Hayleigh Wilson with convicted child molester Ben Shook in Marion N.C. on June 23. Security cameras caught the two shopping at Walmart after the 14-year old Wilson disappeared from her home in Surgoinsville, TN. (PHOTO/TBI)
The Amber alert is over in the search for a convicted Habersham County sex offender and missing Tennessee girl.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation reports 14-year old Kayleigh Wilson and 41-year old Benjamin “Ben” Shook were found by the U.S. Marshal’s Service in Smyth County, Virginia early this morning.
The pair had been missing for more than two weeks. Authorities say Wilson left her home in Surgoinsville June 22nd after meeting Shook in an online chat room.
Tennessee authorities say Shook was found guilty of child molestation in a case from Habersham County and aggravated child molestation in a case from Stephens County. Shook was in prison from 2004 to 2014 but failed to register as a sex offender in Georgia when he got out last year. Instead, he moved to Tennessee.
According to the TBI, Hayleigh and Shook were both taken to the Smyth County Sheriff’s Department in Marion, Virginia after being found. WCYB-TV in Bristol, Virginia reports Wilson was taken to a hospital from there to be checked out.
Shook is being detained on an active warrant from Georgia for failure to register as a sex offender.
