Law enforcement has, in an exciting turn of events, reported the case of a 16-year-old girl who played a crucial role in unraveling her kidnap case in Dunnellon, Florida. According to authorities, they were able to pinpoint her location after she logged into World of Warcraft, an online video game, at her abductor’s home.
Her activity left a digital trail that led to the arrest of 31-year-old Thomas Ebersole at his Dunnellon home, which is about 80 miles north of Tampa. On December 28, the sheriff’s office received a request from the FBI to assist them in determining the teen’s whereabouts. Later that day, she was reported missing by Police in Lima, Ohio.
Fortunately, investigators discovered that the teen, Mikayla Buckner, had logged into her World of Warcraft account from a local address. They later found that it was Ebersole’s home, where he accessed his World of Warcraft account.
At first, when the cops arrived at his home, Ebersole said he had no idea who the teen was. Later on, he confessed that he had driven nearly 14 hours from Florida to Ohio, where he had met Mikayla, before taking her back to his residence in Dunnellon.
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He also stated that he was in a romantic relationship with the teen and intended to keep her in his home until he could marry her. Officials have reported that Ebersole submitted various online messages to the detectives handling his case.
The messages proved that he had planned to have sex with Mikayla after meeting her in Ohio, even though he knew that she was a minor and legally unable to consent to sexual activity.
Ebersole was arrested on January 3 and remanded in Marion County Jail. He is facing felony and misdemeanor charges involving sheltering an unmarried minor, interfering with child custody, and traveling to meet a minor to engage in sexual activity.
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Although jail records didn’t show that Ebersole has obtained the services of a defense attorney, his bail bond has been set at $6,000. Mikayla’s mum, Jennifer Johns, was shaken by the incident.
“You don’t take something as precious as a child and not expect us to go to hell and back to get you back,” she said. “You die 1,000 deaths every day. You’re separated from the child that you brought into this world.”
Narrating the story, Johns said that it was a typical day at her home on the date her daughter went missing. The teen was at home playing an online video game during the break while she had gone to work as usual. Nothing would have prepared her for the day’s bizarre turn of events.
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“With my daughter’s extreme scoliosis, there was no way she was walking in the pouring down rain without somebody picking her up. I knew that,” Johns explained. She said Ebersole and her daughter had connected over the World of Witchcraft game and that “She was so brainwashed and so far gone, she didn’t realize the danger that she was in.”
We hope that Johns and her family get justice, and this story serves as a cautionary tale for parents with minors. As Johns said, “I want other parents to step up, be the adult in your child’s life. These online predators don’t care how old you are.”
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