By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

Former runaway teenager Laura Mackenzie of Goffstown said she used “common sense” to elude discovery during her five months on the run, according to an account she recently posted on a Web site.

“I just had common sense about not using my ATM or bank card, not getting in any sort of trouble, as little as a driving warning, not checking my e-mail, myspace or instant messenger,” Mackenzie wrote.

The message appeared on a message board dedicated to Maura Murray, a Massachusetts woman who has not been seen since being involved in a single-car accident in Woodsville on Feb. 9, 2004.

Mackenzie also asked forgiveness for the pain her disappearance caused those around her.

“I am sorry, and I need to ask everyone to forgive me for what I did, putting them through the hardships and pain of 5 long months where I was missing,” Mackenzie wrote.

Mackenzie went missing from her Tipping Rock Road home on March 8, the day she was scheduled to appear in court on felony shoplifting charges.

The charges stem from an incident in which Mackenzie allegedly attempted to steal more than $900 worth of clothing and jewelry from the Filene’s at the Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester.

She was located in St. Augustine Beach, Fla., on Aug. 7, following an anonymous tip to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department.

In her posting, Mackenzie said she arrived in Florida on March 10, two days following her disappearance. Although she did not discuss details of her trip, police found her with her own car and its original New Hampshire license plates in Florida.

Police said Mackenzie supported herself working in a restaurant while she was away.

Mackenzie appeared in Hillsborough County Superior court to face the shoplifting charges on Aug. 10. She waived formal arraignment that day and pleaded not guilty to the shoplifting charges.

The charges against Mackenzie constitute a Class B felony, punishable by three and a half to seven years in prison, Hillsborough County Attorney Marguerite Wageling said.

Further court activity for the case includes a pretrial conference scheduled for Nov. 3, and jury selection set for Nov. 13, according to a clerk at Hillsborough County Superior Court.

Goffstown police have since requested compensation for their efforts in locating Mackenzie. She did not address that issue specifically in her online posting.

Mackenzie said she was surprised to learn the extent of search efforts to locate her during the time she was missing.

“I never knew there was a search for me going on, and I had never dreamed of something to the extent that there was,” Mackenzie wrote. “I learned just the other day that a few people up here had tried to get my story into some Florida newspapers while I was missing and that they were turned down. I would have probably been found a month earlier or so.”

Although Mackenzie did not return a phone call seeking comment, published reports say she will attend New Hampshire Community Technical College in Manchester this fall, where she will take business and marketing classes.