The frantic search for a 4-year-old girl missing from her mother's home in Southwest Philadelphia ended with hugs from family members Tuesday morning.
NBC10 cameras captured the joyful reunion of Isabella Wiley with her family members around 8:45 a.m.
Isabella's mother last saw her between 2 and 4 a.m. when she stepped out of their Bartram Village home to get some ice from a McDonald's store because she was hot, Philadelphia Police Lt. John Walker said. When the mother returned she went back to sleep in another room and didn't notice Isabella missing until later.
Isabella had woken up and went outside looking for her mother, her grandfather told NBC10's Matt DeLucia.
A neighbor heard Isabella crying outside and took her in, the girl even falling asleep at one point, the neighbor told NBC10.
That neighbor later let everyone know the girl was safe in the neighbor's home. The neighbor, who has mental disabilities, won't be charged as she did the right thing taken the child in but she should have immediately contacted police, Walker said.
The girl's mother was taken in for questioning and could face charges since she left the 4-year-old and a 7-year-old sibling alone in the home, investigators said.
The search focused on the area around Bartram Village at 56th Street and Lindbergh Boulevard around 7:30 a.m.
About one dozen police vehicles could be seen around the complex as officers and K-9s searched on foot along some trails and wooded areas around nearby Bartram's Garden. A police search boat could also be seen on the nearby Schuylkill River.
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Police initially said Isabella is 3 but her family later said she is actually 4.
