West Bank Family Upset by MySpace No-Show

Shawn Lester, left, stands next to daughter Mary while they listen to Tuscola County Sheriff Tom Kern speak during a news conference outside the Tuscola County Court House in Caro, Mich., Monday, June 12, 2006, about the June 5 disappearance Lester's other daughter Katherine. Katherine, 16, apparently planned to visit a man in the Middle East after meeting her on MySpace.com. (AP Photo/Douglas Brooks) (J. Douglas Brooks - AP)

"When she didn't arrive it was a sad day for us. All kinds of thoughts went through our heads and we asked the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, and they told us she went back to the U.S. from Jordan," the mother said.

She said her family was taken aback by the attention the case has received, and is afraid the FBI will get involved. And she said the family didn't want to hurt the girl and had no idea she acted without her parents' consent.

Sana Jinzawi said five other Jericho residents had brought American girls to Jericho in recent years and that all the couples now live in the U.S.

Authorities are trying to determine if any laws were broken in the Lester case. The age of sexual consent in Michigan is 16, and Katherine Lester turns 17 on June 21.

MySpace.com is a social networking Web site with more than 72 million members. Its popularity with teenagers has raised concerns with U.S. authorities, and there have been scattered accounts of sexual predators targeting minors they met through the site.

Sana Jinzawi says her son and Lester have been in touch since the teenager returned to Michigan. "Neither of them are giving up on each other," she said.

Wood, the lawyer, said she believed that Lester and the man had communicated since her return. "I do think that is happening," she said.

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Associated Press Writer David N. Goodman in Detroit contributed to this story.