New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office charged a convicted sex offender with the kidnapping of a 6-year-old Wilmington girl Wednesday, Sept. 14 after she was discovered the next day in a wooded area following a police search that involved several agencies.
Douglas Nelson Edwards, 46, of 302 Patalanda Drive in Wilmington, was charged with first-degree kidnapping, indecent liberties with a child and two counts of parole violation. He is in New Hanover County Jail on a $9 million bond.
The sheriff’s office issued an Amber Alert for the girl shortly after her family reported she was abducted from the Royal Palms Mobile Home Park at about 4:50 p.m. on Wednesday. Witnesses said the suspect carried the girl away on a moped and drove into the woods. She was found with the help of a police search dog in a wooded area off River Road the next morning about two miles from her home, said Lt. Jerry Brewer with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office.
After the Amber Alert was issued, the sheriff’s office organized an extensive search that included several agencies, including Wilmington, Carolina Beach and Kure Beach police, the State Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.
When the girl was discovered, she was “restrained,” but freed with the assistance of nearby civilians, Brewer said. She was taken to the hospital, where she spent two nights before being released, said Brewer, who noted her condition was reported as “good” after the first night in the hospital.
The North Carolina Sex Offender Registry lists Edwards’ 1996 conviction for first-degree sex offense and indecent liberties with a minor, with the victim in that case also listed as 6 years old. Edwards was released on parole April 30 after being convicted last fall on charges of selling drugs.
Edwards made an initial court appearance Friday, Sept. 16, when District Court Judge Chad Hogston set the bail. Sheriff’s deputies arrested Edwards on Thursday, Sept. 15 on South College Road at about 10 a.m., Brewer said. Sheriff’s detectives had been following him, as well as other registered sex offenders in the area, Brewer said, but made the arrest of Edwards after discovering evidence they said linked him to the crime.
The N.C. Sex Offender Registry lists seven registered sex offenders living within three miles of the Lumina News office, which includes one on Wrightsville Beach’s south end on Meier Street. Approximately 50 are listed within a 5-mile radius of the Lumina News office.
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Society is to blame for any future crimes someone on the registry commits. There should not be a registry. What a stupid idea. You’re either dangerous enough to remain locked up or after your sentence ends, you should be entirely free of harassment and registering. For the amount of money spent on this, we could have an air marshal on every U./S. flight, what a waste.