Hilton Head teen missing since March found in Ridgeland area

Payton Walker, a 16-year-old girl who went missing from her Hilton Head Island home on March 21, has been found by the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office.

The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office received a tip that Walker was at a home in the Ridgeland area early Saturday and contacted the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, which found Walker unharmed.

Jasper County Sheriff Chris Malphrus said Saturday that the teen was found just outside Ridgeland city limits at a home on Grays Highway. He said the teen was not connected to two missing Jasper County teens also found on Saturday.

Walker’s mother filed the initial missing persons report the day after her daughter’s disappearance after coming home from work to find her gone. She tried to contact her daughter over facebook to no avail before contacting the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.

The teen had run away before, and was under the supervision of a parole officer while completing a juvenile program at the time that she vanished. That was 13 and a half weeks ago.

“I don’t even know if my daughter is safe,” Rodney Walker told The Island Packet on April 25. “I wouldn’t wish this feeling on anybody.”

This story was originally published June 24, 2017 at 7:58 PM with the headline "Hilton Head teen missing since March found in Ridgeland area."