A 15-year-old girl who had been taken from her home in North Carolina was found about 500 miles away.
On March 29, the teen was learning online when her parents heard about a “suspicious vehicle” in their neighborhood. The teen’s parents tried to get in touch with her, but they couldn’t find her. They called the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office because they couldn’t find her.
Sgt. David Blake said at a press conference on April 6 that he thinks there was “significant coercion” involved in the disappearance. Officials say that the girl was using social media and that an investigation led them to two people in Ohio and one person in Pennsylvania.
Then, about a week after the teen went missing, she was found safe in Bristol, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles northeast of Philadelphia. In a news release, the North Carolina sheriff’s office said that she was later “reunited with her family.”
Elijah Deandre Is Now Facing Multiple Charges
Elijah Deandre Kennedy, who is 28 years old, is now facing multiple charges in the teen’s disappearance. In their news release, deputies did not say who his lawyer was.
During their news conference, officials didn’t say much about the case either, saying that an investigation was still going on. But deputies said that the “suspicious vehicle” that they found near the girl’s home in Silver Valley went north on Interstate 85 and was thought to have license plates from another state.
During an investigation that included both federal and state agencies, it was found that the girl “had been on a chat platform talking to a lot of unknown people.” The most likely way she talked to him was from a laptop she was using to do schoolwork. Her family was very careful to keep an eye on all digital communication.
In a Facebook post, Kennedy’s last name was written as “Kenney.” She is being charged with stealing a child and holding a child against their will, which are both crimes. The sheriff’s office told McClatchy News in an email that a federal charge is also likely.
McClatchy News reported less than a month ago that a 13-year-old girl who had been taken from Texas was found in a locked outbuilding in Davidson County, North Carolina.
About 30 miles south of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is the Silver Valley area.
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