Clay Moore Family Speaks

Clay Moore's family held a press conference this morning to tell the story of Clay's escape from his kidnapper, and of course, to ask to be left alone now. The story of the safety pin is wonderful:

On the day he was kidnapped, Clay Moore’s parents made the 13-year-old use a safety pin to mend his school uniform because he was to blame for tearing it.

That safety pin became key to Clay’s escape from the kidnapper, who snatched him at gunpoint from a school bus stop last Friday and left him in an East Manatee woods taped up and gagged.

Clay hid the safety pin in his mouth while the kidnapper walked him to a woods before tying him up, and the safety pin later became crucial to Clay’s eventual escape.

Clay and his family appeared at a press conference in Bradenton this morning to thank everyone for their help during the crisis, to tell their son’s daring story of escape, and finally ask for privacy from the media so they can get back to normal lives.

Clay told his uncle that after the kidnapper left, he spit the pin from his mouth, used a stick to bring it to him and then cut the duct tape that bound his hands. Then, the now-sweating boy wriggled and chewed his way from the remaining duct tape.

After escaping, he ran through a field, found a farmer with a cell phone, and called his uncle. He was held for about 2.5 hours, Sheriff Charlie Wells said at the conference.

When his uncle asked what possessed him to put the safety pin in his mouth as he was being walked into the woods, Clay said, "I thought it would be helpful."

It was.

The kidnapper is believed to have fled back to Mexico.