There’s a reason why many parents don’t want their young children on social media. Case in point: One 13-year-old girl in Louisiana police say was convinced by a man to travel over 1,000 miles away to see him — only for things to end in tragedy.
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The teen girl was first reported missing by law enforcement in October, according to local Baton Rouge news channel WAFD 9. The state’s attorney general office said the girl had been in contact with Ki-Shawn Crumity, an adult male, on Snapchat, who reportedly told her he would get “her adopted by a trusted adult.”
But Louisiana’s attorney general, Liz Murrill, said on Facebook the girl was “groomed, exploited, and then sexually abused by strangers who found her online.”
The young teen had traveled, according to Law & Crime, on a bus from Columbus, Ga., and was seen at a Greyhound station in Washington, D.C. It was there when she reportedly met a woman who asked if she needed help. She said yes, and from there, the pair traveled to Crumity in Pennsylvania.
Court documents obtained by PEOPLE said that same night the teen arrived in Pittsburgh, she, the woman, and Crumity all slept in the same bed in the basement.
After the teen went missing, authorities began to investigate her online activity. That led cops to “the 1200 block of Davis Avenue in Pittsburgh’s Brighton Heights neighborhood” in Pittsburgh.
Thanks to a FBI search warrant, the girl was found alive in the basement inside a box and covered with a gray sheet. According to police, the teen told authorities Crumity gave her alcohol and marijuana edibles while sexually assaulting her multiple times a day.
And he allegedly didn’t act alone.
62-year-old Ronald Smith, of New Orleans, was arrested in Georgia for simple kidnapping and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile. Crumity, who was arrested on Oct. 30, was charged with trafficking in individuals, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, and selling or furnishing alcohol. He’s been denied bail.
One neighbor, per Law & Crime, called the ordeal “scary,” as a second neighbor described the incident as “unnerving.” They added: “I’m glad they got the guy.”
The rescued girl told authorities that being at the hospital was “the safest she ever felt.”
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