Girl, 14, and child molester she vanished with after being groomed on app Kik are found in Virginia trailer park after 16 days 'living on apples in the woods'

  • Hayleigh Wilson went missing from Surgoinsville, Tennessee, on June 22
  • She allegedly stole pickup truck and drove to meet Benjamin Shook, 41
  • Shook, a convicted sex offender, groomed Wilson via messaging app Kik
  • The two were found in Atkins, Virginia, on Tuesday after a 16-day hunt 
  • Shook was arrested and is now in jail - he is due in court later this month 

A 14-year-old girl who vanished more than two weeks ago with a convicted child molester has been found in a trailer park in Virginia.

Hayleigh Wilson, 14, allegedly stole her father's pickup truck and drove to meet 41-year-old sex offender Benjamin Shook after being seduced by him via online messaging app Kik.

She fled her home in Surgoinsville, Tennessee, and went on the run with Shook for 16 days - during which the two are thought to have lived almost entirely outside, in the woods around Virginia and North Carolina.

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Hayleigh Wilson, 14, was found with sex offender Benjamin Shook after 16 days on the run
In jail: Shook is now in custody. He is pictured above in a mugshot taken after he was captured

Caught: Hayleigh Wilson, 14, (left) was found with sex offender Benjamin Shook (right) after 16 days on the run

'Begging for a shower': Hayleigh and Shook were caught in a trailer park in Atkins, Virginia, pictured above. The two reportedly knocked on a trailer door at 5am asking to wash themselves

'Begging for a shower': Hayleigh and Shook were caught in a trailer park in Atkins, Virginia, pictured above. The two reportedly knocked on a trailer door at 5am asking to wash themselves

Tip-off: Cole Billes told local news how she told the pair she wouldn't alert authorities when they knocked on her door - then dialed 911 while Shook was using her shower

Tip-off: Cole Billes told local news how she told the pair she wouldn't alert authorities when they knocked on her door - then dialed 911 while Shook was using her shower

But their time on the run came to an end on Tuesday after a woman called 911 after the two knocked on the door of her trailer in Atkins, Virginia, begging for a shower.

Cole Billes told Virginia news station WCYB that Hayleigh and Shook knocked on her door at 5am, and admitted they were on the run from the law.

She said she promised not to alert the authorities - but called for police while Shook was in the shower.

Shook - who served 10 years in a Georgia prison for child molestation - reportedly surrendered without a struggle when officers arrived, and said: 'I'm tired of running'.

Shame: A handcuffed Shook covered his face as officers led him into the back of a car to be taken to jail

Shame: A handcuffed Shook covered his face as officers led him into the back of a car to be taken to jail

Shackled: Shook is pictured above hiding from the cameras on Tuesday after his arrest

Shackled: Shook is pictured above hiding from the cameras on Tuesday after his arrest

He covered his face as officers marched him out of a local sheriff's department and loaded him into a pickup truck to be taken to jail.

Prosecutors in Tennessee have charged him for failing to register as a sex offender in the state. Further charges related specifically to his time on the run are set to follow.

Officials said Hayleigh has been reunited with her family. Her father, Eddie Wilson, posted an emotional message on social media to celebrate.

He said: 'She has been found, thank God. He gets all the praise.

'And through you all and your prayers... but keep praying 'cause the family's job has just begun. With all the counselling that we all have to go trough to try and get our family back in order and our little girl back to being a little girl again.'

Sighting: Hayleigh is pictured above at a store in Sugar Grove, Virginia, on Tuesday 23 June. The two are thought to have bought camping supplies there

Sighting: Hayleigh is pictured above at a store in Sugar Grove, Virginia, on Tuesday 23 June. The two are thought to have bought camping supplies there

Accompanied: Shook, who served 10 years in prison and was out on parole, was also pictured in the store

Accompanied: Shook, who served 10 years in prison and was out on parole, was also pictured in the store

Shook and Hayleigh were spotted in stores around North Carolina and Virginia in the days after their disappearance, where they seem to have bought camping supplies which they used to live for two weeks in the woods.

Officers said the two had a pair of backpacks stuffed with food, raincoats, candles and medicine.

They had reportedly been surviving by eating little more than apples and oatmeal, and drinking spring water.

The U.S. Marshals Service, which coordinated the search, posted an announcement on Tuesday thanking the public for their help finding Hayleigh, who was the subject of an Amber alert.

Groomed online: Police said that Hayleigh, pictured, met Shook on the internet, then took her step-father's pickup truck to meet him at a campsite
'Respectable Christian girl': Hayleigh's family are shocked that she was lured away by Shook

Groomed online: Police said that Hayleigh, pictured above, met Shook on the messaging app Kik, then took her family's pickup truck to meet him at a campsite

On camera: Hayleigh and Shook are pictured above leaving on of the stores they visited - apparently for camping supplied

On camera: Hayleigh and Shook are pictured above leaving on of the stores they visited - apparently for camping supplied

Officers announced a $5,000 reward for helping them find Hayleigh on Monday, the day before she and Shook were caught.

Hayleigh's family first sounded the alarm on June 22, after she disappeared late at night, apparently having taken her father's Ford Explorer pickup truck.

She is thought to have driven it to Morristown, Tennessee, where Shook had moved from Georgia. 

They were spotted later that night in Marion, North Carolina, around 100 miles away. The pair were caught on surveillance camera at a Walmart around 3.30am. 

'Be man enough': Eddie Wilson issued an emotional plea to his daughter and Shook, whom he asked directly to bring her home

'Be man enough': Eddie Wilson issued an emotional plea to his daughter and Shook, whom he asked directly to bring her home

Shook was convicted of child molestation in 2004, and was released on parole in September 2014.

The two were seen in another store the next day, and later apparently spotted in Archdale, North Carolina. 

Hayleigh's distraught family begged both her and Shook to come back home and give themselves up during the hunt.

Her father Eddie Wilson issued an emotional plea during an interview with local news station WATE.

He said: 'We don't know if she's gonna be home tomorrow or a year from now. I want Hayleigh to know that we love her and we want her home and we won't stop looking for her - she's our little girl.

'She's a respectable little Christian girl - but yet she got lured in. Nobody knows this man so he's just a total stranger. If she was to see this, I want her to know that I won't ever quit looking for her.'

Speaking directly to shook, he said: 'For Hayleigh's sake I just ask you to be man enough to bring her home safe - just let her out and go your own way, but bring my little girl home, she don't deserve to be like this.'

Shook is due back in court next week. 

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