A daughter's desperate plea
Posted: Thursday, March 06, 2008 7:05 PM by Dateline Editor
Filed Under:
Crime, Human Interest
Elizabeth Shoaf, the brave high school girl who was held hostage for ten days in an underground bunker and managed her own rescue, speaks out in great detail for the first time to "Dateline's" Keith Morrison in "Into the Woods," a very special two-hour Dateline, airing Friday, March 7, at 9pm on NBC. Below, her mother writes about the experience.
By Madeline Shoaf
After seven sleepless days and nights, we finally got a lead in the case. My family and I were to attend another vigil for Elizabeth at the state capitol. My husband would stay behind just in case there were any phone calls. As I was leaving, I grabbed my cell phone and there was a text message on it. I looked at it and about fell to the ground.It was a message from my daughter. I knew it was from Elizabeth, yet it was the scariest message I ever received.
Investigators told my husband and me that there were two scenarios. One, it was a prank message from someone who wanted to hurt us; or two, she was just making an excuse to come back home. My husband and I were in disbelief. We could not understand why they kept thinking she was some type of troublemaker and would put us through this heartbreak.
Deputies searched the area where the message said she was, but found nothing. They told us that the phone was bought in Georgia but the message was received within a ten-mile radius.
The next day, my husband, my family, friends and I started searching again. We knew Elizabeth was close to us, and that made everyone more desperate to search everywhere.
On Friday, the ninth day, I was getting even more desperate to know where my daughter was. I saw the police had an area blocked off near my house and I went to check to see what was going on. The sheriff’s captain told us they had a person of interest. They intercepted a message from the phone that Elizabeth used to text message me and another phone in the area. That person who owned the other phone was in custody. This was the first deep breath my husband and I took for nine days.
The person of interest was a man they had been tracking for nearly a year. He lived near the same area Elizabeth had described on the text message.
Early Saturday morning, I was just about to go where the police were, when I saw a truck come up our road. As the truck got closer, we saw it was Captain Thomley. He jumped out of his truck and yelled,” We got her and she was safe.” I dropped to my knees. My heart was back in place and I ran to him and hugged him. I looked at him and could see tears in his eyes. He told me to get my husband and he would take us to the hospital.
The whole world seemed brighter when I looked upon her face. My life was whole again and my family complete. She looked at me shyly at first, not knowing what to say. All I could tell her was that she did not need to say anything. I loved her and was the happiest mother alive. She was safe and I would be here for her no matter what. One by one my family members came up to her to give her a hugs, kisses and to tell her they loved her. When she saw her father, she ran into his arms and started to cry all over again. After all the excitement, we went to my parent’s house to lie down. This was the first time that any of us had a good sleep for ten days.
Around four in the morning, I received a phone call from the captain at the sheriffs department. When I answered the phone, he yelled out “We caught him; tell Elizabeth she will not have to worry about him anymore.” I went to wake Elizabeth up to tell her the good news. All she said was “Thank God.” and lay back down to sleep.
Elizabeth and mother Madeline Shoaf
Click to read Elizabeth recounting how bunker was 'hell.'
For those interested in communicating with the Shoaf family, e-mail shoafs5@gmail.com.
Keith Morrison compared the relative strength of Elizabeth Shoaf and her captor Vinson Filyaw.
Click here for complete coverage of this case.
