Exclusive interview: Teen defends sex offender she ran away with

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — A 14-year-old girl who went missing early Monday from a Chesapeake hotel spoke exclusively with WAVY News 10’s Andy Fox Wednesday afternoon about why she ran.

Deborah Jenkins, who goes by Abby, and her custodial guardian, Christine Burton, agreed to the interview to set the record straight. Abby said she wanted people to read and hear what she had to say. There was a difference of opinion between the two, some tough conversations and raw emotions — a story of serious family issues.

Virginia State Police issued a CODI alert after Abby went missing. She was located Tuesday night, but the man she was last seen with remains wanted by police.

Missing Chesapeake teen found safe, police searching for man with her

According to Chesapeake Police Officer Leo Kosinski, the man Abby ran off with, 41-year-old registered sex offender James Ronald Bell was already wanted on outstanding charges in another city. Kosinksi said he will be facing additional charges related to this recent incident, but did not say what those new charges will be.

In her interview with WAVY, Abby said she ran away with Bell on her own accord.

“James Bell has posed no threat to me,” she said. “I’ve looked him up before. I know what his charges are. I’ve taken precautions. He poses no threat to me. I trust him with my life. We ran. He never took me. I decided to follow him. He was running. I was following him.”

During the interview, social services arrived at her custodial guardian’s house in Portsmouth to pick up Abby.

“I’m about to go to foster care,” she said. “I don’t know where I’m going. It’s scary.”

The teen and Bell were last seen around 1 a.m. Monday outside the Comfort Inn and Suites on South Military Highway in Chesapeake. An image provided by Chesapeake Police shows them walking down a hallway at the hotel.

Image provided by Chesapeake Police

“We were running for a reason,” Abby said. “I was running for a reason, but I wasn’t running with him. He never took me. If you look on the footage from the Comfort, I was actually the one pushing him out the door.”

She explained that she was running away after she had an argument with Burton, who was standing in earshot when she said this.

“So, we ran away because Christine Burton, my custodial mother, was being very abusive to me,” Abby said. “She threatened to kill me. She said that she did not want me and that she regretted ever taking care of me.”

Burton is a family friend and took Abby in because her biological family was not in a position to take care of her. She disputes Abby’s characterization of what has happened.

“I mean, that is the way she feels,” Burton told WAVY. “If she feels like I abused her, then I cannot make her change her feelings at all. Did I physically abuse her? Absolutely not. No, I never physically abused her. I’ve given her more than I’ve gave my own children.”

With Bell being a convicted sex offender, Abby’s biological family is upset that she was in his presence. But she said he never inappropriately touched her.

“No, he never harmed me while we were gone,” Abby said. “He got me these clothes, he got me these shoes. He’s been taking care of me like a father should. He’s never shown me anything other than being a father figure.”

For those two days, Abby’s photo has been everywhere, on flyers saying, “Have you seen me?”

Abby was on Facebook with D’Andrae Coltrane Tuesday.

“I wanted to make sure she was OK,” Coltrane said. “… She appeared to be fine.”

Chesapeake Police found her a short time after Coltrane’s Facebook post.

Abby said she does not know where Bell is.

The last time Bell was seen publicly was on William Chase’s Unifi doorbell camera. As of Wednesday evening, he was still on the run.

Continue to check WAVY.com for updates.

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