HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — A Tennessee woman has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after a guilty plea for her role in the kidnapping of a Hot Springs teenage girl in April 2022.
Dayla Ferrer received the sentence after working with 40-year-old Samuel Bolling to lure and kidnap a 17-year-old girl in a parking lot near her work.
"This case is every parent's worst nightmare," U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas Clay Fowlkes said. "A young girl was abducted in broad daylight."
Ferrer spoke in court Thursday, telling the judge that she was a victim of Bolling as well, saying he targeted her as a teenager and "lured [her] into his trap."
During the sentencing hearing, she took emotional responsibility while claiming also to be a victim of Bolling, her mom, Destiny Burke, echoed that to us outside the courtroom.
"She said, 'Mom you have no idea what he did to me and what I had to go through and in a short period of time,'" Burke said.
Ferrer said he promised her a new life and fresh start in Hot Springs, a location that she said was selected by Bolling. This promise is what led the Tennessee couple to Hot Springs that day in April of 2022.
When they arrived in Hot Springs, Ferrer said she identified the teenage victim and asked to borrow the victim's phone but would lead the girl to a car.
"Once inside their car, she was attacked by Samuel Bolling," Fowlkes said. "He put a cover over her head. He struck her in the head so hard that the marks were still visible more than 24 hours later... that was just the beginning of this nightmare for our victim."
Bolling threatened the family to pay a $10,000 ransom for the return of their child.
Ferrer and Bolling then decided to hide at a condo that they rented near Lake Hamilton. While there, she said that the teen was kept in a bedroom and at some point, the kidnapped teen was sexually assaulted by Bolling.
Ferrer said that's when she told him to let the girl go.
According to Fowlkes, Ferrer's court statement was heartfelt, but it came too late.
"She had every opportunity to shorten the terror of this family and this victim and she declined to do so," Fowlkes said.
Bolling, who also pleaded guilty, was handed a life sentence in federal prison on Wednesday. He's expected to be sent to the federal prison in Texarkana.
Ferrer will likely head to a prison in Aliceville, Ala., and after serving her sentence, she will have five years of supervised release.
Fowlkes hopes the "strong sentences gives the victim and her family a small measure of peace."