UPDATE, 5:30 p.m. | The missing 13-year-old Lenexa girl and the suspect wanted in her disappearance have been located safe in St Paul.
The family has been told the suspect is in custody.
#BREAKING: Amber’s father just got a phone call that is daughter is fine, now with St Paul police, and the suspect is in custody. He tells me he is so greatful @41actionnews pic.twitter.com/m9FTukfr7t
— Ariel Rothfield KSHB (@arothfield) July 6, 2018
EARLIER | KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Lenexa Police have issued an Amber Alert for a 13-year-old girl last seen on July 4 at the Greyhound Bus Station on Troost Aveune.
The girl told a parent she was walking to Oak Park Mall around 1 p.m. on Wednesday.
Police say the girl was then seen with a 22-year-old man, identified as Dechon White. The pair met online and White, from the Minneapolis, Minnesota, area, traveled to Kansas City to meet the girl.
According to police, information initially provided by the girl's parents didn't add up, which led to the nearly two-day delay in reporting the disappearance.
But the girl's father, William Rewerts, put the delay on the police: “That was on the police department. They have procedures they’ve got to follow. They notified me two, maybe three, hours ago they were sending the Amber Alert."
Rewerts told reporters that the pair had been communicating since last November, when the suspect told the then-12-year-old girl he was 16.
Rewerts said he tried to end the relationship, telling her "Sixteen, that's too old. Stick to being a kid."
He said his daughter then moved out and began living with her mom.
"Part of it’s my fault. I didn’t govern this well," Rewerts said of his daughter's social media use, "but I never thought she’d do something like this."
Rewerts said he thought she'd quit talking to White.
The family has had some communication with the daughter via text and Facebook messages, but they suspect White may be the one actually sending messages based on the tone and composition of the messages.
Rewerts also said if he ever asked the person sending the messages information only he and his daughter would know, the conversation would abruptly end.
Among the last communication the family received was a message at 11:14 p.m. on Thursday, which said, "We arent together anymore. We broke up on the 4th. We got into a big fight he doesnt know where I am."
She send another message around 4 p.m. on Friday that said "Ejy i'm fine."
Police told the family that Greyhound officials confirmed she got on the bus around 7:50 p.m. with White. The bus was bound for Minneapolis/St. Paul but also was scheduled to stop in Chicago, the girl's family said.
"Hopefully, they can find her as soon as possible," Rewerts said.
He got emotional as he blamed himself for not governing her social media during a press conference outside the family home.
"I've slept probably three hours in the last three days," Rewerts said.
He got choked up and shed a few tears as he thanked everyone working to bring his daughter home.
“I do appreciate everybody out there helping," Rewerts said. "I’ve had an abundance of people helping and I’m grateful to all of them. I really am."
The girl is described as a white female last seen wearing a black Sons of Anarchy T-shirt, black jeans and carrying a blue woman’s billfold. She is 5 feet-5 inches tall and weighs 140 pounds with long, dyed-black hair and blue eyes.
White is a black male last seen wearing a black T-shirt and unknown pants. White is 6-feet fall and weighs 250 pounds with afro-style hair dyed orange.
Agents with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation are working with Minnesota authorities.
