Missing 14-Year-Old Forest Hills Girl Found: NYPD

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS -- A 14-year-old girl whose disappearance gave her family and community a scare last week has been found safe, police said.

Jocelyn Zacarias was found on Saturday afternoon about three days after she went missing from her Forest Hills home, police and family members said. The teen was last seen wearing a red baseball cap and white tennis shoes while walking to her job at the Rego Fresh Marketplace at around 7:15 a.m. on July 5, Patch previously reported.

When she never showed up for her shift that morning, her family started to worry.

"She didn't tell us where she was going," her mother, Mickey Blume-Zacarias, previously told Patch. "Everybody's baffled. Nobody has any real idea where she is or why."

The 14-year-old's disappearance came as an equal shock to community members, who had come to know Jocelyn for her local involvement.

"She's a nice kid," Barbara Glick, a family friend, told Patch . "She's smart and beautiful and intelligent and personable. This is very bizarre."

Everyone from the family's friends to complete strangers pitched in to help find the 14-year-old, spreading her photos across Queens neighborhood Facebook groups and meeting up in local playgrounds to search the neighborhood for her on foot.

The Zacarias' local congregation, Saint Luke's Episcopal Church, had even planned a service for Jocelyn at noon on Sunday, but by then she had already been found.

Police told Patch Jocelyn was home safe on Saturday afternoon, but could not confirm where she was found or how she spent her nights away from home. Her disappearance was previously labeled a runaway after her mother told cops the teen was "hanging with the wrong crowd" and had started to act out, an NYPD spokeswoman said.

Blume-Zacarias was not immediately available for comment after her daughter was found, but offered this statement on her Facebook page:

"Because of prayer, social media and having the flyers put up, WE have our girl home safe tonight," she wrote.

She said the church service for Jocelyn would still take place Sunday, allowing her daughter to thank everyone who helped search for her.

"Jocelyn wants to go to say thank you to everyone and she feels so loved and appreciative," the post read. "We will not answer any questions but we will celebrate life, love and community. Thank you again!!!"

Lead photo via Mickey Blume-Zacarias