A 13-year old boy is accused of kidnapping and raping a little girl just yards from her home.
The Sevier County Sheriff's Office said it happened Saturday evening in the Kodak/Northview community in Sevier County.
The 6-year-old girl was playing with her younger brother in their
backyard. The sheriff's office said the boy watched his sister be taken
away by what he described as a man.
The girl's mother started yelling for her daughter when she saw her
coming from the woods behind her home. The mom found her with her wrists
tied with rope and missing some of her clothes.
The little girl explained to her mom that a man had sexually assaulted her.
Her mother immediately called police and her daughter was taken to Children's Hospital.
Child advocacy expert, Pamela Dickey of Childhelp Children's Advocacy
Center of East Tennessee, said that the little girl's family did
everything right by getting her help immediately.
She says most of the time they don't have that advantage.
"One of the hardest parts of working with kids who've made
allegations of sexual abuse is that we rarely do have DNA evidence, we
rarely have medical evidence, so really all we have is the child's
story," said Dickey.
In this case, the sheriff's office does have DNA and medical evidence
as well as the child's story. That evidence led to an arrest of a
13-year-boy currently held in juvenile jail.
He is charged with aggravated kidnapping and rape of a child.
Dickey says there is some good news in this terrible story. She says
the little girl should recover emotionally with the help of therapy.
"The beauty of this case is that mom believed immediately and ran to
get her treatment. So this child has a very good prognosis for having a
good outcome even though this was an awful thing to happen to her,"
Dickey said.
Dickey said it's important to be vigilant and listen to your children
and believe them if they tell you they are being harmed. She said not
believing them can be just as harmful as the abuse itself.
It's not clear from the sheriff's information if the child knew her
attacker. But Childhelp says most of the people who hurt children are
close to them.
State law requires you report child abuse if you see it. Call the DCS
hotline at 1-877-237-0004 if
you have information.
Previous story
A 13-year-old boy has been charged with raping a little girl in Sevier County.
According to Sevier County Sheriff Ron Seals,the assault happened on Saturday evening in the Northview/Kodak community.
According to the 6-year-old girl's mother, the girl and her 4-year-old brother were playing in the backyard. The boy came inside and told the mother that the girl had walked away with a man.
The mother went outside and yelled for her daughter, who came out of the woods, partially clothed and with a rope around her neck. She told her mother the man sexually assaulted her.
Investigators searched the area and found some of the girl's clothing.
She was taken to a hospital for treatment, and was able to describe her attacker.
Detectives identified the suspect and arrested him on Monday. He was charged with aggravated kidnapping and rape of a child. He is being held pending a hearing in Sevier County Juvenile Court on Feb 28.