A 15-year-old Cave Junction boy who had been missing for about a month since he ran away from a secure residential program during a trip to the Portland zoo was found Tuesday in Pioneer Courthouse Square, according to his mother and police.
The Oregonian reports Heather Smith and relatives have been in Portland the last week looking for the teen, William Herren.
A tip from a homeless youth led the family to the city's downtown about 1:40 p.m. Tuesday, she said. They also called Portland police, who took the boy into custody on a warrant, alleging a violation of his juvenile probation.
According to Portland police spokesperson Mike Benner, police had responded to an alleged stabbing at the square but it was a false report and officers instead located the teen and his family.
Herren had been placed in a Multnomah County Department of Community Justice's Behavior Rehabilitative Services program after spending three months in juvenile detention in Portland for an alleged burglary and vandalism in his hometown.
During a trip with the program to the Oregon Zoo, he fled on September 23rd and was reported missing to police that day.
The county's program was intended to provide more "structure, stabilization and treatment" in a "staff-secured, out-of-home placement," according to a county website.
His mother said her son was crying but safe.
