The cell phone of a missing Oregon woman was recovered Friday, police said, and they hope it will provide clues in the Starbucks barista's disappearance.
Whitney Heichel, 21, was last seen by her husband in a Gresham, Ore. apartment on Tuesday morning, when she left for her work shift to a Starbucks only about five minutes away from her home, police said.
Previous story: Oregon woman, 21, vanished during five-minute commute to work
Gresham Police said Friday they are trying to pull data and fingerprints from Heichel’s cell phone, and called it “a very favorable find,” according to NBC station KGW in Portland. Children playing in a field found the phone and it was turned in to police, KGW reported.
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Authorities are also using dogs to search the area where the phone was found, according to KGW. That is about two miles from where Heichel’s abandoned SUV was found, as well as about a mile-and-a-half from a gas station where her bank card was used the morning she disappeared, KGW also reported. Her vehicle is a black 1999 Ford Explorer with tinted taillights and an Oregon license plate. Police found the SUV with a shattered window, as if someone had rummaged around inside.
Police also said Friday that Heichel’s husband is “not a suspect” in the disappearance, however no one has been cleared in this case, The Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Ore. reported.
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"The longer she is gone, the more this is concerning to us," Gresham police Lt. Claudio Grandjean told reporters Friday morning, according to the newspaper.
Hiechel is 5 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs 120 pounds.
Officials say any information to law enforcement is helpful, The Oregonian reported, and about 50 tips came in overnight. Anyone with information is asked to call the Gresham Police Tip Line.
This article includes reporting from NBC station KGW in Portland and NBC News' Andrew Mach.
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