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CNN Live Today
Missing Student
Aired December 02, 2003 - 11:00 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I want to get some insight now on the arrest in the Dru Sjodin case, and the ongoing investigation into her disappearance.
Joining us from New York is Pamela Hayes. She's former chief of sex crime force the DA's office in Brooklyn.
Good morning, and thanks for joining us today.
PAMELA HAYES, FMR. SEX CRIMES PROSECUTOR: Good morning.
COSTELLO: Have you been following this case?
HAYES: Yes, I have.
I've been particularly concerned with this young lady, because she has been, in fact, missing. And you know, when someone is missing, I think it's the worst thing because you just don't know what has happened. Are they sick? Did something tragic happen? And now with this arrest, you know, you begin thinking the worst, and you want to know does this crazy have her held up somewhere in a hole? And they just have to find her.
COSTELLO: And they're still hoping out there for her family and friends. They're still looking for her; 1,000 volunteers are spread across a very wide area in North Dakota, searching the rivers now. That a sexual predator was arrested in this case, that comes as no surprise, does it?
HAYES: Well, you know, it could be a surprise, because you just never know what the circumstances are. But the fact that this guy is a sexual predator and he has, in fact, been arrested in the past and convicted of this type of behavior gives you, you know, pause to think well, OK, this is the type of scenario that we're dealing with.
So what they have to do now is try to see if they can get him to tell, in fact, where she is. And that is the most important thing right now. Because, like you said, as long as there's hope, you know, you can inspire people to keep going forward and find this young lady before anything tragic has happened to her.
COSTELLO: We don't know what led to this man's arrest. This could well be the wrong man.
HAYES: It could well be the wrong man. One of the problems with situations like this is when you have somebody who has a past, it is very easy to jump to conclusions. And you say well he has two convictions for the same type of thing, therefore, he's more likely than not to be involved in this.
But until you actually hear from the D.A., hear from the police department, we can't make any sort of conclusions. But you still can talk to him, and that's why I say that is the most important thing. I'm not interested in convicting him -- excuse me -- without a trial. But I want to show if he in fact knows something? And if he does, let's see what we can do to get information from him to find her.
COSTELLO: His extradition hearing has been rescheduled for tomorrow. I mean, is that unusual? Should we be reading something into that?
HAYES: Well, I think one of the things you have to realize is, you know, I don't know if they've got a governor's warrant from North Dakota. This gentleman is from Minnesota. We don't know the facts of the case. So it's somewhat hard to talk about what actually happened. If we knew more of the facts surrounding his arrest, I could tell you perhaps why there's a problem, why they had to postpone. He needs a lawyer. Maybe they weren't ready in time. If they just arrested him, usually it takes a couple of days to get a hearing done. It just doesn't happen overnight. It's a very serious matter when you extradite an individual and have them go back to, quote, the charging state.
And one of the problems here is, we just know that this woman is missing, we don't know that anything has happened to her. So it's a little difficult until you have an actual charging instrument to say what is the theory behind this, so that when you go to the extradition, you say, here, I have an arrest warrant. He's charged with sexual assault. He's charged with kidnapping. He's charged with whatever it is. But until you can have that in order, you just can't, you know, extradite somebody. What are you extraditing them for?
COSTELLO: We should know more at noon Eastern Time, because they're expected to hold a news conference.
One last question for you. This man is deemed a sexual predator. He was on some kind of list. I wouldn't know where to look to find his name.
HAYES: You look on the Internet. They have a list of sexual predators, Megan's List, all kinds of different lists in your own state. You can go to your local police station, and they will have a list of all these sexual predators, and they grade them in terms of dangerousness, et cetera, et cetera. But you go on the Internet, you'll be able to pull it up. Or you call your local police department and they'll explain more to you.
COSTELLO: Of course if this man really did it, he was in Minnesota, he crossed state lines, he's out of prison for seven months. Is he allowed to do that?
HAYES: Well, he's not allowed to commit crimes.
COSTELLO: I mean just crossing state lines. HAYES: Well, that just makes it a federal crime. Maybe he did something in North Dakota, and then he left and went back to Minnesota. Maybe, you know, she was in Minnesota and he, you know, did something there. We don't know where she is, so it's a little hard to tell. But the fact that if he did something and took her across state line, that would only make it a federal charge, OK? But right now, we need to know where this happened, what happened, and if he is the person involved with it.
COSTELLO: All right, Pamela Hayes, thanks for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.
HAYES: OK.
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 December 2, 2003 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I want to get some insight now on the arrest in the Dru Sjodin case, and the ongoing investigation into her disappearance.
Joining us from New York is Pamela Hayes. She's former chief of sex crime force the DA's office in Brooklyn.
Good morning, and thanks for joining us today.
PAMELA HAYES, FMR. SEX CRIMES PROSECUTOR: Good morning.
COSTELLO: Have you been following this case?
HAYES: Yes, I have.
I've been particularly concerned with this young lady, because she has been, in fact, missing. And you know, when someone is missing, I think it's the worst thing because you just don't know what has happened. Are they sick? Did something tragic happen? And now with this arrest, you know, you begin thinking the worst, and you want to know does this crazy have her held up somewhere in a hole? And they just have to find her.
COSTELLO: And they're still hoping out there for her family and friends. They're still looking for her; 1,000 volunteers are spread across a very wide area in North Dakota, searching the rivers now. That a sexual predator was arrested in this case, that comes as no surprise, does it?
HAYES: Well, you know, it could be a surprise, because you just never know what the circumstances are. But the fact that this guy is a sexual predator and he has, in fact, been arrested in the past and convicted of this type of behavior gives you, you know, pause to think well, OK, this is the type of scenario that we're dealing with.
So what they have to do now is try to see if they can get him to tell, in fact, where she is. And that is the most important thing right now. Because, like you said, as long as there's hope, you know, you can inspire people to keep going forward and find this young lady before anything tragic has happened to her.
COSTELLO: We don't know what led to this man's arrest. This could well be the wrong man.
HAYES: It could well be the wrong man. One of the problems with situations like this is when you have somebody who has a past, it is very easy to jump to conclusions. And you say well he has two convictions for the same type of thing, therefore, he's more likely than not to be involved in this.
But until you actually hear from the D.A., hear from the police department, we can't make any sort of conclusions. But you still can talk to him, and that's why I say that is the most important thing. I'm not interested in convicting him -- excuse me -- without a trial. But I want to show if he in fact knows something? And if he does, let's see what we can do to get information from him to find her.
COSTELLO: His extradition hearing has been rescheduled for tomorrow. I mean, is that unusual? Should we be reading something into that?
HAYES: Well, I think one of the things you have to realize is, you know, I don't know if they've got a governor's warrant from North Dakota. This gentleman is from Minnesota. We don't know the facts of the case. So it's somewhat hard to talk about what actually happened. If we knew more of the facts surrounding his arrest, I could tell you perhaps why there's a problem, why they had to postpone. He needs a lawyer. Maybe they weren't ready in time. If they just arrested him, usually it takes a couple of days to get a hearing done. It just doesn't happen overnight. It's a very serious matter when you extradite an individual and have them go back to, quote, the charging state.
And one of the problems here is, we just know that this woman is missing, we don't know that anything has happened to her. So it's a little difficult until you have an actual charging instrument to say what is the theory behind this, so that when you go to the extradition, you say, here, I have an arrest warrant. He's charged with sexual assault. He's charged with kidnapping. He's charged with whatever it is. But until you can have that in order, you just can't, you know, extradite somebody. What are you extraditing them for?
COSTELLO: We should know more at noon Eastern Time, because they're expected to hold a news conference.
One last question for you. This man is deemed a sexual predator. He was on some kind of list. I wouldn't know where to look to find his name.
HAYES: You look on the Internet. They have a list of sexual predators, Megan's List, all kinds of different lists in your own state. You can go to your local police station, and they will have a list of all these sexual predators, and they grade them in terms of dangerousness, et cetera, et cetera. But you go on the Internet, you'll be able to pull it up. Or you call your local police department and they'll explain more to you.
COSTELLO: Of course if this man really did it, he was in Minnesota, he crossed state lines, he's out of prison for seven months. Is he allowed to do that?
HAYES: Well, he's not allowed to commit crimes.
COSTELLO: I mean just crossing state lines. HAYES: Well, that just makes it a federal crime. Maybe he did something in North Dakota, and then he left and went back to Minnesota. Maybe, you know, she was in Minnesota and he, you know, did something there. We don't know where she is, so it's a little hard to tell. But the fact that if he did something and took her across state line, that would only make it a federal charge, OK? But right now, we need to know where this happened, what happened, and if he is the person involved with it.
COSTELLO: All right, Pamela Hayes, thanks for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.
HAYES: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
