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Nancy Grace
Missing Ohio 4-Year-Old Haylee Found in California
Aired June 24, 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. Live to Ohio. Mommy meets a convicted sex offender still in lockdown. The sex offender escapes from the halfway house with Mommy`s help, and the two take off for a so-called camping trip to remote and rugged terrain, central Ohio. What did the happy couple take along? Food, check, water, check, provisions, check. And Mommy`s 4-year-old baby girl. That`s right, the baby girl alone in the car with a sex predator -- not one, not two, three-tier sex offender, the worst of the worst sex predators.
Bombshell tonight. After leading cops on a manhunt, zig-zagging back and forth across the country, a miracle! Two thousand miles away, cops zero in on an isolated commune-type treat 50 miles north of San Diego, there hidden amongst a peace-loving group raising avocados, grapefruits, persimmons. Cops rescue baby Haylee unharmed, alive! Mommy and sex offender boyfriend altering their looks so as not to be recognized. But up against practically a nationwide Amber Alert, it didn`t work!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Robbi Potter has been captured along with Candace Watson in San Diego, California. In the company of Candace, was her daughter Haylee. She was safe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want to hold her so bad and see her. I`m just so happy. I just want her home. I`ll probably never let her go again. She won`t go nowhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: U.S. Marshals were tipped off and found the Ohio girl unharmed in California with her mother and her mother`s boyfriend, a fugitive sex offender.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The couple took Haylee and took off, eventually ending up here at this hidden retreat tucked away in Valley Center.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were arrested and at a Christian retreat center in San Diego, California.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s called Morning Star Ranch. Authorities caught up with them, thanks to an observant couple who recently left the ranch. Authorities say little Haylee was in good spirits and spent most of the evening drawing pictures, like this one here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just smiling. She`ll draw with you. She`ll talk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I`d just like to thank all those individuals involved, news media like yourselves, and of course, the NANCY GRACE show, that really got the word out here. I just want to thank these people for all the effort and time they put into this case. Wouldn`t have been possible without it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, the search is on for a 2-year-old Indiana toddler girl vanishing without a trace. The baby-sitter heads to a local convenience store. She darts inside to buy milk and cigarettes 9:30 PM. But she gets back to the car, 2-year-old baby Jada gone. Tonight, the mystery intensifies regarding the circumstances surrounding Jada`s disappearance. Why have the baby out nearly 10:00 o`clock at tonight not even in her PJs? Why was the car left in a darkened side lot? Why leave the baby in the car? Who can confirm the child was ever even in the car? Tonight, as Jada`s mom tries desperately to reach out for tips about her little girl, where is 2-year-old Jada?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jada was last believed to be seen at this gas station, where her 18-year-old baby-sitter and cousin said she left her in the car while she went in to buy a gallon of milk.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She (INAUDIBLE) went in, and when she came out, my daughter was gone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The baby-sitter was the last person to see little Jada. Now we`re getting reports that she was high that night.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police and some family members are questioning her story. They`re not quite sure if it adds up.
GRACE: Has the baby-sitter taken a polygraph?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She has not, as far as I know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) I guess, closure or I`ll find out where she`s at or, you know, whatever the case may be.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jada Justice will be 3 in August. She`s described as 2 feet, 2 inches tall, 35 pounds, with dark hair, brown eyes, last seen wearing an orange skirt, white, orange and green tank top.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to know where my daughter is. I want my baby home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. After leading cops on a wild goose chase, a manhunt, zig-zagging back and forth across the country, a miracle. Two thousand miles away, cops zero in on an isolated commune-type retreat 50 miles north of San Diego. There, hidden amongst a peace-loving group raising avocados, grapefruit, persimmons, nuts, cops rescue 4-year-old baby Haylee alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four-year-old Haylee Donathan, missing for more than three weeks, has been found safe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never lost hope at all. I knew (INAUDIBLE) U.S. Marshals were doing their job and I know they would have been found.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Little Haylee Donathan safe in the arms of a San Diego deputy. Holding her teddy bear in one hand, she waved with the other.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to make sure that I (INAUDIBLE) the very first thing, besides hugging her and loving her and kissing her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The resolution is finding a child alive and healthy. It doesn`t get any better than this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s been a nationwide manhunt that started in Ohio after Watson`s boyfriend, Robbi Potter, who`s a registered sex offender, escaped a halfway house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were still, surprisingly, in the same truck, and that was spotted out in that area. I cannot compliment the media enough here for getting the message out for us. And I know the NANCY GRACE show was out there for us. We appreciate that because that provided a lot of tips to us and for us. Haylee is going to be brought back to this area. She`s going to be brought back, I believe, to the custody of her grandmother here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s articulate. She seems very healthy, maybe has a little case of chicken pox going on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But she is safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Alexis Wiley with WSYX. Alexis, tell me about this commune-type remote, isolated area where the baby was found.
ALEXIS WILEY, WSYX: Well, you know, Nancy, it appears that this was kind of a ranch or a farm. The owner of the ranch says that Potter and Watson were there working, doing farming. Candace Watson was doing cooking in exchange for room and board. They`d been there for about a week. They told the owners that they were husband and wife and Haylee was their daughter. It`s a Christian retreat center about 50 miles away from San Diego.
GRACE: I want to go straight to Peter Elliott, U.S. Marshal, northern district of Ohio. He`s joining us from the sheriff`s office. Sir, thank you for being with us.
PETER ELLIOTT, U.S. MARSHAL: Well, thank you, Nancy. And thank you for everything you`ve done on this investigation.
GRACE: Oh, no. No, no, no.
ELLIOTT: You were one of the only...
GRACE: Don`t thank us.
ELLIOTT: You are one of the only shows -- you were one of the only shows that kept us in the media. You had my deputies on the last couple weeks every single night. And because of that, we generated a number of tips in the San Diego, California, area, because of your show.
From there -- that`s stage one. Stage two, on Monday morning, I contacted a friend of mine, who is Bill Placco (ph), who is the president of Clear Channel outdoor digital billboards of northeast Ohio. And we asked him for his help. Monday morning, Clear Channel very rapidly put out in seven different states, including focusing in California and focusing in Nevada, because we had a number of possible sightings in those areas -- they put up their digital billboards.
Step three, we had a driver pass those billboards and recognize Haylee, Candace and Robbi Potter from that billboard. Step four, San Diego County Sheriff`s Department responded very quickly. We got the tip that we have been waiting for.
And now all three -- Candace and Robbi are in custody and Haylee is safe. And she is going to be returned here to the northern district of Ohio. So it was great teamwork. I`m proud of all you guys. I`m proud of the northern U.S. Marshals that worked on this 24 hours, seven day as week, my deputies along with the sheriff`s department, the police department, BCI, all the police agencies working together. They worked on this 24 hours, seven day a week. They made a promise to us that they would bring Haylee back safely to the northern district of Ohio and they kept their promise. And I`m very proud of all you guys. Without the teamwork that we had in place, this would not be possible. We would not be bringing Haylee back to the northern district of Ohio safely.
GRACE: With us tonight, the U.S. Marshal out of the northern district of Ohio, Pete Elliott. And I guess the big headline tonight is -- in case you ever doubted it -- there is a God. Look at this little girl. Many people had written her off for gone for good, but she is alive and found tonight.
I want to go straight out to Captain Don Crist, San Diego Sheriff`s Department. He was involved in the capture of Watson and Potter. Captain, thank you for being with us. How did it go down?
CAPT. DON CRIST, SAN DIEGO SHERIFF`S DEPT.: Thank you for having us. The caretaker called us on 911, after confirming himself and some of the employees confirming the truck and Potter and Watson being there. We grabbed a couple deputies, along with an officer from the highway patrol. The employees of the farm were very helpful in laying out the -- a map of the area, describing the building. As a matter of fact, one of them even went with our deputy up to the building to make sure we got to the right building and were situated correctly.
We surrounded the building. Our helicopter, the sheriff`s helicopter, also had spotted him going into the building, so we knew he was there. Once we knew he was inside, we entered and took them into custody.
GRACE: To Matt Bruning, reporter with 610 WTVN. Matt, thank you for being with us. Had they altered their appearance?
MATT BRUNING, NEWSTALK 610 WTVN (via telephone): Absolutely, they had. We`re told that Candace had colored her hair a darker color. And we`re told that Robbi had grown out his hair and also had grown out his facial hair to try to hide their appearance.
GRACE: To the lawyers. Unleash the lawyers, Renee Rockwell, Atlanta, John Burris, famed defense attorney, San Francisco. So Mommy altered her appearance? There is no way she could now say that, Hey, I just went on a camping trip. Why are they arresting me?
RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Who is that to, Nancy?
GRACE: That was to John Burris. Go ahead, John.
JOHN BURRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I think she can make that argument. I don`t think that she ought to be prosecuted for anything. I mean, the fact is, she`s in love with this guy and made a decision -- it`s her child. She can take her child wherever she wants.
GRACE: Put Burris up!
BURRIS: She can -- wherever she wants, she can take her child and it seems to me...
GRACE: Really?
BURRIS: Absolutely.
GRACE: Is that so? Well, let me ask you this, Burris. What about helping a fleeing felon?
BURRIS: Well, that`s a different act.
GRACE: Does your laissez-faire attitude extend to that?
BURRIS: Well, people fall in love with people convicted -- who are criminals. There`s no doubt about that. And maybe there`s some argument to be made about her...
GRACE: OK...
BURRIS: ... assisting a felon. But by and large...
GRACE: An argument to be made?
BURRIS: ... she has the right to take her child -- I don`t think she ought to be prosecuted myself. I think that she really is a person who, unfortunately...
GRACE: Renee...
BURRIS: ... fell in love with the wrong person.
GRACE: Unfortunately fell in love with the wrong person? Hold on, Renee.
ROCKWELL: That might not be a defense.
GRACE: Back to Pete Elliott, U.S. Marshal. What are the charges lodged against Mommy for putting her child alone in the car with a tier- three sex predator?
ELLIOTT: Well, you know -- and I don`t know who was just speaking, Nancy, but rule number one in parenthood is you never play Russian roulette with your children. There are going to be charges put on her for harboring a federal fugitive. She admitted to us last tonight that she aided, abetted, helped him, provided him money and transportation, knew he was escaped and on the run, and she provided assistance for him. This week, we`re going to file charges on her for harboring a federal fugitive.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So happy to report that little Haylee Donathan is alive and well. The 4-year-old was found 2,300 miles from her home in Ohio at some retreat in California. She`s been missing for a month now, and apparently taken by her mom and mom`s sex offender boyfriend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tipster called in out in California that these three individuals were all at this Christian retreat center.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Authorities caught up with them, thanks to an observant couple who recently left the ranch.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They see a large billboard around the Las Vegas area and they see the child`s picture, they see the license plate of the car that`s being sought.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The trio had been staying at the ranch for about a week.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our deputies go out right away. They stage, they verify this is the car. They check the NCIC. Yes, it is. And they make the arrest without incident.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want to hold her so bad and see her. I`m just so happy. I just want her home so I can hold her. I`ll probably never let her go again. She won`t go nowhere.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It has been a long journey. It`s almost been a month. You know, just every day that goes by, it`s kind of like (INAUDIBLE) I wasn`t really losing hope, but at the same time, it was just definitely a scary (INAUDIBLE) I`m just excited to hold her and put her in my arms.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls live. Baby Haylee found alive about 50 miles north of San Diego, in a commune-type setting where they raise avocados, persimmons, nuts.
Joining me right now, a special guest, the spokesperson for the Morning Star Ranch where Haylee is found alive. Now, a lot of reporters have said unharmed. I don`t know that because this child will have to go through a battery of medical and psychological tests to determine whether this tier-three sex offender in any way harmed her. And remember, Mommy`s roommate told us right here on this show that she observed Mommy in the bed with the sex predator and the baby girl in the bed with them. So I can guarantee you that child will be physically examined to determine if she is "unharmed" the way a lot of reporters are saying.
Out to the lines. Gail in Georgia. Hi, Gail.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. Love your show. I have a question for you. If the grandmother has custody of Haylee, what`s going to say that the daughter is not going to -- the grandmother is not going to give the daughter back?
GRACE: Let`s go straight to grandmother Mary Watson, joining us exclusively tonight. Ms. Watson, what about it? What`s to say you won`t hand the little girl back over to your daughter again?
MARY WATSON, GRANDMOTHER: There`s no way that I would do that. I`ll have to go through Children`s Services and I will abide by the Children`s Services rules. And if she`s not allowed to see her, then she`s not allowed to see her. That`s the way it is going to be.
GRACE: Well, it sounds to me, based on what the U.S. Marshal in the northern district of Ohio, Pete Elliott, had to say, if she visits Mommy, it will be through barbed wire.
We are taking your calls. I want to go to Kevin Carlin, spokesperson for the Morning Star Ranch where Haylee was found. Mr. Carlin, thank you for being with us.
KEVIN CARLIN, SPOKESMAN, MORNING STAR RANCH: Oh, we`re glad to be here.
GRACE: We`ve only heard positive things about the Morning Star Ranch. How did these two get in with the little girl?
CARLIN: Well, they came to us -- they were referred to us by someone who`d been there and left. And they came and they said, We`d like to live here for a little while. And they helped out. They worked in the kitchen and out in the field, and they were seemingly normal and helpful and so we let them stay. You know, there was no commitment on our part they`d be there indefinitely. We didn`t know who they were. We believed them when they said they were married. We believed them when they said Haylee was their daughter.
GRACE: Now, back to Captain Don Crist with the San Diego`s Sheriff`s Department. Isn`t it true that when these two were on their so-called camping trip, that they somewhere along the way met up with someone that had come from Morning Star Ranch, they heard about the commune -- and I`m calling it a commune in a loose sense of the word -- and that`s why they decided to travel there?
CRIST: Yes. Apparently, they had met a family at the beach in San Diego and they were referred to the Morning Star Ranch. So they drove up there and asked if they could stay.
GRACE: To Kevin Carlin again from the Morning Star Ranch. Mr. Carlin, again, thank you for being with us. They said they were a married couple. What else did they tell you about their background?
CARLIN: Well, they told us their names as Robbi and Candace and Haylee and that they were from Ohio and they were just kind of out searching. They didn`t -- they said vaguely traveling, really.
GRACE: Searching for what?
CARLIN: It wasn`t really clear. They kind of, like, let on they were looking for a place or a purpose in life. It was, you know, the kind of words you might say to us.
GRACE: Yes. Why would someone say that to you?
CARLIN: Well, we`re a spiritual community. We`re a community of believers. We believe in the messiah and we share all things in common. We live a life of faith. And so you might say that to us, if you wanted to join us.
GRACE: Right, to worm your way in. Mr. Carlin, you are a community of believers in what?
CARLIN: We believe in the messiah, Jesus Christ, and the new testament and -- well, the Old Testament, too.
GRACE: And so they suggested that they were in a spiritual search, seekers, so to speak, in order to get into the commune?
CARLIN: Yes, that`s what I remember. They seemed straightforward. I don`t know. There wasn`t anything alarming about them. I wished I could say there was.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First thing I want to do with her is I want to make sure that I take her to the doctor`s, the very first thing, besides hugging her and loving her and kissing her. That`s the first thing. I`m going to take her to the doctor`s. She`ll be going back to school when it`s time. And she`s going to be OK. I`ll make sure of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls live. Out to grandmother Mary Watson. Ms. Watson, have you been reunited with her yet?
WATSON: No, I haven`t. But when I do, and it should be real soon, and I want to tell her right now I love her and we all love her and want her to come home soon.
GRACE: Why haven`t you been reunited with her yet?
WATSON: Something about some testing and going to the doctor or something. She`s getting that done first before she can leave.
GRACE: To Dr. Jennifer Shu, pediatrician and co-author of "Heading Home With Your Newborn: From Birth to Reality." Dr. Shu, it`s wonderful to see you, as always. Dr. Shu, let`s just put it out there. What type of exams is this little girl going to have to go through?
DR. JENNIFER SHU, PEDIATRICIAN: Well, she`ll get the routine head-to- toe physical, but we really want to know if she`s had any signs of sexual abuse, sexual trauma. So they`re going to look at her genital area really well, the perianal area, just to see if there`s been any injury, check for some infections. They may able to sample for DNA, semen, fibers, things like that.
GRACE: Is it true -- back to Captain Don Crist -- did the little girl have chicken pox?
CRIST: No, we discovered that she did not. We thought so initially, but it turns out that that is not the case.
GRACE: Well, then what was it?
CRIST: I couldn`t say. We did do a forensic exam with one of our investigators. A doctor did see her. And an investigator from the Child Protective Services just finished an interview. And our initial decision is she is not a victim of a crime here in California.
GRACE: To -- back to Dr. Shu. What would look like chicken pox?
SHU: Well, the most common thing that looks like chicken pox is insect bites, flea bites, something like that. But you can also have impetigo, which is a staph or strep skin infection, which can be treated with antibiotics.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE ELLIOTT, U.S. MARSHAL, NORTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO, ON THE CASE: She was safe and we are going to be bringing her back to her grandmother here very, very shortly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With those reassuring words to an anxious grandmother, authorities in Richland County, Ohio announced that 4-year-old Haylee Donathan is alive and safe.
Police say the child was taken by a convicted sex offender, 27-year- old Robbi Potter, and the girl`s mother, 24 year old Candace Watson on May 31st.
Just a few days earlier, Potter had escaped from a halfway house in Mansfield, Ohio. But the fugitive`s flight ended when authorities caught up with him here in San Diego County at a Christian retreat in Valley Center.
ELLIOTT: We know this. We know they`ve been there about a week. At the Christian retreat. So we know that. We know the time frame of Colorado where they were there on June 2nd. So that`s the information we have right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to the lines to Nicole in Kentucky. Hi, Nicole.
NICOLE, CALLER FROM KENTUCKY: I just have a question, Nancy. I heard the attorney say that he did not think that the mother should be charged. I just wanted to know if there is a neglect charges that can be done and if she had any prior involvement with social services prior to the -- prior to running with the sex offender -- if she was under investigation for neglect for living with a sex offender?
GRACE: Good idea. To Mary Watson, grandmother of little Haylee. Had child services ever investigated your daughter or anything to do with Haylee before?
WATSON: As far as I know, they haven`t. But I have had custody of Haylee before.
GRACE: You have had custody of her before?
WATSON: Yes, I have.
GRACE: Why?
WATSON: I took her for temporary custody while my daughter was going to school and working two jobs at the same time in Phoenix, Arizona, and I took her home with me and took care of her.
GRACE: And why did you have.
WATSON: I didn`t want her to go from sitter to sitter.
GRACE: Why did you have custody this time?
WATSON: I got emergency custody so we could see if we could get an Amber Alert put out.
GRACE: OK.
WATSON: And so we could bring Haylee home safe.
GRACE: To Caryn Stark, psychologist joining us out of New York. Caryn, are these women so desperate for love they`ll even get in bed with a tier-three sex predator with their little girl?
CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: Absolutely, Nancy. They are desperate for love and they are willing to sacrifice their children. That`s the most heinous part of this, is that they don`t feel good about themselves. They don`t know what to offer up to a man and so they are willing to offer up a child.
GRACE: Caryn -- put Dr. Stark back up. So your rationale is she doesn`t feel good about herself. Do you think we care about her self- esteem? Putting -- I don`t find it laughable. Putting a baby at risk?
If you will recall, Dr. Caryn Stark, we saw that video footage from a local Target where they were returning a tent where they had camped out? The mommy went in alone which means the daughter, the baby girl, was alone with a tier-three sex offender whose history includes attacking minors sexually.
Now, did she just have blinders on? I mean, she knows about his record even if she says otherwise. So explain the psyche to me, Caryn Stark.
STARK: Well, I don`t know, Nancy. It`s -- you`re right that it`s the wrong thing to do. And that it doesn`t matter how she feels about herself. But the truth of the matter is she is desperate. And so she puts it out of her mind. That`s how this psyche works. It goes into her unconscious.
She actually tells herself to repress it. So that she could have this man be in her life. And I`m sure she told herself nothing was going to happen to her daughter because he seems so terrific to her. Didn`t make an exception.
GRACE: So you mean, she rationalizes it like -- well, you know, I`m sure his first victim, it was her fault, it wasn`t his fault.
STARK: That`s it.
GRACE: He`s a changed man, blah blah blah. OK. I get it. She talks herself into it.
To Cheryl in Virginia. Hi, Cheryl.
CHERYL, CALLER FROM VIRGINIA: Hi, Nancy. I love your show. You do such great work.
GRACE: Bless you. Thank you.
CHERYL: My question is, is it a definite thing that the mother will lose custody to the grandmother? I mean, I`m hoping so. But is that a definite?
GRACE: Let`s find out. Attorney Renee Rockwell out of Atlanta, John Burris, famed defense attorney out of San Francisco.
Renee, what about it?
ROCKWELL: Nancy, I cannot see that she would be able to retain custody. Now I would not be so sure that granny is going to get the baby. That baby is up for grabs. Somebody else may have access to that child if Child Services does not think that granny would abide by the rules for the mother to have.
GRACE: OK.
ROCKWELL: . only supervised visitation.
GRACE: Number one, her name is not granny. Her name is Mrs. Mary Watson. She is with us tonight. And right now, she`s got a court ordered custody.
Now, Renee Rockwell, when you say the baby is up for grabs, as you say in your vernacular, do you know of anyone else that would have a right to the baby other than the blood grandmother?
ROCKWELL: Of course, Nancy, the father, if he does not have a record, but that`s a whole another story. The father would have access to the child. But what I`m saying, Nancy, is that because of the attention in this case, Child Services is going to make sure that whoever has this child does not allow the mother access to the child.
GRACE: But wait a minute. Remember this. Miss Watson, when your daughter took off on her trip with the sex predator and her little girl, she had custody. There was nothing you could do to stop her at that time, is that right, Miss Watson?
WATSON: That`s right, Nancy.
GRACE: All right.
WATSON: And I want to thank you for correcting her.
GRACE: You`re darned right. This baby is not up for grabs. This grandmother has no history of any type of violation whatsoever that would keep her from her blood granddaughter. So suggesting that she`s going to be thrown into foster care or something like that, is way, way out of the ballpark.
ROCKWELL: That`s not.
GRACE: Even for you, Renee Rockwell.
ROCKWELL: Nancy, that is not my suggestion. All I`m saying is because of the attention in this case.
GRACE: Yes, yes.
ROCKWELL: . Child Services is going to be very involved with whoever has custody of the child.
GRACE: OK. Well, I hope so. John Burris, what about it?
BURRIS: Well, I don`t think that she`s going to lose necessarily permanent custody of this child. She may lose her in the short run. But you just can`t take someone`s child.
GRACE: Are you talking about mommy?
BURRIS: I`m talking about mommy. I think that in the short run she`s going to lose custody of the child because she has criminal.
GRACE: You know what, Burris?
BURRIS: . that she`s got to deal.
GRACE: Burris, where did you go to law school?
BURRIS: But in the long run, she is not.
GRACE: I`m serious.
BURRIS: University of California, Berkeley.
GRACE: Where did you go to law school?
BURRIS: Both halls. A popular law school.
GRACE: I do think at this moment they`re going to claim you because this mommy is losing parental rights.
BURRIS: No, no, no.
GRACE: I`m telling you.
BURRIS: Only for a short term. Only for a short term.
GRACE: And I`m not a betting woman. But I would put everything I`ve got.
BURRIS: But not forever.
GRACE: A short time. Hold on.
BURRIS: They`ve got -- not forever. She`s not going to lose.
GRACE: Mike Brooks.
BURRIS: They`ve got to go through the hearing. You just can`t take the child. There has to be hearings about this.
GRACE: Of course there`s going to be a hearing.
BURRIS: But that was -- but it`s not going to be permanent.
GRACE: It`s called a jury trial.
BURRIS: Not permanent. Not permanent.
GRACE: Mike Brooks, former fed with the FBI, what kind of charges is mommy looking at?
MIKE BROOKS, FMR. DC POLICE DETECTIVE SERVED ON FBI TERRORISM TASK FORCE: Oh, mommy is looking at aiding and abetting. She`s looking at possible endangerment charges here, Nancy.
She`s not -- she could get locked up and keep in mind, Nancy, Mr. James Donathan, Haylee`s dad, he`s also locked up because he`s complicit in the escape of Robbi Potter, along with Cyle Watson, Candace`s brother who is a convicted sex offender, along with daddy`s girlfriend.
So, you know, there are more players in here who may face additional charges once everybody is interviewed.
GRACE: Back to Pete Elliot, the U.S. Marshal from the northern district of Ohio.
Pete, let me get this clear. This whole family other than the grandmother was hell-bent on helping a sex predator, a convicted sex predator, escape, locked down in a halfway house. Why? What got over this mother to put her child at risk and join in with the rest of her family to get this guy out?
ELLIOTT: From my understanding, love. From what we learned last night, she said she`s in love with him. She knew she`s going to help him any way she could. And.
GRACE: In love? In love?
ELLIOTT: In love.
GRACE: When did she fall in love with a sex predator? How did that happen? He was in jail in a halfway house.
ELLIOTT: Well, I would -- I would imagine when she helped him break out of the halfway house.
GRACE: So she -- it`s kind of like a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde. That`s how they see themselves. Except Bonnie and Clyde didn`t take a 4- year-old girl along with a sex predator.
To Ernie Allen, the president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, one of our most esteemed guests.
Ernie, have you ever seen anything like it?
ERNIE ALLEN, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: Well, unfortunately, Nancy, yes. We know that in a lot of these cases, these offenders target women in order to get access to their children. So I think what`s important here is that Child Protective Services do its work, evaluate the situation and make sure this little girl is safe and ends up in the right place.
GRACE: Ernie Allen, congratulations on 25 years of finding missing and exploited children.
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WATSON: The main thing I`m worried about is Haylee, getting her back to where she has a stabilized -- where she can have her friends, her dancing and all that and she don`t have to go through none of this ever again.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The search to find this little girl is showing no signs of letting up.
GRACE: What are police telling you tonight?
MELISSA SWIONTEK, MOTHER OF MISSING 2-YR. OLD TOT, JADA JUSTICE: They are working around the clock. You know, they are following up on every lead they have. Every call and just that -- they are working until my baby is found.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jada`s 18-year-old babysitter, a relative, claims the little girl was taken from her car parked here at Glen Park Gas in Gary Tuesday night as she went inside to get milk.
Her loved ones continue to plea for the girl`s safe return.
SWIONTEK: We`re waiting for anybody with any information to bring her, bring her home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jada`s father says he`s certain his little girl is still alive and he`s confident that she will be found soon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m not here to crucify and -- you know, blame nobody. And nothing like that. I just -- you know, I`m just here to bring Jada home. That`s all I know, you know, my daughter is out there. And she needs to be brought home.
SWIONTEK: She told me she went to the gas station, went to get milk so she`d have milk for the morning. That she had just finished up the milk. They had chocolate milk with their dinner. She wanted to have milk for the morning. Her and Jada went to the gas station. She parked there, went in, and when she came out my daughter was gone.
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GRACE: Out to Clark Goldband, our producer on the story from the get- go.
Clark, what`s the latest?
CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: New information at this hour, Nancy. It involves the child sitter, Angelica Castillo. Law enforcement is now saying the first time she was questioned she appeared high, intoxicated of some sort. Law enforcement can`t say for sure what it was but they don`t think it was cocaine.
GRACE: I`m going to go straight to special guest joining us tonight in a prime time exclusive. The mother of little Jada, Melissa Swiontek.
Miss Swiontek, what do you make of authorities now claiming that the babysitter you had may have been high on some type of drug or alcohol when they interviewed her when Jada went missing?
SWIONTEK: I wish they would have tested her. I wish they would have tested her to see if that was the case. I mean, it may have been and maybe that`s why she parked there and maybe that`s why the doors weren`t locked. Anything is possible. I -- I don`t know what happened.
GRACE: Well, let me ask you this.
SWIONTEK: I would hope not, but I don`t know.
GRACE: I`m concerned about a babysitter, so-called babysitter, that`s high as a kite, when she`s got a baby that`s she`s taking care of, that she`s out in the car, she`s driving. How well did you know this babysitter?
SWIONTEK: She was my cousin. She was my first cousin. And she`s been in my kids` lives since they were born. She`s -- you know, she was very close with my kids. And my kids loved her. You know, she loved my kids. And they have done plenty of the good things. They were good help, you know, with my babies. And I -- I never -- I never thought that she was capable of anything of this.
GRACE: Did she have any history -- did she have any history of drugs or alcohol?
SWIONTEK: I mean, not that I know of. I don`t know. I mean -- none of this is her history. None of this is the Angelica I know.
GRACE: Has she been in touch with you since Jada went missing?
SWIONTEK: I did talk to her one time through an attorney, on speaker phone, and she`s just saying the same things to me. I did try to get a hold of her a little bit earlier today. And hopefully she`ll be getting back to me.
GRACE: What did she say?
SWIONTEK: I want to talk to her and I need more answers.
GRACE: What did she say to you?
SWIONTEK: She tells me she -- the one time I spoke to her, she said that, you know, that she went to go get milk and cigarettes. She went to the gas station and -- I asked her how could you leave the doors unlocked? Why did you park there? And she don`t know. She don`t have answers.
GRACE: OK. Let`s back it up.
SWIONTEK: And she just brings more questions.
GRACE: Let`s back it up. Clark, what happened the night baby Jada goes missing?
GOLDBAND: Well, it was about 9:30 p.m., Nancy, last Tuesday, when Angelica Castillo, the child sitter, went to go grab milk and a pack of smokes at a local convenience store. She said she was in there for just a few minutes, came back out. The child who was in the child seat when she claims she left was not there when she came back. The `91 Cadillac door was wide open. She called law enforcement.
GRACE: Does she say she had the doors locked, Clark?
GOLDBAND: It`s not clear at this time, Nancy.
GRACE: To the mom, Melissa Swiontek, does she say she had the car doors locked?
SWIONTEK: She said that the car doors were not locked and that when she got back to the car the car doors were shut. That`s what she told me.
GRACE: They were shut or they were locked?
SWIONTEK: No, no, no. She said they were -- she didn`t lock the doors when she got out of the car. But when she got back to the car and my daughter wasn`t there, that all the doors were closed. You know, like -- they weren`t locked. She didn`t lock the doors.
GRACE: To Kathy Chaney with the "Chicago Defender", what more do we know, Kathy?
KATHY CHANEY, REPORTER, CHICAGO DEFENDER: Pretty much the searches are continuing to go on. I know that they`re doing land searches, searches from helicopters. I know that at least 100 leads have come in to the FBI and they`re sifting through those. But everybody is just continuing the search on Jada.
GRACE: Out to the lines. Ellen in Kentucky. Hi, Ellen.
ELLEN, CALLER FROM KENTUCKY: Hi, Nancy. I know -- only want to thank you for what you do for the victims and those who survive. Also, the soldiers who are the casualties that you show at the end of every single program.
GRACE: Thank you, Ellen in Kentucky. What`s your question, dear?
ELLEN: The father said -- at the beginning when his statement, he was going to do whatever until there was closure?
GRACE: Yes.
ELLEN: But then he says he`s sure that she`s still alive. And how can -- either one of them be sitting there talking to you, all made up and not just devastated?
GRACE: To Miss Swiontek. Miss Swiontek, explain to me your state of mind, what you have been going through since Jada went missing. And you have taken and passed a polygraph.
SWIONTEK: Yes. I`m in another world. It`s -- it`s unbelievable. And I have hope and we all have hope and we have hope and that my daughter is alive. That she`s out there and she`s alive and she`ll be found. And that`s what keeps us strong, knowing that we are out there every single day, looking and waiting for her to come home.
GRACE: To Mike Brooks, former fed with the FBI. Mike, what are the cops doing to try to find her?
BROOKS: Nancy, they`ve gotten some leads today and we`re concentrating on another area apparently near the 18-year-old`s home. But they didn`t say what information that they have that led the there. But they did expand that search today.
You know, I guarantee you they`re going through everything else. You know they searched through her apartment. Don`t know what they took anything out of there. And, you know, the other thing, Nancy, is witnesses. If anybody was near there and they saw anything, that they might not have even thought was something of importance, please contact the FBI because they need your help.
GRACE: And I want to go very quickly to Ernie Allen. What do you do in this situation, Ernie?
ALLEN: Well, you keep the case alive. There is hope. This little girl is 2 years old. She`d be easily manipulated. So you do -- you investigate and parallel tracks. They focused on the family. They`re focusing on the people closest to the child.
Obviously they`re concerned that the babysitter parked around the side. Nobody really saw her disappear. So the key thing is for the public to provide the key piece of information.
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SWIONTEK: It`s terrible. It`s like waking up every morning and, like, life is over without her. Hopefully she comes back to us.
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GRACE: It`s just not adding up. It is not adding up. This little girl left out of a darkened parking lot at a local convenience store. Babysitter comes out and says uh-oh, she`s gone.
To Nicole in Massachusetts. Hi, Nicole.
NICOLE, CALLER FROM MASSACHUSETTS: Hi, Nancy. Thanks for taking my call.
GRACE: Yes, ma`am, thank you for calling. What`s your question.
NICOLE: I just have a quick question. In most days today, every gas station has a camera somewhere. Were there any cameras outside or inside that can prove she was even at the gas station at that time or.
GRACE: What do we know, Clark Goldband?
GOLDBAND: It`s our understanding, Nancy, that law enforcement has confirmed she was in the store. There are two surveillance cameras, one outside, one inside. However, we don`t know what they show and our understanding is that it did not get a shot inside the vehicle of where Jada may have been sitting.
GRACE: Very quickly, I want to go to Ernie Allen, the president of the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children. They are celebrating, I guess you could say, 25 years of NCMEC
Ernie, what a track record.
ALLEN: Well, Nancy, if you think back to the way things were, a quarter century ago, you couldn`t enter missing child information into the FBI`s national crime computer. You could enter information about stolen cars, stolen guns, but not stolen children.
And every police department in America had a waiting period. So if your child disappeared, they`d tell you, well, if he doesn`t show up in a day or two, call us back. I think the good news is that all of that has changed and that more missing children come home safely today than ever before.
GRACE: I just want to say God bless you, Ernie, and God bless NCMEC. In 2008 helped recover more than -- in its entire 25-year history for the year, helped in the recovery of 135,000 children over the years.
Let`s stop and remember Army Corporal Pruitt Rainey, 22, Haw River, North Carolina. Left Campbell University to enlist. Lost his life days before he was to complete deployment. Touched so many lives. Loved martial arts, being a youth leader at his church. Dreamed of finishing college and being a teacher and wrestling coach. Leaves behind parents Frankie and Linda, four brothers, two sisters, grandmother Linda.
Pruitt Rainey, American hero.
Thanks to our guests but especially to you. And a special good night from Florida, friend of the show, Stephen.
See you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, friend.
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