Texas Pizza Shop Employee Saves Kidnapped Boy During Her Smoke Break.

Courtney Best


While most of us take at least a superficial glance at the occasional Amber Alerts that appear on our phones via text messaging, Courtney Best’s decision to look closer look may have saved a child’s life.

It all started when Best, a 26-year-old pizza shop employee in Corpus Christi, Texas, decided to take her usual smoke break in the front of the store instead of out back as she normally did.

“I stepped outside, I was standing by the trash can, and I [saw] a white car pull up, and I just happen to take my phone with me, ’cause we don’t look at our phones at work, and I looked down and I saw ‘white Dodge Avenger Amber Alert,’ and I was like, ‘Nah, that’s not him,’ ” Best told KRIS TV.

“The man was walking across the parking lot looking at me … cause I was the only person out here, with the little boy and the little boy looked scared and I was like no, that’s not him.”

It turns out that the little boy Best had spotted was, in fact, 7-year-old Nicolas Gomez, who had been abducted from Alice, Texas.

Best waited for Gomez and his captor to enter a nearby dollar store, and then sprung into action. She checked the license plate on the white car, which matched the Amber Alert. She immediately called 911. The man who abducted Nicholas Gomez was soon arrested, and Gomez has since been reunited with his family.

Courtney Best, who admitted that she normally doesn’t pay too much attention to Amber Alerts, vowed to pay closer attention to them in the future.