A 6-year-old Habersham County girl was to be reunited with her mother after she and her older sister went missing for nearly a day. Deputies found the sisters safe on the side of the road in Northwest Georgia’s Walker County, more than 130 miles away.
Walker County deputies located Celesta and Estephanie Negrete Ramirez around 7:45 a.m. Monday, October 11, three hours after the GBI issued a statewide Levi’s Call for the girls. (Levi’s Call is Georgia’s version of an Amber Alert).
The Habersham County Sheriff’s Office requested the alert after the girls’ mother reported them missing around 1 a.m. Monday, October 11. She told deputies her older daughter took Celesta shopping around 11 a.m. the day before and had not returned home. She believed they went to Commerce or Buford but was unable to contact them because Estephanie did not take her phone with her.
The mother told deputies she was concerned about her older daughter’s recent “mental status,” according to a news release from the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office. The alert said the child was believed to be in “extreme danger.”
After locating the girls on the side of the road in Walker County, where HCSO Lt. Matthew Wurtz says their vehicle had broken down, deputies reported they were not injured. They took them to the Walker County Sheriff’s Office where Celesta was to be reunited with her mother.
Deputies charged Estephanie with interference with child custody in relation to the incident, says Wurtz. He says Estephanie will be transported to the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office and undergo a mental health evaluation.
