SANFORD — Hailey Traynham was reunited with her mother late Tuesday, 30 hours after police said she was abducted by her father, who fled with the two-year-old in a stolen pick-up truck.

The girl was unharmed.

Her father, Gary Traynham, 38, was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon by police in Milton, N.H. after a hunter spotted the pair in the pick-up truck on a road near the woods and convinced the father to surrender.

An Amber Alert was issued Monday afternoon after police said Traynham assaulted the girl’s mother and then fled with Hailey in the truck.

The hunter, Mike Grant Jr., 38, said he walked up to the truck in which Traynham had been hiding with Hailey since daylight broke on Tuesday. Grant said he never had to raise his firearm.

“He started crying right away,” Grant said.

Grant said police helicopters had flown over the woods a couple of times, unaware that Traynham was there.

Traynham said he was nearly out of money and gas and had nowhere to go, Grant said.

The father and daughter seemed fairly comfortable, Grant said. He added Hailey was asking for her mother and cried a bit.

“I told him to be a man about it,” Grant said of his conversation with Traynham. He said he told Traynham, “I can’t let you leave.”

Grant drove the pair to the home of retired Wakefield Police Chief Tim Merrill on Route 153.

Merrill said this morning he’d just returned home from his part-time teaching job at the New Hampshire Police Academy Tuesday when his wife said Grant was at the door with Hailey and her father. Milton is a small community and Grant and Merrill knew each other.

“(Grant) told me he talked with Traynham for an hour,” said Merrill, who called police when the trio arrived.

He said Hailey was subdued, tired and hungry, but not physically injured. She played with Merrill’s two-year-old grandson while police interviewed him and Grant.

Merrill said Gary Traynham asked for a diaper for Hailey.

“He was obviously very concerned about his daughter,” Merrill said. He said Traynham was cooperative, very subdued and emotional.

Police arrested Traynham and took him away quickly, but Hailey was at the home for a couple of hours. Merrill said the child’s aunt and uncle and grandparents arrived to see her.

Grant, he said, did a good job.

“I can’t say enough about him,” said Merrill. “Not everyone would get involved. He did excellent. I told him he did it just right.”

Outside Sanford Police headquarters late Tuesday afternoon, the mood was jubilant as Police Chief Thomas Connolly announced that Hailey had been found safe.

“There is great satisfaction when something good like this happens. A lot of good people worked a lot of long hours,” said Connolly.

Traynham was taken to Strafford County Jail in Dover, N.H. and is being held without bail as a fugitive from justice. Milton Police Chief Mark McGowan said Traynham is scheduled to appear at District Court in Rochester, N.H. on Thursday afternoon. He is also charged by Sanford Police with gross sexual assault involving the child’s mother.

Police described the assault on the girl’s mother as “violent” and acknowledged a knife was involved, but did not elaborate. The Journal Tribune does not name alleged victims of sexual assault.

Traynham and his girlfriend, the child’s mother, were recently estranged. The child’s mother filed for a custody determination on Nov. 4 at Springvale District Court. In court documents, she said the three had ceased to live together as a family Oct. 26 ”“ the day police said Traynham was arrested on a warrant for allegedly writing bad checks.

Connolly on Tuesday praised the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who sent a team of nine to help find the little girl and her father. Connolly particularly noted the work by FBI Supervisory Senior Special Agent Todd DiFede and special agents Patrick Clancy and Christopher Peavey.

“God Bless the FBI,” said Connolly. He said the FBI’s technology allowed them to pinpoint Traynham’s last cell phone transmission. From that location, they drew an arc of about 6.8 miles where they believed Traynham was located ”“ and they were right, Connolly said.

Connolly also noted the help of Milton Police, state police in both Maine and New Hampshire and the other agencies that assisted.

The chief also had words of thanks for his own officers: Patrol Officer Thomas Sayre, who filed the initial report on the assault, Deputy Police Chief Craig Sanford and detectives Amy Gagne and Sarah Roberts and their supervisor Jason Wagner.

“It was a great team effort,” said Connolly.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report. Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.