Bonney Lake teen found: 'It's because of the community that she's home'



BONNEY LAKE, Wash. - “There are a lot of good moments in life, but this, might be one of the best,” said Damaris Kaufman with tears in her eyes recalling an emotional moment as 15-year-old Lily Christopherson was found Sunday afternoon.

Kaufman has been helping with the search for Christopherson since the beginning.

“It’s because of the community that she’s home. It’s the community that came together when her family was out there saying my daughter is missing and we don’t know what to do. It’s the community that said neither do we, but we’re going help you figure it out,” said Kaufman.

Family, friends, volunteers and strangers created and posted thousands of flyers at motels, parks, bus stops and shared images of Christopherson on social media since the 15-year-old went missing on May 9th.

“Everybody jumped in. It was all hands on deck,” said Kaufman.

It was at a bus stop on South Meridian Street in Puyallup Sunday that a passerby saw Lily and called the police.

“How often do you really pay attention to people standing at the bus stop,” said Kaufman, grateful for the person’s action.

Police located Lily and reunited her with family.

“Nobody gave up on her,” said Kaufman.

In Christopherson’s hometown of Bonney Lake, it’s relief that is felt by classmates who stopped to tell Q13 News they always held onto hope.

“People do care for her, I did, even though I barely knew her,” said Jakub Ricigliano.

At a main street storefront where a flyer has been hanging for weeks with Lily’s picture, Kaufman says they will now happily take it down knowing Lily is now home and safe.

“This whole experience, it makes you open your eyes that there are some really, really bad people in this world, but what happened to bring her home, the good definitely outweighs the bad, definitely!” said Kaufman with tears of joy in her eyes.