We got an email Friday afternoon from Lisanna Fox, who says that her niece Tayvaunna Milam, 15, is missing, and that she “…may be in the South Park, White Center, and Burien area. Can you please post her information on your site?”

So we made some calls, checked with the Washington State Patrol, spoke with her Mother Lydia, and confirmed that this is a legit runaway case, so if you’ve seen Tayvaunna (pictured, left), you are urged to contact the Seattle Police Department at (206) 684-5582, or the WSP Missing Persons Unit at 1-800-543-5678 immediately.

Here’s the email request we received from Lisanna:

My name is Lisanna and I have a 15-yr-old niece that has been missing since the 25th of November. Her name is Tayvaunna Milam. The case has been reported to the SPD, WSP, as well as The Center For Missing And Exploited Children. We have been posting fliers throughout Seattle and the surrounding areas. There has been info relayed to us that she may be in the South Park, White Center, and Burien area. Can you please post her information on your site. The information has been approved by all of the above agencies..thank you for any help that you can offer with getting the word out!! Every little bit helps and I think that it is important that our children know that we care and will go to great lengths for them. Again thank you and Happy Holidays.

Here’s the poster from the Washington State Patrol (download a PDF here if you’d like to post it):

Some helpful links:

• Help The Children Profile Page On Tayvaunna
• PDF Poster from the Washington State Patrol
• Web page & poster  from MissingKids.com

Here’s info directly from a poster:

Sgt. John Urquhart of the King County Sheriff’s Department reported Monday (Nov. 9th) that Nicholas Francisco, a SeaTac man who went missing in Feb. 2008, has been found alive and well, living in another state, and under a new name.

Francisco, 28 at the time, told colleagues at a Seattle ad agency on Feb. 13, 2008 that he would be heading to a local Safeway and then the Southcenter/Tukwila Costco before going home to his pregnant wife and two children to bake cookies in SeaTac.

Francisco’s car was found a few days later abandoned at a condominium complex in Federal Way, and an extensive investigation was conducted to see if he had been a victim of foul play.

Nothing turned up, and subsequently his wife, Christine, filed for divorce, citing “willful abandonment that continues for a period of time” and a “history of acts of domestic violence … or an assault or sexual assault which causes grievous bodily harm or the fear of such harm” as her reasons.

Christine has a daughter, 4, and a son, 2, and was also pregnant at the time (meaning she has three kids now).

Last week detectives developed information that he was in fact alive, had changed his name and was living outside of Washington.

“Since he did nothing illegal and this case is basically closed, we won’t reveal where he was found,” Urquhart said to The B-Town Blog. “But let me tell you – there was something incredibly unique about this guy that made bloggers go crazy. In all my years, I have never seen such a reaction. I’m glad this case is closed.”

And yes, the King County Sheriff’s Department has indeed closed their investigation.

Obviously, Francisco’s incident caused a lot of people a lot of grief, and a lot of time and money was spent on his alleged “missing” case. We’re certain that today, while many are relieved to know that he’s still alive, many are not too happy with his decision to just up and leave like he did, abandon his wife and kids and start a new life elsewhere.

UPDATE 10pm 11/9/09: We just discovered the following post on a forum devoted to this case that appears to be be from Francisco’s ex-wife, Christine, who claims the former-Nicholas is now living in LA:

This is Christine Carter. I have a few things to say to the lot of you. On this board and other places as well I have been FALSELY accused of lying, adultery, slander, hypocrisy, and of course murder. I’m sure the list of false accusations is longer but this is the general list. First let me say that I have prayed for each one of you that your hearts would be softened, your tongues kinder and your eyes be opened to the truth. It seems that God has not answered that prayer, yet. I know what all of you think of me. Admittedly at first it bothered me until I realized that you don’t know me and you don’t know Nicholas. You only know the pictured that I painted of him. For me you saw blips here and there while I was surviving the biggest tragedy of my life. When I married Nicholas it was forever. We took vows before God to love each other unconditionally and honor each other until death. When I took that vow I meant it. When Nicholas took it I truly believed that he meant it as well. I loved Nicholas with all of my heart. No evil thing you say about me can change that. No matter what kind of woman I am or you think I am Nicholas took vows and he knew me for two years before he married me. He chose to marry me. No one held a gun to his head to make marry me and stay married to me for seven years and have three beautiful kids with me. Those were things that Nicholas and I chose to do and we chose together. Believe what you will. God knows the truth as does Nicholas and myself. When Nicholas disappeared I couldn’t imagine that he walked out on me and our kids. The reason I could not imagine it is because I would never do it and to me it was unthinkable and I truly believed that Nicholas felt the same way. Why would I think Nicholas felt that way? well it’s simple. He told me over and over and over how much he loved me, how glad he was he married me and that he would always be with me. So no that night and for weeks following I couldn’t imagine him walking out on me. Then his secret life was discovered and my whole world was shattered all over again. Everything I thought was true was a lie. Many of you believe you know everything about this case. Well i’m sorry to be the one to tell you this but honestly you all know very little. What you think you know are just things in your imagination built off of tiny details you chose to pick at and blow way out of proportion. There are many details that have not been shared with you and will not be shared with you. You simply don’t deserve it. People who love me and who have supported me and my kids through this know the details and they are all who need to know. Perhaps someday in a book you will read all those juicy details you hunger for. Until then you will just have to continue using your imaginations. So why did I come on here and make this post? I had a few things I wanted to say to you before I tell you that Nicholas is alive. Yes that is right Nicholas is alive and well. He was recently found living in Los Angeles California. I will not give you the details on how he was found because I don’t want to give other dead beat dads any ideas. I will say that his money was garnished and given to me in a child support check to which he fought to have at least 80% of it returned claiming a hardship. The check was not for a sum as to cause a man a hardship. I will say that for a man that runs out on his pregnant wife and two kids no hardship for him could be worse than what he put us through. A board discussed this hardship he claimed and they denied it. The board stated it was not a hardship and thus a check was sent to me. I know you all have many questions that I have the answers to but history says that no matter what I tell you none of you believe a word from me. At this point I believe that the lot of you owe me a huge apology for all of the nasty, untruthful, hateful, disgusting things that you have said about me not only on here but in every way and to every person you possibly could. I am also considering filing suit on many of you for defamation of character. Yes I have a very good lawyer and yes I have a good case. So how do you feel knowing that Nicholas is alive and well and living under an alias just to avoid supporting the three children he willingly and wantingly fathered? How do you feel? As a final thought: Nicholas chose to lead a double life behind my back to which he started long before he ever met me. He chose to commit adultery. He chose to lie. He chose to walk away that night and not look back. He chose to break my heart. He chose to financially kill me. He chose to steal from his children. He chose to break the hearts of his kids. He chose to not call and let anyone know he was okay for the last 21 months. He chose. He chose this. I did not choose this. My kids did not choose this. Nicholas chose for us and that is not okay. What Nicholas did is evil and dark to put it mildly. I know that all of my words here will be twisted. Oh well. I am not perfect and I never claimed to be. I did not ever do anything to drive Nicholas away. He chose to never talk to me. He chose to run and hide. He chose to be selfish. I am the one that chose to stay and love these amazing kids through everything. I may not be a dream wife but I am far from evil and dark.

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Things are not always as they appear

Here are some videos that were produced and posted online:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Read our previous coverage of this story here.