A passerby stopped after seeing the barefoot 12-year-old emerge from woods near U.S. 421, leading authorities to an accused kidnapper.

LILLINGTON, N.C. — A 12-year-old girl who authorities say was taken from a friend’s home escaped after being led through a wooded area, reached the side of a North Carolina highway and was helped by a passing motorist before deputies arrested a 38-year-old man on kidnapping and assault charges.

What began as a weekend visit with a friend on Aug. 16 became a search spanning parts of Harnett County. Authorities say Daniel Francis Gear took the girl from a home in Lillington without her parent or guardian’s permission. Hours later, she was safe and Gear was in custody. The girl was treated at a hospital and released to her family. Court documents accuse Gear of restraining and moving a child younger than 16 for the purpose of terrorizing her and of failing to release her in a safe place. He is charged with first-degree kidnapping and assault on a female.

The first sign to Jennifer Maxwell that something was wrong came along U.S. Highway 421. Maxwell told WRAL she was driving home from work that Sunday afternoon when she saw a young girl come out of the woods, move down an embankment and collapse into a ditch. The child was crying, Maxwell said. She had no shoes and had scratches on her arms and legs. Maxwell turned her vehicle around and stopped beside her. When she asked whether the girl was all right, the child told her she had been kidnapped. Maxwell called 911 and brought the girl into her vehicle.

Maxwell said the girl then described what had happened before she reached the road. According to Maxwell’s account of their conversation, the child had been spending the night at her best friend’s home when Gear woke her and told her to get into his truck. Maxwell said the girl told her they drove to a wooded area, where Gear made her get out and walk. She said the child described being pushed and grabbed while walking through the woods for what she believed was a couple of hours. Those details came through Maxwell’s retelling of what the girl said and have not all been independently described by investigators in public statements.

The charging documents provide a narrower official account. An arrest warrant filed in Harnett County alleges Gear unlawfully restrained the girl and moved her from one place to another without the consent of a parent or legal guardian. The warrant says the alleged restraint and movement were done for the purpose of terrorizing the child. A separate assault allegation accuses Gear of pushing her to the ground and physically restraining her. The charges are accusations, and the available records do not establish a motive for the alleged kidnapping or explain why the girl was selected.

After the girl reached Maxwell, the focus shifted quickly from finding the missing child to locating the man authorities believed had taken her. Sheriff Wayne Coats said Gear’s vehicle was found in the area along U.S. 421, but Gear was not with it. Deputies searched the surrounding area and warned during the operation that he should be considered armed and dangerous. He was eventually found in a wooded area along the highway Sunday night. Local reporting described the search as lasting about seven hours. Gear was taken into custody and booked on the kidnapping and assault charges.

Authorities said Gear lived near the home where the girl had been visiting her friend. Coats told WRAL that Gear had no relationship with the 12-year-old herself. Other local reporting identified Gear as an uncle of the girl’s friend or a relative connected to the household. Neighbors told reporters that the girl was a frequent visitor because of her friendship with a child who lived there. Investigators have not publicly released the victim’s name, and news organizations have generally withheld it because she is a minor and an alleged crime victim.

The roadside encounter became an important part of the case because it connected the girl’s escape with the law-enforcement search. Maxwell said she drove the child to the Erwin Police Department after calling 911 and later showed authorities the area where she had found her. Investigators located Gear’s vehicle nearby, according to local reports. The girl was taken to a hospital for evaluation. Sheriff officials later said she had been released and was recovering with her family. No serious long-term physical injury has been publicly detailed, and officials have not released the girl’s medical information.

Maxwell later encountered the girl and her parents again at the hospital under unexpected circumstances. After providing information to police, Maxwell told WRAL she was involved in a vehicle crash near the police station and went to the hospital herself. She said she was sore but did not describe a major injury. At the hospital, the girl’s parents approached and thanked her for helping their daughter. Maxwell said seeing the child able to leave the hospital offered reassurance after the alarming circumstances under which she had first seen her at the roadside.

Gear appeared before a judge after his arrest. Court reporting said a judge set a $2.5 million secured bond and imposed conditions that included no contact with the girl and a prohibition on being alone with anyone younger than 18 if he were released. An initial probable-cause hearing was scheduled for Sept. 1. The publicly available reports reviewed for this article do not establish the outcome of that hearing or provide a later case disposition, so no subsequent court result is being inferred. First-degree kidnapping is the most serious charge reported in the case, alongside the misdemeanor assault charge.

The distinction between what appears in court records and what was described by Maxwell remains important. The official documents support allegations that the child was unlawfully restrained, moved without guardian consent, terrorized and physically restrained. More detailed descriptions of the child’s time in the truck and woods were reported through Maxwell, who was recounting what the girl told her shortly after the escape. Investigators have not publicly provided a full minute-by-minute reconstruction, and authorities have not announced a motive. Gear has not been convicted of the charges described in the warrants.

For the girl, the public portion of the episode ended not with the search itself but with her return to her family. Authorities said she was out of the hospital following the Aug. 16 incident. The latest reliable reporting reviewed here placed the criminal case in Harnett County court following Gear’s arrest, with the kidnapping and assault allegations unresolved. Officials have released no additional information explaining what investigators believe prompted the alleged abduction.

Author note: Last updated September 28, 2026.