I went to high school with Melissa's older sister and knew her mother as well and I can say that they are both good people. You don't know the circumstances of why she ran away for 2 weeks. Would you like it better if she just decided to kill herself instead since that's what a lot of college students are doing nowadays? I'm not saying what she did was right, but all people seem to want to do is place blame on others.

Don't pass judgment until you know all the details. First of all she called her father 2 days after she disappeared and said "I'm ok" but he did not hear her. Second, she did not realize people were searching for her, and as soon as she did, she immediately turned herself in. Plus maybe there were some other issues that none of us know about.

I agree with TV Viewer, this girl is messed up if she disapeared for 2 weeks and knew people were searching for her. The Police time spent, concerned citizens taking could add up to hundred of man hours wasted and that costs money, the $10K should go to the state to cover the Police effort. The family should just come out and say what the deal was...why she took a carelessly took-off for 2 weeks. This angers me and others. How dare you take off and not call when there are concerned people, family, friends, COPS looking for you. Thats totally unacceptable, get some help!! I think the family needs to go into therapy if they think this behavior is ok. I understand they are just happy to have her back but her actions were totally irresponsible for a young adult. GROW UP, life is hard, I lost my job, divorced, had to move several times, bankrupt,... all due to my ex wife, DO I GET A VACATION ??? Hell no, I got a new job and am living, day by day, paying bills going to school .. grow up girl, its only gonna get harder!

What exactly did her family do wrong? I promise you if you were expecting a loved one to come home at a certain time and you didn't hear from them for two weeks, you would do a lot more than they did. Sorry they took up valuable TV time.

ABSOLUTELY infuriating... this story of where she was better be good! The time wasted by police, media, concerned citizens & others could have brought home a real missing child.

SHAME on Missy AND her family... Got some issues? GET TREATMENT & stop abusing the system!

And the family will say "we have such a happy home, we have no idea how this could ever happen. Someone must have gotten to her." It all starts at home, folks. Hope they can straighten out whatever so she doesn't *really* go missing.

I was in Poughkeepsie the weekend after she disappeared, and at least three people with flyers stopped me to ask if I'd seen her. I'm glad she's okay and all, but the sheer effort put forward to find this girl was kind of amazing, and it looks like she just took off on her own? Wow.

Please...

Her disappearance wasted precious newspaper reading time. I even cared a little when she was missing. I DEMAND at least half of the 10k for compensation for MY suffering.

God, if my parents called the cops and put up a reward every time I went "missing" for a couple of weeks (read "decline to return family phone calls") my friends would be taking monthly $10k vacations.

does she get the $10K?

That's the gist of what I've been reading. "Melissa's dad can only guess that his daughter disappeared because she was feeling the stress of being a college senior." Phrases like "sort out some issues" have been used on TV news reports. Her family, at the advice of police, is letting her chill for a bit before they start asking questions.

so what do you think happened with this girl? sounds like a college wigout to me.

I've been following this on my humble little weblog and have seen visitors increase as a result of this story. Some of the comments left here (http://www.aboutmattlaw.com/scaryny/archives/001341.html) show how concerned people were about her.