Aimee Walker
A missing 11-year-old girl from the US has reportedly been ‘found in a foreign country’.
Sophie Long will now be returned to Texas after officials refused to confirm where she was located with her fugitive father, Michael Long.
Collin County Sheriff, Jim Skinner, said in a statement: “Many months of determined work by my deputies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Marshals paid off this morning.
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“We are so happy Sophie is safe.”
The office also confirmed that she is in protective child custody, while her dad, Long, has allegedly been incarcerated on a felony warrant for interference with child custody.
The young girl went missing after an alleged custodial dispute between her parents which reportedly ended with her father refusing to hand her over to a maternal aunt.
The pair hadn’t been seen since July 12 in Seguin, near San Antonio.
According to a missing person notice from the Texas Department of Public Safety, it was feared the girl could have been taken to Mexico or Argentina.
It read: “Missing juvenile is believed to be with her non-custodial parent, Michael Long, and maybe en route to Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Mexico or Argentina.
“Michael Long is possibly driving an off white 2010 Ford Edge SUV or a grey van with blacked-out windows, an NRA sticker and a black rack on top.
“Missing juvenile has a small burn mark on one of her arms.”
Long previously told the Daily Mail: “I’d absolutely go to jail to protect Sophie. I’d do anything for her. She’s a 10-year-old child.
“She shouldn’t have to be dealing with this stuff. These high conflict custody cases – this wasn’t about getting into a custody case. This was about getting justice for my daughter.”
Lawyers for Sophie’s mum reportedly said ‘unfounded’ claims were part of Michael’s ‘personal vendetta against his ex-wife’, which had ‘escalated to dangerous levels’.
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