A 16-year-old youth who went missing from his home in Lawrence, KS and was later found in Checotah, though he had no local ties to the area.

According to a missing flier shared on social media, on Nov. 8, Justin LaMarche Jr. was sitting on the floor playing video games with his brother when his parents went to bed. However, sometime in the middle of the night Justin took the family car and drove over four hours (approximately 326 miles) to the Checotah area. It was unclear why he left home and drove to the local area since he had no known ties but Justin’s car was found in Muskogee County, about 15 miles north of Boynton. His phone had pinged last at Soda Springs Road, southwest of Checotah.

According to his family he was eventually located safe and is now back with his family in Kansas.

Currently there are 129 missing persons cases in Kansas and 684 in Oklahoma.