http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/275356
Easley: Girl rode along voluntarily
In a letter from jail, the man accused of abducting Brittany Smith said he'd promised not to leave her behind.
By Amanda Codispoti
981-3334
Accused abductor Jeffrey Easley said in a letter from jail that 12-year-old Brittany Smith was his willing cross-country travelling companion.
"I did not kidnapp her or take her aginest her will," Easley, 32, wrote in a letter postmarked Thursday from the Western Virginia Regional Jail. "She made me promise not to leave her."
The one-page letter, hand-printed on lined notebook paper, contains misspellings and lacks punctuation. It doesn't mention the slaying of Tina Smith, 41, who was Easley's girlfriend and Brittany's mother.
"I want the truth out there not all these storys," Easley writes.
It continues: "I made a promise to britt in front of her mom back in july
"i promised never to leave her behind and always to protect her. that what I did."
(more at link)