close
close

first Drop

Com TW NOw News 2024

Missing FiDi girl, 17, found safe and sound in Lower East Side
news

Missing FiDi girl, 17, found safe and sound in Lower East Side

Missing FiDi girl, 17, found safe and sound in Lower East Side

Sophie Barker was found in a Lower East Side library. Photo courtesy of Saida Barker.

Sophie Barker, a 17-year-old with intellectual disabilities, was found safe and sound late Friday afternoon after disappearing from her father’s Financial District home Thursday morning, her mother, Saida Barker, confirmed. Police found the girl at the Seward Park Library on East Broadway.

“The community showed immense support and flooded downtown with flyers and people took to the streets,” Barker told the Trib in a text message. “There were several chats from downtown to mobilize people and thanks to them and the NYPD, we were able to find her.”

Barker called the library security guard “the real breakthrough, because he reported it after he saw the (all points bulletin).” Detectives from the First Precinct “immediately went to the location,” she added, “and then called Sophie’s stepfather and FaceTimed him to verify that it was her.” Officers from the Seventh Precinct assisted EMS workers who transferred Sophie to an ambulance, she said.

Sophie was last seen around 11 a.m. Thursday at William and Wall Street after leaving her father’s house without her cell phone to get a cup of coffee. Her parents feared she was disoriented because she had missed a dose of her medication and that she might be having a “medical emergency,” her mother told the Trib. Libraries were reportedly among her favorite places, a family friend said.