Howard County family thankful after missing teen is found safe

HOWARD COUNTY, Ark. - The search is over for a 16-year-old girl from Arkansas who was reported missing on Saturday.

Arkansas State Police announced Tuesday the teen was found safe over 150 miles away from her hometown of Mineral Springs in Leonard, Texas.

According to Howard County Sheriff Bryan McJunkins, Adrian Garces, the man accused of picking up the girl from outside her home, called the number listed for the Mineral Springs Police Department on AMBER alerts that were sent out to turn himself in.

Police said Garces called and received advice from Police Chief Francisco Ercado to turn himself in for felony Interference with Custody.

Authorities said he then did so in Texas, but the girl he allegedly left the state with was not with him. It took an additional night of searching to locate the missing teen in Leonard. Who she was with and specifically where she was found are yet to be released.

"We believe that there had been some kind of dating app communication between the two," McJunkins said.

The family of the girl said they were not ready for an interview as they wait ...