Photos: Avery Workman found safe -- but was she a runaway or drugging victim?

Big photos below.

Update: Yesterday, Avery Workman, a sixteen-year-old youth circus performer from Elbert County who vanished off the 16th Street Mall, was found safe.

But while media reports like this one suggest she ran away, the folks behind the Facebook page that coordinated the search for her insist she was drugged.

Workman is a member of the Circus-Your-Way! troupe.

Denver Police spokesman Detective John White told reporters that Workman was located in Boulder yesterday -- and described the scenario as "more of a runaway situation as opposed to a missing persons case." In contrast, the "Missing Elbert County Girl: Avery Workman" Facebook page argues otherwise.

Following an expression of delight ("Avery has been found! She is in Boulder and alive!!! Please spread the word, thank you all of you! Thank God she is alive!"), a message disputes White's characterization. It reads:

I just found out that who told the Denver Post the far from the truth information provided in their article was provided by a PIO at the station. I will be calling him, the chief he answers to and the paper for a correction. Let me say this one last time. Our most important task was getting our Avery back alive and we did! But she was not a runaway. She was drugged and abducted and she is far from okay. It will take a long time and you will never know all the details, but I am telling you as a mom, I will take on the paper tomorrow for Jenny just as if I were Avery's mom first thing in the morning. That article was released before the parents even knew what was going on, saying the parents were reunited with her. They were nowhere near there or even knew anything. How can some reporter or PIO decide if Avery is okay and lied and it was just a runaway situation -- she was drugged for 4 straight days to control her to stay.

Another portrait of Workman.

Our Avery did not run away, did not go with these people willingly but drugged, big difference! And she will be okay, but it is going to take a lot of time, physically and mentally. So please, if you are spreading the Denver Post lies, please set them straight. This young lady has to go back to school and rebuild her life and she doesn't need to do so defending herself because some newspaper said so! Denver Post, you should have made sure the parents were notified first and the arrest of the men and getting our Avery back was done in Boulder, NOT in Denver. So this article is an opinion, not informational.

A followup item shared after midnight concentrates on thanking all of those who helped insure that Workman was tracked down, as well as updating loved ones on her condition. The message notes that "she is safe. Her health will be better and she will recover. Please pray now for her recovery, physically and mentally."

But the piece adds this: "Thank you all for not falling for that crap about her. She was NOT a runaway and the full story will be out as soon as it's cleared to do so. Just ignore the papers and wait for the truth when it's all said and done. I can't wait for a lot of people to eat their words and feel like an ass!!"

Continue to read our earlier coverage, as well as to see photos of Workman.