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Woman Claims to be Mother of Toddler Found Wandering Streets
Aired June 12, 2003 - 15:32 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: And police in Bakersfield, California have released what they hope is a significant lead in the case of 2- year-old Mateo. He is the toddler that was found last month wandering the city streets in the middle of the night.
CNN's Thelma Gutierrez is in Bakersfield now with an update on that case. A lot of people really wondering what's going to happen with Mateo.
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Heidi. In fact, a short time ago police released an audiotape from a woman who claims to have been Mateo's mother. Now, police say that they have absolutely no idea whether or not that tape is credible. But so far, it's the only thing that they have to go on. All the other leads have led to dead ends.
Now, the boy called Mateo was found back on May 18, some three and a half weeks ago. A motorists apparently spotted him in a very busy intersection late at night. Since then, police have tried to locate his parents. They've made appeals through the media, and they have hung fliers all over Bakersfield, but no luck.
Now, five days after the boy was found, detectives in the case got a call on a voicemail at work from a woman claiming to be Mateo's mother. Now, this woman says the boy's name is not Mateo, but Jesus Peres Flores (ph). She describes what he's wearing in detail and she said that she had to leave the toddler behind for his own good.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I left him because we were being mistreated by my husband. After all, if something happens to me, I don't want anything to happen to my baby. If he could be adopted, I would appreciate it, because I'm sick with cancer, and I can die any minute. And I leave you my baby.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GUTIERREZ: Mary DeGeare is a detective with the Bakersfield Police Department. She joins us right now. Mary, how credible do you believe this tape is?
DET. MARY DEGEARE, BAKERSFIELD POLICE: Well, what gives the caller credibility is the fact that she knows more information about his clothing. She was able to provide more detail. And her emotion is heartfelt and it seems genuine, but we have not been able to verify that the caller is actually this boy's mother.
GUTIERREZ: Now, you have made several attempts to reach out to this person. Even if she were to come forward, how suitable of a parent do you think she would be in light of the fact that the child was found in an intersection late at night?
DEGEARE: Well, we don't know that yet. We don't know the circumstances that led up to their separation. She may have left this baby with someone she thought was responsible, and the baby was separated from her from there.
So we don't know that she's actually responsible for abandoning this child. We need to talk to her and we need to find out what those circumstances are.
GUTIERREZ: OK. Mary DeGeare, thank you very much.
Now, the public defender who is overseeing Mateo's case says he hopes to speed up the adoption process and he's hoping to sever the parents' rights within four months as opposed to six months so that this boy can be adopted out. Heidi, back to you.
COLLINS: Thelma Gutierrez live in Bakersfield, California. Thank you, Thelma.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Streets>
Aired June 12, 2003 - 15:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And police in Bakersfield, California have released what they hope is a significant lead in the case of 2- year-old Mateo. He is the toddler that was found last month wandering the city streets in the middle of the night.
CNN's Thelma Gutierrez is in Bakersfield now with an update on that case. A lot of people really wondering what's going to happen with Mateo.
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Heidi. In fact, a short time ago police released an audiotape from a woman who claims to have been Mateo's mother. Now, police say that they have absolutely no idea whether or not that tape is credible. But so far, it's the only thing that they have to go on. All the other leads have led to dead ends.
Now, the boy called Mateo was found back on May 18, some three and a half weeks ago. A motorists apparently spotted him in a very busy intersection late at night. Since then, police have tried to locate his parents. They've made appeals through the media, and they have hung fliers all over Bakersfield, but no luck.
Now, five days after the boy was found, detectives in the case got a call on a voicemail at work from a woman claiming to be Mateo's mother. Now, this woman says the boy's name is not Mateo, but Jesus Peres Flores (ph). She describes what he's wearing in detail and she said that she had to leave the toddler behind for his own good.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I left him because we were being mistreated by my husband. After all, if something happens to me, I don't want anything to happen to my baby. If he could be adopted, I would appreciate it, because I'm sick with cancer, and I can die any minute. And I leave you my baby.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GUTIERREZ: Mary DeGeare is a detective with the Bakersfield Police Department. She joins us right now. Mary, how credible do you believe this tape is?
DET. MARY DEGEARE, BAKERSFIELD POLICE: Well, what gives the caller credibility is the fact that she knows more information about his clothing. She was able to provide more detail. And her emotion is heartfelt and it seems genuine, but we have not been able to verify that the caller is actually this boy's mother.
GUTIERREZ: Now, you have made several attempts to reach out to this person. Even if she were to come forward, how suitable of a parent do you think she would be in light of the fact that the child was found in an intersection late at night?
DEGEARE: Well, we don't know that yet. We don't know the circumstances that led up to their separation. She may have left this baby with someone she thought was responsible, and the baby was separated from her from there.
So we don't know that she's actually responsible for abandoning this child. We need to talk to her and we need to find out what those circumstances are.
GUTIERREZ: OK. Mary DeGeare, thank you very much.
Now, the public defender who is overseeing Mateo's case says he hopes to speed up the adoption process and he's hoping to sever the parents' rights within four months as opposed to six months so that this boy can be adopted out. Heidi, back to you.
COLLINS: Thelma Gutierrez live in Bakersfield, California. Thank you, Thelma.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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