On Monday night, there was still no sign of the SUV that was stolen, but the little girl who was inside the car is now safe. The man who found her says she was articulate, smart and brave, all of which made getting her back to where she belonged easy.
After an hour of separation, a pat from her mother helped comfort the four-year-old girl. She was calm, exactly the way one man found her. The man didn't want us to identify him but says as he pulled into his driveway Monday night, he saw her by herself, eating candy but unfazed.
"I told her, 'Where's your mom?' and she says 'Some bad guy come and drop me off and my mom she's over there at Fallas,' ... so I kind of grabbed her and told her she was brave," the man said.
Houston police say the mother and daughter had just left the store in the 5800 block of Shotwell when a man demanded her keys. There was a struggle, the man wrestled them away from her and drove off with the little girl still in the back seat.
Less than a mile away in the 2400 block of Erastus, the father of three came home to find the little girl and made the reunion possible.
"I thank God she was here because if somebody else would have got her, you don't know what might have happened," the man said.
Police believe the carjacker randomly dropped off the girl outside that man's house before she was able to guide him back to the crime scene.
Police are still looking for that SUV, which was described as a black Nissan Xterra bearing the Texas license plate X20 CDX.
Anyone who spots it is urged to call Houston police Crime Stoppers at 713-222-8477.
The man who stole the car faces charges of aggravated robbery and aggravated kidnapping.