Abducted mom, 4 children found safe near Elkhart home

ELKHART, Ind. -- A tip from a pizza man and a secret message in a phone call helped lead to the arrest of a man accused of abducting his ex-girlfriend and their four children after shooting a man.\nThe clues came during a three-day search for the family that ended with their dramatic but peaceful rescue at the motel where they were staying with the suspect, Jerry D. White.\nAlthough police had extended their search for the family 90 miles west to Chicago and said they had gotten tips from throughout the Midwest, they said Wednesday they had believed since the night of the abduction Saturday that the victims were still in the area. The motel was just 4 miles from the family's home.\nWhite faces charges of attempted murder and several counts of confinement, and prosecutors will review whether further charges will be added, Detective Sgt. Bill Wargo said.\nWargo said he knocked on the door of the motel room about 8 p.m. Tuesday and Kimberly Walker opened it.\nWithin minutes, police had rescued Walker and her children and captured White, her former boyfriend and the father of the children, as he tried to escape through a motel air duct, Wargo said.\nAuthorities said they didn't know how long Walker and her children, who range in age from 16 months to 9 years, had been at the Sleepy Hollow Motel with White, 30, of Chicago.\nPolice had begun watching the motel after a car White is believed to have used was found nearby.\nWalker also made three calls to relatives from a nearby pay phone saying she was safe. However, her family had chosen a code word before the abduction that they used with Walker to make sure she was safe, and when she didn't respond properly, they knew she was still being held against her will. \nWargo said a pizza delivery driver helped pinpoint the family's location.\nPolice said White broke into Walker's house early Saturday and shot her sister's boyfriend, Lathie Turnage, in the face and chest. White then held everyone captive until leaving with Walker and the children nearly 10 hours later, police said.\nWargo said an Amber Alert and media coverage may have prevented White from leaving Elkhart, in northern Indiana, with the family.\nWargo said Turnage was still in critical condition Wednesday and was expected to be transferred to a Chicago hospital for surgery.\n"He's going to have a long recovery ahead of him. But he is expected to survive," the officer said.\nAfter Wargo went to the motel and Walker identified herself, officers pulled her out of the room and rushed her behind a building, he said.\n"I asked [9-year-old Jaylan] to come out to me, and as he came running out they all came out in order like a row of ducks," Wargo said.