A teen missing from Spring Hill, the focus of a TBI Endangered Child Alert, and a 16-year-old Indiana boy were found late Saturday night in DeKalb County.
The teens, Brooke Tabitha Ciolkosz, 17, of Spring Hill and Dawson Brink, 16, of Indiana were taken into custody after authorities tracked them from a cell phone ping. They were asleep in a tent near their white pickup truck which was stuck on an old logging trail off Parsley Road near Center Hill Lake. An AR-15 rifle, fully loaded 30 caliber pistol, and a large amount of ammunition were also found there.
When she went missing Saturday morning, Spring Hill police said Ciolkosz was believed to have left with Brink in a white 1996 Dodge Dakota with a possible Indiana license plate.
The TBI said Brink took the truck from his home without permission and also left with an AR-15, a handgun, and a large amount of ammunition. Both teens were considered endangered.
Prior to their arrests, police said the last known possible location of the two was on Interstate 40 at 9 a.m. Saturday headed east bound approximately 30 miles west of Cookeville.
In a prepared statement, Sheriff Patrick Ray said a search began locally Saturday night after someone spotted a suspicious vehicle on Parsley Road.
“A call came into Central Dispatch at 8:42 p.m. about a white pickup which had gone down a logging road and not come out. A deputy searched the area but did not see or hear anything”.
“At 11:30 p.m., Chief Deputy Robert Patrick and I (Sheriff Ray) began working with a Detective from Spring Hill concerning the two runaways, identified as Ciolkosz and Brink, who were considered armed and dangerous. The teens were in a white Dodge Dakota pickup truck with Indiana tags and they had in their possession an AR-15 Rifle, a pistol and large amounts of ammo. The Spring Hill Detective was also tracking the juveniles’ cell phone movements. Their phone pinged around the cell tower at Silver Point. Meanwhile the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Tennessee Highway Patrol searched an area near Interstate 40 and on Tucker Ridge Road in Putnam County looking for the teens”.
“As Chief Deputy Patrick and I were in route to Parsley Road, Brink’s father called the Spring Hill Detective and said he was on Parsley Road with the complainant who made the initial call about seeing a suspicious vehicle,” Sheriff Ray continued.
“I (Sheriff Ray) then contacted a Tennessee Highway Patrolman, who was also looking for the juveniles in Putnam County, to meet them”.
“At 11:52 p.m., Chief Deputy Patrick, 4 members of the Sheriff’s Department, a Tennessee Highway Patrolman, and I arrived on Parsley Road. After walking down a logging road that led to the lake we found the white Dodge Dakota which was stuck. The juveniles were there asleep outside of the vehicle in a tent. They were awakened and taken into custody without incident. A fully loaded 40 caliber pistol and an AR-15 rifle were also recovered,” said Sheriff Ray.
No local charges will be sought on the juveniles.
