A missing UNM student is now safe and sound after taking a road trip across five different states. Student Sheena Jain drove
through New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Arkansas by herself, said Hector Terrazas, UNM Police Department officer.

Jain went missing on March 6 and was last seen at her family’s home in Las Cruces, said Dan Trujillo, Las Cruces Police Department spokesman. Jain’s mother reported her as missing to Las Cruces Police that day, he said. Jain was found on March 15 near Socorro by New Mexico State Police, he said. She did not have contact with her family during the time she was gone, he said.

“Her family hadn’t heard from her,” Trujillo said. “We had reason to believe she may have left the state voluntarily.”

Terrazas said Jain left the state due to frustration with her family. She will voluntarily seek counseling services, he said.

Terrazas said UNMPD aided in the search for Jain by locating her current residence near campus.

He said that contrary to what other media outlets are reporting, her apartment was not searched by UNMPD officers. He said that after failing to locate Jain’s car in the apartment complex parking lot, officers asked the landlord to open Jain’s apartment and make sure that nothing looked out of the ordinary, while UNMPD officers stood outside.

“We told the landlord that if she saw anything to leave the apartment and lock it up for investigation by (Albuquerque Police Department),” he said. Jain’s credit card statements were inspected after nothing was found in the apartment, Terrazas said. Jain used the card in the five states she traveled to mostly for food and gas, he said. But he said that before Jain returned to New Mexico UNMPD did not know who was using her credit card.

Trujillo said that after the state trooper located Jain, she was removed from the missing persons’s list.

“She is an adult,” Trujillo said. “She didn’t do anything illegal so there was no reason for her to be taken into custody.”

Terrazas said UNM, Las Cruces, State, and Albuquerque Police departments combined efforts to locate Jain.

“We were very worried,” he said.
“But we were all working together to find her.”