SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. — Your daughter is missing. Those words would haunt any parent.
On Wednesday afternoon, it became Carl Sarbacker’s reality when his girlfriend called from C.H. Bird Elementary School saying their daughter was missing from the after-school pick-up line.
“You hear the horror stories every day about kids being taken from their parents and never coming home,” said Sarbacker.
Sarbacker claims his daughter’s teacher believed she had been safely picked up in the family’s vehicle during after-school pick-up.
The only issue: it wasn’t their car. Sarbacker says school security shows his daughter opened the door to another car, noticed it wasn’t the right one, got out and walked back to the school.
However, when she couldn’t find her teacher outside, the kindergartener decided to walk home. By the time Sarbacker’s girlfriend arrived for pick up, her daughter was missing.
“I will give it to a lot of the teachers, who got in their personal vehicle and there were women in dresses looking in bushes, screaming in search of our child,” explained Sarbacker.
The 45-minute search was agonizing, but eventually Sarbacker says his daughter was found safe at the family’s home.
“I just broke down and cried. I was just so happy she was safe and not in somebody else’s car,” shared Sarbacker.
Sarbacker says he hasn’t sent his child back to school since the incident Wednesday and the school tells him they’ll be re-assigning her to a different teacher. However, the school has not explained if they will be adjusting their after-school pick-up procedure.
We reached out to the Sun Prairie School District, who declined an interview but said the school is working directly with this family. The School District would not comment further.
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