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Nancy Grace
Madeleine McCann Investigators Accused of Botching Case
Aired May 23, 2007 - 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: A 12-year-old California girl snatched from a slumber party with other little girls, an 11-year-old Minnesota boy snatched off his bicycle, a 3-year-old baby girl stolen from a luxury resort while her vacationing parents have dinner. Tonight, a special investigation, children snatched from parents, never seen again. Where are they? How do we find them? And how do we stop their predators?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s been frustrating from the beginning, knowing a 24-month-old baby is out there somewhere. I know it`s very difficult for the family, and we want to find him and bring him home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s been very hard on Scott`s family and friends and our community. Our investigators have followed up on hundreds of tips, none of which have led us any closer to solving Scott`s disappearance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could no longer be in the same room with him. I`ve heard my mother`s groan of agony, and it snapped something within me which I just couldn`t hold back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The more time goes on, the more concerned we get to finding the child, you know? And we`re hoping that when we do, we find her unharmed and in good health.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just to know that you have a son that you love and your son is missing and there`s no leads that really pan (ph) anything, it`s really frustrating. It`s like a nightmare.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They came here on holiday. They said they`re not going anywhere until Madeleine is found.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More than two weeks since she disappeared.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The reality is that Madeleine could be anywhere. Her parents, of course, know this. So the Internet is a major tool in their campaign, a means of communication which can cross borders and reach millions of people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight. A parent`s worst nightmare, children snatched, never seen again. Where are they? How do we find them? And how do we stop their predators?
First, a little girl stolen from a luxury resort while her parents had dinner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Millions have joined the search for 4-year-old Madeleine McCann, missing now for two weeks from a luxury vacation with her family, Findmadeleine.com, set up by the McCann family to aid the search for Maddy, receiving over 65 million hits. Rewards offered by businessmen, famous athletes and ordinary individuals total more than $5 million. Maddy vanishes from a bedroom after her parents leave her alone with her 2-year- old twin siblings to go to dinner. Investigators focus on the area near the resort where Maddy went missing. Police Tuesday identified 33-year-old Robert Murat as a formal suspect, but said they did not have enough evidence to charge him. Maddy`s parents, Kate and Gerry, criticized for leaving the children alone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Imagine going on your family vacation. While you`re having dinner, you go back to check on the kids and one is missing. That is just what happened to baby Maddy`s parents.
Straight out to "America`s Most Wanted" Ed Miller. Ed, there are recent developments. What`s the latest?
ED MILLER, "AMERICA`S MOST WANTED": Well, actually, you know, there`s been a lot of confusion about this case. You know, way back on May 5, police said, We know who took Maddy. In reality, weeks later, they don`t really who took Maddy. There`s been a lot of suspects who they`ve said are suspects with a small S, not a capital S. They really don`t have a whole lot more now than when she first disappeared.
GRACE: Now, tell me the latest on the suspect, as he is being called. He`s been released. I don`t understand that.
MILLER: Well, because they simply don`t have enough on Mr. Murat. You know, Mr. Murat originally was questioned because he was -- he volunteered in the investigation. He had volunteered to be a translator. He seemed to be asking an awful lot of questions and he seemed to be very, very interested in the case. And that`s how they first started questioning him.
He and a girlfriend and the girlfriend`s ex-husband also seemed to match a description of three people that police originally were looking for. But again, there really is nothing concrete to link these three people or Mr. Murat specifically to the crime.
As a matter of fact, some British investigators have said that Portugal police have really botched this case. They never really looked very hard for the child in the very beginning. And as you well know, with missing children, speed is most important. You need to get on top of it right away, and they did not.
GRACE: Well, speaking of the botched investigation -- we`re talking about baby Maddy, her parents at a luxury resort when she goes missing from their rented room.
Out to you, Marc Klaas, president of Beyond Missing. Take a look at just some elementary things police failed to do -- did not secure the crime scene where the baby was kidnapped, did not issue a public appeal, did not release a suspect description, did not immediately go house-to-house within the luxury resort, Marc, did not search streets near the hotel, did not interview all the hotel guests, didn`t check video of vehicles leaving the resort -- there are cameras that show who comes in and leaves the resort -- did not check motorway cams -- you know, those cameras that you often see at red lights, Marc Klaas -- did not notify border patrol -- you can cross that border in about two hours -- until 15 hours later, and actually ignored repeated tips that came in, Marc Klaas.
MARC KLAAS, BEYONDMISSING.COM: Well, every one of those is a critical mistake, and every one of those could have allowed the kidnapper to get away with the child. And quite frankly, it looks exactly like that is exactly what happened. Unfortunately, Nancy, they don`t have the sophisticated protocols in other countries that we have in the United States for the recovery of missing children. Although this is the most widely publicized case probably in history, and certainly has the largest reward in history, it just may be too late.
But I would caution the parents never to give up hope and to continue to look. It`s going to be very hard to secret that little girl, and it`s going to be very hard to keep that secret either publicly or privately.
GRACE: Well, you know, interesting, Tom Shamsak, private investigator, the police there are sinking so many resources, almost all of their resources, into this one alleged suspect. If he`s the wrong guy, they`re screwed. Do you know what all they`ve been doing for this one suspect? Soil samples, fingerprint samples, full search of DNA, you name it.
TOM SHAMSAK, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: Well, the response was inadequate and inexcusable. The -- they`re right now isolated on this one individual. I think that the U.K. police officers need to be allowed to have access to the file and to start this investigation right from the beginning again. The failure to not control the crime scene, the failure to not control the borders are really egregious mistakes. This was botched right from the get-go.
GRACE: Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is Robert Murat in the white shirt, filmed just days ago. He was reported to police after journalists became suspicious of his activities and his claim to be liaising between police, Madeleine`s family and witnesses.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say they removed numerous items during their search of Robert Murat`s home which remain part of the inquiry. Witnesses saw personal computers and mobile phones being taken. Decoding any saved information can take time. Videocassettes were also removed for analysis. Officers also took away clothes and samples of forensic material. It`s unclear where they are now being examined. Police say they completely searched the villa, but detectives spent less than a full day collecting material and then allowed the family to return, leading some to question how thorough they actually were.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Back to you, Ed Miller with "America`s Most Wanted." Tell me about the scene. What happened when baby Maddy went missing that evening?
MILLER: Well, that evening, as said before, the parents went to dinner. And they felt they were doing the right thing because they could see -- according to them, they could see the front door of this luxury apartment. We should explain this is not a typical hotel, this is a luxury hotel with suites. And they were down in the restaurant and they said they could see the front door right from where they were, and all the doors and windows were locked.
And they went back, according to them, several times to check on the children to see if they were all right because it wasn`t just Maddy there, there was the other two, as well. And then when they finally went back, when they finished dinner, lo and behold, the doors had been jimmied open and she was gone. The other two were there, but she was gone.
We should point out that as awful as it may seem to realize that in foreign countries, in some foreign countries, in particular, that blond children, little blond, angelic girls are possessions worth more than a pot of gold. And it`s an awful thing to think about, but it is reality that police are working on that theory that this child may have been stolen simply because of the way she looked. Somebody must have been spying on her, looking at her, stalking her to know that she was there.
GRACE: Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police tape still marks the outer limits of his gardens and the driveway here, but police have been very clear they don`t have enough evidence even to continue questioning Robert Murat, let alone arrest him. So at this stage, it is very difficult to know, really. Should we really regard Robert Murat as a suspect, or is he, as he says, a scapegoat?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More than two weeks since she disappeared, the reality is that Madeleine could be anywhere. Her parents, of course, know this. And so the Internet is a major tool in their campaign, a means of communication which can cross borders and reach millions of people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Findmadeleine.com is an Internet phenomenon. In 24 hours, it`s become one of the world`s most visited Web sites, with hits from across the globe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you haven`t been approached by Nicky Gill (ph) and her team to help out in the Madeleine campaign yet, you probably will be soon. As best friend of Madeleine`s mum, she`s made it her mission to keep the family in the headlines.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nicky and her friends concentrate on sending a message of hope, and by phone to Kate herself.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just so you know, it looks great, and you know, we`ll keep it going now. This is her little place here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Out to the lines. Diane in California. Hi, Diane.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. How are you?
GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was wondering if the parents could be charged with child neglect or child endangerment?
GRACE: Out to you, Renee Rockwell. They did leave the children alone. It was a group of eight parents, four couples. Every night, they would go to this tapas or appetizer restaurant about 100 yards, I believe - - between 50 and 100 yards -- of the condo that they were renting. They could see the door. They could only see one side of the condo, Renee. But they did leave the three children alone in there. And Renee, here`s the kicker. For about $10 more a day, they could have hired a nanny or a babysitter to stay there, Renee.
RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: And Nancy, and you know what? They didn`t want the children around strangers. Incredible. But what are you going to do to these parents now, charge them with a crime? Their heart is broken. Nancy, don`t discount the fact that this child could be a victim not of a sexual predator but of a human trafficking ring.
GRACE: What do you mean by that?
ROCKWELL: Well, it doesn`t mean that somebody stole the child to molest the child. The child could have been sold on the black market not only for a sexual slavery type of a sale, but also maybe a person who wanted a blond-haired child, wanted this baby...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: OK, can I try to pin you down with a yes/no? Please don`t make me answer for you. Can the parents be charged with neglect?
ROCKWELL: They could, Nancy, but I don`t see that happening.
GRACE: That could definitely happen. That`s the legal answer to Diane in California`s question. It hasn`t happened yet, but yes, legally, they could be charged with neglect, just like every other case you hear, Diane, many that we cover here, when bad things happen to children, when parents leave them alone, no matter how good their intentions are.
Out to Elizabeth in Arkansas. Hi, Elizabeth.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I`m a big fan of the show.
GRACE: Thank you, dear.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of the luxury resorts in the upscale places have cameras on the gates and in the halls and things like that. And the other thing that I wanted to know was if they have the footage and if they`ve explored the option of the little girl getting out on her own. Because I have a little girl, and let me tell you, if they wake up and Mommy and Daddy`s not there...
GRACE: Ed Miller, back to you. Tell me the facts around that. I know it was heavily secured. I know that there are a lot of video cameras, but not specifically on this condo or this rental unit. Did they come in through a window or a door?
MILLER: Well, it`s unclear because, again, the door had been jimmied, and also the window had been jimmied open. So it`s unclear whether they came through a window, went out through the door, or one came through the front, one came through the window. Again, it`s unclear.
But she`s absolutely right. We should make this crystal clear. This is no fleabag place. This is a very lavish resort. So this could happen to any parent that -- anywhere, in this country or anywhere in the world, for that matter. They go on a luxury vacation. They think they`re very safe. In reality, they`re not safe at all. And that is what happened.
There were -- to answer the question directly, there were video cameras, not specifically at this unit but in the area, in the hallway, you know, outside the restaurant, that sort of thing. So yes, there are video cameras. They have not been able to, apparently, isolate one or two individuals from those cameras.
GRACE: The reality is, from my sources, Ed Miller, they haven`t even gone through all the video yet. Hello, guys! Check the video of cars coming in and leaving the premises. The border is only about two hours away.
Out to Ernie Allen with National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Ernie, give us some tips. What should parents do on vacation?
ERNIE ALLEN, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: They need to pay attention to their children. There`s a tendency to feel that you`re away from home, you`re protected, there`s plenty of security. You need to watch your kids. You need to make sure there`s supervision for your kids. You need to check out the surroundings and the circumstances to make sure that your kids aren`t vulnerable.
GRACE: And to you, Dr. Robi Ludwig. Question. What do we know about people -- the profile of people that abduct children for sex assault?
ROBI LUDWIG, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Well, you know, it`s a very dangerous thing. If you`re looking at pedophiles, sometimes that`s a sexual addiction. They can`t help themselves. Although what`s not clear in this case is if it`s some type of ring, so you have some type of career criminals that are deliberately scoping out children to sell them or to make money off them. So that`s something a little bit different than your run-of-the-mill pedophile who`s looking actually to sexually assault a child.
GRACE: Why would parents think it`s better to leave them alone than to hire a nanny or a babysitter provided by the hotel?
LUDWIG: Some people are very suspicious of, you know, babysitters that are hired through hotels. They don`t know these people, and there might be concern. They might have felt they could have done a better job just observing them without anybody in the room.
GRACE: We`ll be back with the story on baby Maddy. Right now, there`s a $5 million reward. Stay with us.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our number one priority is Rachel (ph). She will make you feel as if you are the only one that matters to her. That`s how big her heart is. We just want her back! We miss her and love her very much!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two-year-old Trenton Duckett is missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s only 2 years old. He`s precious. He`s really fun, lovable.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say Trenton`s mom put him to bed at 7:00 o`clock on Sunday night. When she went in to check on him two hours later, he was gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A parent`s worst nightmare, their child snatched from their very own home, never seen again. Yes, we`re talking about the Trenton Duckett case, this boy reportedly taken from his own home as his mom sat in the next room, according to her, watching a video.
Joining us tonight, a man who has not given up on the search for his little boy, Trenton, Josh Duckett. Josh, what`s the latest in the search?
JOSH DUCKETT, FATHER OF MISSING BOY: They`re still staying very active on it. I mean, they`re going back over tips that came in from the start and regenerating as much information as they can, seeing if they`ve missed anything by chance.
GRACE: I want to go very quickly to Ed Miller with "America`s Most Wanted." Ed, quickly, for those viewers that are not familiar with the story, what happened?
MILLER: Well, the mother claims that somebody came in and took the child, took little Trenton through a screen. In other words, there was a cut in the screen, and she believes that somebody took the child while she was watching television.
However, upon questioning, the mother was not able to construct a reliable timeline. And she could not answer your questions, the simplest of questions about where she was earlier that day. Was she out shopping? Did she go to the local fast food restaurant? What exactly did she do? So that`s where it stands. We should say that search dogs did trace the child`s scent to the forest, but then lost the scent right there at the forest, which tells you a lot.
GRACE: Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hidden among the millions of people cramming the nation`s airports the weekend of August 27, detectives are looking into the possibility that Trenton Duckett was smuggled onto a plane bound for South Korea. Marion County authorities are working with immigration officials to see if Trenton and his possible captor were among the 12,000 people who traveled from the U.S. to Korea that weekend.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Team Trenton is -- well, we opened a command center and we named it Team Trenton, of course, because we`re looking for Trenton. And we go there every day. We receive tips, you know, just all kind of information, and then we go through the information and we take the tips and we call it in to law enforcement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Out to Ernie Allen with National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. You know, Ernie, as of the end of 2006, there are 110,484 active missing persons records in the NCIC. You`ve dealt with so many missing children. What strikes you about Trenton`s case?
ALLEN: Well, what strikes me about the case is that it`s so easy to come to the conclusion that he`s met a fatal end. What we`ve got to do is follow the leads wherever they go, whether it`s South Korea or anywhere else. You`ve been battling for Trenton, and we`ve got to make sure that America and people around the world provide that key piece of information that helps us find this little boy.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. We`re in the former neighborhood of Tionda (ph) and Diamond Bradley (ph), who disappeared nearly six years ago. This is the apartment complex that they used to live in. And 50 feet away, you`ll see the playground that they used to play in. This is the same playground that we believe that they were supposed to be at that day when Tracey Bradley (ph) came home from work, found the note from Tionda, the eldest child, that said, Hey, mom, we`re playing at the park. She went out to look for them, and they weren`t there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`d just like to ask whoever has Trenton or knows where he`s at to please return him. He`s 2 years old. He doesn`t deserve this. He`s done nothing wrong in any of this, and he deserves to be back home with his dad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Two-year-old Trenton Duckett allegedly taken from his own apartment as his mom was in the next room watching a video.
Out to you, Marc Klaas, president of Beyond Missing, your daughter, Polly, abducted from her own home during a slumber party. Advice to parents in their own home?
KLAAS: Well, I`m not sure -- what do you mean advice to parents? You keep your doors and windows locked, for one thing. You ensure that your children have the right advice so that they don`t make critical mistakes and go with somebody, as Polly did or as Elizabeth Smart did, or as so many of those other children do. And then you just keep this thing alive for as long as you possibly can. You work out into the future because it turns out that these things, these kinds of situations oftentimes are long-term.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wealthy or poor, we all feel the same despair and helplessness when our children are in harm`s way.
MARK LUNSFORD, DAUGHTER JESSICA ABDUCTED AND MURDERED: Our children are in danger. New Jersey, New York, Ohio, it doesn`t matter where you`re from. We need tougher laws to keep our children safe. They`re our next governors. They are our future. They`re our next cameramen, our next truck drivers, our laborers. It`s all on them. They are what`s going to happen in this world in the future, and we can`t let people take them away from us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s been nearly 18 years since 2-year-old Christopher Dansby disappeared from a New York City playground. At the time Christopher disappeared, he was accompanied by his mother, who told police her son seemed to vanish as she momentarily turned away. He had been playing with two older children. Police checked out leads that filled nine file folders. They investigated drug-related motives, cults, baby- selling rings, and any other theories that came up, and still no sign of Christopher Dansby.
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GRACE: What adds to the mystery of Christopher Dansby is that another young boy went missing from the very same park shortly thereafter, both on Thursdays, late in the day, both with plenty of people around. Incredible. Both remain unsolved.
Out to you, Ed Miller with "America`s Most Wanted." What happened?
ED MILLER, REPORTER, "AMERICA`S MOST WANTED": Well, as you say, they virtually disappeared in broad daylight, and the circumstances are remarkably similar. Shane Walker disappeared three months after the little Dansby boy disappeared.
But, again, the parents -- or the mother in particular, in both cases -- left the child playing in the hands of someone else, and they turned around and the child wasn`t there, disappeared in broad daylight. The circumstances are almost identical.
But we should point out, if there is any -- the New York City Police Department, in my opinion, is the finest in the world, and they really worked this case, both cases, over and over and over again. The fact that this case has gone on so long, and have had no concrete leads, I don`t think it`s going to be solved.
GRACE: To Ernie Allen with National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, another danger spot at playgrounds. What do you tell parents when they take their kids to the playground? Apparently this little boy had his grandmother there at the playground.
ERNIE ALLEN, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: Well, and Allison Dansby, Christopher`s mom, was there and was watching him. These offenders go to where kids are, and they blend in, and you just have to be alert and vigilant. There`s a sense that there aren`t any risks, that with all these kids around, with a lot of people around, but these people are hiding in plain sight.
GRACE: Joining us right now is a very, very special guest to our show. It is Allison Dansby. Her son, Christopher, missing since 1989, just a baby when he was taken from a local park. Let`s show the park, Elizabeth. You would think a child would be safe here, of all places.
Ms. Dansby, thank you for being with us.
ALLISON DANSBY, HAS MISSING SON: Thank you for having me.
GRACE: Ms. Dansby, what happened the day your son went missing?
DANSBY: I came downstairs with my two sons, and my mother and my sister and my cousins was in the park. And he was playing in the park for a little while. He was sliding on the sliding pole. My other son, he didn`t feel like playing at all that day. He stayed with my mother, and he was sitting on a bench by her mostly all day, while her and my cousin, my other sister had her daughter in the swings.
GRACE: So the whole family was there?
DANSBY: The whole family was in the park. And then I had stepped over to my other cousin, Sean, and we went to get some -- to the store. And then when I came back from the store, I was -- when I came back, I said, "Ma, where`s Christopher?" So then that`s when we all started looking like -- you know, because we`re thinking he in the park. So then once we all started looking for him, and starting getting -- I was starting to get a bad feeling, because he wouldn`t leave the park. And he wasn`t nowhere to be found.
GRACE: And at that point, Christopher Dansby, just 2 years old...
DANSBY: ... 2 years old.
GRACE: ... precious, 2`6", 30 pounds.
DANSBY: Yes.
GRACE: Little birthmark on his neck shaped like the number eight. This is an age progression photo of what we believe Christopher would look like today. Now, what can you tell me about a neighbor telling police he saw your son?
DANSBY: I don`t know about that. See my son when, after it happened?
GRACE: Yes.
DANSBY: I don`t know about that. I don`t remember that. I know there was a lot of different leads, a lot of people were saying a lot of different things. And they was chasing different leads, because they had put like a manpower, like, you know, they staked out the house. They was in the house, and they had like the phone lines, just in case people called stating that, you know, if there was any whereabouts. I know it was something about 110th Street, because they had the dogs over there one time searching.
GRACE: Have you ever been back to the park where your son went missing?
DANSBY: Yes, well, my mother still lives there, so like I go there. But I never really went back just to sit and play in the park with Lavonne (ph), as he was little. No, I really don`t go to the park.
GRACE: Christopher Dansby, missing since 1989. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANSBY: I went back to the park. I just felt like something was wrong. As soon as I asked, "Where`s Christopher?" Because when I looked around the park, and Christopher don`t leave my sight. He`s always with me, or he`s with my mother. So when I looked around and I didn`t see him, I was like, "Well, where is he at?" But then I`m thinking that maybe he`s somewhere in the park, I was hoping. But he wasn`t. I felt, at that time, I was hoping it wasn`t nothing serious.
It`s like you`re having a dream, and you don`t want to wake up, because this dream is so horrible, that you just don`t really want to deal with it on a day-to-day basis, just to know that you have a son that you love and your son is missing. And nobody don`t know where he at, and there`s no leads that really pan to anything. It`s really frustrating; it was like a nightmare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Out to Stephen Daly, the founder and executive director of RADKIDS. It`s a revolutionary concept about how kids can actually fight back and win. What can you tell us, Stephen? What does your organization do? And what can kids do to fight back?
STEPHEN DALEY, FOUNDER, RADKIDS: Well, Nancy, what we can do is we can teach our children how to enhance their instincts with power instead of fear. When we`re talking about the young children today, we teach a drill with kids at the playground called sight, sound and distance, to always stay close to their parents, and keep their eye on each over. We start at about 4 and 5 years old. And what we do is empower children to not be taken by predators` fear. A RADKIDS` attitude is, "How dare you touch me," instead of, "Help me, help me."
GRACE: A revolutionary idea, Stephen Daly, founder and executive director of RADKIDS, how kids can actually fight back against adult attackers. What do you tell children to do?
DALY: Well, basically, we teach them how to respond instinctively. A child`s brain and body are designed to respond to danger, but instead of fear paralyzing them, we actually teach them how to physically respond with skills. We don`t just tell children what to do. We train through role play and activity so that they respond instinctively through brain and body. And they actually have fun doing it when they`re learning it, because it`s like a natural instinct exercise.
GRACE: Out to Ernie Allen with National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Ernie, it`s just so obvious that, more often than not, it seems children go missing in broad daylight. And I don`t think that is the perception of the population, that that`s when kids go missing. It`s not always a nefarious nighttime event. In parks, in their own home, on vacation, broad daylight, kids go missing.
ALLEN: Nancy, that`s absolutely right. We just reviewed hundreds of cases of attempted abductions, and 70 percent of these kids were abducted during the hours in which they go to and from school. These offenders go to where kids are, where they`re most accessible, where they have the greatest opportunity. So kids are at greatest risk during those daylight hours.
GRACE: What about it, to you, Dr. Robi Ludwig, contributor to "Cookie" magazine, do parents have a false sense of security in, for instance, public parks in daylight hours?
DR. ROBI LUDWIG, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Absolutely, and there`s this sense of denial. We don`t want to think that our kids are in danger. That`s a very upsetting idea. And we also want to think that, if we are in a place where we are near our children, they will not be abducted. But the fact of the matter is, you must be hyper-vigilant and train your children to use their instincts and teach them to yell and scream and make noise, because abductors don`t like that at all.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Baby Brian`s mother was holding him in her arms. Her baby was ripped from her arms at knifepoint. Now, police calling out to anyone who may have given birth in the past two months.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they`ve had any contact with strangers that were overly interested in their baby after it was born...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And making a plea to friends and family of the woman who took baby Brian. Police believe she may be caring for the 1- month-old as her own.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just look back and assess the situation and say, "You know something? This doesn`t seem right."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re doing everything we can to bring the safe return of baby Brian back to the family. It`s evident that they`re going through severe suffering.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: FBI agents, the TBI, and local officials were back at Millwood apartments (ph) in Smyrna looking for clues in the disappearance of 2-year-old Analyce Guerra. Car trunks were opened and searched. Individuals entering the complex were stopped and questioned. The search was literally from top to bottom, the firefighters used a ladder truck to reach the roof of one building.
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GRACE: A 2-year-old little girl goes missing, Analyce Guerra. Let`s get to the facts. Straight out to you, Ed Miller with "America`s Most Wanted," how did this little girl go missing?
MILLER: Well, according to the mother, she says that they all fell asleep in the living room, and she woke up, and the little girl was gone.
GRACE: Wait, wait, wait, who is "they all" fell asleep?
MILLER: The mother and her other children. There are five other children in the house. The mother claims they all fell asleep watching television. And when she woke up, little Analyce was gone. She believes - - the mother believes that the little girl got up in the middle of the night, flipped the latch open on the door, and walked out herself.
Police have never bought that theory from day one. And I spoke with the investigators. They believe, and they told me very firmly, no one has been cleared in this case. According to police, everyone involved is still a suspect.
GRACE: Joining us tonight, Eva Guerra, the mother of little Analyce. She says her daughter went missing there from their own home as they fell asleep watching TV.
Eva, thank you for being with us. Eva, are you with us?
EVA GUERRA, DAUGHTER ANALYCE MISSING SINCE 2006: Yes, I am.
GRACE: What happened the evening your 2-year-old daughter went missing from your home?
GUERRA: It was around 3:00 in the morning, 3:00, 4:00, around there, when I woke up. I was just so used to getting up at that same time every day, because it`s the same time my daughter would ask me for water. And that`s what I was getting up for.
But for some reason, when I was looking down at the kids, I didn`t see the baby there. And I woke up my son immediately and I said, "Where`s the baby?" And he said, "She`s right here." And my 13-year-old, he got shocked, and he was helping me look for her. I went to my bedroom, everywhere to look for her, and I just couldn`t find her. And for some reason, I just looked at the door and the latch was not locked.
GRACE: Ms. Guerra, you don`t believe you would have heard your daughter leave if you were in the very same room together, go out the front door?
GUERRA: No, first of all, I did want to clear something up, that somebody said that I think my daughter got up and opened the door and left. I didn`t say that. I said she knew how. She could unlock the door. She could have walked out. But I didn`t say that`s what she did, because I don`t know what happened.
GRACE: Was there any break-in in the home?
GUERRA: No, there wasn`t. The thing is, my children know that, once I`m asleep, or once after 10:00, or whenever it`s dark, they are no longer to go outside at all. Even if I`m asleep or grandma is asleep, it doesn`t matter.
And my son went back out that night, and he says he forgot to lock the door. And I don`t know if it was that night. I was just so tired. I don`t know if it was because the week prior to that I had had a biopsy done, and I don`t know if it`s just caught up to me or the pain pills did - - I just have no idea how it happened.
GRACE: Let`s go out to the lines, Paulette in New York. Hi, Paulette.
CALLER: Hi.
GRACE: How are you, dear?
CALLER: Good, how are you?
GRACE: Good. What`s your question?
CALLER: I just want to know, in this age of technology, why can`t a child be implanted with a GPS tracking device, like they do with dogs, but more GPS, where the minute that kid goes missing, the FBI can track this child?
GRACE: Hey, you know what? That is not a farfetched idea. In fact, Paulette in New York, in large amusement parks, such as Disneyland, Disneyworld, they very frequently give little GPS trackers to families that come in, and they stick them on their kid, in their backpack and their pocket, and they are tracked. It`s not farfetched. And you know what? I don`t know why.
Dr. Robi Ludwig with "Cookie" magazine for moms, explain.
LUDWIG: Well, I don`t think we have thought about it yet, but it`s a wonderful idea. And parents should think about that when it`s an opportunity to be available, having updated pictures, and even fingerprinting their children so that they have all the information there if the worst-case scenario happens.
GRACE: Back out to the lines, Sherry in Oregon. Hi, Sherry.
CALLER: Hi, Nancy, love your show.
GRACE: Thank you.
CALLER: I was wondering, assuming that some of these children are in the best of a worst situation, and they`re still out there among us, are there any behaviors that a child might exhibit that a person could look for that might trigger a person to take a closer look at this child`s situation?
GRACE: Robi?
LUDWIG: In terms of someone being...
GRACE: How would they behave if they had been kidnapped?
LUDWIG: Yes, I mean, if they are depressed, if they seem to change their behavior in any way, shape or form, you`re looking for any change of what their normal behavior is. That`s something to be concerned about, sleeping patterns, in terms of nightmares, in terms of little tics and behaviors, anything. And use your instincts. That`s the most important thing here.
GRACE: Everyone, we are very happy here on our show and Headline News to honor a real crime fighter. With us tonight, come on over, Ernie Allen with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. And our network, Headline News, is very happy to present him with $25,000 to aid in the search for missing children. And we`re just very happy to be a partner with you.
ALLEN: Well, Nancy, thank you for this. This is just overwhelming. But more than that, thank you for what you do, for victims and for America`s kids. You`re battling to bring these kids home, and we don`t have a better partner than you.
GRACE: Hey, what are you going to do with this money?
ALLEN: We`re going to use it to enhance what we`re doing to find these kids. We`re going to send people out on the scene, working with these law enforcement agencies. Trenton`s case, none of these cases are going to be closed until the child comes home, until we know with certainty what happened.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had woken up and realized he wasn`t home yet. And I called him, and he told me he was on his way home. And when he didn`t come home, I knew he should be home within 20 minutes or so. And when he didn`t come home, I knew immediately something was wrong. I called his cell phone, and it went straight to his voicemail.
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GRACE: Twenty years old, but he was their boy. Scrubbed in sunshine, never been in a day of trouble, Scott Javins goes missing, Terra Haute. Joining us tonight, his dad, Merv Javins.
Merv, thank you for being with us again. I know you actually put out- of-pocket to buy radar, sonar for underwater to search in bodies of water. Why did you have to put the money out to get that search equipment?
MERV JAVINS, FATHER OF MISSING BOY: Well, Nancy, our DNR had a lot of equipment that was just old and obsolete. We needed to update that, so, therefore, we purchased the equipment to use ourselves to search some lakes at our own discretion.
GRACE: You know, Merv, a lot of people are not familiar with the story. So in the moments that we have left, could you give them how your son went missing, and what`s being done to find him?
JAVINS: Well, the night before Scott came up missing, we had supper like a normal family does, at the dinner table, discussing things. And he had a hair appointment the next night. And he was going to some friends` house after he got his haircut. And after that, my wife woke up about 2:00 a.m. that morning, called Scott, and he did not come home.
GRACE: He was coming home from a party with friends. They see him leave, 2:30 a.m. wasn`t drunk. No drugs. Gets in his car, never seen again.
Very quickly, Elizabeth, if you have the photo of the car, I think that may be the key to solving this, a two-door, silver 2002 souped-up Honda. That is the key to finding this boy.
Let`s stop to remember Army Sergeant Major Bradley Conner, 41, Coeur d`Alene, Idaho. Leaving studies behind on a fourth tour of duty, highly decorated, three Bronze Stars, Purple Heart. He also served with the Special Forces medical assistant. Leaving behind widow, Cynthia, son, Aaron, daughters, Katie and Rachel, parents, William and Kaye, Bradley Conner, American hero.
Thank you to our guests and for inviting us into your homes. Nancy Grace signing off. Until tomorrow night, good night, friend.
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