Family, friends welcome kidnapped girl home

UPDATED, 1:45 p.m. with details of Alisa's return home.

LOUISIANA, Mo. -- Alisa Maier arrived  home at 1:25 p.m. today to the cheers of about two dozen relatives and friends.

They had been waiting on the front lawn of the family home at 320 North Carolina Street, where she had been when a kidnapper snatched her Monday evening.

Alisa, 4, wore a red shirt with an American flag on front, red pants and pink flip-flops. Her mother, Kimberly Harrison, walked her to the front door beneath a large banner saying, "Welcome Home Alisa."

Her father, David Maier, had driven the family home in a Chevrolet Impala, then followed them in with the overnight bags.

He stopped briefly to speak with the reporters. Asked about the ordeal, he said, "You don’t want to know. I’ve been numb this whole time this has been going on."

Asked about Alisa and whether she has told them much, he said, "She’s happy. I’m not pushing her to say anything."

Kimberly Harrison spoke from the family porch. "I really missed her. I’m just glad she’s home right now," she said.

A few moments later, Alisa came back out on the porch, ready to play. A cousin, Carissa Doyle, gave Alisa a hug.

Before the arrival, grandfather Roy Harrison did a somersault on the lawn after one of the kids did a back flip. On Wednesday, after Alisa had been returned to her family in Fenton, he had said, "I’d to a back flip if I could, but I’m just too dadgum old." His quote was widely reported from coast to coast.

Angela Reddick, a great aunt, said of Smith, "I wish we could have faced him in court. It’s justice in a way, because now he’s facing his maker."

Great-grandmother Mary Foiles sought to find something redeeming in Smith’s decision to relase Alisa on Tuesday night at the Fenton Car Wash. "I believed that man had enough good in him that God could touch him," Foiles said. "Either that, or he was so afraid, he let her go. Or maybe both."

Earlier today, police said they are confident that Paul S. Smith, the sex offender who shot himself to death Wednesday is the man who kidnapped Alisa, then released her 26 hours later in Fenton. 

And investigators were led to Smith after a Walmart store released video of him buying new clothing for Alisa. They knew it was Walmart clothing based on the tags inside the new clothes she had on when he dropped her off alive at a Fenton strip mall.

Those new details emerged Thursday morning at a press conference led by St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch in Clayton.

"We are confident, at this point, that he is the suspect," Fitch told reporters. After executing search warrants on Smith's cell phone records, his car and home, Fitch said: "We have recovered evidence to lead us to believe that he is the one who abducted Alisa."

Smith, 38, died about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday at St. Joseph Health Center in St. Charles from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He shot himself with a small-caliber handgun as police approached him outside his Hawk Point, Mo., home to question him in the kidnapping. He was considered a "person of interest" at that point.

Smith was painting a dark-colored car 1991 Mazda Protege when police approached him, at a home on Highway D in Hawk Point.

Investigators said they didn't see Alisa in the Walmart video. Police went to the Walmart in Troy, Mo., after seeing the tags in new clothing. "The child's clothes had been changed, so we were able to track that back," Fitch said.

The video, of course, didn't give police his name, but Smith apparently also bought cigarettes at checkout, triggering the need for him to supply the cashier with identification with his date of birth. That information helped lead police to Smith.

Fitch said investigators pulled off good, old-fashioned police work to find Smith. An earlier report that a relative tipped police off to Smith was erroneous, he said.

Police believe Smith acted alone.

Fitch thanked the public and the media for their assistance in the case. He told reporters, "You and the public put pressure on Mr. Smith."

Alisa was abducted from the front lawn of her Louisiana, Mo., home Monday evening, shortly after her mother called her to dinner. Her 6-year-old brother was the only eyewitness, and he provided police with a description of the man and the car. Alisa reappeared almost 26 hours later, wandering alone at a car wash in Fenton.

Fitch said he wasn't sure why Smith chose Fenton to drop the girl off. He said Smith has a relative in south St. Louis but police were unaware of any dealings he had in Fenton.

Fitch also said that Smith was familiar with Lousiana, Mo., but police aren't sure what brought him to that area Monday, the day of the kidnapping.

Meanwhile Thursday morning, Roy Harrison, the quotable grandfather, told the Post-Dispatch that Alisa was watching a television newscast in a St. Louis area hotel room with her mother and father when she saw a picture of Smith flash on the screen Wednesday.

"Without prompting, she said, 'He cut my hair,'" Harrison said.

The kidnapper apparently cut Alisa's hair to disguise her or make her look like a boy.

Separately, back in the girl's hometown of Louisiana, Mo., Alisa's brother, 6-year-old Blake, was watching television with his grandmother and aunt. Blake was the lone witness to the abduction. He too recognized Smith's photograph, Harrison said.

"Blake said, 'That's the man,'" Harrison said. "And he was scared."

Harrison said that, after seeing Smith's mugshot, he thinks Blake did a great job of providing such a detailed description for a little boy under stress.

"I think he was right on," Harrison said.

Harrison joked that family members may be talking with Blake about a possible career in law enforcement, because he has an eye for detail.

Christine Byers of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

EARLIER VERSION

Suspect shoots himself

By PATRICK M. O'CONNELL    poconnell@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8126  STEPHEN DEERE   sdeere@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8116   and CHRISTINE BYERS  cbyers@post-dispatch.com > 314-863-2821

LOUISIANA, Mo.  -- The prime suspect in the abduction of a Louisiana, Mo., girl shot himself in the head when authorities closed in Wednesday afternoon, a day after the 4-year-old was found alive in a St. Louis County strip mall parking lot.

Police converged on the rural residence in Hawk Point in Lincoln County about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday after receiving information that the man who may have taken 4-year-old Alisa Maier lived there.

Police sources said the suspect is Paul S. Smith, a sex offender who lived at a home on Highway D in Hawk Point. Smith was spraypainting his car silver when police approached, a police source said. He lived nearly six hours after shooting himself.

Smith, 38, matches the general description of the abductor. His dark-colored car - the one he was painting - matched the description of the car involved in the abduction, police said.

Alisa was abducted from the front lawn of her Louisiana home Monday evening, shortly after her mother called her to dinner. She reappeared almost 26 hours later, wandering alone at a car wash in Fenton.

She was reunited with her parents, David Maier and Kimberly Harrison, early Wednesday morning at the county police's Fenton precinct. Officers and family then drove into St. Louis at 4:30 a.m. to Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center, where doctors examined her.

Alisa's grandfather Roy Harrison told reporters that Alisa and her family were in a hotel in an undisclosed location and would not go home for a while. He said Alisa was fine.

"No harm at all," Harrison said when asked whether she had been hurt.

Police in St. Louis County would not discuss the medical examination of Alisa done Wednesday. Investigators said that when she was taken to the hospital late Tuesday night she was tired and did not say much.

Smith, the suspect, was convicted in 1995 of sodomy of a 10-year-old and served about 11 years in prison. He is listed on the Missouri sex offender registry as a noncompliant offender, meaning he has not informed authorities of his current address.

Records confirm Smith as linked to the Highway D address. Other records show addresses for him in St. Louis and in Rolla. Smith's middle name is variously listed in records as Steven and Serling.

TIP POINTS TO SUSPECT

A police source said a tip from one of Smith's relatives had pointed authorities to the suspect.

Lincoln County Capt. Shayne Duryea said three sheriff's deputies went to the property after the tip was passed along from Louisiana police. They approached the man in his driveway.

He had a handgun and they ordered him to put the gun down, Duryea said. He refused and shot himself in the head, Duryea said.

Smith received a suspended execution of sentence earlier this year for tampering with a motor vehicle and receiving stolen property in Lincoln County. He also served three days in jail two weeks ago after a 2009 guilty plea for marijuana possession and unlawful use of drug paraphernalia, according to court records.

Another person connected to the Highway D address, James B. Oellermann, also is listed on the state's sex offender registry. Oellermann, 54, was convicted of first-degree child molestation of a 7-year-old girl in Troy, Mo. He was sentenced in 2004 to five years in prison. Oellermann also has a prior conviction for possession of child pornography.

Police have not said that Oellermann was involved in Alisa's abduction.

Two people at the Fenton Car Wash, on Gravois Road just east of Missouri Highway 141, called police about 9:45 p.m. Tuesday to report having seen a little boy abandoned by a man who drove off in a dark-colored clunker. Officers soon learned that the child with a new short haircut was Alisa, the object of a wrenching day of searching and prayers in Louisiana.

‘HE'S MY HERO'

Before officers closed in on Smith, police said they were looking for a dark-colored, mid-sized four-door sedan, with no wheel covers on the driver's side and a blown or missing muffler. The description of the car by callers in Fenton was similar to the one given by Alisa's brother Blake, 5, the only person to witness the abduction.

"He's my hero," Roy Harrison, their grandfather, told reporters who camped in front of the family home on North Carolina Street, barely a block from the Louisiana city hall and police station. "I'd do a back flip if I could, but I'm just too dadgum old. I had faith we'd get her home. I won't lie to you and tell you that I wasn't worried about the worst."

So were many residents of this river town of 3,900. Hundreds spent Tuesday searching back roads and handing out fliers.

St. Louis County police chief Tim Fitch said county officer Sean Becker arrived first at the car wash and asked the child, "Are you a little boy or a little girl?" When she said she was a girl, Fitch said, Becker asked for her name.

"Alisa," the girl said.

Fitch said Becker then radioed to verify the full name of the missing girl in the northern Missouri Amber Alert. When he asked for her last name, she gave it.

Cardinal Glennon spokesman Bob Davidson said the family was exhausted but relieved.

"They're tired because they've been through a lot, but they're also elated," said hospital spokesman Bob Davidson. "Alisa was sitting on her mother's lap, and it looks like her mom will never let her go. Ultimately, it's the greatest of days because a little girl has been reunited with her family."

Davidson said David Maier asked him to thank the public for their prayers, concerns and volunteer work in the Louisiana area.

‘A GREAT THING'

While the family stayed away from their home Wednesday, residents dropped by North Carolina Street all day, leaving flowers, a homemade sign welcoming her home, balloons and other gifts.

"It was a great thing to wake up to," flower-bearing Barbara Deacon said of the good news. Another woman left a pink stuffed-toy puppy bearing Alisa's name.

At the Mercantile Bank downtown, the electronic sign board had flashed the Amber Alert of Alisa's disappearance all day Tuesday. On Wednesday, its scrolling letters said, "Welcome Home Alisa!!!"

The Elks Lodge parking lot, which had been jammed Tuesday with volunteers' vehicles, was empty Wednesday.

Jason Yoder, who works at a Shell station in town, said FBI agents came by to retrieve the station's surveillance video shortly after the investigation began. On Wednesday, he wondered whether all the canvassing and leafletting had put pressure on the kidnapper.

"It was a really good thing she was found so quickly," Yoder said.

Similar sentiments were expressed Wednesday near the Fenton Car Wash, where police tape marked off the scene. But the idea that the case reached Fenton seemed disturbing to people who passed by.

"It about gives me the chills," said Bob Connelly, an onlooker. "It's a miracle just to find her alive."

Jesse Bogan, Tim O'Neil, Denise Hollinshed and Susan Weich of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.