How Two Boys Saved a Little Girl from an Alleged Kidnapper

Ford Heights, IL — Two boys are being lauded as heroes after they found and brought to safety a 9-year-old girl alleged to have been kidnapped by a Ford Heights Park District Commissioner.

Just before 10 p.m. on June 11, Charles Howard invited the girl and three other kids to his front yard in the 1500 block of Deer Creek Drive to check out a pair of 3-D smartphone goggles, according to a release from the Cook County Sheriff's Department. Three of the children left, but the girl stayed behind at the 56-year-old's home. 

A half hour later, her friends realized they still hadn't seen her. They and others in the neighborhood began looking for her and asked Howard if he had seen her. Howard, according to authorities, told them he did not know where she was.

But two neighbor boys went back and took a second look at Howard's yard, and they saw her, asleep in the lawn chair with other items covering her.

"She had a lawnmower on top of her knees and a chair on top of her, and her hands were tied up ..." Jakarri Foster told ABC-7. 

The two grabbed the girl and began running, but Howard chased them, gun in hand, according to the release. 

"We went back there and grabbed her ... he got the gun, aimed at us and cocked the gun back," Juan Willingham told reporters.

The girl was taken to an area hospital for examination and appeared to be unharmed. She's struggling to regain a sense of normalcy, her mother said. 

"She not doing too good, she doesn't want to sleep in her bedroom, she constantly wants to stay up under me, which I understand," she told ABC-7. 

Howard was charged with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. His bond was set at $500,000 during his court appearance Tuesday at the Markham Courthouse. 

Sweeny Woodson, the girl's father, thanked the boys for their bravery. 

"If it weren't for the kids, no telling what could've happened."