Tennessee Man Charged With Kidnapping 10-Year-Old Girl From Her Bedroom
Steven Harris, 30, allegedly ripped an AC unit from a girl's window and dragged her into the woods. He faces charges including attempted rape of a child.
Tennessee suspect pried AC unit from child's window, dragged girl into woods at 1 a.m.
A 30-year-old Tennessee man was taken into custody Wednesday evening after allegedly kidnapping a 10-year-old girl from her bedroom, tying her to a tree, and holding a knife to her throat, aol.com reports.
Steven Devonte Harris faces two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, two counts of aggravated assault, aggravated burglary, and attempted rape of a child. He is booked in the Dyer County Jail and is scheduled to appear in court Monday morning.
According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), the victim was "forcibly taken from her home" in the early hours of Wednesday before being "threatened and assaulted" by Harris. She ultimately managed to escape and sought help from a neighbor, whose response the agency credited with saving the child's life.
The girl's mother, Crystal Brown, told Nashville NBC affiliate WSMV that Harris entered the home by ripping an air-conditioning unit from her daughter's bedroom window and pulling the child through the opening before dragging her into the adjacent woods.
Once in the woods, Harris allegedly used his belt to tie the girl to a tree, then held a knife to her throat and threatened to rape her, according to a police report cited by Memphis NBC affiliate WMC.
The girl eventually freed herself and ran to a nearby residence, where she reportedly sought help by communicating through a doorbell camera. Harris allegedly caught up with her and pulled her behind the neighboring apartment building, where he allegedly began strangling her.
The confrontation was interrupted when someone arriving at the apartment honked a car horn and shouted for help. The girl's aunt, who lives close by, then came outside carrying a spiked bat, prompting Harris to flee the scene.
A neighbor told Jackson ABC affiliate WBBJ she had been woken by loud noises and screaming at around 12:50 a.m. and observed the girl running toward her aunt's home. Emergency responders transported the child to a hospital for treatment.
Investigators recovered a belt, a vape, and a green sweatshirt from the wooded area where Harris allegedly held the victim. District Attorney Danny Goodman told WBBJ that authorities were able to identify Harris as a person of interest relatively quickly, in part due to his prior involvement in incidents in the area.
"The key part of the evidence was that the TBI and FBI, as well as the Dyer County Sheriff's Department and Newbern Police Department, were all searching the area, and they did find some items of interest that were mentioned by the victim," Goodman said. "Once we got those back, it kind of confirmed the suspect that we had in mind anyway. So, that was the key piece of evidence that let us know we were on the right track."
Physical evidence collected at the scene was submitted to the TBI Crime Lab for DNA testing, including Rapid DNA processing, which returned a match for Harris.
During a post-arrest interview, conducted after Harris had been read his Miranda rights, detectives said he appeared deceptive and gave inconsistent answers.
Source: Law & Crime