Texas Father Rescues Daughter Using Phone Tracker on Christmas

A Texas father rescued his 15-year-old daughter from a kidnapping on Christmas Day by using parental controls on her cell phone to track her location, leading authorities to the suspect who had abducted her at knifepoint, officials said.

The incident occurred around 4:50 p.m. in Porter, a community about 25 miles north of Houston in Montgomery County. According to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, the teenager had taken her dog for a walk near her family's home when she did not return at her usual time. Her parents grew concerned and alerted law enforcement. The father then accessed the phone's location feature, which directed him to a secluded, partially wooded area in neighboring Harris County, nearly two miles away.

There, the father found his daughter and her dog inside a maroon-colored pickup truck with a partially nude 23-year-old man, authorities reported. He helped her escape the vehicle and immediately contacted deputies, who arrived and arrested Giovanni Rosales Espinoza of Porter without incident. Witnesses who saw the initial abduction provided a description of the truck, which aided investigators in identifying and locating the suspect.