CBS Shows Help Find Missing Woman, Tot
Tips from viewers of The Early Show on CBS have twice in recent months led police to missing persons.
The most recent came from a viewer who saw the case of missing person Kristy Ormsby on an The Early Show segment last week, and spotted her alive and well in North Carolina.
Each week, the CBS drama "Without a Trace" profiles a real missing person at the end of the show and, the next morning, The Early Show gives details on the case.
In April, a missing toddler who was profiled on The Early Show and the CBS primetime drama "Without a Trace," was found in Alabama and reunited with her mother.
In the Ormsby case, the viewer called the police. Next week, Kristy and her 2-month-old son, James Bradstreet Jr., will return home to Illinois to be reunited with their family.
Ormsby was found by police with her boyfriend, James Bradstreet. Bradstreet, wanted for attempted murder, is now in police custody.
Ormsby disappeared almost two years ago, leaving behind her little girl. Her family last heard from her on June 4, 2004, when she was supposed to pick her daughter up and have dinner with her parents and two younger sisters. But, police say, she instead took off with James Bradstreet.
Did Kristy go willingly or unwillingly? Authorities say Bradstreet has a history of violent behavior. In September 2003, he allegedly stabbed a man outside a bar. His court date was set for June 2, 2004, but he never showed up. And he and Ormsby vanished.
"James Bradstreet is a very dangerous man," said Kendall County, Ill., Sheriff's Sgt. Scott Koster when Orsmby was still missing. "The attempted homicide he's suspected of in Kendall County is not his first violent act. … Our investigation is moving forward under the assumption that Kristy Ormsby is with James Bradstreet willingly."
Whether she was with Bradstreet willingly still remains to be seen. Police had suspected that Ormsby and Bradstreet were somewhere in the United States.
In April, a missing Pennsylvania toddler who was profiled on The Early Show and the CBS primetime drama "Without a Trace," was returned to her mother, Asia Jackson.
Authorities say 18-month-old Anisa Jackson was abducted by her father in early November from Upper Moreland Township, Pa. The FBI said the father, Philip Jerome Jackson, was taken into custody. A the time, police said tips resulting from the broadcasts led them to the missing child.
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Asia Jackson and her daughter appeared on The Early Show April 14. To watch the complete interview,
The staff behind The Early Show are pleased that this segment has helped find missing people. "Most of these stories are sad stories with anguished families pleading for any information about the person who's missing," said Michael Bass, senior executive producer of the show. "Obviously it's thrill for us when there is a happy ending. And we've had two of those in the last month."