‘Troubled’ schoolgirl lacking for 263 days discovered at disgraced instructor’s home
The unnamed teen, just 17 years old, was missing for 263 days and has just been found in the home of a disgraced former teacher as the case has been described as “absolutely disgusting”
Jobe Binkley was arrested(Image: Police Handout)
A missing teen, gone for almost a year, has been found alive and well at the home of a former teacher.
The unnamed teen, just 17 years old, was missing for 263 days and has just been found in the home of a disgraced former teacher, with her furious family now claiming that she was groomed. The teen had reportedly run away from the Huckleberry House crisis shelter in Ohio, USA, in December 2025, with her family repeatedly pointing police towards the home of Jobe Binkley, 48, a former Springfield City School District science teacher.
They claimed they believed she was there, because they believed she had been groomed during her years at school.
Binkley was arrested after a house raid(Image: Police Handout)
Chelsi Warner, the mother of the victim’s half-sister, alleged Binkley began grooming the teen when they met at the school two years ago.
She said: “She’s had a troubled history with her mother and this groomer took advantage of a girl looking for a parental figure.
“It’s absolutely disgusting … and she’s so groomed and brainwashed by that man that she doesn’t see what he’s done to her.” Binkley has since been arrested and charged with one count of interference with custody, and released on bail after pleading not guilty.
The girl was found in his home(Image: Family Handout)
His defence claim that no further charges will be able to be brought against him unless the 17-year-old cooperates with police.
Binkley, who has faced allegations of inappropriate behavior with students in the past, had denied police entry to his home twice before during the investigation into the teen’s disappearance.
Warner described the situation as frustrating given her family’s repeated insistence that the girl was in Binkley’s home over the past nine months.
“I’m very upset with this situation,” she said. “We had photos of her in the house holding guns, and we know about the allegations from other students against this man, but we were always told there’s not enough evidence yet.”
The case is ongoing.
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