Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 42:13 — 58.0MB)
The Texas Rangers constitute the oldest state law enforcement organization in North America, dating to 1823.
You can read more about the Texas Rangers’ history and influence on popular culture on our blog at the True Crime ReporterÂŽwebsite.
Robert and Bill interview retired Ranger Captain Bob Prince, a legendary modern-day Texas Ranger, about his most memorable case.
Our story begins with the rescue of 13-year-old Amy McNiel of Alvarado, Texas, from five kidnappers in mid-January of 1985.
It captures the frontier spirit and courage of the officers who wear the distinctive 5-star badge of the Texas Rangers.
The teenage daughter of Don McNiel, a pioneer in the development of the first hand-held calculator, was snatched at gunpoint on the way to school.
Kidnappers ran a jeep driven by her 17-year-old brother off the road and put a sawed-off shotgun to his face as they grabbed his sister.
They demanded a $100,000 ransom for the seventh graderâs safe return but had no intention of releasing the teenage girl alive.
Throughout McNielâs abduction, the five kidnappers snorted and injected drugs and talked about âdrivingâ to Hawaii with the ransom money.
The teen defiantly insisted that her captors feed a hungry dog in their backyard before she would cooperate.
Their ringleader, 34-year James Wesley Foote, lived near the McNielâs mansion and his son was her school classmate but unknown to her. Footeâs son had once stabbed a fellow student in the arm with a knife.Â
Two weeks before McNielâs abduction, Foote who was wanted for attempted murder had burst into the home of a prominent businessman in Arlington near Fort Worth, Texas to kidnap his two young children.
The familyâs housekeeper wrestled Footeâs gun away from him and fought him in a bloody 45-minute struggle.
The gun discharged near her head, and Foote fled.
A few weeks later, Foote and his accomplices then abducted 13-year-old Amy McNiel
In this episode of Texas Ranger Files, retired Ranger Captain Bob Prince remembers a tension-filled 48-hour, 600-mile game of cat and mouse and a 100-mph running gunbattle.
FOLLOW the True Crime ReporterÂŽ Podcast
SIGN UP FOR my True Crime Newsletter
THANK YOU FOR THE FIVE-STAR REVIEWS ON APPLE Please leave one â it really helps.
TELL ME about a STORY OR SUBJECT that you want to hear more about
