HALL COUNTY, Ga. — Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch is sharing new details in the missing person case of 12-year-old Maria Gomez-Perez.
She vanished from her Gainesville home in May. The sheriff’s office said late Thursday night that “Maria is safe and OK,” and that she was located “in another state.”
Sheriff Couch confirmed on Friday morning that she had been found in Dover, Ohio with a 34-year-old man she met online.
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He says Maria met Antonio Agustin, a Guatemalan native, online and began chatting with him and other adult men through Facebook Messenger. She told Agustin that she was unhappy and wanted to leave home.
On May 29, Agustin drove from his Ohio home to Gainesville to pick Maria up and take her back to northeast Ohio, where investigators believe they have been since.
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Agustin has since been arrested and is being held in the Tuscarawas County Jail.
A $50,000 reward had been offered for any information that could lead to finding Maria.
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