Lisa Marchesoni
Posted: Friday, February 6, 2009 4:12 pm

Parents Mark and Debbie Baskin appealed for a reunion with their adult children during a press conference Friday in San Jose, Calif., a sheriff’s sergeant said.

Their children, Christie and Bobby Baskin, were abducted when they were 8 and 7, respectively, almost 20 years ago from Rutherford County.

After a recent San Diego newspaper story about the missing children, two witnesses notified authorities about the identity of their maternal grandfather, Marvin Maple’s location, said Sgt. Dan Goodwin. Maple was charged Tuesday with kidnapping and is en route back to Rutherford County.

The Baskins, who now live in Vidalia, Ga., flew to San Jose when they learned their children were located. They have not yet been reunited with their children but appealed to them during the press conference, Goodwin said.

Goodwin and Lt. Bill Sharp of the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Cold Case Unit appeared with the Baskins in a television interview broadcast Friday on CBS’ “The Early Show.”

Debbie Baskin said she and her husband never stopped loving their children.

“That was an answer to prayer, knowing they were still alive,” Debbie Baskin said. She hopes her father will get help. “There’s no punishment that can give us back 20 years,” Debbie Baskin said. Her husband asked the children to remember when they were younger.

“They’ve been living a lie 20 years,” Mark Baskin said.