‘Pretty Scared’ 5-Year-Old Girl in Arkansas Located in Hidden Compartment in Man’s Bedroom: Police
Image from the body cam footage of where the girl was kept inside the closet.
Nov. 8 2023, Published 5:30 p.m. ET
A man in Arkansas has been arrested after police found a 5-year-old girl hidden in a secret closet inside his home, RadarOnline.com has learned.
On Nov. 2, officers executed a search warrant at the home of 40-year-old Jon Thompson, as Front Page Detectives reported.
A search warrant was executed at the home of Jon Thompson, police said.
The arrest report stated the warrant was in service of a judge’s order to remove the child from the home.
Thompson spoke with officers through a window and claimed the young girl wasn’t there and he refused to let the police inside. Officers continued to talk with Thompson, who they said finally admitted the girl was inside and he let them in.
Travis Stacey Peterson and Melissa Ann Gray of Kearns, Utah, were arrested for aggravated child abuse.
Once inside the home, officers heard noises coming from a bedroom. Thompson then led them to the room, got down on his knees inside a closet and started clearing boxes and clothing that were on the floor, officials said.
Thompson then pulled off a board that was nailed to the wall “to get access to a small space” behind the closet, the arrest report stated.
Thompson eventually led police to the hidden space in his bedroom closet.
Body camera footage from the Tontitown Police shows Thompson eventually bringing the girl out of the hidden space.
“She was very emotional when she came out and pretty scared,” Detective Keith Lindley said. “He had instructed her not to make a sound or reveal she was back there,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
After matching the DNA from the spit to the crime scene, an arrest was made.
According to the arrest report, the hidden space was “six to eight feet at the widest point going down to maybe two to four feet at the other.”
Officials said the victim didn’t appear to be physically harmed and she was placed into the custody of the state Department of Human Services.
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Thompson was arrested and charged with false imprisonment, child endangerment, and interference in custody, authorities said.
He was already out on bond on drug charges, but he was given an additional $5,000 bond on Nov. 6.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
