Family Of Runaway Mountain Lakes Teen Thanks Police

MOUNTAIN LAKES, NJ — Four days after a 15-year-old runaway from Mountain Lakes was found safe following a two-week search, his family shared a heartfelt thank you message to everyone who searched for their son.

Thomas Kolding, 15, ran away from home on Oct. 30. The two week, multi-state search captivated people from around the nation, who shared articles and social media posts about the teen's disappearance thousands of times as police worked around the clock to locate him.

In a public Facebook post, father Nicolai Kolding thanked law enforcement officers who worked on the search, which ended when Thomas was found safe in Philadelphia on Nov. 13.

"We give special thanks to the police. Over the course of two weeks, we met many police officers, several of whom I stopped randomly on the street to ask for help. Without exception, every single one was kind and decent and sympathetic and professional. When I told our story, they listened and cared. Deeply. They helped us along at each step and were ultimately there when we needed them most," he said in a Nov. 17 post.

Nicolai Kolding said the family has spent the days since finding Thomas together, and expressed his gratitude, writing, "The last few days have been spent quietly as a gratefully reunited family: talking, hugging, crying, laughing, and hugging some more. We cannot say enough how incredibly thankful we are to so many people for what we have."

Thomas Kolding was safe when he was located, Nicolai Kolding said at the time. The teen spent a night in the hospital "as he's been through a lot over these last two weeks" but was otherwise in good health. He declined to share more information at that point, but said they might share more in the future.

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