Kidnapped Girl Manipulates Captor Using True Crime Skills From Movies Carleshas Case

- Pay attention to the woman in this video as she's about to get kidnapped. On November 2nd, 2014, Philadelphia police receives call from this man who says he saw woman being forced into car. Minutes later, police get their hands on this security footage. The first thing they see is car turning on Coulter Street. 20 seconds later, bus stops at the red light, but it's impossible to see if anyone got off until 16 seconds later dark shape emerges. The young woman is walking alone at night after she missed the bus, but look closer, she has no idea that someone is following her. As she starts crossing the street, the man engages her in conversation. She turns around to face him, but you can see that she's still backing up. Then they seem to shake hands, but the man doesn't let go, and they disappeared behind the street corner. On the ground, police find pair of glasses, some broken glass and phone. They have no idea what happened beyond that corner until they discover there's another security camera. Detectives cue the footage at 9:39 PM just before the bus arrives. Again, they see the car that turned on Coulter Street. It slows down and parks just beside the camera. Then the bus comes into view. After it stops on Greene Street, they expect to see the young woman appear in the top in about 40 seconds, but just 16 seconds later, there's an ominous development. dark figure emerges from the bottom of the screen. They see him crossing over to the north side. Detectives are convinced this is the same man. The woman is now visible too. The suspect hesitates before he follows her through the intersection. The other camera was ambiguous, but this view is not, and what happens next may be disturbing for some viewers. What you are watching is the woman being dragged down the sidewalk by the man. Although she's fighting to get away, he completely overpowers her. When they approach the camera, the man forces her into the parked car. At the last minute, it appears she is trying to get away, but look closer. She does something that could save her life. When police review the footage, they see the woman is carrying her cell phone while the man forces her down the street. But seconds later, she drops it on the ground. With her cell phone, police can finally identify the kidnapped woman, 22-year-old nursing aide, Carlesha Freeland-Gaither. As detectives are rewatching the footage, they notice something else in the recording. At the top, there's another dark shape that appears to be walking around in the street. This is Dwayne Fletcher, the same man who called 911. He tells police he saw Carlesha before the attack and she already looked nervous. At 9:39 PM, he was walking on Greene Street, headed to the convenience store when he came up behind her. - When got behind her, she just kept looking back. So was like, "Okay, well, lemme get on the other side of the street so she could feel little bit safe." - But just one minute later, he hears scream. - She was screaming at the top of her lungs saying, "Help, help." - Fletcher hurries back down Coulter Street before he sees Carlesha getting shoved into parked car. He runs over as fast as he can. - The car was like kind of rocking and the windows just exploded. It was crazy sound and think she probably got shot. - Dwayne takes cover, convinced that what he heard was gunshot. Then the car drives off. Fletcher can't help but think he could have done more to save her, but his heart drops when police tell him no bullets or shell casings were found at the crime scene, and that the sound he heard was likely the window exploding as the girl was trying to escape. Fletcher is destroyed. If the girl dies, he might never forgive himself. Monday, November 3rd, 12 hours after Carlesha was abducted, agents have already interviewed every family member, friend and coworker, but still police have no leads. Other family members join the search, printing missing posters and handing out flyers. - Any kind of things you could find and pick up, just to give us clue to where she may be. - If anybody knows anything about her, please get in contact with me, my dad, anybody. - Authorities turn to the public for help, broadcasting the footage of the abduction on every news channel. - You were watching the abductor, the kidnapper forcibly take her. - Right now we're reaching out to the public for any assistance they can give us. - The problem is the quality of the footage makes it impossible to identify the man, the man they should know because he's already the suspect in another abduction which took place just one month earlier. His name is Delvin Barnes, and he's an alleged serial killer. - 16-year-old Richmond girl who narrowly escaped with her life. - They said Barnes took her out back, stripped her naked, poured gasoline and bleach all over her, asked her how she wanted to die, and then started digging grave. - When the teenage girl miraculously escaped, she told police that Barnes had shown her pictures of his previous victims. He would hold them captive for two days before disposing of them. When the girl was sent to the hospital, police tried serving an arrest warrant on Barnes, but he was already gone. The clock is ticking before the same thing happens to Carlesha. Tuesday, November 4th, 36 hours have passed. $47,000 reward is announced, and finally, the tips start pouring in. - We had team of agents, and task force officers reviewing all of the calls coming in and then anything of merit, they sent it out to the agents that were on the field. - Of the hundreds of calls that come in, one of them stands out. woman says she found unusual debris on her property, but she's from Havre de Grace, Maryland, more than 70 miles from where Carlesha was kidnapped. - She called us and said that, she said, don't know if this is gonna be of use to you all, but have farm, and there's some broken glass, and some trash on my lawn." So we deployed agents out there to investigate. - When agents arrive on site, they're stunned. Apart from the broken glass, they find candy wrappers, potato chip bags, cut zip tie, receipt, and an earring all inside single plastic bag. The evidence is too clean, almost like it was planted there for someone to find. But what catches their attention is that the receipt is from supermarket back in Philadelphia, and the timestamp says 1:50 PM, just hours before the abduction. - So the agents on the ground immediately called and said, "Can you go there to see if there's any video there that could help with this case?" - The agents are hoping they could get better image of their suspect. At 1:43 PM in walks man wearing black hat, dark hoodie, and pants, just like Carlesha's abductor. He puts his hand up to his face, seemingly trying to hide his identity. The problem is none of the camera angles gives them clear view of his face. And while the footage is shared with the public, there's little chance it will help the investigation. But the FBI have worse news. Back at the farm in Maryland, Special agent Percy Giles makes disturbing discovery when they find car tracks that lead into nearby body of water. - We came to the conclusion that if somebody wanted to dispose of body, they would dispose of it there. - The FBI immediately sends out divers to search the entire Susquehanna River all through the night. - They also had airplanes up, helicopters up looking for heat signatures because we believed that we would find body, her body. - It's November 4th, 9:40 PM, 48 hours have passed since the abduction, and investigators are losing hope that they will ever find Carlesha alive. At the same moment, just over 30 miles away, Carlesha is trapped inside the trunk of moving car, wondering what's going to happen next. - wanted to know if he was gonna kill me or if he was going to rape me or both. - She doesn't know if she'll ever be saved, but Carlesha has been doing everything she can to leave clues behind for the police. Her story starts on November 2nd, the day of the abduction. At around 9:30 PM, Carlesha is walking home from birthday party, and headed to bus stop. - can feel like there's another person, and it's dark at the time. So being only female on the street, and you feel guy walking behind you, got scared. He immediately walked right across the street so could feel comfortable. - Carlesha breaths sigh of relief, thinking maybe she was worried for nothing. few seconds later, man walks up to her asking for directions. After Carlesha helps him find his way, he holds out his hand to thank her. - shook his hand. When tried to let go, realized at that point that he wasn't gonna let my hand go. - As he starts dragging her down the street, she's overtaken by fear. No matter how hard she fights back, he still manages to carry her to his car. But with everything that's happening, she still has the presence of mind to leave clue behind. - After watching so many movies, realized the first thing they take from you is any way to call somebody. It was like either take it with you, and he can throw the phone out somewhere where no will find it or keep your phone over here where hopefully people that know you know this is something that you rarely do and they can find you. - The man drags her back into his car and gets into the front seat. While his back is turned, Carlesha rushes over to try and open the other door, but the child lock is on. - Under his seat, see hammer. hit him with the hammer. He was holding his head. There was blood everywhere, and then hit the window with the hammer. thought was safe. was free. He turns around and pull me back in. - The man then starts the car and drives off. Carlesha is trapped. She doesn't know what his intentions are and she's terrified. As they drive out of Philadelphia, Carlesha can see her whole world pass by. - can see my whole... can see my job. It's like my life was passing me before my eyes. - The man then gets on Interstate 95 and heads south. Less than 30 minutes after the abduction, he gets off the highway, and parks the car in secluded area. This is where he will rape Carlesha for what will be the first of many times. Tuesday, November 3rd. Carlesha is locked in the trunk of moving car when she feels it's slowing down in rugged area. When the man opens the trunk, she finds they're parked in field, far from any house or passing cars. It's still dark outside and the man intends to sleep, but he's not about to let Carlesha out of his sight. - He was still touching me on top or some part of him was still holding me. feel like if nudge or move or try, just can't think of way to really get out. - As she's lying there in the dark, unable to sleep with monster right next to her, the horrific events keep playing in her mind, and it's all too much to bear. She's thinking of giving up, and then she thinks of her grandmother who took her in as child, and took care of her when her parents couldn't. Her grandmother, who loves her so much, and who would be heartbroken if she were to lose her. Carlesha knows she must do everything she can to stay alive so she can see her grandmother again. 5:45 AM. When the man finally wakes up, he asks Carlesha to throw out the trash he has in the car. As she's standing beside the vehicle in the middle of an open field, the idea of running away immediately comes to mind. - Maybe could have ran and tried to get to some house, but then again, didn't know what else he had in the car or what he was gonna do if ran. just knew at this moment was living and didn't wanna do anything to jeopardize. - But as she's stuffing the trash inside plastic bag, she gets another idea. Among the empty chip bags and candy wrappers, she puts handful of shattered glass from the floor of the car, the cut zip ties, and one of her earrings inside the bag. - Just try to give them as much proof that I'm still here. - 6:00 AM. The man drives into the parking lot of PNC bank. He asks Carlesha for her card, and she quickly realizes this is good thing. - just knew if give him my card number, and gave him the information, then that might be helpful to know where was next from the transaction. - November 4th, two days since Carlesha was kidnapped, the FBI gets notified that her card was used just five miles down the road from where the trash was found. When they view the footage from the ATM booth, the images show the same man from the supermarket walking in. Once again, the quality of the footage makes it impossible to see his face. However, there's one thing the footage tells detectives: Carlesha must have been alive at the time it was recorded. She had to give him her PIN code so he could use her card. The agents on site get another idea. Is it possible the man spent some of his money nearby? They start with convenience store less than mile away. Finally, they hit pay dirt. - We saw the same person that we believed to be in all the other camera angles. - Now the FBI has face for their suspect and the footage of him walking through the convenience store is aired across the country. But by the end of the day, they still haven't found the identity of their suspect. And after being held captive for more than 48 hours, Carlesha is beginning to lose hope that she will ever be found. - just felt like maybe this may be my end in life. - On day two, Carlesha is no longer zip tied and the man leaves the backseat down while Carlesha is in the trunk. As he's focused on driving, Carlesha tries to engage him in conversation. - kept trying to talk to him and just tried to figure out what was going on through his head, and he was willing to talk. thought, "Let's try to get as much information out." - She uses the training she had from working with high-risk patients at the hospital. Slowly, she disarms him and encourages him to open up. This is how she learns he has daughter. - And how much he loves her, and good things, like she's beautiful. was hoping that can bring the person he used to be back. - But then Delvin Barnes starts talking about his other victims. He gives her details of what he did to each of them, and she quickly understands she's dealing with serial killer. November 5th, three days after the abduction, officials in Richmond, Virginia see the footage on the news and finally identify the man as 37-year-old Delvin Barnes, suspect in another kidnapping with history of violent crimes. The news is horrifying. - We were extremely nervous for Carlesha's safety. We thought the worst. - They need to act fast. team is sent to Virginia to Barnes' residence in Richmond. They interrogate his family, neighbors, ex-partners. One ex-wife confirms Barnes' car was in fact gray Ford Taurus, the same vehicle that was seen driving off with Carlesha. Agents quickly go around the city and locate the dealership where the car was purchased. By stroke of luck, it just so happens the dealership had put tracking device on Barnes' car. - If person who purchased car there had bad credit, they would often put GPS device on that vehicle to make sure if they didn't make their payments, that the car company could find the car and repossess it. - The dealership is able to pinpoint the exact location of the car. That's when they find out the vehicle is still in Maryland in town called Jessup. - We had several teams surveilling the area to identify the vehicle. - While every unit is being dispatched to the location, Barnes is making plans of his own. - He said that we needed another car 'cause he was running out of license plates to switch. - That day, Barnes is parked at strip mall and plans to hijack another vehicle. It's 5:15 PM, ATF Special Agent David Cheplak is one of the closest to Jessup, Maryland. With the description of the vehicle, he heads to local strip mall parking lot. - Searching the parking lot, came across gray Ford Taurus. - From distance, he can see there's black garbage bag covering up broken window. He knows it's the right vehicle, but they can't see anyone inside the car. - We still didn't know if our victim was alive or not. - The ATF agents on site are instructed to wait for backup before approaching the vehicle. - Agent Rolagoas had essentially decided that if that car starts to move, we're taking it. - And then, God, he just came from the back seat. - We automatically all sprung into action. - Agents surround the vehicle in hurry. While Delvin Barnes is sitting in the driver's seat, the agents point their guns at him and put him under arrest. - He had no idea we were coming. He had no idea what was going on. - Once realized that Mr. Barnes was already in custody and that my team had everything under control, approached the vehicle. - The agents then make their way to the rear door, but the window is blocked by the garbage bag. They still can't see if Carlesha is inside the vehicle until finally, he opened the door. - could hear from the agent's cell phone in the background. - my God, she's here. - She asked me, "What is your name?" And told her, "My name's Carlesha. I'm the one you want." - Carlesha Freeland has been rescued. Her abductor has been arrested. - Once realized that was being rescued, felt at peace. Just very happy to know I'd be going home, to know that I'm going to live, to know I'm gonna be safe. - Carlesha is taken to the hospital where finally she's reunited with her grandmother. - When they allowed me to walk into the room, and Carlesha saw me, it was too emotional for me. - Now that she's safe in her grandmother's arms, Carlesha is finally able to rest knowing she fulfilled her promise. When news of her rescue is shared with the public, Dwayne Fletcher, the man who witnessed the abduction, can finally breathe sigh of relief. And while he blames himself for not doing enough, others see him as hero in this story. - Dwayne Fletcher got hero's welcome in City Council, credited with helping save the victim's life. - When she learned about what Dwayne Fletcher did the night of her abduction, Carlesha wanted to reach out to express her gratitude. One year after the incident, they finally spoke on the phone. - It was so unreal. It was beautiful. Just like my Grams, you know, all over, like... - While he maintains that what he did was just the right thing to do, Fletcher sees Carlesha's rescue as turning point from his troubled past life. Today, Fletcher owns boxing gym in North Philadelphia where he teaches young girls and women how to defend themselves. He says he wants to make sure that what happened to Carlesha never happens again. As for Delvin Barnes, three days after he abducted Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, he's interrogated by federal agents. - He confessed to abducting her, sexually assaulting her, and he confessed to everything. - Barnes pleads guilty to one count of federal kidnapping and is sentenced to 35 years in prison. Because of Carlesha, his reign of terror has finally come to an end. - I'm still trying to deal with it, still have really bad nightmares and, you know, get scared to even be in my house, but just try to take one day at time, and just try to say, "Hey, this is your second chance." - Today, Carlesha is mom and she embraces every moment with her son. - Just watching him, he reminds me of what life is supposed to be, how happy and innocent and free you supposed to feel. - When she looks back at the events of 2014, Carlesha says she's glad Barnes picked her instead of someone else. - It was something that was meant to happen. God needed me to go through it because it was something that can handle. I'm happy he chose me 'cause when think about somebody else, wouldn't wanna put them through that. I'm still here, and I'm still living, and get to still tell my story, and hopefully help somebody else. - Carlesha's story tells us that even when the odds are stacked against us and things seem impossible, we must never give up.