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Fleeing Teacher, Student May Have Crossed Into Mexico, Officials Say

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By OSKAR GARCIA, The Associated Press

Published: November 3, 2007

OMAHA, Neb. - A female teacher and a 13-year-old boy believed to be on the run may have crossed the California border into Mexico, a police investigator said Friday.
Paul Schwarz of the Lexington Police Department in Nebraska said the white Pontiac owned by 25-year-old Kelsey Peterson crossed into Mexico around 11 p.m. Tuesday.

Police told KRVN-AM in Lexington the pair crossed at the San Ysidro Port of Entry near Tijuana, Mexico. Authorities said the car's license plate apparently was captured by a system that takes photos of cars crossing the border.

Peterson, a sixth-grade math teacher and basketball coach at Lexington Middle School, fled with the boy after police began investigating whether the pair had an intimate relationship, authorities said.

Authorities believed the two were traveling in Peterson's car, and police nationwide and the FBI were notified about them. Court documents said the boy was last seen Oct. 26.

A judge issued an arrest warrant Monday charging Peterson with kidnapping, child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Teacher Faces Federal Charges

Peterson also now faces federal charges, including transporting a minor across state lines or a foreign border for sexual activity, U.S. Attorney Joe Stecher said. Those charges were filed Thursday.

"The FBI is doing what we need to do to make the Mexican authorities aware that she is wanted," Stecher said.

The boy, Fernando Rodriguez, was an eighth-grader at the school, but district Superintendent Todd Chessmore said he wasn't sure whether Peterson had been his teacher.

According to court documents, Fernando's aunt, Laura Rodriguez, told police she talked to her nephew by phone after he disappeared, and he asked her whether a visa or passport was required to travel to Mexico.

Schwarz said the pair had not been spotted in Mexico. A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protections said he could not immediately respond to questions about the crossing.

Couple Professed Their Love

FBI spokeswoman Carrie Sawicki in Omaha said that under standard procedure, authorities would work with FBI officials in Mexico as well as Mexican authorities. She referred further questions to Dawson County Attorney Elizabeth Waterman, who did not immediately return messages seeking comment Friday.

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," according to the court documents.

Peterson's school-issued laptop contained letters to the student, including one from April saying she loved him, thought he loved her, was "100 percent faithful" to him and would always be faithful, the court documents state.

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