SPRING LAKE, N.C. (WNCN) — New warrants show that a Harnett County teenage girl who was the subject of an Amber Alert last week made plans on Instagram to meet up with one of the suspects now charged with human trafficking.
According to warrants, the 15-year-old girl’s mother told Harnett County deputies that she had found hidden messages that showed that the teen may have arranged to meet up with someone.
Investigators uncovered Instagram messages between the teen and a suspect identified as 31-year-old Elihue Mahler. The suspect’s Instagram username was identified as “rich_mf_ez” according to search warrants.
On Feb. 25, there were messages between him in the victim indicating he was on his way to her home to pick her up. Messages indicate that Mahler asked the teen where she was as he was heading to her house.
In messages, Mahler wanted the teen to get rid of their messages, telling her to “Delete all this before leaving.”
“Look in like 12mins go ahead and sneak out and start walking down the street,” Mahler also instructed via Instagram messages.
“I understand, I’m so sorry,” the teen wrote back.
The teen’s mother told investigators that the girl’s cellphone had parental controls that prevented her from downloading certain social media apps. However, an Android tablet without parental controls was missing from the scene.
An Amber Alert went out on Feb. 26, a day after the teen was reported missing. Law enforcement officials searched relentlessly, eventually finding the teen in Dare County.
Mahler and another suspect, 23-year-old Austyn Lee Cole, were both charged with trafficking a child victim, kidnapping and felony conspiracy.
While they were initially given a $1 million dollar bond, due to the safety threat to children in the community, the judge agreed to increase that to $5 million.
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