A British Sainsbury’s worker cracked a US police case when he located a missing four-year-old-girl from his bedroom — 5,000 MILES away.
Harry Brown, 21, traced little Yvette Henley to a motel in Arizona by convincing her estranged father – who had fled the state – to let him order a PIZZA to his room.
Yvette was reportedly staying with her father Virgil Henley, 28, when a court granted guardianship to her grandparents, Gary and Kim Forester.
But after the hearing in June – which heard Yvette was suffering “emotional damage” and was in danger – her dad was unaware of the outcome and nowhere to be found.
The girl’s anxious grandparents contacted police who launched an investigation, but after almost three weeks she was still nowhere to be found.
Gary, 46, and Kim, 47, contacted Harry – a total stranger to them, but had internet history with Virgil – that they jointly managed to solve the case and find Yvette.
Avid online gamer Harry had coincidentally connected with Virgil on Facebook after they met over the internet a few years ago, and they had previously chatted a little.
After discovering the link, Yvette’s grandparents pleaded with him to help them – so he agreed and struck up an online conversation with Virgil out of the blue.
Over two days of talking, Harry teased information out of him and learned he had taken his girlfriend Alyssa, 28, and Yvette to Arizona, where they were staying in cheap hotels.
He eventually pinpointed their exact location by offering to order a pizza to his room at a motel and even convinced Virgil to hand over the room number.
But instead of the food showing up at the door, police did. Yvette was recovered and is now living safely with her grandparents in California, who have custody.
Harry, of Staines, Surrey, said: “I spend my life on the internet but little did I know that talking to random people would lead to me finding this little girl.
“She is loving where she is now. I cried so much when I saw the photos of her with her grandparents.
“The police had been trying to find her since May and within two days I got his exact location.
“It’s a really weird set of circumstances that fell into place. Before, Yvette was probably living a nightmare.
“Now she is in the best place possible for her. She is having the most happy days of her life.
“I can’t wrap my head around it. It’s life-changing for me. I had all these worries but now they all seem meaningless.
“I have saved a girl’s life. I have so much more to be happy about now.”
Harry became wrapped up in Yvette’s story after Gary messaged him on Facebook earlier this month because he was one of three people who liked one of Virgil’s profile photos.
The youngster, who was stacking shelves at Sainsbury’s at the time and checked his phone on his break, said: “I got this message completely out of the blue.
“I thought, ‘This could be real.’ So I started looking into it.”
Harry messaged Virgil and started a conversation out of the blue, asking about what he had been up to and talking about food, music and the weather.
The dad, who was using a Facebook profile under the name Mark Johnson, let slip his location while complaining about the humidity, ranting: “f*cking HATE Arizona”.
Harry later managed to get his exact location in Kingman, Arizona by offering to buy him pizza.
Harry, who plans to fly out to California to meet Yvette and her grandparents soon, added: “He said he didn’t want any but his wife did.
“He gave me his exact address and room number. I rang Gary straight away. He called the police in America and a police officer showed up.
“Instead of pizza he got the police.”
The following day, Yvette was driven back to her grandparents’ house in Hesperia, California.
Overjoyed Gary, a janitor, said: “When Yvette was missing it was exhausting. I made it my mission to find her but ended up losing the two jobs I was working.
“I was just desperate to find her. I can’t explain how much Harry helped. He was the key to everything.
“It is amazing to have Yvette home. I remember standing in the driveway as the car pulled up.
“She got out and started yelling and she ran up to us and jumped into my arms. I hugged her and kissed her and the tears were flowing.
“It was very emotional. Just to see the joy on her face was incredible. We had prepared ourselves for the worst. I feared for her life.
“In my heart, Harry saved her life. I will be forever in gratitude to him for that.”
San Bernadino County Sheriff’s Dept said: “The missing person report for Yvette Henley was filed by her grandfather on June 20 in Hesperia.
“He believed Yvette was with her parents and he had not been able to reach them.
“The grandfather was given guardianship of Yvette also on June 20. At the time he filed the report it had been 10 days since he had last seen the three of them.”
A spokeswoman added: “On July 9th the reporting party contacted the Hesperia Station stating he had been advised that the child was located in Kingman, AZ.
“Child Protective services was contacting Kingman and the reporting party stated he would be going to Kingman to pick up the child.”
