NEW YORK (NewsNation) — A New Jersey mother is facing charges the day after her teenage daughter was found safe in another state. Jashyah Moore, 14, disappeared Oct. 14, and was found Thursday night in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood.
Jamie Moore called on police and the public to find her child, but child protective services has now taken her daughter, Jashyah, and her three-year-old son.
Jamie Moore has been charged with physical abuse, child neglect and child endangerment.
Police say Jashyah Moore was hiding.
“(The) NYPD is who she finally came clean with,” said Theodore Stephens II, the acting Essex County prosecutor. “Obviously, this was an extremely resilient and resourceful young lady, and she decided that she wanted to be someplace other than where she had been.”
The teenager was last seen at a convenience store in her East Orange, New Jersey, neighborhood picking up some drinks.
She’d lost the family debit card and had been searching for it with the help of some good Samaritans when she vanished.
Last month, neighbors told NewsNation’s New York affiliate, WPIX, there was more to the case than it seemed.
“Because she’s going through and has been through Hell. And the truth has got to be told,” the neighbor told WPIX. “This baby needs to be protected.”
Jashyah Moore has had a tough life. Sources say her stepfather, an East Orange police officer, is involved in a domestic violence complaint involving both the girl and her mother.
But, early on, investigators ruled out any involvement in her disappearance.
Jamie Moore said she’d had her phone taken along with her DNA, and been subjected to a polygraph. Police called that a formality, but sources close to the investigation said there were concerns early on about her version of events.
NewsNation affiliate WPIX contributed to this report.