Amy Martinez, 12, was walking to school in Santa Ana, California, when a woman approached her, put her arms around her, and started leading her away.
The woman spoke to her in Spanish and told her not to cry — and that "the demons are coming, Satan is here."
Petrified and confused, Amy screamed out for help. It was in these terrifying moments that she feared she'd never see her family again.
More from LittleThings: In 1939, A Pregnant 5-Year-Old Became The Youngest Mother In The World
Meanwhile, another woman was driving her child to the same school when she heard the screams. This woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, looked out her car window and saw Amy in distress.
It was clear there was some sort of struggle, and she knew something just wasn’t right.
The unidentified woman hurried over to Amy and asked if she was OK. "I’ll never forget the way she looked at me,” the woman told KTLA. "Her eyes were screaming for help."
It was the woman's quick-thinking and maternal instincts that ultimately saved Amy from her potential kidnapper.
According to Santa Ana Police Corporal Anthony Bertagna, the woman "told the suspect, 'That's my child, give her back to me.' It took three times of her saying that and the woman let her go."
Claudia Cruz Hernandez, 34, was later arrested and booked on suspicion of kidnapping a minor younger than 14.
