Missing Girl Found With Help From Facebook Page

Police have found a missing girl with help from community page on Facebook called Prayers for Brittany Mae Smith.

Brittany, age 12, had been considered missing since December 6 but was found unharmed today in Roanoke County, Virginia, where she is from, according to CBS News.

Police have an arrest warrant for Brittany’s alleged abductor, Jeffrey Scott Easley. He is also suspected in the murder of Brittany’s mother, who he used to date. She was found dead on December 6 and that’s when police reported the girl as missing.

The Prayers for Brittany Mae Smith page contains a copy of the police alert concerning the child and her mother’s boyfriend, but as of this writing has yet to be updated to reflect the fact that she was found unharmed.

The Facebook page, a website called FindBrittany.com redirecting to the Roanoke County, Virginia police department, and an 800 number have helped law enforcement officials collect over 700 tips on the case.

In addition to supplying tips to local law enfrorcement, Brittany’s subsite on Facebook has amassed a following: 435 people have clicked “like” since the page when up on Wednesday.

The page includes updates on the search for her along with numerous written prayers and links to religious content, much of it followed by comments along the lines of “amen.”

If you happen to know anything relevant to this case, we hope you click on Brittany’s page and let her loved ones know. Even if you don’t, this one’s worth “liking” and subscribing to.

Why do you suppose that Facebook might give law enforcement officers only partial access to a missing minor’s profile? How do you feel about the use of pages to help search for an abducted child?