Woman missing for 7 years located after police hear 'screaming and crying' from motel room

A woman who went missing in 2017 has been reunited with her family after police located her in a Michigan hotel, the Michigan State Police said Thursday.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) – A woman who disappeared in 2017 has been reunited with her loved ones after police located her in a Michigan motel, the Michigan State Police said Thursday.

The woman, who was not identified, is now back with her family, police said.

In a thread on X, MSP said the woman managed to call her stepmother earlier this week, telling her she was being "held against her will" at a motel in the Detroit suburb of Inkster.

Detectives were able to track her to the Evergreen Motel, where "a girl was heard screaming and crying from a motel room," MSP said.

"Troopers made forcible entry into the room and recovered her," MSP wrote.

In a search of the motel room, the MSP said officers found drugs, guns and multiple cell phones. Police said they also identified a suspect, though a spokesperson for the MSP's Second District said no one was in custody.

"She was alone when we located her," the MSP spokesperson said in an emailed statement obtained by Nexstar. "We are currently looking into what occurred during the time she was reported missing."

The MSP also suggested the possibility that the woman had been the victim of a human-trafficking operation. The agency's Trafficking and Abduction Group (TAG) is further investigating to determine whether that was the case.

The victim was transported to a hospital before being reunited with family, officers said. They did not say whether she had suffered any injuries.