The 12-year-old girl who disappeared last Thursday while she was in Bari with her mother for shopping has been found. Massimo Lanzilotti, mayor of Carovigno, the family’s town of residence, announced it on Facebook. According to what has been learned, the girl is fine and she would have been found in Casamassima, near Bari. Her parents have been warned by the carabinieri and are reaching her. The circumstances of the incident are not yet known. “Gabriela has been found – Mayor Lanzilotti wrote on Facebook – Thanks to the police and all of you”.
She was shopping with her mom and while the woman was at the checkout to pay she disappeared. Since last Thursday there has been no news of Gabriela Emanuela, a 12-year-old girl who lives in Carovigno with her family and who went shopping that day to Bari with her mother. They had arrived in the city by train and from the station they took a taxi to go to viale Unità d’Italia. They went into a shop because her mother needed passport photos, then they chose some objects together and when her mother reached the cash register to settle her bill with her back to her daughter, she disappeared. It was a moment: the run in the street, her screams to call her to him and silence as an answer. The report was made to the Penelope association which deals with missing persons and immediately after the complaint was presented to the carabinieri. “The parents are worried, they have not heard from their only daughter for 48 hours. However, they are confident that the nightmare will end soon”, reports Annalisa Loconsole, president of the Apulian section of the Penelope association who acts as a spokesperson for the family. The girl has her mobile phone with her, which “is turned off”, reports Loconsole, highlighting that she is a “12-year-old very loved and followed” by her mother – who has Romanian origins – and her father who is from Carovigno. “They remained in Bari and in the last few hours they have been shuttling between the police station and the police station: they hope to be told that she has been found, that she is well”, says Loconsole, underlining that the girl “had neither quarreled nor discussed with the mother” with whom he spent Thursday morning. The 12-year-old, who will attend eighth grade in September, is described as a girl with a “quiet character” and the family context in which she grew up is “serene and honest”, repeats Loconsole. The Prefecture of Bari has activated the search plan for missing persons which, in addition to the forces of order, involves firefighters and voluntary associations. They are moving not only where the girl has lost track of her but also in the places she usually frequents. The Bari Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation: the hypothesis of the crime is to be defined but it cannot be ruled out that it may be the abduction of a minor. “Everyone’s help is needed to ensure that the young girl returns home as soon as possible”, the appeal of Massimo Lanzilotti mayor of Carovigno. “We are waiting for you”, write classmates and teachers on social networks.
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