Daniella and Indiana: Two missing sisters found alive three days after community-wide search effort
ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA: Daniella and Indiana, two young sisters from South Australia who had been missing for three days, were found alive and in good condition on Tuesday, March 14, 2023, after a desperate search. Without revealing further details about the rescue, South Australia Police expressed gratitude to the public for their assistance in locating the missing sisters.
At around 11 am on March 11, 2023, sisters, Daniella and Indiana, aged seven and five, respectively, were last seen at their Kidman Park residence in Adelaide. The stepmother of the missing girls reported that they had gone to their mother's residence in Kidman Park, a suburb located in the west of Adelaide, for a supervised visit but failed to return home.
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'This is the scariest thing'
On the day that she was reported missing, Daniella was wearing a Minnie Mouse long-sleeve dress and had long, dark hair that reached her waist. Indiana, who has long blonde hair, was wearing pink, blue, and purple glittering leggings and a Minnie Mouse t-shirt, according to a report by the Daily Mail.
When the sisters went missing, their stepmother, Stephanie Mende, was under a lot of stress, and she even issued a desperate plea for help before they were found. "This is the scariest thing any parent could ever go through. This is the most concerning and worried state we've ever been in," Mende told 9News.
'Please help find our babies'
She also made multiple pleas on social media, asking for help in finding her two girls. "Can everyone please help find our babies!" she said. "If anyone knows where they are or where they could be, please contact [police]", she added.
As of now, Mende has not yet made any comment regarding how her two girls were found and their current situation.
As the number of missing children keeps on increasing day by day, the Department of Child Protection, South Australia, issued a fact sheet on what to do when a minor goes missing. There are 4 levels of urgency associated with a missing child incident: extreme (immediate or life-threatening danger), high, medium, and low. The level of urgency determines if a call should be made for South Australian Police (SAPOL) assistance.