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Police: 14-year-old Elizabeth City teen safe after being abducted by 28-year-old man

Posted at 1:05 PM, Dec 26, 2016
and last updated 2016-12-26 20:34:11-05

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. – Police have arrested a man for abducting a 14-year-old girl Monday.

Johnathan Wendell Ward

Johnathan Wendell Ward

Monday morning, Elizabeth City Police received a call about the abduction of a 14-year-old from the 400 block of Massachusetts Avenue.

According to police, her mother told officers that around 1 a.m., her other daughter informed her that the 14-year-old was not in her bed.

The family started looking for the teen and around 3 a.m., they found her asleep in the backseat of the suspect’s vehicle.

When her family began banging on the window to wake her up, the suspect, who was asleep in the driver’s seat, woke up and drove off with the girl still in the backseat.

The suspect was identified as 28-year-old Johnathan Wendell Ward of Weldon, North Carolina.

Both the missing teen and Ward were located by Monday evening with the assistance of Garysburg Police in Northampton County, North Carolina.

The teen was reunited with her family.

Ward was charged with Felony Abduction of Children.