Missing Indiana girl found sleeping in car in Myrtle Beach

Myrtle Beach police arrested a man after he fled from officers with a girl listed as missing out of Indiana.

Kody Lee Holland, 24, was arrested Thursday morning in connection with possession of a stolen vehicle, failure to stop for blue lights, and driving without a license, jail records show.

Holland is also wanted in connection with breaking probation and parole in Indiana, according to police records.

Authorities were called around 9:30 a.m. Thursday to Seventh Avenue South and South Oak Street where officers found two people asleep in a black vehicle by a mobile home for sale, according to the police report. Officers ran the vehicle’s tags, which came back stolen out of Indiana, the report said.

An officer knocked on the driver’s side window and woke up the male suspect, Holland, who turned on the car when he saw police, the report said. The suspect and a juvenile girl in the passenger seat drove south onto South Kings Highway, and police followed.

Authorities said Holland stopped his car in front of a Wal-Mart Fresh Market store and jumped out with the missing underage girl.

Police said the car was left running as Holland and an animal-print pajama clad girl ran into the store. A few moments later, authorities said the pair was seen running through the store parking lot, but stopped about halfway through and sat down in the mulch in a parking-lot island.

Authorities then arrested Holland and said the girl with him told them she was listed as missing out of Indiana. She also said there was a Facebook page set up dedicated to helping find her.

Officers ran her name though police information systems and confirmed she was listed as missing. The girl told them on Sept. 3 she intended to just skip school and spend time with Holland and friends, but then agreed to leave when Holland invited her on a trip, police said.

The two then left Indiana and headed toward Kentucky then toward Tennessee. The girl said she told Holland she wanted to go home before heading to Tennessee, but said Holland told her that if they turned back they would both go to jail, authorities said.

The girl said they then went to Holland’s aunt’s house in Baltimore, Md., and Holland told her to lie about her age and say she was 18-years-old.

The girl said she was scared and did what Holland asked. She said they stayed in Baltimore for two weeks then left and went to Jacksonville, N.C. and stayed with Holland’s grandmother, police said.

The girl said while they were there, Holland took his grandmother’s credit cards, and when his grandmother found out, the pair packed their things and headed for South Carolina.

The girl told officers that Holland broke into two churches off the interstate on the way to South Carolina, but didn’t think he got anything from them, police said.

The girl said after three days in Myrtle Beach they had no money and nowhere to stay and slept in the car by an empty trailer. After the police followed them to the Wal-Mart parking lot, the girl said Holland told her run, and she said she did because she was scared.

She told police while inside the Wal-Mart, Holland ran behind a store counter and grabbed a pack of cigarettes and told her to hurry up and keep running, according to the incident report.

She said she followed Holland out of the store before Holland stopped, wrapped his arms around her, and sat down to surrender in the parking lot, police said.

Department of Social Services agents were called, and the girl was taken to house until her guardian came to get her, authorities said.

Holland was being held at J. Reuben Long Detention Center on $20,000 bail on Saturday morning, according to jail records.

This story was originally published September 26, 2015 at 11:27 AM with the headline "Missing Indiana girl found sleeping in car in Myrtle Beach."