A 12-year-old girl who was kidnapped from a sleepover and taken deep into the woods was rescued by a Good Samaritan after the child emerged onto a North Carolina roadside.
Jennifer Maxwell, a healthcare assistant, was driving home from work around 1.20pm on Sunday when she saw young girl in distress along US Highway 421 in Erwin, 45 miles south of Raleigh.
The girl told Maxwell that she had been sleeping over at her best friend’s home, who lives next door to her.
She was allegedly woken up by 38-year-old Daniel Francis Gear, the friend’s uncle, who has now been charged with kidnapping.
Gear is alleged to have driven the girl to the woods in his truck and forced her to walk with him for hours.
‘I just thank God I was there,’ Maxwell told WNCN. ‘And I thank God she got away, not just that I was there.’
Maxwell recalled that she had seen the little girl ‘run out of the woods down the embankment’.
‘She kind of just dropped in the ditch and was just crying hysterically,’ Maxwell said.
At first, she wasn’t sure of what she was seeing, but slowed down and looked in her rearview mirror. Fearing no one else was going to stop, she knew she had to act.
North Carolina healthcare giver Jennifer Maxwell spotted a 12-year-old girl who had been kidnapped as she drove home on Sunday around 1.20pm
Maxwell said the girl popped out of a secluded, wooded area alongside US Highway 421 in Erwin
‘I rolled down my window, and I was like, ‘Baby, are you okay?’ And she was like, ‘No, I’ve been kidnapped.’ And I was like, ‘Are you serious?’ She was like, ‘Yes, I’m serious. I was kidnapped,’ Maxwell told WRAL.
The accidental hero noticed the child had scratches on her arms and was barefoot. Maxwell was shocked as she learned more.
‘She did say that they had been walking in the woods for a couple of hours,’ Maxwell explained. ‘And he kept pushing her, you know, like putting his hand on her shoulder and pushing her, telling her to walk.’
Maxwell quickly alerted authorities with a call to 911 and helped the girl into her car.
‘It’s just devastating, you know. I have three kids who are now grown and I’m raising my godchildren, and you just don’t know what could have happened,’ she said.
Later, Maxwell took police to where she had found the girl. Gear’s truck was allegedly still sitting nearby behind a DMV office, according to the outlet.
Amid the chaos, as Maxwell was on her way back from giving a statement to police, she faced yet another twist of fate and was involved in a car accident.
She suffered lacerations on her hand and arms, leaving her swollen and bruised. Maxwell went to the hospital, where she saw the young girl again.
‘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.
