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There's a happy ending to an Amber Alert out of Sandy tonight. Police found a teenager missing for more than a day.
Robyn Atkinson, 16, vanished yesterday after school. Authorities found her just after 6 p.m. at a Sandy home.
There are still many unanswered questions tonight, but we know that a call into the Sandy tip line led authorities to 16-year-old Robyn Atkinson at a home in Sandy tonight. She was brought to the police station and reunited with her family.
Brandon Atkinson, Robyn's father, said, "We thank everybody, everybody, everybody, and we're just so happy to have her back, and now we're going to take her home and get her comfortable."
It was a successful ending to an emotional 24 hours. Earlier in the day Brandon Atkinson said, "I know she'll be strong for us, and I hope she stays strong. And I hope she knows, I know she does, that her family loves her and misses her dearly and wants her home immediately." Robyn's mother, Toni Atkinson pleaded for someone to "bring my baby home."
Robyn is home tonight. When she didn't come home last night, her father called police, and authorities started searching immediately.
They first checked her school's football game because of a note she left her dad; a note that was hard to understand because Robyn has a learning disability. She does not read or write at her age level.
The Child Abduction Response Team (CART) mobilized when the Amber Alert went into effect this afternoon and almost 200 volunteers gathered to help in the search.
Authorities are crediting everyone's efforts in Robyn's safe return. Paul Murphy, Utah Amber Alert coordinator, said, "It was because of the Amber Alert that the tip came in, the CART team followed up on the tips. They were able to find the girl. We know she's safe. We didn't know that before. So, the entire thing worked perfectly."
Sandy police Chief Steven Chapman said, "We had a lot of volunteers and people who were concerned enough to go and put their time in, and we had a lot of police officers here, a lot of agencies, a lot of federal agencies, and we stopped at nothing to make sure that we had everything covered. And it worked out very well."
A friend of Robyn, Natalie Cowan, couldn't hold back the joy she was feeling after hearing Robyn was found and she was fine. Natalie said, "I'm so happy. I'm just so glad she's OK."
Brandon Atkinson said, "We thank the community for the outpouring of support that was showed to support our family and helping us get Robyn back."
We still don't know exactly where Robyn was or why she didn't come home last night. We have been told that a 17-year-old boy was brought to the police station tonight. He was detained and interviewed by police. He was released tonight, but, according to the Sandy Police Department, he could face charges.
E-mail: corton@ksl.com
