So should I just that homeless camp is case she decided to be totally and spontaneously self reliant ?
This girl did not just take off or decide to start with nothing including her 10 bucks.
Is that snark? I'm not quite sure...
I for one have no idea exactly HOW much money she had with her. Maybe she had money saved up. Maybe at the time, it wasn't a concern. Maybe a person doesn't think through things rationally every minute of their life.
Maybe she was in contact with someone via sm/Kik or some other means and this person was more than happy to take her in.
Do you think all runaways have a great financial plan when they take off? If that were true we wouldn't have young people living on the streets getting involved in dark things just to stay alive.
I don't know Katelin, so I can't speak for her desire to stay in the life she was in, or whether or not she was happy, depressed, dependent, manipulative, or a million other things. People sometimes present one face to the world and another in the mirror.
Some recent cases I've followed: a teen who was "unhappy" got a 41 year old man to pick her up from her own home while her family was right inside the house. She was then not allowed to return home and the creepy dude (who she met via Kik) destroyed her phone.
Another young man disappeared himself for two whole months before reappearing and apologizing for causing his family and friends heartache because of his disappearance. I have no clue where he was for 2 months, but he managed to survive on his own for that long without being found.
Another college aged girl seemed to vanish into thin air in CA. On her way to a bus stop, but never got on the bus. Later found in another city at a shelter. She apparently was feeling a lot of pressure in her life and needed to get away. A huge search went on for her, helicopters, dogs, etc.... her family was notified that she was safe during a vigil they were having for her.
I don't think it is out of the question for her to have disappeared herself (actually that's best case, I think) because just the three examples I gave also were people who left with basically the clothes off their back. It could happen.