's pray for a happy ending to HER story... we're not getting happy endings from the other ones.

[katya]

What would possess a young woman in Aruba to jump in a car with three strange men?

Actually hitching in SA is usually a lot safer than drinking and getting in a car with three strangers.

Where's the outrage? This American teenager is missing in a foreign land.

[LDK]

I agree with you ~ I wasn't trying to compare the Holloway case to this one, exactly; the similarity is that Natalee and MyKensie are both teenage girls gone missing. The difference, as you started to point out, is that Natalee was drinking and out partying, and MyKensie was sober and trying to hitch a ride to a religious event. Although, getting into a car with strangers isn't a particularly smart thing to do either way. I don't think I would hitchhike anywhere, not even in my own country... not even in my hometown! :(