Missing Oklahoma Girl Found In New Mexico

TEXHOMA, Okla. (AP) -- A missing 10-year-old Texhoma girl was found safe in Clovis, N.M., Friday afternoon, and authorities were seeking her abductor.<br/><br/>Marissa Marie Graham was able to escape when

Friday, January 19th 2007, 8:54 am

By: News On 6

TEXHOMA, Okla. (AP) -- A missing 10-year-old Texhoma girl was found safe in Clovis, N.M., Friday afternoon, and authorities were seeking her abductor.

Marissa Marie Graham was able to escape when her abductor stopped at a convenience store for gas, according to state Amber Alert coordinator Gene Thaxton.

"She took the opportunity to bolt from the car and into the convenience store and identify herself as the girl everyone was looking for and give the telephone number for the Texhoma Police Department," Thaxton said.

Clovis police issued a news release Friday afternoon seeking help finding a suspect described as a white male between 35 and 40 years old with facial hair, a pasty complexion and possibly brown hair.

Authorities were also seeking two vehicles: a purple, four-door van or SUV from which the girl escaped, and a white, four-door car used in her kidnapping.

Police said they received the 911 call from an Allsup's convenience store in Clovis at 12:35 p.m.

FBI agents trained to deal with abducted children were being sent from Albuquerque to Clovis, about three hours away, said Bill Elwell, a media representative for the FBI.

Marissa's parents were not expected to travel to Clovis on Friday due to an impending snowstorm, said Mike Boring, the district attorney for Texas County, where Texhoma is located.

"The family is still here. Her mother and father were able to visit with her by telephone," Boring said. "The status right now is we've encouraged the parents to remain here."

Preliminary indications were that Marissa was not harmed, but details were slow getting to Texhoma, Boring said.

"They are going to thoroughly check her and make sure that she is OK," Boring said.

Graham disappeared about 6:30 p.m. Thursday after last being seen talking to a man in a white car near a park in Texhoma in the Oklahoma Panhandle.

These alerts, named for Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old girl that was killed in Texas in 1996, are supposed to be limited to cases in which authorities confirm a child has been abducted and faces serious danger.