Watch
this story in Windows Media.
May 28, 2002
Watch
this story in Windows Media.
Christines sentenced for taking children at gunpoint
The couple, both 29, were convicted May 10 for robbery, custodial
interference and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Douglas County Circuit
Judge William Lasswell also sentenced Brian Christine to an additional five
years for being the one who actually pointed the .357-caliber Magnum pistol at
child welfare workers when he took the girls at a rest stop on Interstate 5.
"All the things I have ever done have been for my wife, who I would give
my life for, and my children, who I have given my life for," Brian
Christine told the judge, his voice breaking with emotion.
Speaking through tears, Ruth Christine said she knew what the couple had done
was wrong and she was sorry.
"I didn't believe that this day would come," Ruth Christine said.
"Today, all I want is to be with my husband and children. Those are my only
desires in this whole world."
Originally from Indiana, the Christines had been wandering the country for a
year in a converted city bus when they rolled into Grants Pass, a city of 23,000
in the forested mountains of southwestern Oregon, in the summer of 2000.
According to testimony, an anonymous caller told police that the three girls,
Bethany, then 5, Lydia, 3, and Miriam, 2, appeared to be starved and dehydrated.
The family bus was parked behind the Josephine County Library while Brian
Christine was inside using a computer to check his account on an internet
auction site. Ruth Christine was making lunch.
The girls told an officer that a cut on Lydia's forehead came from falling
down the bus stairs after her father slapped her on the head for wetting the
bed.
Authorities took the girls into state custody. At a hospital, a doctor
testified he found the girls malnourished and staff had to leave the room
because of the smell from the infected cut on Lydia's forehead. The girls were
hospitalized for four days. Miriam weighed just 15 pounds.
Investigators filed criminal mistreatment charges against the Christines, who
will face trial on those charges in July.
The defense portrayed the state Services to Children and Families as an
unsympathetic agency that should not have taken the girls in the first place.
According to testimony, the Christines practiced periodic fasting as part of
their religion, and Miriam had been sick.
The defense never disputed that on Aug. 1, 2001, Brian Christine pointed a
gun at two child welfare workers taking the girls back to a Bandon foster home
following a supervised visit with their parents, ordered the workers out of the
van and drove off with the girls to a nearby lumber mill.
Abandoning the van, the Christines and a friend drove to Montana, where they
were arrested a few days later after Brian Christine was stopped for speeding,
witnesses testified. Ruth Christine and the girls were staying at a ranch
outside Missoula, Mont.
The three girls are now in the custody of Ruth Christine's parents, who are
dairy farmers in England. Two other daughters who were born after the custody
troubles began - Olivia, 17 months, and Abby Rose, 7 months - live with Brian
Christine's mother, Teri, in Noblesville, Ind.
(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
ROSEBURG,
ORE. (AP) - Ruth and Brian Christine each were sentenced Tuesday to 7½ years in
prison for taking their three daughters at gunpoint from child welfare workers
while authorities investigated allegations the girls were starved and
mistreated.