attorney erin nealy cox picked up the case. >> i'm a mother of three children, all girls, one of whichhe 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

attorney erin nealy cox picked up the case. >> i'm a mother of three children, all girls, one of whom this case. >> reporter: you're kidding. >> no. and so to me, it was important to bring this particular defendant to justice. >> reporter: nealy cox tried the case personally, getting an indictment on federal kidnapping charges. >> reporter: did you find yourselves in -- in brief moments thinking about what the mom was going through? >> oh, absolutely. i mean, we -- we met with the family, who is 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 parts of his police interrogation tape. >> i scoped it out pretty good. >> reporter: where he admitted to kidnapping the girl. it took a 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 that amber alert goes off on your phone, it doesn't mean you can't do something. >> reporter: nealy cox says the