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Kidnapped NC girl found safe in DC

WASHINGTON — An 11-year-old North Carolina girl was found safe in D.C. after she was kidnapped from her home in Charlotte Sunday morning.

At around 8:30 p.m., D.C. police gave chase to a car — a 2005 white Chevrolet Impala with North Carolina plates — matching the description released by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police.

D.C. police flooded the area after receiving a call from someone who said they had been kidnapped.

that the chase started around the Navy Yard and ended in a crash with another vehicle in the area of 1700 Independence Avenue SW.

Police arrested the suspect and found 11-year-old Arieyana Simone Forney and another woman in the vehicle.

An Amber Alert was issued for Arieyana after North Carolina police said firefighters responded to a fire in the home where the girl lived with her grandparents, who were her legal guardians. . .

Maj. Mike Smathers, of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police, named Curtis Atkinson Jr. as the suspected kidnapper. WSOC-TV reports that police are , as well. Atkinson is the girl’s uncle and the son of the victims. Police do not yet have a possible motive.

Arieyana was taken to a hospital and appears to be OK.

This story is developing. Stay with ²ÝÝ®´«Ã½ for updates.

²ÝÝ®´«Ã½’s Lisa Weiner and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Abigail Constantino

Abigail Constantino started her journalism career writing for a local newspaper in Fairfax County, Virginia. She is a graduate of American University and The George Washington University.

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