The 15-year-old girl was reported missing from Harnett County on Wednesday morning. WTVD reports she was found Thursday morning in Dare County, along the coast.
WTVD, an ABC affiliate, reports that 32-year-old Elihue Martin Mahler of Virginia Beach, Virginia, and 24-year-old Austyn Lee Cole of Kitty Hawk face charges of felony human trafficking of a child victim, felony kidnapping, felony conspiracy to kidnap, and felony conspiracy, human trafficking.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said the teen met one of the suspects online before disappearing from her home in Spring Lake.
During a press conference Thursday, Philip VanWyngarden, an FBI assistant special agent in charge, said cases like this are less about the geographic location or upbringing of the child and more about predators targeting children in the online space.
“Wherever children are on the internet, predators will find them on the internet,” VanWyngarden said.
According to a Harnett County incarceration report, Cole is being held on a $1 million secured bond and Mahler is being held on a $1.5 million secured bond.
