Amazing resourcefulness: 12-year-old taken in pajamas, escaped and whispered to driver: 'I was kidnapped'
A 12-year-old girl from North Carolina was kidnapped in the middle of the night by her friend's uncle, who forced her to walk for hours in a wooded area. She took advantage of a moment of inattention, fled barefoot to the main road and whispered to a driver who stopped to help her: 'I was kidnapped'. The armed 38-year-old suspect was captured after an extensive manhunt and a bail of 2.5 million dollars was set for him.
A chilling drama unfolded over the weekend in the town of Lillington, North Carolina, when a 12-year-old girl was kidnapped during a sleepover and rescued alive thanks to immense resourcefulness. The incident began on the night between Saturday and Sunday, while the girl was sleeping at a friend's house. According to reports, the suspect, 38-year-old Daniel Francis Gear, who is her friend's uncle, woke her up in the middle of the night, forced her into his truck and drove with her to a wooded area. Upon arrival at the destination, Gear forced the girl to walk for long hours through the forest thicket, while holding her by force.
The escape, the rescue and the hunt for the suspect
The girl's nightmare came to an end when the truck stopped behind a public building in the nearby town of Erwin. The child took advantage of a critical moment of inattention on the part of the kidnapper, fled running between the trees and continued to run barefoot until she reached Highway 421, where she collapsed in tears in a ditch on the side of the road.
Jennifer Maxwell, a mother of three who was passing by, noticed the girl and stopped her car. When she rolled down the window and asked how she was, the girl whispered in response that she had been kidnapped. Maxwell immediately put the girl in her car, drove her safely to the police station and directed the officers to the location of the truck. From there, the girl was transferred to receive medical treatment. Maxwell later stated that she does not see herself as a hero, but is grateful for being in the right place at the right time.
A few hours after the dramatic rescue on Sunday, security forces launched an extensive manhunt for Gear, using drones and tracking dogs and warning the public that he was an armed and dangerous man. The hunt ended successfully with the arrest of the suspect, who according to a report on the "Balkanweb" website was described by his neighbors as an introverted person who works from home. The court treated the incident with severity and set a bail of 2.5 million dollars for the suspect.
