NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Two men searching the back country of northeastern Tennessee on Thursday found a 9-year-old girl who has been missing for more than week and held the uncle accused of abducting her at gunpoint until police arrived, authorities said.

Donnie Lawson and Roger Carpenter found Carlie Marie Trent in Hawkins County, the same rural part of the state she had disappeared from on May 4 after police said her uncle Gary Simpson took her out of school without permission, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn said at a news conference.

Lawson and Carpenter were acting on law enforcement appeals to search isolated areas on all-terrain vehicles, Gwyn said. Carpenter, a Baptist minister, held Simpson at gunpoint while Lawson went to call police.

‘‘This is just two heroes that went onto the property just to see, by chance, could they be there,’’ Gwyn said. ‘‘And they were.’’

Gwyn said there were no indications that Carlie was harmed, but she was being taken to a hospital to be examined as a precaution.

Simpson, 57, is married to the sister of Carlie’s father. The families live close to one another .

Authorities issued the call to check remote areas or campgrounds based on surveillance video showing Simpson stocking up on items from an area Wal-Mart including a bikini, two tubes of colored lip gloss, nail polish, an outdoor chair, and a child’s nightgown.

Associated Press