Kidnapper Killed In Front Of Girl -- 7-Year-Old Abducted From Baby- Sitter's

ROSEBURG, Ore. - Seven-year-old Kristina Jacobson happily hugged two new teddy bears and arranged her Skittles candies by color on the blanket covering her legs, apparently unfazed by her ordeal.

A few hours earlier yesterday she had watched as her kidnapper was shot to death while they sat in an overturned car on the median of Interstate 5 near the community of Rice Hill.

"I can still picture him right in my head when he died," Kristina said from her hospital bed at Douglas Columbia Medical Center in Roseburg. "Whoever shot him, I'm really happy. Whoever he is, I wish he would come in the room so I could thank him."

Police identified the kidnapper as Lance Sterling Alexander, 25, of Salem. Court records show he was convicted twice for assault and pleaded guilty to possession of less than an ounce of marijuana in Marion County.

A second-grader at McKinley Elementary School in Salem, Kristina had been dropped off at a home day care in Salem before school by her parents, Richard and Shanna Jacobson.

A man came to baby-sitter Chantiell Thomas' home about 8:30 a.m. on the pretext of looking for a dog, said Salem Police Lt. Roger Vinyard. The 25-year-old baby-sitter opened the door and the man barged in, assaulted the woman and took Kristina, Vinyard said.

Kristina said she was sitting on the couch of the baby-sitter's home, her hands and feet bound with duct tape, when she was taken hostage.

"He said in a strong voice, he said, `You are coming with me,' and I didn't know who he meant, and he grabbed me."

Forced into her baby-sitter's car, Kristina managed to fasten her seat belt with her taped hands. Her mother had taught her how important it is to buckle up. "Just in case we get in a crash, and that's what happened," she said.

Kristina said the gunman was nice looking.

"He had this little silver gun he put up on my head. He said if I don't behave, he will put me in the trunk or shoot me."

After police spotted the car near Eugene, Alexander started shooting and hitting speeds of 110 mph, State Police said.

At Rice Hill, State Police put out a spike strip designed to puncture the tires and slowly let the air out, so the car wouldn't lose control. The car drove on five more miles before veering left into the median and rolling over twice.

Alexander ended up in the back seat, and Kristina remained in the front.

"He said the F-word so many times I plugged my ear," she said. "He calmed down and told one guy (a hostage negotiator) to tell the police to go away or he would shoot me. He got all hyper, and he was losing his patience."

While Alexander talked to negotiators, Kristina asked for a banana and a bag of Skittles, her favorite candy. Police were able to give her a banana, but no one had Skittles for her until she got to Douglas Columbia Medical Center in Roseburg.

The candy was on its way when a Douglas County Tactical Response Team sharpshooter fired a bullet into Alexander's head from 150 feet away. The sharpshooter, who was not identified, used a high-powered bolt-action rifle with a telescopic sight.

"They could see that the gun was to the child's head. They were believing the child was going to end up being shot by this person," State Police Lt. Gregg Hastings.

After police shot Alexander, Kristina used a Bambi book in the car to break out a window and run into the arms of police.

Kristina's only injury was three small metal fragments lodged in her right leg. She was well enough to go home with her parents.

"She'll be sleeping in bed with us for awhile," said Kristina's father.