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Hostage 'Bonded' With Captor
CBS News ^ | March 14, 2005

Posted on 03/14/2005 12:44:23 PM PST by EveningStar

The woman who was held hostage in her apartment by the suspect in Atlanta's courthouse slayings came forward to give an account of her ordeal, saying he let her go after they bonded while discussing God, family, pancakes and the massive manhunt going on outside her apartment.

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Georgia
KEYWORDS: ashleysmith; briannichols; murderousscumbag; stockholmsyndrom
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To: pbrown
She had opportunities to extricate herself from the situation and didn't.

What's fascinating to me is that she didn't. She feared a shootout and more people dead if she did. She probably feared she would not be safe if she betrayed him then. When he arrived at her place, he would have killed her and anyone else who was in the way, and she knew that. She waited and talked, and reasoned, with her childlike faith, until he was cool and resigned to a fate of being arrested. I don't know if she knew omnipotently that is what she was doing, but that's certainly the outcome. It's great human drama. We don't all have it in us to be her. I don't. I'd have found a way to shoot him.

201 posted on 03/14/2005 2:36:35 PM PST by HairOfTheDog (It is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life!)
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To: pbrown

She does have sympathies for the victims. What you don't get is that she is among the victims, one who had a pretty scary weekend.

Go on about your way.... I'm done with you.


202 posted on 03/14/2005 2:38:59 PM PST by HairOfTheDog (It is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life!)
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To: hobson
For the millionth time.....it isn't WHAT she did while with him. It's AFTER she was safe from harm that I have a problem with. She is trying to put a sympathic face on a murderer.
203 posted on 03/14/2005 2:39:32 PM PST by processing please hold (Islam and Christianity do not mix ----9-11 taught us that)
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To: hobson
I think it has been said here about a thousand times - her words afterwards, AFTERWARDS, were no doubt very harmful to the mourners of the beast's victims. Feel sorry for him? God led him to escape the courthouse? Doesn't deserve to die? Brother-in-Christ?

Everyone get off your high horse and think about that custom agent's widow. You think she liked hearing about God's will that he made a quick stop at Lenox to kill her hubby before finding his salvation over pancakes with real butter? According to Ashley, AFTER the arrest, it was a miracle of God that Brian was sent to her via a trial of corpses and busted faces.
204 posted on 03/14/2005 2:40:15 PM PST by over3Owithabrain
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To: nikos1121

According to a radio station's web site the child lives with relatives.

http://www.csraonsale.com/news1/news_story.php?id=3186


205 posted on 03/14/2005 2:40:59 PM PST by MKM1960
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To: pj_627
She was trying to make this man understand, that as a result of his actions, many many people were in pain, with lives shattered, and all because of him. There were consequences to actions one decides to take in life, and he had to live up to that fact and be punished for his deeds.

That is exactly what I heard her saying in the piece I saw earlier. Thanks for the notes on what you heard on Hannity's show.

206 posted on 03/14/2005 2:41:08 PM PST by cyncooper
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To: cyncooper; cyborg
I agree. I just heard her interview on Hannity. She realized her life depended on connecting with this guy and getting him to see her as a human being and not a target. Plus, she is obviously a practicing Christian who tried to save his soul, which helped her bond with him. She is under no illusions that he must pay for his crimes and be punished according to the law.

She is an extremely impressive lady. Her faith gave her the road map and the strength to survive an encounter with a monster.

207 posted on 03/14/2005 2:41:14 PM PST by colorado tanker (The People Have Spoken)
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To: cyncooper
She told him he could turn his life to Christ and minister to people in jail (she told him he'd have to turn himself in and face the consequences of what he'd done) and could save more people than he killed. I'm not saying that's what he will end up doing.

Today his ministry was mocking the authorities over his murders.
208 posted on 03/14/2005 2:42:17 PM PST by over3Owithabrain
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To: over3Owithabrain

I'm not on a high horse but it sure sounds like you are.


209 posted on 03/14/2005 2:42:43 PM PST by hobson
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To: cyncooper
"and she did not want him to get away and harm others."

She had no ability to do such.

The problem I have is other ladies abandoning self protection and becoming pacifist due to her exposure.

210 posted on 03/14/2005 2:43:54 PM PST by Deguello
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To: Deguello

You are a fool, and worse, you're spreading disinformation.

For example, Nichols did not wear a mask.


211 posted on 03/14/2005 2:44:36 PM PST by cyncooper
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To: over3Owithabrain

I'm not surprised.

Did you see the part where I doubted he'd follow through? I made an effort to emphasize my point is what her intentions were, not his.


212 posted on 03/14/2005 2:45:45 PM PST by cyncooper
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To: Gumption
I hope her Christian words aren't causing the victims family an ounce of distress.

On the contrary, I'm sure what she said to him about the murder of their loved ones is an immense comfort to them.

213 posted on 03/14/2005 2:47:26 PM PST by cyncooper
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To: Deguello
She had no ability to do such.

Well, that's disproven by the fact that she did it.

214 posted on 03/14/2005 2:48:12 PM PST by cyncooper
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To: HairOfTheDog
She needs to stop building this murderer up into something that he isn't. He is a killer. How do you think his victims families feel when they see her on TV extolling his human side?

She did what she did to survive. You are more generous to her than I am. I think about the families left behind, not the murderer of those families.

You don't know what he could have done or would have done. Is that speculation on your part? With everybody and their brother looking for him they would have found him.

I'd have found a way to shoot him.

Ditto.

215 posted on 03/14/2005 2:48:50 PM PST by processing please hold (Islam and Christianity do not mix ----9-11 taught us that)
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To: Deetes

" This is the most disturbing part. He was unarmed and she was in another car miles from her house. Yet she picked him up and took him back to where the weapons were at. Very strange ...."

Whatever this gal had to do or say to stay alive was heroic -up until she helped Nichols move the dead INS agent's SUV.
The dynamics of this story changed when she did that.
And I like you, find that part of the story troubling.

From her interview in the AJC :

"Around 6:15 a.m., Nichols says that before sunrise he needs to move the truck he is accused of stealing from Wilhelm."

"She agrees to follow him in her car. He leaves the guns under her bed."

"As they drive, Smith thinks about calling 911 on her cellphone, but she decides against it.
She fears police will come and surround them.
There'd be a shootout."

Helping him move the agent's car did not help anyone find Nichols. It thwarted the police investigation.
She is in her car, with a cell phone, Nichols is on foot,apparently-yet, she feared that " they " would be involved in a shoot out.
Nichols stashed the guns under her bed,why would there be a shoot out ?
Certainly she would have told the 911 operators that he was unarmed.A stand off maybe, if the cops could have found his car and corraled him.
Once she sped off and called 911- if there had been a shoot out- it would seem that the only one in danger-would have been Nichols.
She brought him back to her house-where he was again in possession of his guns.
He could have snapped and killed her or left her alive and left the aptmnt, to kill more innocent people.


216 posted on 03/14/2005 2:49:40 PM PST by Wild Irish Rogue
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To: cyncooper

I saw that coop, and wasn't disagreeing with you.


217 posted on 03/14/2005 2:50:40 PM PST by over3Owithabrain
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To: EveningStar
What this guy has done deserves the death penalty. And with due process that will probably happen. But to all the posters here who call themselves Christians and condemn her, shame on you. You fight to put up some words on stone in a courthouse, yet God said he desired that His word, His law, be written upon human hearts. And the heart of the law is Mercy. Do you too condemn Jesus because he bonded with thief on the cross, or the woman caught in adultery. This brave woman took the word of God seriously, and lived it out in real life, in a very frightening situation. Greater love has no one than they lay down their life for a friend, and Jesus called us "friends" while we were nailing him to the cross. This woman, Ashley Smith, showed kindness to the "least of these." God said His kindness leads us to repentance. This woman showed the character of God, kindness, and someone else may be added to the kingdom of God for it. I wish I were as brave and faithful to God as she was/is.
218 posted on 03/14/2005 2:51:49 PM PST by feedback doctor (Mark Sanford and Condi Rice '08)
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To: cyncooper

Good one. I am absolutely baffled by the Monday morning quarterbacking that's going on here. It's not like she had several days to figure out how to handle the situation. She was with him 6 HOURS! Good grief!!!!


219 posted on 03/14/2005 2:52:01 PM PST by hobson
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To: pbrown
She's playing the martyr card for all it's worth.

I have to wonder who you are watching. It's not Ashley Smith.

220 posted on 03/14/2005 2:54:02 PM PST by cyncooper
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