Update:
BRIAR CREEK TWP. – The 2-year-old girl who was the subject of an Amber Alert child abduction notice Sunday night was found safe near her home, authorities said shortly after midnight on Monday.
The girl was in the car that was believed to have been stolen, but was found down an embankment behind her family’s home along Route 11.
Minutes after the girl was loaded into an ambulance, several relieved family members said investigators are theorizing the car was never stolen, but slipped out of gear while parked in the driveway and then careened out of control down an embankment that eventually leads to the Susquehanna River.
The mother was putting groceries away, police said.
State police at Bloomsburg issued an Amber Alert on Sunday night for Alexis Weber, saying the child was reportedly abducted around 7 p.m. from the area of the 2000-block of West Front Street, the other name for Route 11.
The Amber Alert said the car was stolen by an unknown suspect who fled the area traveling toward Laporte. The source of that information was unclear.
Dozens of emergency responders had gathered in front of Defebo Graphics to convene search parties expected to last through the night. As they continued to plan the search, word broke that Weber was found safe.
Authorities said she was being taken to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville for evaluation and treatment.
Previous Report:
BERWICK — Authorities on Sunday night launched a widespread search for a 2-year-old girl after they say she was abducted by a car thief in Berwick.
At press time, manpower was being assembled for search parties to look for the girl, Alexis Weber, and the car that she was in when it was stolen — a 2005 yellow Ford Mustang with a Pennsylvania registration of HWN-1367.
One of the search areas was located near Defebo Graphics just off Route 11 in the neighboring municipality of Briar Creek Township.
The Pennsylvania State Police in Bloomsburg issued an Amber Alert on Sunday night in the middle of the widely watched Super Bowl, which interrupted the broadcast regionally and asked the huge audience to be on the lookout for the girl and car.
Investigators say Weber was abducted from West Front Street, Berwick. She was in a car that was stolen by an unknown suspect, police said.
Weber is white with blonde hair and blue eyes. She is about three feet tall and weighs 30 pounds.
The child was last seen wearing a white coat, a blue polka dot shirt and black pants.
Anyone with information should call 911 or state police at Bloomsburg at 570-387-4701.
bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com
570-821-2055, @cvbobkal
