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 News from Around the Americas | June 2006 
Fugitive Couple Accused of Trying to Sell Their Children
 Sean Holstege - Arizona Republic
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A fugitive couple accused of trying to sell their two young children in Mexico spent the weekend in San Diego jails awaiting extradition to Arizona.
Mexican authorities reportedly found their 3-year-old son but their 18-month-old daughter is still missing. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the boy and girl were sold. There was no word on who paid for the children, nor on how much.
Jessica Karin Heird, 20, was last seen in November 2002 with her then 2-month-old and 1-year-old sons in Meadview, according to an alert posted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The boys were staying with their maternal grandmother when Heird took them for a walk. The whereabouts of the older son are unclear.
The center reportedly tipped off federal investigators, who led Mexican authorities to arrest Heird and Edward Henry Leader, 37, in Tijuana on Friday.
Heird is being held on a $12,500 bail on a warrant from Mohave County courts, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said. Leader is being held on no bail and is wanted in Arizona on kidnapping charges, his jailers said.
Heird is six months pregnant with the couple's fourth child, a U.S. Justice Department spokesman told San Diego reporters. He said authorities recovered three of Leader's other children from a different relationship.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Steve Jurman told reporters the outcome was rewarding because "we were able to safely bring back five of these children, who were clearly being exploited in one way or another."
Pair Held After Children Sold in Mexico
Matthew T. Hall - Union-Tribune
An American couple were arrested in the Tijuana area Friday after selling two of their children in Mexico, federal officials said yesterday. One of the children was still missing late yesterday.
The couple were wanted on warrants for taking their two boys, now 3 and 4, from the Arizona home of a legal guardian, the boys' maternal grandmother, in 2002. Federal officials said the youngest boy and a sister were sold.
Mexican authorities took Edward Leader, 37, and Jessica Heird, 20, into custody Friday after federal officials received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Department of Justice spokesman Omar Castillo said. They were turned over to U.S. marshals in San Ysidro that night.
Castillo said the couple had sold their 18-month-old daughter and 3-year-old son, but he did not know who bought the children or what was paid. The girl still was missing yesterday, but authorities recovered the couple's sons, along with three of Leader's children from an earlier relationship, Castillo said.
The oldest was 15.
Leader and Heird were in local jails yesterday awaiting extradition to Arizona. Heird is six months pregnant with the couple's fourth child, Castillo said.
Heird's mother will resume caring for her daughter's sons, Castillo said. The child abduction unit of the District Attorney's Office is trying to find a guardian for Leader's other three children.
At a news conference outside the Federal Courthouse yesterday, Deputy U.S. Marshal Steve Jurman called the situation “a fairly rewarding case because not only did we apprehend two fugitives . . . but we were able to safely bring back five of these children, who were clearly being exploited in one way or another.” |
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