Missing 11-year-old found safe after day-long search
PHOTO PROVIDED BY BATESVILLE PD
Early on Saturday morning, Oct. 19, a Batesville family was devastated when they woke up to find their daughter, Carlie Fluegeman, age 11, was missing from their home. The family lives in the Morris area on Merkel Rd and 46. Her parents found her bike missing and believed she had left on it sometime in the middle of the night before 6 a.m. The Batesville Police Department was in charge of the search.
By Saturday afternoon, the community and family had searched for hours around the Sunman, Milan area as they were told that someone reported seeing her in that area but the girl everyone thought was Carlie was not her. The family proceeded with their search and came back to Batesville, where early Saturday morning she had been seen on video at a Batesville gas station. Friends, neighbors and family along with search parties from Equusearch Midwest and Cincinnati Search and Recovery joined together to find the missing girl. Everyone was walking and driving the railroad track and searching the fields.
Rhonda McKittrick, Brittany Spencer, (co-workers of Carlie’s mother Kendra Culver who work at P.A.T.H. ABA in Batesville), along with Brittany’s daughter, Dreama and her friend Ava, pulled into the Batesville Southeastern YMCA for another look walking the tracks during the search right before dark when they came upon her trash and five dollars that was Carlie’s change she had gotten back earlier that morning at the gas station. The Search and Rescue team brought in the dogs to track her as darkness was coming. This was a concern for everyone who was searching.
Officers from The Batesville Police Department were back at the scene area. They were able to track her scent and found her close to the wooded area near the YMCA.
The support of the community and even out of town help that were involved was outstanding. Brittany Spencer, of Batesville, stated to the Osgood Journal, “It is amazing that we live in a small community yet over 100 people came together and were able to find this little girl, allowing her to be found and brought home safely. I truly believe if we were in a big city, this may not have been possible for a happy ending.”
The family is so grateful that what was a nightmare, turned into a miracle. Carlie is now home. She is safe and that is all that matters to her family!
