Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Police Looking for Child Abuse Suspect

Aired September 20, 2002 - 12:09   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Police in northern Indiana want your help in tracking down a mother who apparently beat her young daughter. The incident was caught on surveillance video, and authorities hope viewers see it and help them find the pair.
CNN's Gary Tuchman joining us live with what is a very disturbing story -- Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Miles, it is. She is 4-years-old, and we have now learned her name, it is Martha. Somehow, knowing her name makes this story even more difficult to think about.

As we speak, the search continues for the mother who beat little Martha in the back of a car one week ago, and it was all captured on video. The video is hard to watch, but it has helped galvanize a nationwide search for this 25-year-old woman. Her name is Madelyne Gorman Toogood. It happened at a Kohl's department store one week ago.

They were going back to the car, and you can see she looks back to see if anybody is watching, and then starts hitting, punching, shaking, and pulling the hair of this little 4-year-old girl, and it is very hard and painful to watch, you can see this poor little girl's legs flailing as she goes into her car seat right there while her mother continues to beat her.

We are told this woman is married, we are also told she is from Texas. The reason we know that, she was in the store with her sister with her child and with another girl. Apparently they were trying to return some goods. The store said the goods didn't come from the store. They were suspicious of her, so the camera followed her back to the car, that is why they have this video, and after the alert camera person saw this happened, he then focused on the license plate, saw it was from Texas, and that is how they were able to find out who she was.

As it turns out, Madelyne Gorman Toogood has a arrest record in the city of Mansfield, Texas. We just received a mug shot that shows her after she was arrested in Mansfield, Texas. We don't know what the exact charge was, but she has been arrested before. But this is the 25-year-old who they are looking for right now, Madelyne Gorman Toogood. They want to catch this woman, but it is not a top priority.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF ANTHONY HAZEN, MISHAWAKA POLICE: Our main goal right now is, of course, to find the woman, but the main goal is the child. We really think she needs some medical treatment. We want to prevent a future attack, and we are positive someone that would do this in an open parking lot would probably do it again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: Now, we were talking about a woman being with her in the store. That woman is her sister, her name is Margaret Daily (ph), it is the first time we have received that name also. She has also been arrested on charges of not reporting child abuse. Not reporting child abuse carries a possibility of up to 6 months in prison.

Now, within the next few moments, perhaps, we expect to hear about charges being filed for Madelyne Gorman Toogood. Even though they are still looking for her, they will file charges. Those charges will be a felony battery charge. This may surprise you, the lack of maximum time for a felony battery charge, but she would only face a possibility of a maximum of 3 years in prison if she is found guilty of such a charge, but the fact is, they still have to find her, and they haven't been able to do that just yet -- Miles, back to you.

O'BRIEN: Gary, you say she is married and from Texas. Has anybody been able to get a hold of the husband, and has been able to locate her home?

TUCHMAN: Yes. We are told that her husband -- they are not sure if the husband lives with the wife. They have gotten in touch with the husband, and have not gotten a lot of helpful information from him. They also haven't gotten helpful information from other family members. She is described as a nomad who travels around to get various jobs, and here is one more disturbing detail, Miles, and that is there are two other children in this family. They are both older. We are told they are about 5 and 6-years-old, and at this point, the authorities don't know where those two children are either.

O'BRIEN: All right. Gary Tuchman, a very, very disturbing story. We will be following it for you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired September 20, 2002 - 12:09   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Police in northern Indiana want your help in tracking down a mother who apparently beat her young daughter. The incident was caught on surveillance video, and authorities hope viewers see it and help them find the pair.
CNN's Gary Tuchman joining us live with what is a very disturbing story -- Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Miles, it is. She is 4-years-old, and we have now learned her name, it is Martha. Somehow, knowing her name makes this story even more difficult to think about.

As we speak, the search continues for the mother who beat little Martha in the back of a car one week ago, and it was all captured on video. The video is hard to watch, but it has helped galvanize a nationwide search for this 25-year-old woman. Her name is Madelyne Gorman Toogood. It happened at a Kohl's department store one week ago.

They were going back to the car, and you can see she looks back to see if anybody is watching, and then starts hitting, punching, shaking, and pulling the hair of this little 4-year-old girl, and it is very hard and painful to watch, you can see this poor little girl's legs flailing as she goes into her car seat right there while her mother continues to beat her.

We are told this woman is married, we are also told she is from Texas. The reason we know that, she was in the store with her sister with her child and with another girl. Apparently they were trying to return some goods. The store said the goods didn't come from the store. They were suspicious of her, so the camera followed her back to the car, that is why they have this video, and after the alert camera person saw this happened, he then focused on the license plate, saw it was from Texas, and that is how they were able to find out who she was.

As it turns out, Madelyne Gorman Toogood has a arrest record in the city of Mansfield, Texas. We just received a mug shot that shows her after she was arrested in Mansfield, Texas. We don't know what the exact charge was, but she has been arrested before. But this is the 25-year-old who they are looking for right now, Madelyne Gorman Toogood. They want to catch this woman, but it is not a top priority.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF ANTHONY HAZEN, MISHAWAKA POLICE: Our main goal right now is, of course, to find the woman, but the main goal is the child. We really think she needs some medical treatment. We want to prevent a future attack, and we are positive someone that would do this in an open parking lot would probably do it again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: Now, we were talking about a woman being with her in the store. That woman is her sister, her name is Margaret Daily (ph), it is the first time we have received that name also. She has also been arrested on charges of not reporting child abuse. Not reporting child abuse carries a possibility of up to 6 months in prison.

Now, within the next few moments, perhaps, we expect to hear about charges being filed for Madelyne Gorman Toogood. Even though they are still looking for her, they will file charges. Those charges will be a felony battery charge. This may surprise you, the lack of maximum time for a felony battery charge, but she would only face a possibility of a maximum of 3 years in prison if she is found guilty of such a charge, but the fact is, they still have to find her, and they haven't been able to do that just yet -- Miles, back to you.

O'BRIEN: Gary, you say she is married and from Texas. Has anybody been able to get a hold of the husband, and has been able to locate her home?

TUCHMAN: Yes. We are told that her husband -- they are not sure if the husband lives with the wife. They have gotten in touch with the husband, and have not gotten a lot of helpful information from him. They also haven't gotten helpful information from other family members. She is described as a nomad who travels around to get various jobs, and here is one more disturbing detail, Miles, and that is there are two other children in this family. They are both older. We are told they are about 5 and 6-years-old, and at this point, the authorities don't know where those two children are either.

O'BRIEN: All right. Gary Tuchman, a very, very disturbing story. We will be following it for you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com