A Georgia girl who had not been seen since May and was 12 years old was found in Ohio, and a suspect has been arrested.
Fox Atlanta said that Maria Gomez-Perez was found in Dover, Ohio, on Thursday.
She was found at a shopping center with a Guatemalan man named Antonio Agustin, who is 31 years old.
Sheriff Gerald Couch of Hall County said, “Maria had said she was unhappy and would like to leave home.” It is said that Agustin drove to Georgia on May 29 to meet Gomez-Perez at her house.
When the girl talked to her dad on a new social media account last week, it was a big clue in the case, police said. She told him she was fine and not to worry about her, the sheriff said.
The IP address was linked to a phone in Ohio by the police. For rape, Agustin was jailed, but Couch said that more charges could be brought.
“Technology is sometimes great. “It helped us find Maria,” Couch said. “But technology can be bad too.” That’s how Maria was able to leave Gainesville with a stranger and go nine hours away from home.
