Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Little Girl, 12, Drives Dad's Car 200 Miles to Meet Online "Teen"

Episode Date: April 19, 2023

A massive search was launched after two young Florida girls left home to meet someone they met online. Jade Gregory, 12, took her dad's 2016 Ford Taurus and drove to 14-year-old friend Khloe Larson's house. The two then headed out on a road to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, area.  The girls say were driving to meet a teenage boy they say they met online.   Joining Nancy Grace Today: Shaunna Burns - Hailey Burns’ mother (daughter was lured by an online predator) Dale Carson- High Profile Criminal Defense Attorney (Jacksonville), Former FBI Agent & Former Police Officer; Author: "Arrest-Proof Yourself; Twitter: @DaleCarsonLaw   Captain Lyn Williams - Chief Deputy of Union County Sheriff’s Office in Florida   Dr. Dana Anderson - Forensic Psychologist and Forensic Expert; Twitter/ TikTok: @psychologydr  Anna Sonoda - Child Grooming Expert and Licensed Clinical Social Worker; Author, “Duck Duck Groom: Understanding How a Child Becomes a Target” AnnaSonoda.com Alexis Terezchuck- CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace A 12-year-old little girl takes the family car and heads off with a little friend to meet someone from online in Louisiana. How did this happen? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. First of all, take a listen to our friends at Crime Online. A missing runaway children alert out of Lake Butler, Florida.

Jade Gregory is 12 years old. Her best friend, Chloe Larson, is 14 and is known to wear glasses. The children last seen in the area of Northeast County Road 237 in Lake Butler, Florida, and it appears they're traveling in a 2016 black Ford Taurus belonging to Jade Gregory's father. Early investigation shows the girls are possibly headed east on I-10 between Florida and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. There is no adult traveling with the girls and no foul play is suspected. You know, when you have a child alone in a car,

the way you heard it phrased just then, no foul play suspected. How can anyone be calm when a 12-year-old is trying to drive a car, a 12-year-old little girl trying to drive a car from Florida all the way to Louisiana? With me, an all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now. But first, I want to go to a special guest joining us, Captain Lynn Williams, Chief Deputy, Union County Sheriff's Office in Florida. Captain Williams, thank you for taking time to be with us. Could you just describe what that drive would be between where they took off and Louisiana?

Well, when we got the call from the parents, it obviously scared the parents, scared us to death, too, to think about a 12-year-old on the interstate on I-10 headed west through multiple states. It scared us. The parents' original thought was that we were going to call them to say that they've been in a tragic accident. So we obviously took this very serious. We were under the impression the 12-year-old was the one that was driving.

You know, Interstate's a very serious highway going, you know, approximately eight, nine hours. Oh, dear Lord in heaven. You know, the other day, Captain Williams, my children, John, David, and Lucy, have just gotten old enough to get a learner's license, which I can't believe this is even happening. But I took my daughter out on, I guess it was a one, two, three, five lane,

two lanes going our way, a turn lane in the middle, and two lanes coming against us. I didn't scream, but I nearly had a heart attack when she had to change lanes. She's never changed lanes before. Let me just say, I think we need to practice some more. But, and she's 15, and she's a very calm, calm and responsible person. I cannot even imagine at age 12. Guys, take a listen to more from our friends at Crime Online.

A massive search is underway for Jade Gregory and Chloe Larson. Investigators say 12-year-old Jade took her dad's 2016 Ford Taurus and drove to 14-year-old Chloe Larson's house. They were last seen in the area of Main Street and County Road 237 in Lake Butler, Florida, but early investigation has led law

enforcement to believe the girls have been communicating with someone they believe to be a teenage boy in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana area. The girls are possibly traveling on I-10 West. Pictures of both girls are posted online through social media on TV and electronic billboards. The girls are traveling without adult supervision. Foul play is not suspected, but being 12 and 14, neither girl has a valid driver's license. Has anybody heard about the murders off the Delphi Bridge? I mean, what, does everybody have their head in the sand and their tail in the air like an ostrich? Those two little girls, Liberty and Abby, thought they were talking to a teen boy, a Justin Bieber lookalike.

Well, as it turns out, they were talking to a guy down in the basement, a grown man, texting them and trying to get them to send them nudes. That's who they were talking to, a grown man. And they weren't special. He was casting all the little girls he could think of, finding them online to have conversations with them, posing as a teen. Joining me right now, in addition to Captain Lynn Williams, Chief Deputy of Union County Sheriff's Office,

is Shawna Burns. You may remember the name Haley Burns. This is her mom, her daughter, lured by an online predator as a young teen. Shawna, tell us how Haley was lured. Online, she met him in a chat room for people that wanted to be anorexic. It was an anorexia chat room. And he tended to stay in that chat room because he found a lot of different women there.

She ran into him there. And within 28 days of meeting him, he had convinced her to leave. And isn't it true, Haley, your little girl was held captive by this online predator for 13 months. It's 399 days. And during that time, what did she endure? Horrific torture. She was starved. She was assaulted in ways that I cannot explain,

that I'm not allowed to explain. Graphic, horrible abuse is what she endured every single day. Locked in a dog cage? Yep. And starved. And starved? When she came back, she weighed 86 pounds. We had to go to a special therapist to introduce foods slowly

because she had not had any meat or vegetables or dairy for the entire time that he kept her so you can't just not eat dairy and meat for those amount of times and then introduce it back you have to do it very slowly and it was like so hard for her to go through that because it was just like re going through it again and again and again every time we had to go to like learn how to re-eat meat it was just it was like so difficult like you wouldn't even think that that would be a thing but it was so hard for her to even learn how to re-eat vegetables again. Shauna I know a lot of people have expressed so much sympathy and empathy for your daughter Haley, but just hearing you talk, I'm just so sorry what you have gone through because last week my son

John David got hit in the head with a discus at track practice. It's a long story. My point is, it knocked him out. We were in the ER half the night. He has a level three concussion. He wanted to go back to school, and when he got in the car, the sun was so bright, it immediately triggered a horrible splitting headache. And there he was, all dressed for school. We had to turn around and come back home. And I'm nearly sick. Just like, I want to vomit, worried about him.

And your girl was gone, you said 300, how many days? 399 days. And I'm going to be honest with you it was torture you we have twins we also we have seven-year-old twin girls and I thank God that I have them because I had to feed them and I had to take them to school and I had to do the laundry and I had to go to the grocery store and I had to do those things but I was a zombie doing them because I was so lost both my it was so hard for my husband that entire length of time that she was missing was torture every single day um and I have been cried so much that he wore contacts and the saline from his tears burned holes in his eyes and he had to get LASIK because he cried so much and it was just this like suffocating fear that there's nothing you can do there's nothing there's and the FBI and the police and everyone does their best to assure you that

they're doing their best but 399 days is a really long time. And to not lose faith in that time is very difficult, but we did not. We maintained our faith the entire time. And because of that, we believe that our daughter, which was returned to us, is a miracle. A miracle. Oh, it is a miracle. It is a miracle. Ms. Burns, could you tell me, who did Haley think, with whom did Haley think she was communicating?

She knew she was talking to someone that was a man, but she thought he was 18 to 21. She did not realize that he was like, I mean, he's 36. And at the time he was 30, this has been like, he was 32 at the time he was 30 this has been like he's 32 at the time he's 36 now so she thought she was talking to someone closer to her age i think she thought 18 to 21 at the top like at the most he was going to be 21 but he told her he was older and that was part of it was i'm older and i can help you with your mental illness her mental mental illness. She had an eating disorder. She had an eating disorder.

And he totally played on that. And then got her in his clutches. And then starved her. Starved her in a dog cage. And assaulted her. And I'm thinking about these two little girls. Jade and Chloe. I'm hearing what Miss Burns, Haley's mom is telling us she went through while Haley was gone. 399 days from mom and dad. What do you love in life? A relaxing getaway?

Spending time with friends? Whatever life looks like, vaccinations keep you healthy so everyone can keep doing what they love. Vaccinate and protect yourself and others. Visit health.nsw.gov.au forward slash vaccination info. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Alexis Tereszczuk joining us, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter and mom of a little boy. I just feel like it's like two little cherubs going into a dark forest full of lions and tigers and bears. That's what the internet is. These two girls are talking to who they think is, what did they think, Alexis?

It was a 16-year-old boy? Yep, a teenage boy. But 16 is still too old to be talking to a 12-year-old. But in any event, getting into a car and going off to meet a boy that you think is 16 years old. How did they get the car? Let's just start at the beginning. So, Jade Gregory, who is 12, stole, she I guess got the keys from her parents. And in the middle of the night took their car, drove it over to her friend's house.

Her friend is 14, picked her up. And that's Chloe Larson. And they hit the road in the middle of the night. She just quietly snuck out of the house, took dad's keys, backed out of the driveway and left town. Captain Lynn Williams joining me, Chief Deputy, Union County Sheriff's Office there in Florida, where the girls go missing. It's Lake Butler, isn't that right, Captain? Lake Butler, Florida? That's right.

That's correct. I mean, wow. Just trying to take this in, how they even got out of the house. And not one, but two. Because the 12-year-old gets out and gets the car. Did they not have a burglar alarm that would go off if a door opened? No, about 1 a.m. they noticed their dog was barking. But again, they didn't think a whole lot of that.

So we're thinking it could have happened around 1 a.m. So when the parents woke up about 6 a.m., they noticed the car was gone. Then they noticed the keys were gone, obviously. And noticed their daughter was gone. And that's when they called us with with a lot of concerns and and panic. I mean, when you hear a mom like you just heard Shauna Burns, it physically makes me feel sick. It's just very scary. Yes.

So let me understand this. Did the family have a burglar alarm system? Not that I'm aware of, no. So, and actually, being 12 years old, she would have known how to hit 1, 2, 3, 4, whatever the code is. Sure. So that's one thing.

And she managed to get out. What's the layout of their house? Is it a two-story, a split? What is it? I'm not sure. I've not been out to the residence. Our investigators and deputies responded. They do live in a house just outside of town here. I was just trying to figure out how they got out

without, how she got out without making a sound, but she did. She was very quiet. Yeah, amazingly gets to the 14-year-old friend's house, and she also gets out without making a sound. So take a listen to what happens next. Take a listen to our friends at WGFL. Because of the age, that's what concerned us. The Union County Sheriff's Office says the FBI is investigating an unknown person. Deputies say 12-year-old Jade Gregory and 14-year-old Chloe Larson drove to the Florida-Alabama border. Chief Deputy Lynn Williams believes the two girls were planning to drive to Louisiana to meet the unknown person. That person, whether or not they were trying to lure them out there, either way, they were going out there to meet this person.

And more from WGFL. What happened? Like, how are these girls able to even drive this far? The 12-year-old child went to pick up the 14-year-old child. Deputy Williams says the 12-year-old stole her father's vehicle early Thursday morning. This isn't going to the, you know, down to the store to a friend's house. This, this is going, this is crossing state lines.

This is serious. And to you, Dale Carson, joining me out of the Florida jurisdiction, high profile lawyer in Jacksonville, former FBI agent,

former cop with Miami Dade, author of Arrest Proof Yourself at DaleCarsonLaw.com. Dale, why, and Captain Williams is correct. it takes on a different significance when you actually cross state lines, which they did. Massive search ensues. Why does the state line boundary matter, Dale? Well, that makes an interstate jurisdiction that the FBI has control over. But they're much more active today when it comes

to children at the age of 12 and 14 to go out and look for them because we know that 48 hours is a critical period of time. And of course, this is a federal charge. It's not just something minor. This is a 20-year felony for soliciting a child over the internet, and it's a serious charge, obviously with a 20-year penalty. I'm looking at Jay Gregory right now in a picture released by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. She looks like she's about 10. I know she's 12. When I look at that sweet little smile and then the other little girl, Chloe Larson, wearing her glasses just as sweet as pie. I mean, to look at them and imagine they're on the road heading toward Louisiana to meet an unknown male they think is 16. Take a listen to more.

Federal law enforcement warns parents and families to pay attention to what your child does online. Warning technology today is not as it was. Platforms that children are getting onto, the encryption abilities, the ability to disguise where you are physically, locations by VPNs and all those kinds of techniques. Stressing that children may not be able to identify exactly who they are talking to. Predators online are particularly sophisticated. They're really good at grooming techniques. They're really good at falsifying who their true identity is.

Joining me right now is a very well-known child grooming expert, licensed social worker, and author of Duck, Duck, Groom, Understanding How a Child Becomes a Target. With me, Anna Sinoda. Anna, thank you for being with us. What does that mean, grooming? Grooming is the perverse courtship that predators use to gain trust in order to gain access and have space and time alone with their selected child. As you've already noted, grooming is a selective and intentional process. And online, grooming online is kind of like bobbing for apples. You have multiple potential victims at every turn. And apps are woefully underregulated and there are meager protections in place.

So when parents, well-intending parents, are trying to protect their children, they often don't know where to turn because the priority for most apps is profit, not protection. Interesting. Back to you, Captain Williams, hearing what Anna Sonoda is saying. I'm taking a look at County Road 237 in Lake Butler.

This reminds me of the back roads where I grew up. There is nothing. Yes, ma'am. That's correct. A lot of dense, densely wooded forest as far as the eye can see. That's correct. And to imagine a little 12-year-old girl driving this. Of course, a missing child alert goes out immediately, sending multiple states into a

frenzy as fresh-faced images of the two little girls flashing across millions of billboards and television screens. Just curious, Captain Lynn Anderson, Chief Deputy there in Union County, how do you coordinate a thing like that to get their pictures out? Where do you get the pictures? How do you get the pictures? How do you get them on TV? How do you get them on billboards? How did you do that so quickly? Well, our school resource deputies were very essential. So we contacted them. They know them with interaction at school. They know who their friends are. They knew who to contact. They were able to retrieve pictures of them from the school. So we were able to use that. We even pulled up school cameras. We were even able to see

that she was in the vehicle, that she drove right in front of the school by using some of those school cameras. We were able to see that to identify the time frame. So we already knew that they had a head start on us. So it was very urgent for us to get this stuff out there quick. If they had left around 1, 2 a.m., you know, and now it's already 6 a.m. when they were discovered missing, we had to jump on this quick. So it took a lot of resources, a lot of agencies. We put this out there. We contacted Florida Department of Law Enforcement. We contacted the Missing Children Information Center. They were essential in getting these flyers made up. We put it on social media, you know, just trying to notify all the states. You know, we had a possible ending location, you know, of Baton Rouge is where she was headed. So and there's one road that goes out there, Interstate 10.

Which is very, very heavily traveled. It is. That is one of the interstates that dopers use, mules use. The dope comes in down in Florida and the mules take the dope up 10 or 75. And a huge amount of my homicide prosecutions dealt with the

dope trach is one of the first places you stop pit stop is Atlanta and if you go 10 you can go straight on up to Baton Rouge guys the pitfalls that these children endure take a listen to our cut 12 from our friend John Crisos describing a little 13 year old girl, Alisa Kozikevich. When she was only 13, she was groomed, lured and abducted by an Internet predator, Scott Tyree. Who kidnapped me and held me captive in his basement dungeon. And he was going to kill me. Her disappearance setting off a massive four-day nationwide search while Tyree kept Alicia chained to the floor at his home in Virginia. He had been live streaming what he was doing to me online, and I turned on the computer, and there I was on the screen

with my hands bound above my head, crying, bleeding, begging, bruised. In between the beatings and the raping, he will hang you by your arms. In 2008, she testified in Congress in support of legislation intended to prevent cyber crimes against children and the increasing amount of photos and videos of child abuse. Support the children. Save us from pedophiles, the pornographers, the monsters. The bill passed in the House and the Senate. You're hearing the voice of Alicia Kozakiewicz speaking, lured online at age 13, the age of these two little girls, 112, 114, wearing a choke dog collar, chained, bolted to the floor, held with her arms over her head, raped, sodomized, beaten, threatened, all of it live streamed. You know how bad it is when another child pornographer sees it and calls authorities, admitting that he's watching child pornography. It's that bad.

13-year-old girl lured online. And then there is Nicole Lovell. Take a listen to our Cut 13 our friends at ABC. The police say she snuck away to meet this man and why wouldn't she have trusted him? David Eisenhower was a track star, good looking, successful. I realize in the moment that I'm doing things that other people wish they could be doing. He'd even been on television. And yet I still have goals for myself because there are people who are better than me and I will personally not stop until I reach my peak performance. But Nicole never came back. Soon almost a thousand volunteers were searching and

authorities scoured for leads until they were able to track the last messages from Nicole's phone leading them to Eisenhower. When the investigation led us to 18 year old David E Eisenhower, a Virginia Tech student. With Eisenhower in custody, authorities soon locate Nicole's body 80 miles away in North Carolina. It's about two miles from a home owned by his extended family. I'm sure that something that Nicole's family would like to know is why did she have to end up here left in this condition and discarded in the manner she was. Little Nicole ends up dead, completely naked, murdered, her body wiped down with alcohol wet wipes so as not to leave any DNA behind, and just thrown, thrown on the side of the road to be found like trash

after having been lured by an online predator. Shawna Burns, how is your daughter recovering after over 13 months in captivity by an online predator? It's a very, very slow process and a long, long road. But we are doing as best as can be expected. She has an amazing support system around her. And myself and my husband 100% support her in every decision that she's making.

And she's doing really well. We're very proud of her. We're all doing as well as can be expected. You know, it never ends, too. Dr. Dana Anderson joining us, forensic psychologist. You can find Dr. Dana at PsychologyDoctor.com. When you suffer any type of a severe emotional or mental trauma, it affects the way you live the rest of your life. You don't just get well. It affects everything.

Let me project. When my fiancé was murdered shortly before our wedding, there was that. There was dropping out of school. There was losing down to 89 pounds. I finally went back to school, and not to become a school teacher as I planned, but to become a prosecutor. But it affects the way I couldn't even consider remarrying for over 20 years. It's the way I look at the world now. Like something can and very likely will, something bad happen. I have to watch the children like a hawk because what happened before.

I mean, it changes everything. So you think your child is doing fine, but it will be there the rest of her life. Yeah, it has a devastating emotional impact. Obviously not just for the victim or the victims that we're talking about today, but the family and the loved ones that experienced that trauma. Recently, I listened to 37 molestation stories as part of a civil lawsuit. And that was traumatic. Each story that you intensely listen to or experience or try to understand it has, you have trauma and it can take, it's a lot to handle. And even just hearing one experience, but the emotional attachment you have for your loved ones. I know I have seven siblings and I've had several that have been, you know,

sexually abused or raped or things that have happened. And it is so traumatizing and so horrific because you feel so connected to those people. You love them so much. And it feels like it also kind of happened to you because you love them so much and are so deeply connected. So I sympathize with the mothers here today and the families that just held on to hope as their little girls were out there. that that feels like. And all I can say is that it takes time, but it is a lasting scar that goes very deep. You are hearing forensic psychologist Dr. Dana Anderson at psychologydoctor.com. You know, it's hard to fathom how far and to what lengths online predators will go to snare their child victim

to have sex with them take a listen to our cut 19 from wisn you're never going to believe what this pedophile did to get to his victim listen tommy lee jenkins first conviction on child sex charges was in 2011. Now he's charged in a new investigation. Documents show Jenkins used Facebook to communicate with someone he thought was 14. It was actually an undercover deputy who asked, do you care I'm 14 and drink? Jenkins' reply, according to the records, no. Prosecutors claim Jenkins initiated the topic of sex and wanted the undercover to send a picture with no shirt, no pants, asking, When you get here, would you like to have sex with me?

The undercover responded, yes. And Jenkins allegedly told the undercover he planned to walk nearly 400 miles from Whitestown, Indiana to Neenah, Wisconsin to meet for sex. On the way, prosecutors claimed Jenkins documented the trip with selfies and pictures of exit signs. And on Thursday, records show Jenkins told the undercover he made it to Wisconsin and wanted to have 500 kids before we are with God. Instead, Jenkins found investigators waiting to take him back to jail.

To Anna Sinoda, child grooming expert and author of Duck, Duck, Groom. Anna, did you hear that? This known sex offender walks, walks 400 miles to get to a 14 year old girl for sex and then immediately announcing, I want to have 500 kids with you. Translation, I want to get you in the cheapest motel I can find and rape you. That's what that means. Nancy, it's an appalling example of how intentional and determined predators are. They are patient hunters. And oftentimes, especially in these adolescent situations, they've capitalized on adolescent angst, anger, or animosity in their lives or caregivers. And that is an incredibly vulnerable place for any adolescent girl to be in.

And I think this case gives us an example for every family to learn from about what parents can do about having conversations, about making sure devices are open and that we're regulating use and that we're monitoring and not only just using and relying on software, but that we're following up. We're checking through all communications, all text messages. We know that the majority of young girls online produce content in their bathrooms and their bedrooms, the two most private places in your home. So we need to be having and encouraging parents to be engaged and fully aware of all online use, including solitary contact that may be happening through DMs or through online chats. And it's not just the threat

of the person you're communicating with at the other end of the line, there is the specter of sex trafficking. Not just one rapist, but many. Take a listen to our friends at KFOR in Cut 22. There were a number of people involved with not only this girl but others, but we did everything we could to find this girl. The list keeps growing in the number of people arrested in a sex trafficking ring. Oklahoma City police have announced five more arrests in connection to the missing Texas teen found safe in Oklahoma City. That now brings the total to eight people in custody. This girl is a juvenile and she was in the company of sex traffickers. The 15-year-old was seen leaving a

Dallas Mavericks basketball game with men two weeks ago. A week later, naked photos of the teen appearing on a website known for prostitution last Thursday. A number of these people played a role in trying to get this girl trafficked for purposes of sex. What do you love in life? A relaxing getaway? Spending time with friends? Whatever life looks like, vaccinations keep you healthy so everyone can keep doing what they love. Vaccinate and protect yourself and others.

Visit health.nsw.gov.au forward slash vaccination info. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. To you, Alexis Tereszczuk, it's not just the threat of whoever you're communicating with online. It's the possibility of the child getting sex trafficked and also ending up dead, Alexis. It is. And that's the thing and i want to point out that it's not just on like the dark web where these girls are going they're not sophisticated internet girls they're just like on video game chat rooms you know where they're playing games you know that the man that we've spoken about he was on a yahoo chat room it's so easy for these

girls to be found but yes many of these men are sex traffickers so they will take these young young young girls they will abuse them immediately assault them torture them and that just breaks their souls and then they just pass them around to all of these different people in these disgusting motels and this is something that the police are working on so hard to stop because once these girls get into a system like that it is so hard to get them out they're so sophisticated at hiding them that they often can never be heard from again the the horrible truth is that once they get into the sex trafficking ring, they're practically lost. It's very hard to find them because sex traffickers, isn't this true?

Let me go out to the sheriff, chief deputy of Union County. Once the child is sex trafficked, one of the goals of the sex traffickers are to hide the child. They go from motel to motel. They go from town to town, like from one part of LA to another part of LA to another city in California. And the child becomes so disoriented and frankly, drugged and beaten. They don't even know where they are. Oh, sure. They want to hide the crime. They want to hide themselves. They want to hide the victim. Definitely. Yes. They want to be off the map.

And they do it. They get the child so drugged and beaten. The child has no idea where they are anymore, what hotel they're in. They're moved during the night. And the child only knows that they are being raped and sodomized by a series of men. Okay. 12-year-old sounds pretty young to be a 12-year-old girl driving through the night. What about 11 years old trying to meet an online predator? Take a listen to Our Cut 18 from WLTX. Charleston police have now reunited an 11-year-old boy from Simpsonville with his family after the boy drove 200 miles throughout the night.

Police say that the boy was going out to the coast to meet a man he met on Snapchat. Around midnight, the boy pulled up alongside an officer and told him that he had just driven three hours and he was lost because his GPS signal didn't work. Fortunately, the officer was able to connect the child with his father, who then came to pick him up. Authorities say that the boy used his older brother's car to make the trip and that his father was in the process of reporting him missing to police. Police have not identified a suspect yet, and this case remains under investigation. So this little 11 year old boy meets a predator and it was a grown man as it turned out online who convinces the little boy

to steal a car and drive all the way through the night and some would call it a coincidence. I call it a miracle. Out of the blue, out of the blue, the little boy's GPS quits working and he pulls over, I believe it was at a Burger King, to cop, LE law enforcement, much like Captain Lynn Williams, who sees an 11-year-old at the wheel at 2 o'clock in the morning and investigates and saves the boy's life. The other cases that are similar transactions to this do not end as well with the child ending up raped, sodomized, sex trafficked, or dead. Take a listen now to our cut nine, David Snyder, WCJB. We have new details tonight about the two young runaways from Lake Butler who drove themselves to Alabama. Union County Sheriff's investigators say the pair left home to meet someone on the Internet. The missing toddler was issued one week ago for 12-year-old Jade

Gregory and 14-year-old Chloe Larson. Deputies say Gregory stole her dad's car and started driving to Louisiana with Larson. The two girls were stopped before they could reach their destination the next day. FBI agents are now trying to find out who they were supposed to meet. Straight back out to Captain Lynn Williams, Chief Deputy there in Union County. Tell me about your search for these two girls and how you found them. All right, so we contacted numerous agencies that were involved. Everyone from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to the FBI because, you know, again, given the time frame, we were afraid that they were going to cross over state lines. By the time, again, we're talking about a five-hour delay before we were even afraid that they were going to cross over state lines. By the time, again,

we're talking about a five-hour delay before we were even notified that they could be possibly missing when they were discovered. So we had the FBI involved in this. We had, again, the missing endangered children unit. We contacted the Florida Highway Patrol since they were on the interstate, believed to have been on the interstate. We contacted Baton Rouge Police Department in case they did make it to the location that we thought they were going to. And we had everybody. We put them into our local, state, national computers. We immediately started doing media releases, getting their photos out there, getting everybody notified, just trying to flood the internet with their picture to look for them. And that's what ended up their rescue, getting them.

Tell me about the rescue itself. How did that happen? So due to the success of having their photo out there in so many states and all the way across to I-10. We understood that the girls went to a convenience store. When they went in the convenience store, again, Jade left without her phone. Chloe didn't have a phone. So we were not able to do traditional means of tracking them through that type of stuff. So we had to get creative to try to find them and locate them. With all of that, we understand that they did have a device with them. We had the IP address, and we were trying to ping different social media accounts of them. And they went into a store in

Alabama and made contact with some friends who said and showed them their picture. And once they realized the national coverage of all of this, they ended their journey and went and turned themselves in to the local police department in Alabama. You know, what you're reminding me of, Captain Lynn Williams joining us from Union County Sheriff's Office. And Alexis, I recall you and I discussing it at the time, the case of Dylan and Shasta Groney, who were kidnapped by a predator in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, which is all rural.

A convenience store worker recognized Shasta from the coverage, much like the coverage you generated, Captain Williams, and it saved Shasta's life. Dylan had already been murdered by the perpetrator after nonstop rapes and sodomies, but Shasta's life was saved. You know, Captain Williams, can you imagine what would have happened if some man had picked them up at a gas station or a truck stop in the middle of the night while they go in to get a soda or a candy bar? Can you even imagine? It scares us to death to think about it. mean just like you said at their age 12 and

14 out on their own uh yeah i mean that that was our our biggest fear you know we again we said no foul play expected at the time we were not sure of who they were planning to go meet. And, you know, we had a potential city of Baton Rouge. I know that that's a long ways for two young girls on their own, again, in the middle of the night to go out there. I can't even imagine my daughter, you know, trying to make a journey like that. So, yes, we treated this very serious. To Shawna Burns, Haley Burns' mother, her daughter lured by an online predator. Ms. Burns, what is your message to Jade and Chloe's parents and to all the other moms and dads that are listening right now?

First of all, I want to say how important it is that the law enforcement work together because the exact same thing happened in our case if we had not had the fbi and the georgia bureau of investigation and the local police if they had not worked so well together so quickly we would not have been able to rescue our daughter the way that we were and that is so integral that law enforcement works with each other i just want to say like that is that is the difference i think in our story and other stories is when law enforcement works together because it's very very very important because like in our case we had the first message we received was at 8 47 and then by 1209 we had her so within four

hours of the first message we had found her but only with the help of all of the people involved and i want to say to any other parents out there the number one thing that i always say is we lost sight of hayley we only saw hayaley's behavior problems. We only saw her getting in trouble at school. We only saw her failing. We only saw her being a problem. We lost sight of the little girl that's still in there, that still wants her mom and still wants her dad to love her and be proud of her. And when you stop doing that, that is when they can come in. So no matter what, you have to make sure that your kids know that you love them. No matter what, you are always going to be there for them. Because if not, that's how those predators groom them. That's how they do

it. This was a miracle. This was a miracle. These two girls were saved captain lynn williams if you never do another good thing for the rest of your tenure which i highly doubt i'm pretty sure you got your angel's wings well we made a promise to the parents that we were going to find them and bring them back safe. And we fulfilled that. We brought them back safely. For everyone listening right now, I hope you hear the words of Shauna Burns, to never leave sight of that little child. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.