Four UFO believers whose unexplained disappearance worried this Kansas town for days turned up at a Washington, D.C., airport on their way to Israel.
Interviews with the women Thursday confirmed they left Russell voluntarily, said Sheriff Bob Balloun.Relatives of the four women had all expressed concerns when they disappeared earlier this month, and Balloun said deputy sheriffs spent days chasing down leads.
FBI agents interviewed the women as they were preparing to leave for Tel Aviv, Balloun said. They were traveling with Scott Corder, a physician from Ottawa, in eastern Kansas, who lost his medical license in 1989 for mental unfitness after revealing he believed in UFOs.
"The FBI agents talked to them. They identified themselves. They talked freely and said they were OK. They said they were traveling of their own free will," Balloun said.
The women's disappearances were initially treated lightly by townspeople in Russell, a west-central Kansas town of about 5,000, the hometown of Republican Sen. Bob Dole.
Two convenience stores posted signs this week saying "Official UFO Fuel Stop" and "Free Mars Bar With Every UFO Fill Up." But the jokes were replaced by concern as the disappearances continued to confound family members and investigators.
Marcia Brock, 46, a high-school teacher, and her daughters, University of Kansas students Stephanie, 20, and Sonya, 21, were last seen Sept. 9 at the funeral of a friend.
Donna Butts, 39, was reported missing from her home on Sept. 17. Butts has written two books, one with Corder, suggesting that angel-bearing UFOs will rescue chosen survivors from a nuclear holocaust.