A 13-year-old girl from East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, who went missing in October, has been recovered after being found hidden in a box covered by a sheet in the basement of a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, home.
The teen was last seen at the Greyhound bus station in Baton Rouge after traveling from Columbus, Georgia.
Authorities traced her through online activity, discovering she had been in contact with 26-year-old Ki-Shawn Crumity via Snapchat.
Crumity allegedly lured her by promising to help her get adopted by a trusted adult.
The girl was transported from Baton Rouge to Georgia by 62-year-old Ronald Smith of New Orleans and another man, then placed on a bus to Pittsburgh via Washington, D.C.
At the D.C. bus station, she met a woman who offered assistance, and the group proceeded to Pittsburgh, where the teen stayed in the basement with Crumity and the woman.
According to investigators, Crumity provided the girl with edibles and alcohol and sexually assaulted her at least once or twice a day during the week she was there. He reportedly admitted to knowing she was a runaway and that his actions would get him in trouble.
On Friday, the FBI executed a search warrant with a SWAT team at the Davis Avenue home, discovering the girl in the basement box.
The Independent reports, “The girl later told authorities that being at the hospital after her rescue was ‘the safest she ever felt,’ according to the complaint.”
Crumity was arrested on-site and faces charges including trafficking in individuals, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, and selling or furnishing alcohol to a minor. He is being held without bond at Allegheny County Jail.
Smith was arrested in Columbus, Georgia, on charges of simple kidnapping and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile.
Authorities indicated that additional arrests and charges are pending.
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