Was A Teen Held In A Storage Container For 9 Months?

A 15-year-old girl faced her accused abductor in court after allegedly being held captive in a storage container for nine months. INSIDE EDITION reports.

The man accused of abducting a 15-year-old girl and keeping her in a steel storage container for nine months appeared in court for the first time.

Brave Abby Hernandez surprised everyone by appearing in court today as she watched her alleged abductor being arraigned.

Thirty-four-year-old Nathaniel Kibby, described as a loner, faces charges that he imprisoned her in a steel bunker behind a trailer he rented for $300 a month.

Kibby turned and appeared to look at Abby in court. He did not enter a plea and was ordered held on $1 million cash bail.

Abby returned to her home in Conway, New Hampshire last week but details of her ordeal are only now emerging.

Prosecutor Jane Young said in court, "I saw her in court today. I cannot tell you how a child like that can get through nine months and endure, but she has done that."

Zachary Sampson, who has been following the case for The Boston Globe told INSIDE EDITION, "Abby sat in the front row with her mother. She remained fairly stoic the whole time. When Nathaniel Kibby was brought into the court room she stared at him until he took a seat."

Abby disappeared in October last year when she was just 14. An image from a surveillance camera showed her leaving a Rite Aid store on her way home from school that afternoon. Her mother, Zenya Hernandez, pleaded for help finding her on national TV, saying, "I believe you're alive and I know that hope speaks louder that fear."

Neighbors joined the search, but even as the FBI entered the case, there were suggestions Abby could be a runaway.

Then, a week ago Abby came home as suddenly as she had vanished. The Today show broadcast home video of a friend greeting her.

She was described as gaunt, pale and unable to eat solid food after her harrowing ordeal.

She thanked everyone who looked for her, saying, "It's an incredible feeling to be home. I believe in my heart that your hopes and prayers played a major role in my release."

Her mother told the Today show that Abby was held against her will and that rumors she was pregnant when she disappeared nine months ago are untrue.

Zenya told the Today show, "The majority of people somehow believe that she was pregnant. She's not. And she did not runaway. I firmly believe that."