2-year-old Michigan toddler with autism who went missing while on family camping trip found alive

KABC logo
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
2-year-old autistic toddler missing from Michigan family camping trip
Police said Gabriella Vitale was camping with her family in the Comins Township area when she went missing Monday morning.

OSCODA COUNTY, Mich. -- A 2-year-old Michigan toddler who went missing Monday while on a family camping trip has been found alive, Michigan State Police said on Twitter.

Police said Gabriella Vitale was camping with her family in the Comins Township area, reports WGTU.

They were getting ready to leave Monday when they said Gabriella went missing.

State and local law enforcement, the Department of Natural Resources, a canine team and a chopper searched the 600-acre area just west of M-33 and at one point found Gabriella's coat several hundred yards from where she went missing.

Police also brought diving gear to the scene to search surrounding ponds.

According to Michigan State Police Lt. Travis House, Gabriella had walked to a residence west of the command center. He said the house "ironically" marked the very outside of where the search area covered.

House said there was a resident home when Gabriella showed up on their doorstep. She was missing her bottoms and her shoes, but seemed relatively unfazed for a 2-year-old who had been missing in the woods overnight, he said.

The house the toddler wandered to was a quarter and a half miles west from where she was last seen.

Gabriella's uncle said she has autism which made the search even more difficult.

She was transported to the hospital to be checkout but first responders said she is in good shape.