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CNN Live At Daybreak

'People' Editor, Missing Girl's Parents Discuss Search for 98,000

Aired July 16, 2001 - 07:44   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.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: Right this very moment, nearly half a million people are missing. Four of them, Chandra Levy and three other young women, are profiled this week in "People" magazine.

Here to talk about it are "People" magazine's associate editor Anne-Marie O'Neil -- she's in New York -- and the parents of Molly Bish; She was 16 when she disappeared last summer. John and Magi Bish join us from Boston.

First let's begin with Anne-Marie.

Anne-Marie, how common is this? How many missing women are there at this moment?

ANNE-MARIE O'NEIL, "PEOPLE": There are about 3,500 women between 22 and 29 who are missing in the United States. The actual missing person's total is something like 98,000 people, so it's quite a number.

MCEDWARDS: When do most of these disappearances happen?

O'NEIL: We didn't really do a vast survey of when they did disappear, but the women that we profiled in the magazine surprisingly all disappeared, basically, in broad daylight, as far as police can discern, and really not in threatening situations, really in day-to- day situations: riding a bike, being a lifeguard at the beach, things like that.

MCEDWARDS: So this can happen anywhere, anytime. These aren't necessarily women who were in any kind of trouble, involved with anything untoward.

O'NEIL: That's right, a lot of these women aren't what police would consider women who were at risk. They're all-American girls who go to school, ride their bike, and just suddenly disappear.

MCEDWARDS: And to what extent does that complicate efforts to investigate? Because I assume there aren't any sort of obvious paths for investigators to take.

O'NEIL: Well certainly, if there's no obvious culprit, then police are going to have a tougher time, I think, to actually track down what's happened to these women. MCEDWARDS: Did you find anything about a type? Is there a type of woman, an age group, that seems more at risk?

O'NEIL: I don't think so. We particularly looked at the age group of the late teens and early 20's in the women we profiled, and I don't think that there's a particular type or a particular target. I think if they're a person who's abducted, then you know, then that depends on, possibly, even something as simple as being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

MCEDWARDS: And in the cases that you looked at, the perpetrators tended to be people the women knew or didn't know?

O'NEIL: In the cases we looked at, they were people who just absolutely vanished, so police don't really have any idea who the perpetrators were.

MCEDWARDS: No clues at all.

O'NEIL: In one or two cases, there were clues, and in those particular cases, it seems to have been someone the person didn't know. But then again, those people are just suspects in what are basically mysteries.

MCEDWARDS: Right. Anne-Marie O'Neil, thanks very much; we appreciate it.

And as you're going to hear right now, we want to bring in the Bish family. This type of situation that Anne-Marie just described is really all too familiar.

John Bish and Magi Bish join us now. Thanks you both very much for being here.

Magi, can I begin with you? The day before your daughter disappeared, you drove her to work, and you noticed something unusual: a man sitting in a car, I believe it was. Can you describe that?

MAGI BISH, MOTHER OF MISSING TEEN: That's right. Molly's 16, and Molly had driven into the beach parking lot. This is a small mother's beach. What had happened was that Molly got out of the car to pick up her articles that she needed for her day in a little barn on the beach, said good-bye, Mom, and hopped out of the car.

I was in the passenger side. As I got out, there was one vehicle next to my car. It was a middle-aged man, smoking a cigarette. At first, I was going to walk around the car, to get into my driver's seat, but the man did not acknowledge me or say hello. We lived in a very small town, 4,800 people, one stoplight. We usually nod or address each other. Something made me feel uncomfortable.

As I got to the front of the car, as I said, I just felt like I didn't want to leave Molly alone at the barn by herself with somebody sitting in this vehicle, and this was a mother's beach -- what was he doing here? MCEDWARDS: It wasn't until the next day you took her to work that she went missing. So do you believe that that person had anything to do with it, or do you know anything at this point?

M. BISH: My fear is when I came back from waiting a reasonable time on the beach with Molly, this particular person stared right at me, and I felt somewhat of a bold, kind of a -- it just, again, made me feel somewhat anxious. I stayed and waited until he left the parking lot.

That night I spoke with Molly and asked her if she had felt safe, and she had said to me, Mommy, it's just fishermen. She wasn't afraid.

What I then learned was that Molly isn't capable of maybe making those decisions and that the world isn't safe, because that afternoon I had gotten a call at approximately about 1:30 saying that Molly had not been at her post since 10:00, which I had driven her to that next morning, and I had waited until there were no cars in the parking lot. There was totally nobody there. She was waiting for the mothers to come for the beginning of swimming lessons.

So again, my immediate thought was this car, perhaps, might have spotted Molly. We have asked this individual to please come forward through the media. He has not chosen to come forward so that we can eliminate that.

MCEDWARDS: I'm so sorry.

John, how did police treat the investigation into your daughter's disappearance?

JOHN BISH, FATHER OF MISSING TEEN: Initially, it was reported to me that she may have drowned. It also was speculated that she may have left the post. We've learned how important time is in these types of crimes. It takes about one to three hours for a serious injury to occur to a young person who is abducted.

The investigation has been conducted by the Massachusetts State Police, and they have conducted a relentless investigation. But these are particularly difficult crimes to solve, because, in our case, there is no witness, there is no physical evidence, and there does not appear to be any relationship to anyone that they can go to whom might be a suspect.

MCEDWARDS: John, do you still hold out hope?

J. BISH: Yes, it has been a year and one month since her disappearance, and we do remain hopeful, although we are realistic about her peril. We are going to find Molly, and we are going to find who may have caused her this harm.

MCEDWARDS: All right.

JOHN: We, of course, are experiencing a great deal of desperation. This exacts an enormous amount of change in our lives, and it's very damaging to us, mentally, physically, and spiritually.

MCEDWARDS: I can imagine. I wish you both well in your search. I appreciate your time very, very much this morning. John Bish and Magi Bish, thanks.

M. BISH: Thank you for helping us.

J. BISH: Thank you very much.

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