Brother and sister found after their abduction 20 years ago

A US couple are hoping to be reunited with their son and daughter who were kidnapped 20 years ago.

According to police, Christi and Bobby Baskin were snatched by their grandparents, Marvin and Sandra Maple, in 1989 when the girl was eight and her brother seven.

The siblings have been living in San Jose, California, under the names Jennifer and Jonathan Bunting. She is now an ad executive while her brother is believed to be married with children.

Their parents, Debbie and Mark Baskin, are now flying to the city in the hope of being reunited with them for the first time in two decades.

Mr Baskin said: “I’m a little bit fearful of what they think about us, because they have been brainwashed for 20 years.”

His tearful wife added: “It’s a blessing to know that they were alive and well.”

Police closed in on Marvin Maple, 73, after a conversation about the abduction was overheard in a San Jose restaurant.

His wife, the victims’ grandmother, died in March 2006.

Tennessee police Lieutenant Bill Sharp said: “He was angry about a news report about the kidnapping and how it portrayed him.”

Debbie Baskin added: “I can’t imagine ever hurting my children, so what they’ve done to me has just been... I’ve never been able to understand it.”

Speaking about her father, she said: “I’m concerned about him. I know he’s not a nice person, but he’s still my father, and my heart is breaking. I think he is demented for what he did.”

Carl Avery, a friend of Maple, said he was shocked at the news.

“The whole story is totally unlike the person I know. He’s very nice.”