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American Morning
Salt Lake City Police Have Few Clues in Search for Family of 3- Year-Old
Aired January 29, 2003 - 08:19 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Salt Lake City say they have few clues as they search for the family of an abandoned 3-year-old. The little boy, who says his name is Jacob, was left Saturday in the toy section of a department store. Surveillance videotape shows a man entering the store with Jacob, grabbing a shopping cart, putting a toy in that cart and abandoning him. Minutes later, as you can see on this tape, that same man was seen walking out alone.
Joining us now to talk about the puzzling case, Salt Lake City police detective Dwayne Baird and Carol Sisco from Utah's Department of Human Services.
Welcome to both of you.
Detective Baird, do you have any idea who was that man, who that man was that dropped off Jacob?
DET. DWAYNE BAIRD, SALT LAKE CITY POLICE: We don't. Jacob says he's a friend of his mother's and that's all that we know right now.
ZAHN: Ms. Sisco, what else can you tell us about what you've learned from little Jacob?
CAROL SISCO, UTAH DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES: Well, we've learned that he has a grandpa named Pedro, that he lives at home with mommy, that her name is either Janet or Janette, that he, he says he has four sisters, but they don't live with him anymore.
ZAHN: Did he have any idea where he lived?
SISCO: No. He just says he lives at home with mommy. You know, he's only three years old.
ZAHN: Did he know if he had traveled a distance to get to that toy store? Does he have any sense of where he ended up?
SISCO: He didn't. He said something to one, to his foster mom about that he and mommy were going to be moving, but I, you know, I don't know if he meant in the future or now or what.
ZAHN: And Ms. Sisco, what kind of physical condition is he in? Is there any signs of having been abused?
SISCO: No, no obviously signs of abuse. He looks well nourished and healthy. He had a good haircut. He was dressed well. He, you know, he had on a nice little long sleeved striped T-shirt and jeans and he looks great.
ZAHN: It would strike me, Detective Baird, given what Ms. Sisco just had to say, that has to make your investigation all the more difficult.
BAIRD: It is in the sense that we really don't know who this boy is or where he's come from. But he's in remarkably good condition. He's well cared for, as Carol has said. And he's a smart little boy. We think that he just doesn't have the information as to his address, his family's last name, those kinds of things.
ZAHN: I can't think of anything more horrifying than being abandoned in a store with a bunch of strangers.
Ms. Sisco, does he seem to have been traumatized by what happened to him?
SISCO: I mean obviously he's been a little bit scared. But he has an ability to really relax with people. We have him in a great foster home and the mom has a little adopted boy who's three years old. And so Jacob's been playing with him. Something he's really hanging onto, he was wearing a gold chain when we found him and it has a little basketball charm on it and it also has a gold cross. And he says mommy gave this to me. So he doesn't want to take it off.
ZAHN: Oh, I don't blame him.
Detective Baird, we're going to leave the number up for the police department. I know you're soliciting information from folks who may have seen the man, although it wasn't perfectly clear on the video, or may have seen this little boy before.
What do you need to know?
BAIRD: We need to know who his family is, where he lives, where he's from, any information that they can give us. We're hoping that the public can help us here.
ZAHN: Well, we wish you tremendous luck.
BAIRD: Thank you.
ZAHN: I guess it's particularly chilling because we saw it all unfold on tape. Unfortunately this happens, I guess, thousands of times a year to children across the country.
Carol Sisco, Dwayne Baird, again, thanks for your time this morning.
We wish you the very best of luck.
BAIRD: Thank you, Paula.
SISCO: Thank 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
of 3-Year-Old>
Aired January 29, 2003 - 08:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Salt Lake City say they have few clues as they search for the family of an abandoned 3-year-old. The little boy, who says his name is Jacob, was left Saturday in the toy section of a department store. Surveillance videotape shows a man entering the store with Jacob, grabbing a shopping cart, putting a toy in that cart and abandoning him. Minutes later, as you can see on this tape, that same man was seen walking out alone.
Joining us now to talk about the puzzling case, Salt Lake City police detective Dwayne Baird and Carol Sisco from Utah's Department of Human Services.
Welcome to both of you.
Detective Baird, do you have any idea who was that man, who that man was that dropped off Jacob?
DET. DWAYNE BAIRD, SALT LAKE CITY POLICE: We don't. Jacob says he's a friend of his mother's and that's all that we know right now.
ZAHN: Ms. Sisco, what else can you tell us about what you've learned from little Jacob?
CAROL SISCO, UTAH DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES: Well, we've learned that he has a grandpa named Pedro, that he lives at home with mommy, that her name is either Janet or Janette, that he, he says he has four sisters, but they don't live with him anymore.
ZAHN: Did he have any idea where he lived?
SISCO: No. He just says he lives at home with mommy. You know, he's only three years old.
ZAHN: Did he know if he had traveled a distance to get to that toy store? Does he have any sense of where he ended up?
SISCO: He didn't. He said something to one, to his foster mom about that he and mommy were going to be moving, but I, you know, I don't know if he meant in the future or now or what.
ZAHN: And Ms. Sisco, what kind of physical condition is he in? Is there any signs of having been abused?
SISCO: No, no obviously signs of abuse. He looks well nourished and healthy. He had a good haircut. He was dressed well. He, you know, he had on a nice little long sleeved striped T-shirt and jeans and he looks great.
ZAHN: It would strike me, Detective Baird, given what Ms. Sisco just had to say, that has to make your investigation all the more difficult.
BAIRD: It is in the sense that we really don't know who this boy is or where he's come from. But he's in remarkably good condition. He's well cared for, as Carol has said. And he's a smart little boy. We think that he just doesn't have the information as to his address, his family's last name, those kinds of things.
ZAHN: I can't think of anything more horrifying than being abandoned in a store with a bunch of strangers.
Ms. Sisco, does he seem to have been traumatized by what happened to him?
SISCO: I mean obviously he's been a little bit scared. But he has an ability to really relax with people. We have him in a great foster home and the mom has a little adopted boy who's three years old. And so Jacob's been playing with him. Something he's really hanging onto, he was wearing a gold chain when we found him and it has a little basketball charm on it and it also has a gold cross. And he says mommy gave this to me. So he doesn't want to take it off.
ZAHN: Oh, I don't blame him.
Detective Baird, we're going to leave the number up for the police department. I know you're soliciting information from folks who may have seen the man, although it wasn't perfectly clear on the video, or may have seen this little boy before.
What do you need to know?
BAIRD: We need to know who his family is, where he lives, where he's from, any information that they can give us. We're hoping that the public can help us here.
ZAHN: Well, we wish you tremendous luck.
BAIRD: Thank you.
ZAHN: I guess it's particularly chilling because we saw it all unfold on tape. Unfortunately this happens, I guess, thousands of times a year to children across the country.
Carol Sisco, Dwayne Baird, again, thanks for your time this morning.
We wish you the very best of luck.
BAIRD: Thank you, Paula.
SISCO: Thank 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
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