Kidnap Suspect Surrenders in Montana

April 12 -- A suspected kidnapper who has been eluding police for two months has surrendered peacefully, and the girl he allegedly abducted last week is safe.

Anthony Zappa, 29, spent the night holed up in a cabin at picturesque Flathead Lake, Mont., as his alleged victim — 17-year-old high school honor student Anne Sluti — negotiated with police.

"She did an outstanding job," Mike Sargeant of the Lake County Sheriff's Office told Good Morning America.

Sluti was allegedly abducted from a mall in Kearney, Neb., on Friday by Zappa, who was already the subject of a five-state manhunt.

Brave Teen Negotiates Surrender

Sargeant said a concerned citizen called police Wednesday afternoon, telling of "suspicious activity" at the summer cabin. When police arrived, they found Zappa's vehicle parked nearby, and surrounded the place.

But when police made contact, it was not with the alleged criminal, but the victim.

"My initial contact and for most of the duration was with Anne," Sargeant said. "She was very calm and cool and collected."

Zappa would not speak to police until the very end, when he wanted assurances that he would be safe.

"He wanted to talk to me," Sargeant said. "He was a little stressed about coming out... [I] assured him that we wanted this incident to end peacefully ... which it did."

He said Zappa is in the county jail, while Sluti is being examined at a local hospital. He said she appeared to be doing fine.

"She's doing very well. She was very relieved at being freed," he said.

The FBI is on the way to question Zappa, he added.

A Trail of Phone Calls

Sluti, a 5-foot-3 pole-vaulter on her school's track team, called her parents and a friend after her disappearance.

She told her parents she was all right, but her mother said she could feel that someone was close by and that the girl was very troubled.

"She said that she was OK, that she wasn't hurt," Elaine Sluti said on Good Morning America. "It was very apparent that someone was with her, making sure that she didn't say where she was. And she actually sounded very strong. There did not seem to be an apparent great deal of fear, but there was obvious stress in her voice."