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Nancy Grace
Rapist on the Loose; Police Investigate Murder of Navy Reservist
Aired December 22, 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: Prison escapees on the rise, and also tonight, one of the most dangerous escapees still on the loose. He allegedly terrorized Little Havana, Miami, seven alleged rape victims, ages 11 to 79.
But first tonight, why did a Navy reservist die after a gunshot ambush not in Bahrain but in a park in North Carolina? Did his 26-year-old wife lure him there?
Good evening, everybody. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight. Day two, serial rape suspect Reynaldo Rapalo remains at large after escaping a Miami-Dade jail facility, Rapalo considered armed and dangerous. His alleged victims range in ages from 11 to 79 years old.
And tonight: A working mom, Summer Shipp, disappeared a year ago on the job doing door-to-door research in Missouri. Tonight: Is there a break in the disappearance of Summer Shipp?
But first tonight, American hero, Navy reservist Paul Berkley, spent 2005 on active duty in Bahrain. He made it home safe and sound in time for Christmas with his wife and his family, but amazingly, he died from an ambush in a local park, a gunshot wound to the head. Ambush? Shooting? Tonight, we want to know if his 26-year-old wife did what the enemy could not, bring down an American hero.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: I want you to do something for me. We`re going to try to help him. Can you try to help him?
MONIQUE BERKLEY: OK.
911 OPERATOR: You all right?
BERKLEY: What?
911 OPERATOR: I want you to try to help him, OK?
BERKLEY: OK.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: I want to go straight out to Kevin Miller with WTPF-680 reporter. Kevin, what happened?
KEVIN MILLER, WTPF-680 AM: Well, Nancy, police say that Paul Berkley was lured to this park after a dinner and a movie with his wife, Monique Berkley. They say suspects Antwon (SIC) Canty, along with Latwon Johnson, killed him. His wife was shot in the shoulder. They all three have been charged with the murder of Paul Berkley. It has really upset not only the community here in the Triangle in North Carolina, but throughout the state, as well. It has sent shock waves throughout the state.
GRACE: Where exactly did this alleged ambush and shooting go down, Kevin?
MILLER: What happened was -- the Berkleys live in a nice community called Clayton. And everything, really, here, Nancy, is a nice community. But it happened in Raleigh. They went to go see the movie "King Kong." After the movie "King Kong," they went to a park in north Raleigh about, you know, 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. At 3:30, the 911 call that you just played happened.
This was a little before Paul Berkley had actually put on his Web log how excited he was to be home because his son had sung the national anthem and said, My Daddy is home, and I`m so happy for him.
GRACE: What time of the evening was the shooting?
MILLER: Police say it happened early Sunday morning.
GRACE: What do you mean by early Sunday morning, 7:00 AM?
MILLER: No, you`re talking about 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. The 911...
GRACE: What was he doing in a local park at 2:00 o`clock in the morning?
MILLER: Well, Nancy...
GRACE: Hey, look...
MILLER: Nancy...
GRACE: Wait a minute. Kevin, I`ve told a million juries, nothing good happens after midnight. Now, what is this guy doing at 2:00 AM in a park?
MILLER: Well, having a romantic walk with his wife after the movie. That`s what police say, Nancy.
GRACE: Yes, well, that walk really had a way of getting capped off a lot differently than he imagined. Take a listen to more of this 911 call.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: 911. The location of the emergency? The location of the emergency?
BERKLEY: Hello?
911 OPERATOR: Hello?
BERKLEY: Hello. I`ve been shot, and my husband...
911 OPERATOR: You`ve been shot?
BERKLEY: Yes.
911 OPERATOR: What is your address?
BERKLEY: (INAUDIBLE) in a park (INAUDIBLE) I`m not sure.
911 OPERATOR: OK. We`ve got to find out where you are, ma`am.
BERKLEY: I can`t hear you.
911 OPERATOR: OK. We`ve got to figure out where you are. What`s the name of the park you`re in, do you know?
BERKLEY: I`m sorry, what?
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: So to Leslie Snadowsky, also working on the case as an investigative reporter. Leslie, how did this chain of events happen? Here`s a guy, an American hero, serving our country. He comes home for Christmas. His kid sings the national anthem and says, Thank God my daddy`s home. He`s dead. He lived through active duty, now he`s dead in a park near Raleigh?
LESLIE SNADOWSKY, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: I`ve got three major problems with this whole case. One`s the 911 call. One`s the location, which we talked about, where it happened. And the other are the Web logs. Now, if you read a little into this case and read some of the reports, Paul Berkley was an Internet expert, a computer expert. That`s why he went to Bahrain. He was a computer guy. And so was his whole family, and they all had Web logs. And you can learn a lot about reading all the kids` Web logs and the wife`s Web log. It`s pretty -- pretty interesting reading.
GRACE: Now, when you say Web log, what do you mean by that? Did the whole family have a Web log?
SNADOWSKY: They all had separate ones. I mean, and some of them were freaky. Zeke is the son, and it`s Monique`s stepson. Zeke and Becky are both stepchildren to Monique, who`s now, you know, a suspect, and the police say that she admitted to doing -- committing the murders.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Well, according to her lawyer, she has admitted to nothing.
Kevin Miller, let me get this straight. There are two children, Zeke, 18, Becky, 16.
MILLER: Right.
GRACE: Are they the natural children of Paul Berkley, 46 years old, now dead?
MILLER: Right, out of his first marriage. They`re now in California with their mother.
GRACE: OK. Where were they at the time of the shooting?
MILLER: Oh, I believe they were home. I couldn`t tell you that one, Nancy. That hasn`t been...
GRACE: OK. Kevin, do police actually suspect the wife...
MILLER: Right.
GRACE: ... suspect the wife, 26-year-old Monique? Why?
MILLER: Oh, because of just what had happened, what had been going on. She had an affair with Andrew Canty. It had been well-known throughout the neighborhood. I went to the police press conference today, Nancy, at 2:00 o`clock, and the police said, Look, they have a motive. The motive was Paul Berkley`s insurance money. They said that, apparently, Monique Berkley was going to be beaten. They don`t say why, but she was shot instead. They said at the press conference today, the Raleigh PD, that she is cooperating. She provided the motive. She admitted to being part of this plot.
GRACE: Now, explain to me the plot. I`m understanding this 26-year- old wife...
MILLER: A 26-year-old wife, and you have two 18-year-old suspects, one having an affair, so much so, Nancy...
GRACE: Oh, good...
MILLER: Nancy, let me -- let me just share...
GRACE: ... God!
MILLER: ... share you with this. As soon as Paul Berkley moved out, he left in January, Andrew Canty moved into his home in Clayton. You had Monique Berkley go to Busch Gardens, and these -- from published reports, again, letters, love letters from a 26-year-old stepmother to an 18-year- old student at Clayton High School. She went to Busch Gardens. She wrote to Mr. Canty, her lover, quote -- it was a postcard of two tigers -- quote, "That white tiger looks like she`s about to attack that colored tiger. I bet she`ll devour him. Reminds me of us." This is what you`re dealing with.
GRACE: OK. You know, I could have done without that, but I guess the courtroom is not a place for the weak-kneed. Thank you for sharing that, Kevin. So let me get this whole thing straight. The husband goes away overseas for our country, 46 years old, leaves his 26-year-old wife at home. She strikes up an affair with her son -- her stepson`s friend from school.
MILLER: Right.
GRACE: He comes home from overseas. They go out on a romantic walk in a park. He gets shot dead in the head. She gets a surface wound to the shoulder. Correct?
MILLER: You`re leaving a few things out.
GRACE: OK.
MILLER: Number one, what we learned from Raleigh PD today, that Paul Berkley had told his daughter, Becky, that he did suspect something was going on, number one, and that he was planning to divorce Monique. Then they go to dinner in Clayton. Then they drive to Raleigh for the movie. And then after the movie, again, according to police, she suggests a walk in the park, a romantic walk in the park.
GRACE: Take a listen to what police had to say today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the night of the murder, Monique and Paul Berkley went to dinner and into a movie theater on Atlantic Springs Road. After the movie, Monique Berkley suggested the prospect of a romantic evening. This was done to persuade Paul Berkley to go with her to a nearby park. In fact, she had planned for Paul Berkley to be shot and killed in the park by Andrew Canty and Latwon Johnson.
It is known that Monique Berkley began an affair with Andrew Canty shortly after Paul Berkley was deployed to the Middle East as a Naval reservist in April of this year. Andrew Canty moved into the Berkley residence in Clayton and continued to live there until just days before Paul Berkley returned home on leave.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Rosie (ph), do we have the lawyer on the phone? Let`s go straight out to a special guest joining us tonight, the attorney, the defense attorney for Monique Berkley, the 26-year-old wife, Johnny Gaskins. He is a North Carolina lawyer, a trial lawyer. Mr. Gaskins, thank you for being with us.
JOHNNY GASKINS, ATTORNEY FOR MONIQUE BERKLEY: Thank you.
GRACE: Now, police are saying that your client has confessed to being part of a murder plot. Is that true?
GASKINS: I don`t have any information about that yet. This case is new, and I obviously haven`t received any discovery materials from the state yet, and if...
GRACE: Have you talked to her?
GASKINS: I have, and we have not discussed this case.
GRACE: You talked to her, but you didn`t talk about the case?
GASKINS: We didn`t talk about this case. That`s...
GRACE: Did you tell her to clam up and be quiet?
GASKINS: I told her she doesn`t need to be talking to anybody right now, and...
GRACE: Guess what? I think she did.
GASKINS: Well, if she has, I`ll need to determine that...
GRACE: Right. Can I...
GASKINS: ... later.
GRACE: ... ask you a question about her wound, Mr. Gaskins?
GASKINS: Sure.
GRACE: Where was the entry, in the front or the back?
GASKINS: I believe the entry was in the front.
GRACE: The entry was in the front. That`s really odd because I`m looking at her 911 phone call, and she said she never saw who shot her. And I was just assuming, if she were telling the truth, she must have gotten shot from the side or the behind -- from behind. So how could she not see somebody that shoots her in the arm from the front?
GASKINS: Well, it happened -- it happened in a wooded area of the park.
GRACE: Oh, OK. Was there any motive that you can determine? Were either of them robbed, or was there an attempted molestation?
GASKINS: I don`t yet know what the -- what actually occurred at that park, and that`s just something we`ll need to determine as time goes by.
GRACE: Are the others being held tonight in custody, as well, the two teens?
GASKINS: They are.
GRACE: Why?
GASKINS: Why?
GRACE: Yes.
GASKINS: Well, one of them committed murder, and the other one helped him. Now, I don`t have any information that -- other than what I`ve heard on -- through the news media that my client participated in any way.
GRACE: Do you think it`s possibly a mistake to go ahead and state that these two committed murder, since your client apparently was having an affair with one of them?
GASKINS: Well, the information I have is that one of these young men committed murder. It remains to be seen as to whether or not my client participated with that person.
GRACE: OK. I want to go straight back -- everyone, with us is the attorney from Monique Berkley. He`s just gotten on the case. And in his defense, that is not uncommon. These three have been behind bars in custody. After a certain period of time, about 72 hours, the court gives them a lawyer. Mr. Gaskins is a private lawyer.
But apparently, Kevin Miller, she is singing like a bird. And what can you tell me, if anything, about these Web logs they were all having? While the cat was away, the mouse was definitely playing.
MILLER: Nancy, you`re right about that. And again, what I`ve learned just from the Raleigh PD today, with their press conference. Getting back to these Web logs, you have Mistress Becky (ph). She`s talking about her affair with Latwon Johnson, talking about -- pretty explicit stuff.
GRACE: Whew!
MILLER: If the published report grosses you out, what I talked about before, you don`t want to go to the Web logs. You have Zeke talking about other things. It`s very in-your-face and it`s very adult for two teenage kids.
GRACE: Here is more of what the 911 call reveals.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: What is that? Who`s that I hear in the background?
BERKLEY: My husband.
911 OPERATOR: What does he -- what -- has he been shot?
BERKLEY: Yes.
911 OPERATOR: Who shot him?
BERKLEY: I don`t know.
911 OPERATOR: I want you to do something for me. I`m going to try to help him. Can you try to help him?
BERKLEY: OK.
911 OPERATOR: You all right?
BERKLEY: What?
911 OPERATOR: I want you to try to help him, OK?
BERKLEY: OK.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Clark Goldband (ph). Clark, explain to those of us that don`t have a daily or sometimes hourly blog- it`s short for Web log. What does it mean, and why do people do it? It`s like a diary that anybody can log onto?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, that`s exactly -- exactly right, Nancy. A Web log is a new version of a journal. You had a diary back when you were a kid, right?
GRACE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Well, this is the new on-line version. And the cool part about a blog...
GRACE: I neither confirm nor deny that. Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tens of millions of people have blogs. On the blog, you post what you`re thinking. You can talk about...
GRACE: Tens of millions? Don`t they have jobs, for Pete`s sake? How can they lay around the house and have blogs all day?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you know what? It takes two minutes. There are two large Web sites. You sign up, type in your information, and in a matter of seconds, you, Nancy Grace, can have your own blog.
GRACE: OK. In this case, Clark, what, if anything, have we learned? You`ve got this stepmother, 26 years old, the 46-year-old husband overseas for his country, and she`s at home, having an affair, allegedly, with a high school student that`s a friend of her stepson?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, here`s something about the blogs that we haven`t touched on so far this evening. The sad part in all of this is Paul had his blog -- he was overseas in the Middle East -- to communicate back home...
GRACE: Oh, I see. OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... and talk with his family. So he`s putting messages onto his family, while -- we`re not positive, but as law enforcement are saying, some other members of the family aren`t being so nice.
GRACE: OK. We`ll all be right back in a very distressing story, an American hero comes home to spend Christmas with his family, and apparently, his wife manages to do what the enemy cannot, ambush and kill her husband on a walk in a park.
Very quickly, tonight, as you may have heard, New York transit workers go back to work, both the Transit Workers and the union -- the Metropolitan Transit Authority claim the strike violated New York`s Taylor law forbidding public employees to walk off the job. This strike cost New York city almost $1 billion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (R), NEW YORK CITY: This was really a very big test for our city, and I think it`s fair to say we passed the test with flying colors. It wasn`t easy, and certainly, serious economic harm was inflicted. But we did what we had to do to keep the city running and running safely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The motive for the crime was financial. The perpetrators hoped to collect insurance money. Monique Berkley has provided detectives with a confession to her role in this crime, and she has implicated Andrew Canty, as well as Latwon Johnson.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back, everybody. Did his wife manage to do what the enemy could not? I want to go straight back out to Kevin miller with WTPF- 680 AM. Kevin, in court today, what exactly happened, was it a bind-over? Was it a preliminary? What was -- what went down in court today?
MILLER: We didn`t have court today. That was just the press conference. I was right next to the police officer (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: All right. Yes, OK. Go ahead. And the point of the press conference was?
MILLER: Well, you know, Raleigh PD had not said anything to any of the local media for the past couple days. They wanted to spell their case out. And as I`ve said before, and as the sergeant just said, she has provided a confession in implicating the other two.
GRACE: I`m going to go straight out to Pat Brosnan, retired NYPD detective, now with Brosnan Investigations. Pat, the fact that there`s so many odd circumstances -- even if the defense attorney is correct that his client has not given any type of confession or admission, what were they doing at a park at 2:00 AM? If it is true, if it can be established that she lured him there, that goes a long way in making her part and parcel of a conspiracy for murder.
PAT BROSNAN, RET. NYPD DETECTIVE, BROSNAN INVESTIGATIONS: Well, the irony of this case, Nancy, is that in order for this setup to work, she has to call 911. And by calling 911, to make it logical, she actually tilts the investigative landscape in favor of the police because now you have an immediate response to a non-corrupted crime scene. You have eyewitnesses and ear witnesses, potentially, that can be canvassed and interviewed and spoken to immediately. You also have admissions by, in this case, a co- conspirator, as it turned out, even though that staged shooting I`m sure was quite transparent for the Raleigh PD to penetrate. Another criminal mastermind that backfired.
GRACE: Well, you know another thing, you`re right about this, Pat. It was immediately after because you can actually hear him breathing in the background, 46-year-old Paul Berkley just coming home from overseas, serving his country.
Very quickly to Harold Copus, forensic computer expert. Regarding these blogs, how would that be able to -- how would that translate into evidence, into a courtroom? And also, another thing I want to ask you, Harold, a lot of teenagers now text-message on their phones, all right? They don`t necessarily use e-mail in the traditional form, like AOL. Can text messages off phones be captured, like e-mails can, and produced before a jury?
HAROLD COPUS, COMPUTER FORENSICS EXPERT: Oh, they certainly can. And I think in this case, what you don`t see is that law enforcement`s going to grab that information, seize these computers, maybe even get Mr. Berkley`s computer, if it was left here or maybe overseas, NCIS would grab that one, and they`re going to do a forensic search. They want to look and see who had the first dirty thought.
GRACE: You know, interesting, very interesting. To Pat Brosnan, very quickly, before we go to break, why is it that criminals always leave traces? They always have to write e-mails, leave phone calls, return to the scene of the crime. It is so predictable! For Pete`s sake, do something new! You know, if there was a love triangle here, you know they, like, were sending passionate e-mails back and forth.
BROSNAN: It defies comprehension, Nancy. Thank God they`re not unionized, so they have some kind of newsletter (ph) to advise them.
(LAUGHTER)
BROSNAN: It`s insanity. They do it all the time. It`s unbelievable. But what it comes down to is arrogance, to hubris.
GRACE: You know what? You`re right.
BROSNAN: They think they`re smarter than the collective efforts of the police.
GRACE: And if Harold Copus is correct, all of these e-mails and text messages will come into evidence.
Very quickly, to tonight`s "Trial Tracking." Senators John Kerry and Johnny Isakson introduce ground-breaking legislation called "Masha`s Law." It changes the law to allow child-exploitation victims to sue for money even after they become adults. The law ups the damages to $100,000. Senators Kerry and Isakson inspired to craft this law after learning about a little girl we introduced you to, Masha, a Russian orphan just 5 years old when she was adopted illegally by a U.S. pedophile. That man, her stepfather, now behind bars.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The original plan called for Monique Berkley to be beaten. This would be done to cover up her involvement in the crime. I am not at liberty at this time to discuss why she was shot instead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: He came home from overseas, serving his country, and was ambushed and shot in a local park. Now his wife behind bars.
To Kevin Miller. We`ve only got a few seconds left before we switch gears and go to another story. What happens next, Kevin?
MILLER: Well, police have told me, Nancy, that we`re going to have more things coming out in about two weeks, so we`ll have some more hearings and such, and we`ll have some more revelations. They say this is not the end of it.
GRACE: You know, Kevin Miller, if these three conspired to commit murder, it may very well end up as a death penalty case. What`s the age of DP in that jurisdiction?
MILLER: Death penalty case, I believe it`s 18.
GRACE: Well, these two are just under the nose, both of them 18, the wife 26 years old. Kevin Miller, thank you so much for being with us, reporter with WTPF 680 AM. Thank you, friend.
MILLER: Thank you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN TIMONEY, CHIEF OF POLICE, MIAMI: This individual who`s coming to visit somebody at the jail and noticed the bed sheets hanging out the side of the building. And so there are a lot of questions and very few answers at this point.
But there is a thorough investigation going on. And somebody or persons have to be held accountable. I`m convinced that somebody assisted him. Once he got over the prison wall, there was somebody assisting him in the escape. And so my sense is there are people out there that know where he is and they need to come forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I believe him. That is the Miami police chief, John Timoney. And sure enough, he is following through.
Everybody, last night we told you about a very dangerous escapee out at the Miami-Dade area. We are renewing the story tonight. He is still on the loose.
Take a look at this guy, Reynaldo Rapalo, 34 years old. He is armed and dangerous. And let me tell you why. This guy, that we know of, has seven alleged rapes under his belt, youngest victim, 11 years old.
I learned tonight that another alleged victim was 13 years old, on her way home from school when she was abducted and raped. His oldest victim, 79 years old, about the age of a lot of our grandmothers. That`s what we know of.
On top of that, he has a criminal history. Rosie, do we have this guy`s record we can show the viewers? Reynaldo Rapalo. He is a Honduran. Let me see here, ag assault with a deadly weapon. Those charges dropped. Oh, I know what that was. That`s when he came after his girlfriend with a hammer and she dropped the charges. Also, he was accused of fondling a little 10-year-old girl.
Rosie, if you could move that along, I`m trying to -- there we go -- lewd and lascivious behavior back in October 2002. The tip line: 305-471- TIPS.
I want to go straight out to Al Warnell, WIOD Miami-Dade reporter. What`s going on with the search for this guy?
AL WARNELL, REPORTER, WIOD: We have the Shenandoah rapists task force that`s going on right now. I went out there today. I met a bunch of those members. That includes the FBI, ICE, Miami-Dade police, the Miami police department, the FBI, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
When I spoke to the officials out there, they indicated that they want to catch this guy within 72 hours. He escaped on December 20th. They`ve got until tomorrow evening to get him.
GRACE: Why is the FBI involved?
WARNELL: Well, the FBI is involved because of the fact that they believe that maybe, if he is not in this area, he will have crossed the state lines and that`s why they`ve been brought into the scene. Plus, the fact that he`s...
GRACE: Oh, please.
To Lieutenant Bill Schwartz with the Miami police department, I was glad to hear what your boss, Jim Timoney, had to say, Lieutenant. Have you found, Lieutenant, that very often escapees, fugitives, or bail jumpers, they always go straight back to their own neighborhood. And I`ve been looking into this guy, Lieutenant, and even while everyone was looking for him for these rapes, he stayed right there in the same neighborhood.
LT. BILL SCHWARTZ, MIAMI POLICE DEPARTMENT: That`s true. In fact, we learned today that we believe he`s still in south Florida, which is a very good sign, because when we gather more information we can tighten that net, so we do believe that he`s still around.
GRACE: Why do you think that? Why do you think he`s still around?
SCHWARTZ: I think maybe he`s run out of resources. We`ve put a very strong police presence on the street. You all have helped in the media, of course. His face is the most infamous face in south Florida and, right now, probably in the country.
GRACE: And speaking of that mug, keep talking. Rosie, let`s show this guy again. The last thing the ladies in Miami need to see is his big foot coming through their bedroom window.
Lieutenant, you guys have got to be a little red-faced with this guy coming straight out of the jail with a bed sheet, for Pete`s sake.
SCHWARTZ: Well, we`ve spent the better part of a year looking for him and putting him behind bars. And when we did, we felt terrific about it. So to find out the other night that he walked away, escaped, yes, we`re just a little bit miffed.
GRACE: Well, you`re being kind. I`m sure that wasn`t exactly the reaction you had when you heard Reynaldo Rapalo had escaped. And another thing I don`t understand, Lieutenant, first of all, what kind of facility did he get out of?
SCHWARTZ: It`s supposed to be a maximum-security facility, but it just doesn`t seem that way. He got out a little bit too easily.
GRACE: Is it a county facility? Is it a county facility?
SCHWARTZ: It`s a Miami-Dade county corrections facility. And he got out. As the chief said, John Timoney said, by bed sheets, a hacksaw, and a brazen set of -- well, he used some guts.
GRACE: I`m not going to ask you a brazen set of what, because I don`t think my bosses at CNN would like that very much. Hey, Lieutenant, how did a guy, how did an inmate, get a saw? First of all, he sawed through the bars. Then he gets out a vent, and then he goes down with bed sheets. How did he get a saw behind bars?
SCHWARTZ: This is like the sequel to a very bad prison movie, and clearly, he had help, either somebody from the inside or somebody from the outside or both.
GRACE: Yes, somebody helped him. And you know what, Al Warnell with WIOD, that somebody is in a lot of trouble. I would almost laugh. We were talking about this last night, Al. I would almost laugh because some visitors, they`re at the jail, see the guy coming down the side of the building with bed sheets.
The cameras didn`t work. Nothing worked. And I would laugh, but if I didn`t know about his record, about all of these alleged rapes, from 11 years old to 79 years old. What precautions are Miami-Dade women taking tonight?
WARNELL: Well, they are being protected by the Miami police department, particularly in the Shenandoah area. This was the area where he committed most of or all of his crimes.
But I do want to add right now, I spoke to an official today at the task force. They thought that they had spotted him on a Greyhound bus headed to Orlando.
GRACE: Holy moley.
WARNELL: They had officials stopping the bus. And after they stopped the bus, they went aboard. It was someone who almost matched his description, but it wasn`t him.
GRACE: Well, certainly, police are at the Greyhound bus stations, right, Schwartz? Aren`t they?
SCHWARTZ: Yes. We`re blocking all possible routes of escape. We`re looking at bus terminals, train stations, airports. This guy`s going to...
GRACE: You know what makes it worse, Lieutenant? You know what makes it even worse? This guy shouldn`t be here to start with.
As if you in Miami, the Miami police, have so much to deal with, but now you`ve got a guy from Honduras. He could very easily go straight back there. Now they`ve promised to send him back. But do we want him back, for Pete`s sake?
SCHWARTZ: Well, he`s as much a danger to them as he is to us. Clearly, everyone has a stake in this. As you mentioned earlier in the show, this is a guy who was indiscriminate in his victim`s choice, picking little girls, old ladies. We have to stop this guy.
GRACE: To David Oblon, defense attorney out of the D.C. jurisdiction, David, have you ever had a guy out on parole or an escapee that commits another crime? I have.
I had a guy that got out of jail on parole for rape. That day, David, he gets a sawed-off shotgun, he car jacks a cabbie, and then picked up a woman standing there waiting for a cab, and naturally, rapes her and kidnaps her. I mean, it happens all the time. I`m not sure this guy is set on simply escaping. I`m concerned he`s going to rape again, David.
DAVID OBLON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I`ve had recidivists, you know, as you have. And I have little doubt that somebody who is committing sex crimes over and over again -- I mean, this is the sort of crime that begs for recidivism. And if it`s true that he committed seven rapes, then there is a good likelihood that he would go out and commit another one. He`s a very dangerous man, if this is true.
GRACE: Well, Sam Cammack, also a defense attorney out of the Texas jurisdiction, unless DNA totally lies, he committed seven rapes. And, listen, this guy, if he has committed seven rapes, is a recidivist, is a repeat offender. Do you really want to tell me, even though you`re a defense attorney, that you think sex offenders can ever be rehabilitated?
SAM CAMMACK, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I think sex offenders can be rehabilitated, but I also think this guy is somewhere in Honduras sipping on margaritas. I don`t believe he`s in that jurisdiction where the cops are looking for him at this point in time, but...
GRACE: Why do you think he is not still there in Miami? That`s where I think he is.
CAMMACK: Well, that would be the obvious place for him to go and...
GRACE: Where`s he going to get the money to hop a plane? What about that, Sam?
CAMMACK: Well, how did he get the money to get over here in the first place?
GRACE: Well, I think that would be a lot easier to get over here with money from family or a job. He`s been in jail.
CAMMACK: Yes, well, I`m glad to see that you`re at least saying that he allegedly committed these rapes on these seven victims. That hasn`t been proven yet. And I don`t think he had a history of it, except for some charges he got back in 2000 about immigration law...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: OK, you know, I respect you even more that you could actually say no history with a straight face when he`s accused of not one, two, three, four, five, six but seven rapes. Sam, I will be right back with you.
Everybody, as we go to break, you know that we here at NANCY GRACE want very much to help solve unsolved homicides, find missing people. Take a look at Georgina Dejesus, 15. She disappeared, Cleveland, Ohio, walking home from school, April 2, 2004. What a cutie.
If you have info on this little girl, Georgina Dejesus, contact Cleveland Crimestoppers, 216-252-7463, or go online to BeyondMissing.com.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. GREGORY DOHRING, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT: Based on a lot of the information and tips primarily, we still feel that the subject is in the immediate vicinity. We`ve got some great investigative leads that we`re following up (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Seven-time accused rapist, Reynaldo Rapalo, still at-large. He escaped from a Miami-Dade facility just yesterday. Please help us. He has seven victims under his belt that we know of, allegedly. Tip line, 305-471-TIPS.
Before we take to you our next story, I want to go back to Lieutenant Bill Schwartz with Miami police department. Lieutenant, I know there`s a lot of finger-pointing going on about how this guy got out of jail. All right, it was a debacle, it`s laughable, it`s horrible. We all agree on that. But let`s focus tonight on what you`re doing to try to find him now and what we can do to help you, Lieutenant. Tell us.
SCHWARTZ: Well, I think you`re doing it right now. But I want to point out that, as of today, there`s a $16,000 reward for this guy. But that`s very important.
GRACE: Where did that come from?
SCHWARTZ: It comes from the Department of Law Enforcement in Florida, the FBI, and the crimestoppers. And I want people really to think about that $16,000, but I also want them to think about how much trouble they can get in if they start harboring a fugitive.
GRACE: You`re darn right.
SCHWARTZ: If greed and fear doesn`t work, then let`s talk about honor. This guy is a dangerous guy. He`s stolen the innocence from children and he`s stolen the golden years from senior citizens.
GRACE: I mean, for Pete`s sake, 11 years old. That little girl would have been in about in the fourth grade.
Lieutenant, thank you for being with us. Al Warnell, thank you for being with us. And there you go, Rosie, that`s what I wanted to see, 305- 471-TIPS. There you see the man of the hour, Reynaldo Rapalo, escaped tonight, reward $16,000. Gentlemen, good luck.
Very quickly, switching gears, Rosie, can you roll that sound for me?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRANDY SHIPP, DAUGHTER OF MISSING WOMAN: I received a call from another one of her employers. And she said that my mother hadn`t shown up for work that day. So it was a Friday afternoon. And I left the office, drove to her house, looked inside the door.
First, I noticed her car wasn`t there. I looked inside the door, saw that her dog had not been let out, so right then I pretty much knew something was wrong.
We as a community need to find the person responsible for this heinous act and bring them to justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Won`t you help us tonight? We are trying to find a working mom, her name, Summer Shipp. Tonight with us, her daughter, Brandy.
Before I go to Brandy, to Caryn Stark. Caryn, there may be a break in the case tonight. We understand a former person of interest is behind bars on what seems to be a federal parole violation. Now, when police came to question him, Summer Shipp was going door-to-door doing research as a job, all right? When police found her car, the coffee was sitting on the front dash, her pocketbook locked in the trunk.
She had been going door-to-door, last seen on this guy`s front porch. When police go to question him, Caryn, he runs out the back door, Caryn Stark. You`re the shrink. Shrink it.
CARYN STARK, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Well, of course he runs out the back door, especially if he`s innocent, which we don`t -- I mean, if he`s guilty. Nancy, I mean, what`s he going to do? He doesn`t want to be there. That`s criminal behavior.
GRACE: Let`s say you see a cop out there, all right, walking along 58th Street. What do you do, take off and run into the mall and hide? No, you don`t.
STARK: Well, it depends on whether I feel like I`m guilty. If I`m guilty and I think that he`s looking for somebody like me, I might, in fact, run and hide, which is I think may be what this guy did.
GRACE: You know, another issue, Caryn, though, before I go to Brandy, is he already had been in trouble with the law. What the defense would argue is he ran out the door because maybe he had some dope in the house, maybe he had a gun in the house. But clearly they must have told him they were coming to speak to him about this woman.
STARK: Yes. Well, and even if he had already been in trouble with the law, so what? I mean, it doesn`t make anything...
GRACE: Yes, good point.
STARK: ... he already knew he was in trouble that it happened. So why run away now?
GRACE: Everyone, I didn`t even introduce her. This is Caryn Stark, clinical psychologist.
I want to go now to Brandy Shipp. This is Summer`s daughter. Brandy, tonight, with this former person of interest back behind bars on another issue, what are your hopes?
SHIPP: My hopes are that somebody that knows something will finally come forward. I think, now that this person is behind bars with no bond, I think that, if someone out there, which I`m sure someone knows something, I`m hoping they will finally come forward with any clue, no matter how small or trivial it might seen. Please, please come forward. It could be a break in the case.
GRACE: Very quickly to Stephanie Booth with "The Examiner." Why is this guy back in court? Did he break parole?
STEPHANIE BOOTH, "THE EXAMINER": He was indicted in 2002 on federal weapons charges. Part of his supervised release was that he had to complete a resident substance abuse program. When his parole was transferred to Missouri, he didn`t complete that program...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: What was the weapons charge, Stephanie? What did he have?
BOOTH: He had -- I`m not exactly sure what weapons he had, but it was in August of 2001. He had firearms on his possession. He pleaded guilty to having firearms.
GRACE: OK.
Brandy Shipp -- this is Summer`s daughter -- do you know the nature of his earlier charges?
SHIPP: He was in jail for federal weapons charges. I don`t know the exact specific details.
GRACE: We`re going to be right back with Summer`s daughter, Brandy Shipp. Is there a break in the case of the disappearance of a working mom, Summer Shipp?
Very quickly to tonight`s "All-Points Bulletin." Law enforcement across the country on the lookout for Chiron Francis, wanted in connection with the `94 double-murder of 21-year-old Douglas Schwartz (ph) and 20- year-old Eric Highbreader (ph).
Francis, 32, 6`5", 175 pounds, black hair, brown eyes. If you have info, call the FBI, 713-693-5000.
Local news next for some of you, but we`ll all be right back with Brandy Shipp. And, remember, coverage of the Boston teen subway death lawsuit, 3:00 to 5:00 Eastern, Court TV. Please stay with us tonight as we remember Army Sergeant Brian C. Karim, just 22, an American hero.
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GRACE: We here at NANCY GRACE want to do our part to help the neediest this Christmas and Hanukkah, helping the United Methodist Church. For information, contact 1-800-251-8140 or go to www.UMCOM.org. Please open your hearts and your wallets this holiday.
Welcome back, everybody. I want to go straight out to a special guest joining us tonight, the daughter of Summer Shipp. Her mom went missing doing door-to-door research.
Brandy, when you think of your mom`s pocketbook in the trunk, her coffee mug on the front dash, it had to have happened right there in that neighborhood. You want to tell me nobody saw anything?
SHIPP: I think someone saw something, and that`s why I`m trying to keep this story in the media as much as I can and to keep her picture out there and the story out there. And also, back to the federal weapons charges, I do know that this person did not serve his full sentence. He was released much, much earlier than he should have been, also.
GRACE: Well, you know what? I`m not surprised. I`m not surprised at all. Instead of building new jails, we just let out offenders earlier and earlier to make room for the new offenders.
Brandy, how do you keep your spirits up as you head into Christmas and Hanukkah?
SHIPP: Nancy, I do what I can to keep my mother`s story out there. I spend hours and hours on the computer keeping in contact with several missing persons organizations. And I`m trying to gain more national media, as much as I can. And I`ve also become somewhat of an advocate to other persons. People call me out of the blue and ask my advice and my suggestions, and I`m able to help them deal with having something...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Do you have a website dedicated to finding your mom?
SHIPP: Yes. It`s FriendsofSummer.com. And I also have a very large e-mail list. And I send out regular e-mails with any kind of updates. I`ve got probably 1,000 people on the list, but I would love for whoever to join the list. And they could be updated on anything.
GRACE: Well, we certainly will here at our show. And I want to thank you for being with us. And please know our thoughts and our prayers are with you as you head into the holiday season, friend.
SHIPP: Thank you, Nancy.
GRACE: Thank you to Brandy. But thanks to all of our guests.
Our biggest thank you is to you for being with us and our stories and Summer Shipp and Brandy Shipp into your home. Coming up, headlines from around the world. I`m Nancy Grace signing off. See you here tomorrow night. And until then, good night, friend.
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