SEAT PLEASANT, Md., Feb. 15 (UPI) -- A Texas truck driver has been arrested and charged with abducting an 11-year-old Maryland girl and driving her to Tennessee, officials said.
Elmer Joaquin Zelaya, 41, was stopped and arrested by a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer about 10 p.m. Saturday after Maryland authorities issued an Amber alert earlier that day, The Washington Post reported Monday.
Zelaya was an acquaintance of the girl's family, authorities said, and neighbors often saw his tractor-trailer parked at the family home.
Relatives reported Karina Manzano-Garcia missing from her Seat Pleasant, Md., home about 2:30 p.m., Saturday and authorities began radio and television broadcasts with descriptions of the girl and the truck Zelaya was thought to be driving, the Post reported.
The highway patrolman spotted the truck in Tennessee's Madison County and took Zelaya into custody, a spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Safety said.
Police would not say how or why Zelaya allegedly drove off with Karina, who was returned to her home Sunday, the Post said.
"It's bad, man. We know the kids," neighbor Larry Summers, 50, said. "When something like that goes on, that kind of bothers the whole neighborhood."
