A lady and her five-year-old kid from North Carolina who went missing in 2016 have been discovered LIVING on a property 25 miles away
What happened to them in the years they were gone is a mystery.
A North Carolina mother and her child have been found safe on a property owned by the girl’s paternal grandfather after being missing for more than five years, but federal officials and the women’s father claim they still don’t know what happened to them since 2016.
Amber Renaye Weber, 26, and her now-5-year-old daughter, Miracle Smith, were discovered living in Harnett County last week, barely 25 miles from where they went missing, along with the woman’s younger child, whom she welcomed sometime in the last five years.
The mother and her children were seen to be in good health. They were discovered on a property owned by Weber’s children’s father’s family.
The father of the children, who has not been identified by authorities, has not been arrested, according to officials.
Miracle’s grandfather, Joe Smith, 59, was detained on a federal weapons charge, but he has not been charged with anything related to Weber’s abduction.
Miracle Smith was one year old when she and her mother, who was 21 at the time, vanished on December 4, 2016, according to a news release from Fayetteville police. At the time, Weber was living with her sister in the 1200 block of Martindale Drive in Fayetteville.
Monty Weber, Amber’s father, told CBS 17 that he received a call from his other daughter, telling him that Amber awoke in the middle of the night, grabbed her baby girl, and ran away with only the clothing on her back.
Weber and Miracle were believed to be residing in Harnett County, but the family was unable to locate or contact her.
Weber and Miracle went missing in January 2017, and authorities investigated for clues, but the case remained unsolved.
According to a news release, Fayetteville police asked the US Marshals Service to assist them in locating a missing kid and mother who had previously been victims of physical violence.
Weber and her daughter were discovered to be residing on Lemon Lane in Bunnlevel, some 25 miles northeast of Fayetteville, during the inquiry.
Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and deputies from the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office went to the property on Tuesday to arrest Joe Smith on a charge of felon in possession of a firearm.
According to ABC11, federal agents took four firearms from Smith’s residence.
Officers spotted Weber and her children living in a trailer on the property while making the arrest.
While many questions remain unanswered about the mother and her child’s inexplicable abduction, Michael East, US Marshal for the Eastern District of North Carolina, expressed satisfaction with the case’s resolution.
‘A lot of times these situations end in tragedy, or you don’t find them, or they die, and to be able to say yesterday that she’s alive, and she’s well, and we found her and now she’s being cared for, that’s a win for us every day,’ East added.
Miracle and her younger brother have been referred to the Harnett County Department of Social Services for help.
Amber’s father, Monty Weber, told CBS 17 that he hasn’t spoken to his daughter yet, but that he is excited to see her and his grandchildren.
