More charges have been filed against a rural Yellville man who hid in a cave with a 14-year-old Mountain Home girl. Four counts of sexual indecency with a child have been filed in Marion County against 40-year-old Isaac Melder.
Melder and Sara Gilpin were found in a cave north of Summit last week where they had been living for nearly six weeks. Authorities had been searching for Gilpin during that time after she was reported missing.
According to new court documents in the case, law enforcement interviewed the victim who said she and Melder were in love and had planned to run away together. She told investigators she walked from her school in May to an agreed upon location on College Street in Mountain Home and met Melder. They then went to the cave where they had been living until being found last week.
The victim says she and Melder had sexual intercourse on numerous occasions while they were living in the cave.
Melder is being held in the Baxter County Detention Center on bonds totaling just over $1 million.
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