Search continues for 4-year-old missing from Port St. Lucie home

PORT ST. LUCIE — A 4-year-old autistic girl remains missing from her home, according to Port St. Lucie Police.

Chelsea Noel was last seen around 9:50 p.m. Saturday, just before she left the home in the 4600 block of Keats Street.

Police resumed the search Sunday and were going door to door and from lot to lot, said police spokesman Sgt. Frank Sabol. The FBI, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Martin County Sheriff’s Office are voluntarily helping in the search.

“Family members say she walked out through the front door,” police said. It was “just a few minutes since she was last seen” by family members.

As soon as her parents found that she was gone, they went outside and couldn’t find her, Sabol said. Police were there within six minutes.

Sabol added the family told police the girl is attracted to lights. Police initially searched around nearby homes with outdoor holiday light displays.

Sabol said Chelsea Noel “didn’t talk and wouldn’t necessarily respond to her name. She spent her life inside a house.”

Late Sunday afternoon, Sabol said police had planned to continue searching into the night and the case is being treated as a missing child.

“There’s no evidence to suggest foul play,” Sabol said.

So far, Sabol said, they have had up to 60 officers from multiple jurisdictions as part of the search and have called in offduty officers as well to answer calls to free up more on-duty police in the search.

“It’s wonderful to see the community coming together,” Sabol said of all the volunteers. “This shows remarkable character of the city that they want to help people.”

Remy Noel, Chelsea Noel’s father, said she usually plays in the living room, but she wasn’t there when he checked on her. “I didn’t see (Chelsea) and looked at the door,” he said.

Noel said he saw the door was open, ran outside and began yelling for his daughter. He said footage from the home’s surveillance camera showed the child leaving the house.

Remy Noel is now with relatives who have gathered at the family’s home. “I just want my baby back,” he said.

As of Sunday at 4:45 p.m., Sabol said the search continued and officers were stationed at entry roads to the subdivision and passing out photos of the girl.