Amber Alert: 11-year-old Escambia County, Florida girl found safely in Foley
*Editor's note: An earlier version of this story misidentified Brijido Manriquez-Ortiz
An 11-year-old girl who authorities believed had been kidnapped from an Escambia County home by a 42-year-old man who had previously been seen kissing the child has been safely located.
An investigation later determined the man had not been physically present during the girl's disappearance.
A Florida Amber Alert was issued Thursday morning for 11-year-old Banesa Fernandez-Santis after she disappeared from her family home in Escambia County.
The alert stated that Banesa had been last seen in the area of the 5600 block of Arthur Brown Road in Walnut Hill and described her as 5-feet, 2-inches tall and weighing approximately 120 pounds.
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At a Thursday morning press conference, Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said investigators had substantial evidence to lead them to believe the child was in the company of Manriquez-Ortiz.
Manriquez-Ortiz — a 42-year-old undocumented worker with an unknown date of birth — was located Thursday afternoon in Laredo, Texas where he was continuing to be detained as of 4 p.m.
Although the sheriff did not go into detail, Simmons confirmed that Banesa was also located Thursday, having been found safely inside a car in Foley, Alabama.
"I can only tell you right now that she is safe, and he is detained," Simmons said, around 4 p.m. "We are still conducting investigations trying to figure out who knows what and who did what."
The ECSO posted a statement to social media late Thursday afternoon explaining that authorities were "continuing to investigate their relationship and any communication they have had over the past couple of weeks."
Two weeks ago, Manriquez-Ortiz, Banesa and the girl's father were working together on a farm in northern Escambia County when the girl's father noticed a "building relationship" between the 42-year-old man and his 11-year-old daughter, according to Simmons’ press conference remarks.
The father caught his daughter and the 42-year-old man "in a kissing situation" after which the father fired Manriquez-Ortiz from the job site and personally drove Manriquez-Ortiz to Atlanta, Simmons said.
On Thursday morning, the father found that his daughter was missing. An opening had been cut in the screen of the girl's window and a note from Banesa was left behind in the room.
"That note indicated that she would be in the company of Brijido Manriquez-Ortiz," Simmons said.
Investigators believed that Manriquez-Ortiz and the child were in the Atlanta or the Laredo, Texas, area.
"She is 11 years old, and he is 42. We are very concerned. Again, we don't know if they are in Atlanta," Simmons said Thursday morning. "We don't know if they are in Laredo. We don't know what his intent is. We don't know if his intent is to stay in the states or try to get to Mexico. We want to get this information out as quick as we possibly can."
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The press conference was the first time the ECSO has ever used a translator at a press conference, part of an ECSO effort to get word of Banesa's disappearance to as wide an audience as possible.
"We needed someone because of the nature of the crime to speak in their native language," Simmons explained to the News Journal after the event.
Colin Warren-Hicks can be reached at colinwarrenhicks@pnj.com or 850-435-8680.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Florida Amber Alert: Walnut Hill girl Banesa Fernandez-Santis located
