13-Year-Old Texas Girl Betsabe Perez Found After Going Missing a Month Ago

(L-R) Betsabe Perez, 13, has gone missing from Val Verde County, Texas. Authorities believe she may have been abducted by Erik Diaz-Tapia, 19. Val Verde County Sheriff's Office

A 13-year-old Texas girl was found after she went missing for about a month, according to officials, who canceled an AMBER Alert on Wednesday.

Betsabe Perez, 13, and the man she was with were tracked to an apartment complex in Fort Worth, KWTX reported. She was last seen several hundred miles away in southwestern Texas.

Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez said they were able to track her by gaining the IP address of a cellphone, the report said.

Martinez said a suspect in the case, 19-year-old Erik Diaz-Tapia, was arrested.

The location of Del Rio, Texas. The girl was found hundreds of miles away in Fort Worth. Google Maps

Betsabe was last seen on Sept. 9 in Del Rio, Texas, at around 12 p.m. An AMBER Alert was only issued on Monday.

The alert had stated that Betsabe went missing from Del Rio and was said to be “in grave or immediate danger,” People reported.

Officials did not disclose if Betsabe and Perez knew each other.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office at 830-774-7513.

Missing Children

There were 424,066 missing children reported in the FBI’s National Crime Information Center in 2018, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). Under federal law, when a child is reported missing to law enforcement they must be entered into the database. In 2017, there were 464,324 entries.

“This number represents reports of missing children. That means if a child runs away multiple times in a year, each instance would be entered into NCIC separately and counted in the yearly total. Likewise, if an entry is withdrawn and amended or updated, that would also be reflected in the total,” the center notes on its website.

Reve Walsh and John Walsh speak during The National Center For Missing And Exploited Children, the Fraternal Order of the Police and the Justice Department's 16th Annual Congressional Breakfast at The Liaison Capitol Hill Hotel in Washington on May 18, 2011. Kris Connor/Getty Images

“Unfortunately, since many children are never reported missing, there is no reliable way to determine the total number of children who are actually missing in the U.S.,” NCMEC (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children) added.

In 2018, the center said it assisted officers and families with the cases of more than 25,000 missing children. In those cases, 92 percent were endangered runaways, and 4 percent were family abductions.

The center said that it participates in the Amber Alert Program, which is a voluntary partnership between numerous entities including broadcasters, transportation agencies, and law enforcement agencies. The Amber Alert Program issues urgent bulletins in the most serious child abduction cases.

According to the NCMEC, to date, 941 children have been successfully recovered as a result of the Amber Alert Program.

The center notes that of the more than 23,500 runaways reported in 2018, about one in seven were likely victims of child sex trafficking.