On a phone call from his home in Sulphur, Louisiana, Greg Griffith expressed his joy that his 14-year-old daughter was found safely.
"I'm very relieved," he said. "There was quite a lot of stress."
For the last four days, Griffith, along with many Americans, waited nervously to find out if his 14-year-old daughter and her younger sister would be found OK. They were both reported missing Dec. 30 and eventually found with Terry Miles, 44.
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Miles is now under arrest, and Griffith recalled when the man first met his daughter.
"He was not mentally right," Griffith said. "Something was not quite right, but I had no idea he had so much wrong."
Griffith said soon after they met, things worsened. He said Miles started pursuing his 14-year-old daughter in ways that crossed the line.
"I had to run him off," he said. "As soon as he met her, he couldn't leave her alone ... I realized he was acting just like a pedophile for my daughter so I ran him off."
Griffith was later shocked to learn that Miles had followed his daughter to Round Rock, where she was living with her mother.
"I just could not believe he was down there and I knew exactly why he was there," said Griffith. "He was stalking [my daughter]."
Griffith said he tried to warn his daughter but that she was argumentative in return.
"She said I was treating Terry like (expletive), and that she really liked Terry and wasn't going to let me tell her who her friends were," Griffith said.
Yet he never expected what happened.
"It was the worst thing," he said.
Now, he's just thankful his daughter is alive and said he is gearing up for she and her sister to come live with him in Louisiana.
"I don't want her to be discouraged in herself," he said. "Especially with her mom passing on like that. I don't want her thinking that it's her fault that happened ... I'm here for her anytime she wants and have a place for her to recuperate."