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A provincial Amber Alert issued Tuesday for a missing 11-year-old Stratford girl helped police locate her in Toronto, Stratford police Sgt.
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The Amber Alert for Emily Lerch was issued just after 5:30 p.m., hours after she was reported missing in Stratford.
The alert was called off about an hour later when Stratford police announced that Lerch had been found safe.
“It was directly related to the amber alert going out,” said Stratford Police Insp. said Mark Taylor.
“We spent most of the day trying to figure out what actually happened. Was it (kidnapping)? Did she just leave home and forget to tell someone? After much investigation and turning over every stone, we were able to identify that she was out. . . and through social media we were able to identify that she was going to Toronto and we were able to find her in Toronto.
Police are still investigating why Lerch left Stratford for Toronto without telling anyone, Taylor said. Investigators do not believe she was abducted, he said.
The OPP and York Regional Police assisted Stratford police in the search, which was focused on Stratford in the early stages, Taylor said.
Stratford police reported Lerch missing around 11:30 a.m. and appealed to members of the public to help locate her. She was last seen Tuesday morning near the Stratford Rotary Complex, police said.
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