It’s great to be back in the office. Granted, that’s not something you hear often, but after two days in rainy Dayton, Ohio, it was nice to be on familiar ground. And if I didn’t feel happy enough with the capture of the two fugitives from my story on Saturday night (see Diary No. 1), I was greeted in the America’s Most Wanted home office with a fresh round of claps and cheers. I couldn’t figure out what was going on (surely they weren’t that happy to see me). It turns out that the missing boy we profiled on Saturday night was found this afternoon! Safe and unharmed.
As of now, I am unsure of the details of the child’s recovery; all I do know is that our Missing Persons producer, Joann, is ecstatic, which is nice to see. The results aren’t always this great. Just last week, we discovered that a missing teen-ager we had profiled on our show was found dead alongside a rural highway in Kentucky. She was reported missing earlier in September when she didn’t show up for school. Her brother was the last person to see her alive, and her body turned up two weeks later, just five miles from her house.
I couldn’t imagine doing these stories day in and day out. Joann and Kathleen have been doing Missing Persons for a little over three years, and most of the time the children are found dead. If they are found at all.
Speaking of children, I am waiting to hear about the status of the 10-year-old boy that I told you about on Monday. His little sister and baby brother were supposed to be returning to Ohio yesterday from Memphis. Child Services told me they would do everything they could to place the siblings together, but as of this afternoon, I’m not sure where they are. It’s hard to stay informed on travel days. Hopefully I will know more tomorrow.
The rest of my afternoon was spent looking at the video we shot for this weekend’s capture story. My challenge now is to edit hours of video into a four-minute story for this weekend’s show. Our cameraman in Memphis was able to rush down to the police station on Saturday to get a shot of the two suspects from the abuse case being led into jail. We call that the “grab shot.” The couple did not look happy to have the camera in their faces, but I couldn’t care less. And when I saw the shot of the cop taking off the stepfather’s handcuffs, my jaw dropped open. There he was, rubbing his wrists and making a face as if to say, “These things hurt.” I wonder if he knows how much it hurts to be beaten over the head with a hammer?
Until tomorrow,
Anne
