Authorities seek missing American

The teenager arrived in Brazil in July to spend a year as an exchange student.
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- A 17-year-old American exchange student missing in Brazil was seen trying to hitchhike to the capital the day she disappeared, Brazilian authorities said Wednesday.
Mykensie Martin, a senior at Summit High School in Bend, Ore., was reported missing Sunday, said Kreg and Judy Roth of the Rotary Youth Exchange Program in Bend.
A witness spotted the girl Sunday evening on the side of a highway leading to Brasilia from the town of Unai, about 80 miles from the capital, said Unai police detective Celso Avila Prado.
Martin told the witness she was on her way to an event sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brasilia and did not have enough money for a bus ticket, Prado said.
The witness told police the teen appeared nervous, but believed it was because she did not have enough money for a ticket, he said.
The Roths said Martin left her host city of Carmo do Paranaiba early Sunday to travel 38 miles by bus to Patos de Minas, where she attends a Mormon church.
Changed bus ticket
Investigators said that instead of returning, she changed her bus ticket to travel 150 miles to Unai, Kreg Roth said Tuesday. A detective interviewed a bus fee collector who identified Martin as riding the bus all the way to Unai.
It was unclear why the teen went to Unai, though the town lies between her host city and Brasilia.
The FBI is working with its office in Brazil, as well as family members and the sheriff's office in Oregon, said FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele in Portland.
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