Girl, 12, possibly left with sex offender
Last seen Thursday, child had befriended 27-year-old ex-convict
Associated Press
ROCKY MOUNT - A 12-year-old girl who apparently ran away from her home may have left in the company of a convicted sex offender with whom she had developed some kind of friendship, police said.
Jodie Collie was last seen in her bedroom on Thursday night, and was reported missing the following morning by her family.
Police said Friday they believe she was lured away by Phillip Denkler, 27, a registered sex offender who served a prison sentence for taking indecent liberties with a child. The two apparently had talked on the telephone for months.
According to The News & Observer of Raleigh, Kimberly Baker, Jodie Collie's mother, said that her daughter met Denkler last year while visiting a relative. Denkler worked at a store near the relative's house, Baker said.
Baker said no one in the family was aware of his criminal record or that he had been in touch with Jodie. "We were kind of both confused to as to how she met this guy and got so trusting of him," Baker said.
There were no signs of a struggle in the girl's bedroom, and relatives said she left a note.
"She left us a note saying she needed some time to herself and not to be mad and that she loves us," Dorothy Collie, Jodie's grandmother, said.
Jodie is a 5-foot-4, 114 pound blonde girl with green eyes. Denkler was described as a 6-foot-1, 150 pound man with short black hair and brown eyes. An Amber Alert issued said the pair could be traveling in a 2005 beige Hyundai Sonata with N.C. license plate NWM-2630 or PSA-2000.
She is still out there and not found.
X.