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CNN Live Today

Accused Texas Baby Snatcher Arraigned

Aired August 15, 2002 - 11:04   ET

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

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A baby snatched from a Wal-Mart parking lot is returned to the safety of her mother's arms. Nancy Crystal Chavez was reunited with her parents more than 24 hours after she was abducted, and the woman accused of kidnapping her is facing charges this morning.
CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us now live once again. He's in Abilene, Texas this morning, and he's got the details.

Hello -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon.

Well, about a half-hour ago here in Abilene, Texas in the courthouse building you see behind me, Paula Lynn Roach was brought into the building here, and basically a formality, but the beginning of the court proceedings that she will face in the coming months and possibly years ahead.

As she went before a judge today to get a full understanding and a reading of her rights, listen in to what Judge Bryan Smith told her just a while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRYAN SMITH, TAYLOR COUNTY JUSTICE OF THE PEACE: You're charged on a warrant in complaint out of Taylor County for aggravated kidnapping. Your bond is $200,000.

PAULA LYNN ROACH: Yes, sir, (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

SMITH: No, ma'am. That is the charge. That will be up to the district attorney's office. Do you understand your rights?

ROACH: Yes, sir.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: The bond has been set at $200,000. We understand that Paula Lynn Roach was asking the judge if that bond price could be dropped down. And she was told that she would have to take that up with district attorney's office here in Abilene.

She has been charged with aggravated kidnapping. She was then taken out of the courthouse and returned to the county jail here in Abilene. She had originally told investigators, when she was pulled over yesterday in Quanah, Texas about 9:00 in the morning yesterday, that the baby that was with her was actually hers. She told police that she had been born the day before. And when police took a quick look at the baby and they quickly realized that there was no way that that baby was just 1-day-old, and that's how this process, and they started getting a better idea of just who this little baby might be.

Now, of course, that emotional reunion happened late yesterday -- later yesterday afternoon. As you might imagine, the emotion and the thrill for the Chavez family to be reunited with their daughter after what must have been a very agonizing 24 hours, to go through just the wide range of emotions, the fear of that moment of the abduction, and the anxiety of what might happen, and of course, the smiling moment in those video images. The Chavez family gracious enough to allow a news media camera to capture that moment that they were reunited.

Margarita Chavez was incredibly grateful. At one point her husband saying that so many people had come up to them to offer hugs and prayers and their support that they didn't even know who was hugging them at certain points.

But right now, the family is just grateful that everyone is reunited.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARGARITA CHAVEZ, MOTHER: My hopes never ended. I trust the Lord. And I was very sure that I was going to get my baby back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Investigators here had said that when Margarita Chavez was leaving that Wal-Mart parking lot, that she had put her three kids into her car, and had just turned away just a few seconds and walked a few feet away from the car to return a shopping cart to a little loading area there in the parking lot, and it was just a matter of seconds. That's all it took.

So investigators here and police stressing to everyone that there is a bigger lesson to be learned here; that something as terrible as what happened to Chavez family can happen in just a matter of seconds. And they hope that people take that lesson away from this story as well -- Leon.

HARRIS: Hey, Ed, real quick, can you give us an idea of momma Chavez's condition? We noticed all of the scratches on her faces -- or on her face, rather, and the bandages on her hands. Is she going to have to stay in the hospital herself or anything?

LAVANDERA: Well, she was here yesterday and reunited with their daughter, and we understand she should be OK. Of course, those injuries were suffered -- you can see from the surveillance camera images that when she had seen the abduction taking place that she had started running after the car to try to keep it from happening. And we understand that she was possibly dragged. The video images kind of go out of the screen there, but she was dragged as she tried to lunge at the car and try to keep the abductor from taking away little Nancy Chavez. So that's where she suffered those scratches and other injuries to her arms as well.

HARRIS: Yes.

LAVANDERA: So -- but from what family members have said that she should be just fine.

HARRIS: Graphic evidence of just how far mom will go to protect and save her child.

Ed Lavandera -- thanks, Ed, we'll see you later on. Ed is in Abilene, Texas this morning.

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