Brittany Mae Smith, Missing Virginia Girl, Found Safe in California

Dec. 10, 2010 — -- Brittany Mae Smith, the 12-year-old girl from Salem, Va., who went missing for a week, has been found safe in San Francisco.

"She is well and she is in good hands at this time," Roanoke County, Va., Police Chief Ray Lavinder told reporters hours after Brittany was found. "She's been in touch with her family. They're very relieved and I'm assuming maybe a family member will go out there and escort her back."

Police in Roanoke, Va., added that Jeffrey Scott Easley, 32, was in custody in connection with the case. He was a suspect both in Brittany's disappearance and in the death of her mother, Tina Smith.

Lavinder said Brittany and Easley were spotted by a police tipster in an unspecified retail store in San Francisco. Police soon took the pair into custody without resistance.

"They were located somewhere near a tent, which was apparently located somewhere within walking distance of the retail store" where the tipster recognized them from media coverage, Lavinder said.

He added that Brittany was talking to police in San Francisco, and Virginia authorities would seek Easley's extradition back to Virginia.

"Hopefully, he'll waive extradition and be back here with us in Virginia within the week," Lavinder said.

Police issued an Amber Alert for Brittany on Dec. 6 after discovering the body of her 41-year-old mother, Tina Smith.

A coroner ruled the death a homicide. Police said that finding Brittany and Easley was key to the murder investigation.

The search for Brittany and Easley spanned eight states. Digital billboards in several of those states asked citizens to be on the lookout. In addition to Virginia and California, investigators in North Carolina, Florida, Alabama, West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky worked the case.

Police said the girl was with Easley when they were found.

The two appeared in a surveillance video released today, taken Dec. 3 at a Salem, Va., Walmart, shortly after the girl first was reported missing.

In the video, Brittany appeared calm. Easley, wearing a white t-shirt, pushed a shopping cart while Brittany walked close to him. Brittany never was seen motioning for help. She helped Easley unload camping equipment while going through the checkout line.

Police said that they received nearly 600 tips in the case.

Thursday, relatives of Smith, a seventh grader, publicly appealed to the man suspected of holding her to let the girl come home safely for Christmas.

"Mr. Easley, I know you don't know me, but, sir, please let Brittany come home for Christmas," said Rhonda, one of Brittany's aunts, at a press conference.

Another aunt said, "Jeff, we hope you'll do the right thing and bring Britt home. We'd like to have her back so we can say goodbye and make final funeral plans for her mom."

The women did not want to reveal their last names.