A 14-year-old Covington girl reported missing for five days was found by a deputy Wednesday evening after reports of her disappearance hit the media.
Robin Hardie was brought home around bedtime, according to her mother.
"She's fine. She's not injured," said Covington Police Department spokesperson Detective Daniel Seals.
Police were in the process of questioning Hardie on Thursday afternoon about her disappearance.
"Some of those questions include why, what's your intent, what were you doing," he said.
Once investigators get to the bottom of those questions, they can better decide whether to press charges, Seals said.
A call came into the 911 dispatch center after 6 p.m. Wednesday with information about where Hardie might be located, according to Seals. He said he wasn't sure if it was someone who had seen the notices sent out by the CPD to local media about Hardie's missing status.
A Newton County Sheriff's Office deputy went to the location and found Hardie alone in an abandoned house, where she had apparently been staying.
Seals warned anyone who had aided and abetted Hardie could be subject to charges as well.
Virgin last saw her daughter around midday on June 27 at their shoe store, New Shoez, on Monticello Street off the Square. She reported that she and her 4-year-old son had taken a nap at the store, and when they woke up around 1:30 p.m., Hardie was gone. Virgin assumed her daughter had just gone home and didn't realize she was not at the house either until about 7:45 p.m., which is when she called police.
The teen, who is home-schooled but attended Eastside High School for a semester, ran away in the past but normally would come back by bedtime, her mother said. Hardie had no cell phone, checking account, credit card or driver's license and took little of the kind of supplies and items normally taken for a trip, leading police to believe she was with another person.
Police questioned Hardie's acquaintances and relatives and began disseminating reports to local media shortly before the tip came into the 911 dispatch center.
