Buried Girl 'Knew' She'd Be Saved

(AP)  The last thing she remembers before being entombed in a trash bin under rocks and concrete blocks was looking into the eyes of the man who had left her there to die.

The 8-year-old remained trapped there for hours, sleeping intermittently, wondering if anyone would find her. Then she heard muffled voices growing closer and the lid being lifted from the bin. She managed to wiggle her fingers — a sign of life that brought elated cries from above.

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. After she was rescued, she described her attacker to police, leading to the quick arrest of a teenage boy who had been staying at her godmother's home.

"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. She said she was waiting for us to find her," said 18-year-old Danielle Holloman, a family friend who recounted the girl's story.

"She said she knew we would come get her. That's why as soon as the police came, she wiggled her fingers," Holloman said Monday.

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.

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.

The girl had been staying overnight at her godmother's house in this town about 10 miles south of West Palm Beach — where she often stayed on weekends when her mother worked.

Authorities said Milagro Cunningham, 17, confessed and was charged with attempted murder, sexual battery on a child under 12, and false imprisonment of a victim under age 13, police said.

The teen initially told investigators that the girl may have been abducted by five men in a station wagon and that he followed them but they got away. His story then unraveled under questioning, Boland said.

Holloman said Cunningham's mother lives in the Bahamas and he had been staying with an aunt until she accused him of stealing and kicked him out about four months ago. He then went to live at the home of Lisa Taylor, Holloman's mother and the girl's godmother.

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