Missing Brighton girl located in NYC

Authorities: ‘Concerning’ details emerge in teen’s disappearance

Police said that the Brighton teenager with developmental disabilities who went missing early this week was located Monday night at an apartment in New York City.

The 14-year-old girl was last seen by her family in her home on Ashley Drive in Brighton around 9 p.m. Sunday, and was reported missing by her family just before 4 a.m. Monday, said Brighton Police Chief David Catholdi. Initially, Brighton police thought she might have wandered off and searched the neighborhood – just south of Elmwood Avenue – with search dogs, Catholdi said at a late morning news conference. But officers quickly determined that the young teen had been communicating with someone by a chat app and by text before she disappeared.

New York State Police and Monroe County sheriff’s deputies joined the investigation, he said, and were able to track a phone Zoe was communicating with and a vehicle they believed was linked to her disappearance to the New York City area. NYPD officers found Zoe, alone, inside an apartment in the Bronx around 9:30 p.m. She was taken to an area hospital for evaluation, was released and is headed back to Brighton, he said.

Catholdi said that police could not say whether Zoe was abducted or left her home willingly.

“We have to look at exactly how she left Brighton, but regardless of how she left Brighton, she’s a 14-yearold child going to New York City without her parents’ consent,” Catholdi said. “That is concerning.”

Brighton police are in the process of gathering search warrants for social media and residences in New York City. No charges have been filed in connection with the incident, but the investigation is ongoing, Catholdi said.