An 18-year-old teen with autism has been reunited with her family after being lured to Washington state by an Eatonville couple, who have now been charged with kidnapping.
The Pierce County Sheriff's Office says the couple flew to Tennessee last week, used fake IDs and then drove to the teen's residence in Arkansas. Khanh Tan Le, 50, and Katherine Jones, 28, then "lured or abducted the victim with a possible sexual motivation."
Authorities say Le also reportedly tried to "befriend over 8,000" children over social media.
"Kinda weird. Kinda scary, actually," said Joe Elliot, who lives on Lake Ohop a few houses down from the suspects' cabin.
Surveillance cameras are visible on the suspects' cabin, which Elliot thought was empty for the winter months.
"I saw a lot of footprints in the snow and no other tracks anywhere all around these three houses," said Elliot. "I thought something has been happening there."
Detectives learned the couple rented a vehicle using fake IDs and drove back to Washington with the teen.
Detectives tracked the couple to a cabin near Eatonville. On Thursday, law enforcement made contact with the house and took them into custody.
Authorities said the case should serve as a lesson to parents to monitor their kids' social media accounts and text messaging.
The girl was located safely inside the home and taken into custody and flown back to Arkansas Friday morning.
"It's weird you live in such a remote beautiful place, if you don't know your neighbors, you don't know what people are doing or what theyr'e up to," said Elliot. "The moral of the story is pay attention to what is going on around you."
The couple was booked into Pierce County Jail and charged with kidnapping. They await extradition to Arkansas for prosecution.
