FC babysitter charged with kidnapping

A 35-year-old Pilot woman is in Franklin County Jail under a $250,000 secured bond, charged with kidnapping an 18-month-old girl last week.

Teresa Odell of 1066 Pilot Riley Road was supposed to babysit Wednesday, June 5, but went looking for crack instead, according to Franklin County Sheriff Robert Redmond. He said investigators believe she took the child to several crack houses that day.

Kimberly Creech of Zebulon had dropped off her daughter, Jade Creech, about 8 a.m. that morning at the Odell residence. When Creech came to pick the child up at 6 p.m., Odell and the little girl were gone.

Creech reported the child missing to the Franklin County Sheriff's Department about 8:36 p.m.

Odell's roommate, Jackie Wagoner, told authorities that Odell left that morning on her way to a park and had not been back since then. Odell was driving Wagoner's vehicle, a 1995 black Dodge Ram truck.

The sheriff's department used the North Carolina Child Alert Notification system to notify all news agencies in the area about the missing child. Redmond said a friend contacted Odell, telling her she needed to call the police.

Odell then called authorities to let them know that the child was with her and she was not harmed.

Odell was taken into custody in Smithfield about noon the next day by an SBI agent and Johnston County deputies and later transported back to Franklin County were she was arrested.

The child was safely returned home to her mother. She was taken to Franklin Regional Medical Center where trace amounts of cocaine were found in her system, according to Redmond.

Redmond said the case is still under investigation and the department will seek warrants on Odell for child endangerment, based on the child's exposure to drugs.