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Iowa Police Questioning Suspect Taken into Custody in Deaths of Seven People

Aired August 31, 2001 - 14:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: More now in those brutal killings in Iowa that we told you about last hour. Police there are questioning now a suspect that they have just taken into custody today in the deaths of seven people, five of which are children.

Joining us now with the latest, CNN's Jeff Flock in Sioux City -- Jeff.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Natalie, from outside police headquarters here in Sioux City, you see it over my shoulder, we have spent the past several hours combing through court documents and records, trying to get some sense of who this man is, Adam Matthew Moss. I want to tell you what we found in just a moment, but first, I want to take you out to the scene, one of the two scenes of these crimes discovered yesterday here in Sioux City. As you report, five children at the one scene, and then a woman, and then a man at another scene.

We're trying to determine, was there some parental relationship between Mr. Moss and any of the children that were killed. at this point, we have -- we are unable to make that connection at this point. It doesn't mean there isn't one, but we haven't made it at this point. We do believe we know the name of the female victim, but we're not reporting that at this hour.

We expect to have that confirmed for us by local authorities here in Iowa at the top of the hour, and then we'll have some better sense of that.

I can tell you this, though, based on our research of court documents, this is not someone with whom Mr. Moss had a relationship, a child relationship, and was ordered to pay back child support for earlier this year. That is not the same name. So whether or not he has parental relationship with any of the children that were killed, that we don't know at this point.

Let me tell some more about what we do know from our combing through the court documents. Mr. Moss, Adam Matthew Moss, with a long court record here, going back to juvenile days, where he had 25 charges of everything from possession of alcohol to open container of alcohol in a car, delinquency, speeding. Fast forward to '95, when his adult criminal record began, second-degree robbery, theft, burglary, driving on a revoked license in 1997, and then the child support issue earlier this year. The last thing that comes up, that was a domestic violence and an assault charge filed against him just nine days ago by his brother, and he got an order of protection against his brother, Adam Moss.

Curious enough, Mr. Moss was to appear in court yesterday, we have learned, to answer those charge. We now know that he did not appear, and now is in jail not too far from where we stand down the street on -- for questioning, in connection with these murders. That's what we know at this point, Natalie.

Back to you.

ALLEN: What are folks in town there, Jeff, saying about his arrest? The police chief indicated that this town had been terrified, that the suspect that they really wanted to bring in was out there on foot somewhere?

FLOCK: Well, you said it, he said it really takes a load off their mind. Obviously this man they believe, because he had been sighted here earlier this morning, they believed he was here, so this whole community, which of course is not really used to this sort of thing -- had a big plane crash here, which, of course, you remember back in the '80s. But other than that, not a whole lot of experience with this sort of an intensity, and loss of life in their community. So obviously, a big weight off the community right now.

ALLEN: Jeff Flock on the case there. We'll get back to you if there are any more developments. Thanks, Jeff.

And we'll take a break. More of CNN LIVE TODAY in just a moment.

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