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Show Murder. Abandonment! now Kidnapping unexplained fear. Four days before Christmas of 1971 "Al", as he was known in Cedar City told his wife he wanted to take a trip to Seattle to get some $8,000 due him while employed by Hoeing Aircraft. He assured her he would be back in time for Christmas and announced he wanted to take the baby for company. Mrs. Ruesch said she called the Elders of the Church, asking that they visit to persuade him to either take her along to care for the infant or leave the child home. Scott Chamberlain, serving as Bishop of the Ward in which the Fore's lived, described that evening in a letter prepared for Mrs. Ruesch to bring with her to Viloxi. Asked for help "Al was going on a business trip," Chamberlain wrote, "and he wanted to take the baby. Arlene didn't feel that he should because he was too young and she should care for him. She wanted to go. She expressed the fear that Al would leave her." ". . . Rut he. said he would take care of him and needed him along for company. He said he might not be home until Christmas. We felt, at the time, that Al had every right, as a father, to take the child." Six weeks later the Church issued descriptions and photographs of the father and child to all Mormon churches in the United States and Canada, after they failed to return. Pearson left the Cedar City family in difficult circumstances. "The week after he left police started to stop me in the street giving me a long list of bills that he had signed," Mrs. Ruesch said. "They said that because I was his wife I was responsible. I signed for thousands and thousands of dollars. It was only later I was assured I wouldn't need to pay them. But that was nearly two years later, because of the murder warrant." Hectic life Mrs. Ruesch described having to vacate her home because of nonpayment. non-payment. She told of an old acquaintence to whom she owed money turning away from her on the street, and at working at two jobs to support the family. The worst blow came with discovery of the bodies of Pearsons first family and with the knowledge of his false identity. "Even though the creidtors stopped I moved to Nevada. I couldn't find Continued on Page 3 Edith Dierhorst Back Sun-Herald , VILOXI, MISS. "If he loved the boy he wouldn't have taken him from me. He knew he was capable of murder and I was not," the mother said of her husband who left Cedar City with their infant son more than six years ago. Mrs. Arlene Ruesch, now of Las Vegas, thought she had ended the long search for the son taken by his father, James Arthur Pearson, VI. Last month Pearson, known in Utah (Cedar City) as Albert D. Fore, was apprehended and taken by Federal agents to California to face charges of murdering his first wife and two daughters in 19C9. Seeks custody Mrs. Ruesch, the second wife, came to Viloxi, to claim the child, now age seven, from Pearson's third wife, Jacqueline Watson, who was reportedly told that the mother of the child was dead. On the eve of the Chancery Court Hearing held last Wednesday on a habeas corpus writ, the child and his stepmother disappeared. Neighbors reported that Mrs. Watson vacated her house, loaded a U-Haul trailer, and left the area. The Harrison County Sheriff's Office, acting on a kidnapping charge filed by Mrs. Ruesch, has the case under investigation in-vestigation and an All-states bulletin has been issued. Taking action "I hated to do that," said Mrs. Ruesch. "I have no animosity for her. I'm grateful to her and to God that he's been safe and well all this time. I was never sure whether he had hurt my son." Earlier Mrs. Ruesch said that he hoped the two women could "work this out to the benefit of the boy with liberal visiting privileges and contact." con-tact." But after the disappearance she is not certain. Pearson's nine year trail included a dead woman and two teenagers in California, a wife and and children left penniless and abandoned in Cedar City, and a third wife faced now with kidnapping charges for fleeing with the child she has come to love as her own. Aliases Pearson, who is known under three different names during this time, is now in prison pending trial in Santa Clara, Calif, where the trail began. He left California in 1969, two weeks after the disappearance of Pauline, his wife of 20 years, and their two daughters, Mariann and Paula, ages 14 and 18 - a disappearance explained to neighbors as a trip to Pennsylvania to visit relatives who had been in an accident. It was not until March 1974 that a termite insepctor discovered the bodies of the three women wrapped in sacks and buried beneath the house. In Viloxi By then Pearson was in Viloxi, Miss, after having married two more women telling each his former wife had died. When apprehended in June Pearson reportedly confessed that he killed his wife and daughters because he believed the cigarette his eldest daughter was rolling contained marajuana. Mrs. Ruesch, who has since resumed the name of her first husband, met the man she knew as Albert D. Fore while she was working in a cafe and he was selling vacuum cleaners in Cedar City. They married in 1970 and in January 1971 their son was born and christened Albert D. Fore, Jr. Four of the children of her first marriage, age 12 to 16, were with the couple together with an Indian child who attended school in Utah spending vacation with his family on a New Mexico Reservation. Good marriage Mrs. Ruesch described her marriage as a good one, with "no problems until his disappearance." Her children "didn't argue with him, but they didn't care for him for no particular reason," she said, "but, did describe him, unlike herself, as a very strict man." He was "active in the church and civic minded. Never displaying the traits that led him to disappear with the baby leaving the family in debt, or any hint of a capability of killing. "Two weeks before he left I did feel that something was very wrong," said Mrs. Ruesch, but she could not identify the source of this feeling and there was nothing in his behavior, she said, that could link that feeling with him. His personal belongings included lists of things to do for the church, items to buy for the children. Controlled temper She described him as a man who controlled his feeling, "who covered up. I only saw him angry once and he quickly . got himself under control. He was very careful to hide any anger." Her "premonition" took the form of sudden wakefulness and 1 Murder, kidnapping Continued from front Page happiness there (Cedar City). Too many people had been hurt. All the people I loved were hurt the most.' Last month Mrs. Ruesch was working as a maid in a Las Vegas Nursing Home when a newspaper reporter called to say that "Al" had been apprehended in Mississippi and her son, now age 7 ., was alive and well. He had a new name -- George David WaLson IV -- and was with his stepmother, whom his father married in 1972. "I decided suddenly to come here," Mrs. Ruesch said, in the home of Viloxi friends. "I first thought I could do something from here. Bui, then I decided the only thing to do was to come here and avoid the problem of being out of state and gettinMawyers. I called my Church and they helped me find a place." Seeks custody It has been more than three weeks since Arlene Ruesch reached Viloxi. On July 17 her attorney filed a write of Habeas Corpus asking that the child be returned to his mother. August 2 wa set by the court for the hearing. In the interim, against the recommendations recom-mendations of her attorney, Mrs. Ruesch paid Mrs Watson a visit hoping to talk with her about the child. "She talked to me outside, but wouldn't let me see him. But he came to the window. I could tell it was him. He looked good, a fine boy. Later he ' stood in the half open door. He was 1 very curious but he didn't come out. His head was orl"one side and he was looking at me. I smiled at him. He just stood there wide-eyed," she said of the encounter. Telephone conservation A week later Mrs. Ruesch received a telephone call from Mrs. Watson expressing her anger about news accounts including "lies" about his cheating people. "I told her it was all true. But she can't face this. I feel sorry for her. She is not angry at the one person she should be angry with." Mrs. Ruesch reported that Mrs. Watson calmed down and agreed that the two of them should cooperate in the interest of the boy. Last Wednesday, (Aug. 2) when Mrs. WaLson failed to show up for the ''hearing in court, Mrs. Ruesch's attorney at-torney checked with the sheriff's office and learned that the subpoena had not been served on Mrs. Watson. After this inquiry a coastable visited the home, but Mrs. Watson was gone. Files suit Assistant Sheriff George Smith said "our department messed up and we didn't get around to serving the subpoena." Mrs. Ruesch, on the advice of her attorney, visited the Sheriff's office Thursday and after several discussions with Constable Smith, finally agreed to accept the kidnapping kid-napping charge. Tuesday, Aug. 8, Mrs. Watson was still not found. Harrison County officials of-ficials are expected to solicit the aid of the FBI if needed. Working here Mrs. Ruesch, funds dwindling, has found work as a maid in a Viloxi motel. She said she is prepared to remain in the area as long as necessary. Originally she hoped to gently and gradually introduce herself into the child's life so he would be upset as little as possible. She also agreed to talk to local press so "people can understand the situation and know what my husband did to me and to the people here." Pearson or Fore, as he was known in Cedar City, had a reputation in Viloxi similar to the one he created in Utah - a dedicated church and community worker. A good Joe. "And afterwards when I get my boy back," she said. "I'll want to spend time with him and won't want to talk to anyone. I don't want to hurt him with publicity." Seeks help Since Mrs. Watson disappeared with the child, however, Mrs. Ruesch believes publicity is important since it might help locate him. Numerous attempts to reach Mrs. Watson for comments were un-seccessful. un-seccessful. Her telephone was disconnected. Shortly after her husband was arrested Sheriff's officers of-ficers had to send away reporters who came from California to talk to her. Now these same officers are seeking the woman as a fugative. Meanwhile Mrs. Ruesch waits and prays looking at zerox copies of recent photographs of the boy that came to her by way of the Santa Clara jail, and a newspaper reporter. "He's very precious to me." |