Police: Missing Teen Has Assured Friends He is All Right

Missing 17-year-old Bogdan Predescu has spoken to friends, saying he is in Southern California and not ready to come home to Walnut Creek yet, police said Thursday.

"We are still investigating this case as a runaway juvenile," Pleasant Hill Police Lt. Dan Connelly wrote in an email to Patch. "We have spoken to one of his friends who has admitted speaking to him on the phone.  He told his friend that he was in Southern California, that he was fine, and wasn’t ready to come home yet."

After an emotional evening with his mother July 9, Predescu took her Honda Civic without permission and apparently left Walnut Creek without taking his cell phone,, Adina Ionesco. He had told friends of a long list of places he might go, including Southern California and Lake Tahoe.

Some friends have been worried about the possibility that Predescu, due to be a senior at Las Lomas High in Walnut Creek this fall, was abducted. A Facebook page called "Finding Bogdan" has 785 attending it and posters have suggested ways to locate the teenager.

One person writes on the Facebook page: "I don't know how we could do this but setting up a link for donations for a reward for his safe return to first person with accurate info."

"We have distributed fliers on the missing runaway to Southern California police departments," said Connelly. "We do not know what he is doing for money. We have one detective assigned who works this case along with other similar runaway cases."