EXCLUSIVE Parents did their best to keep daughter, 15, safe, but 'pedophiles' still found terrifying way to contact her... and now she's vanished

Daily Mail​

22-05-2025

Olga and Nikolai Petrov did all they could to keep their daughter Alisa safe from dangers lurking in the shadows.
They monitored her phone, checked all her messages, and taught the inquisitive and social teenager to be careful around strangers.
But Alisa, who had never spent a night without her parents, has been missing for a month after suddenly running away from her home in Utah on April 21.
What her protective parents didn't know, is the 15-year-old had dug an ancient long-forgotten iPad out of a dusty box and hidden it in her dresser.
Under their noses, two men allegedly slid into her Instagram messages and spent months grooming the child, their conversations growing more disturbing by the day.
Olga told DailyMail.com the iPad was so well hidden that she and her husband missed it when they searched their house for clues after she didn't come home.
The secret device was only found when police rummaged through the suburban home in American Fork, about 32 miles south of Salt Lake City.
'We regularly check her phone and there was nothing suspicious. Everything seemed to be normal, just classmates, neighbors,' Olga said.
'We never thought she could be talking to strangers in this way.'
Olga said the device was about eight years old, a first-generation iPad Pro they only kept because it had old family photos, and soon forgot they still owned.
'I didn't even know where that would be, probably in some boxes with old stuff... nobody used it for many years now and then for some reason she started to use it,' she said.
Sickening police files detailed how the alleged pedophiles slowly gained Alisa's trust and convinced her to send them nude photos and engage in perverted sexual fantasies.
Eventually, one of them, identified by police as Matthew Nicholas Menard, 35, arranged to meet her in Las Vegas and then fly to his home in Miami, where he allegedly planned to do unspeakable acts.
Alisa was dropped off at her school, Canyon Grove Academy, but instead of going to class she bought supplies at a nearby gas station and convinced a man there to drive her to the local train station.
She got off the train in Provo, the end of the line about 14 miles south of American Fork, and asked multiple people to help her get to Las Vegas.
The teenager hasn't been seen since, and no one knows where she went, who she is with, or how much danger she is in.
'They (police) say they cannot guarantee [that Alisa is still alive] but there was no indication that she's not,' Olga said.
'They say they still have some leads... but we have no idea what kind of leads, they're not saying anything.'
The second man Alisa was talking to, identified by police as William Taylor Glines, 37, from Texas City, Texas, was arrested on May 8 and remains in custody. He does not have a lawyer listed.
Menard has not been arrested. Dailymail.com has attempted to contact him for comment.
Olga said police believe she never ended up meeting either of them, which is a great relief considering the 'graphic detail' Menard allegedly shared in chats with Alisa of his 'his intent to sexually abuse the child'.
The worried mother hoped Alisa was only staying away because 'I would assume she's really embarrassed', and wasn't being held hostage.
She said Alisa didn't have much money for a whole month and it was below 40F some nights since she was gone and she didn't have a coat.
'So somebody else is either helping her and we don't know who or where... I'm not suspecting the worst,' she said.
'That means she's with somebody else and we don't know if it's a good person or a bad person.'
Olga hasn't seen a photo of Menard, or, thankfully, read any of the disturbing conversations Alisa had with him, but saw Gliner's mugshot on the news.
'He looks quite bad... he looked like, maybe not criminal, but similar. He didn't look like he's a superstar,' she said.
Olga believes the pair likely lied about their age and sent her fake or younger photos of themselves to lure her in.
'I don't believe that was her idea talking to those guys, I think they convinced her to keep talking to them,' she said.
'She told them she is minor and they still proceeded with the nasty stuff, which is really gross.'
But Alisa was also very trusting of people and liked to strike up conversations with people in the park, while hiking, or on family holidays.
'She was always trying to meet people to talk to people, like I mean she was just trusting, and we cautioned her about it all the time to at least to be careful,' she said.
'That's just how she is... and they took advantage of her.'
Olga said Alisa wanted to study forensics and was already doing some AP classes this semester before she went missing.
'Everything was really good but those guys messed everything up,' she said.
Glines was charged with aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, attempted aggravated exploitation of a minor, sexual exploitation of a minor, enticement of a minor, and criminal solicitation.
He was also charged by police in Texas with possessing more than 50 child sexual abuse images or videos.
Menard was charged with aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, enticement of a minor, and criminal solicitation.
Both have lengthy histories of petty crimes, but no past child sex convictions.
Police detailed in affidavits the disturbing messages between Alisa and Menard going back to January 17, most of which were sexual in nature.
'At one point (Menard) asked (the girl), "Are u secretly 15 lol" to which (she) responded... "of course (y)eppers I'm actually in middle school",' police wrote in charging affidavits.
Despite knowing how young she was, they continued to talk and 'the conversations are largely sexual in nature'.
'[Menard] over the course of several months, corresponded with [the teen] for the purpose of soliciting sex, sodomy, and child sex abuse material from the minor,' it continued.
'[He] discussed in graphic detail his intent to sexually abuse the child. [He] encouraged and engaged with [the teen] all from the state of Florida, where all his substantial ties to the community and resources are.'
Eventually, the pair made plans to meet in Las Vegas - where Alisa told witnesses she was heading - and then go to his home in Miami.
'Matt tells the victim he will fly to Las Vegas for a business trip later in May, and she can lay low until he gets there,' the warrant alleged.
'They then planned to fly to Los Angeles, CA, together for several days, before ultimately going back to Miami, FL, where Matt lives.'
Local police contacted Menard, who they said admitted talking to Alisa on Instagram, and seized his phone. However, he was not arrested.
Glines was identified through a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and arrested.
He allegedly started talking to Alisa on February 3 and at one point said he was 'double checking' that she was 14 or 15.
Many other conversations detailed in charging documents included disturbing explicit sexual language, and allegedly nude photos.
Whether Alisa made it to Las Vegas and met either of the men is unclear, as is what happened to her after she was seen in Provo, Utah.
Petrov's desperate family are offering a $20,000 reward for anyone with information on her whereabouts.
They set up a website where they desperately appealed to the teen.
'Alisa, if you can see this, please know that we love you, we will always love you. We miss you. All of your friends and our friends are very worried too,' her parents Olga and Nikolai said.
'We all want you to return. You will not get in trouble for running away. We are not mad at you. We absolutely love you regardless of what happened.
'We just want you to return back so that we are together as a happy family who care about each other, and we will try our hardest to make you happy. Please come back.'
Police said the teen is classed as an endangered runaway.
She is described as being about 5ft, 3in tall and weighing about 122lbs.
Surveillance footage showed her wearing a white shirt with darker lettering on the front.