Quotes from Katherine's lawyers
Katherine Jackson's attorney 'troubled' by family chaos
An attorney for Michael Jackson's mother said he has been unable to reach Katherine Jackson after her reported disappearance highlighted a simmering family dispute, but said he believes "nothing untoward" has happened to his client.
When asked where the 82-year-old family matriarch is and how she is doing, attorney Perry Sanders said: "We are working today on those two exact issues."
"I'm hoping this has all been a really big misunderstanding that just got out of control," he added.
Sanders said he believes his client is "safe in the technical sense of the word" and is with her daughter, Rebbie, but he has not spoken to her.
"I'm troubled because of the chaos that has ensued, but I have faith nothing untoward has happened to her," Sanders said.
Katherine Jackson was reported missing over the weekend, and although Los Angeles County sheriff's authorities and members of the Jackson family have said she was out of state with other family members, Paris Jackson — the late Michael Jackson's 14-year-old daughter — continues to publicly claim she is being kept from her grandmother.
"8 days and counting . something is really off , this isn’t like her at all .." she tweeted on Monday. "i wanna talk directly to my grandmother!!<|3"
On Tuesday morning, she tweeted again: "9 days and counting… so help me god i will make whoever did this pay."
Deputies responded to a family disturbance at Katherine Jackson's Calabasas home on Monday afternoon, but said the incident did not involve Michael Jackson's three children. Authorities who went to the home determined that a physical altercation had occurred between members of the Jackson family but no arrests were made.
Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore did not say which adult family members were involved, only that they determined the children were not part of the family fracas.
Meanwhile, deputies continue to investigate allegations from April that Michael Jackson's mother was being exploited by family members.
Whitmore said a business associate of the family made the accusation. Deputies interviewed Katherine Jackson, who denied the allegation.
The claim was that Katherine Jackson was being "emotionally and financially mistreated by family members," Whitmore said. "She emphatically denied the allegations, and deputies determined she was in good health."
Sanders said on Tuesday his client was "absolutely lucid as she can be."
Sanders said the children were currently under the care of T.J. Jackson, Katherine Jackson's grandson and Tito Jackson's son.
T.J. Jackson's guardianship was a "very temporary situation" that was "appropriate" while Katherine Jackson was away, Sanders said, but he stressed his client would "adamantly" fight any efforts to permanently rescind her guardianship of the children.
---------------------------------------
A lawyer for Katherine Jackson, Michael Jackson's mother and his children's legal guardian, said that she and the children do not know where their grandmother is and she believes the family matriarch is being kept in the dark about what has happened.
"We don't know where she is," attorney Sandra L. Ribera told "Nightline." "We know that she is in Arizona, allegedly, but we don't know where because law enforcement won't give us the address, because it is an ongoing investigation."
Watch the full story on "Nightline" tonight at 11:35 p.m. ET
Katherine Jackson, the 82-year-old legal guardian of her late son Michael Jackson's three children -- Prince, Paris and Blanket -- was reported missing on Saturday after her grandchildren hadn't heard from her in days. She was found "resting" with her daughter in Arizona. X17Online obtained a photo of Jackson smiling and playing Uno with family in Arizona.
Michael Jackson's siblings released a statement on Monday saying the missing person's report was "created by the very person and persons we are trying to protect our mother from."
Lester Cohen/WireImage/Getty Images
Left to right, Prince Michael Jackson,... View Full Size
Katherine Jackson's Lawyer Cites Family 'Ambush' Watch Video
Michael Jackson's Family Fallout: Siblings Eyeing Custody Battle? Watch Video
Katherine Jackson Reported Missing Watch Video
Ribera said that while the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department considered the case closed, they were "exhausting other options" to find Katherine Jackson, including seeking help from the FBI and local law enforcement in Arizona. She said Katherine Jackson is being preventing from contacting her grandchildren "by the people that she is staying with," but she declined to name anyone specifically.
Paris Jackson, 14, tweeted today, "9 days and counting... so help me god i will make whoever did this pay."
Sources told ABC News that a court-appointed child advocate met with Michael Jackson's children Monday night and is working with them so that they can rejoin their grandmother.
Court papers likely will be filed this week to demand that Katherine Jackson be allowed contact with the children. Sources told ABC News that the filing would likely include a request for a temporary guardian for the children, expected to be someone already around the children.
Ribera would not comment on any arrangements concerning temporary custody of the children, but said that Trent Jackson, Katherine Jackson's nephew and confidant who reported her missing, and Tito Jackson's children, including TJ Jackson, were at Katherine Jackson's Calabasas, Calif., home looking after them in her absence.
"All I can say is that efforts are being made as a result of what happened on Monday to make sure that the children are safe and well protected," Ribera said.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department responded to a "family disturbance" at the Jackson family home Monday after Ribera said Randy, Jermaine and Janet Jackson showed up, broke through a security gate and apparently tried to take Michael Jackson's kids away. Ribera said the scene was "chaos."
"It was surprise kind of greeting, it was friendly -- the kids love their aunts and uncles and cousins, of course -- but then it turned into yelling and flailing of arms," Ribera said. "It was very aggressive, a kind of ambush-type scenario, and I saw with my own eyes the kids exit down the back of the house into the canyon to escape."
Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said Monday there was a "scuffle" between two family members at Katherine Jackson's home, but no arrests were made. Ribera also declined to name who had been involved in the altercation and would only say that Janet Jackson grabbed Paris' cell phone.
"[The children] were very shaken up," Ribera said. "They don't understand why they're being prevented from talking to [Katherine Jackson] and why she's being prevented from calling them. It's been nine days. She's never done this."
