Sallisaw woman vows to stay in jail rather than disclose daughter's location

SALLISAW, Okla. (AP) -- A Sequoyah County woman says she'll stay in jail for the rest of her life rather than reveal where her 7-year-old daughter is.<br/><br/>Misty VanZandt has been in the Sequoyah

Monday, July 25th 2005, 9:44 am

By: News On 6

SALLISAW, Okla. (AP) -- A Sequoyah County woman says she'll stay in jail for the rest of her life rather than reveal where her 7-year-old daughter is.

Misty VanZandt has been in the Sequoyah County jail since last October when she was arrested in Texas, but her daughter wasn't with her.

VanZandt and the girl disappeared in late 2002 after her ex-husband won visitation rights.

VanZandt accuses her ex-husband of molesting the girl, but at least one doctor and Department of Human Services workers don't believe the girl was molested. A doctor and DHS workers say VanZandt shows characteristics of Munchausen by proxy. That's a mental condition in which a parent creates or exaggerates injury to a child to bring attention to the parent.

VanZandt says only that she left the girl in the care of "good Christian people" and hasn't spoken to them since last July.