Couple Identifies Kidnapper’s Car From Amber Alert, Gives Chase, Gets License Plate, and Saves Little Girl

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When Manny Correa and Amanda Disley, of Springfield, Massachusetts, were out for dinner with their five children, a car they had first seen on an amber alert appeared right in front of their eyes. Knowing that 11-year-old Charlotte Moccia had been kidnapped and was likely inside the blue Honda Civic, the couple felt they had to track the car down until police could be summoned.

“I had to do what I had to do, being a father,” Correa told ABC News. Thus began a wild chase that led them through red lights at high speeds as they attempted to provide the car’s license plate number to 911 dispatchers. “It was just an instinct of fight or flight that kicked in,” Amanda Disley said.

Though the couple eventually had to break off the chase due to lack of fuel, thanks to the information they provided, Massachusetts State Police were able to track down the kidnapper and free the girl. The Moccia family said in a statement, “We'd like to thank Amanda Disley and her husband for their vigilance and courage, for putting themselves in harm’s way to make sure she wasn’t out of their sight.”

The couple never would have been able to recognize the car and help save Charlotte if it weren’t for tips from the public. The 11-year-old had just gotten off a schoolbus and was walking home when the blue Honda Civic, driven by 24-year-old Miguel Rodriguez, pulled up.

Local resident Maggie Kenney saw the car tailing young Charlotte and thought it looked suspicious. Then, all of a sudden, it became a nightmare scenario. “It happened that fast. The car was running and he just grabbed her and threw her in the back seat and she was screaming,” Kenney told WBZ. “He had to tussle with her because she had her bag and her coat around her. He just picked her up.”

Thankfully, Kenney’s husband called the police and a neighbor was able to share surveillance images, including Charlotte walking down the street and the kidnapper’s car following behind her. Police issued an amber alert by 5:30 p.m. and seeing that on Facebook helped Amanda Disley and her husband identify the car that evening.

When Correa, who is a self-described car aficionado, saw the blue Honda Civic, which his wife had previously shown him on Facebook, he recognized it instantly. Just to be sure, she pulled the picture police had posted up on her phone and was able to confirm it. The car’s non-factory wheels, missing front license plate, and dark tinted windows all helped Correa and Disley make the connection.

That’s when they knew they had to act. “My husband reversed on the main road, we blocked him,” Disley told WesternMass News. “He jumped over a curb and that’s when the high beams flashed right into his driver and I saw his complete face.” Rodriguez’s suspicious behavior in the minutes that followed helped the couple confirm that he was the kidnapper.

“He threw the hood back over his face and I saw someone in the backseat pushing someone down and that’s when we knew this is it. This is him,” Disley said. From there, Correa did his best to follow the suspect, even as the kidnapper began running red lights and driving up to 100 miles per hour in a bid to escape.

When asked about the danger that Correa and Disley subjected themselves and their kids to, the couple responded that they couldn’t let the kidnapper get away without giving the police as much information as they could. As Disley told ABC, there’s nothing that seems too extreme “when you see somebody’s life in danger.” She added, “We just wanted to get the [rear] plates and get 911 to say ‘he’s over here.’”

As for Correa, he told the Boston Globe, “I did my fatherly duty. If it was one of mine, I would’ve burned the city to the ground looking for my kid.” Correa eventually ran out of gas, but the chase and the information they provided to the police allowed them to eventually catch the kidnapper on the Massachusetts Turnpike.

“The biggest factor in this was the tips from the public,” Springfield Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood told WPRI. “People were out looking for this car, it was amazing. Civilians spotted this car and helped us out immensely.”

Commissioner Clapprood adds, “This was an absolute life and death situation for this little girl. thank you to the public for helping us out. It has come to a very good conclusion.”

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