Missing NC Sisters found!!!

[SloSthrnStyle]

Missing N.C. Sisters Located Near Cookeville
Adoptive Father Jailed In Smith County

POSTED: 7:28 pm CDT September 28, 2009
UPDATED: 12:12 pm CDT September 30, 2009

 COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- A statewide endangered child alert was canceled after two missing sisters from North Carolina were found near Cookeville, Tenn., on Wednesday
 
 


Keara, 12, and Sierra Hess, 11, were traveling in the company of their adoptive father Matthew Hess, 40.

Keara is eight months pregnant and in need of emergency medical attention. She was scheduled to have a medical procedure the day she disappeared.

The vehicle was located on Interstate 40 West near Cookeville. The Tennessee Highway Patrol stopped Hess and transported him to the Smith County Jail to be held for authorities in North Carolina.

Keara and Sierra Hess were being treated at a local hospital until contact can be made with the North Carolina Division of Social Services.

NCDSS had issued a non-secure custody order authorizing the state to take custody of Keara and Sierra.

Law enforcement authorities had been looking nationwide for the girls, including several cities in middle Tennessee.

The girls' mother said she woke Thursday and found a note from Hess that he was taking the girls to school, but they never made it there.

http://www.wsmv.com/news/21142985/detail.html

[Nut44x4]

Matthew Hess Faces Two Misdemeanor Counts for Running with the Girls, but He Also Faces Rape and Incest Charges
October 04, 2009

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2248377/12yearold_pregnant_girl_keara_hess.html

no copy/paste allowed, or it just won't work for me.

[Nut44x4]

After Amber Alert, incest charge

12:52 PM EDT on Sunday, October 4, 2009
Cleve R. Wootson Jr. | Charlotte *******

MOORESVILLE, N.C.-- A Mooresville man who sparked an Amber Alert when he disappeared with his 12-year-old pregnant adopted daughter and her 11-year-old sister now faces rape and incest charges.

Mathew Charles Hess, 40, had already been charged with misdemeanor child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile after, authorities say, he took his two adoptive daughters to Tennessee despite the condition of the daughter who was nine months pregnant.

Now he faces additional charges in Lincoln County - indecent liberties with a child, first-degree rape and felony incest between near relatives.

Details of the charges were unavailable. Authorities haven't said whether they believe Hess is the father of the older daughter's baby.

Hess and his wife, who is the girls' biological mother, are separated, authorities said.

The girls were living with Mathew Hess in Lincoln County when the older girl became pregnant.

The ******* published the girls' names when they were the subject of a large-scale search, but is not naming them now because authorities say at least one was a victim of a sex-related crime. Authorities believe Hess drove away with his daughters on Sept. 24 after leaving a note for his wife saying he was taking them to school.

The girls' mother called authorities soon after, when the pregnant daughter didn't show up for a doctor's appointment. Last week when the pregnant girl missed an important medical procedure, authorities issued a nationwide Amber Alert.

A motorist in Tennessee who saw the alert on an interstate sign recognized the family's faded green Ford Explorer and called the Tennessee Highway Patrol on Wednesday.

Less than half an hour later, the search was over. Social services took temporary custody of the girls.

Two members of the Iredell Sheriff's Office's warrant squad drove to Tennessee on Friday and brought Hess back to North Carolina.

His first court date for the Iredell County charges is Nov. 16 in Statesville.

Now, he's in Iredell jail under a $12,000 bond. He's also deemed a flight risk because of the charges in Lincoln County.
http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/stories/wcnc-100409-mk-adoptive_father_more_charges.1e35dd197.html