Supermarket worker foils child abduction from across the world with cunning text
A 21-year-old who works in a UK supermarket has been hailed a hero after sending text messages that solved a kidnapping case thousands of kilometres away in the United States.
Grandparents Gary and Kim Forester had been searching for their toddler granddaughter, Yvette, for three weeks after she disappeared along with her father.
Yvette’s dad, Virgil Henley, 28, had been involved in a court case over the custody of little Yvette which found that she had suffered ‘emotional damage’ in his care, and custody was given to Gary, 46, and Kim, 47.
However Virgil had already vanished along with his girlfriend Alyssa and Yvette when the court handed down the decision.
Gary Forester turned to Facebook to try and find anyway of locating his granddaughter and bringing her home safely, and he came across a person in the UK that Virgil had befriended years before playing video games online.
‘I see you are friends on Facebook…’ Gary began in a message to 21-year-old Harry Brown who lives in the UK and works in a supermarket.
He goes on to explain that the FBI are helping them search, and that any help at all is needed.
‘She is in a dire situation.’
Harry then took to his Facebook messenger and began to chat with Virgil, who went by ‘Mark Johnson’ online.
Over two days the pair chatted, and eventually Harry was able to learn that Virgil was in a desperate way, and would be responsive to a little charity.
‘Do you want pizza?’ he asked.
Gratefully, the fugitive accepted the offer and handed over his hotel address and even his room number. But instead of a pizza, the police arrived and rescued the abducted child.
‘He gave me his exact address and room number. I rang Gary straight away,’ says Harry.
‘I cried so much when I saw the photos of her with her grandparents.
‘Now she is in the best place possible for her. She is having the happiest days of her life.’
This article first published on New Idea.
