A missing 16-year-old central Alberta girl returns to an emotional reunion with her family, having spent two days away from them. A 56-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping and sexually assaulting her.

On Thursday night the girl, dressed in a coat and pyjamas, disappeared from a convenience store where she had stopped to buy a cold drink. 20 minutes later her farther found her truck outside their home, its lights still on, his daughter's purse still inside.

This set off search parties which involved police, neighbors and Good Samaritans who plastered thousands of posters across the Prairies.

At 8:30 p. m. Saturday, 46 hours after she went missing, the girl called up her father from a pay phone at a toy store in the Red Deer mall which was about 13 kilometres north of her hometown of Penhold. .

She had managed to escape from the abductor but was found shaken and with some injuries said RCMP Sgt. Patrick Webb.

"I can't go into the injuries at all, but suffice it to say that it is obviously a very upsetting and trying experience and so she is recovering. I talked to her today very quickly and she's a pretty tough young lady," he said.