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CNN Live Today

Interview with Karen Wilkison

Aired August 14, 2002 - 12:04   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, back to Texas now where a statewide Amber Alert has been issued for the baby girl who was snatched yesterday from a Wal-Mart parking lot, but first -- a first for Texas in issuing a statewide Amber Alert.
Joining us now is Karen Wilkison of our affiliate KTXS in Abilene -- Karen, I cannot imagine what the reaction in the community must be right now. People have to be absolutely shocked.

KAREN WILKISON, KTXS: There is a lot of shock here. This is a very conservative and religious community, and a lot of heartfelt emotions for this mother and her family and the father. The father is a custodian at the local school district, and a lot of prayer vigils have been held already. Overnight there were prayer vigils.

LIN: Now, in this situation, let's take a look at the video again. This was surveillance video taken in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart. Could you describe to me what you are seeing here?

WILKISON: Yes. You first see, in the first part of the surveillance video, you see a teal car driving along. It looks like a '90s model Buick Skylark, and it is driving up and down, and police say -- they tell us that the car at that moment was surveying the area.

The next shot you see, the next edit, is going to see the Buick Skylark pulling out pretty quickly, and just barely you can see a woman holding on.

That is the mom. She is clinging to that car, trying to get the abductor to stop and give her her baby back.

LIN: And the police are actually saying that they think the suspect or the suspects actually targeted this couple and their baby?

WILKINSON: Yes, it appears so. That is what the police are telling us too. At first, they were not sure when this whole thing broke out about 4:30 yesterday afternoon, they weren't sure if it could have been a domestic dispute of some sort, where a relative may have wanted to grab the baby, but right away they ruled that out, and it has since been a -- very much a shock for this community.

LIN: So at this point, where does the investigation go? I mean, as I understand it, the videotape hasn't really been much help to the police except to verify the mother's story.

WILKISON: That's right. Well, they have like 45 people actively working on this, and this ranges from people at the national level for the Centers for Missing Children. They have a Texas group for missing children working on it, Department of Public Safety throughout the state is working on it, and from what we hear, the most people who have ever worked on any case like this in Abilene, Texas. So they have a number of people.

Police tell us today that they have several good leads that they are following at this time, and they certainly are appearing a little more optimistic this morning, but everybody is still a little tight- fisted and wanting to see some kind of action.

LIN: All right. Well often times, it is regular folks out there who are going to spot this car, or spot the suspects, or help find the baby. So let's hope that this Amber Alert gets out there quickly, and people are listening and watching. Thank you very much, Karen Wilkison for joining us today.

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