Girl heads home days after cross-country abduction ends

A 12-year-old girl is returning to Virginia more than a week after her mother was killed and an alleged abductor took her on a cross-country journey that ended with his capture and her safe recovery, police said Monday.

Two detectives from Roanoke youth nfl jerseysCounty are escorting Brittany Mae Smith back from San Francisco, county spokeswoman Teresa Hall said in a statement. The girl should arrive in Roanoke on Monday night, and she will be released to members of her family.

The man accused of kidnapping her, 32-year-old Jeffrey Scott Easley, remains behind bars in northern California. He faces abduction, credit card theft and credit card fraud charges, and Roanoke County police Chief Ray Lavinder has called him a "very good suspect" in the death of Tina Smith, Brittany's mother.

Theresa Shanley called Baltimore Ravenspolice after spotting the girl and Easley outside a Safeway supermarket in the Richmond district of San Francisco, Hall said. She recognized the pair from pictures broadcast on HLN's "Nancy Grace."

This weekend, Shanley met with Roanoke County police Detective Chris Welch, one of four investigators who flew to California to look into Brittany's abduction and her mother's killing, Hall said. Two of the detectives are still in San Francisco, focused exclusively on the Tina Smith homicide investigation.

Police believe Philadelphia Eaglesthat 41-year-old Smith, who was Easley's girlfriend, was killed between the morning and evening of December 3, Lavinder said. On that day, surveillance video shows Easley and Brittany Smith shopping for a blue domed tent at a Wal-Mart in Salem.

Lavinder said authorities believe that the two left Virginia, heading toward California, that night or early the next day. They traveled more than 2,300 miles in Tina Smith's silver 2005 Dodge Neon sedan, which was found in a parking lot adjacent to San Francisco International Airport after authorities had found Brittany Smith and Easley.

The pair were holding San Francisco 49ersup a cardboard sign and asking for money when they were spotted, Lavinder said. The Safeway was within walking distance of the makeshift campsite containing the tent in which Easley and Brittany Smith had been staying.

Easley did not resist when police arrested him shortly after 2 p.m. Friday, San Francisco police Officer Albie Esparza said. And Brittany Smith had no visible injuries, according to Lavinder.

The chief has said Easley met Tina Smith online this summer and moved into the family home in October.

Police issued an AmberChicago Bears Alert for Brittany on Monday after finding the body of her mother. Tina Smith's co-workers had called to express concern that she hadn't shown up for work.

Authorities in Florida and Alabama followed suit with Amber Alerts in subsequent days, and notices went out to law enforcement nationwide.

Authorities said they do not know whether the girl went willingly with Easley. Regardless, with Brittany Smith safe, Virginia authorities say, they have now turned their focus to the homicide investigation.

They are also trying to get Easley back east, though an extradition hearing hasn't taken place in California courts. He could go to Virginia relatively soon if he waives extradition, or the process may be delayed weeks if he contests his return.