DESOTO, Texas — A 37-year-old woman who police believed was kidnapped in North Texas on Thursday was found safe in Laredo, according to a police update early Friday.
Now, investigators are waiting to interview the woman to better understand what happened and learn more about the suspect.
On Thursday night, DeSoto police issued a Clear Alert searching for Lacey Lyn Overby, saying she was last seen around 3:30 p.m. in the 1300 block of East Parkerville Road in DeSoto. Police said it was known she was at a Taco Casa buying a meal for what appeared to be a homeless man.
The man, who police say was their suspect, was described as a bald Hispanic man between the ages of 25 and 35. He was last seen wearing a blue-and-white plaid shirt.
Shortly after midnight, DeSoto police posted that Overby was found safe in Laredo, about six hours south of DeSoto.
On Friday, members of the DeSoto Police Department updated the public about the case. Lt. Chris Huerta said that Overby had spotted the homeless man at a gas station off of Parkerville Rd. and told her daughter that she was going to Taco Casa in Lancaster to get him some food and then head home for the day.
Huerta said that Overby had just finished a shift as a nurse with a home health business.
Something happened between the two when she returned to give the homeless man his meal. Overby was reportedly on the phone with her daughter when she was dropping off the food, and the daughter called the police when she heard a disturbance between her mother and the homeless man, fearing she was in distress.
Huerta said Overby was found hours later trying to enter Mexico but was alone, driving her car. He stated that she alerted local and federal authorities about being kidnapped.
The homeless man is still at large, and as of late Friday night, his intent and other details about the kidnapping were unknown. Huerta said the department is still waiting to interview Overby in more depth to establish a better timeline.
Investigators also pulled video from the gas station where the meal exchange happened to identify the homeless man better. Federal authorities are also assisting.
Calls and texts to Overby for comment have yet to be returned. Still, her daughter did post on social media that the family would like privacy and that "Watch out for people even if they look harmless…all my mom was trying to do was help a man who looked starved & it turned out to be something much worse."