Right Combination : Girl Trapped in Safe Relies on God and a Good Locksmith

When she became trapped Monday in a safe not much bigger than a large suitcase, 11-year-old Rochelle Fales fell back on her faith in God and prayed. She was in the right place for it.

“I knew God was going to take care of me,” Fales said as she emerged from a 20-minute ordeal locked in the heavy safe at a Chatsworth church where her father is a minister.

Rochelle, who stands 4 feet, 8 inches tall, said she crouched in the 3-foot-tall, 2-foot-deep safe while playing with her 10-year-old brother, John, in the office of the Shepherd of the Hills Southern Baptist Church.

Then John accidentally bumped the door closed and the combination dial moved just enough to lock it. As her parents and church employees frantically tried to track down somebody who knew the combination, Rochelle became sweaty and dizzy, struggling to breathe in the nearly airless box.

“I was scared, but I knew God was going to take care of me,” said a tearful but unharmed Rochelle after she emerged. “If God wanted me to die, he would have let me. So it was really God’s choice.”

John had tried to talk to his sister and prayed before running to tell his mother, Kim.

“I felt a little scared when I first heard my sister say she was starting to feel dizzy,” John said. “I went into another room. I sat down in a chair and started praying that Rochelle came out.”

Los Angeles firefighters arrived at the church on Superior Street within minutes of being called and were preparing to break into the safe with special tools when church workers reached an employee by telephone who knew the combination. A locksmith instructed workers over the phone how to work the combination to unlock the door, said Rochelle’s father, the Rev. Richard Fales.

“I was trying to think what you could do--use a sledgehammer?” the minister said. “You feel absolutely helpless if somebody is locked in a safe. What can you do?”

Rochelle and John, who both attend Calahan Street Elementary School in Northridge, said they plan to stay away from things like safes and refrigerators in the future. “Nothing that you can get yourself locked into,” Rochelle said, “except a bedroom--as long as it has windows.”