Doorbell video, a vehicle horn and nearby adults became part of the account of how the 10-year-old reached safety.
NEWBERN, Tenn. — A neighbor’s response to a 10-year-old girl seeking help during an alleged abduction became a crucial break in an early-morning emergency that ended with the child safe and a Newbern man arrested hours later, state investigators said.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has not released the girl’s name, and the public accounts reviewed for this story identify her only by age and through her mother, Crystal Brown. That limited identification is important because the case involves a minor and allegations of attempted sexual violence. The TBI said the child was forcibly taken from her home on Sept. 23, threatened and assaulted, then briefly escaped and reached a nearby neighbor before the suspect caught up with her. The bureau said the neighbor’s quick actions helped save the child’s life. Later reporting filled in parts of that escape with an affidavit, doorbell-camera evidence and witness accounts from the apartment area.
One nearby resident told WBBJ she woke to loud noises and screaming around 12:50 a.m. and saw the girl running toward the home of an aunt who lived close to Brown. WSMV repeated that account and reported that the aunt came outside carrying a spiked bat before the man fled. The investigative affidavit, as described by WBBJ, adds another part of the rescue: after getting away from the wooded area, the child reached a neighboring apartment and communicated with a resident through a Ring doorbell camera. Agents later reviewed video showing her asking for help. Those accounts place other adults into the incident at the moment the child was trying to get away.
The alleged abduction had started minutes earlier at an apartment in the 400 block of East Johnson Street. According to the affidavit, an unidentified man removed an air-conditioning unit from a bedroom window, reached through the opening and pulled the 10-year-old outside while she held onto her comforter. Brown separately told local reporters that an intruder removed the unit from her daughter’s bedroom window and dragged the child toward nearby woods. Investigators later observed the air-conditioning unit on the ground in front of the bedroom window, WBBJ reported, while police found the girl’s comforter several yards away near a cellular-tower access road.
The affidavit says the man took the girl into the woods behind the apartments, tied her to a small tree with a belt, put a knife to her throat and threatened to rape her. The TBI’s public release summarized that portion more generally, saying the child was threatened and assaulted. According to the affidavit, the man eventually walked away while the girl remained tied. She freed herself and ran. The restraint, knife and sexual threat are allegations contained in the reported affidavit, not findings by a court. Public reporting says the child was later taken to a hospital, but the sources reviewed did not disclose a detailed medical condition or describe any long-term injuries.
The child’s first escape did not immediately end the danger, investigators said. The TBI said the suspect caught up with her after she sought help. The affidavit says he chased her and grabbed her behind the neighboring apartment, where he began strangling her. A woman then arrived in a vehicle, honked the horn and screamed for help, according to the affidavit account. The man released the girl and fled. WSMV’s account says the aunt then emerged with the bat. The sequence described by authorities shows several overlapping acts of intervention — the child reaching the doorbell camera, a driver creating noise and attention, and relatives or neighbors coming outside — rather than a single dramatic rescue by one person.
Those moments also gave investigators multiple places to look for evidence. At the request of 29th Judicial District Attorney Danny Goodman, TBI agents joined Newbern police, the Dyer County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI and task force members. Searchers moved through the wooded area behind the apartments and the surrounding grounds. WBBJ reported that agents located a belt, a vape and a green sweatshirt near a small tree. Police found the comforter away from the bedroom, and investigators documented the displaced window unit. The doorbell recording provided a time-stamped visual record of at least part of the girl’s attempt to get help, while witness statements helped authorities reconstruct what happened around the neighboring apartments.
The available accounts also show why investigators and news reports describe parts of the episode with different levels of detail. The TBI release confirms the forced removal from the home, threats, assault, temporary escape, recapture and neighbor intervention, but it does not publish every allegation contained in the affidavit. The affidavit-based reporting supplies the window entry, restraint, knife threat, doorbell contact and second assault. Brown’s comments add what she observed about the damaged bedroom window and her daughter’s removal. None of the sources reviewed identifies a claimed relationship between Harris and the child, and the public reporting describes the intruder as a stranger to the family. Authorities have not publicly stated a motive beyond the conduct alleged in the attempted rape charge.
Goodman told WBBJ that the multiagency search produced items that matched details investigators had received from the child and helped confirm a suspect they already had in mind. Evidence was submitted to the TBI Crime Lab for DNA analysis, including Rapid DNA processing. The TBI said the test generated information that led to Steven Devonte Harris, 30, of Newbern. The bureau announced that Harris was arrested Wednesday night, the same day as the alleged abduction. The public reports do not say which specific item yielded the DNA result, provide the laboratory paperwork or disclose the statistical strength of the match, so those details cannot be independently assessed from the available reporting.
Harris was charged with two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, two counts of aggravated assault, aggravated burglary and attempted rape of a child, according to the TBI. He was booked into the Dyer County Jail. The state agency listed his date of birth as Dec. 21, 1995. Some secondary coverage gave a different age or charge wording, but the official TBI release is the basis for the identifying information and charge list used here. Law&Crime later reported that detectives said Harris gave inconsistent answers during an interview after receiving Miranda warnings. No interview transcript was available in the sources reviewed, and that reported characterization has not been tested in court.
Local police also discussed Harris’ prior criminal case after his arrest. WREG reporting republished by AOL said Harris had been indicted in 2020 on aggravated rape, aggravated sexual assault and aggravated burglary charges connected to a 2019 attack on a 95-year-old woman in Newbern. Newbern Police Chief Greg Barr said Harris ultimately pleaded to aggravated assault. The Tennessee Department of Correction told the station that he served a four-year, six-month sentence that expired March 12, 2023. That history may explain why investigators were familiar with Harris, but it is a separate case and does not prove any allegation arising from the Sept. 23 incident.
Brown said after the arrest that her daughter was alive and safe and that the family’s attention was on helping her heal. A Sept. 27 report said Harris was scheduled to appear in Dyer County General Sessions Court the next morning. The reliable sources reviewed for this story did not establish what happened at that appearance or provide a later plea, indictment disposition or trial date. As of Nov. 8, the clearest documented status is that Harris had been arrested and jailed on the six charges announced by the TBI. He is presumed innocent unless and until the state proves the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
Author note: Last updated November 8, 2026.