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Missing N.C. Girl May Be With Sex Offender

Associated Press
Published | Updated

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Alabama public safety officials issued a missing child alert Monday for a 12-year-old North Carolina girl who apparently ran away from her home and may be traveling with a convicted sex offender.

Jodie Collie (search) was last seen in her bedroom in Rocky Mount, N.C., on Thursday night, and was reported missing the following morning by her family.

The Alabama Department of Public Safety (search) issued an alert Monday morning and sought the public's assistance in trying to locate the girl. The department's alert said the girl "is believed to be in extreme danger."

Police in North Carolina said they believe she was lured away by Phillip Denkler (search), 27, a registered sex offender who served a prison sentence for taking indecent liberties with a child. The two apparently had talked on the telephone for months.

The girl's mother, Kim Baker, said she knew of Denkler, but no one in the family was aware of his criminal record or that he had been in touch with Jodie.

"We were kind of both confused to as to how she met this guy and got so trusting of him," Baker said.

There were no signs of a struggle in the girl's bedroom, and relatives said she left a note.

"She left us a note saying she needed some time to herself and not to be mad and that she loves us," Dorothy Collie, Jodie's grandmother, said. "I don't know what he'll do to her. ... I just beg him, don't hurt her, just bring her home where she belongs."

Jodie is a 5-foot-4, 114-pound white girl with blonde hair and green eyes. Denkler was described as a 6-foot-1, 150 pound white man with short black hair and brown eyes. A police photograph released as part of an Amber Alert showed him wearing glasses and a light mustache.

The alert said the pair might be traveling in a 2005 beige Hyundai Sonata with a North Carolina license plate number NWM-2630.

Anyone with information can contact the Rocky Mount police at 252-972-1411, the FBI in Charlotte, N.C., at 704-377-9200, or the Alabama Department of Public Safety at 334-242-4128.