An award-winning series
BY CATHY FRYE, © 2003, ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Cathy Frye, a staff writer with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, has won the American Society of Newspaper Editors Award for nondeadline writing for 2004.
Frye took first place in the category for her series, "Caught in the Web," which brought to light the risks of Internet chat rooms after the abduction and murder of 13-year-old Kacie Woody.
Frye, in her four-part series, "weaves the details of dogged reporting masterfully, pulling the reader through a journey despite a sense of dread about the ending," the judges said.
The four parts of the series are republished online below.
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CAUGHT IN THE WEB LAST OF FOUR PARTS
By Cathy Frye (Contact)
(Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2003)
The kidnapper still clutched his 9 mm Luger in a lifeless hand.
A few feet from his body, in the rear of his rented silver minivan, his victim lay on her back, her wrists and ankles chained tightly to the four corners of the van’s floor. » Read story.
CAUGHT IN THE WEB THIRD OF FOUR PARTS
By Cathy Frye (Contact)
(Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2003)
FBI agent Jerry Spurgers knelt on the floor of 13-year-old Kacie Woody’s bedroom, holding two crumpled pieces of paper that might reveal the identity of Kacie’s kidnapper. » Read story.
CAUGHT IN THE WEB SECOND OF FOUR PARTS
By Cathy Frye (Contact)
(Monday, Dec. 15, 2003)
Something bad had happened in this living room.
State police investigator Karl Byrd knew it as soon as he saw 13-year-old Kacie Woody’s mangled eyeglasses, which lay beneath a pile of towels in a tan recliner. The frames were bent and one lens had popped out. » Read story.
CAUGHT IN THE WEB FIRST OF FOUR PARTS
By Cathy Frye (Contact)
(Sunday, Dec. 14, 2003)
He could see his 13-year-old prey framed in the living-room windows - cozy in her favorite nightclothes and typing speedily at the family computer on this rainy, 39-degree December night. » Read story.
are from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and FREE to Online and newspaper subscribers. 
