MADISON (WKOW/WATE) — A missing 14-year-old from Tennessee was found safe in Madison according to a tweet from FBI Milwaukee.
She was located 18 days after she was last seen, according to ABC News.
The FBI thanked the Dane County Sheriff’s Office, Madison Police Department and Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation for their help in finding her.
The girl was last seen before she went to bed between 11 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.
The sheriff in Monroe County, Tennessee — Tommy Jones — said she has family in Wisconsin, but he does not believe she was related to the people with whom she was found.
“She is safe. She is in custody so that’s a very good ending to this as far as we’re concerned,” Jones said. “She’s had shelter, she’s been eating and, according to the information that we got back, she’s doing fine.”
Thursday afternoon, the adoptive father of the 14-year-old, Randall Lee Pruitt, 41, was arrested by authorities in Monroe County and charged with rape. MCSO Sheriff Tommy Jones saying Thursday night that charge was separate from her disappearance. He is being held in the Monroe County Jail.
“We don’t believe at this time he has any connection to her running away or missing,” Sheriff Jones said.
The rape charge – is part of the same case, but carries different charges, Sheriff Jones clarified. Officials could not comment on the date of the alleged rape crime.
The investigation is ongoing.
The news of the 14-year-old being the victim of the alleged rape has changed the circumstances of how WKOW may report this story.
More at WKOW 27 News