Missing 12-Year-Old Girl Found Safe, Had Been Living in Homeless Camp: Family

A photograph of 12-year-old Alexsia Hardy, who went missing from Gresham, Ore. in late September. Gresham Police Department

A 12-year-old girl who was missing in Oregon for nearly a month was found safe on Oct. 24.

Relatives told KATU that Alexsia Hardy was found around 5 p.m. Thursday.

She was living in a homeless camp in the Sellwood area, family members said. Police have not confirmed that information.

People who live near the camp saw pictures of Alexsia while watching the news and their tips led to her location.

According to a Facebook group dedicated to finding the girl, after the tips came in, police officers confirmed Alexsia was spotted on surveillance video at a 7-11. Relatives then headed to the area and picked up the girl.

“Found my niece. Thank u for everyone’s help. Thank u God,” wrote one of her aunts.

“We found Alexsia in Sellwood, we weren’t leaving without her!!” another relative added.

“We have found my child by the grace of God she is safe and with her loving family thank you all for the support and help,” her mother wrote to the group.

Family members had said Alexsia left her house in Gresham on Sept. 28 by climbing out of a basement window.

The Gresham Police Department sent the girl’s picture to other agencies in the area but didn’t release a picture to the public until Oct. 10, KATU reported.

Kimberly Rodriguez, Alexsia’s aunt, told the broadcaster that her sister wasn’t able to sleep not knowing where her daughter was.

“We have been out talking to the homeless camps and passing out her flyer and getting her out there,” Rodriguez said.

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. Photo by Kris Connor/Getty Images

Missing Children

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

“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 noted. The center said it assisted officers and families with the cases of more than 25,00 missing children.

In those cases, 92 percent were endangered runaways, 4 percent were family abductions, 3 percent were critically missing young adults between the ages of 17 and 21, 1 percent were lost, injured, or otherwise missing children, and less than one percent were nonfamily abductions.

The center was founded by John and Revé Walsh and other child advocates in 1984 as a private, non-profit organization to serve as the national clearinghouse and resource center for information about missing and exploited children.