a young girl set out to run an errand for her mother [Music] as the minutes ticked by it became clear she did not simply with no clues to her whereabouts local authorities called in the FBI team Vicki Lynn hoskinson was going only a few blocks but the search for him would spread to three steps foreign [Applause] [Music] [Music] faces the question what is a child old enough to leave the house alone her mother in Tucson your eight-year-old daughter's bike ride to the Connor mailbox turned into a two-month nightmare under the federal kidnapping statute the FBI can enter a case after 24 hours I'm Jim calstrom form ahead of the FBI's New York office it would take dozens of Agents working in two states to track down a paroled sex offender but it would take a mother's courage to change the laws that released the monster thank you Monday September 17 1984. at around three in the afternoon in Flowing Wells Arizona outside Tucson eight-year-old Vicki Lynn hoskinson just home from school was helping her mom send a belated birthday card to her aunt because her big sister was staying late at school for track practice Vicki asked her mom if she could mail the card by herself the mailbox was little more than two blocks away foreign after telling her daughter to be back before 3 30 Debbie Carlson gave her consent to her elated youngest daughter according to Mrs Carlson the trip to the mailbox and back would take less than 10 minutes they sent Vicki by herself which was the first time I'd ever sent any one of my children by their self to run an error and we always use the buddy system little Vicki Lynn hoskinson was on her first big solo Adventure according to her mother she beamed With Pride over the responsibility she had been given she promised to come right home after mailing the card about 20 minutes after Vicky left Debbie Carlson was reassured by the sound of the front door Stephanie and a little surprised to see that it was Vicky's older sister Stephanie her track practice had been canceled went down in the mailbox Mrs Carlson told her that Vicki went out to mail a letter but hadn't returned Stephanie thought her sister might be playing with a friend seven years old I'll go look for her she probably stopped at Jennifer's house so Stephanie the second time in one day I sent one of my kids without the buddy system yeah Stephanie found Vicky's bike lying on the side of the road Vicky she called her little sister's name [Music] she hurried home to tell her mom [Music] well right away that was an antenna for me because Vicky would have never left her bike in the middle of the street that was her pride and joy it was she took care of that bike like it was you know a prized possession Debbie Carlson drove to the spot with her daughter to collect cookies by cookies Stephanie checked the House nearby to see if anyone had seen her little sister [Music] shortly after loading Vicky's abandoned bike into the car Mrs Carlson was overwhelmed by emotion I was on my way back home I just uncontrollably started crying I just it was like I knew something was wrong it just was so out of character something was wrong Carlson called the Pima County Sheriff's Office [Music] she also called Mr Carlson home from work [Music] the little girl had been missing less than 90 minutes but concerned within the community and quickly everybody's reaction was the same that there was something wrong there was something not right with the situation Debbie Carlson provided photos of Vicki to deputies from the Pima County Sheriff's Department police retraced her route to see where she might have encountered trouble her destination was the mailbox in front of the convenience store near a busy intersection a deputy asked the manager if he'd seen the eight years heard you recognize her the manager recognized her from previous visits but hadn't seen it that day have you seen her in the last say hour or two deputies also canvassed the surrounding neighborhood they checked first at her best friend's house [Music] dispenser said that neither She nor her daughter had seen Vicky that day then her five-year-old son spoke up Becky he said Vicki had stopped by earlier looking for Jennifer after he told her she wasn't home Vicki rolled off toward her house apparently having already mailed as the little boy finished his story two older boys they said they'd also seen figgy riding away from the convenience store just minutes before the before the afternoon I saw a small black car with California plates was moving so slowly they passed it on their bikes they said it was heading in Vicki's Direction but they didn't wait to see if it passed her [Music] and they never noticed the driver a slow moving out of state car clearing it around the same time that he vanished struck the investigators as suspicious although it simply may have been someone's guest looking for a house number the sheriff had to consider the possibility that the little girl could have been abducted [Music] authorities take a case like this very seriously they've learned to expect to embrace for the worst the sheriff called in homicide detective Gary damers the sheriff decided that it was important to have the homicide detail handle this particular case because of The Disappearance of Vicki Lynn hoskinson it was felt that she had been abducted and that uh we were looking at a case that could eventually become a homicide case so we were called out a little earlier than usual foreign a few hours later a command center was set up at the nearby Elementary School which was closed for the day became the Clearinghouse for any information any leads as word of Vicki's disappearance spread there was no trouble finding volunteers to man the phones because sheriff's deputies along with hundreds of volunteers organized a search of the area they systematically moved out in concentric circles from Vicki's last known sighting upon the fields for some sign of the world but none was found even the dogs couldn't pick up her scent [Music] you know before you know it you know the minutes turned into half hour into hour and a more law enforcement more deputies started coming people within the neighborhood started coming over and everybody started looking for Vicki the deputy remained at the house should new information come available or a ransom call be made hours passed with no word the only calls were from concerned friends and family no they don't in terms of news there was still nothing [Music] still no Vicky under the federal kidnapping statute the Pima County Sheriff's Department was empowered to ask the FBI to enter the case on day two of Vicky's disappearance special agent Larry Bagley from the FBI's Tucson field office took the assignment the evidence was simply that a young child who was very responsible left home and her bicycle is found in the middle of the street and she never returned home and that was enough to trigger our entry under the kidnapping statute in the case of a missing child chances for a safe return increase when immediate action is taken the FBI had the power to extend the investigation beyond the State of Arizona [Music] the agent's participation gave Debbie Carlson hope for a quick resolution [Music] a few blocks away at the command center in the elementary school deputies and volunteers continued to work the phones by now it seemed that all of Tucson knew about The Disappearance of the four foot tall 60 pound good with auburn hair and it seemed like everyone was calling thank you some were pranksters some merely misinformed okay all had to be answered filtered and processed [Music] finally among the dozens of hopeful but futile tips and leads one call held a glimmer of hope a woman called to report that she thought she saw Vicki Lynn hoskinson at the mall the previous evening she was a clerk at a toy store she told authorities that a woman in a wide-brimmed hat came in with an upset little girl who looked like Vicki Lynn the woman tried to placate the child with a toy she paid cash for the purchase pulling it out of an envelope the clerk also noticed that she carried a shopping bag from another store in the mall after paying the two left arguing over what to have for dinner the clerk agreed to come to the command center to provide a sketch [Music] from her description a police artist created a composite drawing of the customer it was their first real lead [Music] from the way the woman was described treating the girl investigators believe she may have lost a child and was trying desperately to replace it with someone else's [Music] while it was reassuring to think that Vicky was being cared for by her abductor the theory had some nagging inconsistencies for agent Bagley it was pretty unlikely to me that someone would have taken Vicki Lynn and then took taken her to a public place and to be seen with her that and the fact that that Debbie said that Vicki Lynn would never knowingly accompany a stranger in public and not try to get away but perhaps Vicki did not run from the woman because she was not a stranger to the child [Music] investigators returned to Vicky's neighborhood hoping that someone would recognize really sketch and provide a name give me a call you guys have a good day a number of leads that I identified or people believed they identified this woman were telephone into the command post and each one of those leads were followed up by a investigator or a detective ma'am excuse me investigators canvas the mall including the store who's shopping from the Sheriff's Department I wanted this this the flirt there recognized the woman remembering that a little girl was with her and even commenting that the woman had worn a wide brimmed hat which wasn't included in the sketch as new Witnesses came forward all of Tucson held its breath with the hope that Vicki Lynn hoskinson would be would be found alive by the second day of the search for eight-year-old Vicki Lynn Hoskins the news coverage was extensive local and national news teams broadcast hourly updates though Vicki was reportedly seen in the Tucson mall the night before arguing with a strange woman it seemed implausible to agents and deputies that if Vicki was still alive her abductor would have taken her to a public place [Music] investigators continue to search in nearby rural areas they also continued to prepare themselves and Vicky's mother Debbie Carlson for the worst I remember them coming in and the second day on Tuesday and wanting access to Vicki's room you know they made us close up her room and they started taking hair samples from her bed they took her sheets they took her pillow they took her hairbrush they took all these things and almost like you know they were preparing a homicide case is basically it was what they were doing um and I was not real receptive to that you know because I in my mind this was not going to be a homicide case thank you despite their doubts investigators continue to pursue their only lead they needed to identify the woman in the mall who will witness believed had abducted Vicky at the nearby High School a student thought he recognized the woman's face [Music] he said he saw the woman with the little girl in a dark-colored car the previous afternoon he recalled the car was a black Monte Carlo a little girl who resembled Vicky was looking out of the window he believed that the woman driving was the same one depicted in the sketch investigators wondered if it was the same car seen earlier in the neighborhood by the two boys on the bikes okay the Monte Carlo that was seen was a lead for us because it sounded uh like it had a great deal of potential but there wasn't much we could do with it we did look for Monte Carlos and had and got no hits with that at the command center wouldn't of all ages were coming forward [Music] with her three-year-old um couldn't have been more she helped her son describe to investigators what he had seen the day before they lived across the street from where Vicki Lynn's bike was found earlier that afternoon she told the detective her son was playing in the front yard while she went into the house for just a moment the boy said he saw a little girl on the pink eye being knocked down by what he called a black race car he said a big girl with long hair got out of the car and helped the little girl in then they drove off this little boy had apparently witnessed the Abduction of Vicki Lynn hoskinson [Music] portrayal of events rekindled suspicions that Vicky may have been abducted by the woman from the mall but he was too young to give any more useful details and his mother hadn't seen or heard anything [Music] agents checked the spot where Vicki Lynn's bike had been found to see if anything had been overlooked thank you agent Bagley made a crucial find something that hadn't been reported earlier there was a fresh gouge on the post about 16 or 18 inches above the ground which was not the contact point for a large car so it looked to me like it was fresh it certainly appeared to me that perhaps the car that had hit the bicycle had run into this post he surmised that the small black car with California plates spotted just yards away could have been the car that struck the post at that height you know there's no evidence the agent asked if any other investigators had received reports of a black out-of-state car in the area one detective hat earlier that day he had taken a statement from Sam Hall the coach at the elementary school Paul reported seeing a suspicious vehicle at the schoolyard at about three o'clock on September 17th just 20 minutes before Vicki was last seen in the neighborhood [Music] he said he first noticed a low black car with California tags driving slowly near the schoolyard [Music] then he noticed that the driver was watching the children at play he described the driver as male with long hair and a beard just Paul told detective damers that when he looked at the stranger's face the chill went up and down his spine he described it as his hair raising on the back of his neck when he saw this individual so he kept a close eye on this subject as the man began to drive off Hall had the presence of mind to jot down his license number the next day when the gym teacher had heard that Vicki Lynn hoskinson was missing he believed that his sighting might be relevant when we obtain the license number from Sam Hall and heard his story it got me pretty excited because this was probably the break we were looking for [Music] would take several hours for the FBI to trace the license number to the car's owner investigators were uncertain if there was any connection between the strange woman at the mall and the bearded man in the car commencement each investigator in this case was highly charged with emotion because every hour that passes makes the likelihood that Vicki Lynn would be recovered safely it diminished with every hour time conspired against them and hoped for Vicki Lynn's safe return began to falter as day two came to a close September 19 1984. day three the hunt for Vicki Lynn Hoskins while the license plate for the small black car was being traced investigators continued collecting statements from potential Witnesses another neighborhood woman came in help me describe how her child was almost abducted when told investigators that you've been doing laundry in your apartment building thank you while she was busy with the machine the woman came in and tried to lure her child away [Music] to drive her off alone [Music] police showed the witness their sketch of the woman from the shopping mall no [Music] the drawing did not look like the woman who grabbed her boy but the mother couldn't be sure [Music] thank you police canvassed the area and found the woman in question [Music] she was a fixture in the neighborhood Accenture that ultimately harmless she was released another one of 200 or so dead ends that investigators pursued each one meant dashed hopes late that afternoon Mrs Carlson held a press conference with her family [Music] pleaded for Vicki's safe return by reaching out to millions of people through the Evening News she hoped someone would come forward with information on her young daughter's whereabouts one minute I had hoped they were going to find her in the next minute I was waiting for them to walk through the door and tell me they found her body and it was a roller coaster it's like am I gonna be having a funeral in three days um I'm gonna have my daughter in my arms in three days um is she gonna be one of those missing kids that is missing forever the FBI was inching closer to the answer the trace on the license plate led to a 28 year old Los Angeles man named Frank Jarvis Atwood agents gave the information to the FBI identification division to check for priors at 10 o'clock that evening we re received by fax a rap sheet from the identification Division and that about blew our mind because we noticed that there was a prior conviction for child molestation and another for kidnapping Frank Atwood was currently out on parole in California Arizona FBI alerted agents there they decided not to tell the Carlsons until they knew more the following morning day four in the case of Vicki Lynn hoskinson agents went to the LA address where Atwood's vehicle was registered [Music] it was the home of Atwood's parents retired army Brigadier General Frank Atwood senior and his wife is that what um Australia would like to ask you yeah it was acknowledged that their son had committed crimes in the past they also told investigators that he had visited a few days earlier but they didn't know where he was now agents told them that he might be involved in the kidnapping of a child and time was of the essence neither parent had any information to share if he does get in contact with either one agents left their business cards in case the Atwoods learned anything new the mother was very protective of him and uh the father listened to the pleas that perhaps if we acted soon enough that perhaps Vicki Lynn might be recovered alive a few hours after the agents left the Atwoods received a call you know it was their son Frank he needed their help he said his car had broken down in Texas and he needed money wired to him so he could get it fixed [Music] his mother took down the address and told him not to worry [Music] his father copied it and left the house [Music] pray that my son he went to a payphone and called the FBI at Chuck's garage he gave them the address of the garage in Kerrville Texas where his son Frank and a friend awaited money for a new transmission the California office called agents in Arizona who in turn called agents in Texas with a request to apprehend Frank Atwood foreign [Music] yeah yeah the manager confirmed that Atwood was there with one other man he didn't see anyone else with them sure he did not know if that wood was armed agents asked him to stall The Fugitive until an arrest team arrived the wheels were set in motion for the arrest of Frank Atwood thank you there was one more call that agent Bagley wasn't sure he should make the the problem is whether or not to let the parents know that we have a good lead on this it's breaking extremely fast we're worried about whether Vicki Lynn is with him in that car and all sorts of things go through your mind ultimately they decided to inform the causes of this sudden turnabout in the case of their missing building the story was too big to keep under wraps for much longer they came over before the arrest was made and they briefed us that they're about to make an arrest in another state and it was going to be on the TV and basically they briefed us on the situation who they were going to be arresting there was no signs of Vicki they had him under surveillance without any idea about where the little girl might be or even if she were still alive federal agents moved in to arrest Frank Atwood for kidnapping four days after Vicki Lynn hoskinson disappeared from Arizona the FBI made an arrest in Kerrville Texas [Music] Frank Edward and his traveling companion James McDonald were picked up without incident at an auto repair garage and held for suspected kidnapping [Music] there was no sign of Vicky [Music] Gary damers of the Tucson Sheriff's Department headed to Texas to interrogate him he told us that he would speak to us about certain things and there are certain things that he would not speak to us about some of the information that he provided was that he in fact was in the Tucson area on Romero Street Atwood's history of child molesting and kidnapping made him a likely suspect in the case [Music] Atwood admitted to being in Vicki's neighborhood on Monday September 17th the day she disappeared he said he had been staying in a nearby park at about three o'clock he left to buy drugs and returned to the park two hours later around 5 PM he wouldn't account for his whereabouts during those two lost hours he claimed he was not responsible for British disappearance [Music] James McDonald corroborated Atwood's story on the day in question he told investigators that he and Atwood had had an argument in the park at about three o'clock just after that Atwood left in his car for about two hours [Music] McDonald said that when Atwood returned around five o'clock he had blood on his hands and clothing Edward told him he'd gotten into a fight with a drug dealer and stabbed him McDonald also gave authorities the names of other people in Tucson that he and Atwood hung around with [Music] most were transients [Music] officially Focus shifted away from the mysterious woman at the mall and centered on Atwood but Debbie Carlson didn't want to entirely give up on the mall lady Theory first I really wanted to stick to that theory that it was probably a woman possibly who lost a child was trying to replace the child and I think that's what kept me going those first that first week was that possibly it was someone taking it would be someone who would be taking care of her foreign though Mrs Carlson held out hope investigators were less optimistic about a happy ending [Music] when he was arrested and she wasn't with him the reality really started to set in that those last words I love you were the last word that was good to me while the FBI scrambled for a warrant to search Atwood's car agents and Arizona authorities returned to Tucson the next day to track down the other Park dwellers mentioned by McDonald vulture Sheriff's Office investigators found two men who said that Atwood had spent a few nights in their trailer one of the men known as mad dog recalled seeing him there Monday night the night of Vicky's disappearance his story supported what Atwood's traveling companion Jim McDonald told the FBI McDonald said that he had observed Atwood on Monday afternoon with bloody clothes and blood on his knife and on his boots Mad Dog said the same thing separately that he had observed the same thing at his trailer and that they had even discussed that Atwood should get rid of his bloody clothes in the knife agents presented a warrant and searched the trailer for any evidence that might suggest kidnapping or murder initially it looked as if the search proved fruitful they collected a blanket that appeared to be Blood Stained along with a hairbrush believed to be Atwoods both were subjected to a battery of blood and fiber tests both revealed nothing [Music] Atwood's clothes and knife were never found [Music] the search continued both for evidence against Atwood and for some trace of the victim FBI agents and detectives including myself continue to search for Vicki Lynn hoskinson there was certain amount of frustration that it set in because we were unable to locate her the area is vast it's a lot of desert and trying to use all the investigative skills at you know available we had been unable to locate her but we continued to pursue any type of lead no clues to Vicki's whereabouts was scarce detectives continued to Canvas the park where Atwood had spent most of his time while in Tucson agents found a couple who knew Frank Atwood they also claimed to have seen the suspect in blood-stained clothes the day Vicky disappeared like the others Atwood told him that he had stabbed a double-crossing drug dealer [Music] while that was certainly possible the timing of the knife exactly at the time of Vicky's disappearance seemed to stretch coincidence though investigators now had corroborating stories that suggested Atwood's guilt they still had no physical evidence and nobody to prove that Vicki had been in his car they needed to match some hair or Fiber from the car with ones collected from the victim's bedroom it didn't turn out that way we didn't get a hair or fibers or blood that we could identify um during that time and even at this time the best forensic experts in the country were at the FBI and they were the ones that processed the vehicle so I truly believe that if there was something in there that could have been found it would have been found what agents were looking for wasn't inside the car but rather outside it FBI examiners lifted a sample of paint from Vicky's bike to compare to a speck of pink paint found on Atwood's front bumper foreign the paint spec just a few millimeters wide was tested at the FBI's materials analysis unit The Examiner first assigned the case passed away shortly after completing the tests former special agent examiner James Corby would re-examine the minute evidence usually the victim of a crime you have no association with the victim or the family and we work so many of those cases that you try not to get involved but it's very very difficult when a crime involves a baby or a small child somebody that's defense defenses and you find yourself I think working harder to try to establish something in the case but if it's not there I mean it's not there but you certainly I think take a more critical look at that case and I think it's Human Nature in microscopic and chemical tests Corby determined the bicycle's paint and the paint found on the bumper matched Corby also found chrome plating from the bumper smeared on the bike so what we have here is an interchange of materials the paint from the victim's bicycle was on the suspect's car the plating from the suspect's car is on the victim's bicycle and this interchange of materials establishes contact between the bicycle and the suspect's vehicle it was good but without a body it would not be enough to charge Frank Atwood Jr with the murder of Vicki Lynn hoskinson authorities brace themselves for a difficult case with few Witnesses few visible Clues and nobody [Music] the case against Atwood could easily slip through any one of those cracks almost three weeks after little Vicki Lynn hoskinson disappeared off a street in her Tucson neighborhood Frank Atwood Jr was arrested in Texas and charged with kidnapping Vicki was still missing and presumed dead investigators knew that if her body was not recovered prosecution for murder would be next to Impossible [Music] the Tucson Community Living this nightmare day by day soon learned that Atwood had slipped through the cracks before Atwood was currently on parole after serving three years of a five-year sentence after a child molestation charge involving a seven-year-old boy was plea bargained down to abduction the enraged citizens of Tucson marched in the streets behind Vicki's family to protest lenient laws against convicted child molesters most wore yellow ribbons to show their faith in Vicki's safe return that would fought extradition from Texas to Arizona [Music] with no evidence that Vicky had been taken across state lines the FBI dropped its federal charges against Frank Atwood but State charges of kidnapping still help in November more than a month since Vicki's disappearance Atwood returned to Arizona under heavy guard to stand trial for kidnapping Bale was denied and I don't remember the day that they says oh you know it will take probably at least six months and I'm thinking six months get out of here you're crazy little did we know it was going to take almost three years on December 3rd 1984 a clean shaven Frank Jarvis Atwood Jr pled not guilty at his arraignment due to publicity the judge ordered Atwood's trial to be moved from Tucson to Phoenix jury selection would prove long and arduous taking almost six weeks but the case continued to unfold on April 12 1985 a woman walking her dog just off the main road found a small human skull in the desert Northwest of Tucson we immediately cordoned off the area the FBI was called in to assist we systematically worked the area what had happened was that the body had been scattered the animals had actually gotten to it and had moved a number of parts around and we just took our time I think we were out there for five days collecting everything that we could possibly get out of that area about a hundred people meticulously scoured a 20 square mile stretch of desert investigators photograph the entire area to record the condition of the location [Music] forensic technicians marked areas where evidence was to be collected [Music] in a case with so little physical evidence overlooking the smallest bone fragment might prove costly 12 hours a day for five days authorities recovered and recorded bone fragments their location and their condition over 20 bags of evidence were delivered to the lab for identification in late May of 1985. including a portion of lower mandible that still held teeth a witness came forward who testified to seeing that would arrive in the area with a child then leave alone the coroner found that weathering on the bones was consistent with eight months exposure to the elements foreign [Music] these were the remains of Vicki Lynn hoskinson you know they found a lower the lower mandible for whole one year later one of the search and rescue people that searched for her remains had taken a bouquet of flowers and put it in that gopher hole where she found the lower mandible Vicki Lynn affected a lot of people these are people who never knew her as the vibrant tomboy little girl that we had and I don't think they're anyone who lived here during that time will ever forget how this community came together because of her [Music] Vicky's family laid her to rest on May 30th 1985. [Music] 500 mourners attended her funeral the community was outraged that the life of one of its youngest members was cut so short [Music] Debbie Carlson vowed that her daughter's death would have significance for the living I became very politically active to help fight for children's issues and we got a couple loss changed in the state of Arizona and I think that was my Saving Grace because it gave me some focus it gave me a focus away from the pain and the gut wrench and the the tearing at my heart that I felt every second to I was doing something positive for Vicki and for other kids that my daughter was not gonna die in vain she was going to make a difference Frank Atwood was indicted for first degree murder on March 26 1987 two and a half years after Vicki disappeared he was found guilty Frank Atwood was sentenced to death [Music] but a case like this is never truly over [Music] 16 years later memories of Hope and despair still linger [Music] never forget the sound of a helicopter to this day when I hear a helicopter I remember those days I remember the smell of the air the time of the year and the noise of a helicopter [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music]