A 4-year-old girl who disappeared Tuesday in South Carolina on Tuesday has been found safe in Alabama, Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg confirmed Wednesday. Tecklenburg said a police officer in Riverside, Alabama, stopped a suspect and managed to get Heidi Todd out of the suspect’s vehicle, but said the suspect got away.

“What could have been a day of great tragedy has turned out to be a day of great joy,” Tecklenburg said.

South Carolina’s Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson identified the suspect as 37-year-old Thomas Evans. Wilson said Evans will face state charges of kidnapping and that federal charges from the FBI and additional charges will be forthcoming.

Riverside, Alabama, is on Interstate 20 about 35 miles east of Birmingham.

Heidi is thought to have gone missing Tuesday from her home in St. John’s Island, South Carolina.

Earlier Wednesday, Tecklenburg told reporters that Heidi’s mother was apparently “brutally beaten” and is hospitalized. He believes she is expected to undergo surgery, but is in good condition considering the circumstances.

Four other children who live in the home are safe, and two were in the home at the time the girl disappeared, Tecklenburg said.

The child’s father is a member of the U.S. Coast Guard and was out of town on training, Tecklenburg said. He has since returned and is with the mother at the hospital.

Tecklenburg said investigators are searching “everywhere” and aren’t sure whether or not the child could have been taken in a vehicle.