The Hungarian Rotary exchange student who disappeared after dropping out of Oneonta High School in June was located Thursday.
Natalia Timar, 19, was found Thursday in the East New York section of Brooklyn and will be returning home, said private investigator Augustine Papay Jr. The retired New York City homicide detective was hired by her family in September.
She will be staying at his Port Jervis home until her Malav Hungarian Airlines plane leaves John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens on Sunday to bring her home, he said.
Timar said Friday that she did not want to talk about the situation.
Papay said he would not say how she was located, except that a cell-phone number of someone she was with at one point played a key role.
"She is still traumatized in a way that she will not discuss certain things," in explaining why he would not discuss what happened to her since she left Oneonta.
After she was located, she initially did not want to return home, he said, but he was pleased that she called Friday morning to change her mind.
Papay took her to the Hungarian Embassy to get a replacement passport on Friday afternoon, he said. He charged her airline ticket but said the family is expected to reimburse him.
"Her parents are ecstatic," he said. "They just love it that they are getting her back."
OHS German teacher Richard Breuninger is a country coordinator with the Oneonta Rotary program. He has been involved with the program for more than 30 years.
"It's really good she was found," he said. "Everybody was concerned."
This is the first time such an incident had happened, he said, but it won't change the way the program is run. There was nothing in her application that could have alerted anyone, he said.
It might make it harder to recruit host families in the future, he added.
Papay thanked the area police agencies that helped with the investigation. State Police at Oneonta Sgt. Brian Weidman said, "We're glad she was found."
Otsego Sheriff's Investigator Michael Ten Eyck said his agency conducted interviews for Palay in September, and he was glad to hear Timar was going home.
