The five-year-old disabled girl from South Carolina who was missing for several weeks after police found her mother’s dead body in their family home on Thanksgiving Day was finally found.

Aspen Jeter, 5, was discovered missing on Thanksgiving Day after police officers found her mother, Crystal Jumper, at their home in Orangeburg, South Carolina, dead with her body decomposing. The discovery kicked off a hunt for the missing child, who was not found at the scene of the murder.

The five-year-old girl was living with her mother and her father, Antar Jeter, 47, but the police did not find the girl or her father when they discovered Jumper’s body. 

Authorities said that they found Jumper’s body in an advanced decomposition stage, meaning she was killed a long while before they made the gruesome discovery.

Police got a call from Jumper’s cousin asking them to do a welfare check on her saying she had not heard from Jumper since November 1. According to the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office, the cousin told police that Jumper and the child’s father fought often.

It is unclear how long the body went undiscovered.

The Jumper family had said they would halt any funeral plans for Jeter’s mother until the police found the girl.

On Friday, December 9, the Sheriff’s office announced that they had located the girl, and she was in Danville, Virginia with her father, Antar Jeter. Police arrested the father in connection with Jumper’s death.

US Marshals took him into custody on murder and grand larceny warrants.

The Orangeburg County Sheriff, Leroy Ravenell, explained during a press conference on Friday that the police located the father-daughter duo at around 6:30 pm after they spotted Jeter making financial transactions in Danville, Virginia.

Following the sighting, police searched for Jeter’s stolen vehicle, a blue 2015 Mazda 6. According to county authorities, they arrested the man at the parking lot of a hospital.

The girl’s disappearance gained much media attention because she is nonverbal, cannot walk, and has various medical conditions. Her family said she has a rare medical condition inhibiting her walking and talking abilities. 

Announcing that they had found the girl, Sheriff Ravenell said during the press conference that she was safe and in good condition. He stressed that the investigation into her mother’s death was still ongoing. The sheriff also said that his office had assigned a patrol team to the child until she could be reunited with members of her mother’s family and placed in their legal custody.

During the press conference, the family lawyer for the Jumper family, Justin Bamberg, thanked the police and the public for helping with the search for the five-year-old and safely retrieving her. He stressed that the family would care for the girl after the horrible experience.

He said that the child would not be put into foster care.