17-year-old missing Florida girl found safe with soccer coach in New York

A 17-year-old Florida teen who had gone missing from her home nearly a week ago has been found in New York, law enforcement officials said on Friday (1 December).

Caitlyn Frisina, 17, was believed to be heading north with Rian Rodriguez, a 27-year-old soccer coach, after they were spotted at a pawn shop in Syracuse on Sunday.

According to Murray Smith, the public relations officer for the Columbia County Sheriff's Office, the police believed that there was the "blossoming of a potential relationship," between Frisina and Rodriguez, ABC News reported.

According to reports, Frisina — who plays soccer at the Fort White High School, where Rodriguez is a coach for the boys' soccer team — left her house on Saturday night.

The teen had left her home on her own, leaving behind her phone, "which she fully erased," the Columbia County Sheriff's office said in a Facebook post on Sunday.

According to Fox News, Frisina's father said that Rodriguez was a family friend and there were no indications that his daughter would leave with him.

"Caitlyn has a current boyfriend who also is beside himself because everything was fine," Smith added.

Scarlet Frisina, the teen's mother told CBS News on Friday, "I know that she to some degree left on her own. But I absolutely believe that she was lied to and totally misled. Something was going on. We just don't know what."

According to a statement released by the Columbia County School District, they said they were working in tandem with the sheriff's office and added that the coach has been suspended due to the ongoing investigation.