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Colorado mom to freed detainee: Please call home

From Jim Spellman, CNN
Jamie Paulin-Ramirez is 'not an evil person' and is just 'looking for love,' her mother says.
Jamie Paulin-Ramirez is 'not an evil person' and is just 'looking for love,' her mother says.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • NEW: Mother urges woman released by Irish authorities to get in touch
  • Jamie Paulin-Ramirez vanished with her son on September 11, mother says
  • Citing unnamed sources, Wall Street Journal had linked her to alleged murder plot
  • Investigation involved alleged conspiracy targeting cartoonist, paper reported

Leadville, Colorado (CNN) -- The mother of a Colorado woman detained by Irish authorities is pleading for her daughter to get in touch now that the woman has been released.

Jamie Paulin-Ramirez reportedly was held in connection with an alleged international murder plot

"Jamie, I love you, call me. Come home. I want you to be safe," Christine Mott said Monday in an interview with CNN, adding, "I want you and your baby to be safe."

Paulin-Ramirez converted to Islam and moved to Ireland with her Algerian-born husband and her 6-year-old son, her mother said. She was detained last week by authorities in Waterford.

She was released from custody during the weekend, with Irish police saying there were no charges and she was not required to post bail. Paulin-Ramirez's son, Christian, is being held by Irish child protective services.

The 31-year-old Leadville, Colorado, woman converted to Islam last year and disappeared on September 11 along with her son, according to her mother. Mott said that her daughter corresponded with extremists on the Internet and adopted increasingly radical beliefs before she left Colorado.

Citing unnamed sources, The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Paulin-Ramirez had been arrested in connection with the investigation into an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who poked fun at the Muslim prophet, Mohammed.

Paulin-Ramirez would have been the second American woman to be linked to the alleged murder plot. Colleen LaRose, a Pennsylvania woman indicted March 4 for allegedly conspiring to support terrorists and kill a person in a foreign country, is the other.

Last year, LaRose, who authorities say called herself "Jihad Jane," agreed to kill a resident of Sweden, the indictment says, and a U.S. government official familiar with the case identified the target to CNN as Lars Vilks, a cartoonist who outraged some with a drawing of Mohammed.

Jamie, I love you, call me. Come home. I want you to be safe.
--Christine Mott, mother
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LaRose worked with at least five co-conspirators, the indictment says. Authorities did not identify them, but police in Ireland took seven people into custody last Tuesday in arrests that the U.S. official said were directly related to the investigation of the plot involving LaRose.

Irish police confirmed to CNN Saturday that seven people were arrested, though they would not release the identities or the reasons for the arrests. Four of the seven -- a married couple from Algeria, a Libyan woman and a woman whose nationality was not disclosed -- were later released, police said Saturday.

"She's not an evil person," Mott said of her daughter. "She was lonely, she was looking for someone to love her."

Mott said she was worried most about her grandson, Christian. She said she spoke with him several times by phone since they left Colorado, but she hasn't heard anything about his whereabouts or condition since Paulin-Ramirez was taken into custody last week.

Mott, the woman Christian calls Granmama, says the 6-year old loves dinosaurs and spoke of becoming a doctor one day. She describes him as a happy child who smiles a lot. Mott has grown concerned that Christian is being influenced by Paulin-Ramirez's radical beliefs.

"The baby told me all Christians are going to burn in hell," she said, referring to her grandson. "We want him back. We want him to be here."

"Now that little boy is in a foreign country with strangers, (he is) scared to death," she said. "We need to find some way, some help to get this little boy back here."

Paulin-Ramirez and her son lived with her mother and her stepfather, George Mott, before leaving in September, Christine Mott said.

"Unless she has a 180-degree change in her thought process, I don't believe I'm ever going to see them again," Christine Mott said.