SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — It sounds like something in the movies. But it was real, and a parent’s nightmare coming to life.
Meade County Sheriff Pat West says a call came in Sunday from a family sharing that their 13-year-old daughter was missing, with law enforcement soon concluding that someone took her. 33-year-old Sean Carlos Payne of Nebraska was identified as the suspect.
“Through some investigative means we were able to identify the vehicle that he was driving, and then that was sent out to the Wyoming authorities, and actually I believe a Wyoming highway patrolman was able to locate that vehicle, and then ultimately was able to get him arrested,” West said Monday.
The 13-year-old girl from rural Meade County is again with her family. Payne was wanted in Nebraska for assault and child abuse; the Meade County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Payne had also violated probation for enticing a minor.
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“When this call first came in, I was extremely concerned for her safety and where she might end up, and the work that came in to this, between our dispatchers and our deputies and then we looped in the attorney general’s office with the Division of Criminal Investigation, everybody got on the same page,” West said.
That soon led to the Rawlins, Wyo. area, where the Wyoming Highway Patrol took Payne into custody on Sunday. West says the girl was with Payne. South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley uses the word “exceptional” to describe Meade County’s work on this case.
“A child abduction is a family and community’s worst nightmare,” Jackley said. “This is an example of why training is so important, how the Meade County authorities and Sheriff West and his team responded, how the DCI got involved, the Highway Patrol, moved quickly over to Wyoming authorities.”
West believes the suspect and alleged victim came into contact over the phone and through the internet.
The Meade County Sheriff’s Office originally said in a news release that Payne is a registered sex offender; KELOLAND News was unable to track down any records supporting that claim.
