15-Year-Old Girl Dies Months After Massive Manhunt For Her

ORANGE, TX — A Texas teen who was reunited with her family after she was thought to have run off with a much older man has died. The mother of 15-year-old Heaven Cox posted on Facebook that her daughter died on Saturday.

"Our sweet Heaven left us to be with Jesus this afternoon around 4:00. Some bright lights are not meant for this dark and cruel world. I know that Dusty and Gracie were there to welcome her. Sing with the angels sweet girl. I love you," wrote her mother, Tammy Cox.

A memorial service is scheduled for Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. at Faith United Methodist Church. Family members can attend a private visitation.

"I hope you all understand, we thought it best to do it that way," Tammy Cox said.

Heaven Cox was a student at Little Cypress-Mauriceville High School. A cause of death wasn't released.

On Nov. 26, Tammy Cox told authorities her daughter had disappeared from their home near Orange and she may be traveling to California with a much older man whom she'd met on the social media app Snapchat. A nationwide manhunt ensued.

The girl was found safe several days later at a home in Louisiana that belonged to a family member of a person that she knew. Heaven was subsequently reunited with her family.

In a post on Nov. 28, her mother wrote that Heaven suffered from mental illness and was in a manic phase because she wasn't taking medication.

Photo credit: Orange County Sheriff's Office Facebook