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Nancy Grace
Police Search For Missing Nebraska Woman; Parents and Quadriplegic Son Murdered
Aired May 23, 2006 - 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, love comes in many forms, not always the romantic love we see on the big screen.
Tonight, in Philadelphia, the parents of a quadriplegic son would actually sleep every night on a blow-up bed on the floor beside their son. Then, a predator enters their home, killing all three. Tonight, we ask, who, who would do such a thing?
Also tonight, we take you live to Nebraska and the search for a missing 19-year-old girl,
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don`t know a lot of information, even of what was there or what they did, or -- you know, we were there in front of the house, and we, you know -- but we didn`t really see anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening, everybody. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight.
A 19-year-old Nebraska girl last heard from May 10, her car abandoned in a parking lot near the small restaurant where she worked.
But, first tonight, paralyzed by a drunk driver, forever confined to his bed, his parents keeping vigil on the floor beside their son every night. Now all three dead at the hands of an intruder. Did the father give clues in his dying declaration to help solve this multiple murder mystery? Tonight, we are taking your calls.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police returned to the brutal scene Monday and removed bags of evidence. The murders of William Fowler, his wife, Estella, who suffered from M.S., and their quadriplegic son, John, is still a mystery.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They always said, we have nothing, but we have each other.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: Can you imagine this family truly having nothing? In fact, the father had just given up his job as a security guard to spend more time taking care of his son. The son was rendered a paraplegic after a drunk driver hit him at just age 17.
For these three years, his parents have nursed him, mentally and physically, to the point where they wouldn`t even sleep in their own bedroom. They would rather sleep on the floor beside their son, set up in a hospital bed in the den. Now an intruder has taken even that from them. Tonight, this case is unsolved, and we are asking for your help.
Let`s go straight out to Barbara Boyer.
She`s the police reporter with "The Philadelphia Inquirer."
Barbara, thank you for being with us. Tell us about this crime.
BARBARA BOYER, POLICE REPORTER, "THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER": Thank you, Nancy.
It`s a particularly gruesome crime for the reasons that you described, two parents who were caring for their paralyzed son, sleeping in the living room, so that they could care for him throughout the night.
They received a 911 call from Mr. Fowler that went to the police. He had been shot in the stomach and in the head. He had indicated that his family had been shot, that he had been shot. When paramedics arrived, they found all three injured.
GRACE: Who had access to the home?
BOYER: There were a number of people who had access to the home. I couldn`t tell you exactly -- exactly who.
I can tell you that police certainly went to the family to find that out. They spoke to two other sons that the Fowlers had, and there were home-care professionals who provided tremendous care.
GRACE: Barbara?
BOYER: Yes?
GRACE: Let me ask you a couple quick questions. Number one, how many people in the family?
BOYER: There are at least three sons, two others in addition to John.
GRACE: OK. Three sons, all in their 20s, correct?
BOYER: I believe so.
GRACE: Had one of them lived in the home until recently?
BOYER: That`s my understanding, yes.
GRACE: All right. So, you have got two brothers. Have they given an alibi?
BOYER: My understanding is that they both have.
GRACE: Was there a forced entry?
BOYER: To my knowledge, there was no forced entry, no sign of a struggle.
GRACE: Nothing taken?
BOYER: When I spoke to police most recently this morning, they were still trying to determine whether anything was taken. There was no obvious theft from the house.
GRACE: OK. Any sexual assault?
BOYER: Not that I am aware of.
GRACE: Was the son on a ventilator?
BOYER: My understanding is that he had a trachea tube that was providing oxygen for him.
GRACE: Like Christopher Reeve.
BOYER: Excuse me?
GRACE: Like Superman.
BOYER: Yes.
GRACE: OK. Let me think.
Was the ventilator unplugged? Had someone literally pulled the plug before the shooting or after?
BOYER: I don`t know that someone had pulled the plug. But the trachea tube had been removed and the alarm indicating that oxygen had -- was no longer flowing had been going on...
GRACE: OK.
BOYER: ... when police and paramedics arrived.
GRACE: Got it.
Let`s go to Pat Brown, criminal profiler.
Lend your skill to this.
Everyone, Pat Brown, a very high-profile criminal profiler.
You have got two sons that have alibied. Normally, you look to the family. That`s not unusual. You always look to people closest to the victim. These sons have been alibied, to our knowledge. They are adult sons. There are people in and out of this home quite often, home-care health providers, the two adults, the parents, and the son. The mom had M.S. She had recently been diagnosed with cancer.
Bottom line, the father taking care of both of them. Let`s talk about this ventilator being unplugged. I`m hearing this for the first time. It was just a question.
Also, take a look at this, Pat, that the father alone was shot in the stomach and in the head, the other two in the head. That says to me the father was the first victim. He was shot in the stomach. The assailant saw that that was not an immediate death, then shot him in the head, went on to shoot the other two. What are your thoughts?
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, I`m with you there.
Usually, when you have -- someone`s moving around and you have got several shots, that`s where the focus is aimed at as well. And it looks like he was -- the person took him out either because he was the most in- the-way person at that moment or because the anger was directed toward him.
And then the other two were really shot execution-style. And it`s interesting because...
GRACE: To shoot a helpless quadriplegic and a mother, a lady with M.S., lying on the floor on a blow-up bed -- they had a bedroom upstairs, Pat. They could have gone in their comfortable bedroom, but, no, they had the hospital bed set up to take care of their child, a 20-year-old boy, who had suffered immensely mentally and physically, a quadriplegic.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Exactly. They were very kind people.
And I am having trouble with the home-care people who were coming in, they would observe whether there was anything really of import to take in that home. Apparently, they said, we have nothing except each other. So, I can`t believe these people would do that.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: But why the ventilator? But why the ventilator? Why shoot...
BROWN: I think that`s anger.
GRACE: ... and unplug the ventilator?
BROWN: I think we are talking about anger. And I do think the police are still looking at a possible family member, because there was no sign of breaking and entering. There was no screaming. There was no anything really going on there, a big fight.
I think we are looking possibly a family member, yes, alibied, but alibied how well? We do have some concerns with one particular family member who was -- was angry at the family. And the father apparently had considered turning him into the police right prior to this. That would be somebody who might have a little bit of a gripe with dad. And...
GRACE: Could you repeat that? I`m sorry. Repeat.
BROWN: Yes, that the father had supposedly spoken with somebody else.
One of the neighbors having a drink with him had said he was having problems with this particular son and was possibly going to turn him over to the police. That happened fairly recent to the crime. And, so, one wonders whether there was an issue there, that somebody was very, very angry with dad.
GRACE: Of course, the neighbors having a lot of observations. We have not been able to confirm that.
BROWN: Correct.
GRACE: Many of the neighbors coming forward tonight.
Tonight, we are asking for your help. Can you imagine a love this powerful, this strong, for these parents to literally lie on the floor every night to take care of their son? Then an intruder comes in and shoots all of them. Take a listen to what police had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It appears that it`s -- it`s somebody that they knew, mainly because their -- their house was always kept locked, and there was no sign of forced entry.
It`s just an active investigation. We are still in the earliest stages of it. There`s no -- we have no clear indication of -- of who was involved, nor what the motive is at this point. We are not ruling anybody in or anybody out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Back to Barbara Boyer. Barbara is the police reporter with "The Philadelphia Inquirer."
Now, you just told me that the sons had alibied themselves, yes or no?
BOYER: That is correct. I believe they both spoke to the police about where they were that night.
GRACE: What time did the 911 call come?
BOYER: If I understand correctly, it was shortly after 1:00 a.m.
GRACE: Do we have any idea what the father said in the 911 call?
BOYER: Police are keeping that close to the vest. They haven`t detailed what he said. He did not, from my understanding, indicate that it was a family member who had shot him.
GRACE: Let`s go out to our lawyers, to Jason Oshins.
Where should police go from here?
JASON OSHINS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I think they got to press forward with, you know, whatever evidence that they have recovered.
GRACE: Jason, Jason...
OSHINS: Yes?
GRACE: ... I know they have got to press forward. But what? Where can they go?
OSHINS: Well, you have got to rule everyone out. there might be some physical evidence in the home that could be recovered that could elicit clues as to who the actual killer was. So, those have to be investigated.
But certainly got to press the children. I think focus -- the son who had the issue clearly has to be looked at more heavily. Father was going to turn him in. It is a very deep crime of passion. And, as we have described earlier, the type of hit that this was, how he was murdered, a lot of passion going into this. And you would first look internally to a family and family members who might have reason to -- to commit the murder.
GRACE: Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They always said, we have nothing, but we have each other. And that was all that they needed all their lives.
Not even the paralyzed and disabled are safe in our city. The violence has got to stop.
There were no keys that anybody had, other than family. We don`t understand if somebody that they -- it had to have been someone that they knew and they trusted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Well, I don`t know so much about that, because it was in the middle of the night, correct, Barbara?
Barbara, are you with me?
BOYER: Yes, I am.
That was...
(CROSSTALK)
BOYER: It did occur Saturday night, going into Sunday morning, at 1:00 a.m.
GRACE: So, to my mind, were they all in their beds asleep?
BOYER: Unclear whether they were all in their beds. The -- Mrs. Fowler was on the air -- in the air -- on the air mattress. Her son was on his hospital bed. When Mr. Fowler called the police, he was in the living room, where the air mattress is, but near the steps, where the phone is.
GRACE: It sounds like they were all in the bed. So, I don`t know if it was someone that they trusted or someone that had intruded that had access. We don`t even know if they locked their doors.
Dr. Jonathan Arden, medical examiner.
I want to talk to you about this apparatus the young man had in his throat. Explain to us what happened to this young man. When he was in the crash with a drunk driver, he became a paraplegic and had to use a trache.
Explain.
DR. JONATHAN ARDEN, MEDICAL EXAMINER: If you get paralyzed, such that you can`t breathe on your own or you can`t breathe independently completely on your own, they make a surgical opening into the front of your throat, where you enter the airway. It`s a tracheostomy.
And then they can either attach a tube there. And some people who are ambulatory can live without it. But you can attach oxygen. You can use it as a way to supplement oxygen, to provide humidity in the air, and, most of all, if you need to, you can provide additional assistance, such as a ventilator, a machine that assists or breathes for you, because the nerves to your muscles that allow you to breathe have either been weakened -- the muscle has been weakened or the nerves have been severed, so you can`t breathe at all in some of those cases.
GRACE: What effect would it have to take that device away from this young man?
ARDEN: Well, I mean, the effect on him would range anything from compromising his breathing, or, if he were entirely unable to breathe, it would be a death sentence at that point.
GRACE: Also, when you take it away from him, how long would it take him to pass away?
ARDEN: It depends upon whether he has any ability to breathe on his own. If he really can`t breathe independently at all, then he could be suffering fatal brain damage in as little as four, five, six minutes.
If he were able to breathe partially on his own, he might last longer than that. But the likelihood would be not very likely he`s going to go as long as hours under those circumstances.
GRACE: Dr. Arden, explain to me how, when you`re in a crash, one blow can result in being a quadriplegic.
ARDEN: Very simply, the spinal cord that runs down from the base of your brain through the vertebral column, your backbone, is the -- the place where the nerve system sends messages up to the brain from the periphery and down from the brain to your muscles.
And, so, if you interrupt that very high in the neck, you get to a point where all the messages coming down to the muscles from the brain have been interrupted. And, so, you can paralyze everything essentially from the neck down. And, at that point, you`re not able to breathe by yourself. You`re not able to move by yourself. You need one really severe injury in the upper portions of the spinal cord to interrupt all those nerve pathways.
It`s like your telephone trunk line. And that one blow is very severe, but one blow can cause you to be in that condition.
GRACE: So, as he lie there, this young man, John Fowler, 20 years old, there was no way he could get away from a gun. He probably lay there and saw his father and mother shot and then was shot himself. There was nothing he could do, is there, Dr. Arden?
ARDEN: You -- you`re exactly right. There was no way he would be able to intervene or save himself whatsoever.
GRACE: And, Dr. Arden, I know the answer to this. My brother-in-law is in a wheelchair with M.S., paralyzed. But could you explain to our viewers what the mom was going through? The mom had M.S. as well.
ARDEN: Well, she probably had some ability to move, but she`s got to be hampered as well. She`s probably terribly frightened at that point. The experience would be horrible for her, and she would also be very limited in her ability to intervene or to help or to escape.
And, so, it wouldn`t be quite as bad as being a quadriplegic, watching this all come at you, but I`m sure it would be nearly as bad and certainly a horrible experience.
GRACE: We are taking your calls. I know the lines have lit up. We will be with you when we get back.
But won`t you help us solve this murder mystery in Philadelphia? That tip line, 877-258-1094.
Very quickly, let`s to tonight`s "Case Alert." Amber Alert for a 3- year-old North Dakota girl, Reachelle Smith, last seen May 16. Police believe she`s with a 22-year-old, Leigh Cowen, who falsely claims to be her own father, possibly the two heading toward Kansas in a teal-colored van, North Carolina plates -- Smith 3`4``, brown eyes, brown hair.
If you have information about this little girl -- take a look at her - - please, call 701-852-0111.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Alert: As we are broadcasting tonight, we have received information about this little girl, a 3-year-old North Dakota girl, Reachelle Smith, last seen May 16.
Police believed at the time she was with 22-year-old Leigh Cowen, falsely claiming to be her father. I have just been alerted that Cowen has been found dead. There is no sign of that little girl. Cowen has been found in his home state of North Dakota.
We are still waiting for answers about this little girl, 3-year-old Reachelle Smith.
Let`s go back to our story out of Philadelphia. Let`s roll the footage, Elizabeth (ph).
Not just killed in their own homes, but the son, a 20-year-old, was a quadriplegic, the parents sleeping at the foot of his bed to take care of him.
Let`s go to the lines, guys. Let`s go to Joe in Florida.
Hi, Joe.
CALLER: Hi there, Nancy.
This is such a terribly sad series of murders here. At first glance, you might think it would be random, but it doesn`t look that way. And my question is, if it was -- if the murderer was a family member, do you think insurance could have played a part in that?
GRACE: You know, that`s a very interesting question, Joe.
One of my first questions to Ellie (ph), was there a will and who was the beneficiary? And she advised me correctly that that information has not been released.
Let`s go to Ellie (ph) right now.
Ellie (ph), correct?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That`s right. We don`t know about a will. We don`t know about any sort of financial (OFF-MIKE)
GRACE: OK.
What do we know, Barbara Boyer? Is that still the status? Do we not know who, if anyone, would benefit from these deaths?
BOYER: That`s correct.
I do not know of any will...
GRACE: OK.
BOYER: ... or who would be the beneficiary.
GRACE: OK.
Let`s go to Janise in Florida.
Hi, Janise.
CALLER: Hi. Thank you.
GRACE: Thank you.
CALLER: Quick question.
GRACE: OK.
CALLER: I haven`t heard that a gun was found.
GRACE: Mmm-hmm.
CALLER: Do you think that the father may have hired somebody, since he was the last to die, and he had to have been in a horrible situation, with a quadriplegic son, a wife with M.S. and cancer? Do you think he may have hired someone to do this? Are they looking at that?
GRACE: Well, this is my thinking.
And let`s go to Pat Brown on this.
Pat, if he had hired someone to kill him, why would he call 911? But the other question, when I first heard it, I thought, was there some type of suicide-murder pact? But there was no gun on the scene.
So, Janise in Florida is dead on about whether there was a gun at the scene. What`s your take on the possibility that this was a hire?
BROWN: I agree with you about the phone call, because that makes no sense.
And, you know, in an area of town where anybody could have a break-in, you would think you would have -- make it look like a little bit more of a break-in, some kind of assault in there, and then do the shooting, and have the guy leave. You are not going to call 911 and -- and make an explanation like that. It makes no sense.
So, I don`t -- I don`t think we`re looking at a murder for hire. And, definitely, we are not looking at a murder-suicide, because the weapon wasn`t there. And, so, we -- you know, we really are, you know, narrowing it down to what really -- what really -- what kind of event -- what kind of person would really want to do this to the family?
GRACE: OK.
We are taking your calls when we come back.
And we will also be joined by Harold Copus, private investigator, Stacy Schneider, defense attorney, and Caryn Stark, psychotherapist, along with Jason Oshins.
But, very quickly, an incredible story on tonight`s "Case Alert."
The personal information of millions of U.S. veterans stolen from a computer analyst of the government, a laptop containing names, Social Security numbers, birth dates of over 26 million people who served our country gone, vanished. A government source says the public was not alerted for more than two weeks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Still missing, A 3-year-old from North Dakota, Reachelle Smith, last seen May 16.
Now, police believe she was with 22-year-old Leigh Cowen, falsely claiming to be her father. Repeat, they were headed toward Kansas in a teal-colored van, North Dakota plates.
Breaking news, as we go to air tonight, we have learned he has been found dead. Leigh Cowen has been found dead in his home state of North Dakota. Still missing, the little girl, 3-year-old North Dakota girl Reachelle Smith. Please take a look.
Let`s quickly go back to our Philadelphia story, a family found dead in their home, the son, a quadriplegic.
I want to go to Harold Copus, private investigator.
Harold, help us out tonight. What jumps out at you immediately with this case?
HAROLD COPUS, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: I think two or three things, Nancy.
I think the first is that it looks like it`s execution-style. Second, obviously, they knew how to get in here. They had to have some help or they were well known to the family. And the third is the fact, what in the world could be the motive? It has to be some insurance settlement.
GRACE: Well, if there is no insurance and there is no well -- no will, it could possibly motivated by just passion, anger, retribution.
Very quickly to Danielle in Pennsylvania.
Hi, Danielle.
CALLER: Hi, Nancy.
GRACE: Hi, dear. What`s your question?
CALLER: I wanted to know if the police have looked into the brother`s past. Maybe he had feuds with somebody, and they were coming back after his family, or if the quadriplegic, before his accident, got into any problems, and maybe they were locked up for three years and came for retaliation.
GRACE: Hmm.
Barbara Boyer, any word about any type of retaliation?
BOYER: Well, that`s a very interesting question. Not that I`m aware of.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Fowlers have two other sons who are in their twenties. Police initially questioned them, but they`ve been released. Investigators say no one has been ruled out as a suspect; it leaves the family uneasy that a killer is still out there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not even the paralyzed and disabled are safe in our city.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A pair of parents and their quadriplegic son have been found dead in their Philadelphia home, shot, apparently, by an intruder. No forced entry. No robbery. No sex attack. Apparently, the two brothers in the family have alibis. What could possibly be the motive?
That tip line tonight: 877-258-1094.
Let`s go to psychotherapist Caryn Stark. Caryn, the fact that the trach was taken out of the quadriplegic to me indicates something. I`m just a lawyer. What does it say to you?
CARYN STARK, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: What it says to me, Nancy, is that there clearly must be some kind of a family involvement. I`d be so surprised if there wasn`t because why would anyone want to make that quadriplegic son suffer, unless there was a great deal of jealousy going on?
I`d also want to take a look at the fact that this family had nothing really to give, except their love for each other. So if you were feeling angry toward them, you`d want to eliminate one of them and make the other one suffer watching that, just to take something away from them. So I think that there is a family thing happening here, clearly rage and anger.
GRACE: Let`s talk about trial strategy. Stacy Schneider, you`re a defense attorney. It`s Trial 101: dying declaration. The father called 911. We don`t know what he said to them. Now, typically, when a witness is not in court to testify, their testimony is kept out based on hearsay. Why would it come in as a dying declaration? Explain.
STACY SCHNEIDER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Dying declarations are statements that are made by people who are gravely injured and where death is imminent. And those statements are always allowed into court because they are considered to be the most reliable type of statement that can come into evidence.
A dying person has no motive and no intent to lie or fabricate a story while they`re in the middle of a grave situation, so the reliability of those statements is really key. And it`s very difficult for a defense attorney to overcome that type of statement.
And I did hear of a report where the father had made one statement that they released saying: "He shot my family." He, referring to a male. And it`s my understanding the police are not revealing anything else about that statement, but I pretty much can bet that there`s a lot more information in there that they`re not letting us know right now.
GRACE: He. He. He.
SCHNEIDER: So I would be believe it`s the male suspect. And I also - - my gut tells me it`s someone in the family, too, because of that act of removing that ventilator. Normally in a multiple homicide or a triple homicide like this, there`s an intended victim, and then sometimes the other victims are killed because they`re witnesses to the crime. But this added element of removing that ventilator...
GRACE: Just horrible.
SCHNEIDER: ... it`s a spiteful, hateful act...
GRACE: It`s horrible. It`s hateful.
SCHNEIDER: ... and it shows -- it`s evil, and it says to me -- it says more.
GRACE: It says to me either a family member or someone close to them.
But just let`s think about this for a moment, Pat Brown. Think about a caregiver. Think about a caregiver dealing with the anger, and the frustration, and the depression this young boy must have been suffering.
He was turned quadriplegic at age 17 by a drunk driver. And imagine caring for him, a hired caregiver, to build up so much animosity, dealing with all this guy`s emotions.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, I`m not so sure I would go with that, believe that exactly. But I do want to point out something, Nancy: That young man may have pulled out his own ventilator because he may have seen his mother being shot. And he may have actually tried...
GRACE: How? If he`s a quadriplegic, how could he do that?
BROWN: Well, no, you can still move around a lot, you know, even in that condition. You can actually...
GRACE: Say what?
BROWN: I mean, you can sometimes move yourself enough to cause -- pull on the machine.
GRACE: I don`t think he pulled out his own trach.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Well, I just wonder whether he ran into something with his head that he could have done that in his -- you know, in his anguish.
GRACE: He`s lying in a bed. The man can`t move, for Pete`s sake.
BROWN: Well, I thought he had some ability above the shoulders.
GRACE: Did he, Barbara?
BOYER: Nancy, I think it`s a legitimate point to make. And the other point is that it`s really unclear whether or not -- when medical personnel arrived -- remember, the father was still alive -- how they handled the two other people. They were dead at the scene. They were pronounced dead at the scene. But it could have been medical personnel who responded and...
GRACE: I got a question for you, Barbara.
BOYER: Sure.
GRACE: Was it taken out, off his throat, or was it unplugged?
BOYER: It was not unplugged. The alarm was going off indicating...
GRACE: Just taken off him?
BOYER: So the trach tube was removed from his throat.
GRACE: Oh, I don`t know if I see a crime scene tech -- we don`t know. We don`t know the answer to that.
BOYER: We don`t.
GRACE: Let`s go to Laurie in Georgia. Hi, Laurie.
CALLER: Hi.
GRACE: What`s your question, dear?
CALLER: I wanted to ask, since there wasn`t a sign of a break-in or anything, were there any drugs missing of any kind?
GRACE: You know what? I hadn`t even thought of that.
Barbara Boyer, I know that, between the three of them, there had to be a lot of prescription drugs. Do we know if anything in the home was ransacked?
BOYER: From what I understand, from what the police saw, there was no ransacking.
GRACE: Back to Dr. Jonathan Arden, medical examiner. Explain to me, the poor guy is a quadriplegic. What mobility would he have? Is there any way he could have removed this breathing apparatus from his own body?
ARDEN: If he`s truly quadriplegic, he`s paralyzed pretty much from the neck down, he`s not going to have much movement. He may be able to move his head a little bit, but he`s probably not pulling this tube out.
But I would be concerned about the point: Did the emergency personnel take it off and look to see what was going on with him, as opposed to the assailant? That would be a legitimate question.
GRACE: And it`s a very easily answered question, right, Jason Oshins? Because if that was removed, it`s got to be documented in the medical reports.
OSHINS: Well, you would hope that the reports were thorough, if they did that. Depends upon what they encountered on the scene. Did they attempt to save his life in some way? And did they remove that, in some way, to give him his own oxygen?
GRACE: OK.
OSHINS: I don`t really know. It`s only really, you know, focused speculation.
GRACE: Yes. But, you know, it is a possibility. Pat`s right about that.
Let`s go to the lines. Darlene in California. Hi, Darlene.
CALLER: Hello. At the beginning of the show, do you remember when they spoke about the disabled parking sign in front?
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: I was just about to bring that up. What`s your question?
CALLER: Well, it said "dead" across it.
GRACE: You`re right. In fact, let`s go to Barbara Boyer. We were just discussing bringing that back up. Someone wrote on the disabled parking sign -- Darlene is correct -- "dead." See that written to the left, d-e-a-d?
Caryn Stark, what does this tell us?
STARK: Tremendous amount of anger and rage, Nancy, somebody who really could not hold it in, had no control over their impulses, and wanted to let it be known that this was a family, that there was death there, that this had happened, and absolutely no empathy or sympathy for this son or the family.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nineteen-year-old Jessica O`Grady has been missing since May 10th. This is exclusive video of investigators recovering O`Grady`s car May 16th in a parking lot near 144th and West Center Road.
The following day, investigators served a search warrant on the home where O`Grady`s boyfriend lived. They tell us they found evidence of a crime inside, and the case turned into a criminal investigation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Tonight, we need your help finding a 19-year-old missing university student out of Nebraska. Let`s go to Ed Miller with "America`s Most Wanted."
Bring us up to date, Ed.
ED MILLER, REPORTER, "AMERICA`S MOST WANTED": Well, they`ve searched lots of -- several square miles of area. And they still have not, as of now, found Jessica. They do believe, as you just said, that this is a criminal investigation. So, technically, she is a missing person, but they are zeroing in on the boyfriend. They have from the very beginning.
GRACE: Can you just.
MILLER: At first, he denied...
GRACE: Let`s take it from the beginning. Where was she?
MILLER: OK.
GRACE: Who is she? Where did she go missing? What do we know? Is there a cell phone call? What can you tell me about the case?
MILLER: She is a University of Nebraska student who went missing very quietly. She`s been missing for almost two weeks now. She disappeared on May 10th, and the last known communication from her was a cell phone call shortly before midnight to one of her friends. Then, she went missing.
GRACE: It`s my understanding she used her cell phone after she was last seen. Do you know who she called?
MILLER: She called one of her friends, and that is the last communication. And then, as I said, police zeroed in on her boyfriend rather quickly.
GRACE: Now, when she called the friend, do we know what she said?
MILLER: No, we do not know.
GRACE: Was she coming from work?
MILLER: It is their opinion -- investigators have been rather close about this -- but it is their opinion that, yes, she was coming from work.
GRACE: Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Still looking for any (INAUDIBLE) other than your fishing trails and stuff. We are looking for possibly disturbed soil. You hope you come upon something. You know, the family`s very desperate. They`re looking for any help they can find, any clues.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were scared. We were hopeful that it wasn`t Jessica. We feel very bad for the family that the person belongs to.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re focusing less on that and on our search efforts here and, you know, doing what we need to do as a family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Back to "America`s Most Wanted" Ed Miller. Tonight, we are talking about 19-year-old Jessica O`Grady. She`s been missing since May 10. She worked at a local strip mall.
She was, I believe, a waitress at a local steak restaurant. Which one was it, Ellie?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s Lone Star Steakhouse.
GRACE: Lone Star Steakhouse, last known to have called a friend on her cell phone, missing ever since.
Back to Ed Miller, I know the boyfriend has been honed in upon. That is not unusual. Has her car been recovered, and where?
MILLER: Her car was recovered right across the street from the restaurant, and that was recovered only a couple of days after she went missing.
GRACE: Now, what can you tell me about the boyfriend, Ed?
MILLER: Well, we can tell you that it was some -- some people say that it was a somewhat mismatched relationship in that he was not going to school. She was in college. That`s not to implicate him in any way, shape, or form, but what police did find interesting was that, at first, he denied any involvement and then, very quickly, lawyered up and has since stopped cooperating with police.
And that, of course, immediately casts some suspicions on him. And then, of course, there were two searches of his home. He lives with his aunt in her home. There were two searches of the home, and they have brought out some rather interesting evidence, or what they believe is evidence.
GRACE: I think it`s pretty interesting, too. Go ahead and tell us, Ed.
MILLER: Well, specifically, it is the -- there were two searches, as I said, one about a week ago and one last night. The one that probably is the most interesting is a piece of the bed that had, according to police, a great deal of blood on it. Then, last night, they had pieces of the box spring that apparently had been cut up and they believe somebody was trying to get rid of.
GRACE: Here`s what Jessica O`Grady, just 19 years old, missing since May 10, what her aunt had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don`t know a lot of information, even of what was there or what they did or -- you know, we were there in front of the house, you know, but we didn`t really see anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We contacted the lawyer for her boyfriend. He would not respond to our request to come on the show tonight and answer some tough questions.
Let`s go to Dr. Jonathan Arden, medical examiner. Dr. Arden, the sheriff has told us that there were signs of a major cleanup at the boyfriend`s home. That doesn`t sound good.
Remember, Scott Peterson had the major cleanup. Mark Hacking had the major cleanup. There`s always a major cleanup. Suddenly, boyfriends and husbands become neatniks and they take out the 409. Explain, Doctor. How can they tell if there is a major cleanup?
ARDEN: Of course, if you have a crime scene on your hands, especially if you`ve committed the crime, you`re likely to have just a great deal of biological evidence, blood, tissue, hair, all those kind of things, blood stains, all kinds of clots, and it puddles, and it gets into the cracks in your floor.
It becomes, I mean, truly a mess. And it`s a big motivation to start cleaning like mad. And you will see stains that have been wiped but not completely gone away.
You`ll see, if you look underneath areas such as the inside of the box spring, the inside of the mattress, places that aren`t immediately visible. But on the other side of carpets, things like that, you can find traces of blood and bodily fluids, if you look carefully on clothing, on carpets, that kind of thing. Trace evidence can be found, especially things like hairs and fibers that can be very telling as to who was there and what happened.
So all the kinds of things that you think you may clean up may leave stains, may leave smears, may leave clean areas where there was surrounding it a dirtier area, so you can see what has been cleaned recently, as opposed to what was left in its usual state.
You have all that kind of thing that will, you know, pinpoint a good investigator who will look at that and say, "This has been disturbed. This is not the way it was 20 minutes ago. This is not the way it was yesterday. Something`s been altered, and that`s where we are looking, and that`s where we we`re focusing."
GRACE: Let`s go to Diana in North Carolina. Hi, Diana.
CALLER: Hi, Nancy. Thank you.
GRACE: Yes, ma`am.
CALLER: You know, she made a call to someone before she disappeared. Who did she make the call to? And was it about her boyfriend?
GRACE: What about it, Ed Miller? That`s an excellent question. I was wondering what she said to the friend.
MILLER: Well, again, the friend has not -- or the police are not telling me exactly what went on in that phone call. All I know is that there was a phone call to the friend and that was the last communication.
GRACE: To Jason Oshins, the lawyer would have nothing to say. We tried to contact him. Do you think he`s just staying shy of the press?
OSHINS: Well, absolutely. What`s his benefit at this point? I mean, the downside to it is that where he`s going to say something or we`re going to ask him -- or clearly you would, Nancy -- ask him something incredibly tough, and difficult, and pointedly so, and he doesn`t want to be in that position. He`d rather just go a little bit under the radar. And obviously, by your show and program right now, you`re exposing him to the radar.
GRACE: To Stacy Schneider, defense attorney, it`s my understanding that the bed was actually broken down, cut up in pieces, and removed from the boyfriend`s home.
SCHNEIDER: It doesn`t look good for the boyfriend.
GRACE: No. Do I have to say Mark Hacking?
SCHNEIDER: Yes, very similar. And I have to tell you, there`s an interesting element that was reported through the uncle that he heard from some of Jessica`s friends that she had recently taken a home pregnancy test and that that test had come out positive. And I insert that in there as an alleged...
GRACE: Good question.
SCHNEIDER: ... possible motive.
GRACE: Excellent point. Caryn Stark, why is it suddenly, the happiest moment of your life, becomes motive for murder?
STARK: Well, that`s what seems to be happening these days, is that people are foregoing, you know, getting rid of a pregnancy, regular abortion, and they`re going for murdering the mother, instead, Nancy, if that`s true.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Breaking news in the disappearance of three-year-old North Dakota girl Reachelle Smith, last seen May 16. She had been believed to be with a 22-year-old man, Leigh Cowen, falsely claiming to be her father.
Let`s go straight out to the news director at KXMC in Minot, North Dakota, Jim Olson.
Hi, Jim. Thank you for being with us.
JIM OLSON, NEWS DIRECTOR, KXMC: Hi, Nancy. Glad to be here.
GRACE: What`s the latest?
OLSON: Well, the latest is that the sheriff`s department and the police are still conducting a search around the van that was discovered this afternoon about 12:30 or so. It was discovered on a wildlife refuge located about 20 miles north of the town of Minot, North Dakota.
And that discovery led to the discovery of the body of Leigh Cowen -- lee Leigh Cowen, I believe they pronounced his name. And it appears, according to one investigator, that he killed himself with carbon monoxide from the van. There is an autopsy planned, and that probably won`t be known, the results of that, for another day or two.
But that happened early in the afternoon. And then, by this time, they`re still searching around that van wondering if, perhaps, the three- year-old girl was with him at some time and he may have discarded her. Obviously, they`re hoping that`s not the case.
And they actually did say that they don`t have any evidence -- that they`re telling us, anyway -- that she might be in that area, but they are making that search just to be thorough about it.
GRACE: Jim, how far away was the van from where he started off with the girl?
OLSON: Just about 20 miles or so, 15 or 20 miles north of Minot. And original reports said that he might be heading down towards Kansas. But, obviously, that turned out not to be true, because it was thought that he might be going down there to meet up with his mother, who had recently moved there from the Minot area.
GRACE: Right. With us, Jim Olson. He is the news director at KXMC with breaking news out of Minot, North Dakota, on this little girl. Tip line: 701-852-0111. Thank you, Jim.
Tonight, we remember Army Staff Sergeant Robert Hernandez, 47, Silver Spring, Maryland, killed, Iraq. A 10-year veteran of the Prince George County Police Department, he is survived by his fiancee and three children, eight, 18, 21. Army Staff Sergeant Robert Hernandez, an American hero.
Thank you to my guests, but our biggest thank you is to you for being with us, inviting us, again, into your homes. Nancy Grace signing off for tonight. Good night, friend.
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