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Nancy Grace
Killer Spray Painted Curse Word`s on Murdered Child`s Bed
Aired June 10, 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: Breaking news tonight in the case of a beautiful young mother and her two little sons found dead in their white-finished two-story home, strangled each in their own bedroom. In a heart-breaking gesture, 31-year-old Sheri and her two little boys, Garett and Gavin, ages 9 and 11, laid to rest, the three of them side by side. Manner of death, ligature strangulation. A glove discarded, flung along I-255 five minutes from the Coleman home, allegedly spattered with red spray paint, a possible direct link to a chilling message scrawled across the walls of the murder scene.
Shocking details about the scene emerge. Mother of two, Sheri Coleman, found left naked, face down in her own bed. In the home, airline boarding passes, a Home Depot receipt for red spray paint and latex gloves. Also, a hand-made noose linked to the family home. We also learn husband- slash-daddy former Marine and preacher`s son, who worked for a worldwide televangelist, Joyce Meyer Ministries, keeps a secret P.O. box, apparently unknown to wife and family.
Bombshell tonight. After trying to hide from cameras by lying down in the back of a jail transport vehicle, daddy Chris Coleman in court today. Not only were the home`s walls spray painted with ominous messages, the little boy, 9-year-old Gavin`s, bed was spray painted with curse words, with the 9-year-old lying there in the bed! Police say a so called threatening e-mail sent to the family months before the murders came from Daddy`s own laptop. Ruh-roh! Time of death narrowed again to between 11:00 PM and 3:00 AM. But wasn`t Daddy still home before allegedly leaving for an early morning workout?
As the specter of a mistress rears its ugly head, we learn Coleman would lose his prestigious job with Joyce Meyer Ministries if he divorced. And the night before his wife and two little boys were murdered, he promised his mistress he would demand a divorce the very next day. Is motive served up on a silver platter?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking news in the case of Chris Coleman, who`s accused of murdering his wife, Sheri, and two children, 11-year-old Garret and 9-year-old Gavin. Shocking testimony today in court, as authorities reveal spray paint was not only left on the first floor of the house but in the children`s own beds. Cyber-investigators determined a threatening e- mail sent to the Coleman family actually came from Chris Coleman`s own laptop.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He planned this quite a bit. He prepared for it. He had evidence in place to make it look like a stranger was going to do it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If this evidence proves true, this was a remarkably cold, remarkably calculated killing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say Coleman, who worked as a security manager with Joyce Meyer Ministries, would have lost his job if he got divorced. Coleman has been ordered to stand trial, and has pled not guilty to all charges.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the time of Mr. Coleman`s arrest, Sheri Coleman`s family had a message for him. It was simple: Let justice be done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live to Ohio. Mommy meets a convicted sex offender still in lockdown. The sex offender escapes from a halfway house and takes off with Mommy on a so-called camping trip to the remote and rugged terrain, central Ohio. What did the happy couple take with them? Food, water, provisions and Mommy`s 4-year-old baby girl, with a sex predator! Little Haylee Donathan tonight, according to police, in extreme danger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New details emerge in the case of 4-year-old Haylee Donathan, who was last seen with her mother and her mother`s sex offender boyfriend. According to police, the mother`s boyfriend, Robbi Potter, escaped from a halfway house, and he allegedly had help doing it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody (INAUDIBLE) worried to death about them, don`t know if they`re dead or alive and scared that something`s happened to them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Richmond County sheriff says residents of the halfway house have been arrested and will be charged with aiding and abetting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Crestline police have been investigating the disappearance. Since Haylee is with her mother, they cannot issue an Amber Alert, but Potter could be arrested for parole violations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Meanwhile, did the mother`s own brother unknowingly put 4-year-old Haylee`s life in danger? Kyle Watson, Haylee`s uncle, is a registered sex offender housed at the same halfway house as Potter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pretty much all we need is a phone call from the mother where we can verify that she and her daughter are OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m scared!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight. After trying to hide from cameras by lying down in the back of a jail transport vehicle, daddy Chris Coleman in court today. Not only were the home`s walls spray painted with ominous, ominous messages, the little boy, 9-year-old Gavin`s bed, was spray painted with curse words, with the 9-year-old lying there in the bed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ve felt for several days that we knew who was responsible for this crime, and we`re just glad that it came to an end and that we were able to place this suspect under custody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The police chief testified today that a threatening e-mail sent to Coleman months before the murders came from Chris Coleman`s own laptop. Investigators were able to track the source of the e-mail to the Joyce Meyer Ministries laptop and air card used by Coleman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Think about this manner of death, ligature strangulation. Who does that? Somebody who wants low noise, low mess, no blood, gunshot residue or anything like that. Imagine how cold and calculated a father would have to be to do that to his kids.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chief Joe Edwards (ph) also stated that an expletive in red spray paint was left on the bedsheets of one of the children`s own beds. Handwriting experts told cops they believe the messages were written by Chris Coleman. A forensic pathologist has put the time of death for the family between 11:00 PM and 3:00 AM, way before Chris Coleman ever left for the gym.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Coleman told many authorities that when he left the home between 5:00 and 5:30, his wife and children were alive. Clearly, he was not telling the truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Out to our chief editorial producer, Ellie Jostad. Ellie, what`s the latest?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, today Chris Coleman had a preliminary hearing in court. The prosecution presented a raft of evidence that they say will prove Chris Coleman killed his wife and his two sons -- most importantly, those messages you talked about, spray painted messages, we now know, on the 9-year-old Gavin Coleman`s bed. In addition, prosecutors say that Dr. Michael Baden, renowned forensic scientist, will testify that the victims were all killed between 11:00 PM and 3:00 AM, well before Chris Coleman left for the gym that morning.
GRACE: To Dr. Michael Arnall, board-certified forensic pathologist joining us from Denver. Everyone, we are taking your calls live. Bombshells in the courtroom today. We`re showing you video of daddy-slash- husband former Marine Chris Coleman in court. He tried to hide from the cameras today by lying down in the jail transport vehicle, kind of like he was doing the low-down limbo. Didn`t work. We`ve got shots of him headed to court today, where the case has been unfolding in front of a courtroom packed with spectators.
To you, Dr. Arnall. How can you narrow down the time of death between 11:00 PM and 3:00 AM?
DR. MICHAEL ARNALL, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Dr. Baden is going to use rigor mortis or the stiffening of the body, livor mortis, or the settling of blood due to gravity, the temperature of the body, and if they know what the family ate for dinner, possibly the gastric emptying time.
GRACE: Dr. Arnall, rigor mortis, the stiffening of the body`s limbs, how long does it take typically for that to set in?
ARNALL: It starts immediately, but you probably wouldn`t notice it for a few hours. It`s said to develop at room temperature in maybe 8 to 12 hours so. That time period by Dr. Baden suggests there may have been some stiffening of the small muscles of perhaps the jaw and the fingers.
GRACE: Doctor, why does the body stiffen upon the time of death?
ARNALL: Oxygen is required to allow the muscles relax. And as individuals don`t have oxygen because they aren`t breathing, the muscles can`t relax after they -- after they (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: Dr. Arnall, after rigor mortis sets in, is there a time where the body`s limbs loosen up?
ARNALL: That wouldn`t be for some 36 hours.
GRACE: So if the body is still stiff, you can measure sometimes the degree of the stiffness and determine how long rigor has set in?
ARNALL: Generally speaking, yes.
GRACE: Got it. Back to Ellie Jostad. Ellie, I want to go back -- from the very beginning, we learned from our sources that ominous messages spray painted all over the family`s home on the interior walls. Then we found out there were more, that they were spray painted on the steps going up and down, that they were in the kitchen...
JOSTAD: Right.
GRACE: ... in the mother`s bedroom. Were they spray painted on the baby`s bed, the 9-year-old boy`s bed, with the boy lying in the bed?
JOSTAD: Yes. There was one witness today in court. It was the police chief of Columbia, Illinois. And he said that there was some type of obscenity written on little Gavin`s bed.
GRACE: I want to go to Marc Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation. With child lying in the bed, Marc Klaas, the killer spray paints curse words on the bedsheets.
MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: There`s a special place in hell for Chris Coleman and people like Chris Coleman. The amount of hate and rage one must feel towards one`s family to do what he did is almost unprecedented in our society. And I say almost because there was a similar case many years ago, a character named Jeffrey McDonald. He was a military surgeon who pulled some of the same stunts. He, too, was ultimately brought to justice.
GRACE: Right now, Chris Coleman charged. He is awaiting trial, so all of the charges are still allegations at this point.
Special guest with me, Enrico Mirabelli. He is Sheri Coleman`s cousin. He is the family spokesperson. Sir, did you...
ENRICO MIRABELLI, VICTIM`S COUSIN: Hey, Nancy.
GRACE: ... know when you first came on our show that the child`s bed had been spray painted, as well, or did you just learn that, as well?
MIRABELLI: I did not know when I came on the show, Nancy, but I learned it a couple of weeks ago when I went into the crime scene.
GRACE: Mr. Mirabelli, I don`t think, as shocking as this case is, that anything is more disturbing than the killer spray painting right over the little boy`s sheets while he`s laying there dead.
MIRABELLI: Nancy, I couldn`t agree with you more. It`s very disturbing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chris Coleman says he went to the gym at 5:30 AM to work out. He became nervous around 7:00 o`clock when he couldn`t reach his 31-year-old wife, Sheri, and two sons, Garret 11 and Gavin 9. Coleman called police for a welfare check and found the family dead in their own house, all the victims of strangulation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our investigation to me reveals who`s responsible for these deaths.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police zoned in on him from the beginning with his alibi of going to the gym.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you look at the timeline here, he`s calling back to the house not even an hour later, and then he`s calling the cops within the hour to check on the family?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s saying that he called back to make sure the kids were getting up and getting ready for school. Had he done this before? Had he ever called back to check on his family when they didn`t answer the phone?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A forensic pathologist has put the time of death for the family between 11:00 PM and 3:00 AM, way before Chris Coleman ever left for the gym.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Accused killer Chris Coleman reported his family was getting death threats last November. Police now say they can trace that first threat to his work laptop, as well as his wireless Internet service. In today`s preliminary hearing, the police chief of Columbia, Illinois, also testified the threats repeatedly misspelled "opportunity" and that Coleman commonly misspelled this word in other e-mails and letters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheri Coleman`s brother said it made him sick to his stomach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn`t want to disrespect the judge by vomiting in court today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coleman`s family would not talk. About 15 Coleman supporters showed up, ranging from family members to members of his dad`s church. Coleman also reportedly had a cut on his arm. When the chaplain asked about that the morning of the murders, Coleman`s response, I don`t know. The chaplain said Coleman then began punching the gurney. Then when Coleman`s dad later asked about the cut, Coleman reportedly said, I got it punching the gurney. Coleman`s attorney did not have much to say afterwards.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How`re you going to overcome this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s not appropriate for me to discuss the evidence or trial strategy at this time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheri Coleman`s brother, Mario Weiss (ph), wore this ribbon in memory of his nephew.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My nephew, Garret, was a Red Sox fan, thanks to me. And that`s why -- that`s why I wore it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Out to Marlaina Schiavo, our producer on the story. The state called one witness today in court. Who was it?
MARLAINA SCHIAVO, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: It was the chief of police, Joe Edwards, and he testified to all types of evidence today. One of them that was very important today, Nancy, was about the surveillance video that was collected outside the home. It didn`t show anybody going in or coming out of the home. And this was a camera that was facing the house that morning when Chris left the home.
GRACE: Marlaina, why was the camera facing the house? Because I understand that he had surveillance video in his own home but that it had been disarmed, and in fact, police found the portion that had been ripped off the camera thrown along I-255, near where they found that glove.
SCHIAVO: That`s right. A couple of interesting things. The surveillance camera that was facing his home was his neighbors` because that man happened to be an investigator on this case. So he had just a videocamera outside of his home that happened to be facing the home also. He -- Chris Coleman claimed the videocameras inside his home did not work. In fact, they did work, and they did find a piece of -- it was actually his DVR player that -- or recorder, the face plate was on that route to the gym.
GRACE: When you say the neighbor was on the case and had been casing the home, is it because Chris Coleman had told police he was getting threatening letters?
SCHIAVO: Yes, that was the reason.
GRACE: Man! OK, let`s unleash the lawyers, Susan Moss, family law attorney, child advocate out of New York, Kirby Clements, veteran the trial lawyer out of Atlanta, and defense attorney in New York Doug Burns.
We`re taking your calls live. To Starla in Kentucky. Hi, Starla.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello. Thank you for taking my call.
GRACE: Thank you for calling in, dear. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about his mistress? Has anybody spoken to her? And is she involved in any way? How can she be tried?
GRACE: Well, they have established, Starla in Kentucky -- they have spoken to her -- that she was not in the jurisdiction at the time of the murders.
However -- to you, Susan Moss -- she has served up motive on a silver platter because now we learn in court just hours ago that he promised her the night before the murders that the next day, he would demand a divorce from his wife. Well, that never happened.
SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: This is key to the motive, and we want to hear about this hostess with allegedly the mostest. Now, we`re hearing that Joyce Meyer has a rule, no divorce for anyone who works for her. I`m sure she also has a rule no triple murderers, as well. The fact that he had this mistress and he told her that he was going ask her to marry him, why, that`s just motive 101.
GRACE: And Kirby Clements, they had actually planned out their wedding. Do you see a problem with that, Kirby? I mean, I know you`re a defense attorney.
KIRBY CLEMENTS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I have to tell you, Nancy, this case is overwhelming for the defense. In addition to the forensic evidence, you`ve got motive. As you said, it`s on a silver platter for the prosecution, and so the defense is really going to be very hard pressed in this case to come up with anything.
GRACE: Doug Burns, how can the defense fight the mode (ph) of evidence?
DOUG BURNS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: This is a very, very hard case to try. I think what`s going to happen is, A, there may never be a trial, but B, if there is, Nancy, they`re going to have to default to some kind of insanity defense, which isn`t going to work anyway. This case is totally overwhelming.
GRACE: To Linda in Canada. Hi, dear. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy, I was just wondering, like -- and God bless you and your beautiful twins.
GRACE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just love your show. Anyways, I was just wondering if they can get DNA from the gloves that they found, like, inside the gloves? Can they not find DNA?
GRACE: Good question. To Bill Majeski, former detective with the NYPD, Majeski Associates no. Bill, what about it? Inside that glove, we understand it was a latex glove?
BILL MAJESKI, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: Yes, they probably can. They`re probably collecting all types of forensic evidence as we speak, just as they are waiting for the toxicology reports to come back. But this case is so overwhelming, it`s almost unbelievable that he`s taking a non-guilty defense. It seems that it is so overwhelming that he should just pack it in, admit it and go to jail for the rest of his life, where he belongs.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chris Coleman had an affair with a woman who went to high school with Sheri and was Sheri`s friend. He carried on that affair through the time up to the murders.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We know that he did indeed call Tara the day before the murders.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sources were telling us that the girlfriend told cops that Chris Coleman told her he was getting divorced, he was in the midst of a divorce.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say Coleman, who worked as a security manager with Joyce Meyer Ministries, would have lost his job if he got divorced.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight back out to Ellie Jostad, on the story. Everyone, we are taking your calls live, and we`re about to be joined by Sheri`s godfather, Joe Niglio (ph).
Ellie, I want to talk very quickly about forensic evidence police said in court today under oath that have uncovered. Apparently, police are suggesting that he tried to set up threats against his family as motive for murder, ultimately murder. But one of those threats came from his laptop.
JOSTAD: Right, Nancy. There was an e-mail threat that Coleman says he received on November 18th. Police say they were able to trace that e- mail back to Coleman`s work laptop and the air card that he used on that computer.
GRACE: To Caryn Stark, psychologist, joining us from New York. Possibly the most disturbing evidence so far to me is that a father would allegedly spray paint his own child`s bed with the dead child lying there.
CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: Nancy, let`s not call him a father, let`s call him a sociopath. This is not a father. And spray painting his child is the same -- it`s the same as spray painting his child, spray painting the bed. It`s like leaving his wife naked. This is an angry, angry, aggressive man. Most killers just leave.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The police chief testified today that a threatening e-mail sent to Coleman months before the murders came from Chris Coleman`s own laptop.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chris Coleman told friends and some neighbors that he had been receiving threats in the mail.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One in January read, "Deny your God publicly or else. No more opportunities. Time is running out for your and your family." A second in late April read, "It is the last warning, I will be watching, your worst nightmare is about to happen."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chief Joe Edwards also stated that an expletive in red spray paint was left on the bed sheets of one of the children`s beds. Hand writing experts told cops they believe the messages were written by Chris Coleman.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Christopher Coleman had two scratches and some other injury on his right forearm.
DR. JOSHUA PERPER, MEDICAL EXAMINER, AUTHOR OF "WHEN TO CALL THE DOCTOR": The person who is strangled might scratch the assailant. So they would look for scratches for sure, besides checking the fingernails of the victim.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Illinois state police swabbed them in an effort to recover DNA.
ENRICO J. MIRABELLI, COUSIN OF MURDER VICTIM SHERI COLEMAN, FAMILY SPOKESPERSON: She had never complained about any infidelity, she had not complained about any verbal or physical abuse to any of the family members.
Surprise is one emotion, betrayal is about emotion because my aunts and my cousin, they know this young lady. She went to high school with Sheri. So it`s not some random girl he met off the Internet. This was a friend of the family, a friend of their daughters, their sister`s.
So they felt betrayed and they`re upset but they were stunned to read Nick`s story. Nick called me, gave me the heads-up, the story was coming up, I called my aunt. She was very, very surprised because Sheri had never complained to her family members about this. I don`t even know if Sheri knew.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Back to Ellie Jostad. I want to clarify. My understanding is that after the murders, he -- the murders of his wife and two little boys, he never asked what happened to them. How did they die?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: Right, that`s right. Today, Chief Edwards testified in court that when Chris Coleman was notified that his wife and family were all dead, he never asked how they were killed, he never saw the bodies.
GRACE: I`m going to go back to Sheri Coleman`s cousin, joining us tonight, Enrico Maribelli. Were you in court today?
MIRABELLI: I was in court for the entire proceeding.
GRACE: Enrico, would he even meet your gaze?
MIRABELLI: Pardon me?
GRACE: Would he meet your eyes?
MIRABELLI: No, he kept averting, he kept looking forward. And I must tell you, Nancy, there are a couple of items of testimony that were so outrageous that you thought you`d get some emotion from him but he was completely indifferent as he wasn`t really there.
And the first time they announced, at least to the public, I had already known that there was spray painting on the bed, you would think if you had not put the spray paint there, if you had not murdered your own child, and you heard someone did this to your child, you would be enraged, as would any parent. Nothing.
GRACE: Doug Burns, he`s right. He is absolutely right, Doug Burns. What about that?
DOUG BURNS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, yes, he`s right. But I think what you have to do is develop an insanity defense because what parent in their right mind would do this type of behavior. That`s the only defense I would use and I would have him psychiatrically evaluated immediately to see what disease and defect he was operating under to do that, particularly all the points you made. Spray painting, messages. The guy was out of his mind.
GRACE: To Kirby Clements, what about the fact that he had the wherewithal to make up lies and try to cover up his tracks including having the mistress down in Florida buy him a cell phone so his wife or his employer wouldn`t see their phone contacts to each other. They were e- mailing photos of their respective body parts.
Put Clemens up on the screen for a moment. Yes, there you go, Kirby.
KIRBY CLEMENTS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You didn`t look at me.
GRACE: OK. You`re the defense in this case.
CLEMENTS: Yes.
GRACE: Your client e-mailing photos of his genitals to his girlfriend down in Florida, and she`s reciprocating and you`re actually going to try an insanity defense?
CLEMENTS: Well, you know what? Actually, I`m going to start twofold. Insanity is definitely on the table. But I think we have to go back and challenge every other aspect of the evidence. Consider this. There was no spray paint on his hands. If he spray painted that room, where is that evidence?
GRACE: On the gloves.
CLEMENTS: I`m not going.
GRACE: On the gloves.
CLEMENTS: Well, you know what? He should have had some on himself as well. But let`s presume for a fact that he did all of this, let`s just presume that for right now. The fact remains that if he is crazy, if he did do those things, an insanity defense has to be evaluated and the fact that he had some nefarious affairs and took steps to keep it covered up, that`s what you`re supposed to do when you`re cheating on your wife.
GRACE: Put Clements up.
CLEMENTS: I don`t cheat on my wife. But that`s what you`re supposed to do.
GRACE: What did you just say? Did you say that`s what you`re supposed to do when you cheat on your wife? That`s your defense?
CLEMENTS: No. That`s not the best defense because he`s not charged with cheating on your wife.
GRACE: You know what?
CLEMENTS: He`s charged with murder.
GRACE: I hope, I pray that that`s the defense. That`s what you`re supposed to do when you`re cheating. Yes, I heard it, you don`t need to keep saying it.
Susan Moss?
SUSAN MOSS, CHILD ADVOCATE, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: There will be no insanity. He`s been setting this up for months. He`s been writing these letters, these threats allegedly to himself for months. And we know that because in one of the threats he spelled the word opportunity wrong. He says -- spelled the word opportunity wrong in his own letters. Apparently he doesn`t believe in spell check.
GRACE: A special guest is joining me right now, Sheri Coleman`s godfather, Joe Miglio.
Sir, thank you for being with us.
JOE MIGLIO, GODFATHER OF SHERI COLEMAN: Thank you for having me, Nancy.
GRACE: First of all, I want to apologize because I know for family members to be hearing all of us dissecting the evidence and talking about its probative value may seem callous. I have been there as a crime victim myself. But we want justice. All of us. So please do not think that we are hardened to how you and your family feel.
I understand that you are spearheading, as a director for a memorial for Sheri. Can you tell me about it?
MIGLIO: Yes, we set up a memorial fund for Sheri and the kids and we want to -- you know, Nancy, we don`t want to dwell on the negative. We want to go positive forward. So we want to take donations, anything that people can give to us. We`re going to donate and we`re going to make a memorial fund in Columbia, Illinois.
And we feel that in memory of her, she was such a wonderful, wonderful mother and these two children that were killed tragically, we just need to move forward and go do something positive.
GRACE: I want to talk just a moment about her and the children.
MIGLIO: Mm-hmm.
GRACE: She was a dedicated mother.
MIGLIO: Yes.
GRACE: Stay-at-home mom. And she would take time out of her schedule as a mom to do missionary work. I believe planning trips as far away as India?
MIGLIO: That`s correct.
GRACE: To help other people dead dedicated to her religion and her family. And the children, what about them?
MIGLIO: They were -- she just did everything for those kids. Her life revolved around those kids. This is devastating for our family. We`re going to miss her immensely and those children immensely.
I can`t tell you the rollercoaster of emotions that we`ve been through for the past month, two months. But it`s very difficult, there`s anger, there`s frustration and today was even a very, very difficult time for us.
GRACE: I just can`t imagine, Mr. Miglio, dedicating your life. You have the children, they`re you whole world, you spend every waking moment thinking about them, planning for them, working for them, even dreaming about them.
Even when I dream, I dream I hear the children cry or call out. And then allegedly the father takes the boy`s life?
MIGLIO: These lives were snuffed out in minutes or whatever it is, we can`t even fathom it. I can`t fathom it.
GRACE: We will be putting the Web site for donations to Sheri`s memorial on our Web site. Do you have a Web site, Joe?
MIGLIO: At the moment we don`t, but it will become public. My cousin Enrico will let everybody know about that. But as of right now, it`s in the process of being taken care of.
GRACE: Well, God bless you.
MIGLIO: Thank you very much.
GRACE: Everyone to tonight`s "Case Alert." A Levi`s call alert issued for a 4-year-old girl allegedly abducted by daddy, Alejandro Gusman. He tells the mom he was taking her to Houston and threatened to kill the child.
Believed to be driving a gray `93 Honda Accord, Texas tag, N, Nancy, CK-136. If you have info, call 404-577-TIPS.
And tonight our prayers for the family of a great man who served his country. William Charles Tomes. Losing his battle with lung cancer at age 42. Suffolk, Virginia. An officer with the Chesapeake Police Department, also a Navy vet. Leaves behind parents Carol and Albert, brothers Neil and Albert Jr. Widow Diana, daughter Vanessa.
William Charles Tomes. Good night, friend.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Breaking developments in the case of 4-year-old Haylee Donothan who was last seen with her mother and mom`s sex offender boyfriend Robby Potter.
GRACE: Mommy meets a convicted sex offender in jail, the sex offender released. Within hours, mommy takes off on a so-called camping trip to the remote and rugged terrain in central Ohio. What do they take? Food, water, provisions and mommy`s 3-year-old baby girl.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police are on the hunt for Potter who they claimed escaped from the Volunteers of America halfway house where he was supposed to be kept. Also today, is another sex offender linked? Haylee`s uncle, Kyle Watson, is a convicted rapist and registered sex offender who`s housed at the same halfway house as Potter. Police believe Potter made initial contact with Candace Watson at the halfway house.
MARY WATSON, GRANDMOTHER OF MISSING GIRL HAYLEE: She said, mom, I`ll be -- I just dropped him off and I`ll be there and I`ll talk to you when I got there and I hung up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And that was the last time Mary Watson spoke to her daughter Candace. She and her 4-year-old can granddaughter, Haylee Donathan, were supposed to be on a camping friendship with this man, Robby Potter. A tier-three sex offender recently released from prison and living in a halfway house.
The there were supposed to be back in Crestline more than a week ago. But they have yet to return or even call.
WATSON: My son called Saturday night. Told us what this guy was about. And Sunday when she had called the first time, they told her, she said she wanted to talk to me and hung up. When I talked to her, that`s when she sounded like she was real scared and she was real short and hung up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And that was the last time.
WATSON: And that`s the last time I heard from her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining me right now from the police department, Crestline, Ohio, is Haylee`s grandmother, Mary Watson.
Miss Watson, thank you so much for being with us.
WATSON: You`re welcome.
GRACE: Miss Watson, I know that you told us you heard from your daughter, I believe it was last Sunday. What did she say?
WATSON: The last thing she said to me that she dropped him off in Cyrus and she would talk to me right when she got home or when she come over. And then the phone hung up.
GRACE: You said she sounded afraid? Why do you say that?
WATSON: Yes, just the tone in her voice and she was real short with me. And she`s not like that.
GRACE: Did you get the sense that one was right there with her?
WATSON: Yes, kind of.
GRACE: OK, I want to go to Chief Tim McClaran, with the Crestline Police Department.
Chief, thank you so much for being with us. What the grandmother is saying, that the mom said she dropped him, the sex offender boyfriend off where? Where is that?
CHIEF TIM MCCLARAN, CRESTLINE POLICE DEPT., ON THE CASE, ON LOCATION OUTSIDE POLICE STATION: In Cyrus. It`s about 20 miles from Crestline.
GRACE: Chief, has there been activity on a credit card or an ATM card belonging to the mom?
MCCLARAN: Not recently.
GRACE: When was the last time there was activity?
MCCLARAN: We believe it was in June.
GRACE: Too the grandmother, Mary Watson, have you gotten any information as to where she might be?
WATSON: No, I haven`t.
GRACE: That phone call that you received last Sunday from her, has it been traced?
WATSON: Not that I know of.
GRACE: Chief, has it been traced?
MCCLARAN: That`s information we don`t want to discuss at this point due to our investigation.
GRACE: To Bill Majeski, can you trace a call back to a public pay phone?
BILL MAJESKI, FMR. NYPD DETECTIVE, MAJESKI ASSOCIATES, INC.: Generally, yes, you can.
GRACE: OK.
MAJESKI: It takes a little bit of time, but it can be done.
GRACE: OK. To the grandmother, Mary Watson, was the phone call from her cell phone or from another phone?
WATSON: I believe it was from her cell phone.
GRACE: And.
WATSON: I was on my cell phone. It`s her number.
GRACE: OK. Was that the last activity that you know of on her cell phone?
WATSON: As far as I know. I haven`t been able to get a hold of her or anything.
GRACE: To Alexis Wiley with WSYX. Alexis, everything is developing so quickly. What can you tell us?
ALEXIS WILEY, REPORTER, WSYX, COVERING STORY: Well, you know, Nancy, police have issued a warrant for Candace Watson`s arrest. They believe she played a role.
GRACE: That`s the mother, right?
WILEY: . in helping Robert Potter escape from this halfway house. Last night they arrested Haylee`s father, James Donothan, her uncle, Kyle Watson, and James Donathan`s girlfriend Nicole Kirkpatrick.
Right now the U.S. Marshals are getting involved and their main priority is to find Haylee.
GRACE: To Matt Bruning with Newstalk 610 WTVN, wait, wait, you`re telling me that the mother, Candace Watson, who took off on a camping trip with her 4-year-old little girl and a sex predator that she met when he was in lockdown at a halfway house, she`s got a warrant on her for helping him get away. Basically, she`s the wheel man, she drove the car, for him to escape from the lockdown.
The biological father and the mom`s brother and girlfriend are all under arrest. Why were they helping this guy break out of a halfway house?
(ON THE PHONE)
MATT BRUNING, REPORTER, NEWSTALK 610 WTVN: Well, that`s information we don`t know at this point, but we do know that these are now -- won`t be the last arrests in this case. We understand there will be a couple of more arrests that were actually expected to come in today, although I haven`t heard any update whether those arrests were actually made.
GRACE: To Matt Zarrell, please clean this up for me.
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE STAFFER, COVERING STORY: My understanding is, is that the -- the mother`s brother, the uncle, met up with Potter at the halfway house. And somehow Potter got a hold of the mother`s phone number or got in contact with the mother and that`s when this all started.
The father lived in an apartment next to the halfway house. He`s not a resident in the halfway house.
GRACE: To Marc Klaas. Marc Klaas, this 4-year-old little girl is in extreme danger. She is with a mother that has gone along with helping a guy escape from lockdown at a halfway house, a jail halfway house. And she`s with a sex predator.
MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: This is unbelievable. Ground zero for this case right now, it seems to me, was wherever she last phoned her mother using her cell phone. Maybe that will give law enforcement a direction.
The other two leads they would have would be potential vehicle that they`re in and then possibly a very, very nervous and afraid woman, a little girl, with this big bully, this manipulative individual.
It`s going to be hard for him to control them over the long period of time. Therefore, it is critical that they be found and recovered as quickly as possible.
GRACE: Back to Alexis Wiley with WSYX. Tell me about the vehicle we believe they are traveling in, Alexis.
WILEY: Nancy, they are in a 1988 blue or black Chevy pickup truck. It`s a vehicle that Candace was given just recently. We understand that it has Ohio temporary plates and number Q645916. That`s the vehicle they`re looking for.
GRACE: And to the lawyers, Susan Moss, Kirby Clements, Doug Burns.
Weigh in, Susan.
MOSS: This mother let her daughter be with her boyfriend sex offender? I mean, this guy is a sexual offender-boyfriend or as I like to call it, SOB. That is outrageous and she is going to be prosecuted.
GRACE: Caryn Stark, do you believe that the mom has been brainwashed?
CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: No, I don`t, Nancy. And very often in these kind of cases the mothers give away their daughters in a desperation to have the men be in their lives.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Caryn Stark, are you telling me you`re now insisting the mother was so desperate for a relationship with a man she exposed her daughter to a sex predator?
STARK: Yes, I am, Nancy. These kinds of women that get involved with men like this have no self-worth. She wasn`t ecstatic. And she is desperate for love.
GRACE: To B.J. in Texas, what`s your question?
B.J., CALLER FROM TEXAS: My question was, what could they do to this mother for allowing her daughter to be with this man? I mean I cannot.
GRACE: B.J., I think that most likely the only charge that could be leveled against her is child endangerment. She may claim she didn`t know that he was a sex offender.
I want to go back to the grandmother.
Miss Watson, you say the truck they are in is very unique. Does it have lightning bolts it?
WATSON: Yes, it does. Back window has lightning bolts on it. It`s a 1987 two-toned blue Chevy pickup.
GRACE: Has your daughter ever gone this long without contacting you?
WATSON: No, she hasn`t.
GRACE: Did the little girl live with you?
WATSON: I had custody of my granddaughter before when my daughter was in Arizona. She was working two jobs and going to school.
GRACE: What are you doing to help find them? I know that you`re praying.
WATSON: I`m praying, I have fliers out, I have talked to people in different states. My son in Florida. I have had people call in Arizona and my aunt.
GRACE: Hold on. Let`s put that tip line up quickly, Liz. Tip line, 866-492-6833. On the lookout for a blue or black Chevy tag 2645916 or Ohio plates as well.
Let`s stop and remember Army Staff Sergeant Paul Brooks, 34, Joplin, Missouri, killed Iraq. On a second tour, awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. Loved nursing, service in Army medic. Loved family, fishing, road trips, movies, video games with his seven children. Leaves behind parents, Barbara and Paul, wife Nicole, two sisters, one brother.
Paul Brooks, American hero.
Thanks to our guests but especially to you. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
