Hostage 'Bonded' With Captor

Gained Atlanta Suspect's Trust Over Pancakes; Courthouse Reopens

(CBS/AP)  The woman who was held hostage in her apartment by the suspect in Atlanta's courthouse slayings came forward to give an account of the attack, saying he let her go after they discussed God, family and ate pancakes and watched the massive manhunt going on outside her apartment.

Ashley Smith said it all began around 2 a.m. Saturday morning with Nichols sticking a gun in her side and tying her up. But Nichols, who is accused of killing three people at the courthouse Friday and a federal agent later, eventually let Smith go to see her young daughter, she said.

"I wanted to see my little girl the next morning and I didn't want him to hurt anybody else," Smith told CBS News Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith. "And I knew that if I talked to him in the right way that he wouldn't."

Smith called 911 after she was freed, and police soon surrounded her suburban apartment complex. Nichols gave up peacefully, waving a white towel in surrender.

The crime spree began when Nichols allegedly overpowered a courthouse deputy escorting him to his rape trial Friday and took the deputy's gun, then entered the courtroom where his trial was being held and killed the presiding judge and court reporter. He also is accused of killing a deputy who tried to stop him outside the courthouse and a federal agent during his flight from authorities.

Smith said Nichols, 33, took her hostage in the parking lot of her apartment when she returned from a store.

"He said, 'I'm not going to hurt you if you just do what I say,"' she said. "I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt anybody else."

She said Nichols tied her up with masking tape, a curtain and extension cord and told her to sit in the bathroom while he took a shower.

But as the night wore on, she tried to win Nichols' trust by telling him about her life.

"I knew if I made him feel comfortable then I could get things the way I wanted them and not the way he wanted them," Smith told The Early Show.

Smith told Nichols about her daughter and bonded with him after he said that he had a son who had been born the night before.

"My husband died four years ago, and I told him if he hurt me my little girl wouldn't have a mommy or daddy," Smith said.

Smith's attorney, Josh Archer, said her husband died in her arms after being stabbed.

He eventually untied her, and some of the fear lessened as they talked. Nichols told Smith he felt like "he was already dead," but Smith urged him to consider the fact that he was still alive a "miracle."

"You're here in my apartment for some reason," she told him, saying he might be destined to be caught and to spread the word of God to fellow prisoners. She also read the bible to Nichols, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Acosta.

"He told me I was his angel, sent from God, and that I was his sister and he was my brother in Christ," said Smith.

He eventually put down the guns police say he took when he overwhelmed sheriff's deputies, putting them on the floor and later under a bed.

When morning came, Nichols was "overwhelmed" when Smith made him pancakes, she said. They watched television news reports about the slaying and the manhunt for Nichols.

"I cannot believe that's me on there," Smith quoted Nichols as saying.

Smith said Nichols did not bring any weapons when he had her help him move a truck he had stolen away from the apartment complex.

When Nichols finally let Smith go, he said he wanted to stay at the apartment for a few more days, but she said she thought he knew she was going to call 911 after she left.

Police said they were impressed by the way Smith handled herself.

"Out of everybody, she was the hero in all of this," Gwinnett County Police Chief Charles Walters said on The Early Show. "It was her calmness and resourcefulness that led this to a successful conclusion."

Meanwhile, legal maneuvers today have cleared the way for accused Nichols to face charges.

Officials today declared a mistrial in the rape case Nichols was in court for last week when he overpowered a sheriff's deputy and allegedly went on a killing rampage.

Also today, federal authorities dropped a firearms charge that places Nichols back into the custody of Fulton County officials. Nichols could be back in court as early as tomorrow.

Memorial services for the victims are scheduled this week.

Nervous workers and visitors lined up Monday as the Fulton County Courthouse reopened under heightened security in the wake of the slayings. Even one convicted felon who was there to check in with sheriff's deputies admitted he was scared.

As the courthouse reopened at 8:30 a.m. Monday — almost exactly 72 hours since the shootings — at least 80 people waited in line to get past a security checkpoint set up inside the building. The line snaked down a hallway near the entrance.

Michael Harris, 58, who was reporting to the courthouse for jury duty, said he felt safer knowing Nichols was behind bars.

"To me, it was one of those unusual things," said Harris. "At any time, terrible things can happen anywhere. You just have to put your faith in God and keep on going."

However, convicted felon Richard Jadwin, 20, who was there to check in with the sheriff's department, said he was felt uncomfortable being at the building.

"There's no guarantees in life. You can't know what a person's next move is going to be. I ain't even going to lie, I'm kind of nervous," said Jadwin, who wouldn't say what crime he was convicted of.

He said more precautions should have been taken with Nichols.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Monday that a courthouse surveillance camera recorded Nichols' initial surprise attack on Deputy Cynthia Hall but that no one in the control center noticed the assault.