RAEFORD — A four-hour manhunt Wednesday resulted in the arrest of a Raeford man accused of kidnapping and beating a 22-month-old boy, said Hoke County Sheriff Hubert Peterkin.
Daronlo Lamont Billinger, 31, of the 100 block of Owl Court in Raeford, was charged Wednesday with first-degree kidnapping, child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury, assault on a child under 12 and assault on a female, said Peterkin.
Billinger fled with Justin Damaro Sheppard around 6:30 p.m. after an argument and altercation with the child's mother, 21-year-old Nikki Billinger, Peterkin said.
Daronlo Billinger beat the woman and threatened to break the child's neck if she called law enforcement, the sheriff said. Billinger took the boy from the couple's home and ran through the woods, Peterkin said.
Nikki Billinger called 911 and left the house to look for the child. The Sheriff's Office began a manhunt for Daronlo Billinger, and an Amber Alert was issued for the child, Peterkin said.
Billinger eventually returned to the house with the boy, and deputies found him at 10:30 p.m. The boy was in a rear bedroom, suffering from injuries to his face, head, back and legs, Peterkin said.
The child was taken to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition Thursday afternoon.
Billinger is in the Hoke County Detention Center. Bail is set at $100,000.
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