A 28-year-old Minnesota man was arrested early Thursday morning after police stopped his vehicle on his way to Iowa and found an abducted 7-year-old girl — who had been raped — inside.
Joseph Andrew Bragg faces one count of kidnapping and one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, KSTP reports.
The girl had been reported missing Wednesday night after she was dropped off from by her school bus around 3:40 p.m. but never made it home. The girl’s mother checked with her father and grandmother, who said they didn’t have her, before contacting police.
The mother also told investigators of an unusual online interaction she had with the suspect in December, according to court documents. Bragg added her on Facebook she said, and she accepted the add because she thought he was a relative of one of her friends. Soon, however, she realized he had simply seen her profile and wanted to message her.
Bragg asked her personal questions, she said, including whether she had kids, and said he wanted children of his own but wasn’t discouraged by a woman already having children. He further said he worked in childcare and asked if she knew anyone who needed childcare services.
The mother eventually blocked him. The child father also said he didn’t know Bragg.
The criminal complaint says that investigators linked the Facebook profile to Bragg, learned he had access to a rental pickup truck, and started tracking his cell phone, Minnesota Public Radio reported. The cell phone showed him traveling south in Interstate 35 toward Iowa, and police in Albert Lea spotted the truck at a truck stop and stopped it, finding the missing girl in the back seat.
Location data on the rental truck placed it near the victim’s home in Zimmerman around the time she was abducted, and it was in the same spot the day before. The court documents also say that Bragg took the girl to a hotel in Plymouth after the abduction.
The victim told investigators that Bragg raped her.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.
[Featured image: Joseph Andrew Bragg/Sherbourne County Sheriff’s Office]