The 12-year-old Hall County girl who has been missing since last week says she planned her disappearance.
“I ran away,” Brooklyn Smith told Channel 2 Action News reporter Tony Thomas in a phone call, “and I had planned on running away for a month or so.
“I was not kidnapped.”
Smith, who is the subject of a nationwide Amber Alert, reportedly was seen in Cartersville on Monday, Hall County sheriff’s spokesman Stephen Wilbanks said. Investigators believe she is with her father, Steven Keith Spires, 31, and his girlfriend, Carmen Clay, 19.
Smith previously told the station that she is not with her father and his girlfriend. The girl also told Channel 2 that “I was saving up money of, like, $500 or so” for her runaway.
Also, Spires called Channel 2 to say he is not with his daughter, but knows that she is safe.
“She’s probably safer now than where she was before,” Spires said.
Authorities do not believe the calls.
“She’s so young and so impressionable that she may have been brainwashed, if you will, into believing what her situation is,” Wilbanks told Channel 2.
Police believe the girl is traveling in a vehicle that is towing a large camper.
There is an active arrest warrant for Spires for interference with custody, Wilbanks said.
Anyone with information should call the Hall County Sheriff’s Office at 770-531-6879 or local police.
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