CAROLINA BEACH, N.C. (WECT) – A woman who claims to have witnessed a 6-year-old girl’s kidnapping in broad daylight Wednesday said her initial thought wasn’t abduction.
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Douglas Edwards is accused of abducting the child from her driveway in the Royal Palms community on Carolina Beach Road. The girl was found chained to a tree in a wooded area off River Road approximately 16 hours later.
Natosha Longo said she saw Edwards put the girl on his moped, but her initial concern was for the child’s safety as she saw her nearly slip off and she wasn’t wearing a helmet. She said she ran after the pair yelling concern for the child’s safety, but Edwards drove off.
She called the non-emergency line to report the incident, but it was only after seeing a large law enforcement presence a short time later she realized what she had actually witnessed.
“He was within arm’s reach; I could have grabbed him right then if I had known that little girl was being kidnapped,” Longo said.
Longo emotionally recalled exactly what she saw in an interview after Edwards first court appearance Friday morning.
“He had his arm around her and she was smacking him, her family definitely taught her what she needed to do in that situation because she was screaming and she was kicking and she was saying ‘no, no, no,’ and trying to get away,” Longo said. “I think that’s maybe why he stopped behind the mail truck because I think she was slipping and she was getting away and he scooped her back up and when he saw me coming after him he took off.”
The girl is now safe and the suspect in jail under a $9 million dollar bond. Longo said she looks at the situation like a game of chess, with all of the pieces in the right place at the right time.
