Georgia mom fights off potential kidnapper at gas station
A Georgia mother is being credited with fighting off an alleged would-be kidnapper who tried to take her child at a Marietta gas station, according to Fox News correspondent Madison Scarpino. Surveillance video shown on “Fox Report” captured the frightening struggle as it unfolded.
In North Carolina, authorities say a 12-year-old girl was kidnapped by a 38-year-old man who allegedly forced her into his pickup truck before she managed to escape when he stopped at a DMV office.
The suspect, identified as Daniel Gear, allegedly abducted the girl on Aug. 16 while she was spending time with his niece at his home, WNCN reported. Officials have not publicly released the child’s name.
An arrest warrant states that Gear took the girl without permission from her parents or guardians and did so with the intent to “terrorize” her. Court records also allege he pushed the child to the ground and unlawfully restrained her.
The Harnett County Sheriff’s Office told WNCN that investigators learned around 1 p.m. that Gear and his pickup truck were no longer at his home in Lillington, a small community about 30 miles south of Raleigh.
Booking photo of Daniel Gear, who was charged with kidnapping and assaulting a 12-year-old girl who was friends with his niece. (Harnett County Sheriff’s Office)
Deputies with the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office, working alongside Erwin police, began searching for Gear with the help of drones and K-9 teams, according to WNCN.
Investigators said the girl was able to break free after Gear parked his pickup truck at a DMV office in Erwin, located about 11 miles southeast of Lillington.
The child flagged down a driver, Jennifer Maxwell, who sat down with WRAL for an interview.
“I was almost at the DMV right there at the wooded area beside the lawyer’s office, and all of a sudden, this little girl came running out of the woods and down the embankment,” Maxwell said. “And she kind of just dropped in a ditch and was just crying hysterically.”
The DMV office in Erwin, North Carolina, where the 12-year-old girl said she escaped from her kidnapper. (Google Maps)
Maxwell continued: “I pulled over to her and I rolled down my window, and I was like, ‘Baby, are you okay?’ And she was like, ‘No, I’ve been kidnapped.'”
Maxwell described the girl, who was wearing no shoes, as “all scratched up.” She said she called 911 immediately.
The girl told Maxwell that the man who kidnapped her woke her up in the middle of the night and told her to get in his car, according to the WRAL interview.
After that, the girl said he pulled off into a wooded area and made her walk for “a couple of hours” while he repeatedly pushed her and grabbed her shoulder, Maxwell said.
Photo of Daniel Gear while in Harnett County Detention Center after his arrest on Aug. 16, 2026. (Harnett County Sheriff’s Office)
Roughly seven hours after the girl escaped, deputies found Gear in a wooded area along U.S. Highway 421 and placed him under arrest, WNCN reported.
Gear was charged with first-degree kidnapping and assault on a female. He is being held in jail on a $2.5 million secured bond. He is scheduled to appear in court for a probable cause hearing on Sept. 1.
