A 5-year-old Pennsylvania girl who was abducted from her elementary school on Monday was found overnight in a nearby playground. According to authorities, the child was discovered in tears and wearing almost no clothing.
The child, identified as Nailla Robinson, was taken from West Philadelphia’s Bryant Elementary School yesterday by an unidentified woman.
An article by Philly.com writes that the missing girl was discovered at approximately 4:40 am Tuesday morning in an Upper Darby playground not far from the site of her abduction. According to police, the girl was found when a man walking nearby heard cries coming from the 69th Street and Patterson Avenue playground.
The man, referred to by police as a Good Samaritan, followed the sounds to a jungle gym play-set where the girl was located. Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood described the interaction:
“As he starts to walk to where the screams are, a little girls runs out. She said, ‘I ran away, I ran away from the people who took me.’”
Crying and clothed only in a black tank-top, she informed the man that she was cold and needed to use the restroom. The temperature was reported to be approximately 37 degree,s and the area received heavy rains overnight.
Once recovered by authorities, the girl was transported to Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia for evaluation of possible hypothermia. It is unclear how long she had been in the elements before being discovered.
According to ABC News , Nailla Robinson was abducted from her school by an unidentified female early Monday morning. The woman was wearing a niqab, an article of clothing which partially covers the face, and used a false signature to sign the girl out of class.
The school was unaware of Nailla’s disappearance until her scheduled day care arrived six hours later to pick the girl up. After being recovered from the playground this morning, Nailla told authorities that a stranger had removed her from school, blindfolded her, and forced her to walk a few blocks to house where she was kept beneath a bed.
The child alleges that after spending time in the house she was led to the Upper Darby playground by an unidentified female teenager. Authorities continue to search for the abducted 5-year-old’s captor in the neighborhoods surrounding the Pennsylvania playground.