A 12-year-old North Carolina girl who authorities say was abducted from a sleepover and led far into a wooded area was found by a passing stranger after she stumbled out crying, with scratches covering her body.
Jennifer Maxwell, a healthcare worker, spotted the child while driving home on Sunday at about 1.20pm.
The girl appeared from the trees along US Highway 421 in Erwin, a town roughly 45 miles south of Raleigh, just as Maxwell was passing the area.
‘I just thank God I was there,’ Maxwell told WNCN. ‘And I thank God she got away, not just that I was there.’
According to Maxwell, the child said she had been spending the night at her best friend’s house, which is next door to her own home.
She said she was awakened by 38-year-old Daniel Francis Gear, identified as her friend’s uncle, who was later charged in connection with the kidnapping.
Investigators allege Gear drove the girl into the woods in his truck before making her walk with him for several hours.
North Carolina healthcare worker Jennifer Maxwell saw the kidnapped 12-year-old girl while driving home on Sunday at about 1.20pm
Maxwell said the girl popped out of a secluded, wooded area alongside US Highway 421 in Erwin
Maxwell recalled that she had seen the little girl ‘run out of the woods down the embankment’ before dropping in a ditch and tearing up.
‘She was very scratched up, like her legs had lines all over them,’ Maxwell told the outlet. ‘Either she went through briers or thick brush.’
The unlikely hero added that the child was barefooted and her arms were also scratched.
Maxwell said she asked the girl if she was okay and she responded, ‘No, I’ve been kidnapped.’
Maxwell called 911 after helping the girl into her car. Later, Maxwell took police to where she had found the girl.
Gear’s truck was still sitting nearby behind a DMV office, according to the outlet.
Maxwell was involved in a car accident shortly after her encounter with the girl. She went to the hospital afterwards, where she again saw the preteen.
‘I guess she told her parents who I was, and they came over and they thanked me,’ she told WRAL.
Daniel Francis Gear, 38, has been charged with with first-degree kidnapping and assault
The girl was sleeping over at her best friend’s home, which is located in Lillington, when she was told by Gear to come outside
Gear was captured by police around 8.15pm on Sunday after a seven-hour manhunt involving drones and K-9 officers.
He has since been charged with first-degree kidnapping and assault.
Court records listed him as being 5-foot-9 and weighing 240 pounds.
Neighbors described Gear as an unknown inside their Lillington community, though they noted that the girl would often be at his home to hang out with his niece.
‘Actually, to be honest, nobody really knew who he was,’ neighbor Justin Powers told WNCN.
‘He never really came out of the house,’ Powers added. ‘He worked from home.’
Gear is being held at the Harnett County Detention Center on a $2.5 million secured bond, which was set Monday during his first appearance at the Harnett County Courthouse.
He will be in court for the next time on September 1, according to North Carolina court records.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Harnett County Sheriff’s Office for comment.
An attorney for Gear was not listed in court records.
