Jerry White, Att. Murder/Kidnap: Kimberly Walker, 4 ChildrenPolice: Abducted Children, Mother Found Safe
30-Year-Old Man Arrested
Tom Coyne,
Associated Press Writer
POSTED: 8:37 pm EST January 23, 2007
UPDATED: 10:08 pm EST January 23, 2007
ELKHART, Ind. -- A mother and her four children were found safe Tuesday night at a motel just miles from where police said the father shot a man and abducted them three days earlier.
The man, Jerry D. White, 30, was arrested as he tried to escape through a motel air duct, Detective Sgt. Bill Wargo said.
Authorities issued an Amber Alert for the four children, ages 16 months to 9 years old, and their mother, 31-year-old Kimberly N. Walker, on Saturday.
Police said White broke into Walker's house about 2 a.m. Saturday and shot her sister's boyfriend, Lathie Turnage, 30, of Chicago, once in the face and once in the chest. White then held everyone captive until leaving with Walker and the children nearly 10 hours later, police said.
Wargo said investigators were able to trace the family to the Sleepy Hollow motel on the city's north side about 6 miles from Walker's home because the hotel was near where one of the cars White used and near a pay telephone where Walker had made three calls to family members saying they were safe.
Wargo said officers knocked on the door of their motel room about 8 p.m. Tuesday and heard some rumbling inside, after which Walker opened the door.
"She was sobbing hysterically and physically shaking like I've never seen anybody shake," Wargo said. "I asked her if she was Kim. She very hesitantly shook her head yes. We grabbed her and pulled her out of the room and she was rushed away behind another building."
"She was yelling, my children. My children," Wargo said.
Wargo said he then began yelling for the children, but at first got no response.
"I continued to yell for the kids and the oldest boy Jaylan, I saw him poke his head out kind of as the big brother," he said. "I asked him to come out to me and as he came running out they all came out in order like a row of ducks."
Officers caught White as he was trying escape through an air duct after pulling out the room's air conditioner, Wargo said.
An arrest warrant was issued charging White with attempted murder and several counts of confinement. Police said White was the father of all four children.
Turnage's girlfriend, Pamela Walker, said he was in critical condition Tuesday but doctors were optimistic about his prognosis.
"I'm thankful," she said of the rescue of her sister's family. "I'm thankful that my niece, my nephew, my sister, I'm thankful that they're back."
Police said White had been harassing Walker for several days and that her sister and her sister's boyfriend were staying with the family. Walker reported to police Friday that White had confined her in her car before stealing it, authorities said.
The police search for the family had extended into Chicago, where authorities said White has friends and family, but they were found in their hometown of Elkhart, about 20 miles east of South Bend in northern Indiana.
Wargo said extensive media coverage may have prevented White from moving further.
"That caused him to be bedded down and not be able to get out," he said.
Wargo said a pizza delivery driver helped investigators determine which room they were in.
Derek Powers, 18, of Union, Mich., a delivery driver for Marco's Pizza for about a month, delivered some sandwiches and hot wings to the motel about 1 p.m. Sunday. Powers said the man stepped outside of the room to pay him and that he didn't see anyone inside.
"The TV was turned up really loud," Powers said. "Everything seemed normal when I made the delivery except that he stepped outside."
Police called Powers on Tuesday and asked him to take a look at a photo.
"When he was shown a picture, he said, 'He kind of looks like the guy. He said it looks like the guy -- being Mr. White -- but he wasn't certain," Wargo said.
Police had been especially concerned about the oldest child, 9-year-old Jaylan, because he has severe asthma and requires use of a ventilator every few hours. Wargo said the boy did have an inhaler for his asthma with him.
He and his siblings Justin Walker, 8; Kyara Walker, 6; and 16-month-old Kayla Walker were at the police station watching cartoons following their rescue, Wargo said.
"Everybody's perfectly fine," he said. "Everybody's doing great."
Wargo said White did not have a weapon on him, but that investigators did not immediately know whether there was a weapon in the motel room as they were awaiting a search warrant.
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