This Day In History

Dec 22 1984
Bernhard Goetz shoots 4 teenage boys on the NYC subway after one of them tells him to give him five dollars.

Dec 22 1996
An alien cadaver of height 5 centimeters is found at the Kibbutz Achihod, Ahyud Israel. Scientists at Israel's Technion Institute in Hafnia determine that not enough material is present to conduct "proper tests" but the alien's composition is chiefly cow manure.

Dec 22 2001
Richard Reid attempts to blow up an American Airlines transatlantic flight by igniting a plastic explosive concealed in his shoe. Other passengers beat the living daylights out of him.

Exclusive: Man in Disguise Boards International Flight

Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- Canadian authorities are investigating an "unbelievable" incident in which a passenger boarded an Air Canada flight disguised as an elderly man, according to a confidential alert obtained by CNN.

The incident occurred on October 29 on Air Canada flight AC018 to Vancouver originating in Hong Kong. An intelligence alert from the Canada Border Services Agency describes the incident as an "unbelievable case of concealment."

"Information was received from Air Canada Corporate Security regarding a possible imposter on a flight originating from Hong Kong," the alert says. "The passenger in question was observed at the beginning of the flight to be an elderly Caucasian male who appeared to have young looking hands. During the flight the subject attended the washroom and emerged an Asian looking male that appeared to be in his early 20s."

After landing in Canada, Border Services Officers (BSOs) escorted the man off the plane where he "proceeded to make a claim for refugee protection," the alert says.

"The subject initially claimed to be in possession of one bag; however, flight crew approached the BSOs with two additional pieces of luggage which were believed to belong to the subject. One bag contained the subject's personal clothing items while the second contained a pair of gloves. The third contained a 'disguise kit' which consisted of a silicone type head and neck mask of an elderly Caucasian male, a brown leather cap, glasses and a thin brown cardigan."

The man put on the disguise for the officers who "noted he very much resembled an elderly Caucasian man, complete with mimicking the movements of an elderly person. The subject admitted at this time that he had boarded the flight with the mask on and had removed it several hours later," according to the alert.

"We can confirm that officials from the CBSA met a passenger arriving off AC018 Hong Kong to Vancouver on October 29 and the matter is still under investigation," said Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick, who noted that "there are multiple identity checks before departure at the Hong Kong international airport, including Chinese government-run Hong Kong passport control, which Hong Kong originating passengers must undergo."

Hong Kong officials said they are aware of the incident and would call back with more information later.

Jennifer Bourque, regional communications officer for the CBSA, confirmed that "we intercepted an individual, on October 29, attempting to enter Canada under false pretenses on-board an Air Canada flight."

"CBSA can confirm that the foreign national is currently in CBSA detention," she said. "The individual will present before an IRB hearing. The officials of the CBSA will not disclose further information on this file."

Because of Privacy Act regulations, she said, she cannot provide details about specific cases.

"However, I can tell you that CBSA officers examine all passengers arriving on international flights at Vancouver International Airport," she said. "CBSA works closely with air carriers and local, national and international law enforcement partners, to ensure the safety of our borders and our communities. Getting the right information at the right time is a key element in keeping Canada's border closed to safety and security threats."

The agency would not discuss when or why the man put on the disguise or details about how he boarded the plane. But the alert indicated that the suspect boarded the plane with a board pass belonging to another passenger.

"It is believed that the subject and the actual United States Citizen passenger (whose date of birth is 1955) performed a boarding pass swap, with the subject using an Aeroplan card as identification to board the flight," the alert said.

Aeroplan is a credit card where card holders can earn frequent flyer miles.

Acid Attack Hoax Shocks Friends, Family; Businesses Work to Return Donations

People like this dumb b*tch make horrible things like this up, deforming themselves, while there are real victims of acid attacks out there! It's mind blowing.


ABC News- The revelation that Bethany Storro splashed acid in her own face has left her friends and family shocked, particularly those who rushed to her defense in the days following her maiming.

Pamela Storro, Storro's former mother-in-law, told ABC News earlier this week that rumors that the acid attack was a hoax were "insane" and that there was "no way" her former daughter in law would do this to herself.

When reached today by ABC News, Pamela Storro declined to speak, other than to say she is in disbelief over Storro's admission that she did, in fact, fake the attack.

"I'm shocked," was all that Pamela Storro would say of her former daughter-in-law's alleged confession.

John Pax, the gym owner who held a fundraising to help offset Storro's medical expenses following the attack, said that he too is in "disbelief."

"We put aside our business because we found someone in need, one of our own members," he said. "We felt for her."

Vancouver Police announced Thursday that 28-year-old Storro had fabricated the Aug. 30 attack that left her severely burned and garnered media attention worldwide -- including an invitation to appear on Oprah Winfrey's talk show.

Storro had originally told authorities a stranger had splashed acid in her face while she walked through a popular park Vancouver, Wash.

But police said that soon after they began investigating the claims -- which included releasing a sketch of a suspect Storro claimed was responsible for the attack -- facts weren't adding up.



-Rest of attention-loving-wh*re's article here-

Balloon Boy Parents Get Jail Time, Tough Probation

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The parents who carried out the balloon boy hoax were sentenced to jail Wednesday and given strict probation conditions that forbid them from earning any money from the spectacle for four years.

Richard Heene was sentenced to 90 days in jail, including 60 days of work release that will let him pursue his job as a construction contractor while serving his time. His wife, Mayumi, was sentenced to 20 days in jail.

Richard Heene choked back tears as he said he was sorry, especially to the rescue workers who chased down false reports that his 6-year-old son had floated away in a balloon on Oct. 15. It was a stunt designed to generate attention for a reality TV show.

"I do want to reiterate that I'm very, very sorry. And I want to apologize to all the rescue workers out there, and the people that got involved in the community. That's it," said Richard Heene, whose wife did not speak at the hearing.

Larimer County District Judge Stephen Schapanski then ordered Heene to begin a 30-day jail term on Jan. 11, delaying the start of the sentence for two weeks so he can spend the holidays with his family. Schapanski allowed Heene to serve the remaining 60 days of his jail term under work release, meaning he can work during the day but spend his nights in jail.

The Heenes' probation will be revoked if they are found to be profiting from any book, TV, movie or other deals related to the stunt.

"This, in simple terms, was an elaborate hoax that was devised by Mr. and Mrs. Heene," the judge said.

The Heenes pleaded guilty to charges that they carried out the balloon hoax, with deals that called for up to 90 days in jail for the husband and 60 days for his wife.

Schapanski ordered Mayumi Heene to serve 20 days in jail after her husband completes his sentence. Her time served is flexible — she can report to jail on 10 weekends, for example — so the children are cared for, the judge said.

Prosecutors asked for the maximum sentence for the husband, saying that a message needs to be sent to promoters who attempt to carry out hoaxes to generate publicity. Chief Deputy District Attorney Andrew Lewis also asked for full restitution to reimburse authorities for the cost of investigating the hoax — an amount that could exceed $50,000.

"People around the world were watching this unfold," he said. "Mr. Heene wasted a lot of manpower and a lot of money in wanting to get himself some publicity."

He added, "Jay Leno said it best when he said, 'This is copycat game.' And people will copycat this event. (The Heenes) need to go to jail so people don't do that."

He portrayed the Heenes as growing increasingly desperate as their pitches for a reality TV show kept getting turned down by networks — and the family fell deeper into a financial hole. Lewis said the Heenes set in motion the balloon hoax in early October as a way to jumpstart the effort and get some attention.

They chose Oct. 15 because the weather was cooperating and the kids were home for school with parent-teacher conferences, allowing the Heenes to report that 6-year-old Falcon had floated away, Lewis said.

Once the parents were brought in for questioning, Richard Heene feigned sleep during the lie-detector test, claiming it was some sort of diabetic episode, Lewis said.

David Lane, Richard Heene's attorney, pleaded for leniency with the judge and said that the couple "have learned a lesson they will never forget for the rest of their lives." He also said that if someone has to go to jail, let it be Richard Heene and not his wife.

"That is his plea. That would be something of a Christmas miracle if that can occur," he said.

Evangelist Guilty of Taking Minors Across State Lines for Sex

(CNN) -- A jury in Arkansas convicted evangelist Tony Alamo on Friday of 10 federal counts of taking minors across state lines for sex, according to the court in the Western District in Arkansas.

Authorities in September charged Alamo, the 74-year-old founder and leader of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, and raided his 15-acre compound near Texarkana, Arkansas.

Jurors reached the verdict after more than eight hours of deliberations. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Between March 1994 and October 2005, Alamo transported five girls younger than 18 across state lines for sex, according to the indictment.

The criminal complaint included accounts from three of the girls, two of whom were 17 when the complaint was filed last year and one who was 14. All three said Alamo sexually abused them.

Alamo, whose real name is Bernie Hoffman, had denied all wrongdoing. In a phone interview last year with CNN, he called the accusations a hoax.

"They're just trying to make our church look evil ... by saying I'm a pornographer. Saying that I rape little children. ... I love children. I don't abuse them. Never have. Never will."

Asked why authorities were searching the property, Alamo compared himself to Christ.

"Why were they after Jesus," he asked. "It's the same reason. Jesus is living within me."

Alamo also has compounds in Oklahoma and New Jersey.

The Southern Poverty Law Center says Tony Alamo Christian Ministries is anti-Catholic and a cult.

Brooklyn Day Care Center in Shootout a Drug House in Disguise, Police Say

NY Daily News: Upstaris tots. Downstairs, pot.

Armed bandits targeted a Brooklyn day care center where the owners ran a drug den in thebasement, with a 10-pound marijuana stash and more than $100,000 incash, police said Saturday.

Day care owner Donna Rogers, 37, and her husband, Sherwin, 36, were arrested for felony marijuana possessio none day after kids at their East Flatbush business slept through a wild gunfight between cops and robbers.

"Obviously, they were doingmore than just taking care of children," said Police CommissionerRaymond Kelly. "It appears they were also dealing drugs at thislocation."

Sherwin Rogers surrendered to the 67th Precinct aftercops - tipped by a seriously wounded suspect - returned to the day care Saturday and found the drugs and money hidden in a closet, Kelly said.

Thecouple lived in the basement, where neighborhood crooks knew they stashed large amounts of pot. And Friday's robbery was timely - it waspay day and pot was being delivered.

Next-door neighbor Grant Frierson, 70, wasn't surprised by the arrest - Rogers and her husbandhad recently purchased two new cars. But he was disgusted by the daycare ruse.

"Keeping all that cash and drugs under the same roof as those kids is just despicable," Frierson said. "Looks like thosekids were a coverup."

About a dozen children, ages 1 to 10, werenapping inside the Special Moments Day Care Center on Friday when therobbers - posing as parents - entered the facility, a police sourcesaid.

A pair of plainclothes officers from the 67th Precinctreached the robbery in progress to find a roomful of kids and one adult: Gavin Nugent, with a 9-mm. Glock in his hand.

Nugent, 34,was shot after pointing the loaded gun at police. The bleeding suspect ran from the day care to the basement, but was too big to shimmythrough a window to freedom, a police source said.

Nugent finally dropped his weapon after police shot him a second time. He was instable condition at Kings County Hospital Saturday with gunshot woundsto the chest and wrist, Kelly said.

The initial confrontation was captured on videotape. Although police fired four times, the video showed the children sleeping innocently through the gunfire.

Nugentand career criminal Dwayne Jackson, 35, were arrested at the scene andcharged with burglary, robbery and criminal possession of a weapon.

Their alleged lookout man, 37-year-old Carl Grierson, was also busted Friday. Police initially believed the armed robbers intended to steal the daycare's payroll until Nugent squealed on the drug operation.

Prosecutors Want Casey Anthony to Face Check Fraud Charges Before Murder Trial

ORLANDO, Fla. — Prosecutors have asked that the Florida mother charged with killing her daughter face check fraud charges before she goes on trial in the murder case.

Prosecutors filed a request Tuesday asking that Casey Anthony go on trial for the fraud charges within the next two months.

Anthony is charged with more than a dozen fraud charges, including fraudulent use of personal identification information, forgery of a check and uttering a forged check.

She also is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee Marie. She has pleaded not guilty and says a baby sitter kidnapped Caylee.

Last month, attorneys said the murder trial won't likely happen until next year.

Rogue Minutemen Leader Held in Fatal Home Invasion

SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- Raul Flores thought federal agents had barged with guns drawn into his home in Arivaca, Arizona, in the middle of the night.

The woman and two men wore uniforms and identified themselves as U.S. Marshals. They claimed the house was surrounded. They said they were looking for an escaped prisoner, Flores' wife told a 911 dispatcher.

But there was no backup waiting outside, and no fugitive. The marshals were imposters.

They had targeted Flores because they suspected he was a drug trafficker and they wanted to rob and kill him, according to the Pima County Sheriff's Department.

As the intruders searched his home, Flores asked one of the men why his handgun was taped. The man responded by shooting and killing Flores.

"Someone just came in and shot my daughter and husband," Flores' wife frantically told 911. She tells the police operator that she was shot and left for dead with her husband, Raul Flores, 29, and daughter Brisenia, 9, who were both shot in the head.

Police are not releasing the woman's name to protect her identity. But her 911 call, released to the media by the Pima County Sheriff's Department, tells the story of a deadly home invasion by a rogue band of impostors.

As she describes the initial attack, the intruders return to the house. The door can be heard opening.

"They are coming back in! They are coming back in!" the caller screams. She has armed herself with her husband's handgun.

"Get the f--- out," she barks. The order is followed by the explosive sound of gunfire traded as the wounded woman and her would-be killers fire on each other. A man -- one of the intruders -- is hit and groans loudly. The attackers retreat and leave the woman alive and alone with her slain family.

Twelve days later police have the "marshals" in custody on charges of first-degree murder, burglary and aggravated assault. Police identified the suspects as Shawna Forde, 41, of Buena Vista, Arizona; Jason Eugene Bush, 34, of Kingman, Arizona; and Albert Robert Gaxiola, 42, of Tucson, Arizona.

As police put her into a car, Forde told reporters, "I did not do it." The Pima County public defender's office, which represents Forde, Bush and Gaxiola, did not return CNN's calls requesting comment.

Authorities from five different police departments in three states are investigating crimes allegedly involving the trio. Forde's arrest has had even greater reverberations across a community of private citizens who believe the government is not adequately protecting the nation's borders.

Forde was a one-time member of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, a citizens group whose self-described mission is to secure the U.S. border, before she started her own smaller border enforcement organization. The accusations against her have given more fuel to Minutemen critics who say the groups dangerously blur the lines between law enforcement and vigilantism.

Forde was well known in anti-immigration circles. She ran a failed campaign for City Council in her hometown of Everett, Washington, that touted her connections to the Minutemen. She posted videos on YouTube of her border patrols and was an outspoken fixture at Minutemen Washington meetings and rallies in Washington state.

But even among this gung-ho group of self-styled border warriors, Forde was extreme, both Minutemen members and their critics agreed.

Washington human rights advocate Luis Moscoso said he had a run-in with Forde during a protest he attended at a 2007 Minutemen conference in Bellingham, Washington. While other Minutemen engaged in a dialogue, Moscoso remembered Forde shouting insults at the protesters.

Moscoso later was shocked, he said, to find his photograph and address on Forde's Web site. "It wasn't a bull's-eye but it was close enough," he said. The Web site was taken down after the arrests, so CNN cannot independently confirm Moscoso's account.

Eventually, Forde's tactics alienated even the most stalwart proponents of border security. "The screaming, hollering, calling names, we don't do that," said outgoing Washington state Minutemen president Joseph Ray. "She broke standard operating procedure too many times, she was too damn unreliable."

The Minutemen kicked Forde out of their ranks in 2007, Ray said. Around the same time, police said, Forde became embroiled in several bizarre incidents that remain under investigation in Everett.

Forde's then-husband was shot in the abdomen by an unknown male assailant at their home. The couple later divorced. Forde next said she was the victim of a sexual assault. Later, Forde was found wounded in an alley where she told police she had been shot in the arm by an attacker.

Speaking to the media about the attacks, Forde said she was being targeted by Mexican drug cartels for her work guarding the border. According To Sgt. Robert Goetz, spokesman for the Everett Police Department, Forde's sister and mother told police something very different. They believed she invented or played a part in the violence against her and her family.

Cast out from the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, Forde formed her own organization called the Minutemen American Defense. Chuck Stonex was a member. Despite "her cloudy reputation" in Minutemen circles, Stonex said, he and Forde got along well.

Still, he said he noticed during an operation monitoring the border in Arizona with her in 2008 that Forde was well funded for the leader of a tiny group on the fringe of the Minutemen movement. "She always had a lot of cash," he said.

Cash was what led Forde, Bush and Gaxiola to Raul Flores' house on May 30, 2009, said Dawn Barkman, a spokeswoman for the Pima County Sheriff. Flores had a reputation for involvement in the narcotics trade along the border, Barkman said, and Forde devised a plan to bluff her way into his home and rob and kill him to finance her border patrol group.

According to Barkman, it was Forde's plan but Bush allegedly fired the fatal shots inside the Flores home. It was not Bush's first slaying, police say.

After his arrest in the shooting of Raul Flores, police in Wenatchee, Washington, charged Bush with the fatal stabbing of Hector Manuel Lopez Partida. Homeless and traveling through Wenatchee, Lopez Partida was killed in 1997, stabbed seven times, apparently as he slept on the ground next to a grain silo.

Police in Wenatchee found a blood-soaked shirt near where Lopez was killed. Eight years later, advances in forensics testing indicated that Bush's DNA was on the shirt, a police affidavit said.

Bush has "long-standing ties to Aryan Nations groups," the affidavit said, and he allegedly bragged to an unidentified police informant about killing "a Mexican," saying he and another man "stomped" and "stabbed" the man and "left [him] to bleed out."

After the shooting at Flores' home, the crime wave continued, police said. A couple who are friends of Forde's mother was robbed at gunpoint of their $12,000 inheritance by men pretending to be U.S. Marshals, said Sgt. John Hubbard of the Shasta County Sheriffs Department. The victims, Hubbard said, identified Bush as one of the gunmen.

Hubbard said police believe Forde helped carry out the robbery.

In the next town over, Hubbard said, the home belonging to Forde's brother was robbed on the same day.

The alleged crime spree leaves Forde's former compatriots feeling exposed and under attack. Stonex said he last saw Forde and Bush right after the shootout at the Flores home. Stonex helped patch a bullet wound to Bush's calf. "They said they were jumped by border bandits," he said.

He said had he known about their alleged killing of Flores and his daughter, Stonex would never have had anything to do with Forde. Now, he said, he and other Minutemen have been forced to cancel border patrol operations and wait for the scrutiny to die down.

"It's given us a lot of grief," said Stonex, "I'd build her gallows if I could."

Rockefeller Poser Gets Up to 5 Years For Kidnapping

BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN/IN Session) -- A German man who called himself Clark Rockefeller and passed himself off for years as a member of the moneyed clan was sentenced Friday to four to five years in prison for kidnapping his daughter.

Earlier in the day, a jury of eight women and four men found Christian Carl Gerhartsreiter, 48, guilty of the kidnapping and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Judge Frank M. Gaziano noted that Gerhartsreiter showed little regard for the impact his actions had on his former wife and daughter. He said he also considered the defendant's long history of deceptive and manipulative behavior, including the use of multiple aliases.

Gerhartsreiter already has spent a year in jail, meaning that with credit for good behavior he could spend just another year or two in prison.

Gerhartstreiter, who was born in Germany and is in the U.S. illegally, faces removal by immigration authorities when he completes his sentence.

In addition, his lawyer said, authorities in Los Angeles, California, have convened a grand jury to investigate his possible role in the 1985 deaths of a couple who rented a carriage house to him.

The defendant stared straight ahead as the judge announced the sentence. He was equally impassive when the jury returned its verdicts.

The jury rejected Gerhartsreiter's insanity defense, but found him not guilty of two lesser charges after deliberating for 26½ hours over five days.

He faces up to 15 years in prison. A sentencing hearing was set to begin at 2 p.m. ET.

"Today the victims in this case have some sense of justice, I hope," said Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley "We are very happy with today's verdict. We're very happy with the jury."

After announcing the verdict, all 12 jurors returned to the courtroom and delivered a prepared statement.

"This was a complicated case, and not as clear-cut as it might have seemed to those who followed it in the media," the jurors' statement said

"We are confident that our verdict is fair and just, and based only on the information we were legally allowed to consider," it continued. "Our verdict is a unanimous one, as the law requires, and all of us stand by the verdict completely. "

The jurors said the terse statement was their final word on the case. They did not take questions.

The case has attracted international attention because of the defendant's bogus claim to be related to the Rockefellers, one of America's wealthiest families. He fooled even his wife of 12 years, who said on the witness stand that she had "a blind spot" for a man who charmed her, then controlled her and bullied her.

Prosecutors said Gerhartsreiter came to the United States from Germany in 1978 as a student. They said he is a con man who has been telling fanciful tales and misrepresenting himself ever since.

The defense said he has long suffered from mental illness that boiled over into insanity when he abducted his 7-year-old daughter, Reigh, last summer.

The jury heard closing arguments and legal instructions before retiring for deliberation Monday.

"This is not a man playing with a full deck," said Jeffrey Denner, one of two lawyers who gave closing arguments for the defense.

According to testimony from defense experts, Gerhartsreiter believed his daughter was in danger. He also believed they could communicate telepathically and shared a secret language.

"You see him descending into madness," Denner said. "You see completely irrational action that other people are buying because of the name Rockefeller and the appearance, the veneer, of respectability with a powerful wife."

The defense called two experts who, he said, spent 28 hours with the defendant before diagnosing him as having a narcissistic personality disorder and grandiose delusions.

Prosecutor David Deakin called the insanity diagnosis "preposterous." He argued, "This is not a case about madness. It's a case about manipulation."

He described Gerhartsreiter as a controlling man who was angry that his former wife, Sandra Boss, had moved with their daughter to London in December 2007.

According to testimony, Boss, a Harvard business school graduate and senior partner at McKinsey & Co., a global management consulting company, took full custody of the child, giving her ex-husband $800,000, two cars, her engagement ring and a dress he had bought her.

She said she believed the fanciful stories her husband wove around his image as Clark Rockefeller and never saw any sign of mental illness.

Denner asked how a successful businesswoman who was educated at Stanford and Harvard universities and made $1 million a year could fall for an impostor.

"There's a big difference between intellectual intelligence and emotional intelligence," Boss explained. "I'm not saying I made a very good choice of a husband. It's obvious I had a pretty big blind spot."

"He told compelling stories," she said. "It seems stupid in hindsight, and it really was, but that is how it was. ... I lived with a person who told me a set of internally consistent things."

"I was completely traumatized," Boss said of the abduction. "I was hysterical."

Husband, Not Carjacker, Charged in Wife's Death

(CNN) -- A man who told Maryland State Police that his wife was killed by a carjacker early Friday morning has been charged in her death.

Ryan Holness, 28, was charged with first- and second-degree murder in the death of Serika Dunkley Holness, 26, according to Maryland police.

Her body was found about 6 a.m. Friday in a field in Crumpton, Maryland, police said.

Holness was arrested after inconsistencies surfaced in his story, according to investigators.

Holness said that he and his wife were carjacked by a man armed with a knife and a gun on the New Jersey Turnpike while returning to Maryland from New York on Thursday night, police said.

"He told investigators that he was assaulted by the suspect and forced to drive to Crumpton," said Gregory Shipley of the Maryland State Police. "He said the suspect bound his feet and hands with duct tape before attacking his wife who had tried to flee the scene."

Police interviewed various people and launched a nationwide search for the carjacker and Holness' 2007 blue Honda Accord, Shipley said.

"Information provided by Holness throughout the day Friday did not match information developed through witnesses and evidence at the scene," Shipley said.

Shortly after 11 p.m. Friday, Holness' car was located by a D.C. police officer on a Washington street.

"Maryland State police homicide detectives have taken custody of the car," Shipley said.

State police are not yet sure how the car got to Washington.

Thursday Hearing for Bonnie Sweeten

Bonnie Anne Sweeten, the Feasterville woman who fled to Florida with her 9-year-old daughter after faking their abduction, faces a preliminary hearing Thursday in Bucks County.

Sweeten, 38, is scheduled to appear at 1:30 p.m. before District Judge William J. Benz in Richboro. She will face charges of identity theft and making a false report to police.

The twice-married mother of three was catapulted into the national limelight last week after she phoned 911, claiming that she and daughter Julia Rakoczy had been abducted by two men whose car had rear-ended theirs.

An Amber Alert was issued, but Sweeten's report proved false; police checking surveillance videos at Philadelphia International Airport saw the mother and child boarding a plane to Orlando, Fla.

Sweeten was arrested inside a Disney World resort Wednesday and returned to Bucks County after waiving extradition. Arraigned late Friday before Benz, Sweeten was freed after posting $100,000 bond, one-tenth of her $1 million bail.

She was in seclusion with relatives at an unknown Pennsylvania location to avoid reporters camped outside her Saxon Drive home in a prosperous development of 15 houses. Louis R. Busico, Sweeten's attorney, said she would undergo mental-health treatment.

Police have said that Sweeten fled to avoid questions about money missing from a firm where she once worked.

Yesterday, Julia Rakoczy appeared on ABC's Good Morning America, along with her father, Anthony Rakoczy, 40, and sister Paige, 15. The freckle-faced girl told interviewer Diane Sawyer that her trip with Sweeten to Disney World started out as "fun" but turned "scary" after Julia saw her own photograph on TV.

A photo of the child, described by neighbors as a "little spark plug" brimming with energy, was circulated as part of the Amber Alert.

Anthony Rakoczy told Sawyer how Julia was coping with what her mother did and what it meant.

"We talk a little bit about it," Rakoczy said. "She tells us a little bit more, and we kind of process the whole thing. We're kind of taking it slow.

"We're trying to make sure these guys [Julia and Paige] are doing fine. Their mother doing what she did . . . it's just hard."

Rakoczy said he hoped law enforcement officials give his ex-wife a break.

"This whole media hype, it's not the person that she is. I've known her for 20 years," Rakoczy said.

Asked by Sawyer what message she would send Sweeten, Julia said she loved her mother and missed her.

Asked the same question, Paige said that "everybody makes mistakes."

"She just needed some time, obviously, but we're happy that she's OK now and she's home," the teenager said.

"Smart" Woman Says She Fell For a Phony

BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN) -- She brought home $1 million a year as a high-powered financial executive, yet she told a jury she woke up hungry in a cold house because her husband controlled everything.

She said it took years to leave the man who told her he was a member of the moneyed Rockefeller clan because she didn't know the online passwords to their bank accounts.

Being the breadwinner offered her no status in her marriage, Sandra Lynn Boss, 42, testified Tuesday at her former husband's kidnapping trial.

"You mistakenly confuse money and power. Money and power are not the same thing in a relationship," she explained under cross-examination by her former husband's defense attorney, Jeffrey Denner, who at times seemed stunned by her answers.

The defense attorney asked Boss why she didn't assert herself given that she was a "dynamic, intelligent woman" who was the sole wage-earner. She responded, "I did assert myself but the abuse was pretty rough. There was a lot of anger and yelling."

She said she believed the fanciful stories her husband wove around his image as Clark Rockefeller and never saw any sign of mental illness.

Denner asked how a successful businesswoman who was educated at Stanford and Harvard universities could fall for an impostor who called himself Clark Rockefeller.

"There's a big difference between intellectual intelligence and emotional intelligence," Boss explained. "I'm not saying I made a very good choice of a husband. It's obvious I had a pretty big blind spot."

Rockefeller, whose real name is Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, is accused of kidnapping their daughter, Reigh, in July and taking the child to Baltimore, Maryland, where he'd bought a townhouse near the harbor. His trial began last week in Boston, Massachusetts.

In her second day on the stand, Boss described the decline of a marriage that began with a whirlwind summer romance before her second year at Harvard business school. By the time her marriage ended, she said, "My personal life was scary."

She repeatedly referred to her 48-year-old ex-husband as "the defendant." Defense attorney Denner referred to his client as "Clark" during questioning.

Boss, who now lives in London, England, with Reigh, 8, publicly told her story for the first time on the witness stand. She has been excoriated in the media. One New York writer called her a "ding-bat doormat" who married a "Crockefeller."

It's more complicated than that, Boss explained under cross-examination. "He told compelling stories. It seems stupid in hindsight, and it really was, but that is how it was. ... I lived with a person who told me a set of internally consistent things."

And so, she never questioned why he never seemed to make any money, possess a driver's license, or bring any family around. She had no doubt he had a billion-dollar art collection, even if she was annoyed he would refuse to sell off a piece or two when money got tight.

She was questioned at length about one particularly bizarre story he told. He said a fall down some stairs left him mute as a child -- until he saw a dog and spontaneously uttered "woofness" at age 10. She did acknowledge on the stand that she considered "woofness" to be a "stupid word."

She initiated divorce proceedings after hiring a private investigator in 2006, who determined that her husband definitely was not who he said he was. He agreed to part, surrendering custody of their daughter for $800,000, two cars, her engagement ring and a dress he had given her.

On July 27, during an agreed-upon custodial visit, he allegedly abducted Reigh.

"I was completely traumatized," Boss said. "I was hysterical."

Denner questioned Boss at length about his client's mental state during their marriage. She said he told her in 1999 that he thought he was having a nervous breakdown after the Asian market collapse. They moved from New York as a result.

But, despite the defense attorney's prodding, Boss would not characterize her former husband as delusional.

"The defendant was often very unpleasant -- lack of empathy, anger, control issues, absolutely. I'm not a psychologist, but he was hard to live with ... I saw behavior that made me think that he wasn't at all well, yes," she testified.

Again, Denner suggested that her situation did not make sense, pointing out, "You are a consultant with one of the most prestigious companies."

Boss replied: "I come from a place where you don't even jaywalk. It never occurred to me that I was living with someone who was lying to me."

She added, "He was lying to a lot of people."

She was followed to the stand by FBI experts and another former wife. The defense case could begin Wednesday.

Abduction Claim Called False

AOL news- The 9-year-old Pennsylvania girl whose mother is accused of staging an elaborate abduction hoax -- while secretly taking her daughter to Disney World -- spoke out for the first time Monday.

Julia Rakoczy, here in an undated photo, appeared on 'Good Morning America' with her father and older sister. She said her trip to the theme park with her mom was "normal" and "fun."

The case started to make headlines last week after Bonnie Sweeten phoned 911 on May 26 from downtown Philadelphia and told dispatchers that she and her daughter had been carjacked and stuffed in the trunk of a Cadillac near their suburban home. The call prompted a frantic search.
But the investigation took a strange turn when officials discovered inconsistencies in Sweeten's story and when she and her daughter were seen on surveillance video boarding a plane to Florida.

The search for them ended May 27 when they were found at a Disney World hotel.
Sweeten was arraigned on misdemeanor charges of identity theft and false reporting. She was released on $100,000 bail Saturday and is expected to face a formal arraignment in a month or two in Pennsylvania.

In their first interview, Julia, her sister Paige and her father Tony Rakoczy talked to 'Good Morning America' about the ordeal.

"We talk a little bit about it ... [Julia] tells us a little bit more and we kind of process the whole thing," Rakoczy, Sweeten's ex-husband said. "We're kind of taking it slow. We're trying to make sure these guys [Julia and Paige] are doing fine ... their mother doing what she did ... it's just hard."

Rakoczy also asked that authorities cut Sweeten "a little bit of a break."
"This whole media hype, it's not the person that she is," he said. "I've known her for 20 years."
Read more about the case on ABCNews.com.