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Nancy Grace
Sergeant Drew Peterson Tells Media to Go Home
Aired November 19, 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: He makes the media rounds again, denying any involvement in his third wife`s mysterious death or his fourth wife`s disappearance. And now Drew Peterson goes back on the airwaves, but this time, his lawyer does all the talking. With the state`s autopsy results still pending, Peterson`s attorney blasts an independent autopsy ruling the death of Kathleen Savio a homicide.
And tonight: After wife number two comes forward, calling her marriage to Peterson abusive and controlling, wife number one finally speaks out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last time he was on the NBC "Today" show, Drew Peterson answered every question Matt Lauer asked. This time, the former Chicago-area cop let his lawyer do most of the talking. This morning, Drew Peterson once again denied any involvement in his wife`s disappearance. He also hinted that his wife had run off with another man and that she should now come back home. On Saturday, the family of Peterson`s wife, Stacy, held a vigil outside the couple`s home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) Stacy (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: Good evening. I`m Mike Brooks, in for Nancy Grace. His fourth wife is missing and his third wife`s mysterious death is under investigation, and now Drew Peterson is all lawyered up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DREW PETERSON, SUSPECT IN WIFE`S DISAPPEARANCE: It`s mind-boggling. You know, it`s just like people are looking at me under a magnifying glass. And it`s very upsetting. I mean, what I had for breakfast is a big -- is newsworthy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Drew Peterson addresses the media upon arriving home from his second interview in five days on NBC`s "Today" show. The former Bolingbrook police officer is a suspect in the disappearance case of his 23-year-old wife, Stacy, and says he`s tired of all this attention.
PETERSON: Please go home. Thanksgiving`s in the next couple days. Please go home. Please leave me alone. Please don`t get involved in my (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No such antics earlier on national TV, as new legal counsel Joel Brodsky insisted on answering most of Matt Lauer`s questions. This from Brodsky in response to an independent autopsy by Dr. Michael Baden that showed that the death of Peterson`s third wife, Kathleen Savio, was staged to be an accident.
Meanwhile, Peterson`s first wife, Carol Brown, was appearing on ABC`s "Good Morning America" to say the Drew she knew was not capable of murder.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Over the weekend, we heard from the family of his first wife, who said, OK, he was very controlling, he cheated on her, but as for any type of physical or mental violence, that didn`t happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: Good evening. I`m Mike Brooks, in for Nancy Grace. Well, he says he`s tired of all this attention, but we see Drew Peterson back with his mug in front of the camera again. For the latest, let`s go out to Chicago, with Kathy Chaney, reporter for "The Chicago Defender." Kathy, what`s the latest?
KATHY CHANEY, "THE CHICAGO DEFENDER": The latest is he went on the "Today" show again this morning, and he was completely emotionless, barely said anything. But after that was over, he gets home and the local media gets a taste of Drew Peterson again. He had a photo shoot with "People" magazine.
BROOKS: Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait!
(CROSSTALK)
BROOKS: He had a photo shoot with "People" magazine?
CHANEY: Yes, there was a photo crew I believe from "People" magazine waiting at his house, and he took some pictures. I`m not sure when the issue is supposed to hit the newsstands or what the issue is about, but they were there taking pictures of him.
BROOKS: Is he getting paid for this?
CHANEY: I have no idea yet.
BROOKS: Interesting. Let`s take a listen to what he had to say on the "Today" show for the second time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT LAUER, "TODAY": Mr. Peterson, are you upset to learn that she may have been murdered?
JOEL BRODSKY, PETERSON`S ATTORNEY: Go ahead.
PETERSON: Yes, I`m upset to hear something like that said, very much so.
LAUER: Do you maintain that it still was an accident? Do you disagree with Dr. Baden`s findings?
BRODSKY: Well (INAUDIBLE) now -- now you`re asking a fact, and we do disagree with his findings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: That was Drew Peterson making his second appearance on the "Today" show. But this time, Peterson takes the advice of a lawyer while talking about the mysterious death of his third wife.
I want to go right out now to Jon Leiberman, correspondent from "America`s Most Wanted." Jon, thanks for being with us.
JON LEIBERMAN, "AMERICA`S MOST WANTED": Hey, Mike.
BROOKS: Well, you were out there this weekend. Tell me what`s going on out there and the search efforts and what you all are doing right now, too.
LEIBERMAN: Well, first of all, the fact that Drew Peterson is tired of the media? Come on! Posing for a picture spread on the lawn? And this morning, that was a whole media blitz for his attorney. But that`s a whole other -- we`ll talking about that later.
But yes, we were out there this weekend. We launched an aerial search of our own, Mike, because the fact of the matter is there`s really no organized search right now going on for Stacy Peterson. We need to bring Stacy home, so we launched...
BROOKS: Now, Jon, have they stopped searching for her, or is it they just -- maybe they have run out of tips and they`ve run out of any kind of leads whatsoever?
LEIBERMAN: Well, there`s a few different things at play, Mike. Number one, Equusearch went home. They`re the group who was out there for about the first week, doing some searches on the ground. Number two, the family and neighbors have stopped searching over this holiday week. But we wanted to go for a few reasons, Mike. One was to get a lay of the land because we continue to get leads into our crime center here. We wanted to get the lay of the land so that we could see if these tips were indeed good or not.
BROOKS: Now, when you were up -- you were up -- you went up with a friend, a very good friend of his, who we`re going to talk to in just a moment, Rick Mims. Now, Rick was here with us last -- on Friday night, and really gave us a lot of good insight into Drew Peterson and Stacy Peterson`s relationship. But he also apparently used to go flying with him quite a bit. We`re going to talk to him about that. Did you all go along the route where he used to like to go flying?
LEIBERMAN: Great question. We absolutely did. Rick showed us the airport where Drew kept his plane, the route that they would always drive to get to the airport, and perhaps more importantly, the places where Drew used to like to go with Stacy. He was teaching Stacy how to ride a motorcycle. They used to like to hang out along the Illinois River. So obviously, police have been telling us behind the scenes they fear that Stacy is in the water somewhere.
Well, we did an aerial canvas of the Illinois River. And Mike, I do want to give you a little piece of breaking news, as well. We did learn tonight from Illinois State Police that they`ve greatly upped the manpower assigned to this case. They`re now bringing investigators in from all throughout Illinois to aid in this investigation -- not so much the search for Stacy, but in the criminal investigation.
BROOKS: Now, you know, increasing the number of investigators and the state police on this, it strikes me as a little weird they haven`t done this up until now. Why do you think that they`re now assigning more people? Are they getting more leads?
LEIBERMAN: Well, there`s a few things at play here. With all the national coverage, they are getting more leads. We`re getting leads in. But also remember now they have to look into the Kathleen Savio case, as well. This is something that they`re also looking into. So now they have two cases, and they have a lot of guys behind the scenes going through the forensics of Drew`s cars, what they got out of the house, the guns, the toothbrushes, et cetera. But now they`re also canvassing a number of different areas, looking for people who knew Drew. They`re trying to make sense of this timeline that Drew Peterson has given them.
BROOKS: Exactly. And there were apparently some discrepancies in the timeline, and that`s one of the things we were talking to Rick Mims about. But this Illinois River location, have they gone up there and looked around that area yet, or do they plan to?
LEIBERMAN: They have done a little bit of looking around that area, but the problem, Mike, and you know this as an investigator -- I mean, we were over Bolingbrook and then we flew a little bit out. There are so many possible areas to put a body. You`re talking about quarries, you`re talking about waterways, you`re talking about dense brush. So unfortunately, at this point, police have only been able to search a very, very small area based on very specific tips. And that`s why we hope -- we`re airing another segment on this next Saturday night. We hope to get more specific leads in so that the Illinois State Police can have more specifics, as well.
BROOKS: Very interesting. Right now, I want to go out to a very special guest joining us by phone, and that is the person we were just talking about moments ago, Rick Mims, a good friend of Drew Peterson, or maybe a former good friend of Drew Peterson. And he also knew Stacy Peterson very well. Rick thanks for joining us again.
RICK MIMS, FRIEND OF DREW PETERSON`S: How`re you doing?
BROOKS: Good, buddy. You really -- you really gave us a lot of good information on Friday and filled in a lot of the questions that we had. But I want to just go back for some of our viewers who may not have been with us. Tell us about your relationship with Drew Peterson.
MIMS: I`ve known Drew since I was about 13 years old, and I met him when I was stocking a cooler at the local convenience store. And once a few years went down the line, we worked together at a sports bar here in town. He was a hired police officer for security, I was a bar back (ph). And then later on, we worked together at the cable company here in town. We hung out, went out to dinner, did a little drinking.
BROOKS: Now, the bar he owned, was that the bar that he owned with Kathleen Savio?
MIMS: Yes.
BROOKS: It was?
MIMS: No, no. The one we worked at? No, no, no.
BROOKS: OK. OK. So that was before that?
MIMS: Correct.
BROOKS: OK. I got it.
MIMS: That would have been in the late `80s.
BROOKS: Late `80s. Now...
MIMS: Yes, before he owned the other bar.
BROOKS: Now, you know, one of the questions that I had today, Rick -- you know Stacy and you know Drew very well. Drew all of a sudden just decided within the last week or so to retire from the Bolingbrook Police Department after 29 years. Had he ever spoken to you at all about retiring before all this came up?
MIMS: Oh, yes. He was planning on retiring. He only had 10 days left to retire before all this came up.
BROOKS: Only 10 days?
MIMS: Yes.
BROOKS: Interesting. Now, this weekend, there was a vigil held. Were you at the vigil?
MIMS: No, I wasn`t back from New York in time.
BROOKS: But this weekend, though, you went up in the plane and went over the route that you and Drew -- you used to fly with Drew quite a bit?
MIMS: A few times, yes.
BROOKS: And the area that Jon was talking about -- you know, you`re from there. Describe that area to us. Is it a dense -- is it a very, very densely wooded ? Quarries, rivers? What`s along that route that he likes to fly, Rick?
MIMS: There`s the Illinois River, the Fox River, a lot of cornfields with dense, wooded brush, you know, in certain areas. But it`s really a rural area. Lots of -- like (INAUDIBLE) near Star (ph) Rock (ph), there`s a lot of wooded areas, a lot of trails, a lot of bike trails, a lot of quarries. There`s a lot of, you know, 80 to 120-foot deep quarries that are closed down now that are filled with water in this area.
BROOKS: Now, when is the water going to start freezing? And I know you`re right outside of Chicago and it gets extremely cold up there because I used to live in Minnesota for a while, and I know how cold it got there. Now, when does the water start freezing in Chicago this time of the year?
MIMS: Usually about the end of February -- I mean, end of March -- I mean, end of January, first of February, somewhere around there.
BROOKS: I want to go out to the phones. Rebecca from California, thanks for joining us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. Thank you for taking my call.
BROOKS: Sure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is this. I`m having a problem with Drew Peterson saying his wife was cheating on him. First of all, it seems like he kept her on a tight leash. And another point I`d like to make is that wouldn`t there be some kind of a trail, whether it be paper or electronic, if she is cheating, which I doubt?
BROOKS: You know, I want to go out former NYPD deputy inspector Ron Schindel. Ron, the paper trail -- now, we know that they had two search warrants on the house and they got computers, cell phone records. What other kind of things are they going to be -- evidence are they going to be looking at to say, OK, let`s try to put together this timeline? Was there really another man?
RON SCHINDEL, FORMER NYPD DEPUTY INSPECTOR: Well, Mike, a few things they`re going to do, of course, are always electronic searches and paper searches. But nowadays, you can`t drive by a convenience store, you can`t drive by a gas station without going under a CCTV surveillance camera. She must have passed hundreds, if not thousands of CCTV surveillance systems while she was driving within 15 miles of her home. I`m sure investigators are going to start going to these various locations, asking them for the tapes around that date and going over them with a fine-toothed comb.
BROOKS: I want to go back to Jon Leiberman, correspondent for "America`s Most Wanted." Jon, do we have any idea at all -- you know, is law enforcement giving any insight into any kind of evidence that they have or any kind of evidence like Ron was talking about, any kind of, you know, video from stores, that kind of thing?
LEIBERMAN: Well, they`re trying to keep it close to the vest, Mike. What I can tell you is the grand jury is going to reconvene on Wednesday morning. They`re having a morning session this week. And state police has continued to hand over different bits of evidence to this grand jury.
They`re keeping it quiet for several reasons, as you know in law enforcement, but mainly because they`re really, really interested in this timeline that Drew has set out and trying to corroborate or contradict what he initially told investigators because we did confirm that in front of the grand jury, Drew took the 5th Amendment, so he did not, according to our sources, say anything to the grand jury. But police did speak to him in the hours shortly after Stacy had disappeared. So that is really a critical piece right there.
BROOKS: So he took the 5th during the grand jury. That`s amazing.
LEIBERMAN: Our sources have confirmed, yes, that he did indeed take the 5th Amendment when he was called in front of the grand jury about a week ago.
BROOKS: You know, right now, I want to uncage the attorneys. Here in New York, Alex Sanchez, defense attorney, and also Lauren Lake, defense attorney. OK, we`ve heard him again and again on TV. He finally has an attorney. Maybe he got this attorney from his television appeal that he made last week. And now we hear from Jon Leiberman that he took the 5th Amendment in the grand jury. Alex, what does that say to you?
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, the first question I have is how did that information come out? Because grand jury proceedings are supposed to be secret. And so there`s either a police officer or a district attorney or some person that is releasing this information that they`re not supposed to be doing. And as far as I`m concerned, that is already impairing the case that the prosecution is trying to build at this point.
BROOKS: Now Lauren, he`s lawyered up now. What does that say to you? And you know, does he -- do you think he needs an attorney right now?
LAUREN LAKE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Absolutely. He has to have an attorney right now, and he`s doing the right thing. What I find to be the wrong thing is that the defense attorney and Mr. Peterson needs to take a page from the state. They say the state is keeping the case on the low. They need to be a little bit more on the low.
All of these appearances and playing up to the camera and photo shoots, I`m not liking it at all. And what I really don`t like about it is that Mr. Peterson`s not coming off as a very lovable character. And so the more we get to know him, unfortunately, the more negative commentary we have about his personality and the way he seems to come across. I don`t like that at all from a defense perspective.
BROOKS: Alex, do you agree with that? He`s not presenting himself in the best light?
SANCHEZ: No, he has buried himself, and I don`t know if he can ever get himself out of this hole. Going on TV, using very unfortunate phrases, for example, when he said that, you know, every month, his wife would ask for a divorce when she was having her period. I mean, this is very offensive statements. How could he ever recover from this? The only thing he can do at this point is simply be quiet, not go on the media, and you know, release information through his lawyer that he`s very concerned about the whereabouts of his wife.
LAKE: And Mike, another line -- I hate (ph) to go off of Alex -- is the one that said, This is hilarious. What`s hilarious? What is hilarious about your wife missing? This isn`t how I planned to spend my retirement. Mr. Peterson, go somewhere and sit down!
BROOKS: Well, you know, this is one of the first times I`m going to have to agree with both of you joining us tonight. I think he needs to just go back in his house, shut his mouth. And his attorney -- you know, his attorney needs to get a publicist or something. But look, I don`t think he`s receiving really good advice. Not at all.
SANCHEZ: No, I have a serious doubt whether or not his attorney is probably advising him. This is a fellow who does not have media experience. He doesn`t know what it`s like to speak on television and to be interviewed by reporters. And instead, he`s going on the media and just answering more and more questions. All he`s essentially doing is denying it. He needs to stop.
BROOKS: And on the "Today" show, they`d asked him a question, he looked to his attorney, like, Can I answer this?
We`re going to talk more about that, but tonight`s "Case Alert." Detroit tops the list of America`s most dangerous cities. The 14th annual crime rankings are based on the FBI`s crime statistics and takes a look at rape -- homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and car theft. Also making the most dangerous list, St. Louis, Flint, Michigan, and Oakland, California. Now, the safest cities, Clarkstown, New York, and Mission Viejo, California.
And tonight, head over to Nancy`s baby blog for messages about the twins, plus video and photos. Go to CNN.com/nancygrace.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Former Chicago cop Drew Peterson back on national TV this morning. Now, it`s been three weeks since his wife Stacy disappeared, and while her family and friends wait for answers, suspicion is swirling around her husband. He is a suspect in her disappearance but denies any involvement. And then, of course, last week, we saw the body of his previous wife, his third wife exhumed, along with new questions about her death. It had initially been ruled an accident. The new autopsy results won`t be out for a few days, but his third wife`s family did hire an independent pathologist who concluded Kathleen Savio was murdered.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: I`m Mike Brooks, in for Nancy Grace. Well, Drew Peterson is again saying he wants the media to leave him alone. He doesn`t want them camped out side of his house anymore. He wants them to go away. But it seems like he hasn`t met a camera that he hasn`t fell in love with. He was back on the "Today" show for the second time. Let`s take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAUER: Are you worried about her, Mr. Peterson?
PETERSON: Of course. You know, your wife leaves you and you have kids at home, you`re very much worried about her.
LAUER: Although you think she is with another man, are you worried that she may never come back to be a mother to these children?
PETERSON: I don`t know. I have no idea.
LAUER: I said are you worried?
PETERSON: This is something that -- am I worried?
LAUER: Are you worried that she may never come back to be a mother to your children?
PETERSON: Yes, I am. Kids need a mom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: That was video of Drew Peterson on the "Today" show. Peterson talks about the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy, and the impact it will have on their kids.
Right now, I want to go out to Robi Ludwig, psychotherapist and author of "Till Death Do Us Part." Robi, you`ve seen a number of his appearances now. Now the second time on the "Today" show. As a psychotherapist, what do you think of his body language and what he has to say and just his whole demeanor?
ROBI LUDWIG, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: He has a very, very bizarre demeanor. He is so obviously unempathetic. And also, he sounds a little annoyed and angry, like, Why are you asking me all of these questions? My wife left me.
But what I really do believe is that he thinks his wife did leave him, and that`s one of the things that probably prompted his aggressiveness towards her. So I think in his mind, he feels that she left him, he`s unloved, and therefore, that`s what happened. He`s somehow justified.
Of course, I don`t want to say that he`s guilty, but you know, this is a very dangerous person, somebody who`s angry, feels left, and that`s very often what happens with controlling husbands. They very often get violent when they feel that they are losing their wife. And instead of lose them, they take the ultimate in control and they basically eliminate their wives.
BROOKS: Well, you know, when we heard from wife number two, Vicki Connolly, just last weekend, she was saying very, very controlling, very abusive. But we`ve now heard from wife number one, and we`re going to talk about that in just one second.
But I want to go out to the lines. Ellen from New Jersey, thanks for joining us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. Thanks for taking my call. Can they get a search warrant and go in with the cadaver dogs into his house?
BROOKS: Kathy Chaney, reporter from "The Chicago Defender," did they go into his house? I mean, I know early on, we saw that there were some dogs there. Did they go into the house with any cadaver dogs, do we know?
CHANEY: I believe they went around the house, but not inside the house. But they did come and execute two search warrants. And he was cooperative with the first.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETERSON: It`s mind-boggling. You know, it`s just like people are looking at me under the magnifying glass, and it`s very upsetting. I mean, what I had for breakfast is a big -- is newsworthy. So it`s crazy. Please go home. Thanksgiving is the next couple days. Please go home. Please leave me alone. Please don`t get involved in my (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: I`m Mike Brooks, in for Nancy Grace. Well, wife number four still missing, wife number three exhumed last week. We`ve have heard from wife number two and now from wife number one.
I want to go right out to Jon Leiberman, correspondent for "America`s Most Wanted." Jon, what do we know about Carol Brown?
LEIBERMAN: They were high school sweethearts. They were married for a short time. Carol did come out today on "Good Morning America" and say that Drew was never abusive her, although he did exhibit some signs of controlling behavior.
BROOKS: I want to go back out to Rick Mims, friend of Drew Peterson. Rick, would Stacy Peterson have left her kids and just got up and left with another man?
MIMS: I don`t believe so.
BROOKS: And you know, you`ve known her for a long, long time. What kind of person is she?
MIMS: She`s a great person. She`s the type of person that walks in the room and lights the room up. She`s funny. You never know what`s going to come out of her mouth. She`s just a great, great mother and a good friend.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I asked him point blank, I said, do you want Stacy back? And he told me, it`s questionable if I want Stacy back. It would take a lot of talking for that to happen. And in terms of the media coverage, I mean, come on, he`s eating it up. He was on the lawn doing a photo shoot for People magazine. Your fourth wife is missing, your third wife`s death may very well be a homicide, and you`re out front doing photo shoots for People magazine? Come on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: I`m Mike Brooks in for Nancy Grace. Thanks for being with us. Well, wife number four, Stacy, is still missing, wife number three has just had two autopsies performed on her exhumed body. Want to go out to Jon Leiberman of "America`s Most Wanted."
Jon, talk about the (INAUDIBLE) -- the autopsies. How did that all go down?
JON LEIBERMAN, "AMERICA`S MOST WANTED": Well, here is what happened. Dr. Michael Baden, the renowned pathologist, was asked by the Savio family to come in and do an autopsy. There was already going to be another independent autopsy done as well. Dr. Baden is a paid consultant for FOX News, OK.
But today, Drew Peterson`s attorney came out and said, you know what, this was all done for entertainment, bringing Baden in. He was paid by FOX. But Peterson`s attorney`s real gripe with the autopsy was that he believed that Dr. Baden already had decided that it was going to be a homicide. Even before he got into the room to do an autopsy, he said that he already had this predisposed notion that it was going to be a homicide.
But, Mike, the problem there is, if you take that rationale, then that would mean that this prosecutor can`t try this case because when the prosecutor had the body exhumed, they basically said, we`re afraid this was a homicide. That`s why they exhumed the body.
BROOKS: Exactly. I mean, and that`s the reason. In the exhumation order, they talk about that. And they talk about the staging. I want to go out to Dr. Marty Makary, he`s a physician and professor of public health at Johns Hopkins.
Thanks for being with us, Doctor.
DR. MARTY MAKARY, JOHNS HOPKINS: Great, thanks.
BROOKS: Well, OK. We have got one autopsy, we`ve got another autopsy, an independent autopsy by Kathleen Savio`s family. What do you make of this?
MAKARY: Well, Michael Baden is one of the most highly respected physicians in America. I mean, criticizing him is like criticizing the pope for stealing something. His credentials are impeccable. Chief medical examiner for New York City. I mean, his autopsy results, if you look at them carefully, he says that the findings were accurate from the previous autopsy but the conclusion was a mistake.
BROOKS: Now was it normal -- is it normal at all, number one, to have a body exhumed and then to have two autopsies performed on the body?
MAKARY: It`s highly unusual to have a situation like that. But this is a highly unusual situation. You`ve got a law enforcement official`s family member here involved for more than one wife and that is an unusual circumstance.
He has been in law enforcement for 29 years. There can be pressure on a local medical examiner to have a certain conclusion. But look at his reaction. He has got an inappropriate, flat affect. That`s not right. We see people in the hospital lose family members all the time and they tend to remember the best attributes of their family member, even if they didn`t get along and hated each other.
BROOKS: I want to go out to Robi Ludwig. Just what he was saying, his flat affect. Robi, you know, that is just not normal?
ROBI LUDWING, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: No, it`s not. And so that`s the problem with Drew Peterson presenting himself in front of the media. First of all, it seems that he likes the attention, that he needs the attention and he doesn`t come -- he is not a good actor. He doesn`t come off as somebody really cares that his wife is missing. It sounds like he`s angry with her.
And you know, you`ve got to say, you know, if you look at Scott Peterson, of course, and we all remember that case, at least Scott Peterson came off as somewhat likable. Yes, he did seem guilty, but there was more of a likable affect. So especially when you look at Drew Peterson compared to Scott Peterson, it`s quite astonishing.
BROOKS: It really is. Let`s go back out to the lines. Jewel from Michigan, thanks for being with us.
CALLER: Hi. Good evening. Your panel already has answered one of my questions about, do I think he`s really enjoying the media attention. He complains about he`s losing weight and everything, but when it comes down to it, he`s in front of the cameras every other day.
My second question was, what does your panel think about his first wife`s denial that, OK, he was a little jealous, but he really wasn`t abusive. Does the panel think that she was scared of him?
BROOKS: Robi Ludwig.
LUDWIG: I mean, that`s a one possibility, number one, she could be scared of him, number two, he could have gotten progressively worse over time. So what happens is if you don`t get better, you can get worse. So it`s very possible with Drew Peterson, the more controlling and abusive he got, that in some ways somehow that helped him feel stronger and more in control and so he just did it and it just got out of control.
BROOKS: Carol Brown, wife number one, was on "Good Morning America" today. Let`s have a listen to what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIANE SAWYER, HOST, "GOOD MORNING AMERICA": Were there any signs of controlling behavior, the things that you`re hearing about now?
CAROL BROWN, 1ST WIFE OF DREW PETERSON: No, there really wasn`t. You know, in the beginning, we just had a normal relationship.
SAWYER: And why did the marriage end?
BROWN: Apparently we somewhat grew apart and then one day I did discover that he was having an affair.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: That was video of Drew Peterson`s first wife on "Good Morning America." Carol Brown says she`s stunned to learn about allegations that Peterson may have been abusive and controlling during his other marriages. Want to go back out to Jon Leiberman from "America`s Most Wanted."
Jon, what do we know and were you able to talk to Carol Brown at all while you have been out there?
LEIBERMAN: No, we visited her house and we were not able to talk to her. We have talked to members of Vicki Connelly`s family as well. They insist that Drew Peterson was very threatening toward his second wife.
You know what is interesting, too, Mike, is that Drew also has a very small circle of friends around him who are still buying his story, and just to be fair to Drew, they believe the goods that Drew is selling right now. So I did want to point that out. He does have a couple loyal friends who say, you know what? Show me some evidence. Drew hasn`t had anything shown against him, according to them. And they need to see something before they`ll come out and say -- you know, until they`ll condemn Drew.
BROOKS: I want to go back out to Rick Mims, friend of Drew Peterson.
Rick, you were supporting him from the very beginning, when was that it you decided, wait a minute, I can`t support this guy anymore?
RICK MIMS, FRIEND OF DREW PETERSON: When the timelines that he was giving me about when Stacy left -- he woke up at 11:00 Sunday morning, he said Stacy was already gone. There`s conflicting reports because both cars were in the driveway from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
And that has been stated by several different people in the neighborhood, including Sharon (ph), who was already suspicious watching the house that day because of what Stacy had told her a few days before that. And when I asked him about that, he told me that Sharon was lying about the timelines.
And right then, you know, kind of put a doubt in my mind because I`ve got a pretty good feeling about Sharon and Sharon doesn`t lie.
BROOKS: Interesting, very interesting, especially you being that close to Drew and being there in Bolingbrook, it`s just -- the timeline, you`re right, it doesn`t seem like it really adds up.
I want to go back out to the attorneys, Alex Sanchez joining us here in New York, noted defense attorney, also Lauren Lake, another noted defense attorney here in New York City.
Do you think the prosecution will be interested in wife number one, since it`s -- her story is totally different from what we heard from wife number two? And would you think that they would be called to come in to testify?
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, you know, Mike, this is one of the bright spots in Drew Peterson`s defense at the present time, because wife number one, Carol Brown, she is essentially a character witness for Drew Peterson because she`s not saying anything that is hurtful towards him. She`s basically saying he was a decent guy but the marriage dissolved because they both went their separate ways. So actually she`s supporting him in that sense at this time.
BROOKS: Jaime from New Mexico, thanks for joining us.
CALLER: Hi, Mike. Thanks for taking my call. I`ve been thinking about something that has been bothering me. I have a son, and if my ex- husband took off with another woman and I thought he left me, I would still plead to the media for him to contact my son. This man has been telling his children that their mother is on vacation. You know, how -- I don`t understand how a person cannot be concerned about their children and how are the older children taking this?
BROOKS: That`s a great question. Jon Leiberman, how are the older children taking this? You were just out there.
LEIBERMAN: Well, this is hard for the entire family. And let me give you a sense, when I spoke to Drew Peterson, he actually told me he was angry with Stacy for creating the media circus. Look, his two older kids - - and remember he has six kids and one stepchild, that`s important to know, he has seven...
BROOKS: And we found out his oldest son -- one of his older sons is also a police officer.
LEIBERMAN: And his wife is a cop as well.
BROOKS: Interesting.
LEIBERMAN: The son`s wife is a cop as well. Yes, so there`s law enforcement in the family. But yes, six kids, one stepchild and the two older ones that are in the picture right now have been questioned by police. So of course this isn`t easy for any of them. Stacy`s kids are the two youngest ones, and, I mean, come on, it has got to be hard for them to go to bed every night and not have their mom.
BROOKS: Absolutely. It really is. Well, we`re going to be talking more about this, but when we come back, HEADLINE NEWS` Glenn Beck joins us live and takes your calls. His new book, "An Inconvenient Book."
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GLENN BECK, HOST, "GLENN BECK": I am a conservative, so when you hear me talk about anything from politics to religion, to yes, Islamic extremists, you have to understand that I express my opinions fully no matter what anybody else thinks.
Here`s the point tonight, if we withdraw from Iraq right now, it will be our country`s biggest moral scar since the Civil War.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The reason why we`re seeing these catastrophic fires all across the West, they have increased fourfold since the 1980s, is global warming.
BECK: Really, 0.7 degrees Celsius has caused our forest fires to burn?
A U.S. attorney who flew from Florida all the way to Michigan to have sex with a 5-year-old, what a waste of skin this guy is, I`ve got to tell you, if we can reduce our carbon footprint by snuffing this guy out, I`m all for Al Gore.
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BROOKS: I`m Mike Brooks in for Nancy Grace. From stopping child predators to unfit parents to global warming, HEADLINE NEWS` Glenn Beck is with us tonight and he has a lot to say about these issues and so much more, it`s all part of his new book "An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World`s Biggest Problems."
Thanks for joining us.
(CROSSTALK)
BECK: I stand by that last one too. I`ll so snuff him out like that -- no, I mean, to save the planet, seriously.
BROOKS: That`s what you`re here for, to save the planet.
BECK: That`s all I care about.
BROOKS: Well, one of the things I want to talk about, one of the things that I think we talk about here a lot on NANCY GRACE, and one of the things that you -- one of your hot button the topics, child predators.
BECK: You know, I`m a dad. I have four children. I came home and out on my kitchen counter this Friday was a Xerox of a FBI report of a child predator who is now living about a mile from my house. Now we have taken his photo and we have put it up by the back door so every time we go in and out of the car, we see that man`s photo.
What kind of world do we live in, what kind of world do we live in that allows somebody to molest a child, change the course of that child`s life forever, and not put that man away forever, not put that woman away forever?
BROOKS: I mean, it`s just -- one of the biggest offenders I think of, and -- comes to mind and is in your book, John Couey, Jessica Lunsford.
BECK: John Couey, we had like 25 times we could have put this guy away. He was in jail for asking a little girl to jump up on the trampoline with him, jumping up and down, then coming over and exposing himself, having her sit on the lap, jump up and down on his lap. Mom finally comes out. He`s arrested, he gets five years, he serves two. Then after 20 other arrests, he finally kills.
When is the -- you know, we say in this country that we`re serious about child molesters. We`re not serious about child molesters. Look how we`re sexualizing every single woman. If you put glamour magazines in your house, you`re a fool.
BROOKS: Now you don`t allow those magazines in your house?
BECK: Absolutely not. What do you think that is going to do to my daughter? Just look at the cover. This is Elle magazine. "Money, Sex, Fame: How to Get What You Want." "Keira Knightley on Style and the Nude Scene Everyone`s Talking About," "Hair: Is Yours Mousey?" I mean, it`s one right after another all about sex, sexualizing our children.
And then we say, we`re serious about child predators. And yet, we`re allowing our kids to dress like, as the book, calls "prostitots."
BROOKS: Well, you know, and sometimes, I know the kids, they leave the house. You know, mom and dad, they put their clothes in their backpack, they leave, and they look all nice, but they get to school and they change their clothes.
BECK: But you know what? My sister did that, she was the bad seed in the family, believe it or not. You would think I was. But she would do that, she would bring the skirt up and yadda, yadda, yadda. That`s going to happen. But what is happening now, I went into a -- I don`t want to say the name of the national chain, but let`s just say it rimes with "the crap."
And I went with my daughter, tried to buy her a pair of jeans. The 20-year-old girl behind the counter is trying to tell me -- I said, you got anything with a waist that -- I don`t know, comes up to here instead of something where I can see my daughter`s pubic bones? This 20-something said, she`s fine in that. I said, excuse me, you work at "the crap." This is my daughter. If you don`t have jeans then we`re shopping someplace else.
Try to shop for your daughter and get something that doesn`t expose -- I mean, my wife and I were just talking about this. We were in, I don`t know, some store here in New York the other day. Juicy, I remember when that first came out and that was on the back of your butt. I remember the first time I saw that I thought, who would allow their daughter to wear "juicy" on their butt? What is wrong with people?
BROOKS: Well, you know, we had another chain that they were -- they came under fire because they said that their catalog -- again appealing to kids like yours, and they came under fire because their catalog was too racy.
BECK: You know what? I know which one you`re talking about, and I don`t want to give advertising to them because they intentionally do that because they know that "the crap" spends so much money on advertising, they figure, let`s not spend that money, let`s do it through guerrilla marketing, let`s be so offensive that we`ll draw people in.
It -- I mean, when are we going to start caring about our children and doing right and wrong? Now marketing in this way to our children. And when somebody molests one of our children, one strike, you`re out, done. No more.
BROOKS: There`s no rehabilitation for these people?
BECK: None.
BROOKS: None whatsoever?
BECK: None, none at all.
BROOKS: And I -- you know, being former law enforcement, I can tell you, there is -- we`ll talk more about that. But let`s go to the lines. Greg from Minnesota, thanks for being with us.
CALLER: Hey, how are you doing?
BROOKS: Good, thanks.
CALLER: Glenn, I`m curious because I don`t think anybody in their right mind disagrees with you. Where do we go? How do we get a hold of these people? I`m from Minnesota, I know who my legislators are. But I don`t know how to get a hold of them, I don`t know how to make their phone ring off the hook.
BECK: Well, you dial the phone. I mean, I don`t -- I mean, if you don`t know how to get a hold of them, you need to call them. You know what? I personally think the biggest change -- you know, I was just talking to somebody just the other day about I was so hopeless on our country about a year ago.
And it dawned on me -- because I was thinking, how do we get out of this? How do we solve these problems? Where are our founding fathers on this? They were so genius and saw so far ahead, where is the answer in the Constitution?
It`s easy, the first three words. It`s not like James Madison was writing it and going, oh crap, the font is to big, I should make it smaller. "We the people" is the answer. And you know what? If you`re in Minnesota, you find out the number, you call them.
Now I don`t believe that they`re actually going to listen to you anymore. I don`t trust either party. What you need to do is change yourself, change your family, protect your family, and do the right things yourself and you`ll change the whole country.
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BROOKS: I`m Mike Brooks in for Nancy Grace. Joining me here on set is Glenn Beck, host of "Glenn Beck" live on CNN HEADLINE NEWS and author of the new book "An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World`s Biggest Problems."
Hey, you know, and one of the biggest problems we`re talking about right now is child predators, and I wish we had a lot more time to talk about that, but I want to touch on just a couple of things real quick.
Megan`s Law, a waste of time or do you think it has any teeth whatsoever?
BECK: You know, I mean, I just go back to, what are we doing? What are we doing? Let`s stop with the small, little steps. Good God almighty, our children are at stake. Let`s stop with the small steps, one strike you`re out. Done.
BROOK: Period?
BECK: We have put you away. Done. And I don`t know the reasonable person that disagrees with that. Now, look, you could say, oh, well, you know, some people, they might change. Well, they might change.
BROOKS: But these people are not going to change.
BECK: Even if they might change, I`m not going to take the risk. You know, it`s amazing to me that, you know, Jesus is known as this very peaceful man. The one thing that Jesus said is, you harm a child, you`re going to wish that you had a millstone around your neck, I`m going to throw you in the bottom of the sea.
Now, of course, I`m butchering the lord Jesus Christ`s words, so no offense there. But that`s pretty much the idea. And I feel the same way, you harm a child, I`m going to be held responsible eternally for making sure that I protect children and so are you and so is everybody else. If there`s a doubt, I leave you out. I`m sorry, I`m not going to give you another chance.
BROOKS: Now we don`t have enough time. But unfit parenting, we talked about that. U.S. Department of Parenting, you want?
BECK: Yes.
BROOKS: A cabinet position.
BECK: Yes, yes, yes, I do. Yes, I do. Not really, I`m not for bigger government, but this one you might convince me of. I`m willing to carry a badge.
BROOKS: Glenn, I wish we had more time. Thank you so much, buddy, for being with us.
Tonight let`s stop to remember Army Specialist David Watson, just 29, from Newport, Arkansas, a combat medic awarded the National Defense Service Medal and the Army Service Ribbon, with a smile that lit up a room, he never met a stranger. A family man. He loved showering his mother with flowers and gifts. He leaves behind mom Linda (ph), sister Crystal (ph), widow Lisa (ph), and two sons. David Watson, an American hero.
Thank you to all our guests and thank you to you at home for being with us. Remember, go to Nancy`s baby blog at cnn.com/nancygrace. See you tomorrow night, 8:00 p.m. sharp. Until then, stay safe.
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