Hostage Has Had 'Tough' Life

Ashley Smith, the hostage who turned in the suspect in the Atlanta courthouse shootings, didn't always make the right choices.

She married a man who was a hard worker, but he liked hanging out with the "good old boys" — the same crowd who might have been behind his stabbing death 3½ years ago.

As a teen, she was arrested for shoplifting and was on probation for a year. Later came arrests for drunken driving, speeding and battery.

But when she was taken hostage by the man suspected of a triple slaying at an Atlanta courthouse, CBS News Correspondent Jim Acosta reports, the 26-year-old mother, waitress and student was in the midst of turning her life around.

And she seemed to have at transformative affect on suspect Brian Nichols. She single-handedly put a stop to his apparent violent killing spree, simply with the force of her personality.

"I've experienced just about every emotion one can imagine in the span of just a few days," Smith said. "This event has been extremely difficult and exhausting for me and my extended family."

Smith said she relied on her calmness and spiritual upbringing to survive the seven-hour ordeal in her apartment. Now she's being hailed as a hero and will qualify for at least one of the rewards offered for the suspect.

"Some of the choices she made growing up were not really approved by me, but I just had to rely upon her growing out of that status," Smith's grandfather Dick Machovec said Monday in a telephone interview from his home in Augusta.

Machovec and his wife, Ann, hoped Ashley's upbringing would eventually balance out bad judgment. She was raised in the church and regularly attended Sunday services.

This weekend, their prayers were answered.

"It was almost like she was recalling all these things she learned as a child," he said.

Smith was up late moving into her apartment early Saturday when Brian Nichols allegedly followed her to her door and put a gun to her side.

He briefly bound her in duct tape, Smith said, but released her as she repeatedly told him about her desire to live so that her daughter would have at least one parent.

She read to him from "The Purpose-Driven Life," the best-selling religious book by Rick Warren. He stopped her and asked her to repeat the beginning, and the two discussed its themes.

Eventually, he let her go, and she called 911. Gov. Sonny Perdue said Tuesday that Smith will get the state's $10,000 reward for Nichols' capture, adding, "In my opinion, she absolutely deserves it and we're ready to pay up now." Other agencies, which offered an additional $50,000 in rewards, had not yet announced who would receive them.

Keeping a level head, leaning on faith and bonding with her captor may have saved Smith's life — one she was beginning to turn around.

Smith was raised by her grandparents after her mother ran into some problems, Machovec said. He did not elaborate, only saying his granddaughter had a "sad life and it's been tough through the years."

"She told us, 'One of these days, I'm gonna make you proud of me,"' Machovec said. "I said, 'Well then, you better choose better friends than what you do."'

An athletic scholarship got her to Augusta College, but she left after only a few months and married Mack Smith, a carpenter. The young couple then had a daughter, Paige.

In 2001, Smith's husband died in her arms after he had been stabbed; his killer has not been found. She eventually left Augusta to live with her mother, Mary Jo. She left behind her daughter with an aunt.

Recently, Smith's life was improving. By March, she had finished six months of a medical assistant course, was working two jobs and had moved into a new apartment. She sees Paige about once a week.

Tony Cook, general manager of Barnacles Seafood, Oysters and Sports in Duluth, saw promise in Smith when he hired her as a waitress. She had been on the job, training, for just two days before becoming a hostage.

"She had a great personality, she was easy to talk to, and very likeable," Cook said.

Her ordeal may continue to change her life — she's gotten four offers for a book deal, her aunt told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and a Hollywood film project was proposed. A center that trains people in how to survive a hostage situation is also interested in her story for part of its training.

Despite all the attention, Smith is humble about her part in Nichols' surrender. She's eager to leave the limelight, reports CBS' Stacy Case.

"The real heroes are the judicial and law enforcement officials who gave their lives and those who risked their lives to bring this to an end," Smith said.

"My role was really very small in the grand scheme of things," she said.