The 11-year-old Miami Gardens girl who went missing earlier this week was found safe and police arrested the 16-year-old boy she was with.
Melaine Sharpe Ubiera was found uninjured around 12:40 a.m. at a home in the 1800 block of Sherman Street in Hollywood, Miami Gardens Police spokesman Det. Carlton Coleman said.
Ubiera was found with a 16-year-old boy, who was arrested and charged with interfering with a police investigation, Coleman said. He was placed in juvenile detention.
"He interfered with the police investigation. He was with her. Maybe he knew that she was missing and he didn't come to anyone and say 'Hey, I know where she is,'" said Coleman.
Coleman said Ubiera seems to have gone willingly and there were no signs of sexual assault.
"She said this guy never laid a hand on her, never forced her to do anything but wouldn't let her make any calls, you know, or any texts," said her stepfather Sildo Chavez.
Police haven't said how they located Ubiera, who was back home with her family.
Family members said Ubiera was taken by her aunt to a clinic Friday to get examined and make sure she's OK.
Grandfather Alfredo Sharpe said he hadn't seen Ubiera since she went to sleep Tuesday night. He said when he woke up Wednesday morning, she wasn't in her room and the front door was unlocked.
Her grandmother said the family doesn't know the boy she was found with, and added that Ubiera is an honor student who would never run away. Her mother died a little over a year ago and she lives with her grandparents.
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Her grandmother also said Ubiera has a computer in her room, and may have been lured by someone on the internet.
"Being an officer of the law and a father as well, you have to monitor your children, what they do, the internet, phone everything, 'cause you don't know who they're talking to," Coleman said. "You know, set up passwords where as a parent you're able see what they're doing and track their progress."
Two private investigators say they helped discover some information and turned it over to the police.
"We searched her room after police had been ehre and we found a notebook that was hidden, and in the notebook that had some writings," said Joe Carillo. "By writing, I mean, I'm not a psychiatrist, psychologist, but I could tell she wasn't happy with her situation in her own mind."
