Alert Mall Employee Helps Police Locate Missing Girl

SPOKANE VALLEY — An alert mall employee helped police track down a missing Spokane girl on Thursday.

14-year-old Noel Kaleikini was inside Journey’s in the Spokane Valley Mall on Thursday evening when one of the store’s employees, Stephanie Dodge, recognized Noel from a flier posted earlier in the week.

“She came in today and fit the description and I looked at the picture and it didn’t really look like her at first, but the clothes matched perfect and it ended up being her,” said Dodge.

Dodge said Noel was rambling and not making any sense, that’s when she alerted mall security.

“I was just talking to her about how her day was and she said she was mad at her mom, that was kind of the thing that rang the bell the most,” said Dodge.

Security officers alerted the Spokane Valley Police Department that Noel was at the mall. 

Spokane Valley Police Officer Scott Streltzoff found Noel inside Victoria’s Secret on the mall’s lower level.

According to Spokane County Sheriff’s Sergeant Dave Reagan, Noel told a mall employee that she was headed for a nearby restaurant to hook up with a man she met on a bus and possibly stay at his house for the night.

Noel’s mother was worried for her daughters safety. She says that although Noel is 14-years-old, she has the mental capacity of an eight-year-old.

She says the teen is addicted to on-line chat rooms and made 1,600 phone calls to men she met on the internet in the last month.

Noel told officers she would rather go to juvenile detention rather than be released to her mother. The girl’s mother was called to come pick up her daughter shortly after officers located Noel in the mall.

Noel’s mother says her daughter will be checked into a facility she can get professional help before going home.