Man accused of kidnapping 4-year-old girl returning to SC

JACKSON, Miss. – A man accused of kidnapping a 4-year-old South Carolina girl is headed back to that state after a court hearing in Mississippi.

U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst said 37-year-old Thomas Lawton Evans Jr. did not seek bail during a brief initial appearance Friday in Jackson. Hurst says U.S. Marshals are returning Evans to Charleston, South Carolina.

He’s scheduled to be arraigned there on charges that he kidnapped Heidi Todd after attacking the girl’s mother with a knife and tying her up.

Police in Riverside, Alabama, say they recovered Heidi after approaching a sleeping Evans on Wednesday. Evans fled after handing the girl to police.

He was captured later Wednesday after crashing on a dead-end road in DeKalb, Mississippi, following a miles-long (kilometres-long) police chase.

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This story has been corrected to reflect that Evans is not the girl’s father.