Tuscaloosa kidnapping victim breaks silence

TUSCALOOSA, AL (WBRC) - The man who was kidnapped from the Microtel in Tuscaloosa on Sunday morning broke his silence on Monday.

Police from several cities are still looking for the couple they say kidnapped that man and another person, in addition to going on a crime spree in several Alabama communities. The couple is now also suspected of another kidnapping and robbery in Perry, GA.

"I just tried to keep calm," Kyle Dease said.

Sunday morning, Dease, 26, was at work at a hotel in Tuscaloosa when he said a man and woman came in. They were later identified as Blake Fitzgerald and Brittany Harper of Joplin, MO.

"He goes, 'Hey I hate to do this but', he said, 'I need you to give me all your money and I need you to give me your car keys,'" Dease explained.

Instead of just taking his girlfriend's black Jetta, Dease said the suspects were worried about him calling police so they took him at gunpoint too.

Dease said they weren't happy with the stolen ride.

"They said, 'We need a fast, quick car. A nice car,'" Dease recalled. "We need to find a new car to steal."

So they drove to Hoover with Dease in the backseat. During the drive he made sure he didn't do anything to upset his kidnappers.

"I was just trying to be me," Dease said. "I've never met someone I couldn't get along with. I just figured, you know, what if I can keep them calm. I won't get shot. I gave them no reason to hurt me."

Dease was in the car when the couple allegedly tried to carjack an employee in a McDonald's parking lot in Hoover.

After that, he was dropped off in Vestavia Hills near the area where police said the couple kidnapped a woman from her home and took another car.

Looking back, Dease said he never really felt like the couple was going to hurt him.

"I guess I could tell in the way they were talking," Dease said. "In the way they kept talking about how they didn't want to hurt me. They didn't seem like criminals. They just seemed like a couple that had run out of options."

Dease said God was looking out for him that day. His advice if you're taken a gunpoint is to comply.

"I can put up a front and try to be the hero then I end up with bullet holes in me or gagged or I can be submissive," Dease said.

Dease said the suspects told him they were trying to get to Florida but their car ran out of gas.

He said he's not only thankful he's okay, but is also thankful the suspects didn't hurt anyone at the hotel.

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