Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Woman Rescued From Truck Driver Abductor After Scrawling Plea on Bathroom Wall

Aired April 24, 2002 - 12:44   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: It sounds like something out of a movie. A woman is rescued from her alleged abductor after scrawling a plea for help on a bathroom wall in Tennessee. Well, the search for the woman spanned hundreds of miles before ending in Georgia.

Reporter Lori Johnson from CNN affiliate WMAZ has this bizarre story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LORI JOHNSON, WMAZ REPORTER (voice-over): It started here at a truck stop in Tennessee. A message scrawled on the wall in the ladies room said: "Won't let me out. Beating me. This is no joke. Cannon 383." A custodian found the message and called Tennessee authorities.

CORPORAL GREG WALKER, MCMINN CO. SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: The way it was written on the wall, it was scribbled out. And you could tell that somebody was upset or in distress because there was letters and numbers out of the words. It was wrote so fast and scribbled up on the wall.

JOHNSON: Tennessee authorities used the information to trace the truck: Cannon Express truck number 383, driven by Shannon Jones.

CLYDE TIPTON, LAWRENCE CO. SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: We got a call from McMinn County, Tennessee.

JOHNSON: So Lawrence County deputies joined the search.

TIPTON: And they let us know that the vehicle was parked in our rest area out here, eastbound area at I-16.

JOHNSON: Lawrence deputies found the truck, Jones, and the passenger, a woman, who was visibly beaten.

TIPTON: At that time, she told them that she was being held against her will and that she had left hundreds of help messages from New York to here.

JOHNSON: The woman, 24-year-old Katina Shaddix, says Jones beat her while holding her captive for more than a year. Lawrence County deputies say one person's actions may have saved Shaddix's life. TIPTON: If a citizen hadn't seen that message and notified the sheriff's department up there, there is no telling what could have happened to this girl.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: That, once again, was from reporter Lori Johnson from CNN affiliate WMAZ.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com