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CNN Live At Daybreak

Police in San Diego Have No Leads in Case of Missing Two-Year Old

Aired May 01, 2002 - 05:30   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Police in San Diego have no leads in the case of a missing two-year old boy. His mother is pleading for his safe return, as the intense search continues. CNN's Frank Buckley has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): As detectives searched a landfill for clues in the disappearance of two-year old Jahi Turner. His stepfather and mother appear before the media to appeal for their son's safe return.

MOTHER, JAHI TURNER: We just want to tell who ever the person that has our son is - you can just drop him off at a safe place. So that someone, you know, that's caring can bring him home to us. We don't care who the person is, just we want Jahi back.

BUCKLEY: Jahi was reported missing last Thursday. His mother, a US Navy sailor was at sea. The boy's biological father, ruled out by police as a suspect, was in Maryland. The boy's stepfather, Tieray Jones, was caring for the boy.

Police say the stepfather, Mr. Jones, told them that he was with the boy last Thursday at about 2:15 in the afternoon at this part of Balboa Park. When he decided to cross over to get a soda from a vending machine, some 150 yards away at that tan building back there. He left the boy in the playground area. When he returned, he says, some 15 minutes later the boy was missing. Police launched an extensive search. Dozens of volunteer searchers joined in. We're trying to find this little boy. He's out there and he's lost; OK.

BUCKLEY: Some of the searchers have recent experience in the process. They also looked for seven year old Danielle van Dam,, the girl who was kidnapped and murdered in San Diego County in February. Her parents, Brenda and Damon van Dam now among those helping to search for Jahi.

BRENDA VAN DAM, MOTHER, DANIELLE VAN DAM: We really just want to help in any way we can to find Jahi. And we really sympathize for his family.

BUCKLEY: Police have classified Jahi's disappearance as abduction. As part of their probe, investigators searched and sealed the boy's family's apartment, preserving potential evidence.

POLICE SPOKESMAN: Depending on how this thing plays out down the road, we can't go back and recreate a pure scene if we needed to. And if we didn't do what we have done now, we wouldn't be able to go back and get evidence.

BUCKLEY: Police say the search does not mean the parents are suspects. Police describe them as extremely cooperative. At the moment, investigators say, they are no closer to finding Jahi, a terrible disappointment at the park where he disappeared, to people who didn't know the boy but do know how scared he must be. How awful it must be to be his parents.

UNKNOWN FEMALE: It just breaks my heart, you know, that somebody could lose their baby and somebody knows where he is, but the parents don't.

BUCKLEY: One family's missing boy, an entire community's loss. Frank Buckley, CNN San Diego, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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