WPBF cameras were rolling when the mother of a missing West Palm Beach teenager spoke to her daughter on the phone for the first time since the 15-year-old disappeared three months ago.
Benita Rodriguez was found in Philadelphia this week in connection with the rescue of four mentally handicapped adults from a basement dungeon. She was apparently dating the son of one of the accused captors, who had lived in the West Palm Beach area before moving to Philadelphia.
“I can breathe,” Benita’s mother Juana said following the phone call. “I can breathe now because she’s doing good. I can breathe. She’s okay.”
WPBF video of the dramatic phone conversation can be viewed here (the station doesn’t allow embedding of its videos).
West Palm Beach NBC-affiliate WPTV first broke the story of the girl’s connection to the Philadelphia house of horror and was also on-hand Monday night as Juana described her phone conversation with a group of local news crews (video below).