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Nancy Grace

11-year-old Michigan Girl Found Murdered in Cemetery

Aired November 12, 2007 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MIKE BROOKS, GUEST HOST: Tonight: Police search for a killer who could be stalking young children near Constantine, Michigan. An 11-year- old girl heads to a friend`s house on her bike, then disappears. Hours later, her own mom finds the little girl dead in a nearby cemetery. Police reveal sightings of two suspicious vehicles around the community, possibly connected to the attempted abduction. Are the same vehicles involved in the death of 11-year-old Jodi Parrack?
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The quiet, close-knit community of Constantine, Michigan, in shock after the mysterious death of an 11-year-old girl. Jodi Parrack comes home from school Thursday and jumps on her silver Mongoose bike to ride to her friend`s house. But little Jodi never comes home. Her worried family begins a search and calls police. Hours later, Jodi`s mom finds her little girl dead in a nearby cemetery.

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BROOKS: Also tonight, a young mom and fourth wife of a veteran police sergeant vanishes in the Chicago suburbs and still no sign of 23-year-old Stacy Peterson as search teams focus on waterways, wooded areas and fields. Drew Peterson has now been named a suspect in his wife`s disappearance, but Peterson continues to deny any involvement from behind closed doors. His closest supporter begins to question Peterson, who is now suspended from the force. And the clock is ticking. The state plans to exhume the body of wife number three. Her mysterious death may not be an accident after all.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The key to the Drew Peterson case may very well be found in Hillside. At the Queen of Heaven cemetery, investigators will soon exhume the body of Kathleen Savio. The constant presence of police who remain parked outside Peterson`s Bolingbrook home, along with the relentless scrutiny of local and national media, may be taking its toll on Peterson, who, according to police, is now officially a suspect in the sudden disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drew Peterson`s friend of 27 years, Ric Mims, has publicly said he`ll support Peterson any way he can, but now reports say he`s even having second doubts about his friend, While Drew Peterson`s mom continues to defend her son, saying he didn`t do anything, and sticks by her son 100 percent.

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BROOKS: Good evening. I`m Mike Brooks, in for Nancy Grace. First tonight: Who killed Michigan 5th grader Jodi Parrack? The search for answers.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is a killer on the loose in southwest Michigan? That`s the question residents of Constantine are asking after a little girl vanishes, then turns up dead in a local cemetery. Police remain tight- lipped about how 5th grader Jodi Parrack died or where she was killed but say residents should be on the lookout for a suspicious light-colored van seen near Jodi`s school. A dark-colored pickup also spotted in the cemetery around the time the little girl`s body is found. Police have no suspects at as hundreds of tips pour in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are people in this world and this state who would prey upon children. We`re of the opinion that that`s what happened here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we`re asking for specifically is all the information about any suspicious persons or vehicles in Constantine.

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BROOKS: Good evening. I`m Mike Brooks, in for Nancy Grace. An 11- year-old girl on the way home from her friend`s house, going home, disappears. Her mom finds her hours later in a cemetery.

For the latest, let`s go out to Sturgis, Michigan. By phone joining us is Corky Emrick. He`s a reporter with "The Sturgis Journal." Corky, give us the latest on what`s going on there.

CORKY EMRICK, "STURGIS JOURNAL": Well, the latest is, is that they`re still going through some of the hundreds of tips that they`ve received. They`ve been canvassing the community, trying to talk to everybody, trying to come up with a lead on what could have happened to Jodi and maybe who the last person to see Jodi was.

BROOKS: Now, Corky, it`s not a big town. It`s only got a population of 2,145 people. I mean, how is this affecting the community right now?

EMRICK: Oh, it`s shaken most of the community. Parents are really watching their children much closer.

BROOKS: I want to go out to Michelle Sigona. She`s correspondent for "America`s Most Wanted." Michelle, kind of give us a timeline of exactly what happened in this case.

MICHELLE SIGONA, "AMERICA`S MOST WANTED": Sure. Well, basically, on November 8, you know, Jodi went out for a bike ride, left around 4:45. She was supposed to be home by 5:30. But when she didn`t show up at home, her mom knew that something immediately was wrong. So the mom went out around the community and started looking for her in normal places -- playgrounds, the school, friends` houses, calling other friends, so on and so forth.

At 7:30, when she realized, Look, my daughter isn`t around, I don`t know where she is, she filed a missing persons report. At that time, Mike, then everyone from the community started getting together, including some reserve police officers, and they went out all around the town and started searching for Jodi. At 10:30 that night, on the same night she went missing, basically, the mom and a reserve police officer, unfortunately, came across her body at a cemetery.

BROOKS: I want to go back to Corky Emrick, reporter with "The Sturgis Journal." Corky, kind of lay it out. The route from her friend`s house, that she apparently left at 5:30, to her house -- did she have to go past the cemetery? Is this a place that kids usually ride their bikes through?

EMRICK: No, it`s not. The cemetery kind of sits off by itself. It`s on the northeast side of the community and it`s kind of back, out of the way. So no, it`s not something that -- or not somewhere that Jodi would have went through on her way home.

BROOKS: I want to go out to Pat Brown, criminal profiler from Washington, D.C. Pat, you know, given the nature of this small community, you know, what would you say is a profile? Do you think it`s someone local? Do you think it`s someone from outside?

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, most likely, Mike, it is somebody local. Unless it`s, like, near a highway where truckers are going through, I think we are looking at a person who is a townie. And most people say, Well, how could it be somebody from our town? But hey, there can always be a sexual psychopath in that town or just hasn`t struck there yet.

BROOKS: Well, you know, we were looking, doing some research, and Michelle Sigona, it looks like that there -- according to the Michigan state sex offender registry, there are -- in St. Joseph County, there are over 200 sex offenders. And one of our researchers found today that, apparently, just in the city of Constantine, Michigan, on the United States registry there are 26 registered sex offenders.

SIGONA: Yes, this is definitely something to look into, especially with a lot of cases that we`ve seen recently, especially the one that pops into my mind, the one out of Seattle over the summertime. You know, so that -- you know, definitely, these registered sex offenders will -- you know, investigators are looking into those people.

And also, you mentioned the two suspicious vehicles. Now, I just got off the phone with the police chief within the last 15 to 20 minutes, and what he tells me is that, Look, these were two vehicles, a white van and -- a lighter-colored van -- excuse me -- and also a dark-colored Ford Ranger. And what these vehicles are -- he`s not saying that they`re involved in any way in this investigation, but basically, what he is saying is that he wants parents to be on the lockout for these two particular vehicles because they have had suspicious people in them (ph), and he wants those tips reported to him immediately.

BROOKS: Absolutely. And I also want to stress to our viewers, you know, many times it -- these two vehicles could be involved, but you go back to the D.C. sniper case, they were focusing on one van, and it wound up being an old, beat-up Chevy Caprice. So again, it`s -- if you see any - - if you`ve heard anything, seen anything suspicious, you live in that community, please, please contact the local police.

Let`s go out to the phones. Del from Ohio, thanks for joining us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I wonder what sent the mother to the cemetery.

BROOKS: That`s a good question. Michelle Sigona?

SIGONA: ... asked the police chief that tonight, and what he said was, you know, at that particular time, it had been hours since her daughter was gone, and they were looking everywhere at that point. They were not ruling anything out. So all the common areas had been searched. That`s why they started going out to places like the cemetery, places that you wouldn`t normally frequent, especially a young child of that age. And that`s when they came across the body together.

BROOKS: Now, how was the body? Was it in good shape? I mean, of course, you know, was it clothed, non-clothed? Do we know any of that?

SIGONA: We don`t. The medical examiner`s office isn`t releasing that kind of information. All they`re saying right now is that, Yes, we have ruled this a homicide, we`re not ready to say how she has been murdered yet.

BROOKS: Back to the phones. Dawn from Michigan. Thanks for joining us, Dawn.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Was the bicycle found with her body, or was it just her body alone?

BROOKS: No, apparently, Dawn, the bicycle was right there, next to the body. Am I right, Corky Emrick?

EMRICK: Yes, it was found right nearby here.

BROOKS: So I want to go to Dr. William Morrone, noted medical examiner and forensic pathologist. Dr. Morrone?

DR. WILLIAM MORRONE, MEDICAL EXAMINER, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Yes?

BROOKS: You know, there`s -- with her there, that scene, that she was fully clothed, we don`t know -- you know, strangulation -- we don`t know this yet. But what would investigators coming up to the scene -- what would they first be looking for?

MORRONE: They`d be looking for signs of struggle, trauma, blood, hair pulled out, abrasions, something like that. And that captured in scene photography, the crime scene matched to autopsy results are going to be what give them their clues.

BROOKS: Now, if she was involved in a struggle with someone, can you get fingerprints off of someone`s body, off the skin?

MORRONE: Yes, you can, and it`s actually easier to get them off of a deceased person than off of an alive person because...

BROOKS: And why`s that?

MORRONE: It`s a technique called fuming (ph), and you use cyanide gas to bring the prints out. And if somebody`s alive, this is a toxic substance.

BROOKS: Very interesting. Now, would they also be looking for any forensic evidence on the bicycle at all?

MORRONE: Trace evidence. Obviously, somebody had to move her and the bicycle. We don`t know if this scene is a primary crime scene or a secondary crime scene and whether or not this is the death scene or she was moved.

BROOKS: Very interesting. And also, you know, as a former evidence response technician with the FBI, I can tell you one of the other things they`ll also be looking for are fingerprints.

Joining us is a very special guest from Constantine, Minnesota (SIC), is Holly Curtis. She is the St. Joseph County prosecutor. Thanks for joining us.

HOLLY CURTIS, ST. JOSEPH COUNTY PROSECUTOR: Thank you very much. It`s actually Michigan.

BROOKS: And what did I say, Minnesota? Michigan. Yes, I`m sorry.

CURTIS: That`s OK.

BROOKS: Yes. So what do you all have? Are there -- is there any evidence or any clues at all in this particular case?

CURTIS: We are gathering evidence. We`ve had evidence techs out at the cemetery, and we`re doing our best to follow up leads in the investigation. It is very hard, of course. We can`t really disclose a lot. Anything that`s considered evidence has to be in a court of law. So yes, we`re doing our best. We`ve gathered some evidence, but I can`t really discuss what that is.

BROOKS: I understand now it`s been ruled a homicide, but do we know manner at all?

CURTIS: Not yet. It has been ruled a homicide. The doctor has said that the cause right now is undetermined. It`s to be determined, I should say.

BROOKS: And how soon do you think that they may be able to make a determination on this?

CURTIS: I`m not sure. I`m hoping that we`ll get a preliminary finding very soon. But even when we do actually get an actual finding, we may not be able to release that to the public.

BROOKS: Now, there were some vehicles mentioned. We talked about this just a few minutes ago. Can you tell us anything more about these vehicles? Have you -- have you washed them out? Have you vetted at all? Or is there -- you just don`t know?

CURTIS: Where we were is we had announced in the initial press release that we were looking for a light-colored older van, as well as we were looking for a dark colored pick-up truck, a Ranger-type style. I think from what I`ve heard recently, we have ruled those vehicles out. We have followed up on those, and they have innocent explanations of why they`d be in the area.

But we did want to make the public aware and we have made them aware through the previous press conference that there have been similar incidents with a light-colored van in our county and in neighboring counties, so that parents should still be on the lookout, but it may not be related to this particular case.

BROOKS: Now, do you think that there is a link between this case and the other cases you were talking about in adjoining counties?

CURTIS: Not that we know of. I mean, initially, we were wondering if that could be the case. But at this point, we`re just wanting parents and school officials to be aware of what`s going on and to pay attention to what`s happening at their schools. But at this point, there`s really nothing to link those incidents with what happened with Jodi.

BROOKS: Now, have there been any incidents such as this or any -- anybody trying to pick up children from schools, from the playgrounds, anything at all during the summertime, you know, and now that school`s back in session, has there been anything at all, any incidents like this that you`re aware of around in Constantine?

CURTIS: Not in Constantine. There had been a light-colored fan, as I had mentioned, spotted near the school or the cemetery.

BROOKS: Right.

CURTIS: But besides that, no, there haven`t been any specific incidents in Constantine. We had one or a couple of them in the Rareridge (ph) area, which is in our county, but not Constantine (INAUDIBLE)

BROOKS: Now, I was -- just before you joined us, I was talking -- today, I went on the Michigan sex offender registry, and there were over 200 registered sex offenders in St. Joseph County. And one of our researchers did some work today and found that there were 26 on the national registry in Constantine alone. Are you looking into these?

CURTIS: Of course, that`s always an issue. The sex offender registry primarily is so we can keep track of previous sex offenders. So you`re right, all of that matters, and it`s important for us to know where they are and what connection they may have to this particular case. But again, there`s been nothing to show that that`s, you know, what we`re looking at.

BROOKS: Right. But it`s something that you definitely, as a former investigator, I know I would want to know where these people were at a particular time, especially the ones that lived in Constantine.

CURTIS: Absolutely.

BROOKS: Let`s uncage the lawyers -- Susan Moss, family attorney, child advocate, joining us here in New York. Jeff Brown, defense attorney from Tampa, Florida. And Sandy Schiff, defense attorney here in New York. Thanks for joining us. Sue Moss, weigh in.

SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: I think one of the keys to this case is interviewing the other children in the neighborhood who were classmates with Jodi and also had similar routines. Maybe they saw something, too. Maybe someone followed them around, as well, getting as much information as (ph) them. Or maybe they knew who would (ph) see Jodi last. She certainly left that friend`s house. The question is, did she meet up with some other children and was that also part of the story? The children, the other children in that town I think is the key to solving this mystery.

BROOKS: Now, that`s a great question. I want to go back to Holly Curtis, St. Joseph County prosecutor. Now, did she have a cell phone? Did she have a computer?

CURTIS: Not that I know of. I think she had limited computer access at home, and I`m not aware of her having a cell phone. The other attorney that you mentioned, you`re right, we think that the youth is going to be very important to solving this case, and the prosecutor here, Douglas Fisher (ph), had made that mention in an earlier press conference, as well.

BROOKS: But she does not have a cell phone, is that correct then?

CURTIS: That is correct.

BROOKS: OK. Because, you know, I was going to maybe someone instant messenger -- using IM and those kind of things.

Jeff Brown, defense attorney from Tampa, Florida, round up the usual suspects?

JEFF BROWN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You can, but you`ve got to be careful that you don`t have what`s called tunnel vision. You know, as a defense lawyer, I love it when law enforcement has that tunnel vision and they only look at either sex offenders or one specific group of people because I`m going to spend hours cross-examining those law enforcement officers on all the people that they didn`t look at or didn`t talk to.

So we got to keep in mind, and I think law enforcement knows this, but if they really want to solve this crime, you can`t have tunnel vision. You have to look at the sex offenders, but you need to look at everybody and everything and never say one person is your suspect.

BROOKS: I have to agree with you on that. I don`t usually agree with defense attorneys, but I do have to agree with you on that.

BROWN: You`re seeing the light, Mike. There`s hope for you.

BROOKS: Thank you.

To tonight`s "Case Alert." A 13-year-old boy the alleged victim of a sexual assault by his own Nebraska teacher, who then takes the boy to Mexico, may soon return to the U.S. Twenty-five-year-old Kelsey Peterson behind bars on federal charges of traveling across state lines to have sex with a minor. The young boy could be eligible for a new visa, helping illegal immigrants who are sex crime victims. The 13-year-old says he will testify against Peterson.

The twins are here, and Nancy has a special message about baby Lucy Elizabeth and baby John David. To check out another yet exciting new message and exclusive video, go right to CNN.com/nancygrace and click on Nancy`s baby log.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ann Dupre (ph) came to the cemetery today where Jodi`s body was found. As the parent of one of Jodi`s friends, Dupre says she was one of the last people to see her alive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They all hang out. They come to my house and they all play together. They got their own little clique of, you know, girls.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dupre says late yesterday afternoon, she remembers Jodi leaving her house on her bike just before 5:00. After dark, Jodi`s mom came looking for her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKS: I`m Mike Brooks, in for Nancy Grace. Thank you for joining us. An 11-year-old Michigan girl disappears into thin air, and then her mother and a reverse police officer find her in a local cemetery just hours later.

I want to go out to Sandy Schiff, defense attorney joining us here in New York. Sandy, if they find this person and it winds up being someone from the community, since it`s such a small community, could they get a fair trial there?

SANDY SCHIFF, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It depends on the voir dire of the jurors and the coverage by the media. Voir dire is intended to find out -- you ask questions, Can you give this person a fair shake? Before you hear any testimony, do you have a preconceived idea? And if in a very small population that you get, No, no, no, no, no, I can`t listen to this case, I know the party, I know the victim, I know something about the case, I made up my mind, then you`d have a good reason to change venue.

BROOKS: I want to go back out to Holly Curtis joining us by phone from Constantine, Michigan. She is the St. Joseph County prosecutor. Now, on the route from her friend`s house where she was last seen and going home, along this route, the cemetery`s somewhere in between. But is there a business district that she would have to go through where there could be any cameras at some of the businesses or ATM machines?

CURTIS: Actually, in the area that she was leaving from, which would have been on Third Street, which ultimately turns into Centerville Road, where she lives, there wouldn`t have really been any businesses. The cemetery is actually located about a half mile from the home, and there is actually businesses in that area. And we have been doing what we can to try to see if there`s any video footage or security footage that we would be able to use or have access to.

BROOKS: I want to go out to Robi Ludwig, noted psychotherapist and author of "Till Death Do Us Part." Robi, quickly, do you think that it`s someone in the community?

ROBI LUDWIG, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: It`s very possible because often, these cases, it`s somebody who`s in the community, who knows where children are, has a sense of where to go and when to go. You know, occasionally, you have somebody wandering around, but it`s just not so common.

BROOKS: To "Case Alert," the search for a missing teen in Gwinnett County, Georgia, 18-year-old Justin Gaines last seen at a local nightclub November 1. Friends say Gaines may have used a fake ID under the name Brad Allen (ph) or Brad Shue (ph) Gaines is 5-11, 210 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair. He was last seen wearing a long-sleeved gray shirt with Abercrombie on the front, blueJeans and flip-flops. Police are also tracking Gaines`s cell phone and surveillance video from that nightclub. If you have any information, call Gwinnett County police at 770-513-5300.

Nancy`s twins are here, and tonight she has a special new message about Lucy Elizabeth and John David. Go to CNN.com/nancygrace and click on Nancy`s baby blog.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They all hang out. They come to my house and they all play together. They`ve got their own little clique of, you know, girls. She was out past her curfew, you know? And you knew something was wrong because that`s not Jodi. She was always, you know, home on time.

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BROOKS: I`m Mike Brooks, in for Nancy Grace. A beautiful 11-year-old girl disappears in a small Michigan town. Her mother and a reserve police officer find her in a cemetery.

I want to go right out to the phones. Keltin from Tennessee, thanks for joining us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Was she sexually assaulted?

BROOKS: That`s a good question. Let`s go back out to Holly Curtis, from the St. County -- the St. Joseph County prosecutor. Sorry. Was she sexually assaulted?

CURTIS: It`s a question that I cannot answer at this time. As much as I would like to, I just absolutely cannot...

BROOKS: And I -- and I understand right now why you cannot -- why you cannot do that.

Let`s go back out to the phones. Tammy from North Carolina. Thanks for joining us, Tammy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, sir. My question is, did this mom let this daughter do this? Was this something out of the norm, or did -- was this something just that she let her do for the first time?

BROOKS: Let`s go back out to Corky Emrick, reporter for "The Sturgis Journal." Corky, is this something that she would do on her -- use her bike all the time around town?

EMRICK: From what I understand, it wasn`t her bike, it was a friend`s. And she had always been very reliable, that if mom said be home at 5:30, you know, she was prompt at home at 5:30.

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BROOKS: Investigators say Drew Peterson is no longer a person of interest in the disappearance of his 23-year-old wife Stacy Peterson, he`s now a suspect. They also now believe that the death of the Bolingbrook police sergeant`s third wife Kathleen Savio, was no accident. It was ruled an accidental drowning in 2004. But now the Will County state`s attorney believes it was stage.

Investigators are now moving to exhume the body of Savio. Meanwhile searchers continue to look for clues in the whereabouts of Stacy Peterson, missing for nearly two weeks.

I`m Mike Brooks in for Nancy Grace. Thank you for joining us. A 23- year-old Stacy Peterson still has not been found. Just vanished, we don`t know where she is. Her husband has now been named a suspect, though. That`s new as of last week. Let`s go out to Chicago, Kathy Chaney, a reporter for the "Chicago Defender." What`s the latest in this case?

KATHY CHANEY, "CHICAGO DEFENDER": They`re going to search the area tomorrow based on new information they have received. That`s the Illinois State Police. Kathleen Savio may be exhumed tomorrow or later next week but they haven`t determined a date yet.

BROOKS: What new information do they have that`s leading to these search areas, do we know?

CHANEY: No the police will not divulge that information to us.

BROOKS: We go out to Michelle Sigona, correspondent for "America`s Most Wanted." Michelle, do we know anything at all, any new information that has led them to this particular area at all?

MICHELLE SIGONA, "AMERICA`S MOST WANTED": I can tell you, Mike, on Saturday night we did air the case on "America`s Most Wanted" of Stacy Peterson. And the viewers responded. They gave us new places for investigators to look, places that have not been searched. So immediately we did pass those tips off to investigators and they patched them of to search teams. Keep in mind, Equusearch is gone, but they will be back later on this week. So the searchers that are out there right now, they are all volunteered. And it`s a large group that`s being headed up by the stepsister, Kerry, who is leading these volunteer searchers throughout the area.

BROOKS: Joining us is a special guest tonight from Chicago, Illinois, Michael Lysac. He is Kathleen Savio who is Drew Peterson`s third wife, it`s Kathleen Savio`s nephew. Thanks for joining us.

MICHAEL LISAK, KATHLEEN SAVIO`S NEPHEW: Thanks for having me.

BROOKS: Michael, how well did you know her?

LISAK: Well, my family was very close, was very close with my aunt. You know, we were very close. We came together a lot more birthdays, Christmases, holidays. My family would go on little vacation trips during the summer with them and, you know, she was a very big part of our life.

BROOKS: How was your family handling this reopening of the investigation?

LISAK: Well, it was hard, I mean it was really hard.

BROOKS: I can`t imagine. I can`t imagine.

LISAK: We`re basically reliving it all over again. All the emotions are coming back. Down, when this all happened at first, it was a shock, of course and we dealt with it, we had to make all the arrangements and we didn`t really have time to sit and think, what`s going on. And as the years have gone by, we have definitely had questions with this Stacy meeting right now, this brings all the emotions bring back up and in a way, it`s a blessing, my family probably thinks it`s a blessing, in a way I feel horrible for Stacy`s family, but this is shedding life on my aunt`s life and death and hopefully some questions that we have had will be answered finally.

BROOKS: Did you know Stacy Peterson?

LISAK: I personally didn`t know her. I have heard many stories about her through my aunt because when my aunt was getting divorced from Drew, she was basically the reason why they were getting a divorce.

BROOKS: So Kathleen knew Stacy?

LISAK: Yes, she did, unfortunately, she probably didn`t want to know her, but she did know her. There was many reasons why my aunt should have divorced Drew, but Stacy was probably something that took her over the edge to finally go through with the divorce.

BROOKS: Now, there was an incident, was there not, where Kathleen and Stacy were both in the car together with Drew, can you tell us about that?

LISAK: Well, this happened probably a year before my aunt was found dead. What happened was I think they were still going through the divorce, and Drew came by my aunt`s house to either pick up the kids or drop them off. I don`t remember what the story was. But either way he came over to the house and went into the house to talk to my aunt and he let it be known that Stacy was in the car waiting. And my aunt was a very opinionated person.

BROOKS: How did she explain Stacy to Kathleen?

LISAK: Well, Drew from what I remember him being all the time, he was a very cocky person, he wasn`t shy of saying what he wanted to say, that`s just his attitude. He didn`t care.

And he basically told her some way or other that she was in the car and my aunt totally was not for the kids being around her at that time. And, you know, she was a very opinionated person like I said so she went outside to tell her, I don`t want you around my kids, get out of here. And while she went outside Stacy was in the car with a video camera already rolling.

BROOKS: Wait a minute. A video camera?

LISAK: A camcorder in the car, basically pointed at my aunt`s door, she came outside and she said what she had to say and I`m sure some words were exchanged and basically this was a setup, this was a setup to see how she would react and Drew being the cop that he is, basically as soon as she went outside and started running after Stacy.

And I saw the video firsthand. My aunt showed me and my mom this. Drew tackled my Aunt Kathleen and pinned her to the ground, put a knee to the back of her head.

BROOKS: What?

LISAK: Yeah, it`s sick. It`s sick. I mean she`s screaming please help me, somebody help me, somebody help me, and Stacy gets out of the car and continues to videotape this while Drew was on the cell phone calling the police department that she assaulted Stacy.

BROOKS: Calling the police to say, hey, come arrest me for assaulting Kathleen?

LISAK: I mean, that`s really what happened. From what I saw on the video firsthand, my aunt never touched Stacy. I mean, she went at her and said some words that I think she had a right to.

BROOKS: I tell you what. That is some behavior that is just unbelievable. We hear now that even some of his own friends are trying to distance themselves from him. Take a listen to what his friend Rick Mimms (ph) had to say.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did he tell you specifically that he had nothing to do with the disappearance of his fourth wife Stacy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he has never stated that to me. He just stated that she ran off with another guy and she found somebody she wanted to be with and called and told him to pick up the car and she took a large amount of money and that`s all he`s ever said to me about it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s getting harder to believe him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because all the evidence is coming out and his peculiar behavior.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is it that gave gives you the great us cause for doubt?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His timeline doesn`t match up with what the neighbors and Cassandra are reporting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKS: That was Drew Peterson`s best friend Rick Mimms on "CBS Early Show." Mimms now says he is troubled by the police sergeant`s recent behavior and this is not the Peterson he knows. I want to go out to Robi Ludwig, psychotherapist and author of "Till Death Do Us Part." What do you think about this behavior we heard from their nephew, that he`s been exhibiting going back years, Robi?

ROBI LUDWIG, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: It sounds like this is a man who was both psychologically abusive and neglectful to his wife and physically abusive and underlying that is probably a paranoia, the feeling that he is actually a victim of all these horrible women in his life that don`t know how to treat him right and now we`re seeing that because he`s talking about the media in the very same way. So this is a man who experiences the world in a very paranoid disruptive way which probably helped him to justify his behavior.

BROOKS: Robi, we see him out in front of his house with his bandanna on and listen to what he said about the media just a short time ago.

OK, we`ll take a look at that just a little bit later, but he basically was calling the media pigs but he`s been in front of the cameras himself.

I want to go out to our attorneys. Sue Moss, family attorney, child advocate Jeff Brown joining us from Tampa, Florida and Sandy Schiff.

Look, Jeff, if you`re his attorney, wouldn`t you be saying wait a minute, pal, get yourself back in the house and shut your mouth?

JEFF BROWN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Absolutely. I just don`t understand why clients feel like they have to talk to the media. I can always say whatever my client wants to be said to the media and the beauty of it is it`s never going to come back to hurt him. But everything that he says could be very well played back in the courtroom. So let your lawyer do the talking and let your lawyers have the comments that need to be made in the media.

And I do think that in this day and age the lawyers do have to get involved because we don`t want people jumping to conclusions and forming the wrong opinions.

BROOKS: But this guy, before all the defense attorneys were saying, oh, well, we can`t call him a suspect, we can`t even call him a person of interest. He`s a suspect now.

BROWN: Yeah. But he shouldn`t be a suspect.

BROOKS: Why shouldn`t he be a subject? Come on?

BROWN: Why would the law enforcement want to have tunnel vision and call him a suspect. They`re better off just saying we`re investigating this case and that we`re looking at everybody, why would you want to let a suspect know that we`re looking at you?

SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Why? Because you`ve got four children and no mommies. You do the math. When you look at the fact, when you look at the third wife`s case, she had a laceration on the back of her head, she had abusive .

BROWN: Why do you have to call him a suspect? Go ahead and treat him as one.

BROOKS: It`s the police who`s calling him a suspect.

MOSS: Because it`s the next step to conviction.

BROWN: It`s not a step towards conviction.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKS: Police Sergeant Drew Peterson has been named a suspect in his wife Stacy`s disappearance and police say the case is now being treated as a potential homicide. The 23-year-old woman has been missing for more than a week. Now the case gained national interest in part because Drew Peterson`s previous wife was found dead in a bathtub. It was his third wife.

A judge has now ordered that her body be exhumed to determine if her death was in fact an accident as a coroner`s jury has ruled.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DREW PETERSON, MURDER SUSPECT: What do you get when you cross the media with a pig. What do you get? You get nothing because there`s some things a pig won`t do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKS: I`m Mike Brooks in for Nancy Grace. That was Drew Peterson and what we were talking about just a minute ago on his comments on the media.

But we see him now in front of the cameras, so what does that make him? We will not get into, but we will leave that up to you. We want to go right now to Dr. William Morrone. Dr. Morrone, when the body is exhumed, they`re saying possibly tomorrow. I know it`s not very, very pleasant and it`s going to be very hard for Michael Lisak, Kathleen Savio`s nephew to talk about this. But it was his third wife. Her death was ruled accidental by drowning.

We see here, this is a tent at the cemetery where they will be exhuming the body very shortly. It`s not very pleasant, but kind of take us through what goes on during exhumation.

DR. WILLIAM MORRONE, MEDICAL EXAMINER: After the permit comes from the court, it goes to the funeral director. The funeral director has to work with the health department and then the health department and the funeral director come back to Queen of Heavens Cemetery to organize the disinterment.

There`s permits, there`s licenses and then they have to dig down and remove the vault which is the opposite of when somebody`s interred. When you dig down it`s so rare to go and get somebody, they don`t really want to disturb it or destroy it. Usually it`s the funeral director`s call to remove the vault and that funeral director in states, I`m not sure what the law is there, their job is to stay with that job body until it`s reinterred. So they become part of this procession.

BROOKS: So it`s basically almost like chain of custody, if you will.

MORRONE: Exactly and the casket has to go to a hearse that`s either going to go to a county hospital or a research center where the re-autopsy. And there`s other procedures in re-autopsy that are done. There`s lateral incisions instead of just the Y cut to check for bruises, trauma. There`s incisions on the back to check the spine and the backbone and then there will be trace element analysis on the laceration on the heads to see if there`s anything retained.

BROOKS: OK, now, we heard that when she was found, she was found in a bathtub, the bathtub was dry so apparently she was there for some time. And she still had wet hair when she was found. How would that be?

MORRONE: The hair retains moisture, but that was also part of the blood soaked air. Some people said I didn`t see any blood. The people on the scene. I`ve sutured scalps and they retained blood and it`s hard to tell.

She has dark hair. There was water in the bath tub and the Illinois State Police did a study on that bathtub so se that there was a faulty drain that the water leaked out. But the question still exists, was it an accident or was it inflicted?

BROOKS: That`s a great question. I want to go to Michelle Sigona, correspondent for "America`s Most Wanted."

Michelle you know what happened during this original inquest into this. It was a coroner`s inquest. Explain a little bit to us about this whole process and one thing that bothers me is the person who testified, the investigator for the Illinois State Police who testified as to the crime scene and also testified to the autopsy. He was not at the crime scene and he wasn`t even at the autopsy.

SIGONA: I tell you, Mike, that bothers me as well. And I read all of these pages of this inquest that I have right here. Basically what this is, it`s sort of like a hearing with six jury members that are put together from the coroner`s office. This is back in 2004. They don`t do that anymore. Now the coroner can decide whether it`s accidental and so on and so forth after the death.

At this particular inquest hearing they had an investigator there who was Special Agent Hardy, and in that particular hearing, also Special Agent Hardy was there along with Kathleen`s sister and he was asked a number of questions that O have highlighted here on my paper. One was that, were you actually at the scene and I`m not going to call it a crime scene because it was ruled accidental. Again, the coroner said it should have been ruled undetermined.

He said no, I was at the scene. And then little ways later in the document that says, oh, did you attend the autopsy, were you there, no didn`t attend the autopsy, wasn`t there. And that`s when he had said that the bathtub, possibly -- she had been sitting for so long, the water had drained and they were like, was her hair wet, he said, yes, her hair was still wet.

BROOKS: Dr. Morrone is that a possibility, she had pruning, could her hair still have been wet?

MORRONE: Yes. And from the autopsy that I saw at that death scene, was time of death and body core temperature. There was no estimation and no measurements.

BROOKS: I find it interesting too, having been an investigator myself, if I had a homicide and I was at the medical examiner`s office, I was there to testify wherever it came to trial. It just doesn`t make any sense to me whatsoever.

I want to go out to Pat Brown, criminal profiler and author of "Killing for Sport." Pat, quickly do you think that they have been following this guy since he`s been named a suspect?

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILE: I`m sure they`ve been keeping a strong eye on him, Mike. But I wanted to mention something about this bathtub incident. The problem is they screwed the whole crime scene up to begin with, didn`t have an investigation. I don`t know what this exhumation is going to prove, even if it`s a homicide, how are they going to link it to Drew Peterson if they never did an investigation that could prove he was there or that there was any other evidence linking him. It doesn`t make sense to me.

BROOKS: Doesn`t make sense to me. I want to go back out to Kathy Chaney, reporter for the "Chicago Defender." Kathy, where is he now and what is he doing? And what is the latest in the search?

CHANEY: He`s at home, he`s not coming out. He`s at home, he`s not coming out. You can see his brother coming in and out of his home. The search is just based on the water areas around the home because we have nice weather here right now and it will get icy soon so they want to take advantage of our nice weather. But right now he`s holed up in his house and he`s not coming out.

BROOKS: Robi Ludwig, what do you think of his behavior lately?

LUDWIG: Didn`t he say when you cross the media with a pig, is he saying he`s a pig? I wonder if he`s just telling us things about himself without even realizing it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKS: I`m Mike Brooks in for Nancy Grace. Twenty-three-year-old Stacy Peterson still missing in Bolingbrook, Illinois. I want to go out to defense attorney Sandy Schiff. Sandy, what would you be telling him now if he were your client?

SANDY SCHIFF, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You can`t program a client, but I would like to try. Be quiet, listen to your attorney and tell me everything you can about the events that preceded her going missing.

BROOKS: Do you think he should take a polygraph?

SCHIFF: No lawyer tells his client to take a polygraph.

BROOKS: But it`s a great investigative tool, you have to admit.

SCHIFF: It`s scientific, it`s unreliable at times and I would never encourage my client to take a polygraph unless my client was the pope.

BROOKS: Nah, it worked for me a number of times. I made some good cases with that. I want to go right out to the phones.

SCHIFF: I`m not an investigator like you.

BROOKS: I want to go right out to the phones. Sharon for Delaware, thank you for joining us.

CALLER: Yes. I have a question that I know they search all the waterways before they freeze up. But are there any landfills in the area? Have they searched anything like that?

BROOKS: Michelle Sigona?

SIGONA: Right now, what they are doing is, I`m not sure specifically if they have searched landfills but they have searched wide areas of land. But right now their focus is only on the water and then they will move back to land if necessary.

BROOKS: Charlotte from New Jersey, thanks for joining us.

CALLER: You tell Nancy Grace that I said congratulations on her twins.

BROOKS: I definitely will.

CALLER: And if you can, try to get those -- It was on the news that he claimed that somebody helped him carry something heavy out of the house.

BROOKS: What do we know about that Kathy Chaney, quickly.

CHANEY: We don`t know any more than that we have heard that and we have not heard a peep about that again.

BROOKS: Tonight let`s stop to remember Army Specialist Nicholas Olson, just 22 from Novato, California. Killed in Iraq, awarded the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, Army Achievement Medal and the National Defense Service Medal. Always wearing a smile, he loved adventure, motorcycles, horseback riding and skiing he leaves behind his parents Paul and Anita, sister Niko, a grieving widow and high school sweetheart Nicole and one- year-old baby girl Melanie.

Nicholas Olson, an America hero.

Thank you at home for being was and remember visit Nancy`s baby blog for videos, photos and messages from Nancy on her newborn twins at cnn.com/nancygrace. See you tomorrow night 8:00 p.m. sharp Eastern, until then stay safe.

END