MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — Investigators in Martin County said a 19-year-old man from Nebraska faces multiple charges after two missing sisters from Indiantown were safely recovered in Georgia this past weekend.
The girls, ages 12 and 15, disappeared Saturday evening but were found safe early Sunday morning after an urgent multi-state search, according to the Martin County Sheriff's Office.
WATCH BELOW: Sheriff discusses arrest of Nebraska man after girls found in Georgia
During a Monday afternoon news conference, Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek laid out the timeline of the case, which resulted in the arrest of Hser Mu Lah Say, 19, of Omaha, Nebraska.
Budensiek said the investigation began at about 8 p.m. Saturday, when deputies in Indiantown learned the children vanished a few hours earlier in the day.
"The family members were crucial to this investigation and helped us a lot," Budensiek said.
Family members helped them quickly identify Lah Say as a suspect in the case, saying the children had been communicating with him since last year.
Budensiek said Lah Say and the children had been communicating on a gaming app called Roblox since last summer, which later transitioned to communication on Snapchat.
"Deputies got hold of the digital device that these girls were using to communicate with that individual, saw that the Snapchat app was deleted from the device, had the thought process to reload the device, and when they did, they could see a constant thread of communication between this individual and these two young girls," Budensiek said.
The sheriff said that communication included Lah Say discussing driving from Nebraska to Indiantown to pick up the girls and then leaving the county.
"We were in full crisis mode, and we called out everybody that was anybody in this case that could help us, and that included using every single piece of investigative equipment we had that was relevant to this case," Budensiek said.
The sheriff said they were able to piece together a timeline that involved Lah Say leaving Nebraska on Friday, arriving Saturday at 10 a.m.
"He drove 22, 23 hours straight through from Omaha, Nebraska, to Indiantown, Florida," Budensiek said.
After the girls were taken, detectives were able to piece together the timeline and the suspect's vehicle.
The Georgia Highway Patrol later located and stopped a vehicle believed to be carrying the girls at 12:16 a.m. Sunday.
The Martin County sheriff said the girls were found inside the vehicle and recovered safely.
"I think we prevented something disastrous," Budensiek said.
Lah Say is currently being held at the Lowndes County, Georgia, and is facing two counts of kidnapping and two counts of interference of child custody.
Budensiek said Lah Say, who is an American citizen, could face more charges. He did not have a criminal history before this arrest.
The sheriff said that the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, Florida Highway Patrol and Georgia State Patrol all helped in safely recovering the girls.
Roblox released the following statement regarding the case:
"We are investigating this deeply troubling incident and will fully support law enforcement. Roblox has robust safety policies to protect users that go beyond many other platforms, and advanced safeguards that monitor for harmful content and communications. We have filters designed to block the sharing of personal information, don’t allow user-to-user image or video sharing, and recently rolled out age checks globally to limit kids and teens to chatting with others their age by default. While no system is perfect, our commitment to safety never ends, and we continue to strengthen protections to keep users safe."
- Matt Kaufman, Chief Safety Officer, Roblox
