Missing Denver child found thanks in part to the internet

April 17, 9:33 AMDenver Internet ExaminerMari Kurisato

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After nearly a week of being missing, Jennifer Frisina was found safe and returned home to her family, due in large part to efforts like the folks who submitted comments in the original Examiner.com story, Facebook, Twitter, and other internet outlets to raise awareness and keep the pressure on. Even as commenters in the story were asking if this was a hoax, I phoned Arapahoe County Sheriff Investigator Lieutenant Curti looking for Bruce Isaccson to confirm the story. He confirmed the story, and thanked me for my interest, stating that he would get back to me when he knew anything further. Through no fault of his own Lieutenant Curti didn't get back to me until later that day, but he did call.

Though efforts were spreading across the internet, I can only write about what I knew happened.

(UPDATED: I'm getting several reports that many others than listed here helped contribute to the effort. This includes @AlohaArleen and @NashvilleDebbi amongst others. This list is by no way inclusive of everyone who helped, just the indiviuals that I saw in the busy rush of events yesterday.)
Coordinating with the efforts of other Twitters, including @SoulGeek, @BuzzEdition,  @TheExpert @AbsolutelyTrue and most crucially Denver's own @Zaibatsu, Reg Saddler,  people  were able to saturate the social media service and catch the attention of CBS 4 News Denver, via @cbs4denver who broadcast the story on the 5 o'clock news yesterday.

CBS 4 Denver reporter Terry Jessup reported on that report that the Sheriff's Office “did receive an unusual amount of what he (the investigating officer) called 'blogosphere calls' at the Arapahoe County Sheriff's office”

The alerts continued for some time on Twitter. And then at 7:33pm, Linda Frisina, the family spokesperson and Jennifer's grandmother, sent this last night via email:

She's been found...details to come

I called Linda soon after and got an exhausted confirmation--Linda sounded like she had been fielding calls from the whole planet, and maybe she had been. So I hopped back on the Twitter service, and flashed this out to everyone who had been helping send out the alerts

JUST RECIEVED EMAIL FROM LINDA FRISINA THAT JENNIFER FRISINA HAS BEEN FOUND. NO DETAILS YET.

which I then forwarded to CBS 4 News' Assignment Editor Misty Montano who was able to confirm the story and get an update on their 10 o'clock newscast.

If anyone had any doubt what role services like Twitter, Facebook, and other internet outlets are playing in cooperative news telling, this story may cast aside some doubt. And because it began with Frank Frisina reaching out, I thought I would let him have the last word, taken from an email sent to me at 3:38 AM:

SHE IS HOME!  SAFE AND UNHARMED!

You are the absolute best....  I am pretty sure that your efforts got us the Channel 4 exposure.    I cannot thank you enough for all your efforts.   You can really pat yourself on the back for a job well done.    I have no doubt it helped us find her.   

You gotta read my post on lifesabluff.com and make sure you watch the video.   

The investigator suggested we make some sort of how-to for future missing kid cases.  He said in all his years he had never seen this kind of response and forced reaction by media or law enforcement.  They had to put a 2nd cop on the case JUST to handle the Internet chatter.   I am really proud of this effort we mounted.   I think we broke some pretty new ground in that area.

It is one of those times where something bad... can turn around and spawn something positive.    That how-to is one...  all my new friends is the other...  yourself included.

Well...I gotta get some rest... I had maybe 8 hours of real sleep in 6 days...        I tell ya.. I'd rather die than to experience that again....  pure living horror.

You can read the entry on his website here. Oh, and if I made any grammar errors or missed dates in the story, please leave corrections in the comments; this is a collaborative effort.