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CNN Live Saturday

Dru Sjodin's Family React To News Of Death; Negotiations With al-Sadr Stall

Aired April 17, 2004 - 18:00   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 LIN, CNN ANCHOR: CNN SATURDAY is ahead, but first, these headlines. Shock and anger among Palestinian activists in Gaza. Thousands poured into the streets of Gaza City after an Israeli air strike killed Abdel Aziz Rantisi, the leader of Hamas in Gaza. Two more people were killed and others wounded. The Israeli Foreign Ministry calls Hamas "Israel's al Qaeda." Hamas is vowing revenge.
Earlier in the day, an Israeli border guard was killed by a suicide bomber at a border crossing in northern Gaza. Three other guards were wounded. Hamas, along with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, claimed responsibility.

An American hostage is heard from. Private First Class Keith Matthew Maupin is seen speaking on this video from Iraq, first aired by Al-Jazeera television. He went missing after an ambush more than a week ago. A U.S. military official says there are no signs of torture.

The mystery of a missing college student has ended in tragedy. The body of Dru Sjodin was found near a golf course west of Crookston, Minnesota. The University of North Dakota student disappeared after leaving her job at a Grand Forks mall in November. A convicted sex offender is already charged with her kidnapping.

I'm Carol Lin. And welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY. Also ahead, we are going to go live to the hometown of Private First Class Matt Maupin. Friends and family are reacting to the news of his capture.

And it's a very different scene at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Sighs of relief and moments of joy. Loved ones come home from Iraq to a very warm welcome.

Right now, we begin with a sad ending to a high profile missing persons case. For months, family and friends of Dru Sjodin hoped against hope she would be found alive. Today those hopes were dashed. Her body was found near Crookston, Minnesota.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS LANG, DRU SJODIN'S BOYFRIEND: It's very bittersweet. But she is looking down and she is happy today. Because we are going to bring her home finally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: We are waiting for a news conference to begin any minute now in Crookston, Minnesota, and we are going to bring that to you live. And while we wait, here is a closer look at that case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LIN (voice-over): Just before Thanksgiving, 22-year-old University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin disappears after leaving the mall where she worked in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Her boyfriend, Chris Lang, tells police he was talking to her on her cell phone when she said, "OK, OK," and then the line went dead. Later that day, her boyfriend receives another call from Dru's phone, but hears only static. Police trace the call, and start searching two counties from Grand Forks, North Dakota, to Crookston, Minnesota. November 25, searchers find one of Sjodin's shoes beneath a bridge, but little else.

Family and friends were trying everything.

SVEN SJODIN, DRU'S BROTHER: We're looking for letters, you know, a note that she may have thrown out of a window. Again, anything that can help us. We know she's near, we're just looking for that one last clue.

LIN: November 26, police interview convicted sex offender Alfonso Rodriguez. Five days later, police arrest Rodriguez and charge him with Sjodin's kidnapping after finding a knife and Sjodin's blood in Rodriguez's car. Rodriguez has pleaded not guilty, but remains in jail awaiting trial.

By late December, police stop official searches. The winter weather was turning ugly. Her boyfriend and family continued to search on their own.

Four months later, the Midwest weather finally cooperates. Once again, the police restart the official search. Within hours, they find Dru Sjodin's body by a golf course near the hometown of the man charged with her kidnapping, Alfonso Rodriguez.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Another note on the cruelness of winter in North Dakota. Volunteers had been near the spot where Dru Sjodin's body was found several times, but the area had been covered with snow.

Stay right there. We are waiting for a news conference by the very investigators who have been so close on this case and working on this case. They're going to be talking to the media. As soon as they come to those microphones, we're going to bring you that news conference live.

Right now, we want to go to the outrage and the bloodshed in the Middle East. Israel has assassinated Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi in Gaza. Hamas is vowing revenge. Rantisi was killed in a missile strike just hours after a suicide bombing at the Gaza-Israeli border. Our Paula Hancocks is in Jerusalem right now with the very latest -- Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, Abdel Aziz Rantisi said he knew that he was a marked man. Israel has threatened to strike against him in the past. In fact, June of last year they attempted an assassination. They succeeded this Saturday, and immediately after that assassination hundreds of Hamas activists took to the streets of Gaza City in shock and in outrage, vowing to avenge the assassination of the Hamas leader. This coming less than a month after the assassination of the Hamas founder and spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Rantisi stepped into Yassin's role after that assassination.

I spoke to the Israeli adviser to Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, a little while ago, and he said the reason they had to attack Rantisi was because he was behind suicide attacks against Israeli citizens.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DORE GOLD, ADVISER TO P.M. ARIEL SHARON: Well, for the last decade, Hamas and Mr. Rantisi have been behind a spate of suicide bombings in the heart of Israeli cities, killing hundreds of innocent Israeli civilians. And therefore, Israel adopts these self-defense operations in order to protect our civilians, in order to create stability, and in order to finally return Israelis and Palestinians to a meaningful peace process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Rantisi was one of the many that did vow to avenge the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and that is why Israel says that he became a target. We spoke to Abdel Aziz Rantisi back in March, and he said he wasn't scared of dying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDEL AZIZ RANTISI, HAMAS: I'm not afraid to die. It's this, I go by killing or by cancer, the same thing. We are all waiting for the last day of our life. Nothing will be changed if it is by (UNINTELLIGIBLE) or by cardiac arrest. I prefer to be by (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Halid Mashal (ph), the overall head of Hamas, has condemned the attack, vowing to avenge it, and said that there would be a new leader, but his name would not be disclosed. It would be an anonymous leader this time around.

Now, there has been condemnation from Palestinian officials. The Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat condemning the assassination of Rantisi, saying, "this shows why Palestinians must defend themselves against Israel." He condemned, quote, "the crime of the assassination of Rantisi" and called for international protection of the Palestinian people. This is also being condemned by many leaders of the Arab world, and also Britain condemning the assassination this Saturday evening -- Carol.

LIN: Paula, where does this leave the peace process? HANCOCKS: Well, the peace process at the moment is not in particularly good shape. Palestinians are saying that this state -- state assassination, as they call it, is actually being encouraged by the United States. There was a meeting between George Bush and between Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, on Wednesday, where George Bush endorsed the disengagement plan from Gaza that Ariel Sharon is trying to put through his cabinet at the moment. And Palestinians were very angry about that. They said that they thought that the United States was biased towards Israel, and that was their proof, in particular the right of return issue. Palestinian refugees that fled or were forced to leave their homes in 1948 during the Arab- Israeli War want to be able to go back to their lands, which are in the state of Israel now. George Bush suggested they would be rehoused in a future state of Palestine.

LIN: OK, Paula, we've got some developments here stateside. So we're going to break away from Jerusalem. Thank you very much, Paula Hancocks. We are going to go to Crookston, Minnesota, where we're going to hear from the sheriff of Polk County in this investigation of Dru Sjodin.

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)

LIN: All right, we have been listening to a news conference here held by the Polk County Sheriff's Department, one of the primary law enforcement agencies involved in the search for Dru Sjodin. Her body was found earlier today. A sad day for the family.

We just heard from Dru's father, who was asking the media to please give the family some space and time to digest this news. That they will be giving interviews, but for the moment, obviously, the family needs some time to themselves.

We are going to be talking, though, with people who are very close to this story about the investigation and the reaction and the communities there. So stay with CNN.

Also, we're going to be talking about the policy of the U.S. military, whether it is leave no man behind, but there are obviously some tough obstacles in the attempt to free an American hostage from his captors in Iraq.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Chris Lawrence in Batavia, Ohio, where family and friends have blanketed this town with yellow ribbons hoping that a captured soldier comes home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Well, it was an intense day on many fronts for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. It's focusing on developments in the cities of Najaf, Baghdad and Fallujah. And it is also taking a tough stance on negotiating with hostage takers. CNN's Kathleen Koch reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hundreds of followers of wanted Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr rallied in Najaf Saturday. In an earlier press conference, an al-Sadr spokesman said negotiations had stalled.

The U.S.-led coalition authority continues to insist al-Sadr turn himself in and his militia disperse. A U.S. military spokesman was unimpressed by threats al-Sadr would instead take the fight to the capital.

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. MILITARY SPOKESMAN: If the fighters would like to take the fight to Baghdad, they'll have the 1st Cavalry Division waiting for them and looking forward to their arrival.

KOCH: In Baghdad, explosions were heard in the central part of the city. The source was unclear, though -- some reports blamed random shelling by insurgents. The U.S. military shut down two major highways, north and south of Baghdad, to repair them, and help halt ongoing guerrilla attacks.

Fallujah remained calm as coalition and military officials held a second day of talks with leaders on stopping the fighting in the volatile city. And no word on whether there has been any contact between the captors of a U.S. serviceman and U.S. military officials. On a tape released Friday, the insurgents said they wanted to trade Private First Class Keith Matthew Maupin of Ohio for prisoners held by the U.S. Coalition authorities say no deal.

DAN SENOR, COALITION SPOKESMAN: We will not negotiate with hostage takers. We are obviously concerned any time there is a hostage taken, especially a United States -- a member of the United States military.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH: So efforts continue to locate both Maupin and his colleague, Sergeant Elmer Krause, missing since their convoy was ambushed near Baghdad April 9. The U.S. military insisting that its policy remains, leave no one behind -- Carol.

LIN: All right, thank you very much, Kathleen Koch. Well, the home town of Keith Matthew Maupin is full of American flags and yellow ribbons. The residents of Batavia, Ohio are praying for a safe return. CNN's Chris Lawrence is there right now. Chris, there must be so much emotion in that town today.

LAWRENCE: Very much so, Carol. Tonight, the family is together in dealing with this privately. But even neighbors who don't know them personally say Matt Maupin's capture has really brought the war in Iraq home to their kitchen tables, in a way it never was before.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE (voice-over): Matt Maupin's family remained in seclusion Saturday, protected by a police car and dozens of friends who let his mother know, we're here if you need us. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She told me the other night, she said, Maya (ph), I know my kid feels my prayers. I know he feels everyone's prayers.

LAWRENCE: Friends and family haven't heard anything from Iraq since a videotape aired Friday. In it, Maupin is surrounded by armed men who have taken him prisoner. He looks frightened, but physically sound, and close friends of the family say he'll need his strength whenever he makes it home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He probably won't have any skin on his body from everybody hugging him so much.

LAWRENCE: Local resident Mary Lou Perry (ph) is busy tying up yet another yellow ribbon, just now realizing how complacent she had become about a fight half a world away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, oh, yeah, the war is going on, oh, yeah, people are dying. You know, that's a shame. Well, that's not it anymore. It now it's -- it's home.

LAWRENCE: And you can see that, in the signs above storefronts, and flags flying with new relevance to this small town.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you realize we should have been doing this all along for every hostage. I mean, just because they're not from Batavia doesn't mean that we aren't supporting them or not praying for them.

LAWRENCE: For now, it's only prayers. But friends are competent they'll soon be changing these signs to welcome Matt Maupin home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: But until that happens, residents have promised to blanket this entire area with ribbons, flags and flowers. They say it won't change what is happening right now to Matt Maupin in Iraq, but it at least lets his family know they have got all the support that they need -- Carol.

LIN: Chris, what do the folks there make of Matt Maupin's choice of words on the videotape? Were they able to read anything into it?

LAWRENCE: What they were able to really get into is the fact that, although he looked frightened and looked down several times, he did not appear to be physically roughed up. They were very appreciative of that fact. And they were very encouraged by the fact that his captors seem to make somewhat reasonable demands, that they treated him more as a prisoner of war and less so as an actual hostage.

LIN: All right, Chris Lawrence, thank you very much, in Batavia, Ohio.

Well, it is a day of hugs and kisses for families of a New Jersey National Guard unit. Still to come, they finally get to say, home sweet home.

Plus, we'll take you to the dusty terrain of Afghanistan for an up-close look at the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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 April 17, 2004 - 18:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: CNN SATURDAY is ahead, but first, these headlines. Shock and anger among Palestinian activists in Gaza. Thousands poured into the streets of Gaza City after an Israeli air strike killed Abdel Aziz Rantisi, the leader of Hamas in Gaza. Two more people were killed and others wounded. The Israeli Foreign Ministry calls Hamas "Israel's al Qaeda." Hamas is vowing revenge.
Earlier in the day, an Israeli border guard was killed by a suicide bomber at a border crossing in northern Gaza. Three other guards were wounded. Hamas, along with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, claimed responsibility.

An American hostage is heard from. Private First Class Keith Matthew Maupin is seen speaking on this video from Iraq, first aired by Al-Jazeera television. He went missing after an ambush more than a week ago. A U.S. military official says there are no signs of torture.

The mystery of a missing college student has ended in tragedy. The body of Dru Sjodin was found near a golf course west of Crookston, Minnesota. The University of North Dakota student disappeared after leaving her job at a Grand Forks mall in November. A convicted sex offender is already charged with her kidnapping.

I'm Carol Lin. And welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY. Also ahead, we are going to go live to the hometown of Private First Class Matt Maupin. Friends and family are reacting to the news of his capture.

And it's a very different scene at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Sighs of relief and moments of joy. Loved ones come home from Iraq to a very warm welcome.

Right now, we begin with a sad ending to a high profile missing persons case. For months, family and friends of Dru Sjodin hoped against hope she would be found alive. Today those hopes were dashed. Her body was found near Crookston, Minnesota.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS LANG, DRU SJODIN'S BOYFRIEND: It's very bittersweet. But she is looking down and she is happy today. Because we are going to bring her home finally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: We are waiting for a news conference to begin any minute now in Crookston, Minnesota, and we are going to bring that to you live. And while we wait, here is a closer look at that case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LIN (voice-over): Just before Thanksgiving, 22-year-old University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin disappears after leaving the mall where she worked in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Her boyfriend, Chris Lang, tells police he was talking to her on her cell phone when she said, "OK, OK," and then the line went dead. Later that day, her boyfriend receives another call from Dru's phone, but hears only static. Police trace the call, and start searching two counties from Grand Forks, North Dakota, to Crookston, Minnesota. November 25, searchers find one of Sjodin's shoes beneath a bridge, but little else.

Family and friends were trying everything.

SVEN SJODIN, DRU'S BROTHER: We're looking for letters, you know, a note that she may have thrown out of a window. Again, anything that can help us. We know she's near, we're just looking for that one last clue.

LIN: November 26, police interview convicted sex offender Alfonso Rodriguez. Five days later, police arrest Rodriguez and charge him with Sjodin's kidnapping after finding a knife and Sjodin's blood in Rodriguez's car. Rodriguez has pleaded not guilty, but remains in jail awaiting trial.

By late December, police stop official searches. The winter weather was turning ugly. Her boyfriend and family continued to search on their own.

Four months later, the Midwest weather finally cooperates. Once again, the police restart the official search. Within hours, they find Dru Sjodin's body by a golf course near the hometown of the man charged with her kidnapping, Alfonso Rodriguez.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Another note on the cruelness of winter in North Dakota. Volunteers had been near the spot where Dru Sjodin's body was found several times, but the area had been covered with snow.

Stay right there. We are waiting for a news conference by the very investigators who have been so close on this case and working on this case. They're going to be talking to the media. As soon as they come to those microphones, we're going to bring you that news conference live.

Right now, we want to go to the outrage and the bloodshed in the Middle East. Israel has assassinated Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi in Gaza. Hamas is vowing revenge. Rantisi was killed in a missile strike just hours after a suicide bombing at the Gaza-Israeli border. Our Paula Hancocks is in Jerusalem right now with the very latest -- Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, Abdel Aziz Rantisi said he knew that he was a marked man. Israel has threatened to strike against him in the past. In fact, June of last year they attempted an assassination. They succeeded this Saturday, and immediately after that assassination hundreds of Hamas activists took to the streets of Gaza City in shock and in outrage, vowing to avenge the assassination of the Hamas leader. This coming less than a month after the assassination of the Hamas founder and spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Rantisi stepped into Yassin's role after that assassination.

I spoke to the Israeli adviser to Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, a little while ago, and he said the reason they had to attack Rantisi was because he was behind suicide attacks against Israeli citizens.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DORE GOLD, ADVISER TO P.M. ARIEL SHARON: Well, for the last decade, Hamas and Mr. Rantisi have been behind a spate of suicide bombings in the heart of Israeli cities, killing hundreds of innocent Israeli civilians. And therefore, Israel adopts these self-defense operations in order to protect our civilians, in order to create stability, and in order to finally return Israelis and Palestinians to a meaningful peace process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Rantisi was one of the many that did vow to avenge the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and that is why Israel says that he became a target. We spoke to Abdel Aziz Rantisi back in March, and he said he wasn't scared of dying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDEL AZIZ RANTISI, HAMAS: I'm not afraid to die. It's this, I go by killing or by cancer, the same thing. We are all waiting for the last day of our life. Nothing will be changed if it is by (UNINTELLIGIBLE) or by cardiac arrest. I prefer to be by (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Halid Mashal (ph), the overall head of Hamas, has condemned the attack, vowing to avenge it, and said that there would be a new leader, but his name would not be disclosed. It would be an anonymous leader this time around.

Now, there has been condemnation from Palestinian officials. The Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat condemning the assassination of Rantisi, saying, "this shows why Palestinians must defend themselves against Israel." He condemned, quote, "the crime of the assassination of Rantisi" and called for international protection of the Palestinian people. This is also being condemned by many leaders of the Arab world, and also Britain condemning the assassination this Saturday evening -- Carol.

LIN: Paula, where does this leave the peace process? HANCOCKS: Well, the peace process at the moment is not in particularly good shape. Palestinians are saying that this state -- state assassination, as they call it, is actually being encouraged by the United States. There was a meeting between George Bush and between Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, on Wednesday, where George Bush endorsed the disengagement plan from Gaza that Ariel Sharon is trying to put through his cabinet at the moment. And Palestinians were very angry about that. They said that they thought that the United States was biased towards Israel, and that was their proof, in particular the right of return issue. Palestinian refugees that fled or were forced to leave their homes in 1948 during the Arab- Israeli War want to be able to go back to their lands, which are in the state of Israel now. George Bush suggested they would be rehoused in a future state of Palestine.

LIN: OK, Paula, we've got some developments here stateside. So we're going to break away from Jerusalem. Thank you very much, Paula Hancocks. We are going to go to Crookston, Minnesota, where we're going to hear from the sheriff of Polk County in this investigation of Dru Sjodin.

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)

LIN: All right, we have been listening to a news conference here held by the Polk County Sheriff's Department, one of the primary law enforcement agencies involved in the search for Dru Sjodin. Her body was found earlier today. A sad day for the family.

We just heard from Dru's father, who was asking the media to please give the family some space and time to digest this news. That they will be giving interviews, but for the moment, obviously, the family needs some time to themselves.

We are going to be talking, though, with people who are very close to this story about the investigation and the reaction and the communities there. So stay with CNN.

Also, we're going to be talking about the policy of the U.S. military, whether it is leave no man behind, but there are obviously some tough obstacles in the attempt to free an American hostage from his captors in Iraq.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Chris Lawrence in Batavia, Ohio, where family and friends have blanketed this town with yellow ribbons hoping that a captured soldier comes home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Well, it was an intense day on many fronts for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. It's focusing on developments in the cities of Najaf, Baghdad and Fallujah. And it is also taking a tough stance on negotiating with hostage takers. CNN's Kathleen Koch reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hundreds of followers of wanted Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr rallied in Najaf Saturday. In an earlier press conference, an al-Sadr spokesman said negotiations had stalled.

The U.S.-led coalition authority continues to insist al-Sadr turn himself in and his militia disperse. A U.S. military spokesman was unimpressed by threats al-Sadr would instead take the fight to the capital.

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. MILITARY SPOKESMAN: If the fighters would like to take the fight to Baghdad, they'll have the 1st Cavalry Division waiting for them and looking forward to their arrival.

KOCH: In Baghdad, explosions were heard in the central part of the city. The source was unclear, though -- some reports blamed random shelling by insurgents. The U.S. military shut down two major highways, north and south of Baghdad, to repair them, and help halt ongoing guerrilla attacks.

Fallujah remained calm as coalition and military officials held a second day of talks with leaders on stopping the fighting in the volatile city. And no word on whether there has been any contact between the captors of a U.S. serviceman and U.S. military officials. On a tape released Friday, the insurgents said they wanted to trade Private First Class Keith Matthew Maupin of Ohio for prisoners held by the U.S. Coalition authorities say no deal.

DAN SENOR, COALITION SPOKESMAN: We will not negotiate with hostage takers. We are obviously concerned any time there is a hostage taken, especially a United States -- a member of the United States military.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH: So efforts continue to locate both Maupin and his colleague, Sergeant Elmer Krause, missing since their convoy was ambushed near Baghdad April 9. The U.S. military insisting that its policy remains, leave no one behind -- Carol.

LIN: All right, thank you very much, Kathleen Koch. Well, the home town of Keith Matthew Maupin is full of American flags and yellow ribbons. The residents of Batavia, Ohio are praying for a safe return. CNN's Chris Lawrence is there right now. Chris, there must be so much emotion in that town today.

LAWRENCE: Very much so, Carol. Tonight, the family is together in dealing with this privately. But even neighbors who don't know them personally say Matt Maupin's capture has really brought the war in Iraq home to their kitchen tables, in a way it never was before.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE (voice-over): Matt Maupin's family remained in seclusion Saturday, protected by a police car and dozens of friends who let his mother know, we're here if you need us. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She told me the other night, she said, Maya (ph), I know my kid feels my prayers. I know he feels everyone's prayers.

LAWRENCE: Friends and family haven't heard anything from Iraq since a videotape aired Friday. In it, Maupin is surrounded by armed men who have taken him prisoner. He looks frightened, but physically sound, and close friends of the family say he'll need his strength whenever he makes it home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He probably won't have any skin on his body from everybody hugging him so much.

LAWRENCE: Local resident Mary Lou Perry (ph) is busy tying up yet another yellow ribbon, just now realizing how complacent she had become about a fight half a world away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, oh, yeah, the war is going on, oh, yeah, people are dying. You know, that's a shame. Well, that's not it anymore. It now it's -- it's home.

LAWRENCE: And you can see that, in the signs above storefronts, and flags flying with new relevance to this small town.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you realize we should have been doing this all along for every hostage. I mean, just because they're not from Batavia doesn't mean that we aren't supporting them or not praying for them.

LAWRENCE: For now, it's only prayers. But friends are competent they'll soon be changing these signs to welcome Matt Maupin home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: But until that happens, residents have promised to blanket this entire area with ribbons, flags and flowers. They say it won't change what is happening right now to Matt Maupin in Iraq, but it at least lets his family know they have got all the support that they need -- Carol.

LIN: Chris, what do the folks there make of Matt Maupin's choice of words on the videotape? Were they able to read anything into it?

LAWRENCE: What they were able to really get into is the fact that, although he looked frightened and looked down several times, he did not appear to be physically roughed up. They were very appreciative of that fact. And they were very encouraged by the fact that his captors seem to make somewhat reasonable demands, that they treated him more as a prisoner of war and less so as an actual hostage.

LIN: All right, Chris Lawrence, thank you very much, in Batavia, Ohio.

Well, it is a day of hugs and kisses for families of a New Jersey National Guard unit. Still to come, they finally get to say, home sweet home.

Plus, we'll take you to the dusty terrain of Afghanistan for an up-close look at the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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