Missing Children Found in Crawlspace, Former Teacher’s Home During Ohio Operation

Hoosier Enquirer

CLEVELAND — A 13-year-old girl concealed beneath a bedroom closet floor, a teenager found at a former teacher’s home and girls authorities said were being trafficked were among 79 missing and endangered children located during a U.S. Marshals-led operation in Ohio.

Operation Meridian ran throughout August 2026, and officials announced its results September 8. The children ranged from 6 to 17. Cases included suspected trafficking, physical and emotional abuse, neglect and children who had run away. The recoveries resulted from separate investigations across multiple communities, with searches extending as far as Georgia.

In the Columbus area, investigators searching for two sisters, ages 13 and 16, followed leads to a home in the 900 block of Hibbs Road in Lockbourne. Officers found the younger girl concealed in a basement crawlspace beneath a bedroom closet floor. The sisters had been reported missing in July 2024 and April 2026, according to the agency.

Their mother was arrested on an outstanding Franklin County probation-violation warrant. Information obtained during the recovery led officers to the older sister later that day at a restaurant in the 600 block of Harrisburg Pike in Columbus. The announcement did not identify the mother or explain why the younger girl was concealed there.

A separate case led investigators to Springfield. WCMH reported that Jobe Binkley, 48, a former Springfield High School science teacher, was charged August 27 with interference with custody, a first-degree misdemeanor, after a missing teenage girl was found at his home.

According to a probable-cause affidavit described by WCMH, an officer working with the Marshals Service visited the home August 21. Binkley acknowledged the girl was inside, called for her, and both came outside. Records cited by the station said officers had visited twice before, when Binkley denied she was there and refused entry.

WCMH reported in September that Binkley pleaded not guilty and was released on $2,500 bond. Its reporting did not establish whether he had taught the girl. The charge is an allegation; the reporting reviewed for this article did not establish a subsequent disposition.

In Toledo, police received a missing-person report August 18 concerning a 16-year-old girl previously reported as a trafficking victim. Investigators pursued leads in Toledo and Michigan, identified an adult man she might be with, and found them in the 1000 block of Woodward Avenue. The girl was taken to a hospital; police interviewed the man and investigated possible criminal activity.

Northern Ohio U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott told WTVG that at least three recovered girls had been with adult men and were being trafficked. Two were found in Cleveland and one in Toledo. That account does not establish the circumstances of every recovered child.

Authorities said child-welfare partners connected recovered children with medical and psychological care, counseling, family reunification services and longer-term case management. The announcement did not provide individual placements, a reunification timetable or a count of children returned to parents.

The Marshals’ announcement also did not publish a roster of the children’s names or a racial breakdown. Those details, along with the circumstances and eventual placement of each child, remain unestablished in the sources reviewed. But you can presume that some were trafficked through Indiana.

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