Missing San Augustine Co girl found safe and sound...man arrested - February 22, 2024

The Jasper County Sheriff’s Department has announced that a missing San Augustine County girl, 15-year-old Alissa Sandefer, has been found safe and sound.  According to Deputy Karli Cherry, Jasper County and San Augustine County deputies along with Jasper Police and the U.S. Marshal’s Service executed a search warrant at a camp house on County Road 086 in the north end of the county and found her there. Meanwhile, Cheery said a 25-year-old Newton County man was arrested on multiple charges, which included Harboring a Runaway Child. He’s currently in the Jasper County Jail, but his identity has not yet been released pending formal charges at arraignment. Alissa went missing on Saturday, February 10th. Her case was initially treated as a runaway, but the sheriff’s department later bumped her status up to be a missing person. Early on, investigators in San Augustine County said that she had ties to Jasper County and was known to be here quite often. That prompted local law enforcement to follow several leads in this area which finally panned out on Wednesday morning.