Thirteen year old Tabatha Lively Found Safe in Orlando, Florida
Tabatha Lively, 13, had been missing from Brevard, NC since December 28, 2005 was found safe in Orlando, Florida.
Investigators believed her uncle, Samual Lively, who has family in East Tennessee, abducted her.
He was arrested and Tabatha was located when he tried to apply for a job in Orlando, Florida.
Tabatha is in the custody of Florida authorities and a family member has gone to bring her home.
Lively and his niece disappeared on December 27 from the town of Brevard in western North Carolina. They reportedly traveled to South Florida, in the Fort Lauderdale area, then came to Orlando where Lively was looking for work.
A missing person flier with news of the kidnapping had just arrived at Bayside Staffing on South Orange Blossom Trail, so when a deputy stopped in that same office, employees said the man featured on the flier had just been hired.
Lively was arrested in the parking lot of a convenience store. Orange County deputies also gathered clothes and other materials from a motel where the two may have been staying. It’s still not clear how long they’ve been in the Orlando area, but they have been missing for more than a week.
N.C. girl rescued in Orlando after national alert
A 13-year-old North Carolina girl was rescued this morning on Orange Blossom Trail after a nationwide alert led authorities to Central Florida.
The learning-disabled teen and her uncle were picked up by an Orange County deputy after they visited a day-labor pool shortly before noon.
“We had information that he had mentioned to to someone that he was looking for work in Orlando,” Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokesman Geo Morales said of the arrest of Samuel Lively.