A mother and her 1-year-old daughter vanished like a ghost and after 5 years they were found safe just 25 miles away from home.
Amber Renaye Weber, 21, and daughter Miracle Smith, now 5, were found at a home in Bunn level, North Carolina, the US Marshals announced.
They were last seen on December 4, 2016, in Fayetteville and were first reported missing back in January 2017. At the time, Miracle was just one-year-old, raising obvious concerns over the welfare of both mother and daughter.
All leads went cold until Fayetteville Police Department’s Investigative assistant Sonia Roldan took over the investigation a year ago and began collaborating with the U.S. Marshals.
The U.S. Marshals said the investigation developed information that the missing mother and child were in Bunnlevel and may be associated with Joe Smith, 59.
He could well have been involved in the initial disappearance of the pair, although no tangible relationship has yet been established. Last week, Joe was charged by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Authorities found Miracle at the Bunnlevel home and turned her and her siblings over to the Harnett Country Department of Social Service to provide victim assistance. Four guns were also found at the home.
U.S. Marshals told WNCN that Amber and her daughter were found in a trailer on property owned by the family of Weber’s children’s father.
Brandon Taylor, a deputy U.S. Marshal with the Investigative Operations Division, told them that Amber gave birth to Miracle’s sibling after the pair went missing, but could not identify the father of the child.
Vince Pallozzi, ATF Special Agent in Charge, said in a statement: “This search not only recovered numerous firearms from a convicted felon and prohibited individual but also brought some closure and relief to family and friends of the missing person. These are the outcomes that law enforcement works so hard for.”
Monty Weber, Amber’s father, told CBS17 that she had been staying with her sister before vanishing, then “took off in the middle of the night” with the baby. According to the police’s Amber and Miracle were previously abused before went missing.
Monty has not spoken to his daughter yet, but he was looking forward to seeing her and his grandchildren. He said: “We’re happy. We’d like to see our grandbabies… we’d like to see her.”
Michael East, U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of North Carolina, said in the statement: “The culmination of years of following leads and tips resulted in the outcome that we had all hoped for today, the successful recovery of a child who had been missing since December 2016.”
“The U.S. Marshals Service and our investigative partners will not quit, nor deterred until these children are rescued,” he added.
Taylor did not disclose the mother and daughter’s relationship to Joe, but he told The News that he appears to be Miracle’s grandfather.
Authorities don’t yet know what happened at the time when the mother and daughter went missing. It’s not clear whether anyone will be charged in connection to the disappearance.