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Missing Florida Girl Returned

Aired November 28, 2003 - 15:18   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: A Florida family had something to be thankful for yesterday. Police say a 9-year-old girl was abducted and then returned to her mother. And then a suspect was arrested. All this unfolded in a day. The unexpected reunion was caught on tape.
Giselle Guerra of our affiliate station WTVT tells us about the Thanksgiving reunion.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He approached the door and said that he had a surprise for me to my brother.

GISELLE GUERRA, WTVT REPORTER (voice-over): This mother pleaded on camera for help. Someone kidnapped her 9-year-old daughter right from her home while she was at work. In the middle of our interview, the little girl walks up. Her mother hugs her for the first time since this all started.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's the minivan!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The minivan?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes! The minivan!

GUERRA: Police take their cue from neighbors and chase after the van that just dropped the girl off. Blocks away, they arrest Marty Ray Morris (ph). The van belongs to Garry Marino, a good Samaritan who may have been at the wrong place at the right time.

GARRY MARINO, "GOOD SAMARITAN": I kind of inadvertently wound up getting into a position where he was hand-delivered to the authorities, which -- that, I'm actually very relieved about.

GUERRA: Police say Morris enticed the girl from her apartment with the promise of buying her a soda. They think he took her to a wooded area and raped her there.

Police combed this park on North Dale Mabry, just south of Van Dyke. Earlier in the day, Marino's wife happened upon Morris and the girl at a gas station near the park. Morris told her his car had broken down.

MARINO: Well, the girl was crying. They seemed like they were in trouble. They were having a hard time.

GUERRA: So Marino's wife offered help and took the pair into their home.

MARINO: But the girl looked like she was tired. The girl looked like she needed a bath.

GUERRA: Morris and the girl ate Thanksgiving lunch at Marinos' home. He offered the pair a ride home. At first, the suspect resisted, but later agreed.

MARINO: It seemed like she was a little relieved. If I needed to describe it, that was the best way she seemed in that vehicle.

GUERRA: Marino approached the apartment complex. Morris had him pull over a block away. Still, the good samaritan had no idea.

MARINO: He says, well, pull over right here. I said, OK, I guess we're here. So I pulled over to the side of the road. And he let her out. She started to run down that short stretch of sidewalk.

GUERRA: That apartment complex exploded with emotion. A mother got her daughter back. Police got the man they say is a sexual predator off the street.

DET. JOHN YARATCH, TAMPA POLICE DEPARTMENT: I think that any day that a 9-year-old child is victimized, and, as I said earlier, her innocence has been taken forever. That can never be replaced.

GUERRA (on camera): Marino says he is just happy he was in a position where he could help this thing end safety. Morris is in the Orient Road Jail. He is charged with four counts of capital sexual battery on a child under 12.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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 November 28, 2003 - 15:18   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A Florida family had something to be thankful for yesterday. Police say a 9-year-old girl was abducted and then returned to her mother. And then a suspect was arrested. All this unfolded in a day. The unexpected reunion was caught on tape.
Giselle Guerra of our affiliate station WTVT tells us about the Thanksgiving reunion.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He approached the door and said that he had a surprise for me to my brother.

GISELLE GUERRA, WTVT REPORTER (voice-over): This mother pleaded on camera for help. Someone kidnapped her 9-year-old daughter right from her home while she was at work. In the middle of our interview, the little girl walks up. Her mother hugs her for the first time since this all started.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's the minivan!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The minivan?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes! The minivan!

GUERRA: Police take their cue from neighbors and chase after the van that just dropped the girl off. Blocks away, they arrest Marty Ray Morris (ph). The van belongs to Garry Marino, a good Samaritan who may have been at the wrong place at the right time.

GARRY MARINO, "GOOD SAMARITAN": I kind of inadvertently wound up getting into a position where he was hand-delivered to the authorities, which -- that, I'm actually very relieved about.

GUERRA: Police say Morris enticed the girl from her apartment with the promise of buying her a soda. They think he took her to a wooded area and raped her there.

Police combed this park on North Dale Mabry, just south of Van Dyke. Earlier in the day, Marino's wife happened upon Morris and the girl at a gas station near the park. Morris told her his car had broken down.

MARINO: Well, the girl was crying. They seemed like they were in trouble. They were having a hard time.

GUERRA: So Marino's wife offered help and took the pair into their home.

MARINO: But the girl looked like she was tired. The girl looked like she needed a bath.

GUERRA: Morris and the girl ate Thanksgiving lunch at Marinos' home. He offered the pair a ride home. At first, the suspect resisted, but later agreed.

MARINO: It seemed like she was a little relieved. If I needed to describe it, that was the best way she seemed in that vehicle.

GUERRA: Marino approached the apartment complex. Morris had him pull over a block away. Still, the good samaritan had no idea.

MARINO: He says, well, pull over right here. I said, OK, I guess we're here. So I pulled over to the side of the road. And he let her out. She started to run down that short stretch of sidewalk.

GUERRA: That apartment complex exploded with emotion. A mother got her daughter back. Police got the man they say is a sexual predator off the street.

DET. JOHN YARATCH, TAMPA POLICE DEPARTMENT: I think that any day that a 9-year-old child is victimized, and, as I said earlier, her innocence has been taken forever. That can never be replaced.

GUERRA (on camera): Marino says he is just happy he was in a position where he could help this thing end safety. Morris is in the Orient Road Jail. He is charged with four counts of capital sexual battery on a child under 12.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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