February 11, 2009 7:23 PM
- Text
'Miracle' Find In Florida Dump
(CBS/AP)
Left to die in a trash bin under rocks and concrete blocks, and unable to scream for help, let alone move, the 8-year-old girl still believed someone would find her.
She remained trapped in the dark for hours, sleeping intermittently while she waited, according to the account she gave a friend. When she heard muffled voices growing closer and the lid being lifted, she greeted her stunned rescuers by wiggling her fingers.
The girl, who was found by police seven hours after she was reported missing early Sunday, was hospitalized in good condition Monday and was talking with family and friends.
A teenage boy was charged with attempted murder and sexual assault.
"She said the last thing she remembers is that he looked over her with these big eyes and then she said she went to sleep," said 18-year-old Danielle Holloman, a family friend who recounted the girl's story. "She said she knew we would come get her."
Police Sgt. Mike Hall found the girl after climbing into a 25-foot-long trash bin and opening the lid to a 30-gallon recycling container. Inside, he saw the girl's hand and foot peeking out amid heavy concrete slabs.
"I flipped the lid open, saw a large pile of concrete slabs, and in between the concrete slabs, I saw a small foot and small hand sticking out from the concrete," Hall recalled on The Early Show.
Rescuers feared the worst, but the mood turned jubilant when they saw the girl's fingers move and realized she was alive.
"There's no doubt in my mind that this child would have been dead if he didn't find her. She was dehydrated and in rough shape with pieces of cement blocks on top of her and she was face down," Sgt. Dan Boland said. "There was no way for her to get out on her own."
He said there must have been enough air pockets in the container to keep her alive.
Her disappearance rattled a state that had been outraged over the arrests of sex offenders in the separate killings earlier this year of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford and 13-year-old Sarah Lunde.
She remained trapped in the dark for hours, sleeping intermittently while she waited, according to the account she gave a friend. When she heard muffled voices growing closer and the lid being lifted, she greeted her stunned rescuers by wiggling her fingers.
The girl, who was found by police seven hours after she was reported missing early Sunday, was hospitalized in good condition Monday and was talking with family and friends.
A teenage boy was charged with attempted murder and sexual assault.
"She said the last thing she remembers is that he looked over her with these big eyes and then she said she went to sleep," said 18-year-old Danielle Holloman, a family friend who recounted the girl's story. "She said she knew we would come get her."
Police Sgt. Mike Hall found the girl after climbing into a 25-foot-long trash bin and opening the lid to a 30-gallon recycling container. Inside, he saw the girl's hand and foot peeking out amid heavy concrete slabs.
"I flipped the lid open, saw a large pile of concrete slabs, and in between the concrete slabs, I saw a small foot and small hand sticking out from the concrete," Hall recalled on The Early Show.
Rescuers feared the worst, but the mood turned jubilant when they saw the girl's fingers move and realized she was alive.
"There's no doubt in my mind that this child would have been dead if he didn't find her. She was dehydrated and in rough shape with pieces of cement blocks on top of her and she was face down," Sgt. Dan Boland said. "There was no way for her to get out on her own."
He said there must have been enough air pockets in the container to keep her alive.
Her disappearance rattled a state that had been outraged over the arrests of sex offenders in the separate killings earlier this year of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford and 13-year-old Sarah Lunde.
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