POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. (AP) — A 5-year-old girl who was abducted in southeast Missouri has been found safe, and the convicted sex offender suspected of taking her has been arrested.
Danielle Shepard of the Missouri State Highway Patrol says the girl was found Wednesday afternoon in an area near her hometown of Poplar Bluff. Shepard didn't have additional details.
She says the girl appeared OK but was taken to a hospital as a precaution.
The girl's mother reported her missing just before 7 a.m., and a witness saw the suspect with the child near the girl's home. A massive manhunt involved more than three dozen officers.
The suspect is a 45-year-old Poplar Bluff man who was convicted for the 1990 abduction, rape and sodomy of a 12-year-old girl in Fort Hood, Texas.
