BEAVER DAM, Wis. — Sophia Martha Franklin, the pregnant 16-year-old girl from Beaver Dam who has been missing since February, has been found.
In a one-on-one interview with Spectrum News 1, her mother, Leah Franklin, said the past few months have been horrible.
“It is a torment. A torment that only a few ever experience and I don’t wish on my worst enemy,” Leah Franklin said.
Leah Franklin said she has not heard from her daughter since she went missing in February.
“Not knowing what is happening, living your life unsure of what you should be doing, because maybe Sophia will come home today,” Leah Franklin said.
John Kreuziger, Beaver Dam chief of police, said Sophia Franklin and 40-year-old Gary Day were spotted at a truck stop in Nebraska.
He said the truck driver who spotted them thought they were acting suspiciously.
“So [the truck driver] left the area, went back to her phone and started doing some research and low and behold she pulls up the Amber Alert with the photo and looks at the photo and says, ‘That is Sophia,” Kreuziger said.
Kreuziger said Day was arrested in Nebraska for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and falsifying information.
He is also being charged with two counts of child abduction and two counts of child enticement in Wisconsin.
“If it was not for the news media and it was not for the public, I don’t think we would have solved this case because we cannot do this by ourselves and it was the collaboration of everyone all together made this possible,” Kreuziger said.
While it will take time for the Franklin family to fully heal from this, Leah Franklin said having her daughter home and her kidnapper behind bars is a good start.
“I would dare say, second to Sophie coming home to us, him being locked away for as long as possible brings me a great deal of joy and that justice will be served because that is all we want,” Leah Franklin said.
