GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A teenager missing for more than a year has been located in another state.
Asata Amun has been in the custody of Tennessee Department of Children’s Services almost since the moment she ran away from home in February last year at the age of 16. She had last been seen in Georgia on Feb. 1, when her family’s doorbell camera captured her running from home with no shoes on.
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Gwinnett County police say workers there didn’t know her true identity until a case manager became alarmed by some inconsistencies in her statements about her history. The worker then researched children missing in Georgia and learned her real name.
That’s when they reached out to Gwinnett County Police.
Channel 2′s Tom Jones spoke exclusively with Asata’s mother, who lives in Connecticut. Jasmine Dominique said she was stunned when she learned her daughter was safe in another state.
“I dropped the phone when I heard it. I couldn’t believe it,” she said.
Jones asked Asata’s mother how she ended up all the way in Tennessee. She says her daughter told her she had it rough for a while.
“She was in Atlanta when she left and she slept in the street until someone kind of helped her and got her on a bus to go where she needed to go to feel safe,” Dominique said.
Asata’s father told Jones last year that she ran away from home after he threatened to send her to military school because of disciplinary issues. Police at one point searched the home looking for evidence that may point to Asata’s whereabouts.
Georgia’s Department of Family and Children’s Services removed Asata’s two sisters from the home after allegations their father physically abused them.
Dominique says Asata had complained of abuse, too. Asata’s father denies abusing his children.
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Asata’s mother says her daughter doesn’t know anyone in Tennessee.
“I guess she had it in her mind that where she is going will be safer for her,” she said.
Police say arrangements have been made to return Asata to children’s services here in Georgia.
Asata’s mother says she hopes to reunite with her daughter.
Jones called Asata’s father, but he has not yet responded.
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