Police investigate why cab company would agree to take young girl across state lines in middle of the night

ARKANSAS (WITI) -- Police in Arkansas are investigating why a cab company reportedly agreed to drive an 11-year-old runaway from her Arkansas home across four states in the middle of the night to Georgia -- without telling her family.

Police in Bryant, Arkansas say they were called on Friday, December 5th by the "terrified" parents of the 11-year-old girl, who reported they'd found a note from the girl, indicating she decided to run away.

The girl's parents handed over as much information as they could, and a detective went to work.

That detective discovered several key numbers when taking a look at the girl's phone records, and was able to piece together that she had left home around 3:00 a.m. She then walked to a nearby gas station and hitched a ride to Little Rock, Arkansas.

One key number was to a cab company that led police to a dead end.

Another was a number for a cab company in Little Rock. Finding that number ended up being the turning point in this investigation.

Police called the cab company in Little Rock, and they confirmed they had sent a car to meet a girl who asked for a ride to Jacksonville, Florida.

Police learned the 11-year-old girl gave the cab driver $1,300 up front, and said she would pay the remainder of the $2,500 fare upon arrival in Florida.

So where did an 11-year-old girl get that kind of money?!

Police say they were able to determine she had taken a large amount of money from her grandmother, whom she had been staying with.

Police soon reached out to the cab company, and they were able to get in touch with the driver, who indicated he was with the girl in the state of Georgia.

The Georgia State Patrol intercepted the cab just outside of Atlanta.

The girl's family then began their trip to Atlanta to retrieve their daughter.

Bryant police said this on Facebook: