A 13-year-old girl who was reported kidnapped in South Carolina was found alive with her kidnapper in the parking lot of a shopping center in the Florida Keys.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) reported the arrest in Key Largo of a 35-year-old man native of Mukwonago, Wisconsin, who was wanted by federal authorities for the abduction of a minor.
“The Sheriff’s Office received information that Tyler Michael Berlick could be on its way to Monroe County, Florida. He and the minor were located in a Dodge Ram truck in the parking lot of the Pink Plaza shopping center around 3:24 am,” the MCSO detailed in Facebook.
The FBI is the lead investigative agency in this case. After the rescue of the minor, he notified the Florida Department of Children and Families.
According to the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office, in South Carolina, the girl was reported missing in the city of Simpsonville, located near Greenville, after being last seen on Sunday night.
“This is not an escape, but a kidnapping”the entity specified in its Facebook.
The minor was identified as Payttan Cruz. The information revealed that she and Berlik met through an online chat service and a gaming application.
Greenville authorities had asked the community for help in locating her. She was described as a white female, 5’0″, 105 pounds, with light brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen at her home, located on North Orchard Farms Ave, Simponville, around 8:30 pm on February 11.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the kidnapper was being held without bail at the Plantation Key jail in Florida, awaiting extradition to South Carolina.
