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Duane Taylor, 47, made his first appearance in federal court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on kidnapping charges on Thursday, Sept. 22.
He's accused of kidnapping 13-year-old Janae Kalia-Henry from her home near Schuylkill Avenue in Reading around 2 a.m. on Aug. 31, prompting state police to issue an Amber Alert approximately 12 hours later.
The multi-state search led authorities to Brooklyn, where they found the girl that evening wearing no shoes on Glenmore Avenue, authorities previously said.
The girl's mom called police later that morning, after noticing that her daughter was not in the house and that the back door was wide open, police said. She had last seen her daughter around 10:30 p.m. the night before.
Video surveillance footage from the home’s security system showed a man with his upper body and face covered in a sheet when he broke into the home around 2 a.m. and walked up to the second floor, police said. He's then seen walking behind the girl and escorting her outside.
The woman later identified the suspect as her ex-boyfriend.
From there, investigators contacted the New York City Police Department, who traced the Taylor to his home in Brooklyn, but did not find the girl there, they said.
She was located later that day when someone called 911 to report a child alone and asking for help because she had been kidnapped from Pennsylvania.
“On August 31, 2022, millions of people received notification of an Amber Alert for a missing child from Reading, PA. Thanks to the hard work of investigators in Pennsylvania and New York City, the alleged kidnapper was swiftly tracked down and the child was found and reunited with her mother,” said U.S. Attorney Romero.
“As any parent can understand, this was a terrifying situation for this family, and this defendant will now appear in federal court to answer to these charges.”
If convicted, proescutors say Taylor faces a maximum possible sentence of life in prison.
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