CONWAY, Ark. — Tanvi Marupally, who had been missing since January 17 after walking away from Conway Jr. High School, has been located and found safe in Florida.
Her family previously mentioned that things had been stressful for the 15-year-old and her family. They think she may have run away due to the possibility of moving back to India— which was something Tanvi didn't want to do.
She had been missing for over two months and during that time the community of Conway conducted several searches, and they were met with no luck.
In an effort to expand the search outside of Arkansas, a representative of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children explained that missing posters for Tanvi would be shown on gas station screens in Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Tennessee— which began to appear on March 13.
According to reports she was found through a tip received from a Tampa resident and her parents have already been notified.
"They recognized a situation. They may have recognized the child. They took a quick picture and sent it to our call center," said John Bischoff, Vice President of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Both Conway Police and the Tampa Police Department worked together to locate Tanvi.
Tampa police found Tanvi at the John J. German library and said she appeared safe and uninjured.
Now, officers with Conway Police are headed to Florida to bring her home.
"In reality, all it really takes is one set of eyes to be a hero and that citizen is it today," said Bischoff.
The investigation into this incident remains ongoing and we will update with more information as soon as it becomes available.