Police: Arrested teacher, undocumented student had vague plan of life together in Mexico
By MARK STEVENSON
Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
updated 3:19 p.m. MT, Sat., Nov. 3, 2007
MEXICO CITY - A female teacher and a 13-year-old student planned some sort of life together in Mexico after fleeing Nebraska together, but they were tripped up by a lack of cash, the Baja California policeman who detained the pair said Saturday.

Kelsey Peterson, a 25-year-old sixth-grade math teacher and basketball coach at Lexington Middle School, was detained Friday in the border city of Mexicali.

She was turned over to the FBI early Saturday and remains in custody. The boy, Fernando Rodriguez, is staying with relatives in Mexicali.

As an undocumented migrant, Rodriguez apparently will not be allowed to return to the United States. But police here have told him to stay in touch in case he is needed to testify in any possible criminal case.

Baja California state police coordinator Alfredo Arenas, who detained Peterson in the parking lot of a Mexicali shopping mall, said the boy told him the pair had a vague plan to live a life in hiding in central or southern Mexico.

"They didn't have a very well-defined plan, it was basically to continue driving deeper into Mexico to hide," Arenas told The Associated Press. "This was a mutual agreement to flee, after the story came out that they were having sex."

But after driving all the way to the border from Nebraska, the pair was low on money. Arenas said Peterson had only about US$400 (euro275) with her when she was detained.

Arenas said the boy told him he had called a relative in the United States to ask for money to continue their journey. The relative told the FBI about the call, and the FBI in turn alerted Arena's special police unit about the intended meeting with the relative at the shopping mall.

Arenas said that when he tapped on the window of her car and asked her to get out, Peterson denied being the person police were seeking. But when shown a wanted poster, she quickly submitted without resistance. The boy was waiting about 10 yards (meters) from the car.

Rodriguez may eventually return to his family's hometown in the central state of Guanajuato, but that does not appear to be where the pair were fleeing, Arenas said. Instead, they may have sought anonymity in some other part of Mexico.

The two apparently stayed Thursday night at a local hotel, but checked out in the early hours of Friday. Police were already alerted to their movements after Peterson's car was spotted crossing into Mexico on Tuesday, and arrived just after they left the hotel.

A U.S. judge issued an arrest warrant Monday charging Peterson with kidnapping, child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. It was not immediately clear where Peterson was being held.

She also faces federal charges, filed Thursday, that include transporting a minor across state lines or a foreign border for sexual activity.

Court documents showed authorities had recovered several e-mails and letters in which Peterson and the boy professed their affection for one another.

In letters, the boy called Peterson his "Baby Gurl" and said their relationship was "just not about the sex but that it was pretty good," according to the court documents.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who may be victims of sex crimes, but the boy's name had been widely publicized as police searched for him.

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