Woman took 9-year-old girl in Burton without permission, faces kidnapping charge, police say
A woman turned herself in to police Thursday after she allegedly took a 9-year-old girl without permission from her parents in November, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
Elnora Marcano, 61, of Lobeco, South Carolina, was charged Thursday with kidnapping, according to the Beaufort County Detention Center.
On Nov. 25, Marcano went to the girl’s mother’s workplace at a Burton grocery store to ask whether she could take the little girl for a sleepover at her home, said Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Maj. Angela Viens. The mother, who had met Marcano and befriended her online, said no because then her two other children would also want to go.
When Marcano asked whether she could at least see the children, the mother told her she could go to her home where the three children were being watched by their father. When Marcano got there, she allegedly told the girl’s father that her mother said she could take the child and left with her.
When the mother returned home and found her daughter missing, she called Marcano and told her to return the girl at 10 a.m. the next day. The next morning, Marcano allegedly did not answer calls from the girl’s mother, who then called police, Viens said.
Investigators were able to track Marcano to a home in Yemassee. The 9-year-old was returned to her parents at noon the next day.
Marcano told police she was trying to help the family, Viens said. No injuries were reported in this incident.
Marcano was released from the detention center in Beaufort.
