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The Saga of Buddy Myers

Aired April 30, 2003 - 15:31   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The saga of Buddy Myers, the North Carolina boy missing for two years, has become quite a tangled tale today. Developments in Roseboro, North Carolina, and in Chicago, where Jeff Flock is our bureau chief. He joins us live now with the latest.
Trying to keep all this straight is not easy, Jeff. Let's get started with you.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF: We get paid to simplify the complex, Miles, but I feel like I am failing today. Indeed, this case of, is it one boy, is it two, is Eli Quick -- is he Buddy Myers? At this point we don't know.

Let's show you the pictures and we'll try to sort it out. Buddy Myers, Tristan Myers, his real name, on the left of your screen, disappeared from North Carolina two years ago. Eli Quick -- a boy called Eli Quick showing up in Chicago a couple of months ago. Is it the same boy? Authorities think they may be. They are doing DNA testing right now.

But even if it turns out to be so, it's not going to be an unconflicted return and reunion, like perhaps the Elizabeth Smart case. CNN's Gary Tuchman talked to the biological mother of Tristen Myers -- Buddy Myers today. And she said her aunt had custody of the little boy. She had the boy when she was 15 years of age and is now a topless dancer.

She says she will fight for custody of this boy, even though her aunt now has custody. She said she does not want the boy going back with her. But if it turns out to be her son, does not want her going back with her aunt. Here's what she told Gary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAVEN MYERS, BUDDY'S MOTHER: We're not on good terms, and that's fine with me. There's more reasons behind that. And I know they care about him, but I will fight for Tristen to not go back into that home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLOCK: So it's not going to be pretty one way or the other. As we said, he is a boy whose mother was 15 when she had him. As we said, she is now a topless dancer. And she took some pains, Gary Tuchman told me, to clarify that in fact she was a topless dancer, not a nude dancer, so no one missed that distinction. And she currently lives in a motel in North Carolina and has one other 1-year-old daughter.

So, if, in fact, this is Buddy Myers and he goes back either there or with the aunt, it will be an interesting turn of events. And then, of course, we don't even know that's the case yet because this DNA testing has not, Miles, yet been done.

O'BRIEN: Hard to see through to a happy ending on this one. Obviously most everything hinges on this DNA test. And we're told it could take quite some time. Why does it take so long, and given all that's involved here, can't they speed things up?

FLOCK: Well, there is some indication -- our Mike Brooks has been working this, and we have been talking. Obviously in some high profile cases, the Laci Peterson case, for example, they were able to speed things up. My understanding is that the longer you take, the better results you have in terms of percentage of accuracy. But I -- Mike seems to think that there is a move afoot perhaps to push this along and hurry it along. So I guess we'll have to see.

O'BRIEN: All right. CNN's Jeff Flock in Chicago. You you did a good job simplifying for us. Thank you. We appreciate it.

FLOCK: Thanks, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Selling yourself short there.

Donna Myers, the great aunt of Buddy Myers, says her nephew bears a strong resemblance to the Chicago boy known as Eli Quick. Ricky Quick says Eli is the product of a bad relationship involving his wife, who died in a car crash last year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Isn't Eli your son?

RICKY QUICK: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your biological son?

QUICK: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's not your stepson?

QUICK: No. It's my wife's little boy. And we had a bad relationship, and that's...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So it's another man's child?

QUICK: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP) O'BRIEN: Ricky Quick has not been charged with anything, and has returned to the Chicago home he shares with his mother. Now if you missed some of the details in this intriguing story, you can catch up with them at cnn.com. All the background on the waiting family in North Carolina to the developing details on the missing boy. Cnn.com, your home for news on the worldwide Web.

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 30, 2003 - 15:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The saga of Buddy Myers, the North Carolina boy missing for two years, has become quite a tangled tale today. Developments in Roseboro, North Carolina, and in Chicago, where Jeff Flock is our bureau chief. He joins us live now with the latest.
Trying to keep all this straight is not easy, Jeff. Let's get started with you.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF: We get paid to simplify the complex, Miles, but I feel like I am failing today. Indeed, this case of, is it one boy, is it two, is Eli Quick -- is he Buddy Myers? At this point we don't know.

Let's show you the pictures and we'll try to sort it out. Buddy Myers, Tristan Myers, his real name, on the left of your screen, disappeared from North Carolina two years ago. Eli Quick -- a boy called Eli Quick showing up in Chicago a couple of months ago. Is it the same boy? Authorities think they may be. They are doing DNA testing right now.

But even if it turns out to be so, it's not going to be an unconflicted return and reunion, like perhaps the Elizabeth Smart case. CNN's Gary Tuchman talked to the biological mother of Tristen Myers -- Buddy Myers today. And she said her aunt had custody of the little boy. She had the boy when she was 15 years of age and is now a topless dancer.

She says she will fight for custody of this boy, even though her aunt now has custody. She said she does not want the boy going back with her. But if it turns out to be her son, does not want her going back with her aunt. Here's what she told Gary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAVEN MYERS, BUDDY'S MOTHER: We're not on good terms, and that's fine with me. There's more reasons behind that. And I know they care about him, but I will fight for Tristen to not go back into that home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLOCK: So it's not going to be pretty one way or the other. As we said, he is a boy whose mother was 15 when she had him. As we said, she is now a topless dancer. And she took some pains, Gary Tuchman told me, to clarify that in fact she was a topless dancer, not a nude dancer, so no one missed that distinction. And she currently lives in a motel in North Carolina and has one other 1-year-old daughter.

So, if, in fact, this is Buddy Myers and he goes back either there or with the aunt, it will be an interesting turn of events. And then, of course, we don't even know that's the case yet because this DNA testing has not, Miles, yet been done.

O'BRIEN: Hard to see through to a happy ending on this one. Obviously most everything hinges on this DNA test. And we're told it could take quite some time. Why does it take so long, and given all that's involved here, can't they speed things up?

FLOCK: Well, there is some indication -- our Mike Brooks has been working this, and we have been talking. Obviously in some high profile cases, the Laci Peterson case, for example, they were able to speed things up. My understanding is that the longer you take, the better results you have in terms of percentage of accuracy. But I -- Mike seems to think that there is a move afoot perhaps to push this along and hurry it along. So I guess we'll have to see.

O'BRIEN: All right. CNN's Jeff Flock in Chicago. You you did a good job simplifying for us. Thank you. We appreciate it.

FLOCK: Thanks, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Selling yourself short there.

Donna Myers, the great aunt of Buddy Myers, says her nephew bears a strong resemblance to the Chicago boy known as Eli Quick. Ricky Quick says Eli is the product of a bad relationship involving his wife, who died in a car crash last year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Isn't Eli your son?

RICKY QUICK: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your biological son?

QUICK: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's not your stepson?

QUICK: No. It's my wife's little boy. And we had a bad relationship, and that's...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So it's another man's child?

QUICK: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP) O'BRIEN: Ricky Quick has not been charged with anything, and has returned to the Chicago home he shares with his mother. Now if you missed some of the details in this intriguing story, you can catch up with them at cnn.com. All the background on the waiting family in North Carolina to the developing details on the missing boy. Cnn.com, your home for news on the worldwide Web.

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