Cody newspaper article on the kidnapping. Great read.

[jnyork]

Cody girl’s plight touches her new pilot friends
By MARK HEINZ | Posted: Friday, October 12, 2012 4:48 pm

As far as James Laske is concerned, he now has another child.

“She (the abduction victim) is part of the spirit of my family,” said Laske, a Michigan resident. “She’s in my heart.”

Laske, 44, was a member of the hunting party that found an 11-year-old girl who had been abducted from Cody late Monday afternoon, and then released several hours later on Carter Mountain, up the South Fork.

He’s recently been on vacation, visiting his friend Shane Larsen, 44, in Cody.

The two have known each other for years, and both work as pilots for the private aviation company, NetJets. Laske is also an Air Force veteran, and serves in the Air National Guard.

On Monday, Oct. 8, the two men decided to go elk hunting off the end of the access road on Carter Mountain.

With them were Larsen’s son Colby, 15, and Laske’s son CJ, 12.

Following an afternoon hunt, during which the party saw only a grizzly bear, they hiked back to Larsen’s pickup.

Alone in the cold

The initial stretch of the road back out was steep and muddy, so they put tire chains on, finishing that chore just as it got dark.

As they drove out, they realized they were the last ones coming off the mountain that night.

Still about three miles back from the highway, they came across the girl, walking alongside the road, alone in the frigid dark.

“She was dressed for walking around the house,” Laske said.

Larsen pulled over and the girl got in, sitting in the crew cab’s back seat with the two boys.

As she began to talk, Laske said his initial disbelief at finding a child alone on the mountain was soon mixed with heartbreak and anger.

One of the things the girl told them was that when she first saw their pickup, she thought it was her abductor coming back to get her again.

“I’ve brought several hundred men to war, and brought them back home again,” said Laske, who has served in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places roiling with armed conflict.

“I’ve seen a lot of bad stuff in my life, but I’ve never seen or felt emotion like that,” he added. “It just broke my heart when she got into our vehicle, and was saying, ‘I thought you were him. I thought you were him.’”

Laske and his wife Kathy have a blended family of five children, including daughters close to the girl’s age.

“I put my daughters in her shoes,” he said.

Larsen gave the girl his phone, so she could call her mother.

Laske dialed 911.

Before long, a rendezvous with law enforcement and emergency personnel had been arranged.

During the half-hour or so it took to get to the rendezvous point, the girl continued to talk.

“I would look back and see my son’s expression at the things she was saying,” Laske said. “His eyes were as big as frisbees.”

Wanting justice

From the description the girl gave them of the perpetrator’s vehicle, “it sounded as if he had been living in his car,” Laske said.

After the girl was delivered to authorities and her family, the emotions continued.

“I woke up the next morning, and my front teeth hurt so bad from grinding them all night in my sleep,” he said. “I could barely eat my scrambled eggs.

“I’m so angry with that guy (the abductor). I call him an ‘oxygen thief,’” Laske said.

Still, he hopes for justice.

“He’ll mess up, and they’ll catch him,” he said.

Laske later called one of the commanders in his Air Guard unit to share the news.

“I lost it. I broke down while I was talking to him on the phone. And he broke down, too,” he said. “We’re both rough and ready veterans, but we were in tears.”

Another troubling detail came to light as the men and their families went back over what had happened.

Larsen’s house, on the South Fork, has a view of Carter Mountain.

During their drive out, they got a call from Larsen’s wife, who said she could see the headlights of their vehicle coming down the mountain.

“We told her, ‘That’s not us you see. We’re still way back in deep,’” Laske said.

“We realized later that what she had probably seen was the perpetrator driving out,” he said.

‘Her last hope’

Laske has no doubt divine intervention played a part.

“We didn’t come to Cody to elk hunt. We thought we came out here to elk hunt, but we came to be a part of her (the girl’s) life. She’s in all our hearts now.”

He praised the girl’s courage and composure during her ordeal.

“She made only one mistake – getting into his car,” Laske said. “Everything after that, she did right. She saved her own life, and the Lord saved her life.”

It’s still troubling to think, how easily the girl could have been missed, and possibly left to succumb to exposure on the mountainside – or perhaps even be scented by a grizzly, Laske said.

“We were her last hope,” he said.

(Mark Heinz can be reached at markcodyenterprise.com.)
_________________________

[Blaine]

I'd gladly have put one in that EssOBee's head if given the chance.

[gamekeeper]

Wow! that's one heck of a story, I'm glad the girl was found alive, over here police are searching for a 5 year olds body,they caught the guy but he won't give up where he left her.

[piller]

Some people clearly deserve Native American style justice. Mescalero1 could probably describe what his ancestors would do to people like this creep. I know we have a justice system that is supposed to give everyone a fair trial. Sometimes we are too lenient on criminals. Make sure with DNA evidence and remove him from the ranks of the living.

[jeepnik]

Some people clearly deserve Native American style justice. Mescalero1 could probably describe what his ancestors would do to people like this creep. I know we have a justice system that is supposed to give everyone a fair trial. Sometimes we are too lenient on criminals. Make sure with DNA evidence and remove him from the ranks of the living.

I would like to make one small adjustment to your statement. We do not have a "justice" system, have a "legal" system. Justice doesn't come into play in any way, shape or form. If ever an oxymoron were coined, "criminal justice" would be it.

[Mac in Mo]

Thankfully the right people found her.

I initially thought,"too bad the scum didn't cross paths with these guys, maybe he would have made a fatal mistake".
Then I was glad he didn't because our perverse system would have ruined the good guys lives. Hopefully the scum will be caught and justice served, but I don't have a lot of faith in the system anymore.
He will probably be found to be someone out on parole, as happens on a daily basis, let loose to continue to pray on victims who are simply trying to live their lives.

Sorry for ranting, but I am sick to death of the horrific stuff people do to each other, aided and abetted by our system.

Kevin

[ollogger]

That was a good read, Thank you! I cant add a thing to that article cept them guys are HEROS

Heard on the radio today they caught the creep up in Montana, im not saying what im thinking


ollogger

[M. M. Wright]

Blaine,
Head shots too good for him. Needs to be gut shot.

[two bit okie]

staked out over a very hungry fire ant hill.

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

Creeps like this should get life in general population, no ad-seg. Give the other animals something to play with.

[Malamute]

"I initially thought,"too bad the scum didn't cross paths with these guys, maybe he would have made a fatal mistake".
Then I was glad he didn't because our perverse system would have ruined the good guys lives."


Well, probably not in Wyoming. PC hasn't polluted the culture here quite as bad as other places.

[Old Ironsights]

"I initially thought,"too bad the scum didn't cross paths with these guys, maybe he would have made a fatal mistake".
Then I was glad he didn't because our perverse system would have ruined the good guys lives."


Well, probably not in Wyoming. PC hasn't polluted the culture here quite as bad as other places.

Your Honor: THE DA's office has determined that We have no evidence that these men had any hand in the decedent's demise. Between the Bear and the Coyotes, there simply wasn't enough forensic evidence available to make a determination that the death wasn't a suicide...

[gundownunder]

police are searching for a 5 year olds body,they caught the guy but he won't give up where he left her.

He would gladly give it up if he was handed over to the right people for questioning.

Unfortunately these days the written law and justice are mutually exclusive and the do goods and blooding hearts ensure that justice is never served. These things will never change until the majority of the people say "enough" and force change by any means necessary.

[AJMD429]

Nothing against women, but glad it was MEN who found her. Good men; even outdoorsy, 'macho' men, as well, and not effeminate lovey-dovey fruitcake types. That actually is important for her ultimate full recovery.

Women whose first contacts after sexual assault are limited to other women don't do nearly as well in their later life when it comes to forming trusting relationships with a future husband, or restoring relationships with their brothers, fathers, etc., vs. women who are helped by men, whose strong-but-gentle, reaffirming presence immediately reinforces the concept that it is not gender that makes rapists bad, it is their behavior.

Sometimes such women are 'rescued' by other women with dysfunctional lives themselves, or a grudge against men or 'manly' behaviors, and wind up still unhappy and dysfunctional fifty years later.

I know this because in the humble discipline of 'family medicine' not a week goes by where we don't see women who have been sexually assaulted at some point in their lives, and some have recovered so completely you'd never guess the horrible things they've endured, but others just never get past it, and never recover the ability to be happy and form trusting relationships. Regardless of how intense and caring their followup care is, many studies show that the initial people who the victim deals with are pivotal in making or breaking the rest of the poor girl's life.

If you're ever in that position (rescuing an assault victim), make them feel safe, non-threatened by you, reassure them that they will prevail physically and emotionally, and if they are old enough to understand the concept, warn them that there are people who haven't worked out problems in their own lives yet, who may try to help them, yet will have them decades later still ruminating and suffering from whatever that bastard did. If they let that happen, the bastard wins, which is totally wrong.

[Mac in Mo]

Malamute and OI, it is good to hear there is still some common sense left somewhere. There is not much left here.

I would love to move out where PC is not the norm, but my better half won't even discuss it.

Kevin

[Paladin]

Some people clearly deserve Native American style justice. Mescalero1 could probably describe what his ancestors would do to people like this creep. I know we have a justice system that is supposed to give everyone a fair trial. Sometimes we are too lenient on criminals. Make sure with DNA evidence and remove him from the ranks of the living.

I would like to make one small adjustment to your statement. We do not have a "justice" system, have a "legal" system. Justice doesn't come into play in any way, shape or form. If ever an oxymoron were coined, "criminal justice" would be it.

IF the Sheeple only knew the system was as broke as it is the fear would be devastating

[jeepnik]

Some people clearly deserve Native American style justice. Mescalero1 could probably describe what his ancestors would do to people like this creep. I know we have a justice system that is supposed to give everyone a fair trial. Sometimes we are too lenient on criminals. Make sure with DNA evidence and remove him from the ranks of the living.

I would like to make one small adjustment to your statement. We do not have a "justice" system, have a "legal" system. Justice doesn't come into play in any way, shape or form. If ever an oxymoron were coined, "criminal justice" would be it.

IF the Sheeple only knew the system was as broke as it is the fear would be devastating

I think they know. But they are so self centered that if it doesn't happen to them, they just don't care.

[Sixgun]

Back in the old days, before 1800, in Europe, there was a capital punishment called "broken at the wheel". This is where an individual is tied to a wagon wheel and spun around and each time he passes the executioner, the executioner gives him a whack with a heavy club of some sort. The end result is to break all the bones in the man without killing him. After a few hours of this, the bad guy is strangled.

Crimes against children deserve this punishment, except I would leave the "strangulation" part out of it and let him spin around until he dies.