Rescuer travels across country to meet kidnapped girl
SOUTH BOSTON, VA – Theresa Shanley, the woman responsible for the safe return of 13-year-old Brittany Smith to her family in South Boston last December, had an opportunity to meet the teenager during a weekend visit to that community.
According to the Rev. John Eure, pastor of Ash Avenue Baptist Church, the San Francisco mother attended Sunday worship services at the church. Also in attendance were Brittany, other family members and friends.
Theresa Shanley helped get abducted 12-year-old Brittany Smith safely home after Shanley recognized the girl panhandling outside a San Francisco grocery store.
For one week last year, Brittany was the subject of a nationwide Amber Alert after the body of her mother, Tina Smith, was found in their Fort Lewis Circle home in Glenvar on Dec. 6, and the then 12-year-old was reported missing.
It was four days later on Dec. 10 when Shanley recognized Brittany and 32-year old Jeffrey Scott Easley holding a cardboard sign outside a Safeway store in San Francisco.
Because of her call to authorities, Easley was arrested and Brittany was returned safely to her family in South Boston.
At the time of his daughter’s rescue, Brittany’s father described Shanley as “my hero.”
“It’s not anything that I can say to describe to you (Theresa Shanley) the way my heart feels about you. A simple ‘thank you,’ and God bless you,” South Boston Police Officer Bennie H. Smith said.
Shanley traveled from the West Coast to visit with family and friends in Powhatan. She also spent a few days in Halifax County meeting with Brittany and other family members.
According to Eure, his wife, Joy, and Shanley share a mutual friend in San Francisco, so they too were eager to meet during her recent visit to South Boston.
As it would turn out, it’s a small world, the pastor said, explaining when Shanley was identified as the person who was responsible for Brittany’s safe return to her family, Joy’s online friend in San Francisco recognized her as a member of the church she attends.
“This was more than a mere coincidence. The Lord always provides a way,” Eure said.
Sunday prior to the worship service presented the first opportunity the Eures had to meet Shanley and her 7-year-old daughter.
“We always treat all our guests with hospitality and love at Ash Avenue,” the pastor said, “but she shared a special place in our heart on Sunday morning because we all knew she was used by the Lord to keep Brittany safe and to bring back one of our own,” he added.
After church Sunday, Shanley and Smith family members along with other friends became more acquainted during a meal and family get together.
– By Paula I. Bryant, editor of the Gazette-Virginian newspaper in South Boston; special to the ST-R
Accused abductor’s trial set April 3
SALEM – It will be more than a year after Tina Smith was found murdered in her Glenvar home until accused murderer Jeffrey Scott Easley is tried for killing her. His trial date in Roanoke County Circuit Court is now April 3, 2012.
Initially, Easley was charged only with abducting Smith’s 12-year-old daughter, Brittany, on Dec. 3, 2010. Later that was upped to abduction with intent to defile, in other words, for sexual purposes. He was scheduled for a two-day jury trial July 28-29 which changed after he was charged with murdering Smith, who was his girlfriend.
Roanoke County Police still have not released information about how 41-year-old Smith died. Co-workers from Richfield’s Recovery and Care Center where she was a registered nurse found Smith and called police Dec. 6, 2010, after she did not show up for work.
A Roanoke County detective testified at one of Easley’s earlier court appearances Smith was found tied up in an upstairs bedroom, and she had “reddish marks” on her face.
Easley and Brittany were located in San Francisco after a nationwide Amber Alert was issued when her mother was found dead and Brittany was missing. The last time they were seen in the Salem area was on Dec. 3 surveillance videotapes from a Glenvar convenience store and the Salem Walmart where they were pushing a cart overflowing with camping supplies and food. Police located their campsite in a San Francisco park.
Easley was arrested after a San Francisco mother recognized Brittany and her mother’s boyfriend panhandling outside a Safeway grocery store. Roanoke County Police flew to California to escort Brittany back to her family in Virginia on Dec. 10, and other officers later brought Easley back for his first court appearance in Roanoke County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
He will be tried in Roanoke County Circuit Court, where in June, Judge James R. Swanson appointed a Salem attorney Mark Claytor as lead capital defense attorney to assist Easley’s court-appointed attorney, Thomas W. Roe Jr. of Botetourt.
The court also appointed a private investigator to assist in Easley’s case.
He and Tina Smith met online in the fall of 2010, friends said, and she asked him to move into her Fort Lewis Circle home with her and Brittany in October.
Easley is being held without bond in the Western Virginia Regional Jail near Dixie Caverns in western Roanoke County.
– Meg Hibbert
