Child Molester Missing from Dix

Officials are looking for a convicted child molester from Durham, who disappeared from Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh Friday.

Rex Ashley Haislip, 32, may have headed to Durham by bus. Durham 911 communicators broadcast a bulletin alerting police officers to be on the lookout. He is white, 6 feet 3, 158 pounds, has short brown hair and is deaf. He had been wearing state-issued clothing -- tan pants, blue shirt and dark jacket.

Haislip has been in custody at Dix since July to determine his mental fitness to stand trial.

Haislip faces three felony charges of taking indecent liberties with young girls.

Ten years ago he was convicted of attempted kidnapping of a 6-year-old girl in Nashville, Tenn. He served six months of a six-year sentence.

In 1991, he moved to Durham, where he was charged with four felonies involving indecent exposure, showing pornographic material to children and touching children improperly.

Haislip pleaded guilty to two counts of taking indecent liberties and was given five years probation, one condition of which was that he stay away from churches. He had hung out at churches to meet young victims.

Brett Hallan, the Durham detective who handled the latest Haislip cases, said, "I'm taking all precautions. I don't know how big a threat he can be."