Monterey police officer finds lost autistic girl near airport

A 13-year-old girl with severe autism was back home Monday night after spending most of Sunday night wandering Monterey County, authorities said. NewsChannel 5 spoke with volunteers who jumped into action to search for her.

“She has severe autism. So her communication skills are very limited,” Monterey Police Lieutenant Jeff Jackson said.

Police said they don’t know why the girl, only identified as Sofia, wandered away. Police said the 13-year-old was reported missing from the Circle K near Hoffman and David in Monterey at 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Seven and half hours later she was found on Highway 68 by Jackson.

“She was on the side of the road of Highway 68,” Jackson said.

Jackson said he found Sofia as he was heading to work, more than five miles away from where she was last seen. He said he just happened to be at the right place at the right time because anyone of the 100 officers and volunteers looking for her could have found her.

“The Monterey County Search and Rescue Team, the Monterey Fire, Urban Search and Rescue Team and the CERT team, which is the community search team,” Jackson said.

Demetrius Kastros, who manages the Community Emergency Response Team, coordinated the search. He said volunteers were ready within minutes.

“We were activated a little after 11 o’clock, we assembled here approximately 30 members responded by about 11:30 to 12 o’clock,” Kastros said.

Kastros said volunteers worked with her parents to see where she could’ve gone.

“They offered some information about areas she might want to be in,” Kastros said.

Kastros said he jumped out of bed on a Sunday night and was glad to see a positive outcome.

“They went out of their way to thank all of the rescuers, all the volunteers and all of the professional people that were here to help find their daughter,” Kastros said.

Authorities don’t believe anything sinister happened with Sofia and they think she walked to the airport by herself.