A New Hampshire man was arrested in connection to the case of Abigail Hernandez, the 15-year-old girl who was reunited with her family last week, nine months after she vanished.
Officials said Nathaniel E. Kibby, 34, of Gorham, N.H. was arrested and charged with one count of felony kidnapping, multiple news outlets are reporting.
“Over the course of the past week, law enforcement officers have worked around the clock to ascertain the facts and circumstances surrounding Abigail’s disappearance and return,” the attorney general’s office said in the statement. “Abigail Hernandez provided the police with details of her kidnapping sufficient to warrant today’s arrest.”
Kibby will be arraigned on Tuesday.
The news of the arrest comes hours after Hernandez released a statement Monday thanking the people who searched for her.
“My gratitude is beyond words,” she said. “It’s an incredible feeling to be home and I believe in my heart that your hopes and prayers played a major role in my release.”
Her mother also appeared on national TV on Monday and said the rumors that her daughter was pregnant were not true.
"The majority of people somehow believe that she was pregnant,'' Zenya Hernandez told NBC's Today Show. "She was not. She did not run away. I firmly believe that.”
“As for her knowing the individual, I firmly believe that she did not know the individual," she added.
“I feel like they just took and ripped something out of our souls,'' Abigail's mother said in the interview. "And just as I swore that I'd find her, I'll find the person. I'll find out what happened."
Last week, N.H. state police released a sketch of the suspect based on Abby's description. Investigators said the man was driving a navy blue pickup truck and described him as slightly overweight with a large build, "darkish" skin, dark brown eyes and black stubble on his face.
Hernandez told the show she was shocked by how thin Abby was when she returned home on July 20, apparently wearing the same clothes she was wearing on the day she disappeared.
“We just stood and looked at each other and then we hugged, and then I said, 'Thank God you're home, thank God you're home,''' the elder Hernandez said.
"We're just taking it day by day,” she added.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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