LENOIR, N.C. -- A teenager, missing since April from her hometown in Lenoir, was located Friday morning in Virginia after the dangerous birth of a baby boy she'd conceived with her 38-year-old boyfriend.
Authorities in Tazewell County, Virginia say 15-year-old Christina Parsons was discovered having seizures in a trailer home in Richlands, Virginia. She'd given birth to the infant hours before.
Parsons was transported to a hospital in Tennessee, where neighbors tell us her parents met her. The baby was also taken to a hospital and put into the care of the Department of Social Services.
Kenny King, 38, was arrested and charged with two counts of abuse and neglect of a child. He's also accused as a fugitive from justice in North Carolina on a charge of rape. He's in jail in Tazewell County without bond.
Neighbors Dallas and Marie Stewart tell NewsChannel 36 the Parsons family has been distraught since their daughter disappeared one night in April. "They’ve been awful tore up about it," Marie Stewart said.
Stewart says she did not know that the girl was pregnant. "She went to school everyday. She just acted like she always did. They are just nice little girls."
As for King, she says the family did not know about the relationship.
"He know better than that. He wasn’t that stupid. He knowed she was a kid," Stewart said.
In a sad and strange twist, the community of Tazewell County is now mourning the death of a deputy that is related to the discovery of Parsons and King.
Deputy Shawn Hess was en route to another crime scene connected with the case in a remote part of the county when he crashed his patrol car and died. Hess was a 6-year veteran of the Tazewell County Sheriff's Office.
