NEW BERN, N.C. (WNCT/WBTW) – A Fort Bragg soldier has been charged with kidnapping a 12-year-old Craven County girl.
James Murdock Peele, a private second class in the 82nd Airborne, was arrested Sunday and faces a charge of first-degree kidnapping.
The girl’s grandmother, who lives in the Carolina Pines area, noticed the 12-year-old was missing Sunday morning and called the police.
Her granddaughter’s window was open and a ransom note was left on her bed.
The Craven County Sheriff’s Office Investigative Division responded to the scene and immediately contacted the SBI Fugitive and Missing Person Task Force and the FBI Cellular Analysis Survey Teams in addition to local law enforcement agencies across in several states.
Authorities found the girl in the company of Peele in Fayetteville.
The girl was reunited with her grandmother on Sunday evening, and Peele was arrested.
Peele will be taken to Craven County today and is facing more charges.
The Sheriff’s Office Investigative Division, SBI, FBI, U.S. Army CID, U.S. Secret Service, the District Attorney’s Office, National Center for Missing Children, DMV, along with multiple local Sheriff’s Offices in North and South Carolina all participated in the search for the juvenile and apprehension of the suspect.
