Court records now accuse Durk VanDam of assaulting Penelope Wise after a 2024 search that drew broad public attention.
ROCKFORD, MI — A Rockford man connected to a 2024 missing teen case has been charged nearly two years later with assault and child abuse material offenses, according to court records and Kent County officials.
Durk VanDam, who was identified by investigators in 2024 as the man living with then-17-year-old Penelope Wise after she disappeared from Cedar Springs, is now facing charges that bring the case back into the Kent County court system. Prosecutors said the earlier missing person case did not lead to charges at the time because Wise was found alive and investigators said she had been living with VanDam voluntarily. The new case changes the legal posture and puts the allegations before a judge.
Wise was reported missing after leaving her Cedar Springs-area home on May 31, 2024. Deputies later released video and descriptions as the search grew across West Michigan. She was last seen near the Corner Bar in Rockford around midnight June 1, 2024, before the public search stretched for weeks. On July 21, 2024, a neighbor recognized her from missing person materials and contacted authorities after seeing her near a home on Northland Drive. Kent County investigators said at the time that Wise had been living with VanDam, who was then 44. “We are thankful she was located safely,” officials said after the search ended, while also noting that the investigation remained sensitive because Wise was a juvenile.
The new court records accuse VanDam of assaulting Wise and include allegations involving child sexually abusive material. Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker alerted local media to the charges filed against VanDam, according to the public record of the case. Specific details about the alleged assault, the dates tied to each count and the evidence behind the child abuse material charge were not fully available in the public reports reviewed. VanDam is presumed innocent unless convicted. It was not immediately clear from available records whether he had entered a plea or whether an attorney had filed a response to the allegations.
The case drew wide attention in 2024 because Wise had been missing for more than seven weeks before she was found alive. Local, state and federal agencies helped search for her, including the Kent County Sheriff’s Office, Michigan State Police, the FBI and U.S. Marshals. Investigators said Wise had left after a disagreement at home and met VanDam after she was last seen in Rockford. Officials said then that Michigan law complicated any criminal charge based only on the living arrangement, because Wise was 17 and the age of consent in Michigan is 16. Prosecutors did not file charges connected to the missing person recovery at that time.
The renewed prosecution now shifts attention from the search itself to what prosecutors say happened during or around the period Wise was with VanDam. The charges also place the case in a different legal category than the 2024 public search, when the main questions centered on Wise’s location, safety and whether anyone had unlawfully kept her from returning home. The current allegations require court review, including bond decisions, probable cause findings and any future hearings. Records available through local reporting did not list a final case outcome.
Neighbors and residents who followed the case in 2024 had described relief when Wise was found, but the circumstances also raised concern because of the age gap and the length of time she had been away. The Northland Drive discovery ended the missing person search but left many questions unresolved publicly. Officials at the time said they could not release every detail because the case involved a juvenile and family privacy issues. The new charges reopen those questions in a formal setting, where prosecutors must present evidence and VanDam’s defense may challenge the allegations.
The case stands as an active criminal matter in Kent County, with VanDam facing assault and child abuse material charges tied to a missing person case that began May 31, 2024. The next major step will be the court’s handling of the charges, including any scheduled hearing, plea or preliminary examination.
Author note: Last updated May 24, 2026.