Fort Worth

Neighbors Reflect on Search, Rescue of 8-Year-Old Girl

The Ryan Place neighborhood is not far from TCU's campus in Fort Worth. It's a collection of tree-lined streets with children's swings in the front yards, and security signs dotting yards. It's not a place anyone expected a child to be kidnapped as she walked with her mother early Saturday evening.

"I know this city was on its knees Saturday night praying for that little girl," said Kirsten Sluck, talking about the 8-year old girl's abduction. The Slucks' Ring doorbell camera recorded part of the kidnapping.

"She was screaming, 'Help me, help me,'" said Letty Clay, who was on her porch when she saw the girl's mother yell for help. "The people came together. Even the people who didn't know each other."

The neighborhood is one where neighbors talk to each other, face to face and on social media. On Monday, a truck marked with a sign that read, 'Citizen on Patrol' roamed the streets.

"There's not hardly anything that happens here that hundreds of us don't know about within five minutes," longtime resident Cathy Hill said. "It's a younger neighborhood now. I'm one of the older people. I think these younger people, they just jump on anything. They're not as afraid of the devil."

On one of the neighborhood's worst days, the people who live there came together to be their best, and help a little girl get back home.

"People, I think, will be even more willing to come outside and help, not stay inside with the door closed," Sluck said, looking back on the experience. "We can all look out for each other."

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