Texas girl, 11, rescued after officers stop car; abduction suspect shoots self

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KERRVILLE, Texas - A convicted sex offender suspected of abducting girls and holding them in a cabin shot himself to death yesterday after being stopped in his car with an 11-year-old girl who ran to safety.

Leah Henry was kidnapped Tuesday as she got off a school bus in Houston, 225 miles east of Kerrville. In recent weeks, two other girls had been abducted, held for days and then released. Investigators believed the same person, Gary Cox, 48, was responsible.

Officers acting on a tip pulled Cox over in a rural area south of Kerrville. As he walked around to the passenger side of the car, Leah jumped out and ran toward the officers.

Within moments, Cox shot himself in the head, FBI spokeswoman Sheila Thorne said in Slidell, La., where one of the girls had been abducted.

Leah was taken to a hospital, where she was reunited with her parents. "She doesn't sound her confident self, but she's OK," Leah's mother, Linda Henry, said. "She's talking and she sounded very timid, perhaps scared - maybe exhausted. But she's talking."

Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer said the girl had been kept in a deer-hunting camp northeast of San Antonio.

Houston police said authorities had narrowed their search for Cox based on background checks and a traffic stop a few months ago. The tip was coincidental.

Authorities began looking for a serial kidnapper after 11-year-old Lisa Bruno, who was abducted from near her suburban New Orleans home in April, gave a description of her kidnapper that matched one given by 9-year-old Nykema Augustine, who was seized in San Antonio in March. Both girls were held captive for days.

Authorities searched for a cabin in the San Antonio area, based on descriptions of highway signs the girls said they saw and the amount of time they spent in their abductor's car.

Cox's criminal record in Texas included at least three sexual offenses involving girls. An arrest warrant was issued after he disappeared from a Houston halfway house in March 2000. The FBI said authorities believe Cox may be linked to at least three more kidnap cases in Texas and Louisiana.