Search warrants show 15-year-old at center of AMBER Alert met alleged abductors on Instagram

SPRING LAKE, N.C. (WTVD) -- New search warrants in the abduction of a 15-year-old girl in Harnett County last month reveal conversations between the teen and one of her alleged abductors on social media.

Two men, Elihue Mahler, 31, of Virginia Beach, and Austyn Lee Cole, 23, of Kitty Hawk, are facing human trafficking and kidnapping charges after the teen went missing from her home near Spring Lake in February, prompting a statewide AMBER Alert.

Documents show that the teen told her mom she needed to go outside to get a water bottle from their car, however, a conversation using Instagram's direct messaging system shows she was making plans to meet up with a person with the username "rich_mf_ez", which belonged to Mahler, according to search warrants.

On Feb. 25, the account messaged the girl "Yo" and "Where you at." After the teen responded, "rich_mf_ez" instructed her multiple times to delete all of the messages before leaving.

He then told her "Look in like 12 minutes go ahead and sneak out and start walking down the street."

The teen was eventually found safe with Mahler and Cole in Dare County more than 100 miles from home.

During the search, the girl's mother told investigators her daughter's phone had parental controls that prevented her from downloading social media apps. But the teen had a tablet, which was missing from the scene, without those controls.

According to authorities, Mahler has a lengthy criminal history in Virginia, including fleeing to elude and assault on a law enforcement officer, while Cole's history is not as "substantial."

Both men were considered flight risks and the judge increased their bonds to $5 million each in Harnett County. They face charges of felony human trafficking of a child victim, felony kidnapping, felony conspiracy to kidnap, and felony conspiracy, human trafficking.

Social media dangers

ABC11 spoke with Laura Tierney, the Founder and CEO of The Social Institute in Durham - whose mission is to help parents and kids navigate technology and channel it for good.

"You are who you surround yourself with," Tierney said. "And so I always tell the students, avoid anonymous platforms and sites that can easily surround you with strangers."

Tierney said that traffickers have become more adept at reaching kids, utilizing new social media platforms and even online gaming to get in contact with potential victims. She said that nowadays, it's much more likely an online threat will try to build a relationship with a potential victim over time.

"Unfortunately, traffickers, they have gotten even more sophisticated in how they approach people, especially young people. And one major trend that they often do is try to just build trust over time," she said.

While the warrants from last week's kidnapping underscore the potential risks for kids of interacting with strangers online, Tierney said there are warning signs for potentially illicit interactions that parents can look out for.

"If your child doesn't want you to see their screen, like if they're quickly closing tabs or, you know, changing what's on their screen or even angling their device that way. And also if they start pulling back more than usual. So if they're spending more time alone or avoiding family activities," Tierney said.

Tierney added that there are powerful built-in settings families can use, like making all accounts private and turning off location sharing on different apps. She said young people should be sensitive to any attempts to extract personal information.