Textile Worker Held in Kidnaps : Charged in Abduction, Rapes of 2 Georgia Girls

STAPLETON, Ga. —  A textile worker was arrested today and charged with kidnaping and rape in the abduction of two 12-year-old girls who had been missing for more than a week before they returned home.

Buford Williams Jr., in his early 20s, was arrested at the J. P. Stevens plant near Louisville where he works, Jefferson County Sheriff Zollie Compton said.

Williams at first was charged only with kidnaping, but Dist. Atty. Rick Malone said rape and aggravated sodomy charges were added later.

Williams, of Stapleton, is being held without bond.

Last Seen Dec. 22

Elizabeth Tanner and Jessica Barrow, last seen riding their bikes about sundown Dec. 22, ran into the Barrow home on Monday morning shouting, “We’re home, we’re home!” Mary Barrow, Jessica’s mother, said.

The girls told authorities they had been released half an hour earlier near where they were believed to have been abducted.

Elizabeth and Jessica first told Compton that they were forced into a white pickup truck by two masked men. They later said there only was one man, Compton said.

The two told authorities that they were blindfolded, taken to a house and put in a closet, which was nailed shut. The abductor opened the door occasionally to give the girls sandwiches wrapped in paper, the sheriff said.