HUASNA VALLEY, Calif.- A nearly 24-hour intensive search is over after a 12-year-old Arroyo Grande girl is found safe.
A sigh of relief. The reaction after family and friends see 12-year-old Mikayla Andersen pull up with her dad at the Huasna Valley command post. The same spot where more than 200 search and rescue crews had been looking for Mikayla since she went missing Thursday afternoon.
Investigators say Mikayla's father spotted her walking on the bridge at 3:30 Friday afternoon, that's when he drove her to emergency crews where she got into an ambulance and was transported to a local hospital to be checked out.
Mikayla's family was just too shaken up too to go on camera, but investigators say she had spent the night hiding out in a tree in the area, after leaving school Thursday afternoon.
"She was able to get a ride home from a friend's mother and they dropped her off at her grandmother's house. She ended up saddling up a horse and going for a ride and she was last seen riding her house at around 4:30pm," said Tony Cipolla, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office.
Nearly 24 hours later, she's been found, but the motive has to why she ran away remains unknown.
"Recently some letters were delivered to our investigators that were from Mikayla and we are in the process of finding out what those letters contained, what the time frame is, if they even apply to this incident," explained Cipolla.
Investigators are speaking to Mikayla to find out the reason as to why she went missing. There were reports that there were family matters involved, but at this time, investigators cannot confirm them.
