Human Trafficking Cops Find 2 Missing Teenagers After Raising Amber Alert from a 'Help' Message on Snapchat

Two teenage girls, Aysha Cross and Emilee Solomon, both 14, were reunited with their families after human trafficking cops found them in Georgetown, Texas, an hour away from their home in MacGregor, Texas. Police arrested James Robert Vanhouten, 30, for harboring a minor, but more arrests will be made.

Authorities found them after an Amber Alert was launched for them. According to MEAWW, the police initially said that the situation did not meet the Texas Department of Public Safety criteria for Amber Alerts. However, on Monday, authorities received a screenshot from Cross's Snapchat story with the message "Help."

Cross' family said that she just vanished into thin air after finding Solomon.

Emiliee Solomon and Aysha Cross

According to Sara Dunn, Solomon's stepmother, the girls became best friends after a get-together before school ended for the summer. The two girls were having a sleepover at Aysha's house on June 29, but Emilee said her uncle was picking her up that evening. Unknown to the family, Emilee was picked up by a male friend and was dropped off at a local park.

Per The Sun, the last time the family saw Aysha was on June 30, 2 a.m. When Aysha's mother got up around 7 a.m. on June 30, she found a note from Aysha saying that she needed to find Emiliee and "fix everything." She also wrote that she loved her so much and she was sorry.

At 4:35 a.m., Aysha sent a text on Snapchat to a friend, saying she needed help with an emergency, urging the friend to wake up. After the message, the friend was blocked, and they could not contact Aysha.

On June 4, around 2 a.m., Aysha put a blank screen on her Snapchat with a message, "HELP." A screenshot of the message was sent to the police, prompting them to issue an Amber Alert.

Aysha's family said that she is a great student and a cheerleader at the time of COVID.

Good police work

Deputies with the McLennan County Sheriff's Office's Criminal Investigations Division and Human Trafficking Unit tracked Solomon and Cross in Georgetown, where they arrested James Robert Van Houten, 30, the man allegedly harboring them. According to KWTX, investigators pursued several leads that finally led them to a home in McGregor.

Sheriff Parnell McNamara said the two girls ran away from home and fell in with some bad people. They were kept in pretty bad places. He added that the girls were mistreated, and their office is investigating other people involved in harboring the two teenagers. He added that there would be more arrests and charges against Van Houten soon.

Meanwhile, the two girls were happy that they were rescued and were reunited with their family members early Tuesday morning.