Andalusia pair returns boy safely to parents

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, July 15, 2003

When Mike Moseley and Pat Sessions returned 11-year-old Robert Dewayne Beck Jr. to his home in Kinston Tuesday, they knew one thing, they thought they were just carrying a little boy home after he had been with a friend. Little did they know that Beck was listed as "kidnapped," and that an Amber Alert had been issued in the hopes of finding the pre-teen.

When they returned Beck, or Junior as he's affectionately known, to his parents, they didn't know the story behind the story. And for Moseley, it's a very involved story about how Junior came to be a part of his life at 330 Snowden Drive in Andalusia.

"I knew Jason from working on a past job with him," Mike said. "He had borrowed money from me. I figured he needed gas or something, so I let him borrow it. Later Monday night, he said they needed a place to stay for the night, and so they stayed at my house. Sometime, during the night or early morning, Jason left and the little boy was still at my house. I had no idea he had been kidnapped."

Moseley's story contradicts the many reports broadcast over television and radio Tuesday afternoon stating Junior had been found on the side of the road by strangers.

Those statements have made both Mike and Pat upset.

"It's not true that he was found by the road. He was not abandoned," Mike said. "He stayed at my house, I fed him, gave him a place to sleep. He watched cartoons all night."

When Moseley discovered Fillingim was gone, but Beck remained, he got a suspicious.

"I didn't know what to do," he said. "I didn't know what was going on. I had to go to work, and that's when I went and asked Pat what to do. Something just told me to ask Pat.

"I don't have a car, so about 11:20 this morning (Tuesday), I asked Pat if she would take the little boy home. The little boy wasn't acting strange or like something was wrong. He said he knew Jason, because he had worked with his dad before. He said Jason was a friend of his family's."

"The little boy was extremely content," Pat said. "I asked him if he knew his telephone number, and he said he didn't but he knew where he lived and how to get there. I told Mike that I would carry them to the boy's house and back to his parents."

After returning the boy to his home, the two were stopped in Opp by the police and FBI.

"The police stopped us and then the FBI came up to ask us some questions," Pat said. "We went back to the Kinston Police Department and answered their questions. The FBI was very polite and professional. I was a little scared when I was stopped, because we still didn't know the situation until we were informed by the law."

As for talking to Junior's mother, neither Mike nor Pat said they had any contact with her.

"We never talked to his mother," Mike said. "I'm just glad he's back at home and safe. If I had known the situation was like it was, I would have done something sooner, but I never knew there was a problem."

As for the issuance of an AMBER Alert, Pat said it was a good thing.

"The AMBER Alert is a good system to have in place," she said. "I'm not sure if this is actually an instance where it worked like it was supposed too because we never heard one issued over the radio or television, but it is still a good system."

Regarding Fillingim leaving Junior with Moseley, Mike said he's glad he did.

"After hearing everything that has happened, I'm glad he did leave him with me so we could get him home," he said.

Pat agreed.

"Anytime a child is involved, I try to do what I can," she said. "All we did was what we believe was the right thing to do. Nothing struck us odd about the situation until we found out everything, and then it started to make sense."