What Really Happened to Audrey Seiler?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This is a partial transcript from On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, March 31, 2004 that has been edited for clarity.
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GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Tonight, at this very moment, there is amanhunt under way for an armed man connected to a college student'sdisappearance.
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NOBLE WRAY, MADISON, WISCONSIN, POLICE DEPARTMENT: We have received adescription of a suspect, who is described as a white male in his late 20sto early 30s, 5-11 to 6 feet, tall, last seen wearing a black sweatshirt,jeans, with a black cap. Suspect is believed to be armed with a gun and aknife.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}VAN SUSTEREN: Twenty-year-old Audrey Seiler was found alive justhours ago. Fox's Jeff Goldblatt is on the scene live in Madison,Wisconsin, with the late -breaking details -- Jeff.
JEFF GOLDBLATT, FOX CORRESPONDENT: Greta, we know Audrey Seiler is afe. We know she spent several hours at this hospital behind me, recovering and getting an examination. But at this point in the investigation, the uncertainties -- they seem to be much greater. It was a call from a witness at 12:50 Central time that changed the dynamics of this investigation. What we had was a call that went into police, the report ofa female in need of help. The officers responding, finding Audrey Seiler, but then a second search was on, a search far suspect, described as a whitemale in his late 20s and armed with a gun and knife.
A perimeter was set up, roads blocked, canine dogs brought in. The perimeter -- it was active until late in the night. Only until about anhour before the show went on the air did the perimeter break up in any way. But it remains secure at this hour because there's going to be a criminalinvestigation that goes on tomorrow at that scene, with extra investigativetools being brought in.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But for the night, however, Greta, the search is over without asuspect in custody. But a suspect of what, is the question. Police arestill calling this a reported missing persons investigation. And despiteintense and repeated questions at an afternoon press conference, police wouldn't say whether foul play was involved, wouldn't say whether Seiler was abducted, and wouldn't say how she'd been treated the last four days. But a doctor who examined her did fill in some of the blanks.
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PHILIP SCHULTZ, AUDREY'S DOCTOR: She's really got through her ordealremarkably well physically. She has lots of muscle aches from beingconfined during this period of time, and she's relatively dehydrated.
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GOLDBLATT: And so the only inclination as to what may have happenedto Audrey Seiler over the last four days coming there from the doctor,saying she was confined. But when I pressed police at that pressconference, What do you mean by confined, they wouldn't go into it anyfurther. Again, at this point in time, only a missing personsinvestigation. Audrey Seiler with her family, still near Madison. Shestill must go through active police questioning because that has not takenplace at this point in time. And so police are now saying there's a newphase of this case going on. And so even though Audrey Seiler isphysically OK, this odyssey, Greta -- it is far from over. Back to you.
VAN SUSTEREN: Jeff, is she still in the hospital, or has she actuallyleft the hospital with her family?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}GOLDBLATT: She left the hospital. She spent several hours here, andcame in with injuries, as we mentioned, not life-threatening, and isspending the night resting with her family.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, Jeff. Thank you.
So are police close to finding this armed suspect? Do they have anyidea who he is? We are joined by Officer Larry Kamholz of the Madison,Wisconsin, Police Department.
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OFFICER LARRY KAMHOLZ, MADISON, WISCONSIN, POLICE DEPARTMENT: Hello.
VAN SUSTEREN: Officer, what can you tell us about your investigation?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}KAMHOLZ: Well, at this point, like many of you know, we have combedthat area, preliminary for any type of suspects that may be in there. Wedid not find anybody. Right now, that area is secured off until themorning hours, when we are able to bring some more resources in. Andobviously, the daylight hours will provide us with some additionalresources to locate any type of evidence in there.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, how big is...
KAMHOLZ: We do know that Audrey was...
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}VAN SUSTEREN: Go ahead. I'm sorry, sir.
KAMHOLZ: We do know that Audrey -- yes, we do know that Audrey was --it's been reported that she has been abducted by knifepoint. Again, the specifics of that we can't get into. But you know, right now, we're glad that we have reunited her with her family and they're resting and they're enjoying their time together.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Knifepoint -- does that mean that the reports earlier that this may be a gun -- that's out of equation, at least tonight?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}KAMHOLZ: Well, yes. I think it's originally reported, and we'restill standing by, that there was a potential threat of a gun, even thoughit was not seen. But she -- she was threatened with a knife.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Did -- I know there was a press conferencea lit bit earlier tonight, a second press conference. Was there anydiscussion about whether or not Audrey actually knows the man who abductedher?
KAMHOLZ: And again, it's really hard for me to get into those type ofquestions, at this point. Until we get an opportunity to really sit downwith Audrey and talk to her about more specifics of the case, I reallycan't answer that.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}VAN SUSTEREN: All right. The area that you have sort of cordoned off-- you don't have it really cordoned off, but at least is closed off -- the Dane County Coliseum -- I know it has a new name now. How big an areais it that you have closed?
KAMHOLZ: It's a pretty -- it's a pretty significant chunk of land. Imean, there's a lot of woods. There's a -- I guess you can describe it asa pond, marsh area, a lot of shrubbery. It's not a well-traveled area. Imean, it's a lot of waterway that's in the middle of this. So it's afairly significant piece of land that we're going to have to go through.
VAN SUSTEREN: What makes you think her assailant is in that area?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}KAMHOLZ: Well, right now, we don't believe that he is. We have sentour crews and our officers through there and we have not located anybody. Right now, like I said, we're just securing that off because now we want to go through and see if there's any evidence or anything that would help uslead to the identification of a suspect.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. There was a description at the firstpresser today, a description of a white male, late 20s, early 30s, 5-11 to6 feet, black sweatshirt, jeans, black cap, knife and gun. Obviously, thegun is now -- at least tonight, out of the equation. Is that a descriptionyou got from Audrey, or is there another independent witness?
KAMHOLZ: I think that's a combination of both, from a witness andAudrey.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}VAN SUSTEREN: Did Audrey explain why she happened to leave herapartment building on Regent Street at 2:30 in the morning on Saturday? What was she going to do?
KAMHOLZ: You know, and again, you know, from the time that we got the call where Audrey was, she was quickly taken to the hospital, where she was treated for -- you know, or looked at, I should say, for possible injuries. But since that time, we've reunited her with her family, and we're allowing her to kind of basically bond with her family for a while before we reallystart getting into those type of questions with her.
VAN SUSTEREN: So you don't even know those answers tonight, is that right? Or are you telling me you can't tell me those answers?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}KAMHOLZ: At this point, we don't know those answers. We want to --we definitely want to give the family some space. Obviously, there's somequestions that we will probably need to find out to expedite theinvestigation, but we definitely want to respect that the family need toconnect with each other again.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, Officer, what are you doing to tell the 40,000 other graduates at the University of Wisconsin and all the others who live between the university campus and the Dane County Coliseum -- what are you doing to tell them they're safe tonight, if you've got a man outthere with a knife who at least has abducted on one occasion?
KAMHOLZ: You know -- and this is -- unfortunately, this isn't likeany other case in the city. I mean, we have cases where, you know, peopleare robbed and the suspect is unknown, and those types of things throughoutthe city and I think throughout the nation. Again, what we can tell peopleis you just continuously have to be cautious and secure with what you'redoing. You have to be conscious of the people around you, going withfriends and relatives, or whatever the case is, so you're not alone. It'snot changing and, you know, we will still push that.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}We have a lot of resources, a lot of agencies that are involved thatwill be out. We have officers that are more visible, extra patrols, justto kind of give people the sense of security. As many people know, this isone of the safest cities in America. And you know, unfortunately, we hadone incident that tarnished that, but it is...
VAN SUSTEREN: And of course...
KAMHOLZ: It is a safe place for people to live.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}VAN SUSTEREN: And of course, you may have two, though, because she was assaulted about a month ago. But we are out of time on that one. Officer, thank you.
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