Missing Charlotte teen found safe, reunited with family, CMPD says

CHARLOTTE — Charlotte-Mecklenburg police have announced that a 17-year-old girl with a cognitive disability who was reported missing has been found safe.

Police said Maniyah Graham was last seen at about 8 a.m. Sunday at her home on Southwest Boulevard in west Charlotte, next to West Charlotte High School.

Shortly after 8 p.m. police said she was found safe and had been reunited with her family.

Graham has a cognitive disability due to what police called a “recent medical event.”

Channel 9 talked to Graham’s family recently about a tragic incident that changed her life.

Maniyah Graham was only 16 years old when she was found in a Sugar Creek Road motel back in May. She was unconscious with cocaine and fentanyl in her system.

Kim Graham told Latos through tears about the call she received from police. Her 16-year-old daughter Maniyah, who had run away and been in trouble before, wasn’t at the police station. Instead, she was at the hospital.

“She had cocaine and fentanyl in her system,” said her stepmother Shanielle Mahatha. “Maniyah will never be the same.”

Her family said she suffered a traumatic brain injury and now at 17, she functions as if she were only 7 years old. Nearly 9 months later, the questions of who gave Maniyah drugs and what happened to her in that room remain unanswered.

(WATCH BELOW: Police: Missing 3-year-old safe, dad arrested for mom’s murder)

Police: Missing 3-year-old safe, dad arrested for mom’s murder

©2022 Cox Media Group