A pizza shop worker wasn’t expecting to save an abducted child when she was taking her break, but that’s exactly what happened when Courtney Best stepped outside for a smoke break.
Courtney Best, 26, decided to go out front of Papa Murphy’s pizza in Corpus Christi, Texas, on July 9, 2015 instead of her usual routine of going out back and in doing so may have saved a little boy’s life from a violent offender.
“I stepped outside, I was standing by the trash can and I seen a white car pull up and I just happen to take my phone with me cause we don’t look at our phones at work, and I looked down and I saw ‘white Dodge Avenger amber alert’, and I was like, nah, that’s not him,” Courtney told KRIS TV. “The man was walking across the parking lot looking at me … cause I was the only person out here, with the little boy and the little boy looked scared and I was like no, that’s not him.”
But Courtney had a knot in her stomach that she couldn’t shake so she decided to check and see. While the suspect and child had gone into a Dollar store, she jumped into her car and drove by the suspect’s vehicle to check the license plate number. It matched! She called 911 and when the suspect and boy returned to their vehicle and began driving away, Courtney followed them while on the phone with 911.
Corpus Christi police quickly responded and arrested Channing Galbraith, who had been dating the boy’s mother. The 7-year-old boy, Nicholas Gomez, did not appear injured but was taken to hospital as a precaution.
Gailbraith has a criminal history and according to News Y, the suspect was arrested on a charge of sexual assault of a child last July. He’s now facing kidnapping charges and being held on $100,000 bail.
The little boy is safe thanks to Courtney’s fateful change of routine and her noticing the amber alert on her phone.
Courtney Best. Photo credit: KRIS TV
“What are the odds of me looking at my phone?” said Courtney.”And I usually don’t even look at amber alerts, as bad as that sounds, I look at them and I don’t really pay attention. And I was like, he couldn’t get from Alice in that little bit of time. Sure enough it was him.”
Courtney said she will will be paying close attention to future amber alerts from now on.
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