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Nancy Grace

Does his difficulty making alimony payments shed any light on the disappearance of Patrick McDermott, singer Olivia Newton-John`s long-time boyfriend

Aired August 24, 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: Superstar Olivia Newton-John goes public with the highly unusual disappearance of Newton-John`s longtime love after he goes on a one-night fishing trip off the California coast. That happened seven weeks ago.
And tonight: Ten days and counting. Will the prime suspect in the disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway, Aruban judge`s son Joran Van Der Sloot, walk out of an Aruban jail and back on the streets?

And the search turns desperate tonight for 26-year-old Amanda Jones. She`s nine months pregnant, her due date to give birth looming. Where is Amanda? Her parents are with us.

Good evening, everybody. I`m Nancy Grace, and I want to thank you for being with us tonight. Tonight, live to Aruba, day 87 in the search for Alabama beauty Natalee Holloway.

And tonight: A statewide Missouri manhunt by helicopter, K-9 and on foot for 26-year-old Amanda Jones, nine months pregnant with a baby boy.

But first tonight, Olivia Newton-John -- an icon of the stage, theater, a voice recognized around the world, all that star power not able~ to help find her long-time love, Patrick McDermott. Is McDermott missing, is he dead, or is he faking a disappearance?

Tonight, in New York, Tom O`Neil, senior editor of "In Touch Weekly," defense attorney Richard Herman. In Atlanta, defense attorney Ray Giudice. In New York, psychologist Michelle Callahan. And in LA, News 9 Australia reporter Christine Spiteri.

Christine, bring us up to date.

CHRISTINE SPITERI, FOR NEWS 9 AUSTRALIA: Well, the new developments we`re learning about today are telling us a lot more about Patrick McDermott and his life and relationships in the lead-up to his disappearance. Now, we know that he filed for bankruptcy a couple of years ago, and that we understand that he was having difficulties meeting his $800-a-month alimony payments. We understand there was a considerable backlog that he`s owing at the moment.

We have obtained some court documents relating to the custody battle with his ex-wife, Yvette Napir. And in those court documents, Yvette does not paint a very pretty picture of Patrick. Now, they talk about hostile and abusive situations between them in front of their 15-year-old son. She also questions his ability to parent. And I think it paints a very troubled time for Patrick at that time.

He was obviously having difficulties when he went onto that fishing trip. The passengers on the boat say that he wasn`t as talkative as usual, that he did say that he was having money problems and that, generally, he was having custody problems with his ex-wife.

Now, in terms of the official investigation, the Coast Guard is playing it very, very close to their chest, indeed. They are saying that as a result of this huge media coverage over the last couple of days, they are receiving calls from the public, but they`re not telling us what they`re being told. They`re only saying that they are checking out new leads. They also haven`t told us whether there`s a money trail, whether Patrick McDermott is drawing on his bank accounts. So there are lots of questions unanswered.

GRACE: Let me get something straight, Christine. He left behind on his bunk his wallet, his passport. Why did he have a passport? What was his citizenship? And what else did he leave behind?

SPITERI: Well, he left behind essential items, things like his car keys, his wallet, his credit cards. Why he had his passport there is not known. Now, this was discovered after the trip returned. It was simply handed into lost and found at the charter boat company. So it took some time for all the pieces of this puzzle to be put together and for anyone to realize that he was missing.

Now, he was due back on the 1st of July. It wasn`t until the 6th of July that the alarm bells started sounding. He was due to turn up to family function. He did not turn up. People were a bit worried about that. Then, a couple days later, relatives went to the fishing wharf and found his car there, locked. It had obviously been there for some time, and that`s when they notified the Coast Guard.

GRACE: Christine, you`re familiar with Olivia Newton-John. Why did she wait so long to go public? This is her long-time love of nine years. This is video, by the way, of him presenting her an award. Go ahead, Christine.

SPITERI: Well, what she says is, out of respect for his family, she decided not to go public. And I think that that simply means that out of concern for his 15-year-old son -- this must be a terrible time for him -- that she felt that to keep it out of the media would cause him less pain and less difficulty. And I think she`s very mindful of his feelings and of the feelings of Patrick`s other relatives. So I guess she waited up and decided that it was actually better to keep quiet about this than to go public, and obviously, all the media scrutiny that would bring with it.

GRACE: Well, you know, Michelle Callahan, I don`t want to second guess Olivia Newton-John because when victims are in a situation, you really can`t second guess them. They`re doing what they think is best at that moment.

MICHELLE CALLAHAN, PSYCHOLOGIST: Right.

GRACE: But it just seems to me, Olivia Newton-John, she`s a star, she`s an icon. Anybody around the world would know her voice. And this disappearance has gotten so much more press since she was attached to the name Patrick McDermott. In other words, if anybody`s seen this guy, now they will recognize him. Why the hold-up? You`re the shrink.

CALLAHAN: You know, I really -- I understand her concern for the family and particularly the son. But it would seem that the greatest concern for them would be to get their son and father, you know, figure back in the home. So as much as you don`t want to put it in the public, the public`s the best way to get as much, you know, firepower behind this and find the, you know, manpower to help find him.

GRACE: That`s how people are found.

I want to go to Tom O`Neil, senior editor with "In Touch Weekly." What can you tell me about their relationship? How long have they been together? Nine years. That was since her breast cancer, right?

TOM O`NEIL, SENIOR EDITOR, "IN TOUCH WEEKLY": Yes. And it was shortly after her divorce to Matt Lattanzi that she hooked with this fellow, who she met when she was filming a commercial. Now, she calls him "my treasured friend," she doesn`t call him my boyfriend.

But what`s very mysterious about this whole set-up is there are reports that his address of residence is her home in Malibu. Now, that leads to the question you just asked, Nancy. And let`s take it one step further. Never mind why didn`t she go public here, why didn`t she go to the police? If this guy lives with her at the Malibu house and he is missing from July 1 to July 11, why hasn`t any notified authorities, Hey, Patrick`s not here?

GRACE: Hey, Tom, Tom, Tom, 5th-grade geography! He`s in California, she`s in Australia. That leads me to my next question. Are they exclusive? Are they just dating each other? Sure, he may flop at her Malibu home, but how do we know that they`re in touch every day?

O`NEIL: We don`t know, of course. And there may be some mystery to the fact that she keeps calling him "my treasured friend." But she`s not talking. She had two appearances next week on American television, "Good Morning America" and "The View," which she`s canceled. They were tied into the CD she released last week, which is her greatest hits CD, and the new one she has coming out next week, which is all new music. But apparently, now she`s becoming very quiet.

GRACE: Take a listen to this, Tom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK LIVERSEDGE, MARINA MANAGER: Some of the passengers, not the crew, but the passengers, have given the Coast Guard depositions that said they saw him get off the boat. They were with him when he got off the boat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Well, you know, Ray Giudice, here`s the deal. They`re backtracking on that now. Passengers are now all being requestioned by U.S. authorities, and so far, nobody is saying, to our understanding, that they saw him get off the boat. OK, Ray, that leaves us with this. He jumped off the boat, he fell off the boat, somebody pushed him off the boat, or he`s faked his disappearance.

RAY GIUDICE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes. I don`t see any evidence, at this point in time, of any nefarious outside influence or wrongdoing. I think you`re right. I think the depression, the problems with the past child support, the relationship...

GRACE: Depression?

GIUDICE: Well...

GRACE: Depression?

GIUDICE: It was just...

GRACE: Ray, how many times have you been at a courthouse and there`s 50 guys lined up on child support?

GIUDICE: Sure.

GRACE: They don`t go kill themselves.

GIUDICE: Well, no, that`s right, but it could have led to perhaps he drank on the boat. Perhaps he fell off the boat. It may have led to an accident. I don`t see any evidence in Ms. John or anybody else there`s any foul play at all involved here. And I think you`re right. I think it`s either a suicide or an accident.

GRACE: You want him to fall off the boat because you`re a PI lawyer...

GIUDICE: Well, I think...

GRACE: ... and you can sue the boat for the banana peel!

GIUDICE: Well, now, I think that`s why the folks on the boat are starting to round up the wagons here and be defensive about whether or not they saw him get off the boat. There may be some civil liability here. Remember that case where the scuba diving couple off Australia were left out in the Great Barrier Reef by the boating team that forgot to bring them back.

GRACE: Yes, open water.

GIUDICE: I think every captain in the world has that on mind when something like this happens.

GRACE: Hey, Richard Herman, the guy`s been gone, Patrick McDermott, for two months. Is it basically too late? Is it trail so cold?

RICHARD HERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, you know, the first 72 hours are critical in cases like this. And this is absolutely a cold case. It may be like that Jennifer Wilbanks, the girl from -- the runaway bride. It may be similar to that -- a little depression, run away and hide for a while. The only thing that bothers me is that he left all of his credentials behind. I don`t know why he had his passport on the ship, but passport, keys, identification. If he was going to do this intentionally, he probably would have kept some ID with him.

GRACE: Unless, though, Richard, he wanted it to look like an accident, a murder, and truly disappeared. If you really disappeared and you die, why would you take your cell phone with you? I don`t think it works up there or down there.

HERMAN: Well, I understand that. There was a life insurance policy, too. So Nancy, you may be right.

GRACE: Hey, Christine, the life insurance policy, I believe it was $100,000, made out to the son -- was it kept up?

SPITERI: As far as we know, yes, it was. So there is that money that is out there. Depending on, obviously, if a body is found or if he`s presumed dead, that money is available.

GRACE: You know, Christine, I`m just not buying the whole money problems as a route to fake death or commit suicide. I`m just not buying it. And as far as people portraying this guy as a mooch -- he certainly wasn`t mooching off his rich girlfriend, Olivia Newton-John. If you look at these court documents, if he wanted to mooch off her, she could have paid all of this for him easily, but he didn`t do it.

SPITERI: No. I mean, I guess it raises questions about their relationship. Of course, Olivia spends so much time in Australia. She loves to go home. So perhaps they had a close relationship, but they didn`t need to speak to each other every day. And in terms of that time when he did go missing...

GRACE: Christine, Christine, how can you say that with a straight face? Which -- what woman -- do you know a woman -- can you name one in a close relationship that doesn`t want to talk to the guy every day?

SPITERI: Well, I guess you can`t make judgments about other people`s relationships. And you know, what we don`t know is the workings of their relationship. At the time that he went missing, she was, of course, at home in Australia. She was there for two reasons. She had some promotional work there for an environmental campaign, and she also found out that her goddaughter had been in a pretty serious car accident, so she spent a whole week, essentially, by her bedside. So she was obviously very distracted during that time.

But you know, there is that time difference that you have to take into account, and the geography. And maybe they had some arrangement because she goes to Australia so often, that maybe they don`t have that constant contact that a lot of people would say is normal. But I guess, you know, unless you`re in the relationship, it depends on the two people and what they accept.

SPITERI: Christine, you`re right. Part of my family is on the West Coast, I`m on the East Coast. A lot of time, when it`s time, I think to call them, it`s too late or it`s too early. So maybe you`re right. Maybe they had some arrangement where they didn`t talk every day, but they had a certain time to talk. But for Pete`s sake, this is seven weeks!

SPITERI: Look, I think Olivia certainly knew very early on. I think that there was -- because of the time difference, there was a bit of a lag in how quickly she realized that there was something terribly wrong. But as far as we`re aware, and we`ve spoken to family and friends, they knew about it quite some time ago. She told them. She obviously has been leaning on them for support. But she did say to them, you know, Please don`t go public with this. And obviously, she`s just decided, for whatever reason, that she didn`t want this to come out.

GRACE: All that stardom, all that money, all that recognition cannot help Olivia Newton-John tonight bring home her long-time love.

We`ll all be right back. But very quickly, to tonight`s "Case Alert." Sabine Bieber (ph) -- remember her? On trial for homicide in the death of 1-year-old Dane Heggem (ph) at the day care center she ran. Prosecutors say Bieber gave the baby boy a fatal dose of antihistamines. Why? To make the baby shut up and take a nap. Urine samples from other children at the same day care also turned up positive for the same drugs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The information you got from the state crime lab established in your mind, then, that you had a homicide and that the mechanism of homicide was a lethal toxic dose of DPH.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s the position I had to take.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that`s the way the investigation focused from that point on, isn`t it. That was the cause of death.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Bieber pled not guilty but faces up to 60 years behind bars if convicted.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: "Let`s Get Physical," one of Newton-John`s biggest hits from 1981. She went on to stardom in "Grease" with John Travolta, fought a brave battle with breast cancer, brought awareness to that. This guy stuck by her through all of that. Regardless of how he`s being portrayed now as a deadbeat, didn`t make his child support payments, he stuck by her and did not mooch off her, which he could have easily done.

To Christine Spiteri -- Christine, take a listen to what the marina manager had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIVERSEDGE: To think that a person could have fallen overboard or even jumped overboard on purpose, it`s pretty slim. Strange things happen in the ocean. A giant squid could have come up and eaten him or something like this, but you know, as far as we know, he was on the boat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Something could jump up and eat him? OK. Christine, did you talk to this guy, this marina manager?

SPITERI: Yes. Yes, we did. But look, I spoke to him at length, and what he was saying there is that we know that three miles out from shore, Patrick McDermott was certainly sighted. In fact, he signed off his galley tab. he`d been eating hot dogs and having soft drinks. So he was definitely alive and on the boat just three miles from shore.

And what the charter operators were saying was at this point of the cruise, normally, everyone is out on deck as they come into shore. And he said there were 23 passengers and five crew on board. So he said up to 28 people were out around the boat on the deck at that time. And he said if anyone or anything had gone overboard, someone would have seen it.

So that`s their argument. They say that it just would have been too difficult for someone to slip away. So based on that, I think they`re assuming that he got off the boat, and from that point, he disappeared.

GRACE: Very quickly, though, I want to point out -- to Tom O`Neil. Tom, we`re talking about his child support payments earlier. This document that basically describes all the bad things he did regarding the marriage and the child support -- this is a 2002 document. I don`t know how relevant that is to a man missing in 2005.

O`NEIL: Well, let`s fast-forward to the most recent court installment in this child case, which was April, and we may have a motive for possible suicide here. He was told on April 27, You either square away these past payments, or else you`re going to face criminal charges. But this guy can`t cough up these many thousands of dollars that he needed to for his son, then maybe he thought, you know, I`ve got this life insurance policy that`s going to go to the kid for 100 grand, I`m jumping off the boat.

And by the way, this Coast Guard -- this dock manager we just saw here, his testimony is refuted by at least one Coast Guard authority, who says, We don`t believe him.

GRACE: You mean you don`t believe that people saw him walk off the boat?

O`NEIL: Right. They don`t believe it because this is the only witness who claims that he did get off the boat. Everyone else that they had talked to earlier...

GRACE: So how is the guy living, then? It`s been seven weeks. There`s obviously no activity on his ATM, his credit cards, his cell phone. How is the guy -- what are you saying, he swam upstream, got back on land and thumbed his way to a new life?

O`NEIL: Sure. We have a new case here, Nancy, a runaway boyfriend. It`s not runaway bride anymore.

GRACE: OK, take a listen to this. I want to hear this guy, Patrick McDermott`s voice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK MCDERMOTT, OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN`S BOYFRIEND: ... and to tell you all the things that I want to share with you on this very special evening of yours. And first of all, just let me start off by saying that you look absolutely stunning and beautiful. And I think everybody would agree, right? (INAUDIBLE) Am I wrong?

And your voice is angelic. Your vibrato is perfect. And I`m sorry I can`t be there in person to share this wonderful evening with you, but I know you`re in good hands with all the people in Aus because they all love you. I love you. The world loves you. The animals love you. And let me just say that I`ve known you for eight wonderful years, and you are such a special person. How you can be so compassionate, forgiving, understanding and...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: Another big hit for Olivia Newton-John. That was "Grease" and John Travolta, and that really skyrocketed her career. But what a lot of people admire most about her is her fight against breast cancer, how she rallied so many women behind her and gave them hope. Tonight, her long- time love, Patrick McDermott, missing.

Let me quickly go to Tom O`Neil, senior editor, "In Touch Weekly." Where did these two meet? What`s the story?

O`NEIL: They met during a commercial shoot in 1992. This would be -- what was it? I guess -- no, nine years ago. So that would have been, what, 1996. This was shortly after her divorce from Matt Lattanzi, who she was married to for many, many years. He was a show biz minor B-list actor, of sorts. And so she met this guy, and she admits that there was a romance right from the start. Now, I don`t know how intense that love flame has burned in recent years, but he is reputed to have been living with her at her Malibu house.

GRACE: To Christine Spiteri. About Patrick McDermott, what was he doing for a living at the time of his disappearance?

SPITERI: Well, he -- by trade, he is a cameraman. We know that. But we`re not sure exactly how much work he was getting at the time. There is some history of unemployment benefits. We`re just not sure when those stopped. It`s -- as a freelancer, I guess, you know, work comes and goes, and sometimes it can be a flood, sometimes a famine. So we`re not quite sure how much money was coming in at the time that he disappeared. But we can only assume that because he wasn`t able to keep up with these alimony payments that perhaps it was a lean time for him.

GRACE: Christine, when was the last time Newton-John actually spoke to him?

SPITERI: That`s -- we`re not clear on that. There`s so much that we don`t know. There`s so much detail that we don`t know. And that`s, of course, because Olivia isn`t speaking about this. She`s put out a couple of statements, and at this stage, she seems to be leaving it there.

And I guess that could be because she`s not up to talking at this stage. She`s always been, you know, a fairly public person, as you know. She`s spoken about breast cancer, and she spoke about that, you know, very shortly after she was diagnosed. So I guess her emotions are ranging from hope that, you know, perhaps he`s just had a bit of a life crisis and he is out there and he is alive to that, you know, terrible sadness and sense of loss, if, in fact, he is dead, and that grieving she would be experiencing.

GRACE: Quick break, everyone.

As you know, we at NANCY GRACE want very much to help in our way solve unsolved homicides, find missing people. Take a look at 19-year-old Pamela Kinney. Her family gave me these pictures, desperate to find their girl. Pamela disappeared from Apalachicola, Florida, August 14, last seen wearing a white tank top and bluejean skirt. If you have any information on Pam Kinney, call the Franklin County sheriff`s office, 850-670-8500. Please help us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: Hi, everybody. I`m Thomas Roberts. And this is your "Headline Prime Newsbreak."

The woman who`s become the face of antiwar protests has returned to Texas. Cindy Sheehan left last week to be with her ailing mom. She began her protest on August the 6th and has been pressing for a meeting with President Bush.

The U.S. military has just announced it will send 1,500 more troops to Iraq before October. The additional troops will help provide security before Iraqis vote on the October 15th referendum on the proposed constitution.

Televangelist Pat Robertson is apologizing for calling for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. In a written statement, the Christian broadcaster said, quote, "Is it right to call for assassination? No, I spoke in frustration."

In Florida, residents are once again taking the painstaking steps of preparing for a very powerful storm. Tropical Storm Katrina is strengthening over the central Bahamas and a tropical storm and hurricane watch, well, they are posted along the southeastern Florida coast.

That is the news for now. Thanks very much for joining us. I`m Thomas Roberts. Back to NANCY GRACE.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETH HOLLOWAY TWITTY, MOTHER OF NATALEE HOLLOWAY: Joran and Paul have done this to themselves. They`ve done the lies all along. You know, if they would have just come forward from the beginning, never changed their story, you know, we wouldn`t have these suspicions.

We know that Joran -- he admitted these sexual assaults that he performed on Natalee. That has never been a secret.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Welcome back. The clock is ticking. In 10 days, the prime suspect of the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, the 18-year-old American girl, is set to walk free. Tonight, in Aruba, Jossy Mansur. He`s the managing director and editor of "Diario" newspaper.

But first, to WBMA-TV reporter Anastasiya Bolton. Anastasiya, bring us up-to-date.

ANASTASIYA BOLTON, WBMA REPORTER COVERING STORY: Nancy, apparently, Joran Van Der Sloot`s attorney are suing NBC News. They went to court tonight. They`re suing NBC over the video that witnesses tell us NBC shot at the prison where Joran is being held. Apparently, the video supposedly shows Joran in his cell.

And NBC News also, we`re told, trying to ask Joran some questions. Now, the attorney for Joran Van Der Sloot want that video to be, not necessarily taken away, but to never see the light of day, never to be shown, and never to distributed. They`re claiming that they want to charge NBC News $1 million a day for each time that video is shown.

Also, Joran was not interviewed today. And there`s no time line when he`s going to be interviewed. At this point, tomorrow marks two weeks since he was questioned by authorities.

Also, the dive teams are not in the water yet. We`ve been promised they should be in the water any day now. We`re told that the Aruba search and rescue that is in charge of this operation is gathering a dive team together to go out and search in the areas of interest with some new equipment that they have.

Also, I`ve spoken with the police press person today. We`re told that police are working with two dogs from Florida, two cadaver dogs from Florida, looking for any remains of Natalee Holloway or anything they can find. I`m told that they`re looking at some areas of interest that they`ve been searched before and some new areas. That search has been going on since Monday.

That`s about all I have right now -- Nancy?

GRACE: I want to go to Jossy Mansur with "Diario." Jossy, how does a camera crew get in a jail and start taking video footage of a prisoner and throw questions at them? How does that happen?

JOSSY MANSUR, EDITOR, "DIARIO": I don`t know. Maybe they wanted to see the insides of the jail to see what it looks like where Joran is being held. I don`t know.

GRACE: I don`t either, Jossy. I`m with you on that one.

I`m going to go to Ray Giudice, veteran defense attorney. Ray, how hard is it to get behind bars, even as a prosecutor? I had to, you know, undergo a search, walk through a metal detector, give my ID, my bar card, my badge, you know, full body search.

Now, how the heck did a camera crew get into this jail, get back to his cell, and start asking him questions?

RAY GIUDICE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, this is just more evidence of the ineptness of the law enforcement authorities in Aruba. This should never happen. And that film -- and I`m a big freedom of the press guy -- but that should be suppressed.

There`s no way a trier of fact, whether it`s a judge or a jury, should have any view of this gentleman -- and he`s still just an accused individual -- of his response or lack of responses to questions. He may have made some verbal response to those questions that a judge or a jury is going to look at and have some kind of response to.

That`s not evidence. He has counsel. He can`t be questioned by law enforcement without his counsel there. And he should not be subjected to questions by some reporter who somehow either bribed somebody or snuck their way into jail with a camera crew.

I can barely get access to my clients. I`m not blaming anybody. But because of all the security nowadays, I mean, I have to go through a metal detector, show two pieces of ID. You know how hard it is.

GRACE: I`m not afraid to point a finger. Look, if Joran Van Der Sloot has given so many contradictory statements, I can tell you right now, something stinks.

But, Richard Herman, I`m not for people going behind bars, unsolicited. A camera crew in a jail asking a defendant questions? Totally inappropriate. Yet they keep telling us Aruban authorities are doing everything by the book.

RICHARD HERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, the prime minister, I guess, disclosed to Beth that, you know, they`ve made some mistakes in this investigation. We don`t need him to say that. We`ve been calling this an abomination from the beginning. It`s outrageous.

Nancy, these three young kids could not have committed the perfect murder. They could not have done it. They needed assistance. They needed help from someone with sophistication.

GRACE: I never said they didn`t have help.

HERMAN: They had help, and you know who they had help from? I believe Mr. Runaway, Mr. Backside, the judge himself. He`s the only one that was close to them that night who gave conflicting versions of what happened when he picked his son up. He`s the one, Nancy.

GRACE: You know, we`ve asked the Van Der Sloot family, the attorneys, Paulus Van Der Sloot, the judge to come on the show and answer our questions in response to comments just like that from Richard Herman, when is an entirely common sense observation. They have declined our invitation.

Very quickly to Michelle Callahan, psychologist. Michelle, both defense lawyers brought up something very interesting. Even though Van Der Sloot may not have commented to this NBC camera crew, his non-verbal reaction, if that were shown to a jury, this is entirely inadmissible and inappropriate.

No comment on whether I think he`s involved or not, all right? But I`m just talk about -- how the heck -- what is this? Are we in Mayberry, and that camera crew just walks in with a camera?

MICHELLE CALLAHAN, PSYCHOLOGIST: And it could be really huge for people to see his reaction. We`re all dying to kind of get to this guy. We`re all so frustrated with what`s going on. To have the opportunity to see that, which is so totally inappropriate, would have a huge impact.

I`m dying to see it, just to know, you know, what kind of look does this guy have on his face as we`re watching and dying for information to see if we can ever, you know, recover this woman and just know what in the world ever happened to her.

GRACE: To Jossy Mansur, tell me about the dive effort.

Jossy, are you with me?

JOSSY MANSUR, EDITOR, "DIARIO": Yes, ma`am. What was that?

GRACE: When are the divers going to resume? And what type of new machinery do they have to look for Natalee?

MANSUR: Well, they have put together a very large team. The final plans are for Sunday. They will go out on Sunday. They will go where the indications are of from this machine, and they will search a whole big area in the ocean.

GRACE: The machine is exactly what? I`ve never heard of it. It`s not Sidescan sonar.

MANSUR: Neither have I, but I`ve been told by the operator of the machine that it is capable of detecting human bones, feet, et cetera, at any distance.

GRACE: Let me go to Ellie. Ellie, what type of machine is this? What is this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The way that it was described to me is that it`s sort of like a divining rod that this American inventor has invented and brought down to Aruba to help look.

GRACE: To divine what?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Human remains. He says it can detect bone or teeth.

GRACE: OK. Back to Anastasiya Bolton with WBMA-TV. Anastasiya, what can you tell me about this new search technique?

BOLTON: Pretty much everything that you`ve heard so far, very little. Apparently, this is a new person. He`s bringing this new machine in there. At this point, grasping for straws, using anything they possibly can. Not much, Nancy.

GRACE: Anastasia, question: September 4, 10 days away, what does the state have to put up to an Aruban court to keep the judge`s son behind bars?

BOLTON: Nancy, my understanding is they have to bring out every -- all the stops, everything they have, because, at this point, they`ve not shown that they can charge the man. They cannot charge Joran, and they haven`t charged him yet.

So any kind of physical evidence, the strongest possible evidence yet, which we have obviously not seen yet. So, hopefully, September 4th, or anytime before that, we`ll be able to see that so he gets to stay behind bars.

GRACE: OK, everybody. We`ll all be right back. Stay with us.

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B. TWITTY: There have to be other individuals -- I know there are -- that know what happened that night. And I just so am praying that they will come forward and, you know, do the right thing and let us know where Natalee is.

And we will not let this go until we take Natalee home. It will never end.

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HUBERT PROPST, FATHER OF MISSING GIRL, AMANDA JONES: I love my baby. I love her. If she had -- if he`d have left her at 2:00 in that car, she would have called. She would have called.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: He`s talking about Amanda Jones, but look at the others, Laci Peterson, LaToyia Figueroa, Lori Hacking, Lisa Underwood, all pregnant mothers, all go missing, all at the hands of lovers, boyfriends, husbands.

Tonight, in St. Louis, Missouri, Jefferson County sheriff Oliver Glenn Boyer, Hubert and Bertha Propst, parents of Amanda Jones, and, in New York, "Justice" magazine reporter Abby Ellin.

First of all, to Abby, bring us up-to-date, friend.

ABBY ELLIN, "JUSTICE" MAGAZINE: Well, the situation is that Amanda was meeting the father of her baby on August 14th, and she met him for lunch. And after that, she disappeared.

Her parents, who were watching her 4-year-old daughter, called the police at around 6:00 that evening when she didn`t come home. And nobody knows what happened to her.

GRACE: Is it true the boyfriend wanted her to have an abortion, and she did not want one?

ELLIN: You know, I had not been -- I had not heard anything about that. But what I do know is they were not together. They were not a couple. They had had a one-night stand. They`d met last Christmas and then had a one-night stand, and then she got pregnant and had...

GRACE: Everybody, Amanda Jones` due date is this week, between yesterday and tomorrow. This lady, this 26-year-old, is set to give birth to a baby boy. She is a mother. A child is waiting at home for her to come home.

I want to go to Amanda`s parents, Hubert and Bertha Propst. First of all, our prayers and our thoughts are with you. Thank you for being with us.

What can you tell me, sir, about your girl?

HUBERT PROPST, FATHER OF MISSING GIRL, AMANDA JONES: Mandy is a very sweet and loving girl, young lady. This man that is the father of the baby that she is carrying is the father of that baby. Bryan Westfall is the father of the baby. No DNA, but he`s the only one that she`s been with and was with her the day that she disappeared, the last one to see her.

GRACE: Mr. Propst, is it true he did not want to have the baby, and she refused to give up the baby?

H. PROPST: She refused to give up the baby. I heard someone tell me that he did approach her with the idea of an abortion, and my daughter is against abortion 100 percent. She feels the same way as I do. Abortion is murder, any shape, fashion or form. It`s murder, and she said no.

GRACE: Mr. Propst, when did you find out your girl`s missing? I mean, she`s 26. She`s just a baby herself.

H. PROPST: Practically, yes. She got a call from Bryan Westfall that Sunday morning on the 14th. He suggested -- he said a car came to his house, a young couple, lady with short blond hair. The man, he didn`t describe to my daughter, in a red Cavalier.

He said he didn`t know who they were. My daughter didn`t know anyone that drives a red Cavalier. He suggested -- he suggested -- that they meet at the Civic Center at 1:00, because she said it would have to be after church. He said at 1:00 at the Civic Center, and then he would take her to Desoto for lunch and that never occurred.

GRACE: So, Mr. Propst, they never made it?

H. PROPST: She got to the Civic Center, but they didn`t go out to lunch.

GRACE: Now, it`s my understanding -- to Sheriff Oliver Glenn Boyer -- sir, thank you for being with us.

OLIVER GLENN BOYER, SHERIFF, JEFFERSON COUNTY: Yes, ma`am.

GRACE: It`s my understanding that he says, this Bryan Westfall says, he left her in the parking lot. Forget about lunch, I guess. He left her -- this is the mother of his baby -- left her in the parking lot talking on a cellphone, correct?

BOYER: That is correct.

GRACE: Have police checked her cellphone records to pinpoint a time or do you believe that`s true?

BOYER: We`ve checked the cellphone records. We haven`t been able to verify that call.

GRACE: Is this guy a person of interest yet?

BOYER: Oh, most certainly. I mean, he was the last person to see her. So it`s a normal course of any investigation. The last person would be the one you key in on first.

GRACE: Sheriff, you guys have set up a task force. What methods are you using to find Amanda? Everybody, Amanda is supposed to give birth this week. She`s a 26-year-old girl.

How are you trying to find her?

BOYER: Well, what we did almost immediately, just simply because of circumstances surrounding her disappearance, her general health, she`s got Graves disease. She`s 8 1/2, almost 9 months pregnant. Very uncharacteristic for her to leave a small child in...

GRACE: Well, sir, I`m just a lawyer. I`m not a mathematician. But if the baby`s due this week, it is nine months.

BOYER: Right. And what we decided to do right off the bat is do a -- similar to a major case task force, trained investigators. And we started from square one, hoping for the best, but also preparing for the worst.

GRACE: I want to go back to Amanda`s mother, Bertha Propst. Ma`am, you must be in so much turmoil. The baby about to come, your daughter missing. What can you tell us about her health, and what did she have on the last time she was seen?

BERTHA PROPST, FATHER OF MISSING GIRL, AMANDA JONES: I can`t describe the turmoil that I`m going through. It`s a pain that I can`t describe.

Amanda was wearing a pink maternity top with the pink and white flowered skirt. She was wearing pink flip-flops and carrying a pink purse. Amanda has Graves disease. And without her medication that -- she has to take this medication in order for her health and also for the baby`s health.

GRACE: Now, the other child, the 4-year-old, she has a good relationship with her ex-husband right? They were married, had the baby, they divorced later. Everything`s fine. He`s got an alibi. He`s out of the picture, right?

B. PROPST: Right. She has a good relationship with her ex-husband.

GRACE: Very quickly, Sheriff Boyer, you did a search of Bryan Westfall`s property and the adjoining property of his parents. Did he consent to that search, or did you have to get a search warrant?

BOYER: Actually, we`ve done two searches. The first search was pretty much a guided tour that his attorney and Mr. Westfall allowed us to do. The second one we done today. That search was a consent search.

GRACE: So both were consent searches?

BOYER: Yes.

GRACE: Everybody, very quickly, to "Trial Tracking." We`ll all be right back. Disturbing testimony in the case against Butch Hinton. He`s accused of kidnap and murder of Emory University sophomore Shannon Melendi.

A man at the softball field where both Hinton and Shannon worked testified under oath Hinton was obsessed with Shannon, always trying to watch her, to talk to her, to the point the softball players asked him to focus on his umpire job and not her. Shannon disappeared after a March `94 softball game. Shannon Melendi`s body, never recovered.

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JOHNNY PLEASANT, FELLOW INMATE: ... you better hope they don`t ever find the body, because, if they do, with this new DNA thing, you`re subject to being in trouble. And then he replied to me, he said, "I`m not worried about them finding a body."

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H. PROPST: That`s my baby. I love her. If she`d have -- if he`d have left her at 2:00 in that car, she would have called. She would have called.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Welcome back.

To Sheriff Boyer, sir, what kind of tips are you getting?

BOYER: Well, you know, it varies to scale. We`re getting the natural tips, "I dreamed," and we`re also getting some substantial tips about vehicle locations and things of that nature.

GRACE: Everybody, I want to announce there is a $100,000 reward for information on Amanda Jones. You contact Jefferson County Sheriff`s Department at 636-797-5515. Reward, $100,000 for info leading to an arrest and conviction.

Look at this girl`s face. Her baby is due this week, a baby boy. She`s got a 4-year-old at home waiting for their mom to come home.

Very quickly, to Hubert Propst -- this is Amanda`s dad. Mom and dad with us tonight. Sir, if you could speak out to Amanda right now, what would you say?

H. PROPST: Amanda, hang in there, honey. We`re going to find you and we`re going to bring you home, you and your baby, we`re going to bring you home. You`re going to be OK. We love you.

GRACE: Ms. Propst, what state of mind was she in? Was she upbeat about having the baby?

B. PROPST: Oh, she was ecstatic about having this baby. We had went shopping the day before. She has her nursery ready.

GRACE: The baby`s room is all ready to go?

B. PROPST: The baby`s room is all ready to go. She had her bag packed, ready to go to the hospital. We did a tour of the hospital to see where she would be spending the time when she had the baby. She was ecstatic.

GRACE: Everyone, take a look at Amanda Jones. I want to point out that Bryan Westfall`s attorney says he has done nothing wrong and he is cooperating with the investigation.

I want to thank all of my guests, especially to Amanda`s parents. 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. See you right here tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern, I hope. And until then, good night, friend.

END