Kidnapper Nabbed

An alleged kidnapper was arrested two years and eight months after luring a 10-year-old Texhoma girl into his car for “sexual gratification” after his wife, who discovered he was having an affair, filed for divorce and turned him in to authorities.

After a failed sexual assault, the man freed the bound victim the day after her abduction over 200 miles away in Clovis, N.M.

According to the Guymon Daily Herald, Terrance Lynn McGuire, 27, of Canyon, Texas, was taken into custody without incident at approximately 8:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 7 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Canyon Police Department. He is now in custody in the Randall County Jail in Amarillo, Texas.

In June 2009 a tip from the suspect’s wife cracked the cold case wide-open, according to the detailed affidavit filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.

A series of recorded conversations between McGuire and his wife gave authorities an overwhelming amount of details into the crime as it was committed, what happened in the hours he kept the victim, how he reportedly had so much guilt he gave her money and the Texhoma Police Department’s phone number to call for help and released her at a gas station rather than kill her, and later took steps to cover up his crime.

The woman claimed she withheld information for over two years because they had two children, and she was scared of what he might do if she told. The suspect’s wife also allegedly knew about the crime, and reportedly concealed his clothes worn during the abduction and blasted through the media.

McGuire, originally from Liberal, Kan., sold and maintained weight scales for feedlots and grain elevators, and travelled from Kansas to his new home in Canyon often, which put him in Texhoma around 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 18, 2007, the day of the abduction.

In the affidavit, McGuire says he saw the little girl riding her bike alone going door to door, like she was selling something. He asked her for directions and alleged she said it would be easier if she just showed him and got in his car, so he gave her $5 for her donation.

Instead of letting her out of the vehicle as she asked, however, he drove on to Sunray, Texas, and attempted to sexually assault her, but stopped after lewdly touching her.

He described having the victim hide as he travelled on to Canyon, where he bound her with rope and switched vehicles due to news coverage. He then drove on to Clovis, claiming he did so because “bad things happen there.”

In the affidavit, McGuire blamed his action on a lack of sleep from traveling and said he prayed for the little girl, insisting he is not the same person he was two years ago and begged her to not bring it up. He repeatedly questioned if she was recording him, and even said he felt like he was “writing my own sentence to prison.”

Despite a reward of $25,000 leading to an arrest in the case, and the suspect’s wife and mother knowing about the incident, the only lead investigators had was a witness who reported the girl was seen talking to a white male in a car. When officers investigated the area, they only found her bicycle on it’s side in the ditch nearby.

A nationwide Amber Alert was issued and area agencies and regional media set up camp at the town’s community center.

The afternoon of Friday, Jan. 19, 2007, was when McGuire released the victim to call home.

Due to a snow storm, her reunion was delayed, but she later arrived physically unharmed and joined her anxiously awaiting father, his fiance, her mother, grandparents and siblings.

Since the kidnapping, variations of exactly what happened were alleged, but until now a suspect was not named.

According to FBI Special Agent in charge of Oklahoma, James E. Finch, McGuire was charged Aug. 5, 2009, in the Western District of Oklahoma with violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1201 (a) (1), Kidnapping.

The investigation is being conducted by the FBI, Texas County Sheriff’s Office, Texhoma Police Department, First Judicial District Attorney’s Office, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Guymon Police Department, Oklahoma Highway Patrol and Clovis Police Department.

The case is being prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office, Western District of Oklahoma.