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American Morning
Discussion with Mark Klaas
Aired December 31, 2002 - 08:18 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Elizabeth Smart, Molly Bish, they're just two of the people who are missing without a trace as we approach the end of this year. And now a search is under way for Laci Peterson, the pregnant California woman who was last seen on Christmas Eve.
Should we be doing more to protect ourselves? How about protecting our children?
Well, Mark Klaas is an expert with a personal connection to abduction cases.
He joins us now from San Francisco.
Mark is a frequent guest on our network.
And good to see you again, Mark.
Happy new year to you.
MARK KLAAS, ADVOCATE FOR CHILD SAFETY EDUCATION: Thank you, Leon.
Happy new year to you, too.
HARRIS: Oh, thank you very much.
And as I understand it, you talked with Laci Peterson's family?
KLAAS: Yes, I spoke to Laci's family about the day before yesterday. They're concerned that this might go long-term and they're looking for strategies to make sure this stays in the public eye over the course of the next several weeks, if that becomes necessary.
HARRIS: And did you get any initial impressions from talking with them?
KLAAS: Well, they're very concerned about Laci. I mean they're rather desperate to bring her home and they realize that it's a long road and that they have to cooperate fully with media and with law enforcement and hope that something will break very quickly.
HARRIS: You know, normally when you and I are talking -- I shouldn't say normally, but when we have been talking in the past about these kind of cases, it's always been about children. And here is a case with an adult who happens to be with child now. Does that make it, I guess, any different in the public's eye, as the public tries to get -- or is there efforts made to get the public motivated about this case?
KLAAS: I don't think that there's any problem with this. Laci Peterson is a beautiful woman. She seems to be loved by her community, loved by her family. Everybody feels desperate when there is a pregnant woman involved. One of the scenarios they're following and one that I don't put much credence in is the idea that she might have been taken simply because somebody wanted the child.
HARRIS: Well, that's such a tough case. We'll have to keep following that one.
KLAAS: Yes.
HARRIS: But let's talk about one that we have been following for quite a bit on this network, this Elizabeth Smart case. As I understand it, you, now you have had extensive access to this story and you also have spent some time with the parents in this case, have you not?
KLAAS: Well, I've spent some time with the parents early on when I was up in Salt Lake City. I was given a 10 minute audience with them, actually, within the first few days after the abduction. I then got a few more minutes and I tried to convince them that they should bring Jeannie Boylin (ph), the famed forensic artist, in to do a composite of the guy that was in the room based on the impressions of the little sister Mary Catherine. And that was rejected by the family. That was rejected early on.
And now apparently they're looking at a roofer. And I'm just really concerned that there are some real class distinctions in this case that upset me very much because I don't necessarily...
HARRIS: What do you mean by that?
KLAAS: Well, what I mean by that is that they've gone after four separate guys that were either itinerant, homeless, drug addicts or in some other way socially impaired. And it just seems to me that they're trying to draw distinctions that don't really exist. I don't think that any of these guys had anything to do with it. In fact, I think that one is probably going to find the answer to this case a lot closer to home than one would want.
HARRIS: Well, you mean that means someone in the family, then?
KLAAS: Well, you know, the problem is is that whoever took that young girl had a voice that was identified or at least it was recognized by the sister Mary Catherine. So it was somebody that obviously she had been around before. It was somebody that knew their way around the house, somebody that apparently cut the screen from the inside. They refused to let Jeannie Boylin in for weeks and weeks and weeks. There were something like a dozen friends and family in the house before law enforcement ever got there.
One of the brothers said that it was in many ways a beautiful story, that he didn't think that the kidnapper was a bad person and that he had his own issues or law enforcement had their own issues with his polygraph.
HARRIS: Yes.
KLAAS: So, you know, given all of this pile of circumstantial information, it seems to me that instead of pointing at roofers or pointing at handymen or pointing at drug addicts, that they should possibly be looking in other directions.
HARRIS: Now, let me ask you real quickly before we have to go, you know, you mention this, this element that there may be someone closer to home involved with this possibly. We've seen these other names that have come up through the news and we have had no news lately about, Rilya Wilson, Molly Bish. Do you have any advice for parents or for family members right now where, signs they should be looking for, Mark, that would tip them off to whether or not a child within their family may be targeted by someone in the family?
KLAAS: Well, I think it's, given the fact that there are over 400,000 registered sex offenders in this country, and given the fact that 2,000 children are reported missing to law enforcement every day, every child is at risk and we have to give them the tools that they can use to be able to avoid victimization to the best of their ability. And then, as I've said many times on this show and others, we have to take an approach that extends from the family kitchen table all the way to the president's cabinet table if we're going to be able to effectively protect children from the predators that exist in our society.
HARRIS: Yes, thanks, Mark Klaas.
That's all the time we have this morning.
Happy new year to you and take care.
KLAAS: Thank you, Leon.
And you.
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 December 31, 2002 - 08:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Elizabeth Smart, Molly Bish, they're just two of the people who are missing without a trace as we approach the end of this year. And now a search is under way for Laci Peterson, the pregnant California woman who was last seen on Christmas Eve.
Should we be doing more to protect ourselves? How about protecting our children?
Well, Mark Klaas is an expert with a personal connection to abduction cases.
He joins us now from San Francisco.
Mark is a frequent guest on our network.
And good to see you again, Mark.
Happy new year to you.
MARK KLAAS, ADVOCATE FOR CHILD SAFETY EDUCATION: Thank you, Leon.
Happy new year to you, too.
HARRIS: Oh, thank you very much.
And as I understand it, you talked with Laci Peterson's family?
KLAAS: Yes, I spoke to Laci's family about the day before yesterday. They're concerned that this might go long-term and they're looking for strategies to make sure this stays in the public eye over the course of the next several weeks, if that becomes necessary.
HARRIS: And did you get any initial impressions from talking with them?
KLAAS: Well, they're very concerned about Laci. I mean they're rather desperate to bring her home and they realize that it's a long road and that they have to cooperate fully with media and with law enforcement and hope that something will break very quickly.
HARRIS: You know, normally when you and I are talking -- I shouldn't say normally, but when we have been talking in the past about these kind of cases, it's always been about children. And here is a case with an adult who happens to be with child now. Does that make it, I guess, any different in the public's eye, as the public tries to get -- or is there efforts made to get the public motivated about this case?
KLAAS: I don't think that there's any problem with this. Laci Peterson is a beautiful woman. She seems to be loved by her community, loved by her family. Everybody feels desperate when there is a pregnant woman involved. One of the scenarios they're following and one that I don't put much credence in is the idea that she might have been taken simply because somebody wanted the child.
HARRIS: Well, that's such a tough case. We'll have to keep following that one.
KLAAS: Yes.
HARRIS: But let's talk about one that we have been following for quite a bit on this network, this Elizabeth Smart case. As I understand it, you, now you have had extensive access to this story and you also have spent some time with the parents in this case, have you not?
KLAAS: Well, I've spent some time with the parents early on when I was up in Salt Lake City. I was given a 10 minute audience with them, actually, within the first few days after the abduction. I then got a few more minutes and I tried to convince them that they should bring Jeannie Boylin (ph), the famed forensic artist, in to do a composite of the guy that was in the room based on the impressions of the little sister Mary Catherine. And that was rejected by the family. That was rejected early on.
And now apparently they're looking at a roofer. And I'm just really concerned that there are some real class distinctions in this case that upset me very much because I don't necessarily...
HARRIS: What do you mean by that?
KLAAS: Well, what I mean by that is that they've gone after four separate guys that were either itinerant, homeless, drug addicts or in some other way socially impaired. And it just seems to me that they're trying to draw distinctions that don't really exist. I don't think that any of these guys had anything to do with it. In fact, I think that one is probably going to find the answer to this case a lot closer to home than one would want.
HARRIS: Well, you mean that means someone in the family, then?
KLAAS: Well, you know, the problem is is that whoever took that young girl had a voice that was identified or at least it was recognized by the sister Mary Catherine. So it was somebody that obviously she had been around before. It was somebody that knew their way around the house, somebody that apparently cut the screen from the inside. They refused to let Jeannie Boylin in for weeks and weeks and weeks. There were something like a dozen friends and family in the house before law enforcement ever got there.
One of the brothers said that it was in many ways a beautiful story, that he didn't think that the kidnapper was a bad person and that he had his own issues or law enforcement had their own issues with his polygraph.
HARRIS: Yes.
KLAAS: So, you know, given all of this pile of circumstantial information, it seems to me that instead of pointing at roofers or pointing at handymen or pointing at drug addicts, that they should possibly be looking in other directions.
HARRIS: Now, let me ask you real quickly before we have to go, you know, you mention this, this element that there may be someone closer to home involved with this possibly. We've seen these other names that have come up through the news and we have had no news lately about, Rilya Wilson, Molly Bish. Do you have any advice for parents or for family members right now where, signs they should be looking for, Mark, that would tip them off to whether or not a child within their family may be targeted by someone in the family?
KLAAS: Well, I think it's, given the fact that there are over 400,000 registered sex offenders in this country, and given the fact that 2,000 children are reported missing to law enforcement every day, every child is at risk and we have to give them the tools that they can use to be able to avoid victimization to the best of their ability. And then, as I've said many times on this show and others, we have to take an approach that extends from the family kitchen table all the way to the president's cabinet table if we're going to be able to effectively protect children from the predators that exist in our society.
HARRIS: Yes, thanks, Mark Klaas.
That's all the time we have this morning.
Happy new year to you and take care.
KLAAS: Thank you, Leon.
And you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
