Missing Child Rescued By Armed Citizen

Union Leader (NH):

MILTON, N.H. (AP) -- A missing 2-year-old Maine girl who was allegedly taken by her father has been recovered and is OK, police said Tuesday.

Hailey Traynham was found in the woods with her father, 38-year-old Gary Traynham, who has been arrested and is due to appear in court later this week. State police say he's being held in New Hampshire on a fugitive charge from Maine.

A hunter spotted Traynham and persuaded him to surrender and took the pair to the home of retired Wakefield Police Chief Timothy Merrill.

Men with rifles do tend to possess a certain "persuasive" quality.

Hailey disappeared Monday after Traynham allegedly assaulted the girl's mother at her Sanford apartment. He faces a gross sexual assault charge in that incident.

The hunter, Mike Grant Jr., 38, said he walked up to the truck in which Traynham had been hiding with Hailey since daylight broke on Tuesday. Grant said he never had to raise his firearm.

Job well done.