A smiling but guarded Alicia Kozakiewicz returned home Saturday to Crafton Heights, four days after her mysterious departure triggered a national search by the FBI.
"I'm very, very happy and relieved," the Carlynton High School eighth-grader told reporters.
Alicia's father, Charles Kozakiewicz, had the look of a man who lost a fortune but won it back as he eased his 13-year-old daughter up the steps to their home, clutching the girl close to him.
"I've got you," Charles Kozakiewicz said, looking down at Alicia after she slipped on some gravel, "and I'm not going to let you go."
The homecoming was received with fanfare from concerned neighbors. To her parents, it was the end of a brief, but turbulent chapter in their lives.
The FBI found Alicia, an aspiring model, Friday in the townhouse of Scott Tyree, 38, of Herndon, Va., after tracing her whereabouts through the Internet. Tyree is behind bars awaiting arraignment Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa Carroll Buchanan of Alexandria, Va.
More details of Alicia's disappearance are expected to emerge during that hearing. Yesterday, the Kozakiewiczes revealed little of their daughter's experiences.
"She had us very, worried. We're happy to have her home," Charles Kozakiewicz said.
Alicia returned to the Allegheny County Airport on a chartered FBI plane. She wore a new cap emblazoned with FBI and a smile that revealed bulky metal braces.
The Kozakiewiczes declined to discuss what had happened. They said they'd rather focus on the future.
"I don't know if or what she said to them (FBI), but this is the end of the story for us," said Mary Kozakiewicz, the girl's mother. "We want to put this guy away."
The FBI suspect Tyree, a computer systems analyst, met Alicia over the Internet and drove to Pittsburgh to pick her up. He then returned to his townhouse in Herndon with the teen-ager.
Thanks to an unidentified tipster in Florida, FBI agents found the girl bound to a bed inside Tyree's home. The tipster told authorities he had received a Web-cam image of Alicia from Tyree. The tipster called the FBI in Tampa when he realized Alicia's identity.
Tyree is charged with transporting a minor with the intent of engaging in criminal sexual activity. He could face additional state charges in Virginia.
The Kozakiewicz family offered themselves as examples to families with children who surf the Internet.
"I think that we have learned a lesson," Charles Kozakiewicz said. He said families should keep close watch on what their children do on-line. "No matter what you think is going on, please research it. You don't want to have to go through what we went through."
Mary Kozakiewicz said there will be no Internet in their household now, at least for a while.
"We will be taking classes before there's ever any Internet in our house," she said. "No matter how you feel about your child or how trusting you are that what's going on is innocent, check it, check it and double check it — or don't have (the Internet) at all."
The happy ending was a relief to the other families on Berry Street.
Alicia Kozakiewicz was embraced by her young neighbor, Paige Landi, 8, who waited impatiently to deliver a bouquet of pastel-colored roses.
"I was just devastated when it happened, but so happy when they did find her," said Mary Ann Macino, a neighbor. "I have grandchildren her age and that's where it hit me. But, we got her back."
Neighbors said they banded together to pass out fliers with information about Alicia. Macino, Paige Landi and her father, David Landi, tied yellow ribbons around trees outside the Kozakiewicz home to welcome Alicia.
Macino said Charlie Kozakiewicz called her Friday to tell her he was going to get his daughter.
"He said, 'Do you have any yellow ribbons?'" Macino said. "I said, no, but you're going to get them."
David Landi, 40, said he started praying when he heard that Alicia was missing. Alicia often plays with Paige, and his family is considering hiring the teen-ager as a baby-sitter.
"Her mother called and left a message on the answering machine that was just frantic," Landi said. "We as Christians just prayed. We prayed for hours for her safety. Having a daughter of my own who is just learning about the Internet, this is frightening. We are just so relieved."
