A troubled 14-year-old girl ran away from her Kennewick home with the help of a former school and hospital security officer who once promised to adopt her, say investigators.
The teen told her mother that she planned to go live in South Dakota with Anohelico T. Caulder, 26, and his new wife, according to court documents obtained by the Herald.
Caulder’s alleged promise was just part of a pattern of behavior that police now are saying led him to driving the teen to Gresham, Ore., on July 2, where she planned to catch a train to California.
He is being held in the Benton County jail on $250,000 bail on charges of second-degree kidnapping and harboring a runaway.
While a judge ordered him not to contact the teen, Deputy Prosecutor Taylor Clark told a judge last Friday the higher bail amount was needed because she worried the warning wouldn’t stop him.
She claimed in court that Caulder wasn’t deterred after losing his job at Kadlec Regional Medical Center, and that he lied to police when they asked him about the teen running away in late June.
Caulder’s defense attorney, Charlie Dow, said he would wait for a later time to argue about bail. Judge Jackie Stam agreed with the prosecutor’s bail request.
When Caulder was arrested by Kennewick police, he was still employed as a security officer at Kadlec’s free-standing emergency room off Highway 395 in Kennewick, court documents said.
He has since been fired from that job, according to a statement from the hospital, which said they are cooperating with police.
Security guard
Caulder started as a security guard at Horse Heaven Hills Middle School in Kennewick in October 2023, said Robyn Chastain, the school district’s executive director of communication and public relations.
Shortly after starting, he befriended the girl, according to court documents. He showered her with attention and gave her a necklace with a cross, said court documents.
The teen’s mother said she first heard about Caulder when the teen said there was a new security guard at the school who was “really cool,” according to court documents.
Her mother grew concerned at the end of February or beginning of March when the girl came home and said she wanted to talk with her without her dad present.
The teen explained that she and “Mr. C” had developed a plan where he and his wife would adopt her and move to South Dakota.
She told her mother that “it was the ‘best for her’ and that Mr. C was going to help her ‘find God,’” court documents said.
The teen’s mother explained that she felt Caulder had told her what to say.
The woman said when she called the school, officials didn’t seem to take her seriously.
She was told that Caulder had a “hero complex” because of issues in his past. The district told Caulder not to have any contact with the girl, said court documents.
But he still didn’t stay away from the teen, say officials. During spring break from March 30 to April 7, her mother dropped her off at a friend’s house believing she was staying there that week.
But school officials learned when classes resumed that she’d spent the week with Caulder. It’s not clear where he took the teen during that week.
“Due to this, an investigation at the school was initiated and Caulder was ultimately let go from his job and a trespass warning was issued to him barring him from all (school district) properties,” court documents said.
Kidnap charges
Caulder’s interactions with the teen didn’t stop, court documents said. He gave the girl a burner phone, and her mother suspected they were meeting after school.
Then about 4 a.m. on June 25, the teen ran away, leaving behind a suicide note.
When police went to talk with Caulder, he denied having any contact with her after losing his job.
Believing that Caulder was harboring the runaway, Kennewick police enlisted the help of the FBI in getting a search warrant for the teen’s Instagram account.
That led police to discover a cellphone with an Oregon area code that was registered under “John Stott.” That was Caulder’s name before he had it legally changed.
Location tracking information from the phone number showed it had been in the teen’s house the night she ran away. Then it moved to where Caulder and his wife live.
Police found that phone in their house. Caulder’s wife allegedly admitted to helping him take the teen from Washington to Gresham, Ore. She is not charged with a crime.
They dropped the girl off at a L.A. Fitness with some personal items, food and $300 in cash. She reportedly intended to take a train to California.
They had given her a new phone that they bought at the Richland Walmart. And the FBI tracked that phone to Gresham on July 2. Investigators also found security footage of Caulder at a truck stop that day.
Once police showed Caulder what they knew, he admitted to taking the girl to Oregon, said the court documents.
Gresham police found the teen safe the next day, and she was returned to her parents in Tri-Cities.
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