Abducted teens tried to kill kidnapper

A billboard flashes an Amber Alert, asking people to look for the Bronco used to abduct two California teens who later were rescued.

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The two teenage girls abducted at gunpoint in southern California stabbed their kidnapper and struck him with a whiskey bottle before police ultimately rescued them, one of the girls said Friday.

Blindfolded and bound at times, the 16- and 17-year-old girls decided their only way to escape was by striking back at their abductor, Roy Dean Ratliff.

"We got this plan. We were going to try to kill him," one of the girls told CNN affiliate KABC in Los Angeles. Noticing a bowie knife in a holster on the truck's gear shift, the girls -- who were strangers before the abduction -- decided one would stab him in the neck while the other hit him in the face with a bottle.

"You could see his pulse, so I got the knife and I stabbed him in the throat," she said. The other girl "hit him in the face with the whiskey bottle, right here on his eyes, and then he was just really out of it."

CNN NewsPass VIDEO One of the two teenage girls abducted at gunpoint describes how she and fellow kidnap victim had planned to kill perpetrator Roy Ratliff (August 2) Play video   MORE STORIES A CNN Access: Mark Klaas, founder of KlaasKids Foundation,  speaks with CNN's Paula Zahn about recent child abductions and killings.   EXTRA INFORMATION Gallery: Recent missing youngster cases     The Amber Alert A child abduction response system Uses radio, television, roadside electronic billboards and emergency broadcast systems to disseminate information about kidnapping suspects and victims soon after the crime is committed Solicits aid from the public to look for victims Used for children younger than 18 Employed when serious harm or death possible Named for 9-year-old Amber Hagerman of Arlington, Texas, who was kidnapped and killed in 1996 Source: Klaas Kids Foundation

The girl said Ratliff then fell out of the stolen Ford Bronco to the ground.

Armed with a gun, Ratliff was able to force his way back into the vehicle and continue driving with the girls in the back.

"It was not how they ultimately escaped," said Kern County Sheriff Carl Sparks, whose two deputies cornered Ratliff in a desert ravine hours later near Lake Isabella.

Sparks said investigators later found a bloody thumbprint on the Bronco's outside door, apparently from when Ratliff made his way back in the truck. He said they also found one of the lenses from Ratliff's glasses on the floor of the truck, believed to have been knocked out when he was struck with the whiskey bottle.

While he did not know how severe the stab wounds were, he said they certainly were not deep enough to stop Ratliff from driving ahead.

The girl said Ratliff made many stops on his way to Kern County.

"He knew every single spot, every single secluded area, every single dirt road, so you could tell that he's done this before," she said.

Sparks said the suspect "got exactly what he deserved" when deputies Jim Stratton and Larry Thatcher fired a 17 shots at Ratliff after cornering him.

"There's a shooting review board that this has to go in front of," said Sheriff Carl Sparks, his voice breaking, "but I can tell you already, I hugged both deputies and told them, 'Way to go.'"

Sparks said he was "proud to wear this uniform" and "proud of what our men and women did."

The shootout happened shortly before 1 p.m. Thursday, about 100 miles north of where the girls were kidnapped. Stratton fired first, Sparks said, after Ratliff pointed a gun at his partner.

Ratliff, 37, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ratliff abducted the two girls early Thursday morning, binding their male companions with duct tape and fleeing in a white Ford Bronco that belonged to one of the boys.

Ratliff had a criminal history dating back nearly 20 years, including theft and burglary charges. He was convicted of possession of methamphetamine in February 1997 and sentenced to six years. Ratliff was also wanted on rape charges in a separate case in Kern County last year.

After California law enforcement was told to be on the lookout for the Bronco, Kern County animal control officer Bonnie Hernandez spotted it and called police.

"The big hero in this is probably the animal control officer," Sparks said.

Her report enabled police and sheriff's helicopters to get to the scene, where they found the Bronco and directed patrol cars to it.

Ratliff led the deputies over the winding road and down a sharp embankment when his escape route was cut off.

Kern County Commander Hal Chealander said the kidnapped girls were not in sight. The deputies demanded Ratliff's surrender, but the defiant suspect refused, reaching into the back seat of the truck for a gun. When he pointed it at Thatcher, Stratton opened fire.

Ratliff ducked behind the seat, and popped back up, still pointing the gun at Thatcher. Stratton fired again, and again Ratliff ducked.

"Then the girls revealed their locations," Chealander said. "They were hunkered down in back of the Bronco. They came up, they were hysterical and the deputy went into rescue mode."

When Ratliff came up a third time, Thatcher opened fire.

"The suspect was stopped," Chealander said.