The father of a Philadelphia nurse who was grabbed off the street said she befriended her abductor in order to survive.

Carlesha Freeland-Gaither was found inside a parked car 120 miles away in Jessup, Maryland, three days after she was kidnapped.

The 22-year-old's alleged abductor, Delvin Barnes, was arrested at the scene and indicted on a federal kidnapping charge yesterday.

Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, 22, was abducted from a street in Philadelphia and found 120 miles away in Jessup, Maryland

Suspected abductor Delvin Barnes, was indicted yesterday

Carl Freeland told ABC News: 'I'm glad that my daughter was a friendly person and got him into being a friendly guy so he wouldn't harm her.'

'I give all the praise to my daughter. She's the hero.'

He spoke after the City Council honored those who helped to find his daughter.

Carlesha's grandfather Derek Alston added she had 'more or less convinced him to be her friend.'

A massive manhunt was launched when Barnes allegedly grabbed Carlesha near a Philadelphia bus stop on November 2 and forced the struggling woman into his car.

Federal agents found her three days later in his car in Jessup.

Abducted Carlesha's family speak out after she's rescued

The nurse's mother Keisha Gaither smiles, surrounded by family and friends, after a police press conference last week which announced her daughter had been rescued

Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, pictured, only survived because she befriended her captor, said her father

'I give all the praise to my daughter. She's the hero,' he said

Federal prosecutors initially charged Barnes, of Charles County, Virginia, the day after his capture.

By law, most federal cases can't be prosecuted without a grand jury indictment. If convicted, Barnes faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

At City Hall yesterday, the Philadelphia City Council honored those who helped find the nursing assistant, who is still recovering from the ordeal and has not yet returned to work.

Mr Alston, said: 'She's coming along. She's working, trying to readjust.'

Barnes is also charged with attempted murder in the abduction of a 16-year-old girl in Virginia in early October.

He allegedly hit the teen in the head with a shovel, put her in a trunk and took her to a mobile home, where he doused her in bleach and gasoline before she escaped.

She broke free as Barnes was digging her grave, authorities said.

Horrifying video shows woman abducted off the street