A missing 13-year-old Texas girl was rescued after being held captive in a storage shed in North Carolina.
Investigators say it was an online connection that turned into a days-long nightmare.
Officials with the Dallas Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation say the suspect, 34-year-old Jorge Ivan Santos Camacho, convinced the victim to leave her home to meet up with him. He then kidnapped her and drove her more than 1,000 miles to a home where he was living in Lexington, North Carolina.
The victim's mother said the two had been messaging each other through an online chat room. Sheriff Richie Simmons said at a news conference in Davidson County, N.C. described Camacho’s communications with the girl as “grooming and enticement.”
According to the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office, a special agent with the Texas FBI’s Violent Crime Task Force contacted them after video cameras in the area of the child’s home captured a suspect vehicle which was registered to an address in Lexington, N.C.
Investigators were able to locate the vehicle and conducted a traffic stop as the owner was leaving the home. The Sheriff's Office says around 6 p.m. on Friday, March 10, they discovered the teen locked in the shed on the property. Responding officers said she appeared uninjured, but she was immediately taken to a local hospital for medical evaluation before eventually being transported back to Texas.
Camacho was taken into custody and is facing several charges including child abduction, human trafficking, statutory rape of a child, statutory sex offense of a child and indecent liberties. He was placed under a $1.25 million secure bond.
The sheriff's office says the investigation is ongoing and additional charges are pending.
The Associated Press reports that attorney Corey Buggs was appointed to represent Camacho at a hearing Monday. They did not receive comment from Buggs.
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