Missing bipolar teenager found

Tuesday, May 18, 2004 | 10:56 a.m.

Jesseca Holland, a 16-year-old who had vanished more than a month ago in Las Vegas, was found early Sunday.

"I'm ecstatic," her father, Jesse Holland, said. "I'm so happy she is safe."

Jesseca is bipolar and had been in a Las Vegas group home for treatment, but disappeared after visiting a neighborhood park on April 13, her father said.

Sunday, police responded to a 911 call and found Jesseca with a man and woman in the parking lot of a hotel near Mandalay Bay, Jesse Holland said. The pair found with Jesseca as well as another man were arrested on charges of kidnapping and lewdness with a minor, authorities said.

Holland said he was reunited with his daughter Monday at University Medical Center, where police took her for a medical checkup. She is in protective custody and was to appear in juvenile court at 9 a.m. today because she may face charges in connection with her disappearance.

"All I want to do is get her long-term treatment," Holland said. "My daughter's life was threatened a few days ago."

Reports that Jesseca had been seen on Las Vegas Valley streets had haunted Holland, who, with his ex-wife, had spent late nights and early mornings searching for her for weeks.

The couple hung posters with his daughter's photo on them and talked to everyone they could about the need for Jesseca to be found.

"A detective told me that because she had been gone for over a month, we were lucky to find her," Holland said.

Three years ago mental health experts at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City diagnosed Jesseca with bipolar illness and schizophrenic tendencies, Holland said. Her condition requires close monitoring and medication, he said.

Holland, an employee of the Barrick Gold Mine Company, said his insurance ran out. He then pressed state officials in both Utah and Nevada for a solution. One avenue would have required him to give his daughter up to the state. Instead, Nevada officials placed Jesseca in the group care home.

"Jesseca was not aware that so many people were looking for her," her father said. He flew into Las Vegas from his home in Elko on Sunday morning.

Holland said that his daughter appeared to be in good physical condition after her ordeal of living on the streets.