SUV that Eatonton girl, 14, was traveling in with 21-year-old man found near Savannah

The parents of a 14-year-old Eatonton girl who was believed to have run away with a 21-year-old man early this week on Thursday found the SUV that the couple had been traveling in, officials said.

The white 2011 Volvo XC-90 registered to Caleb Peter Green was backed into a parking space near Splendid Shabu, an Asian fusion eatery, next door to a Sam’s Club in the city of Pooler, which straddles Interstate 95 northwest of Savannah.

Green and the girl, Gracie Lynn-Madison McCumbers, were not there.

Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills, who is trying to track the pair down, said photos of the couple had been circulated at Pooler shopping centers and at motels there to no avail.

The apparently ditched Volvo SUV had likely been parked there at least 24 hours, according to local police, Sills said.

The girl’s parents had traveled to the Savannah area after Sills learned the SUV had been spotted by a license-plate-reading device in Pooler, roughly three hours away from Eatonton by car.

The couple were thought to have left the girl’s Eatonton home at about midnight on Sunday, the sheriff said.

Sills said the teen’s apparent absconding and “improper relationship,” while not an abduction or a typical missing-persons case, had investigators doing all they could to locate the couple.

Green, among other possible charges, is wanted for alleged interference with custody, the sheriff said.

“We have a 14-year-old girl with a 21-year-old man, and any sort of sexual activity constitutes an act of child molestation ... and exacerbates the runaway situation to a level where we will do anything we can to prevent child molestation,” Sills said. “I’m not saying that this is going on, but the evidence we have is that it’s not a platonic relationship.”

This story was originally published July 30, 2021 at 3:46 PM.

Joe Kovac Jr.

The Telegraph

Joe Kovac Jr. writes about local news and features for The Telegraph, with an eye for human-interest stories. Joe is a Warner Robins native and graduate of Warner Robins High. He joined the Telegraph in 1991 after graduating from the University of Georgia. As a Pulliam Fellowship recipient in 1991, Joe worked for the Indianapolis News. His stories have appeared in the Washington Post, the Seattle Times and Atlanta Magazine. He has been a Livingston Award finalist and won numerous Georgia Press Association and Georgia Associated Press awards.