The license-plate cameras Horry County is now debating helped track the suspect here, and caught him in North Carolina.
A 17-year-old girl taken from a Virginia college parking lot this week was freed on the streets of Myrtle Beach. Her accused abductor, a former boyfriend, then led police on chases through South Carolina and into North Carolina before he was caught. Her ordeal ended here, on roads many Horry County residents drive every day. Investigators say the man led police through Virginia, South Carolina, and North Carolina before his capture, and the girl is now back with her family [WTVR, 2026]. This incident involving the Abducted Virginia Teen has raised significant concerns.
The story would be alarming enough on its own. For Horry County it also lands in the middle of a local argument. The technology that tracked the suspect to the Grand Strand is the same camera network that residents here are petitioning to ban. This article covers what happened, what is still unknown about the Myrtle Beach part of the case, and why the case matters to that debate.
From a Virginia Campus to the Grand Strand
The case began Wednesday, Sept. 23, in Prince George County, Virginia, about four and a half hours north of Myrtle Beach. The girl is dual-enrolled at Prince George County High School and Richard Bland College. She did not come home after class Wednesday and did not reach out to her family, according to Maj. William Knott of the Dinwiddie County Sheriff’s Office [WTVR, 2026].
Her car was still on campus. Deputies found it in the Richard Bland College lot with personal belongings inside that worried them, and her phone was among the most troubling items. Knott noted that a teenager would normally keep a phone even if she left everything else behind [WTVR, 2026]. wtvr
Investigators soon had a suspect. Alonzo N. Claiborne, 19, of Prince George County, a former boyfriend, faces charges in all three states. Investigators said he had no prior criminal record [WTVR, 2026]. These are accusations, and Claiborne is presumed innocent unless convicted.
Deputies then used license-plate cameras to follow him. Knott said Flock cameras, along with other available technology, allowed investigators to track Claiborne all the way to Myrtle Beach [WTVR, 2026].
Up to this point, the case was a Virginia missing-person investigation. It became a Grand Strand story once the car crossed into Horry County.
What Happened in Myrtle Beach, and What We Still Don’t Know
The most important moment of the case happened here, and it is the part with the fewest public details. When Myrtle Beach police tried to pull the vehicle over, Claiborne pushed the girl out of the car and drove off, pulling South Carolina officers into a pursuit that he escaped [WTVR, 2026]. He then allegedly stole a second car, led officers on another chase, and eventually ran on foot [WTVR, 2026].
Put plainly, the traffic stop is what freed her. Once officers tried to stop the car, she was no longer a hostage inside it. What followed was two pursuits of a man who no longer had a captive but apparently had nothing left to lose. That changes how a pursuit should be judged. A chase with a kidnapping victim in the passenger seat carries very different risks from a chase with a driver alone.
Residents are entitled to answers on several points the available reporting has not addressed:
Pursuit policies, incident reports, and charging documents are public records. Local agencies should release them.
How the Camera Network Found Him, Twice
Cameras found Claiborne a second time in North Carolina. On Thursday afternoon, Flock cameras in Pender County, North Carolina, alerted the sheriff’s office there, and deputies found the stolen vehicle. Claiborne ran from the car, came back to it, and fled again. After he was finally handcuffed, he jumped into the Intracoastal Waterway, and a boat pulled him out [WTVR, 2026].
The pattern should look familiar to Horry County readers. Flock is an automated license-plate reader (ALPR) system. Local police have used it for several years. WPDE reported in 2022 that Horry County Police were partnering with Flock Safety to put 23 plate-reading cameras at major entry and exit points into the county [WPDE, 2022]. In 2025, an HCPD captain told WMBF the county was among the first to adopt the readers, and that the system checks plates and vehicle traits against databases of missing people, wanted people, and lookout alerts [WMBF, 2025].
Local police have pointed to earlier successes. That same spring, a plate reader helped HCPD find a child taken from home by a non-custodial parent. The child was safe about 40 minutes after the first call [WMBF, 2025]. HCPD Sgt. Justin Jones has also said the cameras helped locate an 80-year-old woman with severe dementia who drove away from a campground and turned up in North Carolina [Post and Courier, 2026].
This week’s case adds a larger example. Cameras operated by different agencies in three states handed the same suspect from one jurisdiction to the next over two days. Supporters of ALPRs could hardly write a better case study.
The Debate at Home: The Same Tool, the Same Risk
The case is not a simple win for the cameras, though. The details show why the local debate is harder than a vote for or against.
Opposition in Horry County has grown this fall. Conway veteran Chuck Hooks started a Change.org petition calling for a countywide ban on Flock cameras. He told WPDE he supports police and recognizes the cameras can help solve crimes, but he believes privacy should come first [WPDE, 2026]. His main worry is the officer who might abuse the system. Hooks described the danger of “that one officer who uses it to harass an ex” [WPDE, 2026].
That worry has already happened in South Carolina. In June, two Greer police officers were fired after an audit found they had used the cameras to monitor certain residents, including a person who had dated one of the officers [Post and Courier, 2026]. The ACLU of South Carolina has made the broader argument. Its spokesman, Paul Bowers, warned that giving police unchecked tracking power could reveal where people worship, which political events they attend, and more [Post and Courier, 2026]. A July 2025 Congressional Research Service report also flagged possible Fourth Amendment problems with sustained tracking of one person through ALPRs [Post and Courier, 2026]. Is your car on camera? Myrtle Beach-area authorities say yes. +2
The overlap is hard to ignore. In the Richard Bland case, the cameras were used to track down an ex-boyfriend accused of taking a young woman against her will. In Greer, the cameras were allegedly used by an officer to follow a former partner. The tool works the same way in both situations. What differs is who is searching and why. Accountability depends on whether anyone checks.
Some guardrails have begun to appear. This outlet reported earlier this month that Flock tightened its defaults in August, reducing standard data retention from 30 days to seven, requiring case numbers for searches, and mandating audits. Horry County Council Chairman Johnny Gardner sent Hooks’s request for transparency to committee [MyrtleBeachSC.com, 2026]. Supporters of the cameras have a real argument too. Surfside Beach Police Chief Bill Mickle has said the cameras only record what anyone can already see from a public road, and that they help find missing people and dangerous offenders. MyrtleBeachSC
This case gives the council committee a concrete example to work from. The useful question is not whether the cameras work. This week showed they can. The useful question is who reviewed each search that led from a Virginia parking lot to a Myrtle Beach traffic stop, and whether the same review would catch an officer running a plate for personal reasons.
What Horry County Residents Should Take From This
There are three lessons for readers here.
First, the danger in this case came from someone the victim knew. It was not a stranger. Investigators identified the suspect as a former boyfriend within hours. Dating violence among teenagers and young adults is often treated as a private matter until it becomes a police chase. Parents of dual-enrollment students, who move between high school and college campuses, may want to talk with their kids about warning signs and about checking in.
Second, the local part of this case is not finished. South Carolina charges, pursuit records, and any use-of-force reviews will come through Horry County agencies and courts. Residents should expect those records to be made public.
Third, the camera debate now has a real, local test case. Both supporters and critics can point to it, and the committee reviewing Hooks’s request should examine it closely.
Conclusion
Virginia teen abducted from college parking lot ‘back with her family’ after multi-state chase (WTVR CBS 6, 2026)
A teenager is home safe, and that matters most. Knott said: “She’s safe, which is a great thing for us” [WTVR, 2026]. The route that brought her home ran through Myrtle Beach, and it relied on a surveillance network that Horry County has not yet decided how to govern. The same system that found an accused abductor could also be used to follow an ex-partner, a neighbor, or a critic. Horry County should credit the rescue and still require clear rules, audits, and public reporting on who runs every search.
Further Reading
Abducted Virginia Teen – Same report via WTKR (WTKR, 2026)
Abducted Virginia Teen – Is your car on camera? Myrtle Beach-area authorities say yes. (Post and Courier, 2026)
Abducted Virginia Teen – Petition to ban Flock & ALPR cameras in Horry County started by Conway veteran (WPDE, 2026)
Abducted Virginia Teen – How police thwarted an alleged Easter morning kidnapping near Myrtle Beach (WMBF, 2025)
Abducted Virginia Teen – License plate readers coming to Horry County (WPDE, 2022)
Abducted Virginia Teen – Your Data and Government Exploitation Issues (MyrtleBeachSC.com, 2026)
