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Nancy Grace
Father of 2 Pleads Not Guilty to Murdering Two Convicted Child Molesters
Aired September 16, 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, breaking news, the story of Michael Mullen. When the courts don`t protect our children, vigilantes have begun to step in. Mullen pleads not guilty to tracking down two convicted child molesters in the Seattle area, posing as an FBI agent and giving both of them the death penalty. That`s right, he shot them both dead.
And tonight, an Amber Alert out of Virginia. And also tonight, the most helpless Katrina victims, missing children.
Good evening everybody. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight.
Seventeen-year-old Virginia Commonwealth University girl Taylor Behl has vanished. We go live to Virginia. And in the Southland, more than 2,000 little children ripped from their homes during Katrina, tonight still missing. And tonight, throughout the hour, we show you the faces of these missing children. Please help us.
But first, Michael Mullen pleads not guilty to executing two child rapists. He looked them up on line, straight out of the sheriff`s sex offender registry. Let`s go straight out to investigative reporter, Jane Velez-Mitchell. Jane, what happened?
JANE-VELEZ-MITCHELL, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Well, Nancy, this is an absolutely bizarre, ghoulish and very complex case of vigilante murder. Basically, you have this 35-year-old named mike Mullen of Washington state who says he was so absolutely outraged by the highly publicized case of murder and child abduction that got a lot of press in Idaho and around the country this past summer that he decided to go on a killing spree of his very own.
He admits in letters to the editor to the newspaper and to local authorities in Washington state that he actually posed as an FBI agent, put on an FBI cap and went to the homes of some unrelated registered sex offenders, interviewed them, posing as an FBI agent, interviewed them at length, and then decided to murder execution-style two of the three men. He shot those two men once each time in the head. He decided to let a third man go because he said that third man expressed remorse. Absolutely bizarre, ghoulish, crazy case.
GRACE: I want to go straight out to columnist with "The Seattle Times," Nicole Brodeur. Nicole, thank you for being with us.
NICOLE BRODEUR, "SEATTLE TIMES": Thanks for having me.
GRACE: These two shooting victims, what were their offenses? Why were they behind bars?
BRODEUR: Well, both were in for child rape. Both had served their time. One of them had molested the children, and the other was -- had raped, I think, a 13-year-old boy. And they had served their time and come out, and all -- one of the men owned the house where they were all living.
GRACE: You know, that`s a little creepy. Hold on. Correct me if I`m wrong, but didn`t three convicted child molesters live together?
BRODEUR: Yes.
GRACE: OK.
BRODEUR: Sometimes, that`s all they can do. They -- one person -- there`s an apartment building here in town where there`s a number of sex offenders, former, you know, convicted, who are all living in the same building because you hear about a place where you can stay, and they all move there.
GRACE: To clinical psychologist Dr. Patricia Saunders. Dr. Saunders, you think they had any kiddie porn on that computer, three convicted child molesters living together?
DR. PATRICIA SAUNDERS, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, I think that seems to be the pattern of convicted child molesters living together. I`m sure they had a vast library of kiddie porn. Even though they supposedly did their time and were doing OK, I don`t believe it.
GRACE: Nicole, these two guys that Mullen -- well, there`s really no doubt about it. He wrote letters to the media. He said he did it, although -- breaking news -- he pled not guilty in court today.
BRODEUR: Right.
GRACE: Nicole, didn`t one of them just do five years? I`m talking about Hank Eisses, age 49, did five years for raping a 13-year-old boy. The other so-called victim, Victor Vazquez, he molested several children. He had a charge of statutory rape. He was a doper, delivering and using narcotics. This Hank Eisses did five years for raping a little boy? That`s it?
BRODEUR: Well, yes, and that`s part of what incited Mullen. In his letter, he said that, you know, he didn`t feel that that was long enough. So that`s kind of what got him -- one of -- one of the many things that -- that fueled his anger and got him over there.
GRACE: Here`s what police had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe that there`s only one person involved, and it`s him. But we are concerned about anything else that may be going on or what kind of inertia his actions may give others.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They didn`t bother nobody. They were always quiet. Every time I see them, they`ll be walking by theirselves.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t know what the motivation is for what happened, but you know, I don`t -- I don`t think that`s right, but I still don`t want them in my neighborhood, either.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Jane Velez-Mitchell, investigative reporter, doesn`t the defendant, Michael Mullen, have his own children living in the Seattle area?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. And he said, Nancy, that`s one of the reasons why he decided to do this. He really offered a variety of reasons. He said he wanted to protect his own children. He said he wanted to protect society. And he said he wanted to send a message to the world that level 3 registered sex offenders, serial pedophiles, should be locked away for life.
Ironically, he may spark a whole debate about whether or not the addresses of registered sex offenders should be listed on law enforcement Web sites, available to anybody, because that`s exactly how Mullen found the home address of these three registered sex offenders who were living in one home. You can go on the Internet and you can look these addresses up. And now, in the wake of these killings, people are saying maybe we should not list those addresses.
GRACE: Oh! Oh! great! Now we`re not going to know when there`s a pedophile living next door to my little niece and nephew. Andy Kahan, does the name Ellie Nestler (ph) ring a bell to you? Elizabeth, do we have a picture of Ellie Nestler? Now, as you recall, a man was on trial for molesting her child. She went in, murdered him in court, Andy. In court!
ANDY KAHAN, DIR., VICTIMS` CRIME OFFICE FOR HOUSTON MAYOR: Yes, I recall that case. And you know, these cases obviously are far and few between. And obviously, what`s going on with the Mullen case, fortunately, it`s anomaly. But I`ll tell you what. It is so important for parents and for families to have access to who is doing time in their community. And the fact that these individuals again had served just a fraction of time in the penitentiary and were back out on the streets -- this is the reason why people of this country are absolutely outraged as to what`s occurring amongst them. When you`ve got 500-some-odd sex offenders living in this community, 100,000 of them, in violation of their parole, probation -- the cases that happened this summer -- no wonder people are on heightened alert.
GRACE: You know -- back to Nicole Brodeur. She`s a staff columnist with "The Seattle Times." People are trying to paint Mullen out as having a criminal record himself. I took a look at his criminal record. He didn`t make payments on a car, and he got a theft by receiving or theft by taking the car. He wrote a bad check for, like, about 100 pounds of veal. OK. That`s a whole `nother issue right there. But bad check, not making a payment on a car -- this guy, who unleashed on two convicted child molesters, is not a hardened criminal.
BRODEUR: No, he`s kind of a martyr now. And I wanted to say real quickly, while we`re talking about where to put everyone -- one town out here in King County, Washington, has -- it`s called Issequa (ph), and they just passed an ordinance where they will only permit, I believe -- level 2 and level 3 offenders have to live in a certain part of town. They can`t live in any other part of town. They`re all being moved over to almost a - - kind of a business, industrial part of town.
GRACE: Well, you know what? I don`t really have a problem with convicted sex offenders who prey on little children being put off in the industrial complex. They need to be in jail, number one. But apparently, we have some problem with keeping them in jail in this country. Here`s what police had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was so upset by level 3 sex offenders being out in the community, the incident that happened in Idaho, that he felt it necessary and that this was a solution to a problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Now, apparently, Michelle Suskauer, defense attorney, what pushed Mullen over the edge was watching the coverage about Dylan and Shasta Groene. Now, as we know, the perpetrator in that case, Joseph Edward Duncan III, is accused of wiping out the children`s entire family, killing the mother, the 13-year-old brother, the boyfriend, just so he could get these two as his sex toys. He ended up allegedly killing -- there you see Dylan Groene. Oh, there he is, in all his splendor.
Shasta will be forever battling the emotional problems because of this guy. She has no mother. She`s lost both brothers. Apparently, this coverage pushed him over the edge, Michelle. So what`s your defense?
MICHELLE SUSKAUER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, it doesn`t give him the right. And you`re asking me to defend him, but I want to say that -- because I don`t think that we should make him into a superstar because he`s a murderer. You said, Well, he only stole some veal. This guy acted like the executioner.
GRACE: No, I said he wrote a bad check for some veal.
SUSKAUER: OK. But you know what? You know what? These guys served their time.
GRACE: Suskauer, you`ve never bit written a bad check, not once in your life? Think back to law school.
SUSKAUER: You know, I actually -- actually, I haven`t. But I want to tell you that these two guys were registered. They weren`t committing a crime. They weren`t doing anything wrong. And this crazy guy came into their home, impersonating an FBI agent, and executed them. That`s what he did. And he had absolutely no right. No matter how horrible their crimes were, they served their time. And this is sending a terrible message to other people.
GRACE: So I guess your answer is insanity. You did say crazy.
Alex Sanchez, I`m firing her. I`m hiring you now. What`s your defense?
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Oh, look, my defense -- if I were to defend this man right here, my defense would be that he was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance and that because of his bad childhood, because he was abused or sexually molested himself when he was a kid, look, the guy just cracked up.
But the fact of the matter is, and I hope it`s not misunderstood here, this guy is a -- is really a cold-blooded murderer. He tracked these people down, pretended he was an FBI agent...
GRACE: I don`t think that`s really going to help the defense.
SANCHEZ: ... and he went in there and murdered them. And you know, we can`t -- we cannot allow or put our imprimatur on unstable people tracking people down and murdering them because they don`t like...
GRACE: Hey, Alex...
SANCHEZ: ... what they have done in the past. That`s grossly improper.
GRACE: Alex, thanks for the speech, but I asked what was your defense. And you know what? Give me the honest answer. You think the court system has done us any favors letting these guys out in five years?
SANCHEZ: No, I don`t. I don`t think -- I think the court system...
GRACE: OK...
SANCHEZ: ... has been greatly improper.
GRACE: Yes, no?
SANCHEZ: But my defense here would be -
GRACE: Yes, no? I heard your defense!
SANCHEZ: ... that he was psychologically unbalanced. That`s the defense in this case.
GRACE: But people hear about one child molester after the next getting out. At a certain point, Alex, you don`t think people begin to suspect our system is not protecting children?
SANCHEZ: Yes. And I`m sick and tired of that. But that`s up to the politicians, and it`s up to...
GRACE: Oh, yes.
SANCHEZ: ... our local officials to lobby Congress or to lobby the local state legislators to change the law. It`s not up to the individual to say, You know what? I`m going to take a gun and I`m going to go track somebody down. I`m going to put a bullet in their head because I don`t like what they did. I don`t like the way that -- I don`t like the current status of the law. Because if you do it in this case, you can do it in other cases, too. And all you`re going to do is unleash a bunch of emotionally...
GRACE: You know what`s...
SANCHEZ: ... unstable people on society.
GRACE: ... amazing to me? You know what`s amazing to me? Elizabeth (ph), can you show me a double shot of Michelle Suskauer and Alex Sanchez? OK. I want to see the both of them. OK. Normally, when I ask you guys to defend somebody, you go on and on about how they`ve been mistreated. Now you get a guy -- and these are defendant who kill innocent children, innocent victims. Now I ask you to defend a guy who kills two convicted child rapists, and you`re screaming about how awful he is! What happened?
SUSKAUER: Nancy, what you were doing before was you were sort of putting this guy on a pedestal...
GRACE: Oh, no, I was not!
SUSKAUER: ... that you know what? These are just -- these are just - - you know, these are -- these are awful sex offenders, and they didn`t serve enough time. If you want me to defend him and put the defense hat on, certainly, there`s something wrong with this guy doing what he did. And he certainly has to be evaluated for psychiatric issues.
GRACE: Very quickly, back to Jane Velez-Mitchell. Jane, nobody is glamorizing or putting murder up on a pedestal, but this guy, Michael Mullen -- I mean, when you look back, Jane Velez-Mitchell, you take a look at Ellie Nestler -- she had a movie made about her after she killed her kid`s molester, and he, in fact, molested her kid. Bernard Goetz, the subway vigilante.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Nancy, the irony of all this is that this man, Mike Mullen, makes some very good points. I have here a copy of the letter that he actually wrote to one of the local newspapers. And in his handwriting, written with, he says a golf (ph) pencil, he makes some very good points. He says, You don`t let serial killers out, so why do you let serial pedophiles out when you know that serial pedophiles are almost inevitably going to commit another crime?
The problem was that he should have kept this message on this written piece of paper, and he shouldn`t have taken the law into his own hands. I mean, he just made a good point, and then he went to the other extreme and he may have really hurt his own case.
GRACE: You know, I`m going to go out on a limb and predict a jury is not going to give this guy the death penalty. If you take -- when you don`t know a horse, look at his track record. Look what other juries have done when convicted child molesters that molested innocent little children were killed. There is a long and rich history of forgiving vigilantism.
We`ll all be right back. Stay with us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 911 center received a phone call sometime after 6:00 PM from a man who stated that he had information about the double homicide on Northwest Avenue.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mullen told dispatch he was the one who killed convicted level three sex offenders 49-year-old Hank Eisses and 68-year-old Victor Vazquez. He posed as an FBI agent and told the men he was there to warn them about being on a hit list on the Internet. Police say he knew things about the crime only the murderer could have known.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Here they are, the all-stars of child molesters -- Couey, Schwartzmiller, Avila, Duncan, Onstott, Richard Allen Davis. In case you don`t remember those names, what about these? Polly Klaas, Samantha Runyon, Jessie Lunsford, Shasta and Dylan Groene, Megan Kanka, Sarah Michelle (ph) Lundy, all dying at the hands of convicted child molesters.
And speaking of child molesters, Elizabeth, do you have that video cued up for me? Just last night -- catch this -- sex offenders in Florida rallied for their so-called rights. They say new laws restricting where they can live and work are unconstitutional. Florida`s sex offenders, like John Couey, accused of the assault and murder of Jessie Lunsford -- Onstott -- police say he killed Sarah Lundy, 13 years old. Yes, they`re rallying for their rights.
You know, let me go back to Andy Kahan. Andy Kahan, when you hear about sex offenders rallying for their rights -- you know, I think if I were a defense attorney, I might use that video right there to defend Michael Mullen for going and shooting these guys.
KAHAN: You know, Sex offenders and rallying for your rights is such an oxymoronic statement, they don`t even belong in the same equation. But I`ll tell you, going back to the situation that we`re looking at right now and the pictures that you just showed, all faces that are probably familiar to most of America because we continue to see children raped, kidnapped, and then murdered by repeat sex offenders.
And what this case really goes back to, the crux of the issue, is why, why in God`s name do we have so many sex offenders serving such little time in a penitentiary, and then when they do go to prison, they`re released in such a short amount of time? This is, I think, America is sick and tired. They are fed up. And that`s pretty much what this guy said was, I`m not going to take it anymore. While we certainly condemn the actions of what he allegedly did, I think it`s understandable in the core of what`s happening in this country and the fabric of why there are so many sex offenders living amongst us.
GRACE: And Andy, I know you`re concerned, however, about what this will do to that sex offender registry we have worked so hard to get to go national.
KAHAN: Yes. Absolutely. I mean, this is such an important tool for families, for parents, and for anybody, for that matter. And we certainly feel that they should have the right to know who is serving time in their community, particularly predatory sex offenders. So hopefully, you know, the anomaly of this situation won`t bear the brunt on hurting what so many people like you and I and many others have fought for for years. So that`s something we really got to take a good hard look at.
GRACE: We`ll all be right back. Is this guy crazy, or will a jury in Seattle consider him to be a hero? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The crime was committed August 27. A man posing as an FBI agent visited the home of convicted child rapists Hank Eisses and Victor Vazquez. The suspect allegedly told the men they were on a sex offender hit list before shooting and killing them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you have a question?
MICHAEL MULLEN, ACCUSED OF KILLING TWO CHILD MOLESTERS: Yes. Can I have a speedy trial or...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thirty-five-year-old Michael Mullen appears before a Whatcom County judge in a high-security jumpsuit. Police say Mullen called 911, claiming he`s the one who shot and killed two level 3 sex offenders in their Northwest Avenue home. Mullen tells police he was prompted by the case of level 3 sex offender Joseph Duncan, the man behind bars for murdering an Idaho family and kidnapping their two young children. Mullen also says he wrote this letter to King 5 news, claiming responsibility. The letter stated he was protecting our children by taking a stand against sex offenders.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: This right after a rally of sex offenders, all convicted in Florida, wanting their rights. Part of the letter that Mullen wrote regarding shooting the two sex offenders -- part of the letter says, "I myself have a boy and girl around Dylan and Shasta`s age. God help the man who ever hurts them."
Dr. Saunders, is this guy crazy?
SAUNDERS: Absolutely not, Nancy. He has probably post-traumatic stress disorder, with substance abuse problems and some severe personality issues. He is no more crazy than all of the men who came -- and women now -- who came home from war, the Vietnamese vets, the Iraqi vets who had severe post-traumatic stress disorder. It wasn`t treated. They turned to drugs and alcohol. They were on hair trigger until something tipped them over.
GRACE: To Nicole Brodeur with "The Seattle Times." What is his family saying?
BRODEUR: Well, his brother told our reporter, Maureen Hagen (ph), that he had -- his brother might have been abused as a child. And I kind of agree in the hair trigger thing. One thing might have set him off, and this might have been it. And plus, it was an awful, awful summer for children in this country, without a doubt.
GRACE: You know what, Nicole? It really was.
And to Jane Velez-Mitchell. The prosecutor has about a month to decide whether they are seeking the death penalty in this case. What`s the likelihood of that?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, it seems like it could be a very high likelihood. Interestingly enough, at first, Mullen said he wanted to plead guilty, and in fact, wanted to be executed so he could be in the afterlife to meet Joseph Duncan III and wreak vengeance on him in the afterlife, which would seem to indicate to me that he does has some very severe personality issues. But then once he got a public defender, he ended up pleading not guilty, and now he may not, in fact, want to be executed.
GRACE: OK. So Alex Sanchez, he wants to have a death match in heaven.
SANCHEZ: Yes, that`s sounds like...
GRACE: Maybe we better consider that insanity defense.
SANCHEZ: Right. Right.
GRACE: Alex, I once had to...
SANCHEZ: Doesn`t that sound like somebody that`s crazy, by the way, who wants to go to heaven...
GRACE: I once had to prosecute...
SANCHEZ: ... and beat up somebody?
GRACE: ... a murder of a doper, a drug trafficker of heroin. When I told the jury who the victim was, they`re, like, You`re kidding, right? But what`s the strategy?
SANCHEZ: Now we`re going to start talking about the victim`s background, now? Aren`t we supposed to leave the victim alone and not go into his background and talk about...
GRACE: Good point.
SANCHEZ: ... what the perpetrator...
GRACE: Good point, Alex.
SANCHEZ: ... had committed against this victim?
GRACE: We`ll all be right back, everybody. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANET PELASARA, MOTHER OF MISSING STUDENT: She left her room, her dorm room, at 10:00 o`clock-ish and told her roommate she`d be back in a couple hours and took her car keys and her student ID. And that`s it. That`s where the story`s ended.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are looking for 17-year-old Taylor Behl, a Virginia Commonwealth University student. She went missing Monday, Labor Day, September 5th, around 10:20 PM. She left her roommate there in their dorm room. She`s never been seen again.
I want to go straight out to the "Richmond Times-Dispatch" reporter Jim Nolan. Bring us up to date, Jim.
JIM NOLAN, "RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH": Well, Nancy, today Richmond police, acting as part of a task force of FBI, Virginia state police and other law enforcement agencies, executed warrants at the home of Taylor Behl in Vienna, Virginia. And they also executed a warrant at the home of a 38-year-old amateur photographer who was a friend of Taylor`s and had taken some pictures that he had posted on his Web site.
GRACE: Why did they search his home? What did they take out?
NOLAN: Well, they know from Internet research and other aspects of the investigation that this gentleman apparently had some sort of relationship with Taylor, perhaps was one of the people who had seen her within 24 to 48 hours of her disappearance, and had also taken pictures he`d posted on a Web site about her. This gentleman, by the way, is 38 years old. Taylor Behl was 17 years old.
GRACE: She`s 17, he`s 38. He`s a photographer, has her pictures on his Internet site. He is not a suspect at this time, he is a person of interest. Does he have a criminal history of any sort, Jim?
NOLAN: Well, our research indicates that there`s a minor criminal history in his background, but as police have been very careful to stress, they have no suspects at this time. He`s a person of interest in that he is one of the people police are interested in interviewing. And they`re interviewing a number of them, everyone from a boyfriend to family to other friends and roommates of Taylor Behl.
GRACE: When you said he had a minor record, what is the record?
NOLAN: It`s for misdemeanor assault, for which he received a suspended sentence a year ago.
GRACE: Got a sentence suspension, misdemeanor assault. Was it on a woman?
NOLAN: I don`t know the particulars of the case. That`s something Richmond police might be able to address better.
GRACE: Naomi (ph), who was the victim in the assault?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe it was the girlfriend.
GRACE: Girlfriend, OK. Very quickly, I want to go to Taylor Behl`s mother. She is joining us tonight, Janet Pelasara. Thank you for being with us, ma`am. When did you realize Taylor was missing?
PELASARA: At 3:30 on Wednesday morning, when the VCU police called.
GRACE: And they said what?
PELASARA: They said that her roommates had contacted them at 1:30 that morning and let them know that they were worried because they hadn`t seen her since Monday evening around 10:30 and that they looked -- the VCU police looked around the campus and where she normally parked her car, and couldn`t find her and -- or her car, and so they called me then, to let me know.
GRACE: Now, how many days after they had last seen her did they report her missing?
PELASARA: Just over 24 hours.
GRACE: And what type of car was she driving? Elizabeth, do we have a picture of her car?
PELASARA: It`s a 1997 Ford Escort, white, with license plate JPC 2848.
GRACE: 2848 -- J-Joy P-Penny C-California 2848.
PELASARA: Correct.
GRACE: I`m going to quickly go to Chief Rodney D. Monroe. He`s the chief of police in Richmond. Chief Monroe, you have taken over the investigation from the university, correct?
CHIEF RODNEY D. MONROE, RICHMOND POLICE DEPARTMENT: That is correct.
GRACE: Sir, why did they...
MONROE: It was a mutual...
GRACE: Yes. Yes, because you`re the cops, they`re the university police. Why did 11 days pass before there was an Amber Alert on this car?
MONROE: Well, you know, when we took over the investigation yesterday, we had strategized the day before, once we were updated on the particulars of the case and what VCU had already put in place. Quite naturally, we have another set of priorities that we would like to implement in cases such as this. We made a determination that we were going to move it from a missing person status into a criminal investigation. Once that is done, there are other things that are triggered, and the Amber Alert was one of the things we automatically triggered when we made that decision to move it to a criminal investigation.
GRACE: Chief Monroe, what is the tip line number?
MONROE: The tip line number is 804-514-TIPS.
GRACE: 8477. OK. Hold on -- 804-514-8477. Please take a look at Taylor Behl.
Mrs. Pelasara -- everybody, this is Taylor`s mother -- what was this 38-year-old man doing taking pictures of her? Now, everybody, these photos of her are fully clothed. I think in one of them, she`s standing out in front of a tree. They are not explicit in any way. But how is she connected to this guy?
PELASARA: He was a roommate of a high school friend of hers that is a student here at VCU. And when she came down to visit the campus, to see if she wanted to attend VCU, she met him through this -- he was a roommate.
GRACE: OK. Jim Nolan with the "Richmond Times-Dispatch," what can you tell me about her cell phone?
NOLAN: Well, she is believed to have carried a cell phone with her when she left that dorm room that night, September 5, in addition to car keys and perhaps a little bit of cash and a student ID. Multiple calls to the cell phone, we`re told, have yielded no hits. There has been no tracking of the phone. As a result, locating Taylor, or at least her phone, has become next to impossible.
GRACE: But interestingly -- to you, Chief Monroe -- the phone is still ringing. Now, that says to me the phone is still charged up and is turned on. When a phone is dead, it goes straight to voice-mail. It doesn`t keep ringing. Now, why would her phone still be charged up and ringing?
MONROE: That`s not necessarily the case. There`s a number of factors that go into creating the opportunity to trap and trace a cell phone. Right now, we`re working from the perspective of subpoenaing several phone records, to include Taylor`s, to determine where that phone was last used, at what time, by whom.
GRACE: Are you telling me...
MONROE: ... what numbers were called.
GRACE: Has the phone been used since she disappeared?
MONROE: We do have a time in which we`ve pinpointed the last time that a call was either placed to that phone or placed from that phone.
GRACE: Well, is that a yes or no? Has the phone been used since she disappeared? Hello!
MONROE: I`m not sure I understand -- I`m not sure I understand what you`re saying.
GRACE: OK.
MONROE: We do have a time that the phone was used.
GRACE: Well, was that after she disappeared?
MONROE: And to say that -- when did she disappear? I mean, you`re not actually asking me a question. Now, we have a time...
GRACE: OK, then let me rephrase -- let me rephrase, Judge. Since she was last seen alive, has her cell phone been used?
MONROE: We don`t know.
GRACE: OK. All righty.
Let me go straight back to Janet Pelasara. This is Taylor`s mother. Is there a reward for your girl?
PELASARA: Thank you for asking. The family is establishing an award -- a reward, and we have a Web site set up from a dear friend, a dear friend, family friend, Michael Smith (ph), and it`s Friendsoftaylor.com. And as soon as we have all the information, all the details about the reward, we will let everyone know about it.
GRACE: Ms. Pelasara, what is being done to find Taylor?
PELASARA: What have they done to find Taylor?
GRACE: What is being done, yes.
PELASARA: Oh. As of yesterday, they have reinterviewed several people. They`ve interviewed me for two-and-a-half hours. They have upped the Amber Alert from the status that it was to the full-blown alert. They have worked, I know, 24 hours a day since they took over the case and have been working non-stop, followed every lead that they`ve had. They have people on their tip line 24 hours a day. They have just been absolutely incredible.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So we have 500 children that are in the state`s custody, in foster care, that I cannot tell you Tommy is in Lake Charles at this location.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m concerned about my children (INAUDIBLE) George and my other daughter, Melinda Hatfield (ph), and my son, Warren Benjamin (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every child protection agency in every state is sweeping through the shelters on a continual basis, looking for unattached kids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: These are Katrina`s littlest victims, and we are trying so hard to reunite them with their families.
Let`s go straight out to CNN correspondent Brian Todd. What`s the latest?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nancy, the latest is that there are more than 2,000 children, that this center, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children -- they list more than 2,000 children as missing at this hour. The figure is close to 2,050. There have been a couple of cases that we`ve just heard of as being resolved.
One of them is actually one that we reported on earlier today, 9- month-old Ace Martinez (ph). He was last seen with his caretakers in Covington, Louisiana. Based on a report that CNN aired earlier today -- we put his picture up -- a social worker saw the picture, recognized him, recognized his family, reported them. Their case has been resolved. Ace Martinez is safe tonight. He is in good health, 9-month-old baby. That`s good news.
And they`re working around the clock, virtually, 16 hours a day they`re here, they`re here, these volunteers. They`re all former law enforcement officers. Their hard work has resulted in 760 cases being resolved since this call center was put up. This call center has been up since September 5. So Nancy, the numbers go up every day of children reported missing, the number of resolved cases also goes up every day.
GRACE: And all those gentlemen in front of you, Brian Todd, are volunteer law enforcement?
TODD: Yes. These people are all former law enforcement officers. They are donating their time. Many of them have come in from around the country, from Boston all the way to southern California. They were told, initially, they`d need to stay for at least a week. Some have extended their stays upon request from the center, and so they`re here indefinitely. And they`re going to keep this call center up until, they say, they`ve resolved all the cases. We don`t know how long that going to be, but they`re going to keep it up for as long as they possibly can, until this crisis ebbs.
GRACE: Very quickly, to Keishell Barrow. She is looking for her 1- year-old daughter, Kalise (ph). Welcome, ma`am. Thank you for being with us. How did you get separated from Kalise?
KEISHELL BARROW, MISSING 1-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER: I last seen her on -- I last talked with her that Sunday, the day of the hurricane. She left and went to her nanny`s house that Friday. And she was already over there when the hurricane hit. No one expected that the hurricane would be that bad. Everyone thought it would blow over after two days, but it didn`t. And I couldn`t get to her because everything was under water.
GRACE: Now, everybody, Ms. Barrow has lost everything. She does not have a picture tonight...
BARROW: No, ma`am.
GRACE: ... to show her daughter, 1-year-old, her daughter, Kalise. Now, who was she with last?
BARROW: She was with her nanny, Audrey Jones (ph).
GRACE: And where were they?
BARROW: Audrey? She`s with her nanny, yes.
GRACE: OK. Can you tell me anything about your daughter?
BARROW: She`s 1 year old. She`s about my complexion, curly hair. Her nanny, Audrey, is elderly. She`s maybe in her 50s. Someone -- I went to the Astrodome looking for them, and told me they saw her Wednesday after the hurricane with my baby. But she didn`t tell them where she was going, so I`m not sure where they are.
GRACE: So you know that she was in Houston at the Astrodome with her nanny. Everybody, we`re looking for Kalise Keishell. She`s only 1 year old. Her mom has lost everything. If you have any information on her, the phone number is 832-443-5371. Please help us find this little girl.
Very quickly, to Ernie Allen. He is a workhorse, let me tell you, with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Ernie, what`s the latest?
ERNIE ALLEN, DIR., NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: Well, the latest is we`re still looking for more than 2,000 children. We`re making great progress. The numbers of children unidentified in the shelters is coming down, but there`s still a lot of work to do.
GRACE: What are you guys doing to help reunite children and families?
ALLEN: Well, we`ve got people on the ground, retired law enforcement on the ground, and these families going in the shelters, we`re circulating the photographs. What CNN is doing in terms of providing these photos to the public is helping us find children. We`re using every tool imaginable to reunite these families.
GRACE: And Alex Sanchez, I`m so worried about these sex predators that have turned up in the shelters where children are.
SANCHEZ: This is an absolutely frightening development. I mean, if these children do not have adults, like parents, looking out after their interests, you know, they`re prey. And these predators are there in the shelters and in and around the shelters, and they`re watching to see who is not being attended to.
GRACE: They really are, Alex.
SANCHEZ: And if they have an opportunity, they will take advantage of that opportunity. So it`s important that they track down the parents of these kids and reunite them with the children.
GRACE: To Michelle Suskauer, defense attorney. Also, Michelle, there`s some speculation that some parents are using this tragedy as a way to fight their own custody battle, taking the kid so the other parent doesn`t know where it is.
SUSKAUER: And I`m sure that that`s the case. The problem is, there are going to be missing records and children that are going to be kidnapped by the opposite parent, and so this is going to be a very big problem. It has so many long-term ramifications. There are going to be families that are just not going to be able to be reunited and broken up forever because of this hurricane.
GRACE: Dr. Saunders, the longer these kids are separated, the more the trauma.
SAUNDERS: Yes. That`s right, Nancy. But all of these children are being traumatized, as have the grown-ups. And all kids are going to have significant changes in their behavior if, please God, they are united with all their parents. Parents have to watch very carefully for changes and get professional help.
GRACE: Elizabeth, let`s thank -- Bruce Bernard (ph), everybody. The other night, you helped us reunite a 91-year-old mother, Marian Bernard (ph), with her son, and he sent this to the staff and to you for helping them be reunited. There she is. She has Alzheimer`s and had on the wrong ID bracelet. Bruce, you really didn`t have to do this. Thank you, though. Our joy was knowing that you two had been reunited.
We want very much to help reunite families torn apart by Katrina. Take a look at Jordan Harris. He`s just 7. He was with his grandparents in New Orleans during the hurricane, not been seen since. If you have info on this boy, Jordan Harris, call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 1-800-THE-LOST.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Welcome back. What a week we have all lived through together. Take a look at the stories, and more important, the people who touched all of our lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thirty-four people drowned in a nursing home where they should have been evacuated.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let`s hope they weren`t aware of their surroundings because I can only imagine the horror as that water came in and rose and rose and rose and didn`t stop until it reached the ceiling in that place.
GRACE: Thirty-four oldsters left in St. Rita`s nursing home in their wheelchairs, in their beds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do not know what the owner was thinking by staying put.
GRACE: I keep thinking of my own grandmother.
Now the residents of New Orleans have to worry about 4,500 registered sex offenders.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Those children and those sex offenders should not be all in the mix. It is a recipe for disaster.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When they`re coming into the shelters, they`re not doing background checks. They don`t have the facilities, the capabilities, the money to do something like that. It`s so scary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is where hell opened its mouth.
GRACE: Hard evidence of sex assaults robberies, gunfire and cops turning a blind eye at the New Orleans convention center.
WILL HAYGOOD, "WASHINGTON POST": There was gunfire. There were people who died, and it was a fairly horrific five days for those people.
GRACE: Countless assaults while under government protection from Katrina.
DR. GREG HENDERSON, TREATED KATRINA VICTIMS AT NEW ORLEANS CONVENTION CENTER: ... some pretty harrowing stories of how they would go and get young women and come back here and rape them.
GRACE: Why is it all being kept secret.
HENDERSON: One of them, I heard her throat was cut.
GRACE: A total breakdown of law and order!
HENDERSON: Another one, a 6-year-old, was raped and died from the trauma of it.
GRACE: Why is there no attempt to document the wrongdoing and apprehend the perpetrators?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where we came from and what we been through in the dome, in that water and everything, a lot of people didn`t make it. So I consider myself as lucky. I consider myself as blessed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are getting out and about and, you know, moving on with their lives. We`re connecting people into Atlanta and to Florida and to other parts of Louisiana and Mississippi.
GRACE: Scott, I just want to say thank you.
SCOTT NOSTAJA, SHELTER MANAGER IN ORANGE, TEXAS: Thank you, friend.
GRACE: Thank you, friend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
I want to thank all of my guests tonight, but my biggest thank you is to you for being with us, inviting us into your homes. Coming up, headlines from all around the world, Larry on CNN. I`m Nancy Grace, signing off for tonight. Hope to see you right here Monday night, 8:00 o`clock sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, friend.
END
