Missing 7-year-old girl found safe in South Shore

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A 7-year-old girl reported missing from Chicago's South Shore neighborhood was reunited with her family Friday morning.

Kendra Broughton told ABC7 Eyewitness News that a classmate told her to come over and play.

"I'm happy my baby is back. I have my baby," said Nicole Broughton, the girl's mother. "I'm just so happy. I've been up all night looking for my baby and I got her."

The second grader's family scoured neighborhood overnight, frantically searching for her and calling her name.

Nicole Broughton dropped her daughter off at Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Paideia Academy in the 7500-block of S. South Shore Drive Thursday morning. But the child wasn't there at the end of the day.

The girl was found Friday morning about five blocks away at a classmate's apartment.

"I played and I did my homework and I finished playing," Kendra Broughton told ABC7.

Conchedia Depratto lives in the building where the 7-year-old girl was found. Her child's father sent her a photo of the police alert posted on ABC7 Chicago's website. Depratto realized Kendra was in the complex and had played with a little girl who lives upstairs.

"So when I saw this picture, I'm like, 'She came to my house yesterday. I've seen this face before,'" Depratto said. She ran upstairs, asked Kendra her name and told her to call her mother.

Kenra Broughton told ABC7 she did try to call her family, but the only phone number she knew was connected to a phone that was turned off.

Meanwhile, it is unclear why the classmate's family didn't do more.