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CNN Live Today

7-Year-Old Girl Kidnapped Girl Now Safe at Home

Aired July 24, 2002 - 10:59   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Up first on CNN this hour, Philadelphia freedom. Love this story, at least the way it turned out. The 7- year-old girl who witnesses say was kidnaped from a street corner is now safe at home this morning. Police say Erica Pratt managed to free herself from captors who left her in a basement bound with duct tape from head to toe.

CNN's Jason Carroll joins us now live. He has the details for us.

Hello, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Leon.

Philadelphia freedom, I think I like that phrase. A lot of people out here in Erica's neighborhood are going to like that as well. Lots of people talking about her bravery and her determination to escape from her captors. As you know, Erica was abducted on Monday night by two men who drove by when she was walking home, walking back to her grandmother's house and then grabbed her. Her family was overjoyed when they got the news very late last night that Erica had been found, alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT DAVIS, PHILADELPHIA POLICE: She was forced to sit in a room with no light on a dirty, filthy mattress, duct-taped together. There was a bottle of juice, and some crummy food, a bag of potato chips, and she was locked into a room.

I mean, you wouldn't treat your animal like they treated this little girl.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: That was the inspector there describing part of what Erica had to go through. Let me explain a little bit more about what this 7-year-old girl had to go through during her 24 hours of remaining in captivity.

Basically, Erica was found in an abandoned building about 20 minutes from here. She was found in the basement. She had been tied up, bound with duct tape. And police say that she had somehow managed to chew her way through the duct tape, she climbed up some stairs, stairs that had holes in them. She found her way to the top. She found some sort of a window, broke the window, screamed outside, said, hello, help, I need help. Some children who were playing out in the street late last night heard her calls for help. They alerted police, and police finally found her.

Truly remarkable story, and testament to just how brave this little girl is.

At this point police are looking for two suspects. They have named two people. Their names, Edward Johnson and James Burns. Both of those two men are from the Philadelphia area. They are known to people here in the neighborhood. They are also apparently known to some people in the Pratt family.

The motive for this kidnapping, money. Police say that at some point, the Pratts had received ransom call for $150,000. So once again, they believe that the motive for this is money. But once again, Erica, that brave little 7-year-old girl, is right back here at home where she belongs, back in loving arms -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right, we love the way that part of the story ended at least.

Jason Carroll, reporting live for us. Thanks, Jason.

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