Multiple agencies continue search for father after 7-year-old daughter found safe

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Hanahan Police and several other agencies are searching for the man they say took his daughter from a Hanahan home at about 7 p.m. Wednesday, hours after the child was found safe.

Authorities are continuing the search for Christopher Ryan Constine.

FBI agents found Constine’s daughter safe in the area of Hampton Park at around 10 a.m. Thursday morning. But there has been no sign of Constine.

“We currently have warrants on him for domestic violence first degree, unlawful conduct for child or towards the child we have had some additional minor charges not a serious and I do foresee there’s a strong possibility of additional warrants being filed and obtained for his arrest,” Hanahan Police Chief Dennis Turner said.

Constine abandoned his car just north of Hampton Park in downtown Charleston and ran away.

Neighbors say it was a loud and disorienting evening, with a lot of police presence including a helicopter. Beatrice Frask-Ramos lives on Grove Street and says neighbors were talking online and watching on balconies.

“It sounded like a war zone, the helicopter was flying really low and very thoroughly through the neighborhood,” Frask-Ramos says.

She says they didn’t know the situation for a little while. When Frask-Ramos learned about the kidnapping and chase, she says it was shocking.

“My heart melted. I was imagining the little girl all alone at night terrified,” she says. “I am very happy the little girl is found that she is safe. And I am also very grateful to the authorities to have deployed such an arsenal of means and of people to actually find the little girl.”

Turner says he is grateful to all the agencies that helped safely locate the girl and continue to be on the lookout for Constine.

“We’re fortunate about all the agencies around here. Federal authorities, state authorities, they constantly stress we’re here to help other agencies. We’re a small agency. We have resources but they are limited compared to the larger agencies and we requested assistance and everything started from there,” Turner says.

Frask-Ramos says she loves living downtown, and sometimes there are sirens at night, but nothing like what she saw Wednesday.

“It was unlike anything I had ever experienced. We do have events in this neighbohood as we are downtown. I had heard a helicopter once or twice, but to this magnitude that was unprecedented,” she says.

Police warn that Constine may be suicidal and a danger to himself.

Anyone who knows where he is is asked to call Hanahan Police at 843-747-5711.

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