HARNETT COUNTY – The Harnett County Sheriff’s Office with the assistance of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) Criminal Apprehension Team (CAT) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested two suspects in connection with the disappearance of a 15 year-old Harnett County girl.
The juvenile was abducted in the early morning hours of Tuesday, February 25 from her Spring Lake area home. She was quickly reported missing by her family. As a result, an Amber Alert was issued.
Using electronic and other advanced surveillance techniques, law enforcement authorities gathered information indicating the victim had been transported to Kitty Hawk, NC, and Virginia Beach, VA, by the two suspects.
Working in collaboration with the Kitty Hawk Police Department, members of NC SBI and the FBI successfully located and safely recovered the abducted juvenile at a residence in Kitty Hawk, NC.
Elihue Martin Mahler, age 31, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Austyn Lee Cole, age 23, of Kitty Hawk, NC, were arrested without incident.
Both are charged with felony human trafficking of a child victim, human trafficking, felony kidnapping, and felony conspiracy to kidnap.
Mhler and Cole are currently being housed in the Harnett County Jail awaiting their first court appearance Friday morning.
Lock them up and throw away the key