The missing teenager was spotted walking along the New Jersey Turnpike

Oct 4, 2012 11:22 GMT  ·  By

16-year-old Kara Alongi pulled a Twitter hoax that caused her family much distress. The teenager was found in New Jersey, after a search that went on for two days. Clark police confirmed that Kara hadn't been harmed in any way, Daily Mail reports.

Relatives, neighbors and friends had organized a search party. Her message, urging followers to call 911 as a man had entered her residence, gave the impression she had been kidnapped.

Her parents were out at the time of her post, at 6.20pm on Sunday. Twitter followers were alarmed, but hadn't notified the authorities. When the girl's parents returned to find her missing, after being given notice of her tweet, they immediately asked for police assistance.

Surveillance footage from the Rahway train station in her home town of Clark, New Jersey, showed the girl waiting for a train after purchasing a ticket north, supposedly to New York City. Her tweet went viral, and Kara's disappearance became the third most talked about subject on Twitter.

The concerned parents posted her description, hoping someone would be able to give them information about her location.

Police had checked phone records and discovered a call had been made from the Alongi residence to a taxi company. The cab driver identified her as his passenger, at about the same time she disappeared, leading officials to believe that the Twitter post had been a hoax.

Clark Police Chief Alan Scherb stated that the teenager was walking along the New Jersey Turnpike, near Interchange 1 in Carneys Point, at the time officers spotted her.

She was found on Tuesday and submitted to examinations at the local hospital. She was returned to her family on Wednesday morning, after it was revealed that she had not been injured.

The girl was welcomed with open arms by her worried family members. Officials suspect she had been uneager to return home after causing a media scandal.