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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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The U.S. Marshals Service has announced the recovery of dozens of reported missing and endangered children in Ohio in what it said was the largest missing child operation in the state's history.
Operation Meridian, which took place throughout August in coordination with federal, state and local law enforcement partners, concluded with the recovery of 79 children between the ages of 6 and 17, the Marshals Service said in a news release on Tuesday.
It focused on children reported missing under circumstances such as suspected sex trafficking, physical and emotional abuse, neglect, and other forms of endangerment.
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In a phone interview with Newsweek, Michael Black, United States Marshal for the Southern District of Ohio, attributed the operation's success to coordination between the Northern and Southern Districts of Ohio.
"One of the main reasons we were so successful on this mission and we were able to recover 79 missing children is because all of our law enforcement partners, we all came together, collaborated, put our resources together," he said.
"That's why it's the best operation that we've had in Ohio and the most successful."
He added: "There's nothing more rewarding than being able to return a missing kid to their family and see the relief on the family's faces."
Pete Elliott, the U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Ohio, said in a statement: "I am very proud of our dedicated law enforcement, community and media partners who worked tirelessly to bring our missing and most vulnerable children to safety. Every recovered child represents a life pulled back from danger."
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Missing Girl Found in Basement Crawl Space
In one case, U.S. Marshals worked with the Columbus Police Department to locate two sisters, ages 13 and 16, who were reported missing in July 2024 and April 2026, according to the news release. Law enforcement followed leads to locate the 13-year-old girl concealed in a basement crawl space hidden in the floor of a bedroom closet at a home in Lockbourne, it said.
The girls' mother was arrested on an outstanding warrant for a probation violation, and during her arrest, officers were able to get information that led to the discovery of the other missing girl. They recovered her later that day at a restaurant in Columbus.
During the operation, officers also located a 16-year-old girl who was reported missing to the Toledo Police Department on August 18.
Toledo Police and the U.S. Marshals' SPEAR (Specialized Personnel for Enforcement, Apprehension and Recovery) Unit began working the case since she had previously been reported as a victim of human trafficking, the news release said.
Officers followed leads and gathered information about a man the girl may have been with. They located both at an address in Toledo.
The girl received medical care and was transported to a hospital for evaluation. The man was interviewed, and local law enforcement is investigating potential criminal activity, the news release said.
How Many Children Are Still Missing in Ohio?
Some 821 children are reported missing across the state, according to a missing persons database maintained by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation's Missing Persons Unit on the Ohio attorney general's website.
Black told Newsweek that while the Marshals Service does not currently have another missing child operation planned, the work to recover missing children continues every day.
"We have deputies that are assigned to work that mission every day," he said. "Every now and then we put together all of our resources and do an operation like we did in August."
He added: "We will definitely have another one here in the future. That is a very important mission to the Marshal Service and we continue to work those cases every single day. Our goal is always to look for and try to return missing children to their families."
Black added that the Marshals Service always seeks assistance from the public when locating missing children.
"We always say if someone sees a child and it just doesn't look right, doesn't feel right to them, best to contact law enforcement," he said.
"We want them to call and let us know what they're seeing so we can look into it."
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Ben Kelly, Shakeema Edwards, Sam Wilson.
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