9-year-old girl missing since 2016 found safe after tip from TV show viewer
A 9-year-old Texas girl who had been missing for over a year was found safe this week, thanks to a tip from a viewer watching the A&E show “Live PD.”
Mariah Martinez vanished on Oct. 21, 2016, and was featured Friday in a story on the show, a documentary series that follows police officers in the course of their patrol.
A viewer called in a tip about Mariah after watching the show and she was recovered Tuesday in New Mexico with the help of the Lubbock Police Department and New Mexico State Police, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
“We received a viewer tip & worked w/ Lubbock Police Department & New Mexico State Police to find her,” the organization wrote in a Facebook post. “Big thank you for bringing home one of our missing kids!”
Mariah and her siblings, Jeremiah and Leimiah, were reported missing in late October after investigators had secured a court order to take them from their mother’s custody, according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
By the time investigators tried to enforce the order, the children and their mother had disappeared.
Jeremiah and Leimiah were recovered in January 2017, but their sister had remained missing until now, according to the Avalanche-Journal. Their mother, Amanda Martinez, was arrested when the first two children were found, the Avalanche-Journal reported. It’s not clear where her case currently stands.
The Lubbock Police Department said in a statement that it “is thankful that the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children continued to place this case at the top of their priority list, ensuring that Mariah return home safely.”
