Lacey Lyn Overby has said she was kidnapped by a homeless man after she purchased food for him, in DeSoto, Texas.
Lacey has said that she purchased Mexican food for the man at around 3.30pm on Thursday February 1, 2024. Reports say that she was on the phone with her daughter during the purchase. The daughter heard commotion and Lacey’s phone died.
Police issued a Clear Alert for Lacey that day.
A Clear Alert is issued for missing, kidnapped or abducted adults who are in immediate danger. It stands for Coordinated Law Enforcement Adult Rescue.
Police said the suspect in the case was a Hispanic male between the ages of 25 and 35. Police said he was bald and was wearing a blue and white plaid shirt.
According to DeSoto’s Lieutenant Chris Huerta, Lacey was found at the US/Mexico border at around 11pm on Thursday. Lacey was found in Laredo, Texas which is around 6 hours drive from DeSoto.
Police stated Overby was the one who alerted the authorities that she was being held against her will while on the bridge.
Police searched the vehicle and were unable to find her suspected kidnapper. It is unclear how escape occurred.
After Lacey was found, there was radio silence. There was no manhunt for the suspect and all media agencies went quiet on the case. As of February 15, there have been no other updates.
Lacey did release this statement:
On February 12, Lacey gave an interview to Fox 4 News. There is some footage of the interview and she asked them not to show her face. The agency did also not use her name.
The woman says on Feb. 1, she had just finished work as a nurse when she saw a man near a Taco Casa in Lancaster. She bought him tacos. She tells FOX4 she left the taco casa gas station, saw the man, and tried to give him the food in nearby DeSoto. She described what happened next.
“I rolled it down, not very far. Enough for me to give him the food,” she said.
The woman says the man reached his arm into her car, put it in park and hopped in her backseat.
“It happened within 10 seconds, if that,” she said.
The woman says the man told her to get on I-35 and drive south.
At one point while he was distracted, she says she texted her daughter with a code phrase they set up for emergencies.
“I texted her ‘purple pancakes.’ I was able to get that out with my left hand,” she said.
She was also able to describe her kidnapper. Her daughter called police.
“A little bit after San Antonio, it just kind of changes, and I realized I was going south. Very much south,” she said.
The woman says they made three stops: one for gas, another for the man to use the bathroom and a final stop about 20 miles from the border where she says he got out of the car.
“I was instructed to stay on that road, drive through the border, not to the border, like people are saying. Through the border. After I go through the border, I go 20 miles and turn around. That was it,” she said.
During the hours-long drive, she says the man assaulted her and forced her to take pills.
“Yes, I was assaulted physically. I was strangled,” she said. “I had no choice in this matter, so I took what was in his hand, and I swallowed it with water.”
Once he was out of the car, the woman says she repeatedly hit her OnStar call button. Finally, she got ahold of someone, who said they were getting help for her.
“I was telling her, ‘I’m literally at the border. I don’t think you realize I’m right here,’” she said. “She told me, ‘Whatever you do, don’t drive through.’”
Eventually, the woman says she encountered Border Patrol agents while the OnStar representative was still speaking with her. She was taken to a hospital in Laredo for evaluation.
“Don’t think that’ll never happen to me,” she said. “It does happen, and it did happen.”
The woman said she’s aware of negative comments about her story and has a message for anyone who is doubting her.
“That was completely out of line, very out of line. You don’t know what my children went through in those hours,” she said. “I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and wanted to give a guy a taco. That’s it.”
The woman says during the drive, the man took her driver’s license, a picture of her daughter and her cell phone.
FOX 4 reached out to DeSoto police to ask if they had any updates in the case. They said it is an ongoing investigation.
A member of the public reached out to the DeSoto Police Department for an update on the case and received this message:
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