KILGORE, Texas — Two Kilgore Police Department officers were recently honored for their actions that led to two children who were kidnapped being found safe last year.
Lt. Joey Chitwood and Cpl. Joey Johnston received written commendations on Friday for their actions in the child abduction case. After an Amber Alert, a Kilgore resident called city of Rusk authorities to say she believed she saw the abducted children at the Walmart in Kilgore.
The written commendations were signed by the mayor, city manager and police chief.
The police department said that using their intuition, the officers thought the abductor might have stayed in Kilgore that night and they decided to check area hotels. The officers drove to Motel 6 near Interstate 20 and they immediately saw the male abductor loading the car to leave.
Officers made a plan to take the suspect into custody and remove the children from the vehicle, police said.
"How they picked the right hotel first only God knows (maybe they were guided). One minute later and the suspect is on I-20. We know their quick actions ended this abduction," Kilgore police said. "We fear what might have happened had they disappeared onto I-20."