A 12-year-old Texas girl missing for more than a week has been found, police say

CNN
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E’minie Hughes, the 12-year-old woman who was lacking from the Houston space, has been discovered unhurt, police mentioned in a post on X.

Final seen on February 22, Houston police issued an Amber Alert Wednesday, saying they consider she could have been trafficked.

Of their put up, police mentioned she was present in Columbus, Texas, which is 73 miles from the Houston space the place she went lacking.

FBI Houston posted on X, “FBI Houston is proud to have helped rescue yet one more lacking youngster. Two children recovered in two days,” and confirmed to CNN that they assisted within the seek for E’minie.

Police didn’t launch every other info and mentioned the investigation is ongoing.

When Hughes first went lacking on February 22, it was believed she had left on her personal, a Houston police spokesperson informed CNN on Wednesday. However police obtained new info, which made them consider she may have been trafficked, a police spokesperson mentioned.

Police haven’t mentioned what led them to suspect the woman was trafficked.

E’minie was final seen getting right into a dark-colored four-door Dodge pickup round 1:40 a.m. native time, based on the Amber Alert. She went lacking in Missouri Metropolis, which is inside the Houston metro space, police mentioned Thursday morning.

Houston police, in a post on X Thursday, mentioned that E’minie could have been on a social media app referred to as Tagged. The social media community “focuses on connecting individuals for friendship or courting by options like Browse, Meet Me and Dwell,” based on the platform’s web site.

Tagged’s mother or father firm, The Meet Group, informed CNN that they’ve reached out to Houston regulation enforcement to supply help with the case.

“Our phrases and circumstances prohibit minors from utilizing our apps, and we make the most of each expertise and handbook evaluation to assist test for minors who could have registered for our platform utilizing a false age,” the corporate mentioned. “Ought to we be made conscious of any makes an attempt to bypass our course of, we completely examine any report involving a attainable minor consumer or youngster exploitation.”

Police didn’t present additional particulars on what function the kid’s attainable presence on Tagged could have performed within the investigation.

The woman’s mom, Shannon Williams, informed CNN affiliate KPRC she final noticed her daughter earlier than mattress on Thursday, however she was gone by the point she wakened.

E’minie is believed to have solely taken an Android pill along with her, together with the garments she was carrying, the mom informed KPRC.

Williams informed the outlet she doesn’t know if E’minie could have been speaking with somebody on-line. The woman had stepped out for a stroll only a few hours earlier than her disappearance, the mom mentioned.

Of their final dialog, E’minie requested her mom to wake her up early for varsity the next day, Williams informed CNN affiliate KHOU.

About 460,000 kids go lacking within the US yearly, based on a 2023 information launch from the Department of Justice. About 1 in 6 of the greater than 28,800 circumstances of youngsters reported lacking to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in 2023 have been possible victims of kid trafficking, based on the nonprofit. Final yr, the middle obtained greater than 18,400 studies of attainable youngster trafficking.

Holly Priebe Sotelo, a social work professor at The College of Southern California, informed CNN that it’s vital dad and mom preserve “open communication” with their kids about establishing wholesome relationships and limits with others, particularly with these they meet on-line.

“It’s unattainable for fogeys to maintain up with the newest threats,” Sotelo mentioned. “Subsequently, dad and mom simply must provoke dialogues with their kids on daily basis about establishing wholesome boundaries.”

CNN’s Colin Jeffrey and David Williams contributed to this report.