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Nancy Grace

Missing in America

Aired July 04, 2005 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

NANCY GRACE, HOST: Tonight, an American epidemic, people who go missing. Staggering numbers, just under 1 million people a year, many of them never found again, 850,000 of them children. Tonight, missing, murdered and unsolved. We want answers.
Good evening, everybody. I`m Nancy Grace. Thank you for being with us tonight.

The unsolved homicide of a little boy and two beautiful girls who vanished without a trace. We need your help. A teenager full of life, Brianna Maitland, just 17-years-old when she disappeared. Brianna last seen more than a year ago working at a restaurant near her home in Montgomery, Vermont.

And Tamika Huston, vanished spring 2004. Last seen near Spartanburg, South Carolina. Tamika`s car abandoned.

But first, a precious little boy. Snips, and snails, and puppy dog tails, that`s what little boys are made off. Thirteen-year-old Chuckie Mauk, riding his bike to the corner store for bubble gum, gunned down off his bike, still holding the gum he had just bought only one block away from his Georgia home.

Tonight, a story near and dear to my heart, from my hometown, Macon, Georgia, Chuckie`s mother Cathy Miller is with us, police captain Robert Clark. In Knoxville, Tennessee, the original investigator on the case, Harry Enckler. In New York, psychologist Robi Ludwig. In San Francisco, victims` rights advocate, Marc Klaas.

Welcome to everyone.

First, I want to go Chuckie`s mom, Cathy Miller. Thank you for being with us, Cathy. Cathy, what happened the day Chuckie was killed?

CATHY MILLER, MOTHER OF MURDERED 13-YEAR-OLD BOY: What happened, he had just gone up to the store to get some gum for school the next day. And he was on his way home. And something happened. One of his friends came and got my husband and I and told us that Chuck was hurt. We ran up there, and that`s when we found Chuckie.

GRACE: How did you find him? Where was he? What condition?

MILLER: He was laying by his bicycle, facedown under a streetlight. That was my last vision of Chuck.

GRACE: Cathy, I hardly even know what to say for you to find Chuckie like that. I`m so sorry, just so sorry.

MILLER: Thank you. Thank you, Nancy.

GRACE: It is my understanding, Captain Clark, that Chuckie had gone to, as I call it, a 7-11, a corner store, to get gun, and a white male approached him in the car and spoke to him. And then suddenly, as Chuckie was still on his bicycle, shot the boy dead and took off.

CAPTAIN ROBERT CLARK, HEADS INVESTIGATION OF CHUCKIE MAUK`S MURDER: We know from witnesses that Chuck was on his bicycle, that he talked to someone in a white vehicle, possibly an Oldsmobile, for somewhere between maybe 10 and 15 minutes. And this took place between his home and the little store where he bought the gum at.

As some people that were walking through the neighborhood heard a gunshot, they looked up. That vehicle was leaving, and they discovered Chuck on the ground.

GRACE: Elizabeth, could you show the shot of that composite sketch? I want to go to Henry Enckler, the original investigator on this case.

Thank you for being with us, sir. What do you remember about the call you received the day Chuckie was killed?

HARRY ENCKLER, ORIGINAL INVESTIGATOR IN CHUCKIE MAUK CASE: Well, I was called at home. It happened between 8:15 and 8:30 on the 17th of February 1986. And when I first got to the scene, Chuckie was laying in a pool of blood...

GRACE: Oh, god.

ENCKLER: ... beside his bicycle, probably 12 to 15 foot off the roadway. The initial call come in as a hit-and-run. And it was just too much blood for that at the scene. It was all coming from the head.

GRACE: Henry, question, how did -- where did this composite come from? I mean, there had to be a witness to what happened. And you`re saying white Oldsmobile?

ENCKLER: Well, there were several people. This is close to an intersection where there is a red light so people have to slow down and stop. And several people noticed Chuckie talking to this guy in a white car.

Some people that -- there used to be a restaurant at this corner, also, which is recently or some time ago closed. They saw the white car. One of the composites come from the people in the restaurant. And two of them come from people riding by that knew Chuckie.

GRACE: Right.

Let me go to Cathy Miller. This is Chuckie Mauk`s mom. Cathy, these years must have taken such a toll on you, all these years you`ve been wondering what happened to your little boy. And that vision -- I can`t even imagine it.

I was spared that as a crime victim. But to have that vision of him dead in your heart all these years...

MILLER: Nancy, it`s really something no parent should ever have to find. It`s been 19 years. And every year, you try, you do something, you know, to try to solve this case. I have to be Chuckie`s voice now. And I just -- I keep searching for answers.

GRACE: When I look at these pictures of Chuckie, it`s overwhelming. Some guy gunned this boy down when he was riding on his little bike to get gum, for Pete`s sake. I mean, what could be more cruel?

Robi Ludwig, there is a special place in Hell for people that hurt, much less kill children. Is there any way -- do you believe people can recover a memory this many years later?

DR. ROBI LUDWIG, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: You know, it`s possible, especially if it was somebody who knew Chuckie and especially when you witness a traumatic event. Sometimes it gets frozen in time so that your memory can be very clear.

Having said that, if it was somebody that really did not know Chuckie, then it would be harder because, as the memory works, we kind of fill in the gaps with things that we don`t remember, and then we become very firm in our idea of our memory, whether it truly happened or not. But it`s something that absolutely should be explored.

GRACE: And how can families, mothers, fathers, deal with all of these years of not knowing?

LUDWIG: It is so painful. I mean, it is so hard. What I recommend is that parents join other victims` groups so that they can get the support that they need.

GRACE: In December of 2004, the Carole Sund Carrington Memorial Fund began to offer a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Chuckie`s killer. Take a look at Chuckie Mauk.

Cathy, if you speak out to whom ever knows about Chuckie tonight, when would you say?

MILLER: Nancy, I guess that`s something I think about all the time. Chuckie would be 33-years-old this year. For our family, if you could just come forward with any kind of information, it might be very minute, but it could lead to an arrest. Just please come forward and help us put a closure to this.

GRACE: Cathy, I know I`m guilty of this sometimes. And it`s really not helpful. But do you ever think back on what you have missed, all these years without Chuckie?

MILLER: Nancy, I do. I think of all of the possibilities that he had. I see his friends now, and they`re married, and they have children. And Chuckie missed out on that. I missed out on that. We all missed out on that.

And the possibilities of what he could have done or what he could have been were just endless. He was a wonderful 13-year-old boy who was full of life and had these incredible blue eyes. And I think about him every day.

GRACE: What a mother you are to still be fighting and struggling all these years later. Thank you.

Thank you for being with us, Cathy.

MILLER: Thank you, Nancy.

GRACE: Yes, ma`am.

Quick break, everyone. Please stay with us.

Let`s go out with a picture of Chuckie and the composite, Elizabeth.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: Tonight, in Miami, Tamika Houston`s aunt, Rebkah Howard, Lieutenant Steve Lamb of the Spartanburg, South Carolina, public safety department, and WYFF reporter Kelly Coakley.

Let`s first go to Kelly Coakley. Welcome, friend. Bring us up-to- date on Tamika`s case.

KELLY COAKLEY, WYFF REPORTER: Let me start off by giving you a little timeline. Tamika was last seen sometime last May. She was reported missing sometime early June 2004. A few weeks later, investigators searched her home in Spartanburg and said they found no signs of foul play. They did find her dog that had appeared to have been there for some time by himself.

Now, a few weeks after that, Tamika`s car, was found at a nearby apartment complex. Moving ahead to July, during July her family first offered a reward -- I believe initially it was for $5,000. By the end of the month, they had increased that reward.

And during that time, they also gathered a large group of people together in Spartanburg to come and post signs with Tamika`s picture just to draw attention, to get her name out there, to let folks know that she was missing.

Now, throughout the whole end of last year, this case was classified as no foul play. But investigators changed that after the start of this year when they found forensic evidence. That forensic evidence we later found out was blood that was linked to Tamika Huston.

That blood was found in an apartment in Spartanburg. Investigators had to initially run tests on that to confirm that. But once they were able to, that`s when the nature of the case changed.

Now, in February, Spartanburg public safety did tell us that they did have a person of interest in custody. Now, that person is not being held in connection with this case. He is being held on a federal parole violation. But I`m told by investigators that they continue to talk with him to question him to try to find out what could have happened to Tamika, what his involvement could be.

Now moving up to date in March, Klaas Kids, which is a national organization that helps with the search of missing people and children, decided to take part in the search for Tamika. They did come here, and they searched the area, searched some parks and some other things, but were not able to find anything in connection with this case.

GRACE: Speaking of, let`s go straight out to Marc Klaas. His organization, Beyond Missing, is with us, victims` rights advocate. What attracted you to Tamika`s case?

MARC KLAAS, VICTIMS` RIGHTS ADVOCATE: Well, we were asked by her family to intervene and perhaps do a search for her. So our national search director, Brad Dennis, contacted Spartanburg Police or Spartanburg Public Safety to see if there was anything they might be able to do further the case, and conducted a search using professionals from around the country using scented dogs, basically to see if they might be able to locate her, but also to be able to eliminate various geographies.

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: But Marc, Marc, Marc, this case, seemingly, has fallen through the cracks. Why were you first attracted to helping find this girl?

KLAAS: We were asked by the family. I mean, that`s the thing. We have to wait until the family contacts us. We don`t have the resources to be able to push ourselves out there.

They did contact us. We weren`t looking for any missing children at the time. Our search director knows the area, is familiar with the area, was more than happy to go up and do what he could to assist.

GRACE: Everybody, take a look at Tamika Huston. Here are shots of her.

Right now, I`m want to go straight out to Lieutenant Steve Lamb. Steve is with the Spartanburg Public Safety Department.

Steve, what can you tell us about the case?

STEVE LAMB, SPARTANBURG PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENT: We`ve worked months on this case and we have not been able to locate Tamika. We located what we believe is Tamika`s crime scene of January this year. We still have not located her, and we do have a person of interest that`s linked to that crime scene that we have in custody on unrelated charges.

GRACE: I want to go very quickly to Tamika`s aunt. She is with us tonight, Rebkah Howard.

You two were like sisters. How has this affected your life?

REBKAH HOWARD, AUNT OF TAMIKA HUSTON: It`s been an unbelievably difficult experience, not only for me, but, of course, our entire family. Tamika`s mother has been -- I mean, it`s just tragic. I don`t know how she`s getting by day-to-day, frankly, without her only daughter.

GRACE: To Dr. Robi Ludwig, what`s your take on the disappearance?

LUDWIG: I think it sounds like foul play, that somebody who knew her, or had contact with her, or saw her somehow was involved in her disappearance.

GRACE: Very quickly, back to Rebkah Howard, Tamika`s aunt. Rebkah, if you speak out to Tamika or who knows about Tamika tonight, what would you say?

HOWARD: Our family continued to appeal to the person or persons that are out there that know what happened to Tamika. We continue to appeal. I mean, our family is struggling and in such a way that -- I mean, I wouldn`t wish this on my worst enemy.

Again, we beg them to come forward with any information that they have about her disappearance. If she`s no longer with us, we`d like to be able to put her to rest, you know, respectfully, and have some sort of closure for this case.

GRACE: Rebkah, why do you think your niece`s case did not get more public attention?

HOWARD: You know, I don`t think it`s a conscious effort on the part of news directors or producers in excluding Tamika from their coverage. I do think that producers have found a formula that works.

And I think it may stretch back to the Chandra Levy case or even before that, where they tended to be young, white, attractive, missing women that come from either middle class or affluent background. And once those cases resolve, once the Chandra Levy case resolved itself, they were looking for the next case to follow that would fit a specific formula, and it would be successful for them.

So again, I don`t think it was a conscious effort, but I really have had a difficult time getting national, public attention for this case. And I`ve been doing it since day one, or trying to.

GRACE: Rebkah Howard is Tamika`s aunt, still struggling with her disappearance. Thank you, Rebkah. Quick break, everyone. We`ll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: Tamika Huston, missing. Take a look. An incredible 1 million people go missing every year, 850,000 of them children. Let`s go straight out to Tamika`s aunt. Joining us is Rebkah Howard.

You know, Tamika was an incredible girl. She actually tried -- wanted to be on "American Idol," right?

HOWARD: Yes, she did. She always had -- she always aspired to be a singer since the time she was a child. She grew up in the church with her grandmother and really honed her singing skills.

That was actually tape from my wedding. She sang at my wedding. We had talked about from the time we were kids that she would always sing at my wedding. And that`s very moving.

GRACE: Rebkah, it really struck you as odd when you found out her little dog had been left behind. Why?

HOWARD: Because Macy -- that was Tamika`s dog -- and Macy was like Tamika`s child. She doesn`t have any children, so she treated Macy as though that were her baby. Whenever she went out of town, she would find someone to watch Macy, baby-sitters, I mean, without question.

I knew when they found Macy in that home shortly after we reported her missing, I knew something was terribly wrong. Macy was pregnant and had given birth to puppies during that time, as well. And not all of them survived. It was just -- it was devastating for us at that point. We knew something had gone terribly wrong that the point.

GRACE: Let`s go straight back to Lieutenant Steve Lamb. Lieutenant Lamb, it`s hard for me to accept that this trail is cold. What`s happening now in the investigation of the case?

LAMB: Well, the trail`s not cold. We have worked almost an entire year on this case, still working actually today. We feel like we have a suspect, or a person of interest, a person that we feel like is directly related to this case. We`re taking our time to make sure that we don`t miss anything and that we`re preparing a strong case for our local solicitor to prosecute.

GRACE: Quite a while, Marc Klaas. Do you find this unusual?

KLAAS: Well, no, it`s not unusual at all. Oftentimes, you know, they don`t have a body. I mean, that`s a problem. Everything that they might have thus far is circumstantial, with the exception of the pool of blood they found in the person of interest`s former apartment which connected him directly to, I guess, at least, Tamika, if not her disappearance.

But you know, one of the problems that exists when adults go missing is that there are so few resources available. Now, I would suggest that Rebkah was very, very kind in her analysis of why Tamika didn`t get the attention that she deserved, because it extends down to children, as well. It`s always white little girls -- not even boys -- but white little girls that get the attention.

GRACE: Back to Kelly Coakley, with WYFF-TV. Kelly, is the interest still alive regarding finding Tamika or has she slipped through the cracks as of now?

COAKLEY: Absolutely. I don`t believe for anything in this local television market -- I can`t speak for the national level -- but we continually check in on a regular basis. And I`m sure the other stations in the market do, too, to find out what is the latest with the case.

And Public Safety has been very helpful when we have inquired what`s going on, what can you tell us? If there`s something they can tell us, they do. And I know that I`ve personally spoken with Rebkah several times. I`ve also talked with Anthony (ph.

And we try when we can, if there`s reason to update, to make sure that this story does get updated. And I do think that people in Spartanburg County and in a greater viewing area that we serve do have an interest in this case and would like to see it solved.

GRACE: Right. Right.

Let me go to Rebkah Howard, Tamika`s aunt. Rebkah, this strikes me as very unusual. Police found blood in the apartment which matched Tamika`s DNA. The police call this person a person of interest. He has not been charged.

But in addition to her DNA being found on the carpet, Rebkah, the guy rented a steam cleaner for his carpet. And when he was asked, he said it was to remove ketchup that had been spilled during a break-in. So the burglar came in, had a little cookout, and spilled some ketchup? I`ve never heard anything like it in my life.

HOWARD: Yes, apparently. I don`t think this person that we`re talking about is necessarily the brightest person, clearly, with that explanation. So obviously, we`re very concerned about his statements. And I`m sure the police are, as well.

GRACE: Now, Lieutenant Steve Lamb, Crimestoppers has offered a $20,000 reward for any information leading to Tamika Houston. Is that correct?

LAMB: Yes, $30,000 been offered by the family.

GRACE: And back to Tamika`s aunt, Rebkah Howard. Final thoughts?

HOWARD: Again, whenever I have an opportunity to speak to media about Tamika`s case, I always make an appeal on behalf of my family for someone, anyone that knows something to please come forward with information about Tamika`s disappearance.

We`re desperate. It`s going on a year now since she`s been gone from our lives. And it`s been the most difficult year, I think, our family has gone through.

GRACE: Final thoughts, Robi?

LUDWIG: Yes, that this is a girl who`s very loved by family and connected to family. So clearly she wouldn`t leave of her own volition and not contact anyone. It really sounds like somebody saw her and for whatever reason, due to their own craziness that triggered a violent impulse. And the police are working very hard to discover who that person is.

GRACE: Quick break, everyone.

As you know, we at NANCY GRACE want desperately to help solve unsolved homicides, find missing people. Take a look at Ariet Girgis. September 29, 2004, two men entered her Westminster, California, home, killing her and beating one of her sons. Police still have not found the killer. If you have any information on Ariet Girgis, please call the Carole Sund Carrington Foundation toll-free, 888-813-8389. Please help us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: Tonight in Burlington, Vermont, Brianna`s parents, Bruce and Kellie Maitland, Detective Lieutenant Brian Miller of the Vermont State Police, and Sam Hemingway, a reporter with "The Burlington Free Press." Welcome to everyone.

Very quickly, let`s go to Sam Hemingway to Bring us up to date. Sam, what`s the latest on the story?

SAM HEMINGWAY, "BURLINGTON FREE PRESS" REPORTER: In March of `04, Brianna was working at a restaurant in a small, very rural town in northern Vermont. She came out after work around 11:00 o`clock on a Friday night and vanished. She took -- got in -- presumably got into her car. We really don`t even know that. And her car was found the next day smashed into the side of an abandoned house nearby, about a mile away. And there`s really been very little in the way of clues ever since. It`s been a true mystery in terms of what happened to her.

GRACE: Well, Sam, was there any evidence of foul play in the car?

HEMINGWAY: Not really. The car was a little disheveled, but she left behind a couple of paychecks on her -- the car seat. There was no clear sign that there was a struggle. In fact, the police still don`t really classify this as a case of foul play. For a while, they just looked like it was a missing person, maybe a runaway situation. They are still -- there`s just very little evidence to know exactly what happened to her.

GRACE: To Bruce and Kellie Maitland. They are Brianna`s parents. Welcome to both of you. Kellie, Brianna doesn`t strike me as the kind of young girl that would run away. She doesn`t really fit the profile of a runaway.

KELLIE MAITLAND, MISSING GIRL`S MOTHER: There wasn`t a reason to. Brianna was very self-confident. She was living with a friend. It wasn`t like she was running from our restrictions or had an argument or problem with us. We got along wonderfully. Every few days, we`d go out and have girls` day out together. No, Brianna didn`t run away. I`m 100 percent sure that Brianna was abducted.

GRACE: Bruce, when you first found out about Brianna`s car, what did you think?

BRUCE MAITLAND, MISSING GIRL`S FATHER: I -- it just -- I really didn`t know what to think at first. It`s just -- things were just so unusual. It just takes a while to try to begin to sort things out a little bit.

GRACE: Kellie, what has your life been like since Brianna went missing?

KELLIE MAITLAND: Empty. Absolutely empty. I like to believe that if she ran away, then that would be alive. But I don`t believe she was a runaway, and I feel it`s our duty to find her. I need her home. I need her back. I`d like her back alive, but I`ve got to bring her home, whatever it takes.

GRACE: You know, this strikes me -- when you hear about, for instance, Audrey Seiler or Jennifer Wilbanks, people that fake their own abduction or disappearance, that must burn you up because it takes away police focus on cases like yours.

KELLIE MAITLAND: Very much. There`s a statistic that 95 percent of the calls are simply runaways or people that crop back up. But if your child is within that 5 percent, it`s hard to build credibility and say, We`ve got a serious problem. I knew instinctively from the gut something was wrong. Brianna`s favorite things were left behind. No teenage girl would leave their favorite clothes and make-up behind and run off. I knew gut level something`s wrong. But the faking makes it hard for us to build credibility. We have to come forward and fight to be heard for our children because of people doing this.

GRACE: Here with me, psychotherapist Dr. Robi Ludwig. Do you think she`s a runaway? I don`t.

LUDWIG: I don`t. I don`t. I think that she was abducted. Somebody, again, who either saw her -- what we know is that teenage girls are the most vulnerable for these kinds of abductions, and they tend to be strangers, but occasionally they`re acquaintances. But there`s been some new, updated research on runaways, and that`s why they might have thought she was a runaway because this population tends to be more of an eclectic group than we initially thought, both consisting of abused and non-abused children in this adolescent age range.

GRACE: To Detective Lieutenant Brian Miller -- have you had any solid leads so far?

DET. LT. BRIAN MILLER, VERMONT STATE POLICE: No. We`ve interviewed over -- probably, at this point, 150 people, and it`s still a mystery as to what happened to Brianna that night in.

GRACE: A hundred and fifty people? That`s a lot! What kind of people are you talking to? Who have you talked to?

MILLER: We`ve talked to people that she worked with at the Black Lantern Inn, neighbors near the Black Lantern Inn, some of the patrons of the Black Lantern Inn that night, friends, associates of hers. Pretty much anybody that knew or associated with her during that time in her life, we`ve talked to those people.

GRACE: Now, Detective, how far away was her car crashed from the Black Lantern?

MILLER: It was approximately one mile.

GRACE: You know, I`m certainly an amateur at this, but doesn`t it seem to you that there was a struggle in the car and it crashed into something, possibly the night she left the Black Lantern?

MILLER: We really don`t know what happened in that car.

GRACE: Right. To Kellie Maitland, Brianna`s mom. Didn`t the car crash into a fixed object?

KELLIE MAITLAND: Yes, it was an abandoned building.

GRACE: Well, why would somebody run the car into a building on their own free will? This doesn`t sound like your daughter!

KELLIE MAITLAND: Brianna didn`t do it. No. She didn`t do it. She had treasures belonging to herself and her friend, her friend`s photographs, things that were valued to Brianna and her friend. Brianna would not have intently backed into the building.

BRUCE MAITLAND: We think the accident was staged. The car was backed into the building, so in order for the car -- the car would have to drive by the building and then turn around and back up into it to get where it was.

GRACE: Kellie, what do you think has happened to Brianna? What happened?

KELLIE MAITLAND: I think someone`s abducted her. I`m sure of it. Her whereabouts is what I need. If someone`s holding her, we need to find her. We need to get her back alive and get her help immediately. If she`s gone, if someone has killed her, God forbid -- but we`ve got to bring her home. Whatever it takes, we`ve got to bring Bri home.

GRACE: Now, OK, Bruce, Kellie, let me get this straight. She was working the night she was last seen, correct?

KELLIE MAITLAND: Yes.

BRUCE MAITLAND: Yes.

GRACE: She was a dishwasher, everybody, at the Black Lantern Inn in Montgomery, Vermont. OK. She left that night. Her car was found crashed the next day about a mile away, crashed into an abandoned house. The family has started a Web site, everybody. It`s called Bringbrihome.org, Bringbrihome.org.

And very quickly, to my colleague, Marc Klaas. Marc, do you think this story got the attention it deserved when Bri went missing?

KLAAS: No, it didn`t. In fact, when the initial -- when the car was initially found, it wasn`t treated as a crime scene at all. In fact, the responding officer apparently called a tow truck and they towed the car away. It wasn`t even connected to Brianna`s disappearance for several days, when the -- when finally -- and in fact, the vehicle was registered to Kellie. The vehicle was towed. Kellie was not informed.

Kellie and Bruce reported Brianna missing on a Tuesday, and at that point, the connection was made between the vehicle and the disappearance of the young girl. And at that point, there became -- there became some concern that there might have been a crime committed.

There were several people that may or may not have known something, that had contact with her and that may have had contact with her that very night. Most of them seemed to have been cleared. It seems to be a situation where they really don`t know where to go.

But I think the thing that`s really instructive here is that when you have a situation like this and a young girl does disappear, the FBI should be contacted immediately because they do have protocols specifically dealing with children that have been abducted or otherwise missing. And that way, you`ll be able to not make the mistakes that apparently were made in the initial phases of this investigation.

GRACE: Detective, let`s talk about that, that huge gap in time. As we know, every hour counts when there is a missing person. The longer you wait, the more likely they`re murdered. So what happened in that time period when no one called Kellie, no one told her about the discovery of the car, and the car was not treated as a crime scene to start with?

MILLER: Well, my understanding of how the initial case came about, the car was called in on the 20th, OK? And at that point, the troopers responded. They tried to make contact with the registered owner of the vehicle, who are the Maitlands. They did not make contact with the Maitlands. So as our protocol would be, you find an abandoned vehicle, you can`t make contact with the registered owner, you would tow the vehicle to a secure location, which they did.

And then Brianna Maitland wasn`t reported missing until the 23rd. At that point, the connection was brought together that she was, in fact, driving this car that was registered to her mother. And then once we realized that, then we became concerned and tried to follow up as best we could (INAUDIBLE) physical evidence.

GRACE: Got you. Elizabeth, let`s go to break with a picture of Brianna Maitland, 17 when she went missing, 5-4, 105 pounds, brown hair, hazel eyes. One word: beautiful.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: Seventeen years old when she went missing, Brianna Maitland worked that night at the Black Lantern Inn, Montgomery, Vermont, as a dishwasher. She was never seen alive again, her car found crashed into an abandoned building the next day. Where is Brianna?

With us tonight, Kellie, her mother, Bruce, her father. Let`s go straight back out to them. You two are clearly hurting, still hurting about Brianna`s disappearance. Tell me what you`re doing to keep this story alive to help bring Brianna home.

KELLIE MAITLAND: We`re scheming. We`re brainstorming. We`re taking ideas from other people and listening. We`re hoping for evidence. Anyone who`s seen anything -- you know, that`s part of why we`re here. We want them to come forward so that we can move on. We`ve got to find her. She`s out there somewhere. You can`t give up. It`s your child. You can`t give up.

GRACE: Everybody, take a look at Brianna Maitland. Please help us. Look at her. She is such a beauty. There`s a Web site you can log onto, Bringbrihome.org. Her parents, Kellie and Bruce, are doing everything they can to try to find this girl. Please look at her.

Marc Klaas, your little girl, Polly, went missing. She was found a lot more quickly than Brianna is taking. It just must be such a horrible feeling of helplessness. I mean, what can parents do, go comb the woods themselves?

KLAAS: Well, I`ll tell you what parents can do. They can follow the instruction of both families that we`ve dealt with thus far, Tamika`s family and the Maitland family. They are being very, very proactive. They are being inventive. They are not sitting around on their duff waiting for a phone call to come in.

The whole idea of putting together a Web site to humanize and make people understand your child and what your child is about is a brilliant use of available technology. But I`ll tell you what, desperation is going to be the -- is going to be the great father of invention in all of these cases. And as these kinds of things move on and on and on, we see better protocols, we see better ideas. We see families being much more proactive. And certainly, this is something that they can do and they will continue to do. And I, quite frankly, salute their courage for being able to get up every morning in the midst of paralysis or virtual paralysis and still move forward and do something for their children.

GRACE: Dr. Robi Ludwig, help us. Give me your best bet...

LUDWIG: Yes.

GRACE: ... as the profile of the abductor.

LUDWIG: They tend to be men. They tend to be 30 and under. So they tend to be on the younger side. They tend to be people who were seen close to wherever the incident happened. And they tend to be sexual in nature. Again, this is for teenage women who are abducted. So anybody that fits that type of profile should definitely, you know, be explored and investigated.

GRACE: And there are so many other factors, correct, Detective, in addition to what Dr. Robi has just told us. Obviously -- I`m going out on a limb here -- you`ve got a male abductor. Very often, racial barriers are not crossed in kidnappings and murders, of this nature, anyway. So I would guess you`re looking for a white male abductor, ages 25 to 35, seen in that area.

And what`s killing me, Detective, somebody had to see her leave that night. She was there washing dishes at the Black Lantern, doing her job. Next day, her car`s crashed and she`s gone, obviously, forcibly taken, leaving behind payroll checks in the car. So what kind of guy are you looking for, Detective?

MILLER: We`re looking for whomever was responsible, if foul play was -- did occur in this case.

GRACE: OK, wait a minute. Why do you keep saying that, if foul play? I mean, do you believe she`s a runaway?

MILLER: I don`t know. We really don`t know. I don`t want to make it sound like we don`t -- we`re not looking into the avenue of foul play because we are. We`re looking into all aspects. We`ve interviewed countless of her associations and continue to do that and to look at the backgrounds of these people, what she was involved in, what they were involved in, to come up with any type of an acquaintance situation.

We also realize this may have been a random situation, up there very close to the Canadian border, dark at night. Who knows who you would run into up there? So it could be a stranger situation, as well, if there was foul play involved. The people that -- where she worked saw her leave the building. So that was the last person who we talked to that saw her.

GRACE: Did she leave the building alone?

MILLER: Yes, she did.

GRACE: Did the police go through all of the receipts of the Black Lantern that night, to try to find out if there were any credit card receipts from a lone male?

MILLER: We`ve pretty well covered customer base, based on a lot of the people that frequent the Black Lantern are regulars. And so it`s a very small community. So we have covered the Black Lantern in fairly good shape, I believe, as far as who was frequenting it, who works there, et cetera.

GRACE: Marc Klaas, how likely is it that this is a random kidnapping?

KLAAS: I don`t believe it`s random at all. You have the random situations when you`re near a huge interstate and somebody can easily get on and off of the interstate. But this was a much more rural situation. Now, I understand there was a customer from Rhode Island that was there the night, a lone man that was harassing Brianna, to some point, or to some level, and he had been -- he had been cleared. But no, I don`t believe it was random. I suspect that they`re going find the answer to this one closer to home, rather than farther away.

GRACE: And Marc Klaas, that is usually the case.

KLAAS: Yes, it is.

GRACE: Before we go to break, I got to go back to Bruce and Kellie Maitland. These are Brianna`s parents, and they have been fighting to bring their girl home since she went missing. Kellie, if you could speak tonight to Brianna, or who knows about Brianna, who has Brianna, what would you say?

KELLIE MAITLAND: Just one call, and I`m grateful for a lifetime. One call. That`s all it is. Just give a ring. I want her. You know, it`s -- we`ll come get you, if you`re out there, Bri. If you want to come home, just give a ring. Tell someone. Let someone know.

BRUCE MAITLAND: Or just somebody that knows something, just to call and to let us know something. You don`t have to even give us your name or anything.

GRACE: Don`t move. I`m going to come back to Bruce and Kellie to get more information about how we can help bring Brianna home. Everybody, don`t move. We`re going to stick with this story one more segment.

Very quickly to break. To tonight`s "All Points Bulletin." The FBI and law enforcement across the country on the lookout for this woman, Martha Cano Patlan, wanted by the FBI for the alleged murder of her 4-year- old son in 2003. Cano Patlan, armed and dangerous, 31 years old, 5-6, 170 pounds, black hair, brown eyes. If you have any info, call the FBI 901- 747-4300.

Local news for some of you, but we`ll all be right back. And remember, live trial coverage weekdays 3:00 to 5:00 Eastern, Court TV`s "Closing Arguments."

Stay with us as we remember Staff Sergeant Kendall H. Ivy II, an American hero.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: If you are a crime victim with a story to tell, know of an injustice or a case that needs a spotlight, please call 1-888-GRACE01 -- 888-472-2301, or go to the Web site, cnn.com/nancygrace.

Welcome back, everybody. Thank you for being with us tonight. Tonight, we are profiling missing people. Right now, we`re talking about Brianna Maitland. Take a look.

Back out to Brianna`s parents, Bruce and Kellie Maitland. Again, one last time if you could speak out tonight to the people who may know -- somebody`s got to know where Brianna is. Or if you could reach Brianna, what would you say?

KELLIE MAITLAND: Come home. We need you at home. Your friends miss you. Your cat misses you. We want you back, Bri. We love you.

BRUCE MAITLAND: We love you.

KELLIE MAITLAND: Just come home.

GRACE: Robi, the profile of a kidnapper.

LUDWIG: Yes. In general, the kidnappers tend to be parents over divorce cases, either after a court order or before a court order. And they tend to be temporary in nature. You know, in some cases, it`s sexual. But why this doesn`t sound like a kidnapping is there tends to be a ransom, where there`s some type of financial gain or some political aspect to it. That`s why this is sounding more like foul play.

GRACE: OK, not to -- as a runaway, but as a murder.

LUDWIG: Yes.

GRACE: To Kellie, do you have a gut feeling, an instinct as to whether Brianna is going to come home, whether Brianna is still alive and amongst us?

KELLIE MAITLAND: I think she`s alive because of her strong will. She`s very intelligent. I think she`s alive. I think she`s out there. We just need to find her and bring her back.

GRACE: Mr. Maitland, thoughts?

BRUCE MAITLAND: I really don`t know.

GRACE: With us, Bruce Maitland and Kellie Maitland, Brianna`s mom and dad. Very quickly, let me throw up that Web site again, Bringbrihome.org.

I want to thank all of my guests tonight, all of them, and our prayers go out to them. I know their hearts are breaking even tonight.

But my biggest thank you is to you for being with us, inviting all of us into your home. Coming up, headlines from all around the world, Larry on CNN. I`m Nancy Grace, signing off for tonight. I hope to see you right here weekdays 8:00 o`clock sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.

END