Don McNiel had designed the then nascent Electronic Calculator, sold his design to Texas Instruments for mass production, and had earned a handsome return on his design of an Electronic Calculator.
Among another one of Don McNiel’s inventions is the Little Pal Portable Charcoal Grill, which was sold in major Big Box and Grocery Stores such as K-Mart, Wal Mart, Kroger; and possibly also Department Stores such as Sears, Montgomery-Ward, and J.C Penney.
Don McNiel was also a member of the Board of Directors of a local Bank in Alvarado. Texas at the time of his daughter’s kidnapping and abduction.
Moreover, Don McNiel had unsuccessfully ran as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Texas in 1978m and again, unsuccessfully during the years 1986 and 1988 (Scans of the McNiel’s Newsletter titled “The McNiel Messenger” courtesy of The Portal To Texas History by the University of North Texas).
On January 10, 1985 (ten days into the new year, following New Years Eve, 1984; and New Years Day, 1985); in a Jeep CJ-5 that Don and Claudia McNiel had purchased brand new for their sons Rod and Mark McNiel. as the McNiel boys were driving themselves and Amy in this Jeep to school, muggers in one abandoned and one functioning vehicle on the rural road the McNiel kids were driving down, stopped the Jeep; drew their weapons, and forced the McNiel boys to surrender Amy to these kidnappers, or else they would kill her. The kidnappers had also threatened to kill Amy if they found out that the authorities had been notified.
Instead of continuing onwards to school, the McNiel boys had turned around, went back home, explained to their parents, and also to their Aunt and Uncle who lived in a separate house on the McNiel Estate why they had skipped school, what had happened to Amy, and the threats made if the boys did not surrender Amy to the kidnappers, and if anyone had notified the authorities.
Don McNiel had ignored the threats, and contacted the FBI anyway (specifically the Dallas-Fort Worth FBI Field Office).
In the beginning, the FBI, local Sherriff’s Office, and the Texas Rangers had jointly set up wiretapping equipment to all of the landline Telephones in the McNiel House, none of the Telephone Calls were long enough for the FBI to utilize the technology of the day to track; and the regional chapter of the Bell Telephone System was scantly able to track the Telephone Calls to various payphones throughout Eastern Texas.
In the eavesdropped Telephone Calls, the kidnappers admit to Don McNiel that they had kidnapped his daughter for ransom, and demanded that Don McNiel pay the kidnappers $100,000 in exchange for a safe return of his daughter. The kidnappers also demanded that Don McNiel travel in his Limousine, and deliver the money in a rucksack in exchange for a safe return of his daughter. Any deviation from their demands, such as if Don McNiel drove in a vehicle other than his Limousine; they would have murdered his daughter.
Don McNiel did not have the money readily available anywhere nearby. Much of his finances were tied to Investors in Texas and in Arkansas. These Investors had to be promptly and swiftly flown in with the money in hand, in order to meet the demands of the kidnappers.
With the Limousine having been fitted with all types of recording equipment, and Radio and Cellular Telephony equipment; Don McNiel had personally driven the Limousine, with a few FBI Agents riding in the Center and Back Seats; and other FBI Agents, and several Sheriffs and Texas Rangers following in other vehicles on the ground, and in Airplanes and Helicopters in the sky; the kidnappers had fielded the convoy to Towns hundreds of miles away from Alvarado, Dallas, and Fort Worth; such as the Towns of Tyler, Texas; Longview, Texas; Mt. Pleasant, Texas; and Saltillo, Texas.
Over the duration of the time the convoy had traveled to where the kidnappers may be staying at any given time, the Alternator in Don McNiel’s Limousine had given out, and the Engine had overheated; leaving the Limousine out of commission.
Eventually, because the kidnappers’ Car had not only run out of fuel; but Law Enforcement officials’ handguns had also pierced both the kidnappers’ Car’s Radiator and Carburetor; causing the kidnappers’ Car to catch on fire, leading to the kidnappers’ Car being put out of commission, the kidnappers (still with Amy McNiel in tow) found no choice but to pull onto the property of an elderly woman in Saltillo, Texas. Law Enforcement officials had followed the kidnappers onto the property of the elderly woman in Saltillo, and a shootout between the suspects and the Law Enforcement officials began to take place on this woman’s property.
The woman; aware of what was going on right outside her house, had hid for cover and ducked inside of her Bedroom, fearing that the suspects might break and enter into her home, and maybe even shoot her to death.
During the exchange of gunfire between the suspects and the Law Enforcement officials, Amy McNiel; having spotted the Sheriffs and Texas Rangers, asked if they were ‘Police Officers’, the Sheriffs and Texas Rangers each responded ‘yes, ma’am’.
One of the Law Enforcement Officials then took Amy McNiel in his Work Car out of harm’s way to where the Van
One of the suspects, John Wesley Foote; who was 34 years of age at the time he had committed this crime, had formerly worked for Don McNiel, and was upset over Don McNiel firing Fonte. Fonte had retaliated by kidnapping Don’s daughter Amy for ransom.
The four other suspects are: Michael Lynn Mills, Liza Ann Bouvier, George Thomas Barnes, and Daniel Walter Necker Jr.
All except Liza Ann Bouvier were each given life sentences. Liza Ann Bouvier, who had actually protected Amy McNiel from the men possibly raping and womanizing Amy, who had met these men just days before the kidnapping of Amy McNiel, was naïve about meeting each of these four men, and didn’t know what she was getting into as far as associating with each of these four men was concerned; was only sentenced to a 10 year probationary period.
In June, 1985; Amy McNiel, the rest of the McNiel nuclear family, the Sheriffs, and the Texas Rangers were each commended by the Governor of Texas, members of the Texas State House of Representatives, and the Texas State Senate at the Capital of the State of Texas, Austin.
Below is the link to the transcript of the Court session in 1986 when Michael Lynn Mills had attempted to appeal his sentence:
https://casetext.com/case/mills-v-state-67
Below is a scan and a digitization of the Issue of the Burleson Star Newspaper from October 6, 1986; with a News Article about the last of the kidnappers to be tried and convicted; George Thomas Barnes (Scans of this Issue of the Burleson Star Newspaper courtesy of The Portal To Texas History by the University of North Texas):
Below is the link to a News Article published by the Associated Press on January 13, 1985 regarding the rescue of Amy McNiel, and the arrest of all five suspects:
https://apnews.com/article/be17250ddc8862d393e5c2e8f77dc03a
On this same day, United Press International (UPI) also published an article regarding the rescue of Amy McNiel, and the arrest of all five suspects:
The New York Times published an article about the rescue of Amy McNiel, and the arrest of all five suspects the following day, January 14, 1985:
Below is a short story written by the Texas Rangers about the assistance they provided the FBI in searching for Amy McNiel and each of the five suspects that have abducted and kidnapped her, and eventually rescuing Amy McNiel and arresting each of the five suspects:
During the years 1989-1990, Don McNiel was involved in a lawsuit with the Bank that he had sat on the Board of Directors of, the Alvarado State Bank:
https://law.justia.com/cases/texas/tenth-court-of-appeals/1990/3558.html
Amy McNiel’s last name has changed as a result of her marriage and adoption of her husband’s surname, Massey; following her transition to adulthood and marriage.
Sadly, Don McNiel had passed away in 2006. Below is the link to his obituary:
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/dfw/name/don-mcniel-obituary?id=16089847
Below is the link to the obituary of one of the Texas Rangers who was assigned to this case of assisting the FBI in searching for, and rescuing Amy McNiel; John Dendy, who had worked for the Texas Rangers from 1956 up until his retirement in 1992, and had passed away in 2016:
This FBI Case is the subject of an episode that had originally aired in April, 2002; of the Television Program “The FBI Files”, produced by New Dominion Pictures in the Norfolk suburb of Suffolk, Virginia:
Matthew Parij 
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