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Nancy Grace
No Clues in New Jersey Firefighter Mom Missing Since October
Aired July 04, 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 beautiful young firefighter mom disappears from her upscale New Jersey home, seemingly vanishing into thin air, leaving behind three children, her 6-month-old little girl left home alone. Friends and family say no way would she leave her baby there home alone. Tonight, the desperate search for 29-year-old Margaret Haddican- McEnroe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mom Margaret Haddican-McEnroe went missing, and then he waited. Husband Tim McEnroe waited 48 hours to report his wife missing, a delay some fear may have cost precious time in the investigation, time investigators will never get back. Runaway, foul play? Investigators don`t know for sure, but three little children do know they want their mommy back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, a 22-year-old college honor student headed to law school vanishes on vacation, Miami, Florida. She`s last seen at a concert, traveling there in a black four-door sedan. Police on the lookout for the mystery car. Tonight, where is Stepha Henry?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where is this beautiful 22-year-old college honor student? Stepha Henry disappeared Memorial Day weekend while vacationing in Florida. Police say Stepha left her aunt`s apartment late at night to go to a nightclub. She got into a car with a family acquaintance, and that`s the last time anyone saw her. The family offering a $5,000 reward for any information on Stepha`s disappearance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight. First, a young firefighter mom vanishes from her upscale New Jersey home without a trace. Where is Margaret Haddican-McEnroe?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The morning of October 10th, his wife allegedly called him, saying she need baby formula. He went to the supermarket and got it. He brought it home. He says that`s the last time he ever saw her because he went to do a landscaping job after that, from 1:30 to 3:00. When he got home, she was gone, but he did not report it to police until 48 hours later.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then he tells authorities that she has threatened to commit suicide, number one, and number two, she`s suffering from post- partum. But yet you go to sleep for two full nights by yourself, not in a rural area, not knowing where your wife is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I actually think that she wants to come back now, but she might be afraid to. A lot of people are looking for her, and she might be a little freaked out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My gut feeling is perhaps she was abducted, kidnapped, some form of foul play.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Let`s get right down to the facts in the disappearance of this young firefighter mom. Out to Martin Di Caro with Millennium Radio New Jersey, 101.5. Martin, I`m a little confused about why the husband waited 48 hours to report his wife missing.
MARTIN DI CARO, MILLENNIUM RADIO NEW JERSEY, 101.5: Well, his explanation has and continues to be that he believed his wife would be coming back home. And that`s a sentiment that`s shared by Margaret`s birth mom and her adoptive parents. Everyone assumed that she`d be OK. The adoptive parents are annoyed that it took five days for them to be alerted that she had been missing. So they had gone about a whole week before they knew that their Margaret was not around.
GRACE: Martin, I understand her cell phone was broken. What was wrong with the cell phone?
DI CARO: I haven`t been able to pinpoint the reason why the cell phone was broken. It was left in the home, along with her SUV, when the husband Timothy McEnroe, came back from running those errands at around 3:00 o`clock in the afternoon the day she disappeared. Also remaining in the home were knee braces that Margaret had been wearing the day before, when she had gotten into an argument with her husband and left the house. Police were called to the house by the husband. They were not allowed inside the home. He said that she wasn`t around. Police felt no need to further investigate. She wasn`t there. No need to make an arrest.
GRACE: That doesn`t even make sense. Why did the husband call police the day before?
DI CARO: They got into an argument. There was a domestic disturbance. Police showed up -- Warren township police showed up at the home.
GRACE: But he wouldn`t let them in. He calls police and he won`t let them in the home?
DI CARO: He would not let them in the home. He said she wasn`t there. Police said, Well, if you`re not going to let us in and if you`re saying your wife isn`t here, there`s no need to further investigate. She did go to her adoptive parents` home wearing the knee braces. And then, of course, two days after she disappears, when police finally go to the house on the call, the knee braces are at the home.
GRACE: Out to Jon Leiberman with "America`s Most Wanted." Jon, what else can you tell us about the circumstances surrounding her disappearance?
JON LEIBERMAN, "AMERICA`S MOST WANTED": OK, we`ve been in close touch with investigators, and they are just stymied. What we do know is that the husband did refuse to take a polygraph test. So that`s one red flag in this investigation.
The problem is, there are really two scenarios, Nancy. Both are very plausible. One is that she simply walked away. Her husband told investigators post-partum depression. She had even been talking about divorce. So did she just have enough, throw up her hands and walk away? Because cops tell us there were no signs of foul play in the house at all. Nothing was turned over. No forced entry in the house, nothing that we normally see in cases of abduction.
GRACE: OK. That doesn`t even make any sense to me, either. Weren`t her knee braces there?
LEIBERMAN: Yes. Our understanding is her knee braces were there.
GRACE: OK. So if her knee braces were there and her vehicle was there, her pocketbook was there, her broken cell phone was there, her driver`s license, credit cards, all that was there, where did she walk to, to the mailbox and back? I mean, she doesn`t even have her knee braces. That doesn`t make sense, Jon Leiberman.
LEIBERMAN: Here`s the thing. She has $11,000, OK? So...
GRACE: Says who?
LEIBERMAN: Well, the husband says that there was cash in the home that she probably took with her. That`s what we`re hearing. So if she takes that money and she has somebody pick her up and she goes and starts a new life...
GRACE: Right!
LEIBERMAN: That`s a plausible scenario, Nancy.
GRACE: The phantom somebody. Let me ask you this, Jon Leiberman. I assume police have checked the cell phone records and the home phone records. Don`t you think if she had plotted some big getaway with someone, there would be a telephone trail?
LEIBERMAN: You would think that, yes. And police say...
GRACE: Yes, you would, wouldn`t you.
LEIBERMAN: You would. You would. But here`s the thing. There`s just very little evidence in this case, Nancy. They`ve checked for physical evidence, for any other prints, for any stranger DNA, all of this sort of thing. And at this point, all they have is the husband and they have a missing woman, a woman who, I might add, has walked away before, according to the family.
GRACE: I want to find out something else about that, Jon Leiberman. They say she`s left before. Had she ever left the baby home alone before?
LEIBERMAN: No. Our understanding is she left before she had this infant. No, she has never left...
GRACE: OK.
LEIBERMAN: ... an infant at home. She was a good mother, from what we`re told.
GRACE: Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said she had done this before and that he thought she was coming back. And so he didn`t want to call in authorities until she came home because that`s what he thought was going to happen. And I think also, if they were having domestic problems, it could be an air of humiliation right there, that he knows she`s coming back and doesn`t want to humiliate himself by going to the police.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The morning of October 10th, his wife allegedly called him, saying she needed baby formula. He went to the supermarket and got it. He brought it home. He says that`s the last time he ever saw her because he went to do a landscaping job after that, from 1:30 to 3:00. When he got home, she was gone. But he did not report it to police until 48 hours later.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining us is Pat Brown, high-profile criminal profiler. Pat, profile.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, Nancy, I`m having a real problem with that 48 hours myself. This man has said, We were best friends. We had this idyllic marriage. We were soulmates. I never thought I`d get married, but here she came and now we`re soulmates. This is a soulmate that supposedly he`s arguing with, wants a divorce from him, and on top of that, she`s getting suicidal and depressed in that marriage. Doesn`t sound like such a marriage made in heaven to me.
But here we have a woman who is obviously -- she`s having horrible problems within this marriage, and she`s on the verge of killing herself. She goes missing. He doesn`t worry about that she has killed herself, that she might be holed up in a motel maybe about to slit her wrists. He doesn`t contact her family, looking for her. She just goes missing after he was the last one to see her. Very suspicious to me.
GRACE: And also, to Dr. Patricia Saunders, the husband has also stated -- who is not a suspect, I might add. He has not been named a suspect in this case. We`re getting a lot of information and all coming from him. She had $11,000 that she took from the home. He saw her last, when she asked him to run an errand. All of this information is coming from one source.
One of the things he is telling police is that she had post-partum depression, and we can`t verify that with anyone else. What is it, and would that lead her to just walk out of the home without her knee braces on, without a credit card, nothing?
PATRICIA SAUNDERS, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: No, Nancy, it wouldn`t. Post-partum depression is a biological condition that results from hormone imbalances during and after birth. It`s quite common. One in ten women have it. It ranges from mild to severe. But there`s an impairment in the woman`s functioning, and there are no reports from anybody else that she had any difficulty. She was described by her friend, who she spoke to that day, that she was just fine and planning to do things, she was energetic. It doesn`t fit the profile of a woman who has post-partum depression. And her doctors would know it, if she did.
GRACE: Out to Eric Martin, another special guest joining us tonight. He is with the Central Jersey Technical Rescue Team. He is the search manager. Eric, thank you for being with us. Tell us about your search for this lady.
ERIC MARTIN, CENTRAL NEW JERSEY TECHNICAL RESCUE TEAM: Well, right now, Nancy, for the most part, we`ve done everything possible in a tactical search element. The police department in Warren township, along with the Somerset County prosecutor, has done an outstanding job investigating it. But as your previous guest has said, you know, the clues, signs, the evidence -- you`re talking about two days where weather has been able to destroy it, time has been able to destroy it. So what we`ve been reflex searching. We`ve focused on the high-probability areas. We were told that she was...
GRACE: What is that? What is reflex searching?
MARTIN: Reflex searching is when you really don`t have any tangible investigative intelligence or information. If a person goes out, based on the post-partum depression scenario -- and we looked at a number of different plausible scenarios -- well, they like to go into scenic areas. They like to go...
GRACE: And remember, she`s apparently on foot, without her knee braces.
MARTIN: And that`s the problem. I mean, at the time -- and I`ll explain to you, Nancy, the bottom line is, OK, even if she`s just traveling one mile per hour, eight hours per day for two days, that`s 16 mile linear distance of travel. We`re looking at an 804-mile radius that is not searchable, not by human searchers alone. And you`re in a wooded area, also. There`s a number of different places. So we`ve been -- I mean, this is not a cold case with the warren township police department, the Somerset County prosecutor, nor Central Jersey Technical Rescue Team. We`ve been focusing -- we`ve been out for four operational periods. We`ve been putting out human remains detection dogs, air scent dogs, human ground pounders. We even had mounted search and...
GRACE: What is that, human ground pounders? What is that?
MARTIN: Human ground pounders are specially trained personnel who understand the science of search. They`re clue-aware. They understand that they`re working potential crime scenes. They`re being very focused on looking for subtle clues that will lead them to the subject, versus just finding the subject.
GRACE: Hey, Eric, have you guys searched landfills?
MARTIN: Yes. At this point, we focused on the quarry area. We focused on the areas where people could have been placed. That is certainly (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: With us is Eric Martin from the Central Jersey Technical Rescue Team. He is the search manager for Margaret Haddican-McEnroe, just 29 years old, just an all-American good girl, former with the -- former with the Army, a firefighter. Husband comes home, says he finds a 6-month- old baby girl alone. Friends and family say no way would she leave her children alone.
Eric, how badly did it hurt your search effort the husband waited 48 hours to tell anybody she was missing?
MARTIN: It hurts our search effort immediately. The scent disperses with the air, wind. People walking through the area contaminates the scent. So we`re not getting -- I mean, it certainly was not helpful in any way, shape or form.
GRACE: Let`s unleash the lawyers. Joining us, veteran trial lawyer Darryl Cohen. Also with us, Penny Douglass Furr out of the Atlanta jurisdiction. To you, Darryl Cohen. Why won`t this guy take a polygraph?
DARRYL COHEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, for all we know, he may have taken a polygraph.
GRACE: Oh, please!
COHEN: He may have taken it with his lawyer.
GRACE: Wa-wa-wa-wa-wait! If he took and passed a polygraph, you don`t think they would have screamed it from the top of the courthouse steps?
COHEN: Oh, you bet. But that`s why I`m saying, for all we know, he took it, and it was either A, inconclusive, or B, he failed it. So as a result, they`re keeping quiet. You and I both know that`s an old tactic that a lot of us have used. Let our client take a polygraph. They pass it, here it is. If they fail it or if it`s inconclusive, we never mention it again.
GRACE: I`ve got to tell you something, Darryl. Many times, when a defense lawyer would come to me, as the prosecutor, and say, My guy will take a polygraph at the crime lab, hook him up, please, can we do it this afternoon, any time you want, you can watch him take it -- as a felony prosecutor, that would make me stop in my tracks and think twice about the case. That`s not happening here.
COHEN: Exactly. And that`s exactly what I`m trying to say, is if he had passed it, I think they`d be waving it and saying he is willing to take it again because if he takes it again and he passes it, he`s out of here. If he takes it again, it`s inclusive or he fails it, then it`s 1 to 1, one pass, one no pass, and you`re back to square one.
GRACE: And Penny Douglass Furr, a lot of people say polygraphs are inadmissible in court. That is not true, if both parties stipulate up front before the poly is taken. Explain.
PENNY DOUGLASS FURR, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, Nancy, both parties can agree that it will be admissible in court, and then it is admissible in court. And the other thing is that he`s claiming that he doesn`t want to take a polygraph because he doesn`t want to do it at the police station. I can`t understand why his attorney or the prosecutor can`t say, OK, here are 10 examiners, we`ll go with any of those, any of these examiners, and then let him choose which examiner to take. I would let him take it anywhere else, also.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re all concerned, very concerned. And if she`s out there, we really hope very much that she`ll get in contact with someone, she`ll get in contact with the police, she`ll call us. We all love her. We want her home. We want her back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They did not execute a search warrant of the home. He consented to allow law enforcement to come into the home, we understand, but they did not forensically take anything. And that`s different from a lot of cases because many times, they will get a search warrant to forensically see if they can find anything because if they would find anything, sometimes that consent is taken away. And in a court of law, the evidence would not be admissible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had run out of baby formula. And I went to the store and got that and then came back, and I went back out and I did another job. And when I got back, she wasn`t there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A beautiful young firefighter mom seemingly vanishes into thin air, leaving behind her 6-month-old baby girl alone in the bassinet. Family and friends say no way would she ever have done that. The last to see her, her husband.
Joining us now, an expert in his field. You all know Dr. Joshua Perper, medical examiner and author of "When to Call the Doctor." Dr. Perper, it`s great to see you again. Dr. Perper, if Margaret Haddican- McEnroe has been out in the elements all this time -- her body -- is there any way to identify the body at this juncture?
DR. JOSHUA PERPER, MEDICAL EXAMINER: Oh, absolutely. The body can be identified by a variety of means, so -- including DNA fingerprinting, which would be ultimately proof.
GRACE: OK, question. If she`s been out in the elements, would there actually be soft tissue to get a fingerprint?
PERPER: Most likely, yes. But you know, this has to be shown by the facts themselves. But it`s possible, yes.
GRACE: Now, you know, it`s been six months, Dr. Perper. If they`re unable to get a fingerprint from her, how else could she be identified?
PERPER: Well, even if there are no fingerprints, if there`s a body which fits her description in terms of racial and gender and characteristics and other characteristics, sure. Taking tissue from even the bone marrow can show that, indeed, this is the person by doing the DNA testing.
GRACE: You know, Dr. Perper, that`s something that has long confused me. How long does bone marrow that you can take DNA from exist in a body?
PERPER: Well, it`s difficult to make an absolute determination, but it can be years even. It depends on the conditions.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Margaret Haddican-McEnroe was reported missing -- actually not reported until the 12th. The 10th is when her husband discovered her to be missing, at approximately 3:00 o`clock in the afternoon. On the 12th of October, he reported her missing officially to the Warren township police department.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And to this day, no sign of Margaret Haddican-McEnroe, a beautiful firefighter mom that disappeared from her upscale New Jersey home. The last person to see her alive, her husband.
Out to Jon Leiberman with "America`s Most Wanted." Jon, let`s go back through the clues we found at the scene. Was there a forced entry? Was anything in disarray? Did any -- who else saw her, other than her husband, since the day before?
LEIBERMAN: No forced entry, very few clues at the scene. She left her cell phone behind. She left her SUV behind. And as you mentioned, she left her 6-month-old in the crib. The husband was the last one who saw her. One would hope, if there was foul play involved in this case -- this girl was a firecracker. She was a spitfire. So one would hope that she would scream, yell, claw and all that sort of thing, so somebody would have seen something. That`s what we can hope.
The husband`s alibi, the fact that he said he went out to the store, bought some formula, he has a receipt to show that. So we know he did that. And also police believe that did do the landscaping job that he says he left to go do and he came back and his wife was missing.
GRACE: OK, let`s back it up. Let`s back it up. What day was that, Jon Leiberman?
LEIBERMAN: That was October 10, and he didn`t report her missing for 48 hours.
GRACE: OK.
LEIBERMAN: A major problem.
GRACE: OK. Let`s back up. Let`s back-time this thing. When was the last time anyone other than the husband saw her alive?
LEIBERMAN: Our understanding is the day before, October 9, a friend or a family member saw her.
GRACE: Where?
LEIBERMAN: That I`m not completely clear about. I don`t know if she had a get-together...
GRACE: The day before. Do we know what time, Jon Leiberman?
LEIBERMAN: I don`t. I believe it was in the afternoon at some point.
GRACE: Martin Di Caro is joining us also, with Millennium Radio New Jersey 101.5. Martin, let`s back up to the day before. When`s the last time that we know of anyone other than the husband had seen her?
DI CARO: The adoptive parents saw her at their home the day before. That was after she had stormed out of her home after the argument with her husband. She was wearing her knee braces, went to her adoptive parents` home in the same town. She was on the phone, and her adopted -- adoptive father asked her, Who were you just speaking to? And she kind of growled, I was just speaking to my husband. If I may just also add something about something that was mentioned before...
GRACE: Yes.
DI CARO: ... by a lawyer. Law enforcement sources have told Millennium Radio the husband has not taken a polygraph test, and they`ve actually made an offer to him to do it at a neutral site, and he has still not done it.
GRACE: Mark Di Caro, so the day before in the afternoon was the last time anyone other than the husband saw her, and at that time, she was in the midst of an argument with the husband?
DI CARO: I can`t conclusively say that the adoptive parents were the last people to see her. They were among the last people to see her, and that was after the argument with her husband.
GRACE: When we come back, a 22-year-old college honor student vanishes on vacation, Miami, Florida. Where is Stepha Henry?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Where is this beautiful 22-year-old college honors student? Stepha Henry disappeared Memorial Day weekend while vacationing in Florida.
Police say Stepha left her aunt`s apartment late at night to go to a nightclub. She got into a car with a family acquaintance, and that`s the last time anyone saw her. The family, offering a $5,000 reward for any information on Stepha`s disappearance.
Stepha Henry did go to a nightclub`s private party. Luckily, they were shooting a promotional video, and here is Henry in a freeze frame released by police. But what about the friend who took her there?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said that he left the club early, that when he left the club, she was still there and with some other people that he did not know.
ANNOUNCER: Police say he also told them that he drove Henry to the club that night in a borrowed late model Acura Integra. And police can`t find it either.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: A 22-year-old honor student, headed to law school, disappeared on vacation in Miami, Florida.
Now, she was photographed inside the club she went to, a local club. A lot of people there. Photos were being taken that evening of various people. I want to go out to Eben Brown with News Radio 970, WFLA.
Eben, nobody can just disappear into thin air.
EBEN BROWN, WFLA: Good evening, Nancy.
That may be true, but so far there has been no trace of Stepha Henry ever since probably about the 4 a.m. hour of the night, she went missing when she apparently checked her voice mail from her cell phone. And that`s the last time any real contact has -- had been heard from her. She had checked that -- checked that voice mail. But that was -- that was it.
GRACE: Eben, let`s take it from the beginning.
E. BROWN: Sure.
GRACE: What do we know? Where was she? What time? Where did she go? Who saw her last? Give me the facts.
E. BROWN: OK. This began with a trip to the Miami area for a concert with her younger sister to celebrate her younger sister`s birthday. The family is from Brooklyn, New York.
They traveled to Miami. They were staying with relatives. They went to the concert. Stepha decides she`s going to go to a nightclub at night. She leaves the little sister with the relatives. She gets into the car with the acquaintance -- acquaintance. This is the black Acura in question or dark-colored Acura in question.
She goes to the club. She`s photographed inside the club, which is closer to Ft. Lauderdale, and the person who drove her there went home early and never saw her again. And no one else heard from her either.
GRACE: OK. I don`t understand the mystery sedan. This guy drives her there. Does he drive her home? I thought earlier he said she left with other people and he has no idea where the car is.
E. BROWN: There was a report from a witness that came forward to a reporter in South Florida, saying that she had gotten into a car with a few other people and left the club that way.
Police came forward and said, no, no, no. That`s not true. That did not happen. That`s a false lead. That`s false information. Disregard that.
GRACE: Well, so who did she leave the club with?
E. BROWN: We don`t know. No one seems to know.
GRACE: OK. Hold on. Eben, the guy in the sedan did not drive her home?
E. BROWN: He did not drive her home. He had been spoken to by police. But police cleared him, saying he`s not a suspect.
GRACE: OK.
E. BROWN: The only thing is that car that he drove was not his. He borrowed it. And police have not been able to locate that car, because it got lended to a bunch of different friends, and no one seems to know where it is.
GRACE: OK. Somebody is lying. And why are they trying to hide the car? See, I`ve got a problem with that. How can you not know where your car is?
E. BROWN: Well, it wasn`t his. He was borrowing it from somebody.
GRACE: I know, but if he borrowed it from a friend, Eben, don`t they know where it is?
E. BROWN: The friend had lent it to someone else. It`s still missing. That`s one thing police are still looking for. And it is a dark, late model Acura.
GRACE: I`m going to go out to Detective Robert Williams, the PIO at the Miami-Dade Police Department.
Detective Williams, I don`t want to, in any way, harm the integrity of the investigation. But you know, I`m 2,000 miles away from you, and something stinks about the car. How can you not know where your car is?
DETECTIVE ROBERT WILLIAMS, MIAMI-DADE POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, that`s what we want to find out. We want to find out exactly where this vehicle is at. That`s why we`re using your medium to try to get this out there.
The vehicle is still missing. We have not located it as of yet. And we want to see if any -- if this broadcast might jar someone`s memory. This vehicle might be parked in an apartment complex or a parking garage, might be in the back of someone`s home. We want to jar someone`s memory in order so that we can make contact with that vehicle and do what we have to do.
GRACE: Detective Williams, the photo that was taken of her at the club, Pepper`s that night, why was that photo taken? What is that?
WILLIAMS: That photo there is a photo from a promotional video that the club was doing. We obtained that video and were able to pull that photo from it to find her there at the club.
GRACE: You know, that was some good police work, Detective. Now, do we have any idea what time -- was it time stamped, that photo?
WILLIAMS: No, the time was not stamped on that photo. It was -- you know, contrary to popular belief, there -- people were saying it was a surveillance video. But no, it is a promotional video, and there was no time stamp on it.
GRACE: Did she meet friends there at Pepper`s?
WILLIAMS: The acquaintance or the person that took her to the club in that dark colored Acura, is telling us -- he`s telling us that he left her there at a certain time, but he left her there with other people that she knew that he did not know.
GRACE: OK. So if she was meeting friends there, didn`t they see her leave?
WILLIAMS: Well, he -- like I said, he`s given us that account. And we`re still interviewing...
GRACE: Trying to locate friends?
WILLIAMS: Right. We`re still interviewing numerous people, patrons and also employees at that club.
GRACE: I want to go out to a special guest. Joining us tonight is Sylvia Henry. This is Stepha Henry`s mother.
Ms. Henry, thank you for being with us.
SYLVIA HENRY, STEPHA HENRY`S MOTHER: Thank you.
GRACE: Ms. Henry, you have actually gone out on the street yourself, trying to get leads and find your daughter. What have you been doing?
HENRY: I have been going around, giving out flyers to people and talking to people who might have seen her on the night. Some said they saw her. Some said they don`t think so.
And I`m just still there, searching and looking around and trying to find out any information I get at all on my daughter.
GRACE: Ms. Henry, where all have you been?
HENRY: I`ve been to different malls and the Miami malls. I went to the hotels and motels down Biscayne (ph) Boulevard.
I`ve been to Pepper`s more than once. I was there when they had a party on Saturday night, giving out flyers in the -- in the parking lot. I went to the different parties that they have, all of them in Miami here and give out flyers to the people who have went to the party and especially the young folks.
And I`m giving it out in public and different -- Walgreen`s and different areas that I go to if I`m outside.
GRACE: Won`t you help us tonight? Here is a mother, out, beating the streets, handing out flyers, trying to find her girl.
This is a good girl, an honor student, wanting to go to law school. Her whole life ahead of her.
One night -- one night she goes to a concert at a local bar/restaurant there in Miami and is never seen again. The last clue that we have, around 4 a.m. that morning, 4:13, to be exact, someone, maybe her, checked her own voice mail on her cell phone.
Joining us, criminal profiler Pat Brown.
Pat, she could have hitched a ride with practically anybody in that bar.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: It`s possible, Nancy. But I`m thinking the police are being very tight-lipped about this particular investigation, because they have a group of persons of interest, including that man who took her there.
Because with -- that car has to be somewhere. He has to know. He had the keys. So either he did something, he gave the keys to somebody who did something, or they all did something.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Stepha Henry did go to a nightclub`s private party. Luckily, the owners were shooting a promotional video. And here`s Henry in a freeze frame released by police. But what about the friend who took her there?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said that he left the club early, that when he left the club she was still there and with some other people that he did not know.
ANNOUNCER: Police say he also told them he drove Henry to the club that night in a borrowed late-model Acura Integra. And police can`t find it either.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(NEWSBREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: They`ve been calling their daughter`s cell phone. All they hear is this.
ROBOTIC VOICE: Sorry. That voice mail box is full. Please call again later.
ANNOUNCER: Police suspect Henry last used her phone to check her voice mail around the time the club closed.
HENRY: I spoke to her Monday night before she left the house to go to Pepper`s. She said that she was going out that night with some friends.
She always keeps in touch with us when she`s outside. She always calls. She loves to pick up her cell phone and call me and let me know, if she has any problem with his transportation. She calls and someone at the house go and get her.
ANNOUNCER: The honors grad from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, who worked as an alum (ph) at the president`s office, was in Florida with her teenage sister for a Memorial Day weekend.
Police say Henry left her aunt`s apartment very late at night, told her she was going to a nightclub. Her aunt saw her niece get into a car with a family acquaintance. And that`s the last time she saw her.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: This young girl, missing. A real bright light, headed to law school. Her mother, actually out, handing out flyers all over the local areas on Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. Won`t you help us?
The tip line, everyone, is 305-471-TIPS at crime fighters -- Crimestoppers. And the reward has climbed to $5,000.
I want to go out to Penny Douglass-Furr and Darryl Cohen, both veteran defense attorneys.
If this family acquaintance has lost his car and can`t explain where the car is, I`ve got a real problem with that, Mr. Cohen.
DARRYL COHEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, I`ve loaned my car out once, and it`s never come back.
This guy is lying. We know he`s lying. You know he`s lying. It`s the Joan (ph) factor sometimes.
Why is he lying? Could it be that he snuck her out the back door? Could it be there`s blood in there? Could it be that he is not quite the person that they want him to be? I don`t know.
But I`ve got to tell you, there`s no way in the world that anyone I know who can speak the English, Spanish or French language, perhaps even Russian, is going to loan their car and not know who borrowed it and, conversely, borrow a car and not know who he or she borrowed it from. Come on. It`s a joke.
GRACE: And another issue, to Penny Douglass-Furr, that`s making the case very tough to crack. Is that was Memorial Day weekend, and there was a reggae concert, like a festival going on.
People were there from all over the country. They may have seen Stepha Henry and not realized that the girl they were talking to or the girl they saw is now missing.
PENNY DOUGLASS-FURR, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, I smell a rat in this case. I would like to know how she knows the person that rode her to the club, how she met him.
And he says, well, he borrowed the car. He knows who he borrowed the car from. Who else did they loan the car to? There`s a lot of problems here that we don`t know. And I would like to know who this person is.
And I think that`s another huge thing. They need to look at the tape, search everyone that`s on there. And I think it`s very good this is on national television, because anybody that was in Pepper`s that night, you may know information that you don`t realize you know. You may have been there and seen something and think you know nothing, but you really do. So hopefully, they will all call in once this show airs.
GRACE: Also with us -- go ahead, Darryl.
COHEN: Nancy, I was just going to say that here is a giant hip-hop. I suspect there were a number of males there, who had spouses or girlfriends somewhere else, a number of females who had spouses or boyfriends somewhere else, that don`t want to come forward for fear they`re going to be exposed for being there.
They need to be assured that, if they give a tip and they speak to law enforcement, they`re going to keep -- remain anonymous.
GRACE: And what about it to Dr. Patricia Saunders? Why don`t people come forward?
DR. PATRICIA SAUNDERS, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Two main reasons, Nancy. One is the street code says don`t be a snitch, and especially in communities where they have ambivalent relationship with the police. And, two, people are afraid of retribution.
GRACE: I want to go to a guest joining us tonight, Sylvia Henry`s attorney, Georgia Goslee, joining us out of Washington, D.C.
Ms. Goslee, thank you for being with us.
GEORGIA GOSLEE, SYLVIA HENRY`S ATTORNEY: Yes. Hi, Nancy.
GRACE: Ms. Goslee, how did Stepha know the young man that drove her to the concert?
GOSLEE: Well, we`re not really sure how she knew him, Nancy. But one of the things that`s curious to me, why maybe perhaps the officers have, in fact, spoken some of to Stepha`s close friends.
I mean, here she is, a 22-year-old college grad. One of the first things I would want to do -- and certainly, the family is very appreciative of everything that the police officers have done.
And I think they`re being a little tight-lipped about some of the investigatory information they`re gathering. What I would want to know, who is Stepha`s best girlfriend? Who did she really hang with? And let`s talk to those young ladies or to the guys.
Because if anybody knows anything about a maybe a clandestine arrangement that she had, maybe she did, maybe she didn`t. But I certainly would want to talk to her girlfriends.
GRACE: And to Detective Robert Williams with the Miami-Dade Police Department, have you guys spoken to her friends? The problem is, she was away from all her friends. She was down in Miami on vacation.
WILLIAMS: That`s correct. She was down in Miami on vacation, and she`s found missing there from that Pepper`s club.
Of course we`re going to look at the tape, as someone suggested earlier, in order to find out who was at that club and to speak to them and to interview them.
As far as remaining anonymous, that`s what our Crimestoppers line is for. Anyone with information concerning this case can call in, remain anonymous, give us the information and, immediately, that information is going to go to an investigator for them to follow up on.
GRACE: Has the guy that drove her to the club offered to take a polygraph?
WILLIAMS: That`s unknown. That`s part of homicide`s core investigation right now. And that has not been known to us right now.
GRACE: Another thing about the car. Has there been a BOLO on that? Is there an all-points bulletin on the car? Let`s show the car again, Liz.
Detective, do you believe the key to the case is finding this Acura Integra?
WILLIAMS: This is one of the pieces to the puzzle to the -- is the vehicle that we`re looking for. We want to find that vehicle. And of course, we`re going to process that vehicle.
The picture in which you`re putting out here, we`re going to be able to jar someone`s memory that might have seen it, on the roadway, on the street, even that night at the club. They might have seen her at a convenience store, buying something or whatever with that vehicle being there.
So we`re looking for anyone to come forward. And if they want to remain anonymous, they can call our Crimestoppers line, call and give us that information so that we can move forward with this investigation further.
GRACE: But one thing we do know, Eben Brown with 970 WFLA, she got dropped off at the club, and she was pictured in the club alone. The guy wasn`t with her in the club.
E. BROWN: Yes, she was by herself. I`m told that she did not stay with this man through her time at the club. And again, he didn`t go home with her, didn`t bring her home. So, there really is no...
GRACE: Isn`t that according to him?
E. BROWN: Hard to know about where she ended up.
GRACE: Well, isn`t that according to him?
E. BROWN: That`s according to him, yes. And that`s -- again, he told his story to police, and police have since cleared him.
GRACE: To Dr. Joshua Perper, medical examiner and author. Dr. Perper, how hard is it, how difficult is it to find forensics in a club like this?
DR. JOSHUA PERPER, MEDICAL EXAMINER/AUTHOR: Well, it`s very difficult, because there are so many people, and there`s plenty of non- related evidence. So, you know, that`s almost impossible, unless there`s some blood or any kind of other pertinent evidence.
GRACE: Dr. Perper, what do you believe police think that they will find in that Acura Integra?
PERPER: Well, they might find nothing or they might find blood, if there was some kind of assault in the car. At this time, they really don`t have any information, and everything is just speculation.
GRACE: And Dr. Perper, if the car had gone under water, would they still be able to get forensics out of it?
PERPER: Yes. Some -- some evidence, some blood may be washed. Some evidence may still be present.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is any parent`s nightmare.
We have a tremendous amount of water in -- in Southern Florida. So, we`re checking the canals, the lakes, and those sorts of things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Tonight on the Fourth of July, we stop to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice, serving our country. Tonight, "American Heroes".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAPTAIN SCOTT MILLER, NATIONAL GUARD: I`m a patient here at Walter Reed, about to be released. About another three to five weeks, I`ll be released. So I`m looking for something to do when I come off of orders here, obviously.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. You have a copy of your resume?
MILLER: I do.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Captain Scott Miller`s face shows signs of wounds suffered in a chemical incident while on tour in Afghanistan. After 18 years in the National Guard, he`s getting out, and he needs a new job.
So Miller is here, at a very special job fair. Part of a Pentagon program called Hiring Heroes.
In the last two years, 3,000 wounded troops have come to fairs like this at military bases across the country. Many are so badly wounded, they can no longer serve, and that`s where these potential employers step in.
VICKI ALLDEIER, BANK OF AMERICA RECRUITER: Doesn`t matter their experiences, their work history. They have that commitment and drive.
STARR: Sergeant Robert Evans lost his hand in an IED attack in Iraq.
SGT. ROBERT EVANS, U.S. ARMY: Just because I lost my hand doesn`t mean I have to give up my life.
STARR: And for these troops, that`s the goal: getting back their lives and financial independence.
Miller used to work in sales before his guard unit was activated. He, too, just wants a new employer to give him a chance.
MILLER: The last thing I need is to walk into an interview and the person see that I, you know, kind of look a little funny and I talk, actually, a little funny.
STARR: These employers say the commitment and discipline of these troops make them ideal workers. The wounded just want the opportunity to prove it.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: Let`s stop to remember Army Private William Christopher Johnson, just 22, Oxford, North Carolina, killed, Iraq. On a first tour, wanting to enlist since childhood.
Johnson, a volunteer firefighter, always willing to lend a hand, always willing to smile, leaving behind grieving parents, Billy and Rhonda (ph), and a widow, Megan (ph), pregnant with their first child, a little girl.
William Johnson, American hero.
Thank you to our guests, but to most of all, to you for being with us tonight. Happy Independence Day.
See you tomorrow night, 8 p.m. sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
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