A 9-year-old girl took the stand on Tuesday and identified Thomas Campbell Headley as the man who kidnapped and sexually abused her nearly two years ago.
Headley, 31, Snowville, is charged with child kidnapping, sexual abuse of a child and aggravated kidnapping of the Deweyville girl in March 1987.The victim took the stand on the second day of the 1st District Court trial and told of her abuction from a schoolyard and her release hours later in rural Idaho.
Headley is the second man to be charged in the case. In August 1987 jurors in Brigham City convicted Frank James Harvey, 50, Elmo, Wash., although the child never positively identified him as her assailant.
Harvey had served four months of a 15-year sentence in Utah State Prison when new evidence prompted authorities to release him. Headley was later arrested. A chance of venue to Logan was granted because of excessive publicity in Brigham City.
Harvey, who was cleared of all charges, has filed a civil rights suit in federal court against Box Elder County, its sheriff's department and two deputies.
The victim, 6 years old at the time of the kidnapping, testified that she had taken a gymnastics class at the Bear River Middle School in Garland on March 24, 1987, and was waiting outside for a ride home when a man forced her into a blue, four-door car.
The child said she was with the man several hours, during which time he sexually molested her. The girl told the court she was released in Malta, Idaho, and gave her a dime with which to telephone her parents.
Edwin and Linda Schlender of Malta each testified the child rang their doorbell about 1:40 a.m. and asked for help. The couple testified they called the girl's parents and then notified authorities, who took the victim to Cassia Memorial Hospital in Burley, Idaho.