Eleven-year-old Natalia, who had been missing for 24 days after allegedly being abducted by her stepfather, has been found safe in the village of Ovcharovo in the Shumen region, while the suspect, 40-year-old Asen Simeonov, has been detained.
Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev announced the breakthrough on Facebook, saying the child was safe and had already been reunited with her relatives. "Natalia is safe and her relatives hugged her. The efforts paid off!" he wrote, thanking Interior Ministry employees, volunteers and local authorities for their role in the search. "When we act as one, success is a fact!" he added.
Natalia disappeared in the early hours of June 30 from the village of Konstantinovo in the Varna region after, according to her mother, Simeonov assaulted and tied her up before forcing the girl to leave with him under threats. Relatives said the man had previously cared for Natalia but had become aggressive after consuming alcohol.
The search became one of the country's largest recent operations. The national AMBER Alert system was activated on July 1, followed by BG-Alert notifications in three regions on July 3. Police, state institutions and hundreds of volunteers searched an area stretching roughly 100 kilometers across the municipalities of Varna, Dalgopol, Dolni Chiflik and Provadia.
