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Missing California woman found two weeks after alarming video call

India O’Hanlon was located by the San Diego Police Department, but her parents fear she might have been coerced to say so

Andrea Blanco
Wednesday 31 January 2024 16:33 GMT
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Missing woman found safe

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A missing California woman has been located by authorities after she was reported missing by her concerned parents overseas.

India O’Hanlon, 25, was last seen by her parents during a video call on 16 January in which she appeared agitated and scared, her father Creed O’Hanlon, who resides in Morocco with India’s mother, told The Independent.

India then abruptly hung up the call when a man entered the room, prompting her parents to become concerned for her safety.

Mr O’Hanlon reported his daughter missing on 25 January after she failed to answer several calls.

Detectives with the San Diego Police Department have since made contact with India, who reportedly said she does not want her location to be disclosed to her parents. Although she told law enforcement she was safe, India made a distressing phone call to a friend on the day she spoke to detectives.

“We are very relieved to hear that she is alive. But given what we heard on this morning’s phone message, we’re not reassured. Our worry for her well-being persists,” Mr O’Hanlon wrote on X.

Mr O’Hanlon had told The Independent that India called “out of the blue” on 16 January after her parents had fruitlessly tried to reach her by phone, email and social media for weeks. Mr O’Hanlon said that India seemed agitated, high and possibly scared when a man walked into the room mid-conversation.

“She immediately looked wary, maybe even frightened, she then said, ‘I gotta go’, and hung up. Her mother tried to call her back but no answer. That was the last time we saw her or had any kind of contact,” he said just hours before India was found.

According to her father, India, an Australian-American who moved to Southern California from the UK in 2019, had changed her behaviour over the last four to six months.

“Prior to this, she was self-disciplined, committed to getting a tertiary education, and looking after her health and fitness,” Mr O’Hanlon said.

Mr O’Hanlon said his concerns about India’s safety remain.

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