For more than a week, authorities in Minnesota were looking for two missing 15-year-old girls.

Paige Wollman and Brooklynn Greenwaldt had disappeared from Willmar on the same day. Investigators believed they were traveling together. Then, more than 100 miles from home, the two teenagers were reportedly seen side by side again.

Hours later, the case changed.

Brooklynn was found safe.

Paige was not.

Now investigators are searching for Paige alone — and the most important unanswered question may involve the short stretch of time between the girls’ last known appearance together and the moment their paths apparently separated.

What happened after they reached Hinckley?

Sept. 1: Two Teenagers Leave Willmar

According to the Willmar Police Department, Paige and Brooklynn both disappeared on Sept. 1.

Police initially said the teenagers were last seen leaving a residence in the 800 block of Park Avenue Northwest in Willmar on foot.

Paige was described as 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing about 145 pounds. Authorities said she has brown eyes and dark blonde hair with pink coloring.

She was last reported wearing a black zip-up sweatshirt, a black T-shirt, skinny jeans with holes, white Nike socks and brown sandals.

Brooklynn was described as 5 feet 1 inch tall and about 110 pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Investigators believed the girls might be traveling together and expressed concern for both teenagers’ well-being.

For several days, however, the public had little information about where the pair might have gone.

Then came a significant development.

Sept. 8: The Search Goes Public

On Sept. 8, one week after the girls disappeared, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension issued Endangered Missing Person alerts for Paige and Brooklynn.

The BCA said there was concern for their safety and asked the public to help locate them.

At that point, the strongest public narrative was straightforward: two 15-year-old girls had left Willmar and could still be together.

But within roughly a day, investigators received information showing the girls had apparently traveled a considerable distance from where they were last known to be.

The new location was Hinckley.

More Than 100 Miles From Home

Hinckley sits roughly 130 miles from Willmar.

That distance immediately changed the search.

According to subsequent police updates, Paige and Brooklynn were seen together early Wednesday morning at Tobies Station in Hinckley.

The sighting was significant because it offered something the case had lacked for more than a week: a recent location.

Until then, authorities had publicly focused on where the girls had left from.

Now they had evidence suggesting the teenagers had crossed a large portion of central Minnesota and had remained together at least into the morning of Sept. 9.

That should have narrowed the search.

Instead, another development made the case more complicated.

Brooklynn Is Found Safe

Later Wednesday, authorities announced that Brooklynn had been located safely.

The Minnesota BCA canceled her missing-person alert.

Paige’s alert remained active.

The BCA summarized the change in stark terms:

“Paige is now on her own and still missing.”

That single update completely altered the investigation.

For more than a week, police had been searching for two girls believed to be moving together.

Now one had been recovered, while the other had apparently separated from her.

The search suddenly became about reconstructing what happened after their Hinckley sighting.

The Critical Gap in the Timeline

Publicly available reports do not explain exactly where Brooklynn was found or the precise circumstances that led authorities to her.

They also do not say whether Paige and Brooklynn separated voluntarily, whether another person became involved or whether Paige left the area using another form of transportation.

Authorities have not publicly announced any of those possibilities as fact.

What is known is much simpler — and potentially more important.

The girls were reported together in Hinckley on Wednesday morning.

Later, Brooklynn was safe.

Paige was still missing.

That creates a crucial window investigators are likely trying to understand.

Where did the teenagers go after leaving Tobies Station?

Who, if anyone, did they meet?

Were they traveling in a vehicle by that point?

And most importantly, when was the last moment Brooklynn could reliably say Paige was still with her?

Those answers have not been made public.

But in a missing-person investigation, the last confirmed movement can dramatically reshape a search area.

If authorities can determine exactly where the girls separated, Paige’s trail may begin there rather than back in Willmar.

Why the Hinckley Sighting Matters So Much

A week can produce an enormous search area.

Before investigators knew about Hinckley, Paige could theoretically have been almost anywhere reachable from Willmar over several days.

The Wednesday sighting changes that.

It gives investigators a much more recent point on the map.

Tobies Station is a well-known travel stop in Hinckley, a city positioned near Interstate 35 — a major north-south route through Minnesota.

Authorities have not said how Paige and Brooklynn traveled there, and it would be wrong to assume they followed any particular route.

But the setting raises obvious investigative possibilities.

Police can potentially examine surveillance video, speak with employees or customers, review nearby businesses and determine whether the girls were seen entering or leaving a vehicle.

The Hinckley sighting could therefore provide far more than confirmation that Paige was alive and traveling.

It could contain the last visual record of what happened before she was apparently left on her own.

Brooklynn May Hold Important Information

There is another major difference between this case now and the search that existed before Wednesday.

Investigators have access to someone who was reportedly traveling with Paige.

Because Brooklynn has been found safe, she may be able to help authorities reconstruct where the girls went, how they traveled and when they separated.

Police have not publicly disclosed what Brooklynn has told investigators.

That is not unusual.

In an active search involving minors, authorities may withhold details that could compromise investigative steps or expose sensitive information.

But whatever Brooklynn remembers could be critical.

Even seemingly small details — a vehicle description, a name, a destination, a conversation or a location — could help investigators determine Paige’s next move.

The Search Is Now Focused on Paige

As of the latest public updates, Paige remains missing.

CBS Minnesota reported that she was last seen early Wednesday morning at Tobies Station in Hinckley and that authorities remain concerned for her well-being.

The Willmar Police Department continues to ask anyone with information to contact investigators at 320-235-2244 or call 911.

The case that began with two missing teenagers is now focused on one.

That makes the timeline more important than ever.

Paige and Brooklynn left Willmar together.

They were later seen together in Hinckley.

Then Brooklynn was found safe.

Somewhere between those last confirmed moments, the story changed.

And until investigators determine exactly where, when and why the girls separated, the biggest question remains unanswered:

Where did Paige Wollman go next?