KEY LARGO, Fla. – Deputies found a kidnapped 13-year-old girl from South Carolina early Tuesday morning in a wanted man’s vehicle parked at a Key Largo shopping center, authorities said.
Authorities arrested that suspect, Tyler Michael Berlick, 35, of Mukwonago, Wisconsin, on an out-of-state kidnapping warrant, according to jail records.
According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, deputies found the pair in Berlick’s Dodge Ram just before 3:30 a.m. at the Pink Plaza shopping center, located at 103400 Overseas Highway.
Deputies had received information that Berlick, who was wanted by the FBI, may have been headed towards the Keys, MCSO spokesperson Adam Linhardt said.
South Carolina authorities said Berlick met the girl through an “online chatting service and gaming app.”
She had been reported missing from the town of Simpsonville, located near Greenville, after having been last seen Sunday night, according to the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office.
The agency initially described her as a runaway in social media postings.
Linhardt said the FBI is leading the investigation. MCSO deputies notified the Florida Department of Children and Families.
Berlick was being held without bond at MCSO’s Plantation Key jail facility as of Tuesday afternoon.
He’s awaiting extradition to South Carolina, authorities said.