CHILD'S ABDUCTION HAS HAPPY ENDING

SCOTT CITY, Mo. -- Prosecutors planned to charge a man with kidnapping after his day-long odyssey that investigators say started with pulling a 4-year-old Scott City girl from her bedroom window and ended with dropping her off apparently unharmed nine hours later in northern Cape Girardeau County.

Scott County Sheriff Bill Ferrell said he and Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department officials will announce the man's name and charges today.

But Lacey Evans was safe with parents Kevin and Hope Evans late Thursday in their mobile home just south of the Interstate 55 overpass at Route K.

"We're thankful for all everybody has done, but we just can't talk about it right now," Hope Evans said, adding that it was a miracle her daughter was found alive and so quickly.

Investigators said Lacey was taken from the rear window of the home at about 6 a.m. Thursday. After an intense search involving a helicopter, airplanes and bloodhounds, the girl was found, cold and hungry, at about 3:30 p.m. at a home in north Cape Girardeau County, Ferrell said.

He said the girl was taken by a "predator" who didn't know the family. Ferrell wouldn't comment on whether the man abused Lacey or how she got from Scott City to the front porch in northern Cape Girardeau County.

"The community is safe, this guy is no longer on the streets," Ferrell said. "He's in custody, he's given us a statement and we have everything we need."

A door-to-door search of the neighborhood gave investigators a description of a possible suspect, he said. They interviewed the man in the course of the day but didn't make an arrest until an interview with Lacey led them back to him.

Terry Arnold, who has lived in the mobile home park for nine months, said the Evans family generally keeps to themselves.

Arnold said he and his wife, Diane, introduced themselves to the Evanses -- who moved in three weeks ago -- as the two families waited with their children for a school bus.

"They seemed like real nice people," Arnold said. "I give the Lord praise that they found her, but we're going to keep our children a lot closer to home now."

Erin Burton and her husband, Shane, have lived in the mobile home park since April. She said she wasn't concerned about crime at the trailer park until the girl's abduction.

"We felt safe until just now," Burton said.

On Saturday, some residents in the neighborhood will meet at the police station to take steps toward creating a neighborhood watch, Arnold said.

Ferrell credited the cooperation among law enforcement agencies which also included the Scott City Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Stoddard County Sheriff's Department with the quick find.

"She's a very lucky little girl," he said.