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Four missing girls found trying to get back into Brandon foster care facility

 
Colonel Donna Luczynski speaks to the press after four girls went missing from A Kid's Place, a home for foster children in Brandon. [ZACK WITTMAN | Times]
Colonel Donna Luczynski speaks to the press after four girls went missing from A Kid's Place, a home for foster children in Brandon. [ZACK WITTMAN | Times]
Published April 30, 2016

BRANDON — A massive 19-hour search for four young girls who vanished from a Brandon foster care facility came to an abrupt end Friday night after they were caught trying to sneak back in, authorities said.

Just after 7 p.m., the girls, ages 4 to 13, were seen trying to scale a fence behind A Kid's Place, the foster care facility on Lithia Pinecrest Road, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

The girls appeared unharmed and told deputies they had gone to a nearby park after sneaking out a window late Thursday night. They later broke a window to an abandoned home and spent the rest of the day there, sheriff's officials said.

The return of the four — Allison Nelson, 4; Anabella Gonzalez, 10; Heavenlynn Gonzalez, 11; and Ashlyn Smith, 13 — capped a daylong hunt that saw aerial searches and a $5,000 reward offer, and drew the attention of the FBI.

"Our concern obviously gets greater the more time the children are gone," Hillsborough sheriff's Col. Donna Lusczynski said in a news conference before the girls were found. "We are extremely concerned that there is still a 4-year-old out there."

It all started just before midnight Thursday, when facility staffers noticed the girls were missing during a bed check, officials said. They had last been seen about 10 p.m. The girls left a window open and pillows under their covers to make it look as if they were asleep.

The three sisters have been living at A Kid's Place since March. Ashlyn has been at the center since February. At least two of the girls told other children that they wanted to run away, Lusczynski said.

The children likely climbed out the window and then either scaled a 6-foot fence or were able to squeeze through an opening in the gate, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Deputies found no trace of the girls on the facility's grounds. Search dogs were unable to track their scents.

Deputies knocked on neighbors' doors. They checked sexual offenders and predators who live within a 2-mile radius. A helicopter scoured the area.

Authorities were arranging to have photos of the girls displayed on digital billboards when they were found. Officials were also in the process of obtaining warrants to search the girls' computers and social media accounts.

Investigators say it's possible the girls had help, but no proof of that surfaced Friday.

"(We're) continuously checking with various family members to make sure the children weren't picked up by any of the family members," Lusczynski said.

She said all the family members who were contacted were cooperative.

Employees at A Kid's Place declined to comment Friday.

The facility's website says it's a 5-acre, 60-bed home for "abused, neglected or abandoned children." It serves children from newborns to those ready to age out of the foster care system at 18.

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The center is set up to have a "home-like environment" in a "neighborhood setting," the website says.

Contact Sara DiNatale at sdinatale@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3400. Follow @sara_dinatale.