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Nancy Grace

New Jersey Firefighter Mom Still Missing a Year Later

Aired November 02, 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: A New Jersey firefighting mom disappears, seemingly vanishing into thin air, leaving behind three little children, including a 6-month-old left home alone. Where is 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This quarry was the latest anonymous tip in the search for Margaret Haddican-McEnroe. Searchers were combing this quarry with dogs and on horseback for any search (SIC) of Margaret.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Tonight a beautiful young firefighter mom disappears from an upscale New Jersey home, vanishing into thin air, leaving behind three little children, her 6-month-old baby girl left home alone in her crib. Friends and family say no way would 29-year-old Margaret Haddican-McEnroe leave her baby home alone.

Tonight, an exclusive interview. The missing mom`s parents speak out in the desperate search for their daughter, Margaret Haddican-McEnroe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The morning of October 10, his wife allegedly called him, saying she needed baby formula. He went to the supermarket, he 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: There are really two scenarios. One is that she simply walked away. Her husband told investigators post-partum depression. She had even been talking about a divorce. 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The day before she disappeared, she had come to our house and she made a phone call. And she was pacing and quite agitated. And I asked her, you know, Who`s on the phone? She said, It`s my bleeping husband, I should divorce him. And then the next day, she disappeared.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I actually think that she -- she wants to come back now, but she -- she might be afraid to. A lot of people are looking for her and she might be a little freaked out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Nobody just vanishes into thin air, even in a magic act. Straight out to "America`s Most Wanted," Michelle Sigona. Michelle, what is the latest on Margaret Haddican-McEnroe?

MICHELLE SIGONA, "AMERICA`S MOST WANTED": Well, Nancy, Margaret has not been seen since October 10, 2006. So we`re well over a year at this point. From what we`ve learned from investigators is that she was home around 1:30 in the afternoon. That`s when the last person to see her at home was her husband, Tim, told police, Hey, I left the house, I had to go run some errands. I came back two hours later, not only was my wife not there, but my baby was left at home by herself. My wife is no where to be found. You know, she has been known -- we have gotten into some tiffs before. She has been known to kind of disappear for a little bit here and there. I didn`t think anything of it. He waits two days, Nancy, to call police. That`s when investigators come out and start their investigation.

GRACE: Michelle, let`s take it from the top. When he says he`s got to go do errands, what errands does he have to go do?

SIGONA: At that particular moment, Nancy, I think what he had told investigators that he just had to run around to a couple of stops, possibly the dry cleaners, possibly the post office, and he just had to go get some things done. And he -- what Tim says, what Tim tells investigators is that he arrived back at the house two hours later, and that`s when he noticed her gone.

GRACE: Well, that`s certainly a lean window of time for her to go missing now for all this time while he`s out running errands. Do police have any leads or any new leads, Michelle?

SIGONA: Unfortunately, not, Nancy. But I can tell you that through AMW.com, also, you know, your show and other shows have brought them tips, have brought them leads, and that they are exhausting all of them, going out, pounding the pavement, trying to figure out where she is.

I can tell you that she had an Army T-shirt, that Margaret was, you know, not only an Army veteran, but she was also a volunteer firefighter. They did find that T-shirt not too far away from her house just after Thanksgiving in 2006, on the side of the road. And it had not been exposed to the elements, so it had not been out there for very long. So what it seems like is that someone could have possibly just thrown it out the window and not have thought twice about it.

GRACE: Well, Michelle, how do we know that that Army T-shirt is her Army T-shirt?

SIGONA: Now, this is what investigators are telling us. They won`t say how they know. Now, I don`t know if her initials were in the tag, if her name was written on it, but somehow, investigators know that that Army T-shirt does, in fact, belong to Margaret. They have been able to confirm it and say, Look, this was on the side of the road. This is something that we found. This is another piece to this puzzle. But that`s pretty much where it all ends up, unfortunately.

GRACE: OK, Michelle, let`s get down to it. What was the state of their relationship at the time of her disappearance?

SIGONA: From the outside looking in, it seemed to be perfect. She was in a great mood. She had, you know, just had another baby. She has three kids, two kids with Tim and also one from a previous marriage. That child, the oldest child, is now 10 years old. Things seemed to be working out very well for her.

Now, but what Tim has, you know -- has told other reporters and other -- you know, other papers and things like that, is that, you know, I think that there was a little bit of depression. She may have been suffering from possibly post-partum depression. But of course, we don`t have Margaret here to tell us any of that, unfortunately.

GRACE: SO far, who has been questioned in her disappearance, Michelle?

SIGONA: So far, Tim, obviously, her husband has been questioned in the disappearance. I did speak to the prosecutor`s office earlier today. They have not named him as a suspect and they`re still treating this as a missing person case. Also, family members, friends, anyone who has had contact with Margaret within -- you know, within that time period before she went missing.

You know, investigators are just going out there. They`re doing -- they have done searches. The last search was just over the summer. They`ve searched some quarries. They`ve searched some water areas. They`ve also searched around her home and the surrounding roadways and whatnot, just searching for some clues, searching for some answers to help find this young missing mom.

GRACE: Well, joining us tonight, Michelle Sigona with "America`s Most Wanted." And we`re talking about a young firefighter mom -- she`s just 29 years old -- seemingly vanished without a trace, leaving behind a 6-month- old baby girl, there in the home, home alone, three children. Friends and family say no way would she leave them behind. I find that very hard to believe. There`s no history, Michelle, of her ever leaving the 6-month-old home alone.

SIGONA: Yes, there is not a history. She, apparently, from what we have learned, was a fantastic mom, loved her children, was always there for them and very dedicated. I mean, this -- like I said, you know, and as you said, Nancy, this is a woman who was volunteering in her community, served her country, was out there trying to do the best thing, being the best wife, the best provider that she could for her family, and it just doesn`t -- you know, and again -- again, the prosecutor`s office still treating this as a missing person case, until we know otherwise, until we have more information.

I`m just hoping that someone out there is able to contact our show, 1- 800-CRIME-TV, you know, or the investigators tonight with tips leading to her whereabouts, leading to something, Nancy.

GRACE: And speaking of that tip line, it`s toll-free, 888-577-TIPS. There is a $20,000 reward for evidence or any information on this young lady, Margaret Haddican-McEnroe. I know they`ve spoken to the husband. Is he still being cooperative, Michelle?

SIGONA: Yes, he is still being cooperative, Nancy. And as a matter of fact, there was a memorial service -- well, sort of like a prayer service -- that happened October 10 of this year, 2007, where he did attend that particular -- that particular remembrance of Margaret. And also, he did attend the church service afterwards. So he`s coming out into the community. From what we have learned, you know, he still is being out there and cooperative. So that`s, you know, a good sign.

GRACE: So I know -- are all three children still there with him?

SIGONA: From what I do know, two children definitely are still with him. I`m not too sure about the oldest child.

GRACE: Yes, the oldest child is from another biological father. What do you think is next in the investigation, Michelle?

SIGONA: At this point, Nancy, I still think investigators need as many leads as possible. Again, they will track down everything that they can to help find this mom. And I do think that, you know, whatever -- whatever nuggets -- I mean, sometimes people think -- and I see this all the time -- Well, that may not help the case, Well, I think I may have seen her. Folks, if you think that you`ve seen her, if you think you know anything about this case, any little nugget at this point is going to help investigators advance this case forward, anything that they can exhaust (ph).

GRACE: Tonight with us, Michelle Sigona from "America`s Most Wanted." We are talking about a young firefighter mom -- she had served her country in the military -- seemingly vanishing into thin air. The last known person to see her, her husband before he went out to run errands.

Back to you, Michelle Sigona. What do we know or of what do we believe she was wearing when she went missing?

SIGONA: At this point, there are some conflicting reports as to what she was wearing. But I can tell you -- I do want to give you a physical description of her -- 5-foot-2, 110 pounds, very tiny woman, very small, especially for just having a baby, I mean, as you can imagine. So very petite, very small.

She does have some tattoos, though. There are a couple of different tattoos. They`re very unique. She has a tribal tattoo on her stomach. She has a fire helmet on her leg, on her left thigh, and several tattoos on her back. So there`s a lot of identifying marks that people can, you know, take a look out for.

GRACE: Well, you know, interesting, Michelle, according to our sources, what she had on when she was last seen was a gray sweatshirt with Army written in black letters, the one you say maybe has been found on the side of the road. According to police, yes, it is. Why plaid pajama bottoms? Now, I find it really hard to believe a mom of three would go missing and go out into the elements, out into the world wearing her pajamas, all right? I don`t buy it. That is complete BS.

SIGONA: I agree. Yes, there really aren`t too many moms out there, especially, you know, busy moms, moms with a lot of kids, even though the other two were probably in school at the time, home with their child. You know, even if she had to run out and get something, most moms would probably put on a pair of jeans or a pair of slacks or something to run out to the car and go. But again, you know, all of those things were left behind. Her vehicle was left behind, as you mentioned, you know, her keys, her cell phone. So nothing was taken.

GRACE: So OK. So they want to believe she walks out in her pajamas and a T-shirt, no car, no cell phone, nothing, and she`s making it on her own. There`s no evidence of her ATM, her credit cards, no withdrawals from the bank, nothing. You know, I`m just not buying it.

Everyone, with me tonight, Michelle Sigona with "America`s Most Wanted." We`re talking about a missing firefighter mom, a mom of three, who -- apparently, we are supposed to believe she left her 6-month-old baby girl home alone and just disappeared into thin air. I`m not buying it.

And when we come back, our exclusive interview with Margaret`s parents.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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 adoptive father asked her, Who were you just speaking to? And she kind of growled, I was just speaking to my husband.

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. What we do know is that the husband did refuse to take a polygraph test, so that`s one red flag in this investigation. But the problem is, there are really two scenarios. Both are very plausible. One is that she simply walked away. Her husband told investigators post-partum depression. She had even been talking about a 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 abductions.

PATRICK HADDICAN, MISSING WOMAN`S FATHER: She had come over to our house, and that was the day before she vanished. She had come to our house. And she was wearing knee braces. She was wearing them on the outside so you could see -- actually see the knee braces.

And she had asked me if I would take her -- she had made arrangements with an orthopedist, and she`d asked me if I would come pick her up and take her to the orthopedist when she was going to have the surgery. And it was going to be in about a week or two from the day that she was visiting us. And I said, yes, I can do that. I was wondering why she was asking me, but -- so I agreed to it.

And during the conversation, it was shortly after, a little bit of a quick conversation when she got my agreement, she was on the phone. And she was pacing around, and it was fairly obvious she was agitated over something. And I don`t hear that well so I wasn`t quite sure what was going on, what the conversation was. So I asked her, What were you -- or, Who was that? And I said -- and she said, That was my bleeping husband. I`m going to divorce him, or, I should divorce him. I don`t remember the exact words, but one of those statements.

And that was about it. That was the last time I saw her, was actually during that conversation, and that last statement was the last I`ve heard or talked to Margaret. And that was over a year ago.

EILEEN HADDICAN, MISSING WOMAN`S MOTHER: I spoke to her the Monday before she went missing. She had called me during the day, and she asked if she could bring the kids over the next day. And then I spoke to her again at night and said that -- and she said she wouldn`t be coming over that night, that she would come over the next day and that she would leave the kids and then go back and get some stuff because she had asked if she could stay with us.

We really didn`t get into that because it was a short conversation. It was more of a, Would it be all right if I came over with the kids? Could we stay for a while? Could we stay forever? And you know, I`ll be over tonight. So that just leaves (INAUDIBLE) you have all night to talk about whatever it is. But then she had called and said, No, I won`t be over tonight, I`ll be over tomorrow with the kids. And that was the last time I talked to her.

PATRICK HADDICAN: She didn`t take her cell phone. Our understanding was that she had broken the cell phone.

EILEEN HADDICAN: The day before.

PATRICK HADDICAN: Yes, the day before, during this squabble that she had with Tim. She left -- supposedly, she left the children. We can`t see her leaving the children. That -- she just -- from us, from our point of view, she seemed to be a much better mother than some people might have thought. She seemed very, very concerned about her children. To leave her children, to leave the youngest one alone at home by herself just doesn`t seem to fit with the way she has been.

From what we understand, there is no indication of a struggle at all in the house. All we knew was that Tim said that $11,000 was missing. That seems to be the only thing in which something was taken or anything was unusual about what might have or might not have been in the house.

We heard that it was about a month, a month-and-a-half after her disappearance that an article of clothing had been found not too far from her house and near this abandoned quarry that we have in Warren. And it turned -- from what we understand, the article of clothing turned out to have been Margaret`s clothing. And that was within, I would say, a half mile...

EILEEN HADDICAN: Yes.

PATRICK HADDICAN: ... of her home.

EILEEN HADDICAN: That was on Thanksgiving day last year. And they did a nine-hour search in the area in...

PATRICK HADDICAN: Of the quarry and around the quarry.

(CROSSTALK)

EILEEN HADDICAN: You know, they didn`t find anything. The last search that they did was July 28, where they searched around the quarry again. They searched...

PATRICK HADDICAN: Around the house.

EILEEN HADDICAN: ... around the house, Duck Watch (ph) Hollow, which is a road that runs and has water on each side of it. And it runs from Washington (ph) Valley up towards their house. So -- and they did a more extensive search.

PATRICK HADDICAN: And they also searched around the house again. And while searching around the house, they had some specially trained dog dogs. I believe they`re cadaver dogs. I`m not quite sure. And they got some sort of scent right around the house. And they dug up the area, and I think it was a combination of something in the soil and decomposing animals. It was -- there was no indication or anything that it was Margaret. It`s just that they got this methane smell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EILEEN HADDICAN: Sarah`s (ph) a daughter of -- is not Tim`s daughter. She`s -- obviously, 9 years ago, Margaret was going out with somebody, and they had planned on getting married and -- which didn`t work out, but Sarah was born in the meantime. Melissa (ph) was 6 months. She was born in April, and she had -- was in intensive care for quite a while because her lungs weren`t quite developed.

PATRICK HADDICAN: Premature.

EILEEN HADDICAN: And show was premature. And Margaret spent a good deal of time at the hospital with the baby, and when the baby came home, it was -- she was on a monitor. And Margaret was very concerned, you know? And when they were taking her off the monitor, she was afraid of them taking her off the monitor because she was afraid something was going to happen and -- but they did. A nervous mother, so to speak.

From talking it her in the summer and September, October, I did not find that she -- she didn`t sound depressed to me. She was worried about the baby, but I don`t think she was particularly depressed.

If Margaret was going to disappear, I don`t think she would leave the children. With going through all that they went through with the baby and how worried she was, I don`t see her just leaving the baby. It just doesn`t make any sense to me. This whole thing doesn`t make any sense to me.

PATRICK HADDICAN: I think I would go crazy if I couldn`t hold out hope that she is still alive. And in that regard, we hope that everybody watching the program will keep us in mind, that we`re still hoping for her return, and someone, somewhere, for one reason or another, might have run into her or might know her or might know what happened that day. The police -- the fire department where she worked and the prosecutor`s office are offering a reward for information leading to her return, and I believe the last I heard that it was around $20,000. Again, for those watching, expect (ph) miracles. Please pray for her return safely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have this young man that waits two full days before he calls the authorities to report his wife missing. Now, meanwhile, 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 in a rural area not knowing where your wife is? Doesn`t make any sense at all. They have the big argument the night before. He goes two full days, it doesn`t make any sense. And then he refuses to take a polygraph.

(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 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 say, 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.

But 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 abductions.

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.

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 it.

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 soul mates. I never thought I`d get married, but here she came and now we`re soul mates." This is a soul mate 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.

So 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 it`s 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 10 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 a scenario.

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.

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CASAREZ: They did not execute a search warrant of the home. He consented to allow law enforcement 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 give 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 be not admissible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We ran 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 here.

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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, 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: 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 he 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 10th, 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 9th, 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 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: 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: 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 one to one, 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.

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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.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The helicopter observed the victim`s car parked in a nature reserve parking lot, and the car was searched and her body was in the trunk.

GRACE: She answers an innocent ad on Craigslist looking for a nanny, her body found in a car trunk the very next day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Minnesota prosecutors have charged a 19-year-old man, Michael John Anderson, with second-degree murder in the death of a woman who answered an Internet ad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did the kids get cocaine into their system? It turns out the four kids got into Mom and Dad`s stash and started eating their cocaine. That`s how they got high on cocaine.

GRACE: Well, wait, this little boy is only 11...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eleven months old.

GRACE: She was covered in defensive wounds, including wounds on her legs. Explain to me her defensive wounds.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, the prosecution is calling them defensive wounds. She was fighting for her life, as Darren Mack had that knife and was knifing her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators are searching for any clues in the whereabouts of 23-year-old Stacy Peterson of Bolingbrook. She was last heard from on Sunday morning.

GRACE: A police sergeant`s wife goes missing. She is just on the phone with her family saying she`s coming over to help them paint.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But, you know, there are some charges against him. He could very possibly be a rogue patrol officer, and everybody is being very careful about this. Twenty years ago, he was accused of some impropriety, fired from the police force, but then brought back.

GRACE: A drunk dad races the wrong way down a high-speed highway, his 2-year-old baby girl in the back, no car seat, no seatbelt, just Daddy, baby and a Bud Light tall boy.

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GRACE: Tonight, let`s stop to remember Marine Lance Corporal Carlos Gilorozco, just 23, San Jose, California, killed, Iraq. On a second tour, wanted to enlist since a young boy. Dream? To become a cop. Leaves behind parent, Carlos and Miriam, sister, Miriam, grieving widow, Esmeralda, 5-year-old son, Carlos, and 3-month-old infant son Kenny, a boy he never got to meet. Carlos Gilorozco, American hero.

Thank you to our guests, but, most of all, to you, for inviting us into your home. See you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern, and until then, good night, friend.

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