The 16-year-old girl who was snatched into a car in front of her mother on Monday night has been found safely and reunited with her family.
According to the New York Post, two witnesses said they saw the teen approach a police car parked at Eagle Avenue and East 156th Street in Melrose around 2:15 p.m Tuesday, hours after surveillance camera captured the teen being pulled into a beige four-door sedan in the same area.
“We were looking at the picture saying, ‘I hope she’s OK,’ and she walked right up,” Akash Singh, 29, told the newspaper. “She was trembling while she was walking. She just looked really scared. She put her hands on her knees and she started talking to the cops. They jumped out of the car and put her in.”
According to a video shared on social media, reporters later gathered around the entrance of what appeared to be a parking area of the 40th precinct police station as Karol embraced her mother Carmen in an emotional reunion.
WATCH: Moment Karol Sanchez was reunited with her family after being kidnapped in the Bronx
— NYC Scanner (@NYScanner) December 17, 2019
Law enforcement sources told the New York Post that police are speaking to Karol in order to get a sense of what happened. It is not known if police are currently seeking any suspects.
According to NBC News, Karol and her mother live about 60 miles north of the city in Poughquag in Dutchess County, and had been in the city on Monday for a doctor’s appointment. The mother and daughter were reportedly walking toward the Jackson Avenue train station late Monday night when the car approached them.
The Poughkeepsie Journal reports that Karol is a sophomore at Arlington Central High School.
“We are so relieved that she has been found safe and are ready to support her and her family when she returns to school,” Brendan Lyons, superintendent of Arlington Central School District, told the newspaper.
This is a developing story. CrimeOnline will provide further updates when more information is available.
Correction: An earlier report mistakenly said that Karol Sanchez had been found on Wednesday. She was found on Tuesday, less than a day after she was seen being pulled into a car.
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