Tianni Smith, 14, Missing Since 7/22/09, Mount Vernon, WA [FOUND SAFE]

[Faith]

Mount Vernon police searching for missing 14-year-old

July 22, 2009

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MOUNT VERNON - Police are asking for the public's assistance in locating a mentally disabled 14-year-old girl missing since 6 a.m. today.

Commissioner David Chong said the girl, Tianni Smith, has the mental capacity of a 5-year-old. He said her mother found her missing from their 34 Willard Ave. home this morning, with a bedroom window open.

"We feel it is a missing person at this time," he said. "We want to see if anybody spots her."

Chong said described the girl as black, with a medium complexion, 5 foot 4, and about 105 pounds. She has corn-row braids in her hair.

The commissioner said Smith had wandered off once before but was found by a neighbor a short time later. He did not know how recently that incident had occurred.

He said police had notified neighbors and police in surrounding cities and towns, and had conducted a grid search of backyards in Smith's neighborhood. All Mount Vernon police cruisers are carrying fliers with a picture of the missing girl, he said.

At 3:30 p.m. he said he had also asked the Westchester County police to possibly lend their helicopter and a bloodhound to the effort but did not know if they would be available.

http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090722/NEWS02/907220396&s=d&page=1#pluckcomments

[Faith]

I pray to God Tianni has been located and is safe at home tonight.

[annalyzer]

Missing 14-year-old Mount Vernon girl found

July 22, 2009

MOUNT VERNON — The family of a 14-year-old girl, who has been missing since early today when she crawled out of a dining-room window, fears she may have been abducted.

Those fears remain even after the girl was found late tonight in Manhattan and taken to Harlem Hospital where she was to be reunited with her family, mother Antoinette Smith, 37, said.

The girl, who has mental disabilities, may have been lured out of her home at 34 Willard Ave. by someone who knows her, Antoinette Smith said.

“She opened the window, but I also believed that someone enticed her to open the window,” Smith said.

Tianni Smith, who has the mental capacity of a 5-year-old, went missing about 6 a.m., shortly after waking up, and then heading downstairs to the bathroom, Antoinette Smith said. Although Smith said she believes her daughter may have been lured to leave the house, police said there is no evidence to suggest that.

Tianni was found by a stranger who saw her at a public-housing complex in Manhattan, Smith said.

“Someone found her crying hysterically, and they called police,” said Smith, who was on her way to the hospital late tonight.

Police Commissioner David Chong said Tianni appeared to have run away, but officers brought in K-9 units and asked for air support for the search out of concern for her mental disabilities.

http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090722/NEWS02/907220396&s=d&page=1#pluckcomments

[Amusedtdth]

Poor child, I'm glad she is safe. If she has the mental capacity of a 5 yr old then she should be treated like a 5 yr old, childproof everything.