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Crime News Breaking News

11-Year-Old Girl Found In Hotel After Allegedly Being Lured By Man She Met On Minecraft

John Peter Byrns, 24, posed as a young girl when talking to 11-year-old Alice Johnson on Minecraft. Then, he allegedly drove across states to pick her up.

By Gina Tron
5 Kidnapped Teens Who Escaped Their Abductors

An 11-year-old girl from Florida was allegedly kidnapped by a man she met while playing Minecraft. On Sunday, Alice Johnson’s dad noticed she was gone when he tried to wake up her for church.

The child was found on Sunday after police and FBI agents were able to track her down and find her in at a Holiday Inn in Georgia with 24-year-old John Peter Byrns, from Illinois, WESH 2 reports.

"This is someone that she's been communicating with online under the guise of being a female and basically has just pulled her into a trap, so to speak," the girl’s dad told the publication. He said he and Johnson’s mother believed she had made an online friend, a girl from Illinois.

Police said during a press conference on Monday, according to an ABC affiliate, that Byrns “lived in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and he traveled quite a ways to get to her. He posed as a 13 to 14-year-old to speak with the young girl. Parents need to know who your child is communicating with online. This person was an adult male who is a child sexual predator. This man was so convincing that he convinced this young girl to leave her home and meet him at a place and he took her to Georgia. We hope that justice prevails in this case. He is now in custody for kidnapping of a child under the age of 13. He may be charged with additional charges.”

It’s unclear if Byrns used a voice changer. It is believed he was trying to take her back with him to Illinois. It is not known if Byrns has obtained a lawyer yet. He is currently being held in Florida for the FBI.

Police are saying that Johnson is doing okay, from a physical standpoint. 

“I would say she’s lucky to be alive. She’s lucky that the circumstances are not any worse than what they are,” Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said, according to Fox News.

[Photos: Twitter/Bibb County Sheriff's Office]

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