Posted on 05/16/2003 8:29:48 AM PDT by MizSterious
Shawnda Marie Cheney, 10, was rescued from a home in Pearland, Texas, where authorities also arrested Presley Earl Hood, 56, of Branson, Mo., on a federal kidnapping warrant.
"A family member thought of some additional people that (Hood) might know and sent someone over there to see if they knew anything," FBI agent Sam Macaluso said. "When they got there, they saw the car."
Cheney was taken to a hospital for a series of examinations and was reunited with her family afterward. Investigators did not know whether Cheney was abused, but Macaluso said she appeared to be physically fine except for a sunburn.
The home the two were found in belonged to a distant relative of Hood. They were in a trailer, separate from the relative's home but on the same land. Macaluso said the relatives were cooperative in the investigation.
"We believe that they were at that house for at least a day or two," he said, "but we don't believe that the relatives had any idea at that point that he was involved with anything like that."
The FBI would not comment on the possibility of sexual abuse or child pornography being involved, but did confirm that several search warrants were executed and several items were taken as evidence.
Macaluso said Hood has a lengthy criminal record, but did not go into detail about whether he had been involved with any similar crimes.
Hood was scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate Thursday afternoon. He is scheduled for a detention hearing Tuesday in Galveston, Texas, before returning to Oklahoma City, where he will face federal kidnapping charges.
After meeting Cheney at a relative's birthday party in Stillwater about three months ago, Hood began taking the girl to Branson on weekends. Hood's relationship with Cheney was based on his promise to "put her in some shows there and introduce her to several talent scouts," Macaluso said.
"Recently, Shawnda's mother began to become suspicious of this story and indicated that she was going to be unwilling to let Hood continue with these trips," Macaluso said.
Cheney left her home about 7:30 p.m. May 9 to walk to a friend's home and spend the night, but never arrived. Cheney's mother realized she was missing about 4:30 p.m. Saturday. The FBI was notified Monday after the Payne County sheriff's office determined it was an abduction case.
"Any time there's a juvenile involved, there's a presumption of interstate travel, so there's no 24-hour waiting period like there used to be," Malacuso said. "That wasn't the reason for the delay. The reason was they weren't sure if they had an abduction or a disagreement or miscommunication.
"We all had a feeling that Shawnda was still going to be OK until it got to be where he was really running and she might be slowing him down and drawing attention to him. The sooner we can get all the tools to bear on this thing, the better off we are."
Only if she was a homeschooling Christian would those children be removed from the home. /sarcasm
Yeah that was pretty cranky. I've seen some things over the years that would make your head spin. Seems that those jackasses over at Children's Services never find the real abusers until it's too late.
Imo intelligence has nothing to do with being a fit parent. If you have a child, and you can't instinctively protect that child, what exactly are you good for?
PS..NOTHING! :-(
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