Local News in Brief : Fears of Kidnaping Prove Unfounded

A34-year-old Sepulveda woman who was feared kidnaped by a 16-year-old boy has told police that she voluntarily drove the youth to San Francisco and dropped him off with relatives, officers said Tuesday.

There is no evidence that Joyce Elaine Matola was kidnaped, as police first thought after she disappeared Feb. 19 without notice to her husband or three children, said Lt. Vern Higbee. Matola’s bed was found slashed with a knife.

The woman returned home Saturday unharmed, Higbee said.

“She decided of her own volition to take this troubled kid up to relatives near San Francisco, and she had some car problems, and that was the extent of it,” the detective said.

Police have abandoned their search for the youth. Matola family members said that he had been taken in by the Matolas about a year ago because he was having family problems, but that he left several months ago for reasons they would not detail.