Speaker 1: My older sister woke up to get Bella ready for school,
and she wasn't there.
Speaker 2: Tension began rising as Amanda couldn't find a trace of
her sister.
Speaker 1: Her dad stopped at the elementary school to say, hey,
did Anna Bala get dropped off?
Speaker 2: But no one had seen Bella. Panic set in for
Bella's dad. It was as if she had vanished into
thin air.
Speaker 3: This is The Miracle Files.
Speaker 4: I'm Emily Jones and I'm Holly Worthington.
Speaker 5: We're two sisters who love a captivating true story, but
we're also seeking more light in our lives.
Speaker 2: So we're on a mission to find and share unforgettable,
uplifting stories of God's miracles. We hope you'll join us
on this journey.
Speaker 4: Welcome back to the Miracle Files.
Speaker 5: I don't often use this word, and I don't use
it lightly, but this episode is truly special.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I love all of our episodes, but this is one
that I guarantee is going to stick with you for
a long time.
Speaker 5: It will and please stay after because we have some
really important things to share with you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and before we get started, just a little parental
heads up. This one does deal with some mature topics
like abuse and crime, but I let my kids listen.
It provided some really good teaching opportunities.
Speaker 4: So it's up to you. Okay, let's get started.
Speaker 3: Let's go.
Speaker 2: Our story starts in June of two thousand and three.
Speaker 3: Five year old.
Speaker 2: Bella lived between two homes because her parents were divorced.
At her dad's house, she lived with her older sister, Amanda,
who was twelve. They also had another sister, Clara, who
was nine.
Speaker 4: And lived with their mom.
Speaker 2: Though Clara didn't have the same father, the three sisters
shared a strong bond, and Bella loved it when Clara
would visit her and Amanda at her dad's house. Bella's
single father was doing his to care for his two daughters,
but was struggling to make ends meet, so when his bandmate,
Bill Mix, offered to move in and help with the
kids and household expenses, Bella's father gratefully accepted. Soon Bill
began moving his stuff into the house, including bringing his
pet parrot with him. Bill was soft spoken and sweet
with the kids, especially five year old Bella. In fact,
he would often take Bella and her two sisters, Clara
and Amanda, out to dinner and would buy them gifts,
although he bought more gifts for Bella. When Clara visited
her sisters, she began to notice a trend. Bill was
doing more and more with five year old Bella, such
as dropping her off at school in the mornings, and
as time went on, it became clear to Clara that
Bill was giving Bella significantly more attention than the other girls.
Speaker 1: Here's Clara, and I was over there for a Memorial
Day and we were out in the front yard playing
like a kiddie pool or something, and he called her
inside and I just kept playing and she comes back out,
but instead of coming out to the pool, she went
and just sat on a chair on the porch, and
I remember thinking it was weird, and I went and asked, Hey,
what did he say? And she went to go say
something and said, oh, I forgot.
Speaker 2: Bella seemed a little off, But though the moment fell
strange to Clara, she didn't think too much of it,
as most kids would do. She went back to playing
in the pool, and then things took a darker turn.
Speaker 1: It was early June. My older sister woke up to
get Bella ready for school, and she wasn't there, so
she's running all over the house looking for her.
Speaker 2: Tension began rising as Amana couldn't find a trace of
her sister. She ran into her dad's bedroom to see
if Bella could.
Speaker 1: Be there, and you know, she's not here. Where is she?
And they didn't know. So her dad sent our older
sister to school, and he stopped at the elementary school
to say, hey, did Anna Bala get dropped off?
Speaker 2: But no one had seen Bella. It was as if
she had vanished into thin air. Bella's father ran back home.
He searched the house again, this time checking Bill's bedroom.
What he found there made his heart race with fear.
A letter sat on Bill's bed. It said that Bill
had kidnapped Bella. Bill explained that he took Bella to
give her a better life. Even more chilling, in the letter,
Bill offered Bella's father a disturbing exchange for Bella.
Speaker 1: And in return, her dad my sister's dad could keep
the parrot, Bill's pep parrot, and he would understand if
her dad strangled this parrot out of anger, but that
was his to leave and return.
Speaker 2: The letter gave an instant glimpse into the maniacal thinking
that was taking place in Bill's mind. Panic set in
for Bella's dad, and he hurried to call the police.
When Bella's mom got.
Speaker 3: The news, she cried out in terror.
Speaker 2: She immediately dropped to her knees and began begging God to.
Speaker 4: Save her baby.
Speaker 2: The officer put in charge of the case set out
an Amber alert for all of California and Nevada. With
little Bella in his car, Bill drove north across the
California border. He was already heading through Nevada and would
soon be beyond the reach of the Amber alert. Meanwhile,
over five hundred miles away from Riverside, in the small
town of Richfield, Utah, Lisa Hilton was having a bad day.
She had three young children and was supposed to be
meeting up with her mom and two sisters to help
her sister move at one but everything seemed to be
going wrong.
Speaker 3: Here's Lisa.
Speaker 6: The babysitter backed out, and I'm like, oh great, Now
what am I going to do? I honestly thought I
had another babysitter, and she backed out on me like
twenty minutes before I had to go. So I called
a couple other people and nobody was able to help me,
So I'm getting a little frustrated.
Speaker 2: Lisa finally called her sister in law and asked if
she could help babysit. Her sister in law couldn't do
it right away, but said she would be available later
after teaching piano lessons. That's fine, Lisa thought. Nothing was
going according to plan anyway. As Lisa scrambled to find
a sitter. Back in Riverside, California, Bella's nine year old sister, Clara,
was surprised when her grandparents picked her up early from school.
Speaker 1: My grandparents picked me up from school early and I
didn't know why, and they just were picking you up early.
We're going to go home to our house. We're going
to play. And I got there and I went into
a family room and they said, you know, you can
watch TV, but please don't change the channel. If you
need to, please come get us. I thought there was
some adult movie on. I'm like, okay, but no, it
was an Amber alert on the news ark.
Speaker 2: Bella's parents didn't want Clara to know that her sister
had been kidnapped, but they were sick with worry themselves.
They hoped and prayed that someone would see their Amber
alert but so far nothing they knew. The more time
went by, the less likely they were to ever find
their daughter. The worst part about it, there was absolutely
nothing they could do. In Richfield, Utah. Lisa felt frazzled.
Now three hours behind schedule, she was finally on her way.
She drove across town and was nearing her sister in
law's house when something caught her eye. Just before turning
into her sister in law's cul de sac, she passed
a church house. On the lawn of the church set
two individuals.
Speaker 6: And I'd make the turn to go into the cult
to sack, and right off the bat, I noticed this
little girl and she's eating what appears to be a
little happy mill or something, and this older gentleman and
I thought, huh, really doesn't look like you should be
a grandpa. I'm just kind of being judgmental, but it
just it kind of struck me, like, what are you doing?
Speaker 3: Lisa kept driving.
Speaker 6: I said, I felt judgmental because he had long gray
hair and kind of looked a little rough. And I thought,
which I shouldn't be that judgment be because I had
an older brother that kind of looked the same way,
long hair and a little rough and the biggest teddy
bear ever. And I honestly thought that too. I thought, Okay,
you know what, he kind of looks like your brother.
So quit that.
Speaker 2: Lisa shrugged off any concerns. But then something unexpected happened.
Speaker 6: Very strongly, miss where it said, she does not belong
with him. I'm not what what do you mean? And
I kind of looked back as I'm making the turn
to go up her street, and it's like, she does
not belong with him. And as I'm driving the few
couple of blocks up the street to get to my
sister in law's house, it became stronger and stronger. She
does not belong with him.
Speaker 2: The voice in Lisa's head, both quiet and powerful at
the same time, made her heart pound. Still, Lisa doubted
herself and tried to shake the feeling. When Lisa reached
her sister in law's house, she unfastened her son from
the car seat. As her sister in law came out
to meet Lisa. Her sister in law could immediately tell
that Lisa was shaken.
Speaker 6: Up, and she's like, what's going on? Lisaid, there's this
little girl and this guy down at the church, and
I know she doesn't belong with him? And she goes,
how do you know that? And I said, I know that.
I can feel the spirit whispering that. And I started shaken,
and she's like, what are you going to do? And
I'm like, I need to do something.
Speaker 2: Lisa reached for the phone and began to die on
nine one one, But then her fingers grose. What would
she even say that a man was having lunch with
a child. It's not like he was doing anything obviously wrong.
Would they think she was overreacting crazy? Even as uncertainty
crept in, that same quiet but insistent voice rose within
her again, she does not belong with him. Whether it
sounded ridiculous or not, Lisa knew she couldn't ignore it
any longer. She settled on calling the non emergency number
for the Richfield City Police Department.
Speaker 6: So I called that number and I said, hey, I
just feel like somebody needs to check this out, and
she goes, okay, we can we call it a welfare check.
We can do that. Where are you at? And I
told her the location. I said, it's on the church
Haslon at the end of fourth and it's a little
girl and the guy. And she goes well, how well
is a little girl? And I says, I don't know,
maybe four or five years old. She's pretty little, and
I said, but she just I just don't feel right
about it. And she goes, well, is there a vehicle there?
And I said, well, you know, I actually have to
drive past there again to get out of this cul
de sap. So I get back in my car and
I'm talking to hers.
Speaker 2: I'm driving nervously. Lisa neared the church house again. She
wasn't even sure if the older man and little girl
would still be there, and she didn't know what to
do if they were. As she came around the corner,
she instantly spotted them. She gripped her steering wheel with
shaking hands. Lisa described what she saw to the dispatcher, and.
Speaker 6: I told her, I said, hey, I'm coming up on it.
They're still there, and that feeling was still just so intense.
I mean, I was just shaken and it really upset me.
I told her it's a gray and burgundy pickup truck
with a camper shell. They're from California, and she's like,
can you read me a license plate?
Speaker 2: Lisa gave the dispatcher the license plate number in relief.
Lisa watched as a police car approached the church. Whatever
the situation was, it.
Speaker 3: Was now in the hands of the police.
Speaker 2: She drew in a deep breath, steadied herself, and continued
the drive to her sister's house.
Speaker 6: I get out of the car and I am still
just shaking. And I walk in the door and my
mom and one of my older sisters said, and they're like,
what's going on? And I said, there's this little girl
and this guy at the church house lawn and I
said she doesn't belong with them. And my sister kind
of teased me, and she goes, so, did you call
the cops? It is, yes, I dad. She goes, it's
probably some grump and how many of you just kind
of being funny? And then she looked at me and
she goes, no, I can tell now she's you're right,
something's wrong. And she says, just the way your parents says,
the way you're acting, and I said, I know, I'm
just sick about it.
Speaker 2: Just then, Lisa received a call from an unknown number.
Speaker 6: And I picked it up and I answered it and
Officer Trent Lloyd was his name. He's like, Lisa, how
did you know? I said, what and how did you know?
Her name is Annabella and she is kidnapped at a riverside, California.
This morning. There was an ambrolert in California, Nevada, but
there was not one in Utah. My mom and my
sister came down in the hall and I was crying,
and they're like, what's the matter. She was kidnapped. This
guy kidnapped her. I just my Mom's like, hey, just
take a breath. And I couldn't stop shaking. And my
sister said, how did you know? And I said again,
this spirit was so strong, she does not belong with him.
Speaker 2: In riverside, Bella's and Clara's family sat anxiously, waiting, praying,
wondering if they would ever see their sweet Bella again.
And then the phone rang. They couldn't believe what the
police told them. Bella had been found. Clara's parents finally
explained to her what had happened and that her sister
Bella was no safe. Their tears and rejoicing were beyond
anything Clara had seen before. The Next day, back in Utah,
Lisa received a call herself. On the other end was
a calm but serious voice informing her that Bella had
been placed in protective custody, and that her mother was
on the way to the police station and asking to
meet the woman who had saved her child.
Speaker 4: Was such a.
Speaker 6: Tender mean because the officers were there. The lady that
answered the phone, well, they're just crying. And I started crying.
And the mother walked in the room and she said,
when I received the phone call that my daughter was taken,
she says, I hnt my knees and just pleaded with
God to find an angel to find my baby. And
she said, and you were that angel. You were that angel.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, Bella had already gone through some trauma, but it's
absolutely chilling to think about what would have happened to
her if she hadn't been found. When she was inside
the camper that Bella had been kidnapped in. The police
found photographs and evidence of the terror that poor Bella
had had to endure.
Speaker 1: They also found love letters written to her, songs about
written that he had wrote about her. I think he
thought he was in a romantic relationship with a five
year old. He was forty eight.
Speaker 2: Bella had gone through a nightmare and would now need
time and therapy to heal but her family was so
incredibly grateful to have their sweet little girl home again.
Speaker 3: And fortunately Bill Mix.
Speaker 2: Would be going to prison where he could no longer
hurt any child again.
Speaker 1: So it was taken to trial and he was sentenced
to three hundred and fifty something years forty seven felony.
Accounts the judge that sentenced him, there is a quote
essentially saying he would do anything he could to virtually
guarantee that Mix would never see the light of day
outside of a prison for the rest of his life,
and then he goes on to say if that were
to happen, civilization as we know it would have ceased
to exist.
Speaker 2: Bella's family considers it a miracle that their daughter and
sister was seen by Lisa on that fateful afternoon. Lisa
was truly their angel.
Speaker 1: I'm on the I don't necessarily believe in God. I
am spiritual. I don't want to say religious, but I
don't disbelieve. But if there was ever a time that
I believed in an act of God, it was then
something in the universe just said this is not okay,
We're going to stop this no, And I just think
it's it is. I think an act of God, if there,
if I were to ever believe that, that's what that
would be, That's what that is.
Speaker 2: Lisa credits the experience to God's define intervention with the
clarity of passing time. What Lisa thought was an inconvenient,
frustrating morning became something entirely different.
Speaker 6: So I finally sat down and started writing it out.
And I can tell you from the moment I got
up that morning, I told you my day was planned out.
I had my day planned exactly how it was supposed
to go, and there were so many things that got
in my way, so many things that changed, besides just
the babysitter needing to run and help a neighbor with something,
taking phone calls that I wasn't planning on taking, you know,
just all these things. I'm like, why is my day
going this way? But as I sat down and wrote
it out, I now saw that my Savior had placed
me where I needed to be at that time. If
I had been ten minutes sooner, they wouldn't have been there,
not yet. I think the officers said they'd been there
less than five minutes when I saw them to let
her eat her little meal, and they said, then he
probably would have just got back on the freeway.
Speaker 2: The timing of Lisa's day had come down to a
matter of critical minutes to put her in the.
Speaker 3: Right place at exactly the right time.
Speaker 2: Today, Bella continues to work on healing from the wounds
of her past. But through the grace of God and
an earthly angel who originally thought she was just having
a really bad day, Bella has grown strong and has
a beautiful family.
Speaker 3: Of her own.
Speaker 2: Bella chooses to live her life in anonymity now, but
Clara shared that today Bella is a devoted and loving
mother with a vibrant imagination and a sharp sense of humor.
And we want to add one more descriptor to Clara's
list about Bella. To us, Bella and the courageous life
she's chosen to live is a miracle.
Speaker 4: I have chills.
Speaker 2: I know. Isn't that amazing that Lisa listened.
Speaker 3: To that voice?
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, I know.
Speaker 5: And before we get into that, we have some really
really crucial news to share with you all.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you are not going to believe this, but Bill Mix,
who it turns out his full name is Charles William Mix,
He actually was a multiple offender. He was sentenced to
basically an eternity in prison. The crazy thing is there
is still a possibility that he could get out of prison.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's so unbelievable.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: California passed an elderly parola, which basically allows inmates to
have an automatic parole hearing if they're over a certain age.
And there was just one day where Bella was having
this weird kind of gut feeling. She checked the status
of Bill's incarceration and saw that Bill had a parole
hearing set for September of twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3: And here's what Clara had to say.
Speaker 1: And she called my mom and I in a panic.
And that's when I said, that's okay, we're going to
figure this out. Let me make phone calls. You don't
worry about it. I've got up. I called CDCR, said
why is this happening? What's going on? And they told
me it was because of the elderly pearl. An elderly
pearlong California states that if an inmate is over the
age of fifty and has served twenty or more years
of their sentence, then they become eligible for a parl
suitability hearing. Therefore, if they're granted pearl, then they get out. Now,
twenty years out of three hundred and fifty is not
a lot, So that's a big shock. This law has
very little stipulations. If you murder a police officer, you
don't get elderly parole, or if you are a three
strike felon, then you don't get pearl. That's about the
extent of their stipulations. So we found this out about
early spring twenty twenty four, and I spent the rest
of spring, summer, and fall contacting anybody I could, writing
opposition letters, reaching out to other organizations, asking for help,
asking people to send in letters of opposition to his parol.
Speaker 2: H can you believe that twenty nine years sall he's
been in twenty years of his sentence.
Speaker 5: Yeah, no, It's truly shocking because this man horribly abused Bella.
And in preparation for the pearl hearing, Clara and Bella
gathered a lot of support, including letters from Bill's prison
cellmate who said that Bill is still a dangerous man
and should not get out.
Speaker 4: And Bill's parole was denied. Fortunately, yeah, thank heavens.
Speaker 2: But yeah, Bella still had to go relive all of
these horrible memories. It's like she was victimized all over
again because she had to have all these feelings brought
back up. I mean, she's still worried about her own
safety if he gets out at the safety of others.
Speaker 4: It's just very trumficent for her.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and as the law stands right now, she will
have to go through that again, potentially every five to
seven years for the rest of Bill's life.
Speaker 2: Oh, it's terrible, but Clara is such a good sister
and she is doing everything in her power to make
sure that doesn't happen. She's trying to pass a lot
in the state of California called the Mary Bella Law,
named after Bella, her sister, and another young victim named Mary.
And the purpose of this lot is to actually keep
violent sexual predators in prison. And they're actually going to
be presenting this law before the California State Senate in
the next couple months.
Speaker 5: Yes, and Lisa has also gotten involved with this. They
have a committee and they have weekly meetings to work
on this.
Speaker 1: Every week that we do it, we start with like
spotlighting somebody who we say use their voice, because that's
the whole point of what we're doing. Is using your voice,
being a voice for the voiceless victims who are scared
to fight, too tired to fight, didn't make it to fight.
And Lisa was one of our spotlights of a voice
because she didn't have to call, but she knew she
had to.
Speaker 5: So we know that we have amazing listeners and we
know that you're sitting there like us, saying what can
I do to help? So if you're in California, call
your elected officials immediately. If you're not in California, you
can still call the California Senators and bug them and
share this story everywhere you can, post it on social media,
let people know what's going on. This is such an
important issue.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we will be posting updates on our social
media so that you can follow along with what happens.
But really, if you feel compelled, please get involved.
Speaker 5: Yes, but before we go, I just have to say,
isn't the miracle in this story so powerful? I mean,
how amazing is it that God was able to use
this frazzled, busy mom in Richfield, Utah to save the
sweet little girl.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Lisa is amazing. And we actually have a letter
that Bella's father, Chris Clark wrote to Lisa and just
a heads up. In this letter, he calls Bella Anna
because Bella's full name is Annabella. But here's what it
has to say.
Speaker 4: Hello.
Speaker 2: My name is Chris Clark, Anna's father. I would like
to send a notice to everyone involved in the recovery
of my daughter, especially Lisa Hilton. If I would have
followed my deep gut instincts, this might not have happened.
Mix has been a friend to me and my girls
for two to three years. Everyone that knows us is
shocked and in disbelief that he would do this. He
is a sick man and nobody could see it. But
I always had a feeling about his relationship with Anna,
a gut feeling, but I didn't accept it. He just
seemed too good hearted. That goes to show that we
should all follow our gut feelings. Thank you with all
my heart, Lisa. You saved my daughter and saved her
family from what could have been much more grief. Thank
you to the social worker I don't recall his name,
and everyone else involved, please print this in your paper.
I am getting ready to see Anna right now. Thank
you again, and God bless you. Chris Clark.
Speaker 5: Wow, It's just so interesting that this dad didn't feel
good about Bill the whole time and he just didn't.
Speaker 4: Trust his own fat Yeah. How often does that happen?
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 2: All I can think is just you got to listen
to your gut, You got to trust those feelings.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 5: The older I get, I think, the easier it gets
to trust those feelings. And I've kind of stopped asking
myself if this is from God or not, Like, if
I feel something like that, I really try to pay attention.
And clearly Lisa is like an amazing example of someone
who listened to the still small voice.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: Well, we want to thank Lisa, Bella and Clara for
sharing this experience with us.
Speaker 3: We promise we will do everything.
Speaker 2: In our power to support your efforts in changing the
law in California, and thank.
Speaker 5: You so much for trusting us with your story. We
really believe that God brought us together for a reason.
Thank you for joining us. If you have a miracle
to share, contact us at the Miracle Files dot com
or find us on Facebook.
Speaker 2: We're now releasing multiple episodes each month, so subscribe on
your favorite podcast platform and YouTube for amazing video content
as well.
Speaker 5: Join us next time as we discover more of God's
miracles and don't forget to look for his light in
your own lives.