By NATALIE NEYSA ALUND - nalund@bradenton.com
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The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office issued a Missing Child Alert on Saturday and an Amber Alert was put out for the 12-year-old northwest girl this morning.
“After interviewing (her) and following up on several leads, detectives have identified and located the person who was with (her).” said sheriff’s spokesman Dave Bristow. “He is being questioned regarding this incident with charges against him pending.”
Bristow said the suspect, who is in his 40s, picked the girl up in a sport utility vehicle around 10:30 p.m. on Saturday at the intersection of 76th Avenue West and Manatee Avenue.
Witnesses told deputies they saw the child get into a red, SUV Cherokee-type vehicle.
“He was there when she was walking and she got into his SUV,” Bristow said. “She was with the person overnight and was she was dropped off earlier today near her home.”
Bristow said investigators think she did not know the suspect until Saturday.
The child’s grandfather, Gary Claar, said she walked in the door of the family’s home in the 5500 block of 2nd Avenue West around 4:30 p.m. He said someone dropped her off at a Wendy’s on Manatee Avenue and that she walked home from there.
“She’s OK, but we’re still trying to track the person down she was with,” Bristow said.
Her grandfather said Sarah did not say who she was with while she was gone.
Additional information was not available Sunday and no arrests had been made, Bristow said.
For now, Claar said he and the rest of Sarah’s family are simply glad she is safe.
Florida Division of Law Enforcement officials issued an Amber Alert at about noon on Sunday.
Bristow said the girl left her home around 10 p.m. on Saturday and was spotted at a McDonald’s at 10:15 p.m.
Shortly afterward, she was seen getting into the SUV.
Her mother 32-year-old Amanda Norton, said Sarah suffers from a mental health condition.
“She’s been more and more volatile in the past few days,” said the mother, who appeared exhausted as she sat at the kitchen table of the family’s home.
She said that before Sarah left the house Saturday evening she was extremely agitated, so she allowed her to take a walk outside to calm down.
“We let her take half-hour walks around the block to cool off,” she said. “We thought she was doing a cooling off thing.”
But when an hour-and-a-half passed, Norton got worried.
Her family began scouring the area looking for Sarah, she said.
Her other daughter, who is 10, even took her to a few of Sarah’s favorite hiding spots outside.
“She even grabbed a flashlight to help find her,” Norton said.
But they did not find her.
Norton notified authorities, who in turn issued a missing persons notification, calling local residents through an automated phone messaging system.
Bristow said an Amber Alert was not issued at that time, because there was strong suspicion the girl had run away. Evidence of danger to the child or an abduction has to be present before an Amber Alert is issued, Bristow said.
After authorities learned the girl had gotten into a vehicle, FDLE determined enough evidence was present to issue the Amber Alert on Sunday, Bristow said.
— Herald Staff Writer Brian Neill contributed to this report.
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