A 14-year-old girl who disappeared from her Arizona home more than a month ago has been found near Las Vegas after she managed to escape from her abductor, police say.
Officer Steven Wiese, a spokesman for the North Las Vegas Police Department, said the girl called 911 at about 5:45 p.m. PT on Thursday after she reached a convenience store on Camino Al Norte. When officers arrived, they learned that the girl had been kidnapped in Arizona.
“Detectives initiated an investigation where they learned that the victim had been abducted from Arizona, and brought to North Las Vegas by the suspect,” Wiese said in a statement. “She was held captive in the suspect’s home for approximately one month, during which time she was sexually abused. On Thursday, she was able to escape the home and get herself to safety, where she called police.”
Detectives identified 26-year-old Jimmy Carter Kim as a suspect and were able to take him into custody about 4 hours later. He has since been arrested and booked on charges of 1st degree kidnap of a minor and 20 counts of sexual assault of a child under 16.
Wiese said detectives have served a search warrant on Kim’s home in the 1100 block of Dawn Valley Drive and found numerous pieces of evidence, including a firearm. “Evidence in this case leads investigators to believe this 14-year-old girl may not be Kim’s only victim,” the spokesman said, encouraging anyone with information to contact police.
The 14-year-old girl had disappeared from her home in Arizona in early November, but local police were treating her disappearance as a runaway case. Specific details about the case are being withheld from this report to protect the victim’s identity.
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