Five children enrolled in treatment programs at a Linda Vista group home for special-needs youths disappeared from the facility Tuesday morning, prompting an intensive law enforcement search that led to the recovery of all the apparent runaways hours later.
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The youngsters — two boys and three girls, ages 10 to 12 — were reported missing from the San Diego Center for Children in the 3000 block of Armstrong Street shortly after 9:30 a.m., according to San Diego police.
Officers searched neighborhoods and open areas around the facility — which serves children with mental, emotional and behavioral challenges — by ground, aided by service dogs, and aboard a patrol helicopter.
About 3:45 p.m., police located a pair of the youngsters in Old Town, several miles to the south of the group home, Officer John Buttle said. They were believed to be unharmed.
It was unclear how the two children had gotten to the spot where they were found, Buttle said.
The search for the other three youngsters ended Tuesday night after police reported shortly before 9 p.m. that all of the children had been found safe.
— City News Service
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