As French and British police investigated a report that a former U.S. Marine lance corporal and a 12-year-old girl he met online met in person and ran off together, twists in the case emerged late July 15. The former Marine's brother said he believed the girl was 18 or older, the girl's parents said she believed the man was much younger while she does look older than she is...and the ex-Marine phoned relatives to say the girl is safe and he was contacting the FBI.
Greater Manchester Police said o possibility - but only one - is that the pair may have caught a connecting flight rather than spend any substantial time in the French capital, according to the Independent. Officers from that police department are traveling to France to help with the case there, even after French police suggested there was no evidence suggesting 31-year-old Toby Studabaker and 12-year-old Shevaun Pennington were in France.
The Manchester police said the pair met up July 12 and flew out of London Heathrow Airport to Paris de Gaulle Airport later the same evening, the Independent said.
But on July 15, Studabaker's brother, Leo, told the BBC that while his brother didn't disclose his or the girl's current location, Studabaker insisted he was deceived into meeting the girl and was "very mad when he found out she had lied about her age." The brother also said Studabaker carried a letter written and signed by the girl herself aimed at clearing him of wrongdoing.
The Manchester police said they could not yet confirm Studabaker had contacted or otherwise been in touch with the FBI, though they were checking that report out, according to a late July 15 report. But they did confirm that Shevaun Pennington wasn't the passenger named Pennington who caught a flight from Paris to Liverpool July 12, as French authorities once thought, according to the Associated Press.
Studabaker's sister-in-law told the BBC she gave him a number to contact the FBI, then called the number herself. "The lady told me she was talking on the phone to Toby Studabaker," the sister-in-law, Sherry Studabaker, was quoted as telling the BBC.
Shevaun Pennington was described as "the same as any normal 12-year-old experiencing growing pains," who spend a lot of time surfing the Internet talking about boyfriends despite never being on a proper date. The Independent also said she mentioned an "American boyfriend," but "(n)o one could have guessed that...was something other than the figment of an excitable schoolgirl's imagination."
According to the London Globe and Mail , Studabaker's brother, Leo, who lives in Michigan, said his brother believed the girl was at least 18 years old. "I honestly don't think he knew anything about her being the age that she, I guess, is," he told the Associated Press. "He was very insistent that she was 18 or 19 years old."
A Marine Corps spokesman, Sgt. Spencer Harris of Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, told the AP Studabaker joined the corps in 2000 and was discharged with a Good Conduct Medal at the end of June, following service that included the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade's recent service in Afghanistan following the war against the former Taliban regime.
The incident may be prompting British lawmakers to hustle up on legislation aimed at outlawing "grooming of sexual contacts over the Internet," the AP said. "There isn't a parent who knows and understands that their child will use the Internet, who doesn't have great sympathy with them in terms of what has happened and the way it has happened," said Home Secretary David Blunkett to the House of Commons.
But if Leo Studabaker believed his brother thought the girl a lot older, the girl's parents told reporters they think their daughter believed her former Marine boyfriend was a lot younger.
"Please, we just want you back, we're not angry with you, we love you very much and just want you to come home," Steven and Joanne Pennington addressed their daughter in what the Independent called an emotional press conference. "You are not in any trouble whatsoever. We just want her back, home, that's all."
The couple said they'd warned their daughter of danger on the Internet and told her not to give out her real name, address, or anything else in a personal way. They said they believed her chatting only to people her own age.
"Shevaun had never had a proper boyfriend. She has had people she's called boyfriends, but she's never been on any real dates with boys," Mrs. Pennington said."She does look older than her years. I'm praying that once this man knows how old she is he will do the right thing. I honestly believe Shevaun thinks this man is a lot younger," she said.
