Missing 2-year-old found safe, Detroit police reunite her with family

FOX 2 (WJBK) - A missing 2-year-old girl gone since the early morning hours of Friday has been reunited with her family tonight.

Emotional and touching moments as 2-year-old Jerrica Harris was reunited with her family early Friday evening

"We’re just full of happy emotions right now, just thank God you know, just happy," said Malinda Brooks Smith, her grandmother.

The toddler’s mother told FOX 2 she last saw her around 2:30 a.m. at their home on Gladstone in Detroit. She says the child’s father left with her but didn’t say where he was going.

About seven hours later police arrested the man for disorderly conduct at a different location after getting into a verbal altercation with the mother.

When police made the arrest, the little girl wasn’t there.

"I couldn’t breath when I realized my baby wasn’t with him," said Jessica Smith, her mother.

And in the hours that followed, the tension and stress were overwhelming.

"It was rough, I couldn’t eat, think, I couldn’t do anything," Smith said.

And the timing of it all couldn’t be worse. Earlier this week another missing 2-year-old girl, Wynter Cole-Smith was kidnapped from her home in Lansing. She was found deceased in an alley in Detroit — her mother’s boyfriend charged with her kidnapping and murder.

"Oh God that’s all I could think about honestly," said Malinda Brooks Smith. "That’s all I could think about, but in my heart of hearts, I knew she was somewhere and we were gonna find her."

Police did find Jerrica Harris alive and well late Friday afternoon, but they aren’t saying where she was or who she was with.

"I’m alright now, I’m just happy I got my baby back," her mother said.

"Joyous, I almost want to cry again, because we got our baby back, yeah," said her grandmother. "As you can see she’s a happy baby you know, and curious. But yeah, she’s a good baby."