Shania Supanich

HELENA, Mont. - A two-and-a-half-year search for a Washington State girl has ended in Montana.

U.S. marshals and sheriff's deputies on Tuesday night arrested 48-year-old Mark Supanich, who allegedly kidnapped his daughter in April 2004.

The Auburn girl was the center of a bitter custody battle between her parents. Shania Supanich was just 6 years old when her father refused to return her to her mother after a parental visit.

Since then, the girl's picture has been on tractor trailers and shown on "America's Most Wanted."

U.S. Marshal Dwight MacKay said the arrest came near Helena, less than 2 hours after a deputy U.S. Marshal located the missing 9-year-old girl.

A tip led police to the remote home late Tuesday. MacKay said the deputy was checking an address in a remote rural area when the little girl came running up to him.

Her father was working on a job site installing siding when a deputy marshal persuaded him to surrender.

"We hope this case provides hope to the thousands of parents out there who have a missing child," said Eric Robertson, the U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Washington.

Shania is said to be in good health and she was not hurt during her ordeal. But authorities say she is having a hard time dealing with all this emotionally. She is in protective custody awaiting her mother's arrival in Montana.

The abduction was featured on the TV show "American's Most Wanted." And in a program started in Washington State early this year, a large poster of the girl was put on the side of a semi-truck in the hope that somebody would recognize her.