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Nancy Grace
New Search in Natalee Holloway Disappearance
Aired March 23, 2009 - 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, breaking news in the sudden disappearance of Alabama beauty Natalee Holloway, missing off her high school senior trip, Aruba. Aruban police can`t or won`t make a case against judge`s son Joran Van Der Sloot in the disappearance of Holloway, even after a Dutch crime reporter takes months of high-tech secret surveillance proving what happened the night the Alabama beauty vanished.
But tonight, the Holloway murder investigation back, back on the front burner, cadaver dogs and searchers at a pond just one mile from where Natalee last seen alive, a new witness coming forward to say he spots Joran Van Der Sloot just after Natalee`s disappearance leaving the very same area. With him, Paulus Van Der Sloot, his father. The witness even IDs the judge`s vehicle and then passes two independent polygraphs. Tonight, investigators combing the bottom of the pond for clues, including the bones of the 17-year-old Alabama beauty.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joran Van Der Sloot waded out here in the water, and you know, went out chest deep and let her body go in this retention pond.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to come through the TV and I want to kill him, I mean, and peel the skin off his face.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fred Golba is a last resort for families desperate for answers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my purpose, my reason in life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s also the chief of field operations for the Natalee Holloway Foundation. He`s been helping in the search for the girl since 2005. Friday, he left for Aruba to follow a new lead. He says a witness has just come forward with new information about lead suspect Joran Van Der Sloot. He says the witness reports seeing Van Der Sloot muddy and missing a sneaker.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Finding his sneaker is almost as good as finding her body.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fred Golba and his tracker dog will scour one particular retention pond.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And he told what he did with the body and he told how he came home, what he did with his shoes. It`s -- it`s the complete story.
BETH HOLLOWAY TWITTY, NATALEE`S MOTHER: He has just totally, totally dragged us all through hell with him, this Joran Van Der Sloot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Also tonight, breaking news in the desperate search for a 2- year-old Florida girl, Caylee. Six months of searching culminates when skeletal remains found in a heavily wooded area just 15 houses from the Anthonys` home confirmed to be Caylee, manner of death homicide. A utility meter reader stumbles on a tiny human skeleton, including a skull covered in light-colored hair, the killer placing a heart-shaped sticker directly over the mouth, then triple-bagging little Caylee like she`s trash.
Bombshell tonight. Has the biological father of little Caylee finally been outed? And what, if anything, will it mean at the murder one trial? Not one but two private eyes hired by the Anthony family on the hot seat, both men caught on camera searching the same wooded area where Caylee`s remains discovered.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Orange County utility emergency dispatch. We found a human skull.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`s a man with a videocamera. That man is Jim Hoover, and that is the man saying, I have that video from the crime scene, but there was no body, so close in time to when those remains were found.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I do know is that Hoover`s cell phone, some still photos and the tape, according to what he told one the media people in Orlando, have been confiscated by the FBI.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This development about the videotape is huge in this case. How would somebody know to go out there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know who the father of -- of Caylee...
LEE ANTHONY, CASEY ANTHONY`S BROTHER: I do not know...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection. Certify.
LEE ANTHONY: ... with 100 percent...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don`t have to answer that question.
GRACE: Who`s the father?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What Casey told Jesse was that the father was a one-night stand who apparently, a year later, dies in some mysterious car accident. And so the answer to your question is nobody really knows except for Casey.
CASEY ANTHONY, CAYLEE`S MOTHER: I truly, truly love that little girl and miss her so much.
CINDY ANTHONY, CASEY`S MOTHER: Are you protecting Caylee or are you protecting me? Or are you protecting whom?
CASEY ANTHONY: I`m protecting our family, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, to Satsuma, Florida. A 5-year-old girl tucked into bed, five hours later, she`s gone, vanished into thin air, the back door propped wide open. Dad comes home from the night shift to find not a single trace of little Haleigh. As the search goes on for 5-year-old Haleigh, girlfriend/baby-sitter/teen bride warned to be careful when she speaks to police, her own family concerned Misty Croslin`s stories to police about the night Haleigh disappeared are, quote, "mixed up."
And the custody battle brewing over Haleigh`s 4-year-old little brother. Both sides lawyer up as photos emerge of the children with cuts, bruises on face, arms, legs. Tonight, we have the photos. But what does this mean in the search for Haleigh? Tonight, where is 5-year-old Florida girl, Haleigh?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MISTY CUMMINGS, HALEIGH`S STEPMOTHER: I just want to let everybody know that I was home because I did pass my lie detector test saying that I was home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The inconsistencies of Misty Croslin...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) she said that the (INAUDIBLE) it was her, Junior (INAUDIBLE) Haleigh. They were all in the bed. What she meant was they were all in the bedroom together, but Haleigh was on the small, like, toddler-size mattress (INAUDIBLE) foot of the bed by the TV.
GRACE: Ronald, has the theory that Misty left the home sometime during the night been disproved?
RONALD CUMMINGS, HALEIGH`S FATHER: I`m not sure. I believe that it has.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The police have not -- still have not been able to put together a timeline on exactly what happened that night because of her inconsistencies.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We almost (ph) have to tell her to watch what she says not because she`s hiding anything but that it just gets so mixed up.
MISTY CUMMINGS: I put her to bed at 8:00 o`clock. That`s her bedtime because she has school. She didn`t go to sleep -- she was probably sleeping about 30 minutes. I was washing our blankets. I went and put her -- laid her blanket over top of her. She was sleeping. And then I made my bed and got into bed.
GRACE: What time did she go to bed?
RONALD CUMMINGS: Approximately 10:30, 11:00.
GRACE: At 10:30, 11:00. At that time, was little Haleigh in the bed asleep with the brother?
RONALD CUMMINGS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was told they was all three in the same bed.
MISTY CUMMINGS: I just want everybody to know they didn`t do anything with that little girl. I love her like she`s my own!
RONALD CUMMINGS: Bring my little girl home, please. Whoever`s got her, please bring her home. I`d give everything I got to bring my daughter home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Tonight, the Holloway murder investigation back on the front burner, cadaver dogs and searchers at a pond just one mile from where Natalee last seen alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I miss it by hand, hopefully, he`ll pick it up by scent.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Golba`s assistant, Rhino (ph). He`s a human remains detection certified dog. Together, they will comb the bottom of the pond less than a mile from the hotel where Natalee was last seen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So if I can go in there and mark off small grids - - and what I want to do is stick my arms from my elbows to my shoulders and feel for bones and feel for Joran`s sneakers.
TWITTY: It make me sick. I want to come through the screen and kill him when he imitates her. He imitates her and she`s suffering.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It will be a tricky feat in the black abyss that is 15 feet deep in part.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you go into a panic, which he said he did, the first thing you think of is call an ambulance. And with him choosing the alternative of getting rid of her, something else happened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Patrick was asking him, How can you be so sure that Natalee was dead? And then he said, Well, I wasn`t. She was just not moving anymore. I thought she must be dead. And then he dumped her into the ocean.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I have more confidence in this pond than anything I`ve ever done in the eight trips that I`ve been on this island.
TWITTY: It`s just despicable what he has done.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Susan Candiotti, CNN correspondent. The Natalee Holloway investigation back on the front burner after all this time, a cadaver dog, searchers going through a pond by hand, looking for the bones of Natalee Holloway? What`s happening, Susan Candiotti?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Nancy. It`s nice to talk with you again.
GRACE: Likewise.
CANDIOTTI: It`s just another curious -- thanks. It`s just another curious development, really, in this ongoing tragic case. What happened is, is that Dave Holloway became concerned that this pond, a pond there that had been searched before, had not been thoroughly searched. He was talking about a witness that came forward that had talked with the police before and had said that he saw someone the night that Natalee disappeared near a pond, breathlessly running away from there with only one sneaker on, that that person left there, came back later, this time in a car with another person.
And so the theory is, is that this pond, which is described to me as being very near Joran Van Der Sloot`s home, needs to be searched again. And that`s why Dave Holloway has hired this man to go search this pond that the authorities have already looked at.
GRACE: Well, what I don`t understand -- to Jossy Mansur joining us, he is the owner of "Diario" magazine -- why isn`t the Aruban government searching the pond? Why is Dave Holloway footing the bill to look for the bones of his daughter?
JOSSY MANSUR, OWNER, "DIARIO": Because the Aruban government has always based itself on the recommendations of the prosecution, and the only thing that the prosecution wants to do is close this case, Nancy.
GRACE: Why, Jossy? I don`t understand. Why is the Aruban government so hell-bent on closing this case without a resolution? This witness, to my understanding, has passed not one but two independent polygraphs. He even identifies the make and model of the vehicle, which goes back to Daddy, Paulus Van Der Sloot, a red Jeep. Why is the Aruban government ignoring this?
MANSUR: I don`t know why. But we will have to ask them to answer that question. But I know this man, the witness, very well. I`ve known him for a long time. And I believe in what he says, especially after whatever he said was confirmed by two polygraph tests which he passed brilliantly.
GRACE: To our staffer, Matt Zarrell, on the very case from the very beginning. Matt, explain to me, what does this guy claim he saw?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE STAFFER: Well, the night that Natalee Holloway disappeared, he claims that at 4:00 AM, he was awoken by a neighbor`s dog. He goes out to the living room and he looks, he sees a young man, wet from the chest down, leaving the pond area to the right, headed towards the hotels. Now, a few minutes later, the man comes back.
Now, one thing to note is he said this man was missing a shoe. The next thing he knows, the man comes back, but he`s in a red Jeep with an older man in the driver`s seat. And that`s determined that it was Paul Van Der Sloot driving the car and Joran was the passenger.
GRACE: Paulus Van Der Sloot -- I`m sure you remember every shot we get of him is nothing but behind and elbows as he runs away from the camera when we ask questions.
Everyone, we are taking your calls live. We`ll be back in 30 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Straight out to the lines. Adelaide in Washington. Hi, Adelaide.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy.
GRACE: Oh, there`s Paulus Van Der Sloot. That`s a great shot of him. Go ahead, Adelaide. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I`m calling -- first of all, thank you for taking my call and for those beautiful children. I just love watching your children.
GRACE: Thank you. And thank you for calling in, dear.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You`re welcome. My question is, do you think the government of Aruba is covering for this judge because he is a judge? Because, I mean, they have evidence that this -- this boy of his went and confessed on camera, and they`re not doing anything about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I have more confidence in this pond than anything I`ve ever done in the eight trips that I`ve been on this island.
It`s not about how many searches you do, it`s about how many successes you have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s a new search today for Natalee Holloway. Again, she disappeared during a high school class trip to Aruba. That was almost four years ago, believe it or not. But her dad not giving up. Dave Holloway sent a search dog to Aruba on Friday, and today a private investigator`s checking out a retention pond.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This witness came forward and he has given his statement to the local authorities, as well as he flew to Texas and took a lie detector test, which he passed. The local authorities have checked his -- his statements, and they don`t really match what they know that Joran did that night. So although the focus is still very heavily on Joran, they don`t believe that Joran was in this particular pond.
His story is that he was awoken by dogs. He got up to see what the racket was about and he saw someone that looked very similar to Joran`s stature walking in the dark. And when he got underneath the lightpost, he could, you know, basically tell what he was wearing. He only had one shoe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Aruban authorities have apparently ignored a witness that has passed two polygraphs, a witness that claims he sees a young man the night Natalee Holloway goes missing, wet from the chest down, missing a shoe. The man re-emerges later but with an older white male driving the vehicle, obviously identified as Paulus Van Der Sloot, the judge, Joran Van Der Sloot`s father.
We are taking your calls. I want to go quickly to Tracy Sargent and her dog, Cinco. She`s a K-9 handler, a search, rescue and recovery specialist. Tracy, so much time has passed since Natalee`s body was hidden somewhere on or around the island of Aruba. Is it possible for the cadaver dog, the dog searching tonight, now, right now, a new search for the body of Natalee Holloway -- is it possible this much later to find the body with a cadaver dog?
TRACY SARGENT, K-9 HANDLER: Yes, ma`am, it is. Certainly, the water recovery aspect of that search is challenging. But as long as scent is there, it`s basically impossible to hide scent from a dog. So there is a possibility that the dogs will respond to scent at that retention pond, if there is something there.
GRACE: Even under water, correct, Tracy?
SARGENT: Yes, ma`am, that is correct. And fortunately, this pond is not that deep. So that`s certainly going to help the scent conditions.
GRACE: And before your demonstration, very quickly, Tracy, what about the fact that Aruba is somewhat isolated there in the water? It is surrounded obviously by water, but very strong winds. How would that affect this much later the possibility of a cadaver dog actually hitting on Natalee`s remains?
SARGENT: Well, one advantage the searchers have is the fact that it is a pond and it`s a relatively small pond, which interestingly, contains a scent source. The wind conditions -- what will happen, handlers will approach the search area based upon wind conditions and try to get the dog where the wind is coming into the dog`s face, so if there`s any scent there, the scent will come into the dog. And that way, the handlers can see how the dogs respond to that and work the area accordingly.
GRACE: Right now, specialists called back to the island of Aruba to search, search for Natalee`s body. They`re also searching for articles of clothing, specifically a shoe belonging to judge`s son Joran Van Der Sloot.
Tracy, I believe you have a demonstration for us?
SARGENT: Yes, ma`am. What we`re going to do is we`re going to show you how the dog responds to cadaver scent. Cinco, hunt! And what he`s telling us by his trained alert -- in this case, a sit -- he`s telling us there`s human remains scent here. And this is what`s going to happen down in Aruba. If there`s human remains, the dog will do a physical response and tell the handler, Hey, you need to check this area right here.
GRACE: Tracy, what are you using tonight in studio for the dog to search for?
SARGENT: Interestingly, when you mention articles -- this is a piece of article that has been removed from a body bag, from a decomposing body. So there is human remains scent in this container that the dog is responding to.
GRACE: So that`s a piece of the body bag?
SARGENT: No, it is a piece of sheet that the body was in, and that sheet was inside of a body bag.
GRACE: Pretty impressive, Tracy Sargent and Cinco.
We`re take your calls. To Joanne in Florida. Hi, Joanne.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I just want to say thank you. I think you`re a great champion of victims` rights. And without you, I don`t know where a lot of victims would be.
GRACE: Thank you. Thank you. What`s your question, dear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, my question is the Holloway family, what they`ve gone through and what they`ve endured. Are they home waiting for, you know, some sort of closure, justice?
GRACE: Good question. Susan Candiotti, CNN correspondent on the case since the very beginning, where is the family, if we know?
CANDIOTTI: Well, I`m not certain. I know that Dave Holloway decided not to accompany this gentleman with the cadaver dog who`s gone down to the island again and is waiting to see what he comes up with before, evidently, he wants to speak more publicly about this.
I want to say that the prosecutor`s office told me today they are not disregarding what this man said, but they felt as though since they had already examined the pond before, that they have included this man`s...
GRACE: Really?
CANDIOTTI: ... information, they did interview him...
GRACE: Susan? Susan?
CANDIOTTI: ... and included it in their report...
GRACE: Susan, before we go to break...
CANDIOTTI: Yes?
GRACE: ... what type of examination did they do of the pond, the Aruban government?
CANDIOTTI: They told me that they went through -- a search of the pond, draining it and looking through it.
GRACE: It`s my understanding that they drained...
CANDIOTTI: I`m not sure, actually -- let me take that back. I`m not sure if they drained it.
GRACE: They drained...
CANDIOTTI: But they said that they searched the pond.
GRACE: ... a different pond. This pond has not been drained.
Everyone, right now, cadaver dogs there in Aruba searching for Natalee Holloway`s body.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s hurt us tremendously, other families tremendously, and some innocent people of Aruba. He has no remorse, no -- total disregard for anyone else except for himself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Breaking news tonight in Aruba. Cadaver dogs and searchers searching again for the body of Natalee Holloway. Just when so many people had given up on justice in the Natalee Holloway disappearance, now is there a break in the case?
Back to Jossy Mansur, owner of "Diario" magazine. Jossy, our very first caller tonight, Adelaide in Washington, wanted to know was there some type of cover-up? Because all the evidence clearly indicates Joran Van Der Sloot`s involvement in her disappearance, yet nothing has been done.
MANSUR: Well, I think that from the beginning, there was some kind of a hush on the case. There was some kind of an attempt to let this Joran Van Der Sloot off scot-free. And we`ve seen it grow as the investigation goes on. And I believe that there was a cover-up.
GRACE: Jossy, has this pond ever been drained?
MANSUR: No, this pond was never drained. The pond across the street from the Marriott Hotel was drained. This pond was searched superficially in the past.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TWITTY: They have really had just such a botched investigation from the beginning. And whether that was due to incompetence or corruption or cover-up, I mean, we don`t know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEE ANTHONY, CASEY ANTHONY`S BROTHER: Casey began to break down, cry. And she said, Lee, do you really want to know the truth? I haven`t seen Caylee in 31 days.
ANTHONY LAZZARO, CASEY ANTHONY`S EX-BOYFRIEND: I would just wake up in the middle of the night and see that she was sweating in bed. She`s having a nightmare or something.
L. ANTHONY: That`s when she opened up to me and said, mom has thrown it in my face many times before that I`m an unfit mother. And you know maybe she`s right, maybe I am. And she`s like, well, maybe this should have been done a long time ago.
CPL. YURY MELICH, ORANGE COUNTY INVESTIGATOR: Did you cause any injury to your daughter, Caylee?
CASEY ANTHONY, MOTHER OF CAYLEE ANTHONY: No, sir.
MELICH: Did you hurt Caylee or leave her somewhere and you`re worried that if we find out, that people look at you in the wrong way?
C. ANTHONY: No, sir.
JESSE GRUND, CASEY ANTHONY`S EX-FIANCE: Casey was a totally different person when we were together. The person that I was with and the person that sits in that jail, I don`t know her.
CINDY ANTHONY, CASEY ANTHONY`S MOTHER: Casey has been a very wonderful, caring mother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know the father of Caylee?
L. ANTHONY: I do not know 100 percent but.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Tonight, has the biological father of little Caylee finally been outed? And if so, what, if anything, will it mean at tot mom`s murder one trial?
Straight out to Kathi Belich with WFTV. What can you tell me?
KATHI BELICH, REPORTER, CNN AFFILIATE WFTV, COVERING STORY: Well, yet another story from Casey, this time to a girlfriend of hers, that a hot co- worker of hers from Universal. And she had a one-night stand at a hotel near Universal Studios. And that she never gave a last name but she said that this Josh fellow had a girlfriend. Had a child, was planning to marry the girlfriend. Killed in a car crash. Never knew Caylee.
It`s a similar story that she`s come up with before but little -- different details.
GRACE: To Drew Petrimoulx with WBDO, can it be confirmed that such a person even existed?
DREW PETRIMOULX, REPORTER, WDBO RADIO: No, as a matter of fact, she told her friend that she didn`t even know his last name and, you know, just like this guy in North Carolina, these are kind of people that we`ve never been able to find. There`s no record of him. Detectives have not been able to find anything.
You know, we`ve seen thousands of pages of documents from detectives on this subject. And there was never been anything concrete on the father of Caylee.
GRACE: Let`s unleash the lawyers. We`re talking your calls live. In New York, child advocate Susan Moss, in Seattle, high-profile lawyer, Ann Bremner, and joining me from Miami, Florida, defense attorney, former fed with the FBI, Hugo Rodriguez.
Susan Moss, weigh in.
SUSAN MOSS, CHILD ADVOCATE, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: I`m just glad she`s not claiming it`s the Zenaida Gonzalez. I mean this is just a little too late. Yet another person who doesn`t seem to exist. She worked with this man, yet she doesn`t even know his last name? Just more lies.
GRACE: Ann Bremner, if the biological father can be named and determined, what will it mean, if anything, at trial?
ANNE BREMNER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: A very little Nancy. I actually agree with Susan Moss. Isn`t there a country song, a western song called that "I Don`t Even Know His Last Name"? But yet, I don`t know what you can bring in unless you go with the mental defense and some issue with respect to paternity.
GRACE: You know, Hugo Rodriguez, you know, call me crazy, but I believe that the identity of the biological father could mean something very significant at trial because they are going to be looking to blame Caylee`s murder on somebody, anybody.
So the existence of the bio dad could be extremely significant. It could be someone for the defense to point the finger at. Get it?
HUGO RODRIGUEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY, FMR. FBI AGENT: In Florida, the defense eventually will have to give up a witness list and/or will eventually have to give up some idea of whether their defense will be. And that father will be identified one way or another.
Now how that will factor at trial, I can`t tell you right now, but it will factor on both sides because I`m sure that the authorities want to identify this person, if he exists, if he still lives, interview him, and exclude him as a possible suspect.
GRACE: Absolutely.
RODRIGUEZ: The other side -- the other side wants to do the opposite spin of that and possibly use that individual to insinuate that he could have perpetrated the crime.
GRACE: And I believe that that is why the attorneys stopped brother Lee Anthony from answering that question.
Out to the lines, Joy in Connecticut. Hi, Joy.
JOY, CALLER FROM CONNECTICUT: Hi, Nancy. Happy spring to you and your beautiful family.
GRACE: Well, thank you very much.
JOY: We all love you. Nancy, my big question is, has the father George been tested to see if he is possibly the father?
GRACE: To Kathi Belich, that seems far-fetched to me. I have long stood by the story that, I don`t believe there is incest or familial relations going on. I don`t buy it. But many people have suggested that a family member is the father. Have they been tested? I know brother Lee Anthony has.
BELICH: Brother Lee Anthony has, but Casey`s father George has not been tested. I don`t think there`s any indication for them to test him. He did give a DNA test and so did Cindy but I don`t believe that they tested him for paternity.
GRACE: Leonard Padilla, bounty hunter who searched exhaustively for little Caylee. Leonard, two things -- number one, you have a deposition coming up. When, where, and what do you know about it? And number two, what is the progress regarding you purchasing that plot of land where Caylee`s remains were discovered?
LEONARD PADILLA, BOUNTY HUNTER, EXPECTED TO TESTIFY IN CASEY ANTHONY CIVIL SUIT: Originally, the deposition was scheduled for this month. But then the -- the attorneys want to take the depositions of George and Cindy and their attorneys first. So they scheduled mine down the road two months for May 19th.
GRACE: Who is it that wants to depose you?
PADILLA: The attorneys for Zenaida Gonzalez.
GRACE: OK. Go ahead. And what about the plot of land?
PADILLA: I just -- today, this afternoon, just before I left the office, received a formal written contract for me to sign, offering $50,000 for the property from the real estate agent representing the seller. She said the seller was out of town for a week or so. So she wouldn`t be able to get back to me for, say, 10 days or so.
GRACE: Leonard, you spent so much time with the family. What about this new story as to the biological father, little Caylee? This could be extremely significant at trial.
PADILLA: It can be. And I`m telling you, it will be. But only way anybody`s going to find out who the biological father is to go August the 5th of `05. Go back nine months. And then go 30 days on each side on her phone records. And then eliminate one by one, the males involved and that`s the only way you`re going to find out because she`s not going to know.
GRACE: You know what, John Lucich, former investigator, author of "Cyber Lies," he`s got a point. This woman is prolific on the cell phone and texting. It`s crazy.
JOHN LUCICH, INVESTIGATOR, AUTHOR OF "CYBER LIES": Oh absolutely. You may not even find also in addition to the cell phone bills, her computer and any other type of technology where people communicate in a regular basis. She`s definitely going to be communicating with somebody intimate like that and it will show up in the phone bills most likely.
GRACE: To Dr. Janet Taylor, psychiatrist, why all of the head games about the paternity of the little girl?
DR. JANET TAYLOR, PSYCHIATRIST: You know it`s just one more tangled weave. It just plays to her inconsistencies, her ability to make up things. And also just this -- this conflict and lies that she tell.
GRACE: Also, we learned the private I`s working for the Anthony family on the hot seat. They are expected to give sworn testimony regarding why they were digging around in the area where little Caylee`s remains other than found weeks before police found the remains. Why were they there? Were they tipped off?
Straight to Kathi Belich, WFTV, what can you tell me about those depositions?
BELICH: Well, they`re scheduled for Wednesday. Both private I, Dominic Casey, who`s under contract with the Anthony family, as well as with Casey, and also Jim Hoover, who is more or less a volunteer working with Dominic Casey.
As you said, both of them were videotaping the scene where Caylee was found a month before she was found. Also a home near, where the Anthonys lived, near the scene owned by a Gonzalez family. They will be answering questions about what they were doing there, what they knew, how they knew it, and I`m sure they`ll be asking questions about whether they ever heard about a Zenaida Gonzalez when they were spending so much time with the Anthony family.
GRACE: Back to Leonard Padilla, bounty hunter, expected to testify in the civil suit. Leonard, on video, the private I`s are in the very spot where little Caylee`s remains are found many weeks later by police.
Let`s see the video, Liz.
Now they`re going to be deposed under oath as to why they were there. What do you know?
PADILLA: Well, Hoover told me that that morning, Casey called him up and says, we`re going to go get Caylee. She`s not alive. She`s dead. But if you -- but if you follow Hoover`s thinking and the filming and the measurements of that particular area, they were off by the same amount of feet that Kronk was off.
Now Kronk, about a week or 10 days prior to Thanksgiving, was bragging that he knew where the body was. And his girlfriend had told him where it was.
GRACE: Out to the lines, Lynn in West Virginia. Hi, Lynn.
LYNN, CALLER FROM WEST VIRGINIA: Hi, Nancy, how are you?
GRACE: Hi. And, Lynn, right now we`re showing you that video of the private I, sifting through the dirt, digging, near this area where little Caylee was found. That`s from WFTV as the Anthony`s P.I. frantically searching.
Back to you, Lynn, what`s your question?
LYNN: Yes, mine is more of a comment on this biological father thing. If it`s no one in her family and if the biological father is deceased or passed on, it seems like his parents or if he had siblings that they would want to know if they had a deceased granddaughter or niece out there.
GRACE: To Dr. Zhongxue Hua, Union County, New Jersey medical examiner. Doctor, if police don`t have any idea who to compare Caylee`s DNA to, we may never know who the father is.
DR. ZHONGXUE HUA, UNION CO., N.J. MEDICAL EXAMINER: Yes. I mean we`ll never know it. You have to have a DNA for comparison first.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For somebody to walk in a house and pick up a child laying beside another person is just ridiculous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s just the (INAUDIBLE) that she can get up and go to the bath and when she goes back to the bed, the baby is gone.
MISTY CROSLIN, RONALD CUMMING`S WIFE, LAST SEEN HALEIGH: I put her to bed at 8:00. That`s her bedtime because she had school. She didn`t go to sleep. She was probably sleeping about 30 minutes. I was washing our blankets. I went and put her -- laid the blanket on top of her. She was sleeping. And then I made my bed and got into bed. And then I woke up about 3:00 and I was going to the bathroom.
I didn`t make it to the bathroom. I noticed the kitchen light was on. And I walked to the kitchen, the back door was opened. So I ran back to my bedroom to get my cell phone to call Ronald and I noticed -- and that`s when I noticed that Haleigh`s gone.
CRYSTAL SHEFFIELD, MOM OF MISSING 5-YR-OLD HALEIGH CUMMINGS: Her story`s changed several times and I know my kids did love her. They told me that. And I just hope she would not have nothing do with this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First she said that the -- it was her, Junior, Haleigh, they were all in the bed. What she meant is they all were in the bedroom, the same bedroom. But Haleigh was on the little taller mattress on the floor in front of the TV.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRAPHICS: Out to Art Harris, investigative journalist at www.artharris.com, had exclusive interviews with the family of the girlfriend/babysitter/teen bride. The last woman, the last person to see little Haleigh alive that night.
Art, they are now warning her, be careful what you is say, urging her to keep quiet, to stop talking. Why?
ART HARRIS, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST, ARTHARRIS.COM, SHOT EXCLUSIVE VIDEO W/MISTY CROSLIN`S FAMILY: Well, Nancy, it`s very confusing. Her stories have been confusing and the family is concerned. When I spoke to her mother and her sister-in-law, she told me that they had warned her, you know, watch what you say. And not because they think she`s lying. But because it has gotten so mixed up in the media and they`re claiming now it`s the media`s fault.
But there are some strange inconsistencies, Nancy.
GRACE: Such as, in a nutshell?
HARRIS: Well, you know, in your interview with Ronald, he said the kids went to bed at 10:30 and Misty told me in my interview on artharris.com that it was 8:00, and she was asleep by 8:30. Where are the kids were sleeping, when, you know, how do you make up a bed with a little baby, a little boy on the bed as she said she did. It`s -- the logic of it is hard to make sense of.
GRACE: You know, Art, when I go home from work at night, sometimes the twins will be laying on top of their blanket. I learned the hard way. I don`t even take the blanket out from under them to put on them. Forget it. I go and get another one and gently lay it on them because they will wake up. Then we`ll be up until 5:30 in the morning so you just brought up a very significant point I hadn`t even caught.
She did say she put them to bed and then made up the bed where the baby Ronald Jr. is sleeping. Let`s take a look at some of Art Harris` interview with the family. You can find it at artharris.com. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I guess I had an argument over what movie they wanted to watch. And the movie that she said she put in wasn`t in when she got up. So Haleigh must have gotten up and changed it and put her movie in after Misty went to sleep. But (INAUDIBLE), no, she wouldn`t just get up and walk out that door in the middle of the night by herself.
They all were in the bedroom, the same bedroom. But Haleigh was on the little taller mattress on the floor in front of the TV. And Junior had a TV in the living room and I guess he wanted his dad and watched TV in there. But Junior and Misty was in the bed. And Haleigh was on the floor watching it.
I remember when she was watching. That`s what I understood. She told me when she woke up, she always keeps the lights out. She says she woke up and she noticed. She was going to the bathroom and she noticed that the kitchen light was on. Then she said before she made it around the corner, she didn`t right go around the corner, she noticed that the back door was open. And that`s when she ran back to the bedroom and Haleigh wasn`t in there. She went to Haleigh`s room. She wasn`t in there so that`s when she started calling.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We almost have to tell her to watch what she says. Not because she`s hiding anything but that it just gets so mixed up and then they start asking more questions and accusing her of more stuff. She`s just doesn`t -- she`s just tired. She just doesn`t want to talk anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: T.J. Hart, with WSKY, how many times have police interviewed/questioned Misty Croslin?
T.J. HART, PROGRAM & NEWS DIRECTOR, WSKY 97.3FM, COVERING STORY: Well, over 30 hours` worth of questions. And really this is not the first time that her mom has urged her to kind of step away from the camera and be quiet. In fact she was walking out of an interview in Orlando, and trying to get into the truck back when cousin Joe was a factor. And she was urging her to get into the vehicle and kind of hush then.
GRACE: Out to the lines, Diane in Wisconsin. Hello, Diane.
DIANE, CALLER FROM WISCONSIN: Hello, Nancy. Thank you for sharing your life and your babies and all that you do. And my question is, back to the dumpster. That kind of -- die there. What ever happened with that? Maybe the dogs went there because maybe Haleigh was there and maybe was moved?
GRACE: That is a distinct possibility, Diane in Wisconsin. But by the time they searched the dumpster, no evidence was found.
Cassandra, Rhode Island. Hi, Cassandra.
CASSANDRA, CALLER FROM RHODE ISLAND: Hi, Nancy, how are you?
GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?
CASSANDRA: My question is about the young wife. She stated that the door, she had seen the back door was opened. But I had remembered when they did an investigation on the home, the lady had showed us that the back door doesn`t stay open. It automatically closes.
GRACE: Cassandra, it was propped open with a cinder box. I asked the father Ronald Cummings where the block came from. He said he did not recognize it. The door propped open with a cinder block.
To the attorney for the biological mother, Crystal Sheffield, Kim Picazio is joining us tonight from Plantation, Florida.
Kim, what is the latest in your quest to seek custody, to wrangle custody away from Ronald Cummings of Ronald Jr.?
KIM PICAZIO, ATTORNEY FOR CRYSTAL SHEFFIELD, HALEIGH`S MOTHER: Well, at this point, Nancy, we`re focusing more on our quest to find Haleigh and we`re working tirelessly every single day with fielding tips.
GRACE: What are you doing?
PICAZIO: What we`re doing is we have investigators. I have a staff in the field in Satsuma. People will come to the Haleigh bug center there in Satsuma and give us tips. A lot of people are saying that they do not feel comfortable going to the police, so we`re sending our people out.
We`ve now got a time line that we`re trying to figure out. We`re pretty confident what we know happened that day up until around 10:30. Then after that, our trail runs dry. So at this point, we`re trying every day to get more and more information. Maybe tomorrow we`ll have until 10:35 p.m. Hopefully we`ll have until 3:00 and we can undercover what happened to Haleigh and find her.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Some people thought he was cussing you out, but that was a misunderstanding. Tell me about that.
CROSLIN: He was yelling at the officer, the lady on the phone, because they weren`t coming fast enough. He was not yelling at me.
HARRIS: They have not cleared you as a suspect but they have (INAUDIBLE) passing on the test.
CROSLIN: The polygraph the guy told me that I passed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Out to the line, Sherry in Kentucky. Hi, Sherry.
SHERRY, CALLER FROM KENTUCKY: Hi.
GRACE: Hi, dear, what`s your question?
SHERRY: I`ve been watching this all the way -- well, I`ve been watching this ever since Caylee first disappeared. And then when Haleigh came along, I`ve been praying for both children. But it kept appearing to me -- I was a sleepwalker as a child and I was on medication. And I wondered if she was on any medication.
GRACE: Excellent question. To Art Harris, what, if anything, do we know about that? I`ve heard nothing about her being on meds.
HARRIS: Haleigh was taking some med, as I`m told.
GRACE: Well, I know, for Turner syndrome but not for sleepwalking.
HARRIS: Yes. Right. Right. I have not heard that.
GRACE: OK.
Unleash the lawyers, Susan Moss, Anne Bremner, Hugo Rodriguez. What is your advice, Anne Bremner, to Misty Croslin?
BREMNER: Right now, I`d give it to -- on your show, Nancy, if she`s watching, a closed mouth gathers no foot. Say nothing.
GRACE: Hugo Rodriguez, Do you agree with that?
RODRIGUEZ: I have to agree and stop the nationwide shows and the publicity. Just shut it down.
GRACE: And Susan Moss, what about Haleigh, missing Haleigh?
MOSS: That`s right. She should talk to get this child found but it`s getting too late to get her story straight.
GRACE: Everyone, let`s stop and remember Army Private Christopher McCraw, 23, Columbia,, Mississippi, killed Iraq. Came from a family of soldiers. Loved pranks, spending time with friends, wanted to marry the mother of his young son when he came home. Leaves behind parents Avon and Cathy, fiance Brianna, baby son Isaac.
Christopher McCraw, American hero.
Thanks to our guests but our biggest thanks to you for inviting us into your homes. I`ll see you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
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