Young Girl Outwits, Helps Catch Predator

March 12, 2007 -- -- This report was originally published on July, 21, 2005.

When a predator kidnapped Jeanette Tamayo from her house, she reacted like few 9-year-olds would: She began a plan of action that would eventually lead to her freedom and the arrest of her captor.

On June 6, 2003, Jeanette was coming home from school when a man followed her into her house in San Jose, Calif. When her mother and brother followed shortly thereafter, he severely beat them both, handcuffed Jeanette, and stuffed her into a box in the backseat of his car.

As police searched, her parents prayed. Experts say if an abductor intends to kill a victim, the murder will take place within the first few hours of the abduction.

Jeanette was taken to a house and handcuffed in a second story bedroom. The man threatened to kill the young girl and severely abused her for two days.

Jeanette says she was scared, but her actions show that she was cool-headed and resourceful, too. She knew she couldn't escape him by physical force, so she decided to outsmart him. "I had to get his trust," she said.

Building Trust

"Killers often dehumanize their victims," said Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Matt Braker, who prosecuted the case. Jeanette might have kept herself alive by talking to her abductor.

"Every step of the way she was not just quiet, not scared to death to the point where she wasn't talking, not interacting; she kept interacting to the point where she became a real person to him," he said.

Jeanette says it was hard to speak to her abductor. "I really just wanted to punch him and hit him!" she said.

But she says she treated him like a "normal" human being and her plan began to work. "He started trusting me." Soon he removed her handcuffs and let her walk freely around the house.

That's when Jeanette says she began gathering evidence to use against her abductor.

How did she think to do such a thing? Jeanette says she and her mother watched detective shows like "Cops" and "C.S.I."

Gathering Evidence

Jeanette began by asking her abductor about some small clay animal figurines he had in the house. "He picked it up and showed me, I took it and put it in my pocket," she said. She wanted to get something with his fingerprints on it.

Meanwhile, she continued to build trust with her abductor. She told him about her plans for the future and her love for her family.

By the time she complained how hungry she was, she had won him over. He let Jeanette call for pizza -- she took it for a chance to gather more evidence. She got his phone number.

When he let her watch TV, Jeanette got an idea. "I heard they were testing bunnies and other people for asthma. I decided to say I had asthma and a disease," she said.

She told her abductor she would die without her medicine.

Authorities are not sure if it was Jeanette's story that is responsible -- but soon the man dropped her off on a street corner and let her go.

An Arrest and Conviction, But the Trauma Remains

Police picked up Jeanette and took her for medical care, and soon she was reunited with her family. But the young girl's work was not done.

She had remembered every turn her abductor took after he put her in his car, and she led police back to his house. "She'd been raped, tied up," Braker said. "To survive that and to recall where the turns were, how far they were. It's just an amazing act."

The police found David Montiel Cruz, 26, preparing to flee when they arrived. Jeanette's testimony in court helped lead to his conviction, and a judge sentenced Cruz to more than 100 years in prison. It's still unclear just what motivated Cruz. He had no prior sex convictions.

Jeanette was three years past the attack when she first spoke to ABC News, but the trauma remains. Her pain is so personal, she uses invisible ink to write about her ordeal in her diary.

With time, Jeanette's painful memories will begin to slowly recede, said Dr. Robin Goodman, who works with traumatized children.

"What happens with these kids is this becomes kind of a distant memory and when that happens they are able to have positive memories, go on with their life, have fun, not avoid things because they are terrified," she said.