Daijiworld Media Network - Houston

Houston, Dec 28: A man in the US state of Texas used his phone’s parental control tracking tools to locate and rescue his teenage daughter, who was abducted while walking her dog on Christmas Day, authorities said.

The 15-year-old girl was taken from a street in the Houston suburb of Porter on Thursday. According to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, the girl’s parents became alarmed when she failed to return home at her usual time.

Using parental controls on his phone, the girl’s father tracked her location to an area about three kilometres away in Harris County. He drove to a secluded, partially wooded location, where he found his daughter and her dog inside a maroon-coloured pickup truck with a 23-year-old man.

Police said the father helped his daughter escape from the vehicle and immediately alerted law enforcement. The suspect was identified as Giovanni Rosales Espinoza, who allegedly threatened the girl with a knife and abducted her from the street.

Based on witness accounts and details of the suspect’s vehicle, deputies tracked down Espinoza and arrested him without incident. He has been charged with aggravated kidnapping and indecency with a child and is currently lodged in the Montgomery County Jail without bond.

Reacting to the incident, Montgomery County Sheriff Wesley Doolittle said, “Christmas is meant for joy, but this man chose to shatter that by targeting a child. I am incredibly proud of our deputies and detectives who worked tirelessly to ensure this dangerous predator was swiftly apprehended and taken off our streets.”

Authorities said the investigation is ongoing.