May 6, 1977

Huber’s was a little mom and pop shop that sat directly behind the 4-plex we lived in. Huber’s sold fresh produce, meat and other grocery items. Including one pound Hershey bars for .65 cents. Our 4-plex faced east and west and actually sat on 7th south. Huber’s sat on 8th south. There was a small alley that ran between Huber’s and our place with a pull in where the tenants could park.

I got dressed in my favorite Holly Hobby shirt and pants. I had my white whicker old lady purse that had a little metal clasp to keep it shut. I had my dollar and I said I’d be right back. As I walked out side I saw a rabbit jumping around. The neighbor owned a rabbit. I wondered if they knew it was outside. I thought to myself that I had better catch it and take it back to them. I saw a red van drive by in the alley. Then it drove by again. I was following the rabbit in and out of the cars and yard area and every time I would get within grabbing distance, that van would drive past and scare the bunny away. Finally, the van drove by very, very slowly. On its return pass, it stopped. The rabbit jumped right underneath the front of the van. A man got out of the van and asked what I was doing. He was wearing jeans and a red flannel shirt tucked in. I said I was trying to catch my neighbor’s rabbit. He said “maybe I can help you” and asked where it was. I was on the passenger side of the van. I bent over and pointed under the front right tire “Yes, it is right th…

His hand covered my mouth while the other circled my stomach and quickly picked me up. Before I knew it I was inside his van. He was tying me up very fast using bungee cords and an old brown extension cord. I said “please don’t hurt me. I’ll do anything you want.” He tied something around my mouth and told me to be very quiet. He laid me in a cardboard box and covered it with a lid. We began to drive away.

Finally the van stopped and the man opened the side door. It was a sliding door. I was very afraid. I didn’t know what was going to happen. He grabbed some flowers from the van and told me to be very quiet. Then he shut the door and was gone. I tried to free myself so I could jump out and run. The cords were too tight. I couldn’t move my arms. Where would I go? I would be lost and what if I couldn’t get away then he would catch me and be mad. I began to cry again.

He got back into the van and began to drive again. We drove for a long time it seemed. Finally we were stopping again. The van door opened up and he was standing there. He told me to stay quiet and be very still. He covered me up with a Levi jacket. I couldn’t see anything and he was carrying me. I could hear his feet stepping on rocks. Finally he laid me down and told me not to make a sound. Then I heard a door shut. He was gone.

It was very dark and I heard the van start up and drive away. Where was I? I was afraid to look. I was lying on something very hard. It was stinky. I tried to get my arms free but I couldn’t. I finally pulled the jacket off my head using my hands. I was in the trunk of a car. I could feel the tire next to me. I could see light from the holes where the back speakers should be. I tried and tried and squirmed until I got myself wedged up to where I could get my head through that oval speaker hole and I then yell for help. I stuck my head through the hole and it got stuck. I tried to push it through but the hole was too small.

I tried to put my head through that stupid hole at least four more times. Each time thinking that it would fit. I remember crying a lot. I remember praying to God that if he would let me get out I would be a good girl and do what my mom told me and I wouldn’t get in trouble ever again. I remember thinking that I would never see my mom or Boo again (my brother Z). I prayed and begged and cried a lot. I wondered what the man would do when he came back. What if he didn’t come back? Then I would just die in the trunk of a car and no one would ever find me.

Around 2:30 p.m. my mom came home from work. She asked Julie where I was. Julie assumed I had gone to school because I left at 9:30 and never came home. At 3:30 p.m. when I didn’t come home from school either, my mom called the police. The police told her not to worry that I probably stopped at a friend’s house to play. She told them that I wouldn’t do something like that. I was too responsible for that. She called the school and they had me down as absent. She told the police this and they told her if I wasn’t home by dinner time to call back. This was before Amber alerts. This was back when kids could play outside without supervision. This was back when police thought missing kids were really playing somewhere and would turn up eventually.

My mom was convinced that something was wrong. She began calling friends and soon, there was a party of 5 or 6 people knocking on doors and looking for me. At 5:00 p.m. my mom called the police again and this time she was frantic. I still wasn’t home. The neighbors hadn’t seen me. The school had no record of my attending that day. She demanded the officers come out and make a report and find me.

I don’t know how many prayers I had said. I don’t know how many times I fell asleep. I don’t know how many times I called for help. I banged on the trunk lid with the tire iron as best I could. I tried to kick but my legs were tied together. I yelled and I cried and I yelled some more. I lay there knowing that I was going to die. It was getting darker and darker outside. I was getting cold. I heard the sound of air breaks. I knew what those were! I began to scream and yell and pound on the trunk with the tire iron. I was kicking. I tried to get my head through that stupid speaker hole again. I could hear the truck idling. But no one could hear me. I began to cry again.

I kept telling myself over and over that I shouldn’t have talked to the man. I didn’t know better. He said he would help me. I just wanted to get the rabbit so it didn’t get run over or lost. I should have been in the house resting so I could go back to school. Suddenly I heard a big BANG! It made me jump. I didn’t know if it was the man. I was supposed to be very quiet. I laid there and listened. I could hear footsteps. Who was out there? I didn’t want to yell because if it was the man, what would he do to me? I stayed very still. I tried to hold my breath so he wouldn’t hear me. BANG! BANG! I jumped! I could hear voices.

“Hello, is someone there” they said. Were they talking to me? “HELLO?” They were. They were talking to me! They were calling out to me. They had heard me! I started to cry. “I’m over here” I yelled as loud as I could. My voice was just a whisper. “Help me” I cried. They heard me! They were at the car now. They knocked on the trunk and I said “I’m in here. Please get me out.” They told me to hold on. They were going to get help. I heard a man talking to me. He was telling me that it was going to be alright. Next I heard something metal prying on the trunk. The whole car was rocking. The man was telling me to hold on. He was promised to get me out.

When that trunk opened up, he scooped me up and held me close to him. I was crying and I told him thank you a hundred times. He was kissing me on the head and told me to stop crying. They were here to help. He held be very tightly and as we walked through the parking lot, there were people standing around and looking at me. I hid my face in his neck. When we got inside the building, there were a lot more people. They were all staring at me. We were inside a nursery, Brown Floral. We went out of the store area and into an office. The man sat me down and said that the police were on the way. When the police officers got there, they asked me a bunch of questions. I just wanted my mom. Finally an ambulance came and they took me to the hospital.

I was examined and questioned and several pictures were taken of my bruises. Finally my mom was there. I’ll never forget. She walked in, still wearing her waitress uniform and a long Loretta Lynn wig. She came over and hugged me and I told her I was sorry. She told me it wasn’t my fault. She had been there all along but the doctors had to finish first before they would let her in. My bruises eventually healed but my emotional baggage remains.

The man who kidnapped me was 46 years old. His name was Roy. He was married. He had worked for Brown Floral for 14 years. He had been married to his wife Ramona for 15 years. When the police asked him what he was planning to do with me, first he said he was my uncle and then he said “My wife cannot have kids. I wanted to give her a daughter.” His psych evaluation says that he stated “I guess I wanted to frighten her.”

The preliminary hearing was continued several times due to scheduling conflicts. Once, it was continued because the original defense attorney was skiing and accidentally skied right off a cliff and died. Finally, on the day of the hearing, I was called to testify. The bailiff turned the microphone up all the way but the judge still couldn’t hear me talk. I was able to identify Roy as the man who grabbed me that day. His defense attorney John Hill (now the director of the Utah Public Defender’s Office) said that my mom was coaching me from the gallery and Judge Banks cleared the courtroom.

Roy pled guilty after that preliminary hearing to second degree felony aggravated kidnapping (reduced from 1st degree). He spent several years in prison (more than ten but I don’t know how many). I received a copy of the court file from a friend a few years ago. I read Roy’s psychological evaluation. He was mentally retarded. He was 46 but had the mentality of someone between eleven and fourteen years old. He is still married to the same woman. They live in the same house. Roy had a shoplifting charge in the late 90’s but otherwise, he was never in trouble with the law again. I wrote him a letter and told him I forgave him a couple years ago. I want him to die in peace.

I never saw the man who saved me again. He was from Washington state. George Trupp of Yakima. How he heard me inside that refrigerated trailer they were unloading is most certainly a miracle. I’ve tried to look for them but never found him. I remember two men. The Court paperwork only lists Mr. Trupp as a witness. I thought the other guy was Laraby or Laramee. Tim I think. I would like to send each a letter and tell them thank you.