By Tori Richards

March 29, 2007

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WAGONER, Okla.  (Crime Library) — A 13-year-old girl who was feared kidnapped by her sex offender father was found with him Wednesday and appeared to be unharmed.

However, the story doesn't have a neat, happy ending. The girl is claiming abuse at the hands of her mother and stepfather, who will have to go to court today to regain custody.

"He brainwashed her," said mother Cynthia Harris, 40. "She is mentally handicapped with the mind of an 8 or 9-year-old. There is no way she could come up with all this on her own." Harris said daughter Erin McKinstry is not abused and adores her family, which also includes an older sister Phallon.

Erin disappeared from home late Friday afternoon and Harris immediately suspected Paul McKinstry, the girl's father. Her family distributed hundreds of flyers with photos of Erin and McKinstry and two witnesses said they saw him in front of the Harris house around the time in question.

Harris told investigators to check the home of her father, who still maintained contact with McKinstry. Erin was found there, wearing different clothes than she had on when she went missing.

"She is healthy, clean and safe," said Wagoner County Sheriff Johnny Cannon. "This was not a kidnapping, this is a runaway."

When asked whether Erin would be reunited with her mother, Cannon said, "That will be for the court system to decide."

Cannon refused to elaborate further and placed Erin in protective custody for the evening so that a judge could sort out the girl's claims.

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Erin McKinstry Likely Abducted by Sex Offender Father

Contact Tori Richards at NewsWriter2@aol.com

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