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American Morning

Teen Girls Abducted from Florida Beach

Aired September 10, 2002 - 07:15   ET

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

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get to Miami right now. In Florida, police may be racing against time to find three teenage girls kidnapped at gunpoint, apparently, last night by two men near the beach.
With more on the developing story this morning, WSVN, Nichelle King, our affiliate in Miami, fills in the facts and what we know so far.

Good morning. What do you have?

NICHELLE KING, CNN AFFILIATE WSVN REPORTER: Good morning, Bill.

Police across the state of Florida are looking for these three teenage girls, including police right here in Miami.

You're getting a look at the scene, and this looks to be a remote area, but actually it's not. This is a very popular spot for teenagers to come, maybe jet ski and just hang out. But this fun spot turned into a very violent spot last night, when two men attacked, carjacked and kidnapped three teenagers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): Helicopter spotlights overhead, police cruisers on the ground. The statewide search is on for two stolen cars and three missing teenage girls.

Pilar Bertran rushes to find her son, another victim.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pilar, your son is here, he's OK?

PILAR BERTRAN, VICTIM'S MOTHER: Yes, he's fine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How old is your son?

BERTRAN: Eighteen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, he's down here meeting three girls, right?

BERTRAN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And all of a sudden, he calls you and says, "Mom, they pepper sprayed me, and they took the three girls."

BERTRAN: I don't know about the pepper spraying. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did they take his car, too?

BERTRAN: Yes, they take his car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How frightening is this for you?

BERTRAN: It's a nightmare after all that happened to that Colombian girl.

KING: That Colombian girl was Anna Maria Anhel (ph). She and her boyfriend were kidnapped while walking along Miami Beach in April. Detectives finding her body off I-95 in Boca Raton. Her boyfriend was stabbed 14 times, but did survive.

Investigators say Bertran's 18-year-old son, George Bertran, seen here talking with police, came down to Virginia Key to meet three teenage girls, one of them his girlfriend.

When he got there, he was reportedly pepper sprayed. Two men pointed guns at him, beat him, robbed him, stole his car, then forced the teenage girls into one of their own gold Mazdas, then drove off. Police are still looking for the cars and looking for the three teenage girls.

BILL SCHWARTZ, MIAMI POLICE: The boy was pepper sprayed. He was beaten up, kicked, has some minor cuts and bruises. Then the girls were forced at gunpoint into the Mazda and both cars sped off.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: Police spent most of the evening talking with 18-year-old George Bertran, trying to find out if there was any connection between those two men and possibly between the teenagers who were taken. They are also talking to him trying to find more information, get more evidence or details that can possibly lead to these three teenage girls.

We're live in Virginia Key. Nichelle King.

Back to you -- Bill.

HEMMER: Nichelle, thank you, and our thanks to our affiliate, WSVN. Time of the very essence right there in Florida now.

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