kaorder1999
03-21-2007, 09:15 PM
Terrell women lied about abduction
Mesquite: Family apologizes for hoax to cover up missed curfew
08:59 PM CDT on Wednesday, March 21, 2007
By RICHARD ABSHIRE / The Dallas Morning News
rabshire@dallasnews.com
Turns out, it was all a hoax.
Two young Terrell women who showed up at a Central Texas gas station Tuesday night after going missing Saturday night in Mesquite spun their tale of abduction to cover a night of partying with friends and a missed curfew.
"I'm angry, but I'm glad they're safe," Richard Abney, father of 20-year-old Sasha Abney and uncle of her 17-year-old cousin, Bryshada Ward, said at a news conference Wednesday evening outside Mesquite police headquarters.
"We found out this was a hoax," Mr. Abney said. "They missed their curfew, got in deeper and deeper and decided they were going to drive south. They ran out of money and ran out of gas, and they were afraid to call us. We are apologizing to everyone."
Mr. Abney said Ms. Ward hit his daughter with a shoe to cause a minor injury in an attempt to make the Terrell women's story more believable. As for reports that Ms. Abney was unresponsive when found, that was just an act, he said.
"As a parent, you think the worst. A lot of people out there were trying to help," Mr. Abney said, shaking his head over the behavior of his only daughter, a full-time student at Southwestern Christian College in Terrell.
"It's out of character," he said. "I don't understand. I guarantee they will be punished."
Mesquite police Lt. Bill Artesi said the department was just glad Ms. Abney and Ms. Ward, a Terrell High School student, were home safe.
"As far as we're concerned, the case is closed," he said.
The incident began about 9:15 p.m. Saturday when the cousins left Terrell for a 10 p.m. movie at the Mesquite AMC 30 theater. Instead, Mr. Abney said, they had arranged to meet friends in the theater parking lot and go partying.
When they weren't home by midnight, their parents grew concerned. And the concern deepened when a friend reported receiving a 4 a.m. cellphone call in which one of the women screamed, "Please help!"
Phone records showed a call was made from the vicinity of Abrams Road and LBJ Freeway in North Dallas. A woman who lives near there called Terrell police Tuesday to say she had heard a woman's screams about the same time.
The tip prompted police and volunteers with dogs to search a wooded area behind the woman's home Tuesday afternoon, but they found nothing.
Investigators said cellphone records indicate the women traveled to East Dallas, Mesquite, Lewisville and then back to Dallas on Saturday night. The trail went cold after that.
Then, shortly before 10 p.m. Tuesday, someone called authorities to report that a woman had shown up at a Shell station in Kempner, a small town near Fort Hood, claiming to have been kidnapped. The location is about 150 miles southwest of their homes.
Both women were taken to a hospital in nearby Temple for evaluation before returning home to their families.
The three days of uncertainty became an ordeal for their parents.
"We've been praying and hoping she would be returned safe," Ms. Ward's mother, Charlotte Morris, said at one point.
She said it wasn't like her daughter to be out late without calling. "One time she was 10 minutes late and she called," Ms. Morris said.
Sherley Abney said it wasn't like her daughter to take off, either.
"She has a curfew," the mother said. "Whenever she's late, she always calls. She's a very good girl."
Rebecca Lopez of WFAA-TV (Channel 8) and Dallas Morning News staff writer Linda Leavell contributed to this report.
Mesquite: Family apologizes for hoax to cover up missed curfew
08:59 PM CDT on Wednesday, March 21, 2007
By RICHARD ABSHIRE / The Dallas Morning News
rabshire@dallasnews.com
Turns out, it was all a hoax.
Two young Terrell women who showed up at a Central Texas gas station Tuesday night after going missing Saturday night in Mesquite spun their tale of abduction to cover a night of partying with friends and a missed curfew.
"I'm angry, but I'm glad they're safe," Richard Abney, father of 20-year-old Sasha Abney and uncle of her 17-year-old cousin, Bryshada Ward, said at a news conference Wednesday evening outside Mesquite police headquarters.
"We found out this was a hoax," Mr. Abney said. "They missed their curfew, got in deeper and deeper and decided they were going to drive south. They ran out of money and ran out of gas, and they were afraid to call us. We are apologizing to everyone."
Mr. Abney said Ms. Ward hit his daughter with a shoe to cause a minor injury in an attempt to make the Terrell women's story more believable. As for reports that Ms. Abney was unresponsive when found, that was just an act, he said.
"As a parent, you think the worst. A lot of people out there were trying to help," Mr. Abney said, shaking his head over the behavior of his only daughter, a full-time student at Southwestern Christian College in Terrell.
"It's out of character," he said. "I don't understand. I guarantee they will be punished."
Mesquite police Lt. Bill Artesi said the department was just glad Ms. Abney and Ms. Ward, a Terrell High School student, were home safe.
"As far as we're concerned, the case is closed," he said.
The incident began about 9:15 p.m. Saturday when the cousins left Terrell for a 10 p.m. movie at the Mesquite AMC 30 theater. Instead, Mr. Abney said, they had arranged to meet friends in the theater parking lot and go partying.
When they weren't home by midnight, their parents grew concerned. And the concern deepened when a friend reported receiving a 4 a.m. cellphone call in which one of the women screamed, "Please help!"
Phone records showed a call was made from the vicinity of Abrams Road and LBJ Freeway in North Dallas. A woman who lives near there called Terrell police Tuesday to say she had heard a woman's screams about the same time.
The tip prompted police and volunteers with dogs to search a wooded area behind the woman's home Tuesday afternoon, but they found nothing.
Investigators said cellphone records indicate the women traveled to East Dallas, Mesquite, Lewisville and then back to Dallas on Saturday night. The trail went cold after that.
Then, shortly before 10 p.m. Tuesday, someone called authorities to report that a woman had shown up at a Shell station in Kempner, a small town near Fort Hood, claiming to have been kidnapped. The location is about 150 miles southwest of their homes.
Both women were taken to a hospital in nearby Temple for evaluation before returning home to their families.
The three days of uncertainty became an ordeal for their parents.
"We've been praying and hoping she would be returned safe," Ms. Ward's mother, Charlotte Morris, said at one point.
She said it wasn't like her daughter to be out late without calling. "One time she was 10 minutes late and she called," Ms. Morris said.
Sherley Abney said it wasn't like her daughter to take off, either.
"She has a curfew," the mother said. "Whenever she's late, she always calls. She's a very good girl."
Rebecca Lopez of WFAA-TV (Channel 8) and Dallas Morning News staff writer Linda Leavell contributed to this report.