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Edmonton police say a 13-year-old girl who has been missing since June 24 was found in Oregon on July 2. Photo by Greg Southam / Postmedia
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A 13-year-old Edmonton girl who went missing more than a week ago has been found safe in Oregon.
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Edmonton police say Lila Smith was found Saturday morning following an investigation involving ten different law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.
Police informed his family of his whereabouts early Saturday morning and family members boarded a flight to begin heading to Oregon a few hours later, according to a family spokesman.
His father posted on Facebook that he was relieved and grateful for the support and advice from the public, which researchers say numbered in the hundreds.
“Thank you all for your efforts. We will be forever grateful to you all, ”he wrote.
The teen has been taken to an Oregon children’s hospital for a precautionary examination, police said.
A 41-year-old Oregon man was arrested Saturday near Portland, according to police.
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The name has not yet been given until charges are formally filed against him.
Edmonton police say he is charged with child abduction, but that additional charges could follow. EPS says it is also expected to face a number of additional charges in Oregon.
Smith disappeared on June 24 after leaving for school.
Police say they believe the suspect was in Mission, BC, outside Vancouver, for three to four days.
Police in Abbotsford, BC, said yesterday they obtained CCTV footage at the request of the EPS showing the girl at a fast food restaurant about 5 miles from the Sumas border crossing in Washington state.
By the time the APD agents arrived, the girl and the suspect had already left.
Edmonton police say the couple met through social media, but have not yet been able to say through which platform they only believe online historical records obtained by investigators support the charge of attraction. infantile.
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It is also unclear how they managed to cross the border.
“It is still early in the investigation to establish how contact was established between this individual and Lila and again if she came here for the sole purpose of bringing her back to the United States, which is what we believe happened. “said the Insp. EPS. Brent Dahlseide.
“We were speculating to say they crossed paths together. But I know they moved together back to the U.S. once they came in.”
Edmonton police have faced questions about why an AMBER alert was not issued in the case.
“In the early stages of this investigation, there was no evidence to suggest that he was with anyone, so this file did not meet the criteria,” the sergeant said. James Vanderland, of the EPS Historical Crimes Section, said in a press release, noting that AMBER alerts require a full indication of the suspect’s identity, location and description of his vehicle.
Dahlseide said that when police gathered this information and were preparing an AMBER alert, it soon became apparent that the couple was no longer in Canada.
“When we were able to identify the suspect and a potential vehicle and started working towards the Amber Alert, the wheels really started to ignite the investigation and started to increase speed,” he said.
“This is a happy ending to an investigation.”
– with archives of Keith Gerein
mblack@postmedia.com
Twitter @ByMatthewBlack
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