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ATLANTA, GA – Authorities have found an 8-year-old Clayton County girl who was reported missing on Thursday night from a southwest Atlanta park.

The girl, Imani Colvin, reunited with her mother on Friday morning. It was exactly 12 hours after the girl wandered away from an adult caregiver at Perkerson Park. Once her caregiver reported her missing, the police launched an expansive overnight search with helicopters, police dogs, and a huge group of officers on foot and on horseback.

At the time, people had last seen Imani around 8 p.m. Thursday in the general vicinity of the park. The park is located off Metropolitan Parkway, say the Atlanta police. Her brother informed officers that he watched her leave with a group of older girls.

When the sprawling search turned up nothing on Friday morning, the police regrouped with a new contingent of officers and walked door-to-door offering flyers in the rain. They hoped somebody recognized the girl. They had considered the possibility that she may have stayed the night with one of the older girls her brother saw her with.

Missing Girl Was Just Around the Corner

Lo and behold, that’s exactly what happened. Police discovered Imani sleeping at a home just before 9 a.m. Friday. The house was located around a half mile from the park. The adults in the home were blown away to discover the police were on a huge hunt to find the girl.

An officer said, “They were kind of just as shocked as we were, but she was safe and she was sheltered and that’s the important thing.”

Her mother, Shamaria Colvin, mentioned that her daughter was unfamiliar with the area. However, she never lost faith that Imani would wake up and realize people were looking for her.

Emergency officials transported Imani to Grady Memorial Hospital to receive medial attention although police maintain she seems fine.