Girl found safe after nightlong search in Chestnut Hill

A 17-year-old girl who was the subject of a nightlong search after vanishing in woods in Chestnut Hill was found safe Thursday morning after daylight.

Sarah Willis was reunited with her parents after police Detective James Sloan found her sleeping in the woods.

Willis, who was seen shivering wrapped in a blanket after emerging from the woods, was taken to Chestnut Hill Hospital to be checked out, Chief Inspector Scott Small said.

The search began Wednesday night after the girl's father reported that he could not find her after he pulled over to let her relieve herself in the woods on Germantown Avenue near Cresheim Valley Drive.

He was taking her home to Upper Dublin from a concert in Camden when she said she had to go and then did not return, police said.

Alcohol may have been involved, police said.

Small told reporters at the scene that police searched the area on foot and from a police helicopter using lights and thermal detectors in the darkness. K-9 units also took park in the hunt.

Small said police found the teen's purse and other unspecified personal belongings in the woods during the night, but not her.

Then, just before 7 a.m., the girl walked out of the woods in the company of Sloan.

"She got lost and got scared," the detective told CBS3.

In November, Sloan was involved in another high-profile disappearance.

He was the detective in charge of finding Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, 22, after she was abducted from a city street.

Sloan had promised the girl's mother he would bring her back safe, and he did.

Delvin Barnes, who was arrested and charged in the abduction, is awaiting trial.