Missing Lewes Girl Found in Home after Massive 2-Hour+ Search
Around 10 p.m. Wednesday, a frantic search was initiated after a four-year-old girl was reported missing from her home on Creekside Drive just outside of Lewes.
“Please help,” the father of the missing girl posted on Facebook around 11 p.m. “My little girl went missing from her bed about an hour ago. Police are here. Her name is Ellie or Eleanor. She’s in my profile picture. Please share,” he wrote.
State police searched using troopers on the ground, the helicopter, Trooper 2, and a police canine, says Capt. Christopher Colpo of the Lewes Fire Dept. They were joined by firefighters, initially from Lewes and then from other companies including Rehoboth and Milton.
Lewes firefighters deployed a pair of recently purchase drones that feature thermal imaging for fires, Capt. Colpo noted. Georgetown firefighters, he said, also came to cover for Lewes firefighters who were committed to the search. Fireboats were also already in the nearby creek, with more marine assets en route.
Working with the state police, Capt. Colpo said that Lewes firefighters called for the county’s mobile command post and requested every UTV available within Sussex County. Many of those assets were already on the scene or en route when searchers found the girl safely in her home around 12:05 a.m.
