(Nov. 11) -- A 2-year-old girl whose temporary abduction sparked an Amber Alert in Maine on Monday is now safe at home again -- thanks to a passing hunter.
As The Associated Press reported, Gary Traynham allegedly attacked Hailey Traynham's mother on Monday, then fled with his daughter in a stolen pickup truck. The Amber Alert was issued that same day, and police in both Maine and New Hampshire began searching for the pair.
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On Tuesday afternoon, said WMUR/News 9, a hunter named Michael Grant was tramping through a wooded area not far from Milton, N.H., when he saw a familiar truck. Grant recognized both the make and license plate from television news reports.
If he had any doubts about whether this was Traynham's vehicle, they vanished when the little girl stood up in the passenger seat, said Foster's Daily Democrat.
"I walked up to him and told him that I knew he was the gentleman they were looking for," Grant told WMUR. "[I] pretty much told him he had one of two choices. He could turn himself in or I could turn him in."
After a long, emotional conversation, Grant said, he persuaded Traynham to surrender to police.
"He seemed like a normal guy," Grant told WMUR. "He knew he had done wrong, [but he] just didn't know how to handle it or how to turn himself in. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and the little girl's home now."
Traynham was being held Wednesday in a New Hampshire jail and faced an extradition hearing Thursday, The Associated Press said.
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