Trying to hold them hostage after he arrived back home to find them on his property wasn't the best way to handle the situation, no doubt; similar to how lingering around on someone else's private property, uninvited, when you know they aren't home probably wasn't the best way for her to handle that situation either.
Sure, she was a reporter who "could help him out" if he wanted, but perhaps after what he came home to, he didn't care for or trust her and as a result, decided he didnt want "help" from that particular reporter.
Evelyn's story had pretty wide coverage; that reporter certainly wasnt the only reporter covering the story and it's likely other reporters had contacted (or attempted to contact) him both before and after her. I'm guessing due to the Amber Alert & resulting widespread coverage, he was in a position to choose from a number of reporters to interview with moreso than she was likely able to choose from a number of big stories to report about.
A good reporter has to quickly gain a certain amount of trust with the person they want to interview in a order to elicit the information that we (the curious public/readers/watchers) want to know from them while also not being so invasive that the person clams up before they can get to the meat of the story. She doesnt seem to be even slightly good at that (imo) that's why she was reporting very mundane information such as seeing "toys & signs that children had been there" as if it was shocking or surprising information instead of an interesting interview with any family member or information or details directly from the horse's mouth (TB Sr.)
Not at all a fan of her or her reporting style. Just the amount of "ummms" and "uhhhs" during her brief report drove me bonkers.