Michigan woman missing since 2017 rescued from motel

A Michigan woman who has been missing since 2017 was located in a motel room after police heard her crying and screaming, officials said.  

Michigan State Police detectives received a missing persons tip last week from a caller who "said that her stepdaughter, who had been missing since 2017, contacted her and was currently being held against her will at a motel in Inkster MI," the state police's Second District said on X, formerly Twitter.

Detectives with the state police's Special Investigative Section and Trafficking and Abduction Group discovered that the victim was being held at the Evergreen Motel in Inkster, located less than a half hour outside of downtown Detroit.

Detectives and state troopers went to the motel and heard a girl "screaming and crying from a motel room," officials said. Officers then forcibly entered the room and recovered her.

The victim was transported to a local hospital for a medical evaluation and to be interviewed by detectives. She was physically unharmed and later reunited with her family and is receiving mental health assistance.

Officers executing a search warrant of the room discovered drugs, cell phones and a firearm, and they identified a suspect, officials said, but law enforcement has not stated whether any arrest has been made in connection to the incident. 

Trafficking and Abduction Group officers are continuing the investigation to determine whether the woman was trafficked.

The woman was in her 20s when she left her family in 2017 and she is now in her 30s, per local outlet WXYZ.

"I don’t want to use the word kidnapping like somebody grabbed her and took her to that place. It may have started out as a relationship that turns into being held against your will and being trafficked," Michigan State Police Lt. Mike Shaw said.

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