Crime & Safety

'Missing Teen' Offers Apology

Joe Kenney returned safe to his home in Orono but left over 1,000 concerned friends and strangers wondering where he'd been.

When a teenager from Orono was reported missing on Saturday, July 6, hundreds of Patch readers used social media as their primary search tool.

Joe Kenney was last seen in Hopkins at 9:30 p.m. Friday. His family began reaching out for help from the community about 24 hours later.

More 1,000 shares of the Patch story on Facebook later, Kenney returned home just after midnight Saturday. He returned home safe, but left many in the community, who had been invested in the search, bewildered by his disappearance. 

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With the encouragement of his dad, Joe Kenney offered this statement of apology:

"I'd like to express my gratitude and thanks to my family, our friends, and the entire community for the enormous outpouring of love and support over these last few days.  

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"I’d like to also thank everyone for all of the work undertaken on my behalf, especially the Orono Police Department. 

"I'm so sorry for the disruption and the anxiety that I caused. I made a rash decision, a mistake which I compounded by being out of contact with friends and family.  

"I didn’t appreciate the impact that my impulsiveness would have on my family and so many other people. I am terribly sorry for causing such concern, and I will take full responsibility for my conduct. I am so happy to be home here in Orono."


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