Rhode Island man beats local resident after finding missing girl at apartment

A Rhode Island man was arrested on Friday for assaulting a local man with cerebral palsy. But that was just the end of a complex story.

David K. Junkins, 36, of North Kingstown, Rhode Island, was arraigned in Magistrate Court on March 23 on misdemeanor charges of battery and destruction of property.

According to the criminal complaint filed in Magistrate Court, the story began when Berkeley Springs Police were contacted on Tuesday, March 20 by police in Rhode Island.

Authorities there had heard that a 17-year-old female, who may have been a victim of kidnapping, was suspected of being in Berkeley Springs.

Shortly after 5 p.m. on

Thursday, March 22, the father of the missing girl called

Berkeley Springs Police and spoke to Corporal Craig Pearrell.

The father said his daughter had been missing for several days and believed she was in Berkeley Springs. Pearrell was familiar with the case because of the earlier contact from Rhode Island Police.

Pearrell said he located the girl at the North Washington Street apartment of a 41-year-old male.

Police have not released the names of the girl, her parents or the local man.

Pearrell took the girl into custody, brought her back to police headquarters and notified her father.

The father said he would drive down from Rhode Island with the girl's mother and the mother's boyfriend.

Pearrell said he would hold the girl until they arrived.

The father called back several times during his trip, saying he was almost there and asking directions to the police station.

On Friday, March 23 at about 5:25 a.m., Pearrell saw a silver car coming west on Union Street toward the police department. Upon arrival, the father and mother of the missing juvenile came up the steps to the police station. The boyfriend was not with them.

At 5:31 a.m., as Officer Pearrell was explaining the situation to the girl's parents, a call came in from the 911 center that a man had been beaten up at North Washington Street. Pearrell asked where the mother's boyfriend was.

At that point the father said, "I tried to get him in the car, I didn't know what he was going to do."

Pearrell called Police Chief James Minton to watch the parents and juvenile while he went to check the victim and locate the suspect.

At the scene, the victim told Pearrell that his cell phone kept ringing and there was a knock at the door. When he opened the door, there were three people. Two left, but one man — David K. Junkins – stayed.

Junkins allegedly started yelling and cursing at the victim and then began hitting him with his fist. He also broke the man's cell phone.

Pearrell said he noticed that the victim had swelling on his face and head. The man said he didn't fight back because he has cerebral palsy.

He described his assailant as a white, heavy-set male, wearing a red baseball cap, gray

T-shirt and dark jeans.

After calling 911 to dispatch emergency medical services to the victim, Pearrell located and apprehended the suspect who he saw running down N. Washington Street.



Junkins admitted that he beat the victim and broke his cell phone, according to Pearrell's report.

Chief Minton said the girl and the local man have been in contact for several years, first over the internet and then by telephone.

The man had picked the girl up in Rhode Island several days before. The girl had gone willingly with the man who transported her back to his apartment in Berkeley Springs, Minton said.

At press time, the investigation was continuing.