A missing North Carolina girl was found naked inside a semi-truck in Mississippi, hundreds of miles away from where she was abducted.
Randy Donovan Taylor, 35, of Columbus, South Carolina, was taken into custody on Tuesday after he and the 12-year-old were found naked inside his semi-truck at the 35/55 truck stop in Vaiden, Mississippi, according to WTVA.
Carroll County Sheriff’s deputies and FBI agents searched truck-by-truck at the stop until they found the pair after Sheriff Clint Walker received a frantic call that the missing girl, who is Native American, could be traveling via semi, according to the outlet.
The FBI pinged the girl’s phone, discovering she was at the 33/55 truck stop – hundreds of miles away from her home in North Carolina.
She was reported missing on September 29, according to WJTV.
Taylor and the girl were communicating on a mobile device and lured her from her home, Walker told WTVA.
‘Seeing that child step out of that truck was the best thing I’ve ever seen,’ Walker said of his relief of finding her.
Taylor has been charged with possession of child pornography and lustful touching and he is in custody of the US Marshalls, according to WTVA.
He was denied bail by a federal judge and could face additional charges from various states. He is also facing federal, state, and local charges for abduction and victimization of a child, according to AZ Family.
Charges from North Carolina and Louisiana are expected, authorities said, according to AZ Family.
He is currently being housed at the Carrol County Regional Correctional Facility.
In the US, approximately every 40 seconds a child is abducted or goes missing, amounting to roughly 840,000 children, according to the Child Crime Prevention and Safety Center.
Most cases are solved within hours, according to the center.
Last month, a boy who was abducted in California in 1951 was found alive at the age of 79.
Albino was abducted by a woman on February 21, 1951 from a park in West Oakland where he had been playing alongside his older brother, Roger, who was ten.
The woman got his attention and lured him away by tricking him, promising that she would buy him candy.
Little Luis was then flown across the country to the East Coast where he was raised by a New York City couple as if he were their own son.
Luis’ mother never stopped hoping that he might one day turn up safe and well. Tragically, she passed away in 2005 aged 92 without ever learning what had happened to her much-missed son.
His niece, Alida Alequin, 63, who had remained in Oakland had been determined to find her long lost uncle and together with help from local police, FBI and Department of Justice, she managed to piece the clues together.
Oakland police say her efforts ‘played an integral role in finding her uncle.’
In the time since he had been taken from his family, Luis appeared to have led quite the life having worked as a firefighter and served in the Marine Corps, including two tours of duty in Vietnam. He had also become a father and grandfather himself.
Alida was able to organize a reunion for the two brothers, Luis and Roger, now 83, to meet for the first time in 73 years.