http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1803/14/ptab.01.html
Tonight, we also have a desperate search for a missing 16-year-old girl believed to be with, are you ready? A 44-year-old friend of the family. Not sure how good of a friend, but that 44-year-old friend of the family is a daddy of his own with four kids.
Reports are these two were spotted on a flight from Philadelphia to Dallas. We`re going to talk with the man who said he saw them. Coming up, next.
[18:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:19:55] BANFIELD: Most people would say it`s acceptable to board a flight and ask other passengers to swap out seats so you can sit with your travel buddy. When you board your flight late, hurried with lots of baggage and you are a married father of four trying to cuddle with your teenage travel partner, that`s when some people might take notice.
And one passenger on a flight from Philly to Dallas definitely took notice. Frank Castrovinci spent under four hours eyeballing an unusual duo on this flight that he was on and it just might be the duo that authorities are desperate to track down. Sixteen-year-old AY and her friend`s 45-year-old married father of four, Kevin Esterly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN Y, AY`S BROTHER: She left.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you mean she left?
Y: She just walked out she just went somewhere. My mom was upset and I was upset also. I felt mad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why mad?
Y: Because what her actions did and what her -- like what he did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Well, we don`t know everything he did or she did, but we do know some of what they allegedly did before they left town. Police say they texted each other like a boyfriend and girlfriend. And that Kevin posed as her step-daddy, signing her out of school not once or twice, but 10 different times.
And then last week the two reportedly took thousands of dollars, some valuables and jewelry, personal documents and a passport from their homes before both disappearing together. Remember that airline passenger, Frank Castrovinci? He was the first person who has reportedly seen them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANK CASTROVINCI, WITNESS: I just started thinking I wonder if he adopted this young girl. But then I saw her leaning on him, which daughters do, but the way he was rubbing her leg, it just did not seem like a father-daughter situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: With me now is Jaccii Farris, reporter at CNN affiliate W -- WFMZ. Jaccii, this flight, any idea of the time frame in terms of the last time that A was seen, and Frank seen them on this airline flight. How much lead time was it?
JACCII FARRIS, REPORTER, CNN AFFILIATE WFMZ: Well, apparently, A got up early on March 5th, went to the bus stop with her brother. Her brother said she ran away from the bus stop and then we fast forward to about 3.30 is when the flight from Philadelphia to Dallas was scheduled to take off.
And as your viewers heard, you know, they came on the flight late. They were trying to switch seats and made their way to Dallas. But before they went, we were told by A`s mother that she took roughly $10,000 in her mother`s passport and then Esterly took roughly $4,000 from his estranged wife`s bank account before getting on that plane.
BANFIELD: Well, that`s never good. I`m sure she was livid and there are reports that she then made her way over to the Y household right away, I believe notifying A`s parents or at least her mom who called the police right away.
There is also this report of the car they were in. The 1999 red Honda Accord Tudor with the Pennsylvania plates. Is there now some report that that car is not going to be the best indication clearly of where they are going to be?
FARRIS: Well, Allentown police are saying they believe the car is in the Philadelphia area. Now whether it`s in the area surrounding the airport or if it`s in one of the airport parking lots, you can imagine Philadelphia International Airport is a very large airport with a lot of cars and perhaps police are saying, you know, at this point maybe the license plate scanners hadn`t picked it up, but they believe that the car was ditched in the Philadelphia area and that Esterly and Y went to the airport from wherever the car is at and got on that plane.
BANFIELD: OK. Jacccii, hold on for a minute, if you will. I want to bring in Frank Castrovinci. He believes he was on that flight from Philadelphia to Dallas with Kevin Esterly and AY. Frank, can you hear me OK?
CASTROVINCI: Yes, I can.
BANFIELD: Can you describe for me a little bit about the moment you first sort of set eye upon this couple and then take me from there, walk me through what you saw and what their behavior was like.
CASTROVINCI: Sure. They boarded the plane late. I think you alluded to that earlier. I was sitting on my seat on the aisle. There were two vacant seats in my, one to middle seats, one behind the other and again they boarded late. He had a desire to sit next to her. So he was looking for volunteers to move so that he could sit by her during the trip.
So that caught my attention and he did finally get a couple of people to move. They sat together one row up and across the aisle from where I was sitting.
[18:25:08] BANFIELD: So then where they were -- sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to ask you, Frank, when they were seated, that`s a long flight. You had a fair amount of time to sort of observe the behavior of this couple. It`s weird to call them a couple, but what did you think when you saw them?
Did you think they were father and daughter, did you think they were lovers? And did that change throughout the course of the flight?
CASTROVINCI: yes, during the course of the flight, that changed. I mean, my initial thoughts were here was a guy that adopted a girl, you know, she looked obviously much younger. So, but I thought it was interesting that the mother wasn`t there. So, but, who knows? I mean, they were just traveling together. Maybe they were going to visit the mother. I didn`t know.
But during the trip, it seemed a little bit odd the way she was leaning up against him and how he was -- how he was rubbing her leg and it seemed like his hand was quivering a little bit. You know, so again, I just picked up on that and just I thought it seemed unusual. I wondered what was going on, but that`s as far as I thought about it.
BANFIELD: So then also they were the last ones to get on board the plane. I think we`ve all been there as we`ve watched people get on board in a hurried and rushed way especially with a lot of -- a lot of -- what did they seem like? Did they have heavy excessive carry on and were they -- did they look like they rushed to catch that plane?
CASTROVINCI: Well, I wouldn`t say it looked like they rushed. When they were boarding at least she was pretty quiet and calm during the process. He was, you know, kind of taking charge and trying to get them situated. They did have a couple of each had a carryon bag, you know, maybe a backpack or duffle bag kind of thing.
You know, they were struggling trying to shove it under the seats. The flight attendant had asked them a couple of times to get it under the seats. They were loaded up pretty good for a carry on, you know, on a full flight. So, again, there were little things like that that just drew my attention. Now there was always something happening. He wanted a blanket for her because she was cold. They didn`t have a blanket on the flight. So normally I wouldn`t even notice I couldn`t tell you who was sitting across the aisle from me, but there were just -- there was always something happening with them. Several times throughout the flight it drew my attention to them, which is why I was able to remember them.
BANFIELD: Doesn`t seem like they were trying to stay under the radar whoever they might be. And that bring me to my next question. You`ve now -- I mean, this was Monday. This was not in the news. You had no idea anybody was missing. You didn`t get home until Friday -- I think it was Thursday four days later.
(CROSSTALK)
CASTROVINCI: Thursday, right.
BANFIELD: And then this all pops up on the news and all these pictures start cycling across the screen. Are you, do you feel certain, Frank that you saw A and Kevin? Or are you sort of 90 percent? How much can you qualify how convinced you are that it was them?
CASTROVINCI: I`m as certain as I could be. I mean, I`d be shocked if it wasn`t them. I`m as close to 100 percent certain as it could be. You know, again, it was a young Asian girl with very long hair, straight hair. You know, middle, 40 something-year-old gentleman with a, you know, kind of greased hair combed to the side and glasses.
I came back Thursday, it would have been 10.30 at night roughly then I was looking at the local news. I don`t know when the photos hit, but when I saw them, I mean, it was immediate that I recognized them.
BANFIELD: Well, I`m sure that -- and you had spoken with the police about this. You called them and clearly --
(CROSSTALK)
CASTROVINCI: Correct.
BANFIELD: Yes. Because that`s the kind of thing that they`d be able to start tracking down video inside an airport, et cetera and try to make that confirmation.
CASTROVINCI: Right.
BANFIELD: Frank, stand by, if you can, please.
CASTROVINCI: Sure.
BANFIELD: I want to bring in John Y. John Y is A`s brother. Fifteen years old. John, can you hear me OK?
Y: Yes.
BANFIELD: So John, thank you very much for joining us. I know you and your mom are just, you know, just very -- you know, devastated about the situation that you`re in right now. It`s been over a week and I know that you are doing everything you can with the police to find A and I`m sure your mom is beside herself about this.
Tell me a little bit about the moment that Kevin`s wife came over to your house and notified you and your mom that Kevin had disappeared. Tell me what happened that day and that moment.
Y: My mom dropped me and my sister to the bus stop at school. And then they left when my sister left, because I mean, I didn`t know where she was. I was regularly and then that was it.
[18:30:00] I don`t know where she went and when I got the call when I came back after school, they said that they went with Kevin and that was about it.
BANFIELD: So, was -- and Kevin`s wife, her name is Stacey.
Y (via telephone): Yes.
BANFIELD: About a week before this -- actually I think it was a month before this, Kevin and his wife, Stacey, came to your home and your mom --
Y (via telephone): Yes.
BANFIELD: -- had to call the police and the police came to your home and they gave a warning to Kevin and Stacey to stay away from your home. What happened that night or that afternoon or that day that Kevin came to your home with his wife? What kind of words were exchanged between those two --
Y (via telephone): There was a meeting that time. My neighbors were there, my friends were there, and my mom`s friend was there. And they were blasting, yelling about they think that A and Kevin actually are sleeping together and doing some stupid stuff and the neighbor got pissed off and called the cops.
BANFIELD: So this is -- this is Kevin`s wife.
Y (via telephone): Yes.
BANFIELD: I`m only assuming here that this is Kevin`s wife --
Y(via telephone): Yes, right.
BANFIELD: -- coming to your home, dragging her husband along. Did he seem to be accusing A of something or did she seem to be accusing A of something?
Y(via telephone): I think they know or they planned to do this. I think it was both of their ideas because A is not that stupid to learn this stuff. She obviously knows how to do it.
BANFIELD: Well, I`m still curious about the -- a month before they disappeared, you know, Kevin, this 44-year-old married father of four
children ages, as I understand it, 14, 10 or 11, five or six, and two years old. Four daughters.
He and his wife come to your house a month ago and there`s a lot of of yelling and accusations. The police are called. But what are they yelling about? What are Kevin and his wife yelling about and who was doing the yelling?
Y (via telephone): It was just -- the yelling was only Kevin and Stacey. They went to my house and the neighbor came to talk about it. It is about A. They think about the stuff that A and Kevin were wrong. That they were like sleeping together or having sex or something.
BANFIELD: Was Kevin denying it in this meeting? Was he angry about it?
Y (via telephone): Yes. He was denying and angry. That was the day after on February 9th when my mother got rid of Kevin from the school thing or guardian or contact or whatever.
BANFIELD: Yes, it looks like and I will just read this here. It looks as though on the 9th, Kevin is told by the school that he is not allowed to be on school grounds again.
Y(via telephone): He`s not allowed to set foot on school grounds.
BANFIELD: OK. And then the next day, the police are at his house and both his wife and he are actually given citations by the police for harassing one another. So there`s something going on between Kevin and his wife. They are very, very angry with each other on February 15th. And then --
Y (via telephone): Because I don`t know, but they said that they were arguing and yelling and Kevin got mad. It was on a Monday when he left. Not last Monday. It was when Kevin almost did something bad to Stacey and the older daughter saw it and called the police and the police didn`t do anything and Kevin left.
BANFIELD: So, yes, just so I can clear that timeline. February 10th, the police are at Kevin`s ouse and giving citations to his wife and him both for behavior towards each other.
Y(via telephone): Yes.
BANFIELD: Five days later, they are at your home and the police are called and Kevin and his wife are told to stay away. And one month later, Kevin is gone with AY
