A Georgia girl who vanished two months ago was finally found more than 600 miles from home this week with an adult man she supposedly met online.
Maria Gomez-Perez, 12, was recovered safely in Dover, Ohio, on Thursday — eight weeks after she was last seen at her family’s home in Gainesville, Ga., on May 29, Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch said during a press conference Friday morning.
Gomez-Perez was tracked to Ohio when she used a new Facebook account to message her father last week, saying that she was fine and wanted him to stop looking for her.
Investigators traced the IP address of the account that sent the messages to an address in Dover, where four investigators traveled and made visual contact with Gomez-Perez and Antonio Agustin, 34, at a local pool on Thursday.
The agents from Georgia and officers with the local Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Office followed the pair to a nearby shopping center parking lot, where Agustin was arrested, Couch said.
Gomez-Perez was taken to a hospital for a wellness check and was en route back to Georgia on Friday morning.
“The safe recovery of Maria is great news,” Sheriff Couch told reporters.
Gomez-Perez was last seen at her family’s Gainesville home on May 29. Investigators now believe that Agustin traveled from Ohio to Georgia, where he picked the young girl up and drove her back up north.
“We believe Maria had been communicating for a time with Mr. Augustin via Facebook Messenger and other online apps,” Couch said.
“Maria had indicated she was unhappy and wanted to leave home. We also know she had been communicating with other adult males online, telling them the same thing,” he noted, adding that the girl “is the victim here — she is only 12 years old.”
Agustin, who is originally from Guatemala, was held at the Tuscarawas County Jail. He is expected to face charges in both Georgia and Ohio, Couch noted.
“The last eight weeks have been grueling for those on our investigative team,” the sheriff said. “I want to thank them for their dedication and for putting their hearts and souls into bringing Maria back to our community.”
Norma Hernandez, a local business leader who organized some efforts to find Gomez-Perez, told the Gainesville Times that the girl’s father, Andres Gomez, was excited for his daughter to return home.
“I’m so glad this nightmare is over,” Hernandez said. “They did a good job. It just took longer than expected, but we are excited.”
Gomez-Perez was born in Huehuetenango, Guatemala, and moved to the US with her dad when she was 6, the outlet reported.
Her mother stayed in Guatemala.
“There’s not a way to feed your family. We didn’t have a home, we didn’t have property, we didn’t have work,” Andres Gomez told the paper last month about their life in their home country.
At the time of her disappearance, Gomez-Perez was a fifth grader at Lyman Hall Elementary.
“I’m still in shock. I can’t stop smiling,” Lyman Hall Elementary Principal Angel Rodriguez said Friday of the news that little Maria was coming home safe.
Gainesville Mayor Sam Couvillon praised the local community for coming together to help keep Maria’s case in the public consciousness.
“It’s hard to put into words what we saw. I just really, really am proud of our community,” he said. “Our Hispanic community just really stood up and made their presence known and said, ‘Hey look, let’s shine a light on this missing child.’”
The Division of Child and Family Services will determine the best housing situation for Gomez-Perez going forward, Sheriff Couch said.
He implored adults to keep track of what the kids in their lives are getting up to online.
“Technology can be a wonderful thing. It helped us locate Maria,” he said.
“But technology can also be used for evil. It’s why Maria was able to leave Gainesville with a stranger and travel nine hours from her home,” Couch continued.
“So, please, know what your children are doing and who they’re communicating with. They’re our most vulnerable citizens, and we need to keep them safe.”
Gomez-Perez was found the same week Penelope “Penny” Wise, 17, was found living with a 44-year-old man who claimed to be her fiancé — two months after she reportedly ran away from her family’s home in Michigan.
Wise was spotted by an eagle-eyed neighbor when she left the man’s home for a bike ride on Sunday.