http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1803/19/ptab.01.html
[18:20:20] BANFIELD: It`s spring break all over the country and a lot of young people are coming home from places like Mexico. Undoubtedly to relieved parent who is spent the whole week worried about their safety, but no parent was as relieved as Amy Yu`s mother, because her daughter is only 16 and she had just hopped a flight down to Cancun last week with that guy, 45 years old and married, four kids. Kevin Esterly was a family friend of the Yu`s and a married father of four, family friend and by the way Amy`s friend is his daughter. Does not mean that Amy was in good hands, because we are hearing tonight that their relationship went far beyond friendly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN WALDRON, ATTORNEY FOR STACEY ESTERLY, WIFE OF SUSPECT: She was checking Amy out of school and doing things that were inappropriate at his age with a 16-year-old girl. And eventually led to them taking off and going to, now what we believe is Mexico.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Well, indeed that duo was spotted cuddling on a flight to Cancun, swapping seats, so that they could sit next to each other and the hunt for them indeed went international. It took a couple of weeks, but they were found in Playa del Carmen, a resort town where most couple goes for romance, but nothing romantic is going to happen for this couple, any time soon, because they have now been brought back to the U.S., Kevin not the way he likes to be here. He is being held in Miami, charged with interfering with the custody of a child and he showed his face in court today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, sir, you are arrested on a warrant from Allentown, Pennsylvania and the warrant was issued March 7, 2018 and the
charge says, in reference to family offense. So you have two choices. Choice number one, you can agree to waive extradition, that means you are agreeing to be sent to Pennsylvania and they have 15 days to pick you up. If they don`t pick you up in 15 days, you will be released. The other choice is to contest extradition, that means you want to fight the warrant by going to Pennsylvania and you would be held here up to 90 days, while the state obtains a governor`s warrant to send you there. So what would you like to do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to go back to Pennsylvania as soon as possible.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is a good choice. Waive or no bond, the reset date is April 3rd. Good luck to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: And he is going to need that luck. With me now is Jaccii Farris a reporter with CNN affiliate to the WFMZ. Jaccii, I know we have a bit of a delay between us. So, I will just launch the question, I`ll wait for your answer, but where is Amy Yu now?
JACCII FARRIS, REPORTER, CNN AFFILIATE WFMZ: Well, Amy Yu arrived back on Sunday and it`s unclear if she went to the Yu home and saw her family or if she went straight to a facility, a hospital in the area called St. Luke`s. And we were told by the family today that when she is done at St. Luke`s that she will be going to a facility called Kid`s Peace, which is a mental and behavioral health facility for youths.
BANFIELD: So I am just actually getting some breaking word here. One of our producers spoke with Amy Yu`s mother just moments ago, in fact and it turns out, I`m just reading it along here. Amy has not seen her mother yet. The nurse where she is said they don`t want to upset Amy so they sent the family away.
My thought is that, it wouldn`t be just the mother, who hasn`t seen Amy, but also her brother John. We were schedule to speak with John on the program tonight, but we have not been able to reach him, it could be just that they`re in such state of flux at this point. Clearly their sister, their child is back home here in the United States and actually back in Pennsylvania. But at some kind of facility where she`s declined in some way to speak with her mother.
So Jaccii, I`m sorry, I`m just getting all of that at the same time as interviewing with you, but do you have any idea what the process was for separating those two for starters in Mexico and for marshals and Homeland Security to board them on planes, presumably separate and bring him back to Miami and her back to Pennsylvania. Do you have an idea how all that went down?
FARRIS: Well, we don`t have insight into exactly how they were moved, but we did have some information that came in on Saturday. When we got word that they were located, basically whenever the Mexican federals in the U.S. marshals went in, they found Amy Yu in a vehicle.
[18:25:04] They took a picture of her, she had a great big smile on her face and that they were able to locate Kevin and get him into handcuffs.
And I don`t know if you have this photo, but there two law enforcement officials on either side of him flanking him and he has handcuffs and he`s got a great big smirk on his face. It seemed like the two of them were completely un-phased by the situation that they were in.
BANFIELD: All right. So I am also getting additional reporting here that she indeed was brought to Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania and admitted to St. Luke`s hospital. It`s unclear whether if she ever made it to her own home before she headed to St. Luke`s hospital. Amy`s family -- I`ve got word here from a reporter that the family has seen her, but we also had word from her mother that Amy doesn`t want to see anyone. So the nurses have sent the family away. I am going to try and clear that up. Whether they have in fact seen her or maybe that just means seen her and not spoken with her.
We are seeing here that once Amy is finished at the hospital with whatever treatment she is getting, we don`t know what that is, she is going to be headed to a place called Kid`s Peace Family Center, which is a place for at risk kids and kids with disabilities. They also have a psychiatric hospital, residential programs, community programs and foster care programs. So all is not well obviously in the Yu home upon the return of this young woman. And all was not well beforehand either. I want to play if I can Jaccii, if you permit me, Amy`s neighbor Kathleen Smith had this to say about the resolution to all of this and sort of the path forward. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATHLEEN SMITH, AMY`S NEIGHBOR: I hope they can work things out so it didn`t happen again. I hope she knows that is not how to handle something.
You know, you can`t run off with a 45-year-old guy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: You noticed. A couple of other things that I want to share with you if I can. Kevin Esterly has an obviously long suffering wife, her names is Stacy. Stacy has a secured herself an attorney. Divorce attorney we are told, as well. That she is planning to or may have already filed for divorce and the attorney that spoke at the press about Stacy that is Kevin`s wife as he awaits extradition from Miami up to Pennsylvania, she`s waived. This is what John Waldron had to say about the fights that were going on in that home in Stacy and Kevin`s home in front of their kids.
Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALDRON: So they were arguing and fighting. How come dad is not around? The girls would say. Stacy would say to Amy, do you see what is happening with me and the way he treats me and he treats me in front of you and the girls? But it didn`t seem to have any impact.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: We are starting to see a pattern of this kind of reporting, because again, Kathleen Smith, that young woman who lived close to, if not next door to the Yu household, Kathleen Smith also they talked about the kinds of arguments that were going on inside Amy`s home or what was happening over at the Esterly`s was that Kevin, was fighting with his wife and the children were allegedly saying, where is dad, over at Any`s home, the neighbors said things were not a whole lot more pleasant. Have a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: We have just been hearing a lot of fighting. The cops have been here a lot. Amy was pretty upset a bunch of the time. You could just tell there is a lot going on. And something was going to happen sooner or later. And it wasn`t going to be good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: So I want to bring in if I can, Midwin Charles, defense attorney who is with me here on set. This is an unusual case in that Pennsylvania, has an age of consent of 16. So the charge is not, you know illegal sex with a minor at this point for Kevin Esterly, but interfering with custody.
And yet despite that, this is all disturbing. I don`t -- I can`t think of anyone listening to this set of facts or listening to the reporting that you just showed on your screen and wouldn`t be disturbed by the fact that an adult male at the age of 45 years old with four children would take a 16-year-old which I think we can all agree is still a minor despite the fact, a friend of his daughter.
CHARLES: A friend of his daughter.
BANFIELD: Gross.
CHARLES: Gross.
(LAUGHTER)
OK. You know?
BANFIELD: That is why I bring this up. It`s also extraordinary excruciatingly disturbing.
CHARLES: It`s very disturbing.
BANFIELD: I`m a little astounded that that would be it. Interference with the custody of a child. Given the fact that you now cross state lines, you`ve crossed international borders, you speared this young woman away, yes from her mother --
CHARLES: Right.
BANFIELD: -- but also from her innocence. MPF, a lot of those fine outs from school were happening prior to her turning 16. So then she would be 15 years old. And there is also word that Kevin was missing work, so often, he lost his job after he had secured himself an apartment. I don`t know whether he bought or whether he rented it, but apparently -- and Jaccii Farris, maybe you can chime in here.
Again, I know we have a delay, but there is word that he had spent so much time at this apartment that he lost his job. And I`m wondering if there is going to be any proof of any connection to the time when Amy Yu was 15 at that apartment. Do you know if the investigation is going in that direction?
JACCII FARRIS, REPORTER, CNN AFFILIATE WFMZ: I believe that is the direction that it will go in just by looking at all of the pieces that are coming to the surface now. He did have that apartment. It was four blocks from Amy Yu`s home. She turned 16 in December and 16 is the age of consent in Pennsylvania.
So, I would imagine that if investigators are able to find anything that could lead to charges, anything or any kind of activity that happened whenever she was 15 years old, I think that they probably will take advantage of that.
BANFIELD: I think the word that keeps coming back to me when covering this story in any respect is gross. Jaccii Farris, thank you for your input.
Appreciate it. Midwin Charles, thank you as well.
