In a nerve-wracking case of disappearance and recovery, Waterford Township police announced a 13-year-old girl named Johanna "Jax" Woody has been safely located after vanishing from her home on January 13. A 21-year-old man, Douglas Corbeau of White Lake Township, is now behind bars in connection to the case. Corbeau is currently lodged at the Oakland County Jail, awaiting the prosecutor's review, according to CBS News Detroit.
Following her disappearance, which occurred when her father left work around 7 p.m. that Saturday, Woody was reported missing nearly 15 hours later at 10:05 a.m. Police said that the young girl had met a 21-year-old man online and was "planning to run away with him," indicating the incident had been pre-planned. Woody was eventually found in White Lake Township at a house on Tuesday evening around 6:30 p.m., as per WHMI.
The search spanned several days and involved examining Snapchat data trails to trace Woody's communications, as she had been using an un-serviced phone connected to WiFi. Michigan State Police and the FBI assisted Waterford Township officers in this intense search. Adding to the urgency was the fact that Woody is high-functioning autistic and struggles with mental illness, according to statements by police, as per WXYZ Detroit.
Detectives and officers from the Waterford Township Special Operations Unit, along with White Lake Police, converged on the residence where Woody was suspected to be held. Upon successfully locating her, she was promptly taken back to the Waterford Township Police Department, where her long-awaited reunion with her parents occurred. Working to obtain neighborhood footage via the RING app was also part of the investigation before finding her, revealed by police who seemed to have spared no effort in their search.
