MEREDITH VIEIRA, co-host:
We are back at 8:11 with new developments in the kidnapping case of
Alisa Maier
, the four-year-old who was abducted from her own front yard last week in
Missouri
. We're going to talk exclusively to
Alisa
and her family in just a moment. But first,
NBC
's
Jeff Rossen
has the latest.
Jeff
, good morning to you.
JEFF ROSSEN reporting:
Hey,
Meredith
, good morning to you. Adorable
little girl
. And we thought
Alisa
was lucky before, dropped off unharmed. But now we realize just how lucky she was.
Police
now say her kidnapper -- a convicted
sex offender
, by the way -- was also involved in a murder just two days before snatching
Alisa
. It's just another bizarre twist in this terrifying tale. It is a sight to behold. This past weekend, four-year-old
Alisa Maier
played with her family. So simple, yet so meaningful;
Alisa
seemingly unaware how close she came to the end.
Mr. MIKE BUSH:
An
Amber Alert
out of
Louisiana
,
Missouri
.
ROSSEN:
Monday,
July 5th
, a stranger kidnaps
Alisa
right off her front lawn as she's playing with her six-year-old brother. The man takes off with
Alisa
in a black car. That's basically all
police
know.
ROSSEN:
By Tuesday, the dragnet is on from the air to the ground.
Unidentified Man:
We're just stopping everybody to see if they have any information about the
little girl
that's missing.
ROSSEN:
FBI agents swarmed the scene as
police
checked a nearby river for her body, knowing full well how these abductions can end.
Alisa
's parents wept at a prayer vigil. She's now been missing for
24 hours
.
Ms. MARY VOILES (Alisa's Great-Grandmother):
Got big, brown eyes.
And I
just, I can't picture anybody wanting to hurt some sweet little baby like that.
ROSSEN:
Then, the unexpected. The mystery man who took her away suddenly dropped her off unhurt at this
car wash
70 miles from home.
Ms. ASHLEY GIBBS (Woman Who Found Alisa):
All she did was look down at the ground, and she'd stare at the walls.
ROSSEN:
The kidnapper changed
Alisa
's clothes and cut her hair to look like a boy. She was reunited with her family and examined by doctors. No physical signs of abuse.
ROSSEN:
Wednesday morning, and her abductor was still on the loose. How desperate are you for
police
to catch this man?
Ms. ANGELA REDDICK (Alisa's Great-Aunt):
I want them to catch him because I know that if they don't he's going to do it again, and I don't want anybody to go through what we went through.
ROSSEN:
That night
police
used surveillance video to identify a suspect,
Paul S. Smith
, a convicted
sex offender
who sodomized a 10-year-old boy in
1995
. When
police
arrived on his
Missouri
farm,
Smith
was spray-painting his black car a different color. Then he shot and killed himself.
Chief TIMOTHY FITCH (St. Louis County Police Department):
I think I can
sum
it up in two words:
It's over
.
ROSSEN:
On Thursday, three days after this nightmare began, the happy homecoming. Sporting her boyish haircut,
Alisa
snapped right back into normal toddler mode. Within minutes she was running around and riding her bike in the very spot where she was abducted. What was that reunion like?
Mr. ROY HARRISON (Alisa's Grandfather):
It was great. I mean, if they could -- if we do -- if we all could do backflips, we'd be doing them. Yeah.
ROSSEN:
But now a new, scary twist.
Police
say the accused kidnapper may have also murdered a man, a nearby auto shop owner, just two days before grabbing
Alisa
. Investigators still don't know why. But watching
Alisa
, so full of life, so happy, for now her parents have all the answers they need. We don't know for sure what
Alisa
went through in those
24 hours
that she was missing, but the fact is she's alive. And
police
say without the public's help putting pressure on the kidnapper,
Meredith
, who knows how this would have ended. So of course, it's nice to have her here on the sofa. And she's adorable.
VIEIRA:
Yeah, she's very adorable.
Jeff
,
thank you so much
. As you mentioned,
Alisa Maier
is here along with her parents,
David Maier
and
Kimberly Harrison
, her brother
Blake
and her grandfather
Roy Harrison
. Good morning to you all.
Mr. DAVID MAIER (Alisa's Father):
Good morning.
VIEIRA:
David
, when you think back that just a week ago -- a week ago you didn't know where your daughter was.
Mr. MAIER:
No, we didn't.
VIEIRA:
She'd been taken from your home the night before, you had no idea whether she was alive or not.
Mr. MAIER:
No.
VIEIRA:
How would you describe what your family has gone through?
Mr. MAIER:
I tell you, it's been a roller coaster. And from when they picked her up, we had nowhere -- no idea, no description, just a vague description of, you know, who took her and the car from...
VIEIRA:
So it was
Blake
who ran into the house and told you.
Mr. MAIER:
Yes. He ran in the house, said, `
Alisa
got in a black car.' And she went --
Kimberly
went to the neighbor's house to see if she was over there. And when she came back and she said she wasn't there, I immediately dialed 911. And that was with -- this was in just minutes. And then from then on, you know -- by the time the
police
got there, there was
police
going down the
street, too, looking for this, you know, black......you know,
black......and everything.
VIEIRA:
And as the hours ticked by?
Mr. MAIER:
Oh, man, we just didn't know. And we just -- I can't explain how I felt.
VIEIRA:
When did you get the word that
Alisa
was OK? How did you get the word?
Mr. MAIER:
Well, we was -- we was just staying at a friend's house because we -- I didn't want to go back home. And...
VIEIRA:
So this is already Tuesday night.
Mr. MAIER:
Yes, Tuesday evening. They told us about
10:30
.
The FBI
and Chief
Hughes
, the
Louisiana Police Department
, came and showed me a picture on a
BlackBerry
, and she was laying in a hospital -- in a hospital bed. They -- you know, they take me aside, asked me to walk outside and want to show me something. I was expecting the worst. And when they showed me the picture of her in a hospital bed laying -- she had arms like this and a smile, I was just -- I said let's go, you know.
VIEIRA:
Yeah.
Let's go
to the hospital and get her.
Mr. MAIER:
Yes, let's get her.
VIEIRA:
And you drove to
St. Louis
that night, Tuesday night.
Mr. MAIER:
They transported us to
St. Louis.
VIEIRA:
To
St. Louis.
Roy
, I understand that you did a somersault when you got the word that
Alisa
was OK.
Mr. HARRISON:
Well, yeah. I...
VIEIRA:
Literally.
Mr. HARRISON:
I had tried to do a backflip, but I'm getting -- like I said, I'm too dadgum old, and I was afraid I'd hurt myself. I did do a somersault.
VIEIRA:
Yeah. But, you know, you're a corrections officer, so it had to be going through your mind the worst-case scenarios possible because you deal with criminals.
Mr. HARRISON:
Without a doubt.
VIEIRA:
Yeah.
Mr. HARRISON:
I've dealt with a lot of really bad people.
VIEIRA:
Yeah.
Mr. HARRISON:
Beyond imagination, what can happen. Beyond imagination.
VIEIRA:
What was the -- what was it like,
David
, when you finally reunited, you and
Kim
, with your daughter?
Mr. MAIER:
Oh, just overjoyed. She, you know, she's -- she met us and the first thing she asked is, `Where's
Blake
?'
VIEIRA:
`Where's
Blake
?'
Mr. MAIER:
`Where's
Blake
?'
VIEIRA:
Did you know that,
Blake
, the first thing she wanted was to know where you were? You must be a cool
big brother
.
Mr. MAIER:
Oh, he's a hero.
VIEIRA:
Yeah, he is a hero because he could describe the person to some degree, and the -- and the car.
Mr. MAIER:
And pretty much spot-on, too.
VIEIRA:
Yeah. Now, from what I understand, therapists have talked to
Alisa
...
Mr. MAIER:
Yes.
VIEIRA:
...and they see no indication of any severe trauma or any abuse when she was with this man.
Mr. MAIER:
Exactly.
VIEIRA:
Has she shared anything with you at this point?
Mr. MAIER:
She's -- it's bits and pieces but nothing insignificant, you know.
VIEIRA:
And you've made a decision to not force that issue.
Mr. MAIER:
Unless -- yeah, we don't want to go and force any -- she come out in, you know, in her time, the time she would just, you know, in random speaking. But I don't -- I don't -- I don't know where -- if we'll ever know.
VIEIRA:
Yeah.
Mr. MAIER:
I doubt if we ever will.
VIEIRA:
Is there a message here for parents?
Mr. MAIER:
Yes, it is. I think, as you can see, this is a very happy ending. And you always, you know, have hope. And, you know, for all you people that's, you know, the parents that have
missing children
, there is some kind of a hope. And just keep the word out and, you know, let the media, you know, do their job and let the law -- you know, the
local law
-- or the -- all law officials involved do their job.
And I
would like -- really like to thank all the -- all the law -- the law officials that was involved in this whole case nationwide, local, and all the media. Especially the media because they did a really good job of getting the word out.
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