Two-year-old girl in Rocky Mount found, Amber Alert canceled

ROCKY MOUNT (WTVD) -- Police in Rocky Mount say a 2-year-old girl reported missing overnight was found hours later inside a stolen SUV.

An Amber Alert was issued early Tuesday morning for N'eveah A'mirah Richardson after police said the vehicle she was in was stolen outside a home on Nashville Road just before midnight.

Authorities said the owner of the vehicle left it running in the driveway with N'eveah inside and when the girl's mother came back outside moments later, the SUV was gone.

"She's a friend of my niece, they're best friends," neighbor Elaine Finley said. "She came to get her computer, then right before her eyes, her car was backing out."

The stolen green, 2004 Mitsubishi Endeavor was later found in Sharpsburg.

A resident living along Reedy Branch Road told ABC11 that he spotted the SUV around 3 a.m. when he saw a man get out and walk away.

"Got up, walked around, looked outside, saw this truck pulled up," Ernest Brooks said. "Couldn't tell you who it was. He got out, and he left."

Authorities canceled the Amber Alert after the girl was found safe and reunited with her mother.

"I was wondering what was going on," Brooks said. "They said it was a baby in the truck."

Meanwhile, the unidentified man hasn't been seen since. Rocky Mount and Sharpsburg police are currently searching for him.

"The girl said she saw the guy walking by and he looked suspicious, but they still shouldn't have left her in the truck," N'eveah's godmother Nicole Hodges said.