Rockwood — Two nights after the TBI issued an Amber alert for 17-year-old Haley Brandenburg, residents in Roane County are relieved to know the Rockwood teen has been found safe.
For Brandenburg's friends, the news comes after a stressful 36 hours.
"I actually heard from a customer. She was paying for her food and she got an alert on her phone and she showed me that a girl was missing. I asked her, could I see, and it showed that it was Haley. My stomach just dropped," said Brandenburg's co-worker Tiffany Lopez.
The search also hit close to home for the Rockwood Police Department.
"Every officer in our department knows Haley," said Rockwood Police Chief Bill Stinnett. "She's worked at the Subway for a while, she's a very delightful young lady."
Police expected Brandenburg to be with 31-year-old Robert Andrew Garren in a 2006 Honda Odyssey. The van was found Friday morning in Chattanooga. Friday morning police in an Atlanta suburb found two people walking along a ramp on Interstate 75 in Henry County and realized they matched the description of the Amber alert.
"We were worried about her medical conditions," Chief Stinnett said. "We didn't know how she could obtain any while she was gone, and as time went on, we were worried that she could have some seizure activity, which could've been fatal."
Brandenburg was found within 48 hours of the Amber alert being issued.
"This event stacks up there with the best, or the most gratifying cases I have worked," Stinnett said.
For her friends and coworkers, the news that she is returning to Roane County is a relief.
"If customers ask me 'have they heard anything,' I can actually say yes, she's found," Lopez said. "I'm happy that she's home. Her mom doesn't have to have that worry in her heart anymore, because it could've been a bad outcome."
Chief Stinnett says police questioned Garren, but as of Saturday afternoon he had not been charged with a crime.