Missing teen found after two months as man arrested makes shocking claim
A 13-year-old girl has been found safe after being reported missing over two months ago.
Wynter Wagoner disappeared from Kentucky and was eventually located in a home in Silver Spring, Maryland, after a concerned member of the public raised concerns with law enforcement.
A man, Christian Alexander Delgado, 37, was arrested at the home and has been formally charged with kidnapping the youngster, who was last seen by her foster parents back on October 14.
Family members have praised a Facebook page which was set up, dedicated to tracking down the missing girl before she was recovered by Montgomery County Police, US Marshals and the Rockcastle County Sheriff's Office, according to local media.
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However, Delgado made a comment which has shocked many.
According to WKYT, he insisted it was all a huge 'misunderstanding'.
The man reportedly met the teenager online, and he drove from Florida to Kentucky to pick her up.
Delgado allegedly told police he initially took her back to Florida before ending up in Maryland.
Authorities received the tip from a member of the public that they believed Wagoner was inside the address with Delgado, however, court documents state that the teenager called her aunt to give her the Maryland address.
He was arrested on December 26, before appearing in court on December 29, where his request to be released on bond was rejected.
It is not known if Delgado knew how young Wagoner is.
According to Fox 56, he referred to himself as a 'model citizen', and asked to be allowed to go on house arrest to 'prepare his defense and contact his lawyer regularly'.
Delgado also said he didn’t 'want to be a burden to the taxpayer' and his defense lawyer pointed out he has a new job, too.
However, it wasn't persuasive enough, and Delgado remains at the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit on a $1 million bond and will face charges in Kentucky following extradition.
The teenager's dad, Dustin Wagoner, told Lex18: “Wynter has been found. She is safe and that’s about all the information we can give at this time.
“It’s very, very new — it just happened so the details are not clear at the moment. I don’t want to give any misinformation, [and] I hope you understand … I do also want to say thank you for all the efforts in trying to find my daughter and all the prayers for her safety. We do truly appreciate it and are so thankful she’s OK.”
Her cousin, Johnny Miller, added: “My initial reaction was overwhelming relief, I felt a rush of emotion, gratitude, disbelief and thankfulness all at once. After so much fear and uncertainty, knowing she was found brought a sense of peace we hadn’t felt in weeks.
“Because of you, the community, that tip was called into the police.”
He continued: “The Facebook group helped by keeping Wynter’s name and picture in front of people every single day, because the community kept sharing, talking about her, and refusing to let her be forgotten, the right person saw it, and that led to the tip that helped bring her home.
“Because of that awareness, a tip came in that led law enforcement to her location in Maryland, and she was found safe.”
An arrest warrant indicated that Wagoner had been planning on running away for several weeks before her disappearance.
Topics: Crime, True crime, Police, US News
Jen Thomas