Kidnapped by the Grandparents

When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.
You are never a loser until you quit trying.
-Galatians 6:9

I heard an amazing story on the radio today. Imagine having your two children kidnapped by the grandparents! It happened twenty years ago. The parents just found their children in San Jose, California after new tips on the 'Cold Case'. It sounds like a potential movie 'based on a true story'. Here are excerpts from two recent articles published in the San Jose Mercury Newspaper:

The case began in 1988, authorities say, when the Baskins asked Debbie's parents to look after their two oldest children for a few months while they lived four hours away so Mark Baskin could complete his theological education. They took their youngest child, who had special needs, with them.

For nearly 20 years, Debbie and Mark Baskin feared their two children could be dead. They have been unable to shake the words they say Debbie's father spoke before vanishing from a small Tennessee town with the 7- and 8-year-olds:

"My father said he would kill them before he would ever let us see them," Debbie Baskin told reporters Thursday when she and her husband arrived from Georgia at the San Jose airport.

The couple said they hoped for a reunion with their 27-year-old son Bobby and 28-year-old daughter Christi. But the couple worried that their children were "brainwashed for 20 years" by their grandparents, who had accused the Baskins of sexual abuse and being involved in a satanic cult. Tennessee authorities had dismissed the allegations as untrue, which prompted the purported abduction on March 1, 1989.

"We have never stopped loving them, never stopped praying for them," Debbie Baskin, a school teacher who now lives in Vidalia, Ga., told reporters gathered at the airport, as captured in a KTVU video. "We don't want to pressure them, but we would love to see them."

The children have been living in San Jose for the past 20 years as Jonathan and Jennifer Bunting, names authorities say their grandparents gave them to conceal their identities. The grandparents also changed their names from Sandra and Marvin Maple to Frances and John Bunting. The children referred to their grandparents as their parents. Sandra Maple died two years ago.

"We want to help them remember the truth of who they are," Debbie Baskin said. She held up several color photos of her extended family — aunts, uncles, cousins — and said, "this is the missing piece. This is your family."

Most missing children cases don't end that way. Thousands of parents never hear a word about their children once they're kidnapped or simply disappear.

The detectives said they had talked to Christi Baskin — previously known as Jennifer Bunting — on the phone twice. When told her parents were flying to San Jose and wanted to see her, the young woman, who now is 28, said she would need time.

"She was tore up when she was on the phone," the detective said, adding: "This is an emotional bomb in her life. All of a sudden a man she knew as her father has been arrested for something that happened so long ago."

Jennifer Bunting's brother also lives in the San Jose area but the sheriff's detectives have not talked to him.

The detectives and San Jose Police Chief, Rob Davis said this case is a good example of why it's important to pay attention to missing children cases. They can be solved — sometimes — and one clue can lead to another.

"That anonymous caller is a hero in this case," Davis said. "They were individuals who knew him and put things together."

Twenty-five years ago today:

Tuesday, February 7, 1984

It was busy business day but I fought my way through it all. Helen and I walked to 'The Souper Express' and shared a sandwich and soup. It is really nice to have Helen back at the office.

During my afternoon break time I called Jerry Chalmers. He seemed happy to hear from me.
"I was wondering what happened since you didn't call back yesterday," Jerry said in a cheerful tone adding, "I had been thinking of you for some reason."
Jerry works at Monster Cable Company and seems so busy in that work environment. Our talk was brief but I did give him my residential telephone number. I wonder if he'll ever call me.

After work Helen and I went out for a Chinese food dinner. We had a good talk.
I read my three fortune cookies:
1. He is thinking of you now and tenderly. (Now, that's a joke, right?)
2. You will win prizes and contests testing your ability to answer questions.
3. The time is right to make new friends.

My Introduction to Production and Design class was 'okay'. There are a couple of fellow students that might interest me. The class seems so serious. I am sure I can hack it (or enjoy it) for the next nine weeks. Were were dismissed early on this first night of class (8:30pm).

I returned home and ate the rest of the leftover Chinese food dinner. I was alone watching some new show called "Riptide", starring Perry King.
I've had a 'closet crush' on this actor ever since I saw him in the 1975 'Mandingo' movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WC0F0_57LQ