Victorious 'Tori' Smith: Missing Brooklyn girl, 12, 'has been located' by NYPD after a week-long search
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK: A 12-year-old girl has finally been located after nearly a week-long disappearance, as per authorities and loved ones.
Victorious “Tori” Smith was last seen departing her residence in Prospect Lefferts Garden around 6.50 am on April 9.
After going missing, she was searched thoroughly over a week.
The New York City Police Department confirmed her whereabouts on April 15, saying “The missing has been located," to People through an email. She is reported to be safe with her family now.
Victorious 'Tori' Smith was heading to her school before her disappearance
At the time Tori was last seen, her sister and legal guardian, Eliana Perozo told the New York Post that she was en route to the Baccalaureate School for Global Education in Queens.
“She went to school, as she does every day," Perozo said during an interview with New York radio station 1010 WINS.
However, instead of coming home, Perozo told the outlet she watched as the AirTag on her sister's phone "went in one direction and the train that she usually takes home...went in the opposite direction."
Victorious 'Tori' Smith fought over a 16-year-old boy
Perozo said that before the disappearance, she and Tori had a fight over a 16-year-old boy and that the girl may have run away. Perozo also admitted that she took away Tori’s phone and replaced it with a flip phone.
The newspaper reported that Perozo and a friend were able to track down Tori's AirTag to 134th Street and St Anne’s Avenue in the Bronx, but there was no sign of her.
When did the authorities contact Victorious 'Tori' Smith's family?
New York police detectives contacted Perozo’s family on April 12 and said Tori was seen in surveillance footage getting on a subway at the 8th Street and Broadway stop in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood, the New York Post reported.
"That has lifted an incredible weight off my shoulders and off my sister's shoulders, who's here in town with me searching [for Tori]," Perozo said, noting that approximately 30 people have volunteered to assist with canvassing efforts. “A lot of people are working hard to find her and she’s really loved and I don’t want this moment to be a defining moment in her life. She’s a really great kid,” she said.
“I really want her to come home,” Perozo told WINS before Tori was located.