Ashley Smith Robinson, author of Unlikely Angel: The Untold Story of the Atlanta Hostage Hero (Zondervan), testified earlier this week during the murder trial of alleged killer Brian Nichols who took her hostage at her Atlanta apartment in March 2005.

A young widow when she was kidnapped and widely considered the heroine who brought about Nichols' capture, Robinson made national headlines after quoting Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Life (Zondervan) to Nichols.

During her court appearance Monday in Atlanta, Robinson said she talked to Nichols about God and redemption, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. "He said he wanted to rest for a few days and be normal and then he would turn himself in," Robinson, 30, said. "I said God would forgive him if he asked for forgiveness. He looked up and said, 'God, please forgive me.' "

Robinson has re-married and is living in Gainesville, Ga., with her 8-year-old daughter, Paige, and a stepdaughter, the newspaper reported.

In Unlikely Angel—released in October 2005—Smith recounted the events of March 12, 2005, when she spent seven hours as a hostage and convinced her captor to turn himself in to the authorities. Unlikely Angel, which made The New York Times Nonfiction best-seller list, has more than 400,000 copies in print, but the book has gone out of print, Zondervan officials said.

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