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Nancy Grace
Amber Alert Issued for 7-Year-Old South Salt Lake Girl
Aired April 01, 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: Tonight, Amber Alert, a beautiful little South Salt Lake girl still missing her two front teeth. Was she kidnapped from her own neighborhood, her own backyard? Hundreds of volunteers join U.S. Marshals and police, all in a desperate attempt to locate this little girl. As you know, the first 72 hours after a child kidnap are literally life or death. We go live for the latest.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hundreds of volunteers now searching for 7-year- old Hser Ner Moo, missing from her South Salt Lake home since Monday. Police don`t have solid evidence indicating she was kidnapped, but say she`s been missing long enough to issue an Amber Alert. Authorities believe the young girl got into an argument with her brother and walked out of her house. She has two front teeth missing and was last seen wearing a pink-and-black outfit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight: A suitcase fished outside a local pond leads to a stunning discovery, an oversized, waterlogged suitcase stuffed with a human body, a body suspected to be that of gorgeous young mom, 27-year-old Amy Giordano, and linked to this 11-month-old baby boy found abandoned in a parking lot, a note tucked into the baby`s diaper.
Tonight, bombshell. Prosecutors reveal motive for murder, murder and dismemberment of Amy Giordano. It all boils down to money. That`s right, the perp allegedly didn`t want to pay for a wife and a girlfriend. And tonight, we break down the timeline as to how the murder and dismemberment and the abandonment of the toddler went down. New court documents uncover details about Giordano`s death and disposal.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Disturbing allegations leveled against Rosario DiGirolamo. Prosecutors say he couldn`t juggle the financial pressures of two families, so he eliminated one of them. The prosecution said DiGirolamo killed mistress Amy Giordano, beating her with a heavy metal bar and proceeding to saw her body into pieces. After that, prosecutors allege DiGirolamo stuffed some of those pieces in a suitcase and threw the evidence away in a pond, prosecutors also alleging in court DiGirolamo confessed to not one, not two but three people about the murders. Defense attorney Jerome Balarado (ph) continues to proclaim DiGirolamo`s innocence and says these accusations are, quote, "all talk."
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GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. First, Amber Alert, South Salt Lake City.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An Amber Alert issued today for 7-year-old Hser Ner Moo, missing from her South Salt Lake home since Monday afternoon. Police say she walked off her house after an argument with her brother. The little girl has long black hair, brown eyes, 3 feet, 8 inches tall, weighing 45 pounds, last seen wearing a pink-and-black outfit. Police say she`s also missing her two front teeth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The likelihood that she may have been injured and holed up somewhere over the course of the evening is dwindling for us. We`re concerned that there is foul play involved, given the age of this girl and the timeframe that she`s been missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If this is, in fact, a kidnap case, it`s not uncommon for the perpetrator to come and inject himself into the search. And we, in fact, want to make sure we know who is searching and who is searching on our behalf.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I want to go straight out to Jim Kirkwood with KTKK. What`s the latest in the search for this little girl?
JIM KIRKWOOD, KTKK: Well, they`re still looking. Helicopters, K-9 unit, 600 searchers plus various police units on the job right now.
GRACE: To Paul Murphy with the Utah Child Abduction Response Team. He`s the state Amber Alert coordinator. Paul, what exactly happened?
PAUL MURPHY, UTAH AMBER ALERT COORDINATOR: Well, within a half hour after police were notified, the Child Abduction Response Team came on to the scene. You had 50 experts, people who are -- have various expertise in child abductions, and they are out there. They`ve been looking. They`ve been doing everything they possibly can to bring this child home.
GRACE: Well, Paul, I want to go back through the facts. What do we know about her disappearance? And was there a delay in reporting her missing?
MURPHY: Right. You know, children are missing all the time, and so the parents waited a while before they contacted the police. Once the police were contacted, the police notified all law enforcement in the area. They activated the CART team. And so as soon as police were notified, you had a lot of people out there looking for her.
GRACE: To Jim Kirkwood, KTKK. Jim, I`m not familiar with children missing all the time -- Of course, I`m not an expert. I`ve only had children for five months, going on five months. But so far, thank God in heaven, they haven`t been missing. How long was this girl missing before she was reported missing? And what are the circumstances surrounding her disappearance?
KIRKWOOD: Well, she had an argument with her brother, and I guess she left, irritated with him, left the house. And it`s not her usual pattern. And then the two older brothers came home around 4:30. This was 2:00 o`clock. They came and started looking, and then by 6:30, they were panicky and called the police.
GRACE: Now, hold on. So she goes missing on what day, Jim Kirkwood?
KIRKWOOD: Yesterday, Monday, 2:00 o`clock.
GRACE: Monday. And when were police called?
KIRKWOOD: Not until 6:30 last night.
GRACE: OK. Back to Paul Murphy. Does that jive with the timeline that you have?
MURPHY: Yes. I think, essentially, the police were trying to eliminate all the possibilities. They were talking to friends. They were talking to relatives. They wanted to see if there was a chance that this girl was just in another place. And once that took place, they found out that she was nowhere to be found, and then they started bringing in the Child Abduction Response Team and everything got ramped up considerably.
GRACE: What exactly, Paul, have they done so far to try to find her?
MURPHY: Well, they have been talking to people on the sex offender registry. They have been doing a grid search of the local neighborhoods, and then they`ve had volunteers searching in the neighborhoods outside of the initial mile-and-a-half area. They have been really looking over everything they possibly could. And they`ve actually done three different searches in the immediate neighborhood. They`ve used A Child Is Missing, which is like a reverse 911, to notify all the neighbors in that area. And they have been doing everything they possibly can during a child abduction case to find her.
GRACE: Joining me right now, I`m hearing in my ear, is Gary Keller, spokesperson for the South Salt Lake Police. Gary, thank you for being with us. Gary, what can you tell me about the police`s search for little Hser Ner, also known as Sury (ph)?
GARY KELLER, SOUTH SALT LAKE POLICE: Basically, we flooded the area with police officers and volunteer searchers. Last night, we had over 100 -- I believe 120 searchers out on the street. That search continued all throughout the night. We`re continuing our search, and it actually has been ramped up today with the issue of the Amber Alert. So now there`s, on last report, over 800 volunteer searchers involved in this situation, as well as law enforcement throughout the Salt Lake valley.
GRACE: Won`t you help us tonight? A little 7-year-old girl is missing in the South Salt Lake area not far from Salt Lake City. She`s still missing her two front teeth. Take a look at this little girl. Her name is Hser Ner Moo, also name as Sury. You`re seeing how far someone could have gotten in this period of time. She has now been missing since yesterday, a 7-year-old little girl.
Out to the lines. Amanda in Oklahoma. Hi, Amanda.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi.
GRACE: What`s your question, dear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Those missing teeth, are those her upper or her lower teeth?
GRACE: Two front teeth, I believe her upper. What about it? Out to you, Gary Keller. Upper front teeth?
KELLER: I didn`t ask that question directly, but I believe it`s her upper front teeth, when they say her two front teeth.
GRACE: Two front teeth. Yes. To Heather, Heather in Illinois. Hi, Heather.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. Your babies are beautiful.
GRACE: Thank you. Thank you very much. What`s your question, dear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was just wondering, especially with the fact that they waited so long, do they think that the parents or maybe the siblings are involved somehow?
GRACE: What about it, Jim Kirkwood? Jim join us from KTKK. I have not heard that theory at all.
KIRKWOOD: I haven`t, either. The aunt was in the home when the argument occurred, and the young girl ran out. And the boy that the argument happened with was still in the home. And the aunt hasn`t reported anything like that.
GRACE: To Mark Hillman, clinical psychotherapist and author of "My Therapist Is Making Me Nuts." Mark, it`s not unusual for a 7-year-old -- take a look at this, 53 registered sex offenders right in that area where the little girl lived. It`s not uncommon for a 10-year-old big brother and a 7-year-old little sister to have a big fuss and one of them to stomp out of the house. That`s not unusual at all. And apparently, that`s what happened here. They thought she was just playing in and about the home, and suddenly it`s 6:30 at night and there is no Sury. Will the little boy suffer guilt over this?
MARK HILLMAN, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Probably, yes, in terms of how it`s handled, if there`s an intervention not only from the CART team and the child abduction team. But are they doing anything for the family in terms of intervening with any sort of counseling, with psychotherapy, to bring the family together as a cohesive unit? But that guilt factor, Nancy, is very large at this moment, and especially until they find little Sury.
GRACE: I want to go out to Ernie Allen. Ernie is a friend of the show. You all know Ernie. He`s the president and CEO of NCFMEC, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Ernie, welcome. And just how important are those first 72 hours?
ERNIE ALLEN, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: Nancy, time is in the enemy in the search for these children. You`ve got to move quickly. The response of the South Salt Lake City police and the Utah Child Abduction Response Team is terrific, but it would have been great if they could have started several hours earlier. We know that in the most serious cases, in 76 percent of the cases in which children are abducted and murdered, they`re dead within the first three hours. So you have to move fast.
GRACE: And tell me about the stats after the first three hours, Ernie. What happens then, statistically?
ALLEN: Well, statistically, every hour, every day, every week that a child is missing, the likelihood of safe recovery grows a little less. Now, reality is, we`re recovering children after weeks and months and even years -- Elizabeth Smart, missing nine months, Sean Hornbeck, missing four years. So there is certainly hope that she can be recovered, but it is really important that we seize these moments, that we mobilize the eyes and ears of the people of Utah and across the United States. Somebody knows where this little girl is.
GRACE: Take a look at 7-year-old Sury. She`s a 2nd grader. She`s only 3-foot-9. She`s only 45 pounds, long black hair, beautiful brown eyes, missing her two front teeth, last seen wearing a pink heavy coat with fringe on the bottom, pink-and-black sneakers. Look at her. She has now been missing since yesterday, last seen right there in her own home.
Back out to Jim Kirkwood with KTKK. Jim, who was taking care of her? Didn`t you say her aunt?
KIRKWOOD: That`s what we`ve been told. The aunt was there with the two children.
GRACE: And police were called, did you say, around 6:30 PM?
KIRKWOOD: Yes, that`s when the family became very panicky and called police.
GRACE: Why wasn`t an Amber Alert issued immediately?
KIRKWOOD: The police felt this was more an angry young girl who ran away and they would find her quickly, she`d come back on her own. So you can`t really fault them.
GRACE: Don`t you think -- out to Gary Keller, he`s a spokesperson with the South Salt Lake police -- it`s better safe than sorry?
KELLER: Well, with the Amber Alert, there`s certain criteria we need to achieve, and the very first criteria is, Is it believed the child had been abducted? Certainly, this was not the case.
GRACE: Let`s go back out to the lines. Laurie in Pennsylvania. Hi, Laurie.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, Nancy. I think you`re the best.
GRACE: Thank you. What`s your question, dear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, my kind of question was kind of already answered. I was just wondering if there was any known registered sex offenders in the area.
GRACE: Yes, there are. Liz, let`s see the map of the registered sex offenders.
To Paul Murphy with the Utah Child Abduction Response Team. I believe there are about 53 of them, Paul. And tell me, how are they being eliminated, or are they?
MURPHY: You know, police and members of the CART team immediately went to the registered sex offenders. And in fact, the registered sex offenders were expecting them to come knocking on their door to find out if they had an alibi or some reason to show that they weren`t involved with this. So they eliminated those people almost immediately.
GRACE: To Laurie in Pennsylvania. Hi, Laurie. Hold on. No Laurie. Let`s go to Lynn in California. Hi, Lynn.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I love you so much!
GRACE: Lynn, thank you for watching and for calling in. What`s your question, dear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Listen, who saw the daughter storm out of the house, only the brother, or did the aunt see her storm out of the house, too?
GRACE: OK, hold on. Will you repeat that, dear? I couldn`t understand you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to know if the brother only saw her storm out of the house, or did an adult see her storm out of the house?
GRACE: OK. Good question...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because if the brother just said she stormed out of the house, then maybe she didn`t just storm out of the house.
GRACE: To Gary Keller with the South Salt Lake police. Did the aunt also see her leave the home?
KELLER: I don`t know that. I did not get that information that the aunt saw her leave the house. We do have information that some neighbors in the area actually saw her outside the apartment. So we do have that information.
GRACE: What time was that, Gary?
KELLER: I believe it was close to the 6:30 -- or, no, about the 2:00 o`clock hour because her last known sighting was at 2:00 o`clock in the apartment complex.
GRACE: She was outside her apartment, her family inside. The aunt was there staying with her. There was absolutely no reason for the aunt not to allow the little girl to go outside. An argument with an older brother, certainly not uncommon.
I want to go back to the lines. Let`s go to Tim in Illinois. Hi, Tim.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, Nancy. How are you?
GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said the aunt was home. How come the aunt didn`t do anything about that when the little girl walked out of the house? She`s only 7.
GRACE: What about it, Jim Kirkwood?
KIRKWOOD: Well, children do these sorts of things. I think any parent knows this. And usually, the kids go outside and cool off and forget about it. Most children, their anger only lasts five minutes. So I think the aunt`s behavior was highly appropriate, based on my own parental experience.
GRACE: Let`s go to Debra Henderson-Griffith. Debra Henderson- Griffith is a very special guest. I know you remember her. This is Arlin Henderson`s mother. He`s been missing since 1991. Debra, thank you for being with us.
DEBRA HENDERSON-GRIFFITH, SON ARLIN MISSING SINCE 1991: Thank you for having me. Congratulations on your babies.
GRACE: Thank you. It is not uncommon at all for children to go ride their bikes, to go play outside, to go out in the yard, or to stomp out in a little huff. She`s only 7 years old. She had a fight with her 10-year- old brother.
HENDERSON-GRIFFITH: Completely normal.
GRACE: Do you recall when Arlin went missing? What do you think her parents are going through right now?
HENDERSON-GRIFFITH: Probably really -- they`re probably blaming themselves. I did. They`re probably thinking that she`s going to be home, hoping that she`s going to be home, that the police can find her, and probably just going through so many mind battles and so many ups and downs. And scared. That fear is there, and it`s so...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are checking for warrants, we`re checking for criminal history, and we`re also checking the sex offender registry. We want to make sure that the people we`re sending out to find this child is, in fact, someone we want to find the child.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where is 7-year-old Hser Ner Moo? The little girl left her South Salt Lake home Monday afternoon following an argument with her brother and hasn`t been seen since. Police issuing an Amber Alert today say the little girl may need medical attention. She was last seen wearing a pink dress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Where is 7-year-old Sury? The little girl still missing her two front teeth. Her aunt and her brother are there at home when she went outside, hasn`t been seen since 6:00 PM -- no, more like 2:00 PM yesterday. The Amber Alert issued around 6:00. Take a look at this little girl. The search turning desperate, the temperatures dipping down into the 20s tonight.
Out to the lines. Joyce in Georgia. Hi, Joyce.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy.
GRACE: What`s your question, dear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is the weather like in Utah? And what kind of clothing does she have on?
GRACE: Excellent question. Let`s go back to Gary Keller with the South Salt Lake police. What is the weather? And did she have on a little pink coat?
KELLER: She did have on a pink coat, kind of a sweater/jacket coat. We believe it`s, you know, suitable for the weather. Certainly, she went outside to play in that. She had on a dress and kind of sneaker shoes. So you know, temperature-wise, last night it did get very cold. The day before, we did have snow, about 3, 4 inches of snow, and that was followed by very cold temperatures last night.
GRACE: Speaking of the temperatures, let`s go out to Dr. Steve J. Cina, deputy chief medical examiner. Dr. Cina, thank you for being with us. With temperatures like those, what effect would that have on the little girl?
DR. STEVE J. CINA, DEPUTY CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER: Well, Nancy, as you`d expect, we`d be very concerned about hypothermia. Despite the coat, over a matter of hours, the child would become increasingly cold, shivering would start, and over hours, the shivering would get very bad. What you then might expect is disorientation, confusion. She wouldn`t know what she was doing, where she was going. You may see the phenomenon of paradoxical undressing, where the child actually starts taking off her clothes, believing she`s warm and cozy, when, in fact, she`s freezing to death.
GRACE: Quickly, to Daniel Horowitz, Ray Giudice, renowned defense attorneys. First to you, Ray Giudice. The family has got to expect that they will be looked at first. Why?
RAY GIUDICE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Certainly. Well, you know, the investigation should start in a ring -- family, people, neighbors, local jurisdictions, places where she would go -- and then work outward. I`m sure the investigators have done that.
GRACE: Do you agree, Daniel?
DANIEL HOROWITZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I`d be looking to save this little girl, so forget about the family. Look for people who might have taken her. You can always look at the family later, Nancy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If this is, in fact, a kidnap case, it`s not uncommon for the perpetrator to come and inject himself into the search. And we, in fact, want to make sure we know who is searching and who is searching on our behalf.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The likelihood that she may have been injured and holed up somewhere over the course of the evening is dwindling for us. We`re concerned that there is foul play involved, given the age of this girl and the timeframe that she`s been missing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: This little 7-year-old girl, still missing her two little front teeth, has been gone since yesterday. She went missing around 2:00 o`clock, last spotted in the neighborhood around that time. Family called police at 6:00, then around 9:00 o`clock, Amber Alert issued.
Out to Pat Brown, criminal profiler and author of "Killing for Sport." What`s the profile of someone that would take this girl?
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, unfortunately, it is a sexual deviant, a pedophile, and that does bode rather badly for the little girl because as I said earlier in the show, the first three hours are critical because most of these kids get killed within the first three hours. And the ones that actually survive are usually teenagers, like Elizabeth Smart. So the chances aren`t very good, but we can keep looking and hope that this is the unusual case where somebody`s kept her and she`s still alive.
GRACE: There is a chance that this little girl is still alive. Take a look. Phone number, 801-840-4000. We are taking your calls live.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If this is, in fact, a kidnap case, it`s not uncommon for the perpetrator to come and inject himself into the search. And we, in fact, want to make sure we know who is searching and who is searching on our behalf.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obviously, we`re really focusing our efforts on a clearly concentrated area. You know, we do have a four-hour time lapse from the time this was reported, which is a concern to us. And that`s something that we`re dealing with on the time frame. But, you know, at this point we don`t have anything really concrete to put out there as far as any type of profile.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And those four hours, critical. You just heard Ernie Allen from the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children say, statistically, children are killed within the first three hours after they are abducted.
Out to the lines, Nolanda in Utah. Hi, Nolanda.
NOLAND, UTAH RESIDENT: Hi, Nancy, how are you?
GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?
NOLANDA: Hey, I`m from Salt Lake, from Utah, and I`m really upset about this case. I`ve been watching it all day.
GRACE: Me, too.
NOLANDA: And my concern is, why is there so little concern placed on the safety of our children? Because it`s clearly evident that this is a crime of opportunity. Somebody saw that little girl leave her house upset, they took her, and then the police wait hours later to do an AMBER Alert. It`s too late. And that bothers me. Why can`t we do something right when the child is missing?
GRACE: Ernie Allen, what about it?
ERNIE ALLEN, PRES. AND CEO, NATL. CENTER FOR MISSING & EXPLOITED CHILDREN: Well, I think it`s a really good point. We know, for example, that most of these crimes, two-thirds of these kinds of abduction cases involve crimes of opportunity. People are in the area who seize on the opportunity. But as the South Salt Lake Police indicated, there are also innocent explanations. Here, there`s no witness, there`s no evidence of foul play, and the case was reported by the parents and guardians four hours after the child disappeared.
So what we have to do under the AMBER system is law enforcement has to make the best judgment. Is this child at serious risk? Do we have key descriptive information to go to the public? There`s no question that in retrospect it should have been done sooner.
GRACE: You know, longing and vying for the days, like when we grew up, Ernie, where you could get on your bicycle and ride hours, be gone, and then come back home in time for supper, those days are over. In fact, that is very similar to what happened to Debra Henderson-Griffin, her son Arlen missing since 1991.
Debra, didn`t Arlen just go out to ride his bike?
DEBRA HENDERSON-GRIFFIN, MOTHER OF MISSING BOY, ARLIN HENDERSON: Yes, he just went out to ride his bike, play with his friends in an area where he grew up.
GRACE: So it`s not necessarily nefarious that the parents didn`t call police immediately. They waited a few hours and then when she didn`t show up, they started to become alarmed.
Out to Nikki in California. Hi, Nikki.
NIKKI, CALIFORNIA RESIDENT: Hi, Nancy. You are so awesome. There are no words to express.
GRACE: Thank you.
NIKKI: And I have one question and one comment. My question is, I haven`t heard anything about the parents. I`m only hearing about the aunt and the brothers. And I`m wondering, is the aunt the guardian? Or could there possibly be an estranged father or mother...
GRACE: I don`t think so. But you know, Nikki, I`m glad you asked that, because the family is where police start their investigation.
To Jim Kirkwood with KTKK, the parents were away at work. Yes, there`s not any family rift?
JIM KIRKWOOD, NEWS SHOW HOST, KTKK: Yes, the father was at work and he got home around 6:00, 6:30, that`s when the call was made. And the other thing, and we want to approach this carefully, mother has been in and out of the hospital. So people need to understand that.
GRACE: I see.
Back out to the lines, Kris in Indiana. Hi, Kris.
KRIS, INDIANA RESIDENT: Hi.
GRACE: What`s your question, dear?
KRIS: I`ve got two little, quick questions.
GRACE: OK.
KRIS: The first question is, is how long exactly after she went out of the home did someone check on her? And is the second question was, is it normal for her to go outside and play by herself as young as she is? That`s what concerned me.
GRACE: Good question. To Gary Keller with the South Salt Lake Police, did -- we went outside and played all the time when we were little. There was nothing bad associated with it. Did this little girl go outside and play alone often?
GARY KELLER, SPOKESMAN, SOUTH SALT LAKE POLICE: Apparently that`s the case. Certainly, it`s a large apartment complex and, you know, there`s one road in, one road out. So we do have a lot of children in that area that do play in the area. And so it`s not uncommon for her to go out and play and you know, the parents have been there for a number of months. So certainly they were comfortable with the child outside.
GRACE: Back to the lines. Nancy in Tennessee. Hi, Nancy.
NANCY, TENNESSEE RESIDENT: Hi, Nancy. How are you?
GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?
NANCY: Had a couple quick -- you know, when my children, when they argued that like, the first thing they did was either go to whoever was with them and complain to get some help. They don`t usually walk out the door. But did the brother ever leave the house after she went out?
GRACE: Good question.
To Paul Murphy with the Utah Child Abduction Response Team, what about the little brother? Did he also go outside?
PAUL MURPHY, STATE AMBER ALERT COORDINATOR, UTAH CHILD ABDUCTION RESPONSE TEAM: I`m not sure if he ever went outside, but I`d like to answer the question about the AMBER Alert.
GRACE: Oh sure.
MURPHY: Utah has an endangered person advisory, which can be used in cases that don`t meet the AMBER Alert criteria. The public is notified, the media is notified, law enforcement is notified. People were out there looking for this girl before an AMBERT Alert was issued. Once they eliminated all the possibilities, they decided to issue an AMBER Alert. It ramped things up and all the bells and whistles went out and so this girl has thousands upon thousands of people looking for her and they have been looking for her since yesterday.
GRACE: Please take a look at little Suri(ph). The tip line, 801-840- 4000.
Tonight we are talking your calls live and very quickly, I want to tell you about a five-month-old pit bull, it`s a pit bull terrier, it`s puppy in the Tampa, Florida area, and he needs our help. Take a look. He needs not only our help but a loving home. His name is Hash. He was seized when his owners were arrested for growing pot. Now he doesn`t have a home. If you want to adopt Hash, and please rename him, call 813-224- 0900, ask for Russ or e-mail rtalba@yahoo.com.
When we come back, a torso suspected to be that of gorgeous young mom, 27-year-old Amy Giordano, found in waterlog suitcase. Tonight we learn exactly how her killer plotted her murder and his motive.
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(NEWSBREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Rosario DiGirolamo could no longer afford juggling two women and two separate families so he allegedly eliminated his mistress and their child. The shocking allegations made by prosecutors in court who say DiGirolamo was just too overwhelmed and overstretched, that`s why they say he turned to murdering Amy Giordano, chopping her body up with a saw before putting some of her remains in a suitcase, and throwing them into a pond.
Digirolamo`s attorney says not a single word uttered by prosecutors is evidence of Rosario`s guilt.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: The details surrounding the death of Amy DiGirolamo -- Amy Giordano are incredible. It all boils down, according to prosecutors, to the fact that he didn`t want to afford a wife and a girlfriend.
Joining us there on the scene, Rupa Mikkilineni.
Rupa, what`s the latest?
RUPA MIKKILINENI, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER ON LOCATION WHERE REMAINS FOUND: Well, Nancy, I`m here down at the pond where a suitcase full of bones was found last week. And police do believe that these bones could belong to Amy Giordano.
Now new information has come out in the last few days. The prosecutor has come out with so many allegations and facts. We -- for example, the prosecutors indicating that her married lover basically brutally beat her to death, chopped her body up into little pieces with a hacksaw, and dumped the body in a suitcase in this pond right behind me.
And Nancy, I am here at her watery gravesite now where beautiful 27- year-old Amy Giordano, who wasn`t been seen since last June actually finally lay resting. And some of the other new information we have is that the motive has been discussed by the prosecutor. Money may have been the motive. We`re hearing that he simply didn`t want to foot the bills anymore for his mistress and his 11-month-old baby. We`re hearing that mainly it`s the $850 a monthly rental fees that he used to pay for her New Jersey apartment where she and his son used to live. He no longer wants to pay that, Nancy.
GRACE: You`re seeing a shot of this guy in court. Prosecutors lay out in court documents and in open court the timeline as well as the motive for murder. Not just murder, but murder and dismemberment. Her head has still not been found. It is now believed, is it not -- back out to Rupa Mikkilineni -- that the rest of her body is at an undisclosed location? That pond does not hold all of Amy Giordano`s body parts.
MIKKILINENI: Nancy, that`s correct. Police stopped searching late last week. They searched for two or three days, combed the area, dredged the pond, scuba diving equipment, everything. They found the torso, as you already know, which is the neck to the pelvis area, and some additional bones, but the skull and head is still missing. Police do not have that in their possession currently.
What I am hearing is that they now know there is a second location, but they`re being very tight-lipped about where that location is and whether they even have an idea themselves where that location is.
GRACE: I`m going to go to Kevin Shay, crime reporter with the "Trenton Times."
Kevin, what was discovered in her apartment?
KEVIN SHAY, CRIME REPORTER, TRENTON TIMES: Well, there was a lot of blood forensic evidence that came out during this recent court appearance that indicates that Amy Giordano was clubbed, clubbed to death and then she was dragged from the bedroom where she was allegedly attacked. I guess there was blood at that point and she was dragged across the common hallway into the bathroom where Rosario allegedly cut her up.
And -- investigators did some luminol testing inside that apartment and apparently could see the drag marks, as well as some of the marks that he may have used to clean the scene, like solvents, that kind of thing. So that`s part of the evidence that`s come out recently in terms of...
GRACE: And Kevin...
SHAY: ...inside the apartment.
GRACE: Kevin Shay joining us from the "Trenton Times." So tell me, did this moron actually go to Home Depot or Lowe`s to purchase a saw?
SHAY: Well, the prosecutors believe yes. He went a couple days before Amy went missing. He bought a longer saw blade for a (INAUDIBLE) power saw and he brought contractor-strength garbage bags, drain cleaner -- yes, from a home improvement store that was either at that time or one time managed by a co-defendant in the case, John Russo.
GRACE: Speaking of John Russo, let`s go out to his attorney George Vomvalakis. Did I just hear that your client worked at the hardware store where he bought all the instruments of murder?
GEORGE VOMVALAKIS, ATTORNEY FOR JOHN RUSSO, MAN WHO ALLEGEDLY HELPED POLICE FIND REMAINS: Yes, Nancy, you did hear -- you heard correctly.
GRACE: Now if your client knew that he was intending to kill his mistress, why didn`t he do anything?
VOMVALAKIS: Well, this is a question that I have asked my client numerous times, and unfortunately, the answer that we`re not going to be very happy with, but which is the truth, is that he never for a second believed that Rosario was capable of doing something so horrific. He thought it was all just talk.
GRACE: Well, George, I don`t believe that, because isn`t it true that your client revealed the defendant had tried to kill Amy Giordano once in the past with sleeping pills and it didn`t work?
VOMVALAKIS: Yes. He did tell -- according to my client, the defendant in this case -- Rosario DiGirolamo did tell my client that he had tried to give her a large amount of sleeping pills, but that it only made her sleepy and she fell asleep.
GRACE: So if your client knew he had tried to kill her in the past with sleeping pills, then why would he think suddenly your -- that he would not kill Giordano now?
VOMVALAKIS: Well, the main reason that he thought that he was -- there are two reasons why he thought that Rosario was incapable of doing something like this. One, he describes him as this computer geek, a guy that couldn`t hurt a fly, let alone murder someone and chop up their body. But more importantly, according to my client, Amy Giordano left him two or three times over the course of their relationship and each time DiGirolamo just begged her to come back.
So why would this man begging for this woman to come back all of a sudden want to kill her to get rid of her?
GRACE: Pat Brown, that is not usual at all in a volatile relationship. The breaking up, the getting back together, the murder.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER, AUTHOR OF "KILLING FOR SPORT": Absolutely. I mean what the lawyer saying here is just so ridiculous, it`s just hard to believe. Russo apparently didn`t have a problem hanging around with a friend, this computer geek, who was cheating on his wife and have a -- who he had a son with, with another woman who he had a son with. He didn`t have a problem with the ethics of that and the morals of that. He didn`t have a problem with the fact he tried to kill her once. Now when he tries to kill her again, he doesn`t even go to this woman and say, hey, look, you know, your boyfriend is trying to kill you, or go to the police or do anything.
The man has no morals, no ethics, and he`s as vicious as his buddy. That`s basically -- it`s his buddy and he doesn`t have any problem. Only now, he got caught. So he has to give up some information to get out of his own problem.
GRACE: And in the end -- back to George Vomvalakis -- she has a point, although if you weren`t friends with everybody that ever had an affair, a lot of people wouldn`t have any friends left over.
George, the reality is that he also asked your client to come help clean up the bloody apartment and your client refused. He finally drew a line in the sand. Yes or no?
VOMVALAKIS: Yes.
GRACE: Well, thank God for that.
I want to go back out to the lawyers. Joining us veteran trial lawyer Ray Giudice, out of the Atlanta jurisdiction, and renown defense attorney out of California in San Francisco, Dan Horowitz.
Dan Horowitz, Ray Giudice, first to you, Dan Horowitz, Russo is getting a sweet deal. I don`t know what the deal is yet, but if it`s not life without parole, it`s sweet.
DAN HOROWITZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: He is such a strange character in this, Nancy. I really don`t believe much of what he`s saying. I think he says he helped dispose of the body because he knew where the suitcase was, but he wouldn`t help clean up. He tells a story about a relatively painless way of trying to kill this woman with sleeping pills, and yet now we have the most brutal murder that you can imagine.
I think Russo is mixing a lot of fantasy in with his story and that could be a problem for the prosecution.
GRACE: To Vomvalakis, has your client worked a deal?
VOMVALAKIS: I can`t comment on whether or not there`s a deal in place...
GRACE: OK. OK, you can`t comment. Yes or no, was your client in the car when the defendant went to the pond with the body in the trunk?
VOMVALAKIS: Yes, he was.
GRACE: OK.
Ray Giudice, you know who else was in the car? The baby. The baby was in the backseat...
RAY GIUDICE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, that`s right.
GRACE: ...with his mommy in a suitcase in a trunk.
GIUDICE: It`s an awful ugly fact, but no matter what George says, a deal has been cut. Russo did not give a ten-hour statement and lead the authorities to the torso of that body without a deal in writing and a handshake and it`s a done deal.
GRACE: Out to the lines, Miles in New Jersey. Hi, Miles.
MILES, NEW JERSEY RESIDENT: Hi, Nancy. I`m (INAUDIBLE) from New Jersey and I like your show.
GRACE: What`s your question, dear?
MILES: Did the guy ever have psychiatric help?
GRACE: Did the defendant ever have psychiatric help?
MILES: The guy who killed the mom?
GRACE: I see, did he ever have a psychiatric problem?
Let`s go back out to Kevin Shay. We know he left town for Italy and checked himself into a mental ward. Before that, were there any...
SHAY: Correct.
GRACE: ...any signs of mental or emotional problems?
SHAY: Not that I`ve uncovered in my reporting -- in our reporting. But Rosario`s lawyer tells us that while he`s -- excuse me, in Italy last summer, he had some sort of a mental breakdown and is treated at some point for some mental problems.
GRACE: Oh, please, Kevin, he had just committed murder. He was setting up a defense.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: To HEADDLINE PRIME`s Glenn Beck. Hi, friend.
GLENN BECK, HOST, GLENN BECK SHOW: Well, now that Congress has gone after big oil for the increased prices at the pump, does that mean they`re going to go after big milk and big eggs next? We`ll have more on what the geniuses in Washington, who are really lawyers turned politicians, are saying about our economic progress and what that kind of thinking will actually cause.
Then Barack Obama says he`s a moderate, but his positions are wildly liberal, especially when it comes to the fact that he believes babies are punishment. But I`ll show you the shocking video on that coming up.
And West Bank illegal immigrant has a job driving a taxicab in New York City. Now he`s suing the city. Details coming up.
GRACE: We at NANCY GRACE on the hunt for parent who inspire. Now tonight`s extraordinary parent.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JENNIFER KELLER, ADOPTED METH-EXPOSED CHILDREN: Their learning troubles, tantrums, medical problems, and the physical problems that can occur from the meth exposure.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: For Jennifer and Nick Keller, adopting children was a dream come true. But for the children they adopted, it was much more. It was a rescue.
KELLER: We did not plan on specifically adopting just meth-exposed children. I feel like that was God`s plan.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: In the past four years, Jennifer and Nick have adopted six children, all exposed to methamphetamine. Knowing firsthand the dangers and complications of exposure presents, the couple is now working to change legislation.
KELLER: Nick and I both testified in front of the Kansas House of Representatives on behalf of our children and all the other unborn children out there that are being abused by drugs in the womb. I hope that through people seeing my children`s faces that that is helping someone else to stay off drugs or to turn someone in who`s using drugs while their pregnant.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: Let`s stop and remember Army Sergeant Eric Hernandez, 26, West Milford, New Jersey, killed, Iraq. His dream was to begin a career in law enforcement after his army assignment, an avid outdoorsman, loved hiking, camping, shooting. Flags at half staff across New Jersey in his honor. Leaves behind mom Jane, father Craig, stepfather, brother, and sister.
Eric Hernandez, American hero.
Thanks to our guests and to you for being with us. I`ll see you tomorrow 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
