Abducted girl brings Easter to life for North Carolina congregation
4/15/1998 News media contact: Linda Green · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn By Dawn Hand* CHARLOTTE, N.C. (UMNS) - Palm Sunday marked the beginning of Holy Week, but for members and friends who gathered for worship at Memorial United Methodist Church, it marked a frantic, daylong search for a 12-year-old girl who was abducted from the church.
The girl was found in a nearby county, seven hours after she was discovered missing. Her hands were bound by duct tape, she had bruises and scrapes, but she was alive.
A member of the church's youth handbell choir, the girl was with a friend when a stranger approached, asking for help in bringing flowers to the church. The friend refused, but the victim said she would help.
Shortly before 11 a.m., the church children lined up to receive handbells for the processional when it was noticed that the girl was missing. Some adults began searching for her, and the worship service began.
The Rev. Ned Owens, pastor at the 903-member church, received word that the girl had not joined the choir. "I asked a couple of ushers to go quickly throughout our structure to see if they could find her," he said. A few moments later, a child spoke up saying, "She went with a man to get some flowers," he said.
At that point, Owens said he knew the girl was in trouble. Someone called the police, and the congregation prayed.
Immediately after worship, Owens said, several hundred members of the congregation organized a search, and the police responded quickly. After talking with members, the police sent a helicopter to search the area for a white industrial van. Meanwhile, word spread throughout the community about the missing girl.
"The faith groups and entire community really helped us out. . . .People helped to pass out fliers, search for the little girl, and many brought food to the church," Owens said.
While some members remained at the church, the girl's parents decided to go home at 4:45 p.m. in case their daughter called. More than an hour later, the call came. It was from their daughter. A motorist had spotted her on the side of the road, picked her up and called the sheriff's department. Officers took her to the hospital, and she was reunited with her parents.
Before leaving for the hospital, the parents alerted the church that their daughter had been found. Church members and friends returned to the sanctuary to offer songs of praise and prayers of thanks for a little girl whom Owens later described as courageous.
"I was surprised when I looked in our sanctuary and saw two-thirds of the sanctuary filled with people who had been here all day long," the pastor said.
Three days later, on April 9, police arrested Robin Wayne Martin, 41, of Charlotte. He was charged with kidnapping, first-degree rape, first-degree sex offense and taking indecent liberties with a child. He is being held without bond at Charlotte's Mecklenburg Jail Central.
Martin was a member of Memorial until 1993. He grew up in the church, was married there, and he and his wife raised their two children in it, Owens said. Martin's parents are still active in the congregation.
Martin was convicted on Sept. 16 in Danville, Va., of sexual assault and exposing himself to a minor, and he was freed on a $10,000 secured bond, according to the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer. His sentencing date was postponed from Oct. 27 without a new date set. After getting permission to leave Virginia, he returned to Charlotte and took a part-time job with a printing company.
On April 12, members and friends at Memorial praised God for the life of the victim and her family. The girl's father emotionally thanked the congregation for their prayers and support.
Western North Carolina Bishop Charlene P. Kammerer attended worship at Memorial on Easter Sunday. Through the tragedy and triumph of this ordeal, she said, "This church has been living the Holy Week story, and they will never forget it in terms of walking from Palm Sunday to Easter as a church family."
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*Hand is the director of communications for the Western North Carolina Annual Conference.
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