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Nancy Grace
Boy Scout Still Missing Two Years after Camping Trip; Authorities Search for Boy Abducted by Father
Aired June 30, 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, live to Utah. A 12-year-old Boy Scout having the time of his life on a camping vacation vanishes. Last seen after fishing on a sunny afternoon. Twelve-year-old Garrett Bardsley has not been seen since.
Also tonight, a schoolteacher allegedly abducts a 3-year-old little boy. Last clue, a letter he sent to the child`s mom. Will that letter lead police to a missing child?
And tonight a 14-year-old Colorado girl vanishes while jogging in a local park.
But first tonight, to Utah and the search for a 12-year-old Boy Scout.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN BARDSLEY, FATHER: We haven`t given up hope. We don`t want to leave Garrett here on this mountain. We want to bring him home. And so we will continue to be -- we will continue to meet with the press, if we need to. But we want him back home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That is the little boy`s dad, who is joining us tonight. First out to investigative reporter, Pat Lalama. What are the facts surrounding this boy`s disappearance?
PAT LALAMA, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Well, heartbreaking, we know that for sure. Here`s what happened. It was a simple, fun camping trip involving the church and the Boy Scouts. And this young man was fishing with his dad. I believe they were about 10,000 feet up in the air, so to speak, because we`re in some rugged mountains.
All he wants to do, his dad says, "Your shoes are oh wet, go back to the campsite," which Nancy, 200 yards away. "Go back to the campsite, get some dry shoes, come back." The father watches his son go. He`s got his eye on him through most of it. Sees that he does take a wrong turn along the way and says, "Hey, hey, hey, over there." He goes that way, to the camp, and the story is just a mystery from there. Gone. And heartbreaking. Absolutely heartbreaking.
GRACE: Let`s start with the basics: who, what, when, where and why?
LALAMA: In the mountains of Utah. The who, our young man, 12 years old with the camping trip, with the Boy Scouts, with the church, with his dad. They`re fishing. He goes away to get dry shoes. End of story. There`s your who, what, when, where and why. Now we have to figure out what happens next.
They`ve done all they can do to search for this child. It`s a very rugged area. There are all kinds of climate issues. It`s cold. There was -- I remember the most heartbreaking thing for me to read, is the father talking about when the first snow fell, because you know, it just changes the scenario.
This was a simple case of a kid going back to get dry shoes 200 yards away. And that`s what we know.
GRACE: The disappearance of this little boy happened August 20, 2004. Garrett Bardsley would be 14 July 24. He is 5 feet tall, 115 pounds, light brown hair, almost blond, brown eyes. Last seen wearing light clothing: a black hooded sweatshirt, black and red sweat pants, white Converse tennis shoes. He was carrying a black ice fishing pole. He did not have food, did not have backpack or any other equipment.
Location, Uinta Mountains, Utah. If you know anything about this little boy, 800-THE-LOST or www.FindGarrett.org.
Now take a listen to what a searcher had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got turned around. You know, we actually got in our GPS, and that told us we were walking the opposite direction where we should have been going. So I mean, you know, familiar with the area had a sense of direction I could see it could happen real easy, especially for a 12-year-old to get lost up here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A lot depends on the locations of these abductions, of these incidents, of missing children. Let`s take a look. What do we know about this location? What about it, Clark?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, Nancy, unfortunately, not a lot of positive factors in play here. We`ll show you why.
It happened in the Cuberant Lake section of the Uinta Mountains in Utah. Here`s the problem. You`re talking of peaks that scaled over 13,000 feet high. Wild animals all around.
And also Nancy, it was a one-hour hike just to get to where searchers were searching for this boy. So a lot of favors, none of them positive.
GRACE: An all-out manhunt for this little boy. This kid, Garrett Bardsley on a kid dream trip, camping and fishing with a church group. Take a listen to what another searcher said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s frightening. It really is. Being lost out here and 12 years old I can imagine what`s going on.
I guess generally all we can ask, is everybody, please, just pray for this boy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining us right now is a very special guest. This is Garrett`s dad. With us tonight, Kevin Bardsley.
Sir, thank you for being with us.
BARDSLEY: You`re welcome. Thanks for having me.
GRACE: Sir, my question to you is, and I know you`ve done this a million times in your head over and over. Tell us what happened that day.
BARDSLEY: Garrett and I went out fishing early in the morning. I wanted to -- wanted to get out early, and there was frost on the ground. We went out and got to the lake and started to get ready to fish. As I was setting up his pole for him, he slipped his feet into the water and got his feet wet, and I said, "Well, should we go back and change?"
He says, "No, I want to fish." He really wanted to fish bad. So we fished tore for a little while, and laughed and everything, and then he said, you know, "We`re not catching anything. I`m going to go back and get some dry shoes on and eat breakfast."
And I said, "OK, do want me to go with you?"
And he said, "No. I can do it." You know, Garrett was 12 years old, you know. This is when they want to feel their independence. And so I didn`t push him about going with him, and so I said, "OK."
And I -- I knew where the camp was, and we had been there a few times. And so I watched him go around the lake, and as he went around the lake he passed the path going up. And so I called to him and I said, "Garrett, you`ve missed the path. Turn right there and go straight up in."
And so he turned, and I watched him go up into the trees -- and that was the last I had seen him.
I went back about 15, 20 minutes after that, and went to the camp fire, and -- and thought I saw him initially, because they`re all boys, and it was cold, and they had hoods on. And so I thought that was him, and I went and grabbed my food, stood over by the camp fire, looked, and horror filled my body, because it wasn`t Garrett.
And so I initially ran to the lake, and when I ran to the lake I screamed and called for him and listened. I heard nothing. And I ran back up and told the other leaders that were there, and we immediately began to search for Garrett. And that`s where we are.
GRACE: Mr. Bardsley, how many times have you played that over and over in your head?
BARDSLEY: I can`t count the number.
GRACE: When you began looking for him, what did you do? Did you guys fan out in all directions? I mean, this is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
BARDSLEY: If you`ve been up to the Uinta Mountains, that`s exactly the best description of it. I mean, we thought that we were pretty contained in the area that we were, and we went off to the area where we felt that he would -- was going to be, and we`ve combed out. We called. We yelled. We screamed.
And we thought, "OK, how long are we going to go before we go for help?" And we thought, "Well, OK, we`ll go a couple hours. You know, we`ll go until noon or something." And, you know, it wasn`t an hour into it we said, "Forget it. We`re sending somebody right now for him, for help to find him." Because we were really concerned. We just went all over that area, calling, searching, and praying.
GRACE: Tell me what authorities have done to try to find your boy, Mr. Bardsley?
BARDSLEY: They have done everything physically possible. I mean, the Summit County Sheriff`s Department is remarkable. They deal with this on an ongoing, all the time basis with others. This is the first time they have never found someone.
The FBI was brought in. They looked at every possible thing to see if there could have been other things happen or something, but there`s nothing. I mean -- we just -- it`s our opinion that he just got scared because he didn`t know where he was, and he bolted. And knowing Garrett, as strong as we was and stuff, he probably ran and ran and ran and then he tucked in somewhere.
And we had cold and rain and -- I mean, it dropped way down enough to snow, and that afternoon even, there was hail on the ground and stuff. And so -- we`re just -- we`re not sure where he is, his body, at least.
GRACE: Mr. Bardsley, do you wake up at night sometimes thinking he`s still there?
BARDSLEY: I -- I believe his body is still there. And I remember the clip that you played about not wanting to leave the mountain until we could bring him home. One day I was up searching and I felt a very strong impression that if I had to leave my son as a burial place, I couldn`t have found a more beautiful, more serene, more perfect place to leave him than within the Uinta Mountains.
GRACE: Mr. Bardsley I just have to tell you, off the search, off any legal discussion, that your love for your son is so clear, and I bet you were the greatest dad ever. You know how many kids would dream of a dad like you? That would take them on a trip, spend time with them, take them fishing? For the time that you had him, I know you loved him so hard.
BARDSLEY: Yes. And still do.
GRACE: Mr. Bardsley, what today can you tell other parents, can you tell other people? And I know I remember you. Do you remember recently in the search for Brendan Hawkins...
BARDSLEY: Yes.
GRACE: ... you were at the forefront helping another family, and they safely found their little boy in a situation very similar to this. What can you teach us? What can you tell us?
BARDSLEY: The most important thing is to teach your children, teach your children that -- that if they do get lost, to stay still, that they don`t have to worry, that somebody will come and find them, that there will always be someone there that will find -- that will go and look for them to find them. That`s the most important thing you could teach them, because if you ask most children, they would say that they would run if they were lost.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARDSLEY: This is a hard time for our family. Just understand that. Garrett was such an important part of our family. There will always be a whole hole in our hearts.
We haven`t given up hope. We don`t want to leave Garrett here on this mountain. We want to bring him home. And so we will continue to be here, and we will continue to meet with the press if we need to, but we want him back home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARDSLEY: This is a great loss for our family. We appreciate all that the Summit County Sheriff`s Department search and rescue have done thus far. And in discussing things today with them, they felt at this point it was probably time to move into a different phase and go from search and rescue to body recovery.
When I got the call at 6:30 in the morning we on the road within a half hour. We were gone. We were moving. And all of my friends were in place and moving the same way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I know it`s hard to believe, especially for a skeptic like myself, for a little buy to disappear like that, but another thing I believe in is the credibility of this boy`s father, Kevin Bardsley, who has done everything within his power to find his son. Not only that, he`s even gone so far as to travel to Ecuador to help other children.
Mr. Bardsley, explain.
BARDSLEY: Once, when Garrett was -- went missing, a lot of people donated a lot of money, and we wanted to do something with that money. And so we set up a foundation called the Garrett Bardsley Foundation.
And a friend came to us and said, because we were involved in humanitarian aid projects. And we planning on going to Ecuador in December. He said, "Why don`t we build a school there?"
And he went to the local middle-- the local middle school where Garrett was supposed to first start attending school, and approached the principal and presented the idea of them raising money, and to build this school. And the children there took this on, and they planned to raise $7,000. And within three weeks, they raised $22,000, and collected 1,100 backpacks for school supplies.
And we went down in December and built the first school in Ecuador for them, called the Garrett Bardsley School, and then we returned the following July and built the second.
GRACE: Mr. Bardsley, your good works are very, very well-known in honor of your son. Yes, no? Are you willing to accept that he is dead? Or do you believe he could still be alive?
BARDSLEY: No. I think he`s dead. I think that he`s, yes.
GRACE: When did you come to that realization?
BARDSLEY: You know, it`s been a tough one, but it was probably a few weeks after. We just have had this strong feeling.
GRACE: Mr. Bardsley, when he first went missing, did you become a suspect in his disappearance?
BARDSLEY: I did, very much so.
GRACE: And you cooperated totally with police?
BARDSLEY: I very much did. I met -- we did things.
GRACE: You know, you are an example to everyone of what to do in the face of an emergency. Mr. Bardsley, we are in the midst of summer, when a staggering amount of children go missing. Again, could you give us any words of wisdom to other parents?
BARDSLEY: Just love your children every day. It`s the most important thing. And watch where they are, and take care of them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just pray for this boy.
BARDSLEY: We haven`t given up hope. We don`t want to leave Garrett here on this mountain. We want to bring him home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Deborah Tinsley Blackwell hasn`t seen her only child for four years. He was snatched away when he was 3 by his father. Now, a warrant`s been issued against Reuben for family felony abduction.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What really frightened me was that a few days after he disappeared, he wrote a letter to his mother, and in that letter it discusses funeral arrangements for him and for my son.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A direct mailer is now going out with pictures of the missing boy and his father, Reuben Blackwell. But authorities suspect he`s using an alias.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Every mom`s worst nightmare. Won`t you help us find this then 3-year-old little boy? Especially after the mom gets a chilling letter describing funeral arrangements for her sweet child.
For all the latest, let`s go Pat Lalama, investigative reporter. How did the boy go missing?
LALAMA: Well, you know what? He was with his father at the time, and my understanding is it was at a relative`s home. For some reason there was supposedly not a confrontation with police, but they were serving him with something, and lickety-split, he was gone.
And as you say, what makes it so frightening is any kind of threat to kill his son, it seems like maybe he feels, "What have I got to lose?"
GRACE: Joining us, also, Bob O`Brien, the director of the missing children`s division at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Bob, thank you so much for being with us.
As the case gets older and older and the public is having to rely on age progressed photos, how likely is it we will ever find Bennett?
BOB O`BRIEN, DIRECTOR, MISSING CHILDREN`S DIVISION, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: I think it is quite likely that we can do that. I established an operation pickup to work with the martial service and the FBI to focus on parental abductors across the country, and we`ve had some very good success in the last couple months.
We found a child that`s been missing for 30 years, a girl that was abducted by her father on Mother`s Day in `76 and recovered in `06.
GRACE: It can happen?
O`BRIEN: And age progression photos help a great deal, because it serves the interest of the community. And actually, exposure on your show makes a big difference in being able to show what this child may look like.
GRACE: Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I become familiar with the facial features of the child. We also prefer to get pictures of the biological family members, the mom and dad, brother, sister. Pictures of them at or about the age the missing child would now be. Since there`s no automatic age progression software we rely on artistic skills, reference pictures and our experience to manually morph the younger child into an older appearing child.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The police, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the boy`s mother, everyone, doing all they can to find then 3- year-old Bennett Blackwell, now 13. Does he even know he was kidnapped?
We`ll all be right back, and you will meet Bennett`s mother.
But first, we at NANCY GRACE want very much to help in our own way. Solve unsolved homicides, help us find missing people. Take a look at 33- year-old Graciela Zavala, killed July 8, 2001, in Long Beach, California. If you have information on the death of Garciela Zavala, please, call Carole Sund Carrington, 888-813-8389.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEBORAH BLACKWELL, MISSING BENNETT`S MOM: What really frightened me was that, a few days after he disappeared, he wrote a letter to his mother. And in that letter, it discussed funeral arrangements for him and for my son.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A chilling story about a 3-year-old little boy kidnapped. The mom receives a letter from the kidnapper detailing funeral arrangements for this beautiful child. Ten long years have passed, and now National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and police are relying on age-progressed photos, a scientifically accepted method of progressing what one may look like as the years pass.
Joining us right now, a very special guest, the mother of this little boy, who still waits for him to come home. With us tonight, Deborah Blackwell.
Ms. Blackwell, thank you for being with us.
BLACKWELL: Thank you very much for this opportunity.
GRACE: It must just be torture for you, day after day, to see your son`s story fade away from the headlines, not hear anything else from police, and you`re left twiddling your thumbs wondering what`s going on with your son?
BLACKWELL: Absolutely. Whenever there`s other issues that are going on, of course, around the community, around the country, around the world, you know, that many times takes precedence over the issues that are going on with me. So it takes a lot of patience. It takes a lot of strong will, but I thank you for this opportunity.
GRACE: Oh, no, no, no, no. Thank you. Mrs. Blackwell, I can`t quite get these facts nailed down. What happened the day your baby went missing?
BLACKWELL: Well, to make a long story short, my husband was often very verbally abusive, but within the seven days or so prior to the disappearance, he began becoming very much more stronger with his antics of abuse. They were -- he was throwing items around the home.
And so, therefore, on the morning of, when those items that he was throwing -- again, coming in my direction -- and my son also was witnessing that situation, it was time for me to actually do something to get some help. My son actually said to me, after my ex-husband had left the house, my son actually said to me, "Mommy, you need call the police on Daddy."
GRACE: And this is when he`s 3 years old?
BLACKWELL: And this is when he was 3 years old.
GRACE: So did you call the police?
BLACKWELL: Well, I didn`t call police. I tried to calm my son down, and then I took him to his daycare provider. And then I began to call the police to ask for some help or some support, and they at that time suggested to me that I get an ex-parte order, which would request that my husband at that time be removed from the home for about 10 days.
And then the two of us would have to come before a judge for a hearing, and then at that time perhaps the judge could then require that my husband seek some help, that we seek some counseling, or...
GRACE: I`m trying to get to the point where the boy went missing. I know there were a lot of problems in the marriage. Tonight I`m concerned about this boy. When did he go missing?
BLACKWELL: Well, at the point at which I had completed the process of getting the ex-parte order, the sheriff served the order before I could even get home to my son. And at that point -- and I had not arrived at the home. And my husband was served. And I guess that made him quite angry. And, at that point, having my son with him, he just fled.
GRACE: OK, hold on. Let me get this straight. When you went to get the order of protection, your son was still as home?
BLACKWELL: No, he was in daycare.
GRACE: In daycare, all right. Did the father go get the boy from daycare?
BLACKWELL: Yes, actually...
GRACE: Did you know he was going to go get him from daycare?
BLACKWELL: Yes. Actually, I had asked this sheriff`s department not to serve the order on that day, because it was my husband`s time to pick up my son. I asked them to please wait until the next day, which it would have been -- it was my responsibility.
GRACE: But they served it anyway?
BLACKWELL: They served...
GRACE: All right. Let me just get this straight. He goes to pick up the boy from daycare, and that is when he gets served, when he comes home?
BLACKWELL: Yes. Yes.
GRACE: Did you see him go away with the boy?
BLACKWELL: No. I had not arrived at the home.
GRACE: You just got home, and he was gone?
BLACKWELL: Yes.
GRACE: How do you know he`s with the boy?
BLACKWELL: Actually, my husband had stopped by my mother`s home, and that was where he was served with the ex-parte order.
GRACE: Oh, I see.
BLACKWELL: My husband was at my mother`s home. My son was with him.
GRACE: Take a listen to what police have to say. Their only clue, their only hope of solving the case: 10 years old now of a missing 3-year- old boy is the use of age-progressed photos. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: I was very pleased with the age enhancement, particularly because they basically took, you know, his major features that stand out the most with him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We become familiar with the facial features of the child. We also prefer to get pictures of the biological family members, the mom and dad, brother or sister, pictures of them at or about the age the missing child would now be.
Since there`s no automatic age-progression software, we rely on artistic skills, reference pictures, and our experience to manually morph the younger child into an older-appearing child.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Back out to Bennett`s mother, Deborah Blackwell, with us now, 10 long years after her 3-year-old went missing. What are police telling you about the search?
BLACKWELL: Well, the search can sometimes go cold, unless there are calls that come in of the sightings. When the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children places the ADVO mailers that come into everyone`s mail during the week, when those mailers go out, I have at times had hundreds of responses to those ADVO mailers. And at that time, then the police department and the FBI researches each of those responses.
GRACE: To producer Clark Goldband, what can you tell me about the location?
CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, it`s in a suburb of Washington, D.C., in the Clinton area, there in the state of Maryland. And as can you see, it`s very problematic because you can go south, north, east, even, or west. So you`re talking about 10 to 12 states you can drive through in about six to 10 hours, so that`s why authorities may have had problems right away.
GRACE: Back to Bob O`Brien with the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The fact that there are so many different state boundaries so close to the location does present a unique problem. Why?
BOB O`BRIEN, FMR. FBI AGENT: Well, it does, but also involving the FBI and the marshal service makes those boundaries go away, because they have resources across the country that can help find the child. And we can send posters to any community in the country automatically, if we have some idea of a good sighting or a suspected area where the child may be.
GRACE: Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Deborah Tinsley Blackwell hasn`t seen her only child for four years. He was snatched away when he was three by his father. Now, a warrant`s been issued against Reuben Blackwell for felony family abduction.
BLACKWELL: What really frightened me was that, a few days after he disappeared, he wrote a letter to his mother, and in that letter it discussed funeral arrangements for him and for my son.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): A direct mailer is now going out with pictures of the missing boy and his father, Reuben Blackwell. But authorities suspect he`s using an alias.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: To psychologist Dr. Jeff Gardere, why would the dad send a letter about funeral arrangements? How evil, how hateful?
JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Absolutely. This is an individual who wanted to take care of his own self-gratifications by taking this boy away, because he may have felt it was the only way to have access to the boy, which is very crazy in itself. And, secondly, he wanted to hurt the mother at the same time.
GRACE: Ms. Blackwell, do you have any reason to believe that his family knows where he is?
BLACKWELL: Well, I would say this: For the last 10 years, I have been trying very hard, in any way possible that I can, to try to find my son. But I have not had any support from his family.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I lost the light of my life, my buddy, my best friend, most of all, my daughter. I cried for her all hours of the day. I cried for her at night.
I am broken; I will never heal. I will never have closure and never again have my daughter by my side. My heart will always have a void, a tremendous loss.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: One mom speaking out on the disappearance of her child, Carlie Brucia, later discovered murdered. This girl missing. Now she would be 36 years old. She went missing when she was just 14. A lot of people call it a cold case, but we plan to heat it up.
To Pat Lalama, what happened?
LALAMA: Well, a very interesting story. This was -- as you say, she was 14 years old. We`re talking about a town in Colorado, wonderful, small, sleepy town in Colorado.
It`s the end of the summer. She leaves her home. She leaves her baby-sitting money at home, so everyone believes, "Well, obviously, she didn`t run away." She went jogging. And that was the end of that, as we know it.
Now, what happened since then is just absolutely outrageous. There were so many different people to look at, so much information. And, in my estimation, it seems that it was completely -- it`s egregious that it wasn`t delved into.
First of all, there`s one suspect that she was seen talking to in a red pickup truck, OK? Secondly, there`s a pornographer on the list of people who had clippings and pictures of her from newspapers. He was from Ohio, but he lived in her town during that time.
There were all kinds of hoaxes perpetrated on the family, people calling and saying, "Oh, here I am, I`m in Florida." Other people calling saying, "Oh, she`s been held hostage and forced to sell herself as a prostitute in Texas."
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: How awful.
LALAMA: Just one thing -- yes, I mean, just one thing after another that this poor family -- I mean, talk about flicking the scab off the wound every single time something like this happens.
Now, there is a little bit of hope and a little bit of hope being that, a few years back, they found some what they think might be potential DNA, in terms of a blond strand that they`re going to do the mitochondrial DNA, which has to do with the mother -- and I`m sure you can explain that better than me. Also, you know, some bone fragments maybe, and the newest thing is that there could be a grand jury convened in Colorado. And so there we go.
GRACE: Speaking of a grand jury convening in Colorado, joining us now, a special guest, Mark Hurlbert. Thank you for being with us. He is the chief district attorney in that jurisdiction.
Welcome to the show.
MARK HURLBERT, CHIEF DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Thank you.
GRACE: And tell us, what can a grand jury do with this if you don`t have a particular target?
HURLBERT: Well, part of a grand jury is -- a grand jury is the search for the truth, an investigatory tool. We`ve reached the end of what we can do with police officers. And the grand jury will help us investigate this case, even though it is 23 years old.
GRACE: What can they do, Mark?
HURLBERT: Well, they can compel people to testify, and there are various other things that a grand jury can use to investigate.
GRACE: He is right. With us, Mark Hurlbert, chief district attorney in that Colorado jurisdiction.
And it`s trial 101: a grand jury. We all hear about it, but grand juries have two functions: investigative and charging.
Even when they don`t have a specific target or defendant, they can investigate, subpoena documents, subpoena witnesses to get to the truth. Mark is absolutely right, as usual.
Let`s go out to defense attorney Courtney Anderson. At this juncture, as a defense attorney, how likely is it, if this girl was kidnapped, which I believe she was, if she -- if we get evidence this many years later, what about any statute of limitations?
COURTNEY ANDERSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, well, certainly that`s something that any defense attorney worth their salt is going to try to argue, if and when charges are brought against a specific defendant in this case.
And I just want to say that these examples of these case show us how important the community and law coming together is, local law enforcement, federal law enforcement, because law is just words. And what it`s really about is people, and it`s about solutions and coming together, and trying to find some kind of way to either bring closure or resolution to people`s lives.
So I do really want to thank you for highlighting some of these situations here today.
GRACE: Thanks, Courtney.
And to Mark, on the issue of statute of limitations, if you were to find someone now responsible for her kidnap, what about any possible statute of limitations? Would it toll?
HURLBERT: No, there is no statute of limitations for murder in the state of Colorado.
GRACE: Kidnap.
HURLBERT: For kidnap, yes, there is. Well, it depends on -- if the kidnap and murder, then there is not. It would be considered a felony murder, and there is no statute of limitations.
GRACE: On kidnap, however, there is a statute. And my question is, would a protracted discovery -- in other words, you don`t discover the kidnap and the perpetrator for 20 years, wouldn`t that toll the statute, put it on hold?
HURLBERT: It doesn`t. It`s generally the statute of limitations are tolled here in Colorado, when they talk about the people finding a crime later on...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: I understand. So the only way to get someone on this, really, is if we can solve a murder.
Joining us right now, the sister of Elizabeth, Lynn Granger.
Lynne, thank you for being with us, shedding light on your sister`s disappearance. What happened?
LYNN GRANGER, MISSING BETH`S SISTER: Well, she went jogging that morning to prepare for basketball camp. She had gotten into basketball camp and was out exercising.
She had asked my sister, Lisa, her younger sister, if she`d like to go with her. Lisa at the time was busy, and she declined to go, and said she`d catch up with her later.
Beth went jogging. And she got to an area east of town where it`s pretty secluded. There aren`t a lot of people that live there. She was seen by an 11-year-old girl who was outside with her mother, and that was the last person to ever see Beth alive.
GRACE: How has this affected your life, Lynn?
GRANGER: It`s affected every aspect of my life. It`s affected how I`ve parented my kids. My trust in men for a long time was very much affected, but it has also taught me that, when you do love someone or you care for people and you don`t hold back and you express to people how you feel, you don`t mince your words. If you love someone, tell them you love them. They might not be there the next day.
GRACE: Joining us, also special guest, Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden.
Thank you for being with us. When did you start on this case? And how many leads, how many suspects have had you so far?
JIM ALDERDEN, LARIMER COUNTY SHERIFF: We almost run out -- there`s a whole number of suspects. I worked previously -- being elected sheriff, I was agent with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. And I was assigned this case in 1992, so nine years after Beth`s disappearance.
All I can say is there are numerous viable suspects in this case. I would say there are three that really deserve additional focus via the grand jury.
GRACE: What do you mean by that?
ALDERDEN: Well, there have been statements made, admissions made, just evidence that would support certain individuals having been involved in the abduction and the murder of Beth.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Tonight, we stop to remember Marine Lance Corporal Marcus Glimpse, just 22, killed, Iraq. Glimpse, from Huntington Beach, California, leaves behind his mom, his dad and twin brother. Glimpse, on his second tour of duty. Marcus S. Glimpse, American hero.
Thank you to all of our guests. Our biggest thank you, to you, for being with us, inviting us into your homes. Nancy Grace signing off tonight. See you here Monday night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, friend.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: A federal court judge green lights convicted sex offenders living just feet away from school bus stops. If that is the law, then the law is an ass. To all three of you, you`re all wrong, all right? And I never got to say that when I was practicing in front of you, Judge Brogdon, but I can say it now.
Breaking developments in the Natalee Holloway investigation. Is a man now in custody telling the truth? He claims he saw judge`s son Joran Van Der Sloot with Natalee on the beach the very night she disappeared.
Georgia Judge Jon Phillip Carr, you are in contempt!
Six counts child molestation, four counts statutory rape. The girl victims reportedly as young as 13 years old.
RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, he could have been associated with them and not having sex with them. Can you say "innocent until proven guilty"?
GRACE: Little green Martians could have come in their window the night before and written his name down and put it under their pillow, too.
We remember Massachusetts 16-year-old Molly Bish. The six-year mark of her disappearance. Remains discovered bit by bit, 2003. To this day, no arrest.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Molly was (INAUDIBLE) full of fun and love, and it has to stop. We have to be strong and get these bad guys.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Tonight we remember Kristian Menchaca, 23, killed, Iraq. Houston, Texas, loved the military, leaving behind a grieving widow. Tonight, John Kristian Menchaca, American hero.
END
