S.F. shopper helps capture fugitive, kidnap victim

(12-10) 21:01 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- A relieved Virginia police chief extended an emotional thank-you from across the country to a San Francisco woman who spotted a fugitive sought in a slaying and kidnapping as she shopped at a Safeway in the Outer Richmond on Friday afternoon.

"We're so thankful to her - for a person to be that observant, 3,000 miles away, is almost incredible," Roanoke County Police Chief Ray Lavinder said about the unidentified shopper who recognized Jeffrey Scott Easley, 32, from a TV report and called police, leading to his arrest and the recovery of 12-year-old Brittany Mae Smith.

Roanoke authorities had feared the worst Monday when they found the child's mother, Tina Smith, 41, slain in her home near Salem, Va.

"It's an amazing ending to a story, and we were so concerned about what would be the outcome," said Teresa Hamilton Hall, a Roanoke County police spokeswoman. Four detectives, en route to San Francisco to complete the investigation, will thank the shopper personally, she said.

"We have no idea who it is, but in my eyes, whoever it is, they're a hero," Hall said.

Girl's father tearful

The father of the kidnap victim, who is a police officer in a nearby town, was tearful when he got the news his daughter had been found, Hall said.

"He expressed extreme relief - he was tearful, thanking God and thanking the officers and especially the woman who called in," she said.

Easley had been living with Brittany and her mother since October after meeting Tina Smith online last summer, according to Roanoke officials.

Tina Smith, who was employed at a local retirement home, had not been to work on Sunday, and co-workers discovered her body the next day when they came to check on her.

Police began a national manhunt, with Easley's mother tearfully pleading on television for him to give himself up. The only clue authorities had was that Easley and the girl were recorded on video buying a blue tent at a Walmart near the victim's home, possibly on the day of the slaying, believed to be Dec. 3.

Distinctive tattoos

On Friday, San Francisco police called Virginia police after the shopper spotted the fugitive and the girl at the Safeway at 48th Avenue and Fulton Street. They described distinctive tattoos Easley had on his calves to confirm his identity.

"We're immensely happy," Lavinder said late Friday, thanking both the alert shopper and San Francisco police for capturing the man and recovering the kidnap victim without incident.

The two, who were detained at about 1:30 p.m., had been living in a makeshift encampment near Ocean Beach, police said. The tent Easley had purchased at the Virginia Walmart was found in the encampment nearby, police said.

The child was placed in a shelter, and Easley was being held without bail on kidnapping charges.

E-mail Jaxon Van Derbeken at jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle