CONWAY, N.H., July 28 (UPI) -- A New Hampshire man was charged Monday with kidnapping a teenager who disappeared nine months ago while walking home from school.
Nathaniel Kibby, 34, was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday in Conway, N.H., where the victim, Abigail Hernandez, 15, and her family live. Kibby lives in Gorham, about 30 miles to the north.
"Over the course of the past week, law enforcement officers have worked around the clock to ascertain the facts and circumstances surrounding Abigail's disappearance and return," the state attorney general's office said. "Abigail Hernandez provided the police with details of her kidnapping sufficient to warrant today's arrest."
Abigail reappeared last week. Few details have been released about what happened to her.
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She vanished while walking home from high school in Conway in October.
"I wish that I could personally thank everyone who looked for me. My gratitude is beyond words," she said in a statement released Monday. "It's an incredible feeling to be home and I believe in my heart that your hopes and prayers played a major role in my release. Thank you all for the welcome home."
In an interview that aired Monday on NBC's Today, Abigail's mother, Zenya Hernandez, said her daughter's appearance had changed when she turned up last week.
"She was very thin,'' Hernandez said. "She lost a lot of weight, very pale. She had a look in her eyes I've never ever seen before, and that's something that's haunting me and I think will haunt me the rest of my life."
Hernandez said her daughter did not run away and was not in hiding to conceal a pregnancy. She said she believes "firmly" that her daughter was kidnapped by a stranger.
