A Bermudian mother has spoken of her joy and relief after her “missing” daughter was found by the FBI.

Zolee Davis-Robinson filed a missing-person report with police on Monday after learning over the weekend that her estranged 22-year-old daughter had disappeared six months ago from the home she shared with her boyfriend.

Dr Davis-Robinson, who lives in North Carolina with husband Robbie, told The Royal Gazette that after several days of “living hell” she received a call from the FBI on Wednesday morning confirming her only child was alive.

“They haven’t spoken to her directly, but it’s confirmed that she’s alive,” she said.

“I said ‘are you sure it’s my daughter?’. They said they know she’s alive and she’s in North Carolina. I want to know where she is so I can go and get my arms around her.”

She added: “I’m just relieved that she’s alive. I found the proof of life. It has been a living hell. I have gone through every emotion.”

All of Dr Davis-Robinson’s relatives live in Bermuda, including her child’s grandparents, godparents and aunts, and she said they were rejoicing that she was safe.

The worried mother appeared on the Roland Martin Unfiltered Daily Digital Show in the US on Monday to appeal for help in finding her child and posted widely on social media. TNN in Bermuda reported the story the next day.

Dr Davis-Robinson told the Gazette that her daughter, a nurse, lived in her own apartment at the family home in Greensboro until last year but moved out to stay with her boyfriend.

The mother said she did not approve of the 20-year-old man and told her daughter as much, after which they became estranged.

In May last year, Dr Davis-Robinson’s husband was critically injured in a car accident and she reached out to inform their daughter, but got a message back saying she did not need updates on his condition.

The father then ran into the daughter by chance as he recovered at the hospital where she worked. Dr Davis-Robinson said the young woman hugged her dad and apologised for not visiting him, but the estrangement continued.

Although she and her daughter were not communicating, Dr Davis-Robinson began checking in every four months with the boyfriend’s mother to ensure all was well.

They texted on January 27 this year, when the boyfriend’s mother told her the young woman was “happy and thriving“.

Dr Davis-Robinson messaged on Mother’s Day in May and a brief exchange followed with no mention of the daughter.

On Saturday, she reached out again to the boyfriend’s mother. This time the woman told her the couple had broken up in March, the daughter had left the home she shared with her boyfriend in the middle of the night and had not been seen again.

“I said to this woman ‘how could you not tell me? You had my contact details’.”

The worried parents immediately contacted Greensboro police and discovered on Monday that their daughter’s car was sold in Florida last September.

Dr Davis-Robinson had previously found an address linked to her daughter in Florida after suspecting she had left Greensboro.

With mounting concern, she began appealing on social media on Monday for people to help find her daughter, posting many images of the young woman and a picture of their “tight” family of three in happier times.

Dr Davis-Robinson, a behavioural psychologist, said the call from the FBI on Wednesday was a huge relief but she had still not spoken to her daughter.

“Because she’s registered as missing, either myself or my husband, we have to see her or hear her voice,” she said.

She added that when she got to speak to her child she would tell her: “I love you, baby.”

Dr Davis-Robinson added: “I get estrangement. I get that the longer you are away the harder it is to come back.

“I have nothing but love. All of life is forward, not backwards. There has to be a healing, there has to be some reunification.”

She said she took comfort from the knowledge that when her daughter was a little girl, she told her: “No matter what you do, no matter where you go, Mom and Dad love you.”

Dr Davis-Robinson said: “I will remind her of that.”

It was not possible to reach Greensboro police for comment.

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