Abduction suspect extradited to Kern County
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A Colorado man accused of abducting an 11-year-old girl from Bakersfield has been extradited to Kern County and is due in court Thursday, according to inmate booking records.
Joshua Michael Stehle, 29, was booked into Lerdo Jail Tuesday on suspicion of kidnapping, false imprisonment with violence, child molestation and contacting a child to commit a sex act, records show.
For years she thought her son died of an overdose. Police footage changed all that
On March 17, family of the girl reported her missing around 5:30 a.m., telling authorities they’d last seen her at about 2 a.m.
Some of her friends told deputies the girl was dating a man who wanted to pick her up from home and marry her, according to a warrant, and a search of her computer showed she’d been communicating for months on Snapchat with a man from Colorado.
Detectives learned he drove a Chevy Silverado and obtained and pinged his number. It showed the phone was in the area of Baker, California at 6:23 a.m., traveling away from California toward Utah on I-70, according to the warrant.
Kern authorities notified Utah law enforcement agencies. The suspected pickup was located near Salina, Utah, with Stehle and the girl inside, and he was arrested, according to the warrant. He’d been in custody in Salina awaiting extradition to Kern County.
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