2 Kidnapped Calif. Girls Found Safe
By Christina Almeida
Associated Press Writer
Thursday, August 1, 2002; 5:03 PM
LANCASTER, Calif. –– Two teenage girls abducted at gunpoint early Thursday from a lovers' lane were rescued 12 hours later and their kidnapper was shot to death by law officers, authorities said.
"The girls are safe in the custody of Kern County," said Los Angeles County Assistant Sheriff Larry Waldie.
Tamara Brooks, 16, and Jacqueline Marris, 17, were abducted about 1 a.m. in the Quartz Hill area of Los Angeles County by a gunman who left the girls' dates bound with duct tape. The crime set off a manhunt across the Southwest.
The kidnapper was identified as Roy Ratliff, who was wanted on unrelated rape charges.
Kern County sheriff's Cmdr. Chris Davis said Kern County officers, acting on a tip, spotted the kidnapper's Bronco and pursued it. Ratliff resisted and was shot by officers, Davis said.
The girls were found near Lake Isabella in Kern County.
Friends and relatives at the sheriff's command center here wept with joy and hugged when they learned the girls were safe.
"There are seven of us that always hang with each other, so if one of us is down we are always there to help one another," said Erika Bermudez, a friend of Tamara's.
© 2002 The Associated Press
glad they're safe 
i did'nt know that they were raped as well 