A 12-year-old Lakeland girl who left a note on her front door saying she was running away has been found safe, according to the Lakeland Police Department. Aubree Smith had last been seen wearing a green school uniform polo, and police had asked the public for help locating her before announcing Friday night that she had been recovered.
Police said Smith resided at the Providence Reserve Loop apartments in north Lakeland, a 220-unit complex located at 955 Providence Reserve Loop, according to Providence Reserve Apartments. In a Friday night Facebook post, LakelandPD described the girl as 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing approximately 190 pounds, with brown eyes and braided hair. The department had asked anyone with information about her whereabouts to call its Communications Center.
How the Search Unfolded
According to the department's account, Smith left a note at her residence stating she was running away, prompting officers to search for the girl and issue a public appeal. Community members helped spread the word about her disappearance, the post noted, before police confirmed hours later that she had been located safe. The department did not release further details about where she was found or the circumstances that led to her leaving.
The green polo Smith was last seen wearing is consistent with Polk County Public Schools' dress code, which allows individual schools to require solid-color collared polo shirts paired with uniform bottoms, per the district's guidelines. That detail became one of the few identifying markers police shared publicly while the search was active.
Why Police Moved Quickly
Florida law leaves little room for delay in cases involving missing minors. Under Florida Statute § 937.021, law enforcement agencies must promptly accept missing child reports, immediately notify on-duty officers, and enter the child's information into state and national crime databases without a waiting period, according to the Florida Senate. That statutory mandate helps explain why Lakeland police moved to alert the public through social media rather than sitting on the report.
Police did not request a statewide Florida Missing Child Alert in this case. To trigger that system, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement requires officers to establish that a minor is in danger of death or serious injury and to have detailed descriptive information or photos ready before formally requesting activation, per FDLE's own criteria. Separately, Florida Statute § 984.13 gives officers explicit authority to take a juvenile into custody when they reasonably believe the minor has run away from a parent or guardian, a framework that falls under the state's Children in Need of Services statute.
Runaway Cases Carry Heightened Risk
Nationally, runaway incidents made up 92% of the 32,167 missing child cases the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children supported in 2025, the organization reported. Despite that volume, child safety advocates continue to treat runaway cases as urgent: NCMEC has estimated that 1 in 7 missing children reported to the organization in 2025 were potential victims of child sex trafficking, underscoring why police and families treat every runaway report as a safety emergency rather than a routine matter.
Florida law also imposes consequences on anyone who might help conceal a runaway minor. Florida Statute § 787.03 makes it a crime for a person to knowingly take, entice, aid, or harbor a minor away from lawful parental custody, an offense known as interference with custody. There is no indication in the police department's statements that this statute is being applied in Smith's case.
What Happens Now
Once a missing child is confirmed located, Florida Statute § 937.022 requires law enforcement agencies to immediately purge the case information from state and national databases, including the Florida Crime Information Center. That administrative step, combined with law enforcement's typical practice of limiting disclosures once a minor is safely recovered, likely explains why few additional details about Smith's case have been made public. The Lakeland Police Department's Communications Center operates 24 hours a day from its headquarters at 219 N. Massachusetts Avenue for anyone with information related to future cases.
