FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- A Fort Bragg soldier is charged with kidnapping a 12-year-old girl and leaving a ransom note behind.
- The girl's grandmother discovered her granddaughter was missing from her room Sunday morning
- Her window was open and a ransom note was lying on her bed
- The girl was found with James Murdock Peele in Fayetteville
The Craven County Sheriff's Office says the case began in an online chat room. They say James Murdock Peele, a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne division, and the girl chatted online before she was kidnapped.
The victim's grandmother called police when she discovered her granddaughter missing from her room Sunday morning.
She says the window was open and a ransom note was lying on her bed.
Investigators were able to track down the girl in Fayetteville hours later.
She was with Peele, who now faces first degree kidnapping charges and has a bond of $750,000. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
The victim was reunited with her grandmother Sunday evening.