Crime & Safety
Missing Teen Sought In Venice, Police Say
A missing 13-year-old Oregon boy could be living in Venice, his family tells Patch. They're asking the public to help find him.
VENICE, CA — The family of a missing 13-year-old boy from Oregon is asking the public for help finding him and believes he could be living in Venice Beach.
Kail Thomas Schmalz, 13, went missing April 30 in Medford, Oregon, his grandmother told Patch. He told her that he was staying with friends that weekend but never returned or called her.
His family believes he ran away from Oregon to California with a 16-year-old girl who posed as a 14-year-old and could be living among unhoused people in a tent encampment.
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"The most remarkable thing is he is a 6 foot tall 13-year-old so he comes off as being older than 13 because he’s so big," his grandmother said.
"We had a falling out a few days before," his grandmother said.
Find out what's happening in Venice-Mar Vistafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
His grandmother didn't want the girl, who has been apparently couch-hopping, to stay at her home and offered to help her and find another place to stay.
"She got her backpack and said no," his grandmother said. "I learned later that she’s a runaway. She turned 16 a couple of days after that incident. I started calling the numbers on Kail’s phone and one of the numbers turned out to be her dad. He was concerned and has been helping me all along and has never stopped talking to me."
The girl turned herself in to authorities in Los Angeles and said she last saw Kail on Venice Beach staying in a tent. She is currently hospitalized, but it's unclear what happened.
His family is worried and wants him to return home.
Kail is about 6 feet 1 inch tall. He weighs between 200 and 240 pounds. He has blond hair and blue eyes.
He was last seen wearing a sweatshirt with a black and green psychedelic design that says "SULLEN" on the back of it, white sweatpants and black high-top shoes. He was carrying a light-colored backpack.
Anyone with information can call Medford Police Department at 541-776-7206, case number 21-7109.
Patch reached out to Los Angeles Police Department's Pacific Division for more information.
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