By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-04-03 19:15:41 | Updated at 2025-04-04 17:19:40
22 hours ago
A missing Wisconsin teen has been found two months after her disappearance, impregnated by the man charged with her abduction.
Sophia Martha Franklin, 16, was found near Omaha, Nebraska, around 11:40 p.m. Wednesday, after a trucker said she spotted her with 40-year-old Gary Day at a rest stop.
The teen was three months pregnant with Day's child when he lured her away from her parents home in February, according to the Beaver Dam Police Department.
Eerie surveillance footage captured a man police believe to be Day wearing black pants, a black long-sleeve shirt and a gray winter hat walking by Franklin's home the day she went missing.
A female trucker noticed Day and Franklin with another trucker parked at the stop on Wednesday, reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Beaver Dam Police Chief John Kreuziger said the woman thought it was suspicious that such a young, pregnant girl was with Day.
After the woman did some 'research' in her truck and found out Franklin was a missing person, she called called the police.
Kreuziger said Franklin was checked in and out of a local hospital then taken to a secure facility to await re-unification with her family.
Sophia Martha Franklin (pictured), 16, was found near Omaha, Nebraska, around 11:40 p.m. Wednesday, after a trucker said she spotted her with 40-year-old Gary Day at a rest stop
The teen was allegedly three months pregnant with Day's (pictured) child when he lured her away from her parents home in February
Surveillance footage captured a man police believe to be Day wearing black pants, a black long-sleeve shirt and a gray winter hat walking by Franklin's home the day she went missing
Day was arrested in Nebraska and charged with contributing to delinquency of a child, false reporting and being a fugitive. He is being held on a $5,000 bond in Sarpy County jail.
He faces four felonies in Wisconsin, including two counts of abduction of a child and two counts of child enticement.
The two allegedly met online in April 2024, then in July of that year, Day is accused of abducting her from her Beaver Dam home and bringing her to Arkansas.
In December, cops found Franklin at Day's house while conducting a probation check. He was serving a 72-month probation sentence after pleading guilty to endangering the welfare of a minor in May 2020, according to Independence County court records.
An affidavit filed in the case claims he and his then-wife Grace Day were responsible for blunt force injuries to their four-month old child, Carter.
The baby was treated at the hospital in September 2019 for a fractured left femur and was at severe risk for sepsis, the affidavit stated, citing the hospital's medical report.
At the time, the teen's mom, Leah Franklin, told TMJ4 News, she thought her daughter was staying with a friend and working.
'We were in communication with her that entire time. She wasn't happy with us because we had tried to keep her safe, and she was really upset with us about that. We were trying to let her cool off,' the mother said.
The two allegedly met online in April 2024, then in July of that year, Day is accused of abducting her from her Beaver Dam home and bringing her to Arkansas
In December, cops found Franklin at Day's house while conduction a probation check. He was serving probation sentence after pleading guilty to endangering the welfare of a minor
'We were trying to keep communication lines open with her so that she would come home.'
Day was given a no-contact order with Franklin, and she returned to Wisconsin, but the two continued to communicate.
'I do believe that she was brainwashed. I believe that she was groomed,' Franklin's mother said.
