Two men arrested in child abduction of 15-year-old Spring Lake victim; 1yo Elihue Martin Mahler and 23yo Austyn Lee Cole arrested on OBX, charged in abduction of Raleigh-area teen

The SWAT team in Currituck County, together with Dare County authorities, arrested two males Thursday morning in connection with a 15-year-old girl missing from Spring Lake in Harnett County, North Carolina.

The girl was the subject of an Amber Alert and was reported missing on Tuesday morning. Agents with the FBI and the State Bureau of Investigation linked Elihue Mahler, 31, of Virginia Beach, and Austyn Cole, 23, of the Outer Banks’ Colington Island area, to the case. They are charged with child trafficking, kidnapping, and conspiracy.

“I don’t really know that she said or did anything,” said Sgt. Chris Saunders, who runs the Currituck SWAT team. “It was more so overwhelming for her to be in that situation.”

Saunders said finding a teen safe who’d been missing for 48 hours was an unlikely happy ending.

“To actually be able to take a child and return that child to their family is just an overwhelming feeling of success and happiness amongst my entire team,” Saunders said.

Mahler and Cole were already in court in Harnett County Friday afternoon to face the human trafficking, kidnapping and conspiracy charges.

The 15-year-old is safely back with her family.