Kidnapped Soest girl, 11, arrives back in Netherlands after reuniting with mother

An 11-year-old girl from Soest who was kidnapped by her father on Tuesday has been reunited with her mother. The mother and daughter traveled back to the Netherlands together from Bulgaria, arriving at Schiphol on Saturday, according to De Telegraaf.

"We are tired, but very happy," said the girl's mother, Jorica Verhoef. "Now quickly to the family and then we will first take a few days of rest. I hope everyone respects that. Where yesterday everything was bad, today everything went well.”

Melisa failed to come home from hockey practice on Tuesday. Her mother's suspicions that the 11-year-old had been abducted by her father and was being taken to Turkey proved correct. However, police intercepted the pair in Bulgaria, they said on Wednesday night.

According to De Telegraaf, Melisa got into her father's car on the way to hockey practice, but ended up on a long road trip to Turkey instead. Her father drove her over 2,000 kilometers in 24 hours before police stopped them in Bulgaria.

Melisa and her mother were able to laugh together in the airport, despite looking tired, according to De Telegraaf. "I am happy and angry at the same time," Verhoef said. She divorced Melisa's father 10 years ago, but there has been conflict between the two ever since.

“There were countless incidents, verbal abuse," Verhoef told De Telegraaf. "He couldn't bear that Melisa was with me. I would be a danger to her. He also couldn't accept that I have a new partner and we have another child together. For 10 years I have been fighting with him and all kinds of authorities. And this was the low point. Luckily I have her back now."