Charles Hollin, Child Abduction at Knifepoint, IN 1999

A ten-year-old girl was lured with a lie outside a girl’s club in Seymour, Indiana, in January 1999—told to help retrieve keys from a locked car. Instead, Charles Hollin, 61, a/k/a Andrew David Hall, clamped a hand over her mouth, shoved her into the vehicle at knifepoint, and drove her to a secluded stretch of Jackson County woods. There, he sexually molested her before ordering the naked child out onto an isolated road, tossing her clothes after her as he fled. A passing motorist found her trembling in the cold.

For over 16 years, Hollin vanished. Despite forensic evidence from the crime scene and the recovered vehicle pointing directly to him, he eluded capture. In February 2000, Jackson County prosecutors filed two counts of class B felony confinement with a deadly weapon and three counts of class A felony child molestation. But by then, Hollin had already fled Central Indiana, leaving behind whispers of disguise kits, fake mustaches, and a chilling boast to a co-worker: ‘If you want to, and know how, you can become someone else, just like that, real easy.’

The hunt went cold—until December 2016, when the FBI’s Facial Analysis, Comparison and Evaluation (FACE) services identified a possible match: a man living in Salem, Oregon, under the name Andrew David Hall. The name belonged to an eight-year-old boy killed in a 1975 car crash in Kentucky. Investigators confirmed Hollin had stolen the dead child’s identity, slipped into it like a second skin, and lived under it for years.

FBI agents moved in this week, arresting Hollin at his workplace in Salem. No longer hiding behind false hair or forged documents, the 61-year-old is now in federal custody with the U.S. Marshal Service in Portland, Oregon. He faces federal charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution and identity theft, stemming from his decades-long evasion of the Jackson County charges.

‘Catching sexual predators and holding them accountable remains a top priority in my office,’ said U.S. Attorney Josh J. Minkler. ‘I applaud the persistent efforts of the FBI and all our local partners in bringing this case to justice and hopefully a bit of closure to the victim and her family.’

The case was jointly investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Social Security Administration, Indiana State Police, Seymour Police Department, and the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office. ‘This case is a prime example of the tenacity of the FBI,’ said Indianapolis FBI Special Agent in Charge W. Jay Abbott. ‘The public should be assured the FBI will not stop seeking justice for innocent victims.’ Jackson County Prosecutor AmyMarie Travis added, ‘It is my hope that their efforts will begin the process of giving closure to the victim/survivor in this case.’