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Nancy Grace
Police Search for Missing Ohio Mother
Aired June 18, 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 young Ohio mom, nine months pregnant, just weeks on giving birth to a second child, vanishes from her own home, the 2-year-old son of hers found home alone in dirty diapers by his grandmother. Family and friends say she would never leave her little boy like that. The toddler, tonight a possible witness, tells police, Mommy was crying, Mommy broke the table, and, Mommy was in the rug.
And tonight, a parent`s worst nightmare, toddlers rushed to the hospital after ingesting heroin. Where? At day care. Tonight, we want answers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wayne Clamp (ph) walked out of the house with a bag of M&Ms candy. He says it is what his kids, a 5-year-old boy and two younger daughters, were eating before walking to day care alone. But on the way, they picked up something else, heroin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The cop showed me there was four packets that were chewed up. (INAUDIBLE) he picked up the drugs, happened to have a smiley face on them. I mean, it`s unbelievable.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He thought it was candy because it had a smiley face on it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wayne Clamp and Carrie Lee`s (ph) kids shared heroin they thought was candy with three other children. All six went to Children`s Hospital.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Him and my daughter both tested positive (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The names of the conditions and the other children are not yet known. The day care, the YWCA Early Childhood Center at the Schoolhouse Common, had its license formally suspended. As for Wayne Clamp and Carrie Lee (ph), their kids are in the custody of her mother, and they are only allowed supervised visits.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Heroin at day care. Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight. First, a young mom about to give birth to a second child vanishes from her own Ohio home, her 2-year-old son left behind, home alone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATTY PORTER, MOTHER OF MISSING WOMAN: I just want my daughter back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police in Stark County, Ohio, near Canton, are searching for 26-year-old Jessie Marie Davis. The pregnant single mother, who is due to give birth any day, vanished last week. On Friday, her mother found Jessie`s 2-year-old son home alone and signs of possible foul play in her daughter`s bedroom.
PORTER: Her comforter was off and her mattress was pushed over. Her nightstand was knocked over. The lamp was knocked over. And somebody had poured bleach all over her carpet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think (INAUDIBLE) foul play (INAUDIBLE) who may be responsible (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While investigators continue to search for those clues, friends and family have posted flyers with the hope Jessie is still alive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It hurts my heart because, I mean, you know, she`s the one you look up to. She`s your big sister. And she`s such a strong person. You can`t imagine anything would ever happen to her. You know, she didn`t have any enemies. She didn`t -- she`s never done anything wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police have questioned the father of Davis`s son, who investigators believe is also the father of the child she`s carrying. He`s also a local police officer and married to another woman. But police stress neither he nor his wife are suspects.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Where is she, her child left home alone in a soiled diaper? The family believes she may have been gone as long as a half a day to one- and-a-half days. Where is Jessie Marie Davis? Just 26 years old, she`s this far away from giving birth to a second child.
Out to reporter Phil Trexler (ph) with "The Akron Beacon Journal." Phil, what do you know?
PHIL TREXLER, "AKRON BEACON JOURNAL": Well the latest, Nancy, is that officer -- the officer involved with Jessie Davis has been placed on administrative leave. The city safety director, Bernard Hunt (ph), said that that was normal, under -- citing the situation that Officer Bobby Cutts finds himself in. That`s the latest. The search is going on, and there`s no new leads.
GRACE: OK, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Back it up. Mike Brooks, former D.C. cop, former fed with the FBI -- your wife -- or your girlfriend, the mother of your two children, goes missing, and it`s SOP, standard operating procedure, for you to get administrative leave?
MIKE BROOKS, FORMER D.C. POLICE, SERVED ON FBI TERRORISM TASK FORCE: Well, maybe in that department, it could be possible because he`s under a lot of stress. Apparently, he is helping in the investigation. Apparently, his estranged wife is also cooperating with police, Nancy. So maybe they feel it`s best if they need him for any information to go ahead and place him on administrative leave, instead of putting him out there on the street with all this pressure on him...
GRACE: OK.
BROOKS: ... and that of thing with the ongoing investigation. So I don`t have a real problem with that, Nancy.
GRACE: OK. OK. The way you put it, that makes sense. Back to Phil Trexler with "The Akron Beacon Journal." Tell me about the circumstances surrounding Jessie`s disappearance. I find them very unusual.
TREXLER: Yes. Her mother, after a day of not being able to speak to her, went to her house and the door was unlocked. She went upstairs to the bedroom and saw, you know, quite a scene there. And her 2-year-old grandson obviously was alone for a good period of time and...
GRACE: Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute, Phil. Let`s take it one, two, three, four. Let`s start at the beginning. It`s my understanding that this 26-year-old woman routinely called home, that her mother, this boy`s grandmother, took care of the 2-year-old typically, and she would call her mom throughout the day, very often. All day Thursday, did the mother hear from Jessie Marie Davis?
TREXLER: Nothing. The mother called there several times, four to five times, as I recall, she called trying to reach Jessie, with no response.
GRACE: OK. This is on Thursday. When was the last time anyone spoke to Jessie?
TREXLER: Her mother spoke to her at 9:20 PM Wednesday.
GRACE: At 9:20 PM Wednesday night. And what did Jessie say Wednesday night?
TREXLER: Jessie said that her young son, Blake (ph), was going to be -- spend Thursday with his father.
GRACE: And did she say -- did she mention when the dad, the biological dad, was going to pick up the little boy?
TREXLER: It was my understanding it was going to be in the morning. And it was unclear -- I`ve heard conflicting stories, dad was going to come there and pick him up, and I`ve also heard that mom was going to drop Blake off with his dad.
GRACE: We have also had reports state that the biological dad was going to come to the house that night, Wednesday night, and pick up the little boy.
TREXLER: I`ve only been told it was going to be a morning drop.
GRACE: OK. So that`s Wednesday night, 9:20 PM. All right, what happens on Thursday?
TREXLER: Thursday, mom calls four or five times. There`s no answer. Officer Cutts also says that he tried several times to reach Jessie, no response. Nobody, though, went to the house until the following morning.
GRACE: How about friends or co-workers?
TREXLER: There was a co-worker who was alarmed because Jessie didn`t -- she failed to show up at work. She text messaged her, but again, no response.
GRACE: Was that on Thursday or Friday?
TREXLER: That was Thursday morning.
GRACE: Thursday morning. So nobody hears from her all day Thursday. OK, take me to Friday.
TREXLER: Friday morning, Patty Porter, her mother had enough, 8:00 o`clock in the morning, she was at her door. The door was unlocked. She was nervous. She walked inside. She saw her young grandson coming down the steps. He was obviously a mess, soiled diaper, hungry, thirsty, crying. She asked, Where`s Mommy? He said, Mommy`s gone. She was alarmed. She went upstairs, and then she saw the sight that she saw that we`ve all heard.
GRACE: So the boy, the little 2-year-old, was hungry, thirsty and had a bad diaper?
TREXLER: Yes, a very bad diaper, from what I understand.
GRACE: That would suggest that he had not been taken care of that morning. He was hungry and thirsty...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: What time did she get there, Phil?
TREXLER: She got there at 8:00 AM.
GRACE: Eight AM, and he was already hungry, thirsty and had a soiled diaper. So she calls 911, right?
TREXLER: Yes.
GRACE: OK. Take a listen to this, Phil.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: Can I help you?
PORTER: Yes, we need -- we need help at 8686 Essex!
911 OPERATOR: 8686 what street?
PORTER: Essex.
911 OPERATOR: What`s the problem?
PORTER: My daughter`s gone. She`s due in two weeks, and my grandson`s here alone, and this whole house has been ransacked.
911 OPERATOR: How old is your...
PORTER: My grandson`s 2.
911 OPERATOR: And he`s gone?
PORTER: He`s here alone!
911 OPERATOR: OK, you need to calm down so I can understand you.
PORTER: I`m trying!
911 OPERATOR: OK.
PORTER: He`s here alone, and she`s gone. Her car`s here.
911 OPERATOR: Who`s gone?
PORTER: My daughter!
911 OPERATOR: OK. How old is she?
PORTER: She`s 27 years old.
911 OPERATOR: OK. And how old is the child that was left alone?
PORTER: She didn`t leave him alone! My God, something`s wrong! She`s due in two weeks, and she`s just missing! Her car`s here, her purse. Her house is trashed, and she`s not here.
We`re trying to get her boyfriend on the phone because he got -- he had to have dropped the baby off yesterday because he had...
911 OPERATOR: OK, dropped what baby off?
PORTER: The 2-year-old. He`s been here -- he`s by himself, and my daughter`s gone.
911 OPERATOR: The 2-year-old was there by himself?
PORTER: Yes. My daughter`s due in two weeks. She`s pregnant. And the house is trashed.
911 OPERATOR: OK, does the house look like it`s messed up or like she just walked away?
PORTER: It`s -- everything`s just everywhere. She would never walk away.
911 OPERATOR: OK, say that again. I need to you slow down.
PORTER: I don`t know. There`s stuff everywhere. Her purse is dumped out.
911 OPERATOR: OK. Has anybody been in contact with the father recently?
PORTER: No.
911 OPERATOR: No?
PORTER: He was supposed to have had him all day yesterday. That`s why we didn`t talk to her. And then he was supposed to have brought him home last night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Back to Phil Trexler with "The Akron Beacon Journal." Let me get this straight. The biological father was supposed to pick the baby up on Thursday. When nobody answered, he didn`t go over there to check on the baby and the mother?
TREXLER: That`s what the officer said to investigators.
GRACE: Why?
TREXLER: It`s unclear. You know, the detectives aren`t speaking very much about what Bobby Cutts has said and what Bobby Cutts has not said.
GRACE: OK. He is not a suspect, everybody, tonight. He is cooperating with the police, as is his wife. Which brings me to my next subject. What`s that all about? He`s got two children by the missing woman, Jessie Marie Davis, just 26 years old. People, she`s only about two weeks shy of giving birth to her second child. Police are desperately trying to find her. So where does the wife fit into all this, Phil?
TREXLER: Well, from my understanding, the wife knew about the 2-year- old, recently found out about the yet-to-be born little girl, Chloe (ph). And as far as I understand now, they are separated. She`s living with her parents, and he`s living in the family home alone.
GRACE: So she did not know about the first little boy?
TREXLER: She did know about Blake, yes.
GRACE: OK. So they`ve just gotten separated?
TREXLER: From my understanding, yes, it`s a recent separation.
GRACE: OK, when -- how recent? It`s not like Wednesday, was it?
TREXLER: I don`t know if it was this month or last month.
GRACE: OK, out to the lines. Susan in Pennsylvania. Hi, Susan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Hi, Nancy. My question is, has anyone or has the police released any information regarding anyone in the household that the child may have seen, like, Oh, it was a tall man, Oh, it looked like -- you know, anything that would state that there was somebody he saw in the household? And of course...
GRACE: What was the rest of her question, Elizabeth? Susan in Pennsylvania, are you still here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m here. And I wanted to add also, of course, he`s a police officer. He would have to be cooperating. He would know better not to.
GRACE: Right, Susan in Pennsylvania. Question to you, Phil Trexler. Are police working with the little boy? I mean, he had a lot of information to give. Mommy fell on the table, mommy crying, mommy in the rug, R-U-G, rug. Did he say who put mommy in the rug?
TREXLER: As far as we know, Nancy, he did not. We asked the question today at the press conference, and the chief deputy said that what the boy said has already been made public and he said no more. That`s what was said today at the press conference.
GRACE: To Dr. Robi Ludwig, psychotherapist and author, I know what I had to do when working with young children, for instance, child witnesses, child molestation victims. They don`t always speak our language. You have to work with them with dolls. You have to work with them with art, let them draw what happened. It`s just a 2-year-old child.
ROBI LUDWIG, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Right.
GRACE: But he seems very articulate. What do you do to crack the code?
LUDWIG: Well, I think you have to understand that he`s not going to express things the way adults do, obviously, because he hasn`t developed the language skills. But what kids do who are traumatized is they usually either reenact what they`ve seen and/or they withdraw. So the key here is to get the child,, through either play therapy or art therapy, to help him express everything that he has seen. Now, one possibility, too, is that there was a stranger who did this, even if he was hired by somebody who was known by the mother.
GRACE: To Mike Brooks. Let`s talk about the possibility of a random attack. The home is unlocked. How -- it`s just my anecdotal experience that a random attacker doesn`t go through all the trouble to hide the body, pour bleach on the floor. It`s a random attack, you`ll find the body out in the open, right there.
BROOKS: Exactly, Nancy. And apparently, there was a puddle of bleach, which I find a little weird. If somebody`s going to try to cover up a crime scene by trying to clean up blood, they`re not going to leave a puddle. They`re going to wipe everything up.
I hope the police have done a thorough, thorough forensic examination of this place for fingerprints, use luminol to see if there`s any traces of blood whatsoever, and also hairs and fibers, you know, and find out -- try to put together this timeline. This timeline is going to be very, very crucial.
But apparently, the neighbors say, Nancy, that they noticed nothing unusual. And this is, you know, a middle class neighborhood. Apparently, she kept to herself. She didn`t do that much. She didn`t go out a whole lot. People would see her now and then.
But again, I think it`s going to come down to forensics. But we have to say also, take a look -- when you`re an investigator and you come into a scene like this, Nancy, you have to take a look to say, OK, how is everything knocked over? Well, was it staged?
GRACE: And back to you, Phil Trexler with "The Akron Beacon Journal." Let`s talk about what Brooks just said. You said that everything was in disarray. What do you mean by that?
TREXLER: When the mother walked in, she found that the mattress had been pushed against a table, knocking over the lamp. The comforter and a sheet were missing. And that fits with the little boy described in terms of the crime scene.
GRACE: Out to Sue Moss, family law attorney and child advocate. How do you work with a 2-year-old like this?
SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Well, very carefully. But this 2- year-old seems to have a lot of details, and so the police are going to be working with him very carefully. You go over and over the story again and again, and you listen to see whether new details come up. Just as the doctor had said, you also do play therapy. You also do drawing therapy.
But remember, 31 percent of all women who are murdered are killed by husbands, ex-husbands or lovers. The courts, and you know, the police in this situation know exactly where to look, and that`s where they should be looking
GRACE: Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PORTER: I think I immediately thought someone had taken her. I was just screaming, Not my daughter, not my daughter. I just -- it was just an unbelievable feeling for her -- just not to find her there.
She was taken. I know that. She would have never left. She would have never, ever left.
She didn`t even use the bathroom with the door shut. I mean, she wanted to make sure she could see him every moment. That`s what kind of a mother she was. She was just with him all the time. She would have never, ever left him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining us right now, Patty Porter and Whitney Davis. This is Jessie`s mom and sister. Ladies, thank you for being with us. Can you hear me now?
PORTER: Yes.
WHITNEY DAVIS, MISSING WOMAN`S SISTER: Yes.
GRACE: Let`s go to the mom first. You talked to her on Wednesday night. What happened?
PORTER: Nothing unusual Wednesday night. I talked to her. We talked -- I was flipping through stations, and we laughed about some of the television stations. And you know, she said that his father was going to have him the next day. I handed the phone over to my other daughter. She talked to her for a few minutes, and then we told her good night.
GRACE: Let me ask you this. Did she say that the biological dad was coming to pick the baby up that night, Wednesday night?
PORTER: I can`t comment on that right now.
GRACE: When you saw the baby, how -- what is your theory as to how long she`s been missing?
PORTER: I think she was missing all day Thursday until I got there -- you know, until Friday morning.
GRACE: Why do you say that?
PORTER: I think something -- because everything -- everything was set for her to get up and go to her job. Her alarms were still set. The coffee pot was ready. Everything was ready for 5:30 in the morning.
GRACE: Out to...
PORTER: The clothes were laid out.
GRACE: Her clothes were laid out for Friday morning or for Thursday morning?
PORTER: For Thursday morning, to go to work.
GRACE: Do you have any reason to believe -- we are talking to Jessie Davis`s mom right now. They`re joining us there in Ohio. Do you have any reason to believe she went missing on Wednesday night?
PORTER: Yes, I do.
DAVIS: Yes, we do.
GRACE: Why?
PORTER: Just because of how everything was laid out. Jessie had a routine. She would get everything ready for the morning. You know, we just -- she had her clothes laid out. She had her jewelry laying out, ready to go, undergarments laying out, just -- she prepared at night everything for the next day.
(CROSSTALK)
PORTER: If you`re a working mother with a small child, do you that.
GRACE: How do you know the clothes and all were not laid out for Friday morning?
PORTER: Because she was planning on going to work Thursday morning, and she would have never not just shown up at work. That was just not how she did things.
GRACE: Where is 26-year-old Jessie Marie Davis? Joining us tonight, her mom and sister. Stay with us. We are taking your calls.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PORTER: He`s here alone and she`s gone. Her car is here.
911 OPERATOR: Who`s gone?
PORTER: My daughter!
911 OPERATOR: OK. How old is she?
PORTER: She`s 27 years old.
911 OPERATOR: OK. And how old is the child that was left alone?
PORTER: She didn`t leave him alone! My God, something`s wrong! She`s due in two weeks, and she`s just missing. Her car is here. Her purse. Her house is trashed, and she`s not here!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Where is 26-year-old Jessie Marie Davis? Joining us tonight, her mom and sister are out in the field there in Ohio. We need your help. This lady, just a few weeks away from giving birth to her next child, her baby`s name already picked out, Chloe. She`s got a 2-year-old little boy. When the mom, the grandmom, got there on Friday morning, she was stunned.
I want to go back out to Patty Porter. This is Jessie`s mom. Ms. Porter, when you saw the baby, could you tell how long he had been alone?
PORTER: I think he`d been alone quite a while because he had a soiled diaper, but the apartment, the downstairs smelled really bad, so -- and I just -- I think I could just tell that he`d been there a while.
GRACE: And Patty, another question, Ms. Porter, the baby said, Mommy`s in the rug. Could the baby have meant the comforter? Because it`s my understanding the bed sheets and the comforter were missing.
PORTER: The bottom sheet was on the bed, but the comforter was missing. And I knew immediately what he meant. He meant the comforter because he didn`t know how to say the word "comforter."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It hurts my heart because, I mean, you know, she`s the one you look up to. She`s your big sister. And she`s such a strong person. You can`t imagine that anything would ever happen to her. You know, she didn`t have any enemies. She didn`t -- she`s never done anything wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Where is 26-year-old Jessie Davis? When her mom arrived at her home on Friday, her little 2-year-old son, soiled diapers, the home was a wreck, her pocketbook contents spilled all over the floor, her cell phone missing. Where is she? That boy without his mother tonight.
Out to the lines. Amy in California. Hi, Amy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I wanted to know if the father works for the same police department that`s doing the investigation.
GRACE: Excellent question. To Phil Trexler with "The Akron Beacon Journal." Does he?
TREXLER: The answer is no. He works for the Canton City Police Department, and the county sheriff`s department is investigating the case.
GRACE: To Sherri in Pennsylvania. Hi, Sherri.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I was wondering if anybody ever thought of the possibility of her being so close to her due date that she was taken, you know, to take the baby from her?
GRACE: You know, I used to scoff at that theory because -- and still do a tiny bit, but the reality is, it has happened, Alex Sanchez. It has happened.
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It has happened on some well- publicized cases. But you know, what I`m thinking here, Nancy, is I`m not completely convinced that a crime has been committed at all. And you know something? I hope I`m right because...
GRACE: You think she left her baby alone?
SANCHEZ: The child`s statement, Mommy broke the table, does not indicate...
GRACE: Mommy cried?
SANCHEZ: ... that there was a third person there.
GRACE: Mommy in a rug?
SANCHEZ: If there was not a third person there, and the only witness we have is this child, then perhaps during this event in her life -- she`s about to give birth -- perhaps something occurred in her psychiatry that she did it herself.
GRACE: Yes, and left her car parked there in the driveway and took off, leaving her little boy alone. Good thinking, Alex!
SANCHEZ: Well, I think it`s an operating --
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jessie Marie Davis, a single mother, who is also nine months pregnant, is missing.
PATTY PORTER, MOTHER MISSING WOMAN: I just want my daughter to come home, and I want her to take her son home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Friday morning, Porter went to her daughter`s duplex, just outside of North Hampton (ph), after Jessie didn`t answer repeated calls to her cell phone. She got inside through an unlocked patio door. She found Jessie`s 2-year-old son, Blake, in soiled diaper, home alone for possibly a day and a half. Turns out Jessie didn`t show up for work Thursday, and as we were interviewing Porter, Jessie`s son blurts out...
PORTER: The smell was really strong in the house. "Mommy is in the rug" he keeps saying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No rug is missing from the apartment, and Jessie`s car was still in the garage. But the comforter from her bed and her cell phone are gone. Her purse was spilled out on the kitchen floor.
DISPATCHER: Can I help you?
PORTER: Yes, we need -- we need help at 8686 Essex.
DISPATCHER: 8686, what street?
PORTER: Essex.
DISPATCHER: What`s the problem?
PORTER: My daughter`s gone. She`s due in two weeks, and my grandson`s here alone, and this whole house has been ransacked.
DISPATCHER: How old is your...
PORTER: My grandson is 2.
DISPATCHER: And he`s gone?
PORTER: He`s here alone!
DISPATCHER: OK, you need to calm down so I can understand you.
PORTER: I`m trying.
DISPATCHER: OK.
PORTER: He`s here alone, and she`s gone. Her car`s here.
DISPATCHER: Who`s gone?
PORTER: My daughter!
DISPATCHER: OK. How old is she?
PORTER: She`s 27 years old.
DISPATCHER: OK, and how old is the child that was left alone?
PORTER: She didn`t leave him alone. My god, something`s wrong! She`s due in two weeks, and she`s just missing. Her car is here, her purse. Her house is trashed, and she`s not here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: If this was just a random home invasion that they came in to take things like her pocketbook, her money, the TV, the VCR, why would they take her? It`s not adding together that this was a random attack. This 26-year-old mom, soon to be a mom in just two weeks to a little baby girl, is missing.
Straight out to her mom and sister joining us tonight, Patty Porter and Whitney Davis. Back to mom Patty Porter, you said the house was ransacked. What exactly did you see?
PORTER: Ransacked, the downstairs, to me, was anything out of order, because she was so neat, but when I came in, her purse was dumped on the floor, the contents were on the floor, and then I went -- I started -- I said, "Blakey, where`s Mommy? Where`s Mommy?" And he said, "Mommy broke the table, and Mommy was crying."
And I ran upstairs because I thought maybe she had passed out or was sick. And I got to the top of the stairs and looked to the right. And the bedroom, the comforter or the mattress was partially pushed off the bed. The end table was knocked over. The lamp was knocked over. The comforter was gone, and someone had poured bleach all over the floor.
GRACE: Did police test the floor for DNA or blood, Patty?
PORTER: I know they cut the carpet up, but I don`t know what they tested for.
GRACE: I assume that you heard attorney Alex Sanchez say he`s not convinced a crime has taken place, that she may have just left on her own. I find that ludicrous. Could you respond, Patty?
PORTER: It`s more than ludicrous. It`s more than ludicrous. My daughter is very stable. She would never, ever leave her child.
GRACE: Have you or your other daughter, standing there with you, Whitney, have either of you been in touch with the biological dad?
PORTER: I have, very briefly.
WHITNEY DAVIS, SISTER OF MISSING WOMAN: Very briefly.
GRACE: Is he being cooperative, Whitney?
PORTER: Yes.
DAVIS: With the authorities, yes. Right now, everybody`s being very cooperative.
GRACE: How about with you two?
DAVIS: We`re actually not in contact with him right now. We`re dealing with the authorities right now and the media. They`re really the only ones that we`re speaking with right now.
GRACE: And, Patty, who has the baby?
PORTER: I do.
GRACE: And he keeps saying "Mommy was in the rug"?
PORTER: Yes.
GRACE: Have you asked him, did anyone else come into the home?
PORTER: We`ve not asked any questions. We`ve been advised just to let him talk and not try to probe him.
GRACE: Right, that`s exactly very, very wise. Explain, Javier Damien, defense attorney, why they should not be asking him questions right now.
DAMIEN: Well, he is a little boy. He must be traumatized, Nancy. I mean, I`ll tell you one thing, Nancy, what I want to point out...
GRACE: No, no, because if it goes to trial, Javier, the defense will argue, if this does go to trial, that the boy was coached.
DAMIEN: Well, no, of course, I mean, there`s no question about that, but the whole thing is, Nancy, isn`t it a big point that Bobby Cutts has to be a suspect? Bobby Cutts` wife has to be a suspect. I don`t think the police are telling the truth here. I mean, from what I`m hearing -- and I really extend my condolences, or certainly my heartfelt, you know, really feelings to this woman who`s before you, the mother of this woman who`s missing, because they`re really going through a really, really difficult time.
How in the world can Bobby Cutts just not -- on Thursday, say something? He was supposed to come here to the house on Thursday to pick up the son. And all of the sudden, there`s no communication at all from this guy, all throughout Thursday into Friday? I find that a little peculiar, and I don`t think the police are actually giving us all the information.
GRACE: And let me remind you, Alex Sanchez, Cutts is not a suspect. According to police, he and his wife -- wife -- have been cooperating fully, Alex.
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, I know they keep staying in the media and the police keep repeating he`s not a suspect. That means to me he`s a suspect, because they want him to continue cooperating with tem. They want him to come in and give information and give, you know, samples of blood, a hair. They don`t want him to walk away from the scene. And why do they want to do this? Because they want to catch him in some type of a statement which could be contradictory, which could lead later on to his possible indictment and criminal prosecution. So that`s what they`re up to.
GRACE: And also, Sue Moss, we all know that once somebody is named a target or a suspect, all of the rights under the constitution apply.
SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Absolutely. But remember, the purse is there, the car is there, "Mommy`s in a rug." This can only mean foul play.
GRACE: You know, back to you, Phil Trexler. Phil is joining us from the "Akron Beacon Journal." What have we heard about Mr. Cutts having some type of a doctor`s appointment?
PHIL TREXLER, REPORTER: I understand that he`s distraught and, apparently over the weekend, he was very weak. His condition seemed poor, walking around with the search party members, but in terms of the specific medical condition, I can`t speak to that.
GRACE: To Dr. William Morrone, joining us out of Madison Heights, the forensic pathologist and medical examiner and expert in toxicology, what do we need to be looking for on the scene?
DR. WILLIAM MORRONE, MEDICAL EXAMINER: On the scene, while a lot of facts are unclear, the facts don`t lead us to the evidence. They took the carpet. If the carpet had nothing in it, they wouldn`t have taken it. The most important thing...
GRACE: Dr. Morrone, if there`s blood on the carpet and someone went to all the trouble to pour bleach onto the carpet, will that totally eradicate any DNA?
MORRONE: The DNA is not as important as the blood hemoglobin. There`s iron in hemoglobin, and the bleach doesn`t destroy iron. It`s there. It`s in the carpet fibers. And if they can show there`s iron from hemoglobin and synthetic polyester fibers, they can show that there was blood there. There`s a lot of different evidence. There`s Luminol. There`s high-pressure liquid chromatography. There`s a lot of different things. And then from the bedroom to the front door, there has to be a path that somebody exited.
GRACE: Not if she were in a rug or in the comforter.
MORRONE: But if a comforter or a rug is made out of cotton, and a lot of stuff is, you look for natural fibers, mixed in polyester fibers, that lead you to the door.
GRACE: Fibers. I was thinking that you meant blood.
MORRONE: No.
GRACE: You`re talking about fibers from the comforter.
MORRONE: Yes.
GRACE: Ah, ah, let`s go back to the mom and the sister, Patty Porter, Whitney Davis. Did the police perform all of these forensic tests, do you know, Patty?
PORTER: That I don`t know, but my daughter had white sheets, and there was nothing on the sheets.
GRACE: Nothing on the sheets. And all that was missing was the comforter?
PORTER: Yes, and the top sheet.
GRACE: Comforter and top sheet.
OK, out to the lines, Ruth in Georgia. Hi, Ruth.
CALLER: Hi, Nancy. We miss you in Georgia.
GRACE: I miss you, too. What`s your question, dear?
CALLER: My question is, have any pings been received off her cell phone?
GRACE: Good question. Phil Trexler, what about it? Any pings off of the cell phone?
TREXLER: Well, unfortunately, they waited until Monday to subpoena the telephone records. So they`re in the process of reviewing those now. Why they weren`t done on Friday, we don`t know.
GRACE: OK, to Joan in Maryland, hi, Joan.
CALLER: Hi, I love your show.
GRACE: Thank you, Miss Joan.
CALLER: What is the relationship between this girl and this guy? I mean, how are they now?
GRACE: OK, to Phil Trexler, how are they? He`s obviously not living in the home.
TREXLER: No, he`s obviously -- I guess you would call her lover. I mean, he was having an affair with her for at least five years.
GRACE: Were they planning to get married?
TREXLER: You might want to ask her family that.
GRACE: Patty, were they planning to get married?
PORTER: I just can`t comment on that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think (INAUDIBLE) but she`s now OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, she is OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Malika (ph) was among six taken to the hospital to be tested to see if they ingested heroin. Authorities say it was brought to day care at the YWCA schoolhouse commons by a 5-year-old boy. He reportedly thought it was candy and was handing it out to his classmates.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One child ingested heroin, gave it to my child, and my child ingested heroin. Never should have happened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now the childhood center`s license is suspended, forcing parents to find alternative day care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: It`s a parents` worst nightmare. They find out their kids have ingested heroin. Toddlers. Where? At day care, of all places, or at least that`s what we think tonight. Out to T.J. Pignataro with the "Buffalo News." What happened? Are we sure these toddlers got heroin at the day care and not somewhere else?
T.J. PIGNATARO, CRIME REPORTER: Nancy, they`re certain that it was heroin. The police confirmed that today. The lab tests came back positive for heroin. Three of the children also were found to have heroin in their system when they were taken to the hospital last week. In terms of where it came from, police are still trying to establish that. No charges have been filed. As you reported, the day care center has been shut down by the state office of child and family services.
GRACE: Joining us by phone is Tracy Pritchett, the mother of a 2-1/2- year-old little girl who ingested heroin. Ms. Pritchett, thank you for being with us. I guess this was the shock of a lifetime. You send your kid to day care, and she ingests heroin.
TRACY PRITCHETT, MOTHER OF GIRL WHO INGESTED HEROIN: Yes, and it`s absolutely horrible to even consider this happening.
GRACE: What do you believe happened, Tracy?
PRITCHETT: My understanding is that a 5-year-old child obtained heroin, brought it to the day care, was giving it to the other children, at which point one of my girls ate some of it.
GRACE: How is she?
PRITCHETT: She`s doing OK. She seemed a little, you know, out of sorts the day it happened, but she`s fine.
GRACE: So the word they`re putting out is the children did not get -- the little boy, the 5-year-old boy, did not get the heroin at day care. He got it and brought it to day care.
PRITCHETT: Yes.
GRACE: Who are you hearing that from, Ms. Pritchett?
PRITCHETT: I was told by staff that a little boy informed them. And this is while I was waiting in the hospital waiting room. The little boy told them that he found the heroin on his way to school for day care. Staff also told me that his sister said that he got the heroin from home, so I don`t know.
GRACE: I`m sorry, I couldn`t hear what the sister said. He got the heroin from where?
PRITCHETT: From home.
GRACE: From home. How old is his sister?
PRITCHETT: Two.
GRACE: Back to T.J. Pignataro with "Buffalo News," didn`t the mom walk the little boy to school?
PIGNATARO: The mom did walk the little boy to school. She walked her 5-year-old son to school, as well as her two daughters, aged 2 and 4.
GRACE: Mike Brooks, don`t you think she would have noticed the little boy picking up 10 hits of heroin? Come on, please, who`s going to leave 10 hits of heroin? That`s a lot of money. Who would leave their heroin laying out on the road?
MIKE BROOKS, FORMER D.C. POLICE: Exactly, Nancy. You figure, one of those hits, depending on how many grams it was, what kind of heroin it was, it goes for at least $25, maybe $50 bucks a hit. Now, where was she? She`s not paying attention to these kids? She just lets them do anything at all? And you look at the bag, you look at the evidence that we`re seeing here, and you don`t think she would have noticed the boy with the bag that says "Bad Boys" on it out front? I just don`t buy this whole story from the parents.
GRACE: Susan Moss, weigh in.
MOSS: Real simple. If heroin you use, your children you`ll lose. These kids were taken away from mom and dad, and for good reason, and they are not to be returned until we figure out where this heroin came from. Children come first. Right now, these parents are pointing their fingers at everyone and anyone, and me thinks thou doth protest too much.
GRACE: You know, it was a YWCA. Again, the parents deny drugs came from home. Alex Sanchez, Javier Damien, to you Alex, the YWCA, that`s where the day care was, right, Liz? The YWCA, heroin? I don`t believe it. That`s where I learned to do tap dance, and ballet, and gymnastics, and everything else there was to learn as a child. I don`t buy that the YWCA has heroin lying on the floor.
SANCHEZ: Well, you know something? I think the parents are being treated very unfairly at this point, because I`m sure at this point the police have raided the house, have searched the place entirely to determine if there was any drugs in that house. If they found them, the parents would have been arrested for possession of drugs, endangering the welfare of a minor, reckless endangerment. None of that has occurred so far, and it`s entirely plausible that these kids found drugs on the way to school.
GRACE: You`re absolutely right. I don`t agree with that, because the mom was with them and would have seen them picking up a bag of 10 hits of heroin.
SANCHEZ: Nancy, you`re walking...
GRACE: Hold on. Hold on. But if the police have searched the home, I`d buy it, if you hadn`t said that wacky thing on the last story, I`d give a little more credit. What about it, Javier Damien?
DAMIEN: Nancy, I disagree with you, and I`ll tell you why. First of all, it appears to me that, also, the woman that we`re looking at right there, she tested negative, OK, for drug use. They found no drugs in the house.
GRACE: That`s true.
DAMIEN: There`s no probable cause to arrest them. My question is, where is the reasonable suspicion? Where is the evidence to take these children away? There`s no reason at all these parents shouldn`t have their children, unless the state can point to that and say, you know what? We know. We have evidence to show that drugs came from your home. No way, not to mention, Nancy...
GRACE: To Dr. William Morrone, Dr. Morrone, what would heroin do to a toddler if it is ingested? And, again, the parents have not been charged criminally. Dr. Morrone?
MORRONE: Heroin will begin making thinking cloudy. The children will be confused, sleepy. Their body temperature will go down. And at higher doses, it will depress respiration and lead to death, if very strong or high, pure heroin is used.
GRACE: Dr. Robi, 30 seconds, weigh in.
DR. ROBI LUDWIG, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: I think the parents need to be investigated. And if they`re innocent, then that will be proven. But at this point, we need to protect the children who can`t protect themselves, and that`s the important and proper way to proceed.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: According to police reports and YWCA authorities, six children between the ages of 2 and 5 were taken to the hospital for evaluation. Now the childhood center`s license is suspended, forcing parents to find alternative day care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: What would you do if you got a phone call saying your toddler in day care, well, she ingested heroin? No big deal. That`s just what has happened. Out to the lines, Paulette in Florida. Hi, Paulette.
CALLER: Hi, Nancy. How are you tonight?
GRACE: I`m good dear. What`s your question?
CALLER: My question is, what kind of background check do they do upon the people that are employed at these day care centers, as well as day care centers themselves, in order to allow them to take care of people`s children?
GRACE: Good question. T.J. Pignataro, this day care is licensed. It`s with the YWCA, right?
PIGNATARO: It has been cited several times by the state Office of Child and Family Services. Nothing obviously to this that`s risen to this threshold, although the situation that arose there this time is the reason that they`re essentially closed down.
GRACE: Out to Jasmine in Mississippi. Hi, Jasmine.
CALLER: Hey, Nancy.
GRACE: What`s your question, dear?
CALLER: Well, I know that crystal meth, heroin can only be detected for so many days after use in urine. Is CHS or the police department going to seek more advanced ways, hair testing or spinal tap, to find out...
GRACE: Are you talking about on the parents?
CALLER: Yes, ma`am.
GRACE: What about it, Dr. Morrone? Jasmine has a very good point. How do you test for heroin?
MORRONE: They can do a blood analysis. It`s broken down. Heroin actually only lasts about three or four minutes. It turns into something called six monoacetylmorphine, which can be there for six or eight hours, and then it turns into morphine, which is there for days.
GRACE: Thank you, Dr. Morrone.
Very quickly, let`s stop to remember Army Corporal Jonathan Markham, 22, Bedford, Texas, killed, Iraq, on a second tour. He died trying to rescue others. Got the Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal and Army Achievement. E-mailing home often, he dreamed of being a stay-at-home dad after. He leaves behind his wife, his high school sweetheart, Stacy, mom, Dawn, dad, Steven, sisters, Alicia, Amber, Heather, Taylor. Jonathan Markham, American hero.
Thank you to our guests, but most of all to you. See you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
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