A Texas teenager was rescued by her father after she was forced into a truck at knifepoint on Christmas Day, police said. 

Patrol deputies with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office were called to an area home at about 4:50 p.m. on Thursday, the agency said on social media. The officers were told that the teenager, 15, had taken her dog out for a walk but had not returned. Her father then used parental controls to track her phone’s location and find it in a “secluded, partially wooded area” about two miles away. 

The sheriff’s office said the father, who has not been identified, traveled to the site and found his daughter and her dog inside a maroon-colored pickup truck, along with a “partially nude” man. The father helped the teen escape and brought her back home, where they called the sheriff’s office.

Investigators determined that the male suspect had threatened the teenager with a knife. Witness descriptions allowed police to identify the suspect’s vehicle and identify the driver as Giovanni Rosales Espinoza, 23. 

Espinoza was taken into custody without incident, the sheriff’s office said. He has been charged with aggravated kidnapping and indecency with a child. He is being held in the Montgomery County Jail with no bond, the sheriff’s office said. An investigation is ongoing. 

CBS affiliate KHOU reported that the girl is recovering with her family. The family told KHOU that none of them knew the suspect and that they are thankful their daughter is safe. 

“Christmas is a day meant for joy, but this man chose to shatter that joy by targeting a child,” Sheriff Wesley Doolittle said on social media. “I am incredibly proud of our deputies and detectives who worked tirelessly to ensure this dangerous predator was swiftly apprehended and is now off our streets.”