Young couple goes on van tour of US, boy comes back with van - no girl

what is tough about this is we get to sit here on our keyboards and judge it...i do have 2 kiddos and would protect them with my life...BUT there is a line...the way i look at it is i am not gonna judge this because i was not in their shoes..i dont know what i would do under that level of stress..I can say right now with a calm brain i would have them turn themselves in and do the right thing but who knows when you are under that level of stress..what is weird to me is i do a lot of camping...so that is very normal to me...but i could not see my self going camping on one last hurrah if my child has told me that "shes gone." I would think i would be focused on getting an attorney established so my child could do the right thing.
Had they gotten him an attorney, which they should have, the attorney would have directed him to turn himself in and start working with authorities. He'd be incarcerated but he'd also still be alive.