12-year-old girl missing for 5 days found on subway

MORRIS HEIGHTS (WABC) -- There were tears of joy when a 12-year-old girl, missing since Monday, was reunited with her family.

Eyewitness News' cameras were rolling as the desperate search came to a joyous end.

Days after she disappeared, Naode Diatta simply walked right home Friday night.

She was cradled in the arms of the woman who found her and brought an end to a five day nightmare.

"I wanted her back home so very long. I have been praying all over to do what I could do to get her back and I'm just happy that she's back home," said Maram Gomez, Naode's cousin.

Naode, whose family calls her Mamie, vanished on June 30th.

She was last seen leaving to pick up a tablet computer she'd borrowed from a friend.

Her family had papered her neighborhood, and then Friday, there was an astonishing coincidence.

"I saw her on the train and I was wondering if that was her and she said "yes". So I called her," her young neighbor said, "She said she missed her stop because she was sleeping."

Neighbors of Naode's family were heading back from Coney Island on the 4th of July, when they say they just bumped into her on the D train and brought her home.

"This is amazing we been praying, we've been asking the Lord to find her so all the glory go to Jesus Christ," another neighbor said.

Naode is in the hands of doctors at St. Barnabas Hospital for a routine check.

Detectives are now trying to piece the puzzle together of where she's been all this time and if anyone hurt her along the way.

"I didn't know where she was. They had a hurricane coming; I didn't know if she was outside. I don't know, and was just praying and praying and praying and hoping to god that she comes back," Gomez said.