Local News in Brief : Girl Leaves Hiding Place
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Thirty Los Angeles police officers conducted a fruitless door-to-door search Tuesday night for a 9-year-old Hollywood girl who turned out to be hiding under her apartment building.
The child, Lucia Esmeralda Merino, returned to her home on her own Wednesday morning.
She had apparently stayed out all night in the belief that she would be disciplined because she accidentally locked her family out of the apartment on Monday, Los Angeles Police Detective Ron Venneman said.
The child evidently overheard her mother say that a neighbor, who had come to the family’s assistance by climbing up a fire escape to gain entry into their home, could have been killed in the effort.
She apparently “misconstrued the conversation,” Venneman said, and after attending school Tuesday decided not to return home.
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