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tv   The Kelly File  FOX News  November 27, 2015 6:00pm-7:01pm PST

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stops here because we are definitely that. developing tonight we have new details in a case that rocked the country as we get our first chance to take you inside a story of faith and of fate as a young woman finds a new life from coming face to face with a killer on a ram maj. welcome to our "kelley file" special. this is a fox news alert. i'm patti ann browne in new york and we're getting an update now from colorado springs following td today's shootout at a planned parenthood clinic. let's listen in to this looks
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like it will be lieutenant catherine buckley of the colorado springs police. >> we have to confirm we have two civilian casualties on scene and we have the death of one police officer. the death of the officers on scene is from the university of colorado at colorado springs police department. the uccs police department and the college will release information about the officer at a later time. we had four civilians transported to local hospitals with gunshot wounds. we had five officers transported to local hospitals with gunshot wounds. the nine individuals that were transported are in good condition at this time. tomorrow we will have a joint information center set up from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. the telephone number for that joint information center will be
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719-885-4362. i'm going to turn it over to police chief peter kerry to make a statement. >> i was able to spend a little bit of time at several of the hospitals with our injured officers as well as some victims of this thing. all i can say is my heart's broken. this is a really, really tough situation for a lot of people in our community and the community at large. i just want to remind the press this investigation is going to be several days just at the scene here, so please show some patience and we'll get through this together. thank you. >> i'm john suthers the mayor of colorado springs. i just want to convey to the loved ones of the victims our incredible sympathy. this is a terrible, terrible tragedy that's occurred here in colorado springs today. obviously we're -- we mourn the loss of the two civilian
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victims. we mourn the loss of a very brave police officer. i just want to make sure that everybody knows that while this was a terrible, terrible tragedy, it could have been much worse but for the actions of the first responders particularly the police officers involved. they were able to get people out of the building safely, and they were able to make sure that the perpetrator was isolated in the place where there could be communication back and forth about where he was. and i'm absolutely certain that that -- the result of that was that some people that otherwise would have been victimized were able to get out of that building safely. so, i -- i want to commend the colorado springs police department and all the first responders that were involved in this incident today. >> i'd like to provide one more
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update. i apologize. we are going to change the telephone number, the telephone number will, again, be 719-385-7135. again, 719-785-7135. and that will be staffed from 6:00 a.m. tomorrow until 7:00 p.m. tomorrow. thank you. >> again, no more questions. and thank you for your patience. please be looking for any additional information either from the sheriff's office or the colorado springs police department via press release. thank you. >> is this the last one? >> yes, it is. >> okay. thank you. >> all right. well, we have been listening to a live news conference out of colorado springs. just hours ago a five-hour shootout and standoff came to an end but with tragedy. we are now learning confirmation two civilians have died and one police officer also killed. that officer was with the
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university of colorado at colorado springs, that police department. also multiple injuries. the nine people who were transported to local hospitals all listed in good condition, but the county prosecutor saying his heart is broken. the mayor john suthers thanking the first responders for getting the situation under control to a point where the loss of life was not even worse. and, again, the suspect in custody. no word yet on the motive for this attack on the planned parenthood in colorado springs. i'm patti ann browne. now back to "the kelley file." >> i started to read the first paragraph of it. after i read it, you could stop. will you read it again? i said, yes, i'll read it again. >> asked what ashley smith thought what his purpose was. she said to go to jail, pay for what he did and try to minister to people in prison.
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smith then told bryan nichols she had to leave to she her daughter and in her amazement he let her go. she immediately called 911, first she got two busy signals and then she finally got through. >> the victim is advising that he is in the apartment at this time. there are three weapons underneath the bed. she's advising he is wanting to turn himself in. >> heavily armed officers have now cordoned off the apartment complex. they've got their guns drawn. we've seen a sniper team. >> authorities surrounded the at, bryan nichols surrendered peacefully. >> we expected suicide. we never counted on ashley smith. we never took that into consideration. but ashley, with your calm demeanor and handling of the situation, with your cool-headed reasoning, you were able to overcome a very serious situation, and we want to say thank you. >> it's natural to start to form the conclusion of any story, but
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my role was really very small in the grand scheme of things. the real heroes are the judicial and law enforcement officials who gave their lives and those two risked their lives. >> bryan nichols is now serving multiple life sentences without parole. he has called ashley smith an angel sent from god, but since the day he was captured he has never reached out to her. >> incredible. thank you. ashley smith's apartment was only 15 miles from that courthouse. bryan nichols could have kept running. he could have picked someone else to grab. he could have killed her early on as he did four others that day, but none of those things happened. and what unfolded instead has since been described by some as a miracle. here now, ashley smith. take us back to that day in march of 2005. i remember covering the story on
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fox news as a young reporter at the time. you saw news reports that day of what bryan nichols who was in court being accused of rape, not murder, he had no murder rapp sheet, being accused of rape, you saw news reports of what he had done that morning and what did you think? >> well, i didn't see very much. i just saw his mug shot. to be quite honest with you, i wasn't paying a whole lot of attention. i look back on it today and i realize why i wasn't paying attention, it was just the power of god he was protecting me from what i knew i was going to go through. but what i did know was briefly what he looked like basically and what he had done, yes. >> what had happened in that courtroom that morning was he had killed the sheriff's deputy who was guarding him, a female officer, taken her gun, gone into the courtroom, shot and killed the judge, shot and killed the court reporter and then ran and got out and was killed -- and killed two more law enforcement officers who were pursuing him. later that night he wound up at your house. you went out to buy cigarettes
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late at night around 2:00 a.m. >> yes, uh-huh. >> you come back to your house. what happens? >> well, i noticed a truck with a person in it pulling up when i left but as you said it was very brief. i was gone about five minutes and when i came back i noticed he was still sitting in the truck. and, you know, i thought twice about it. everyone would think twice about it, but then i thought, get out of the car and go inside. that's exactly what i did. i got out of the car. i started to walk towards my apartment and then i heard him get out of his car. >> at that moment that so many of us fear where you hear the footsteps coming up behind you. >> yem. >> you don't know what to do. >> right. >> and got you. >> at this point i couldn't turn back it was either door to the apartment or turn around and face him so i unlocked the door and turned around and he was right there pointing the gun right at me. >> and what happened? did he lay hands on you at that moment? >> i immediately started to scream and he came at me quickly and put his hand over my mouth. shut up. if you be quiet, i won't hurt
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you and he basically just grabbed me, pulled me inside and locked the door. >> did you know at that moment who it was? >> no, i did not know it was bryan nichols. >> he brings you into your bathtub. is that where he brought you first? >> uh-huh. >> tell the viewers what happened. >> he took me in the bathroom and there was no windows in there or whatever. he told me to sit in the bathroom. i heard him walking around the house and he came back and he had some tape and an extension cord and different things and that's when he tied me up, bound my feet and my arms and just tied me up. >> what were you thinking at that moment? >> well, he asked me when he came back with the tape and stuff, do you know who i am? and i didn't. i said, you know, am i supposed to know who you are. and he said have you been watching the news? the man that escaped from the courthouse and then it dawned on me the mug shot that i had seen and the brief news that i had watched earlier. and so i said, great, you know, thinking to myself, the news said he's killed three people. i'm going to be next, you know,
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i didn't think there was any hope for me at all. >> and yet he tied you up. did you fight? did you let him tie you up? >> he told me if i did whatever he asked me to do that he wouldn't hurt me. and i don't know about you, but i didn't really -- i didn't have any other choice but to believe him. i wanted to make it out of there alive and that was my only hope so -- >> you start talking to him. i mean, your words and your faith turned out to be your savior. >> yes. >> and you start talking to him. did you have an instinct that there was the opportunity to form a bond with him? when we come back ashley will not only answer that question but she will share the amazing story of what happened when she actually got ahold of bryan nichols' guns. but, first as the drama unfolded that day, one famous fox news reporter found himself amazingly right in the middle of the action, just feet from ashley smith's apartment. and when we come back geraldo
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this is a fox news alert, fox is hearing reports police have surrounded an apartment complex north of atlanta, georgia. let's go to geraldo rivera. what can you tell us? >> i'm in gwinnett county 20 miles north of atlanta and a hostage situation has been confirmed by the authorities. they have a home surrounded inside this apartment complex. they do not confirm that it is brian nichols that they have inside, that brian nichols is holding a hostage inside. but i spoke to one of the public affairs officers of the gwinnett county police department and the officer told me they have nichols. >> we're getting word atf is telling fox news that nichols is in custody. >> nichols in custody. >> he's in custody. >> i'm great.
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i'm glad to hear that. that's great. >> here's the chevy. here's the chevy. they've got the s.o.b., there he goes. there he goes. all right, they've got him. >> they got the s.o.b., that's what you heard our own geraldo rivera saying back in 2005 describing the action from what turned out to be a ringside seat in the capture of brian nichols and the unfolding saga of ashley smith. in fact, geraldo got to the scene so quickly he arrived before a lot of the federal agents and was reporting live on fox news channel as the officers were still rolling up. geraldo joins us now. how did you find yourself in the very heart of the story? >> i was interviewing the attorney at his office. now, remember that nichols wiped out anybody that had anything to do with the case. he killed the judge. he killed the court reporter. it was logical that his own attorney who had failed him would be the next in line another target. i was interviewing him and we heard on the radio that there
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was this hostage situation developing in the suburban county. >> and there was a manhunt under way for this man. >> but atlanta was locked down. it was very tense. i got there that morning, and everybody was obsessing over where this man might strike next. i mean, he had left a bloody trail for goodness sake and i was attracted to the case this reckless violence. where was this guy going with this murder spree. >> he didn't have a violent criminal history, he'd been accused of rape had not yet been convicted but had been accused of it. but didn't have a murderous past. >> he didn't have a past, but he had a present. killing the judge and the court reporter and a sheriff's deputy and an atf agent or an immigration officer that happened on him during the -- during the escape. so, i'm interviewing the lawyer and we hear from the secretary of the lawyer this news report that they have this unrelated hostage situation developing in
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the suburban county. now, the decision i had to make at that point is, is that brian nichols or is that unrelated crime that's taking me way away from the center of the action there in atlanta where the unfolding mass murders had happened. so, we made the decision to go. we got there, as you suggest, very soon. we got there before many of the authorities, and the situation was developing and the police were buttoned down. the suburban cops were buttoned down. the feds had not yet arrived. but as often happens because i have a kind of relationship schmoozing with the cops there was an old grizzled sergeant who was the information officer as i recall, and the cop just told me, yeah, it's nichols. they got nichols. and, well, on the strength of that it all came to play, that this was the fugitive, mass murderer, i had no idea about ashley's situation, of course. >> but you go to the scene and you're standing there for a time not knowing that the police have
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not yet apprehended him. you didn't know. >> had not yet taken him into custody, no. when we got there it seemed -- and i knew nothing of the fact that he wanted to surrender. we thought it was still a hostage situation in that very densely packed housing development there in the suburban -- the suburbs. so, as it unfolded, it really had one of the happy endings to such a grim, grim story. what i find intriguing and perplexing is why he was not given the death sentence, given the fact that he had killed in such cold blood people who were innocent and officials. but the jury for some reason that i still don't understand hung on the death sentence so the judge imposed these consecutive life sentences. >> i want to correct something i said earlier. i said he killed the female sheriff's officers, but she suffered severe brain damage but
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she's not actually dead. when we saw you speaking to the attorney and you say we got him, the attorney learned it from you as it broke on fox news. he was genuinely concerned to know it and it was openly known what his client had done in open court. >> the story was unfolding in real time. everybody was holding their breath. a man who has killed four, what does he have to lose to kill six or eight or ten. we knew that he had taken the weapons of the officers that he slanel. so, it was very tense and you could see the -- you know, the law enforcement reacts in a rapid fashion, but it takes time for them to build up, particularly a hostage situation. so, first you have the suburban officers involved. then we got there. then the officers from the broader community begin arriving. the feds, though, downtown atlanta, they have to get the word that it is indeed a kidnapping situation, a federal -- a potential federal offense, not your run of the mill kind of domestic squabble which it could easily have been.
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so, we got there and watched the big suburbans arriving with the feds. >> that's what's so incredible about ashley smith's role in this as you heard the law enforcement, the marshal talking about, because everyone believed that this could go on and on the man had nothing to lose. he'd already killed cops. he'd killed law enforcement officers, who else would be next? and as he said they didn't count on ashley smith and what this drug-addicted single mom was saying inside of her apartment that night that actually could have saved not just her life and the life of brian nichols for that matter but the lives of who knows how many cops who he might have tried to take down in those final moments if it hadn't ended the way it did. geraldo, great to see you. >> thank you. >> i remember watching him on that day from the fox news channel d.c. bureau saying this is unbelievable and, of course, now major motion picture, that's why. well, ashley smith tells the rest of her story when we come back, including the dramatic
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account of the decision she made when she had the chance to escape. plus, we'll speak with tony perkins about what he thinks is the real message of this story. >> the ashley smith who was there before that encounter, is she still with us? still with us? this is the one place we're not afraid to fail. some of these experiments may not work. but a few might shape the future. like turning algae into biofuel...
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>> okay, stop. i couldn't stop, okay, if i treat him like a human being and not like somebody that just killed somebody, maybe he'll let me go and nobody else has to die. i told him my little girl didn't have a daddy anymore and she needed her mommy to live. >> that was ashley smith in the days after her hostage ordeal sharing her first emotional description of what happened with brian nichols during the intense seven hours in her apartment. stunningly even as she faced her own possible murder that night, ashley had a chance to grab the gun that nichols was carrying and shoot the man who was holding her hostage and she didn't. here now, the next part of our interview. the faith turned out to be your savior. >> yes. >> and you start talking to him. did you have an instinct that there was the opportunity to form a bond with him? >> well, i don't know. i've always been the type of person that tries on put myself
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in other people's shoes, what would i do in that situation. so i think i starteded ed tto with him, if i were him, what would i want. and so for me my child was important to me and that's one of the first questioned i asked him was, you know, do you have children. i asked him why he did what he did. it was another first question that i asked him and just tried to spark conversation with him and -- >> and he had adjust had a baby a few days earlier so he was a new father. >> yes. >> you were a mother and are and one of the things we didn't know about you when the story first broke, this is an incredible woman and she managed to get out of this ordeal and then you revealed that you were suffering greatly that night. you were addicted to crystal meth. >> yes. >> you had lost custody of your daughter for a time because of your addiction. your daughter's father was killed in connection with his own drug dealing and you didn't
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see a clear path out of the hell in which you were living. >> no. >> even before brian nichols came to your door. and so at one point in that evening while he's got you captive in your own home, the topic turned to drugs. >> yes. >> did you offer him drugs or did he ask you for them? >> he actually asked me if i had any drugs in my apartment that night. i think he actually asked me for marijuana and, you know, we have just talked about, i was in the middle of a crystal meth addiction. i had done meth the night before. all of this happened. and i had some left over. i put it in a place that would be very obvious to him if he ransacked my apartment as he had already halfway done and so when he said do you have any drugs i told him yeah. i didn't want him to find them or -- and realize that i had lied to him. >> did he have you walk him over to the drugs? >> he just had me go get them and he said set it up for me, he
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said he had never done meth before. >> so, he did the drugs. >> he did the drugs. >> and you described the moment of him doing them over and over. what was that like for you understanding that this killer was doing crystal meth in your apartment? >> well, for me as i began to watch him do it, i thought do you know what, this is crazy, first of all, i don't really know why i just offered this to him because it is a drug that made me very paranoid. it did some really crazy things to me. it made me do some really off the wall, outrageous things as meth is known to do so watching him do it was very scary for me, but, you know, also he asked me three different times do you want to use this with me, why don't you do this with me, how about you do this with me, and i really believe without a shadow of a doubt that jesus christ took the body of brian nichols at that moment in time and brian nichols wasn't asking me if i wanted to do drugs with him, god was asking me if i wanted to do drugs then and if i did it was
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going to be the last time i ever did it and it was going to be the last day of my life and i really believe god was saying do you want to continue living this life or do you want a new one because if you say no, then i'll give you a new life and, you know, to be quite honest, a new life even for five minutes was, you know, that sounded more appealing to me than the way that i had been living. >> you see that now in retrospect. in the moment, were you conscious of that, of the presence? did you feel that presence or did you just feel a strong instinct probably for the first time to say no? >> no, i felt the presence of god telling me, do you know what, this is it. you can choose the old life or you can choose the new life. and i will give it to you. like i said, i didn't know if i was going to make it out of there alive. i didn't know if it was five minutes of a new life or 50 years of a new life. but as soon as i chose not to do those drugs, it was just a sense of freedom for me, you know, physically i was still being held captive, but i realized that ashley smith wasn't in
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control. and neither was brian nichols but that jesus was in control and the rest of the night was going to this be the way he wanted it to be. >> there were among -- including that one there were some stunning moments as the night went on including a couple of opportunities to actually escape. there was a time, first of all, where he let you go to the bathroom. you went into the bathroom and what was in the bathroom? >> the guns. >> he realizes i sebts hnt her there and she's got all the weapons. and instead of grabbing them, you gave them to him when he banged on the door and said give them back. was it a conscious trust or was it a fear? >> it was a fear, because i thought if i pick up the guns and use them i'll probably end up shooting myself or doing some damage to me. that was totally -- not now. >> there was another opportunity where he -- he convinced you to help him hide the getaway car.
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he had stolen a car and killed -- i think that was the law enforcement officer's car. >> yes. >> and he got you out of the apartment to help him hide it. why didn't you run in those moments? what was it? did you -- did you just -- were you motivated by fear or was it some knowledge that i'm going to get out of this? the story of how this hostage-taking finally ended is really amazing, but the story of what has happened since with ashley smith is just as powerful. you will hear both, and we'll speak with tony perkins, when we return with the last part of ashley's story. >> where we going, ashley? >> mexico. >> that's right.
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walk out of this apartment and pay for what you did than it is to go out of this apartment with guns and lose your life over it, so the choice is yours. >> imagine for a moment that someone is holding you hostage. you know they have killed four people. they really have nothing to live for. and after spending seven hours wondering if that person was going to end your life, they suddenly set you free. ashley smith talks about what that feels like in the final part of her story. why didn't you run in those moments? what was it? did you -- did you just -- were uf motivated by fear or was there some knowledge that i'm going to get out of this? >> i think looking back on it even times when i read the book or watch the movie, even myself, i'm, like, go, girl, you need to get out of there. you got a chance. but i think several things went through my mind at that point in time. number one, my car was not, um, it wasn't a very good car. it had been breaking down on a
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very regular basis, and i think i feared that if i tried to get away that it would immediately break down and i would get stuck. >> it was too risky. it was too risky. >> also i really believe that god once i chose not to do the drugs he took control and he began to lead that night, and for me i just kept saying eventually he will let me go. if i let him get in the car and go back to my apartment, then he's not going to have a getaway car. he's going to be at my house all by himself at one point, and he'll be surrounded. and so i think those things were just going through my head. >> we saw the clip of kate mara playing you, and it looked like a rehab attempt. she throws the book. you throw the book in the garbage. did that really happen? >> no, that didn't really happen. >> had anybody introduced the book to me? >> yes, it was introduced me at a church that i went to actually the very first time i had been to church in many years. >> the first time someone introduced the book "a purpose
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driven life" to you, what, if any, effect did it have on you? >> it actually did have an effect on me. on the cover it says, what on earth are we here for. for me i needed an answer to that question. as a matter of fact, as i sat in church that day before they introduced the book, i began to say, god, i don't even know why i'm here at this church service. i shouldn't be here. i'm not worthy of being here but, you know, i want my life to change but i don't know how. i'm in this place to where i just get up and do drugs. it's not because i want to, but it's just the way of life. that's what i do to survive and i want to change. and right about that time, the pastor said, the church is going to be reading this book and if you want one, then they're so-and-so much money and if you don't have the money, then please get one anyway. >> wow. >> so i picked it up and started to read it. >> what made you pull it out and start reading it to brian nichols that night? >> well, i happened to be reading it. i was on the 32nd chapter.
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i'd been reading it for 32 days. and after i chose not to do the drugs, i felt a huge need to back up my decision with scripture or something that involved god. and so i asked brian nichols if i could read. and he said, yeah, you can read, if you read it out loud. he made me read it out loud to him. >> the passage you read was from the chapter as you mentioned 32, using what god gave you. and it reads in part, using what god gave you, what you are as god's gift to you. what you do with yourself is your gift to god. god deserves your best. he shaped you for a purpose and expects you to make the most of what you have been given. that resonated with him. >> it did, yes. >> he asked you follow-up questions. tell us. >> well, we had -- we had been talking before that, you know, about each other -- each other. i had asked about his family. he had asked about mine.
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i had already told him that my husband, my first husband, was killed and things like that. and so he said, you know, maybe you need to minister to people. maybe you need to share your life with them to help other people. he also asked me what he should do. should he turn himself in and what should he do. i told him he has to turn himself in and maybe his purpose in life was to minister to people in prison. >> do you know whether he's now doing that the? >> i don't. >> you haven't had any contact with him. >> i haven't had any contact with him. but if i were to have contact with him, that would be the biggest question i would ask him is is he using his second chance. >> so, now we're getting ahead of ourselves. because we're still back on this night in march of 2005. you read him the passage. the night goes on. you wind up making him pancakes in the morning. how did you get out? >> he just let me go. i had been asking all night long from the very beginning, i was
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supposed to see paige the next morning. >> your daughter. >> yes. i kept telling him i'm supposed to see her, listen, in i don't show up to this meeting then people are going to wonder, my family is going to say this is strange, she's never missed a meeting with paige and they're going to come looking for me. and for many times when i asked, several times he said, no, you're not going anywhere, no. and as the night went on, he started to kind of change his mind. when i would ask him maybe i'll let you go, we'll see how it goes. and about 9:00 that morning he said, what time do you need to leave to see paige? and, of course, i was, like, now is a really good time. >> and he -- >> he just let me leave. >> describe the feeling when you closed that door behind you. >> you know, when i closed the door behind me, it still was too good to be true. my knees were just as shaking when i walked to the car. and i think when i finally got in the car and cranked it and made it around the corner i was, like, a sigh of relief, you
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know, wow. kind of almost did that just happen? and then realizing, yes, it happened. and even more so, i think i walked away going, that just completely changed my life. >> you called 911. >> i did, i called 911. >> were you there when the law enforcement officers arrived? >> actually, they told me to go back and go to a safe place and they sent some officers to meet me there. they didn't send any other officers until they were sure it was him. and i had to take them to find the truck. and after that, it was -- when we got back, there were helicopters, s.w.a.t. -- i mean, it was people everywhere. >> uh-huh. describe -- describe the -- i mean, i'm trying to get sort of to the point of before and after. is there -- the ashley smith who was there before that encounter, is she still with us? >> i'm not -- i'm not in a spiritual warfare anymore. i'm not fighting that anymore. you know, the person that was
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there that night was still a human being. i think she is still here because that person was a sinner saved by god's grace. today i'm still just a sinner saved by god's grace. you know, that night i laid down my brokenness to god and i gave it to him. that's what changed. >> did you ever do drugs again? >> no. >> and tell us what happened with paige and your family life. >> paige and i live with my aunt and uncle for about a year after this happened. i wanted to be very solid in being a mom before i, you know, kind of made -- took the world on my own. i got remarried in 2007 to my husband daniel. been married for eight years. paige is now 16. i have a 14-year-old stepdaughter and we have a 4-year-old son together. you know, i have gone around the world sharing my story to different churches, recovery homes, women's events, and, you
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know, just doing life. i love more than anything being a mom. i'm so grateful that i have the opportunity to be a mom again today. >> so many people think that the story is about the book. but this story's about the book. what do you think this story's about? >> i think this story is a story of redemption. it's a story, you know, not everybody can say my life is affected by drugs, you know, i have this, i struggle with this. but everybody in life struggles with something. and i think this story is really about laying down your brokenness and giving it to god. getting back on the path that he has planned for us. you know, i hope people when they go see the movie, i hope they walk away and say, do you know what, if god did it for me, he'll do it -- or if god did it for her, he'll do it for me, too. >> ashley, best of luck to you and your family. >> thank you. >> thank you so much for being here. >> the folks promoting the movie version of ashley smith's life
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described the film as a thrilling drama and the two collisions of two people's lives. but tony perkins thinks it's more than that. he'll join us next. >> what is that? what are you doing? >> it's a book. >> a book. >> "a purpose driven life." >> read it to me. and surprise! those seats sometimes cost a ridiculous number of miles, making it really hard to book the flight you want. luckily, there's a better way... with the capital one venture card. with venture, you'll earn unlimited double miles on every purchase, every day. and when you're ready to travel, just book the flight you want, on any airline, then use your miles to cover the cost. now you're getting somewhere. what's in your wallet?
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in the moment, were you conscious of that, of that presence? did you feel that presence or just a strong instinct for the first time to say no? >> no, i felt the presence of god telling me, this is it. you can choose the old life or you could choose the new loif and i will give it to you. like i said, i didn't know if i was going to make it out of there alive. i didn't know the if it was going to be five minutes of a new life or 50 year, but as soon as i chose not to do those drug, it was a sense of freedom. physically, i was still being held captive, but i realized that ashley smith wubt in control and neither was brian nichols, but jesus was and the rest of the night was goung to be the way he wanted it to be. >> she says the story of her kidnapping is a story of redeposition.
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a woman and a man both struggling with personal demons are thrown together by fate in a moment of violence and each emerges somehow better from the experience. joining me now, tony perkins, president of the family research council, also an ordained minister who speaks to different congregations and the author of in fear. tony, good to see you. the story has to move even nonbelievers a little to stop and consider what the power of faith in god can do in your life. >> it's a powerful story and as a reporter, you know, this is a law enforcement officer, i have not seen many cases end like this. and it really is the power of redemption and she you know, simply read from the purpose driven life and n that message of forgiveness, which all of us really down deep, are searching for that peace that only comes through forgiveness.
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that comes through jesus christ and she tells that story. two lives both trans forped on wrong paths, but come out forgiven. they have to pay, but forgiven. >> she paid as well. for her drug addiction and losing custody of her daughter for a time, then that night was the beginning of a new life for her. are you surprised that hollywood choose to make a movie like this? >> somewhat, but not completely, because this is really an inspiring story. a tragic story. four people lost their lives in this, but it shows the power of forgiveness and transformation. this thing ended the way it did and you can't argue with the evidence. some would stha religion stuff. just like nichols said. i don't within the that church bs. the reality is that the evidence is there. this thing ended in a peaceful situation where he surrendered himself and as you said earl yes, he had no reason to do that after taking four lives, he could have killed her and others
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and hymn on the way out, but it ended different because of that message. that is the power of the gospel of jesus christ. it transforms lives and maybes prisoners free. >> is it any sort of a testament to i mean, people can argue about god in the public scare square, but keeping the porch light on, we're sort of removing god from every corner of life right now and you see power of faith and belief in him that can change lives in this story. >> that is why we must keep that light going. because you see it. the evidence is overwhelming. look at my home state of louisiana. angola prison, where most dangerous prison, one of the most dangerous in the united states, transformed by the interjection of faith where they're having a revival in that prison. it's the power of the dpos pel. trans fors even the lives of prisoners. >> and the story of forgiveness. the ability of this woman taken hostage in her own home, bound up, left in her bathroom.
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she didn't know what was going to happen to her and knowing he had killed four other, she in moment finding the power to forgive. >> but not only to forgive, but the peace. think about that as a young woman, being in a situation with a guy you know has just killed four people. he was a rapist. she had the peace that because of god speaking to her, that she could make a choice and she did and god walked through that event with her. >> amazing and an inspiration to be better. >> and that i can takai that and receive that forgiveness. it's power. . >> we'll be right back. tburn with it neutralizes stomach acid and is the only product that forms a protective barrier that helps keep stomach acid in the stomach where it belongs. for fast-acting, long-lasting relief. try gaviscon®.
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♪ you may not even think about the energy that lights up your world. but we do. we're exxonmobil. and the cleaner-burning natural gas we produce generates more of our electricity than ever before... ...helping dramatically reduce america's emissions. because turning on the lights, isn't as simple as just flipping a switch. energy lives here. made a simple tripvere chto the grocery storeis anything but simple. so finally, i had an important conversation with my dermatologist about humira. he explained that humira works inside my body to target and help block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to my symptoms.
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in clinical trials, most adults saw 75% skin clearance. and the majority were clear or almost clear in just 4 months. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ask your dermatologist about humira. because with humira clearer skin is possible. what do you think of the story, does it spine you to believe, seek redemption? let us now. thanks for watching, everyone. this is the el ki file.
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they are ripping us left and right. the leaders are so much smarter. they are ripping us left and right. the wall is peanuts. >> people are actually starting to listen to what the candidates themselves are saying. and they recognize a failed policy. >> you have debates where thai trying to get you into a food fight and insulting each other. i ain't going to do it and if others attack me, i'm not going to respond. >> but i believe we need someone who has a proven regard to go against hillary clinto