CONWAY, N.H. (NEWS CENTER) -- The family of Abby Hernandez released a statement Friday through their friends, Paul Hirsch and Amanda Smith, thanking the community for its support and saying Abby "is working to build her strength back."
Abby, who is now 15 years old, disappeared in October after leaving school, and was gone for 9 months before she showed up back at her mother's house Sunday, wearing the same sweater and pants she had on when she vanished. In the statement, the Hernandez family writes: "Right now, Abby is resting, extremely tired and in deteriorated health, and has lost a lot of weight. She is working to build her strength back and we hope soon she will be back on solid foods."
Smith wrote that she has been to visit Abby each day and added, "Abby is very thin and weak. We continue to work towards getting her to eat. Abby has shown incredible courage thru this. She is beyond grateful to be home and is just relaxing, resting, trying to get her health back. Abby is forever thankful to everyone who offered help, support and prayers. I am incredibly proud of Abby for everything she has and continues to overcome in this ordeal."
The family also thanked the community, saying, "The Hernandez family expresses their deepest thanks to the community, law enforcement and media for their continued support. The extent of our gratitude can hardly be expressed in words and we are beyond overjoyed about Abby's return. The last few days have been extremely busy while law enforcement and medical concerns have had to be addressed. We are working in full support of law enforcement's efforts to help the ongoing investigation."
Anyone with any information about what happened to Abby is asked to call New Hampshire State Police at (603) 271-3636 or the Conway police at (603) 356-5715.
