← The Miracle Files - True Miracle Stories
The Miracle Files - True Miracle Stories
The Missing Boy: The Kidnapping of Chris Carrier (Part Two) | Ep. 74
00:29:47
Just days before Christmas, 10-year-old Chris vanished without a trace. For nearly a week, his family, the FBI, and local authorities searched desperately as hope began to fade. Then, against all odds, a miracle happened. But that wasn't the end of...
Loading summary
Transcript93 lines
- [00:00]
Holly Worthington
This episode is brought to you by bond charge. Visit boncharge.com using promo code Miracle to show your support.
- [00:08]
Emily Jones
Chris's father and uncle suspected a man named David McAllister.
- [00:13]
Chris Carrier
His alcoholism had gotten in the way in the work he was performing, and so my father was the one who had terminated him.
- [00:21]
Emily Jones
They informed the police and officers went to David McAllister's home to investigate.
- [00:27]
Chris Carrier
There was no fingerprint evidence, no blood samples, hair samples, no evidence. He'd had a full week, effectively, to clean his vehicle.
- [00:41]
Emily Jones
This is the MIRACLE files. I'm Emily Jones.
- [00:44]
Holly Worthington
And I'm Holly Worthington. We're two sisters who love a captivating true story, but we're also seeking more light in our lives.
- [00:53]
Emily Jones
So we're on a mission to find and share unforgettable, uplifting stories of God's miracles. We hope you'll join us on this journey.
- [01:04]
Holly Worthington
Welcome back to THE MIRACLE files. We know we made you wait a whole week to hear the second part of Chris Carrier's story, so we won't make you wait any longer. But here's a quick recap of last week's episode.
- [01:18]
Chris Carrier
And I remember saying, look, if you'll just let me go, I won't tell anybody.
- [01:23]
Emily Jones
The man ordered Chris to the back of the RV and told him to sit on the floor and stay still.
- [01:29]
Chris Carrier
And he gave me a stern warning that said, look, you can't try to get anybody's attention. If you do anything like that, I'm just going to come back there and shoot you.
- [01:38]
Emily Jones
Chris looked down at his dark green polo shirt, now speckled with blood. Gravel crunched under the tires as they moved farther away from civilization and we
- [01:48]
Chris Carrier
walked out to the edge where a few trees were and he said, why don't you just sit down right here? That gentleman pulled a small pistol from his pocket right up to the temple of my head and pulled the trigger.
- [02:03]
Emily Jones
Young Chris lay unconscious in the thick, swampy wilderness.
- [02:07]
Chris Carrier
Then Chris stirred in my mind. It was still Friday, December 20th, and so I sat down on the edge of that dusty country road, figuring I'll wait for dad. And of course, my father had no clue where I'd been for the last six days.
- [02:31]
Emily Jones
We have so much to talk about after Chris's story is finished. But for now, Part two. In Coral Gables, Florida, his family had become frantic with worry when 10 year old Chris hadn't come home from school. What followed were horrible, haunting, sleepless nights without any news of his whereabouts. Since Chris had gone missing on December 20, the police, the FBI, friends and family gathered Daily at Chris parents home to continue the search. The FBI had set up a phone station to monitor every incoming call, hoping for even the smallest lead. But with each passing day, the crowd seemed to lose more hope. Christmas came and went, an excruciating day for Chris's parents. By December 26, the police had to speak with them honestly. The odds of finding Chris alive were getting slimmer and slimmer. Out in the Florida Everglades, a little boy sat alone at the edge of a lonely dirt road. 10 year old Chris hugged his knees, watching the empty road stretch before him. He had been told to wait there for his father, so he waited. At first he was sure his dad would appear at any moment. Every distant sound made him look up, hoping to see headlights in the distance. But minute after minute passed and still no cars. As daylight faded back in Coral Gables, Chris father said a prayer. In desperation, he surrendered everything to the lord. He'd contacted everyone he knew to contact. He'd looked everywhere he knew to look. He'd done all he knew to do. All this father could do now was plead with the lord. Miles away, a white pickup truck came barreling down a dusty road. The driver was heading home from a hunting trip after a long day in the woods. As the last bit of sunlight disappeared across the Florida countryside, something caught the driver's eye. Up ahead, near the side of the road, a small shape came into view, barely visible in the dim light. The man pressed his brakes, squinting through his windshield. Was that a person? Was that a child?
- [05:10]
Chris Carrier
The driver saw me sitting there and he slowed down, rolled the window down and he leaned over and he said, hey, son, what are you doing out here? And I said, I'm just waiting on my father. Waiting on my daddy.
- [05:23]
Emily Jones
The driver of the pickup truck must have been absolutely shocked.
- [05:28]
Chris Carrier
And he could see what I couldn't. He could see the two black eyes and the bloody mess that I apparently looked like. And so he reached over, opened up the side door, passenger door and said, hop in. He took me back to where he was staying with his kids. He was out camping, out hunting in the area, gave me something to eat and took me straight away to the local Florida sheriff department. There, near Naples, Florida,
- [06:00]
Emily Jones
in Coral Gables, the sunlight was also setting over a family and a father whose only hope was a miracle from God. As dinner was wrapping up, all of the men and officers walked outside to get some fresh air.
- [06:15]
Chris Carrier
My aunt was in the kitchen washing the dishes while my mom in her wheelchair was with friends in the dining room. And the phone rang and it was the sheriff's department over on the west side of Florida. And so they said, can we talk to the officer? And of course, my aunt is just listening in. And she went out and said, hey, Hugh, you need to come in and take this call. While my dad was praying, surrendering it all to God. Unbeknownst to him, I had been found and was being taken to the sheriff's department and within minutes would be able to talk to him on the phone.
- [06:58]
Emily Jones
Chris's father gripped the phone, phone in his hands, desperately hoping for some kind of good news. But when he lifted the phone to his ear, he heard more than excitement from the sheriff. He heard something even better. He heard the voice of his son.
- [07:16]
Chris Carrier
And so my dad got on the phone with me there at the sheriff's department, and of course, they had fielded a handful of ransom calls and fake, fake things. And so my dad knew I have to ask real questions that only Chris would know. And so he asked me, he said, what's the name of our dog? And I said, killer. You could sense his heart, feet rising. And he said, what's the number on your sailboat that you learned to sail in? And I answered, And I said, CR17. And my dad just let out a hoot and holler and knew that I was alive. And so that was just a wonderful moment in which his prayer was answered. The miracle that he had hoped for had been answered.
- [08:06]
Emily Jones
And this is where our story could end. Except it didn't. You might think Chris's captor would face charges for kidnapping and attempted murder, but that's not how this story goes. Chris's father and uncle suspected a man named David McAllister. From early on, he was a caregiver for Chris great uncle. And unfortunately, Chris's dad fired David McAllister when it wasn't working out.
- [08:34]
Chris Carrier
He was supposedly a recovering alcoholic, but his alcoholism had gotten in the way in the work he was performing and the safety of our uncle. And so my father was the one who had terminated him and said, look, we just can't have that kind of behavior around this elderly relative. And so my uncle and my dad had figured out, hey, this could be David McAllister, because we fired him. He had the motive. He has an RV.
- [09:02]
Emily Jones
They informed the police, and officers went to David McAllister's home to investigate.
- [09:09]
Chris Carrier
And so he came to the door and basically said, I figured you'd have been here sooner, but he wasn't confessing. And he would even say, I didn't do it. He took the polygraphs, he came down to the station for questioning.
- [09:22]
Emily Jones
The police had their man. But back in the 1970s, forensic evidence only consisted of fingerprints, Blood type matching, and witness testimony.
- [09:33]
Chris Carrier
He'd had a full week, effectively, to clean his vehicle.
- [09:37]
Emily Jones
The investigators couldn't find any forensic evidence to convict David mcallister, so they relied heavily on Chris's testimony, which didn't go according to plan.
- [09:49]
Chris Carrier
I missed him in the lineup. I couldn't be certain. And of course, I think I was more intimidated over the simple fact that if I point the finger at this man and I'm not sure and I'm wrong, then I've got somebody out there who clearly wanted to kill me, and now I've got somebody who I'm changing his life, and I may have two enemies, and the fact that he was wearing sunglasses. Through my experience and not in the lineup, I could not be certain.
- [10:20]
Emily Jones
With no way to tie David mcallister to the crime, Chris had no choice but to move forward, Trying not to let fear rule him. Knowing his captor was still out there, Chris lived with a heightened awareness that the world he had trusted without question required more caution than he had once believed. Life resumed. School, friendships, routines. But fear still surfaced at night. Still, he was drawn forward rather than held back, Sustained by faith.
- [11:00]
Chris Carrier
And those friends and those in that church, the Sunday school teachers, the pastors, the youth ministers, the parents just were so grace filled and loving around me that I remember just my affection for Christ grew to the point that at age 13, at a campus life meeting, I remember just getting down on my knees and I remember praying and asking Christ to be a part of my life, to be the one who could save me, me from all of this anxiety and all of this fear. And he did. And he did. And so I went through high school and began to grow and regain some confidence in public of not wondering, where is this guy and what's he look like and does he still want me dead and why did he want me dead?
- [11:47]
Emily Jones
Chris soon realized his story was not his own. A close friend in that church youth group challenged Chris to tell his story, and he began sharing it with others, helping them to increase their faith as well. For more than two decades, the man responsible for the crime against Chris was never convicted.
- [12:10]
Chris Carrier
And so through the years, people would ask, as I would share, whether it was in a small group or church or school, People would ask me, what would you do if you came face to face with that man today? He came around the corner and there he was, stopped in the tracks. You're an adult, he's an older adult. What would you do? What would you say?
- [12:32]
Emily Jones
Chris had convinced himself that David McAllister was long gone. He'd probably moved somewhere far away and was unlikely to ever return. The possibility of running into David McAllister again felt non existent. So it was easy to say he would forgive him. Then, in 1996, Chris received a call from the chief of detectives at the Coral Gables police department. He told Chris that David McAllister had been living in a nursing home in north Miami. He was now 77 years old, blind and nearing the end of his life. The chief explained that after many conversations with investigators, David McAllister had finally confessed to the kidnapping. The chief paused, then asked Chris a question. Would he like to meet David McAllister? Chris felt his chest tightening.
- [13:31]
Chris Carrier
Here it was the question that I thought would never happen, the opportunity that I thought could never be a possibility. And I couldn't recall how many times I was on the hook for saying, well, I would forgive him. It's almost a moment in which you step back and in prayer you look up to the heavens and say, lord, did you. Did you set me up for this?
- [13:53]
Emily Jones
After weighing the decision carefully, Chris agreed to see the man, the subject of his nightmares, in person.
- [14:05]
Chris Carrier
I went with my very first youth pastor from when I was just an 1112 year old and Danny went with me to this North Miami nursing home. And of course from the car to that room was just nerve wracking. You know, what's he going to look like? Is he still bigger than me? Is this going to be intimidating? Will it bring back a flood of emotions and fears and memories? And I walked into that room and all I could see was a 77 year old man who looked decades older. He weighed about 60 pounds. He was blind from glaucoma. He was all alone in a three bedroom. All of his possessions were in a handful of drawers. He had, according to their records, two children. But nobody listed his next of kin. Nobody came to see him, nobody wanted to see him. He was just a very hard hearted, broken man.
- [15:13]
Emily Jones
What followed was pure discomfort for Chris. An awkward conversation that Chris didn't even know how to begin.
- [15:23]
Chris Carrier
I just remember saying, Mr. McAllister, I heard that you confessed. And he shot me down. He said, I didn't confess to anything. You heard fairy tales.
- [15:33]
Emily Jones
Chris was taken aback. He thought he'd come to hear a confession. What he found instead was a belligerent old man, still full of anger and venom. But Chris's friend Danny was not going to let David off that easy.
- [15:49]
Chris Carrier
Well, Danny began to ask him very pointed, very specific, straightforward questions. Do you know the Carrier family? Yep. Do you know Mr. Carrier's son, Chris? Yeah. Did you ever go anywhere, just the two of you? Yep. Where'd you go? He said, we went hunting. Different spin on it, I guess. Danny asked him. He said, when you were doing, where did you take him? Did you take him home or did you leave him? And that old man began to cry as he threw those tears, said, I left him. And Danny leaned in a little closer, and he said, did you ever wish you could tell that boy you were sorry? And the tears just flowed. He began to cry and weep. And Danny told him. He said, well, that young boy is now the young man who was on the other side of the bed that was just speaking with you. Isn't there something you want to tell him? And you'd have thought he could see me because he found a way to roll over in the bed, and he grabbed my hand and through the tears, apologized to me. And it was just a surreal moment.
- [17:06]
Emily Jones
Words cried Chris never thought he'd hear filled his heart and soul.
- [17:11]
Chris Carrier
And I told him, I said, Mr. McAllister, I want you to know that I forgive you. And that from this moment forward, the only thing between yourself and myself is a newfound friendship. And I read a scripture from James that said, mercy triumphs over judgment. And so I want you to know I forgive you. And honestly, as we left that day, I told him, I said, I. I don't have a job at the moment. I've just resigned. I'm getting ready to move to Texas, so my schedule is open. If it's okay with you, I'm going to come back tomorrow so that we can continue to talk, because I want to get to know the last 22 years. Years of your life and tell you about mine. And so as we left, I remember saying to him, get some rest now, because I'll come back and see you tomorrow. And he said, oh, I will. Now.
- [18:16]
Emily Jones
In the days that followed, Chris returned. He and David talked. They spent time together. Chris brought his wife, Leslie, and two daughters to meet David. At 77 years old, after a troubled and lonely life, David McAllister had made a friend, a true friend in the most unlikely of people. And now Chris wanted to introduce David to someone else. So one day, Chris woke up and told his wife there was something he needed to do. One day, Chris woke up and told his wife there was something he needed to do.
- [19:02]
Chris Carrier
And I said, I just have to make sure I tell him about the hope that I've experienced in Christ. And so I went there that Sunday morning. He allowed me to share the gospel with him. And then I asked him, I said, would you like to pray and receive Christ so that our friendship can be an eternal one? And he said, I would, but I've never done this before, so you're going to have to help me. And of course, I'm shaking in my boots. I've never done it this way. I said, don't worry. God will be with us. And we prayed that prayer.
- [19:35]
Emily Jones
Just three weeks after Chris had first walked into the hospital room, David McAllister passed away. When Chris got the call, he felt deep sadness. But mingled with that sorrow was an overwhelming sense of gratitude. If Chris had waited, he never would have met David, never would have had the chance to forgive him in person or tell him about Jesus. But it wasn't until weeks later that Chris began to understand just how much those visits had meant to David.
- [20:09]
Chris Carrier
About a month later, we got a call to go up and do the Oprah Winfrey Show. And so I'm on the stage with Oprah, and she pulls up a clip from cnn. One of the reporters, Susan Candiotti, had gone into that nursing home, and of course, I hadn't seen this clip, had no clue, but this just to me tells you the nature of what God can do. The clip was Susan Candy leaning in and asking him. She said, Mr. McAllister, what do you make of this carrier guy to come in and to forgive? And his response to her was, he's the best friend I've ever had.
- [20:50]
Emily Jones
Chris's story, David's story is a complicated one. It stretches across years, connecting two men together from the most horrific of circumstances that resulted in the most beautiful of miracles. A child taken in the middle of an ordinary afternoon, left to die in a place where survival should have never been possible. Found alive after six days, decades later, the perpetrator and survivor sitting together in one room not to revisit what had happened, but to respond to it in a way that changed the ending. Once Chris had been a child who'd said the simplest of prayers with all the faith he could muster. Father? Well, you know, words that seemed to stop at the ceiling of an old rv, but words that instead extended beyond time and space. And yes, God had known. He'd known David and he'd known Chris, and he'd known the power of both faith and forgiveness.
- [22:02]
Holly Worthington
Oh, this story, it just. It really gets me choked up every time I hear it. And that little boy's prayer, the prayers of the community, Chris's parents, prayers. Like, you just feel the power of all of it. And in fact, we have a prayer chain letter that was sent out six citywide by his church that we've got to read to you, because if this doesn't give you chills, I don't know what will.
- [22:24]
Emily Jones
Okay, so first they tell everyone what happened. Chris Carrier, age 10, a Westminster Christian School student, who, after departing from the school bus, disappeared. And the prayer request is, lord, keep him safe and return him home, that you may get the glory as we pray in unity and one accord. Then again, two days after Chris went missing, another prayer request was sent out. Thank you, Lord, for putting your angels around him to keep him safe until he is found. And, you know, There was only two prayer requests sent out. First on the 20th, then on the 22nd. But there's a remark at the bottom that explains why it says, after the first day of prayer, two separate groups felt assured that angels had been sent to protect and keep him until he was found. And that we were to praise God and not ask anymore. Also, we were to pray for the soul of the man who abducted him. It's so interesting. There were multiple groups of people that felt like there were angels looking over Chris, and that's what Chris said.
- [23:26]
Holly Worthington
And there had to have been.
- [23:27]
Emily Jones
Absolutely. This is such an emotional journey. Like, I am so inspired by this story and the fact that Chris was able to forgive this man.
- [23:38]
Chris Carrier
Oh, yeah.
- [23:39]
Emily Jones
But I gotta be honest, like, I found myself struggling with that. I found myself struggling to forgive this man because I disgusted with him and. And angry at him, and I didn't even know him.
- [23:50]
Holly Worthington
I know when he. When Chris said he was gonna go and visit this man and. And try to talk to him, I just thought, don't do it. It's just gonna bring up more pain, you know? And then when he said he was going to forgive him and he was so kind to him, there was part of me that was still angry about it. Like, how can you be so kind to this man who tried to kill you?
- [24:10]
Emily Jones
I know. And if you feel that just hearing his story, imagine it gives you a little glimpse of how hard it was for him to forgive. It's not like he said this came naturally for him. Yeah. He gave all the credit to God. He said God helped him get through that moment, which would be so hard. Here's a man who committed this horrific crime. He never served jail time. It kind of seems like he got away with it.
- [24:31]
Holly Worthington
Yeah.
- [24:32]
Emily Jones
But here's what Chris said about that
- [24:34]
Chris Carrier
While some would say how horrible and unfair that he never spent a day in jail, I would tend to argue and think his jail was not one of concrete walls and metal bars.
- [24:50]
Holly Worthington
That is really profound. And I think Chris is right. Like, I had someone commit a crime, a violent crime against my husband and me in 2013, and I've had to work through forgiveness. It is not easy. And Chris is just so inspiring to me.
- [25:07]
Emily Jones
Yeah. I'm so grateful that God helped him through that.
- [25:10]
Holly Worthington
Yes.
- [25:11]
Emily Jones
And not only did he forgive him, but for David, he referred to him as his best friend.
- [25:15]
Holly Worthington
Yeah.
- [25:16]
Emily Jones
Like, that meant so much to David, too. It's so inspiring. And I think a question that probably everyone has is, why did David do this?
- [25:25]
Holly Worthington
Like, what was his motive?
- [25:27]
Emily Jones
So here's what we do know. Like, as we mentioned in the story, he was upset with Chris's father because he felt like when he got fired, it wasn't justified and he wanted revenge. So he shows up at Chris's father's house, not really sure what he's gonna do. And here's what Chris said about that.
- [25:45]
Chris Carrier
He walked around the neighborhood, apparently, for a while, because the police found, I believe the number was 14 cigarette butts on the two corners of the sidewalk where our school bus corner was. I think he had a plan to do something, but he didn't know what it was. Our neighbor across the street, who was home for the break, was washing his car and said that he saw this man earlier walking up and down on our side of the street and at one point walk up the walkway towards our front door, then change his mind and walk back down and keep going down the street. So you figure, my mom was in a wheelchair. He could have easily walked in and shot her.
- [26:32]
Holly Worthington
Yeah. It is chilling to think about what would have happened if David McAllister had gone into that home where Chris's mom was sitting in her wheelchair. Oh, my gosh.
- [26:41]
Emily Jones
I know.
- [26:41]
Holly Worthington
And I know Chris is so grateful that that didn't happen. And this man was just out for revenge. He truly was. And he had truly let the adversary take over.
- [26:50]
Emily Jones
I know. And poor Chris just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
- [26:55]
Holly Worthington
Yeah.
- [26:56]
Emily Jones
But one question that I had was not only, like, how did he survive not being eaten by alligators, but how did he survive being shot in the head? And so here's what Chris said.
- [27:08]
Chris Carrier
So the bullet hits me right here. Temple. The bullet passed behind the eyes and exited clean here. Knocked me out on impact. It severed the optic nerve and did some damage to one of the Muscles, I think, on the top of the eye. I can't imagine how you explain a small bullet going through a small boy's skull. And, you know, my wife may say it did more brain damage, but I don't know that it did. It was interesting. I know when I was probably 13, my dad came in, sat on the bed, and said, I think you would do well to have plastic surgery, you know, do some cosmetic surgery to look normal. And I remember after the better part of three years, looking at my dad saying, why would we waste the money doing that? My friends are my friends. They've seen beyond the scars. They've seen beyond the fears. I've learned to adapt and live with it, and I'm fine with it.
- [28:11]
Holly Worthington
Chris is one of my heroes now.
- [28:14]
Emily Jones
I mean, same.
- [28:15]
Holly Worthington
I just love his story. Even though it's such a hard story. He. He depended on God the entire time. He still does, and he still gives God all the glory. It's just amazing to me, all the glory to God.
- [28:28]
Emily Jones
And one other thing I want to point out is just the timing of everything. Like, if the detectives hadn't found David when they did, if Chris hadn't shown up when he did. I mean, David died three weeks after Chris.
- [28:40]
Chris Carrier
Yep.
- [28:41]
Emily Jones
And to me, there's no coincidence in that timing.
- [28:44]
Holly Worthington
Yeah. No, you can definitely see God's hand throughout this whole experience. And forgiveness is hard, y'. All. We know it is. We know it's hard.
- [28:53]
Emily Jones
We're not saying it's easy, but God will help you.
- [28:55]
Holly Worthington
But if this story doesn't inspire you, I don't know what will.
- [28:59]
Emily Jones
Yeah, absolutely. All right, well, thank you guys for joining us. Thank you, Chris, for sharing the story with us.
- [29:04]
Holly Worthington
Thank you so much.
- [29:05]
Emily Jones
Make sure you subscribe to our podcast, and if you would be so kind, please leave us a review. It helps us a lot.
- [29:12]
Holly Worthington
Yes. And find us on social media. We would love to hear your thoughts about this story. I'm sure you have so many thoughts like we do, I think or question. We could probably talk about it forever. So, yeah, contact us there and have a wonderful week, everyone. Thank you for joining us. If you have a miracle to share, contact us@the Miracle Files.com or find us on social media. We release new episodes each Monday.
- [29:36]
Emily Jones
Yes. So don't forget Miracle Mondays. Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and YouTube for amazing video content as well.
- [29:44]
Holly Worthington
Join us next time as we discover more of God's miracles. And don't forget to look for his light in your own lives.