A community in Medina was gripped with urgency this past Wednesday as local law enforcement and residents embarked on an intensive two-hour search for a missing 3-year-old girl, who was eventually found and safely recovered. According to Cleveland19, the Medina Police Department responded to a call about the missing child around 1:30 p.m. at a residence on Hunter Road in Lafayette Township, whereupon officers canvassed the residence and the surrounding areas for the young girl.
The urgency of the situation saw a substantial deployment including police K-9 units, drones, all-terrain vehicles and broad social media announcements that sought to hasten discovery of the missing toddler, and the Medina County Child Abduction Response Team was activated to further the search efforts, this according to a statement obtained by WKYC, the search for the missing 3-year-old girl intensified as the Medina police even released an alert on social media.
Relief came when calls to both the Medina Police Dispatch and Medina County Sheriff's office indicated the child had been located at a residence on Buffham Road in Westfield Township, as gleaned from additional details provided by Cleveland19. The child, found unharmed, was brought to Medina Hospital before being reunited with her father, assuring worried families that the ordeal had come to a positive resolution.
Arrested in connection with this incident, Randy Lawrence Kerley, was identified as the family acquaintance who had taken the child without permission, resulting in charges of burglary and kidnapping being leveled against him; further charges are pending review by the Medina County Grand Jury, as per information from FOX8. The community remains shaken yet relieved, and the investigation continues to unravel how such an event transpired, and yet how, through community and law enforcement efforts, a potential tragedy was averted, with the kidnapped girl returned safely to her family.
