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CNN Live At Daybreak

Missing School Bus, Children Found, Driver Arrested

Aired January 25, 2002 - 06:35   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: An armed school bus driver accused of taking some Pennsylvania students on an unauthorized trip is due in court today, and he could face federal kidnapping charges. The children who police say were held captive for six hours were returned home to their parents yesterday.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Happy parents holding their children tight, taking them home to Pennsylvania to an anxious community joined in prayer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's wonderful to stand before you today and have a positive outcome and know that the children are safe, and we're bringing them home.

FEYERICK: The 13 kids vanished for almost five hours. Their school bus, a no show here at the Berks Christian School.

ROBERT BECKER, SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR: First thing you think of, did they fall into a ditch that was completely out of sight, but knowing the route myself, I knew that there was no deep ditches or ravines, and no deep creeks, that if it was an accident, certainly they would have been found.

FEYERICK: It was no accident. The bus driver, 64-year-old Otto Nuss, a loaded semiautomatic rifle behind his seat, took the kids more than 100 miles to Maryland before stopping at a Family Dollar Store and surrendering to local police officer Milton Chabla.

MILTON CHABLA, PRINCE GEORGES CO. POLICE: He seemed a little nervous, but it seemed like he wanted to turn himself over to the authorities. He wanted to make sure that the kids were OK, and he wanted the parents to know that the kids were OK back home.

FEYERICK: The children, ages seven to 15, were not hurt. Nuss, who's unmarried, lived with his mother until her death about five years ago. Neighbors Scott and Lindy Postell say Nuss loved his job and the kids he drove to school until lately, they say, he seemed out of sorts.

LINDY POSTELL, NEIGHBOR: Over the weekend, he seemed a bit down. He didn't seem quite himself. He wasn't quite as talkative or you know as jovial as he normally is, but he still certainly talked to us and was very kind and whatnot.

FEYERICK: To drive a school bus, Nuss had to pass a background check -- no crimes or history of child abuse. So why did he do it? He told the arresting police officer ...

PETER GULOTTA, FBI: He brought them to see Washington, D.C.

FEYERICK: Agents searched Nuss' house late into the night.

As for the rifle on the bus, a neighbor says Nuss liked hunting and may owned several guns. Charges against him could include kidnapping and endangering the welfare of a minor.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Oley Township, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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