FDLE cancels Amber Alert saying 2 Lake County girls are safe

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — UPDATE 2:36 P.M. - FDLE is canceling the Amber Alert for Natalia and Tilli Williams, saying the girls are safe.

ORIGINAL STORY:

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement on Thursday afternoon issued an Amber Alert for two girls who vanished from a Lake County foster home.

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Investigators said they are actively searching for Tillie Claire Williams, 5, and her 20-month-old sister, Natalia, whom they believe are with Dixie Williams, their biological mother. They said Dixie Williams might also go by the last name Stumpner.

FDLE agents said anyone who sees them should not approach them but instead immediately call law enforcement.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said the girls were reported missing at 7 a.m. Thursday after they vanished from their foster home on Companero Drive in the Sorrento area.

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The foster parent who reported them missing said she last saw the girls at about 11 p.m. Wednesday.

“We have solid reason to believe that the mom was actually in the area of the neighborhood last night,” Lake County Lt. John Herrell told Action News Jax’s sister station WFTV. “This parent does not have legal rights to this child, and that’s why we are throwing everything -- and the kitchen sink added -- to try to locate them and return them home safely.”

Detectives said Williams lost custody of her children a year and a half ago, but they would not say why she lost custody of them.

Herrell said a silver Nissan SUV without a tag was seen driving through the gated neighborhood where the girls live Wednesday evening, but it is unclear if that was the vehicle Dixie Williams was traveling in Wednesday.

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“We don’t know if someone actually walked in or if they drove in across the golf course or through some other access point,” he said.

Williams was able to visit her children at their foster home until Jan. 8, but then the visitations started to happen over Zoom.

WFTV learned that her most recent Zoom meeting with her children happened Wednesday.

Investigators said they have been in contact with the children’s father, but they have not located the children or their mother.

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Tillie is described as 3 feet 5 inches tall and weighing approximately 45 pounds. She has long, straight, brown hair and brown eyes.

Deputies said Tillie was last seen wearing gray or navy blue pajamas with multicolored hearts.

Natalia is described as weighing just over 30 pounds with short, brown, curly hair. She was last seen wearing a pink pajama dress and pink pants with hearts on them.

CLICK HERE to read the original story by WFTV.

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