How a News4JAX reporter, photojournalist team helped find missing girl in Clay County

MIDDLEBURG, Fla. – Thankfully it’s rare, but News4JAX photojournalist Riley Storey and I became portion of the communicative we were covering connected Sunday morning.

It started conscionable aft 7 a.m. successful Middleburg. I had conscionable wrapped up my unrecorded changeable astir 2 young sisters that had gone missing successful the tiny Clay County town.

We got backmost wrong the quality van to hole for different study astatine 8 a.m. and astir 15 minutes later, I happened to look up and saw a young miss walking past the van and done the Waffle House parking lot. She matched the statement deputies gave of the missing 12-year-old girl.

What caught my attraction was the grey hoodie and achromatic crocs described by instrumentality enforcement.

While I called 911 to get successful interaction with the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Storey jumped retired of the van to drawback up with the girl, who was inactive walking. He wanted to marque definite she was harmless portion besides not letting her get excessively acold distant earlier deputies could get to corroborate who she was.

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The miss and her older sister were reported missing from the adjacent Hunter’s Run Apartment Homes connected Blanding Boulevard connected Saturday.

“I conscionable walked up to her portion you talked to police,” Storey told maine later. “I said, ‘Hi, I americium Riley I americium with the news. We’re covering a missing girl. Are you that missing girl?’ At first, she conscionable looked astatine maine and past I said her name. ‘Are you that girl?’ She said yes and I said, ‘Great. Your sister is missing, too. Where is she?’ She would not archer maine astatine first. I said, ‘It’s okay. You don’t person to archer me. Just archer maine wherever if she is safe. I conscionable wanna marque definite she was safe.’ She said, ‘Yes, she’s safe.’”

Storey and the miss walked little than 200 yards to the Speedway state station’s parking lot. About 5 minutes later, Clay County deputies showed up portion the miss was wrong the convenience store and Storey was waiting for her to travel backmost out. Deputies past spoke with her.

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She yet got successful 1 of the deputies’ cars arsenic they drove away.

I asked Storey wherefore helium decided to locomotion with the young girl.

“To me, it was truly important knowing that this is simply a 12-year-old miss who has been missing since past night,” helium said. “She has nary concern being retired by herself, particularly arsenic the greeting progresses and radical are getting up moving around. There are adults everyplace and who knows whose intentions aren’t pure. It was important to marque definite that somebody, an adult, was with her. Making definite she was harmless and continuously having eyes connected her until constabulary could get determination and instrumentality over.”

We are grateful we were successful the close spot astatine the close clip to assistance bring a young miss location safely.

On Sunday afternoon, deputies said they besides recovered the girl’s sister who was reported missing the aforesaid day.

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