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Sandra Yi reporting A 5-year-old girl was spotted hitchhiking yesterday, and police want to know who gave her a ride. The girl was seen hitchhiking two times on two very busy streets in Orem. Police say she was trying to get to school.
Police say the girl wanted to walk to the bus stop alone, but her mother refused. Yesterday morning she left her house and began hitchhiking.
"Looks like a 5-year-old girl who's walking on the side of the road by herself … 800 North and about 1200 West. She's walking up that busy hill," a caller told a 911 dispatcher. "I'm just worried. There is so much traffic. She's all by herself, so little. It just scares me."
The 911 calls came in at 8:00 in the morning. Motorists reported an unusual sight. "There is about an 8-year-old boy hitchhiking on 800 North going east, and it just looks weird," another caller said.
It was a 5-year-old girl looking for a ride to school. By the time officers got there, she was gone. Police think a man picked her up.
"Why they wouldn't stop, why they wouldn't stop and call, why anybody who called didn't stop and wait for police to arrive, I can't answer at this point," Orem Police Lt. Keldon Brown said.
About 45 minutes later, the girl was seen hitchhiking again five miles away on 1800 South and State Street. "Five years old, that's a very dangerous situation," Brown said.
This time a woman picked her up. She drove the girl to nearby Grandview Elementary in Provo and told the school's custodian what happened.
"She said, ‘I found this girl up on State Street, State Street and Columbia, and she had her thumb out and she was hitchhiking,'" custodian Dennis Stoutsenberger said. "She decided to bring her to the nearest school."
He took the girl inside. "She was very shy, wouldn't speak too much," Stoutsenberger said.
After some detective work, the school got her name and found out police were looking for her, too. The girl's mother had also reported her missing. Police say the girl is very lucky. "As busy as the road is, it's certainly an opportunity for anyone with intentions of deviant behavior to have an opportunity to strike," Brown said.
Police say the girl isn't saying much to them either, but she's home safe now.
They still want to know what happened in the hour when she was picked up the first time until she was dropped off at that school. If you gave her a ride, or saw the person who did, give Orem police a call.
