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Nancy Grace

Where`s Christine Rudy?

Aired December 02, 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: Where is Christine Rudy? The search for the 6-month-pregnant 21-year-old goes on, as temperatures drop to 9 degrees tonight in the Wisconsin forest where Christine was last seen.
And tonight, a 55-year-old well-known female pediatrician vanished. Now her family is desperate to find her. And tonight, we go live to California. A four-time convicted killer wants Schwarzenegger to commute his death sentence.

Good evening, everybody, I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being us tonight. Four-time convicted killer Stanley "Tookie" Williams gunned down four innocent local workers picked at random, and now he advocates mercy for himself. Will "The Terminator," the governor, Schwarzenegger, thwart the death penalty?

Also tonight, mystery surrounding 55-year-old well-known female pediatrician. She left her medical office there in Oakland, California, and has vanished into thin air.

But first, tonight -- urgent. No sign of 21-year-old Christine Rudy. She`s 6 months pregnant. We featured here first the search for Christine. She was last seen along a Wisconsin highway. Today, her husband, Shaun Rudy, appears in court on totally unrelated drug charges.

Very quickly, I want to go out to Paul Knoff, reporter with WCCN radio. Paul, what`s the latest?

PAUL KNOFF, WCCN RADIO: Well, basically, not a lot of new information since we talked on Wednesday. Yesterday, as you mentioned, Shaun Rudy was in Clark County circuit court for an initial appearance on two charges, one a felony -- that`s a possession -- a charge of possession of a firearm by a felon -- and also a misdemeanor count...

GRACE: Uh! Uh! Uh! Uh! Uh! Uh!

KNOFF: ... that he had a meth...

GRACE: Uh! Uh! Uh! Uh! Wait. Wait. Possession of a firearm? Normally, in this country, under the Constitution, not a crime. But I caught those special little words at the end, By a convicted felon. What is his history?

KNOFF: Well, he is a convicted felon in the state of Wisconsin. As you highlighted on Wednesday, he`s got a pretty extensive rap sheet. But I think the thing that really sticks out about his criminal history, charges he`s been convicted on, meth charges, methamphetamine charges, and also burglary charges. That`s basically his criminal history.

GRACE: So he is back in court on drug charges and possession of a firearm. When was he discovered in possession of a firearm?

KNOFF: Well, basically, what happened is, four days after he reported his wife missing -- and keep in mind, he reported his wife missing on November 14 -- four police officers in the early morning hours of November 18 pulled Mr. Rudy over, a routine traffic stop. They said he had snow in the back of his window in his car, completely covered in snow, so they pulled him over.

When they pulled him over, they did discover in the back seat there were, first of all, two passengers. And there was a cased firearm. I read over the criminal complaint, and it seems the criminal complaint indicates this gun was actually the passenger`s gun. But I don`t know exactly what the state statute says about possession, but that`s where the firearm charge comes in. In the glove compartment, there was a -- what they described as a methamphetamine/marijuana pipe.

GRACE: OK, very quickly, Paul, was it his vehicle?

KNOFF: As far as I know, it was his vehicle.

GRACE: OK. OK. That`s all I needed to know. Hold on. Hold on just a moment.

Renee Rockwell, that legal theory, very simple, very understandable. If it`s your car and there`s a gun in it and you`ve got methamphetamine stuffed in the glove compartment, it`s presumed to be yours. Everybody in that car is going to get charged, whether it was yours actually or yours constructively. Those are two legal theories. So long story short, he`s up the river. But Renee, you know what they`re doing, right? You know why they`ve got him behind bars. It`s not about the drugs.

RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Absolutely, Nancy. He`s a suspect. They`re just waiting...

GRACE: No, he`s not an official suspect! Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh!

ROCKWELL: They`re saying that he`s not a suspect.

GRACE: Right.

ROCKWELL: But what they`ll do is they`ll put him in jail, just like they do to everybody else, and they`ll conveniently have someone in the cell next to him that overhears a voluntary confession about what may or may not have happened to his wife. It`s just -- we don`t even know that she`s dead.

GRACE: You know, Renee, you make it all seem so sinister. You think the cellmate, the imaginary cellmate, also planted the gun and the meth? How`d that get there?

ROCKWELL: Well, Nancy, we have other people in the car. He could be a drug dealer, he could have a gun, but that doesn`t make...

GRACE: Let me guess!

ROCKWELL: ... him a wife killer.

GRACE: Let me guess, Renee. The same old song is so tired. Second verse same as the first, wrong place, wrong time. You know what? hold that thought. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL LEE, CHRISTINE RUDY`S MOTHER: I know Christine was all excited about the baby coming and the baby shower that we were going to have on her. Her husband come over and said he couldn`t find Christine and then he was going to go and report her missing.

My first thought was, Why did he leave her out in the woods?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: I want to go to Jim Moret, chief correspondent with "Inside Edition." He`s been following this case along with us. Jim, give me the timeline on this marriage and the baby and the disappearance.

JIM MORET, "INSIDE EDITION": They were married in August. She`s 6 months pregnant. She`s 21, he`s 23.

Nancy, you showed that image of the snow on the ground, that highway near a forest. He admitted to dropping his wife off in this remote area where it would be at least four miles away to the nearest neighbor. She`s 6 months pregnant. She`s wearing jeans, tennis shoes and a zip-up jacket. You can see the temperature`s freezing. Who knows what happened to her? But we do know that he admitted he dropped her off because he said they had a fight about something about them not spending enough time together. And he said that this happened a couple of days before, as well.

GRACE: Well, another fact, Jim Moret, when he had this same spat, as he calls it, a few days before, he left her -- he left her out on the street. And according to him -- he`s the only witness we have for this -- this pregnant lady walked seven miles, I think, to a local church and called him for a ride.

I want to quickly go to psychologist Dr. Caryn Stark. Caryn, we highlighted this story in the past few days in the hopes that someone can help us find Christine Rudy.

Everybody, the 1-800 number, the tip line, 1-800-743-2420. The temperatures are dropping now to around 9 degrees in the area in which Christine Rudy allegedly was put out of her car, 6 months pregnant. If she is still alive, she is in that harsh, harsh winter temperature.

Caryn Stark, number one cause of death amongst pregnant women, hard to believe, homicide. Second, cardiovascular. Explain. And again, the husband is not an official suspect. Caryn?

CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, he`s not an official suspect, Nancy, but he was the last person to be seen with her. We know he`s a convicted felon. We know that he`s a drug addict, or appears to be. He sells methamphetamines. So he`s not somebody that you could really trust in terms of his explanation. And the way that they fight, that he actually did drop her off once before, would lead to you suspect that something very fishy`s going on here. And she`s vulnerable. She`s very vulnerable being pregnant.

GRACE: Well, you know, if you don`t know a horse, let`s look at the track record. Roll it, Elizabeth (ph).

Laci Peterson, Lori Hacking, Latoyia Figueroa, Amanda Jones. All three of them pregnant. We know three of them dead. Amanda Jones still missing, last seen with the father of her baby. The same story gets played out over and over.

With me right now, I`m hearing in my ear, a special guest out of Wisconsin, Chief Deputy Jim Backus. He`s the Clark County sheriff. Chief, thank you for being with us. I know it becomes more and more dire as each day passes, as each night, the temperature gets lower and lower. But what are your men and women doing to find Ms. Rudy?

CHIEF DEPUTY JIM BACKUS, CLARK COUNTY SHERIFF`S OFFICE: Again, thank you for having me tonight.

GRACE: Yes, sir.

BACKUS: After the show the other night, we received between 10 and 15 tips, which some didn`t lead anywhere and others are still being followed up on and verified leading to other -- other tips. So we appreciate that.

Into the late hours, including now and the last couple nights, we`ve had K-9s out, both searching the woods along Coney (ph) double-M and the Clark and old Clark County forests. Currently, as the show is going on, we have detectives that are interviewing people and around the state, trying to find where Christine is at.

GRACE: Chief, you`re telling us by us putting the tip line out, you actually got a couple of leads that might help you?

BACKUS: Yes, we do.

GRACE: Let`s put that out there again, Sheriff, 1-800-743-2420. Look at this girl. Look at her. She`s just 21 years old. She`s 6 months pregnant, last seen on the roadside in Wisconsin, according to the eyewitness.

Hey, Chief Backus, a question. You said the dogs were out searching for her. You know, I practiced law in Georgia, and we never had snow impeding a canine search. Does that have an effect on a canine search, if new -- with new fallen snow, since she went missing?

BACKUS: According to the handlers, no, that would not affect them doing a search.

GRACE: Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: I mean, are they still checking out? Do they have leads? Is there anything up in the apartment that they`ve found that could give them a lead?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: I want to go to a renowned criminal profiler. Joining us tonight, Pat Brown. Pat, what do you think of the husband`s story?

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: I think we can`t believe much of what he says. I think it`s very interesting he talks about this hilltop. There`s another area that they might want to go search because sometimes when someone is trying to make up a story about where they left someone, they change where they actually left them, and then they bring in something else, another time, remember, that they did something. And they -- it all gets confused in their minds, but they say something that they shouldn`t say.

So he may have left her near to the hilltop or to that church he`s talking about. And she might not even be on that highway where he said he left her. After all, why should he say where he actually might have put her out, if he did, because that`s where they`re going to search. He doesn`t want to be caught. So he`s probably going to make a phony location, so they have to look there, but there`s a lot of...

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: I don`t know about that, Pat. I don`t know about that. Take into account Scott Peterson, who said, yes, I was fishing there in the bay, and that`s where the body turned up. So you never know. It`s really...

BROWN: Well, the difference in Scott Peterson is he had to explain why somebody would see him in that boat. In this case, nobody probably saw him on that highway, so he`s just going to pick a location, any location, where he could say his wife could be at. And then it`s not my fault if she`s found in the bushes because she was walking home. But on the other hand, he might not even -- she might not even be anywhere near there, and that -- he`s just making that up. So they`re really going to have a lot of territory to cover, unfortunately.

GRACE: You know, Penny Douglass-Furr, veteran defense attorney, like Renee Rockwell -- Penny, it`s interesting what our criminal profiler just said. I`ve noticed this prosecuting. Very often, when a defendant, a suspect -- and again, he`s not an official suspect -- gives a statement and they`re trying to get out of something, they`ll take little bits from the truth and little bits from last week and little bits from yesterday, and they put it together and they get a story. And part of that is true. They may very well have been driving along on the road and had an argument at some point.

Have you ever noticed that, Penny? Do you think it`s worth really dissecting his statement?

PENNY DOUGLASS-FURR, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Oh, yes, Nancy. As a matter of fact, I`ve also noticed that many of the criminals will return to the scene of the crime. So if the police even let him out and then followed him, if he did kill her and he put her body somewhere or he left her somewhere, there`s a very good chance that he will return to wherever he dropped her off or wherever he left her. So that`s a very good possibility.

As you can remember, I know we`ve had many cases where they would follow the person or put a following device on their car, and they would return exactly to the scene of wherever they dropped them off, or if they killed them, to where they left the body.

GRACE: And Renee, have you ever noticed that, when you get one of your client`s statements, you start looking at it, it`s got a little piece from yesterday and a little piece from last week and some place they`ve been in the past. It`s all true, but at the wrong time. It`s kind of...

(CROSSTALK)

ROCKWELL: Nancy, that`s why we say, Don`t say anything, for God`s sake.

GRACE: Don`t say anything!~

ROCKWELL: Shut it up, because if -- the truth is this. If you start at the beginning, the middle or the end, it doesn`t change. But people are usually not smart enough to make up a lie and stick with it. That`s why you don`t let your clients talk.

GRACE: Yes, it would be awful if the cops found out the truth, right, Renee?

To Chief Backus. Chief, has this husband -- has he been cooperating? Has he agreed to take a polygraph? Has he even been asked? Has he been out searching for her?

BACKUS: No. When Mr. Rudy was arrested on the 18th, he was also placed on probation hold. So he has not been released from the jail from that date.

GRACE: Now, what day did she go missing? She went missing November 12. That gives me 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. That`s seven days. Was he out searching for her?

BACKUS: We do not know that. He reported her to the Thorpe (ph) Police Department on the 14th, and we didn`t get involved until the 19th.

GRACE: Right.

BACKUS: When we did speak with him, he...

GRACE: Chief, are you telling me his story is he dropped her off on the 12th and he did not report her until the 14th?

BACKUS: That is correct.

GRACE: Now, how I managed to miss that subtle but important detail?

Pat Brown, did you hear that?

BROWN: Yes. What takes two days for you to be worried about your wife? Or do you just want two days to go by before anybody starts looking for evidence?

GRACE: Paul Knoff, do we know if he was out searching for his 6- month-pregnant wife or not?

KNOFF: I don`t think we know that information. And you know, when we`re talking about his story, that`s one of the things that`s really captured, I think, the attention of people around here is it`s so absurd that somebody`s -- if you want to use the term alibi, would be that they left their pregnant wife by the side of the road. It almost lends credence to it, but it is a bizarre story.

GRACE: Paul, did I just hear you say it almost lends credence to it? It`s just so stupid...

KNOFF: Well, the -- I think...

GRACE: ... we have to believe it?

KNOFF: You know, that is what`s been -- you know, when we talk about this around town, sometimes people say, Why would he tell authorities this? And when you start to think about it, there are some reasons why he might come up with a story like that.

GRACE: Paul! Paul! The man had methamphetamines in his glove compartment! You think he`s thinking straight?

KNOFF: Nancy, that`s not exactly true. You know, this might sound like a horse of peace (ph), but he had a meth pipe. They didn`t discover methamphetamine in his car.

GRACE: Well, how do you know it was a meth pipe?

KNOFF: It was a marijuana/meth pipe. At least, the criminal complaint said it was consistent with a marijuana/meth pipe.

GRACE: Well, what would he be doing with a meth pipe if he didn`t smoke meth?

KNOFF: You know, it`s a marijuana/meth pipe, and I don`t know what somebody would be doing with a meth pipe.

GRACE: You know what? You`re right. It`s all pure speculation. This man is not a formal suspect. And it was a meth pipe -- clarification -- not the actual meth in his glove compartment. I`m glad you cleared that up.

Quick break, everybody. Again, the 1-800 number for Christine Rudy, 1-800-743-2420. Please help us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BACKUS: A couple days prior to the 12th, Mr. Rudy indicated that there was another such incident where he had left her on a hilltop in Crawford County, which is near Prairie Du Chien (ph), Wisconsin. At that time, Ms. Rudy had walked approximately seven to eight miles to a church, where she had phoned him and he had returned to pick her up.

At this time, we are still treating it as a missing persons case and leaving all avenues open. And as it was stated earlier, we are not ruling out foul play at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Welcome back. Can you please help us bring Christine Rudy home? She`s 21 years old, 6 months pregnant.

Chief Backus, why are you still treating this as a missing persons case?

BACKUS: Well, until we can get some physical evidence or other information that would take us down the avenue of foul play, we have to keep everything open...

GRACE: Gotcha.

BACKUS: ... and you know, take everything as it could...

GRACE: Chief, did he explain to you why he waited two full days to report his pregnant wife missing?

BACKUS: No, he didn`t. When our detectives spoke with him, it was -- the interview did not last very long, as toward the end of it, then, he requested an attorney and we had to stop all questioning.

GRACE: Right. Right. I remember that. You told me that.

Everybody, you`re seeing this stretch of road in Wisconsin on which her husband says Christine Rudy was put out after a spat. She`s 21 years old, 6 months pregnant.

And very quickly, Caryn Stark, you figured out that methamphetamine riddle. Go ahead.

STARK: He was convicted, Nancy, July 2002. He pleaded no contest to manufacturing or delivering methamphetamines.

GRACE: Yes, Paul, you`re absolutely right. That`s where I got the possession of meth from. That was a 2002 conviction. Paul, another -- everybody, Paul Knoff is with us. Here`s there in Wisconsin with WCCN radio. Paul, it`s my understanding a couple of days before this incident, he claims he put her out somewhere else and she walked seven miles to make a phone call to get a ride?

KNOFF: Well, they told me eight miles. If it`s seven miles, I guess that`s a little bit better. But yes, this happened down in Crawford County, apparently, on November 8 or 9, according to Mr. Rudy. He told authorities that, basically, he and his wife, Christine, took what he called road trips, and this particular road trip took them to the southwestern corner of the state. He dropped her off on what he described as a hill. She had to walk eight miles to a church, where she called Shaun. Shaun picked her up the next day.

So this is interesting because it may be develops some sort of pattern of behavior, possibly, but also, it kind of speaks about the climate inside that relationship.

GRACE: Well, that`s a heck of a road trip. He calls it a road trip. Some of us may call it abandoning your pregnant wife on the side of the road.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: I would just love to see her walk through that door. I don`t care how she looks or -- I don`t care. I just want her to walk through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Christine Rudy`s mother talking about her daughter, just 21 years old, 6 months pregnant, missing. Her husband back in court on December 7 for a prelim on drug charges. Right now, he`s being held on $1,000 bail. Trial 101. What is bail? It`s money or property deposited by the accused in exchange for release.

Very quickly, to WCCN radio reporter Paul Knoff. What comes next? And how`s the community reacting?

KNOFF: Well, you know, I don`t know exactly what comes next in the investigation. You know, the community, I don`t think they feel threatened by this case, as they maybe would some other case. I think, by and large, they figure this is probably a domestic situation.

In talking about what comes next in the investigation, I talked to the sheriff`s department yesterday, and they told me, basically, Listen, we have information that we can`t tell the public right now.

GRACE: Oh, I see.

KNOFF: I think the public needs to understand that, that maybe they know some more about this investigation than they can say right now.

GRACE: Well, let me go straight to the horse`s mouth. Chief Backus, you say hunters report seeing a vehicle matching Rudy`s car on Thanksgiving Day. Is that true?

BACKUS: Yes, that is true.

GRACE: And how does that play into the investigation?

BACKUS: That, obviously, has led to numerous interviews. Our detectives continue to work on that to get a better description of the vehicle, of the people that were there, and also has increased our search area around in the county forest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MIKE GALANOS, CNN HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. I`m Mike Galanos at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Here`s a look at some of the stories making news right now.

Let`s begin in Alabama, where schools could soon offer courses in Bible literacy to high school students as an elective. Now, supporters say the course would not be a devotional study of the text but a look at the Bible and its influence. Critics say it`s an attempt by Christians to preach in public schools.

And, you know, we all have to go to the doctor and, when we`re on that examining table, we`re at the doctor`s mercy. Well, in California, the victims of one doctor, they are outraged after this doctor, who has repeatedly been charged with molesting women -- he`s still in practice. Coming up on ""PRIME NEWS TONIGHT," we`re going to find out how this guy is still in business.

And another story we`re covering for you, the holiday season. It`s in full swing. But not everyone`s in the spirit. Millions of people suffer from something caused seasonal effective disorder. It`s more serious than just a case of the holiday blues. Coming up, we`re going to show you what to look for if you`re feeling a little out of sorts and how to start feeling better.

That`s coming up on "PRIME NEWS TONIGHT," right after NANCY GRACE. We`ll see you there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBY ALI, MISSING PEDIATRICIAN`S DAUGHTER: Everyone wants our mom back. We just really want our mom back. So if there`s anything that you have, any information you can have, please let us know. I`m sure someone saw something. She couldn`t have just completely disappeared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Tonight, a lady doctor, a pediatrician, has vanished into thin air. Her family beside themselves. No explanation of why this woman went missing. She was last seen November 7 leaving her doctor`s office in Oakland, California. She`s never been seen again.

Let`s go straight out to the reporter with the "San Jose Mercury News," Scott Herhold. Scott, bring us up-to-date.

SCOTT HERHOLD, REPORTER, "SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS": Well, Nancy, the latest is that the police are beginning to cast their net a little wider. Originally, they`d been focused on the idea that Dr. Attari would have driven into the bay. Now they seem to be looking at salvage yards, junkyards. That opens the possibility anyway that they`re looking at the issue of foul play here.

GRACE: Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALI ABBAS, FRIEND: The worst thing that we`re not hoping for is that she`s probably dead, somebody killed her, you know, because we have a couple of, you know, suspicions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s suspicious because she has a supportive family. She`s a professional. And we don`t have clues or any indications of where she might be. It`s very unusual that she would be gone for this period of time.

TASSADUO ATTARI, ZEHRA`S HUSBAND: If she is late by five or 10 minutes, or half an hour or so, she would call someone (INAUDIBLE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Back to Scott Herhold with the "San Jose Mercury News." Have divers searched the estuary for the doctor?

HERHOLD: Well, they had announced earlier this week that they were going to do that. I think that they have pretty much concluded that it would have been very hard for her to drive into the estuary. First of all, it would have left marks, tracks. It just does not compute. She would have had to have driven quite a ways out of her way to go into the estuary, and it was still light, even...

GRACE: Well, that`s crazy. Why would she drive into the estuary? Was there any past history of suicide or suicidal ideation?

HERHOLD: That`s exactly why this doesn`t compute. This is a woman who is completely rooted in her community. She was not a very confident driver. We know that. But still, it would take a fair amount of doing to drive into San Francisco Bay. You don`t just fall into the bay.

GRACE: Scott, I don`t mean to be argumentative, but why would they not dive in the estuary, because there`s no sign that she drove her car into the estuary? Of course, she didn`t drive her car into the estuary! Why aren`t they diving?

HERHOLD: I don`t know the answer to that. I think that they have pretty much concluded that it would have been very hard for her to get into that water. And as I say, the interesting news here is that they`re opening up their investigation and throwing the net wider, I think, to looking at salvage yards, tow trucks. And that would suggest maybe somebody had that vehicle crushed.

GRACE: Really? Now, why do you say that? Why do you say that?

HERHOLD: Well, first of all, the odd thing there`s been no sign of the car. As far as I know, there have been no credit cards, no cell phone calls. And all of that suggests at some level, if there is foul play here, at some level, even professionalism in -- if there is a killer, for example.

GRACE: Elizabeth, let`s put up the car license plate, if you don`t mind, really quick so the viewers can see that. Do you have that, Elizabeth? All right. Here we go, 4MUH810, 4MUH810. This is Doctor Zehra`s car tag. This is a shot of what her car looks like.

So you`re going along the line, Scott -- Scott, everybody, Scott Herhold with "San Jose Mercury News" -- sounds like they`re now expecting a carjack murder?

HERHOLD: Well, go through that for a minute. If it were a car- jacking, as sort of a simple street crime, why would you find no body, no cell phone record, no credit card? All of this is not what -- this goes well beyond what you might expect from a simple car-jacking.

GRACE: Yes, yes.

HERHOLD: And this, the lingering thing here is that this is a mystery. We just have no real clue what happened.

GRACE: Jim Moret, chief correspondent, "Inside Edition," why is there a petition for the FBI to get involved?

MORET: Well, there`s a petition from the American Islamic Relations group because they`re concerned that this woman may have been singled out because of her Muslim religion.

But, you know, I`ve been listening to Scott, and I agree with him. Nothing really adds up. You`ve got a 55-year-old pediatrician. The woman has been married 29 years. She`s got two grown daughters. She`s got a clinic. She leaves her practice on November 7th to go to a medical insurance convention. She never shows up.

Her name tag`s still there. Her credit cards haven`t been used. Nobody`s seen her car. Her cell phone hasn`t been used. And even though police have been calling this a missing person`s case, I agree with Scott. It just doesn`t make sense. It sounds like something else is going on here.

GRACE: Everybody, this is a woman that has dedicated her life to saving children. She`s a 55-year-old prominent pediatrician. Her family, her husband mean everything to her outside of her practice with children.

And now joining me, a very special guest, also a doctor, Dr. Ruby Ali. This is her daughter. Doctor, thank you for being with us.

DR. RUBY ALI: Thank you for inviting us.

GRACE: I`m so sorry. You must be beside yourself about your mother.

ALI: It`s been the worst time of our life. My mom is my idol. She meant everything to us. And I can`t believe she`s gone and there`s no trace, there`s nothing, there`s no information about her car, no information about her.

She always taught us to take care of others, to take care of kids. She loved kids. She loved her job. She just wants -- she just always wanted to take care of kids and do the best for others. And that`s what she taught me and my sister. And I can`t believe to someone so good something so horrible can happen.

GRACE: I`ve read a lot about your mother. Everyone, she is a 55- year-old lady that has devoted her life to trying to save children. She`s a medical doctor, a pediatrician, very close family. Take a listen to what her husband has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TASSADUO ATTARI, ZEHRA`S HUSBAND: I think that either something happened in the parking lot or something happened with her driving.

I was right -- on Monday, when the phone wasn`t answered, like right then and there, on Monday. She gives me a call all the time if she leaves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Her daughter is with us, also a doctor. Dr. Ali, did anything unusual happen at all in the day`s preceding your mom`s disappearance?

ALI: No. It was very happy days. It was the month of Ramadan. We were fasting that month. We were celebrating. I had just gotten married two months prior to my mom`s disappearance. My mom was in really happy spirits. We were doing really well as a family. So nothing unusual, no fights, nothing.

GRACE: Has she ever disappeared before, for a day even?

ALI: She hasn`t even disappeared for an hour. She`s never -- we know exactly what she does all of the time. She knows exactly what all of us family members do all the time, as well. So, no.

GRACE: I know this is a difficult question. But do you believe that there is any possibility she could have been attacked because of her religion?

ALI: We have no idea what happened. I have no idea what happened to her. So I don`t know.

GRACE: I mean, you`re really hitting home, Doctor, because many of us have just been with our families celebrating Thanksgiving and looking forward to Christmas. You just had Ramadan, being with your mom, just celebrating your wedding.

Elizabeth, can you show the picture of the doctor again? Everyone, 55-year-old Dr. Zehra Attari. She`s 5`4", 135 pounds. Last seen November 7 leaving her office, Oakland, California.

There`s a $20,000 reward to help find the doctor who has dedicated her life to helping other people. The number: 510-777-3333.

And before we go to break, to Dr. Ruby Ali, the daughter of the missing doctor, our prayers are with you. And please join us again. And we`ll do our best to help you.

ALI: Thanks.

GRACE: Very quickly, everyone, to tonight`s "Case Alert." Recall that Washington mall shooting last week? Well, newly released 911 tapes reveal 20-year-old Dominick Maldonado called police just before allegedly shooting six people at Tacoma, Washington, mall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DISPATCHER: What is it we can do for you at 911?

DOMINICK MALDONADO, ALLEGED SHOOTER IN WASHINGTON MALL: Oh, I`m just alerting you that I`m about to start shooting right now.

DISPATCHER: Where are you located? Sir, where are you located?

MALDONADO: Follow the screams.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Oh, good lord. Once the shooting started, panicked calls poured into police.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DISPATCHER: Just stay where you`re at, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Everyone`s running. I think he`s coming again. Please hurry!

DISPATCHER: Do whatever you need to do to keep yourself safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Well, count on it, we`ll hear those tapes again in court. Maldonado pleads innocent to assault and kidnapping.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep your hands still.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Tonight, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is faced with a difficult decision. He is being petitioned from all over, from Hollywood stars, political leaders, you name it, to grant clemency to Stanley "Tookie" Williams. He is on the California death row.

And back in the `70s, he is responsible for the brutal murders of four innocent workers. One, a clerk at a 7-Eleven who was just out sweeping the front parking lot. And then a father, a mother and a daughter of Asian workers that were running a motel.

I want to go straight to Jim Moret, chief correspondent, "Inside Edition," bring us up-to-date.

MORET: Well, in addition to those murders, Stanley "Tookie" Williams also found the Crips gang, the notorious gang out here on the West Coast. And that gang is believed, obviously, responsible for hundreds, if not thousands, of deaths.

Stanley "Tookie" Williams has always maintained his innocence in those four killings that he was convicted of and sentenced to death for. He claims that the evidence was fabricated, that...

GRACE: What?

MORET: This is what he claims. He claims that evidence was fabricated, that blacks were excluded from the jury. However, the California Supreme Court declined to re-open or re-examine that case.

This has been 15 years, really, Nancy, of appeals on behalf of Stanley "Tookie" Williams. And a couple of nights ago, there was a reading of Stanley`s many books. He wrote a number of children`s books, has been nominated, believe it or not, for a Nobel Peace Prize.

GRACE: Yes, well, so was Hitler.

MORET: Well, you`re right. And a number of celebrities, including Snoop Dogg and Jamie Foxx, were among those who read from Stanley "Tookie" Williams` books to a number of school children. And they believe that this man should be spared because he has, in their words, redeemed himself.

GRACE: Well, has Snoop gone and talked to the victims` families, the four dead people`s families? You know what, we got it pretty good, you know? You and I managed to scrape together the money to go to law school, to become lawyers. We managed to land these jobs we`ve got, Jim Moret.

This guy was out sweeping, sweeping a parking lot for a living. That`s not hard enough of a job. To have somebody like Tookie Williams come along, force him to the back with a gun, make him lay down on the grass, and shoot him?

And then in the other mass shooting, according to the appeals court, right here, unless all the judges are lying about it, he gunned down three innocent Asian workers at a motel. For what? $50. So he could go buy some PCP. You know what that is? That`s angel dust.

MORET: And I spoke with the stepmother...

GRACE: Disgusting.

MORET: ... of that clerk that you were talking about. I talked to her on the phone the other day. And I talked to her on the phone because she`s, frankly, afraid to go on camera for fear of retribution. And she is very well-spoken and she`s very passionate.

Clearly, she lost her stepson. And she said, as you just said, her son was working. He was in the military, got out of the military. He was working at a 7-Eleven trying to get his life together. And he`s brought back in a late-night robbery. And he`s brought to the back of the store, laid face down, and shot twice in the back. And there he died.

And this woman considers Tookie Williams to be an evil, cold-blooded killer.

GRACE: Dianne Clements?

DIANNE CLEMENTS, JUSTICE FOR ALL: I`m here, Nancy.

GRACE: What`s your opinion?

CLEMENTS: ... should be executed. If the governor does not understand the danger of commuting this killer and the deterrence effect that the death penalty. And if Tookie Williams were to be an example for future gang-bangers, his execution would serve more of an example than writing children`s books.

GRACE: I`m going to go to a friend and a colleague, just like Dianne Clements, Nina Salerno Ashford with Crime Victims United. They`re in Sacramento, California.

Nina, I am stunned. I am stunned. How many murders does it take? Nobody`s even talking about the crime victims.

NINA SALERNO ASHFORD, CRIME VICTIMS UNITED: Nancy, you are so right. You are one of the first to actually tell the real story.

Governor Schwarzenegger, by calling for a private clemency hearing, and all these celebrities are asking us to turn a blind eye to the reality. And the reality is what you said.

This man brutally, not only executed but laughed while these people laid bleeding to death on their floors, laughed at them, and mocked them, and then co-founded one of the bloodiest gangs in California, which is responsible for thousands of innocent children and people being dead.

Yet everybody is asking us to turn a blind eye, silence the victims` voice, and not even care about it. And you are so right. It is disgusting.

GRACE: OK, Renee Rockwell, give me your best shot. What`s your best argument for clemency?

ROCKWELL: Nancy, my best argument for clemency is this: He doesn`t get out of jail. Clemency merely commutes a death penalty to a life in prison, unless he can prove his innocence later.

Here`s the problem I have, Nancy. He`s been on death row 24 years.

GRACE: Yes, I got a problem with that, too.

ROCKWELL: Well, you know what? If the death penalty is supposed to be some type of deterrent, then kill him immediately. You can`t...

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: Thank you, Renee. Thanks, Renee. I`m sure Tookie Williams will be glad to hear you backing him up that way.

ROCKWELL: But, Nancy, it`s more about what he`s done since he`s been in jail.

GRACE: Yes, well, you know what? Not to me.

Very quickly, back to Nina Salerno, when do we expect a decision from Schwarzenegger?

ASHFORD: Well, the governor is calling for a private clemency hearing, which, Nancy, he`s not even going to hear from the victims in, on December 8th.

GRACE: Why? Why?

ASHFORD: Because the governor, like the rest of these celebrities, don`t want to hear about how these people have suffered for 24 years.

GRACE: If Schwarzenegger caves in to all of his Hollywood friends from his past life, this won`t be the end of that. He will hear about it again. Governor, Terminator, I hope you`re listening.

Very quickly, to tonight`s "All-Points Bulletin." FBI and law enforcement across the country on the lookout for Usiel Gayosso, wanted in connection with the murder of 20-year-old Clint Jacobin (ph), 1999. Gayosso, 25, 5`3", 135 pounds, black hair, brown eyes, armed, dangerous. If you have info, call the FBI, 702-385-1281.

Local news next for some of you, but we`ll all be right back. And remember, live coverage of the hearing for a killer at age 12, Lionel Tate, 3:00 to 5:00 Eastern Court TV next week.

Please stay with us, everyone, as we remember tonight, remember Sergeant First Class Lonnie J. Parson, 39, an American hero.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: What a week in America`s courtrooms. Take a look at the stories and, more important, the people who have touched all of our lives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did Deepak Kalpoe really have sex with Natalee Holloway? A new tape now tells a different story.

JAMIE SKEETERS, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: I`m sure she had sex with all of you.

DEEPAK KALPOE, SUSPECT IN NATALEE HOLLOWAY CASE: Yes, she did.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That`s not what aired on the "Dr. Phil" show. It sounded very different.

SKEETERS: I`m sure she had sex with all of you.

KALPOE: She did. You`d be surprised how simple it was that night.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He says, "You`d be surprised how simple it was that night." It just doesn`t fit.

GRACE: Twenty-one-year-old Christine Rudy, six months pregnant, has disappeared. If she`s out there, Wisconsin temperatures now below 18 degrees.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why did he leave her out in the woods?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People in the area are letting their imaginations run wild. Could she have run away after being left by the side of road, maybe succumbed to the weather conditions? Was she hit by a stray bullet? Was she murdered, possibly, by her husband or somebody else?

GRACE: She`s just 21, six months pregnant.

The suspect in the disappearance of 25-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach says Halbach is still alive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He changed his story.

GRACE: Keep it coming, Avery. Just keep on talking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He creates inconsistent statements.

GRACE: You mean "lies"? I love the way you put that perfume on the pig, "inconsistent statements."

Forty-nine-year-old Connecticut father and husband, 49 years old. That`s when you start thinking the guy is going to settle down. Uh-uh. Now this guy is charged with trying to throw a high school girl into his van. This guy is being tied back to a `93 rape, a 2004 attempted rape, a university student`s disappearance and, hello, two dead prostitutes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His lawyer in New York says it`s all a big misunderstanding.

GRACE: Oh, I hate when that happens, you know, when you get charged with murders and rapes and it`s all a big misunderstanding.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We, the jury, recommend to the court that impose the death penalty upon the defendant.

DIANE DIMOND, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: We have Carlie Brucia`s mother on the phone. Your thoughts right now?

SUSAN SCHORPEN, MOTHER OF CARLIE BRUCIA: My thoughts? Thank God. He`s just not going to die fast enough for me. You know what? She`s still gone. Him dying doesn`t make up for it, but at least he can never hurt another child, never put his hands on another child again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: I want to thank all of my guests tonight. But our biggest thank you, as always, is to you for being with us, inviting all of us and our legal stories into your homes.

Coming up, headlines from all around the world. A special good night and thank you for being with us from the New York control room. Good night, everybody.

Hi, Elizabeth.

I`m Nancy Grace, signing off for tonight. See you right here Monday night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, friend.

END