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American Morning
FBI Special Agent In Charge Explains How Baby Jasmine Was Found
Aired December 28, 2001 - 07:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Sixteen-month-old Jasmine Anderson is to be reunited with her mother today while the woman charged with kidnapping the child goes before a judge in West Virginia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM KNEIR, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: Jasmine Anderson is fine. She's at a hospital in West Virginia tonight just for observation, but the child is OK. And it's a good Christmas story for a change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The toddler was kidnapped from a Chicago bus station Christmas Day. Her mother says the abductor offered to give them a ride and vanished with the baby after volunteering to hold the child while the mother cashed in her bus tickets.
The toddler was searched for all throughout the nation is, as we said, alive and well. Sixteen-month-old Jasmine Anderson kidnapped from that bus station. Her disappearance sparked, really, a nationwide search.
Tom Kneir is the FBI special agent in charge of all that. He joins us now live from Chicago.
Good to have you with us, sir.
KNEIR: Thank you, Miles.
O'BRIEN: The break in this case appeared to be a relative. Why don't you, for those who are not familiar with exactly how this all unfolded, just explain how you got the call and how you were able to make the arrest.
KNEIR: Yes, let me just kind of start off by saying, you know, I want to thank the media for, you know, keeping this in front of the public so that a relative, you know, saw these stories, started to piece together the information and made a call to the Bridgeview, Illinois Police Department. From there, the Bridgeview Police Department called Chicago Police Department, who we've been working with since the abduction on Christmas Eve, and then the pieces started to fall into place. We made an arrest over in West Virginia about 5:00 Eastern time last night of, you know, Sheila Matthews. And Jasmine Anderson is -- you know is fine and doing well. We'll -- we will reunite Marcella Anderson, the mother, and Jasmine today over in West Virginia.
O'BRIEN: And what's the apparent motive in this case?
KNEIR: You know in these things, Miles, it's always hard to say, but it appears that, you know, Sheila Matthews thought that she needed a child for her boyfriend.
O'BRIEN: Can you elaborate on that any more? Just...
KNEIR: No, I can't -- not at this time. You know we've got -- we've still got a lot of investigation to do and you know, these facts will be taken to the U.S. attorney and then we'll decide on, you know, whether, you know, additional charges will be forthcoming.
O'BRIEN: Because there is a report on the wires this morning, I wonder if you can confirm it for us, that she had told her boyfriend that while he was in prison she had delivered a child and this was an effort to keep up that ruse?
KNEIR: That's correct.
O'BRIEN: OK, so you can confirm that. This is an unusual case. We were talking to Adam Walsh yesterday who has a lot of familiarity with this sort of thing, obviously and unfortunately in a very personal way as well. He said generally in missing children cases the suspect is a male, not usually a female, and when it's a female, it is the desire to have a child. Do you -- would you go along with that?
KNEIR: I would. You know from some experience that I've had in other field divisions, we've had other similar ones, one in New Mexico a number of years ago and one down in Jacksonville, Florida, same MO.
O'BRIEN: Now as far as it might be the same MO, but generally speaking, do you get a good outcome like this, an arrest and the child returned unharmed?
KNEIR: You know we like to -- you know we'd like to think that they all have a happy ending. The one in Jacksonville is now over three years old, and you know, we're still looking for that child that was taken from a hospital as a -- as a newborn.
O'BRIEN: Mr. Kneir, are you a parent?
KNEIR: Yes, I am.
O'BRIEN: Are these cases particularly difficult to handle when you're...
KNEIR: Yes, they are.
O'BRIEN: ... a law enforcement official? KNEIR: Yes, they are, and you know, it was -- it was kind of heartwarming last night with Marcella. You know she's a -- she's a young mother of Jasmine and a 3-year-old, and I mean she's just so relieved that her child is OK. And you know, I'd have to put myself in her position that, you know, the not knowing from, you know, the evening of Christmas Eve, the 24th, to you know, until after 4:00 Chicago time yesterday that, you know, what the outcome would be. So she's very relieved and you know, you could see it on her face last night that, you know, it's like the weight of the world was taken off her shoulders.
O'BRIEN: I bet there was some smiling faces among the FBI as well.
KNEIR: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Congratulations on a job well done there in closing this case.
KNEIR: Yes, it's -- you know again, this is a perfect example of great cooperation. You know the West Virginia State Police, the Williamsburg or the Williamson, West Virginia Police Department. Chicago Police Department put literally, you know, hundreds of detectives on this case right from the beginning. And the Federal Bureau of Investigation jumps on these cases when it's a -- it's a child like this so that in case it does go interstate that we can -- we can cover the out of state leads. And so it worked like it was supposed to.
O'BRIEN: And it's the kind of response that might not have happened a few years ago, that speedy response.
Tom Kneir, special agent in charge in Chicago, thanks for being with us. We appreciate it.
KNEIR: Thank you, Miles.
O'BRIEN: And good luck to you there.
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