tonight >> help me, help me please! >> as an 8-year-old is snatched from the hands of her mother, an accidental recording provides a key piece of evidence. now inside the manhunt. >> time was against us. i just could not move fast enough. >> and a take down with the heroes who would not give up. >> something told me to keep listening on the call. >> down to the final confrontation and heart-stopping rescue. "the raid" will be right back.

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a distant friend returns... elliott. you came back! and while lots of things have changed... wooooah! -woah! it's called the internet. some things haven't. get ready for a reunion 3 million light years in the making. woohoo! -yeah! the good evening. thanks for joining us. imagine having your daughter snatched from your arms in broad daylight. stranger abductions are not typical. only a tiny fraction of cases out of hundreds of thousands of missing children every year. but this nightmare scenario came true for one texas mother last may. pierre thomas gives us a rare look at how a community of

heroes came together to bring that little girl home. >> reporter: racing through the night streets. the destination an unremarkable hotel in the suburbs of ft. worth, texas. >> this guy's looking out the windows. i'm not trying to let him see that we're rolling around. >> can you get me in real quick? do you have the room information for room 333? i need it fast. >> reporter: the target, a small room on the third floor. >> matches the description. >> reporter: the mission, to prevent a truly scenario. inside a police raid with a little girl's life on the line. never-before-seen body cam footage of the final confrontation. >> open the door! open the door! >> reporter: when every second matters. >> open the [ bleep ] door!

let me see your hands. get on the ground! >> got her, we got her, we got her. we got her. her. her. her. her.. >> reporter: dallas-ft. worth, home to 7.5 million people, many of them living in quiet, suburban neighborhoods like this one. mile after mile of driveways and lush back yards. a place where families can safe lay stroll down the sidewalk. but that sense of state of was shattered on a warm saturday evening back in may. >> what is the location that you're calling about? >> hello? a car, a green car just drove off. he kidnapped my daughter, grabbed me off the street, kidnapped my daughter. >> reporter: do you recall where you were when you got the call? >> i was at home. and i just knew that this case was different. >> reporter: sergeant amelia

heissy was the detective on call that day, when she got the first report, an 8-year-old girl snatched right out of her mother's arms. >> oh, my god, my daughter was kidnapped. i'm going to [ bleep ] die! we need to find her now. he was a scare eye man. he was harassing us. he pushed my and grabbed her. please, please! >> reporter: officers race to the scene, finding the mother but also an accidental piece of evidence, one that could be critical to tracking down the kidnapper. >> help me! help me! please! my daughter just got kidnapped. >> reporter: the crime was captured on a man's doorbell camera, showing the actual abduction in progress. you can see a woman fall onto the street as the car drives away. then she pops up, yelling for help. >> reporter: you have a rare combination of you're a mom and

a detective. >> i was a detective before i was a mother and then after. after i became a mother, that protective sense just grew, and i could really relate more to the cases and how the parents were feeling. >> we begin tonight with breaking news out of ft. worth where police say a little girl is missing. >> reporter: this is security footage from a neighboring home there. this has been an active scene now for hours. >> reporter: did you feel the sense of urgency right off the bat? >> i knew we had to go. time was against us, and we just could not move fast enough. >> reporter: the case so heinous, federal authorities were immediately brought in. erin nealy cox. >> one of the most disturbing things about this incident was the randomness and brazenness of it. >> reporter: chris thompson is with a special task force investigating crimes against children. >> less than 5% of the abductions tracked by the fbi nationally are true stranger abductions. >> reporter: he saw something he wanted, executed on it and

unfortunately took the girl in plain sight. it seemed to escalate the level of concern for the minor victim that she may indeed be in grave danger and imminent danger. >> reporter: the girl's mom could give a small description of the subject. >> what kind of vehicle were they? >> do you know what kind of vehicle it is. >> reporter: thankfully, the doorbell cam provided crucial information. >> it was the only piece of video. it was absolutely critical. it wasn't supposed to go off, just from a passing car or a person being observed in the street. >> reporter: it only activated, because the homeowner ran outside. it's only a few, precious frames of footage, but it was enough for law enforcement to call in car experts who narrowed down a make and model. >> give police a call. >> reporter: with that, police and the community had something specific to look for. >> the patrol response was amazing, everybody showing up.

we're still not enough. >> we have called in additional resources. obviously, the police department takes this very seriously. >> reporter: did every minute, even every second feel like an eternity? >> the best way i can describe it, i felt like time was my enemy. it felt like time was flying by and i was moving so slow. i could not move fast enough. >> in an abduction, every minute that pass, the situation generally gets worse and worse for the victim. every minute that passes, your likelihood of having a positive outcome goes down. >> reporter: were tips coming in. >> absolutely, yes. >> reporter: dozens? hundreds? >> i don't know the number, but the communications were overwhelmed. >> what's address you're calling about? >> reporter: crystal morrell had no idea what she was walking into when she arrived for her shift at the ft. worth dispatch center that night. >> it was already very, very busy when i came onto my shift.

i was a nervous wreck with it. because i could just only imagine me walking down the street and this happening to me and my child. >> reporter: by the time she'd got there, the manhunt was more than four hours old. . >> i had heightened senses. every call was like i'm trying to get every piece of detail and see should we, how should we process this? is this just a broadcast? i let our officers know? or do i send a call up and we need to check this out? every call was like that, all the details. >> reporter: as dispatchers fielded call after call, tip after tip, crystal had no idea by the next morning she would walk out of the call center a hero. >> don't just watch the video. help us locate this little girl. >> reporter: something else crystal didn't know at that moment, just after midnight, someone had called 911 and reported they may have seen the suspect. police officers from forest hill responded to woodspring suites,

an extended stay hotel about seven miles from the street where the girl was abducted. officers talked to the man in room 333, went inside and searched for 90 seconds. but they didn't see a child, and left. we now know the kidnapped little girl was there, hidden in plain sight. we reached out to forest hill, and the city declined to comment. by then, it was well into the night. and most of the city was asleep. but luckily, not everyone. >> the people that came forward to assist in this late, late, late on a saturday night, of their own accord were absolutely critical in the recovery of this child. >> reporter: around 2:00 a.m., a new 911 call. >> hi, my name's jeff king. for the missing girl? >> okay. >> reporter: on one end, crystal morrell. on the other, a couple of men out searching. >> we just found a ford 500 in a parking lot of a hotel.

>> where's the hotel? >> and it looks like there's blood in the front seat. >> what hotel? >> i could tell he wasn't in our city. he was more so, i don't know, in shock. i transferred him over to forest hill, and i don't know, something told me to just keep listening on the call. to see what was going on. >> reporter: normally, her job would be done at that point, but her decision to stay on the call turns the tide. >> forest hill 911. >> so i stay on the call. and the operator was a female on the line. and she, it's like she already knew where he was at. she knew what hotel it was. >> what seat is the one you think? >> passenger seat. front passenger seat has blood in it, it looks like. >> i said i don't know, this sounds like something we should check out. it wouldn't hurt for us to go out there. >> reporter: crystal gets the alert out to the ft. worth police and in minutes she's tracking officer after officer as they arrive at the scene.

now all she can do is wait and see if her instinct was right. >> she realized the seriousness of it and officers who heard it, they also realized the seriousness of it. >> reporter: was that the moment that led to the beginning of the end? >> yes. >> reporter: up next, inside the rescue operation. >> open the [ bleep ] door! >> reporter: and what authorities say is the biggest hero of them all. diarrhea? pepto diarrhea to the rescue. it's 3x concentrated liquid formula coats and kills bacteria to relieve diarrhea. the leading competitor only treats symptoms it does nothing to kill the bacteria. treat diarrhea at its source with pepto diarrhea. [coughs] kim is now demonstrating her congestion. save it, slimeball. i've upgraded to mucinex. we still have 12 hours to australia. mucinex lasts 12 hours, so i'm good.

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usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa "nightline," "the raid", continues. here again, pierre thomas. >> reporter: it's nearly 2:00 in the morning in ft. worth, texas. eight hours into the manhunt to

find a kidnapper and to rescue the little girl he abducted. at this moment, a 911 call has police racing toward hope. this officer's body camera is rolling as the squad car approaches the hotel in an outer suburb. >> if this guy's looking out the window, i'm not trying to see that we're rolling around. >> reporter: once parked, time is of the essence. the officers must figure out if they have the right place and the right suspect. they immediately check out the vehicle reported in the 911 call and what looks like blood in the front passenger seat. armed with the room number from the original 911 call, the officer with the body camera heads inside, only to find the front desk shuttered for the night. >> can you get me in real quick?

>> huh? >> can you get me in real quick? do you have the room information for room 333? i need it like fast. >> okay. >> reporter: provided in that paperwork, a copy of the man's license. >> copy 24. matches the description. >> reporter: at this point, just minutes after arriving on scene. a group of police and task force agents have enough information to make an attempt to get inside room 333. >> they of course were exposing themselves to danger. we knew very little about the subject. we didn't know if he was sitting behind there with a rifle. but i seriously doubt if any of them even gave that a passing thought. their mission at that point was to get in that room and get that girl. >> open the door!

>> we're getting dressed! >> open the [ bleep ] door! >> break it. >> open it! [ bleep ]. >> hands, let me see your hands! step out, step out! >> reporter: the suspect is pulled out of the room. >> [ bleep ]. >> reporter: the team then rushes in. searching for the girl who was nowhere to be seen. >> got her, we got her, we got hoer. we got her. >> reporter: the officers' relief and excitement clearly tells everyone the girl is here and alive. >> woo! >> in custody. we have her. [ bleep ]. >> reporter: the little girl had been forced to hide in a storage bucket, covered in dirty laundry. it was the same trick that worked the first time police searched room 333. >> we got her, we got her! >> reporter: but it did not work this time. >> the subject had actually threatened the victim. that he was going to harm her and her family if she made any

sort of outdcry or tried to notify police. >> can we get her out? come on, sweetheart. are you okay? >> yeah. >> you're going to be okay. >> got him! >> reporter: their excitement clearly tempered by anger and anxiety that someone would kidnap and attack a child. >> let's get her in here. do me a favor. >> reporter: that man right there, the good samaritan to made the 911 call, a pastor who actually knows the family. on the phone with the girl's dad, delivering the good news. >> forest police officer m 727. what's the address. >> reporter: back at the call and dispatch center, crystal morrell finally found out what happened. >> oh, man, it was like a ton of bricks had been knocked off of me. i did cry after they found the girl. i think it was because my adrenaline was so high and a sense of oh, we found her. >> reporter: she got emotional

again when she got home, realizing her determination helped return a child to her mother's loving arms. >> i went straight in, and i just hugged my babies, and i was crying. i get emotional now just thinking about it. and i was crying. it was just a lot. you could just think, oh, that could have been me. and it was good to know my babies were at home. but that little girl, she didn't get to, she wasn't at home with her mom. she wasn't safe. >> but thanks to you, she was, now. >> i just say, it was, it was god. god, god, god led all of that. >> i went home, and i sat down at the breakfast table, and everything that i wouldn't allow myself to feel that night, it hit me, and i fit it.

>> reporter: were you able to hug your kids? >> yes. yes, very much so. >> reporter: in the aftermath of the arrest, u.s. attorney erin nealy cox picked up the case. >> i'm a mother of three children, all girls, one of which is an 8-year-old, just like the victim in this case. >> reporter: you're kidding. >> no. so for me it was important to bring the suspect to justice. >> reporter: did you find yourselves in brief moments thinking about what the mom was going through? >> oh, absolutely. we met with the family who was just so courageous and inspirational to me personally about how they were dealing with this. >> reporter: the 51-year-old suspect pleaded not guilty, but in court, nealy cox played part of his interrogation tape where he admitted to kidnapping the girl. it took the jury just ten minutes to convict him. he was later sentenced to life in prison. >> nobody's ever going to be

victimized by this man again. if you're sitting at home and the amber alert goes off on your phone it doesn't mean you can't do something. >> reporter: nealy cox says it has had a profound impact on not just her but everyone involved, especially the officers there at the rescue. some are still dealing with the memories of that day. >> they really dealt with it like they would their own child in finding their child.child.ch. >> reporter: but for amile yeel and all those officers, it's not found in a courtroom. it's making sure the youngest hero, a little girl kidnapped and terrorized can do more than just survive. she can thrive. >> she's definitely the hero of this story. she's doing great. i mean, she's incredibly resilient. she's got a strong family, who are just as brave as she is, and i think she's going to do extraordinary things one day. >> i know she's going to be with me the rest of my life. i look forward to seeing her grow and see her experience all

the wonderful things that life can give to her from here on out. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm pierre thomas in ft. worth, texas. for your worst sore throat pain, try vicks vapocool drops. it's not candy, it's powerful relief. ahhh vaporize sore throat pain with vicks vapocool drops and try new vapocool spray. this is charlie not coughing because he took delsym 12-hour. and this is charlie still not coughing while trying his hardest not to wake zeus.

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and pierre thomas tells us a family spokesperson confirms the young girl is doing well, but she is one of the lucky ones. last year roughly 400,000 children were reported missing in the u.s. if you have any information, the national center for missing and exploited children is always open. 1-800-843-5678. and that's "nightline" tonight, you can watch our full episodes

on hulu. thanks for staying up with us. have a great night and a great weekend, america.

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