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Nancy Grace

Stacy`s Minister Said to Testify to Grand Jury

Aired April 04, 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, the mystery surrounding missing 23-year- old mom Stacy Peterson vanishing upscale Chicago suburb, husband/cop Drew Peterson the prime suspect in his fourth wife`s disappearance after a suspicious dry bathtub drowning of wife number three ruled homicide.
Tonight the parade of exes. That`s right, wife number two and a former lover testify before a secret grand jury. But about what? And what secret did Stacy Peterson reveal to her priest about Drew Peterson just days before she disappeared? Allegedly, the priest was summoned to grand jury, as well. Can that secret ever be used in a court of law?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Suspect Drew Peterson`s second wife, Vicki Connolly, and former fiancee Kyle Piry were reportedly called before the grand jury. Even though Connolly and Piry refused to answer questions as they were leaving the courthouse, both have previously claimed Peterson was controlling and manipulative. With searches resuming this week, the grand jury also reportedly heard testimony from Stacy`s minister, who says shortly before her disappearance, Stacy confided in him about Drew Peterson`s role in Savio`s death. What did Peterson tell Stacy? Did she have information that would incriminate Drew in Savio`s drowning, now ruled a homicide? Peterson is the prime suspect in fourth wife Stacy`s disappearance, while Kathleen Savio`s murder remains unsolved.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He repeated what he`d said in published reports about a month or so...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: And tonight: A 3-month-old baby boy rushed to a Denver ER, where doctors fight to save his life. After a battery of tests, they discover the little baby high on meth -- methamphetamine. Did Mommy mix meth with the baby formula? Well, her story keeps changing. Maybe, just maybe, it will all come back to her -- behind bars!

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A 3-month-old baby boy taken to the hospital with seizures tests positive for meth. How did he get it? His 27-year-old mom, Katrice Trujillo (ph), says she mixed it up with his baby formula by mistake. The baby`s been treated and released to the custody of Colorado`s Human Services Department, while his mom could face up to 12 years in prison for child abuse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 3-month-old child was brought to the hospital suffering from seizures. It was determined at that time by the medical staff at the hospital that the child had a quantity of methamphetamine in his system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight. Cop-turned-murder-suspect Drew Peterson`s exes all come back to haunt him at a secret grand jury.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As searchers continue to look for the body of Stacy Peterson, two of suspect Drew Peterson`s former lovers were reportedly called to testify before the grand jury. Peterson`s second wife, Vicki Connolly, and former fiancee Kyle Piry, were in front of a grand jury convened to review the death of Peterson`s third wife, Kathleen Savio, and the disappearance of fourth wife Stacy Peterson. Reports say Connolly has previously claimed that during her 10-year marriage to Peterson, she suffered both physical abuse and threats at the hands of the former police officer, while Piry has allegedly stated Peterson stalked her after she broke up their engagement, even writing her tickets for such offenses as having bald tires.

Peterson remains the one and only suspect in Stacy`s disappearance, says everything has been twisted and turned and the prosecution has no case. The grand jury will reportedly continue to hear witnesses, hoping to find out what happened to Kathleen Savio and Stacy Peterson.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Drew Peterson killed his third wife. That`s what Stacy Peterson`s pastor says she confessed to him this summer. Peterson`s clergyman is speaking out and he says he believes Stacy knew what she was talking about.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kathleen confided in her sister and other family members that, Look, I think he`s going to kill me. I want you to have these documents about my history with Drew for when something happens to me. So you see an obvious pattern here from the second wife to the third wife to the fourth wife.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: What does a former lover and wife number two have to tell a secret grand jury, along with Stacy Peterson`s family minister? Allegedly, secrets she divulged to him about Drew Peterson came up at grand jury.

Out to Kathy Chaney with "The Chicago Defender." Did all of three of these witnesses actually appear before the grand jury?

KATHY CHANEY, "CHICAGO DEFENDER": Yes, they did. The pastor appeared about two weeks ago, and Drew`s second wife and ex-fiancee appeared this week. And they`ve all made statements that don`t cast Drew in a good light.

GRACE: How do you mow what the statements were?

CHANEY: Well, they made published statements a few months ago, stating that the second wife said that he said that he could kill her and make it look like an accident. The ex-fiancee said that he used to write her excessive traffic tickets, bald tires. He would smile while he was doing it. And this was after they were not engaged anymore. So he kind of harassed her after that.

GRACE: Out to Michelle Sigona with "America`s Most Wanted." That`s extremely disturbing, that he allegedly told a former lover and then the second wife, I could get rid of you and it would all look like an accident, because that`s exactly the theory behind Kathy Savio`s death, the dry bathtub drowning.

MICHELLE SIGONA, "AMERICA`S MOST WANTED": Yes, it is, Nancy. And you know, as we`ve mentioned before, Kathleen Savio`s family has told us on a number of occasions that, look, Kathleen was scared for her life. She kept an entire suitcase full of documents and said, If anything ever happens to me, you need to turn these over to police. And you know, she also had a variety of other things, for instance, when she went to the hospital, hospital records. And also, she did write a letter to the state saying, Look, I`m scared for my life. Can you please help me? Reaching out. That was back in 2004. And you know, she did, unfortunately, end up dead.

GRACE: I want to go to a very special guest joining us tonight. He`s a veteran trial lawyer out of the Chicago area, and he`s the defense attorney for cop-turned-murder-suspect Drew Peterson. You know, with all this going on in that secret grand jury, Joel Brodsky, there is the dichotomy -- in fact, your client actually stated that he can`t bear to clean out Stacy`s clothes from their bedroom closet.

JOEL BRODSKY, DREW PETERSON`S ATTORNEY: That`s true. You know, there are certainly two different Drew Petersons that are being portrayed. The Drew Peterson that I`ve come to know is certainly nothing like the Drew Peterson that the public statements of Kathleen...

GRACE: Hold on, Joel. Your client publicly states that he can`t bear to clean out Stacy Peterson`s clothes from her closet for sentimental reasons...

BRODSKY: Correct.

GRACE: ... but yet he says she`s not dead at all, that she`s living with another man somewhere.

BRODSKY: Correct.

GRACE: That doesn`t fit.

BRODSKY: Well, it certainly does. He -- he -- you know, he still loves her. He still has feelings for her. He`s upset at what she did.

GRACE: So why doesn`t he go on any searches?

BRODSKY: Well, because there`s nobody other than us, with our very limited resources, trying to find Stacy alive, looking for her in locations where she might be -- where she would be alive. Everybody`s...

GRACE: That doesn`t make sense.

BRODSKY: ... looking under -- they`re looking under bricks, under bushes and in ponds. Drew knows that that`s not where they`re going to find Stacy.

GRACE: That doesn`t -- that`s a non sequitur. That doesn`t make...

BRODSKY: Why is that?

GRACE: ... make sense. Because if he doesn`t want to clean out her closet for sentimental reasons, as if she`s dead, then why won`t he go on a search? And why does he insist on saying she`s still alive with another man, living in another city?

BRODSKY: Well, there`s no dichotomy there. He still has feelings for her. He`s still -- he`s still sad she`s gone. He says -- he`s said publicly he`s very lonely without her. But he doesn`t -- he knows that they`re not going to find her in a pond in Bolingbrook. They`re going to find her eventually, hopefully, living overseas in Thailand or somewhere, you know, living incognito here in the United States underground. And that`s where we`re going to find her.

GRACE: Why? Why would she have to do all that? Why not just get a divorce? Why does she have to go live in Thailand? Why can`t she live down the street with her new lover, as you point out?

BRODSKY: Well, that`s a good -- that`s an excellent question. The only person that`s really going to know the answer to that is Stacy. But Stacy had the responsibility of four children. She adopted two of Kathleen Savio`s children and she has two of her own. So just kind of -- there was nothing for her to break away for. To leave -- just to make a clean break and leave is one way of doing it. But if she just tried to get a divorce, she would have the responsibility of those four children with her for the rest of her very young life and then...

GRACE: His children from another marriage would not be her responsibility.

BRODSKY: No, she adopted those two children.

GRACE: OK. Joel, I understand that your client is using the services of a PR guru. In fact, he was on the show the other night.

BRODSKY: When?

GRACE: If you believe -- if your client believes Stacy Peterson is actually alive, wouldn`t all of his PR problems be solved if he spent that money and got a PI and found her? Then he wouldn`t have a PR problem.

BRODSKY: Well, that`s true, and we have spent money and we have engaged PIs.

GRACE: Really? Who?

BRODSKY: Well, I don`t want -- all of them don`t want to disclose that they`re working. There`s two...

GRACE: Why?

BRODSKY: They don`t what to disclose that they have Drew Peterson as a client. They`re afraid of the backlash and the effect it`ll have on their business. But we do have two people that are looking. Most of those type of searches, you know, it`s not like you`re out on the street. They do it electronically, you know, looking for people to pop up on the grid somewhere and...

GRACE: Pop up on what grid?

BRODSKY: You know, they would use -- they would do something that would get a lease. They would get a credit card. They would, you know, get a utility bill somewhere at some time, even overseas, go through passport control, some way, even some electronic signature...

GRACE: Now, how does your client believe -- what`s the theory about her leaving the country?

BRODSKY: Well, she had a...

GRACE: I mean, wouldn`t she need a passport?

BRODSKY: Well, she had a passport. But there`s no record of people leaving the country, it`s only when you come back that they have a record. You can leave the country, you can go over the border to Canada, over the border to Mexico, take a plane to anywhere in the world, and there`s not going to be an official record, especially if you get a ticket in some -- in a false name, if that`s still possible to do.

GRACE: She`s certainly a very wily young lady, according to your client.

Back to Kathy Cheney with "The Chicago Defender." What about Stacy Peterson`s minister? What did he allegedly tell the secret grand jury?

CHANEY: Well, last summer, he said that Stacy came to him, they met in a coffee shop, and she confided in him that Drew told her he killed Kathleen. The pastor said that she provided enough details where he knew that she wasn`t making up a story and he believed her.

GRACE: Response, Joel Brodsky?

BRODSKY: The problems I have with Mr. Schori`s statement is that...

GRACE: You mean the Reverend?

BRODSKY: Well, I don`t know if he`s ordained or not, but Pastor Schori. He says that after Stacy told him this, that he told Stacy to go back to Drew and to try to work out their differences. I find that extremely hard to believe, that if somebody would come to you and confess that they knew that their spouse, who they`re now afraid of, committed a homicide, that they`re going to recommend that you go back and try to patch up your relationship with that person. The story just doesn`t make sense to me.

GRACE: Out to the lines. Valerie in Arkansas. Hi, Valerie.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Stacy -- I mean, hi. How are you?

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: What`s your question, dear?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is, if this so-called lawyer that he got, and nobody has a trace of how she left in her car, how did she leave?

GRACE: How did he leave, Joel Brodsky? Just hitch a ride out to Tijuana?

BRODSKY: Well, she -- if she left with somebody else, as he said she did, we assume that that person had a car or that person had transportation and that`s how they left together.

GRACE: So from all of her cell records, all of her mail, all of her e-mails, all of her instant messages, everything that you can trace, you still don`t have a bead on who the mysterious lover is?

BRODSKY: Well, nobody we`ve been able to find that she`s had an extramarital relationship with that`s missing. We -- there`s a couple -- we found a couple of very racy text messages that she was exchanging...

GRACE: Yes, I still think your client sent those.

BRODSKY: Well, no, not the ones to the Rosotto (ph) -- Mr. Rosotto, that male nurse. The -- he was before the grand jury, and he said there were pornographic text messages between him and Stacy.

GRACE: Which leads me to my next question. Has your client had affairs?

BRODSKY: He`s certainly confessed that he has not been a very faithful husband in his past.

GRACE: Is that a yes?

BRODSKY: That certainly is a yes. Yes.

GRACE: Because -- to you, Michelle Sigona with "America`s Most Wanted" -- we see a pattern of being married to one wife, starting a relationship with another wife -- with another woman, then leaving wife number one for the other woman. We are now going on, let`s see, wife number four, and there`s been another fiance and several people that he dated in between. It`s always the same pattern.

SIGONA: Yes, many women over the last, you know, 20, 30 years have come out, Nancy, and have said, you know, This has been my relationship with Drew. Yes, he has had extramarital affairs with other women at this time. And you know, it does appear that there is some sort of pattern here.

GRACE: Let`s unleash the lawyers. Joining us tonight out of New York, Susan Moss. Out of Atlanta, veteran defense attorney Darryl Cohen and victims` rights advocate and defense attorney Penny Douglass Furr.

Out to you, Susan Moss.

SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: I`m just hoping that the exes will mark the spot and will end this case. These two exes are very important because they show a pattern of abuse. Once an abuser, always an abuser. An abuser is like an alcoholic, except no meetings.

GRACE: To you, Darryl Cohen. What about what she told the minister, that Drew Peterson allegedly confided to her he killed Kathleen Savio?

DARRYL COHEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, I have a real problem with this minister suddenly coming through?

GRACE: Oh, I`m sure you do!

COHEN: Well, I do. I mean, where`s he been for the last three months? Two weeks ago, he decides to come up and remember this?

GRACE: No. No, no. He stated this way back when.

COHEN: OK. Well, it seems to me that he should have said that back about maybe November the 1st, October the 29th of 2007. Where`s he been?

GRACE: What about it, Kathy Chaney? When did he first come forward, or do we know?

CHANEY: He first came forward, I believe, sometime in November. It was maybe about a month or so after Stacy disappeared.

GRACE: Darryl, my question is, would it ever come into a court of law?

COHEN: I think if the prosecution was having a problem winning the case, then the judge would say, the hell with the appeal, let`s let it in, if the judge was pro-prosecution. Do I think it would come in if the judge was not pro-prosecution? No, I don`t.

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: Let me rephrase my question, Judge. And I`ll throw this to Penny Douglass Furr. Under the law, will it come in?

PENNY DOUGLASS FURR, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It probably will not, Nancy, because it`s privileged. And interestingly, if it`s privileged, then it would go to the spouse...

GRACE: Are you referring to the...

FURR: ... if she`s not available, so it won`t come in.

GRACE: ... priest/parishioner privilege, like husband/wife privilege?

FURR: Yes, Nancy. It`s privileged, and she`s not available to waive the privilege, so how could it come in? I think the defense -- or the prosecution is going to have a major problem getting that in, even though I`m sure the prosecutor wanted it in.

GRACE: Sue Moss, I think that there is case law -- and I know there certainly is in my old jurisdiction -- where when there is a privilege to be waived, the spouse has the right to waive it on behalf of the deceased person. That spouse would be Drew Peterson, so the state`s between a rock and a hard spot getting this in from the minister. How can they do it?

MOSS: Absolutely. But perhaps if they can declare her dead and they can declare somebody else to be the executor of her estate, maybe that person can waive the privilege.

COHEN: Oh, good luck!

GRACE: Absolutely.

We are taking your calls live. It`s the parade of the executives, a former lover and wife number two of Drew Peterson before a secret grand jury, along with Stacy Peterson`s minister.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DREW PETERSON, SUSPECT IN STACY`S DISAPPEARANCE: The media`s pretty much has me painted as a sinister character, lurking around underneath the rocks and stuff. And basically, I`m just a dad raising kids.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

PETERSON: So I`m just a regular guy doing regular guy stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Mr. Selig (ph), is Mr. Peterson paying you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why -- why wouldn`t he be? Certainly. Yes.

GRACE: OK. How much?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t think that that`s anything that we need to talk about.

GRACE: Really?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

GRACE: Well I`m just wondering why he hasn`t put that money toward trying to find his wife.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Today`s the parade of the exes before a secret grand jury in the Stacy Peterson disappearance -- many people think murder. Wife number two and a former lover testified, along with Stacy Peterson`s former minister.

Out to the lines. Rick in Georgia. Hi, Rick.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi.

GRACE: Hi, dear. What`s your question?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Listen, I just want to know, has anybody investigated to where this guy has been dirty, to where he`s been taking bribes or something? Because people just keep, you know, vanishing around him, and nobody ever has any clues.

GRACE: You know, Rick, it`s amazing. Now, there was a time way back when, when he was thrown off the police force for, let me just say, a rogue drug investigation. He was later readmitted to the police force. And I find it very disturbing -- and I`ll go out to Stacy Dittrich, former detective and author of "The Devil`s Closet" -- Stacy, that this was not investigated before Stacy Peterson went missing.

STACY DITTRICH, FORMER DETECTIVE: Right, Nancy. What I also find strange about this whole thing is when Kathleen Savio`s body was also found. It should have immediately been ruled suspicious and processed as a regular crime scene. So the fact that he has done questionable things on duty for is no surprise. Whether or not he had anything to do with the actual processing of the crime scene during Kathleen Savio`s investigation, I don`t know. But it is surprising that he was allowed back on the force after that.

GRACE: To Dr. Lillian Glass, psychologist and author of "I Know What You`re Thinking." Dr. Glass, what do you make of his statement that he can`t bear to throw away Stacy Peterson`s clothes? Now, I know as a crime victim, I felt the same way after a murder. But he says Stacy`s still alive.

LILLIAN GLASS, PSYCHOLOGIST: Right. And Nancy, that is just amazing. And when I listen to Mr. Brodsky -- obviously, it`s his client and he`s trying to spin it his way -- but it doesn`t make sense, because if somebody believes that someone is still alive and they`re viable, they`re not going to say, I can`t bring myself to put it away. That would happen if the case was closed. So it`s pretty suspicious.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETERSON: It happens. Wives sometimes run off, especially when you have a situation like this, you have a younger -- a young woman with two children and an older husband. Sometimes it happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: State police told me they have known from day one Stacy didn`t leave willingly, so -- they have evidence. So basically, you know, they`ve told me what to look for, you know, in the searches, so basically, we`re out there looking for her body.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Testified before a secret grand jury, a parade of exes, a former lover and wife number two of Drew Peterson, along with Stacy Peterson`s minister.

To you, Penny Douglass Furr. Very interesting because Drew Peterson told Matt Lauer, as Peterson was dodging some questions from Lauer, that it`s very important to control your family. I believe that`s where that quote came from.

FURR: Actually, what he said was that more people should control their family and that he controlled his family. As a matter of fact, one of Stacy`s friends stated that while they were at the hairdresser, he called her eight times while she was in the chair. With a man this controlling, how could she possibly let an affair get to the level that she`s running out of the country with him, and he doesn`t know about it. That`s what I have a problem with.

GRACE: You know, that is very interesting, Joel Brodsky.

BRODSKY: Well, maybe because it`s not true. He wasn`t that controlling. I think that we`re dealing with people who are exaggerating facts or repeating things that they may have been told, and we`re not dealing with actual facts here. It`s obvious that...

GRACE: But what motive could a friend of Stacy`s possibly have for coming up with a story that he called her eight times in about the hour- and-a-half it takes to get your hair done?

BRODSKY: I don`t know. That`s the first time I`ve heard that. But my feeling is that it`s an exaggeration of what occurred.

GRACE: It`s your feeling? Do you have any facts to back that up, Joel?

BRODSKY: Well, like I said, I haven`t -- I don`t know who this person is and I`ve never heard this story before, so I need to know more detail.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DREW PETERSON, HUSBAND OF MISSING MOM STACY PETERSON: These people are conducting searches in fields and bushes and streams and rivers, but I have no belief that she`s there. She`s off with somebody at some beach or living life at some home anonymously, you know, in another part -- could be another part of the world, could be the next town over, I don`t know.

In a normal case just like this, everybody would be saying, don`t talk to anybody, just keep your mouth shut, be quiet. But I`m now dealing with the court of public opinion and which is filled with any jury pool. So not only do I have to fight off the negative publicity, you know, I want people to see, you know, there`s another side to all this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GREGORY: It`s a parade of exes, a former wife, wife number two, and a former lover appeared before a secret grand jury with testimony we believe to be against Drew Peterson, cop-turned-murder-suspect, along with his missing wife`s minister.

Out to the lines, Martha in Tennessee. Hi, Martha.

MARTHA, TENNESSEE RESIDENT: Hi, Nancy. Love you and I`d like to say, for me, and to your friends and mine, Kathy Evans, a happy five-month birthday to the twins.

GRACE: Thank you to you and Kathy Evans. Thank you very much, this is their fifth month birthday. And.

MARTHA: I know.

GRACE: I took videos all morning.

MARTHA: Good.

GRACE: Yes. What`s your question, dear?

MARTHA: I want to know if Drew wants to clear his name so much, why is so against helping to go look for her?

GRACE: Let`s ask his lawyer, Joel Brodsky, what about it?

JOEL BRODSKY, ATTORNEY FOR DREW PETERSON: Well, you know, if they find Stacy Peterson, people would say that we`re dedicating 15 percent or 10 percent of our effort towards trying to find Stacy alive, trying to find her in hiding, trying to find her overseas, we would contribute to that, we would help with that. But as long as 100 percent of their effort is going to be looking in, you know, looking through ponds and rivers and poking around under Bushes, it simply makes no sense for us to put our efforts and our money there.

GRACE: OK.

Let`s go to Geri in Arkansas. Hi, Geri.

GERI, ARKANSAS RESIDENT: Hi, Nancy, we love you here in Arkansas.

GRACE: Thank you, thank you very much and thank you for watching. What`s your question, dear?

GERI: I was having a hard time hearing, so you might have already covered this. But my question was about the minister.

GRACE: Yes.

GERI: Can he testify in court or would he -- because he`s a minister or would it still be considered hearsay?

GRACE: OK, Geri, here`s the deal. Every jurisdiction has different rules. But I believe that there is a way to get around the hearsay except -- the hearsay rule. This will be hearsay because the speaker, Stacy, will not be in court because she`s dead. She`s not in Thailand, she`s not in Tijuana, she`s dead. She cannot come in to court and be cross-examined. That means that the defendant would not have a right to cross-examine the speaker. That`s why hearsay can`t come in to court.

There are exceptions. Let`s go to the lawyers.

Out to you, Penny, what`s an exception under which this could come in?

PENNY DOUGLAS-FURR, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, the problem is going to be the privilege issue. I think that because it`s.

GRACE: Yes. But what -- wait, don`t tell me how I can`t get it in. Tell me how I can get it in.

DOUGLAS-FURR: Well, she`s unavailable, the declarant`s not available and that`s one way that you could get it in, but then you would still run into the privilege problem.

GRACE: So under that, I believe, Darrell Cohen, it`s a two-pronged test that you have to show the voracity of the speaker.

COHEN: Correct.

GRACE: And that would be the minister.

COHEN: Yes.

GRACE: I think he`ll probably pass that test with flying colors.

COHEN: I would hope.

GRACE: And he have to prove that the speaker, Stacy, is in fact not going to be able to testify, unavailable. I think that it can come under that exception.

COHEN: I agree with you, I think it can come under that exception. And quite frankly. Nancy.

GRACE: Then why didn`t you tell me that in the beginning, Darrell Cohen?

COHEN: Because.

GRACE: You told me there`d be a problem.

COHEN: I did say there`s a problem and I think that there is a problem and.

GRACE: Now I know why you win all these cases. You know -- OK, go ahead.

COHEN: You say what you got to say, you do what you got to do. But I think that there is a problem unless the judge is a pro-prosecution judge. Even if she is.

GRACE: Unless the judge is pro-defense.

COHEN: Pro-prosecution, they`ll sneak it in. If it`s pro-defense, it`s not going in. But let me says this, Nancy.

GRACE: I don`t think it - I don`t think it`s sneaking.

COHEN: Bringing it in. But let me saying this, even if it`s not admissible, if she actually said these things to the minister, maybe she said some things to the minister that would let the law enforcement look for things that they would not otherwise know. If they can`t get it into the front door, clearly there`s a side door and their backdoors.

GRACE: Susan Moss, you`re a veteran trial lawyer, what`s a way to get it in?

SUSAN MOSS, CHILD ADVOCATE, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: I would try the entire backdoor, which is to either get in the defendant`s statements about this whole incident, talk about his statements about the minister, talk about his reactions to the statements by the minister. And that way maybe we can get it in through a party admission.

GRACE: So long story short, Geri in Arkansas, the law is a wonderful thing if you research it well enough, you can find a way.

Let`s go out to Paula in North Carolina. Hi, Paula.

PAULA, NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENT: Hi, Nancy. How are you?

GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question.

PAULA: Yes. I`d like to know if Kathleen savio`s family turned over the documentation that they had to the police at the time of her death and if they did, why was that ever ruled an accident? And does he have people in the police force that are covering for him?

GRACE: You know, back to Michelle Sigona. There`s still a fascination with how Savio`s death with all those bruises and lacerations was ruled an accidental drowning. Was everything turned over to police to start with?

MICHELLE SIGONA, CORRESPONDENT, AMERICA`S MOST WANTED: As far as we know, Nancy, this was a few months back that we sat down with Kathleen Savio`s family, we sat down, we spoke with her sister and other families members, and they did in fact show us, you know, those particular documents and we do have copies of those. And from what we do know, yes, they were turned over to law enforcement.

GRACE: I`m going to go out to Dr. Bruce Levy, medical examiner and forensic pathologist.

Dr, Levy, thank you for being with us today.

DR. BRUCE LEVY, MEDICAL EXAMINER, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Good to be here.

GRACE: If searchers do find a body at this juncture, let us say out in the elements or in the water, would there be any usable forensic evidence?

LEVY: Well, it`s all going to depend on exactly what was done with her body. It`s all in how it`s been left. We have the benefit here in Tennessee of having the body farm where we`ve done huge amounts of research on exactly what happens to bodies that are left outside in a variety of conditions. If she`s left out, either outside or under water where animals or insects can get at the body, that is going to increase greatly the amount of breakdown of the body and how quickly it`s going to break down.

If however, she`s been sealed up somehow, if she`s in a drum or been wrapped up very tightly where animals can`t get at her, or buried, she could be in very good condition. We just won`t know until we see her.

GRACE: Back out to Joel Brodsky. He`s a veteran trial lawyer there in the Chicago area, knows his way around the courtroom, he is representing Drew Peterson, this is his defense attorney.

Joel, you wanted to know where that statement came from that in one hair salon appointment.

BRODSKY: Right.

GRACE: .your client called Stacy Peterson eight times. It came from the "Chicago Sun-Times" on March 3rd, 2008. The title is "Family of Drew Peterson`s Last Two Wives Unite for a Fundraiser." And in that, Bychowski, Drew`s neighbor, Drew Peterson`s neighbor, states we went to get a haircut, he called her eight times when she was getting highlights. When she would go shopping at Kohl`s, he had pulled a cruiser in to see what she was buying. And it`s not just the neighbor Bychowski, I know where you`re going with that.

BRODSKY: Yes.

GRACE: I know you don`t like her.

BRODSKY: Well.

GRACE: Drew doesn`t like her and she doesn`t like him. But her uncle Kyle states she couldn`t even go to the bathroom by herself. And she ran away with a man. Drew would know his name, his address and how many hairs were on his head.

BRODSKY: Well, I think that that`s certainly indirect evidence. I mean they`re saying what`s -- what they heard or what they -- may have gleaned from comments.

GRACE: What they observed?

BRODSKY: In other words -- Sharon wasn`t sitting in the salon with Stacy when it happened.

GRACE: It`s always somebody else`s fault, isn`t it?

BRODSKY: Well, can I answer the question? I want to.

GRACE: It`s never your client, is it?

BRODSKY: What -- I want to ask one thing about that I think everybody missed on this hearsay argument with the pastor, it`s not just hearsay, it`s double hearsay. It`s Drew said that to Stacy that Stacy said to the pastor. It`s double hearsay. That is never getting into evidence. Double hearsay, there`s no exception for it. It will never see the light of day in a court of law. Period. Absolute.

GRACE: So I guess that means it just doesn`t exist?

BRODSKY: It doesn`t get into a court of law and the reason that the hearsay rule exists is that hearsay and double hearsay has been proven over the years to be unreliable, that`s why we exclude it. So.

GRACE: OK, on that note, let`s go to "Case Alert". The world honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated 40 years ago today, cut down by an assassin`s bullet. King in Tennessee to organize a strike of the city`s underpaid sanitation workers and today that same union led a mile-long procession in a steady rain in Dr. King`s honor.

And tonight, a special happy birthday to superstar Penny Douglass-Furr. Happy birthday Penny, you`re finally 21.

DOUGLAS-FURR: Thank you.

GRACE: And when we come back, everybody, did mommy mix methamphetamines with the baby formula for her 3-month-old baby boy?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: If 3-month-old baby had seizures and was taken to a hospital, and doctors discovered that baby was on meth, the baby`s 27-year- old mom tells police she mistakenly mixed the meth in the bottle. She said the meth was next to the baby formula and accidentally it fell in and then she unknowingly fed the meth mixture to her baby. Now the baby survived, but the mom was arrested for child abuse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: I hate when that happens when I get my methamphetamine formula mixed in with the baby formula.

Michelle Sigona, what happened?

SIGONA: Basically, what happened in this particular case is that the mom claims that she purchased some meth and she mixed it up accidentally with the baby formula, fed it to the child around midnight. Around two hours later, the child woke up and allegedly was shaking, eyes rolled back into his head, was rushed off to the hospital. The folks at the hospital did do some tests and did find meth in the baby`s system. They did arrest the mom. She is behind bars right now and she`s being held on a $50,000 bail.

GRACE: I`ve got a question.

SIGONA: Sure.

GRACE: Out to you, Richard Randall with 740 KVOR, she says she`s broke. How did she get the money for those extensions and to go buy methamphetamine?

RICHARD RANDALL, REPORTER, 740 KVOR: Well, that`s the whole question. Everybody would like to know the answer to that. Investigators with the Missing and Exploited Persons unit trying to find out how somebody who is broke has $40 to gout out and buy the meth. There`s some speculation that she may have been using formula to as some people do to cut some of the drugs. They`re looking into that question as well.

GRACE: I want to go out to a special guest joining us, Dr. Evan James Zimmer, addiction specialist, with treatment solutions network.

Doctor, thank you so much for being with us. What is your impression of this case?

DR. EVAN JAMES ZIMMER, ADDICTION SPECIALIST TREATMENT SOLUTIONS NETWORK: Well, from the little I`ve heard about it so far, this seems like a remarkable number of coincidences that the methamphetamine just happened to be around and ended up in the baby`s food, from my years in treating people suffering from the disease of addiction, I rarely have heard of their drug of choice being accidentally spilled into something that just happened to be eaten by another person. That`s very rare. It`s suspicious at best.

GRACE: To Dr. Bruce Levy, medical examiner, exactly how is methamphetamine ingested? Could you explain to the viewers?

LEVY: Well, in this case, the methamphetamine would have been consumed orally by the child. There`s just no other way, I mean, typically people are going to be smoking methamphetamine, but you can also take it orally, it would be absorbed through the stomach just like any other medication.

GRACE: I want to go out to Stacy Dittrich, private investigator, former detective and author, Stacy, in this particular case, investigators go to search the home, aside from meth. What else would they have been looking for?

STACY DITTRICH, FMR. DETECTIVE, AUTHOR OF "THE DEVIL`S CLOSET": Well, naturally, Nancy, the first thing they`re going to want to look for is the baby`s bottle. In fact, that is the key point of evidence here and as far as the child being poisoned. They`re going to clearly search the residence for other signs of child neglect, food in the refrigerator, whether electricity is on, whether there`s running water, whether this child is being cared for appropriately, but most importantly, they`re going to look for that bottle.

GRACE: Out to the lines, Eileen in North Carolina. Hi, Eileen.

EILEEN: Hi, Nancy. Good to talk to you again.

GRACE: Likewise. What`s your question, dear?

EILEEN: I wondered what would the potential long-term effects be on a baby this little?

GRACE: Dr. Levy, what about it?

LEVY: Well, you have to remember this child -- this is not the first time this child`s been exposed to methamphetamine. The mother is an abuser. She undoubtedly was using this meth during the pregnancy. This kid will suffer long-term effects from methamphetamine. We don`t know what they are.

GRACE: Why would they have bleeding in the stomach? Why would it have had the -- the baby would have -- the baby had bleeding in the stomach. Why would it have had that?

LEVY: Because the drug is actually irritating the lining of the stomach and causing bleeding in the stomach because of its irritating nature.

GRACE: Dr. Zimmer, methamphetamine, in my mind, after seeing the whole kit and caboodle of addicted drugs in court to me is one of the most dangerous. Do you agree? And if so, why?

ZIMMER: Well, absolutely. You know, the amphetamines have been around for many, many years probably 70 plus in various forms. Metamphetamine is the most powerful form of the drug, the most euphoragenic(ph) form of the drug, the most addictive. I`m a little bit concerned about what I just heard. I don`t know how we can easily extrapolate that the child was definitely exposed or that the mother was using the methamphetamine during the pregnancy.

GRACE: Well, she was using -- she said she was using it before and that she suddenly quit when she got pregnant. And I think that.

ZIMMER: Well.

GRACE: .everyone that`s ever been exposed to a meth freak knows they don`t just quit just like that because they got pregnant. If she got it mixed up with the baby`s formula, believe me, she didn`t quit just because she got pregnant.

To you, Darrell Cohen, what kind of time is she looking at?

ZIMMER: No, I disagree with that.

COHEN: She`s probably looking at at least three or four years. She needs to have probation on top of that. And I think she needs to have her child.

GRACE: I`m looking for Darrel Cohen. There he is. Go ahead.

COHEN: I think she needs to have her child back on the 12th of never. I think she`s looking at time and frankly, she could be charged with distribution by giving it to the child. That`s the most outrageous thing and I`d represent her, but I`d make sure that that baby never went back to her.

GRACE: You hate her, but you`d represent her.

Everyone tonight, "CNN HEROES."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNE MAHLUM, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: I`m out running between 3:30 and 5:00 a.m. It`s sort of my solitude time. On my daily (INAUDIBLE) runs, I would see this group of homeless men. This is a big problem in Philadelphia and it`s been for a long time. I started to realize that I`m moving my life forward every day, physically, emotionally in my believe, and these guys are standing in the same spot.

My name is Ann Mahlum and I run an organization called Back On My Feet where we use running to help the homeless go forward.

When you join Back On My Feet, you get a new pair of shoes, hat, a long- sleeved shirt. It`s like welcome to our team. We run together three times a week between 5:30 and 6:00 in the morning.

Want to go do a mile and a half together? (INAUDIBLE) separate miles.

We have doctors, lawyers, homeless people. All you can tell is who`s the fastest. You can`t tell, you know, who`s homeless and who`s not. To be a runner takes discipline, determination and a whole lot of heart.

Michael`s one of the original members. He grew running the streets but now he`s going back to running the streets the right way.

MICHAEL, MEMBER, BACK ON MY FEET: When I fist started, I never imagined preparing myself to run 26 miles. But I ran in number 13.

Anne is helping people see the hero in themselves.

MAHLUM: Do we need homes? Yes. Do we need jobs? Yes, but imagine if you didn`t have anybody in your life who said, I`m really proud of you. And Back On My Feet does just that.

You`ll get there, right? See you later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: What a week in America`s courtrooms. Take a look at the stories and more important the people who touched our lives.

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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The body of a 7-year-old South Salt Lake girl missing just one day was discovered last night in an apartment in the same complex where she lived.

GRACE: I read about this at about 1:00 a.m. last night and my heart has been broken ever since.

You know, the hysteria, the screaming, the crying, they had, according to autopsy doctor, the medical examiner, 30 days to save this little girl`s life. What did they do? They did nothing, they prayed.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Rosario DiGirolamo could no longer afford juggling two women in two separate familes so he allegedly eliminated his mistress and their child.

GRACE: What was discovered in her apartment?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, there was a lot of blood forensic evidence. Amy Giordano was clubbed, clubbed to death and then she was dragged from the bedroom where she was allegedly attacked.

GRACE: At the top of her class headed to medical school, her wedding date set, Brittany Sue Zimmerman found dead in her off-campus apartment.

The 4-year-old boy saved in the nick of time, literally at the last minute. The 4-year-old weighing in at just 10 pounds before he was rescued. But don`t worry, mommy never missed a meal. And I`m sure she`s having a lovely dinner tonight behind bars.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRACE: Tonight let`s stop and remember Army Specialist Jonathan Lahmann, 21, Richmond, Indiana, killed, Iraq. Friends and family describe him as smart, friendly, he cared about his work and loved tinkering with cars. He wanted to be an automechanic. Survived by parents Linda and Allen.

Jonathan Lahmann, American hero.

Thanks to our guests, our biggest thank you to you for inviting all of us into your homes. And tonight, a special good night from the New York control room.

Good night, Brett, Liz, Rosy, a.k.a. Evil.

Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern, and until then, good night, friend.

END