Police looking for missing 12-year-old girl, Elizabeth Shambaugh/FOUND SAFE

Sheriff's deputies in Clackamas County are looking for a missing 12-year-old girl.

Elizabeth Shambaugh and her transient father, Kilunnun Chivoski, were driving north to Portland in a caravan of vehicles.

Police say at some point a woman they identified as 32-year-old Christine Eileen Johnston accepted Shambaugh in her 1985 Ford F250 pickup truck and continued toward Portland.

The group was to meet at a predetermined location in Clackamas County and Chivoski saw his daughter pass by as he stood on the road. Police say the girl was described to have a facial expression and body gestures that portrayed a statement of “What the heck!?”

The pickup truck, however, did not stop.

Police say the truck with Oregon plates XRQ-562 is registered to Johnston at a Umatilla, Ore. address. Police say the truck's destination may be Umatilla.

Investigators say they are concerned because the truck did not stop at the planned location. Additionally, they say police stopped the pickup earlier.

Police say they believe Johnston may have “improperly declared the 12-year-old … as her own child” during that stop.

According to investigators, Chivoski is a victim of Hurricane Katrina and has been moving across the country with his three children while working odd jobs.

Chivoski met Johnston about four days ago while she was panhandling in the Lebanon and Corvallis areas, police said.

She invited the family to the Umatilla area for food, rest, and to wash their clothes.

Authorities are currently contacting possible locations that Johnston might be associated with in Umatilla.

Investigators said they hope this is a case of miscommunication but are working on the assumption the child may be in jeopardy.

Police describe Shambaugh as 5 feet 2 inches tall, 122 pounds, with blond hair, and blue-green eyes. They say she was wearing a camouflage-colored tank top and blue jeans with holes in the knees.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Clackamas County Sheriff's office.

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Kilunnun Chivoski, the girl's father, said he was traveling from Tennessee to Bellingham, Wash., for work with his three children when they met 32-year-old Christine Johnston in the Corvallis area earlier this week.
She offered to help them if they traveled to her grandparent's house and they planned to drive to the eastern Oregon city of Umatilla.
Chivoski's daughter, Elizabeth Shambaugh, rode with Johnston with the understanding that Johnston would follow and stop wherever Chivoski did. But Johnston kept driving after he pulled off on the Johnson Creek exit off Interstate 205 at about 2 p.m., Chivoski said.
"My daughter was utterly confused, she threw her hands up and looked out the window like, 'What’s going on?' and that’s the last time I saw her," Chivoski said. "My concern now is what is her intent? She didn’t pull over. Where are you at and where’s my child at? That’s what I want to know -- where’s my child at?"

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Police find 12-year-old girl safe

By KATU.com Staff
Wednesday, August 11th, 7:00 pm
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Elizabeth Danielle Shambaugh

Update: According to the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office, 12-year-old Elizabeth Shambaugh has been found safe in Hood River.

According to the sheriff's office, a deputy with the Hood River County Sheriff's Office spotted the pickup truck in which Shambaugh was last seen parked just off Interstate 84 on Cascade Avenue at about 9:40 p.m.

Clackamas County deputies say they will interview the driver of the pickup to determine what happened.

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Johnston was arrested Wednesday night and charged with custodial interference, according to detective Jim Strovink. She was booked in the Clackamas County Jail and bail was set at $15,000.

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Thank goodness!!!!

Kilunun Chivoski: Drifter, grifter dad (of Elizabeth Shambaugh) arrested by deputies
by Michael Rollins, KGW staff
Bio | Email | Follow: @KGWNews
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 9:15 AM
Updated today at 11:33 AM
Related:
Missing girl found safe in Hood River; woman arrested
OREGON CITY -- An itinerant man who gained a measure of fame last month in an odd child custody case has been arrested for outstanding warrants out of Minnesota.

Kilunnun A. Chivoski, 36, reported to police in early August that a woman he had met panhandling in the Willamette Valley had vanished with his daughter when a traveling caravan split up without his knowledge.

The man told police he and his three children had been made homeless by Hurricane Katrina and he was traveling across the country looking for steady work. He was hoping to find work in Washington state at a horse farm where he had worked before.

The media jumped on the story. The girl was quickly found in Hood River. The woman who drove her away, presumably headed for Eastern Oregon, was arrested on an accusation of custodial interference.

On Tuesday, Clackamas County Sheriff's deputies arrested Chivoski, according to spokesman Det. Jim Strovink. Investigators had not let go of the case, Strovink said, and learned Chivoski was wanted in Minnesota for forgery and perjury.

He was taken into custody at 12:31 a.m. without incident at 8661 SE Jannsen Road.

The girl and two siblings who had led a nomadic life with their father have been in state custody, Strovink said. The children are reportedly living comfortably with foster families and embracing school, he said.

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Thank goodness!