PORT HURON, Mich. – A 14-year-old girl who had been missing for nearly a year and a half was found alive in a Port Huron home this week.
The U.S. Marshals Service became involved in the investigation after someone reported that the girl was sexually assaulted and had become pregnant.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert Watson said he began working on the case as soon as he got it and the girl was located and recovered by 5:30 p.m. that day.
“The information was that she may be being trafficked, there was some evidence of sexual abuse, believed that she was pregnant and in danger. So, she had been missing since September of 2021. So, I got the case, began working on it immediately and we recovered her about 5:30 that same day,” Watson said.
The girl has since been reunited with her father.
Girl missing since September 2021
The girl was in foster care when she was reported missing to the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office.
She ran away from a temporary foster home in Greenwood Township on Sept. 3, 2021, according to the sheriff’s office. She was expected to be moved to a more permanent foster home the next day.
A St. Clair County deputy spoke with her foster care caseworker to get information about the girl. He also attempted to contact her directly, but was not successful. The deputy spoke with people the girl was known to stay with and contacted her biological mother.
The Port Huron Police Department had contact with the girl in the past and the St. Clair County deputy made sure they were aware she was missing.
According to the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office, the foster care caseworker told police she was looking into the possibility of filing charges against the girl’s biological mother for harboring a runaway. The caseworker believed the girl may have been hiding with her mother in various locations across the county.
St. Clair County Sheriff Matt King said said several leads and incidents involving the girl were investigated throughout the next year.
“Over the next year, year and a half, we checked different residences somewhere around 40 different times. Tried to make contact with family members and other people who may have been involved as far as her being missing and we kept reaching roadblocks,” King said.
Then the Michigan State Police Department’s missing children’s clearinghouse received a tip that the girl was pregnant.
“At one point we were contacted by a group that worked with Michigan State Police. They said that they had some information that they’d like to continue on with the investigation. We were open to work with anybody and at that point we said, ‘sure let’s work together to find this person,’” King said.
The case was sent to the U.S. Marshals Service on Tuesday (Feb. 7). Deputy Watson said oftentimes people investigating cases of missing children don’t know that getting assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service is an option.
“A lot of times people don’t know that the resources exist. So, you know, we kind of wanna get the word out there. We are an option. We’re very good at locating fugitives, but we also have another mission of locating missing and endangered children,” Watson said.
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US Marshals immediately locate, recover missing girl
Investigators with the U.S. Marshals Service immediately located the home the girl was believed to be staying in.
They spoke with homeowners, who denied the missing girl was there and lied to investigators. The Violent Offender Task Force got a search warrant for the home and the girl was found hiding inside a closet.
Child Protective Services took the girl to an emergency room for an assessment and confirmed she was several months pregnant.
“Sometimes I break down in tears when I find these kids because it means a lot, it brings -- I’m a parent myself and I can’t imagine if I was in one of these folks shoes and I didn’t know where my kids were. So, it strikes a chord in me. It’s near and dear to my heart and it is the greatest feeling in the world when you can save a child,” Deputy Watson said.
King said his department and the Port Huron Police Department were not notified by the U.S. Marshals Service that a search warrant was being executed.
“Both myself and (Port Huron Police) Chief (Joe) Platzer are disappointed in the lack of notification and cooperation from the Marshals. Had we been included in the execution of the search warrant we could have had the opportunity to collect evidence of other potential crimes committed against the missing juvenile,” King said in a statement.
The Port Huron Police Department and the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office are interviewing people to investigate possible charges for assisting a runaway and sexual assault.
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