Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - 8-year old girl snatched by perv on neighborhood stroll with mom in broad daylight...the latest

Episode Date: May 21, 2019

A nightmare scenario as 8-year-old Salem Sabatka, on a walk with her mother, is dragged into a car as mom tries to fight off the stranger. As the car speeds off, mom cries for help.The neighborhood immediately comes together to search for the little girl.Nancy's expert panel weighs in:John Cardillo: Former NYPDDr. Brian Russell:  PsychologistKathleen Murphy:   Family AttorneyEllen Killoran:  CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. She has blue eyes, very distinct blue eyes. We want to make sure that everybody is clear on that. Also, she does have that teal shirt on with the word centennial across it. And she is wearing some periwinkle seafoam green leggings. You guys can catch up on more details from the previous broadcast that we had earlier. What I do want to update you guys with is that we have called in additional resources.

Obviously, the Fort Worth Police Department takes this very seriously. We have our entire major case unit out here. We have called in all of our MPOs to make the location and assist. We have additional SRT, which is our special response team, checking different areas and strategic areas in Fort Worth Forest. We also have our entire SCRAM team behind these lights. Also, we have Homeland Security that has just gotten here. And I've also seen a few Department of Public Safety, which is our DPS Highway Patrol. They're assisting us as well. I'll tell you, everybody's concerned about this little girl.

A little Texas girl just eight years old, as cute as a button, walking along the street with her mother in an upscale neighborhood when suddenly a guy pulls up in a vehicle, grabs the girl in broad daylight. The mother jumps in the car to try to fight the little girl out of the car, and the guy pushes mommy out of the car and scratches off. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.

Striking fear in every mother's heart. I'm telling you, how many times do I say, who wants to go on a walk? The dog just looks at me. The only person that wants to go is Lucy, my 11-year-old little girl, and she is very, very small for her age. She was born at just two pounds, and she's barely cracking 70 pounds now at 11 years old, off we go and we're gone for an hour this guy pulls up to them in broad daylight and i can say it's nut skill neighborhood because i've seen the video of the neighborhood those are some nice houses on a tree-lined street everybody's yard looks like it's not a yard beautiful my point My point is, you know what? Let me just go right now to John Cardillo from the NYPD. John, why I keep saying it's an upscale neighborhood is because

you don't have a lot of crime there. It's not like somebody's out selling dope on the corner. John, let me tell you a little story I'm embarrassed about when i was a an arraignment calendar and uh i opened the file and i looked at the cop i said get out of my sight you make me sick i said it under my breath because i thought the cop was lying the police report said the cop was undercover he was walking he pulled up in this neighborhood and a guy on the corner held up a small glassine bag of crack. I'm like, you expect me to believe that a doper is going to hold up a glassine bag of crack? And the bag is only like, you know, an inch, all the way small. And he went, yes. I'm like, I don't believe that.

And I kicked him out of the courtroom and went to the next case. Well, that very same week, I went out investigating a murder, pulled into the same neighborhood, and on the corner, a guy stood up. He was sitting there like on a coke crate or something and held up a glassine bag at me. I'm like, I can't believe this. Well, I tried to find the cop and apologize. What I'm saying is nobody's selling dope on the corner. There's not a history in this neighborhood of crime, break-in, shootings, nothing. You hear what I'm saying, John? Oh, look, Nancy, I absolutely hear what you're saying, but it happens everywhere.

I'll give you a personal anecdote. I live in an area, South Florida, a very nice area, and five blocks from here. Uh-oh, right there, South Florida, murder capital. Sorry, I don't care what you say about your nice neighborhood. But every time I hear about South Florida, it's about a doper, a shootout. Go ahead, change my mind. I'm not going to change it because I think you're onto something. So I live right off the intercoastal waterway, four or five blocks from my house. There are mansions on the intercoastal houses that are 15, 20, $20 million.

I've driven the children as close as I could get to that area, but they wouldn't let us in. Okay. Well, two weeks ago, two weeks ago, blocks from my house toward these $15 million to $20 million houses, two armed robberies at gunpoint. Two guys in a black Honda Accord driving around the neighborhood, watching people pull into their driveways into these upscale houses, calling them over like they're asking for directions, pointing guns in their faces and robbing them or carjacking them. It happens everywhere. You know what? I think you're right. Now, I don't know about any $20 million houses with yachts parked in the back street. You know,

the dirt road I grew up with, we never didn't even know how to spell yacht. Ellen Kaloran joining me right now, crack investigative reporter with CrimeOnline.com, where you can find this and all other breaking crime and justice news. Ellen, let's start at the beginning before John Cardillo tells me any more about his $20 million house neighborhood. Hey, wait, one thing. I grew up in an apartment in Queens. They're not my house. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sure you did. Okay. Go ahead, AK. It's early Sunday evening. Like you said, Nancy, it's early sunday evening like you said nancy it's broad daylight salem sabaka is out taking a walk in a nice neighborhood tree-lined street with her mother rachel sweet and the suspect comes up in the car reaches and grabs the little girl the mother dives to try and fight the attacker off she grabs onto a piece of jewelry, but he pushes her out of

the car and speeds away. Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, right there. Okay, take a listen to this. You are hearing the mom, just like Ellen Kalorna is telling us. You're hearing the mom screaming, help me, help me, please. And it's just like Ellen Kalorna is telling us. Ellen, the guy pulls up and there is video of it. And the video came from where ek a neighbor had a ring surveillance doorbell video that caught the uh suspect's car as it was peeling off and you see the mother frantically running and screaming for help after her daughter has been dragged away here's the neighbor whose ring video

caught the whole thing on video and audio listen they got enough of the back of the car to really identify the type of vehicle it was. Okay, I'm making a note right now. Ring doorbell for David for Father's Day. That's it. See, it's sad to Dr. Brian Russell, psychologist, lawyer, host of Fatal Vows, the hit series on investigation, discovery, and author. I love this title. Stop moaning and start owning.

Okay. I need to steal that. Start throwing it out to my children when appropriate. Dr. Brian Russell, you hear the mom screaming, help me, help me, help me. And I've told you the story. I won't tell it again of when John David went missing inside a warehouse size Babies Are Us. I had my eyes off him. I'm not kidding. Less than 20 seconds. It wasn't even a whole minute when I was scrambling through organic sunscreen on the very bottom of a tall shelf. And I finally was down on my knees looking back in there trying to find it. I turned around, he was gone. That feeling, you can hear her screaming. A lot of people may have thought, oh, the mom was part of this. No, I don't believe that, Dr. Brian Russell. Did you hear her screaming? Yeah. I mean, the brazenness of somebody who would try this is, I think, the most stunning thing probably to everybody

listening. And, you know, you have to not only be thankful for the neighbor who had the ring video doorbell, which I don't know if people know this or not, that was a shark tank thing that, that, that guy just, you know, they always tell you, if you want to become a multimillionaire, find a problem and solve it. That guy, Jamie Siminoff found a problem and solved it. And now you got millions of Americans with these ring video doorbells. And, you know, it can solve a lot of problems from from package theft to even something like this. But the other thing, too, is the the presence of mind of the mother to do everything she possibly could to make it as hard as it possibly could be, which drug it out longer and allowed more video to be captured.

Take a listen. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Her name is Salem Sabatka. She's believed to have been kidnapped at 2900 6th Avenue, the corner of West Loudon in Fort Worth. Police say the 8-year-old girl was last seen wearing a teal-colored T-shirt. A statewide Amber Alert has been issued. Authorities believe she's traveling with a 40-year-old black male. We also have surveillance video briefly that has been released to media outlets

where you can hear in the background the mother, we believe the mother, screaming for help. Help me! Help me, please! I'm going to... This is security footage from a neighboring home there, again at the 2900 block, I believe, of 6th Avenue and West Loudoun in South Fort Worth. You can see this is early in the evening. This has been an active scene now for hours. You're hearing our friends at CBS 11 there in Dallas, Fort Worth. This incident sending shockwaves through the community. A little girl, just eight years old, out for a walk with her mom, broad daylight,

grabbed by a predator, forced in his car. Mommy dives in the car to fight the guy. The guy pushes her out onto the street and takes off. You can hear the mother screaming. To Ellen Kalorin joining me, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Ellen, what kind of car was it? It was a gray Ford sedan. It had paper tags, which complicated, they thought might complicate the investigation because those could just be taken off.

Yeah, why would that complicate the investigation, John Cardillo? Well, because those are typically temporary tags issued by a dealer. But like she says, they can be just taken off. They're pretty easy to obtain. If you're a mechanic, if you're the janitor in a car dealership, you could probably get your hands on them in somebody's desk drawer. And they don't necessarily come back to an individual. They might come back to a car dealership, a wholesaler, an auction house, something like that. Take a listen to Dallas-Fort Worth Officer Buddy Caldaza and his presser. This took place at 6.38 p..m we are located right now at the

2900 block of sixth avenue that's right near the 1300 block of west loudon uh the female that we're looking for is going to be an eight-year-old uh her name is sabatka s-a-b-a-t-k-a last name is salem s-a-l-e-m uh the eight-year-old's date of birth is 4-9-2011. This young lady was wearing a teal-colored T-shirt with the word Centennial across the chest. She also had some periwinkle seafoam-colored leggings is what I'm being told as well, too, some green leggings. I want everybody to know that's watching this that we have issued a statewide Amber Alert. You are hearing again a presser by police as All Points Bulletin goes out on the vehicle. Take a listen to the description of the vehicle as we know it now.

The vehicle we're looking for is a gray four-door sedan. It does have alloy wheels, and according to the video, it has either light or no tint on it. One of the things that was just given to us is that one of the witnesses did see a paper tag on this vehicle. Now keep in mind those are easy to switch out and put a different plate on, but when the incident happened it did have a paper tag on this vehicle. The suspect that we're looking for, it's going to be a bald black male approximately 40 years of age and they are telling me that he has light colored or caramel colored skin. That's kind of it right now. You guys see all the activity going on behind me. We're

witnessing, we're talking to all the witnesses that we can. Obviously we have a very disturbed mom, a very disturbed family right now. So the police department is working hard not just to get this information out to everybody, but to ask that you guys would assist us in any way you can. We are talking about an eight-year-old girl that goes missing. At that point, Ellen Kaloran, what happens? Well, Nancy, the community and the police really mobilized to try and find this girl. The information was shared on social media. As we heard, there was an Amber Alert.

Text messages were sent to local members of the community. And one of those members of the community, a local pastor, received a text message about the missing girl, realizing that he had gone to high school with her father. And he and another person decided that they needed to help. And they spoke to an officer and asked, what can we do? How can we help with this investigation? And the officer told them to look at parks, to look at hotels. Take a listen to our friend Bradley Blackburn, WFAA-ABC. It started here in Fort Worth's Ryan Place neighborhood. 6.37 p.m., a doorbell camera rolling.

Salem was walking with her mom when she was pulled in a stranger's car as he drove by. Her mom shoved to the ground, screaming for help. Help me! Help me, please! My daughter is going to die! This neighbor shared his video with police, the gray Ford 500 racing down the street. They got enough of the back of the car to really identify the type of vehicle it was.

They launched a manhunt with multiple departments, spreading the video and a picture of the car. At 10.30, a statewide Amber Alert. You are hearing the very latest in the search for little Salem Sabatka. To Kathleen Murphy joining me now, family lawyer. You know, Kathleen Murphy, it almost sounded at the beginning like some sort of a custodial fight. Because how would someone know that this mom is walking along with this little girl at this time of the day in broad daylight but when I heard that mother screaming that made me

know no doubt about it this was for real I mean Kathleen of course there was JC Dugard there were many others that have been kidnapped in broad daylight, usually having something to do with going to a bus stop or returning from a bus stop. But in the big scheme, it's very rare for somebody to be snatched off the street in broad daylight when you're with your mom. I've never heard of that. And it's scary to think that we could be out with our children at the very moment and our child is kidnapped, yet the police want to investigate us and see if we contributed to this or it was a parental kidnapping situation. Take a listen to police chief Joel Fitzgerald at this point around the state of Texas are looking for Salem Sabatka as the clock ticks down. At about 2.33 a.m., 2.28 a.m., I should say,

our officers arrived in Forest Hill, but they arrived in Forest Hill because of J&J, because J&J relentlessly went out and sought that silver-colored 4500 that matched the suspect vehicle description. On a whim, they pull into a parking lot of a hotel and they said they're going to. They're going to keep looking. It didn't matter whether it was 2 in the morning or not. They kept looking and they were

able to locate that vehicle. Notice notify a Forest Hill police officer and they looked inside the vehicle. They came out armed with flashlights. They came armed with just a dogged stick to itiveness that helped us bring this criminal to justice. They found forensic evidence inside the car. And when our officers pulled up, it allowed them to quickly locate the person that was inside of the hotel, find what room number

that person was in. And they breached the door of that hotel room and found that male located inside. So John Cardillo, former NYPD, they, these two good Samaritans, Jay and Jeff, go looking for the car. Can you imagine this? How many times I've been out on the street looking for, I'm not quite sure what, I remember one time looking for a 12-year-old girl that was part of a child prostitution ring, just looking. I didn't even know what I was looking for a 12-year-old girl that was part of a child prostitution ring, just looking. I didn't even know what I was looking for. And when I finally found her, when the cops found her, the vice cops, it didn't even look anything like her. She looked like a 35-year-old woman. But that feeling, you're out just looking, you don't really know what you're

looking for. And they said they went into this parking lot on a whim, John Cardillo. Yeah, well, look, this was exceptional, Nancy, exceptional work from both the police and the community. Now, this little girl was abducted right before 7 p.m. Police eventually breached that hotel door at about 3.30 in the morning. So we're talking about an exhaustive, no-holes-barred eight-hour search. And just to go back for a sec, when a child this young is abducted, and police would have known very quickly from that doorbell video that this was not a custodial abduction, a custodial interference case. This was a legitimate abduction and kidnapping. Police spare no resources. They're going to call out every helicopter that any agency in the area has, mounted police on horses, canine police.

It's all hands on deck. State police are notified, FBI. But the critical piece of evidence in this case was that surveillance video. So in this instance, people actually knew what they were looking for, which was that gray Ford 500 vehicle. And that pastor should be credited alongside the police because he felt going to the hotels, the parks was critical. And just by nose to the ground, good observation. They found that car. And luckily, because there were so many police resources deployed roaming the area,

police were able to respond very, very quickly, which prevented this guy from moving on to another location. Well, they find two good Samaritans find the car. They're parked in a motel parking lot. They get police there. Police get there. They breach, i.e. bust down the door. But where is Salem. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. You're hearing the terrifying moment, a mom desperate, trying in vain to pull her 8-year-old little girl, Salem, out of a kidnapper's car

after this guy pulls up in a silver Ford on the street in their neighborhood, yanks Salem off the street, forced her into the car, and pushes the mom out who's fighting like a wildcat. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. You hear the mom screaming up and down the street, help me, help me. It was around 6 30 p.m. broad daylight on a Saturday afternoon in Fort Worth's Ritzy Ryan Place neighborhood. Now, footage emerges showing the car and Salem's mother thrown out of the vehicle as it drives away.

No doubt this mom was risking her own life to save her daughter. Police issue descriptions of the suspect and his car. They release photos of Salem wearing the same shirt she had on when she was snatched off the street. Cops looking desperately for an 8-year-old little girl abducted because as we know, every minute counts. To Dr. Brian Russell, you know, after the first three hours, typically a child predator has assaulted the child violently and killed the child. Those are the overwhelming statistics that the child is usually dead

about 70% to 80% of the time in the first three hours, Brian. Yeah, it's chilling. And at the same time, you've got to maintain hope. And so how do you do that? And I just have to always call to mind the cases that we've discussed over the years where the happy endings have happened. And it's not everybody thinks of Elizabeth Smart, but it's not just her. There have been, you know, it's not the majority, but there certainly have been a number of them. No, it's not specifically on stranger child abduction. If it is a, let's just say, relative or a noncustodial parent,

usually the child will be brought back safely. The mom jumps in the car in an attempt to rescue her daughter, but the man pushes her out and peels off. This little Salem, beautiful brown hair, big blue eyes, freckles, little pierced ears, wearing green leggings and a teal shirt when she was abducted. Cops on the lookout for a gray four-door sedan, alloy wheels, light or no tint to the windows. Then two good Samaritans come into play. Jay and Jeff go out on their own in the middle of the night. They're looking for the car, and then they find it. Jeff King is a pastor.

He is a childhood friend of Salem Sabatka's parents. He says it was not heroism, but rather divine intervention that led them here at this hotel. I was sitting at home with my wife, and a friend texted and said that our friends I hadn't seen in like 16 years, that his daughter was kidnapped and I was like I think it was like what are we going to do to to help. So King a pastor at Bear Creek Bible Church got into his car and started searching for the suspect's vehicle.

We were told by a detective here at the scene that best places to check are hotels apartments and parks. A friend joined him, and they searched for hours until they came here to the Wood Spring Suites in Forest Hill. We started looking at the back ends of different types of cars that they were suggesting, and we were like, it's got to be this car. And so we actually saw one of those, the Ford 500, in the parking lot. And my friend got out, looked in the car, and then came back over, you know, and said, hey, come and take a look and tell me what you see.

I agree with the pastor, Pastor Jeff King. I believe it was divine intervention. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. They find the hotel. To Ellen Kaloran joining me, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Take a listen to our friends at WFAA. At 2.22 a.m. the moment, police breached a hotel door. Tonight, the chief playing the audio for the crowd. Take a listen to our friends at WFAA. Webb, now in Tarrant County Jail. He's charged with aggravated kidnapping, potentially more as the investigation continues. She was with him for eight hours. This is truly a time when prayers

have been answered. But we know a little girl is safe tonight, a miracle. Ellen Kaloran, what happened? These two Good Samaritans were driving around in the middle of the night, hours after Salem Sabaka was torn away from her mother on a walk. They had received a tip from an unknown source saying to check out some hotels in the Forest Hills area. They go to one hotel, they don't see anything there. And then they're driving past another hotel and they spot the gray Ford four-door sedan in a parking lot. They drive in, they look at the car, and they just know that's the car that police are looking for. They just know it.

And they contact police. Police come to the hotel. Hotel staff appears to have figured out by the car which room the suspect and the girl may have been in. Police bust down the door and find them both there. Ellen Kaloran, I don't know how many sleazy motels you've been in, but usually you have to actually give your car tag when you pull into a motel and you register,

or you're supposed to. I guess you could make something up. Take a listen to this. So so for media purposes, I'll give you a brief timeline of the events and for parents out here that want to know actually how this evolved. We received a call around 637 last evening and that call was the mother of the victim obviously stating that her daughter was grabbed and thrown into a vehicle that drove off. So we had really sketchy information to start out with. We know that Ms. Sweet valiantly fought with the male that abducted her child, and a neighbor immediately came out, was able to help her with her 911 call and help give information out to members of the police department that arrived shortly thereafter.

So between 638 and about 844, our officers that were dispatched here started receiving all the details on the vehicle. They started receiving details on the male who was described as a black male with a bald head wearing a navy blue sweat top, wearing a gold chain that we later learned was Mike Webb. That is Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald, and you hear everybody cheering and clapping at the return of Selin Sabatka. But Kathleen Murphy, we know this. We know she was in a motel room with this guy for eight or nine hours before she was saved. Nancy, I am heartbroken about this situation and I'm going through my mind. How did this guy get into a hotel room with a child that young? Obviously, it was a hotel room he had before he kidnapped this child. I'm not sure of what transpired to allow him to be in a hotel room with a child this young, clearly this child was distressed.

I don't know what happened to facilitate that, but thank God this child's been found. John Cardillo, a former NYPD, we have been wrestling with this question and don't know the answer. I'm working on a book, it's supposed to come out in March, called Don't Be a Victim, Fighting Back Against America's Crime Wave. And John Cardillo, one of the biggest chapters that involved the most research is keeping your child safe out and about how to not get dragged into a car. And I've pounded it into my children's head so many times. Don't get close to a car. Don't even get close to it. Now, you know, they've run all these tests on children that no matter how much you tell them, they steal. Now, you know, they've run all these tests on children that no matter how much you tell them, they still, somebody goes, hey, can you help me find my puppy? They walk right up to the window. I'm trying to figure out how he got her in the car because I don't

think this guy, Michael Webb, ever got out of the car. Somehow he came up beside them and grabbed her and got her in the car and managed to kick the mom back out. I'm not sure how he did it. The point is, John Cardillo, you can't even get close to the car because once an adult can get their hand on the child, just their hand on the child, their shirt, their child their shirt their arm anything it's over yeah well look there are many neighborhoods out there even the most affluent ones that don't have sidewalks and people these are low traffic streets people walk in the street and if they're walking against traffic so they could see it coming and he's the little girl is close to the driver's side it's not

tough to reach out of your window and grab the child and push the mom back out of the vehicle as it starts moving. I mean, it happens, but that's how it would happen. People walking in the street against traffic, driver's side window opens, and it's a very quick snatch and go. crime stories with nancy grace extensive prior criminal history all i can say is i'm very happy we have him in custody although sunday's arrest was the first in tarrant county court records show webb has a criminal history dating back more than 15 years.

Prior charges include burglary, drug possession, and theft out of Bowie County. We also know that he had a previous incident regarding assaulting someone at a hotel. Those charges had been dismissed. As a matter of fact, take a listen to our friend Aaron Jones, CBS 11. And last year in Smith County, a woman claimed Webb assaulted her at a Tyler Motel. The two apparently knew each other. Webb faced felony charges, but the case was later dismissed. The decision that we made had to do with the fact that at that time, we had a uncooperative victim out of state.

Richard Vance, the assistant district attorney for Smith County, handled that case. With a case like that, it certainly helps to have the victim there present to testify. That wasn't going to happen as the trial date was approaching, so we made the decision to dismiss. And so the hope now is to find that victim and within the statute of limitations indict again. And back here in Fort Worth, Steve, police say more charges are most likely coming for what? You know what? That one decision to Dr. Brian Russell, psychologist, lawyer, host of the hit series Fatal Vows on Investigation Discovery and author of Stop Moaning, Start Owning on Amazon. Dr. Brian Russell, that weighed on me like a sack of rocks every time I even took a guilty plea, much less went to trial. Because I believed with every case, if I didn't

take action, if I didn't get a conviction or do the right thing, the perp could very well get out and offend again. That weighed on my mind like you would not believe. And in this case, the very same scenario. This guy, Michael Webb, allegedly gets a female into a motel, assaults her, and charges are dropped. And because of that, he was out walking free. Well, yeah, and I think our listeners have heard enough to know that this is the norm. We almost never talk about a case that turns out to be the very first crime of the perpetrators.

And, you know, I just about want to vomit every time I hear he has a 15-year criminal history. And I think, how in the hell do you have a 15-year criminal history and be on the damn street? How do we allow people to keep committing crimes for 15 years and we still don't take them off the street and throw away the key? It's sickening to me. We are learning that Salem Sabatka was holed up with this perv in a hotel, a motel, for hours on end before she was rescued. Thank God she was rescued. To Kathleen Murphy, I've had many a case where a victim was afraid or did not want to testify. In this previous case, one of the many with Michael not want to testify. In this previous case,

one of the many with Michael Webb, the perv accused in this case, the woman didn't want to go forward. Why? Because why should she have faith in the system? She probably thought this guy would get right back out on bond and take vengeance on her. I don't know what she thought, but she would not proceed forward. That is when it's on the prosecutor to go forward. Right. And Nancy, what would Nancy do? Would Nancy have allowed this victim to not be engaged in this process? And the other part of it is a weapon was involved, a weapon, a sexual assault and drugs. And for a weapon to be involved in that situation, why wasn't he prosecuted for something even without the victim?

And guess what, Nancy? Today, he's got bond. He's got bond. We're not even throwing away the key now. I mean, he probably can't pay it. It's a hundred grand, but what the hell? I mean, has there ever been a better poster person for no bond? I mean, looking at this guy, this guy, you're right, Dr. Brian Russell. Michael Webb, 51 years old, is in the Tarrant County Jail charged with aggravated kidnapping of an 8-year-old little girl. There likely will be additional charges. Now, if the first case had been handled correctly, the one we're you about he would have already been in jail but it was dropped Fort Worth police believe the kidnapping was random the victim this little girl and the suspect had no prior

relationship in other words he never worked in the home he didn't work with the parents. He had no reason to see Salem. Now, why? Why is he getting bond there in Tarrant County? To Ellen Killorn, what do you know? Nancy, we know that right now he is charged only with aggravated kidnapping. More charges are expected, but like we said, he was given bond, $100,000. He is still in custody. We don't know if he has the money to pay it. But if he does come up with that $100,000, he's going to be out. And as we've heard, he has a 15-year criminal history, terrorist threats, burglary. He's described as a transient, a neighbor of a home where he sometimes stayed, thought that he lived there, but he didn't actually live live there a woman who answered the door said that he was a relative who stayed there sometimes we don't know if he was maybe living in this hotel where he took the girl um but we know that this is someone who had violent crimes and he well here's the thing here's the thing on a hundred thousand

dollar bond kathleen murphy you know very well, having worked in the system, you don't need $100,000 to get out. You need 10%. You give a bail bondsman 10% of that, 10 grand, you're out. You're out walking free. I know he owns the car. I know that much. What else does he own?

So he doesn't have to come up with $100,000, Kathleen. No, he has to come up with ten thousand dollars at the most family friend if he was a convicted criminal why weren't he prosecuted for possessing firearms in the incident from April of 2018 you know what you're right and that included a sex assault as well a sex assault and agassal with a weapon all the charges dropped for him to be driving through this neighborhood and put his eyes on Salem Sabatka. To Dr. Brian Russell, psychologist and lawyer, host of Fatal Vows on Investigation Discovery.

Dr. Brian, you know, it's just as simple as that. He doesn't have to know this little girl. He's driving along, he sees her, and he acts on impulse. What is that, Dr. Bryan? Well, one thing it is, is it's indicative of somebody who has committed crimes before and gotten away with. As soon as I heard of this, I said, if this is real, then this is not this guy's first rodeo. The second thing is, if something is truly a spur of the moment decision, then it by definition can't be well planned. And that works in the cop's favor that when the criminal, you know, has really thought things through and planned

them out, well, it's harder to catch them. So I was more hopeful in this case than I would be in a case where it seemed like it had been really well thought out and planned. You know, and another interesting thing about this is, you know, this is the outcome that we always hope for. If there's going to be a kidnapping, we hope that the kid is found safe. And, you know, God forbid we don't know what happened to her during the time she was with him, but at least she has been found alive, which is the outcome that we all hope for. But, you know, anytime something actually goes this well, the kid's kidnapped kidnapped some good samaritan recognizes the car the cops go to location find the kid alive because of things like this the jesse smollett

case the first thing that runs through your mind is wait a minute this sounds too easy too simple you know too fantastical you're right too fantastical it's a crime that is so fantastical So unbelievable for many That it has left the entire Fort Worth area shaken Rocked to the core Police say a child snatched off the street Walking along in broad daylight with her mom Then discovered in a motel with a strange man

Take a listen to Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald. You know, we have social media here in Fort Worth, the Fort Worth Police Department, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. We use these with humor. We post great pictures all the time. And we've actually got a great following here in Fort Worth. I believe we have close to a quarter million people that watch us. And we don't just use that social media to be funny all the time.

We use them when incidents like this come up. In this particular incident, we have so many followers. We do not only for the media here locally, but we also do a Facebook Live so that everybody knows exactly what's going on verbatim from the police department. And we shared the video. We did a live update on exactly when this thing took place. And from there, we just asked citizens, you know, to be on the lookout for this vehicle. The thing that caught us off guard is that as I'm there at the perimeter live, while this thing is going on, we just had citizens after citizens showing up,

saying, I'm here to volunteer. What can I do to help? And we basically told them, take the pictures that we've put on social media and go help us find this car. And that is exactly what two good Samaritans, including a reverend, did. We know this guy is a welder by profession. That's what he does for a living. And in earlier accounts, the previous prosecutor said they couldn't locate the previous victim.

How hard did they try? We wait as justice unfolds. I pray to God this guy stays behind bars as Salem Sabatka is reunited with her mom. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye for now. This is an iHeart Podcast.