Accused Kidnapper Had Troubled Childhood, Served Prison Time

Details are starting to emerge about the troubled past of the young man who is accused of trying to kidnap a child from a WalMart in Bremen, Ga. on Feb 8.

Thomas Woods, 25, who grew up in Tucker, is being held without bond by Haralson County Police for attempting to abduct Brittney Baxter, 7, from the toy aisle of the store. Security cameras show a man running with a child in his arms. She struggles and gets away from him, and he runs off. 

According to a former neighbor of the Woods family in Tucker who wishes to remain anonymous, Thomas Woods' problems began as a child whose father suffered from severe back pain following surgery, and whose mother left him.

"His dad was a mess," said the neighbor. "(He) took a lot meds that made him go out of control." According to the neighbor, the boy's mother abandoned him, taking his little sister with her and leaving him with his abusive father.

The neighbor added that she used to drive Woods to school whenever he missed the bus, and would listen to him talk about his family. "There were two Thomas Woods at Smoke Rise Elementary," she said. "Even back then, they would call him the bad Thomas and the other they called the good Thomas."

Woods, who also attended Henderson Middle School, lived with his father in a house on Lawrenceville Highway near Doak's Run Court in Tucker. It is in this house that Woods is said to have commited his first crime in 2004.

"When he killed his (uncle) and buried him in the back yard, you could smell the decaying body in our neighborhood," said the neighbor who lived nearby. Woods, 17 at the time, was accused of shooting and killing his 61-year-old uncle James Price. He led authorities to the body and his father pleaded guilty to concealing a death.

DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James said Woods was on state probation as part of a prison sentence for voluntary manslaughter in Price's death.

"We knew he would end up in trouble," said the neighbor's daughter, who is the same age as the accused.

FOX 5 is reporting that Woods, who was arrested an hour after the abduction incident and charged with attempted kidnapping, is now facing five additional charges of false imprisonment, simple assault, cruelty to children, marijuana possession and driving on a suspended license.