Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
FBI Waiting for Results of DNA Tests on Boy in Illinois
Aired May 01, 2003 - 08:06 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: On to North Carolina now. The FBI is waiting for results of DNA tests to determine if a boy in Illinois and one who disappeared from his North Carolina home are one and the same. The results could be in by the end of this week.
Gary Tuchman is live in Roseborough, North Carolina to bring us up to date on the saga of Tristan "Buddy" Myers -- good morning, Gary.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.
It could be today, it could be tomorrow, it could be Saturday, but the FBI says it will be one of those days that it gets DNA results. We come to you from in front of the North Carolina home of the great aunt, who is hoping that her missing great nephew is a little boy who right now is in a foster care facility in the state of Illinois. Buddy Myers looks a lot like Eli Quick, the boy who is in that foster care facility.
Now, what's going on in this case, there's a lot of strange aspects to it. The FBI has interviewed a man by the name of Ricky Quick who says they are two different boys. But Ricky Quick has also told reporters two different things. He said he's the stepfather of the boy at the foster care facility. He's also said he's the father of the boy at the foster care facility.
Then there's the case of Raven Myers. Raven Myers is a 22-year- old woman who's the birth mother of the missing boy. She gave birth when she was 15, had to give up custody. She says she wants custody back if it is the boy, and she believes it is.
Meanwhile, authorities are investigating the possibility that Raven Myers, the birth mother, and Ricky Quick, the man who is allegedly the father or stepfather of Eli Quick, lived in the same area in Louisiana in the late '90s.
However, we talked to Raven Myers yesterday. She said she's never seen this man before until she saw him on TV a couple of days ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAVEN MYERS, MOTHER OF BUDDY MYERS: I've never met him. I've never seen this man except on TV last night.
TUCHMAN: Is there any possibility that perhaps you just don't remember seeing him or being with him?
MYERS: I would remember a face like that and I don't remember him.
TUCHMAN: So there's no possibility there's any connection between you and this man?
MYERS: No.
TUCHMAN: So if this is your boy, you're saying that the man would be a kidnapper then?
MYERS: Yes, he would be, because I don't know him and I've taken lie detector tests and I've taken everything and I have no idea what happened with him and I wasn't involved in anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: So as we speak, this family is sitting on pins and needles waiting for a most dramatic announcement -- Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: All right, Gary Tuchman, thanks for bringing us up to date -- Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Carol, as we mentioned, it's been about two and a half years since Tristan "Buddy" Myers was last seen. Authorities now using age progression technology to create a picture of what Buddy might look like today. Buddy's picture is the work of forensic artist Joe Mullins and Joe is live this morning in Washington to talk about it.
Good to see you, Joe.
Thanks for coming on.
Good morning to you.
JOE MULLINS, FORENSIC IMAGING SPECIALIST:
Good morning to you. Thank you.
HEMMER: Listen, I understand that you did not have all the data to work with that you would have liked. What were you missing?
MULLINS: Well, to do an accurate age progression, we want to get family reference pictures of, you know, that gives us the direction to go in and we want to get pictures of the mom and dad at the age a child would be today, and we didn't have that in Buddy's case.
HEMMER: Did you try to get that from the family or was that just out of the question?
MULLINS: I think that was pretty much out of the question. We just had to go with the original photograph that we had.
HEMMER: How much more difficult did that make your job?
MULLINS: It, we like to say it's half art and half science, and without those family reference pictures, it kind of takes the science out of it and it's more of a, you know, how we know how the face grows and we just apply that to do an age progression. But it's still less, more art and less science without those family reference pictures.
HEMMER: Joe, I want you to play the role of a teacher, if you could. Take us through the process that you use to try and do this.
MULLINS: The first stage we want to do, like I said, is to get pictures of tell me missing child at the age the child would be today. So, for example, if the child was missing at 10 and they're 15 today, we want pictures of mom and dad at age 15. And this is Cheryl Morian (ph). It's a good case to show as an example, because we were able to get family reference pictures.
There is, it kind of goes through a quick morph. There she is stretching the lower two thirds of the face. We were able to get a picture of her 19-year-old sister and we used her as a kind of guide for growth to maintain that family heredity and likeness.
You can see the lower two thirds of the face dropping down. This is the original picture we had. This is Cheryl Morian and kind of just going through. There's her sister. We used her as a guide for growth. We can see the comparing the photographs. I'm going to drop it to two thirds. It's a real faint image of her in the background. We use that as kind of a template, again, maintaining that family likeness.
And it's just a matter of updating the image, giving her a mature set of teeth. There's the lower two thirds dropping down. And it's, it's an accurate process.
HEMMER: Well, wait, Joe, what was the result of that case?
MULLINS: That case is still pending. That was a stranger abduction from -- the case originated from the Netherlands and it's, unfortunately Cheryl has been missing since age seven. She'd be in her mid-20s now.
HEMMER: Wow. Since 1990, I believe, you helped recover, what, 370 children?
MULLINS: Yes, through what I've seen.
HEMMER: Is that through this process alone?
MULLINS: It's just through this process.
HEMMER: Can you say right now, based on the information you have about Buddy Myers, whether or not that is, indeed, the child that we're talking about in the state of Illinois? Can you say that?
MULLINS: This, just on an information, just based on the photograph evidence that we have -- the DNA is going to, you know, can't, that's going to make the determination.
HEMMER: So without the DNA, then, you can't say that, is that right?
MULLINS: Right. And just comparing the photographs that we have of Ely and Buddy, the pictures really aren't that clear. There's not enough information for us to make that determination for sure.
HEMMER: How much, then, do you think the work you do is guesswork?
MULLINS: It's guesswork only when we don't have those family reference pictures. If we have a direction to go in, if we can tell a child favors mom or dad and we can pick up on those family likenesses, then that kind of takes the guesswork out of the equation. And when we don't have those family reference pictures, we're more reliable, reliant on what we know, how a face grows and, again, it kind of tilts the scales more art and less science at that point.
HEMMER: Well, listen, I appreciate your coming and sharing with our viewers the process and what you go through. Fascinating stuff.
And I want to wish you the best of luck. Oftentimes this is the only hope parents have at finding their children.
MULLINS: Thanks.
HEMMER: Joe Mullins down there in D.C.
Thanks, Joe.
MULLINS: 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
Aired May 1, 2003 - 08:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: On to North Carolina now. The FBI is waiting for results of DNA tests to determine if a boy in Illinois and one who disappeared from his North Carolina home are one and the same. The results could be in by the end of this week.
Gary Tuchman is live in Roseborough, North Carolina to bring us up to date on the saga of Tristan "Buddy" Myers -- good morning, Gary.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.
It could be today, it could be tomorrow, it could be Saturday, but the FBI says it will be one of those days that it gets DNA results. We come to you from in front of the North Carolina home of the great aunt, who is hoping that her missing great nephew is a little boy who right now is in a foster care facility in the state of Illinois. Buddy Myers looks a lot like Eli Quick, the boy who is in that foster care facility.
Now, what's going on in this case, there's a lot of strange aspects to it. The FBI has interviewed a man by the name of Ricky Quick who says they are two different boys. But Ricky Quick has also told reporters two different things. He said he's the stepfather of the boy at the foster care facility. He's also said he's the father of the boy at the foster care facility.
Then there's the case of Raven Myers. Raven Myers is a 22-year- old woman who's the birth mother of the missing boy. She gave birth when she was 15, had to give up custody. She says she wants custody back if it is the boy, and she believes it is.
Meanwhile, authorities are investigating the possibility that Raven Myers, the birth mother, and Ricky Quick, the man who is allegedly the father or stepfather of Eli Quick, lived in the same area in Louisiana in the late '90s.
However, we talked to Raven Myers yesterday. She said she's never seen this man before until she saw him on TV a couple of days ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAVEN MYERS, MOTHER OF BUDDY MYERS: I've never met him. I've never seen this man except on TV last night.
TUCHMAN: Is there any possibility that perhaps you just don't remember seeing him or being with him?
MYERS: I would remember a face like that and I don't remember him.
TUCHMAN: So there's no possibility there's any connection between you and this man?
MYERS: No.
TUCHMAN: So if this is your boy, you're saying that the man would be a kidnapper then?
MYERS: Yes, he would be, because I don't know him and I've taken lie detector tests and I've taken everything and I have no idea what happened with him and I wasn't involved in anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: So as we speak, this family is sitting on pins and needles waiting for a most dramatic announcement -- Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: All right, Gary Tuchman, thanks for bringing us up to date -- Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Carol, as we mentioned, it's been about two and a half years since Tristan "Buddy" Myers was last seen. Authorities now using age progression technology to create a picture of what Buddy might look like today. Buddy's picture is the work of forensic artist Joe Mullins and Joe is live this morning in Washington to talk about it.
Good to see you, Joe.
Thanks for coming on.
Good morning to you.
JOE MULLINS, FORENSIC IMAGING SPECIALIST:
Good morning to you. Thank you.
HEMMER: Listen, I understand that you did not have all the data to work with that you would have liked. What were you missing?
MULLINS: Well, to do an accurate age progression, we want to get family reference pictures of, you know, that gives us the direction to go in and we want to get pictures of the mom and dad at the age a child would be today, and we didn't have that in Buddy's case.
HEMMER: Did you try to get that from the family or was that just out of the question?
MULLINS: I think that was pretty much out of the question. We just had to go with the original photograph that we had.
HEMMER: How much more difficult did that make your job?
MULLINS: It, we like to say it's half art and half science, and without those family reference pictures, it kind of takes the science out of it and it's more of a, you know, how we know how the face grows and we just apply that to do an age progression. But it's still less, more art and less science without those family reference pictures.
HEMMER: Joe, I want you to play the role of a teacher, if you could. Take us through the process that you use to try and do this.
MULLINS: The first stage we want to do, like I said, is to get pictures of tell me missing child at the age the child would be today. So, for example, if the child was missing at 10 and they're 15 today, we want pictures of mom and dad at age 15. And this is Cheryl Morian (ph). It's a good case to show as an example, because we were able to get family reference pictures.
There is, it kind of goes through a quick morph. There she is stretching the lower two thirds of the face. We were able to get a picture of her 19-year-old sister and we used her as a kind of guide for growth to maintain that family heredity and likeness.
You can see the lower two thirds of the face dropping down. This is the original picture we had. This is Cheryl Morian and kind of just going through. There's her sister. We used her as a guide for growth. We can see the comparing the photographs. I'm going to drop it to two thirds. It's a real faint image of her in the background. We use that as kind of a template, again, maintaining that family likeness.
And it's just a matter of updating the image, giving her a mature set of teeth. There's the lower two thirds dropping down. And it's, it's an accurate process.
HEMMER: Well, wait, Joe, what was the result of that case?
MULLINS: That case is still pending. That was a stranger abduction from -- the case originated from the Netherlands and it's, unfortunately Cheryl has been missing since age seven. She'd be in her mid-20s now.
HEMMER: Wow. Since 1990, I believe, you helped recover, what, 370 children?
MULLINS: Yes, through what I've seen.
HEMMER: Is that through this process alone?
MULLINS: It's just through this process.
HEMMER: Can you say right now, based on the information you have about Buddy Myers, whether or not that is, indeed, the child that we're talking about in the state of Illinois? Can you say that?
MULLINS: This, just on an information, just based on the photograph evidence that we have -- the DNA is going to, you know, can't, that's going to make the determination.
HEMMER: So without the DNA, then, you can't say that, is that right?
MULLINS: Right. And just comparing the photographs that we have of Ely and Buddy, the pictures really aren't that clear. There's not enough information for us to make that determination for sure.
HEMMER: How much, then, do you think the work you do is guesswork?
MULLINS: It's guesswork only when we don't have those family reference pictures. If we have a direction to go in, if we can tell a child favors mom or dad and we can pick up on those family likenesses, then that kind of takes the guesswork out of the equation. And when we don't have those family reference pictures, we're more reliable, reliant on what we know, how a face grows and, again, it kind of tilts the scales more art and less science at that point.
HEMMER: Well, listen, I appreciate your coming and sharing with our viewers the process and what you go through. Fascinating stuff.
And I want to wish you the best of luck. Oftentimes this is the only hope parents have at finding their children.
MULLINS: Thanks.
HEMMER: Joe Mullins down there in D.C.
Thanks, Joe.
MULLINS: 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
