(WWJ) – A 4-year-old girl who was reported missing from the Port Huron area has been reunited with her mother after police in Ohio rescued her Tuesday night.
Lillianna Nardini was reported as an endangered missing child early Tuesday morning. Ohio state troopers found her in the backseat of a car driven by her father shortly before 9 p.m.
Troopers got a tip that her father, Erik Nardini, was spotted somewhere in Ohio driving a Ford Taurus. When troopers located the car, they initiated a traffic stop and recovered the young girl. It was not immediately clear where the rescue took place.
Ohio State Highway Patrol officials tweeted a video of the traffic stop and recovery. As the driver is pulled over a trooper is heard asking him if he is alone, to which he replies “I have my daughter.”
After one trooper says he sees a kid in the back right seat of the car, the other trooper instructs Nardini to throw the keys out the window and get out of the car.
After police arrest Nardini, body camera footage shows a trooper pulling Lillianna from the backseat, saying “come on, sweetie, you’re okay.”
Near the end of the video, Lillianna is heard saying “I was scared.”
“Well we’re here to help you, okay babe? We’re gonna get your mom over here and we’re gonna help you,” the trooper tells her.
The search for the young girl began Tuesday morning, when police officials said she was believed to have been dropped off to her father at a Burger King in Marysville around 10:30 p.m. Monday.
Officials said Nardini had lost custody of his daughter in court and reports say he allegedly told her mother that she would never see Lillianna again.
“We would not only like to thank our law enforcement partners but a big thank you to everyone that shared the posts and sent in all the tips. We will release more information as it becomes available,” Port Huron police officials said in a statement posted to Facebook Tuesday night.
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