Man, 21, Takes Off With Niece, 13
Missouri authorities have a warrant to arrest the man on sex-related charges.
Dec. 12, 2007 — -- Missouri authorities have obtained a warrant for the arrest of a convicted felon whom they believe took off with his 13-year-old niece without her mother's permission early Tuesday morning.
Neither has been seen since.
"We've got a missing 13-year-old girl named Savannah Haggerman," Jim Hahn, chief deputy for the Benton County Sheriff's Office, told ABC News. "She is believed to be in the company of Justin Haggerman, her 21-year-old uncle, without her parents' permission."
The girl's mother reported her missing to police early Tuesday morning after an incident in Warsaw, Mo., according to the sheriff's office. An investigation by the state's department of family services involving Justin Haggerman had reportedly been opened on Sunday.
Haggerman is currently on parole in Missouri in connection with burglary and assault convictions and authorities consider him violent, even though they say Savannah Haggerman likely left with him on her own accord.
"I don't see that she's going to be physically hurt, but you never know," Hahn told ABC News. "If he gets backed into a corner, maybe, I've seen this before."
The Missouri State Highway Patrol joined the Benton County Sheriff's Office Tuesday in searching for the pair. Sgt. Keverne McCollum, a highway patrol spokesman in the missing persons unit, said that they alerted authorities in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio about the pair.
"There was some talk among friends that they might head to Iowa or Ohio," McCollum told ABC News, adding that the sheriff's office had received numerous tips since the endangered person alert was issued Tuesday.
The hunt for the pair intensified when the Benton County Sheriff's Office obtained a warrant from prosecutors for Justin Haggerman's arrest on charges of statutory rape and sex with a minor under the age of 14.
Evelyn Haggerman, Justin's grandmother, said she did not know where the two were. "She's been talking to him for a while," Evelyn Haggerman told ABC News. "She said she wanted to get away and called him and said she wanted him to get her."
Evelyn Haggerman said that under the terms of her grandson's parole, he was not allowed to be with her or any other children. She also said that Savannah's father is in jail and that her mother does not have a phone. ABC News could not find a listing for Savannah Haggerman's mother.
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