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American Morning

British Police Attempting to get International Arrest Warrant for Missing Marine

Aired July 15, 2003 - 08:21   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: An international manhunt under way for a U.S. Marine believed to be traveling right now with a 12-year-old girl he met online. Shevaun Pennington told her parents she was meeting two friends, but never came back. The family lives near Manchester, England.
Jim Boulden for CNN is watching that story from there -- Jim, good afternoon where you are.

JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Good afternoon. Good morning to you.

Yes, the British police are now trying to get an international arrest warrant against that 31-year-old Marine, Toby Studabaker, because if and when this couple is found, they want Studabaker to be detained. Now, it's important to note that Studabaker does not have a criminal record and his family has been saying for two days now that he had told them that he was coming to Europe to meet a 19-year-old college student, someone he had been chatting to over the Internet for the past year.

He just, two weeks ago, got out of Fort Lejeune, where he was a Marine for the last three years. He was discharged. The first thing he did was come to Europe. Now the trail has run cold and earlier the superintendent of the police in this area, Peter Mason, met with the press and said unfortunately they have no idea where the couple is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER MASON, GREATER MANCHESTER POLICE: They have to be somewhere. They have to be stopping somewhere. They have to be eating somewhere. So via yourselves and with the assistance of the public, we're making that appeal. If anybody does see them, and we are getting pictures out to you now via yourselves, to contact the police or any authorities. But, yes, you're correct, they could be anywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOULDEN: Now, the British police say that the couple left Heathrow Airport in London on Saturday night for Paris. But the Paris police say they have no record of where the couple went from there and they have no documentary evidence that the couple even landed in Paris.

So unfortunately for both police, they have no idea and now Interpol might get involved. They have been putting pictures around Europe of the couple, of the girl with her father and with Studabaker in his Marine outfit.

And the police say it must have been extremely obvious to Studabaker when he arrived at Manchester Airport on Saturday morning that he, in fact, was not meeting a 19-year-old, but, in fact, has been meeting with a 12-year-old.

HEMMER: Jim, back to the issue of the Internet and the family. What have they said about how active their daughter was online?

BOULDEN: Well, it's quite surprising, really. They said if they were not controlling her, she would have been on the Internet 11 hours a day. They said she was e-mailing a lot of people. She did a lot of chat rooms. And they had to limit her to just five hours a day, believe it or not. That's what they were saying, they were limiting her to five hours a day.

But she had insisted to them that she was always chatting with people her age. But the police say they have no idea if Studabaker or Shevaun Pennington told each other the truth about their ages. They have no idea from the e-mails that they have looked at exactly what was told to each other about their ages. But they're certainly saying Studabaker should know by now that she's 12 years old.

HEMMER: Jim Boulden, thanks, live there in England.

Next hour we'll talk to Toby's brother and ask what he may have told his family about his plans to meet the 12-year-old Shevaun.

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




Warrant for Missing Marine>


Aired July 15, 2003 - 08:21   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: An international manhunt under way for a U.S. Marine believed to be traveling right now with a 12-year-old girl he met online. Shevaun Pennington told her parents she was meeting two friends, but never came back. The family lives near Manchester, England.
Jim Boulden for CNN is watching that story from there -- Jim, good afternoon where you are.

JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Good afternoon. Good morning to you.

Yes, the British police are now trying to get an international arrest warrant against that 31-year-old Marine, Toby Studabaker, because if and when this couple is found, they want Studabaker to be detained. Now, it's important to note that Studabaker does not have a criminal record and his family has been saying for two days now that he had told them that he was coming to Europe to meet a 19-year-old college student, someone he had been chatting to over the Internet for the past year.

He just, two weeks ago, got out of Fort Lejeune, where he was a Marine for the last three years. He was discharged. The first thing he did was come to Europe. Now the trail has run cold and earlier the superintendent of the police in this area, Peter Mason, met with the press and said unfortunately they have no idea where the couple is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER MASON, GREATER MANCHESTER POLICE: They have to be somewhere. They have to be stopping somewhere. They have to be eating somewhere. So via yourselves and with the assistance of the public, we're making that appeal. If anybody does see them, and we are getting pictures out to you now via yourselves, to contact the police or any authorities. But, yes, you're correct, they could be anywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOULDEN: Now, the British police say that the couple left Heathrow Airport in London on Saturday night for Paris. But the Paris police say they have no record of where the couple went from there and they have no documentary evidence that the couple even landed in Paris.

So unfortunately for both police, they have no idea and now Interpol might get involved. They have been putting pictures around Europe of the couple, of the girl with her father and with Studabaker in his Marine outfit.

And the police say it must have been extremely obvious to Studabaker when he arrived at Manchester Airport on Saturday morning that he, in fact, was not meeting a 19-year-old, but, in fact, has been meeting with a 12-year-old.

HEMMER: Jim, back to the issue of the Internet and the family. What have they said about how active their daughter was online?

BOULDEN: Well, it's quite surprising, really. They said if they were not controlling her, she would have been on the Internet 11 hours a day. They said she was e-mailing a lot of people. She did a lot of chat rooms. And they had to limit her to just five hours a day, believe it or not. That's what they were saying, they were limiting her to five hours a day.

But she had insisted to them that she was always chatting with people her age. But the police say they have no idea if Studabaker or Shevaun Pennington told each other the truth about their ages. They have no idea from the e-mails that they have looked at exactly what was told to each other about their ages. But they're certainly saying Studabaker should know by now that she's 12 years old.

HEMMER: Jim Boulden, thanks, live there in England.

Next hour we'll talk to Toby's brother and ask what he may have told his family about his plans to meet the 12-year-old Shevaun.

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




Warrant for Missing Marine>