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Nancy Grace
Drew Peterson Complains Again About Media in Interview
Aired December 07, 2007 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, GUEST HOST: Tonight: He`s a suspect in his fourth wife`s disappearance, with the clock ticking on the second autopsy results in his third wife`s mysterious bathtub death, Drew Peterson back at it again, talking with the very same media he says won`t leave him alone. Peterson reportedly claims the investigation is interfering with -- get this -- his love life and getting possible dates.
And the bombshell voice-mail from Stacy Peterson to her dad now on the family`s Web site, Findstacypeterson.com. Does it prove the young mom had no plans of running off with another man, as her suspect husband claims? We will play the audio and hear Stacy`s voice.
Plus, stunning new details tonight about those multiple search warrants on Drew Peterson`s home and the family cars.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More unusual behavior from a former police sergeant who is now a suspect in his wife`s disappearance, this time Drew Peterson telling a reporter the case is going to affect his ability to get another date. It`s not the first time Peterson`s words and actions have raised an eyebrow or two.
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Wednesday, October 17, at 12:37 PM.
STACY PETERSON: Hey, Dad, it`s me, Stacy. I just wanted to call you and tell you I love you. I also wanted to give you my new phone number. OK, love you. Bye.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Also tonight, the mystery surrounding a beautiful and successful young pregnant mom, a well-known attorney and former city councilwoman who goes missing in Toledo, Ohio, Karyn McConnell-Hancock on her way to a downtown juvenile courthouse when she vanishes into thin air. Six months pregnant, she`s last seen leaving her office wearing a black- and-white checkered hat and a long khaki coat, her cell phone shut off while her vehicle is nowhere to be found. What happened to Karyn McConnell-Hancock?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The 35-year-old lawyer is six months pregnant. According to a Toledo police report, Karyn McConnell-Hancock was last seen at her law office around 9:00 AM yesterday before heading to a court case at the juvenile detention center. She was reported missing by her husband last night. The report says McConnell-Hancock`s husband got a call from the day care saying their child had not been picked up. The report says Lawrence Hancock had repeatedly tried to reach his wife, but her cell phone was shut off. It also says Mr. Hancock checked Karyn`s law office, but she wasn`t there, and neither was her car. He told police his wife has a client that has been aggressive towards her lately and she was getting suspicious phone calls.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell, in for Nancy Grace. First tonight, a voice-mail from missing mom Stacy Peterson just before she disappears. And her husband, suspect Drew Peterson, talks to the media again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Drew Peterson, the suspect in his wife`s still unsolved disappearance, speaking out again, this time griping he`s not going to be able to get another date, just the latest in a string of bizarre behavior and statements from the former police sergeant. He actually gave an interview to "The Chicago Tribune" yesterday. Apparently, it`s not easy being Drew Peterson. He told them, quote, "I`d rather be a celebrity for something good" and says, "It`s, like, they have this vigil for Stacy, and the next thing you know, there`s a pinata with my face on it." Well, that actually did happen. Someone put his picture on a pinata at a prayer vigil for his missing wife.
Meantime, of his former colleagues, Peterson says, "All these policemen who were my friends and I would have jumped in front of a bullet for don`t even talk to me. And I`m going from cop to suspect." Peterson said to the reporter, "It`s very ugly being on the other side."
Now, Drew Peterson maintains still that his wife is not missing. He believes she ran off with another man.
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Wednesday, October 17, at 12:37 PM.
STACY PETERSON: Hey, Dad, it`s me, Stacy. I just wanted to call you and tell you I love you. I also wanted to give you my new phone number. OK, love you. Bye.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell, in tonight for Nancy Grace. You`ve just heard what could be the last voice-mail message from Stacy Peterson on her family`s Web site, Findstacypeterson.com. Also tonight, more outrageous comments from husband suspect Drew Peterson about, of all things, dating, all this as the latest search warrant drops some bombshell clues about where this investigation is headed.
For more on all of this, let`s go straight out to investigative reporter Eben Brown. Eben, what is the very latest?
EBEN BROWN, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Well, the very latest is that Mr. Peterson seems to be more concerned that all this attention regarding the disappearance of his current wife and the death of his previous wife may -- you know, may not let him get another date in the future, which leads people to believe that maybe he`s not planning to ever really see his current wife again, as he maintains she left him for another man.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, very good psychological analysis there, Eben. Where to begin? So many developments. I think we should start by listening to that voice-mail one more time. Everybody, put on your detective caps and listen to this message from Stacy Peterson to her dad.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Wednesday, October 17, at 12:37 PM.
STACY PETERSON: Hey, Dad, it`s me, Stacy. I just wanted to call you and tell you I love you. I also wanted to give you my new phone number. OK, love you. Bye.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That was what could be the last voice-mail message from Stacy Peterson, again, posted on her family`s Web site, Findstacypeterson.com.
Let`s bring the lawyers in right from the top. We are very happy to have with us tonight Joel Brodsky, who is Drew Peterson`s attorney. We have invited him on the NANCY GRACE show repeatedly, and we`re very happy that he accepted the invitation. As well as Christine Grillo, prosecutor who specializes in domestic violence, and our old friend Richard Herman, defense attorney.
Christine let`s start with you, analyze away on this voice-mail!
CHRISTINE GRILLO, PROSECUTOR: Well, the voice-mail to me sounds as if she`s calling her dad. She`s sounding upbeat. And from the phone call, she left -- she just called him to give her (SIC) her new phone number because you know you call from cell phone to cell phone, your cell phone number gets recorded then. She sounds happy. She sounds positive. My analysis on this, she wasn`t going to be disappearing or didn`t have any plans to disappear.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But Richard Herman, defense attorney, by the same token, she doesn`t sound scared, and according to published reports, she has expressed fear for her safety at this point.
RICHARD HERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Jane, that voice-mail means nothing to me. It sheds no light on this case whatsoever.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Well, Joel Brodsky, Drew Peterson`s attorney, what do you think?
JOEL BRODSKY, DREW PETERSON`S ATTORNEY: Oh, I`m sure that voice-mail is hard on the family, for Stacy`s family. It`s very hard, you know, to imagine what they`re going through. But they`re right, as evidentiary value or what it means, it`s meaningless. People, you know, might sound upbeat to one person and be depressed to another. It really has no evidentiary value whatsoever.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And while we have you right there, I`ve got to ask you about some of your client`s latest comments, which are getting so much play. And I have to just recap them. He says, "I`m a celebrity now. I`d rather be a celebrity for good," but he considers himself a celebrity. He says, "I`m not going to get another date." And he also said at one point, "Despite what you may have heard, I`m not going to be on the cover of `Playgirl.`"
What is he thinking to be making these comments? Because he`s upset that his former cop buddies aren`t talking to him. You think?
BRODSKY: Well, I think, to some extent, he`s playing with the media. I mean, that`s -- Drew`s personality is -- he`s messing with you guys. You know, every time he goes to the mail, to take his mail out, you know, there`s 15 cameras on him. And he just -- he`s just messing with you. That`s the long and the short of it. So that`s what it is.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, what do you tell him to do? Because everybody`s been hollering, you know, Stop talking, Drew, doesn`t your attorney tell you to stop talking? What do you tell him?
BRODSKY: You`re right, his attorney does tell him to stop talking every single day. But you know, it`s hard when you go to the mailbox and you`re surrounded by 20 cameras, or you`re trying to back your car out of the driveway and they stick cameras in your face and a microphone in your face. It`s kind of hard not to say something. We`re trying to, you know, give him things to say, but it`s difficult -- he -- especially for Drew. I mean, his personality is that he wants to say something. He wants to get a rise out of sometimes, and that`s what he wants to do.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, criminal profiler Pat Brown, who`s author of "Killing for Sport," what does that say that he wants to get a rise out of the media and that he`s sort of having fun with this whole misadventure?
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, Jane, I do think he`s enjoying every minute of it. And I also think that he thinks he`s a real ladies` man, he`s a hot item. I think he`s joking about, I can`t get a date. Hey, ladies, how about me, huh? And when it comes to jury time, he can hope that maybe 60 or 70 percent of those jurors are female, and then he can sit there and he can have them all fall in love with him because he`s a really, you know, sharp guy and he thinks he might get away with it then.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But you know, Pat, on top of that, being upset that his former cop buddies are shunning him, does that betray a complete sort of inappropriate sense of betrayal, which could say a little bit about his relationships with women, as well?
BROWN: Well, obviously, he`s betrayed woman every woman he`s been with. He doesn`t have any sense of responsibility or decency or ethics or morals. We know that. And of course, since he doesn`t, he doesn`t understand why any of his friends would dump him just because he`s acting inappropriately and he`s a suspect in a murder. He thinks, This is no good reason to walk away from me.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And he feels like the victim. And isn`t it true that a lot of times, when you talk to people who commit crimes -- and I`m not saying he did. He deserves the presumption of innocence. He hasn`t been charged with anything. But they feel like the victim themselves.
BROWN: Oh, absolutely. This is a psychopathic trait where you`re always right and everybody else is always wrong. And therefore, Everybody doing something to me, and I`m innocent and look at how everybody`s treating me. You throw the blame on everybody else.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I know a few people like that. I think we all do.
But Terri from West Virginia, what is your question on this subject?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. How are you doing?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hi. How`re you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m glad his attorney is there because my question pertains to him. If this gentleman keeps going on the TV stations and saying he`s innocent and all that, why doesn`t his attorney go with him and independently do a polygraph? He doesn`t have to do it in front of the police. They can do it independently and prove that he`s not lying.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Joel Brodsky, Drew Peterson`s attorney, you heard the question.
BRODSKY: Well, this -- yes, and this is not the first time that polygraph has been brought up. Well, my research, and it`s reported by several prominent statisticians and physicians, show that polygraphs are -- when you`re just trying to determine proof of innocence outside of an interrogation room, are about as accurate as flipping a coin. So when you say, Take a polygraph, you might as well say, Well, let`s determine his innocence or guilt by flipping a coin. It`s the same statistical probability of it being right or wrong.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, but if you`re totally 100 percent sure that you didn`t do something why not? Because -- especially with him. He`s not a nervous person. He`s very confident. And the chances of him then passing are increased because sometimes there can be false positives with people who are extremely nervous and they perspire a lot and they shake a lot. But look at him. He`s there, you know, goofing around with the media, talking about dating. I mean, he`s the perfect candidate for a polygraph.
BRODSKY: But given it`s a 50/50 shot, I mean, it`s just as easy as he`s calm, cool and collected -- it`s -- I mean, it`s like saying, Heads you`re guilty, tails you`re innocent. Statistically speaking, when you look at it in a broader sense, it`s no more than flipping a coin, a 50/50 shot. So there`s no real validity to it. It`s not going to tell you anything that really means -- that has any meaning to it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let me ask you a question, because he feels that the media has conducted a witch hunt, and I think you`ve even been quoted as saying something similar to that. When you see him behaving like this, do you understand why he is portrayed the way he is in the media?
BRODSKY: Well, it`s like feeding -- what we call feeding the beast, to some extent. You have to understand what`s going on with -- at Drew -- in front of his house is absolutely unprecedented. I cannot think of any other person who`s been held in siege for a month and house turning basically a bunker, you know, and the media just -- they can -- they -- the police will not or cannot -- I think it`s they will not get the media to get away from the front of his house.
Three o`clock in the morning, the generators come on. They wake everybody up. They`re -- it`s -- it`s unreal. And what he`s doing, to some extent, is a reaction to that. I`m sure -- in fact, I know this for a fact. If the media wasn`t out in front of his house to the extent it was, and they were down the block in a parking lot and we were doing, you know, kind of controlled -- controlled situation, you`d see a totally different person. You`d see -- you wouldn`t get these type of wisecracks. It would just -- it wouldn`t -- it would be a different situation.
So to some extent, he is a victim of the -- of the...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, but you know what?
(CROSSTALK)
BRODSKY: ... media attention...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I don`t necessarily buy that because I`m in the media. I`ve been on those stakeouts. And you know, it`s never pleasant, but it is -- it`s part of our system. Just like there are police, we are an important part of the entire picture. And I`ve been on stakeouts. I`ve covered the Michael Jackson case, the Robert Blake case, the O.J. Simpson case. There were always media circuses...
BRODSKY: Right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: ... wherever we went.
BRODSKY: But did you ever have it out in front of a single family home in a small suburb...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes!
BRODSKY: Not with Michael -- for this period of time? Not with Blake, where he lived in a mansion, or with Michael Jackson, where he live in a compound. But I mean, right on the front lawn of the house for weeks and weeks and weeks of hundreds of hundreds of media personnel.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s bring the attorneys back.
BRODSKY: OK.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Richard Herman and Christine Grillo, he`s making a point that, obviously, he feels very strongly about. Do you think this is an excuse for his behavior, Richard?
GRILLO: I think -- oh. Sorry.
HERMAN: Joel, there`s nothing you can do to help him right now in the public eye. Everything he does, he does wrong. If he was out searching for the body, he would be criticized for that.
BRODSKY: That`s true.
HERMAN: He`s got to go. You`ve got to wire his jaw shut, take him out of Dodge, hide him away somewhere and get rid of him for a while. And you`ve got to stop talking about the case and let it take its course because you`re not doing him any good, and he`s killing himself in the public eye.
BRODSKY: Well, I disagree -- I disagree with...
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, wait a second. We`ve invited him on the show. And we`re happy that you`re on the show, Joel, because we`ve been inviting you on the NANCY GRACE show over and over again. So you know...
BRODSKY: Well, I got to disagree with part of that.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK.
BRODSKY: I would certainly like to see, you know, Drew be quiet. There`s no question about it. I do advise him to stop many of his comments. But as far as my getting out there -- you know, we have to respond to certain things. For example, this truck driver, you know, the truck stop thing, where it turns out that we come out and show that the truck driver that said he was totally (ph) meeting Drew was, in fact, in Louisiana at the time. Or the mistakes that Dr. Baden made in his statements about the autopsy. We have to get out there and get our message out that a lot of -- there`s a lot of misinformation being broadcast, and I`m trying to, you know, hold back the tide and get at least some of our story out there that there`s a lot of misinformation. That`s my purpose in coming on.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Christine, prosecutor?
GRILLO: No, Joel, just -- what I`m thinking is, wouldn`t -- isn`t it better -- isn`t he attracting it even more? His responses almost warrant them to jump on him even more, that if you -- I understand and I do agree that, yes, some things need to be addressed, but need to be addressed appropriately. He`s acting so inappropriately time in and time out, again and again, giving -- almost feeding that media that they want to be out there, they want to keep questioning him because he`s making it more of a circus. He`s not saying anything that`s going to help him. So wouldn`t it be in his best interests, and you as his attorney, to really -- yes, to address those things like the truck drivers, and then go out, get your paper, come back in. Don`t come out with a videocamera.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right...
GRILLO: Don`t make it worse.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`re going to give Joel a chance to respond right after this break.
BRODSKY: OK.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But first to tonight`s "Case Alert." More "catch and release" in the case of missing American teen Natalee Holloway, who vanished on a 2005 high school trip to Aruba. All three suspects recently re-arrested in the investigation are now free again. Dutch teen Joran Van Der Sloot walks out of jail today after a judge orders his release. The two other suspects, Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, released last week, the Aruban judge ruling there is no new incriminating evidence -- no new incriminating evidence -- against the three young men in Holloway`s disappearance.
Also, on a much, much, much lighter note tonight, the first pictures of Nancy and the twins are now up on her baby blog, so head over to CNN.com/nancygrace to see Lucy Elizabeth and John David. Plus, check out the very latest messages from Nancy.
And remember, Nancy Grace makes her much-anticipated return right here on Headline News on January 7, 8:00 PM eastern.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drew Peterson`s fourth wife, Stacy, gone without a trace.
DREW PETERSON, SUSPECT IN FOURTH WIFE`S DISAPPEARANCE: I`m a suspect officially, but I figured I was a suspect from the beginning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His third wife died mysteriously in a bathtub. His second wife divorced him, telling "The Chicago Tribune" he said he could kill her and make it look like an accident. Divers have searched the canal system near the Peterson home for a body and evidence. Others have joined in from land searches. So far, nothing. He remains a suspect, the only suspect.
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Wednesday, October 17, at 12:37 PM.
STACY PETERSON: Hey, Dad, it`s me, Stacy. I just wanted to call you and tell you I love you. I also wanted to give you my new phone number. OK, love you. Bye.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That was what could be the last voice-mail message from Stacy Peterson, posted on her family`s Web site, Findstacypeterson.com. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell, in for Nancy Grace. A flurry of new developments in the Stacy Peterson disappearance. Again, we`re very happy to have with us Joel Brodsky, Drew Peterson`s attorney. We`ve been inviting him on the NANCY GRACE show, and we`re glad that he decided to come on and tell his side of the story.
You were talking about the trucker story.
BRODSKY: Right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: An anonymous source tells "The Chicago Sun-Times" that the trucker story is a lie because, according to this anonymous source, police checked the phone records and determined that this trucker, who claims he saw a man appearing to be Drew Peterson, who came up to him at a Bolingbrook truck stop hours after Stacy Peterson was last seen, and said, Here, take this package -- it turn outs that this guy, according to this source, was in Louisiana.
BRODSKY: Correct.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes.
BRODSKY: That was apparently a reliable police source, so it came from the police department itself, who obviously checked out that lead. And that was what I was saying when that lead came out on Saturday night. Everybody seemed to grab onto it as a factual development, when it was really nothing more than the Illinois State Police chasing one of the probably hundreds, if not thousands, of leads that they have. And they have probably over 100 officers right now and FBI agents just following lead after lead after lead. And most of them, if not all of them, to today have led nowhere. And this is another one that led nowhere.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, but Joel, the reason why everybody jumped on it is that it wasn`t initially from a police source. It was a press release from the Illinois State Police saying, Hey, if you`re a trucker out there and a man who looks like Drew Peterson asked you to take a package, call us. I mean, don`t you think they would have checked his phone records before issuing a news release?
BRODSKY: Well, I would have hoped so. I mean, you would think that they would. But I`ve seen a few, you know, mistakes in the investigation. You know, I mean, (INAUDIBLE) Illinois State Police is a good organization generally, but they have a lot of people here doing a lot of different things, and who knows who made the decision to do the press release.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Well, we`ll get back to more of this in just a moment.
To tonight`s "Case Alert." North Carolina police say forensic evidence now reveals a man who committed suicide after the disappearance of a 23-year-old Sanford woman was, in fact, her killer. Julie Michelle Bullard at a friend`s house when police say David Earl Wilson enters the home, robs and ties up the group of friends and then kidnaps Bullard. Bullard`s remains found nine months later in the woods of the Cedar Creek area. Police still investigating whether Wilson acted alone.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRODSKY: He thinks if she`s anywhere, maybe she`s tending bar in Saskatchewan, or you know, Nome, Alaska, or you know, maybe somewhere, you know, south (INAUDIBLE) island off Cancun or something, but certainly, she`s not hiding behind a bush, you know, a couple hundred yards from his house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does he feel like he`s a victim himself? He had one wife who died, one wife who ran away (INAUDIBLE)
BRODSKY: Well, I don`t think he feels a victim in that sense. I think he feels a victim of the media attention.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell, in for Nancy Grace. The case of missing Chicago-area mom Stacy Peterson heats up as divers search frigid waters for her body.
And the phone lines are lighting up. Carol in California, your question, ma`am?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Jane. My question kind of goes with the conversation you`d been having a little while ago about behavior. I mean, just as an observer of a terrible tragedy, I have never seen behavior like Mr. Peterson`s. For the situation, he is so blatantly cocky and arrogant about everything that it`s just bizarre...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Joel...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... for people like me to just, you know, sit here on TV and watch that.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Joel Brodsky, you`re his attorney.
BRODSKY: Yes. Well, what you`re seeing is a very small slice of Drew Peterson`s persona. You know, I get to see him. I (INAUDIBLE) across from him person to person, he`s totally different. But when those cameras come on for those 15-second sound bites, it`s a totally different -- it`s like there`s a change, and unfortunately, that`s all you see, at least on TV.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His fourth wife is missing, police call him a suspect. But Drew Peterson is worried about his love life. In recent interviews Peterson tells reporters he`s never going to get another date again. He gripes former co-worker policemen won`t even talk to him. Peterson, also upset about his retirement, reportedly saying, "my retirement sucks." The former Bolingbroke police sergeant also reportedly saying a rumor about him shooting a spread for Playgirl magazine is false, as law enforcement still search for his missing wife`s body.
ANSWERING MACHINE: Wednesday, October 17th, at 12:37 p.m.
STACY PETERSON: Hey, dad, it`s me, Stacy, I just wanted to call and tell you I love you. I also want to give you my new phone number. OK. Love you, bye.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That was what could be the last voicemail message from Stacy Peterson posted on her family`s Web site, findstacypeterson.com. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell in for Nancy Grace. We are psychoanalyzing husband, suspect Drew Peterson. And his attorney is with us tonight, but let`s go to the shrink for this one.
Because, Beatty Cohan, you have been hearing all of this that we have been discussing. What`s your analysis of Drew Peterson based on this behavior and his attorney`s comments?
BEATTY COHAN, PYSCHOTHERAPIST: Hi, Jane, I think that Drew Peterson`s behavior is bizarre. I think that this man is actually having the time of his life. He loves the attention. He`s completely self-involved. I mean, I don`t see, I`ve been looking at the clips, I see absolutely no pain, no grief, no concern. He`s thinking about dating other women. He`s a pretty pathological man who doesn`t even have the sense to listen to his own attorney.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let`s let Joel respond to that because she seems to be making a good point, he seems to be way too happy given the circumstances and almost as if that he is enjoying this celebrity status.
JOEL BRODSKY, DREW PETERSON`S ATTORNEY: Well, I know that he is not enjoying the celebrity status. When I`ve talked to him about -- when we sat down in my office and we have talked about things and when the subject turns to the holidays coming up and his children, he gets very emotional. He just doesn`t show that emotion in public -- or he just doesn`t show that emotion to the cameras.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But, Joel, can I jump in, he was a serial cheater by his own admission, he told People magazine he cheated on his first wife, his second wife, his third wife with the fourth wife who is now missing. I mean, doesn`t this paint a portrait that`s not very -- well, certainly it`s a slightly chauvinistic portrait?
BRODSKY: Yes. Well, it is also -- you know, you have got to say what`s good for the goose is good for the gander. I mean, all of the women -- that like Stacy knew she was the other woman with Kathleen, and I think Kathleen, if I`m not -- I may be incorrect on this, but I think I remember that she also knew that Drew was involved with his second wife when she was with him.
So I mean, these women made a choice, they went with a man who obviously wasn`t quite the most monogamous man in the world, and you know.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Christine Grillo, prosecutor who specializes in domestic violence cases, is that what you call blaming the victim?
CHRISTINE GRILLO, PROSECUTOR: Yes, in a sense it is. But you know, we keep talking about his behavior, as a prosecutor, make no mistake, I`m loving this, I`m absolutely loving this, because I don`t think there`s a jury or a juror left that`s going to find one redeeming quality about this individual, about Peterson if this case ever does go to trial.
But I want to get back, Jane, to the polygraph. We kind of glossed over it. He doesn`t want to do a polygraph and Joel was explaining, it`s a 50/50 shot. But if this is something that he is so sure that he had absolutely nothing to do with, why wouldn`t he? Why wouldn`t he just agree to do a polygraph? They`re not 50/50. A majority of the time, defense attorneys are begging us to polygraphs on their clients.
In this situation, why doesn`t he want -- it almost -- it makes him look a bit more guilty, Joel, it really, really does.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And why is he wearing dark sunglasses all the time? Because the first thing I thought of as a lay person is, you know, eyes tell a lot. Eyes reveal the soul. And if you`re wearing dark sunglasses all the time, especially in the Chicago area, I`m starting to wonder, like, what is it that you`re hiding about your expression, Joel?
BRODSKY: Scientific way of looking at it, because he`s wearing dark sunglasses, there`s something nefarious going on? I mean, that`s evidence.
You know, I really hope that the jury is going to look at the evidence. And I don`t think we`re ever going to get to that point, but in the abstract, if we do have a jury, I hope that jury is going to look at the evidence and weigh the evidence and not weigh whether they like or they dislike somebody, because really like and dislike have nothing to do with guilt and innocence.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Well, we are going to get to some more evidence in a second. Let`s go to Rebecca, however, who has been waiting very patiently, from South Carolina, your question?
CALLER: Yes, if Drew Peterson believed that his wife ran away with another woman, doesn`t he think that she would have let someone know by now that, hey, she`s not dead, she is alive? Does he really think America`s that stupid to believe his stupid lies?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let`s go to Pat Brown, criminal profiler. Very good question.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, he probably does think we`re all very stupid because, again, a psychopathic trait is that you`re smarter than everybody else. I do want to say something about this polygraph. I know why Drew won`t take the polygraph, because when he was on "The Today Show" and he said, come home, Stacy, and he went, bwa-ha-ha, the picture in his mind of Stacy being probably at the bottom of a lake just made him laugh so hard, he couldn`t get through that statement. So I don`t think he`s going to pass a polygraph in any way, shape or form.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh my gosh. Once again, we have to warn and always say that he hasn`t been charged with anything and he deserves the presumption of innocence and that`s why we`re happy to have his attorney on with us tonight here on the NANCY GRACE show to give his side of the story.
Now we were talking about evidence, Joel, and I want to talk to you about this latest warrant and some of the things that they are looking for because one of them is pool chemicals. Now Cassandra Cales, Stacy`s sister, has said in published reports that she was over at the house before Stacy disappeared and said, what`s that big blue barrel over there, and Stacy said, oh, that`s pool chemicals.
And now, of course, they are looking for a blue barrel which a neighbor claims to have seen Drew Peterson and another unidentified man move the night that Stacy disappears. And a relative claims that he helped Drew Peterson move a barrel that was warm to the touch and later tried to commit suicide. What do you make of all of that?
BRODSKY: Well, there are a lot of aspects to that story. But the main point I would like to make is that, you know, Drew has a very small, above ground, maybe three-foot deep pool. And somehow people are saying that he has got a 55-gallon drum of chlorine. Well, a 55-gallon drum of chlorine would be enough to last a century with a pool that size. It`s just not the case. There was no blue barrel.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Everybody is wrong about the blue barrel?
BRODSKY: Well, you know, we have unidentified neighbors and unattributed sources. And you know, in this day -- I would love to see a receipt, some evidence, a credit card receipt, a cash receipt, something that Drew actually went out and bought a 55-gallon barrel drum of chlorine at some time within the year before Stacy`s disappearance.
I`m sure we have got 64 investigators and FBI -- and 100 FBI agents on there, I`m sure they can come up with the receipt.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to bring in Dr. Jake Deutsch, doctor of emergency medicine, who has been waiting very patiently. Let`s talk a little bit about these pool chemicals. And this is totally hypothetical. Let`s say there were some pool chemicals that -- let`s ask you this, can they be used? And I have heard hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid to help a body disintegrate or to mask odors of a disintegrating body.
DR. JAKE DEUTSCH, EMERGENCY MEDICINE: Absolutely. If you think about bleach, chlorine is one of the main ingredients. So it could be used to disinfect some of the biological evidence, their blood, tissue, body fluids, or perhaps it was used as a caustic agent like you`re talking about, as an acid in order to destroy tissue, to disintegrate other evidence.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Well, let`s go back to Joel Brodsky, because obviously that`s sort of a gruesome hypothetical there, and the first thing I think of, is, well, if there was a blue plastic barrel, wouldn`t those same chemicals eat right through that plastic?
BRODSKY: Well, I mean, that depends on what type of chemicals you are talking about. And that`s why we`re dealing with this -- we`re into the area now of absolute and total speculation, we might as well be talking about something on a "CSI" program.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. But the reason is that they mentioned pool chemicals in the search warrant.
BRODSKY: Yes. And that search warrant, I think, was, more than anything, the fourth search warrant, which is the second one regarding the cars, was really mostly in response to the motion that we filed for return of property, which is going to be heard this -- at least be presented to the judge this Wednesday.
And I think what they realized was that in the third search warrant, they didn`t give them -- the judge did not specify that they had the right to seize the vehicles. And that`s really what they changed in the fourth search warrant, that it gave them the right to seize the vehicles, I think too late.
But in any event, the thing that they seem to have added to the fourth search warrant were unnecessary. They already had -- the third warrant already covered trace evidence, it already covered a lot of this stuff. So it was really, I think, more of a reaction to my motion than anything else.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you so much for joining us on the subject, we hope you will be back again because obviously the story is obsessing America, and we want to stay on top of it.
Tonight, exciting news, the first pictures of Nancy and the twins are now up on her Baby Blog, so head right over to cnn.com/nancygrace to see Lucy Elizabeth and John David.
Plus, check out the latest messages from Nancy, and remember, Nancy returns to HEADLINE NEWS on January 7th, 8 p.m. Eastern. So mark your calendars.
And when we come back, where is pregnant Ohio mom Karyn McConnell- Hancock?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We knew her in 2004 when voting for a new Democratic chair in Toledo. Now friends and family worry about what happened to Karyn McConnell-Hancock. Hancock`s husband reported her missing Wednesday night, four hours after she failed to pick her son up from daycare. According to reports, her cell phone was shut off and she has been confronted by an aggressive client.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell in for Nancy Grace. Another woman vanishes in Middle America, this time the scene is Toledo, Ohio, a prominent attorney, a former city councilwoman who`s six months pregnant simply disappears Wednesday morning. Tonight there is anguish over the disappearance of this popular attorney. For more on this perplexing mystery, let`s go straight out to investigative reporter Eben Brown.
Eben, what is the very latest?
EBEN BROWN, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Jane, the very latest is that no one really knows what happened. There has been very few leads in this case so far. This missing woman also is an attorney, she also happens to be, I believe, a former councilmember in the city of Toledo.
She had reportedly gotten into some kind of argument with a former client of hers. A lot of this is really up in speculation because none of it has really been confirmed. But that was the only thing that police really have to go on. Right now she`s just missing and it has been over a day.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, certainly this community has come together. An attempt to locate missing adult has been broadcast nationwide. That`s kind of like the adult version of the AMBER alert so that authorities are on the lookout for her vehicle around the country.
She drives a black 2005 Chrysler 300 with Ohio license plates DIA6410. Again, her vehicle is missing. We understand her husband said he tried her cell phone but that was turned off. And she reportedly has a 3-year-old son whom she failed to pick up from daycare.
We are very, very pleased to have with us tonight Judge C. Allen McConnell who is the father of this missing woman. Judge, first of all, I know this must be very difficult for you. I know that your entire community has banded together and is praying and is just really providing comfort to your family. Tell us about your daughter, her personality, she`s obviously very, very successful.
JUDGE C. ALLEN MCCONNELL, FATHER OF MISSING WOMAN: Very successful and very precious to her mother and I. She is a child who was raised in a household that`s a God-fearing household. Karyn has a very kind heart, a loving child for the community, and very great concerns about the community, came into the practice of law after I became a judge, and then of course had the responsibilities of running the office based upon the fact that I had obviously left the position and left her with a number of clients.
But she was a very kind person, a loving child. She had a 3-year-old child which she loves dearly and she loves him as well. And we all miss her. And we are just appealing to the public to provide any information they can. If they see anything, if they knew anything, if they see this car with the license number on anyplace, it is our desire that that information be forwarded to the police department here in the city of Toledo. That number is 245-3142, or call First Church of God, 255-0097, 419 as well.
So that is our appeal at this time and it`s really drawing greatly upon the family, upon her husband, upon her mother and I. And then we`re just thankful to you and all the community for the help they have given so far. And we just believe we are going to have positive results from this thing.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I hope, judge, that you are 100 percent correct. The phone lines lighting up, Jane from Michigan, your question? Jane?
CALLER: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, what`s your question, ma`am.
CALLER: Well, I would like to know if her child was ever picked up from daycare and who picked him up and why it took so long for her husband to report her missing.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let`s go back to Eben Brown, investigative reporter, because I don`t know that it took that long for her husband to report her missing. He did get a call apparently that evening from the daycare center saying, hey, nobody has picked up your son.
E. BROWN: Well, that`s what happened. The daycare center called the father, saying, your wife has not shown up to pick your child up and it has been a couple of hours. He then tries to get a hold of her by calling her cell phone which was the way to get a hold of her at any other time.
After not getting through to her, that`s when he got a little nervous and started asking for help and helping to locate his wife. He did however go pick up his child.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, well, thank you for clearing that up. Christine Grillo, prosecutor specializes in domestic violence, and Richard Herman, there are some disturbing facts.
She is an attorney and her husband says that she had an aggressive client recently, she was getting suspicious phone calls, sometimes it can be very dangerous, Christine, to be an attorney.
GRILLO: Oh, sure, and you`re always going to, because you`re not dealing -- it`s not a happy job, ever really. Especially as a prosecutor, you know, you`re dealing with people that commit crimes, you are dealing with -- and if you do convict the person, you`re putting them away, the family is angry at you.
It`s very sad, and in this regard, I mean, this is a mother, this is a pregnant mother and that`s big. I mean, clearly there`s -- I don`t see -- I don`t see foul play, if we`re going to do a comparison with the prior case and this prior case, I mean, this seems to be a husband who`s looking for his wife, a family who`s very interested, very different from the case we were just talking about.
And there is indications that there are outsiders or possible clients or things that could have happened.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, yes, Richard Herman, defense attorney, she reportedly took out a sizable amount of money according to a CNN affiliate in Toledo the day before, but of course, she could have been forced to do that by somebody, nobody knows.
RICHARD HERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Jane, I`m going to gently suggest someone here, that this woman is being sued for basically converting $10,000 of a client`s funds. Former councilperson, pregnant, if she goes to prison, she could go to prison on this one and get convicted.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, we`ve got to find her, first.
HERMAN: Got to find her, she may be gone. She may have ran away, Jane.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We want to clarify while Karyn McConnell-Hancock is being sued in a civil matter, we have absolutely no idea whether those allegations are true. In fact, it hadn`t even gone to court yet.
And now this week`s "Headlines."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The search for Stacy continues, the FBI has volunteers focused on specific waterways. Investigators reportedly think her body may have been dumped in the water based on cell phone calls placed from that area. Meanwhile Drew Peterson remains free. Police say he`s a suspect, but he has denied doing anything wrong and hasn`t been charged.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Debra Beazley (ph), as she`s now being called, that is her maiden name, was rearrested in Tampa today and this was because she had conversations with a co-worker at a restaurant where she was working. This co-worker just happened to be 17 years old. What we do know is she`s a 27-year-old, she befriended a 17-year-old and definitely had conversations that were inappropriate. We`re talking about boyfriends, we`re talking about sex.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Obscene violence in Omaha, Nebraska, a mall shooting, a rampage that leaves nine dead, including the shooter, and five injured, some of them critically.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard four gunshots, then a pause, and then four more gunshots. And heard it. I didn`t know if they were coming from the bottom, the first floor or the third floor. I just knew that they were right there. I mean, they were close, that`s all I knew and I didn`t wait, I didn`t look, I just ran and I just wanted to make sure that my daughter and I were in some safe area.
CALLER: I love your show, and we miss Nancy. But my question.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I miss her too. She`s going to be back soon, don`t worry.
CALLER: Good.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight let`s stop to remember Marine Gunnery Sergeant Herman Murkerson Jr., 35, from Adger, Alabama, on a third tour of duty in Iraq, awarded the Purple Heart. He loved going to his daughter`s dance recitals and watching his son play sports. He also loved NASCAR and University of Alabama football. He leaves behind grieving parents, Brenda (ph) and Herman (ph), three brothers, two sisters, widow Wendy (ph), son Stephen (ph) and Daniel (ph), and daughter Christina (ph). Herman Murkerson, an American hero.
We want to thank all of our guests tonight for their insights. Thanks to you at home for tracking these very important cases with us. And remember to visit Nancy`s Baby Blog at cnn.com/nancygrace. See you tomorrow night right here at 8:00 sharp Eastern, until then have a terrific and make it a very safe evening.
END
