Child told deputies he believed he would be killed; citizen tip led to rescue
Additional charges including kidnapping and aggravated child abuse have been filed against a registered sex offender following an investigation that revealed an 11-year-old boy was held captive at a wooded campsite for multiple days before being rescued during a traffic stop on New Year’s Eve.
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Major Case Unit determined that Darnell Hairston, 60, of Hastings, lured the child to a campsite in Flagler Estates where he choked the boy until he lost consciousness. After the child regained consciousness, Hairston threatened him with a knife and a firearm, tied him up with shoelaces and an extension cord, and placed duct tape over his mouth, according to the child’s statements to detectives.
The child told investigators that Hairston held him at the campsite for multiple days and made him travel on the floorboard of his truck covered by a blanket.
Deputies rescued the child on December 31, 2025, after a citizen called the Flagler County Emergency Communications Center to report seeing Hairston, whom the caller knew to be a sex offender, traveling with two juveniles. The caller also told dispatchers that one of the juveniles had been reported missing in St. Johns County.
During the traffic stop, after deputies separated Hairston and the two juveniles, one of the children told a deputy that he had been kidnapped, was not safe, and believed he would be killed if deputies did not intervene. Deputies described the 11-year-old victim as clearly traumatized and fearful. A deputy secured the child in a patrol vehicle and went to detain Hairston, who attempted to flee on foot before being arrested.
Deputies confirmed the child had been reported missing three days earlier. He was transported to a local hospital for medical treatment.
Working with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office and the FCSO Crime Scene Investigations Unit, detectives executed search warrants on Hairston’s vehicle, his residence in Hastings, and the campsite. Investigators recovered multiple items consistent with the child’s account, including duct tape, video surveillance equipment, and weapons.
During interviews, detectives determined that Hairston knew the child was missing and that law enforcement was actively searching for him, but he could not explain why he kept the child from his parents.
On January 2, detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Hairston on charges of kidnapping of a child under 13, aggravated child abuse, battery by strangulation, and robbery with a deadly weapon. He was already being held at the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility on $125,000 bond for charges from his initial arrest. He is now being held without bond.
“Clearly, thanks to ‘see something, same something’ and our deputies recognizing the victim was very afraid, we rescued a missing child who was in fear Hairston had planned to kill him,” said Sheriff Rick Staly. “In the hours after Hairston was initially arrested, our team put in a tremendous amount of effort on this investigation — working throughout the day, night, and well into the early hours of New Year’s Day — as they followed every lead, processed multiple crime scenes, and conducted interviews to make sure this child was protected and this pervert would be arrested for the crimes he committed. I commend everyone involved, starting with the caller who ‘saw something, said something;’ our deputies, detectives, analysists, and CSIs; and our partners at the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office and State Attorney’s Office who worked closely with us on a very fast-moving case to make sure this pervert will face justice and hopefully serve the rest of his life in prison.”
The investigation remains active and ongoing. Junior Bishop, 15, who was arrested after fleeing the traffic stop in Hairston’s truck, is being investigated as a possible co-conspirator in the kidnapping. An additional charge of grand theft of a motor vehicle has been added against Bishop after detectives determined he did not have Hairston’s permission to take the vehicle. Bishop is currently in the custody of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice and may face additional charges once the investigation concludes.
