Okconnected to wifi,on. Protected from threats. Thermostat connected, protected. Speaker, space vacuum. [ whispering ] connected, protected. Shh. Eh, this is not connected or protected. But, thats a family heirloom. And, its a family security breach. Its gotta go. With xfinity xfi, if its connected, its protected. Pull the truck around. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Get more out of your inhome wifi experience with xfinity internet and ask about enhanced Network Security for all your connected devices. Click, call or visit a store today. Geeng. Good evening. Thanks for joining us. Imagine having your daughter snatched from your arms in broad daylight. Stranger abductions are not typical. Only a tiny fraction of cases out of hundreds of thousands of missing children every year. But this nightmare scenario came true for one texasottot s erre t gives us a rare look at how a community of heroes came together to bring that little girl home. Reporter racing through the night streets. The destination, an unremarkable hotel in the suburbs of fort worth, texas. Why dont you put your lights back on . If this guys looking out the window, im not trying to let him see that were rolling around. Can you get me in real quick . You have the room information for room 333 . I need it fast. Reporter the target, a small room on the third floor. Matches the description. Reporter the mission, to prevent a truly worstcase scenario. Tonight, eight hours that captivated a city. Exclusive access inside a police raid police. Open the door. Reporter raid with a little girls life on the line. Never before seen body cam footage. Open the door reporter of the final confrontation. Open the door reporter when every second matters. Open it hands let me see your hands get on the ground hey, here she is we got her we got her we got her reporter dallas fort worth, home to more than 7. 5 million people. Many of them living in quiet suburban neighborhoods like this one. Mile after mile of driveways and lush backyards. A place where families can safely stroll down the sidewalk. But that sense of safety was shattered on a warm saturday evening back in may. What is the location that youre calling about . Hello a car, a gray car just drove off. I think it was handicap. He just kidnapped my daughter. Okay. He dragged my on the street and kidnapped my daughter. Please help me. Reporter do you recall where you were when you got the call . I was at home. And i just knew that this case was different. Reporter sergeant amelia heise was the detective on call that day. When she got the first report. An 8yearold girl snatched right out of her mothers arms. Oh my god, my daughter was kidnapped. Im going to [ bleep ] die help me please you need to find her now hes a scary man. He was harassing us, trying to walk up and he came up and he grabbed us. He grabbed her and threw her in the car. I hopped in the car and he pushed me out of the car and he has her. Please. I cant let her be gone. Please please reporter officers raced to the scene, finding the mother but also an accidental piece of evidence. One that could be critical to tracking down the kidnapper. Help me help me please my daughter just got kidnapped captured on a mans doorbell camera showing the actual abduction in progress. You can see a woman fall onto the street as the car drives away. Then she pops up yelling for help. Help me reporter you have a rare combination of youre a mom and a detective. I was a detective before i was a mother and then after, and after i became a mother that protective sense just grew. And i could really relate more to the cases and how the parents were feeling. We begin tonight with breaking news out of fort worth where police say a little girl is missing. This is security footage from a maybing home there. This has been an active scene now for hours. Reporter did you feel the sense of urgency right off the bat . I knew that we had to go, that time was against us. And that we just could not move fast enough. Reporter the case so heinous, federal authorities were immediately brought in. U. S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox. One of the most disturbing things about this incident was the randomness of it and just the horrifying brazenness of it. Reporter fbi special agent Chris Thompson is with a special task force investigating crimes against children. Less than 5 of the abductions tracked by the fbi nationally are true stranger abductions. He saw something that he wanted, executed on it, and unfortunately took the girl in plain sight. It seemed to escalate the level of concern that we had for the minor victim, that she may indeed be in grave danger and imminent danger. Reporter the girls mom could give a rough description of the suspect but only a little about the car. What kind of vehicle were they in maam . A gray vehicle. Do you remember what kind of vehicle it was . It is a gray vehicle. Reporter thankfully that doorbell cam provided clues to guide the manhunt. Surprisingly, the ring doorbell video was the only piece of video. It was absolutely critical. It wasnt supposed to go off just from a passing car or from a person being observed in the street. Reporter it only activated because the homeowner ran outside. Its only a few precious frames of footage, but it was enough for Law Enforcement to call in car experts who then helped narrow down a make and model. If you were in that area tonight, please give police a call. Reporter and with that, police and the community had something specific to look for. The patrol response was amazing. Everybodys showing up. But were still not enough. We have called in additional resources. Obviously, the Fort Worth PoliceDepartment Takes this very seriously. Reporter did every minute, even every second feel like an eternity . The best way i can describe it is i felt like time was my enemy. It felt like time was flying by and that i was moving so slow, and that i just could not move fast enough. Well, in an abduction, every minute that passes is the situation generally gets worse and worse for the victim. Every minute that passes, your your likelihood of having a positive outcome goes down. Reporter and were tips coming in . Absolutely. Yes. Reporter dozens . Hundreds . I dont know the exact number, but i know that our Communications Unit was overwhelmed. Fort worth Police Operator 0727. Whats the address youre talking about . Reporter 30yearold mother of two, crystal merrill, had no idea what she was walking into when she arrived for her shift at the fort worth dispatch center that night. It was already very, very busy when i came onto my shift. I was a nervous wreck with it because i could just only imagine me walking down the street and this happening to me and my child. Reporter by the time she got there, the manhunt was more than four hours old. I had heightened senses because every call was like im trying to get every piece of detail and see, okay, should we what should how should we process this . Is this just a broadcast . Do i just let our officers know . Or do we actually send a call up . And we need to go check this out. Every call was like that, all the details. Reporter as dispatchers fielded call after call, tip after tip, crystal had no idea that by the next morning she would walk out of the call center a hero. Dont just watch the video, help us locate this little girl. Reporter Something Else crystal didnt know at that moment, just after midnight someone had called 911 and reported they may have seen the suspect. Police officers from the suburb of forest hill responded to woodspring suites, an Extended Stay Hotel about seven miles from the street where the girl was snatched. The officers talked to the man in room 333. They even went inside and reportedly searched for 90 seconds, but they didnt see a child and left. We now know the kidnapped little girl was there. Hidden in plain sight. We reached out to forest hill and the city declined to comment. By then, it was well into the night and most of the city was asleep. But luckily not everyone. The people that that came forward to assist in this late, late, late on a saturday night of their own accord were absolutely critical in the recovery of this child. Reporter around 2 00 a. M. A new 911 call. Hi. My names jeff king. Youre looking for the missing girl. Okay. Reporter on one end crystal merrill. On the other a couple of men out searching. We just found a ford 500 in the parking lot of a hotel. What hotel . And it looks like theres blood in the front seat. What hotel . I could tell he wasnt in our city. He was more so, i dont know, in shock. I transferred him over to forest hill. And i dont know. Something told me to just keep listening on the call to see what was going on. Reporter normally, her job would be done at that point, but her decision to stay on the call turns the tide. Forest hill 911. What is the location . So i stay on the call. And the operator was a female on the line. It was like she already knew where he was at. She knew what hotel it was. What seat is the one you think theres blood . Passenger seat. Passenger seat on the front . Front passenger seat has blood on it it looks like. I said, well, i dont know. This sounds like something we should check out. It wouldnt hurt for us to go out there. Reporter crystal gets the alert out to the Fort Worth Police and in minutes shes tracking officer after officer as they arrive at the scene. Now all she can do is wait and see if her instinct was right. She realized the seriousness of it. And officers who heard it, they also realized the seriousness of it. Reporter and was that the moment that led to the beginning of the end . Yes. Reporter up next, inside the rescue operation. 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Reporter once parked, time is of the essence. The officers must figure out if they have the right place and the right suspect. They immediately check out the vehicle reported in the 911 call and what looks like blood in the front passenger seat. Armed with the room number from the original 911 call, the officer with the body camera heads inside. Only to find the front desk shuttered for the night. Can you can get me in real quick . Can you get me in real quick . Do you work here . Yes. Do you have the room information for room 333 . I need it like fast. Okay. Reporter provided in that paperwork, a copy of the mans license. 224 adb. It matches the description. Reporter at this point just minutes after arriving on scene, a group of police and Task Force Agents have enough information to make an attempt to get inside room 333. They of course were exposing themselves to dangers. We knew very little about the subject. We didnt know if he was sitting behind there with a rifle. Open the door. But i seriously doubt if any of them even give it a passing thought. Their mission at that point in their lives was to get in that door and find that girl. Open the door Police Department open the door hold on, man. Im getting dressed. Open the [ bleep ] door break it. Open it [ bleep ]. Hands let me see your hands step out here step out reporter the suspect is pulled out of the room. The team then rushes in searching for the girl, who is nowhere to be seen. Here she is got her. We got her. We got her. We got her. Reporter the officers relief and excitement clear as they tell everyone, the girl is here and alive. Whoo in custody. We have her. [ bleep ]. The little girl had been forced to hide in a storage bucket, covered in dirty laundry. It was the same trick that worked the First Time Police searched room 333 but did not work this time. We got her the subject had actually threatened the victim we need amt that he was going to harm her and her family if she made any sort of outcry or tried to notify the police. Can we get her out . Come on, sweetheart. Youre okay . Yeah. Youre safe. Weve got you. Youre going to be okay. [ bleep ]. Reporter their excitement clearly tempered by the anger and anxiety that someone would kidnap and attack a child. Lets get her in here so she can sit down. Do me a favor. Reporter that man right there, the Good Samaritan who made the 911 call, a pastor who actually knows the family. On the phone with the girls dad. Delivering the good news. Police officer m 727. Whats the address . Reporter back at the call and dispatch center crystal merrill finally found out what happened. Oh, man. It was like a tochb bricks had been knocked off of me. I took a moment. I did cry at work, like after they called the girl. I think it was just because my adrenaline was so high and a sense of like oh, we found her. Reporter she got emotional again when she got home. Realizing her determination helped return a child to her mothers loving arms. I went straight in and i just hugged my babies and i was crying. Im getting emotional now thinking about it. And i was crying. It was just a lot. You could just think oh, that could have been me. And it was good to know my babies were at home. But that little girl, she didnt get to she wasnt at home with her mom. She wasnt safe. But thanks to you, she was. Now. I just say it was it was god. God. God led all of that. I went home, and i sat down at the breakfast table. And everything that i wouldnt allow myself to feel that night, it hit me and i felt it. Reporter were you able to hug your kids . Yes. Yes. Very much so. Reporter in the aftermath of the arrest, u. S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox picked up the case. Im a mother of three children, all girls, one of whom is an 8yearold, just like the victim in this case. Reporter youre kidding. No. And so to me, it was important to bring this particular defeanto justice. Case pernally, getting an ed the indictmentl kidnapping charges. Reporter did you find yourselves in in brief moments thinking about what the mom was going through . Oh, absolutely. I mean, we we met with the family, who is just so courageous and inspirational to me personally about how they were dealing with this. Reporter the 51yearold suspect pleaded not guilty. But in court, nealy cox played parts of his Police Interrogation tape. I scoped it out pretty good. Reporter where he admitted to kidnapping the girl. It took a jury just 10 minutes to convict him. He was later sentenced to life in prison. Nobodys ever going to be victimized by this man again. If youre sitting at home and that amber alert goes off on your phone, it doesnt mean you cant do something. Reporter nealy cox says the case has had a profound impact on not just her but everyone involved. Especially those officers there at the rescue. And some of them are still dealing with the memories of that day. They really dealt with it like they would their own child and finding this child. Reporter but for Erin Nealy Cox, amelia heise, crystal merrill, and all those officers the real measure of success is not found in a courtroom. Its making sure that the youngest hero, a little girl who was kidnapped and terrorized, can do more than just survive, she can thrive. Shes definitely the hero of this story. Shes shes doing great. I mean, shes incredibly resilient. Shes got love of a strong family, who are just as brave as she is. And i, like you, think shes going to do extraordinary things one day. I know that shes going to be with me for the rest of my life. I look forward to seeing her grow and to see her experience all the wonderful things that life can can give to her from here on out. Reporter for nightline im Pierre Thomas in fort worth, texas. May your holidays glow bright and all your dreams take flight. Lease the c 300