FOUND SAFE: Seven-year-old Lilleona Badtke has been located

SHEBOYGAN (WITI) -- The search for a missing seven-year-old Sheboygan girl has ended.

Lilleona Badtke was located Tuesday morning, October 14th at Longfellow Elementary.

"That's my Lillybean, I just grabbed her and hugged her," said Lilleona's stepmom, Tina Badtke.

She was reported missing around 3:15 p.m. on Monday, October 13th after parting ways with her sibling during her normal route home.

The Sheboygan Area School District's superintendent, says the girl slept over at a friend's house Monday night. The parents she stayed with were apparently unaware of the search.

"Don`t rely on a 7-year-old saying 'yeah mom knows I'm here', be a parent yourself and call the other parent," said Rebecca Paez, a relative of the Badtke family.

The superintendent says there was no communication between the families about the sleepover. He wants to take this as an opportunity to teach students how to stay in contact with their parents, and how to better communicate their whereabouts.

"Talk to your student, your child. If the child is staying over, you that are accepting that child, make sure you talk to that parent. Don’t just assume that they know where their child is staying," said Superintendent Joe Sheehan.

Squad cars searched through the night and more than 100 volunteers worked tirelessly to find Lilleona. Toppers Pizza in Sheboygan became home base for the search effort. They stayed open all night, and used their pizza delivery map to coordinate search groups.

" We are looking up and down rivers, we're looking up and down the lake, we're checking dumpsters, we're checking garbage cans," said Toppers Pizza assistant manager, Tim Krahn.

The Sheboygan Police Department released the following statement after Badtke was located:

The Sheboygan Police Department would like you to know that 7 year old, Lilleona has been located and is safe and sound. At this time, we would like to express deep gratitude to the Sheboygan Fire Department, the Sheboygan Area School District and the citizens of Sheboygan. Many individuals were out looking and assisting us in our efforts in trying to locate Lilleona. Special thank you to the residents in Lilleona's neighborhood, who answered and assisted officers in the early morning hours.

No additional details have been released.