A California girl who vanished at just five years old has been found more than four years later living under a different name nearly 2,500 miles away, authorities said.

The now-11-year-old child was located Tuesday, March 10 in Washington County, North Carolina, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators say the girl had been living under an alias and was even enrolled in school using the false identity.

Officials confirmed the child is now safe and in protective custody while authorities work to unravel how she disappeared and where she had been living during the years she was missing.

The case dates back to June 2, 2020, when the girl was last seen in Duarte, California. At the time she was just five years old.

According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the child’s disappearance initially raised alarms after the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services filed a missing persons report the following month.

Investigators soon determined that the girl’s mother had stopped communicating with authorities during the search for the child. Officials with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department later said they believed the mother had taken the girl.

For years the case remained unresolved.

Missing child cases that stretch beyond the first few weeks often grow colder as time passes, and recoveries years later are rare. But investigators say a coordinated effort between agencies in California and North Carolina ultimately led them to the child’s location.

According to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, deputies recently discovered that a child enrolled in the local school district was using an alias that raised suspicions.

Authorities began digging into the identity.

After comparing information with law enforcement agencies and missing-child databases, investigators realized the student could be the girl who disappeared from California in 2020.

Multiple agencies then worked together to verify the information and track down the child.

Deputies located the girl on Tuesday and placed her in protective custody.

Officials say she appears to be safe, though they have not publicly released details about where she had been living or who she had been living with during the years she was missing.

The girl’s name has not been released to protect her privacy.

Authorities also have not confirmed whether the child’s mother or anyone else has been arrested in connection with the disappearance. Investigators say the case remains active and additional information may be released as the investigation continues.

Still, law enforcement officials say the discovery is an extremely rare and hopeful outcome in a case that could easily have faded into the long list of unsolved child disappearances.

“These are very rare occurrences to have such a positive outcome on such an old case as this,” the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Officials added that the recovery shows how cooperation between agencies across state lines can make a difference in long-running investigations.

“But it reminds us that through hard work, dedication, and cooperation,” the statement continued, “stories with positive outcomes like these can happen.”