A Canadian girl who went missing last month has been discovered alive in the US, and a man who police believe was responsible for her disappearance has been arrested.
Due to her young age, DailyMail.com will not name the 13-year-old victim. She was apparently unharmed when police found her Saturday in an Oregon City hotel, nearly 1,000 miles from her home in Alberta.
The teen’s face was splashed on billboards all throughout Canada during the week-long hunt for the child, who vanished on June 24, which spanned two countries and thousands of miles.
In connection with the girl’s disappearance, the FBI and Oregon police have since detained Noah Madrano, 40, of Gladstone, a tiny town close to Oregon City.
Records indicate that the man is accused of raping the eighth-grader, whom police claim he met online.
Madrano, the host and producer of a well-known Portland radio station, is anticipated to be charged further in Canada as well.
Oregon resident Madrano is currently being detained by Oregon City police on those potential charges, and he will show up in court on Tuesday.
Police in Canada, meanwhile, have accused Madrano of orchestrating the girl’s disappearance through “child luring,” alleging that he did so by persuading the middle schooler to meet him in person after becoming acquainted with him online.
The teenager was found on Friday, sent to a hospital for evaluation, and is now back at her parents’ Edmonton home.
‘We are bringing our baby home,’ the teen’s mom shared to Facebook Saturday.
The mom wrote that ‘while we have a healing journey ahead, we are focused on seeing and embracing our daughter and getting her back home.’
Earlier that morning, the kid’s father said that they had been notified by the FBI that their daughter was safe.
‘We’re on our way to Portland right now,’ he wrote. ‘Until we get [her] in our arms it still doesn’t seem like it’s over yet.’
He said that when he asked agents what his daughter’s state of mind was like, they told him that she was ‘tired’ and ‘trying to rest.’
Cops beforehand had said they took the teen to ‘a local children’s hospital for precautionary examination.’
The victim’s parents said they were relieved and grateful for the public’s support during the search, which saw hundreds of US and Canadian citizens call in tips as to the teen’s whereabouts.
Police overseeing the search in the teen’s native Edmonton worked with myriad agencies from both Canada and the US to track down the teen, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the FBI, and both US and and Canadian border agencies.
Cops say they were led to the 40-year-old suspect after police in Abbotsford, British Columbia, obtained CCTV footage Friday at the request of Edmonton police, showing the girl at a fast food restaurant near the Sumas border crossing into Washington state.
By the time Abbotsford police arrived at the rest stop, the girl and suspect had already left.
Officials, however, were still hot on Madrano’s trail, reportedly receiving a credible tip about his identity, whereabouts, and the type of vehicle he was driving. Details concerning the specific content and source of the tip were not immediately given.
Police said the pair met through social media, and that Madrano persuaded the girl to meet him in person.
Cos said they believed Madrano came to Edmonton shortly before the girl’s disappearance, and spent at least three days in British Columbia.
The teen reportedly deleted all of her social media accounts the week before she went missing.
It is not yet clear how he was able to transport the girl across the border without catching officials’ suspicions.
‘We would be speculating to say they crossed the border together, but I do know that they were located together, again, in the US once they gained entry,’ Inspector Brent Dahlseide told reporters during an online news conference Saturday.
The presser saw the Edmonton officer reveal that the two had been communicating online, and that their correspondence suggested that Madrano had ‘lured’ the youngster into meeting.
‘I don’t know how long they may have been in contact with one another. I do know that the reason we’re going with a child-luring charge at this point is that it’s one we can support because of some of the online history,’ Dahlseide said.
According to police reports, Madrano is being held without bond in the Clackamas County jail and is accused of kidnapping. Charges of rape and sexual abuse in connection with the crime are also listed on the county’s website.
Police declined to comment on the potential charges on Monday; they will likely become formal on Tuesday.
Following the Fourth of July holiday on Tuesday, the district attorney in Clackamas County will evaluate the police reports and decide which charges to bring, according to an email sent out by Oregon City police on Sunday.
A weekly programme that airs on Portland radio station KBOO-FM is produced and co-hosted by Madrano.
According to Madrano’s LinkedIn profile, Sub-Human Intellect Theater is a “monthly comedy/variety/performance art program.”
Madrano claim that in addition to coming up with segments and booking guests, he also manages the board and mixer while hosting the show. Additionally, he oversees the show’s social media presence.
Many people believed the voice on the audio belonged to the teen girl since the most recent episode of the show—which has since been deleted—reportedly included a part in which Madrano pretended to have phone sex with the girl.
On the tape, a girl’s voice can be heard, but it’s not obvious who she is or if the voice is real or artificial.
When DailyMail.com contacted Oregon City Police on Monday to inquire whether officers were aware of the recording, no one responded right away.
In a statement that was made on Sunday, KBOO’s Twitter account stated that it was looking into “disturbing information” regarding the alleged behaviour of an on-air volunteer.
‘We have taken appropriate actions regarding this person’s involvement with KBOO,’ the station said in the cryptic tweet.
The episode, which aired on June 13—less than two weeks before the teen vanished—was blasted by KBOO board vice president KatMeow Garcia on Sunday. She also claimed that the station was unaware of the part before the show went to air.
The FBI, on the other hand, asserts that it will be able to provide bank and credit card information to validate the suspect’s actions in the days preceding and following the alleged kidnapping.
The inquiry, according to the FBI, is ongoing. Once Madrano is arraigned on Tuesday, the charges against him will be made public.