BULLITT CO., Ky. (WHAS11) -- Many feared an emotional night, but few expected to cry tears of joy Friday night when the 2-year-old girl missing from Bullitt County was found safe.
“I'm not going to let her go this time, she's not leaving my side,” her mother Natalie Quick said while wiping tears from her eyes just moments after she learned her daughter was alive.
After nearly 36 hours of searching, Charlee Campbell and her dog Penny were found only 600 yards from her home. The Bullitt County Sheriff Donne Tinnell told WHAS 11 News that she was covered in ticks and dehydrated, but she was okay.
“Somebody told me that Penny came home, so automatically I'm like, ‘I'm going to go look for my kid. Wherever Penny came out, that's where I'm going.’ And it wasn't two minutes later, here comes Charlee down that hill and it gives me cold chills,” Quick said.
Clinging to hope, volunteers like Elizabeth Coffman came from an hour away to help find her ---- powering through the heat -- and the hills -- for a happy ending.
“It was all worth it. Worth karate chopping spiders, and I was in the creeks up to my knees, mud and snakes,” said Elizabeth Coffman who powered through the heat and hills, grateful for a happy ending.
“It might be a circumstance where she got tired and went to sleep, behind a stump or behind a tree, who knows, a big rock, it's possible to overlook I guess,” explained Sheriff Tillman, skeptical that she was found so close to home in an area that had been searched over and over again.
“I just don't know right now, and I don't want to speculate, because I don't know, but if she was in the woods at the time, surely it's a miracle.”
Hours before Charlee was found, her mother, grandmother and a family friend were interviewed by detectives and FBI agents. Sheriff Tinnell says the investigation will continue and C-P-S will get involved.
“I, us, as a family did not do anything to hurt that baby. She's perfectly fine right where she's at,” Quick said, defending her and her family.
Regardless of what happened, the small community is rejoicing tonight, everyone happy she is alive and safe.
WHAS11's Chris William's spoke to the girl's mother just minutes after she was found. You can watch her emotional reaction below:
