Reggie Miller’s missing niece has returned home, officials say

The 16-year-old niece of former NBA star Reggie Miller has safely returned home, Orange County sheriff’s officials said Monday evening.

Earlier, Miller and others were circulating a “missing child alert” for the television basketball analyst’s niece, who was reported missing from her Yorba Linda home Monday.

Sheriff’s officials said they believed the 16-year-old had intentionally run away. She returned home about 9 p.m. Monday, authorities said.

The teen’s room was found empty about 7:15 a.m., and a call was placed to authorities.

Investigators and officers with bloodhounds responded to the scene but found no evidence that led them to believe she was taken against her will, Lt. John Roche said earlier in the day.

“Nothing lets us believe that anything bad happened,” he said.

“As with most teenagers, when they get hungry or run out of money, they want to come home,” Roche said.

The sheriff’s department had not issued an official release when Miller tweeted the alert to his nearly 600,000 followers late Monday afternoon.

It described Nikki Miller as 6 feet tall and 150 pounds, with dark hair and brown eyes.

Within an hour, it had been re-tweeted more than 7,500 times.

Miller is a former UCLA and NBA star who, like his sister Cheryl, played on the U.S. Olympic basketball team. Both are also basketball analysts. Miller’s brother, Darrell, played baseball with the Angels.

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