By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-13 21:28:31 | Updated at 2026-08-14 01:06:14
4 hours ago
A missing teen who vanished from her Florida home in the middle of the night was found over 1,000 miles away in New Jersey after eerie surveillance footage showed her disappearing into the night.
Sophia Veronica Cover, 16, had left her home in Naples in the early hours of July 31. She was last seen on haunting surveillance footage with a sweatshirt over her head, fleeing into darkness.
Nearly two weeks later, detectives with the Collier County Sheriff’s Office located Sophia at a friend's house in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
Her emotional father, Richard Cover, shared the positive news earlier this week, adding that he was excited to fly to New Jersey to pick up his daughter.
The Cover family's nightmare ended on Thursday when the missing teen was reunited with her father.
Cover shared photos of Sophia on the plane and at the airport on Thursday, writing, 'Today, I’m sitting on a plane, bringing Sophia home.
'After everything that has happened, just being able to look over and see her sitting beside me is something I will never take for granted.'
He went on to thank the community for hanging flyers, making videos, praying and reaching out to support.
Cover said that all he had wanted this month was for his daughter to return home, and he was grateful for their community that supported them
Cover shared photos of Sophia on the plane and at the airport on Thursday, writing, 'Today, I’m sitting on a plane, bringing Sophia home. After everything that has happened, just being able to look over and see her sitting beside me is something I will never take for granted'
Sophia's father said that she was found at her friend's house in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and was interviewed by the FBI earlier this week
Cover promised to 'never forget' how loved ones and strangers rallied around their family during this nightmare.
He confessed that there was 'a lot to unpack' and he would share further details about what happened to Sophia, but for now the family needed time to decompress.
'I’m going to hug my little girl, get her home to her brothers and sisters, and start getting to the root of how we ended up here so we can begin moving forward,' Cover continued.
'For days, all I wanted was one thing: To bring my Sophie girl home. Today, I get to do that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Sophia is safe. Sophia is with her dad. And Sophia is going HOME.'
Cover announced earlier this week that after detectives located her, the FBI picked her up for questioning.
'All the bad things that I thought were happening and could happen, it sounds like just some teenagers deciding that they were smarter than everybody else and decided to go hang out together for a few days, then it turned into 11,' her father said in a tearful social media video.
Through tears, Cover said that his daughter was safe and healthy, adding that the next part of being a dad was 'figuring out what to do next.'
Cover thanked the Collier County Sheriff’s Office and Detective Marisol Rodriguez in a separate post on Facebook, acknowledging that he put a 'tremendous amount of pressure' on them.
The teenager was last seen in the early hours of July 31 on surveillance camera footage leaving her Florida home
Sophia's father thanked strangers and loved ones for promoting her story after she went missing
Sophia's father, Richard Cover, had launched a viral social media campaign to find his daughter
'I’m Sophia’s dad, and I was scared, frustrated, emotional, and determined to find my daughter. Detective Rodriguez handled all of that while still doing her job and keeping this investigation moving,' he wrote.
He told Gulf Coast News Now that the sheriff called him at 4pm on Monday and said, 'We got her!'
Cover added that he was praying Sophia's disappearance was the result of rebellion, confessing that even though he does not like that she ran away, he was grateful that she kept herself safe, and that kids make mistakes.
He shared online that Sophia came to live with him in Pennsylvania in 2014 after staying with her mother in Panama.
Cover previously told Gulf Coast News Now that they moved to Florida just four months ago.
The worried father had feared the worst after his daughter disappeared, telling the outlet: 'I think that she left the house because someone either convinced her to, or promised her something and I think that she's in trouble right now. I think someone has my daughter, is what I believe.'
'That's what I believe, and I hope I'm wrong.'
Nearly two weeks later, Cover was proven wrong and shared photos online of Sophia smiling on the plane ride home.
