Moore

January 5, 2000
Web posted at: 10:25 a.m. EST (1525 GMT)

In this story: Moore reportedly suffering from pneumonia Parents: Waited by the phone RELATED STORIES, SITES

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- The only American on the Indian Air Lines jetliner hijacked on Christmas Eve has returned to the United States on a Lufthansa flight from Germany.

Jeanne Moore, 53, a mother of three and grandmother of four, dodged hordes of newspeople at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday.

An airport security official said she shuttled to an undisclosed location, was very tired and would meet with her parents later.

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George Welch, Moore's brother-in-law, said she is suffering from pneumonia and plans to rest over the next few days.

"She sounds fine, just happy to be back in the good old United States," he said after speaking with Moore by phone. "She sounded a little tired. That could be expected after eight days of what she went through." Moore and other hostages were held for eight days after the hijacking.

Welch said she would be staying in the Los Angeles area for the next couple of days.

Moore, a therapist who works with handicapped children, lives in Bakersfield, California. One of her sons and a brother flew to Frankfurt, Germany, to meet her and bring her back home.

Her father, retired truck driver Harold Redding, 86, said he was not disappointed or overly surprised that he did not immediately get to greet his daughter at the airport, where family members had waited, and was looking forward to seeing her later.

He said he and his wife Marie, 85, spent most of the eight days she was being held hostage close to the phone at their home in Burbank and watching CNN for updates.

Redding said his daughter had tried to persuade her parents to join her on the vacation trip -- she wanted to see India's Taj Mahal -- but they declined because of health-related concerns.

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