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Teen accused of helping to kill stepfather found

Posted at 7:58 PM, Jan 28, 2016
and last updated 2016-01-29 05:38:30-05

Ashley Smith, a 17-year-old girl who escaped from a mental facility and is accused of being an accomplice in the murder of her stepfather, has been located by police in Marion. 

Authorities were searching for Smith on Thursday after she went missing from the Cleveland mental health facility she was being held in for her connection to the murder.

Smith was taken to the facility in 2014 from Marion County, according to the Ohio Department of Youth Services.

In July 2014, The Marion Star reported that Smith was sentenced to spend nearly five years in juvenile detention after she was found guilty of complicity to aggravated murder in the death of her stepfather Allan Brown.

On Thursday, Smith was taken into custody by Marion police after she was found at a McDonald's on State Route 95. 

Smith is now being held at the Marion Juvenile Detention Center.