Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

In Momma's Arms; Remembering D-Day

Aired June 06, 2006 - 09:31   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In Lubbock, Texas, Priscilla Nicole Maldonado is not even a week old, and already she's had a lot of drama in her short life. She's safe, back in mom's arms. Born last Wednesday, the in fact was abducted on Sunday, and then found the next day. Erica Ysasaga is Priscilla's mother. Erica, forgive me for mangling your last name there. And Jesse Madrid is the baby's uncle, there in Lubbock this morning.
It's nice to see both of you. How are you doing? You must be so relieved, Erica.

ERICA YSASAGA, MOTHER OF KIDNAPPED BABY: Yes, very.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, I bet. I bet, I bet, I bet.

JESSE MADRID, BABY'S UNCLE: Very good.

S. O'BRIEN: I bet, I bet. Erica, let me ask you a question. We heard yesterday that there was some reports of jaundice, Priscilla has Jaundice. So is she OK? Physically, how's the baby doing now?

YSASAGA: Yes, she's healthy, and it went down so, yes. She's very healthy.

S. O'BRIEN: OK, so she's getting the treatment now. She's back in the hospital, I know. Let's talk about this woman who is now under arrest. Stephanie Lynn Anderson Jones. You met her in the hospital, is that right? Did you think she was a nurse when you met her?

YSASAGA: Yes, she was -- she's -- she sounded like a nurse. She talked things about babies and stuff, and so I thought she was a nurse.

S. O'BRIEN: So the whole time that you were dealing with her while you were in the hospital after you had the baby, you thought you were dealing with one of the hospital nurses, is that right?

YSASAGA: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Was it weird when she then made arrangements to come to your home, outside of the hospital?

YSASAGA: No, I didn't think it was weird at first, since she was offering me to give me baby stuff.

S. O'BRIEN: So she came to your home, and what happened The day that the baby was kidnapped? Can you walk us through what exactly what happened?

YSASAGA: She came over. She asked about my baby. She had brought up about the stuff she was going to give me, the baby stuff she was to give me. And then, she said if she could take my baby on the next block, that there was some relatives who live on the next block for me and she could take Priscilla. And I told her, no. And she kept on insisting, and I told her, no. And I finally went with her, and then when we were walking, she said -- we walked over there and she said nobody was at that house, and we were walking back and my son distracted me. And when I turned around, she was gone with Priscilla.

S. O'BRIEN: Wow. I know there were a couple of vehicles in the area. Do you think the whole thing was planned well in advance?

YSASAGA: Yes, it seemed that way.

S. O'BRIEN: I read that she had given to you her license and her Social Security card, too. Did you have sort of suspicion? I mean, it's kind of strange to -- for her to sort of offer that up. Did you have suspicions about her at some point?

YSASAGA: No, I didn't know about that Social Security card thing or whatever those numbers on the piece of paper she had gave me. I didn't look at it. I just gave it to the cops when they got there.

S. O'BRIEN: Hmm. She's under arrest now. Do you have any thoughts on a motive? I mean, it's such a strange, strange thing.

YSASAGA: Yes, I don't know. I have no idea. Maybe she can't have babies or she was trying to sell my baby. I really don't know.

S. O'BRIEN: Let me get back to Jesse for a moment. Tell me a little bit about the family reunion, Jesse? What was that like? I mean, to go from such lows to such highs, I can't even imagine.

MADRID: Oh, it was a very happy moment, very happy, indeed. It was just -- it was like a nightmare, you know, from when we got the call, and we were told the baby was here at the hospital. So we all rushed over here and, you know -- very happy.

S. O'BRIEN: I've read that the baby's hair had been cut. Is that right, Erica?

MADRID: Yes.

YSASAGA: Yes, that upset me very much.

S. O'BRIEN: It did?

YSASAGA: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Any clue why? Do you think just to avoid detection with the baby look, I mean, as little as you can possibly change a baby.

YSASAGA: Yes, I guess they wanted her to look like a boy or something, but...

S. O'BRIEN: You know, we've been talking a lot about sort of all that the babies been through in the six days she's been on this earth, but you know, you, too, especially since you popped out that baby. You've been through the ringer really, Erica. How are you doing? How are you holding up?

YSASAGA: I'm fine now. I'm relieved, and I can stop worrying and stop being stressful. I have my baby back. That's all I wanted.

S. O'BRIEN: Gosh. Well, good luck to you. Thank you for talking with us. I'm glad the saga is over, and that the baby is back and she's healthy. Erica Ysasaga and Priscilla's uncle, Jesse Madrid, thanks to both of you for both talking with us.

YSASAGA: Thank you.

MADRID: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Today is the 62nd anniversary of D-Day, 1944. While Allied troops stormed the beaches in Normandy, starting a major offensive against the Germans. It was just a matter of time for the Nazis. Among the U.S. cities observing D-Day this morning is New Orleans. Sean Callebs at the D-Day museum. It used to be called the D-Day museum. It's actually the National World War II Museum now. It's really quite a place.

Sean, good morning to you.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles. It really is. It's kind of hard to show you a museum, because it kind of goes hallway to hallway, but they really give you a feel for what it was like on that day, the buildup. Here, one of the gliders, people may not know that gliders actually brought in thousands and thousands of troops from both the U.S. and Great Britain, and really brought out in that phenomenal miniseries "Band of Brothers." You can see in this glider, this is supposed to show what happened. They actually had jeeps and equipment in a lot of these gliders. They actually nicknamed these things flying coffins because they just basically splintered as soon as they hit the ground.

Now why is the museum here in Louisiana? It's not because they stormed the bayou. It's because Andrew Higgins, the man who invented the landing craft that brought all of those troops ashore in Normandy on that fateful day, is from here. There were several factories that built at least 20,000 of those craft. We have some shots of the big hull downstairs to show you exactly what it looks like. One of those is real. One of them is a replica. And this area was really kind of suffered during the hurricane. It wasn't wind or water damage. Some looters hit it, but not the exhibits. They just went through the gift shop. They took shirts and everything they could get their hands on there, and actually it was closed down for about three months. Now when it opened back up, a trickle. The first day they were open, they said they only had a dozen people come in here. So we'll walk you through later on today and tell you what this area is like. Behind me, another exhibit of the armada coming in that day so you can see what the Germans looked at as the Allied troops hit the beaches -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Sean Callebs. We'll see you in just a little bit -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come, we've got the story that was so twisted it even shocked police. We're going to tell you they believe two little old ladies could be cold-blooded killers who are out for cash.

And blood clots. It's a very little-known risk for air travelers. What you need to know the next time you fly. We've got that just ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

M. O'BRIEN: In our next hour of AMERICAN MORNING, we will continue our weeklong series "Paying the Price in the Heartland." Let's check in with Dan Lothian, who today is in downtown Des Moines, has a little preview for us of what's coming up -- Dan.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

We are at the transportation mall in downtown Des Moines. The city really has been trying to push public transportation as a way to save energy. But it doesn't really work out that well for some of the folks who still need their vehicles in town, commuting from way out in the country, and so they continue to drive their cars hundreds of miles each week. We met up with a family who they've had to make some adjustments, park one of the large vehicles, buy a more fuel-efficient vehicle in order to save some money.

We'll also take a ride later on with an independent truck driver who's had to change the way that he does business in order to save money. And then we'll visit a rural school district. They cover about 222 square miles with their buses. And obviously the gas crunch has really hit them hard. They're spending more than $200,000 in additional costs. They've had to make some cutbacks, laying off some teachers. So we'll talk to the school superintendent there. These are all the stories we're working on for our series all week long paying the price in the heartland, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. M. O'BRIEN: Boy, laying off teachers to pay for gas. That's a sign of the times. All right, Dan Lothian, see you in a bit.

(NEWSBREAK)

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