HENDERSON â Police say an amber alert and some information they got from the State Bureau of Investigation helped them return a teenager to her home and jail a Texas man accused of abducting her.
Henderson Police Chief Marcus Barrow said officers captured Kaleb Merritt, 21, Saturday evening behind the Dabney West shopping center on Dabney Drive next to Interstate 85.
Merritt was held in the Vance County Jail without bond to await extradition to Virginia on a fugitive warrant, Barrow said.
He had been the focus of among other things an FBI âmost wantedâ advisory alleging that he was involved in the disappearance of a 12-year-old girl from Bassett, Virginia, a community in Henry County, Virginia, near Martinsville in the southern part of that state.
BASSETT, Va. (WTVD) An Amber Alert has been canceled after a 12-year-old girl missing out of Henry County, Virginia was found safe in Henderson on Saturday evening.
The alert was initially issued Friday night. Virginia State Police said Allie was abducted around 1 p.m. by Kaleb Merritt, a Texas man who is now in custody.
Allie was found safe and checked by EMS for minor injuries. Merritt was also found and taken into custody.
On Feb. 11, a social media messaging app filed a complaint to the Southwestern Virginia Internet Crimes against Children task force regarding messages between the 12-year-old girl and 21-year-old man.
February 14, 2021
MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Kaleb Christopher Merritt, 21, was captured by police in Henderson, North Carolina, and is being held in the abduction of a 12-year-old girl from Henry County, Va. The arrest was made Saturday after a manhunt that began Friday when the two left the girl’s home in Southside Virginia. Merritt was taken into custody by North Carolina authorities without incident.
12-year-old Allie Broadaway was found with him, unharmed. Henry County authorities had considered her a runaway.
The girl was reported missing from her home in Bassett, Virginia on Friday afternoon. Police said she and Merritt connected in December on Instagram and communicated through social media until Merritt traveled to Virginia earlier this month to meet her.