Two missing Atlanta girls found safe after disappearing with family friend

Two young girls who had been missing since Saturday night have been found safe in Atlanta after police received a tip about their location.

(CNN)- Two young girls who had been missing since Saturday night have been found safe in Atlanta after police received a tip about their location.

The girls’ mother, Elecia Redding, said her children left with her friend, Lakesha Brown, Saturday night and never returned. Redding said she met Brown about a year ago through a social media group for mothers, and the two eventually became friends.

“She became a family friend from when I first met her on a mom group,” Redding said. “After that we just started hanging and stuff.”

Atlanta Police said someone at an apartment complex tipped investigators off to the girls’ location. Officers later found Brown and both children, including one who is just 11 months old.

Police said both girls were in good health despite being separated from their mother since Saturday.

Lt. Christapher Butler with the Atlanta Police Department said Redding believed she was leaving her children with someone she could trust.

Butler said Brown had provided information suggesting she planned to return the children, but that information turned out to be false.

Before learning her daughters had been found, Redding was asked what she wanted to do when she finally had them back in her arms.

“Hug them, I’m gonna hug them,” Redding said. “I just want them back.”