CRIME: MAN CHARGED WITH KIDNAPPING

JACKSON, Mo. -- A Jackson man charged with abducting a 4-year-old girl, sexually abusing her and leaving her in the driveway of a rural Cape Girardeau County house faces the possibility of six life sentences.

Samuel Joseph Farrow Jr., 23, told investigators he kidnapped Lacy Evans from her bedroom in a trailer in Scott City, Mo., early Thursday morning, Sgt. Eric Friedrich of the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department wrote in a probable cause affidavit.

Farrow brought Evans back to his apartment at 208 N. High St., directly across the street from the sheriff's department, in order to have deviate sex with her, Friedrich stated.

Farrow's father said he and his wife are having trouble comprehending their son's actions. But Sam Farrow Sr. said he believed his son did what he is accused of after a revealing telephone conversation with him Thursday night as he called from the sheriff's department.

"This hit us out of the blue," Sam Farrow Sr. said. "Sammy had never done anything worse than gotten a few traffic tickets before this."

A heinous crime'

Prosecutor Morley Swingle charged Sam Farrow Jr. with seven felonies: kidnapping, statutory rape, four counts of statutory sodomy and armed criminal action. He also was charged with misdemeanors of third-degree assault and furnishing pornographic material to a minor.

"This is one of the most heinous crimes that can be committed," said Lt. David James, chief of detectives at the sheriff's department.

Investigators said Farrow entered the Evans' mobile home through a window into Lacy's bedroom sometime after 6 a.m. Thursday. Threatening her with a knife, he placed duct tape over her eyes and mouth before kidnapping her.

After Farrow brought Lacy to his apartment, he forced her to watch portions of a movie with explicit sexual conduct. He then raped and sodomized the girl, striking her on the side of the head with his fist to "keep her from crying," an investigator said.

Farrow later took Lacy to an area near of Route W and Highway 177 and left her in a stranger's driveway.

When the man residing at the house arrived home from work about 3:30 p.m., he found Lacy on his driveway, James said.

Lacy was returned to her parents, but the Evans home in western Scott City was dark and quiet Friday. Investigators said they didn't know Farrow.

Struggling for answers

Farrow attended learning disability classes while at Jackson High School, his father said, but his son never showed tendencies toward violence.

"He was always laid back and slow," Farrow Sr. said.

His father had always wondered whether "Sammy's" premature birth and an emergency trip to a St. Louis hospital during which oxygen was cut off from his brain had affected his son.

"I've always watched over Sammy because of that," he said.

Farrow Sr. said his wife is falling apart, but she is concerned about what condition the 4-year-old girl must be in.

"We have two daughters," he said. "If it were one of mine, I'd be wanting blood."

The father doesn't speak softly about handling his son's crime.

"I've always been strong about dealing with child abuse," he said. "I'm not going to change now just because it's my son. If he did the crime, I don't want him in public."

If the incident was sparked by a mental disorder, Farrow Sr. wants his son to get treatment. The next step should be to complete a mental evaluation, he said.

Agency cooperation

Several law enforcement agencies worked together to locate Lacy. After Lacy's parents, Kevin and Hope Evans, called Scott City police at about 7 a.m., police called the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Agents from Cape Girar-deau and St. Louis, including an evidence recovery team, worked along with sheriffs from Cape Girar-deau, Scott and Stoddard counties.

An airplane from the Missouri Highway Patrol and a helicopter from Stoddard County did aerial searches around the mobile home park.

Ultimately, information about the possible abduction of a 5-year-old girl approximately two months ago from the same trailer and the same bedroom window gave investigators the lead which eventually led to the arrest of their suspect, James said.

Farrow was charged in Cape Girardeau County rather than Scott County because the majority of the criminal acts are believed to have taken place there, James said.

Farrow is being held in the Cape Girardeau County jail on a $1 million bond. He will appear in court next week.