Update, December 17, 2019 at 7:20 p.m. ET: Karol Sanchez admitted to police that she faked her own kidnapping.
Karol Sanchez, 16, has been found. The Garifuna teen was walking down Eagle Avenue in the Bronx with her mother at around 11:20 p.m. when it happened: Two men grabbed the teenager, dragging her into a beige car. Her mother tried to fight them off, but she was pushed to the ground. The incident was captured on a security camera. On Twitter, the NYPD’s Chief of Department Terence Monahan announced at 2:42 p.m. ET that she was unharmed.
Journalist Kemberly Richardson reported that Sanchez was dropped at a park, not far from where she was abducted. And she was eventually reunited with her family.
Before the reunion, police released the grainy video and asked the public for any information they may have, according to The New York Times. On Twitter, Fausto Pichardo, the Police Department’s chief of patrol, asked, “Have you seen Karol Sanchez?”
Her name was a top trending topic on Twitter (for the New York area) and many, like her cousin, tried to share as much information about the teen.
There’s still a lot of we don’t know about the kidnapping, but many are now breathing a sigh of relief.