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11-Year-Old Texas Kidnapping Victim Safely Found
Aired May 04, 2001 - 12:29 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.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He pulled behind the vehicle. At that time, a girl ran out of the car who we've identified as Leah, jumped in with the deputy. And then the subject driving the car got out -- my understanding: He ran and then he committed suicide.
We have tentatively identified a subject, a gentleman by the name of Gary Dale Cox. This was information -- again, it's still unfolding. We don't know if it is one and the same gentleman that actually took his life out there in Kerrville. And it's pretty much all the information we have at this point.
QUESTION: Can you tell what you're hearing about a history of sex crimes and everything (OFF-MIKE) Can you tell us any more about his background?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not. We -- again, like I said, this is just unfolding at this point. We don't have any information to disclose on the subject at this point. And, again, we are not saying this is the gentleman that, in fact, had committed suicide out there. It's still too early to tell.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: Tell us about Leah's condition a little bit more, if you could. How is she doing afterwards?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I tell you, I'm going to defer to her mom and dad, because they just had the opportunity to talk to her.
QUESTION: How is Leah?
LINDA HENRY, LEAH'S MOTHER: She doesn't sound her confident self, but she's OK. She's talking. And she sounded very timid, perhaps scared, maybe exhausted. But she's talking.
TIM HENRY, LEAH'S FATHER: Well, we did talk to with her. And she is alive. And she's well. And she will be back here soon.
QUESTION: Is there any way to put into words the emotions you must be feeling right now?
T. HENRY: I don't know. L. HENRY: My heart is soaring. That's all I can say. It's incredible. And I want to thank each and every one of you for everything you have done to get the word out to people to help us.
QUESTION: Can you all recount where you were, exactly who told you, and how you heard your daughter was safe?
T. HENRY: Detective Mascara (ph) called me. I was about a block away from the house, heading up towards the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Baptist Church (ph). He said she had been recovered. She was safe. She was in Kerrville. I turned around, drove to the house, ran inside and told Linda and my brother.
We called her sister. Her sister was out putting up yellow ribbons. And she's now on her way here. And it's just a wonderful, wonderful feeling. And the thanks we have for everyone is just incredible.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: What's the first thing you all are going to do when you see her? What's the first thing you all are going to do when you see her?
L. HENRY: We're going to take her signal from her. I don't know what she's feeling right now. And we'll leave that up to her.
QUESTION: Do you have any thanks to give out to anybody at this point?
T. HENRY: Oh God, everybody. We want -- I would just...
L. HENRY: The media, the schools, Westbury Christian, River Oaks Elementary, all of our neighbors, our friends, her camp -- I mean, people we don't know in the neighborhood -- people who came up and made donations, people who did searches, the students, kids, people I hadn't -- who knew her as a baby and I hadn't seen since then. It's been incredible.
QUESTION: Is there anything about her experience? Were you told what she had been doing the last couple days?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, we're going...
` T. HENRY: We have no idea.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to limit the questions. I think that probably enough for right now.
T. HENRY: OK.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there anything you're taking with you to feel secure?
L. HENRY: Yes, we're taking -- we're taking her some stuffed animals that are her favorites.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We appreciate the questions for them.
T. HENRY: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to echo what Tim and Linda just said about..
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: The comments of a FBI special agent in charge of the investigation into the kidnapping of 11-year-old girl in the Houston, Texas area. After three days, the little girl has been found safe. Apparently, law enforcement officials saw her in the suspect's car. It was stopped by a sheriff's deputy in Kerrville outside of Houston.
When the car was stopped, 11-year-old Leah Henry jumped out of the car and was recovered safely. The person suspected of kidnapping her jumped out of the car on the other side and is now said by the FBI to have taken his own life.
One important point about this is, the suspect -- the FBI has been making a lot of this case, releasing drawings from two previous kidnappings. They believe the same man was involved in kidnapping of young girls in New Orleans in San Antonio prior to this.
In those cases, too, both girls were released and recovered safely and unharmed.
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