A Los Angeles Police Department watch commander said a 10-year-old Northridge girl has been found after disappearing from her home overnight.
The girl was discovered and taken to a waiting ambulance at a Starbucks on Canoga Avenue in Woodland Hills, nearly five miles from her home.
She was led, walking of her own will and apparently barefoot, to a waiting LA Fire Department ambulance, aerial video showed. She was being taken as a precaution via ambulance -- without lights and siren -- to West Hills Hospital & Medical Center.
The girl had been reported missing early Wednesday morning from her family's home in the 8000 block of Oakdale Avenue in Northridge, prompting an extensive search on the part of the LAPD and FBI.
Investigators were continuing to look for evidence and were "adding crime scenes" on Wednesday evening, when police activity temporarily prompted the closure of sections of De Soto Avenue, as well as the roadway's ramps to and from the 101 Freeway. Offivers were also responding to multiple other sites in the western San Fernando Valley.
Since the girl has been found, NBC4 is no longer identifying the girl by name or in images that had been released by authorities.
At an afternoon press conference, LAPD Capt. Chris Pitcher said the girl who had been found was alert and responding to officers.
"She was there, she was walking, she was talking," Pitcher said.
An interview with her was leading to ongoing investigations late Wednesday, Pitcher told NBC4 later in the evening.
Police had been called at 2:50 p.m. with a report that the girl had been found. Officers who responded to a Chevron parking lot found the girl, walking and talking. She had been located by an "unknown citizen," Pitcher said.
Police believe the girl was dropped off at a Goodwill across from the Chevron, which is next to a Starbuvks. She walked from the Goodwill store to the gas station, where a woman saw her and dropped her off to two LAPD officers on patrol.
It was not clear what had transpired in the hours since the girl had gone missing. She had been dropped off by an individual, Pitcher said.
“She’s got some cuts, some bruises, some abrasions,” Pitcher said, adding that the girl’s exact condition was unknown.
He said she was in shock, though she was communicating with officers. She was undergoing tests at the hospital, where her family was taken just before 5:30 p.m.
The investigation was ongoing and would continue "until we catch up with this individual and take him into custody," Pitcher said.
Asked if the community should be concerned, Pitcher said: “We have no evidence of that. We have no information leading to anybody at this point in time, and nothing that’s unusual or out of the ordinary.”
An FBI spokeswoman had confirmed earlier Wednesday that the agency was assisting the LAPD in the search for the girl, who was described as 4 feet, 11 inches tall, 100 pounds with long red hair and blue eyes, according to police.
The intense response was motivated in part because of the critical first few hours after a child has gone missing, Pitcher said. He said the LAPD was lucky to have FBI resources available to help.
The mother of the girl had last seen her in her bedroom at about 1 a.m. Wednesday, according to police. When the mother checked in the bedroom again about 3:40 a.m., the door was ajar and the girl was missing and nowhere else in the house, Pitcher said.
The mother told police her daughter does not have a history of running away from home.
"There's no indication of any foul play," LAPD Capt. Daryl Russell said early Wednesday. "We're treating it as a critical missing.
"By all accounts, she's a very bright 10-year-old and has never done anything like run away."
There were no signs of forced entry. A side gate was open and back door was left unlocked, according to investigators. Both are normally closed, according to the family, investigators said.
A community alert distributed by the LAPD noted that the girl could not reach the lock on the gate without assistance.
LAPD detectives issued a news release Wednesday morning to ask for help locating the girl, and a flier was posted in the Northridge area, as seen below.
