MIO – The Oscoda County Sheriff’s Office and the Michigan State Police are relieved to have found a missing two-year-old who had wandered away from her family yesterday.
The sheriff’s office originally received a call about 8:15 a.m. July 15 about a missing child. Deputies were sent to a wooded area about ¾ mile west of M-33 on Reber Road in Comins Township, where they met with the child’s family, who reside in Monroe. They were preparing to leave when they lost track of their 2-year-old child, Gabrielle Vitale.
Deputies and troopers including canine teams, DNR officers and Trooper 3 (MSP helicopter), and DNR Officers searched the area all day yesterday and this morning.
Lt. Travis House of the Michigan State Police she Gabriella had circled quite a distance and made a big loop in excess of a mile, up to ¾ of a mile outside of the original search sector. Her jacket was found several hundred yards to the southeast of where the family was camping, and she was found several hundred yards to the Northeast of where they camped.
House said the child walked onto the porch of a private residence this morning about 11:30 a.m.
“The lady at the house knew she was being looked for, scooped her up and called us,” House said. “She circled quite a distance and just walked up on to a porch. … It’s amazing the level of endurance she has.”
House said the family is “very relieved.” The child is currently being transported to the hospital for observation.
“(Gabriella has) been reunited with Mom and everything looks good at this time,” he added. “She is well and in surprisingly good spirits.”
###
Up North Voice and UpNorthVoice.com are Northern Michigan’s source for community news.
We cover seven counties that include the following communities: Hale, Roscommon, St. Helen, Houghton Lake, Prudenville, Grayling, Frederic, Waters, Gaylord, Johannesburg, Lewiston, Atlanta, Comins, Fairview, Mio, Rose City, West Branch, Skidway Lake, Sand Lake area, Glennie, Oscoda, East Tawas, Tawas City, and National City.
We are also a full-service commercial design and printing house. Our specialty is custom commercial printing, as well as the creation of clothing, cups and other marketing products.
To submit information for publication, or for questions regarding promotion of your business, please email info@UpNorthVoice.com, or call 989-275-1170.
Up North Voice is a division of AuSable Media Group, LLC, based at 709 Lake Street in Roscommon.
