A 14-year-old Michigan girl has been found safe vanishing from her foster parents’ home in 2021, police say, and her own mother may be facing charges.
The victim was found hiding behind some clothes in a closet at a Port Huron home, according to police. A U.S. Marshals fugitive team found her Tuesday and handed her over to Child Protective Services. She was then taken to a hospital where it was confirmed she was pregnant.
“She was crying,” Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert Watson told the Detroit Free Press. “She didn’t know where she was going to go. She was pretty terrified. And she was afraid of losing her baby.”
Police say the teen was at the home with her biological mother, who had previously lost custody but may have found her after she ran away from her foster home.
Three other occupants in the home, who were watching television when authorities arrived, could possibly face charges of harboring a fugitive, while the biological mother could face kidnapping charges.
The occupants initially refused to let police inside with one person who “vehemently denied that they had seen her [the victim].” They complied after the deputies returned with a search warrant.
“They wouldn’t let us in. They wouldn’t allow us to speak with anyone in the house, which were huge red flags for us,” Watson said. “The lady said, ‘Come back with a search warrant.’ So we did.”
Watson said the teen told him she was afraid she would “go back in the system,” but when she learned she would be reunited with her biological father, she was relieved and excited.
“She was ecstatic about that,” he said. “She was afraid that if she was found, she would go back in the system. … She was just, ‘I wanna be with my dad. I wanna be with my dad.'”
The victim is said to be around four or five months pregnant and may have been a victim of sexual assault. The house, however, didn’t appear to be a site for human trafficking, police said.
Meanwhile, Watson, who said he has children himself, gave the victim his business card and told her to call him if she’s ever in trouble.
“I asked her to promise me, if you ever need help … call that number and we would figure it out some way.”
This is a developing story and will be updated as additional information becomes available. Check back for updates.
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