Now You See Her (17 page)

Warren Godchalk, chief of security for Starwood, said he found the statements disturb- ing because there were no wit- nesses to the incidents, and Godchalk said students are never allowed to walk on campus unescorted during evening hours. Hope was accompanied to and from rehearsal by a team of seniors designated as escorts.

Hope’s parents were in Michigan to see her appear in a performance of
Romeo and Juliet
for local students. She apparently disappeared some- time late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.

Marian Romano, Hope’s mother, saw the threat of an intruder near the school as a very ominous sign.

“Hope thought it was a prank, but she was fright- ened,” she said. Hope’s par- ents are Mark and Marian Romano, of Bellamy, Ill., a sub- urb of Chicago.

Marian Romano said, “She and the young man in her pro- duction were taking extra rehearsal time because she wanted her portrayal to be per- fect.” Though Romano is the family name, Hope used the name Hope Shay profession- ally.

The young man has been identified as Logan Rose, already an accomplished actor with film and TV credits, who had decided to finish high school and college before becoming a professional actor, according to his mother.

He said he continued to be involved in the search and wished Hope’s family only the best, though he went onstage as Romeo the night after she disappeared.

Hope was understudying the

leading role in Starwood’s win- ter production of
Romeo and Juliet
. Broadway actor Brook Emerson, guest director of the play, announced that he would personally offer a $10,000 reward for information that led to Hope’s recovery.

“She is a remarkable young woman,” said Emerson, a Tony Award–winning actor and vocalist who starred as Antonio Delleo in
Feast of Fools
in 2004. “Her emotions are very close to the surface, as they are for any actor. But she is also very levelheaded and directed onstage, and there would be no way that she would deliberately leave Starwood on her own.”

Black Sparrow Lake Public Safety Director William Flaxen agreed, saying that after inter- viewing friends, relatives, and instructors, “We have to view this disappearance as a possi- ble abduction.”

Police are asking students and residents in and around Starwood Academy to report any suspicious or unfamiliar individuals in the area. Fliers will be posted as far away

as Minneapolis and Detroit, where police officials in those cities are cooperating in the search. The fliers show a recent photo of Hope, who is 5'3" tall and weighs no more than 100 pounds.

She was last seen wearing a black Abercrombie & Fitch “hoodie” and matching run- ning pants, with white New Balance tennis shoes.

“Hope was an obsessive run- ner,” said a fellow student, Alyssa Lyn Davore, whom Hope understudied in the play. “She was very small and thin, and she wanted to stay that way. None of us can imagine going on with the play if she’s still missing this weekend, but that’s what they teach you to do. If I had anything to do with this, I’m heartbroken. I know that Hope was envious of me being Juliet. We all told Hope to lighten up because she was too serious for a kid. Maybe we teased her a little, but it was all in fun.”

Security is exceptionally tight because of the isolated rural woodland location, but the alarms did not go off that

night, according to Andrea Ross Lobelier, Starwood’s women’s dean.

Lobelier said, “She may have left. She may have been forced. We can’t make that kind of judgment. Hope was an unpredictable young lady. But all teenagers have their moments, especially creative types.” She further revealed that Hope had been disci- plined once, earlier in the fall, for trying to leave her dorm at night, a strictly forbidden prac- tice, but that she was generally a good student.

“Right now,” Lobelier said, “all of our prayers and thoughts are with Hope and her family. We are asking any- one who may have seen her to come forward. There has to be an explanation for this, and we think it will be a natural expla- nation, and that Hope will be safe.”

Starwood Security Chief Godchalk said that search dogs had to be given a day of rest following the full-day effort on Friday and into the early hours of Saturday morning, but that

several professional trackers were making their way from as far away as Madison, Wisconsin, with their own canines.

Those with any information regarding Hope are asked to contact the school or the Black Sparrow Lake Department of Public Safety immediately.

An anonymous tip line has been set up at 505-555-1111 for those who may have infor- mation about Hope.

Meanwhile, an ever-widen- ing circle of volunteers con- tinue the search throughout the night. Colder temperatures are predicted, raising fears about Hope’s safety.

Students at the school held a candlelight vigil, singing “Amazing Grace” outside Hope’s window, where her dorm advisor has placed an electric candle that burns night and day.

“We see it as a ‘beacon of hope’,” Zurin said. “We hope she’s out there and knows we care.”

HOPE IS ALIVE!

By TRACY CLARK

DETROIT, Mich. (AP)
—

Hope Shay, 15, who disap- peared apparently without a trace last Thursday, was found alive and unharmed today.