PAWNEE COUNTY, Okla. — A runaway 17-year-old girl from Ohio was found in Pawnee County after being missing since January 2023.
On June 23, Pawnee County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to calls about possible gunshots outside of Jennings.
When deputies arrived, they found the 17-year-old girl with three men. The sheriff's office later identified the men, claiming they were all convicted felons, one being a sex offender.
In an affidavit, the men were identified as Christian Michael Cross, Dale Allen Deaton and David Warren Todd.
After further investigation, the sheriff's office discovered the girl had been brought to Oklahoma and had been sexually assaulted.
"At the time we believed that she had been sexually assaulted, but we don’t, to my knowledge, there was no physical injuries, she hadn’t been beat up or anything like that," said Pawnee County Undersheriff Nick Mahoney.
In an affidavit, Cross claimed the girl was his "common law wife" and she was 19 years old. It was also mentioned in the affidavit, two of the men and the girl had sexual relations with each other.
Cross claimed in the affidavit, both he and the girl had come from Michigan because the girl had family issues and was previously sexually assaulted there. Deputies said the girl had a similar story but said she was from Kentucky. She also confirmed a "threesome" with the two men, Cross and Deaton, had occurred.
When deputies asked what the gunshots were from, the girl told them she was asked to go to a neighboring house to borrow a shotgun because deer were eating at their house's marijuana plants, the affidavit said. A witness who called the police said when Deaton got the gun, he began shooting at their dogs so they called the authorities.
According to the court documents, Deaton claimed this wasn't true to deputies and he had only cracked a whip he had a few times while he was walking, which made the sounds of gun fire. Deaton then told deputies he was a felon and also confirmed a "threesome" had happened.
Deputies arrested Cross for harboring a runaway, lewd acts to a child, conspiracy to commit a felony and taking a juvenile across state lines.
According to the affidavit, after his arrest, Cross told deputies he knew the girl was a runaway and he had actually helped her run away. He claimed he was trying to save her from sexual abuse. He had known her since she lived in Michigan before she was moved to Ohio with a foster family.
Cross then said they went to Kentucky after he helped her run away from her foster home and then to Kellyville, Oklahoma. Once in Kellyville, a house fire forced them to move to Terlton. During the several cross-country moves, the girl and Cross had used fake names.
In the affidavit, Cross told deputies he knew they would be found one day and his life would be ruined but as long as she was taken care of, he was okay with it.
"Christian Cross, we don’t know the extent of their relationship," Mahoney said. "What we know is that she was with him and that he had brought her to Oklahoma, but how he came into contact with her, how he knew her, that’s still all stuff that we're kind of investigating."
After Cross's arrest, deputies obtained a search warrant for two homes across the road from each other on a street just east of Jennings in the area they found the girl, one home belonging to Todd. The sheriff's office served those warrants on Thursday, July 6.
In an affidavit, when deputies arrived to Todd's home, he did not come to the door despite them announcing their presence and knocking several times. Eventually, the deputies let themselves in and found Todd lying in his bed, nude.
Deputies asked Todd to get on the ground multiple times, but he refused and began getting dressed, the affidavit said. Deputies gave more verbal commands that Todd argued with until they finally restrained him.
According to the court documents, Todd claimed the search warrant was invalid and that they "shouldn't find anything." During the search, deputies found several printed items of child sex abuse material. They also took several electronics from the home for further investigation.
"We’re talking about small children, 8-10 years old, and these are graphic pictures," Mahoney said. "It’s really, really disturbing and I have children myself, I have an 11-year-old so it’s really hard to to see these kind of things."
Todd was then also arrested for possession of child pornography and being held on a $50,000 bond.
Cross is being held on a $500,000 bond. The girl was taken into custody and was placed in a shelter until her guardians arrived to take custody of her.
Mahoney said his deputies are heroes and he believes they truly saved the teen girl.
This is an active investigation and deputies are attempting to locate a third suspect.
