By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

Bill Mackenzie and Hillsborough County Sheriff James Hardy addresses the media at a press conference on Tuesday, Aug. 8 on the discovery of Mackenzie’s daughter in Florida. Bill Mackenzie’s wife, Enid, was en route to Florida to pick up Laura. (Courtesy Photo/Sherry Butt Dunham)

Five months of worrying, wondering and waiting have come to an end for the family of Laura Mackenzie.

“This is unbelievable,” said Mackenzie’s brother, Craig, after news arrived that his missing sister had been located in Florida. “There’s no way to describe the feeling.

Laura Mackenzie, 18, disappeared on March 8 from her Tipping Rock Road home. The former Goffstown High School senior, who was scheduled to appear that day in Manchester District Court on felony shoplifting charges, had not been seen since then.

Until, that is, a phone call came in to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s office at 10 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 7. An informant told Lt. Bill Barry he recognized Laura from a segment on the CBS Early Show.

By 1:17 that afternoon, Laura Mackenzie was in the custody of the St. Augustine Beach, Fla., Police Department. Police apprehended Mackenzie at her residence, where they also found her car and its original New Hampshire license plates.

In a conference at the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday, Aug. 8, Sheriff James Hardy spoke of Mackenzie’s status as a missing person and as a fugitive from justice.

“Any shoplifting charges against Laura are almost secondary to the fact that she’s been found safe and unharmed,” said Hardy, adding that Laura had supported herself working in a restaurant while in Florida.

Barry said he has spoken to Laura by telephone since her apprehension.

Barry said Mackenzie left New Hampshire because of the pending charges.

“She got scared, she panicked and she fled,” Barry said of the missing teenager who had led him on an investigation as far away as Los Angeles.

Ironically, the county attorney said Mackenzie’s status as a fugitive from justice played a role in her capture and likely return to her family.

Hillsborough County Attorney Marguerite Wageling said Mackenzie stands accused of shoplifting clothing and jewelry from Filene’s at the Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester, even though the store had requested the charges be dropped.

“The truth is, one of the reasons we could keep the investigation going was the felony theft charge against her,” Wageling said.

Because she is an adult, Mackenzie could not have been apprehended as a missing person, Wageling said.

“If she had been stopped for a traffic violation without any of the other charges against her, the officer would have had to let her drive off,” Wageling said.

Mackenzie remained in Florida, where her mother, Enid, was en route to meet her during Tuesday’s press conference.

Hardy said Mackenzie waived extradition, and he expected her to arrive in New Hampshire on Thursday, Aug. 10. She will likely be arraigned in Hillsborough County Superior Court that day, he said.

Laura’s brothers, Craig and Evan, appeared with their father, William, at Tuesday’s press conference, and all three expressed jubilation that the missing teen had been found unharmed.

“We wanted to know our daughter was safe,” said William Mackenzie. “It’s been a difficult time, but we’ve had support to make it bearable.”

William Mackenzie mentioned the family’s religious faith as a source of strength throughout the ordeal.

“God is the one who knows all,” William Mackenzie said. “The ultimate sin is despair.”

He also mentioned the nationwide effort underway to locate his missing daughter.

The roots of that effort could be found on www.findlaura.org, the family’s own Web site where they offered a $10,000 reward for the return of their daughter, and also sought tips and leads to the teenager’s whereabouts.

Mel Bosch of Mont Vernon, a Mackenzie family friend, said he had spread fliers over the past few months in an effort to locate Laura.

“Praise the Lord,” Bosch said at Tuesday’s press conference. “These are the events we pray for.”

The Rev. Mike Sacco said the Mackenzie family’s fellow parishioners are eager to welcome Laura back into the congregation at the Amherst First Baptist Church.

“You go back and forth between thinking she’ll be OK, and worrying that she won’t,” Sacco said.

“When you hear she’s been found and she’s safe, you know your prayers have been answered,” Sacco said.

About 100 members of the First Baptist Church turned out for a celebration of Laura’s emergence Monday night, Sacco said.

Laura’s brother Evan said his sister has been very much on his mind the past five months. He learned she’d been found on Monday, while Evan was doing maintenance work on a lawn in Hooksett as part of his landscaping business.

He said his mother called him to tell him the news.

“I can tell you, I was happy working the rest of the day.

He also said the family will now be able to think more about Lloyd, their brother currently serving in Iraq as a Marine.

“Now that this is over, it’s back to thinking about Lloyd.”