I had gotten so many mixed stories in the chaos, so I wanted to set the record straight.

Shortly after the police arrived at our house, I posted in our local Folsom group to ask the community to keep alert. I immediately started getting dozens of messages and calls from locals who were offering to come help search. I couldn’t think straight at the time and couldn’t even tell you who I was responding to or what I was saying.

Rooster Cowart was one of the first people to reach out. He simply said, “I can help. Can I get an address?”

I sent him my address and didn’t hear anything else from him until I got a call from him at 9:12pm and a message that said, “Found them”. I didn’t see this message until the next day and had no idea it wasn’t the police to first locate them.

I finally got the full story from him (and the others that found them) yesterday.

Rooster entered the woods from a different highway and started following a creek until he thought he heard the girls. He was then chased out by a wild hog (thank Jesus Artemis was protecting our girls from those dangerous things 😣). He also was suspicious of the hog being “so nervous” and assumed our dog and girls must have been close by. He went back to his truck to get his gun and find others to help.

Michael Leake, April Leake, and Chris Populis were the others that came back with Rooster. Here is some of what they shared with me...

“The oldest was really calm but the baby was on the ground scared.
The dog about ate me up because I rushed up through there, and he was not going to let me near them. He was circling them.
Mike's wife was able to get up next to them without him after her.
Everything just fell right into place. First thing I told them was your momma is looking for you and she said I know...But I know in my heart them girls Momma's faith is what kept them safe to be found unharmed. They are blessed to have a Mom like you. From when I saw the post til saw them I felt the presence of God.”
-Rooster

“My heart is happy this morning, although last night I was scared to death. Your dog helped me get to them. They were brave I’m glad and thanking the good Lord above he put me on my feet last night. I’ll never forget them now.
-Chris

“I put my jacket on cc and squatted down to talk to her and let Artemis sniff my hand and pet him. Then I just held cc, and rubbed her arms since she said she was cold. She wasn’t crying- at that time, maybe anxious and worried...But the way CC held onto me leaving the woods and getting to the cruiser I know she was shaken. I haven’t stopped thinking of y’all...It was so dark and they saw the helicopter, and they said they were screaming and hollering. Abigail was such a trooper! She kept saying she knew someone was going to see them. That little girl is something special!”
-April

Again - thank you to the hundreds who helped to search and the thousands who prayed. ❤️❤️❤️

And thank you thank you thank you for these sweet angels that were so gentle and kind with my babies when they found them. We are eternally grateful 🙌

Lastly, there have been soooo many people who are STILL helping us and praying for us in the aftermath. We are definitely still in the process of recovering from this traumatic experience and so many generous souls have been reaching out to offer meals, pamper Artemis, and send blessings to the girls and extra treats for Artemis. Seriously - we cannot say thank you enough. We are so blessed. ❤️❤️