By David Lohr

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March 8, 2007

BRADENTON, Fla.  (Crime Library ) —  Vicente Ignacio Beltran-Moreno, 22, surrendered to the FBI yesterday at the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. Beltran-Moreno had been on the run since last month when a young boy he kidnapped managed to escape and notify authorities.

On Feb. 23, 13-year-old Clay Moore was abducted at gunpoint from his school bus stop in Parrish. The gunman drove the boy to a secluded area and tied him to a tree with duct tape. Rather than await his abductor's return, Clay took control of the situation. 

Clay's mother and stepfather described his daring actions to reporters during a Feb. 27 news conference. According to his stepfather, Clay's mind went into overdrive after the kidnapping, and he started to formulate an escape plan.  During the 20-mile ride with his abductor, Clay took a safety pin off his coat and slid it into his mouth.

"I asked him last night when we were kind of going over the story, 'What made you think to put a safety pin in your mouth,'" Clay's stepfather, Steve Kelle, said.  "In his words, he said, 'I just thought it would be helpful.'"

After his abductor tied him to the tree, Clay waited until the coast was clear and then used the safety pin to pick apart the duct tape. Once he got it loose, he used his teeth to bite through it and then managed to twist his body out of it. 

"There has been a lot of questions about this safety pin. Inadvertently, he had ripped a hole in his jacket. Instead of buying him a new one, we told him basically, 'Pin it up.'"

Once free from his restraints, Clay managed to find a farmer in a nearby field. Using the man's cell phone, he called home and told his family what had happened. 

"When I got his phone call, it was the best thing that had ever happened in my life," Traci Kelle said. "I'm so proud of him."

Investigators took a composite sketch of the kidnapper and distributed it to nearby migrant worker camps. It was not long before someone identified the suspect as Beltran-Moreno, a Mexican national laborer who was illegally working at a camp east of Bradenton.

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Contact  David Lohr at           crimewriter74@hughes.net

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