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Nancy Grace
Casey Anthony Defense Questions Private Investigator
Aired April 03, 2009 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MIKE BROOKS, GUEST HOST: Breaking news tonight in the desperate search for a 2-year-old Florida girl, Caylee Anthony. Six months of searching ends when Caylee`s skeletal remains are found in a heavily wooded area near the Anthony home. Tonight, the Anthonys` private eye breaks his silence, and it`s a bombshell. He reveals a second PI, also working for George and Cindy Anthony, said Caylee was dead weeks before her tiny bones were found, the private eye apparently tipped off about the crime scene caught on videotape digging through the woods. But by who?
And tonight, more witnesses on the hot seat, the defense grilling investigators and the supervisor of the meter reader who stumbles onto Caylee`s remains.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM HOOVER, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: He says, I got something to tell you. I said, What`s up? He says, I know where Caylee is. I`m thinking she`s alive. This is a great. And he said, She`s dead.
NANCY GRACE, HOST, "NANCY GRACE": Jim Hoover, the private eye, under oath by the defense, on the hot seat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did he know that she was dead?
HOOVER: Well, he said he had a tip.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Only hours after little Caylee`s remains were discovered, they went to the Ritz-Carlton and dined on sliced steak, crab puffs and fried tomatoes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You all had dinner down there at the Ritz that night. Caitlin (ph) ordered some appetizers. Who all was at the dinner that night?
HOOVER: Cindy was sitting next to me, then George and Dominic at the other end.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ve seen all kinds of range of emotion, but I`ve never seen anyone go to the Ritz-Carlton and dine on crab puffs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They will always stand by their daughter. This is their only daughter and their only granddaughter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no idea who took Caylee.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would hope that there was not a murder. I would hope that there was an accident.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought you earlier said you believe Zenaida Gonzalez took Caylee.
LEE ANTHONY, CASEY`S BROTHER: I believe what my sister is telling me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: And tonight, the mystery surrounding the disappearance of an 8-year-old California girl, the reward climbing tonight in the search for little Sandra Cantu.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m just hoping and praying that I can see my daughter soon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Volunteers in search of missing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu sifted through this Tracy landfill, looking for pieces of a mysterious puzzle that will, hopefully, bring Sandra home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Hello Kitty T-shirt was found in the transfer station as they were going through the trash. However, when a picture was shown to Mom, she said it wasn`t her daughter`s T-shirt. That`s not to say that we`re not going to do further tests on it. We still have it. It`s still going to be examined. It`s still going to be tested.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are not leaving any stone unturned at this point. They`re questioning everyone. They`re going to homes with search warrants.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did they ask you about the disappearance of the girl?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They did, and which we know nothing about it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want my baby home!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: Good evening. I`m Mike Brooks, in for Nancy Grace. A private eye once working for grandparents George and Cindy Anthony finally breaks his silence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEE ANTHONY: Casey began to break down and cry. And she said, Lee, do you want to know the truth? I haven`t seen Caylee in 31 days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A couple of depositions went down today at the Orange County courthouse.
LEE ANTHONY: My mother kind of hit her fist on the bed and said, We could have found her a month ago. Why did you wait?
GRACE: ... the luxury Ritz-Carlton, feasting on crab cakes, sliced steak, fried tomatoes, appetizers. This is just hours after the family is reportedly told that Caylee`s remains, their granddaughter`s skeleton, have been found.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They got the news that their granddaughter`s body had been found, so they flew back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) knew the body had been found yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you all went to the Ritz. That was nice. What did you all do that night?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ended up going to dinner.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the Ritz?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you at that time think to yourself there may not be a Zenaida Gonzalez?
LEE ANTHONY: No. I would hope that she would have her with somebody. I would have thought she had her with somebody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: For the latest, we go right out to Rory O`Neill, reporter for Westwood One radio, there at the Orange County jail. Rory, what`s the latest from Orlando?
RORY O`NEILL, WESTWOOD ONE: Well, we had another set of depositions today, Mike, three of them. These really centered all around the tips that were phoned in from that meter reader, the utility reader who actually found Caylee`s remains. Also, we are learning now from that reporter who got the interview with Jim Hoover. He was one of the private investigators assigned to the family.
PADILLA: Now, to those depositions, they`re talking about the tips that Roy Kronk had phoned in, the response to them, how they called 911 and how those tips were then handled within the Orange County sheriff`s office. Some say that they were just passed off and ignored. One person said that they checked the report -- they checked the tip, rather, looked up the paperwork, found that the area where Caylee`s bones were found had already been searched. So the tip was then dismissed.
Also testifying was Roy Kronk`s supervisor. He was the one who actually placed the 911 call to report that it was his worker, Kronk, that found Caylee`s body.
BROOKS: I want to -- you know, Rory, what do we know about -- there`s two folks from the Orange County sheriff`s office. Who are they, and what do we know about them?
O`NEILL: Right. One of them actually took the tip and then passed it along to her supervisor. And that`s where the tip was then investigated, compared to the search patterns that had already been conducted, and then that was passed along. It was the other person who then went out to the scene, and also had taken another one of the tips, and found that, yes, the area had been searched and was cleared. So both these people had handled the tips that came in from Kronk, and both of them passed on them. And this was back in August...
BROOKS: Right.
O`NEILL: ... months before Caylee`s body was found.
BROOKS: Out to Nikki Pierce, reporter for WDBO radio, also there at the jail. Nikki, the investigative analyst, Awilda McBride (ph) -- she is the one that actually took the call on the 12th. Now, and remember -- remind our viewers that Kronk called on August 11th, August 12th and August 13th. What do we know about what kind of action she took?
NIKKI PIERCE, WDBO: That`s right. Well, she took the call on August the 12th and she logged it and passed it on to Jerold White, who was the other person that was deposed today. Now, he`s the one that cleared it two days later. He went to lead detective on the case, Detective Uri Melich, and -- according to White, and Melich did tell him that that area had already been cleared.
BROOKS: Now, the investigative analyst -- correct me if I`m wrong, on August 11th, Kronk called up and he didn`t meet any officer. Officer came out. Didn`t find anything. Then on the 12th, he makes another call about finding a bag in that general vicinity, and that`s when he spoke with -- or I guess it was a tip line. And McBride took the information, passed it on to Jerold White, the investigator. And they basically said, Oh, it`s been cleared. Then on the 13th, that`s when he went and met with Deputy Cane (ph) who actually went and looked for it.
Straight out to Natisha Lance, our producer for the NANCY GRACE show. Natisha, we`ve heard, you know, the two depositions going on today of these two people. What happened to the deputy who met Kronk on the 13th and reported -- went back in service (ph) and said, Oh, it was trash. I think his name was Deputy Cane. What`s become of him and that investigation?
NATISHA LANCE, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: That`s right. Well, that investigation is still ongoing at this point. Now, he was deposed by Jose Baez. They didn`t finish that up deposition with Baez, and at a later date, they`re planning to go back and continue that. But at this point, he was reassigned. He`s no longer -- his badge was removed. He was also -- his gun was taken away from him, as well. He`s now doing more of a desk duty. But that internal investigation is still going on.
BROOKS: You know, I think it`s taken -- being a former investigator myself -- and you know, he wasn`t involved in a deadly shooting. I think he`s kind of gotten a raw deal by the sheriff`s office because, you know, when there`s an investigation, you know, take the -- go with the investigation, but you don`t need to take the guy`s gun, badge, ID. They`ve even taken away his part-time work, which cops rely on!
Let`s unleash the lawyers, Randy Kessler out of Atlanta and Doug Burns out of New York. Doug, don`t you agree with me? Don`t you think, you know, this investigation`s, this administrative investigation against Cane, that he`s kind of getting a raw deal here?
DOUG BURNS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I do agree with you because, you know, I think the whole chronology about, you know, who reported in, who called in -- I think it`s really been way blown -- way more has made of it as it should. And I think you`re right.
BROOKS: Yes, you know, and Randy, I`m sorry, but you know, as a former investigator, I can tell you, look, if you`re involved in a deadly shooting, they put you on administrative leave, they take your gun and badge, but now they give you back your gun because you need it for protection. But this guy -- I think that they`ve gone way overboard on this guy.
RANDY KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: They have, but you know, higher- profile cases, higher consequences, and that may be what we`re seeing here. You want to set an example in the high-profile cases, and in the lower- profile cases, people take more time and do their job better. But I agree with you. All things being equal, it sounds like he`s getting a raw deal.
BROOKS: You know, but take away his part-time employment -- I mean, cops rely -- cops don`t make a lot of money. They`re not -- they`re not -- they don`t get rich like the attorneys do. They don`t make -- they don`t make much money and they rely on those part-time jobs.
You know, the other day, Kathi Belich -- we talk about Jim Hoover, Dominic Casey. We`re going to talk about them a lot tonight. But take a listen to what Kathi Belich was -- talked to Hoover and caught up with him as he was coming out of his disposition -- deposition. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATHI BELICH, WFTV: The Anthony family`s private investigator, Dominic Casey, who was also working for Casey Anthony, directed private eye Jim Hoover, who was behind the camera, to a grouping of paver stones in mid-November. Caylee`s remains were found near a group of stones just feet from this location.
HOOVER: That day was real somber.
BELICH: For the first time, Hoover told Channel 9 on camera today Dominic was somber that day because he said he had found out Caylee was dead.
HOOVER: She`s dead, and I know where she is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: I want to go out now to Leonard Padilla, bounty hunter, and - - who is also going to be deposed in this case. Leonard, thanks for being with us.
LEONARD PADILLA, BOUNTY HUNTER: Hey, thank you for having me. Let me see if I can get something straightened out...
BROOKS: Hold on. Hold on one sec.
PADILLA: Go ahead.
BROOKS: I want to know -- you know, you`ve talked about Dominic Casey and Jim Hoover a lot...
PADILLA: Right.
BROOKS: ... over the past number of months.
PADILLA: Correct.
BROOKS: Is Hoover -- is he just in it for the 15 minutes of fame -- or now, days of fame?
PADILLA: No. When he first approached me with the film and asked me how much I thought he can get for it, I -- the three things I told him, Have you talked to Nick Savage? Have you contacted Allen? Have you contacted law enforcement? I thought it was a set-up. Somebody coming to me with the film, I`m supposed grab onto it, go out and make a ton of money with it. He says, No. I says, Well, you better get ahold of them before you do anything with that. He says, Well, where can I sell it?
I gave him the name of an individual that was down there buying pictures and stuff, but I knew that the guy was in Chicago for his mom`s funeral and wouldn`t be able to react to it before I could get ahold of Nick Savage and tell Nick Savage about the film. It didn`t go public that they had that film for about seven days. I don`t know whether Nick was just slow on the -- you know, getting the film or whether they didn`t believe me.
BROOKS: Keep in mind, Nick Savage is -- remind our viewers, he is the lead agent, the FBI guy in this case.
PADILLA: Correct. And then I want to talk to you about those pavers that they keep talking about.
BROOKS: We`re going to come back, and we got lot more to talk about after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASEY ANTHONY, CAYLEE`S MOTHER: I started bringing Caylee over to Zenaida`s apartment. I would usually drop her off. For a few months, we would go over to Jeff`s house. He lived over in Avalon Park. I`ve tried to find out information from people, going out to different places, like Fusian Ultralounge and a couple bars that I know Zenaida had gone to downtown before, to see -- just kind of random talk, if anybody had heard about my nanny or talked to her lately.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you tell anyone specifically that Zenaida took your child?
CASEY ANTHONY: No. The only two people that I specifically told were Jeff and Juliet.
I have nothing to go (INAUDIBLE) maybe where she`d go...
(CROSSTALK)
CASEY ANTHONY: ... same time, she could have gone back up to New York. She could have gone up to Jacksonville, where we have a friend. She could have gone down to Miami, where her mom and her sister live now. She was nonchalant with me (INAUDIBLE) everything was (INAUDIBLE)
My one goal is -- regardless of how it happened -- I don`t care. I`ll lie. I will steal. I`ll do whatever I can to find my daughter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: I`m Mike Brooks, in for Nancy Grace. I want to go out right now to Doug Burns. Doug, you know, we`ve heard that Jose Baez has been asking for some private time...
BURNS: Right.
BROOKS: ... with her parents in jail. Is there any expectation of privacy at all when you`re in jail?
BURNS: No, almost none, Mike. The telephone calls are recorded. Her visits are monitored. I mean, when attorneys visit clients in custody, you know, you get put in a room, and ostensibly, there`s some privacy. But anybody who thinks that they should be anything but ultra-cautious is really deluding him or herself.
BROOKS: I want to go out to Marc Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation there in San Francisco. Marc, again, thanks for being with us.
MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: Sure.
BROOKS: What do you make of the Anthonys` attorney to have a request to meet in private with her?
KLAAS: Well, they had plenty of time to have all the private conversations they wanted during the period between her first incarceration and her current incarceration. And I think if they`re going to offer any kind of considerations, any kind of special considerations for anybody that`s in jail, it would be for somebody that is -- that is -- that is assisting the prosecution and assisting in trying to uncover what`s going on.
In this case, we know that Casey has taken every opportunity to block progress in the case. And I think once her mother understood the consequences of telling the police that she smelled a dead body in the trunk of the car, that she then turned and she`s been trying to block progress in the case, as well. So they deserve nothing, absolutely nothing.
BROOKS: Yes. Cindy goes from, I smell a damn dead body into the car, to -- Well, might have been some rotting pizza -- a bag of pizza rotting in a trunk.
KLAAS: Right.
BROOKS: And no, I`m not buying that at all.
Back out to Leonard Padilla. Leonard, you`ve spent a lot of time -- you know, just like Marc said -- just like Marc said, they had plenty of time. Did they -- did they talk at all? You were inside of the house quite a bit. Did they talk at all about the case around you?
PADILLA: No, not about the case, but there was certainly a lot of conversation around Tracy, who was in the room with Casey quite a -- the full nine days, ten days that she was there.
But Mike, let me jump back to something, OK? The area that the cop was taken to, the area the detectives looked for, is 75 feet from where the body was found. There are two stacks of pavers. Everybody is fixating on the first stack, which is -- he obviously tripped on the pavers and said to whoever leaked the information out, I tripped on the pavers.
The pavers that you see from the road are 75 feet down from the pavers that were by the body. She drove her car down along that fence and pulled it to a stop because there was turpins (ph) found in the trunk of the car. You don`t find turpins in the trunk of a car that just drives up and down the freeway. You got to get down into the forest.
The cop -- as you said at the start of the show, it`s wrong what they`re doing to him because Kronk led him to the wrong pavers, 75 feet off. If anybody goes out to that site and listens to Kronk`s discussions to the people that he was talking to, he talks about what he thinks is a pool cover, which is actually an umbrella. He talks about the tree that`s lying down. You can really build a scene...
BROOKS: And you`ve told me before, Leonard, there`s a lot of trash in that area.
PADILLA: Absolutely. Absolutely. He knew where he was looking, but he keyed on the wrong pavers. And the reason he knew...
BROOKS: But did he know -- did he realize -- did Kronk have any idea about these pavers? Because the way it sounded, that Kronk was just concentrating on, Hey, I found -- there`s a plastic bag. But as you said - - you told me before, there are a lot of plastic bags down there.
PADILLA: Exactly. Let me give you a hypothetical. You`re an investigator. Let`s say, for instance -- like Burns said, if you think that an attorney and Client have 100 percent privacy in that jail that`s not true. Cops listen in to see if there`s any plans for escape and all that other stuff...
BROOKS: Sure.
PADILLA: ... being formulated.
BROOKS: Yes.
PADILLA: What would happen if you were the cop that was listening in and you heard Casey describing to the attorney where the body is? What would you do?
BROOKS: Well, you know, as a law enforcement officer...
PADILLA: You can`t go public with it, can you?
BROOKS: Well, you know, I would at least let the investigators, the lead investigators, know so they can decide where they want to take this case.
PADILLA: Right. Are they just going to come out and say, OK, case is dismissed? We screwed it up?
BROOKS: No, absolutely not. Absolutely no.
PADILLA: No. So what are they going do?
BROOKS: Doug Burns, is there -- is there any obligation for an officer of -- a deputy that overhears like that to report it?
BURNS: That`s a great hypothetical that Leonard gives. But I think that whatever privacy probably goes out the window as a practical manner to recover the body. I mean, that`s what I think.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASEY ANTHONY: Can someone let me -- come on!
Nobody`s letting me speak! I`m frustrated and I`m angry. I spent the day almost completely by myself with my head under the covers, just completely and utterly miserable. My entire life has been taken from me! Everything has been taken from me!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: I`m Mike Brooks, in for Nancy Grace. Straight out to Pat Brown, criminal profiler and author of "Killing for Sport." Pat, you know, this whole thing with Dominic Casey and Hoover possibly knowing that Casey (SIC) was already dead, which -- you know what? I don`t think -- what is your opinion? I want to hear what you think.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, you know, it`s interesting when you hear about all of these tips coming in, coming in to the police, coming in to tip lines, coming in to the private investigators. It`s overwhelming, both to the police and the private investigators and to us. So the difficulty is to try to separate everything out from all the junk and find out what was something valid.
And even with the private investigators, the question is, did they get a valid tip? Were they guessing? Did it come from inside? That we don`t know yet, but it certainly is a little suspicious that -- you know, we`re looking at it, thinking, yes, this looks like an inside tip, because the chances of him focusing that clearly on one spot should not have happened unless he got something solid.
BROOKS: Out to -- back out to Natisha Lance, producer for Nancy Grace. Quickly, Natisha, the psychic -- wasn`t it thought at first that, apparently -- that he was on the phone, that Dominic Casey was on the phone with a psychic?
LANCE: Actually, that wasn`t the first thing. The first thing that Dominic Casey said is that he was on the phone with his daughter. And then as time went on, he was interviewed by investigators, and that`s when the story came out that he was on the phone with the psychic, who he said had been working with the family and they had sent items to this psychic and she had led him to this area where the remains were eventually found.
BROOKS: Randy Kessler, have you ever had a case, a major case, where a psychic was used?
KESSLER: Absolutely not. But you know what? Anybody out there, you can go pay a psychic, whatever you want, and they will tell you just about whatever you want because that`s their job, is to give you answers. People that go to psychics have looked everywhere else for answers. So you know, we get desperate, we get hopeful, and I wouldn`t be shocked if Dominic Casey really did talk to a psychic. Maybe that, you know, was his last chance and he believed in it.
BROOKS: You know, as a former investigator, I`ve worked many cases, had a lot of calls from psychics. And I was just down at University of Virginia at the (INAUDIBLE) analysis group with some of my former FBI colleagues, and we were talking about psychics. And every one of them thinks that use of a psychic in a major case is just hocus-pocus BS, if you will. I don`t agree with them. You know, Pat, don`t you agree with me?
BROWN: Yes, I hate psychics involved in a police case. It drives me absolutely insane. A lot of them do guess. Some of them even go to the scene, and they, you know, look around, and then they call the police and say they know something. But they don`t know anything. Yes, they`re dangerous to the case.
BROOKS: Right. Now, one psychic recently with (ph) the dog and they said, Oh, the dog got excited. No, the dog got sick!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, they`ve had hundreds of people searching all over town. They`ve searched a dump, a transport station here in town every morning. The volunteers poured through every -- every single boat that comes in. They spread on the ground and look for one of the things, her pink shirts that she was last seen wearing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One significant piece of news? A Hello Kitty t-shirt was found in the transfer station as they were going through the trash. It looked very similar which is why we brought it back to mother. The mother said it wasn`t.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have now received -- this is brand-new. This is home video of the youngster opening presents last Christmas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seeing how little this girl is and how frail she looks, I mean, she was a small little girl for her age. We want the video out there. We want people to continue to be interested and we want to keep her fresh in mind so everybody -- so people continue to look.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE BROOKS, GUEST HOST: I`m Mike Brooks in for Nancy Grace. A beautiful 8-year-old girl disappears from Tracy, California.
I want to go straight out to Blake Taylor joining by phone. He`s news director for KMJ Newsradio 580.
Blake, what`s latest from Tracy?
BLAKE TAYLOR, NEWS DIRECTOR, KMJ 580 NEWS RADIO, COVERING STORY: Well, there`s some interesting developments, Mike. And thanks for having me back. Appreciate the time. The CHP sent up a helicopter again today. It`s circling over the north portion of Tracy, California, today and this afternoon.
Much of the morning, it was hovering over Old River, that`s, again, in the north part of town. They`ve been looking at this pretty extensively. This waterway for the past few days, in fact, since seven days ago, since the little girl disappeared.
They`ve turned up nothing. They won`t say exactly what is taking them there over and over again, but they`re saying this is a procedural matter anyway so they don`t want to overlook anything and we can all understand that.
Certainly, also, searches are planning to look in storm drains again at that trailer park home. The Orchard Trailer Park where little Sandra Cantu disappeared last Friday around this time, as a matter of fact. They`ve searched there before. They say, again, they don`t want to miss anything. They`re going right back to those storm drains again today and possibly tomorrow.
And speaking of tomorrow, hundreds of volunteers are expected to show up at the Tracy mobile home park where she disappeared. And at the old fire station there in Tracy. Hundreds of volunteers. Hopefully it`s not mass chaos there. Hopefully they can -- the police department can control what`s going on there and make sure that they are heading in the right direction if they can figure out that direction at all, Mike?
BROOKS: Blake, the area you`re talking about they`re searching is over a water area. Hour far, number one, away from the house is that? And, secondly, are there any boats in the water with possibly, you know, cadaver dogs? Because, as you know, if, God forbid that she has been -- that she`s dead, but if she did get to the water and her body start decomposing they could actually find traces of scent evidence.
TAYLOR: That`s correct. They can. Those cadaver dogs have been out from the -- from the onset of this investigation ever since Saturday morning. Those dogs have been running around in the Tracy area.
Now, you mentioned the waterways. There are a lot of canals here in central California. You`ve got to understand that this is a very agriculturally centered area of the country. Canals are very, very common to find in and around central California. They are -- those boats are in the water. They`ve been in the water for the last few days.
Again, they`re going by air and by water. The cadaver dogs are helping out as well. But again, they`ve turned up nothing thus far.
BROOKS: I want to go out to Kate Thompson, reporter for KRON, one of CNN`s greater affiliates, who`s actual in Tracy in front of the home.
Kate, thank you for joining us. Now what is the family -- what is going on with the family right now? Where are they? And also tell me a little bit more about the volunteers. Who`s asking the volunteers to come out to search for Sandra?
KATE THOMPSON, REPORTER, KRON, OUTSIDE MISSING GIRL`S HOME: Well, the volunteers have been part of this for the entire week. And are pouring -- I mean some of them are just showing up on their own accord and wanting to do whatever they can. They`re going down to the local fire department. People pasting, you know, flyers all over town in every coffee shop, on the front of restaurants.
A lot of them have them on the back of their cars. Tying ribbons to trees. Doing really whatever they can. The family has been inside of the trailer park here for much of the week. They`ve kind of been holed up in their house.
BROOKS: You know, it`s just so, so sad that this cute little girl disappears, seemingly, without a trace.
I want to go out to Dr. Marty Makary, physician and professor of public health at Johns Hopkins. Now we heard in the intro, Marty, that there was a pink Hello Kitty t-shirt that she was last seen wearing that they found at this landfill.
What kind of tests would they do on this to see whether or not it is her t- shirt? Because her mom says, no, it`s not hers.
DR. MARTY MAKARY, PHYSICIAN, PROF. OF PUBLIC HEALTH, JOHNS HOPKINS: They`re going to run all of the DNA testing they can do on every single cell or hair or nail ending that`s on this shirt. They`re going to do everything possible. You know we`re concerned about her dehydration, the psychological trauma is significant.
You put those two things together after six days there`s a lot of anxiety in a person who`s gone for that long if she`s still alive.
BROOKS: It is just so sad.
Joining us tonight is a very special guest, Angie Chavez. She`s Sandra`s aunt, joining us there in front the home in Tracy. Thank you for joining us. I know your family`s got to be going through just pure hell right now.
ANGIE CHAVEZ, AUNT OF MISSING 8-YR-OLD GIRL SANDRA CANTU: Yes, thank you for having us.
BROOKS: No, you know, we want to keep her face out there. It`s only been a week. And our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Tell us a little bit about Sandra.
CHAVEZ: She`s a fun-loving little girl. She loved going to Disneyland. Her favorite ride there was the Matterhorn. Her uncle and I took her -- took them down to Disneyland, and she just loved it. Screamed the whole way, but loved it.
She always liked to help in any way she could. We had her over the weekend of her birthday and she wanted to help me make breakfast the next morning.
BROOKS: Now is that her little her little monkey you have -- you`re holding right there, Angie?
CHAVEZ: Yes. Yes, it`s her monkey that she used to sleep with every night.
BROOKS: That`s just -- right now I want to go out to Jeff Gardere, psychologist and author of "Love Prescription." Jeff, why would anyone want to take an 8-year-old girl?
JEFF GARDERE, PSYCHOLOGIST, AUTHOR OF "LOVE PRESCRIPTION": Well, I`m sure they`re looking at a couple of theories here. They want to make sure that there isn`t someone in the neighborhood since we know that pedophiles are amongst us. So that`s one possibility. Someone taking a beautiful little girl like that or any little girl. You look at pedophiles.
But the other thing is maybe perhaps some sort of a ransom that we haven`t seen that as of yet but it`s got to be someone, even if it`s a family member, who is not emotionally stabile, not to say that they`re insane, but someone who is pathological, a sociopath because it`s causing pain not just to the family but especially to this little girl and hopefully she`s still alive.
BROOKS: I want to go back out to Angie Chavez, Sandra`s aunt. Miss Chavez, is there a fund set up for anyone who wants to make donations for the search?
CHAVEZ: Yes, through the Sund-Carrington Foundation and also through the local CrimeStoppers at the Tracy Police Department.
BROOKS: And what you see right here, this is the number. This is the address. You can send any donations to the Sund-Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation. And please, if you can do anything at all to help out the Cantu family in their time of need, please do that.
Miss Chavez, very quickly, if someone is holding her right now, what would you want -- what you would say to them right now?
CHAVEZ: Please let her go. Even if you just let her go into a mall or to a church, just let her go. No questions asked. Just let her go and let her come home to us, please.
BROOKS: Tonight.
CHAVEZ: We miss her.
BROOKS: I can`t imagine how much you must miss her. Thank you, Miss Chavez.
And also tonight the fight against cavernous angiomas. Abnormal blood vessels in the blood or spine. Three million people in this country are affected by the disease. It causes seizures, strokes. Symptoms? Hemorrhaging and headaches. On April 5th the Angioma Alliance is launching their first annual run and walk to raise awareness and find a cure. For more information go to the AngiomaAlliance.org.
And tonight, a happy birthday to Kim Grier in Wisconsin. Kim, turning 40 years young. Never misses a show. Happy birthday, Kim!
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As far as people of interest, nobody`s been ruled out. And we are talking to everybody. Nobody`s been ruled out. It`s a pretty broad investigation right now.
Dad had been dropped off by a family member in the morning at the police department. It was nothing that we asked him do. He was just coming in to find out more information about his daughter.
As I started to explore that, I found out he`s done this quite frequently. In fact he was there again this afternoon. Just - he`s talking to detectives trying to find out information and as any good parent would.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did the police tell you in the lobby this morning?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They questioned me about a bunch of things. Just like you guys are doing here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did they ask you if you had taken her to Mexico?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And your answer?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: I`m Mike Brooks in for Nancy Grace. I want to go straight back out to Kate Thompson, reporter for KRON, who`s there in front of the home in Tracy, California.
Kate, what is the story with -- we just saw the father. What is his story? Does he have an alibi?
THOMPSON: Well, the father said that he had nothing to do with this. He said through a spokesperson yesterday that he took a lie detector test and he passed that test and he stood his ground and said that, you know, he was down in Mexico. He had nothing to do with it when she was taken on Friday.
BROOKS: But back out to Pat Brown, criminal profiler. Do they usually tell you if you passed a polygraph or not?
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER, AUTHOR OF "KILLING FOR SPORT": No, not necessarily. Sometimes they use it as an investigative tool. So we, from the outside can never believe a statement that is made that one has passed or one has not passed unless it`s coming directly from the police themselves.
So I would say they have -- they`re keeping two lines open, as far as we know, looking at the father as a possible suspect in taking his daughter away. And we won`t know if that`s true or not until there is some proof and looking at a sex offender, which I want to point out is not necessarily a pedophile.
A lot of sex offenders.
BROOKS: Right.
BROWN: . will take children who aren`t pedophiles simply because they`re easy. Because they`re small, portable little things and they`re easy to grab and so they`re going to be looking at all the possible sex offenders in that neighborhood as well.
BROOKS: OK, Kate Thompson, how many sex offenders in this area? And do you know if law enforcement has gone out and talked to them at all?
THOMPSON: Law enforcement said in the first couple of days that that was one of their priorities. That they had gone out. They had checked into the high-level sex offenders in the area and that there were no issues there. There`s quite a number that are surround this trailer park. I think it`s about over 80. But the police said that they checked into all of those and that everything came back OK.
BROOKS: Now what do you know about the father taken a polygraph? Did he in fact take it? Or is he just saying he did?
THOMPSON: The police won`t confirm who they have or have not given polygraph to. They just say they`ve been given them to some people but they won`t confirm nor deny it, either way. The father said that he took one and he passed. But the police would not confirm that. So they`re being very tight-lipped about who they have given polygraph tests to.
BROOKS: Back out to Jeff Gardere, psychologist and author of "Love Prescription." Jeff, you know, I have used polygraphs in my -- when I was an investigator, as a great investigative tool. What do you think of polygraphs?
GARDERE: Well, as we know in many court systems, they`re not admissible. But here`s the thing, someone who tells you that they want to take a polygraph, usually that`s someone who you may not suspect as much as the person who runs away from it or the person who says, you know what, I`m not going to take your polygraph, law enforcement. I`ll go out and get an attorney and get my own private polygraph.
When that happens, then you say, hmm, now I really suspect something.
BROOKS: Back out Kate Thompson, reporter for KRON. Kate, now we`ve heard about two, you know, I don`t like the term persons of interest, but two people that law enforcement has spoken to. One guy, 59-year-old guy, Frank Wohler who`s apparently an eighth-degree black belt. Karate instructor. Has a little Dojo there in Tracy.
And it just makes me sick. Apparently when she was 6 years old they were swimming in the community pool and he kissed her on the lips. And then there`s this other guy, Christian Clair who`s 49 years old who apparently was arrested for obstruction of justice.
What can you tell us about these two characters?
THOMPSON: Well, not that much to be completely honest with you. The police will not comment on the people of interest. They just say they have two people of interest. But everybody is a person of interest. They`re not ruling anyone out in this case. So they haven`t told us too much about them other than that there was that incident a couple of years ago, but they said that they`re leaving that be.
That they`re going to do their investigation and then go back and check that out. That that is not a top priority, that they don`t have the manpower to go back and check that incident out at this point. So they`re moving forward. They`re not looking at the past in what happened with him before this.
BROOKS: But you know, I think it`s significant because didn`t they also perform a search warrant on both of these guy`s houses?
THOMPSON: They put a bunch of search warrants out. They haven`t told us what they`re looking for. I can tell you right now that they just brought in a flat-bed truck and more police cars came into the trailer park just moments ago. So they keep going back and researching and doing more warrants.
But they`re not telling us what they`re looking for. And a lot of the time, just like here now, they`re going back to the same places that they`ve been to many times before.
BROOKS: Back out to Randy Kessler. Randy, you know, if there`s -- you just can`t get a search warrant just by saying, hey, you know, I think that this guy may be involved.
RANDY KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No. You need to have reasonable cause. And you know, the bottom line, this shocks me that he isn`t the main suspect. Someone kisses a little 6-year-old girl on the lips and there`s detailed, investigative report that we haven`t been able to see.
They didn`t just say oh this was somebody in the neighborhood who the kid knew. The parents actually reported this guy and there was a full investigation. So this guy two years ago kissed this kid on the lips.
BROOKS: Yes.
KESSLER: We don`t have any other leads. We`re looking for leads. We`ve got thousands of volunteers handing out flyers. Here`s somebody who had connection with this child.
BROOKS: Yes.
KESSLER: You know, why not spend every ounce of energy looking at him. They`ll get a search warrant.
BROOKS: That`s it. You know, I mean, come on. This guy is 59 years old. Two years ago 57. This guy for kissing her, you know, that`s contact. It could be an assault. He should have gotten locked up.
Marc Klaas, weigh in.
MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: A job where he has constant contact with little children and apparently has for years in his Dojo so if I were a parent who would ever had a child under his supervision, I`d be asking myself some pretty tough questions right now. This guy does look bad.
Mike, there`s something I`d like to address, though, and I think it`s a critical mistake that`s been made in this investigation. I`m only saying this because I don`t want to see other law enforcement agencies make the same mistake.
She disappeared at 4:00. She was reported to law enforcement at 8:00. About 8:15 they had volunteers, law enforcement volunteers, from all over the community coming in to help including the FBI helicopter.
However they failed to notify the media until 11 hours after she disappeared. And when they did that, it was a totally half-hearted attempt to notify the media using bad data, therefore, the vast majority of people in the bay area were unaware that this little girl had gone missing until maybe 24 to 48 hours afterwards.
BROOKS: Marc, real quickly, did this -- her disappearance, meet the criteria for an AMBER Alert?
KLAAS: There`s -- no, but there`s a huge difference between an AMBER Alert and waiting 11 hours and then doing a half-hearted attempt to notify the media.
BROOKS: Well, you know, we`re going to be on top of this. We`re going to stay in touch because, again, this little girl`s missing.
I want to thank Angela Chavez, her aunt, for being with us. But tonight, "CNN HEROES."
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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Heroes.
SUEZETTE STEINHARDT, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: When we have an economy like this, the people at the very bottom are really going to be hit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Find a place to live with our income that was impossible. We pulled these seats out and we had a twin-size mattress.
STEINHARDT: If the family found themselves homeless they start at the shelters. From the shelters they funnel them into the various transitional programs.
Some have to release you after two years. If they`re incomes aren`t just high enough to afford any housing, we have to do something so they don`t fall through the cracks and go back into homelessness.
My name is Suezette Steinhardt. And I`m helping families out of homelessness one at a time. The majority of our clients are single moms. We will take them for up to three years in a rental assistance program. I make them aware of anything that pertains to education, to health, job training.
If they go back to school, we pick the kids up from their day care. Our basement is for evening child care. It`s very grassroots. As an organization we`re small and we`re working out of my basement.
If you had told me two years ago that I would be doing what I am today, I would say there`s no way I can do it. Don`t underestimate what you have to give.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROOKS: And now a look back at the stories making the rest of the headlines this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE ANTHONY, CASEY ANTHONY`S FATHER: Just ask someone from corrections to give you a paper and pen or whatever it`s going to take, or pencil, just to write it and put attention to him and you say I need for this to be delivered to him now.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: The defense is at it again in tot mom`s case. First they announced they want to put her best friend on the stand, Amy Huizenga. And now about friend, Kiomarie Cruz.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The friend claims she considered adopting Anthony`s daughter, Caylee, at one point.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Miss Cruz told investigators back in July of this little wooded area along Suburban Drive where some of the kids from middle school used to hang out and bury their dead pets there close to where little Caylee`s remains were found.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are up to 477 leads. That`s an increase of over 100 since just yesterday. Every lead is being looked into and investigated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Late breaking developments now in California. The desperate search for a missing girl continues. Sandra Cantu is last been seen last week. We have learned investigators executed search warrants and have re-interviewed two people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you have anything to do with your wife`s disappearance?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did not.
GRACE: Didn`t he have long dreads? And now he is all clean cut?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very, very concerning and bizarre that he would suddenly go missing for two weeks after she goes missing.
AASHA DAVIS, HOLLYWOOD ACTRESS, SISTER OF MISSING WOMAN`S LESLEY HERRING: The wellness searched of the apartment and they`ve also, you know, searched the homeless shelters and hospitals. And you know, we weren`t sure if something happened where Lesley didn`t know where she was or who she was. You know, we wanted to kind of follow those avenues as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: Tonight, let`s stop to remember Army Staff Sergeant Timothy Walker, 38 from Franklin, Tennessee. On a second tour of duty in Iraq. Walker also served in Bosnia and Kuwait. He was highly decorated, awarded six army commendation medals, two Bronze Stars, six Army Achievement medals.
Dedicated to family and friends, Walker loved making people laugh. Leaves behind mom, Barbara, one sister, widow, Dawn, and two children.
Timothy Walker, American hero.
Thank you to all our guests and to you at home for being with us. See you tomorrow night 8:00 p.m. sharp. Until then, stay safe.
END
