Family reunited with student in London

Junior Lisa Wright was known to her friends and family as a bubbly, motivated person. But when her family arrived in London after she had disappeared for several days, the young woman they found was very different.\n"She's always been an upbeat, very outgoing person and that personality -- that had been tempered somewhat," said Wright's uncle Matthew Steward. "Something has caused that and we're trying to just ascertain what that is. I guess you could say that she's somewhat reserved, but its just very difficult to go beyond that."\nWright had completed a study abroad program in London April 15 and had not responded to any of her family's e-mails in more than a week. Her family became concerned when they hadn't heard from Wright because of their close relationship with her.\nWright's last known contact was in London Tuesday with a cousin who lives two hours from where she had been staying. Wright left her cell phone with her cousin about a month ago and was supposed to pick it up after her program ended, Steward said. But Wright changed her plans and decided to stay in London. She gave her cousin an address where her cell phone could be sent. Wright said she would either be staying there or would be in contact there. But she never made it there.\nWhen days began to pass without word from Wright, her family filed a missing persons report, and investigations began abroad. Monday, Steward said he received word from London police that Wright had been found and was in "relatively good health."\nWhile Steward waited for updates on the investigation in Indianapolis, Wright's family arrived in London.\nSteward said family members arrived in England at 8 a.m. London time to be greeted by Wright and another family member who lives there.\n"They've pretty much spent time with Lisa trying to support her and learn more about what may have occurred," Steward said. \nSteward said right now the situation is very delicate, and it has been a slow process finding out exact details about what happened. \n"Almost all of us talked to Lisa every week and she was eagerly awaiting her mother and family members that were coming to visit with her in London," he said. "Now we're just trying to ascertain what happened to change her mood."\nA spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police Department in London said as far as they are concerned, the case has been solved.\n"This was a missing persons case, and she has been found," she said, adding no more details could be released.\nSteward said for now, unless there are any other developments, he agrees with MPD's decision to close the case.\n"At this point I certainly believe (MPD has) done their job," Steward said. "If any other information becomes available, then it perhaps would reopen the case. As a police officer, I would be resting at this point too. There's nothing I can see at this point that is criminal in nature."\nSteward said despite his original concerns about the way the investigation was conducted he now has more of an understanding about how things progressed.\n"In terms of investigative processes, not only London police but agencies from state to state or even from city to state to federal do things differently," Steward said. "I think it was more so about the differences between policies. Obviously what the London (Police) did was very effective because they located her in very good time given the size of London ... I was probably was a little anxious. I'd be the first to apologize to them about the job they've done."\nSteward said right now, the family's main concern is to find out more about what happened and make Wright feel more comfortable.\n"There is definitely going be some healing time," he said. "We'll try and move forward and bring this young lady back into the mainstream of where she was before."\n-- Contact Campus Editor Mallory Simon at mgsimon@indiana.edu.