Sophie Long FOUND: Missing Texas girl, 11, located with dad Michael in foreign land
Sophie Long, the 11-year-old Texas girl who went missing after her father had refused to hand her over to her maternal aunt following a bitter custody dispute, was found safe in a foreign country with her fugitive dad on Saturday, December 11.
After investigators finally tracked down the pair, the Collin County Sheriff’s Office was making arrangements to fly Sophie back to Texas. Although authorities previously said that Sophie and her father could have been on their way to Argentina or Mexico, the destination from where they were finally recovered has been kept under wraps. "Many months of determined work by my deputies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Marshals paid off this morning," Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner said in a statement Saturday. "We are so happy Sophie is safe."
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Sophie's father Michael will be extradited to face a felony charge of interference with child custody in the US, according to the Dallas Morning News.
What happened in the Sophie Long case?
Sophie's story first made headlines back in August 2020 after a video went viral on social media, showing her screaming and crying during a custody handover. The 11-year-old was seen desperately clinging to the seats of her father's car and accused her mom's fiance, who the children call Mr Jake, of sexual abuse.
The video prompted a #StandWithSophie campaign on social media. Although she was initially believed to be in danger, police at that time dismissed the "patently false" information that was being shared about her and other children. Michael Long, at the time, claimed that Sophie claimed she was sexually abused by her mother's fiance Jacob Bellington, following which she was admitted to the hospital diagnosed with a vaginal infection. Sophie was also interviewed by a specialist nurse where she repeated the claims that her father made.
Sophie was last seen on July 12 in Seguin, northeast of San Antonio, before being found. Back in August, Michael, 43, was due to show up at a court in McKinney, Texas, for a hearing over a motion that could send him to jail for almost three years. However, Michael Long said he didn't want to return Sophie to her mother's family after the girl accused her mother's fiance of sexual abuse.
Michael Long: 'I'd absolutely go to jail to protect Sophie'
Sophie's mom Kelly Long demanded that Michael be jailed for 18 months. She also additionally asked for another year on one count of hiding Sophie and another for failing to hand her over. Michael was ordered in July to pay $20,000, cover the cost of reunification therapy for Sophie and her mother and pay for therapy for her two brothers, his sons.
"I'd absolutely go to jail to protect Sophie. I'd do anything for her. She's a 10-year-old child," Michael told DailyMail.com. "She shouldn't have to be dealing with this stuff. These high conflict custody cases — this wasn't about getting into a custody case. This was about getting justice for my daughter. It turned into that because the system didn't take action as they promised they would. People like to say this is a vendetta against my ex. No, it's not. This is about a little girl who made an outcry and has a diagnosis and has not gotten justice. There's no way I'm going to turn my back on her now.'