Woman Missing for 7 Years Found After 'Screaming and Crying' Heard from Motel Room
Michigan authorities say the victim reportedly called her stepmother to say she was being "held against her will"
• Police say they rescued a woman from a Michigan motel after being tipped off by the victim's stepmother
• When they responded to the motel, a female "was heard screaming and crying from a motel room,” according to a statement from authorities
• The victim is a woman in her 30s and hadn't been seen by her family since 2017, per reports
A woman who went missing in 2017 was rescued from a Michigan motel room after police heard “screaming and crying” from outside, according to authorities.
Michigan State Police officials responded to a tip on Feb. 26 regarding a missing person, officials said in a statement on Friday.
A woman called authorities and reported that her stepdaughter, who disappeared in 2017, had called her claiming she was “being held against her will” at a motel in Inkster, Mich., MSP Second District authorities said. Investigators soon determined the motel was the Evergreen Motel in Inkster.
After authorities responded to the scene, a female "was heard screaming and crying from a motel room,” the MSP statement said. “Troopers made forcible entry into the room and recovered her.”
“They described it as like a crying, kind of screaming type of noise that lured them to that specific area," Michigan State Police Lt. Mike Shaw said, according to 7 Action News.
The woman, who authorities have not named, did not have physical injuries and was "pretty distraught," Shaw said, per the outlet.
She was sent to a local hospital in nearby Dearborn, Mich., and treated there before being returned to her family, MSP said.
“She was alone when we located her,” an MSP spokesperson said in an emailed statement obtained by WGN9. “We are currently looking into what occurred during the time she was reported missing.”
Following a search, officials found “drugs, cell phones and a firearm,” at the scene, according to MSP’s statement.
Authorities said in the statement they had identified a suspect. The MSP spokesperson has said no one is currently in custody, according to WGN9.
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The rescued woman is reportedly in her 30s, MLive and FOX 2 Detroit reported. Police told 7 Action News she voluntarily left her family in 2017 when she was in her 20s and never returned.
Authorities are trying to determine if human trafficking was involved in the woman’s disappearance, MSP said in the statement. They are also looking into whether it was a possible domestic violence case, Shaw said, according to 7 Action News.
"It may have started out as a relationship that turns into being held against your will and being trafficked," Shaw said, per the outlet.
The Evergreen Motel was not available for comment when contacted on Monday; a nearby business declined to comment on the incident.
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