MIAMI (WSVN) - Police have detained a man as they continue to investigate an incident involving a teenage girl in Miami who, her family said, claims she was sexually assaulted.
The 13-year-old girl’s family is outraged after, they said, a man held their child in his home for hours.
Fighting back tears, the girl’s mother said her daughter went missing in the middle of the night.
“I specifically asked over and over, ‘Where’s my baby?'” she said.
Loved ones said the teen reappeared and told them she had been sexually assaulted by a man in the neighborhood.
7News cameras captured a heavy police presence at the scene along Northwest 55th Terrace and Seventh Court, early Friday morning.
According to family members, the teenager left the house without permission, and once they realized she was gone, they spent hours searching for her.
The 13-year-old’s mother said a man she questioned during her search lied to her over and over again, telling her he hadn’t seen the teenager.
“When I approached the gentleman I asked him again — this is my sixth time walking this block, asking the same gentlemen the same questions. He told me, ‘No,’ and then I looked back and saw my child running,” said the 13-year-old’s mother. “All I could do was tell her, ‘Come here, I love you.'”
The teen’s family members called police. They said she was taken to the hospital.
A man who spoke with 7News said he stepped in to keep the accused from taking off.
“I came up, and I saw the commotion, so I came in, and I held him down from there,” he said.
Officers took the man in for questioning.
Meanwhile, crime scene investigators photographed and collected evidence around two homes.
The only thing City of Miami Police will confirm, as of 5:30 p.m., is that they are investigating an incident involving a child.
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