Search for Orange Girl Cost $25K

The four-day search for a missing 13 year old girl from Orange was costly, but town leaders say no price can be placed on a child's life.

The town spent $25,226 on police overtime costs for 33 police officers and supervisors during the search for Isabella Oleschuk, according to the New Haven Register.

Isabella ran away from home March 20 and was found four days later when a New Haven woman spotted someone in an abandoned farm stand.

The seventh grader was found safe, and police say she told them she was unaware hundreds of people were looking for her.

Assistant Police Chief Edward Koether responded to a Freedom of Information request by the New Haven Register for costs incurred by the department in its search for Isabella.

First Selectman James Zeoli said the town will pay those costs and the full costs involved in the search for Isabella are likely incalculable because state police and the FBI spent countless hours on the search, and hundreds of people took time off from their day jobs to volunteer.

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