A missing teen has been found 2 months after her disappearance, impregnated by the man charged with her abduction. Sophia Martha Franklin, 16, was found near Omaha, Nebraska, around 11:40pm Wednesday, after a trucker said she spotted her with Gary Day, 40, at a rest stop.
Sophia was 3 months pregnant with Gary’s child when he lured her away from her parents home Beaver Dam, Wisconsin in February, according to police. Surveillance footage captured a man police believe to be Gary wearing black pants, a black long-sleeve shirt and a gray winter hat walking by Sophia’s home the day she went missing.
A female trucker noticed Gary and Sophia with another trucker parked at the stop on Wednesday, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Beaver Dam Police Chief John Kreuziger said the woman thought it was suspicious that a young, pregnant girl was with Gary. After the woman did some research in her truck and found out Sophia was missing, she called the police. Sophia was checked in and out of a hospital then taken to a secure facility to await re-unification with her family. Gary was arrested in Nebraska and charged with contributing to delinquency of a child, false reporting and being a fugitive. He is being held on a $5,000 bond in Sarpy County jail.
He faces 4 felonies in Wisconsin, including 2 counts of abduction of a child and 2 counts of child enticement.
The two allegedly met online in April 2024, then in July of that year, Gary is accused of abducting her from her Wisconsin home and bringing her to Arkansas. In December, police found Sophia at Day’s house while conducting a probation check. He was serving a 72-month probation sentence after pleading guilty to endangering the welfare of a minor in May 2020, according to Independence County court records.
An affidavit filed in the case claims he and his then-wife Grace Day were responsible for blunt force injuries to their 4-month old child, Carter. The baby was treated at the hospital in September 2019 for a fractured left femur and was at severe risk for sepsis, the affidavit stated, citing the hospital’s medical report. At the time, Sophia’s mother, Leah Franklin, told TMJ4 News she thought her daughter was staying with a friend and working.
‘We were in communication with her that entire time. She wasn’t happy with us because we had tried to keep her safe, and she was really upset with us about that. We were trying to let her cool off,’ Leah said. ‘We were trying to keep communication lines open with her so that she would come home.’
Gary was given a no-contact order with Sophia, and she returned to Wisconsin, but they continued to communicate.
‘I do believe that she was brainwashed. I believe that she was groomed,’ Leah said.
