Police in two San Francisco Bay-area cities are investigating whether other disappearances can be linked to the man suspected of keeping Jaycee Dugard captive behind his house for 18 years. One involves Michaela Garecht, who disappeared in 1988 when she was just 9-years-old. Her mother, Sharon Murch, spoke to John Roberts on "American Morning" Tuesday.

Full story: California police look at other disappearances

We're learning more today about what life was like for Jaycee Dugard during the 18 years that she spent with her alleged kidnappers. This past weekend she was reunited with her family, but there are still many unanswered questions about the case.

[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/08/31/allen.ernie.cnn.art.jpg caption="Ernie Allen of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children."]

Ernie Allen is president and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. He spoke to Kiran Chetry on CNN’s “American Morning” Monday about what life is like after a kidnapping and what needs to be done to prevent these crimes.

Kiran Chetry: There's so much to talk about in this case. Certainly there’s cause for celebration on the part of the family that after thinking their daughter was probably dead they find out that she is alive and are reunited with her.

But at the same time there’s so much tragedy involved. She had two children while being held prisoner for 18 years. What are the most important things that need to be kept in mind now as she’s starting to reintegrate with her real family?

Ernie Allen: Well, I think the most important test here is the need for patience. So often parents had these children frozen in their minds as a 10- or 11-year-old and everybody wants to go back to where they were. This is going to be a journey, a long process. This is going to be a process of life-long recovery for Jaycee. But she’s alive. There's hope for the future. She's young. We're very encouraged about the steps that are happening already.

Chetry: What about her children? An 11-year-old daughter and a 15-year-old daughter, fathered from what she’s saying and what this man Garrido is saying – are his children, as well.

Allen: Well, that's another challenge. And it represents really a two-sided picture. One is to these children he's their father. You can't suddenly go from dad to Satan to this evil person. So that's going to be very sensitive. The other thing is, apparently the children have been very sheltered. They’ve never gone to school. They had never seen a doctor before. But our hope here is that Jaycee will be a mom and that it will help her in her care for them as she goes forward.

• Friend: Kidnap victim's daughters seemed normal

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A serial bank robber has reportedly struck again. It's believed he's hit as many as ten banks in eight states across the South from Louisville, Kentucky to Charleston, South Carolina.

The FBI is releasing photos of the man and using electronic billboards along major highways to warn the public. The suspect is considered armed and dangerous.

FBI Agent Kevin Keithley in Johnson City, Tennessee spoke to John Roberts on CNN's "American Morning" Tuesday.

[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/08/03/intv.timoney.ramsey.cnn.jpg caption="Chief John Timoney of the Miami Police Department (L) and Commissioner Charles Ramsey of the Philadelphia Police Department (R)."]

Crime rates are falling in big cities across America, even though unemployment is high and it’s summer – two factors that historically are a prescription for trouble. So what's going on?

Commissioner Charles Ramsey of the Philadelphia Police Department and Chief John Timoney of the Miami Police Department spoke to Alina Cho on CNN’s “American Morning” Monday.

Alina Cho: Chief Timoney, I want to start with you. As I just said, we're dealing with a bad economy, the dog days of summer, usually a recipe for higher crime. But crime rates are actually falling in major cities across America. What exactly is going on in your estimation?

Chief John Timoney: Well I think it's a myth the whole notion there's a direct correlation between a bad economy and crime. All you have to do is really look at the Great Depression. Crime rates did not skyrocket. Similarly, here over the last year and a half – and we've monitored [it] pretty closely – the assumption is crime is down. So some guy that’s a truck driver one day, loses his job, goes out and commits robberies and burglaries the next day is simply not true. Over the last year and a half at our CompStat crime meetings, we're looking at the people that were arrested for these crimes and it’s the same people. It’s the frequent flyers, guys with 15, 25 prior arrests. If the economy had a direct impact we'd be arresting people for the first time and that's simply not happening.

• Watch the interview

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