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Nancy Grace
UNC Student Body President Found Shot to Death Near Campus
Aired March 06, 2008 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight. At yet another college campus, a beautiful 22-year-old president of the UNC Chapel Hill student body, double major, biology, poli sci, last seen 1:30 AM doing homework, 5:00 AM, shots fired, 22-year-old Eve Carson found dead out in the intersection near campus, multiple gunshot wounds.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The murder of another college student. The police say the victim a 22-year-old, Eve Carson, was a student at UNC.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Students and staff are gathering there this afternoon to mourn the loss of their student body president.
UNIDENTIFIED : Eve Carson`s body was found yesterday morning shot dead, lying in the middle of a street not far from campus. Police do not have any suspects, although they do say her SUV was stolen during the killing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police responded to reports of gunfire around Davy (ph) Circle. They arrived to find the woman dead. Police say the woman was shot several times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, in an eerie similarity 400 miles away from UNC Chapel Hill, the mystery sounding the shooting death of yet another gorgeous young coed, Auburn University. A 911 call leads police off campus to find 18-year-old Lauren Burk lying on the side of the road just before the young girl died -- gunshot wounds. Moments later, a tip comes in. Firefighters race to campus to find Burk`s 2001 Honda Civic engulfed in flames. Tonight: Who left 18-year-old coed Lauren Burk to die, then made a bonfire of her car?
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hunt for a killer in the shooting death of Lauren Burk, an 18-year-old Auburn student found shot several miles off campus.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A year-and-a-half ago, there was a graduate student by the name of Lori Ann Selensky. (ph) She went missing from her trailer off campus. And then in an eerily similar circumstance, her SUV was found on fire, as well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I heard about this case, the first thing went to my mind was a guy by the name of Ted Bundy, who traveled through universities and started killing young women, at least 30 that were identified. So it almost sounds like the same thing to me, except it`s the beginning now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, an Orlando car wash manager can`t believe her eyes when a mom turns a high-powered pressure washer on her little 2-year- old toddler girl, the manager reports that blast strong enough to tear the first layer of skin off, the child crying and screaming to escape, all caught on video. Well, maybe Mommy has a future washing cars -- patrol cars at the state penitentiary!
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Manager Marlene Diaz (ph) couldn`t believe what happened on her shift at the Magical Car Wash. Surveillance video shows the women in the black shirt starts up the pressure hose and goes right for the little girl, grabbing her as she tries to run away. Investigators believe the mom used the pressure hose as punishment, the force of the water, 1,200 pounds per square inch. At times, the little girl tries to hide her face. The mom pins the child to the wall and sprays at close range.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Breaking news tonight, shock waves across the UNC Chapel Hill campus, 22-year-old student body president Eve Carson found dead in an intersection just one mile from campus, multiple gunshot wounds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: At approximately 5:00 AM, Chapel Hill police responded to reported gunshots in the area of Davy Circle. Officers checked the area and located an unidentified female, approximately 18 to 25 years of age, lying in the intersection of Hillcrest (ph) Drive and Hillcrest Circle. This morning at approximately 9:00 AM, a positive identification of the victim was made by police investigators and the office of the medical examiner. The victim has been identified as Eve Carson, age 22, a UNC senior and current UNC student body president.
This morning, the police department issued an alert for the victim`s vehicle that was believed to have been taken during the commission of this crime. At approximately 2:00 PM today, the police department received a call from a resident on North Street in Chapel Hill stating that they had spotted the car. The vehicle was towed to our town operations center and is currently being processed for evidence.
We would be particularly interested in talking with anyone who may have seen this vehicle between the hours of 1:30 AM yesterday and mid-day today. Hopefully, that will provide further information regarding the murder of Eve Carson.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The MO -- the modus operandi, method of operation -- extraordinarily similar between the University of North Carolina, UNC Chapel Hill, shooting of a young coed and the shooting of the girl at Auburn University.
Let`s go straight to Gurnal Scott with WPTF radio joining us live from Raleigh. Bring us up to date. What happened, Gurnal?
GURNAL SCOTT, WPTF RADIO: Well, as you heard there at the police press conference, it was early morning when the shots were reported. And this young lady, Eve Carson, was -- before she was identified, her body was found lying literally in the middle of a street, in the intersection of Hillcrest Drive and Hillcrest Circle in that Hillcrest neighborhood.
The state medical examiner is right there in Chapel Hill. Once the investigation went on, the body was taken to the medical examiner. And as you heard, the shock that came around mid-day today when it was found out that it was the student body president at Chapel Hill, Eve Carson, that was the victim of this crime.
And the immediate wave of sadness that went across the campus was -- was palpable as the campus gathered together late this afternoon to hear from the chancellor, James Nieser (ph), who worked closely with this young lady. Being the student body president, she served on the board of trustee trustees, so she worked very closely with the president. So he had some very poignant words to say to the student body earlier this afternoon. And a campus vigil was held, a candlelight vigil just about at 7:00 o`clock this evening for Eve Carson.
GRACE: I`m just sick. Gurnal, I`m looking at video of this young girl, her whole life in front of her, and this was a person that set out to make a difference in the world, studying to be a doctor one day and biology and poli science, great grades, the president of the student body, did all types of extracurricular work to help other people. Her whole life was about helping other people.
Out to Michelle Sigona with "America`s Most Wanted." What more can you tell me, Michelle?
MICHELLE SIGONA, "AMERICA`S MOST WANTED": I can tell you that she was last seen around 1:30 in the morning, Nancy. And actually, where she was found -- also, I do want to mention that it wasn`t odd for her to leave in the middle of the night to go and to do work for her school, and you know, to be up at odd hours and achieving her goals, pretty much. But when she was found, she was found in sweatpants, a T-shirt, sneakers. It wasn`t anything odd or out of the ordinary.
And police do believe, Nancy, that her vehicle was taken, you know, possibly from that area where she was shot multiple times. And what one of the investigators has told us is that one of the shots unfortunately did actually hit her in her head.
GRACE: You know, I don`t understand it. She`s at home at 1:30 -- or she`s studying homework at 1:30 AM, Michelle Sigona. Then around 5:00 AM, shots fired, she`s dead. How did she get from -- all her friends are going out on the town for a fun night. She said, No, I`ve got to study. She stays in. She`s studying. Why does she end up dead at an intersection at 5:00 AM?
SIGONA: And that`s exactly what investigators are trying to piece together at this point. Again, you know, they say, Look, it`s not odd for her to go out, go back, you know, on campus, to be able to go to buildings, to be able to, you know, work on some projects and to be able to get some things done for her school, and that, you know, this is a student that obviously works around the clock, you know, not just as a student body president but also within her studies. I mean, she`s a senior. She`s got a heavy workload. We`re coming up here mid-semester, so we`ve got -- you know, they have mid-terms and things like that to study for.
GRACE: Out to the lines. Sheeba in Illinois. Hi, Sheeba.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. Thanks for taking my call, Nancy.
GRACE: Yes, dear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is, do they think that maybe this just could have been -- I hate to say average carjacking, or could it have been something else? And dear God in heaven, why was she out by herself with this stuff going on?
GRACE: You know -- back to Gurnal Scott with WPTF radio. Gurnal, I`m not convinced she was out by herself. I mean, she was last spotted at 1:30 AM doing homework.
SCOTT: That`s right. That`s when her friends last saw her. Now, why she was out at 5:00 o`clock in the morning -- as you just heard, it wasn`t unusual for her to head into the office, the student government office, to do some work early in the morning or to get some things done. Maybe she need some peace and quiet, and the office at that hour of the morning was a place where she could have that peace and quiet.
She lived in a room -- lived in a dorm with other people. So maybe she needed that peace and quiet. It wasn`t unusual for her to go to the office. It`s hard to say exactly why she was out at that hour. Police are still trying to really piece that together. But unfortunately, at that hour, 5:00 o`clock, it may have -- as the caller said, it may have been a carjacking. She may have tried to take some action, and it was this unfortunate end that it came to.
GRACE: I want to go to Bethany Marshall, Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst and author of "Deal Breakers." Dr. Marshall, have you noticed -- and I do it, too. I`m guilty of it, too. You start picking apart what the victim did. And it`s my belief that people do that, like, Why was she out at that time of the morning? Why didn`t she have some mace? Why this? To convince yourself it`s not going to happen to you because you never go out at 5:00 o`clock in the morning without your mace and without a friend. Long story short, the victim didn`t do anything wrong here.
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: Nothing. The thought never occurred to me, why was she out that early in the morning, because kids have a lot of energy. They`re out getting coffee, doing their homework, talking with their friends. This is typical behavior.
What ties, potentially, these two victims together is that they`re young women, they`re attractive, they`re in the prime of their life. And if this is a serial murderer, the MO is to inflict pain and cruelty for sexual gratification in whatever way or mode that takes, whether it`s shooting someone in the head or rape homicide in a parking lot, taking the girl away, shooting her, then coming back and burning the car. It is some variation on that particular theme.
GRACE: Let`s take a look at those similarities. Out to private investigator joining us from Nashville, Norma Tillman, private investigator and author. Norma, let`s take a look at the similarities. We`ve got two young girls approximately the same age, very similar in their looks, both achievers, both in the evening, both gunshot wounds, mortal gunshot wounds, both left on a roadside, one in an intersection, both cars taken away from the area, then later found. Very, very similar, uncannily similar, Norma.
NORMA TILLMAN, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: It`s like a copycat killing. I see the similarities also. And it also seems to me that this is an overkill. The victim in North Carolina was shot multiple times. It seems like it could have been a crime of passion. The one in Auburn was only shot once. But she was still alive when they found her, so maybe she was able to tell something. I don`t know.
GRACE: Out to the lines. Ann in Florida. Hi, Ann.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy.
GRACE: Hi, dear. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m wondering if the girl in North Carolina, if it`s possible that she may have known her killer, and that if he`s trying to rape her and she`s trying to fight him off?
GRACE: What do we know about it, Michelle Sigona?
SIGONA: ... said earlier today around 5:30 in a press conference, Nancy, is that the medical examiner said that there was no other trauma to the body, other than the gunshots, so as in, you know, a possible rape or sexual attack, something of that nature. What the medical examiner -- and what the investigator said that the medical examiner said is that there was no other trauma to her body at this point.
GRACE: Let`s unleash the lawyers. Joining us tonight, Lisa Pinto, former prosecutor, Lauren Lake, defense attorney, Seema Iyer, defense attorney in New York. First to you, Lisa Pinto. Multiple gunshot wounds in Eve`s case -- Eve Carson, 22, University of North Carolina campus, Chapel Hill, multiple gunshots. That`s going to increase -- increase -- the animosity with a jury at trial.
LISA PINTO, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Oh, yes. But I don`t -- I see this as a crime of opportunity where they wanted to steal the car. I don`t believe there`s any evidence of a rape kit or any sexual assault. I think this was a nice car, early in the morning, in the wrong neighborhood, and the sociopathic personality of the person who did it didn`t want to have a witness left behind and made sure that person was dead by finalizing with a shot to the head.
GRACE: To Lauren Lake. Do you believe Eve was targeted, Lauren? If so, why?
LAUREN LAKE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I`m not sure, Nancy. I`m going to be honest with you. I feel like I need to know more about this area. Are there rival gangs? Are there people that have beefs? Could this be a drive-by shooting? I need more facts to try to determine why was this girl shot. Just because her car was burned later doesn`t mean the suspect had the intent to kill her in the first place. It could have just been...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... the shooting at university North Carolina, Seema, is not where the car was burned. The car was burned in the Auburn shooting. And I understand, Lauren Lake, where you`re coming from -- Lauren Lake, a veteran trial lawyer. The crimes are so uncannily similar. While authorities are saying they are not connected, Seema, the MO is very similar. Thoughts?
SEEMA IYER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Extremely similar, especially the lack of sexual assault evidence just further depicts it`s the age of the victim, the location of the crime, the cars being taken, the fact that the cars are later found close to the victims, and Again, the lack of the sexual assaults. The multiple gunshot wounds means nothing at this point because in one case, the killer could have just, boom, made a shot, and in one case, he could have been nervous, and therefore several shots.
GRACE: Out to the lines. Ellen in Massachusetts. Hi, Ellen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy.
GRACE: What`s your question, dear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is, have they checked these women`s cell phones, land phones, to see if someone had called to maybe lure her out at that time?
GRACE: Interesting. What do we know, Gurnal?
SCOTT: ... used the cell phone or tried to contact, at least the one that I know of in the Chapel Hill case, to try to lure her out at a certain hour. As we said before, it wasn`t unusual for her to be out at a certain hour at night to get things done, maybe to go to her office. But as far as we know, the investigation is continuing, and I`m sure cell phone calls are being looked at.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hate to admit that sometimes I think that when we live in Chapel Hill, we kind of live in a little idyllic paradise, you know, and nothing wrong ever happens here. And I know that`s total fantasy, and things do happen scary and bad.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At approximately 5:00 AM, Chapel Hill police responded to reported gunshots in the area of Davy Circle. Officers checked the area and identified an unidentified female approximately 18 to 25 years of age lying in the intersection of Hillcrest Drive and Hillcrest Circle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Tonight, fear spreading across college campuses after the last shooting at Auburn University, the shooting of Lauren Burk, now the shooting of Eve Carson at UNC Chapel Hill in an uncannily similar shooting death.
Joining me right now is a special guest, Chris Helms. This is Eve Carson`s very dear friend, worked in student government with her. Thank you for being with us.
CHRIS HELMS, FRIEND OF EVE CARSON: Thank you, Nancy.
GRACE: Tell me about her.
HELMS: Quite possibly one of the most impressive people I`ve ever met at this university. I used to work in student congress, and that`s how I came to know her. She as running for student body president, and the passion that she presented her platform was second to none. I mean, I remember as a PTA (ph) switching (ph) to the campus newspaper. They`re extremely critical an editorial board, but when they wrote about her, they advised -- they recommended voting for her. (INAUDIBLE) quote, they said, "She`ll bring administrative skill and fresh ideas and maybe eat a sugar cone while doing it." And that was her personality. She was so driven and motivated, but incredibly down to earth and fun. You just could not have a bad time with her. She was just so much fun.
GRACE: I understand she was very close to her family.
HELMS: I -- I don`t know. I`m sure she was. It would fit in her personality. I wasn`t in her immediate circle of friends that -- going back (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: Yes, from hometown. Tell me about how the campus is reacting, Chris.
HELMS: I think with great solidarity. I looked on (INAUDIBLE) Facebook friends (INAUDIBLE) networking site. And I went to write a message as soon as I found out because it was just so shocking. And within hours, there were hundreds and hundreds of post on her wall (ph) and hundreds of students gathered outside. And there was a vigil tonight. There`s just -- she was so well loved around campus that...
GRACE: Are people on campus afraid?
HELMS: I haven`t gotten that impression. UNC security is extremely active, and I don`t think this is something you can plan for. It`s the sort of crime that you can`t plan for those sorts of crazy people that are willing to do these things.
GRACE: Joining us, Chris Helms, Eve Carson`s dear friend, worked in student government with her.
Out to the lines. Ellen in Massachusetts. Hi, Ellen. Hold on. Ashley in Alabama. Hi, Ashley.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, this is Ashley.
GRACE: Hi, dear. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I live in Montgomery, Alabama, right outside of Auburn, and this is a very scary thing. And I just wanted to let you know that my daughter is a junior at the University of Mississippi, and these kids are just so totally -- don`t think anything can ever happen to them. And I think that we need to educate our children. These parents that are sitting at home watching this show and watching all this, we need to educate our children and just let them know that it`s safety in numbers, and we need for them to stay in until it`s daylight and not go out, you know, when it`s dark.
GRACE: I want to go to Dr. Zhongxue Hua, New Jersey medical examiner. Multiple gunshot wounds -- do you think she died instantly?
DR. ZHONGXUE HUA, UNION COUNTY, N.J., MEDICAL EXAMINER: Most likely died instantly. Another question brought up is how random is this case can be classified as random. There`s a lot of unknowns this particular case, at least at this early stage.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hate to admit that sometimes I think that when we live in Chapel Hill, we kind of live in a little idyllic paradise, you know, and nothing wrong ever happens here. And I know that`s total fantasy, and things do happen scary and bad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We didn`t believe it was going to be, at least at the time, associated with the campus. It was in a residential neighborhood in Chapel Hill. And until this morning, we didn`t even know it was a student.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: An uncanny similarity, another young coed shot late in the evening, her car taken away, both of them scrubbed in sunshine, Eve Carson, Lauren Burk, about 400 miles apart. Although police are saying no connection right now, the similarity between the two uncanny.
Out to the lines. Kim in Ohio. Hi, Kim.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. Oh, my gosh, we love you so much!
GRACE: Thank you, dear.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was wondering if they`ve looked into student services to see if she had possible issues with a stalker.
GRACE: Interesting. Gurnal Scott, what do we know about that?
SCOTT: We don`t know much about that right now. They are looking into every situation as far as any relationship she had, be it on a student government level, on a personal level. They`re looking at everything to try to find who`s behind this senseless killing. And it appears that -- it doesn`t seem like there`s anything that is involved on a professional -- on a school level as far as student government is concerned, but in these crimes, you never really can tell.
GRACE: When we come back, in an eerie similarity, 400 miles away from UNC Chapel Hill, the mystery surrounding the shooting of yet another gorgeous coed, 18-year-old Lauren Burk.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s a small bouquet of flowers lying in the parking lot where the mystery began. The flowers are near the charred remains of Lauren Burk`s car. What happened to the 18-year-old freshman is still unclear. Around campus there are more police patrols, some officers in marked cars, others working undercover. Some students and parents are concerned about why it took more than 12 hours to issue a campus alert.
In the meantime, Auburn police are working with state and local authorities hoping for an arrest soon.
UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICIAL: We at the Auburn Police Department have formed a task force to concentrate exclusively on this case. The agencies involved in helping us investigate this case are the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the United States Marshal Service, middle district of Alabama, the League County district attorney`s office, the League County sheriff`s office, (INAUDIBLE) Police Department, as well as the Department of Forensic Sciences.
We also encourage anyone with information that may help us in this case to call us on the tip line, Auburn Police Department tip line, which is 334- 501-7337.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Four hundred miles way, another campus numb with pain. Now another girl, Lauren A. Burk, 18 years old, freshman at Auburn University, dead. Very similar to the shooting death at University of North Carolina.
Joining me, CNN affiliate WTVM reporter, joining us there live at the Auburn Police Department, joining her right now, Sheriff Jay Jones.
Elizabeth?
ELIZABETH WHITE, REPORTER, WTVM: Nancy, thank you very much. I can tell you 40 investigators including Sheriff Jay Jones are working around the clock tonight to find and hunt down Lauren`s killer. We`re hearing that you are possibly close to making an arrest. Can you confirm or deny that for us?
SHERIFF JAY JONES, LEE CO. SHERIFF: That`s not exactly correct. At this point in time, this is a fluid situation. We`re still within the first 48 hours of the investigation. We`re not at the point right now that an arrest is imminent. We`ve received several very good leads. They`re being followed up as we speak. They would hopefully be of such a magnitude that they will lead to the identity of a suspect, but that has not occurred to this point.
WHITE: Based on what you know, and I know what you know you can`t share with us, but based on what you know are you confident Lauren`s killer will be found and brought to justice?
JONES: Absolutely. This is a good assembly of law enforcement professionals. They know what they`re doing. They know how to do their job. We have local, state and federal authorities all involved, working cooperatively. I feel very confident that an arrest will be made at some point in time.
WHITE: Police said yesterday and they said again today that they do not believe any Auburn University students or professors, staff or faculty are in any immediate danger tonight. What do you want to say about that? That suggests to some people that this person targeted Lauren specifically and that they were known to each other.
JONES: A little premature at this point to say specifically one way or the other whether she was the specific target or not. And as far as the safety of the campus environment here at Auburn University, I think it`s as safe as any campus anywhere. Certainly everyone in every walk of life is at risk in their daily work. But how much of a risk, difficult to say.
I do know this. One thing I can state is that the university, the city of Auburn, the Auburn police division and local law enforcement are doing everything that can be done to ensure the safety of these students, the faculty, and to ensure the parents of the students here at Auburn that we`re doing everything we can to look for their safety.
WHITE: Sheriff Jay Jones, thank you, I know you`re busy, and for taking the time to do this with us tonight. We appreciate it. Good luck to you.
JONES: Thank you. Thank you.
WHITE: Thank you very much. I do want to say, Auburn University, they have stepped up patrols on campus and also they have a thing, it`s a shuttle service called Tiger Transit, Nancy. And instead of closing down that shuttle service at 7:00 p.m. like they normally do, that shuttle service is now running around the clock, 24 hours a day, just like what these investigators are doing trying to hunt down Lauren`s killer -- Nancy?
GRACE: Joining me Elizabeth White and thank you to Sheriff Jay Jones. Elizabeth with CNN affiliate WTVM. She`s joining us live from the Auburn, Alabama police department.
Elizabeth, an uncannily similar shooting of a young coed 400 miles way, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Go through with me very quickly, Elizabeth, the sequence of events surrounding Lauren`s murder.
WHITE: OK. We do know -- we`re hearing from a source close to the investigation that she was last seen leaving her boyfriend`s dorm around 8:00 that night. And then as we all know, now, police will not confirm that on the record, but according to my sources she was last seen leaving her boyfriend`s apartment alone. Then we know an hour and eight minutes later is when that 911 phone call came into the 911 center here at the Auburn Police Department, from a driver saying, "Hey, there`s a young lady in the road. It looks like she`s hurt."
And that is, of course, when police responded. Then we know 20 minutes later is when they found her 2001 black Honda Civic on fire behind those dorms on Auburn University`s campus.
GRACE: Joining us there at the police department, Elizabeth White, CNN affiliate reporter with WTVM. Have you found out any information, Elizabeth, about the state that Lauren was in when she was discovered?
WHITE: About the state that she was discovered? I am hearing from several of my sources that she was not completely dressed when she was discovered by the person that was driving on North College Road that first saw her and then when police arrived.
Police will not go on the record and confirm that with me. But I do know, I have three of my sources that did, they all -- told me that she was either naked entirely or she was naked from the waist down.
GRACE: What can you tell me, Elizabeth White, about a red gas can? Why is that becoming the focus of the investigation?
WHITE: A red gas can becoming the focus of the investigation? I don`t know if that`s becoming a focus of the investigation, Nancy. I just know that investigators are leaving no stone unturned. In fact, they`re visiting all the different gas stations in the area and they`re asking the attendants, hey, did you see somebody come in and fill up a red gas tank with gasoline? Because it is thought that -- it`s not too -- it`s kind of difficult to set a car on fire so it`s thought that some sort of accelerant was used to set her car on fire.
And of course, the most easily accessible accelerant would, of course, be gasoline. So that`s why they`re asking all the attendants in this town, hey, did you see anything suspicious.
GRACE: Well, it seems to me a red gas can, Lisa Pinto, Lauren Lakes, Seema Iyer, joining us now, suggests that someone got gas accelerant from a red gas can to set that car on fire. Maybe they found the gas can.
Lisa?
PINTO: Here`s where I think this case is different from the other. When you set a car on fire, that`s a very personal message. When a woman is stripped naked, that`s a sexual assault. This women was targeted for her - - something that aroused about her -- aroused the predator, then defiled her, got rid of her so there would be no witness and set her car on fire in some sort of act of sexual perversion or to destroy the evidence, any kind of evidence.
GRACE: You know, Lauren Lake, Seema Iyer, both defense attorneys joining us tonight. To you, Lauren Lake, not every murder qualifies under the law for a death penalty sentence. However, when you throw in partially clothed, sexual motivation, if not sexual attack, the burning of the car, all of that suggests lying in wait, suggests targeting her. That would qualify for a death penalty sentence.
LAKE: But, Nancy, it could qualify, I mean, as being a result of some type of domestic violence. Here we`ve got this boyfriend situation that she was just with an hour before. That to me suggests, hey, he needs to be somebody that the police need to be talking to immediately. He`s presumptively one of the last people to see her alive.
GRACE: Whoa, surely he`s not been named even a person of interest.
LAKE: Absolutely. But at the same time it`s just an investigation. There`s nothing wrong with talking to him. I`m a defense attorney. I`m the main one that`s not going to name one early.
GRACE: Agree or disagree, Seema?
IYER: The boyfriend is definitely the target and you know the police have already spoken to him. Burning someone`s vehicle -- a vehicle is so personal to us. Burning someone`s vehicle is like burning an effigy of that person, of Lauren.
PINTO: But you don`t rape your girlfriend on the street and leave her naked body, you kill her in the apartment and then get rid of it.
IRE: Not necessarily. He`s not thinking. He`s not clearly. He`s just been broken up. How do we know that?
PINTO: There`s just no evidence to point the finger to this guy. I think it`s defamatory to even talk about him.
GRACE: Everyone, very quickly. The devastation left behind by Hurricane Katrina continues even today.
Tonight the Christ United Methodist Church lending its support to Katrina recovery in New Orleans. They`re trying desperately to get families back into their homes in the shadows of the Super Dome. The Broadmoor community in particular sustaining extensive damage, left under 10 feet of water for weeks.
From carpentry work, painting, plumbing, flooring, Christ UMC also providing money the church raised itself. Joining forces with local schools, churches, government.
For info, won`t you help or make a donation, go to Broadmoorimprovement.com.
When we come back, a mom turns a high-powered pressure washer on her little 2-year-old toddler girl at an Orlando car wash. The child crying, screaming to escape and it`s all on video.
Well, speaking of bad parents, APB, all points bulletin on special moms and dads. If you know one who`s an inspiration to others, get that camcorder, everybody. Go to CNN.com/Nancygrace and click on i-Report and enter that deserving parent in the extraordinary parent contest.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Manager Marlene Diaz couldn`t believe what happened on her shift at the Magical Car Wash. Surveillance video shows the woman in the black shirt starts up the pressure hose and goes right for the little girl, grabbing her as she tries to run away.
Investigators believe the mom used the pressure hose as punishment. The force of the water, 1,200 pounds per square inch. At times the little girl tries to hide her face. The mom pins the child to the wall and sprays at close range.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: How do these people have children? You`ve got to have a license to sell a hot dog on the street, but to have children?
To Eben Brown, reporter, Metro Networks, what happened, Eben?
EBEN BROWN, REPORTER, METRO NETWORKS: Good evening, Nancy. This (INAUDIBLE) -- we got a phone call or police rather got a phone call from the owner of this car wash saying she had heard a child screaming, the type of scream that, you know, sounds like bloody murder, and provided this tape of her surveillance camera showing this mother aiming the pressure washer at her young child. We later on learned this child was 2 years old. But not just aiming it but firing the pressure washer at her from the car wash. And this child was screaming apparently from getting hosed down.
GRACE: After she shot the child with the pressure washer, what did she do?
BROWN: Well, she -- well, it lasted a while, actually. She held this child against the wall, putting her hand to the girl`s shoulder holding her up against the wall, aiming this pressure washer, which looks like a gun, I mean, it`s got a long barrel on it, the trigger and the handle, and after she was done for a few minutes, a friend of hers helped her remove the child`s clothing, stripped her down naked now in public, wrapped her in a towel and put her back in the car.
GRACE: You know what, Bethany Marshall, this is so wrong on so many levels. This little girl is going to remember this. This isn`t something that happened, you know, just after she was born and maybe she won`t remember it. She`s going to remember this public humiliation. And according to the car wash manager, that blast is strong enough to take the top layer of skin off your arm.
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": I struggle to even understand it. There are two things she`s going to remember. First of all, there`s probably many instances of abuse that have come before. But abusers confuse what it means to be an adult and what it means to be a child so they parentify the child and the who child`s sense of the world as being safe is so completely disrupted.
GRACE: You know I want to go to a special guest, Commander Matt Irwin with the Orange County Sheriff`s Office.
Commander, thank you for being with us. Where is the mom tonight?
COMMANDER MATT IRWIN, ORANGE CO. SHERIFF`S OFFICE: Right now the mom, as far as I know, she`s at home. She`s been released for the evening. We are going to decide our course of action tomorrow. We still have some running around to do. We have the witness that you see in the video. We have not talked to her yet. And we wanted to talk to her. We also had to check out some of the issues regarding the pressure that actually comes from that hose, whether or not you can manipulate how much pressure comes from it to verify some of the facts of the mom`s testimony.
GRACE: OK. So you`re still investigating.
To Eben Brown, I understand it was -- turned all the way up?
BROWN: Well, we`re told from the owner of the car wash that that thing shoots water out at 1,200 pounds per square inch. And there are a couple other variables that we`re not aware of. We don`t know how hot that water is, if the water`s chemically treated or not. Remember, this is not water from your kitchen sink. This is water for -- you know, meant to spot free rinse your vehicle.
GRACE: Good lord in heaven.
To Michelle Sigona, "America`s Most Wanted" correspondent, what more can you tell me, Michelle?
SIGONA: Well, as we learned earlier today, that mom did, in fact, turn herself in, thank goodness. And what we do know is that she`s also pregnant with her second child, and that Child Protective Services had been out to the house before but not for other child abuse cases but for domestic violence.
GRACE: Also joining us tonight, Dr. Zhongxue Hua, Union County, New Jersey medical examiner.
Dr. Hua, what effect would this type of a pressure washer have on a little child`s skin?
DR. ZHONGXUE HUA, UNION CO. N.J. MEDICAL EXAMINER: Certainly broke off your superficial layer of the skin off. Also depended where this particular water jet was at, if it`s shooting at your eyes it would cause additional damage. And another thing people always forgot is this is just the tip of the iceberg. A typical example of child abuse. There`s mentally child abuse can persist for long period of time at the same time.
The Child Protective Service have really do a decent job, have to go further, evaluate the kids whether any other injuries, any fractures, any previous bruisers on the body, have talked to her pediatrician. There`s lots of work need to be done.
GRACE: Out to the lines, Steve in Oklahoma. Hi, Steve.
STEVE, FROM OKLAHOMA: Hi, Nancy. My wife and I watch your show every night and I personally think you`re beautiful.
GRACE: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. I`ll tell that to the twins when I get home tonight.
STEVE: OK.
GRACE: What`s your question, dear?
STEVE: I want to play devil`s advocate for a moment.
GRACE: OK.
STEVE: And what would have happened, say, for instance, if fire ants had gotten up on her leg? I know ants are a lot around car washes. Being that part of the country she could have had ants or something or other...
GRACE: Steve, Steve, Steve, you sweet, sweet silly man.
Eben brown, any fire ants?
BROWN: Apparently not. This was a discipline act. The mother even admitted it. She was trying to, quote, as she told police, calm the child down who was in the midst of a temper tantrum.
GRACE: OK. I want to go out to.
BROWN: This wasn`t trying to help the child looks like it.
GRACE: To Steve in Oklahoma`s wife, you`ve got a keeper. He`s still an innocent. Hold on.
To Leann in Connecticut. Hi, Leann.
LEANN, FROM CONNECTICUT: Hi, Nancy. Thanks for taking my call.
GRACE: Yes, ma`am.
LEANNE: You`re an extraordinary parent and an extraordinary human being. The last couple of weeks has been so horrifying. Is it open season on the children of this country? What is leading up to all this violence against our kids?
GRACE: To Bethany Marshall, the young girls at the campuses, this little girl, what do you think?
MARSHALL: I think we`re just hearing more about it. I think what you have to understand, is there`s a high incidence of personality disorders in the general population. But in this case it actually spilled over into a type of abuse.
ANNOUNCER: NANCY GRACE brought to you by.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: As you know, we at NANCY GRACE on the hunt for parents who inspire. Now tonight`s extraordinary parent.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE SOOKOO, NANCY GRACE EXTRAORDINARY PARENT FINALIST: He killed my mother first and then he shot my sister and then he killed himself. And the kids were there. They witnessed everything.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On Valentine`s Day 2006, 46-year-old Mario Calderon shot and killed his mother-in-law, (INAUDIBLE), his wife Gina, and then himself. The couple`s three young boys, Adonis, Dylan and Kyle, were all at home.
SOOKOO: The minute I got off the phone with this detective, (INAUDIBLE). And I felt like every single bit of air came out of my body.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Grief stricken by the loss of her sister, Jamie Sookoo and her boyfriend Ainsley knew they needed to help the three brothers.
SOOKOO: They just wanted to be stable. They just wanted a home. They just wanted a place to call their home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The couple, who already had a young son of their own, married, and adopted the boys and have been a family ever since.
SOOKOO: Do you miss your mommy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
SOOKOO: And your Nanny? Yes? How much?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: What a sweet, sweet little boy.
Let`s stop and remember, Army Private First Place Duncan Crookston, 19, Denver, Colorado, killed, Iraq. Awarded the bronze star, Purple Heart, an army commendation medal. A science and electronics whiz, he could complete a Rubik`s cube in under one minute. Generous. Lived life to the fullest. Loved spending time with family, computers, music, books. Leaves behind parents Leesha and Christopher, five brothers, widow his high school sweetheart Megan.
Duncan Crookston, American hero.
Thank you to our guests, but our biggest thank you is to you tonight and every night for inviting all of us into your home. See you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp, Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
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