Missing Actress Found Safe in Apple Valley

A teen actress who disappeared from her parents’ home in Apple Valley was found Thursday by a school district police officer at the home of a high school friend, authorities said.

Scout Taylor-Compton, who had a recurring role in the television series “Gilmore Girls” and appeared in last year’s teen comedy film “Sleepover,” had been reported missing since Aug. 12.

An Apple Valley School District officer found the actress while investigating a report that a Granite Hills High School student was overheard talking about Taylor-Compton, saying she was staying at his home.

“Our P.E. coach told me he had a boy bragging in class about a girl movie star living in his house, so I got the kid’s name and learned he was marked absent,” district police officer Cesar Molina said. “My suspicions were raised, so I went to do a home visit.”

Molina said that when a woman answered the door at the boy’s Apple Valley home, he saw Taylor-Compton in the living room. Molina said he told the actress, “You’ve got to come with me.”

Taylor-Compton had been missing since leaving the Apple Valley home of her father and stepmother on the morning of Aug. 12, a San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokeswoman said.

In an interview Thursday with sheriff’s deputies, Taylor-Compton, 16, reportedly said she had been safe and unharmed throughout that time. Sheriff’s officials did not reveal why Taylor-Compton said she ran away.

The actress was later reunited with her father and stepmother.

“We are happy we can take one runaway juvenile out of our system,” sheriff’s spokeswoman Robin Haynal said.