Wednesday, May 22, 2019

“God literally led us to this place”: Hero pastor tells how divine intervention helped him rescue eight-year-old girl who was kidnapped by predator


“God literally led us to this place”: Hero pastor tells how divine intervention helped him rescue eight-year-old girl who was kidnapped by predator

By Julio Severo
A hero pastor said divine intervention led him to discover the place where an abducted girl was being held captive in Fort Worth.
Pastor Jeff King
Jeff King, Pastor at Bear Creek Bible Church in Keller, helped track down 8-year-old Salem Sabatka after she was snatched while out walking with her mom in Fort Worth on Saturday.
A man, named as Michael Webb, 51, reportedly grabbed Salem and pushed her into his car at around 6.30pm.
Heart-wrenching surveillance video showed Salem’s mother jumping into the vehicle and desperately trying to save her daughter before the kidnapper shoved her out and drove off.
Abducted girl Salem Sabatka and predator Michael Webb
The car sped off and the mother immediately dialed 911, screaming: “Help me please, someone call the police, my daughter just got kidnapped.” Her call sparked a massive police operation to try and find the little girl.
After King, a childhood friend of Salem’s parents, heard about the shocking incident he and a friend started scouring the streets of Fort Worth searching for the suspect’s car.
“I was sitting at home with my wife when a friend texted and said that our friends’ daughter had been kidnapped. All I could think is what are we going to do to help?” King told NBC DFW.
He and the friend searched until after midnight when they got a tip from someone that they should check out a hotel in Forest Hill.
After searching the car park at the tip-off location they found no sign of the suspect’s car.
But, purely by chance, the pair then pulled into another hotel nearby, the Wood Springs Suites, and saw a car fitting the description.
“God literally led us to this place. It was not on my itinerary, I was not trying to go there, we just drove by. It was divine intervention, 100 per cent,” he said.
King called police and it was just a matter of time before they figured out Salem was inside of the hotel and they were able to rescue her.
Two hours earlier, police had already searched the motel room of the man suspected of kidnapping the girl but didn’t see the child there. Yet, after the pastor called the police, they found her in the same room after breaching the door.
“It was a crazy moment. I asked police, ‘Did I hear that right? Did they find her? Is she safe?’” he said. “Then finally one officer said, ‘Yes sir, they have her.’”
Police allowed King to be the one to call Salem’s parents and tell them the little girl had been found alive.
“I feel like God allowed me to be a tool,” the pastor said.
On Facebook, Bear Creek Bible Church celebrated the little girl’s rescue, writing: “The Lord is so faithful!”
Following the little girl’s rescue, King, who local media dubbed a hero, led a prayer at a press conference in her neighborhood.
“Thank you, Father, that she’s alive and she’s with us still and that she has a wonderful life to live ahead of her, Father,” he prayed. “I can’t thank You enough for the redemption and grace You show us all the time. I can’t thank You enough for the death of Your son on the cross as a substitutionary atonement in our place. Father, I can’t thank You enough for last night and being able to locate that vehicle. Thank you, Father, for guiding us every step of the way.”
Michael Webb has been arrested and booked on a charge of aggravated kidnapping. He a lengthy criminal history — including being charged with aggravated and sexual assault in April 2018.
With information from DailyMail and The Christian Post.
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