Sophia Franklin, the pregnant Wisconsin teenager who went missing in early February, has been found safe in Nebraska with a 40-year-old man believed to be the father of her unborn child, officials announced Thursday.
Franklin was found late Wednesday night near Omaha, approximately 400 miles southwest of her hometown of Beaver Dam, Wisc., where she was last seen on Feb. 3.
According to Sarpy County Sheriff Greg London, a truck driver first spotted the teen with an older man at an Omaha gas station. After speaking with them and noticing inconsistencies in their stories, she pulled out her phone and checked the website missingkids.org.
“Sure enough, there was an Amber Alert [and] she saw Sophia,” London told the Wisconsin ABC affiliate WISN. “Thankfully, she had the wherewithal to call 911.”
Deputies then made contact with the teen and the adult male, who matched the description of Gary Day, the Arkansas man who was “known to be the father of the unborn child,” according to the Amber Alert issued following her disappearance.
After officials confirmed their identities, Day was arrested and the teen was taken to a “secure facility” to be reunited with her family, officials said.
Her father, Stephen Franklin, arrived in Omaha late Thursday afternoon.
“It feels great to know she’s safe,” he told KETV 7 outside a hospital where his daughter was being evaluated. “She had a check-up last night [and] she’s physically doing well.”
Day was booked into the Sarpy County Nebraska Jail in the early hours of Thursday, online court records show.
He appeared in court on Friday and pleaded not guilty to contributing to the delinquency of a minor and providing a false name to law enforcement, both misdemeanor charges.
Prosecutors say more charges can still be filed.
