Minnesota Bill Could Speed Up Tracking Missing People

ST. PAUL -- The assistant St. Paul police chief says authorities may have found an 18-year-old Eveleth man's body quicker last year if they had tracked his mobile telephone.

A bill making its way through the Minnesota Legislature was written to make the job easier by requiring mobile telephone companies to tell law enforcement officers the whereabouts of missing people's mobile phones.

Last April 5, Dan Zamlen went missing in St. Paul. More than 1,000 fellow Iron Rangers searched for him along the Mississippi River, but his body was not found until nearly a month later. His death was ruled an accidental drowning.

"Perhaps with this bill ... we could have gotten on this even quicker," Assistant Chief Nancy DiPerna said Thursday, just before a Senate committee unanimously approved the bill.

A House committee takes up the measure this morning.

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Former Growing Pains actor Andrew Koenig missing in Vancouver

Family and friends are anxious about the safety of actor Andrew Koenig -- who played Boner in the '80s TV show Growing Pains -- after he disappeared in Vancouver last week.

Koenig, son of actor Walter Koenig, who played Pavel Chekov on the original Star Trek TV series, is believed to have sent his family a letter post-marked Feb. 15 from Vancouver before his disappearance. Koenig, 41, is said to have been suffering from depression.

He arrived in Vancouver on Feb. 10 and was due to fly out of Vancouver on Feb. 16 but never boarded the flight.

Read more here.