People in South Boston plan a celebration, but it's not known where Brittany Smith will be.
Brittany Smith's father huddled with relatives Monday night, filled with the excitement of seeing his daughter for the first time since she disappeared for seven days with a man police say is her abductor and a suspect in her mother's killing.Benjamin Smith stood at the same lectern at the Roanoke County police headquarters where Chief Ray Lavinder just days earlier passed along tidbits, photographs and video surveillance tapes in hopes of finding Brittany.
Instead, on Monday night, Smith laughed with family about Brittany's dog, Little Man. With tears in his eyes and a smile on his face, he thanked investigators, his preacher in South Boston and the woman who spotted Brittany panhandling outside a grocery store in San Francisco.
"I thought the happiest day of my life was when my daughter was born," Smith told reporters. "Tonight has taken the number one spot."
Jeffrey Easley, 32, was locked in the San Francisco County Jail under psychiatric observation while awaiting his first court appearance today. Easley, who was Tina Smith's boyfriend and moved into her house on Fort Lewis Circle in October, can agree to return to Virginia to face abduction charges or fight the extradition.
Smith called the woman who found Brittany "my hero." But he hadn't spoken to her.
In a phone interview, Theresa Shanley, who spotted Brittany outside a Safeway supermarket, said she noticed the girl's stare.
"I think it was her way of saying, 'Help me,' because she couldn't speak it," Shanley said.
Brittany was sitting on the sidewalk, holding a cardboard sign that asked for money, Shanley said Monday. She was surrounded by bags. Easley was standing.
"My first thought was there's something wrong with the situation," said Shanley, a jail nurse. "The hair on my neck stood up."
As she walked into the store, Shanley remembered seeing the aunt of a missing girl on CNN pleading for her niece to come home. Shanley couldn't find her cellphone, and asked a clerk to call police.
About eight police cars arrived within minutes, she said. When Shanley next saw Brittany, she was in the back of a cruiser, crying.
"I don't consider myself a hero, I just consider myself a mom," Shanley said. "You have to look out for other people's children."
Easley and Brittany weren't sighted from the time they left Roanoke County on Dec. 3 until their discovery outside a San Francisco supermarket Dec. 10. Police won't say what details they've gathered about the cross-country trip and are trying to protect the girl, Hall said.
"Just based on some of the information that she's given, it's led them to want to take care of her," Hall said.
Residents in Brittany's hometown of South Boston plan a candlelight celebration Sunday "to welcome Brittany Smith's safe return home," according to a Facebook page about the event.
It was unclear whether Brittany or her family would attend.
"This little girl has been through an ordeal that no one can understand," said Christy Watts, a family friend helping organize the event. "I think it is important to show her how much she's loved."
Brittany's mother, Tina Smith, 41, was found slain Dec. 6 after failing to show up at her nursing home job.
Easley has been charged in arrest warrants with abduction, attempted credit card fraud and credit card larceny. Lavinder has called him a suspect in Tina Smith's killing. Police won't say how Tina Smith died.
Police flew to San Francisco on Saturday and interviewed Brittany and Easley on Sunday. Brittany's family stayed behind in Virginia.
"The family knew that police needed to do their job," Hall said, noting that Benjamin Smith is a South Boston police officer. "From the beginning they've known that we've had her best interests at heart."
Easley could return to Virginia as early as this week if he waives his extradition rights.
University of Virginia law professor Anne Coughlin said she expects today's hearing to be routine.
"Barring some incredible surprise, he doesn't have any grounds on which to fight it," Coughlin said. "Assuming he's the person he's presumed to be, he has to come home to Virginia."
If Easley does fight extradition, authorities will need a governor's warrant from Virginia to bring him back, said Bob Dunlap, a San Francisco public defender. Dunlap is not representing Easley.
An extradition fight, though likely futile, could take months.
By Amanda Codispoti and Jorge Valencia,
http://www.roanoke.com
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