UPDATE: Missing 13-year-old Special Needs Girl Found Safe

A special needs teenager is missing and her family is fearing the worst.

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO)– It was more than 24 hours of fear for a Richland County mother whose daughter’s with special needs disappeared leaving behind only a note.
Monday night Sherri Lynn Carter Campbell is back home safe and sound.

Just before 6-30 Monday night, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department says they were able to locate the 13 year old in Kersahw County thanks to tips that came in after Campbell was reported missing on the news.
Authorities say she’s been transported to an area hospital for an evaluation.

Here is what her mother had to say when she sat down with ABC Columbia’s Angela Rogers hours before the teen was located.

Shaquana Cuttino said she’s felt numb since discovering her daughter missing. She fears the longer Sherri Lynn is gone, the less likely it is she will be able to see her 13-year-old daughter again.  

“I’m at the point I can’t even cry anymore. I’m just praying wherever she’s at that she’s protected,” Cuttino said. 

Sherri Lynn’s bright pink room is empty and has been since Easter Sunday. Cuttino said the last time she spoke with her daughter she had no idea Sherri was planning on going to her grandfather’s house and taking his green 1997 Jeep Cherokee.

“She wanted to know that I have her macaroni and cheese ready. And I was like, girl get off my phone, I’m coming. I’m fixing it and I’m coming. And that was it,” Cuttino said. Cuttino found a note on Sherri’s iPad that made her worry about Sherri’s health. Sherri has special needs, with extreme ADHD, sensory input delay, and oppositional defiant disorder.

“And it was a message that said I feel like I’m a burden to everyone, I’m better off dead, I don’t want to be alive anymore. And she knows she’s not a burden for anybody, I live for my children,” Cuttino said. Cattino hopes her daughter can hear this message and know no matter what she can come home. Cattino is afraid Sherri is with another person, because Sherri has never done anything like this before, and she cannot drive the truck she ran off in.

“You know mommy can’t live without you. You know that. So wherever you are, I know you’re thinking you’re in trouble for taking the truck but you know we don’t care about the truck. You know that. We just want to make sure that you’re okay, make sure that you’re alive,” Cuttino said.  Cattino said Sherri processes information differently and comprehends at more of a 9 or 10-year old level. She said she is not interested in pressing charges against anyone, as long as Sherri can be back in her own room.

“Just, get her back to us safely,” Cuttino said.