Texas man heads to trial for abducting 12-year-old girl from Henry County in February
21-year-old Kaleb Merritt and the girl were found a day later in Henderson, NC
Hearing in Henry County child abduction case
HENRY COUNTY, Va. – A Texas man is headed to trial for multiple felonies after abducting a 12-year-old girl from Henry County back in February.
21-year-old Kaleb Merritt is charged for abduction, rape and solicitation of a child following a relationship with a 12-year-old girl. Merritt will now be heading to trial to face these charges.
During Merritt’s preliminary hearing on Tuesday, the Commonwealth called six witnesses to the stand, including the 12-year-old victim and her great grandmother who she was living with at the time of the incident.
Texas man to be tried for juvenile abduction in Henry County
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February 22, 2021
HENRY COUNTY, Va. – Three felony charges have been filed against the man who abducted a 12-year-old from her home in Henry County earlier this month.
21-year-old Kaleb Merritt is charged with rape, computer solicitation of a child younger than 15, and abduction, connected to the kidnapping of a girl from her Bassett home on February 12.
Court records indicate the two met over Instagram before messaging each other on an app called Discord. Police say Merritt told the victim to leave her home and hide her phone after authorities contacted him.
The next day, she was reported missing by a relative. She and Merritt were found the following day in Henderson, North Carolina. Merritt was arrested without incident.
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.