A North Carolina mother of three who spotted a barefoot 12-year-old girl fleeing from the woods has spoken out about the chilling moment the child told her she had been kidnapped.
Jennifer Maxwell was driving home from work on US Highway 421 in Harnett County on Sunday afternoon when she saw the girl, who had no shoes and was covered in scratches, running from a wooded area near an Erwin DMV office. The child “kind of just dropped in the ditch and was just crying hysterically,” Maxwell told WRAL.
“I rolled down my window, and I was like, ‘Baby, are you okay?'” Maxwell said. “And she was like, ‘No, I’ve been kidnapped.'”
Maxwell continued recounting the exchange: “And I was like, ‘Are you serious?’ She was like, ‘Yes I’m serious. I was kidnapped.'”
The girl, who has not been publicly identified, had been at a sleepover at her friend’s home in Lillington, about 40 miles southwest of Raleigh, when she was allegedly woken up by 38-year-old Daniel Francis Gear, the friend’s uncle. Gear forced the child into his truck and drove toward woodland, where “he made her get out” of the vehicle, according to police accounts.
The girl told Maxwell that Gear had been “pushing her, grabbing her shoulder and making her walk” through the woods for hours before she managed to escape. “She said they had been walking for a couple of hours,” Maxwell said. The child was “very scratched up, like her legs had lines all over them. Either she went through briars or thick brush.”
After picking up the girl, Maxwell drove her to a local police station to report the alleged kidnapping. Despite being hailed as a Good Samaritan by many, Maxwell rejected the label. “I just thank God that I could be where I was,” she said. “And God knows if that girl didn’t get away, what would have happened.”
Maxwell also revealed that she had been involved in a car accident earlier that same day, making her presence on that stretch of highway at that moment particularly fortuitous for the young victim.
Gear was arrested at approximately 8:15 p.m. Sunday following a seven-hour manhunt that involved drones and K9 units. Authorities had warned that he was armed and dangerous. Deputies found him in the woods along US 421, roughly 15 miles from where the kidnapping occurred. He was charged with first-degree kidnapping and assault on a female.
In the viral moment that has drawn national attention, a barefoot and terrified 12-year-old girl escaped her alleged captor after being forced into the woods, eventually finding her way to a roadside where Maxwell spotted her. The Erwin DMV office, located along the highway where the girl emerged, lists its hours as closed on both Saturday and Sunday, meaning the area would have had minimal foot traffic to witness her escape. The girl was taken to a hospital but has since been released and is now recovering with her family.
Gear appeared in court for the first time on Monday. A judge set his bond at $2.5 million. His next scheduled court date is September 1.
Neighbors in the Lillington area expressed shock at the allegations. “He never really came out of the house. He worked from home,” Justin Powers told WNCN of Gear, adding that residents didn’t know much about him.
Notably, the state agency responsible for reviewing and issuing AMBER Alert requests in North Carolina was never contacted Sunday as authorities handled the case, according to the Daily Record, though the girl was found safe before any such alert would have been necessary.
Gear’s next court appearance is scheduled for September in Harnett County.