Pizza Shop Worker Helps Rescue Kidnapped Boy After Checking Amber Alert She Would Normally Ignore

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Tuesday, July 14, 2015

A 7-year-old old boy was rescued from the clutches of a suspected kidnapper last Wednesday after being abducted from his home in Alice, Texas, all because a Papa Murphey's pizza shop worker, who normally ignored Amber Alerts on her phone, decided to pay attention this time.

Courtney Best, the pizza shop worker, told KRIS-TV that she was taking a smoke break in front of the pizza shop in the Hamlin Shopping Center in Corpus Christi when she spotted Nicholas Gomez and the suspected kidnapper Channing Galbraith.

"I stepped outside, I was standing by the trash can and I seen a white car pull up and I just happen to take my phone with me, cause we don't look at our phones at work, and I looked down and I saw 'white Dodge Avenger Amber Alert.' And I was like, nah, that's not him," said Best. "The man was walking across the parking lot looking at me ... cause I was the only person out here, with the little boy and the little boy looked scared and I was like no, that's not him."

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On further investigation, however, Best discovered it was the missing boy and once she confirmed that, she felt in her gut that she had to do something.

She told KRIS-TV that she called 911 but as she was doing this the suspect was back in his car and getting ready to drive off.

"And I'm on the phone with 911 and I tell her, look, the plates match up, he's turning left on Staples but I'm gonna follow him," said Best.

Fortunatley for her, Corpus Christi police arrived just in time to intercept Galbraith and arrested him. The young boy was rescued and returned to his family.

Best shudders to think about what might have happened to the boy if she had ignored the Amber Alert.

"That's why I'm freakin' out," she said. "Cause, what are the odds? What are the odds of me looking at my phone? And I usually don't even look at Amber Alerts, as bad as that sounds. I look at them and I don't really pay attention. And I was like, he couldn't get from Alice in that little bit of time. Sure enough, it was him."

Best now vows to pay attention to Amber Alerts when she sees them. Galbraith is expected to be extradited to Jim Wells County where he will face kidnapping charges.