The tragic case of Alicia Kozakiewicz
Alicia’s online friend walked into the room.
What he said next made Alicia believe it could be her last day on earth. These words rang in her head;
“I’m beginning to like you too much. Tonight we are going for a drive.”
Alicia Came From Pennsylvania
Alicia Kozakiewicz lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, with her family.
She was a thirteen-year-old girl. And she had dreams of becoming a supermodel one day. Soon enough, Alicia’s brother introduced her to online games.
However, Alicia wasn’t interested in the games. But she found out there were so many different things to do on the internet. Alicia slowly started getting sucked into the online world.
She met a particular guy who she thought was around her age. The two immediately clicked. They were into the same things.
The boy was a good listener. And he advised and comforted Alicia.
The two became very good chatroom friends for nine months. Then they finally decided to meet.
Alicia’s Family Enjoyed New Year’s Dinner
On January 1st, 2002, Alicia had a lovely New Year’s dinner with her family.
But while her mother was preparing dessert, Alicia got a stomach ache. She then went upstairs to lie down in her room. Then Alicia’s parents noticed Alicia wasn’t in her bedroom. She was not in the house, and the front door was wide open.
Alicia’s parents immediately reported her missing.
Alicia’s missing person posters were created and published in the news and various articles. The FBI soon got involved. They interviewed Alicia’s friends, and they investigated her computer.
Then, four days later, an anonymous person sent a tip to the FBI. The informant claimed that someone had posted a live stream broadcast of himself abusing a girl online.
The informant recognized the little girl in the horrible video as Alicia from the missing posters. The anonymous person told the FBI the screen name of the abuser.
The FBI found his IP address, leading them to a Virginia house.
FBI agents were assigned to go to the address to find Alicia. The authorities knocked on the door, but no response. So they kicked down the door, stormed the home, and searched around.
The FBI got to the basement. One of the agents saw what appeared to be hair or fur underneath the bed.
“Movement over there!” He yelled.
What Happened To Alicia?
On New Year’s day, 2002, Alicia lied to her family about her stomach ache. Then she sneaked out of the house to say a quick hi to her online friend.
Alicia had a gut feeling that she should turn back and go inside. But then her friend yelled out her name.
Alicia headed towards her friend and entered his car. Then she soon realized the friend wasn’t a young boy like she thought. He was a grown man.
The man immediately started squeezing her hand very hard and threatening her to be quiet.
The man took Alicia to his house, dragged her inside, and down to the basement. Then Alicia’s clothes were removed, and the man stated;
“This is going to be really hard for you. It’s OK, cry.”
The man sexually assaulted and tortured Alicia for the next four days.
Alicia Thought She Was Going To Die
On January 4th, Alicia knew she was going to be killed by her abductor. The abductor told her;
“I’m beginning to like you too much. Tonight we are going for a drive.”
Alicia began crying and praying as the abductor left the room.
Later in the day, Alicia heard the door being kicked down and heavy footsteps entering the house. She said her last prayers. She thought her abductor had hired people to kill her. Alicia hid under the bed and tried to be as quiet as possible.
Then she heard a man near the side of the bed she was under yelling, “I see movement.”
Alicia thought that was the moment she was going to die. So she slowly emerged from under the bed while a pistol pointed straight at her.
Fortunately, the FBI agent realized she was the girl they were looking for. And Alicia was immediately rescued.
Alicia’s parents were informed that their daughter was found. They flew to Virginia, and they were reunited with Alicia.
The authorities found Alicia’s abductor at his job a few minutes after Alicia was rescued.
The Aftermath
The authorities immediately arrested the man, 38-year-old Scott Tyree.
In 2003, Scott was sentenced to nineteen years and seven months with three years of supervised release.
By February 2019, Scott was released from prison, but he was sent back to prison for two years because he had violated his probation rules. Then he was finally released from prison on September 22nd, 2021.
Alicia was diagnosed with PTSD and memory loss because she could not recall her life up to that traumatic abduction. She also began going for counseling regularly.
But Alicia proved to be strong against all odds.
She later founded the Alicia project to raise awareness about internet safety for children.
She became the namesake of Alicia’s Law, whose purpose is to raise funds for children’s rescue efforts.
She also created a documentary and her website where she encouraged parents to know what’s going on in their children’s lives.
“There need to be boundaries and a level of openness between the parent and the child where they can come to the parents for anything.
Even if it’s uncomfortable or they feel like they’re going to get in trouble.
They need to know that you are a safe place, so they don’t look for a safe place in somebody else.” — Brooke Makenna
Sources: wikipedia.org, www.bbc.com, Brooke Makenna