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Breaking News
Missing Amber Alert Woman and Children Found in Florida
Aired June 30, 2003 - 20:34 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news on a national Amber Alert issued earlier today. A mother and her two children are now in Christian. They were found in a hotel north of Panama City. Bill Robertson is a public information officer for the Miramar, Florida, Police Department. He joins us from Miami with the very latest on this.
Mr. Robertson, thank you very much for being with us. Can you describe to us what led to the arrest of this mother?
BILL ROBERTSON, MIRAMAR POLICE DEPARTMENT: We received information that they possibly were in a hotel in Bonifay (ph), Florida. We responded. We had Bonifay Police Department respond to that location, where they were able to take the mother and the children, and also the father, into custody without incident. Everyone's safe, which is great news.
ZAHN: And as far as you know, the children are fine?
ROBERTSON: Yes, the children are fine. They are in the custody of the Bonifay Police Department, and we do have our detectives en route to that location now.
ZAHN: There was a point where you were very concerned that these children might be in danger. For folks who weren't following the story, why don't you take us back to earlier today, when the mother was accused of crashing a vehicle into a house.
ROBERTSON: That's correct. She took her -- took a 1993 Infiniti, blue in color, and drove it through the rear sliding-glass door of the residence, backed the car out of the residence, re-entered the home with a male subject we believe was the father of the children, who was dressed in camouflage and had a mask over his face. Based upon this information, that this was such a violent entry, that we had reason to believe or for concern for the children's safety.
ZAHN: Had this mother ever been accused of hurting her children in the past?
ROBERTSON: Not that I'm aware of, no.
ZAHN: And does this story make any sense to you at all? There's one account the mom is allegedly bipolar. What can you tell us about her mental state and what might have led her to allegedly have done this? ROBERTSON: Well, we received information from family members that she was diagnosed as bipolar. She had some mental problems. And again, this also made us believe that there was a possibility that there was a possibility that there could have been danger coming to the children.
ZAHN: And finally, Mr. Robertson, it's my understanding that the children's grandmother was taking care of them and that she apparently had gotten some harassing phone calls from her daughter. Are you aware of the police department taking those calls? And if you are, what happened as a result of her phoning that in?
ROBERTSON: Yes, apparently, recently there has been more contact with the grandmother by the daughter apparently by telephone, and she had been making some harassing phone calls to her mother, the grandmother of the children. And we were able to take those reports. And this is -- again, this was an increase over the past month or so.
ZAHN: I know, Mr. Robertson, you've covered some tough stuff on your tour of duty. How relieved are you tonight?
ROBERTSON: We're very relieved. This was a team effort, and based upon the investigative skills of our detectives and also with the aid of the Bonifay Police Department, also the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, with the Amber Alert, this all came together and came to a successful conclusion.
ZAHN: And thank you very much for bringing us up to date on this breaking news tonight. Bill Robertson of the Miramar Police Department -- again, thanks for your time.
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 June 30, 2003 - 20:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news on a national Amber Alert issued earlier today. A mother and her two children are now in Christian. They were found in a hotel north of Panama City. Bill Robertson is a public information officer for the Miramar, Florida, Police Department. He joins us from Miami with the very latest on this.
Mr. Robertson, thank you very much for being with us. Can you describe to us what led to the arrest of this mother?
BILL ROBERTSON, MIRAMAR POLICE DEPARTMENT: We received information that they possibly were in a hotel in Bonifay (ph), Florida. We responded. We had Bonifay Police Department respond to that location, where they were able to take the mother and the children, and also the father, into custody without incident. Everyone's safe, which is great news.
ZAHN: And as far as you know, the children are fine?
ROBERTSON: Yes, the children are fine. They are in the custody of the Bonifay Police Department, and we do have our detectives en route to that location now.
ZAHN: There was a point where you were very concerned that these children might be in danger. For folks who weren't following the story, why don't you take us back to earlier today, when the mother was accused of crashing a vehicle into a house.
ROBERTSON: That's correct. She took her -- took a 1993 Infiniti, blue in color, and drove it through the rear sliding-glass door of the residence, backed the car out of the residence, re-entered the home with a male subject we believe was the father of the children, who was dressed in camouflage and had a mask over his face. Based upon this information, that this was such a violent entry, that we had reason to believe or for concern for the children's safety.
ZAHN: Had this mother ever been accused of hurting her children in the past?
ROBERTSON: Not that I'm aware of, no.
ZAHN: And does this story make any sense to you at all? There's one account the mom is allegedly bipolar. What can you tell us about her mental state and what might have led her to allegedly have done this? ROBERTSON: Well, we received information from family members that she was diagnosed as bipolar. She had some mental problems. And again, this also made us believe that there was a possibility that there was a possibility that there could have been danger coming to the children.
ZAHN: And finally, Mr. Robertson, it's my understanding that the children's grandmother was taking care of them and that she apparently had gotten some harassing phone calls from her daughter. Are you aware of the police department taking those calls? And if you are, what happened as a result of her phoning that in?
ROBERTSON: Yes, apparently, recently there has been more contact with the grandmother by the daughter apparently by telephone, and she had been making some harassing phone calls to her mother, the grandmother of the children. And we were able to take those reports. And this is -- again, this was an increase over the past month or so.
ZAHN: I know, Mr. Robertson, you've covered some tough stuff on your tour of duty. How relieved are you tonight?
ROBERTSON: We're very relieved. This was a team effort, and based upon the investigative skills of our detectives and also with the aid of the Bonifay Police Department, also the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, with the Amber Alert, this all came together and came to a successful conclusion.
ZAHN: And thank you very much for bringing us up to date on this breaking news tonight. Bill Robertson of the Miramar Police Department -- again, thanks for your time.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
