In this pasted transcript from Ashleigh Banfields CNN interview with RPD, I bolded some wording by the Richardson PD that piqued my interest. My comments in Red about:
- Who called 911
- How RPD is treating this investigation: "we had to start out as if this was actually a missing child"
- How RPD refers to vehicle from 4a-5am: "missing from driveway"
- Whether SM is cooperating
- Clues about nature of CPS visit
[FONT=&][FONT=&]BANFIELD: Good evening. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. This is PRIMETIME JUSTICE.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]Surprisingly, 15 minutes later, he said that little 3-year-old was gone. So he waited until daylight to check again and eventually five hours later to call the police.[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&][20:05:06]Sergeant Kevin Perlich joins me now. He`s the public information officer for the Richardson Police Department. Sergeant, thank you so much for being with me. What can you tell me about this investigation that we don`t know already?[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]SGT. KEVIN PERLICH, RICHARDSON POLICE DEPARTMENT (via telephone): We are looking and still hopeful that some day, we will be able to find Sherin. [/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]At this point, we are trying to follow up with any leads that we might have and we are looking for some video or anything that anybody might have that might be on some of the thoroughfares that lead away from this home.[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]What we do know is that this car, the family car, left from their residence between 4:00 AM and 5:00 AM that morning, and we`re trying to find out where the car went during that time period.[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]BANFIELD: Has anybody come forward with any video that`s helpful?[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]PERLICH: We have been able to get some video, some tips from various citizens around this particular area. And we are sifling (ph) through that, trying to make the best efforts as far as determining who`s on that tape and who may be of interest to us. So we`re kind of working our way through that right now.[/FONT][/FONT]
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[/FONT][/FONT][Re: Question of who called 911]
[FONT=&][FONT=&]BANFIELD: So it`s my understanding -- and correct me anywhere were I`m wrong, Sergeant, please. But it`s my understanding that the father, Wesley Matthews, was the person who called 911 five hours after this child apparently disappeared. And he would have come in to talk to investigators, is my guess. Did he ever mention anything about a mysterious road trip at 4:00 AM until 5:00 AM?[/FONT]
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[/FONT][/FONT][Not a clear answer from Perlich.]
[FONT=&][FONT=&]PERLICH: Well, that`s what we are working on right now, is some of the stuff that both he and his wife told us on the day that their daughter went missing. Obviously, they were in for a long period of time. We interviewed them extensively. And then we go back and we try to put together what they told us as far as what happened. In this particular case, we are very concerned with the fact that this car was not at their residence during that 4:00 AM to 5:00 AM time period.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]BANFIELD: And let me just put this another way. Did you find that fact out after your interview with them?[/FONT][/FONT]
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[/FONT][/FONT][Interesting wording from RPD]
[FONT=&][FONT=&]PERLICH: Well, he told us what happened and we kind of worked from there. That`s the starting point that you have to go from. I mean, initially, we had to start out as if this was actually a missing child and someone may have abducted her [FONT=&]or something else may have taken place to her. And so we conducted extensive searches by air, with K-9, on foot, door-to-door, looking in each back yard, through the drains ditches, you name it, we did it two or three times over trying to either prove or dispel what he was telling us.[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]BANFIELD: So as I understand it -- and again, correct me if I`m misunderstanding this story -- but this man, Wesley Matthews, told the police she wouldn`t drink her milk, so I punished her by putting her by a tree outside near an alley some 100 feet away from my home at 3:00 o`clock in the morning, which I don`t understand. Why would a child need punishment for not drinking milk at 3:00 AM? But this is the story I understand he told police. And that he went out 15 minutes later to check on her, and she was gone.[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]And instead of sounding the alarm at that moment, he did some laundry. He thought he`d wait until daylight to maybe do a more thorough search for her, and five hours later, he reported it to the police. No, if that is his narrative to you, did he leave anything else out that you found out later?[/FONT][/FONT]
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[/FONT][Re: Car between 4-5am. "Was missing from driveway" interesting]
[FONT=&][FONT=&]PERLICH: Well, that is correct. And obviously, for the same reason you have concern with that, we have concern with that story. And so we had to go back and try to rebuild what may have taken place that particular night. And what we`ve come up with in the course of this investigation is between that 4:00 and 5:00 AM hour, one of the cars, particularly the 2013 Acura, was missing from their driveway.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]BANFIELD: I`m going push one more time. Did he tell you that in that interview right away at the beginning? Did he say anything about, In that time I thought I`d wait until daylight to search for her, I took a little road trip.[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]PERLICH: What he told us is that he went outside, could not find her, thought he`d wait until daylight came by, he`d be able to look again, and he went inside hoping that she just might return. And as he waited, he did a load of laundry. When daylight broke, he couldn`t find her, he decided to call police and that`s been five hours since he first noticed his daughter missing.[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]BANFIELD: And I guess between your comments, I`m going to read between the lines. You gave me a fact pattern that did not include that mysterious road trip, which is extremely curious in this fact pattern. What about his wife, Sini, Sini Matthews? And I don`t know if I`m pronouncing it right. [/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]It could be Sini Matthews. You`ve interviewed her, as well. What`s your read on the wife, what she knows, what she has said and whether she knows anything at all about this?[/FONT][/FONT]
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[/FONT][/FONT][Re: Whether SM is cooperating now]
[FONT=&][FONT=&]PERLICH: Obviously, we`ve done extensive interviews with her, as well. We`d like to do some additional interviews with her. Unfortunately, the attorney that she has does not wish to do that at this particular time. Our understanding is, from what we`re being told, was that she was asleep during the time that he took the child outside.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&][20:10:04]BANFIELD: You were being told that by Wesley Matthews or by Sini herself that she was asleep?[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]PERLICH: By the two of them.[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]BANFIELD: And did you feel that the way that was reported to you was believable?[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]PERLICH: Well, that`s what we have to work off of and that`s what we`re trying to either prove or disprove. And that`s where we`re at with this particular investigation.[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]BANFIELD: Let me ask you this. Polygraph -- did either of them agree to, were they asked to take a poly?[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]PERLICH: By the time we got to the point where we would offer a polygraph, they were no longer cooperating with us.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]BANFIELD: So neither one of them is cooperating now. They both lawyered up with separate lawyers, and that`s it for police interviews with these two, who apparently have a missing child somewhere out there, correct?[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]PERLICH: That is correct. And so we`re having to work off of the information we were able to gain from them on the initial day that she was reported missing.[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]BANFIELD: Sergeant Perlich, do you find it strange when parents have a 3- year-old daughter somewhere out there -- an Amber Alert even went out for her -- aren`t cooperating with the police, aren`t going out in front of the microphones, saying, Dear God, help me find my baby?[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]PERLICH: Well, it is of concern, but you know, different people react differently, different cultures. But you know, what we`re trying to do is put together the facts as they told them, and we`re working from actual facts, and not whether or not we feel it`s appropriate or not.[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]BANFIELD: OK. So the fact is, is that the charges he`s facing right now, abandoning or endangering a child, nothing more, but there is always the potential for more. I don`t even need to ask you that. That`s the way the law works.[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]I want to ask you this, though. In the past, CPS has been contacted about this household. Do you know anything about that?[/FONT][/FONT]
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[/FONT][/FONT][Re: Nature of previous CPS call--whether investigation or adoption related.]
[FONT=&][FONT=&]PERLICH: We do know that CPS has conducted a prior investigation there. The exact details you would have to get from them as far as what their investigation that was about.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]BANFIELD: And do you know about the second child that they have, not now living in that household with them, but instead being in foster care. Do you know anything about that child?[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=&][FONT=&]PERLICH: Yes, the second child was taken into custody by CPS once Wesley bonded out and was going to return to the home. CPS responded to that home and took custody of the older child. [/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]