Kidnapped and Held Hostage for Days, One 11-Year-Old Managed to Outwit Her Captor and Document Her Surroundings  By Virginia Chamlee

One 11-year-old girl survived the unthinkable: four days bound and gagged by her abductor — before making a series of quick decisions that ultimately saved her life.

It was May 2001 when convicted sex offender Gary Dale Cox snatched Leah Henry off the street near her home in Houston, Texas.

Despite that she was bound and gagged for four days in a remote cabin near Kerrville, Texas, Henry was able to free one hand, scribbling notes to describe her situation and photographing the cabin using a camera she had in her backpack.

On May 4, Cox placed Henry in his car outside when a police officer named Sgt. David Billeiter pulled up to investigate a report of suspicious activity.

Per CBS News, law enforcement officials had searched for Leah for three days using helicopters, cars, and dogs — and believed she was with Cox, being held in the rural Texas town, per a tip. As Cox walked toward Leah’s side of the car with his gun drawn, she bolted out to safety.

As Billeiter told PEOPLE shortly after the ordeal, “Leah knew the danger, and she seized the opportunity.”

Cox, meanwhile, fatally shot himself as police closed in.

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Leah was taken to a hospital after being rescued, with Slidell Police Chief Ben Morris telling reporters: “The main thing is this child is safe and the individual is dead. The perpetrator is in the hands of God, and hopefully (God) has washed his hands of him and put him where he belongs.”

Authorities had been on the lookout for Cox after they grew suspicious that he had been responsible for two other, similar abductions: those of 11-year-old Lisa Bruno, who was abducted from near her suburban New Orleans home in April 2001, and 9-year-old Nykema Augustine, who was abducted in San Antonio in March 2001. Both girls were held captive for days before being released. They each gave similar descriptions, which closely matched Cox.

In a reunion filmed for Lifetime in 2015, Billeiter called the rescue “a divine appointment,” saying, “If I had been a few minutes late, ya’ll could have passed me on the road and I never would have known, because he had changed the color of the car.”

“You drove up at the perfect time and you saved my life,” Leah said.