‘Hope is waning’ six weeks after Cedar Springs teen vanished

CEDAR SPRINGS, Mich. (WOOD) — Six weeks after their daughter vanished, David and Mishael Wise said hope that she will be found safe is dwindling.

“Every day, it just feels like, ‘This can’t be still happening,'” said David Wise in an interview with Target 8 Friday morning.

When asked if she believes her daughter, Penelope, is okay, Mishael Wise answered softly, “No. I don’t. Just because I don’t think she’d stay away voluntarily.”

They also don’t think their daughter would know how to live off the grid on her own.

She wouldn’t want to either, they said.

“She’s too social to be alone this long without finding some way to be in contact with someone,” said David Wise. “I want to hang on to hope, but hope is waning….She’s definitely either being hidden by somebody…or worse.”

“If it’s (voluntary),” Mishael Wise said, “she’s got somebody that’s coaching her real well on how to stay hidden.”

The Wises said Penny, 17, left their Cedar Springs home on foot Friday, May 31, after what David and Mishael considered a minor spat.

It was shortly before 6 p.m.

“She left to go to the end of our street, you know, to cool down like she had done numerous times,” recalled Mishael Wise. “She just never stopped walking.”

Penny Wise was spotted on three different surveillance cameras over the next several hours.

The Wises told Target 8 a camera at Cedar Springs High School recorded Penny in the parking lot within an hour of her leaving home, and a camera on Rockford Park Drive off Northland captured her walking west toward the White Pine Trail around 9:30 p.m. that same night.

Two days after Penny left, during a canvass of the area, the Wises said searchers found two shirts of Penny’s lying on the ground near the bathrooms at Morley Park.

The park is less than a quarter-mile from their home.

The image at Cedar Springs High School shows her in a pink tank top, which is what she’d been wearing under the shirts found at the park.

A SECRET CELLPHONE, FACEBOOK PAGE

The Wises said Penny was in the area of Rockford Park Drive when she logged into her email on a cellphone she’d secretly acquired a week before she vanished.

After she disappeared, the Wises said they learned that Penny had also created a Facebook page under a different name.

The Kent County Sheriff’s Office reported the last camera sighting of Penny Wise happened around midnight Saturday, June 1, near the Corner Bar in downtown Rockford.

Lt. Eric Brunner with the sheriff’s office told Target 8 there’s been no sign of Penny Wise since, and that’s why the sheriff’s department has stepped up efforts to find her, including going door-to-door in downtown Rockford. On Saturday, several deputies will be searching in the Rockford area to look for anything related to her whereabouts.

“It is very unusual,” Brunner said of Penny’s disappearance. “Usually in these cases, a 17-year-old doesn’t evade law enforcement for very long just because of our capacity and the expertise we have in investigating these things.”

While the sheriff’s office routinely receives reports of teenage runaways, Brunner said they’re almost always found within a couple hours or days.

“Foul play hasn’t been ruled out,” he said of Penny Wise’s case. “It’s an option on the table, but we still have all options open as far as getting lost, getting picked up by someone else. All options are still there because we don’t have any evidence or anything that anyone has sent us to indicate otherwise.”

Penny Wise’s dad contacted News 8 about his missing daughter on Saturday, June 1, and News 8 reached out to the sheriff’s office to confirm details, which is standard practice.

KCSO’s public information officer issued a news release on Sunday, June 2.

Since then, the agency has posted updates and set up a link for tip submissions , which is a relatively new tool for engaging the community.

On Friday, Silent Observer announced it was offering a $3,000 reward — up from $1,000 — for tips leading to Penny Wise’s safe return. Her parents also help run Bring Penelope Wise Home, a Facebook group dedicated to finding her.

Deputies continue to ask the community to keep an eye out and check surveillance cameras for images of Penny Wise.

Target 8 asked several police agencies how they decide which runaways warrant news releases and social media posts.

They all said they make those determinations case-by-case based on whether the missing person is endangered in any way.

The Wises said Penny has mental health challenges and has left home for brief periods before, but nothing like this.

The 17-year-old, who would be a senior at Cedar Springs High School, does not have any cognitive disabilities.

‘SHE DOESN’T REALLY KNOW A STRANGER’

“But she is naive, and she is one to approach strangers,” Mishael said. “She is one to make a quick friend, to talk someone’s ear off. So, she doesn’t really know a stranger.”

The Wises have seven children, ages 6 to 24.

Six of them are adopted, including Penny, who was four when she joined the family.

“It’s challenging,” said Mishael Wise, “(but) we felt God’s calling to do this to help some kids out.”

It’s that same faith, she said, that’s getting them through this nightmare.

The Wises told Target 8 that investigators, including federal authorities, have looked very closely at the family.

“They really have to look at the parents, too,” said Mishael Wise. “I mean, if you watch any of the crime shows and whatnot, they always look at family and they have done that. We’ve been very open, honest, very forthcoming.”

The Wises said while the inquiry feels invasive, they know it’s necessary.

‘IT DOESN’T HELP WHEN THEY’RE LOOKING AT US’

“It’s frustrating because I understand why they have to do it, but I know they’re barking up the wrong tree, because I know what happened. She voluntarily left, and it doesn’t help when they’re looking at us.”

David and Mishael Wise said they try to ignore internet trolls and critics who question why they don’t appear more emotional during interviews.

“I do not break down and sob in front of people,” said Mishael Wise. “That is not my personality. I will cry in private….I am broken inside. My close friends and family know how broken we are and how sad we are and how we are personally dealing with that. But we don’t want to do that in the public eye.”

David Wise echoed the sentiment.

“We’re not trying to make it a sob story,” he said. “We just want her found….If you’re out there, Penny, come home. Make yourself known somewhere. Write a letter, text, call, email, anything….Right now, we just need to know that she’s okay.”

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