Lillia has been found safe and well after an eight-day search, Greater Manchester Police confirmed on Saturday evening. Officers located the 13-year-old while carrying out dedicated proactive patrols in Manchester city centre.
Police said Lillia’s family had been updated following the discovery. Bolton District Commander Chief Superintendent Helen Critchley thanked the public, officers, staff and the media for helping with the search and asked that Lillia and her family now be given privacy and respect.
Police searching for missing 13-year-old Lillia had traced her movements across Greater Manchester using CCTV and transport footage before officers found her safe and well in Manchester city centre on Saturday, September 19.
Before she was located, the latest confirmed CCTV sighting had placed Lillia at Manchester Piccadilly bus station at 10.36am on Monday, September 14. Police established that she had boarded the number 36 bus in Salford earlier that morning before getting off at Piccadilly.
The sighting had moved the confirmed timeline beyond earlier CCTV from Piccadilly Gardens and provided investigators with a specific journey, route and arrival point to examine as the search intensified.
Police have released CCTV footage of a new sighting of Lillia, a 13-year-old girl who has now been missing for a week.
â ITV Granada Reports (@GranadaReports) September 18, 2026
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Lillia found safe and well in Manchester
Greater Manchester Police confirmed on Saturday evening that officers had located Lillia while carrying out dedicated proactive patrols in Manchester city centre.
The discovery brought an eight-day search to an end. Lillia had been missing since Friday, September 11, after leaving her home in Bolton.
According to the Greater Manchester Police update confirming Lillia was found safe and well, officers noticed someone who resembled the teenager while on patrol and established that it was Lillia.
Her mother and the rest of her family were updated following the discovery. Police thanked people across Greater Manchester and elsewhere in the country who submitted information or shared appeals during the search.
CCTV helped police trace Lillia’s movements
The investigation involved officers and specialist staff reviewing hours of CCTV as they worked to establish Lillia’s movements after she left home.
The first confirmed sighting after her disappearance came on Saturday, September 12, when police said she boarded the number 247 bus at the Trafford Centre.
Another sighting placed her inside the McDonald’s on Market Street in Piccadilly Gardens at approximately 8.20pm on Sunday, September 13.
Investigators then established that Lillia boarded the number 36 bus from Salford at around 10am on Monday, September 14.
She was subsequently seen walking through Manchester Piccadilly bus station at 10.36am. That became the final confirmed sighting released by police before she was found on September 19.
Missing-person investigations can depend heavily on CCTV, transport records and information from members of the public. A recent search for three-year-old Noah Woods in Suffolk also involved CCTV enquiries and specialist teams, although the circumstances were entirely different.
Large search operation covered Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester Police said officers and staff worked with partner organisations throughout the investigation, reviewing surveillance footage and following different lines of enquiry.
Hundreds of missing-person leaflets were distributed, while police issued repeated social-media appeals and worked with media organisations to keep the search in the public eye.
Images of Lillia were also circulated among officers across the force so that those on duty could recognise her if they encountered her.
The search had extended across Greater Manchester, and investigators had previously kept open the possibility that Lillia could have travelled outside the area.
Another recent missing-person case involved a search for a 13-year-old girl at Cultus Lake following a paddleboard incident in British Columbia. The circumstances were unrelated but similarly led authorities to appeal publicly for information.
Family had appealed for Lillia’s return
During the search, Lillia’s mother, Jessica, made an emotional public appeal asking her daughter to come home and stressing that the family wanted to know she was safe.
The appeal became an important part of efforts to reach the teenager as police continued tracing her movements through Manchester and surrounding areas.
Chief Superintendent Helen Critchley, District Commander for Bolton, later praised Lillia’s mother for working closely with investigators throughout the eight-day search.
Police said information submitted by the public, shared appeals, CCTV analysis and media coverage all contributed to efforts to track Lillia’s movements.
Police thank public after eight-day search
Following Lillia’s discovery, Chief Superintendent Critchley thanked members of the public who provided information through police phone lines and the online portal or shared appeals on social media.
She also thanked the officers who located Lillia during proactive patrols and the teams who had worked behind the scenes throughout the investigation.
Police said officers had been given Lillia’s image during the search in the hope that someone on duty would recognise her. That preparation proved important when officers spotted someone who looked like the missing teenager and approached her.
Lillia reunited with her family
Police confirmed that Lillia’s family was updated after officers found her in Manchester city centre, ending a search that had lasted eight days.
The force asked that Lillia, her mother and the rest of the family now be given privacy and respect following what police described as an extremely difficult period for them.
The final police update turns what had been an urgent missing-child investigation into a safe recovery. Lillia, who had been missing since September 11, was found safe and well on September 19 after officers recognised her during patrols in Manchester city centre.
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