SCOTLAND -- A Texas sheriff held out hope Saturday that law enforcement officials would find a grocery store clerk alive as the search intensified 24 hours after the woman was abducted at gunpoint.
Authorities had a suspect in custody Saturday afternoon but had not identified him and were still considering charges, Archer County Sheriff Ed Daniels said.
About 20 sheriff's deputies, state troopers and county investigators focused their search in an area of farmland and mesquite brush about 10 miles south of Scotland, near the town of Windthorst. One Department of Public Safety helicopter was in the air, while officers on horseback and bloodhounds from a nearby prison looked for the missing woman on the ground, Daniels said.
Mindy Daffern, 46, was abducted at gunpoint Friday afternoon, an incident that was captured on video by several surveillance cameras.
"We're still hoping we can find her alive," Daniels said.
Earlier Saturday, officials found a black sports utility vehicle parked outside a motel in Bowie, a North Texas town about 40 miles east of where Daffern was taken. The SUV matched the description of the late 1990s black Ford Explorer used in the abduction, Daniels said.
Daniels said the suspect, a man in his 20s, had not been formally charged but will face charges of armed robbery and kidnapping. Additional charges will depend on what happens with the search for Daffern.
Video from surveillance cameras show a man casually walking into the store and handing Daffern a cup. She disappears from behind the counter for a moment. When she returns, the man pulls a handgun and points it at her face.
A clip from a different camera shows the gunman walking her out of the store as he sips from the cup. Daffern continues to keep her hands up and appears to plead with the man. A third clip taken outsides shows the SUV leaving the empty parking lot.
The abduction occurred about 3 p.m. Friday at the small, yellow brick store, which is near the intersection of U.S. 281 and Farm-to-Market Road 172 in rural North Texas.
Authorities were alerted by a 911 call.
Daniels said he is friends with Daffern, who is a mother and a grandmother in a tight-knit family. He said he is "very worried" about her safety.
"She is very family-oriented," Daniels said. "She has always got her grandkids with her. The whole family is just real close."
Scotland, which has less than 500 residents, is about 20 miles south of Wichita Falls.
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