Missing Girls Found After 'Help' Message From A Snapchat Account Spurs Amber Alert

Georgetown, Texas -- Two teenage girls who were missing for days have been found in Georgetown, Texas. Cops arrested a man accused of harboring the minor girls. Officials said the teenagers were reunited with their families early Tuesday morning.

Emiliee Solomon and Aysha Cross, both aged 14, had gone missing from McGregor on June 28. However, an Amber Alert was not initially issued because the police said they didn’t meet the Texas Department of Public Safety criteria for Amber Alerts, KWTX reported.

The authorities issued an Amber Alert on Monday after a message, believed to be from one of their social media accounts, displayed the word “help.” The message was allegedly a screenshot of Cross’ Snapchat story.

Cross’ mother, Shannon Harrison, said the two girls were friends from school. Harrison said Solomon had gone missing after a sleepover last week.

The mother told 6 News that her daughter had also later disappeared after leaving a note that said she would find Solomon and "make this right.”

Harrison said the case was originally classified as a runaway incident. However, it took a turn Monday morning after the police found reason to believe the girls were in danger.

“We are following all leads and doing everything we can to find these young girls,” McCurry told KWTX on Monday before the girls were found.

The police as well as the girls’ parents said they wanted to ensure that the teens knew they were not in any trouble with the law or at home.

“I want her to know that everything is OK,” said Sara Dunn, Emilee Solomon’s stepmother. “It doesn’t matter what she has done. I want to tell her to just come home. We love you no matter what. Our door is open. Come home.”

The McLennan County Sheriff’s Office said their investigation led them to Georgetown, where they were eventually able to track down the girls’ whereabouts.

Sheriff Parnell McNamara told KWTX that they arrested a 30-year-old man named James Robert Vanhouten for allegedly harboring the girls. The man will be facing charges.

“The (deputies) did an unbelievable amount of work on it. That’s really good work on their part,” McNamara told the outlet.

McNamara noted that the girls had been staying with different people before meeting Vanhouten.

“MCSO Deputies have located and recovered both girls out of town. There has been 1 arrest made with more arrests expected in the following days,” the Mclennan County Sheriff's Office wrote on Facebook.