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American Morning

Missing 5-Year-Old Minnesota Girl

Aired June 20, 2003 - 07:16   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: Police in Chisholm, Minnesota, said that there is no evidence that a 5-year-old girl who vanished last weekend was kidnapped. Leanna Warner mysteriously disappeared Saturday afternoon after she was last seen near a neighbor's house in Chisholm. Police, the FBI and volunteers have been searching an eight-square-mile area around her home.
With us now from Chisholm with the latest on the investigation is Police Chief Scott Erickson.

Chief Erickson, thank you for talking with us about this, this morning. A very strange and disturbing case here. Is there any news to report this morning?

CHIEF SCOTT ERICKSON, CHISHOLM, MINNESOTA POLICE: Well, as of this morning, we've had pretty extensive investigations involving this. We've got about 30 investigators that have been working on this since the onset. And as of now, we do not have any new leads. We've had about 400 leads in this case altogether, but none of those leads have given us any significant information as to what may have happened to Leanna.

HARRIS: All right, we're four, almost five days now after her disappearance was marked here. Do you have any reason to believe that she is still in the same area?

ERICKSON: Well, you know, anything is possible in this case. We're not ruling out anything. She could very well still be in this area somewhere.

HARRIS: Some of the things that have been said about this case in the wires that I've been reading this morning indicate there is some concern that you all have not at least initiated an Amber Alert for Leanna. Why is that?

ERICKSON: Well, we have taken a lot of flack on not initiating an Amber Alert, and we've heard it from numerous areas across the state. And the reason that the Amber Alert was not issued is because from the onset there was no specific information to put out there as to a possible abductor or a vehicle involved. We didn't have any information to show us that there was any reason to believe there was eminent danger of great bodily harm or death to Leanna. We simply have a missing 5-year-old girl.

HARRIS: Well, four or five days in this now, you still have enough information and still have no inclination to go ahead and start an Amber Alert then? ERICKSON: Well, even at this point, to initiate an Amber Alert we would have to have some information from someone that said that they saw her and they saw her at a location with somebody or in a particular vehicle.

HARRIS: How is the family holding up through all of this?

ERICKSON: It's been awful, awful hard on the family. The family has been around us at the site here on a daily basis, and they're pretty distraught. And it's been real rough on the family.

HARRIS: Do you have any reason to believe there might be someone in the family involved here, that perhaps there was some sort of dispute amongst family members, a custody dispute or maybe an argument amongst family members that might have resulted in something like this? You don't think that's the case here?

ERICKSON: We don't have anything at all that indicates that the family is involved in this. They've been very cooperative right from the onset, and so we don't have any significant information that shows us that that's the case.

HARRIS: Well, Chief Erickson, you have our airwaves at your disposal this morning. Is there a message you'd like to send out?

ERICKSON: Well, you know, Leanna was an adventurous little girl. She was very bold. She was not afraid of anything. And we had a music festival in town that weekend. Leanna could have very well maybe wandered into somebody's RV, pull camper. You know, a small girl, 50 pounds.

We're asking the public, anybody who was here that weekend, if they had seen anything at all to please contact us. Also, we'd like them to check anything that -- any RV or anything that they had here, you know, take a look in it. Don't just assume that nobody could have gotten in it or that she's not there. Physically, go out and take a look at anything that you have had that she could have gotten into and be in at this time.

And, of course, all of our area residents, we're asking them to take a look at their properties, you know, sheds, buildings, old abandoned vehicles, trunks, appliances, anything at all, take a look. Don't assume that something that she could not have gotten in there or she could not be there. Assumptions never go anywhere in cases like this. We have to have good, solid physical evidence.

HARRIS: Understood. Chisholm, Minnesota Police Chief Scott Erickson, we wish you the best of luck. We understand you have a tough job ahead of you without a trace to work with. Good luck. Take care.

ERICKSON: Thanks.

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 June 20, 2003 - 07:16   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Chisholm, Minnesota, said that there is no evidence that a 5-year-old girl who vanished last weekend was kidnapped. Leanna Warner mysteriously disappeared Saturday afternoon after she was last seen near a neighbor's house in Chisholm. Police, the FBI and volunteers have been searching an eight-square-mile area around her home.
With us now from Chisholm with the latest on the investigation is Police Chief Scott Erickson.

Chief Erickson, thank you for talking with us about this, this morning. A very strange and disturbing case here. Is there any news to report this morning?

CHIEF SCOTT ERICKSON, CHISHOLM, MINNESOTA POLICE: Well, as of this morning, we've had pretty extensive investigations involving this. We've got about 30 investigators that have been working on this since the onset. And as of now, we do not have any new leads. We've had about 400 leads in this case altogether, but none of those leads have given us any significant information as to what may have happened to Leanna.

HARRIS: All right, we're four, almost five days now after her disappearance was marked here. Do you have any reason to believe that she is still in the same area?

ERICKSON: Well, you know, anything is possible in this case. We're not ruling out anything. She could very well still be in this area somewhere.

HARRIS: Some of the things that have been said about this case in the wires that I've been reading this morning indicate there is some concern that you all have not at least initiated an Amber Alert for Leanna. Why is that?

ERICKSON: Well, we have taken a lot of flack on not initiating an Amber Alert, and we've heard it from numerous areas across the state. And the reason that the Amber Alert was not issued is because from the onset there was no specific information to put out there as to a possible abductor or a vehicle involved. We didn't have any information to show us that there was any reason to believe there was eminent danger of great bodily harm or death to Leanna. We simply have a missing 5-year-old girl.

HARRIS: Well, four or five days in this now, you still have enough information and still have no inclination to go ahead and start an Amber Alert then? ERICKSON: Well, even at this point, to initiate an Amber Alert we would have to have some information from someone that said that they saw her and they saw her at a location with somebody or in a particular vehicle.

HARRIS: How is the family holding up through all of this?

ERICKSON: It's been awful, awful hard on the family. The family has been around us at the site here on a daily basis, and they're pretty distraught. And it's been real rough on the family.

HARRIS: Do you have any reason to believe there might be someone in the family involved here, that perhaps there was some sort of dispute amongst family members, a custody dispute or maybe an argument amongst family members that might have resulted in something like this? You don't think that's the case here?

ERICKSON: We don't have anything at all that indicates that the family is involved in this. They've been very cooperative right from the onset, and so we don't have any significant information that shows us that that's the case.

HARRIS: Well, Chief Erickson, you have our airwaves at your disposal this morning. Is there a message you'd like to send out?

ERICKSON: Well, you know, Leanna was an adventurous little girl. She was very bold. She was not afraid of anything. And we had a music festival in town that weekend. Leanna could have very well maybe wandered into somebody's RV, pull camper. You know, a small girl, 50 pounds.

We're asking the public, anybody who was here that weekend, if they had seen anything at all to please contact us. Also, we'd like them to check anything that -- any RV or anything that they had here, you know, take a look in it. Don't just assume that nobody could have gotten in it or that she's not there. Physically, go out and take a look at anything that you have had that she could have gotten into and be in at this time.

And, of course, all of our area residents, we're asking them to take a look at their properties, you know, sheds, buildings, old abandoned vehicles, trunks, appliances, anything at all, take a look. Don't assume that something that she could not have gotten in there or she could not be there. Assumptions never go anywhere in cases like this. We have to have good, solid physical evidence.

HARRIS: Understood. Chisholm, Minnesota Police Chief Scott Erickson, we wish you the best of luck. We understand you have a tough job ahead of you without a trace to work with. Good luck. Take care.

ERICKSON: Thanks.

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