"Madison County prosecutors on Friday charged 41-year-old Christine M. Scheffel of East Alton with obstructing justice. Scheffel allegedly lied to a police officer on June 28 about Heather's whereabouts. The charge is a Class 4 felony.
Prosecutors also charged Roger W. Carroll, 44, and Monica Carroll, 44, with harboring a runaway Heather Woodward at their home in rural Jersey County from June 17 through July 3. Harboring a runaway is a misdemeanor.
Alton police Sgt. Jerry Cooley said Scheffel is a teacher at East Alton-Wood River High School and the Carrolls are friends of Scheffel.
Cooley said not knowing the girl's whereabouts or that she was safe necessitated needless work for Alton and East Alton police and other law enforcement agencies involved in investigating the two disappearances.
"We put a lot of man-hours into looking for Heather," Cooley said. He said police had to treat both cases as potentially involving foul play and possibly linked. If Heather was safe, he said, police needed to know if she had any information that would help police determine what happened to Bonnie Woodward."