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Investigators 90 Percent Sure Boy Is Not Buddy Myers
Aired May 01, 2003 - 14:20 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Will today be the day the mystery of a missing North Carolina boy is solved? His family and authorities in two cities are awaiting final DNA test results involving a boy who looks an awful lot like Tristen "Buddy" Myers.
CNN's Mike Brooks has been talking with those closest to the investigation and joins us now. We have got some new information on this, probably not what the family wants to hear.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Probably not, Heidi. But sources close to the investigation have told me that from the interviews that they have done, the other investigative leads that law enforcement has followed up in this case, and preliminary DNA results coming back, it looks right now to them that 90 percent -- again, not 100 percent sure -- but to them, right now, 90 percent sure that Tristen "Buddy" Myers and the boy, Eli Quick, in Chicago are not one in the same.
So, again, it's probably going to be heartbreaking. They have been on a roller coaster ride. His aunt and uncle in North Carolina have been on a roller coaster ride, his mother, Raven.
But, again, there is a sliver of hope, Heidi, but they're 90 percent sure, and from other investigative leads they have done, that this is not the boy, that they are not connected at all.
COLLINS: Right. And we said that we have learned, in talking to the father, that the eye color is different? There are many things that have happened -- or that they discovered that are actually quite different from Buddy Myers.
BROOKS: There are. Their eye color is different. Jeff Flock last night reported that people in the neighborhood, in Chicago, in the Evanston, Illinois in Chicago area have said, no, they've seen this boy around for a long time.
So, again, it's not looking good for the folks right now in North Carolina. But again, there is a sliver of hope, and we are going to wait to see what the final DNA results will be.
COLLINS: Right. And seems like there have been so many twists in this case. What is so strange about it to you?
BROOKS: There have just been so many twists and turns from the initial disappearance. He disappeared. He went out with the two dogs in Roseboro, North Carolina, and then just disappeared. No traces. They searched for him. Law enforcement officials and volunteers there, over 3,000, searched for days to try to find Tristen "Buddy" Myers. And then, all of a sudden -- and they couldn't find him.
Then, all of sudden in February this boy, Eli Quick, shows up with his father, who says his father, Ricky Quick, at a hospital in Evanston, Illinois. Dirty, disheveled. The social workers there thought something was a little strange. They looked into it, and his father, Ricky Quick, was wanted on a warrant in Chicago for shoplifting, for theft.
So then, after that, he disappeared. He's been with foster parents. And then, the social workers there -- they called the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They got a photograph that showed what Buddy Myers would look like two years from the day of his disappearance.
COLLINS: Which is so hard to do.
BROOKS: It is. And there was a similarity there. Then they took the actual picture of this boy, Eli Quick, and compared it with Buddy Myers, and thought there might be a match there. But they've been -- they've been running out a number of different investigative leads, and right now they think -- they're 90 percent sure that there is no connection.
COLLINS: All right. So just awaiting those final DNA tests.
BROOKS: Exactly.
COLLINS: All right. Very good. CNN's Mike Brooks, thanks so much.
BROOKS: Thank you, Heidi.
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 May 1, 2003 - 14:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Will today be the day the mystery of a missing North Carolina boy is solved? His family and authorities in two cities are awaiting final DNA test results involving a boy who looks an awful lot like Tristen "Buddy" Myers.
CNN's Mike Brooks has been talking with those closest to the investigation and joins us now. We have got some new information on this, probably not what the family wants to hear.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Probably not, Heidi. But sources close to the investigation have told me that from the interviews that they have done, the other investigative leads that law enforcement has followed up in this case, and preliminary DNA results coming back, it looks right now to them that 90 percent -- again, not 100 percent sure -- but to them, right now, 90 percent sure that Tristen "Buddy" Myers and the boy, Eli Quick, in Chicago are not one in the same.
So, again, it's probably going to be heartbreaking. They have been on a roller coaster ride. His aunt and uncle in North Carolina have been on a roller coaster ride, his mother, Raven.
But, again, there is a sliver of hope, Heidi, but they're 90 percent sure, and from other investigative leads they have done, that this is not the boy, that they are not connected at all.
COLLINS: Right. And we said that we have learned, in talking to the father, that the eye color is different? There are many things that have happened -- or that they discovered that are actually quite different from Buddy Myers.
BROOKS: There are. Their eye color is different. Jeff Flock last night reported that people in the neighborhood, in Chicago, in the Evanston, Illinois in Chicago area have said, no, they've seen this boy around for a long time.
So, again, it's not looking good for the folks right now in North Carolina. But again, there is a sliver of hope, and we are going to wait to see what the final DNA results will be.
COLLINS: Right. And seems like there have been so many twists in this case. What is so strange about it to you?
BROOKS: There have just been so many twists and turns from the initial disappearance. He disappeared. He went out with the two dogs in Roseboro, North Carolina, and then just disappeared. No traces. They searched for him. Law enforcement officials and volunteers there, over 3,000, searched for days to try to find Tristen "Buddy" Myers. And then, all of a sudden -- and they couldn't find him.
Then, all of sudden in February this boy, Eli Quick, shows up with his father, who says his father, Ricky Quick, at a hospital in Evanston, Illinois. Dirty, disheveled. The social workers there thought something was a little strange. They looked into it, and his father, Ricky Quick, was wanted on a warrant in Chicago for shoplifting, for theft.
So then, after that, he disappeared. He's been with foster parents. And then, the social workers there -- they called the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They got a photograph that showed what Buddy Myers would look like two years from the day of his disappearance.
COLLINS: Which is so hard to do.
BROOKS: It is. And there was a similarity there. Then they took the actual picture of this boy, Eli Quick, and compared it with Buddy Myers, and thought there might be a match there. But they've been -- they've been running out a number of different investigative leads, and right now they think -- they're 90 percent sure that there is no connection.
COLLINS: All right. So just awaiting those final DNA tests.
BROOKS: Exactly.
COLLINS: All right. Very good. CNN's Mike Brooks, thanks so much.
BROOKS: Thank you, Heidi.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
