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Jane Velez-Mitchell
Woman Believes She Spots Missing Girl; Rihanna to Testify in Chris Brown Case
Aired June 11, 2009 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST (voice-over): Tonight, a national manhunt barrels ahead. Convicted sex offender Robbie Potter believed to be on the run with his girlfriend and her 4-year-old daughter Haylee Donathan. Escaped from a court-ordered half way house days before Haylee went missing. Cops nabbed three people who they say helped him break out. In a jaw-dropping twist, Haylee`s own father and her convicted rapist uncle are among them.
This poor girl, surrounded by sex offenders, believed to be in extreme danger. Are cops running out of time?
And in a strange coincidence, another adorable girl also named Haleigh, missing for four months. Cobra, the bounty hunter, joins the search with cadaver dogs, while Haleigh`s mom closes the family`s search headquarters. I`ll speak to investigative journalist Art Harris who has dug up some new shockers.
Then Chris Brown loses another legal battle. Rihanna ordered to testify at a make or break hearing later this month. Brown`s attorney, Mark Geragos, tried to postpone the court date, but a judge shot him down. So could Geragos still get the assault case dropped?
Plus, Phil Spector finally dragged into prison to start his 19-year murder sentence, complete with a wig-free mug shot to add to his crazy collection. Is this the ultimate humiliation for a man obsessed with looking like a rock star?
ISSUES starts now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Breaking news tonight in the frantic -- and I mean frantic -- nationwide search for an adorable 4-year-old girl believed to be on the run with her mom and her mom`s boyfriend, who just happens to be a tier 3 sex offender, the most serious kind of sex offender. This fugitive`s past victims were just 10 and 11 years old.
What on earth is wrong with these moms who let these cretins into their daughter`s lives? Are they nuts?
Tonight we learned the frightening story gets even more twisted. Little Haylee Donathan`s uncle is a sex offender himself. That ex-con uncle and the little girl`s own dad allegedly helped this sex offender boyfriend escape from a halfway house. This is one sicko family tree.
Then that boyfriend, Robbie Potter took the woman and the young child, named Haylee, with him on what is turning into a nationwide game of find the fugitive. The child`s father, James Donathan and the ex-con uncle, Kyle Watson, were arrested and charged with complicity to escape. This is mind-boggling.
In what crazy, mixed-up world does a father and an uncle help a pedophile escape from a halfway house to then take off with their precious 4-year-old girl and her mom?
Haylee`s father insists he didn`t know Potter was a sex offender.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES DONATHAN, FATHER OF MISSING 4-YEAR-OLD: I don`t know him personally. You know, but I found out a little bit about him the last couple of days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you find out?
DONATHAN: Well, I found out he`s a tier 3 sex offender. You know, he`s known for messing with kids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Whatever.
Authorities believe the trio may now be in Colorado or Arizona, but perhaps not. There`s sightings. We`re going to talk about that in a second.
Breaking news, they`re looking for a pickup truck resembling this one. Look at it carefully. The back windows have a unique identifying feature, lightning bolts. Will authorities be able to track down little Haylee Donathan, who they say is in grave danger? And why do we continue to see mothers allowing their children to be in the presence of sex offenders? It`s stupid, and it`s dangerous.
Straight to my fantastic expert panel: Mike Gaynor, retired NYPD detective and president of East Coast Detectives; Bradford Cohen, criminal defense attorney; Stacey Honowitz, Florida prosecutor; and Dr. Dale Archer, clinical psychiatrist. We need a shrink tonight on this one. And by phone, Michael Nolting, news director at WMRN-AM, Marion, Ohio; as well as deputy U.S. Marshal Brian Fitzgibbon, the lead investigator in this case.
Marshal, so glad you could join us. I understand there`s some breaking news, brand-new reports, possible sightings of Candace. What can you tell us about this?
BRIAN FITZGIBBON, DEPUTY U.S. MARSHAL, LEAD INVESTIGATOR: Thank you, Jane, for having us, and we appreciate all of the information you`re putting out there and that the community is providing. Breaking news that we did receive the last tip that I just fielded -- I just got off the phone -- was a tipster down in Marion, Ohio, which is less than an hour away from Mansfield, where the fugitive escaped from the halfway house and was putting Candace there as of Saturday. That would -- that would definitely put our time line off as far as going out towards Arizona and Colorado.
But, we have yet to confirm that. The tipster was very vague, and I`m working with Wal-Mart security right now, who are denying the fact that a transaction was made by Candace. And it could possibly be the tipster was off by a week, which would properly figure our time line and be correct with Candace leaving the campgrounds.
In fact, Wal-Mart had her as returning a tent. That`s correct, a tent, which would verify our story that we originally had that they were out camping in southern Ohio.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, I understand there`s a warrant out for Candace, the mother`s arrest, and explain to me why that is when at this point she could be a victim, presumably held against her will?
FITZGIBBON: Working sex offender cases, you see how manipulative they can be. And somebody like Potter, he finds somebody that`s very vulnerable in Candace. And he`s somehow figured a way to convince her to pick him up from this halfway house and escape and aid and abet him onto his ways of being a fugitive.
So Richmond County sheriff`s office went ahead, and they charged her with aiding and abetting of the fugitive. And that`s where the charges come forth on her.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So just to understand, it wasn`t like she was abducted along with the child. She willingly went with this cretin, along with her daughter on a ride, and presumably, they were headed out on a camping trip?
FITZGIBBON: That`s correct. It was -- it was not force involved. Our only concern is that the child did not have a choice in this. The 3- year-old child does not have the choice and knowledge of getting in the car with a tier 3 sex offender.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And just to clarify, because there`s been a whole bunch of conflicting reports about how long they`ve been missing. I understand they went missing a lot longer than they`ve been reporting this. In other words, we just sort of caught on to this late in the game?
FITZGIBBON: That`s correct. The missing persons report came after the fact, because Candace is the legal guardian of Haylee, and Candace`s mother, Mary Watson, reported them missing after the weekend camping trip. And then the locals were handling it, and the marshal service where we were notified on June 4 and have been following the leads ever since.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And one last question, Marshal: what about Colorado and Arizona, because I heard they might be heading there?
FITZGIBBON: Colorado and Arizona, we can confirm that we have marshals and police officers from the fugitive task force working the leads. We`re following them. We`re fielding leads, numerous leads across nearly a dozen states. Callers are calling in from 1-866 -- the number 4, WANTED. And we`re encouraging everybody, if you have anything, please call in. We could use every single bit of help we can on this case.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Marshal, you`re doing an excellent job for you and the officers who are working to find this child. Good luck, and we hope we get some good news, we pray. Haylee`s dad, James Donathan, explained to reporters what he claims was his role in allegedly helping sex offender Robbie Potter escape the halfway house. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONATHAN: Potter showed up at my house one night like 12:30, and he come over. He used my girlfriend`s phone. He had to call his mom (ph). Then she showed up at 3 to pick him up. They take off, you know, but this is -- he just escaped from the VOA (ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Stacey Honowitz, this guy is yawning. His daughter is missing, and he`s yawning and saying, "I didn`t know this guy was a sex offender when he came." He knew that he had escaped from a halfway house. Why do you let anybody who escaped from a halfway house into your house?
STACEY HONOWITZ, FLORIDA PROSECUTOR: How do you answer that question, Jane? I mean, quite frankly, you look at the tape of him, you listen to how he participated and what he did. And you say to yourself, this guy could care less. And he really -- he opens the door for this guy that he knows is in a halfway house. Doesn`t bother to ask him why he`s at the halfway house, and allows him to call the mother and take off with the daughter.
So that`s why he`s such an integral part and that`s why the investigators are saying he must have known something was going on and been an active participant in helping them to escape. There`s no logical explanation for why someone would do anything like that.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Dr. Dale Archer, what is wrong with these people? I hate to say it that way, but this whole family seems a little screwy. Apparently, the aunt tried to warn the mom, "Don`t go off with this guy. He`s convicted of battery on a 10- and 11-year-old child," and she didn`t want to believe it because he apparently told her, "Oh, it was a 17-year- old girl," trying to imply that it was some sort of statutory rape consensual sex situation.
DR. DALE ARCHER, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes. It`s the same story that I hear over and over in similar cases. But it comes down to self- esteem. And obviously, you`re typically looking at someone who was abused when they were young. They don`t feel they`re deserving of love. So anyone who shows them the slightest bit of attention, they`ll latch on to that person and disregard anything else in their life, including their child.
I`m not defending what she did. I think it`s atrocious, but I see it over and over again.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Mike Gaynor, how do you escape from a halfway house anyway? Isn`t a halfway house where you go -- you go in and out and you pursue your life as you try to transition away from prison to the regular world?
MIKE GAYNOR, RETIRED NYPD DETECTIVE: Generally speaking, but I understand in this particular place it was easier to get out of than it is to get into. So he didn`t have much difficulty getting out. He had quite a bit of assistance, and the issue, once again, we have over here is another mother, thirsty for love, that befriends a degenerate like this, and now the daughter`s life is in jeopardy. So...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And why the heck did this suspect a tier 3 sex offender only do three years in the slammer for two sexual batteries of a 10- and 11-year-old? Why wasn`t he wearing a GPS? Let`s think about that. We`ll answer those questions in a moment.
More on this appalling story. How did a mom surround her little girl with so many sex offenders? Call 1-877-JVM-SAYS, 1-877-586-9297. Sound off to me.
Then another girl also named Haleigh, believe it or not -- wild coincidence there -- missing four months. I will speak to someone who`s been digging up new leads in the search for Haleigh Cummings.
But first, a sex offender on the run with a woman and her young daughter. Here is the friend who first reported the two missing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMANTHA COVERT, FRIEND OF HAYLEE`S MOTHER: I just keep thinking about Haylee and, you know, what she`s going through and just hoping and praying that -- that she`s OK. I can still hear her calling, like every time she sees me, "Aunt Sam."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARY WATSON, GRANDMOTHER OF HAYLEE: Worried to death about them; don`t know if they`re dead or alive. And scared that something`s happened to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Mary Watson frightened her granddaughter Haylee and daughter Candace could be in extreme danger. Tonight, we`re learning the father of little Haylee allegedly helped Haylee`s mother`s sex-offender boyfriend escape from a halfway house and run off with his ex and their daughter. Say what? It makes no sense.
Phone lines lighting up. Chrissy in Kentucky, your question or thought, ma`am?
CALLER: First, I have a comment. You are truly an angel for what you do for these little babies. I`ve got two young boys, and they watch you every night. They love you to death.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you.
CALLER: But my question was, what kind of charges could the mother be looking at for actually putting her daughter in a situation?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Mike Nolting, what do you know about the mother`s alleged complicity here and what she could be in for?
MIKE NOLTING, NEWS DIRECTOR, WMRN: The mother could be in for complicity to escape. I think there`s also some neglect and child endangerment issues, as well. I think that, when we take a look at the mother, I think intent at this point really doesn`t matter. Because I believe that -- I`ve heard what the father said about not knowing his status as a sex offender. But let`s remember that they were both at the same half way house with Candace`s brother, who is also a sex offender, as well.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: How did this...
HONOWITZ: He`s never going to say on the air in an interview, "Oh, by the way, I knew the guy was a sex offender, and I let him go with my kid." Of course, he`s going to say he didn`t know anything.
But I mean, the bottom line is, he knew the guy was a sex offender and at 3 a.m. in the morning, why didn`t he bother to ask the question? "Where are you taking my ex-wife and my child? Or my ex-girlfriend?" He could`ve cared less.
Go ahead.
BRADFORD COHEN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: The wife is also looking at an aiding and abetting charge. Because I mean, this guy doesn`t have any money of his own, I would imagine. He`s living in a halfway house. He just got out of prison. I don`t think he`s got a lot of money to afford to go on the run. And someone`s -- someone`s fronting the money. If she`s fronting the money, she knows he`s wanted. She`s going to get aiding and abetting. Not just complicity. She`s actually helping him escape.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. And let`s say that was her at the Wal-Mart returning the tent. If it`s her credit card, that really hurts her.
COHEN: Yes, 100 percent. I mean, she`s funding the escape. And who`s buying the gas? Who`s buying the -- wherever they`re staying? Who`s buying the food?
GAYNOR: There`s something else to think about in this particular case. Because Robbie Potter has also been in trouble with the feds for bank robbery. He`s currently on probation, I believe, for bank robbery.
COHEN: That`s why he was in the halfway house.
GAYNOR: I think he might have been there for sex crimes...
HONOWITZ: For the sex offense.
COHEN (ph): Well, he was definitely a convicted of burglary, as well.
GAYNOR: While he`s out there in the field with this woman and child he`s capable of committing more bank robberies, more crimes, and one thing that guys like him learn in prison is not to leave witnesses around. So this is a serious situation. And the marshals better close in on this guy pretty quick.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Michael Nolting, how long did this woman and this fugitive know each other? Where did they meet?
NOLTING: They met at the VOA transitional housing facility. And talking with the Department of Rehabilitation in the state of Ohio, he was released to that facility back on the -- on the 16th of April. So it`s quite possible that they had up to four weeks.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What, did they meet in prison? What are you...
NOLTING: No, he was released to the transitional housing.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So they met at the halfway house. What was she doing there?
NOLTING: Well, her brother was there.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh. See this is a theme. We heard with this other case, you know, the mom in the Nevaeh case met her boyfriend at the parole office. Now they`re meeting at the halfway house.
GAYNOR: Birds of a feather, Jane.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. It`s just -- in my mind, it`s just -- it`s unbelievable.
Julie in Ohio, your question or thought.
NOLTING: If I could say, Jane, that he served three years on the 2002 sex offense conviction, and that`s why he was in the halfway house. After that, he was looking at five years of community control.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, whatever. Should have been working -- at least wearing a GPS monitoring device. We`d know exactly where he is right now.
ARCHER: The point I want to make is how in the world can he be convicted of two counts of sexual battery and only serve three years? We know there`s no psychiatric treatment for this. This is crazy.
HONOWITZ: Let me tell you honestly, and I`m a sex-offender prosecutor, we don`t know what the circumstances were. And in that case...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ten and 11.
HONOWITZ: No, no, no, no, no. He might have had very reluctant witnesses who didn`t take the stand. If you don`t have victims in those cases, you have to plead those cases out. So without knowing the circumstances, it might not have been if...
ARCHER: How did they end up with a tier 3? He`s a tier 3 offender, though. That`s the worst of the worst.
HONOWITZ: Because it`s tier 3, it`s based on the offense he`s convicted of. He`s convicted of sex battery on a child, he`s a tier 3 offender. It has no bearing on what the sentence was. It`s what the charge he was convicted of.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Julie, Ohio, your question or thought. Get in there, girl. Julie, Ohio.
CALLER: Yes, Jane. I would just like to say a couple of things. Is I`m really getting tired of watching all this lack of common sense by parents.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You and me both. Right on.
CALLER: And these women. You know, I mean, you said the other night that a woman can`t be blamed for going to a bar. No she can`t. But in today`s society, she can be blamed for going out and getting into a car with somebody she doesn`t even know.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let me -- let me just say this. And that`s a whole other subject, because we`ve had missing women who got -- have given guys rides home. We can`t be blaming the victim in those cases. But in this case, when the mother is putting her child in danger, that I certainly, Bradford Cohen, this is irresponsibility on the highest order.
COHEN: And it`s not only -- you look at these cases that are coming out and these moms that are socializing with these guys that are known, convicted sex offenders. I mean, it`s mind-numbing. Like, no one even knows. I`m a criminal defense attorney. I can`t even imagine why someone would go and start dating a convicted sex offender, and they know they have a small child.
GAYNOR: Because they can`t get anyone else. They can`t. They`re frustrated women. They`re vulnerable, and they take what they can get.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Low self-esteem queens. That`s what it is. Dr. Dale had it.
Thank you, panel, for your excellent insight.
Rihanna officially ordered to testify in the Chris Brown case. How will it affect Brown`s defense strategy?
And Phil Spector hauled into prison to serve 19 years. I`ll show you his very creepy mug shot.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: In the "Spotlight" tonight, it is official. Rihanna will appear in court in the Chris Brown beating case. The pop princess got served with a subpoena and will likely take the stand against former boyfriend, pop star Chris Brown, at his preliminary hearing on June 22.
Brown faces two charges stemming from the February 8 brutal beating of then girlfriend Rihanna. The graphic police photo of Rihanna after the savage attacks that shock waved around the world.
Brown`s attorney hoped the controversy over who leaked the photo would get the hearing postponed while the leak was investigated. But yesterday, a California appeals court shot down that defense request.
In the meantime, Chris Brown doesn`t seem too worried at all. He`s been seen playing ball with Shaquille O`Neal.
As for Rihanna, she`s been out partying with a new beau. I guess she`s moving on, as well.
Joining me now, Ken Baker, executive news editor for E!
Ken, so many developments on so many fronts. What do you got? What`s the latest?
KEN BAKER, EXECUTIVE NEWS EDITOR, E!: Well, we know this. We know that Rihanna will testify, but her attorney has always said all along that she will testify, that when she`s called she will do what the court asks.
But the question is not that. The question is what will she testify to? Will she testify to what she apparently told the police, that he savagely beat her? Or will she change her story? And I think that`s the big question.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, but Ken, with the photo out there, showing her very badly pummeled face, with the police report which details this long and extensive beating that wasn`t just a momentary snap, but it went on and on, how can she really have credibility minimizing this and changing the story and making it seem less than it was, allegedly?
BAKER: Well, she wouldn`t. And the minute that she starts to tell a story in court that is inconsistent with what she told the police, really, is going to damage her and damage her story.
But here`s the point here, is that something really interesting. I`ve been down to some of these court hearings, these preliminary hearings. And at every hearing, pretty much, her attorney, Rihanna`s attorney, Donald Etra, has been side by side with Mark Geragos, who`s representing Chris Brown, as if they`re in cahoots and they`re representing the same client.
Now, that makes it -- obviously, it raises the question that we all wonder, is that is she basically going to be trying to tell a story that is very pro-Chris Brown and very sensitive to him to try to help this guy get off? And I think that`s a big question, and we`re going to find out on June 22. She will be in the same courtroom with Chris Brown, and it`s going to be very interesting.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, now Ken, that`s a preliminary hearing. And often these big witnesses who testify, testify in the actual hearing. Are we sure she`s going to -- I remember I got a subpoena once in the Michael Jackson case. I was terrified. And then at the end, they didn`t call me, and I got all worked up for nothing. I mean, is there a possibility that there could be some kind of last-minute plea deal? Or this won`t be the big moment?
BAKER: I remember when you were called, and you didn`t look terrified to me.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, inside I was.
BAKER: I`m sure. No, but, I think that what we`re expecting, what we do know is going to happen is that she`s compelled to be there, and if she is called, it`s going to be fascinating.
Because what`s interesting is that the first few weeks after this alleged attack on her, it was -- it seemed as if she was getting back together with Chris Brown and that somehow, you know, she was going to try to help him make this all go away.
But right now they have no relationship. We`re told they aren`t talking, they aren`t in contact with each other, and she has moved on, and so has he. He now has another girlfriend. So I think the loyalties that may have been there at the start may not be there now.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, it`s going to be fascinating. We`re going to be on top of it.
Ken Baker, always a delight to speak to you. And we`ll talk to you soon.
Is the four-month search for Haleigh Cummings grinding to a halt? I will speak to investigative journalists who`s dug up some shocking new leads. You won`t believe this twist, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Haleigh Cummings, missing for four long months. Cobra the bounty hunter rejoins the search with cadaver dogs, while Haleigh`s mom closes the family`s search headquarter. I`ll speak to investigative journalist Art Harris who has dug up some new shockers.
Plus Phil Spector starts his 19-year murder sentence, complete with a wig free mug shot to add to his crazy collection. Is this the ultimate humiliation for a man obsessed with looking like a rock star?
A tragic coincidence tonight as two adorable girls both named Haylee are both missing in two separate cases. The two Haylees are of similar age and come from similar background. Both little girls have become the center of national attention as their families and authorities desperately try to find them.
First up, the frightening disappearance of the Ohio girl, Haylee Donathan, the adorable 4-year-old is believe to be on the run with her 24- year-old mom and her mom`s sex-offender boyfriend.
Tonight, another shocking twist, the father of the young girl plus the child`s convicted rapist uncle -- are you following me, this is insane -- reportedly helped the mother`s sex-offender boyfriend escape from a half way house and go on lam with the little girl.
What a cookie sick family tree we`ve got going here.
Joining me again, my excellent panel: Mike Gaynor, former NYPD detective and president of East Coast Detectives; Stacey Honowitz, Florida prosecutor; and Dr. Dale Archer, clinical psychiatrist.
Dr. Dale, you know, sometimes it seems like bad judgment just runs in the family. This family has a mom who takes off with a convicted felon, a brother who is a convicted rapist and an ex who is the father of her child who lets the escapee from the half way house into his home while they all have a confab and then she takes off with the guy. It`s enough to make your head explode.
DR. DALE ARCHER, CLINICAL PSYCHIATRIST: Well all you can say is everyone has a different definition of normal. So their normal would not be ours. But the bad judgment is just rampant throughout.
And I think at some point there has to be some laws passed that would hold a mom complicit in a case like this for affiliating with a known sex offender.
STACEY HONOWITZ, FLORIDA PROSECUTOR: Jane...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Diane, Missouri -- ok go ahead, jump in.
HONOWITZ: No, I was going to tell you, Jane, in trying these cases and prosecuting these cases for over 20 years these sex cases. You would not believe how many women come into our office, the wives of sex offenders, men who have confessed to fondling or having sex with the children and they want the charges dropped.
They want this person to come home and be with the child. And what`s that all about? Nobody can understand it. They want a roof over their head, they`re afraid if the person goes to jail they`re going to be evicted, they have no self-esteem. It`s all of the things that we`ve been talking about.
But this isn`t anything new. We`re just hearing about it because they`re out on the run. So all of the stranger abductions that we`ve been talking about, this is even worse to an extent because it`s the mother herself putting the child in danger.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I`ll tell what it is...
ARCHER: But there has to be some laws about that. Just like there are in abuse cases...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You`re right.
ARCHER: ...where if you file the charges automatically, they`re going to be followed. So I think that there have to be some laws along those same lines for this because for this guy to only do three years after two counts, it`s just shocking. There are no psychiatric treatments for this, but we know long-term prison works.
So we have to give him long-term prison sentence.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Absolutely.
HONOWITZ: Yes, but you know what? The problem is, and you`re 100 percent right. You...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: This guy was a sex offender who hit two girls 10 and 11...
ARCHER: Right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: ...he got three years, Stacey.
HONOWITZ: But Jane, you have to understand something.
ARCHER: It`s shocking.
HONOWITZ: Listen, I`m a prosecutor, this is what I do. If you don`t have -- we don`t know the circumstances. If the 10-year-old and the 11- year-old refused to testify and you have nothing, you have no case. You are stuck as a prosecutor; you give him something rather than nothing. So without knowing those circumstances, we don`t know why he only got three years.
ARCHER: Stacey is right.
HONOWITZ: It`s horrible, it`s -- and you can`t believe it but that`s what happens.
ARCHER: And then there should be mandatory guidelines; mandatory sentence of ten years. I mean minimum. There has to be something.
MIKE GAYNOR, EAST COAST DETECTIVES: Not necessarily mandatory sentences, I don`t think we can control those guidelines. But Stacey alluded to a number of different reasons why these cases don`t go forward. But the monitoring system after these guys are released that`s something we can work on. And that`s something that legislation could take care of as soon as possible.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Absolutely. Absolutely.
It`s called GPS.
Diane, Missouri your question or thought. Diane, jump in there.
DIANE, MISSOURI (via telephone): ok. Jane, you`re awesome.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you.
DIANE: I can`t tell you on the phone and on the TV what I`d love to do to sex offenders.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh yes don`t tell us, but I have an idea.
DIANE: I won`t. I`m going to be a decent woman. Ok, this is my comment. I think society should unite, I think we should do some kind of foster intervention. We know who lives in our communities, we know who`s responsible, who`s irresponsible. And those that are irresponsible -- we need to be the eyes for these little children that cannot take care of themselves.
We need to revamp -- like your panel is saying -- the laws against these people that have no soul, no conscience and then also, we need to give grandparents more rights.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I think you`re fantastic, Diane from Missouri.
But I would also like to say we need to start teaching people psychological tools to help them cope. This woman is clearly co-dependent, suffering from low self-esteem.
These women who enable these people are literally addicted to the bad behavior in the other person. And I say that as a recovering alcoholic who has explored all this stuff. Co-dependency is serious, but they don`t even know they have that because they`ve never learned it. If we taught some of this stuff in school, people would have...
HONOWITZ: It`s never going to happen.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Why not?
ARCHER: Well, I think that`s a fantastic idea.
HONOWITZ: The schools are scared to death to ever talk about this stuff, Jane, I`m telling you right now, I`ve been trying for years. The schools don`t want to talk about it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But they have to.
ARCHER: I agree. And I think that`s -- yes...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: They need group therapy in school so that people when they`re younger can recognize their low self-esteem and find a way out of it.
ARCHER: Because that`s exactly what happened here. She had low self- esteem and she was looking for love and this guy showed her attention.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Exactly. In all the wrong places. Mike, Stacy, thank you for your insights.
Now to stunning revelations: a possible break in the desperate search for the other Haleigh. 5-year-old Haleigh Cummings from Satsuma, Florida, the case heating up again with police furiously tracking down witnesses to shed new light on the time line of the night the little girl was abducted from her father`s mobile home more than four months ago -- four long months ago.
Sources telling investigative journalist Art Harris it could come down to bruised knuckles. What? Could bruise and apparent wounded knuckles on the right hand of Haleigh`s dad have anything to do with this? A tell-tale sign that something was wrong back on the night of February 10th? Could those bruised knuckles spell trouble for Ron`s child-bride Misty?
Misty first told cops she woke up in the wee hours of the morning only to find Haleigh had vanished from her bed. Since then Misty has changed her story several times.
Let`s get to the bottom of it right now: I am joined by Art Harris, a fabulous investigative journalist and founder of Artharris.com. He has worked so hard on this case.
Art, you have done some hard core digging. Please, connect the dots of bruises on Ron`s knuckles and Misty`s timelines.
ART HARRIS, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: Well, that`s one mystery that I can report can be cleared up. Ron`s knuckles were bruised. Police found his hands bloody when they got to the trailer that night answering the 911 call. And they asked him why. They took swabs of the blood and he said he was so angry that he punched the back door.
Well, of course, the blood that they`d taken actually matched the DNA from blood on the door. There was a hand print they found that actually matched his hand and police actually found that very plausible. So the mystery knuckles now, that`s solved.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I was reading your Web site. You had some fascinating stuff there about some of Misty`s behavior in the days leading up to and something that apparently was witnessed by somebody else near a schoolyard or at a bus stop.
HARRIS: That`s right, Jane. I spoke with several parents who were at the bus stop. This was Monday afternoon, the last day Haleigh went to school. She got off the bus and was so happy and excited to be home. She saw Misty`s blue van, Misty was driving, had friends in the car.
Her little cousins in the car. She goes running to the car, Misty yells out to hurry up. She`s really edgy it seems. And a parent saw her slap one of the little boys in the van and overheard her to say, "What we got last night, some bad s blank, blank was really bad, we`re never going to buy it from that guy again."
Now, this parent thinks that she was talking about drugs on Sunday night and investigators are also considering that. They`re trying to figure out if her mood on Monday was a reflection of what kind of partying may have happened Sunday night.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, she was apparently, according to a couple of witnesses doing drugs, allegedly, in the days leading up to Haleigh`s disappearance.
HARRIS: Right, you`ve got to go back to the few days and what happened there. She had a falling out with Ron and ran off. A friend picked her up, her nickname "Nay-nay." They went on for three days of revenge, romance and partying with another guy named "White Boy Greg." And there are reports that she told police as well as the witnesses who told me she was using lots of drugs and as were everybody else.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right.
HARRIS: She comes home finally on Sunday night.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And that`s when the trouble started.
Listen, we`ve got to leave it right there. We have always reached out to Ron Cummings and Misty. We want to hear your side of the story. Please come on our show, you have an open invitation.
I want to thank the amazing journalist Art Harris.
An upscale California beach community racked with fear after three people stabbed to death in their own homes. Are these killings connected?
And Phil Spector has a brand new booking photo to ad to his creepy mug shot collection. I`m going to show you all kinds of crazy mug shots from celebrities. You might call it the "Celebrity Hall Of shame."
1-877-JVM-SAYS, 1-877-586-7297. Give me your take on these cookie mug shots.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Phil Spector checked in for his 19-year murder sentence. I will show you his latest crazy and I mean crazy mug shot.
First, "Top of the Block" tonight.
A string of gruesome stabbings in southern California has an upscale beach community terrorized. A pregnant 42-year-old woman and her husband stabbed to death in their glamorous beach house May 20th when their two young kids were right down the hall.
Their 11-year-old son said that he saw an attacker wearing a motorcycle helmet fighting with his mother. That helmet of course, obscuring the identity.
And then last week in a Waterfront neighborhood just nine miles away, 61-year-old Wendy Di Rodio (ph) found stabbed to death in her bedroom. No arrests made in either case. Cops working seriously to determine whether these slayings are connected.
Joining me now, investigative reporter Angie Crouch. Angie you are there in southern California. What is the very latest?
ANGIE CROUCH, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Well, Jane, this afternoon I had a very intriguing conversation with one of the investigators from the Ventura County Sheriff`s Department, which is investigating the Husted case.
The investigator told me that they are following some very promising leads and he thinks that they could have a press conference sometime in the next two to four days announcing a potential break in the case of this couple that was murdered.
He would not say whether or not they had yet linked this to the Wendy Di Rodio case or what exactly this lead was. But he said it was very promising. The Husted family said they don`t know anything about this.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, there is a possible connection to these cases, we don`t know that officially. But you had dug up something that showed that there was some kind of link; perhaps coincidental and perhaps not.
CROUCH: That`s right, the Husteds were selling their home and they also owned a home that they rented out to somebody else which was very close to the home where Wendy Di Rodio was killed.
They also kept a boat just across the road from where they lived and so investigators are looking into all of that. But at this point, they have no reason to believe that these murder victims knew each other. So it`s very...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But the commonality is that they were stabbed and within a couple of weeks time. Both stabbed; two people dead in one place on the coast, one other woman dead in another place on the coast, both in their homes and it didn`t seem like an apparent robbery.
CROUCH: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Because it just didn`t, right?
CROUCH: Yes. Yes, police found nothing stolen, they hadn`t released a whole lot of information about the De Rodio case, but nothing was taken, as far as we know from the Husted family. Both -- all of the victims were found in locked bedrooms, there were other people inside the homes at the time of the stabbings.
And so these seem to be very unusual coincidences is at best.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I was back in L.A. on Memorial Day at the beach and everybody was talking about it. Everybody is terrified up and down the coast. Angie, I hope they solve this case soon.
Thank you so much, come back.
Turning now to the just released shocking new Phil Spector photos that reveal the music producer stripped not just of his freedom, but also of his trademark wig.
There he is, welcome to the big house, Phil.
The wigless Spector jailed last month is now serving 19 years for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson. She was shot in the mouth and he tried to claim it was suicide. The second jury did not buy it.
Phil`s latest mug shot reveals a very different Spector than the wild- haired rock star persona he adopted during his trial when his flamboyant wigs often to have center stage. Take a look, the most infamous was the light bulb hair, that`s what we called it when he teased up his wig so high his head you see it right there it looks like a giant light bulb, doesn`t it?
After getting ridiculed for doing that, he switched. Here he is with the girlish page boy. That also provoked snickers.
But this latest look is definitely Phil Spector`s worst nightmare come true, courtesy of the Department of Corrections.
So is this the ultimate humiliation for a man obsessed with looking and acting like a rock star? Give me a holler to weigh in.
And joining me: Curtis Sliwa, founder of the "Guardian Angels" and back again Dr. Dale Archer, clinical psychiatrist.
Dr. Dale, hair obviously an important issue for Spector. Does this wigless mug shot with the skull and full view shiny and everything equal the ultimate humiliation for this arrogant man?
ARCHER: Yes, absolutely. I mean, he is a narcissist of the top degree. And his power peaked back in the `70s. So basically, he`s been doing everything he can to hold on to that. I think eventually he turned to violence and now this is the ultimate humiliation. He`s lost his power and he`s lost his hair.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Curtis Sliwa, his wife, Mrs. Spector all upset saying, basically they`re robbing him of his dignity. Isn`t that exactly what the defense did to Lana Clarkson, a beautiful actress who had been working at the House of Blues, met this guy first night she`d ever known this man, went to his house and next thing you know she`s dead with a gunshot wound into the mouth. And their defense was, oh, she was depressed and she decided to go over to a stranger`s house to kill herself.
CURTIS SLIWA, GUARDIAN ANGELS: Oh and not only that remember, the limo driver who saw it all, he didn`t understand what he was watching take place. What? What are you talking about? He didn`t completely understand English.
They tried to do so many spins. But it so makes the day to see Phil Spector here. As you mentioned in the 70`s he had that Angela Davis afro look and all of a sudden he looks like Uncle Fester there from the Adams family. It has to be the most emasculating humiliating thing for him to see his chrome dome like that.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, and this is a guy who pulled guns on numerous women over the years some of whom testified.
Now, let`s open up our mug shot extravaganza collection. I`ve got some of my favorite actor mug shots.
I love all these actors, so I would certainly not put them in any way, shape, or form in the same category as this creep you`re looking at here.
Let`s start with Iron Man actor Robert Downy Jr. He had a number of arrests for drugs down the years. That`s not a great shot of him but he doesn`t look so bad; taken in 2000 after his arrest for drug possession at a Palm Springs resort. It`s kind of wild man versus iron man.
And then there is this beauty. This is "30 Rock" star Rip Torn. This is quite the look taken after 2006 drunk-driving arrest; his car collided with a tractor trailer in upstate New York.
And who can forget the king of all mug shots, Nick Nolte`s scarecrow look. He was arrested by cops in 2002 and charged with a DUI.
But I have to say, Curtis in Nick Nolte`s defense, I covered him many days when he showed up at the Malibu courthouse and he was always very humble and he always said, "I got an intervention by the California Highway Patrol and I`m so glad that they stopped me because it could have been worst than an embarrassing mug shot."
SLIWA: I think he may be one of those Tony Soprano interventions, you know. When they intervened on Chris` drug use at the rehab clinic and put the boots to the back of his neck.
My God. If you look at Nick Nolte there, he looks like he was on some bad crystal meth. He really looks like mess. And Robert Downey Jr., you know all the menacing and mean, notice the moment they put him in that LA County orange jumpsuit and had him picking up trash along I-5 how quickly he became very humble and very understanding that he was doing some real serious time.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, but we can`t lump them all in the same category.
ARCHER: Right.
VELEZ-MITHCELL: Dr. Dale, Robert Downey Jr., has turned himself around. He`s one of the best actors of our generation.
ARCHER: Yes. And I think that going back to Phil Spector, I mean, obviously this is a murderer. So I don`t think he has the right to complain about being humiliated. Because these shots are being shown; that`s what he gets.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`ve got some more celebrity mug shots in a moment. You won`t believe it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHIL SPECTOR, CONVICTED OF MURDER: The actions of the Hitler-like district attorney and his storm-trooping henchmen to seek an indictment against me and censor all means of me getting my evidence and the truth out are reprehensible, unconscionable and despicable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Whatever, Phil. You`re in the slammer now. And this is the ultimate humiliation. Take a look at this mug shot, minus the light bulb wig.
Let`s get back to more mug shot madness.
We`re going to go to singers now and take a look at their best mug shot ever in the singer category. How about country singer Wynona Judd? Or is it Wynona, how do they say that? She was arrested in Nashville in 2003 for drunk driving. Ok, that`s not so bad. She was more than twice the legal limit in Tennessee. That might explain why she forgot her makeup that morning.
But this is truly my favorite. James Brown arrested in 2004 -- oh, gosh, way to go -- charged with domestic violence. Please, somebody give the "Godfather of Soul" a comb.
SLIWA: Oh, there he looks like a troglodyte, oh my God.
VELEZ-MITHCELL: But there is one more. I think this one might actually take the cake.
The glamour shot of British crooner Amy Winehouse, arrested in 2008 for drug possession. Honey, you do need to go to rehab.
ARCHER: Rehab.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. Even though you don`t want to go, no, no, no, you need to go.
My gosh, Dale Archer. We`re having fun with some of them, but some of them, getting back to the Phil Spector case, man.
I mean, do you hear him? Do you hear him on that sound bite where he`s talking about -- oh the storm-trooper prosecutors? He was so arrogant.
ARCHER: Yes. I think it just goes back -- this guy is the textbook definition of narcissistic personality. And so they never think that they`re wrong. They don`t know the difference between right and wrong and they only think about themselves. And how what they do affects themselves.
So that`s it. And now he`s in jail where he belongs and will be there for the rest of his life.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Curtis -- yes...
SLIWA: Doctor, you have no empathy, no sympathy for him. Jane, would you tell him? You know what it`s like to have those kind of frizzies and dry hair. The poor guy, he woke up with a bad hair day there you had. So that`s why he was calling them Nazis and storm-troopers.
ARCHER: He doesn`t have to worry about it anymore now, though.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`ve got to say, that this is a comeuppance for a man that who put this Clarkson family through hell. I covered this from day one. I lived near Lana Clarkson. I was at his crazy castle the day it happened. I was at her house. The family was through years of hell.
She was killed in 2003 and finally justice and a little karma kickback for that arrogant guy.
Thank you to my fabulous panel.
SLIWA: He`ll be somebody`s may tag in jail if you could put that out now.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You`re watching ISSUES on HLN.
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