KARI SMITH - 14 yo - Imperial (W of Pittsburgh) PA

Imperial PA ---- A western Pennsylvania teenager has been reunited with her family
after police say a 19-year-old man kidnapped her and drove her to
Florida.

Fourteen-year-old Kari Smith arrived in Pittsburgh on Monday night.
Authorities say 19-year-old David Eberhardt Jr. is in custody in Florida
awaiting extradition on charges stemming from her kidnapping.

Smith says Eberhardt offered her a ride to a friend's house last week
and then just kept going. Authorities tracked them to Ocoee FL, on
Saturday and arrested Eberhardt.

Police say Eberhardt told them he planned to take Smith back to
Pennsylvania after a week-long vacation.

Eberhardt parents say Smith willingly went with their son.

A 19-year-old man will be returning to western Pennsylvania to face
charges that he kidnapped a 14-year-old girl.

Authorities say he drove the girl from her home in Butler County to
Florida. He's also accused of stealing a car belonging to one of his
relatives.

When Kari called her mother, Sherri McKibbin, she was frantic. Her
family notified Butler City Police last Monday the girl was missing and
that David Wayne Eberhardt, Jr., of Zelienople, might have taken her to
Florida.

Her family says she barely knew him.

"We called his mom once and she said that there would be no way they
could get to Florida – he didn't have any money, he wasn't going to get
very far," Anza Smith, the alleged victim's sister, said.

In the meantime, Kari's family learned Eberhardt had become obsessive
about her.

"He only knew her for about two days but before he was telling her that
he loved her and telling all his friends that she was his life," Smith
said.

The Florida address of one of Eberhardt's friends was found on MySpace.
The FBI and Ocoee, Fla., police got there Saturday night.

"And he ended up having a gun. And he threatened her with a gun and
later found out it was a fake gun," Smith said.

David Eberhardt, Sr., the suspect's father, said he did not want to
comment.

Kari and her mother arrived back home Monday night.

"I think we stood there probably for about 20 minutes hugging and crying
and kissing and just happy, just so happy to see each other, so
relieved," Sherri McKibbin said.

She says her daughter accepted a ride to the movies from Eberhardt last
Monday where she was meeting friends but she never made it.

"He was telling me how I was going to have his kids and we were going to
get married and all this psychopathic stuff that like I didn't even
know him that well," Kari Smith said.

Her family is now trying to understand why he would allegedly take her
by force to Florida when they weren't in a relationship and only knew
each other through a mutual friend.