Missing Kane college student found in Chicago hospital
By Matt Hanley and Stephanie Lulay mhanley@stmedianetwork.com, slulay@stmedianetwork.com August 23, 2012 10:06AM
Tanner Conroyd. Police are searching for 20-year-old Tanner Conroyd, who left for college from her Kane County home Sunday but never arrived at Illinois State University.
Updated: September 25, 2012 10:39AM
A Kane County woman who had been reported missing by her family Sunday was found safe Thursday at a Chicago-area hospital.
The Kane County sheriff’s office said it was contacted by the hospital at about 11:15 a.m. Thursday, and confirmed 20-year-old Tanner Conroyd was being treated there.
Sheriff’s Lt. Pat Gengler said investigators believe she was admitted to the hospital on Monday. Police do not believe Conroyd was a victim of foul play.
“We’ve received no indication she was injured,” Gengler said Thursday.
The woman’s father, Frank Conroyd of unincorporated St. Charles, said he was heading to the hospital to see her late Thursday afternoon.
“(I feel) complete joy,” Frank Conroyd said. “It’s almost like when she was born. She’s pretty, talented — all the things you hope a child would be.”
Gengler said Tanner Conroyd at some point told hospital staff her name. Investigators were able to confirm it was her by sending several photos to hospital staff.
The sheriff’s office is not releasing the name of the facility or going into details of her condition.
Detectives were told by hospital staff that media reports led them to realize the patient was Conroyd and led them to call the sheriff’s office with the information.
Conroyd left her father’s home near St. Charles at about noon on Sunday. Her family believed she was heading back to school at Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal. Her family contacted her friends at ISU, but none of them had seen her at the school, police said. Her family reported her missing to police in Normal on Sunday evening.
After leaving her home Sunday, Conroyd’s car broke down at the Brown Pub in Hinckley. She then hitched a ride to the Aurora Transportation Center in downtown Aurora and took the train to Union Station in Chicago.
Conroyd was spotted several times in Millennium Park in Chicago on Sunday and Monday, police said.
