At Trial, Police Describe Search That Led to Kidnap-Rape Defendant Christina Regusters
By Tony Hanson
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Testimony in the trial of a 21-year-old woman charged with kidnapping a Philadelphia child from her elementary school and then sexually assaulting her focused today on the police investigation that led to the defendant.
Several investigators involved in the minutes, hours, days, and even weeks after the attack testified that the five-year-old victim repeatedly told her story in all its awful details, revisited the streets with investigators, and drove around in cars with them, trying to retrace her steps and uncover any information that would lead to her abductor and abuser.
Eventually, according to today's testimony, the girl did spot familiar steps and a wall. And all of that, combined with information from her that she had heard a talking bird in the house, plus a tip from the public, led to Regusters' home and defendant Christina Regusters, where a talking macaw named Marty was kept.
Regusters, who worked at a daycare the victim and siblings attended, has pleaded not guilty.
The defense has suggested through questioning that police made mistakes and failed to follow potential leads along the way, arguing this is a case of mistaken identity.