A young student is being hailed as a “Guardian Angel,” for saving an 8-year-old girl from kidnapping and sexual assault.
The North Carolina graduate student, Cody Byrd, was in a Biscuitville restaurant in Greensboro, just after Christmas when he saw a 55-year-old man behaving weirdly.
Byrd said that Timothy Fry, was paying too much of attention to an 8-year-old girl who was with her mother in the restaurant. “It’s just the way he was staring way too intently and that’s what really kind of made me think ‘OK something’s not right,” Byrd said.
As soon as the girl went to the women’s restroom, Byrd saw Fry following her from behind. He knew something wasn’t right and followed Fry trying to figure out how he would stop Fry from harming the child. “I just tried to think ‘OK how am I going to play this because I knew he was up to something,” Byrd said.
“As soon as I heard the women’s bathroom door open that’s when and I saw the girl coming out and he tried to grab her and I confronted him about it.”
As Byrd confronted him, the man became scared and ran out of the restaurant, leaving a visibly shaken girl, who let out a whimper and ran back to her mother. “I was honestly thinking ‘Should I try to grab him? Should I pull him down?” Byrd recalled. “And something popped into my head ‘No, just take some pictures and call 911.’”
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Fry was arrested hours later and charged with attempted kidnapping and indecent liberties, after Byrd took photos of him. He had many DUI charges and previous indecent liberties charges on his criminal record.
Fry told a Greensboro police officer that he was planning to kidnap the girl and that he was sexually attracted to her. The victim’s mother, Heather Owen, thanked Byrd for his actions, hugging him and deeming him a “guardian angel.”
The North Carolina A&T University graduate student said detectives from the Greensboro Police Department thanked him but is modest about what he did. “I think I more just look at it as someone who was there doing their civil duty, helping someone when I saw a situation of danger,” Byrd said.
Biscuitville is grateful that there are good Samaritans right here in our community! We can think of no better example…
Posted by Biscuitville on Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Byrd is a student of computer science, and credits his Eagle Scout training with giving him the critical thinking skills to know something was amiss. Biscuitville awarded Byrd with a Good Citizen Award, giving him free breakfast for a year. That’s an awesome effort by Byrd to save the life of the 8-year-old girl, he is a true role model for every young person out there.
