PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. — Today, FBI Jacksonville, along with the Putnam County Sheriff’s office and other law enforcement agencies, rescued 16-year-old Madison Fields from a hotel in Palatka.
According to a release by the FBI in Cincinnati, the Ohio teenager had been missing since mid-February.
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The FBI says Fields had been spotted after they identified a person of interest in her disappearance who lived in Tennessee. The FBI Hostage Rescue team went to that person’s home, but he took off before they got there.
The FBI initially called the person who was with Fields a person of interest, but they then referred to them as a suspect.
The release goes on to say that law enforcement then identified a hotel in Florida where the suspect might have been staying.
FBI Jacksonville, the Putnam County Sheriff’s office, and other local law enforcement agencies found that person’s car in a hotel parking lot in Palatka and rescued Fields this morning.
The release from the FBI extended thanks to the Palatka Police Department in helping to locate Fields.
“I think that is something that we can be very proud of,” said Allison Waters-Merritt, Public Information Officer with the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.
But this is not the only out-of-state teenager found safe in Putnam County this week.
On Sunday, a missing 16-year-old girl from North Carolina was also found during a traffic stop in Putnam County. Waters-Merritt said they were both with men who were older than them.
“Two in one week. This is unheard of,” said Waters-Merritt.
Waters-Merritt says while she is proud of the work her sheriff’s office is doing, she hopes these cases will serve as a wake up call for parents.
“We have to get back to parenting, knowing where our kids are, putting trackers on them if we need to, Life360 on phones, just different avenues so that we can stop allowing our children to become these victims that can be targeted,” said Waters-Merritt.
The FBI has yet to release the name of the suspect found with Fields this morning. However, we know Fields will be going back to Ohio soon.
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