‘I fought back': 10-year-old speaks out after kidnapper sentenced to 30 years

A 10-year-old little girl and her mother spoke out exclusively to NBC6 a week after the child’s kidnapper was sentenced to 30 years in state prison. 

Prosecutors stated Leonardo Venegas, 35, snatched now 10-year-old Ah’Lyric. According to an arrest report, the child was playing in her apartment courtyard with her siblings when they noticed a white Range Rover parked nearby. The other children went inside, but the 6-year-old remained on the stairway.

Moments later, the girl said a man, later identified as Venegas, grabbed her arm and began pulling her. When she fought back, prosecutors said he picked her up and attempted to carry her away. She bit him on the arm, causing him to drop her. Venegas then slapped her and ran off, according to the report.

“I fought back. I bit him. And then that’s when he put me down. I ran upstairs and told the story of what happened outside,” the child told NBC6 on Friday. 

Life 3 years later 

Ah’Lyric is going through therapy and trying to heal from the traumatic event her mother tells NBC6 she constantly brings up. 

“I hug her and let her know that it’s going to be all right,” said Teshia McGill, the child’s mother. 

Last week, a judge sentenced Venegas to prison after being found guilty last November of kidnapping and child abuse. 

Venegas’s attorneys still deny he was the man caught on surveillance video “hunting for his prey” as prosecutors described it. 

McGill doesn’t understand how the man hasn’t taken responsibility and feels satisfied with the sentence. 

What’s next? 

Ah’Lyric encourages other children to fight against any stranger who is trying to hurt them. She also tells her kidnapper, “Don’t take anybody kids because you don’t know if they could fight back.” 

The child is now in third grade and has big plans for her future.

When asked what she wants to be when she grows up, Ah’lyric responded, “Police.”

“So I can catch him,” she said.

Venegas plans to appeal.