Mia Casto, Farmington, Utah teen, 19, found dead after reported missing by her family, despite a missed opportunity when the teen suddenly wandered into the house of Brad MacDonald, only for the teen to disappear when he called police.
The body of a 19 year old Utah teen girl who went missing from her family’s Farmington home on Friday was found by search crews in the area of Rudd Creek, above Farmington on Sunday.
Mia Casto was reported missing by her family at 12:40 p.m. Saturday. Just over 24 hours later, at 2:05 p.m. Sunday, Mia’s body was found by search crews.
‘The use of tracking canines, aerial drones, two DPS helicopters, and search crews from the Davis County Search and Rescue Team, along with other investigative resources were deployed to aid in the search efforts from the time of reporting,’ stated the Farmington Police Department.
Mia Casto suddenly appears at Brad MacDonald’s home
Casto was last seen in home surveillance footage dressed in a long coat, baseball cap and slippers, holding what appeared to be a violin case as she walked up to Brad MacDonald‘s home around 12:30pm on Friday.
Although it is unclear exactly how she died, Farmington Police Chief Eric Johnsen told FOX 13 News that Casto appeared to suffer a ‘series of falls’ and they believe her death was an accident. No foul play was suspected.
MacDonald told KSL-TV that he initially thought the teen was a friend of his daughter after the teen suddenly arriving at his family home, Friday afternoon. The family soon realized nobody knew her.
‘It was about 12:30 in the afternoon, and I was working out of my office,’ MacDonald told the outlet. ‘She came walking in. I thought it was one of my daughter’s friends.’
‘We suddenly realised this stranger had walked into our house. So we talked to her for a minute, asked her what she was doing, who she was here to see.’
Adding, ‘You can tell she was very confused. She didn’t really know what was going on.’
Unanswered questions
After talking with his 16-year-old daughter for a while, Casto suddenly left the house.
‘I told my daughter to follow her while I called the police, and so she followed her, and she walked out,’ MacDonald recalled.
‘She kind of walked over to the side of our house, and then they watched her walk across the road. There’s a trailhead that goes up into the backcountry up there.’
Police officers arrived at the man’s home shortly after, with Farmington police telling MacDonald her family had reported her missing. But by then Casto was nowhere to be found. Tragically the missing 19 year old’s body would be found not too far from MacDonald’s family home.
MacDonald told KSL-TV he didn’t know Casto had been reported missing until he was informed on Saturday by neighbors and friends.
‘I had felt guilty all day yesterday just knowing that she was here in our house, and we could have maybe stopped her or helped her more,’ the forlorn man said following news on Sunday of the discovery of Mia’s body.
Added MacDonald: ‘It was very emotional. I think we all, especially those of us who went up and looked for her this morning, none of us knew her at all.
‘But you feel a connection to her when you’re up there looking for her and then find out that she had passed away.’
Not immediately clear is what led to the Casto walking into MacDonald’s family home shortly after disappearing from her own family house? And why had she taken with her violin case? Had she planned to be somewhere?
A GoFundMe page has been created to help the teen’s loved ones.
