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American Morning

Texas Baby Returned to Family

Aired August 15, 2002 - 09:02   ET

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

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: From Texas, a former prison guard facing a court hearing today. Paula Lynn Roach charged with kidnapping 1-month-old Nancy Crystal Chavez. The baby is home now after a tearful reunion last night.
Ed Lavandera, more now from Abilene, Texas this morning -- Ed, good morning.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill. What a day. I don't think there is any way to quite capture the full extent of the emotion that the Chavez family has endured over the last couple of days, but this morning, they are all home, resting this morning, everyone together, as little Nancy Chavez was returned here to the police station in Abilene, where she was reunited with her mother and father yesterday afternoon after being gone for about 24 hours.

She had been abducted from a Wal-Mart parking lot here in Abilene. Her mother had just turned away to a return a shopping cart, had just loaded her three children into a car, turned away just a few seconds, not but ten feet away from the car, and that is all it took for what police say was Paula Lynn Roach's chance to come in and abduct little 1-month-old Nancy Chavez.

And that triggered a statewide search, Amber Alert triggered throughout the state, as people were looking for this baby. It turned out that the tip came from a little town in the Texas panhandle called Quanah, Texas about 9:00 yesterday morning. That is where police say they found Paula Lynn Roach with the baby. When they first confronted her and asked her who the baby belonged to, she said it was her baby, that she had just had it the day before, and when police took one look at the baby, they knew that that just wasn't the case -- Bill.

HEMMER: Great ending. Thank you, Ed. Ed Lavandera in Texas.

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