What they could / should have done differently?

1). At the end, they go inside the house unarmed. Instead, what they should have done was wake up all the neighbors. Knock on everyone's doors and say that the guy in there is a child molester who has a little girl inside. Then, with enough people with you, you can confidently confront the molester. He can't massacre a whole neighborhood.

2). After the trooper pulls them over and advises them to go to the station, they should have done just that!! ... Go to the station and give over all your evidence. Show them the video. Tell the police what you heard on the speaker. Give the police the molester's phone number (police can track that).

3). Inside the house, they find a ton of loaded guns. Then they proceed with their search. What they should have done was grab all of those guns, wait for the molester to return, and hold him at gunpoint (or kill him if absolutely necessary). I understand they really wanted to get the little girl out of the cage asap, but a better plan was to subdue the molester first.

4). This one could be a long-shot, but they could have gone to the media. Call your local newspaper or something and tell them what is going on. If the media reports the story, the police will feel compelled to investigate further