La Pine Searchers Find Missing 7-Year-Old

A 7-year-old Portland girl who wandered away from a La Pine home where her family was staying was found safe after a nearly three-hour search Monday morning that included use of an emergency phone notification system that called residents and asked them to help look for her, officials said.

Aubree Ann Fardal, 7, was returned to her family in good condition after being spotted around 1 p.m., walking with a dog along a forest road, said Lt. Scott Shelton, Deschutes County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue coordinator.

County 911 dispatchers got a phone call around 10:15 a.m. reporting the child had last been seen outside playing with the family dogs around 9 a.m. near the home of Robert Cuevas at 55993 Remington in La Pine, Shelton said.

Aubree had been staying there with her family for about a week on a summer vacation and was not familiar with the area, he said. Neighbors and family members searched the area and called 911 when they could not find her.

Sheriff’s detectives initiated an automated phone notification system, used to locate lost or endangered people, Shelton said.

A “child is missing” alert was sent out over the system to notify residents within about two miles of the home. It included the missing child’s name, description and a phone number to contact if she was spotted. It also asked area residents to check around their home, Shelton said.

That led to information that the little girl had been seen in the area of Lost Rider Loop, Shelton said.

A dozen law enforcement and 30 SAR personnel began an extensive search in the area, going door to door as well as using ground teams, dog and tracking teams, marine deputies and searchers on ATVs and horse teams, he said.

Around 1 p.m., 911 got a call that a child had been found walking with a dog along Forest Service Spur Road 400 off Forest Road 4220. The reporting party said they had been contacted by law enforcement searching the area and advised of the missing child.