They Took Our Child: We Got Her Back (2015–…): Season 1, Episode 3 - Alicia - full transcript

A local girl was kidnapped
from her home on Saturday.

- He took Katie.

He ran down the stairs
with her.

- He drove away from the house.

I was kidnapped.

- I was supposed
to be keeping them safe.

- It was chilling.

- Lodi police still
have no hard leads

in the abduction of 12-year-old Katie Romanek.

- I never felt so afraid.

It was the worst time
of my life.



- Hours are crucial.

Minutes are crucial.

- This is a sad,
troubling case,

but as always,
there is still hope.

- I really just knew
I was gonna live through it.

I knew that I was gonna
see my family again.

And I heard somebody shout,

"There's Katie!
There's Katie!"

- I can't describe
how much you hug somebody.

- It was the best day
of my life.

I got my sister back.

- Lodi then was-- it was still
a very small little town.

You could go out
in the front yard and play,

and no one had to watch you.



We would all get together
and go swimming, have barbecues.

So it was a very safe,
quiet town.

- When I was eight,
my mother passed away,

and about almost a year later,
my dad remarried my stepmom.

- I felt more responsible
for my sister,

but I didn't mind that at all.

She's my sister,

so she's my responsibility
to take care of.

- Well, I had a phone call
from my brother

that indicated my father was--

health was deteriorating,

and if I wanted to see him,

I really should
come back and see him now.

So we planned a short trip
to go back, to Michigan.

- I remember my dad
talking with us about it,

and, you know,
"It's just gonna be a few days.

What do we do?"
And I told my dad, "You go.

I can watch Katie
for a few days."

It was the summertime.

I was 16 at the time.

Had my driver's license.

I had my little car, so I was
able to drive us around.

I was so used to just watching
after her anyway.

It was not a big deal.

- We lived in a really nice
subdivision in Sun West,

so we didn't really anticipate,
you know,

being gone for a few days
would be a problem.

- It was
Fourth of July weekend.

Nice weather.

Everybody outside
doing things.

Fireworks and, you know,

picnics and things
that more of a smaller town has.

- It's a celebration of countr

and it's a celebration
of community.

It's also typically
a very quiet weekend.

- I had agreed to let Katie

have a friend over
to spend the night.

During the day,
Tara was dropped off,

and they were having
a good time together.

I was like, "I'll get a pizza."

We had a movie
that they were watching.

- It was "Dolly Dearest."

It was a horror movie,
and I really--

I-- I liked horror movies
when I was young.

We were probably midway
through it

when there was a knock
on the door.

Tara and I went to the door.

I was looking through
the window, and this guy,

he kind of stuck his hand up
and went like,

"" you know, "it's okay."

So I opened the door,

and I asked, you know,
"Can I help you?"

And he was asking
about the "for sale" sign,

so I went and got my sister
'cause she was older,

and she knew what was going on
with the house being for sale.

- He didn't look like
someone that would be

interested in our house.

He was dirty,

and he had shorts on and, like,
a white T-shirt.

He had tattoos everywhere.

We were in a neighborhood

with realtors and lawyers and--

so he just didn't fit,

and I sort of shooed him away,

went back into the house
and locked the door.

I didn't think
anything more about it.

- I felt creeped out by him.

- It was time for me to go pick up the pizza.

I told the girls,
"Don't open the door to anyone."

I was like, "I'll be right back.

I'll be back in,
like, ten minutes."

- Tara and I went back
to watching our movie, you know,

or talking through it

or whatever we did, you know, at 12 years old,

and we heard a knock
at the door.

It was him.

It was the same guy who we were
totally creeped out by,

but for some reason,
I opened the door to him.

Probably because we had done it
once before and it was okay.

And he said,
"I just need a phone book."

I said, "All right,"
and I shut the door,

and I went in the kitchen
and grabbed a phone book,

and when I came back in,
he was in-- in the hallway.

When I turned around,
he put a knife to my throat,

and I actually said to him,
"Is this a joke?"

"No, this isn't a joke,"

and he told me
to call my friend.

So I called Tara.

He said, "If you scream,
I'll kill your friend,

and if you scream,
I'll kill your friend."

He'd say it to me,
and then he'd say it to her.

I was scared
for my life and Tara's.

He took us upstairs.

He tied Tara up.

He took me
into my sister's room,

and he took off my pants,

and when he pulled his pants
down, I-- I freaked out.

I screamed,
and he punched me in my face.

So at that point,
I really believed that

if we did something he told us
not to, he would hurt us.

Even though she wasn't there,

I just kept thinking
in the back of my head,

"My sister. My sister."

- Well, when I pulled up
to the house,

it was as I had left it
ten minutes ago,

and I walked
into the kitchen,

and I could hear noises
upstairs,

but I just figured
that was Tara and Katie

running around upstairs.

I was getting the pizza ready,
and I yelled up to the girls.

I was like, "Come on, girls.
I got the pizza.

Come on down.
Come get it."

And he came up behind me

and put a knife
to my throat.

He pretty much drug me
up the stairs.

I kind of walked up backwards.

And then he knocked me
over the head with his knife.

I remember sort of waking up,

and he was bringing Katie
into my room.

I knew then that she was alive.

She was still there.

- I definitely believed
that he was gonna kill us

if we tried to run
or scream or, you know,

even talk him out of it.

We had to do
what we had to do to stay alive

and to keep Tara alive
in the other room too.

- He kind of gave me a choice.

He's like, "Would you like me
to rape you or your sister?"

And I said,
"Well, me, of course."

That began the ordeal.

- He started sexually
assaulting my sister

while he looked at me
in a mirror.

- He sexually assaulted us
in various ways.

Pretty much had determined
at that time--

I was like, "We're gonna die."

I just hoped
it wouldn't take too long.

- I think I heard her praying,

and at that point,
I thought maybe

we would all die,
and I started crying.

And then he heard a noise,

and he ran to the bedroom
where Tara was,

and she was gone.

In my bedroom, we had a closet,

and it had a little closet
inside the closet,

and she went and hid in there,
and he freaked out.

He ran into the room,
and he said, "She's gone.

We're leaving.
We're going."

- He took Katie,

and he ran down the stairs
with her.

And I was petrified.

I was like, "Where are you
taking my sister?"

- He found my sister's keys.

We went to the garage,

and he had me get
on the floorboard of her car

so, you know,
nobody could see me.

- And I could hear
the garage door open.

I was just freaking out.

- And he drove away
from the house.

I was kidnapped.

- Tara came into my room,
and I'm like, "Hurry up.

Untie me,"
and I got up on the phone,

and I dialed 911.

I was just angry.

I was like, "He took my sister."

- I received the call
from one of my lieutenants,

and he said,
"Chief, um, we just had

a Polly Klaas-type kidnapping."

It was chilling.

- In the town
of Petaluma, California,

where, for two months,
residents pulled together

in the search
for 12-year-old Polly Klaas,

they are now coping
with the discovery

of her body
over the weekend.

- Polly Klaas was--
the kidnapping

in Petaluma
was in the fall of 1993.

Our kidnapping case
was in July of 1994.

There were
really eerie similarities

between the Polly Klaas case
and the Katie Romanek case.

In both cases,
there were three girls.

In both cases,
they were all tied up.

In both cases,

the suspect was armed with a knife.

In both cases,

a 12-year-old girl was abducted from her home.

We knew how these could
have a tragic ending.

Minutes are crucial.

Every hour
diminishes your chances,

you know, of-- of finding them,

and we knew that.

I said, "You call
every single officer,

"and you tell them to come

"to the police department
right away.

We're gonna bring in
every resource that we can."

And as we began
to piece together

how we were going
to approach this,

we would send officers
to make phone calls

to all
the law enforcement agencies

and to confirm that

they received
our all-points bulletin,

and they had broadcast it.

- A Kalkaska deputy showed up
at my brother's, home

in Evart, Michigan,
and he said,

you know, "You guys are gonna have to get back to Lodi

as soon as possible."

There had been a break-in

and that,
Katie had been kidnapped.

And it scared the living tar
out of both of us.

We prayed and prayed,
my wife and I both did.

You know, when--
when we got the news,

it was the worst time
of my life.

- Everything I'd ever seen
in the news,

no one came out alive.

The children were the victims,

and they paid
the ultimate price.

- We knew that three girls
were home alone.

We knew that the parents
were out of state.

The suspect held these girls
captive for a few hours.

He grabs Katie,
goes downstairs,

grabs the keys
to the family vehicle,

and leaves with Katie.

We immediately begin
to cordon off the home.

We knew that there was gonna be a lot of forensic evidence

that we would want
to collect.

- I gave them pictures of Katie and a description of my car.

I had to tell them everything
I could to get my sister back.

- Elizabeth was amazing.

She was 16,
and she was extremely bright.

She was very articulate.

- We were very close
to the freeway,

and you can be anywhere
in, like, 30 minutes.

And I knew the longer that
they were there sitttting

in my house questioning me,
the further away they could be.

I was responsible for them.

I was the one in charge.

I was supposed
to be keeping them safe,

and I failed.

I didn't keep them safe at all.

- There was an amazing sense
of urgency at the P.D.,

and they were coordinating
with other agencies.

It was a vast effort
that was under way

to find Katie Romanek.

- At one point,
I had a line of officers

down the hallway
waiting for assignments.

We set up a command center.

We started doing
press releases,

and we were
as open and up-front

and as transparent as we
could be about what we had,

what we were looking for,

and the kind of help
that we needed.

- Eventually,
when we reached to a point

where it was just nothing but,
like, grass

and it was empty roads,
he started driving in a field.

He said to me, "I'm gonna find an empty house,

"and I'm gonna tie you up
and leave you there,

"and whenever
the people get home,

they can call the cops."

I was hopeful
when he said that,

and then I turned my head
to the right, and I saw a house.

I thought,
"Well, that would be perfect,"

you know,
"He could leave me there."

And he looked,
and then we drove off a cliff

about 10 feet high.

And when we hit the ground,
I- I screamed,

and I started crying
because it hurt.

And he actually told me,
you know, "It's no big deal.

You just got the wind
knocked out of you."

You know?
Kind of "man up" type thing.

And the car caught on fire,
so we started running from it.

I was completely naked,
and I was barefoot.

So he took off his shoes,
and he gave me his socks.

And he told me,
"If you try to run,

"I will catch you.

I'm faster than you."

All I could think of was,
"This can't be real."

You know,
"This can't be real."

- My wife and I
believe in prayer,

and-- and we were both praying
on that plane

like you could not
even believe.

You're trying
not to think the worst,

but I don't know how
anybody could not feel terrible

when you're put
in that situation.

And at that point,
we hadn't really

heard anything about
what had happened with Bethy.

- They took me up
to the police station

to a--
I guess a questioning room.

It was a room with a big table
and lots of chairs.

- I was going to be doing
the sketches of the suspect

from the witness descriptions.

I can't even imagine
what Elizabeth

must have been going through.

Her sister is missing,

and now we're asking her
to sit down for three hours

and just sit there in that chair
and tell me what happened.

- I don't know.
I was like, "I can do my best,"

but I was so tired.

I tried to remember
what he looked like,

remember the tattoos.

- Emotions run very high

because I'm asking them to
relive this horrible experience,

this traumatic experience

that nobody would ever
want to live through,

and I'm telling them, "Not only
do I want you to remember it,

but I want to put his face
right here on this paper,

and I want you
to look at it."

But we knew that the sooner

we got this out to the media
and other police departments

and to the public,
that we would have

a better chance
of finding Katie.

- Here you get all the books,

and you're like,
"Does his nose look like this?

"Does his face look like this?

And what about his hair
and tattoos?"

- After the sketch is completed,
I asked,

"Elizabeth, on a scale
of one to ten,

where do you rate this?"

- The sketch was-- wow.

It was almost like
a picture of him.

It was so accurate.

- Well, I think
everyone was shocked.

This doesn't happen
every day.

It doesn't even happen
in major cities.

It's a highly unusual event,

and I think--
and the smaller the community,

the bigger the shock it is.

Bob and his wife, Elsie,
they were traveling,

so I went down
to the police department

and wanted to make sure
Elizabeth was all right.

- It was just good
to have a friendly face

in the middle of everything.

- Wanted to get her home
to my wife and-- so she could,

you know, get cleaned up
and have some food

and just kind of try
to get calm.

And I think you're always
giving people encouragement.

You're praying with them,
and then you're just there.

You're just an arm
around their shoulder to know,

"Hey, it's gonna be all right.

We're gonna
go through this together,"

giving them that--
that hope,

without the last chapter
being written yet.

- It was terribly hard being gone and not knowing if--

if your child's
gonna be all right.

It'll just rip your heart out.

Bill was at our side
the whole time,

and God bless the man for...

everything.

- Somebody had actually
called up

and said they had seen
this red car out in a field.

Everybody knew that this was
the car we were looking for.

- It was a huge break.

Now we know
where the vehicle is,

but the farmer who saw
the smoke from the fire

and called the fire department,

he only saw one person
leaving the vehicle,

and he thought it was an adult.

And we thought...

"My God, where's Katie?"

- Once we found the vehicle,
we got very excited

because what-- now we had
greatly reduced the area

that we were going
to be having to search.

We had over 200 police officers

out at that second crime scene.

We had a mile or so
of a perimeter with an officer

every so many feet.

- After we crashed
in the car,

we walked around
for a long time.

He held my hand to try
to make sure I wouldn't run.

We hid in places,

like crevices of rocks,
you know, in the field,

and he told me that he
was watching us in our backyard,

looking over our fence,
watching us swim.

He wanted to find
a young brunette girl

and rape her and kill her.

I asked him what his name was,
and he told me it was Steven.

I talked to him
like a human being,

trying to befriend him.

I wanted to develop
a relationship with him

where he had compassion for me

and didn't want to kill me.

It was definitely a way
to keep myself alive.

- Katie was a tough little kid,

and she could talk her way
in and out of anything.

I was hopeful that,
you know, that would save her,

bring her back to us,

but I knew she was--
she was young too.

- I think her personality
and her determination

was very important
for her survival.

- We had
four police helicopters

flying overhead
with searchlights

and infrared cameras.

Our strategy was, if we create
all this turmoil, you know,

he's gonna be afraid
to walk around

and that maybe
he'll just settle in

in one particular spot.

- There was this, you know,

water where the cows drink
out of, this pond,

and we were laying facedown.

I was confused as to why
we were there in the water

and why we had to get
into this nasty water,

and he was telling me
that infrared

can't see us in the water
because of our heat.

So when they fly over us,
they won't be able to find us.

It was really disgusting.
It was creepy.

It was just-- you know,
it was a stagnant pond,

and it was-- it was gross.

- The sheriff's office called,

and they said
they just arrested somebody.

And they thought he looked
a lot like the sketch.

What if this was him?

We would be that close

to finding out
what happened to Katie.

I and another detective drove out to the sheriff's office

and walked into the jail
and took a look at this person

that they had
in their holding cell.

Part of me wanted it to be him
because we wanted to find him,

and the other part of me was
worried that if we found him,

where was Katie?

In the back of all of our minds was that,

just a year before that,

Polly Klaas
had been kidnapped and murdered.

When I got to the jail
and I saw this person,

there was a resemblance.

He was maybe
similar height, weight,

but the facial features
were just all wrong.

I knew right away,
he was not the suspect

we were looking for.

The search was still on.

- I remember
hearing dogs sniffing,

and they were right above us,

and I could hear.

We were laying flat,
and our legs were out,

and our heads were in--
we were almost--

just our nose and our eyes
were above the water.

And I was so scared for my life
that I didn't say anything.

I didn't do anything except
for move my foot a tiny bit

so maybe they could see me
without this,

you know, this weirdo
next to me seeing it.

He had this hold over me
that terrified me.

After that, the dogs went away.

You know, they didn't smell us.

They-- they didn't find us,

and I started crying.

I- I lost hope
when they left.

- The night
is more of an advantage

for him than it is for us,

and so we made the decision
not to do a search at night.

We knew we were taking a risk,

but it would've been
pretty difficult to find him,

you know, in the black of night.

I was scared
how this was going to turn out.

I had a clipboard,
and I had a picture of Katie

on that clipboard,
you know,

and I just was having
this little silent conversation.

"Be strong. Be strong.

We're gonna do everything
we can to find you."

It's not uncommon

for children to be kidnapped
and for the suspect

to kill them
to avoid detection.

I didn't come anywhere close
to sleeping that night.

- They really kept me
in the dark

as to what was going on.

If I asked questions, you know,
"Where's my dad?"

And it was like,
"Well, they're coming."

You know, "Where's my sister?"

"Well, we can't
tell you anything yet."

There was a whole lot
of not knowing and waiting.

I knew the chances
of finding her were getting

shorter and shorter
and slimmer and slimmer.

- At night,
we slept under a pile of grass.

You know,
as the night grew darker,

he would sexually assault me,

and he said, "I'm on speed."

At 12 years old,
I didn't know what that was.

I knew it was a drug.

I didn't know
what it did to people.

I just thought he was, like,
a fiend for sex.

All I could think of was,
"This can't be real."

It all felt...

just out of this world,
unreal.

I still didn't believe it.

You know, that it was happening.
It was terrifying.

The next day, I woke up,

and then I thought,
"My God, I'm still here."

At that point, I started saying
the Lord's Prayer

over and over and over
and over and over again.

"Give us this day
our daily bread.

"Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done

on earth as it is in Heaven."

- Bob was flying back,
you know,

four- or five-hour fligh
um, across the country.

I'm sure he was just
very anxious to get there.

Bob's family
means everything to him.

- In that ride back
on the plane across country,

just wrenched your heart
out worrying.

I've never felt so, afraid.

- The community of Lodi
pulled together for Katie,

and, they formed, um, groups
to go out

and try to get the word out
that we're looking for Katie

if anyone's seen her.

- The word spread so quickly

about this little girl that had been taken from her home.

A very well-orchestrated,

very aggressive,
volunteer campaign

was already in motion,
to spread the word,

to put up flyers.

- One of the flyers
was posted

on the front window
of a local Walmart.

And a man was walking
into Walmart,

glanced at the flyer,
and said to himself,

"This looks a lot
like my neighbor's son

who's only been there
about three weeks."

Shortly after that,
we get a call saying,

"I've just seen a composite.

"I think this person
that kidnapped

this little girl is my son,"

and so we immediately sent
FBI agents and police officers

out to interview her.

We learned that he had only been
out of prison

for about three weeks,

so they contacted
the Department of Corrections,

said, "Send us fingerprints."

They looked at the prints that we found inside the house,

and it was a match.

It was a perfect match.

We knew that the person
that kidnapped Katie

was Steven Reese Cochran.

- We were walking around,

and he told me that the meth
he was on wore off.

Then he said,
"I'm-- I'm gonna let you go,"

and then he turned around,
and he left me there.

I was there, you know,
naked in a field

full of cows and bulls.

I was 12 years old,
and I had no idea where I was,

and that started to make me
think I was gonna die.

- I just started walking.

I just started walking.
I didn't know what else to do.

I was scared.
I was alone.

It was painful to walk.

I had over, like,
200 slivers in each foot,

And helicopters were circling me at that point,

and I would wave my arms
and scream, "I'm down here!"

And they just flew on by,
and they didn't see me.

Having the helicopters
pass over me

when I'm flailing my arms,

you know, "Help me. Help me!"
You know?

"Come-- I'm right here."

I really thought at that point,
too, I would never found.

Like, they--
they can't see me there.

They're not gonna find me.

- We started doing the search at sunrise.

We had a perimeter.

We had
the tracking dogs searching,

but they weren't able to,
to pick up a scent

and to find Katie.

We located the suspect trying
to get through the perimeter

that we had set up.

Two officers spotted him
kind of

walking around the outside
of the perimeter.

Immediately knew
that they had the suspect,

put him on the ground,
put him in handcuffs.

His response was,

"What's going on?
I don't remember anything."

- And there was
no sign of Katie.

I think, for me,

it was like there was
this stranglehold in this--

my gut twisting
because I couldn't even imagine.

"Where was Katie?
Why isn't she there?

What happened to her?"

- I just kept walking
in a direction,

and eventually, I saw
a line of cars and people,

and the first thing
I thought was, "I'm naked."

So I started walking
to the cars, you know,

and I was picking up grass
on my way there

and covering my body.

And I heard somebody shout,
"There's Katie! There's Katie!"

Then a motorcycle cop pulled up

and took off his shirt
and put it on me,

and I just burst into tears.

Like, I was still kind of
scared, you know, and--

but relieved at the same time
and tired

and-- and just embarrassed
to be found naked too, you know?

- When she was found
out on that ranch,

there were citizens
out there waiting,

hoping that she would be found.

When she was, this cheer,
this roar went up.

People were clapping.

People were hugging each other.

- When we got back
in Sacramento,

they took us off the plane.

Somewhere in the process,
we were with the sergeant.

He got a call,
and he had to pull over, and--

'cause he was thinking
it was gonna be the worst news.

But instead of that,
it was that she was alive.

An angel dropped down,

and the wing touched our life.

I thank God.

- It was all at the same time.

There was Katie.
There was my dad.

It was Christmases
and birthdays

and just every happy moment
sort of all rolled into one.

You know, just knowing that they
found her and she was alive.

- To actually see her
and to hold her hand briefly

and to talk to her was
an experience I'll never forget.

I was...

grateful.

So proud of my department.

So pleased that...

we could call
her parents...

And tell them that she's alive,
she's okay.

- I'm pretty sure
there wasn't a dry eye...

in the building, um,
probably not in that county.

You just feel
this intense relief

that Katie was found alive,

that she's okay,

and that we were going
to be able to bring her home,

that her parents
are going to get

to hold
their little girl again.

- We went
into the emergency room,

and she was there,
and that's the first time

we'd seen her,
and I-- I can't describe how--

how much you hug somebody, and--

- The first thing
I said I think was, "I'm sorry.

I'm sorry for opening the door,"
and they--

"Are you kidding me, Katie?
We're just glad you're alive."

- I just remember seeing her
and giving her a big hug and...

just so happy to actually
hold her and see her again.

I think I even gave her
a piggyback ride

because I was just so happy.

I got my sister back.

Later in the day, they took me
back to the police station.

Um, they wanted me
to identify him.

They took me down to,
like, a holding cell.

I was expecting, you know,
the whole "Law & Order," like,

"Here's a lineup of people,"
and next to how high they were.

There was none of that.
He looked at me.

I looked at him.

It's like, "Is that the one?"
I was like, "Yes.

That's definitely him."

It was kind of horrifying,

but then it was
kind of satisfying

because I was like,
"There you are.

You didn't get away.
They got you."

- Once we knew
that we had Katie

and that she had been rescued,

we continued
to process the house.

We continued to follow up
on leads.

We were making sure that we
were leaving no stone unturned

and that there was gonna
be no doubt

that we were gonna
get a conviction.

me.

The tying up of two girls
and a kidnap of a third girl

until a massive search
ended with the rescue

of 12-year-old Katie Romanek
and Cochran's capture.

- At this time,
we are charging him

with burglary, kidnapping,
unlawful detention,

and various
sexual assault charges.

- I know it took some time,

and then there was
the grand jury trial.

I told the story
and every detail.

And then they said,

"Katie doesn't have to testify.
We're done."

I was relieved that
Katie didn't have to do that.

I was like,
"It was hard for me."

I didn't want her
to go through that.

- I think that my sister felt
even more of a motherly bond

towards me and got
more protective of me, and...

It's an amazing feeling to have
a sister that's a best friend.

My kidnapper got 106 years

for kidnapping and assaulting
my sister and I.

- You don't want
the bad guy to win,

and for Katie,
every day that she succeeds,

that she moves forward
with her life,

Katie is the one who won.

She's the one who--
who has the power.

- My belief and my fervent hope

is that he dies in prison.

- I'm very excited
to see Larry Hansen.

He rounded up
every police officer in Lodi

to find me,
and they did.

So he's--
he's a special guy to me.

Very special.

Hi.

Hi, Larry.
- Hi.

- How are you?
- I'm so good.

It's so good to see you.

Look at you.

God,
you're so beautiful.

- Thank you. Aw.

- I just can't get
over looking at you.

You know?

It's just so amazing to--

I mean, I'm mad at myself now,
you know,

that we let 15 years go by.

- I know. I know.

I just want to let you know that

you really do mean
the world to me.

You and Lodi Police Department.

I never thought I'd get to thank you again,

and...I love you.

I really love you inside.

- You know,
I've thought about you a lot.

I've wondered
how you were doing, you know?

I've-- I've not wanted
to intrude on your private life.

You know, you just, um--
you work in law enforcement

'cause you want to help people,
you know?

And you are absolutely...

you know, the--
the highlight of my career.

Knowing, you know,

that we found you
and that you're okay.

- Yeah.

- There is no greater feeling
for me

in my 30-year career
than this.

- Seeing Larry today
was amazing and...

very emotional for me.

Larry is like I remember him.

He does still
have a hero quality.

Um...he's such a man.

He-- he's like a father to me.

- I can't think
of a better thing

to happen to me
than to get to see you

and have your story
told again

and be able
to give people hope again.

- Yeah.
- And I'm just so honored.

- Thank you, Larry.
- Yeah.

- Thank you.
I love you.

- I love you.
- I love you.

- I have a lot of gratitude
for every single person

who helped find me.

Every single person
that I-I don't know your name,

or I don't know who you are,

or I didn't even know
you were there, thank you.

Thank you,
I'm very grateful,

and I owe you all my life.

- Bad things
do happen to good people,

and this very bad thing
happened to a very nice family.

These kinds of things
shouldn't happen to people ever,

but God makes good things
come out of bad situations.

It's worthy of celebrating
the good side

of this bad situation.

- I couldn't be any luckier

to be blessed
with the two girls I've got.

I love them both dearly,

and I wouldn't trade them
for anything in the world.

I'm just so happy
that our family come through it,

and we're okay.

- The knowledge
that Katie came home

has got to be a wonderful
feeling for everybody out there

who's ever lost someone,

who feels that their loved one
is still out there,

that they might come home.

I would say don't give up hope.

- I think people need to know that there's life

after being kidnapped,
you know?

There's life
after tragedy and trauma.

There's nothing
to be ashamed of.

I want people to know
that it's okay to talk about it.

It's-- it's gonna be okay.

You know, life does go on.

Thank you for always being there
for me no matter what.

You're the best dad
in the world.

I love you so much.

- Best family in the world.

I wouldn't have it
any other way.

- Bethy, I love you.

I got my family back.