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ACCUSED KIDNAPPER TURNS HIMSELF INTO POLICE IN FOX 4 PARKING LOT

    You might have to pardon the folks at WDAF-FOX4 if they are smiling a lot these days. First, on election night they captured the coveted 9 p.m. time slot ratings time period for their coverage.  During the sweeps period that is major news.

    But, that paled in comparison to an incident Wednesday night (11/9) when a major news story literally drove up to the station on Southwest Parkway (story below).  Around 9:30 p.m. a man who had been the focus of an Amber Alert drove right up to the station and turned himself into police after learning he was the focus of the Alert on the FOX4 broadcast by anchor John Holt earlier in the evening.

    Anchor Phil Witt did an exclusive interview of the suspect in the parking lot while executive producer Al Carl went "live" on the air to relay the story. Competitors like KCTV5 were still running Amber Alerts and then were forced to do live stand-ups of the entire incident directly outside the FOX4 studios.  They tried to avoid giving FOX4 any publicity by referring to them simply as "a local TV station."

Video link:  http://www.myfoxkc.com/myfox/

Accused Kidnapper Turns Self In
From FOX4 Web Site: Thursday, 09 Nov 2006

An accused kidnapper turned himself into authorities in the parking lot of FOX 4 on Wednesday night.

An Amber Alert was issued on Wednesday evening. Antonio Berry was accused of taking Alyse Berry from a home at 73rd and Agnes at about 2:20 p.m. According to the Amber Alert, the child's grandmother said Berry hit her and took the baby.

At about 9:30 p.m., Berry arrived at the FOX 4 studios with Alyse. Berry said that he did not hit the woman at the home, who he identified as the child's grandmother.

Berry said he had been given Alyse in Texas after the mother could no longer care for her. According to the Amber Alert, the mother was in a battered woman's shelter in Texas.

Berry said that he came to Kansas City to claim his child, but he did not explain how Alyse got from Texas to Kansas City.

"I came back up here to Kansas City to look for my baby because they were hiding my baby out from me," said Berry.

FOX 4's Phil Witt asked him if he kidnapped the child and Berry said, "No, I did not."

Berry said he went to the home at 73rd and Agnes and when he arrived he said family members were outside with the child. Berry said he asked a cousin to hand over the baby and he left.  Berry said he was staying at another family member's home when he saw the Amber Alert on FOX 4 and came to the station to turn himself in with Alyse.

According to the Amber Alert report, Berry was armed, but Berry said he did not have any weapons on him and Alyse was in police custody unharmed.