A traffic stop on New Year’s Eve has spiraled into a disturbing criminal case involving a registered sex offender, a missing 11-year-old boy found hidden in a truck, and a 15-year-old now facing decades in prison.
Junior Bishop, 15, of Hastings, has been formally charged as an adult following the chaotic incident on Dec. 31, 2025. While Bishop faces a litany of felonies for his actions during the stop, investigators say he may also be a co-conspirator in the kidnapping of the child found in the vehicle.
The events began when the Flagler County Emergency Communications Center received a “see something, say something” tip. A caller reported seeing Darnel Hairston, 60—a known sex offender—driving with two juveniles. The caller recognized one of the children as a boy reported missing from St. Johns County three days earlier.
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When deputies located Hairston’s vehicle and initiated a stop, they separated the man from the children. That is when the 11-year-old, visibly traumatized, told a deputy he had been kidnapped, feared for his life, and believed he would be killed if authorities didn’t help him.
As deputies moved to detain Hairston, the situation turned violent. Hairston reportedly resisted arrest and attempted to grab a deputy’s firearm before being subdued. Simultaneously, Bishop jumped into the driver’s seat of Hairston’s vehicle and sped away, nearly striking a deputy.
While Bishop fled, deputies secured the 11-year-old victim, who was later transported to a hospital. In interviews with the Sheriff’s Office Major Case Unit, the child described a nightmare ordeal.
According to investigators, the boy said he was lured to a wooded campsite in Flagler Estates, where Hairston choked him until he lost consciousness. When he woke up, he was allegedly threatened with a knife and gun, his hands were bound with shoelaces and an extension cord, and his mouth was taped shut. He told detectives he was held at the camp for days and forced to travel on the floorboard of Hairston’s truck, concealed under a blanket.
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Search warrants executed at the campsite, Hairston’s Hastings home, and the vehicle uncovered duct tape, video surveillance equipment, and weapons consistent with the child’s account.
“Clearly, thanks to ‘see something, say something’ and our deputies recognizing the victim was very afraid, we rescued a missing child who was in fear Hairston had planned to kill him,” said Sheriff Rick Staly. “I commend everyone involved… for making sure this pervert will face justice and hopefully serve the rest of his life in prison.”
Hairston, who admitted to detectives he knew the child was missing but offered no explanation for keeping him, is now held without bond. On Jan. 2, he was charged with kidnapping a child under 13, aggravated child abuse, battery by strangulation, and robbery with a deadly weapon.
Bishop, meanwhile, remains in the custody of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. Authorities added a charge of grand theft auto after determining he did not have permission to take the vehicle when he fled. He already faces charges of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer and fleeing at reckless speed—both first-degree felonies carrying minimum mandatory 30-year sentences.
Sheriff Staly noted that Bishop was already on probation for a violent offense when the new crimes occurred.
“Frankly, if you commit serious adult felonies as a juvenile, especially when you are already on probation, you should expect to be held accountable as an adult,” Staly said.
The investigation is ongoing, with detectives working to determine the full extent of Bishop’s involvement in the kidnapping.
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