OW: They're being called the real-life "Home Alone" couple. OW: David and Sharon Schoo, baffle and horrified a nation, all of us, and the case has caused many parents to second guess their choices about leaving their own children unattended at home. OW: `How could they do it?' asked People magazine. OW : An apparently normal, middle-class couple who departed this house in Saint Charles, Illinois, for a vacation in Acapulco, leaving behind their two little girls... OW: ...Nicole, who is nine, and Diana, four, to spend Christmas all alone. OW: When the parents, David and Sharon Schoo, landed at O'Hare, they were met by police, who handcuffed them before they stepped off the plane, and they were then taken immediately into custody and charged. Speaker 1: Child abandonment, a class 4 felony; cruel to children, class 4 felony; child endangerment, class A misdemeanor. OW: It has been reported the Schoos instructed their children before they left for Mexico that they could only eat two meals a day. OW: They were limited to dry cereal for breakfast and microwave meals for dinner. The parents kept a detailed inventory of the food in the house and warned the children they would be punished if they ate anything else. OW: A source close to the investigation says Nicole and Diana Schoo were kept locked up in their rooms for hours at a time. OW: Their parents reportedly did that by taking the push-button locks on their bedroom doors and installing those locks on the outside. OW: Investigators found hardware attached to the bedroom door frames, which allowed doors to be doubly secured with ropes. The Schoos' attorney responded to the media's attack on the couple. Gerard Kepple: Mr. Kepple, how does it feel to represent the most vilified or the most hated couple in America and perhaps even the world? GK: Well, first of all, I want to tell you, if that description has been given out about my clients, it's totally wrong. OW : Well, this is Toni Potts. And Toni lives right next door. Next door, right? Toni Potts: Right next door. OW: Right next door to the Schoo family. And we want to know if you saw any signs of strange behavior before this happened? OW: Toni said she's crying because she didn't know that--what we were saying in that tape piece. What didn't you know? You didn't know about the... TP: I didn't know about the locks. I didn't know anything other than they were very secretive and they guarded their privacy. TP: And that's fine. I have no problem with them wanting their privacy. I am not nosey. But I started getting concerned because I would see David and Sharon go out in the yard and maybe swim in the pool or work in the yard together. TP: And it wasn't even the first summer they lived there that I started noticing anything. It was--and then you have winter. OW: Mm-hmm. TP: So you don't know--but then this last summer, I didn't see the kids. I saw them once. And in the evening he let them go out in the yard. And the little girl was not allowed to stand at the bus stop with the other children. TP: She had to stand on her property. And they were never allowed to associate with the kids in the neighborhood. And I started getting concerned, and this is what I would like to see come out of this story. TP: These children are real, and I'm grateful to God that they didn't have to get hurt worse. OW: Mm-hmm. TP: Because I think very often if there was a house fire and they maybe got killed, right next door to me, you know, and it's so real for these kids, that, you know, this is Mommy and Daddy, and their house. OW: Well, one of the things that is interesting, when the little girl was being interviewed--the little Schoo child was being interviewed, I sense, and I don't know if all of you felt this, too, that she doesn't know how bad this is. OW: Because it must--it appears to be... TP: No. TP: She's so innocent. OW: ...something that goes on all the time with them. So she doesn't know how really awful it is to be left home alone... TP: And that's what worries me. OW: ...for nine days. TP: You know... TP:...what's going to happen to her when--you know, this is my parents. And I think so often for the children of--growing up with this tag named on your parents and I--I'm so worried about them. OW: Yeah. OW: Are they friendly people? Did they talk to you? TP: The first time I talked to Sharon--I only talked to her a couple times, and I was pregnant with my daughter. And we had a real nice conversation about childbirth and things like that. OW: Mm-hmm. TP: And then, after I had my daughter, she was not interested in seeing the baby when I brought her over. OW: Mm-hmm. TP: I was walking down the street, and she didn't show any interest in seeing the child at all. OW: Mm-hmm. TP: And after that, we just... OW: So the children ran to your friend's house? Another neighbor. TP: My girlfriend across the street. Mm-hmm. OW: Mm-hmm. When something went wrong with the fire alarm and... TP: Right. The fire alarm--apparently, they had been taking a bath, and the water splashed out and went down into the vents. OW: Mm-hmm. TP: And set off a smoke alarm. And Nicole got scared, and she called 911. And they said, `Is your mom home?' TP: And she said, `No.' And they said, `Well, get dressed and go outside.' So she ran--one neighbor wasn't home at the time. TP: So she ran--well, the little boy, Adam, said, `What's going on?' 'Cause they were out there--I guess they weren't dressed for winter. OW: Mm-hmm. TP: I don't know exactly how they were dressed. But the boy said, `What is going on?' And they said, `Well, the smoke alarm went off.' And they were afraid. And he said, `Well, come to my house.' So he brought them over, and that's how they got into Connie's house. OW: OK. Now Marie, you are friends of the Schoos. Are you a friend of Sharon? Marie: Yeah. OW: Yeah. M: I know Sharon from--she was married to my uncle. OW: Mm-hmm. M: And they had a son, Jose. And--well... OW: So when you say friend, what do you mean? You talk to her on a regular basis? M: We were always together. We were always together, me, her, and my uncle were always together. Everywhere they went, they took me. OW: OK. So when was the last time you had a conversation with her? M: With Sharon? It's been a lot of years, 15, 14. It's been a long time. OW: Mm-hmm. M: Ever since she gave up Jose. OW: Mm-hmm. M: Which--that's her 19-year-old son. OW: She gave up her 19-year-old son when he was about--What? --four years old? M: He was about three or four, yeah. OW: Mm-hmm. M: And she used to do the same thing to Jose when he was a baby. OW: You mean neglect him? M: Yes. OW: Mm-hmm. M: She would leave him home alone, and my uncle would get--she would leave in the morning after my uncle would leave to work. And then, he would come home and the baby would be crying. OW: Having been left home alone? M: Hungry. OW: So what do you think's going on here, if you knew her? M: I don't know. I am confused about her, because she--you know, she said she never--she told me one time it was a mistake that she had that baby, that she would never have any kids. OW: Mm-hmm. M: And, you know, when I seen her on TV, I was, like, shocked. You know, I couldn't believe it was her. OW: Uh-huh. M: But... OW: I would think you would believe it was her if she had already done this to another child. M: You know, it was just--she was different. OW: Well, on--on--on the phone right now from WLS-TV here in Chicago is Chuck Goudie. And Chuck is on the phone down in Acapulco. OW: And I understand you're the only reporter down there right now, Chuck. And what have you--what have you learned about the Schoos' visit there? Chuck Goudie: Well, Oprah, it would appear at this point that the--that the Schoos had been planning this trip for at least a month. Planning to leave for Acapulco and leave their kids home alone for Christmas. CG: They had determined that they bought cut-rate, round-trip airplane tickets on Continental to Mexico back in mid-November or so. CG: Of course, they told police that they came here to Acapulco on a vacation, but if that's the case, they certainly avoided the resorts traditional vacation areas. CG: We have learned down here that the Schoos checked in without reservations to a motel in the old Acapulco mountainside, a very tough place to find. CG: It's called the Hotel Versalles, it's not listed in any hotel guide. CG: Travel agents we spoke with have never heard of it. According to the manager we debriefed over a period of a couple of says, it was the Schoos' first visit. CG: He showed us the hotel records, indicating the Schoos paid about $30 a night, which is far less than the $100 to $200 per night charged by the beachside tourist hotels that cater to Americans. That's what they came here for, $30 a night. OW: So what do you think's going on? What have you assessed is--is going on here, Chuck? CG: Well, judging by what we found they did here, it does not appear that some of the so-called popular rumors are accurate. CG: There's no evidence that they got in trouble with the law here. They were strip searched when they came back into the United States. CG: There's no evidence that they brought any contraband back into the US. As a matter of fact, they apparently brought--bought some Christmas gifts down here. We found a couple of merchants where they bought things. OW: Bought things for themselves, for the children, or for... CG: Well, the merchants we talked to indicated that they--they bought some beachwear-type things. I don't know whether they bought if for the kids or for themselves. CG: But they--they said that they were bringing home Christmas presents for the kids when they arrived back in Chicago. Of course, those presents haven't apparently been delivered yet. CG: It--it would seem to me that what you have here is a couple not necessarily running to Acapulco to do anything, but running from something in Illinois. CG: Whether it's personal problems or marital problems or--or trying to get away from their kids or something like that. CG: They led a fairly quiet eight days when they were here in Acapulco. They weren't arrested; they weren't here for a court visit. Some people had thought that one of them might be sick and they came here for medical treatment. CG: We found no evidence of that. CG: It was curious, however, that within two days of this story becoming very big news back in Chicago and really around the world- CG: Within two days, they up and checked out of that hotel at 7:00 in the morning on December 26th. CG: They left the hotel, and we think they went into another hotel further up in the--the Acapulco mountains. But why anybody on a vacation would check out at 7:00 AM, abruptly, we have not been able to determine. OW: Must have seen CNN. CG: Well, CNN is on here. OW: Uh-huh. CG: Although, there was no television in their room. OW: Huh. CG: And they made no phone calls at all from their hotel, and they received none. OW: So never called back home to check on the kids? No records of that? CG: Not--at least not from the hotel room. They made no calls, not even on Christmas Day, and they received no calls. Of course, that's not to say that they might not have made a call from a--from a pay phone. OW: Well, thank you very much. Chuck, how long are you going to be there? CG: Well, we're tying up loose ends here. But--but at this point, it doesn't appear that there are many--many ends to tie up. CG: It looks like they came down here, left their kids at home, and came home to O'Hare Airport where they were arrested, they claim, by surprise. OW: So, all the speculation, all the rumors, the story may not be any deeper than the fact they just wanted to get away from their kids and left them home alone? CG: Well, it--it would certainly seem that way, at least at this point. The lawyer, as you know, has been--has been baiting the media in Chicago... OW: Right. CG: ...saying that when this all comes out, people won't think so poorly of their--of his client. But, I mean, we haven't found anything that would indicate that these--that these people are due any great sympathy. OW: OK, Chuck. Thanks a lot.
