Kidnapping suspect appears in court

Associated Press Writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- A woman accused of kidnapping a 16-month-old girl at a Chicago bus station on Christmas Eve appeared in court Friday, and the toddler's mother prepared to be reunited with her daughter.

Sheila Matthews, who was arrested Thursday on a tip from her boyfriend's mother, appeared before a U.S. magistrate.

Matthews, who gave her age as 35, sat quietly through the hearing, repeatedly rubbing her forehead. When Magistrate Mary Stanley asked her if she had any mental or physical illnesses that would prevent her from understanding the proceedings, she did not understand the question until her court-appointed attorney explained.

Stanley told her she was charged with a serious felony and could spend years in jail. She asked if she understood that. Matthews indicated she did.

Stanley set a hearing for Jan. 3 in Charleston and placed her into the custody of U.S. Marshals.

A nationwide search led authorities to a home in Williamson, where Matthews allegedly took Jasmine Anderson after snatching her from her mother, the FBI said.

The child was in good health and in the custody of West Virginia authorities until she could be reunited with her mother, Marcella Anderson. The FBI planned to fly Anderson here Friday afternoon for a private reunion.

Police say Matthews took the child to cover up a lie she made to her boyfriend -- that she had given birth while he was in a California prison. A tip from the boyfriend's mother led to the arrest, authorities said.

"We're really grateful to everyone who helped," Anderson said, fighting back tears. "Especially the family members who were brave enough to come forward and had really good hearts, and God bless everyone."

When Matthews' boyfriend was released from prison, she told him her mother was caring for the baby in Chicago, police said.

"When she went to the Greyhound station that night, she was looking to abduct a baby," said Philip Cline, chief of detectives for the Chicago Police Department. "And, unfortunately, Marcella was there with Jasmine."

Anderson said she and her two daughters were waiting for a bus home to Milwaukee on Monday when a woman with a tattoo on her neck approached. The woman offered to give them a ride home to Milwaukee.

The woman also suggested that she hold Jasmine while Anderson took her other daughter, 3-year-old Alicia, to return her bus tickets. Anderson said she was waiting in line when the woman disappeared with the toddler.

According to police, Matthews and her boyfriend later took the toddler to the house of one of his relatives in a Chicago suburb on Christmas Day.

Matthews "tried to pretend that the baby was her own," Cline said, dressing the girl in a Christmas dress and even posing with her in a photo later obtained by police.

Early Wednesday, the couple traveled with Jasmine to West Virginia. But their hosts spotted a photograph of Jasmine on television and called police Thursday.

FBI agent Jim Wise said when agents went to the house and broke the door down, Matthews seemed surprised and was argumentative.

The boyfriend, Dewallis Cortez Harris, was questioned and released, authorities said.

Matthews pleaded guilty in 1988 to a kidnapping charge in Washington, Officer Alice Casanova, a Chicago police department spokeswoman, said Friday. She abducted a 2 1/2-year-old girl from her parents in Seattle in 1987. The child was found unharmed about a month later.

Matthews was sentenced to 5 1/2 months in jail and 12 months of community supervision.

"Throw the book at her," said Nancy Matthews, the alleged abductor's grandmother. "She has done this two more times."

The Rev. Ron Reynolds, who lives across the street from Matthews in the railroad and coal town of Williamson 90 miles south of Charleston, said she had told him and his wife that she was pregnant with twins. He said she moved to the town about four months ago.

Matthews "seemed to be a real good person," said Eugene Thorn, Matthews' landlord. "She didn't bother me." He added that her boyfriend, Hairston, "seemed like a nice guy."