MISSOURI CITY, Texas — The 12-year-old Missouri City girl at the center of an AMBER Alert who was missing for about a week was found safe Friday in Columbus, Texas, police said.
Columbus, Texas is about an hour and a half west of the girl's home.
Sources told KHOU 11 that she was found at a Shell gas station in Columbus, Texas. Police said she was taken to a Texas Children's Hospital to be checked out and was in good health before she returned home Friday night.
Editor's note: Because the child is safe, we have removed her name and photo from our stories to protect her identity.
Columbus, Texas police said they got word that the girl was possibly in their area and was seen with Sirterryon Preston, 27, who is from Houston. He tried to take off but he was captured and arrested.
Azial Gonzalez works at the Shell station where the girl and Preston were found. She said Preston was a known delivery driver at the store.
"He was making a delivery," she said. "He was coming out the door, going back to his truck and I guess when he had seen all the police, he just headed off this way across the highway, and that's when they chased him and caught him."
Preston was charged with evading but more charges could be filed as the FBI investigates.
He was expected to make his first court appearance Saturday morning.
The news that the girl is safe was met with relief at her family's home in Missouri City. Family members gathered in the front yard, hugging and singing, "He's an On Time God."
"I didn’t even ask where, when or anything as long as they found her that was so exciting," neighbor Clara Edwards told us. "And I get to sleep tonight without waking up with her on my mind."
The girl was last seen Thursday, Feb. 22, and reported missing on Friday, Feb. 23. She was captured on surveillance video leaving her home and walking toward a dark Dodge Ram.
An AMBER Alert was issued five days after she was reported missing because police said they received additional information they didn't get during the initial interview. The new information led them to believe she was in danger and they were concerned that she may be a trafficking victim.
Her mother thanked everyone who shared the story and helped try to locate her daughter.
