By Julia Terruso and Ryan Hutchins/The Star-Ledger

CLARK — Kara Alongi, the 16-year-old high school student who became a global sensation when she disappeared after sending out a hoax tweet that she was in danger, was back safe in Clark today, according to Police Chief Alan Scherb.

State Police found Alongi at a rest area along the New Jersey Turnpike near Exit 1 in South Jersey at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. She was taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation.

Her family was then notified and they were reunited at the hospital Tuesday evening. A detective from the Clark police department also went to the hospital as a standard part of a missing juvenile investigation.

Alongi was transferred overnight to a hospital closer to home for additional evaluation and was released a short time later, Scherb said.

The family returned to their home around 6 a.m., Clark Mayor Sal Bonaccorso said. Police will speak again with the girl later today to understand more about why she left and how she made it so far, he said.

"I'm happy to say they're reunited and safe and that's what counts for me. I'll reach out to them later in the day — I'm sure it's got to be a whirlwind there between family and media," the mayor said around noon. "I'm very happy and I know the community is very happy as well."

Clark police, who early this morning reported there were no new developments in the girl's disappearance, said they will continue to investigate in an effort to determine where Alongi was for the 46 or so hours she was missing.

Missing N.J. teen Kara Alongi's mom speaks out 8 Gallery: Missing N.J. teen Kara Alongi's mom speaks out

Though the teenager’s tweet raised concern among hundreds of thousands of Twitter users and triggered 6,000 calls to Clark police in the immediate aftermath, authorities had no immediate comment about where Alongi had been while her parents, friends and police looked for her.

Law enforcement officials have said that Alongi was never in danger. She skipped town on her own free will, they said, when she took a taxi to the Rahway train station and bought a ticket for a train bound to New York City’s Penn Station. But it still hasn’t been made clear, at least publicly, whether she ever made it to Manhattan.

“At this time I don’t know how she made it down there,” Bonaccorso said. “Other than the cab to the train station, I don’t know where she went or how she got there.”

Word that Alongi might be home came after her mother spent a rainy Tuesday at the family’s Clark home, clutching a cell phone and waiting for any word on her daughter’s whereabouts.

"Kara, please call us. Let us know you’re safe," Kim said in an interview with The Star-Ledger Tuesday afternoon. "We want you home. No matter what, we just want you home."

Tuesday, Kim Alongi sat in her daughter’s bedroom, painted Kara’s favorite shade of bright gold and filled with photo collages, snow globes, flower pillows and notes from friends. An achievement award for her varsity tennis play was displayed on a shelf.

Kara’s iPhone was still on her bedroom dresser, and her bed was left unmade.

The last time Kim Alongi said she saw her daughter was on Sunday afternoon. It seemed like a run-of-the-mill day, she said.

Kim, her husband and their 11-year-old twin sons were getting ready to go to one of the boy’s hockey games, and Kara was busy studying a stack of index cards.

"She was going to come with us," Kim said.

But those plans changed when Kara said she wasn’t feeling well.

"She had a headache, so she told me she was going to lay down," Kim said. "When I left, she was resting in her bed with a headache."

When the family returned, Kara was gone.

On Sunday evening, Kara sent out her now-infamous tweet, saying "There is somone in my hour ecall 911," which generated thousands of retweets and sparked a movement to #helpfindkara.

Authorities have since said that Alongi was not in danger and skipped town on her own. She took a taxi to the Rahway train station, where she bought a ticket for a train bound to New York City’s Penn Station.

"This was totally out of character," Kim Alongi said. "We had no idea any problems were existent at school … nothing at home. So it’s a total shock."

A photo from a surveillance video at the station showed Kara, carrying a backpack and large purse, alone on the platform that Sunday evening.

"(The bag) looks like it’s packed pretty full," Kim Alongi said. "I have no idea what was in it. I’m hoping maybe a warm jacket or sweat shirt."

Other than clothing, Kim was worried that her daughter had the proper food to eat.

Kara has celiac disease, a condition which makes it difficult for the body to process gluten, a protein commonly found in foods with wheat and other grains.

Alongi said police officers have interviewed Kara’s friends and family multiple times. Their family has no connection to New York City, except a family trip once or twice a year, she said, and she has no idea why her daughter would buy a one-way ticket to the city.

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"The police have determined that she did purchase a ticket to (New York City), but there hasn’t been confirmation that she actually arrived there," Alongi said.

Since Kara’s disappearance, online concern has turned to negativity after word spread that the tweet was false.

As for the ill will, Kim Alongi said she didn’t have much to say about that, except to remind critics that her daughter is still not home.

"Regardless of what happened, she’s still a missing 16-year-old girl who’s alone as far as we know," she said.

Star-Ledger staff writers Amy Brittain, Tomás Dinges, Jeff Goldman and Richard Khavkine contributed to this report.

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