WASHINGTON — The 12-year-old girl who went missing from Reagan National Airport has been found safe and with her parents in New York City, police said Friday afternoon.
Jinjing Ma, who was visiting the U.S. with a tour group from China, went missing from the D.C.-area airport Thursday morning shortly before the group was to depart for the West Coast. Her disappearance sparked an Amber Alert Thursday afternoon.
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said Ma was found with her parents in the New York City borough of Queens on Friday.
The FBI is now investigating.
At a press conference Friday with the family, attorney Anna Demidchik said, “Ma Jinjing is safe and reunited with her biological parents. We are very happy about it. The situation is resolved.”
Demidchik added that the family was advised not to make any comments at this point because of the ongoing investigation. She said, “I’m sure when everything is over, they will share everything that they might want to share with you.”
Attorney Mike Vista gave thanks to Virginia State Police and federal agencies for their work in making sure Ma was safe. “We’re all happy with the outcome that she’s reunited with her mother and her father here today, and that’s the best possible outcome,” he said.
Demidchik told The Washington Post that Ma’s biological parents had been living in the U.S. for two years, but hadn’t seen their daughter during that time. They had picked Ma up from the airport, she said. But, when they saw the Amber Alert for their daughter, they reached out to attorneys Friday, according to The Washington Post.
Police said Ma was seen on surveillance video leaving the airport with an unknown woman Thursday morning. The woman and the girl then got into a car with New York tags being driven by an unknown man. There’s still no word from officials on the identities of the man and the woman Ma was seen leaving the airport with.
Authorities had also said Ma had been approached by a couple while the tour group was sightseeing in New York City before her disappearance and that they believed that encounter was related to her disappearance.
Police had considered the girl a “critical missing juvenile” and, at one point, said they believed she may be in extreme danger. Speaking to reporters during a news conference Friday morning before she was found, airport police Chief David Huchler said all critically missing juveniles are assumed to be in danger.
WTOP’s Michelle Basch contributed to this report.
