FILE PHOTO
Harrington Elementary student Laura Ofurie was found in the Nahant Rotary tot lot following a seven-hour search Monday.
BY THOR JOURGENSEN
LYNN — The seven-hour search for a missing 8-year-old West Lynn girl ended happily Monday night when police found Laura Ofurie in the Nahant Rotary tot lot.
During a late-night press conference investigators said they have no information about the circumstances that led to the child being discovered more than a mile from her 11 Shepard
St. home.
“It’s a pretty good distance, especially for an 8-year-old,” said Police Lt. Christopher Kelly.
Officers acting on a social media tip found the Harrington Elementary School student unharmed but “a little shaken” at 10 p.m. in the play area located next to the beach and the well-traveled rotary.
Ofurie was taken to North Shore Medical Center in Salem for evaluation with her father, Edward.
“We’re happy and relieved,” Kelly said.
He said an “ongoing investigation” is continuing into the circumstances of the child’s disappearance and declined to comment on media questions seeking to determine if police thought Laura Ofurie walked across Lynn or may have been with another person.
“Obviously, it’s very concerning,” he said.
Police were called to the apartment building where Ofurie and her parents live just off Lynn Common at 3 p.m. Kelly said Laura had returned home from Harrington, where she attends second grade, and was last seen in her family’s apartment.
Neighbors, family members and Harrington teachers joined police and a frantic Edward and Victoria Ofurie in a neighborhood search for Laura. Police posted the girl’s picture and information about her disappearance on the department website. Media camera crews stood on the sidewalk in front of her house at 10 p.m. while neighbors crowded onto porches waiting to hear the latest word of the search.
A police officer told Laura’s grandmother, Marian, and relatives shortly after 10 p.m. that Laura had been found. The family broke into cheers and prayers.
“I feel great,” Marian Ofurie said.
Julius Ofurie, the girl’s uncle, said the family has lived on Shepard Street for two years and moved to Lynn from Nigeria in 2012, initially living in East Lynn. He described his niece as a quiet girl with “a mind of her own.”
Thor Jourgensen can be reached at tjourgensen@itemlive.com.
