A 12-year-old girl who was reported missing has been found unharmed in the car of a 31-year-old man she met online.
Megan Williams was found in Dana Broberg's car in Walton County in north Florida - nearly 600 miles from her home in Margate, Florida.
Officials believe the man was taking the girl back to his home in San Antonio, Texas.
Megan's parents raised the alarm on Sunday morning after they returned home Saturday night and found the girl missing from the house. It came after her mother, who checks her daughter's phone and email daily, came across messages from a number she did not recognize.
Melissa Ford told NBC Miami: 'Clearly he was intending on meeting her and tried as hard as possible to find out her address and phone number. He pressured her a lot and gave her a lot of attention.'
After her family reported her missing, an Amber Alert was issued for the girl.
Authorities in Walton County tracked the car using phone signals and stopped Broberg as he entered the county on Interstate 10. Megan's mother added: 'I'm just so relieved and so grateful to everyone for bringing her home.'
She said she believed the man pretended he was a teenager when he was speaking to her daughter online. After discussing the emails with Megan, the concerned mother printed them out.
She warned other parents: 'If you see any unusual phone numbers or emails, one thing I would do, and what saved my daughter's life, print out the emails. Get those phone numbers. Don't disregard it.'
Margate Police agreed Ford's actions were crucial to helping track down Broberg and her 12-year-old daughter. 'She did all the right things,' spokesman Efrain Suarez told NBC. 'It ultimately led to her daughter's recovery.'
Megan has yet to return home from Walton County but her mother assured her in the interview that she was not in trouble. Broberg is being held by police and is expected to face kidnapping and interfering with custody charges.
Police believe he may have driven all the way from Texas to collect the girl but the incident is still under investigation.
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TXT 24
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