Return to Transcripts main page

Nancy Grace

Croslin`s Father Doubts She Was Home When Haleigh Disappeared

Aired September 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, Satsuma, Florida. A 5- year-old little girl tucked into bed. Five hours later, she`s gone, vanished, the back door propped wide open. Daddy comes home from the night shift to find not a trace of little Haleigh. Girlfriend-turned-new-stepmom Misty Croslin`s own father doubts her story about the night Haleigh disappears -- now, that`s a bombshell -- stating plainly she may have well very left the home and the two little children sleeping alone there, this blowing the case wide open.

Croslin`s brother and sister-in-law undergo 14 grueling hours of police interrogation, police demanding to know whether they helped Croslin hide little Haleigh, Croslin`s family now distancing themselves from the new bride. This on the heels of an alleged sighting at a local Wal-Mart near the brother`s home, police sifting through the brother`s phone records, those records confirming multiple calls between Croslin and the brother the night Haleigh disappears. In fact, the whole Croslin family and bio dad Ronald Cummings trying desperately to reach Croslin by phone the night of the kidnap. She responds to no one.

And major blowup between Haleigh`s father, Ronald Cummings, and Misty Croslin just before the child disappears. But is it motive for murder? After Croslin flunks a polygraph, family and friends push her to undergo hypnosis about the night Haleigh goes missing. She refuses. Croslin caught on tape trying to explain the failed poly. We have the video. Her bed reportedly not slept in the night Haleigh vanishes. She now says up to four people in the home that night but calls it a dream-like memory. Tonight, where is Haleigh?

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: 911. What`s your emergency?

MISTY CROSLIN, HALEIGH`S BABY-SITTER/STEPMOM: I just -- I just woke up and our back door was all open, and I can`t find my daughter.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More developments today in the case of missing 5- year-old Florida girl Haleigh Cummings. Haleigh`s aunt is speaking out. Lindsy Croslin reportedly says investigators questioned Misty Croslin`s sister-in-law, Chelsea Croslin, for about 14 hours. Lindsy Croslin claims investigators wanted to know if Chelsea Croslin or Timothy Croslin helped sister Misty Croslin hide Haleigh.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There were a series of phone calls between Misty and her brother, Timmy, the same brother that lives in Massachusetts. This is what led police to question him for a half a day regarding things that were said to him by Misty the night Haleigh went missing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Questions remain about the alleged sighting of Haleigh at a Wal-Mart just south of Boston Saturday. Police refuse to comment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Law enforcement`s being pretty quiet about what actually took place. They can`t confirm anything at this time, but there was obviously a report that Haleigh was spotted up there in Massachusetts, and they`re checking it out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While police still have no suspects in the case, Lindsy Croslin says the family is now pulling away from Misty Croslin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The latest twist in this family feud is this final judgment against Hank Croslin, Jr. He`s the brother of Misty Cummings, formerly Misty Croslin. It says Hank, Jr., can`t go within 500 feet of Misty or her home and adds he cannot have any firearms or ammunition.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lindsy Croslin says she no longer feels safe in the area and is moving, fearing that if she stays, she is setting her own three children up to be stolen.

GRACE: Ronald, has the theory that Misty left the home some time during the night been disproved?

RONALD CUMMINGS, HALEIGH`S FATHER: I`m not sure. I believe that it has, Nancy. I`m almost 100 percent sure, but I wouldn`t tell you that and lie to you. I`m pretty sure it has been disproved.

GRACE: Do you believe she left the home and left the children alone, Ronald?

CUMMINGS: Absolutely not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: And tonight, live to Connecticut and the mystery surrounding the sudden disappearance of a gorgeous young Ivy League med student set to walk down the aisle this Sunday, the 24-year-old beauty last spotted on grainy surveillance video walking into a Yale research facility. A false fire alarm mysteriously goes off in the research building. People rush out and Le is never seen again. Where is brainy beauty 24-year-old Annie Le?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police looking for any clue to the whereabouts of this Yale student who disappeared days before her wedding. The search for Annie Le seems to be intensifying. FBI agents and state police search dogs enter the building where she was last seen in an effort to find the 24-year-old Yale medical student. And just moments ago, they began going through the garbage behind this building. FBI agents also spent time inside her New Haven apartment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This surveillance photo is the last time anybody has seen Le. Friends say she was on her way to the lab on Amistad (ph) Street in New Haven. Co-workers say she just vanished, leaving behind all her belongings and her future husband.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She left her pocketbook, her cell phone, everything in the lab. She`s getting married Sunday. Her fiance hasn`t heard from her. So everybody`s pretty worried, pretty scared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Breaking news. Girlfriend-turned-new-stepmom Misty Croslin`s own father doubts her story about the night Haleigh disappears, stating plainly she may very well have left the home, leaving behind two little children sleeping there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROSLIN: They haven`t left me alone for six months. I`ve been the one, the main focus. They just need to move on and look for the right person.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New details emerge in the case of missing 5-year- old Florida girl Haleigh Cummings. Stepmom-slash-baby-sitter Misty Croslin`s family is speaking out, giving details about investigators reportedly questioning Misty Croslin`s brother, Timothy Croslin, and his wife, Chelsea. Haleigh`s aunt, Lindsy Croslin, told Fox affiliate WOFL...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They had Chelsea in for questioning for, like, 14 hours. Yes. They took her in the morning, let her go home, and then they went back and got her and she was questioned. They just asked her the basic same questions. Do you know anything about Haleigh? Did you -- you know, did you or Tim try to get her -- get -- help Misty to hide Haleigh? I mean, yes, crazy questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it was near Cape Cod, Mass., where a tip was called in saying someone sighted Haleigh at a local Wal-Mart.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some anonymous tips were give by phone to media outlets in the Cape Cod and Boston area. Some of those calls indicated there was a possible sighting of a girl matching the description of Haleigh at a Wal-Mart store in Abington, Massachusetts.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Haleigh`s grandmother, Teresa Neves, also said that she was told she was seen with an adult. She was seen in a shopping cart, shopping with an adult. She didn`t say if it was a male or a female.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Misty has been deceptive, that her stories don`t make sense, and that the key to this case lies with her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Straight out to Jean Casarez, legal correspondent with In Session. Jean, bombshell tonight, her own father claiming she may not have been in the home the night little Haleigh goes missing. That cracks the case wide open.

JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, IN SESSION: This is brand-new information, Nancy, and this is coming from Misty Cummings`s own father. He is saying that she believes that she may not have been at that home for the entire evening that night.

Now that is corroborated by some the questions we`re learning that Putnam County authorities asked in Massachusetts to Misty`s brother and his wife, Chelsea. Chelsea Cummings, the aunt of Haleigh, was questioned for 14 hours in Massachusetts, taken back home, taken back to the police station and questioned again.

And one question that keeps resurfacing -- and we`re learning this first time tonight -- is that Ronald Cummings tried to get ahold of Misty that night, the night that Haleigh went missing. He couldn`t reach her. He called Misty`s brother, Tommy. Tommy called Misty`s brother, Timothy, to try to find out where Misty was. Nobody could find her.

GRACE: Art Harris, investigative journalist, has been in Satsuma for the duration. Art Harris, this is huge, that her own father is now saying she may have left the home, not been there. I mean, that voids her entire story. It`s all -- it`s down the trash chute now.

ART HARRIS, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Well, when your dad says he doesn`t think you were at the trailer when you said you were, that`s serious, Nancy. He is also saying, though, that he stands by Misty. He doesn`t put much stock in the lie detector test, but he says he doubts her story.

GRACE: To Marlaina Schiavo, our producer the story from the get-go. What about it, Marlaina.

MARLAINA SCHIAVO, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, when I spoke to Hank Croslin, Misty`s father, earlier today, he said that he puts absolutely nothing into those polygraphs. He thinks that they are ridiculous, and they mean nothing to him. He stands by his daughter...

GRACE: Marlaina?

SCHIAVO: Yes?

GRACE: Marlaina...

SCHIAVO: Yes?

GRACE: Don`t care what anybody thinks about a polygraph, OK?

SCHIAVO: OK.

GRACE: I`m asking you, not as a polygraph expert, not as a polygrapher, what do you know about the bombshell that her own father doubts whether she was in the home?

SCHIAVO: He told me that he doesn`t think she had anything to do with hurting Haleigh in any way, but he thinks the one thing she might be guilty of is possibly leaving the trailer the night Haleigh went missing.

GRACE: OK, you know what? To Marc Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation. Marc, you know, if it were just that simple, do you really think, Marc Klaas -- that was a shot of Polly Klaas. That`s Marc`s daughter, who was abducted and murdered many years ago.

Marc, if it that were simple, that she simply left the home, don`t you think by now she would have broken down and said, OK, I left the home. I went to this party, or, I went out with so-and-so, or, I did this. That`s what happened. I don`t know where Haleigh is. Don`t you think she would have cracked and told that, if that were all she had to tell?

MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: Well, I think that that`s quite possible, but she was a 16-year-old child whose job was to look after somebody else`s two young children. And I can only imagine that this girl would want to get out and have some fun of some kind, whether it was a party, whether it was a man, whether it was anything, but just to get out of that stifling environment that we`ve all become accustomed to over the years. So I think that this scenario is very consistent with what could have happened.

GRACE: To Bethany Marshall. Dr. Bethany -- psychoanalyst, author of "Dealbreakers" -- I don`t think it`s that simple. I do not believe that she would have held out this long and clung to a lie if her only fault was leaving the home that evening.

BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: Well, I agree. And what is her father`s motivation for saying that she wasn`t at trailer that night? I think his motivation is it does not look so good if she was there and something happened to that little girl. If she committed an act of violence, if she let a predator in the home, if she had a party, she was high, it doesn`t sound so good, and he is covering for her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUMMINGS: My feelings are, we need to find my daughter.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think Misty holds some information that could help do that?

CUMMINGS: I don`t think that she holds any information that`s going to find Haleigh.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: You said your back door was wide open?

CROSLIN: Yes. It was brick -- like, a brick on the floor. Like, when I went to sleep, it was not like that.

911 OPERATOR: OK, the back door -- listen to me. Your back door was wide open? What are you talking about a brick?

CROSLIN: Yes.

911 OPERATOR: What? What is the brick?

CROSLIN: It`s on the back door, on the stairs. We have, like, a walkway.

911 OPERATOR: And there was a brick laying there?

CROSLIN: Yes. It`s still there.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: What is her story about what happened that night?

CUMMINGS: The same thing that she`s telling police or whoever, that she went to bed -- she put Haleigh to bed, done some laundry and went to bed and woke up to the door propped open.

CROSLIN: There was a brick, like, a cinderblock that was holding the screen door open. And that brick -- that door -- that screen door`s always closed, you know? That brick -- I`ve never seen a brick even around there. The cop said there was a whole bunch of bricks about 50 feet away, but I`ve never seen any bricks at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: What kind of description of her pajamas that she was wearing?

CUMMINGS: I don`t know! (DELETED) I was at work!

911 OPERATOR: The officers are going to come out there and do what they can. We can`t have him screaming and yelling at the officers whenever they get there, OK?

CUMMINGS: Give me my (DELETED) phone! I`ve got better people to talk to than (DELETED) that ain`t coming!

(END AUDIO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls live. Out to Wilma in Alabama. Hi, Wilma.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi.

GRACE: Hi, dear. What`s your question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nancy, you`re one of my -- I`m one of our biggest fans. And my question is...

GRACE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... the little girl, Haleigh -- do you think maybe she was daddy`s little girl and Misty being a little girl herself, there was competition and she couldn`t take the competition?

GRACE: That`s an excellent psychoanalyst, Wilma in Alabama. Let`s go to the shrink. What about it, Dr. Bethany?

MARSHALL: I think it`s a great question that Wilma asked. But what they would be able to do is measure this in a forensic psychological evaluation by asking her to talk about the little girl. And what they would look for is their empathy, or does she talk about her in a critical and punitive way, in a resentful way, talking about little girl`s relationship with the father. So it`s a great question. I`m sure they`ve already explored this avenue.

GRACE: Why are you so sure?

MARSHALL: You know, that`s a good question, too. I think it`s because she hasn`t cracked. And when you ask a question -- in my field, we say when you ask a question, all you get is an answer, meaning you may not get back what you really wanted. So if you do circles around the question, you ask about the person`s attitude towards the child -- did they have empathy towards the child? Was there a financial incentive to get rid of the child? Did they want a child of their own, so they resented the fact that this was not their own biological child, then you get a better sense of what may have happened.

GRACE: Out to Terry Shoemaker, the attorney for Ronald Cummings, Haleigh`s father. Terry, thank you for being with us. Terry, what does Ronald make of Misty Croslin`s father announcing that she may not had been in the home the night Haleigh goes missing?

TERRY SHOEMAKER, ATTORNEY FOR RONALD CUMMINGS (via telephone): Well, Nancy, Ronald really hasn`t discussed that particular comment by Misty`s dad. I know that -- he was in my office yesterday and we spoke a lot about some phone calls that he`d received from Misty`s dad. And today, he did not say anything to me specifically regarding that. But there has been a lot of friction. So he doesn`t take much stock in anything they`re saying right now.

GRACE: So he takes it all with a box of salt. OK, back to the lines. Jennifer, Washington. Hi, Jennifer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I was curious about the timeline, whether Nancy -- or whether Misty had called 911 before or after Ronald got home. Because the way she worded it, We can`t find our daughter, it wasn`t as...

GRACE: Well, I`ve got a shocker for you, Jennifer. She did not call 911 -- 911 was not called until Ronald Cummings came in the door from the night shift. She had not bothered to call 911.

Now, speaking of phone calls, unleash the lawyers -- Bill Scheaffer, former prosecutor, WFTV legal analyst joining us out of Florida, Mickey Sherman, high-profile attorney, author of "How Can You Defend Those People," and returning to us, renowned attorney, defense attorney out of the New York jurisdiction, Richard Herman.

Richard, you don`t have a problem with Misty Croslin, the new bride- turned-stepmom. She`s on a three-day AWOL. She`s gone. Nobody can find her. She comes back to the home that day. That night, her phone`s ringing off the hook. Her family, every member of her family`s calling her. Ronald Cummings is calling her. But conveniently that night, the night the little girl goes missing, she won`t pick up her cell phone, will not answer any telephone. What about it, Herman?

RICHARD HERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Hey, Nancy...

GRACE: Hi, Richard.

HERMAN: ... that`s a small community out there. If she left that home, surely by now, someone would have seen her. Someone would have come to the authorities and...

GRACE: Could you answer...

HERMAN: ... said, Yes, we`ve seen her...

GRACE: ... the question?

HERMAN: I don`t know. Her phone was broken. She didn`t hear it going.

GRACE: No.

HERMAN: There`s a million reasons for that, Nancy.

GRACE: No, no, no. No, no. No. Mickey Sherman, we have no evidence the phone was broken. We have no evidence there was anything wrong with her reception. That is B.S., all right! So let`s address the facts as we know them. Everybody in her family and her soon-to-be husband trying desperately to reach her. She won`t pick up during those crucial hours. What about it, Mick?

MICKEY SHERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It`s weird. It`s bizarre. But these are wacky people...

GRACE: It`s weird? That`s what you`ve got for me, it`s weird?

SHERMAN: No, and I also added bizarre.

GRACE: Scheaffer, what do you think?

SHERMAN: These people don`t think like we think.

BILL SCHEAFFER, WFTV LEGAL ANALYST, FORMER PROSECUTOR: I think it`s more sinister than bizarre. And it`s noteworthy that not only does her own father not believe her, but her own husband doesn`t believe her. And if we`re to believe Tim Miller, that`s why he married her, to keep her here in Florida so he could get to the truth.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHIAVO: Let me show you the back door and show you how both doors close automatically. So -- and I`m also going to show you the lock because the lock is about three feet from the floor, and we know that that`s about as tall as Haleigh stands.

So here`s the back door and here`s the lock. It sticks. So there you go. Now, we open the back door and here`s the back screen door, the one that was propped open with the cinderblock, OK? Now, if you see, when it closes, it slams. It makes a loud noise. But if you leave this door, this slowly closes, as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls live. Out to Dr. Joshua Perper. We know that the home was the crime scene, at least of a kidnap. Now, why do you believe it may be difficult to find evidence of a perpetrator in the home?

DR. JOSHUA PERPER, BROWARD COUNTY CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER: Well, the reason is that the victim was a small child and it was not difficult to take her, especially considering the fact that she had some kind of intellectual challenges because of a syndrome which she had. So certainly, she would know the person who took her, there would be no problem. But even if the person would be a stranger, she wouldn`t react as a normal child. And if the person would be gentle and didn`t cause her any kind of pain, there would be nothing to be found because there`s no struggle.

GRACE: Exactly.

PERPER: And obviously, a child of this age cannot struggle effectively.

GRACE: Art Harris, what can you add.

HARRIS: Well, I can add that Dr. Perper`s onto something, that she would not behave, perhaps in a placid way. I spoke to a co-worker of Ronald Cummings PDM (ph) Bridge Company, at who overheard talking to Misty one night when he said if Haleigh acted up, to go ahead and spank her. In other words, to use corporal punishment on her. So there`s some evidence that she did get a little upset at times.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ronald, do you feel that Misty has the key to this investigation?

CUMMINGS: No, I don`t. I think they are barking up the wrong tree.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A Yale graduate student is missing.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Annie Le is bride-to-be, planning to be married on Sunday. Declared missing by Yale Police. This surveillance video was distributed showing her on Tuesday morning here at the Ten Amistad Building. She`s not been seen since. Her wallet person cell phone found left behind at her desk.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Energetic, always smiling, they loved her in the lab. Great future ahead of her so we`re just praying that she`s just going to pop up somewhere and everything`s OK.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The tone and the tenor of this case has now changed. Police cruisers line the street. There are search dogs going down that sidewalk. This evening, agents began searching the garbage found outside the building where Annie Le was last seen.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: 24-year-old Annie Le described as 4`11" tall, 90 pounds. She disappeared without a trace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY GRACE, HOST: Straight out to Thomas Kaplan, the editor in chief of "The Yale Daily News." They broke the story of the missing student.

Thomas, what can you tell me about the investigation? You know, wait, let`s back it up. Let`s go back through what we know about her disappearance.

THOMAS KAPLAN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, YALE DAILY NEWS, NEWSPAPER BROKE STORY OF MISSING STUDENT (via phone): OK, well, at this point, all we really know is that on Tuesday morning, she went to work, as usual, to her office. At about 10:00, she left her purse in her office, took her I.D. card, walk a couple of blocks to a laboratory she often went to. She swiped her card. Went into the laboratory. And that`s the last anyone`s seen of her.

GRACE: Was she scheduled to be in the laboratory at that time?

KAPLAN: It`s not clear, but what we do know is that it was a commonplace that she worked. She would do experiments there. So that was nothing out of the ordinary. She had co-workers there and that was sort of a standard stop for her on any day.

GRACE: Thomas Kaplan, joining us from "The Yale Daily News." What you can tell me about her? Her wedding is set -- today is Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday -- in any 72 hours.

KAPLAN: Well, right. That`s what`s so strange about this. Her friends and co-workers have said she`s been planning her wedding for about a year now. She`s been looking forward to it. Very excited. She`s a very sort of upbeat, outgoing, always sort of smiling.

And that`s what I think makes it so strange. There was no hint that anything was amiss. And really no hint that she had any issues with the wedding or any thoughts about the wedding. She seemed perfectly excited. And that`s what everyone thought.

GRACE: To Ted Lorson, reporter with Metro Networks, joining us from Norwich, Connecticut. Also on the story.

Ted, thank you for being with us. Ted, what can you tell me about that false fire alarm that went off that morning in the research building where she was? People began rushing out of the building. None of the video surveillance seems to have captured her rushing out of the building but yet she`s never seen again.

TED LORSON, REPORTER, METRO NETWORKS, (via phone): Well, she was in the building at about 10:00 and the alarm was at about 1:00 so there was a few hours in between that she was inside the building. But with all of the obvious chaos from a fire alarm going off and people rushing in and out, even looking at that video, it may be very hard to see whether or not she went in or out, or whether she was with anybody at that time.

GRACE: So she would have been in the building from 10:00 to 1:00.

Ted Lorson, is there surveillance video of all the exit to the building?

LORSON: Well, there`s surveillance all around the building and there`s a lo of cameras that police will have to go through and look through and I`m sure they`ve been doing that but as far as all of the way around, I`m really not sure exactly what camera view you have.

GRACE: Here is a picture of her, Annie Le, just 24 years old. That`s photos of Annie and her fiancee from Facebook. They`re set to be married this Sunday in about 72 hours.

Back to Thomas Kaplan, editor-in-chief, "Yale Daily News." Thomas, what about the surveillance video around that research building?

KAPLAN: Well, from what we understand in sort of the chaos of everyone exiting the building, it was just really hard to make out, you know, the identities of the folks coming in and out. And there was nothing, at least on the sort of first viewing of the tape, that showed her exiting the building.

GRACE: Now wait a minute, wait a minute. Did she work in a cubie? Did she work in a laboratory.

KAPLAN: It`s more of a laboratory setting.

GRACE: Was anybody in there with her? Was she in the lab all by herself? Nobody can establish her being in there?

KAPLAN: People saw her when she got to work that morning but nobody really know where she went is my understanding.

GRACE: OK, now hold on. Do you mean where she left her purse she was -- we`ve got a witness, or when she went to the laboratory we`ve got a witness?

KAPLAN: So there are two different buildings we`re talking about.

GRACE: Yes.

KAPLAN: She left her purse in the office at first.

GRACE: Right.

KAPLAN: Then walked to the lab. There`s an electronic record of her key card being used to enter the lab but that`s sort of the last marker we have.

GRACE: Let me rephrase, Thomas. Once she got to the laboratory, did any living person verify they observed her there?

KAPLAN: I`m not 100 percent clear on that.

GRACE: OK.

KAPLAN: But I believe so.

GRACE: Now, Clark Goldband, our producer on the story. Clark, when did the FBI start going through the trash?

CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: Now Nancy, our understanding is this has happened in the last few hours.

GRACE: I`m sorry I could not hear you. Repeat.

GOLDBAND: Our understanding is this has happened in the last few hours. I can also tell you that law enforcement is also searching Annie`s apartment. They arrived there just a few hours ago. About four FBI officers.

GRACE: Clark, today`s Thursday, is it not?

GOLDBAND: Yes, ma`am.

GRACE: We know she`s missing by 1:00 on Tuesday, correct?

GOLDBAND: Yes, ma`am.

GRACE: Tom Shamshak, you`re the former cop, you`re the former police chief, you`re the instructor at Boston University. You`re the private investigator. Why the heck are they just now going through the trash? The trash from Tuesday`s probably has been thrown in an incinerator. Why are they just now going to her apartment? Hello.

TOM SHAMSHAK, FMR. POLICE CHIEF, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR, INSTRUCTOR AT BOSTON UNIV.: Nancy, yes, investigative 101 there, Nancy. What they should have been h be doing early on is looking at every container that was removed from the building regardless of the size. They should have locked that building down, interviewed everybody in the building.

You raised a very good point about nobody actually seeing her at that site. Her card was used. Could somebody else have used that card to get in there? I think they were a little slow to jump on this case quite frankly.

GRACE: Thomas Kaplan, I don`t really have a doubt that she went into the -- there she is right there. That`s video surveillance of her. Is that her going into the laboratory?

KAPLAN: Yes.

GRACE: OK. So we know that was her that swiped. But Shamshak raises a good point. We know she was in that laboratory. We know it was after 10:00, between 10:00 and 1:00. That`s when the alarm went off. We know that she left behind her pocketbook, her keys, her credit cards, her ATM, her driver`s license, the works were in that pocketbook, but, Thomas Kaplan, who`s running the investigation? Is it the university police?

KAPLAN: It`s the Yale Police Department, although the state police and the FBI are also assisting.

GRACE: Why is the campus police running a possible homicide investigation?

KAPLAN: Well, I think the situation there is because it happened within the sort of territory for which the Yale Police has jurisdiction, they take the lead on those investigations, although the FBI has been heavily involved today. And they conducted the search.

GRACE: Yes, well, that`s a day late and a dollar short. Where are her parents?

KAPLAN: That`s a good question. We haven`t heard anything publicly from her parents, although the Yale Police did release a statement today saying that her family and fiancee have been cooperating with the investigation.

GRACE: We`re taking your calls. Lakisha, Indiana, hi, dear.

LAKISHA, CALLER FROM INDIANA: Hi, again, Nancy. I`m one of your biggest fans. I watch you every night with my little baby. But I was wondering.

GRACE: Thank you for watching.

LAKISHA: You`re welcome.

GRACE: Hey, little baby, you need to be in bed.

LAKISHA: Well, she`s a third-shift baby. I know you said your kids be up at night sometimes before you get to the studio.

GRACE: Oh, yes, they`re up right until I leave. And I pray that they`re not up when I get home. OK.

LAKISHA: Yes, I only live off of four hours of sleep but it`s OK with me. And I`m just happy that I have a baby and that I`m blessed.

GRACE: Me too. Me too.

LAKISHA: But I was wanting to know if her boyfriend and her were arguing Monday night before she became -- before this disappearance basically.

GRACE: You know good question. Clark Goldband, first of all, let me get to the brass tax. Where was the fiancee at time she goes missing?

GOLDBAND: It`s our understanding he was in New York City attending graduate school at Columbia University.

GRACE: In graduate school at Columbia University. So I don`t care if they argued or not as long as he`s got an alibi and we can lock it in at the time she goes missing, it doesn`t matter.

But let`s answer Lakisha`s question. To Ted Lorson, any rift between the two?

LORSON: I`ve heard nothing of that and I`ve seen reports today that the fiancee is not considered a suspect at that time.

GRACE: OK. We are taking your calls live. A brainy beauty, Annie Le, just 24 years old, a brilliant researcher at Yale University is gone.

As we go to break, our prayers go out tonight to friend of the show, Lieutenant Colonel and U.S. Art Directorate, Jeff Henderson. He heads to both Iraq and Afghanistan for a third tour. An Apache helicopter pilot, 23 years of military service, he heads out on a special mission to help train troops.

Joining him, Airspace Coordinator for U.S. Art GS-13, Glenn (INAUDIBLE). His son Jake in the Air Force, Afghanistan. Waiting at home, Henderson`s Tavia, three sons, Chase, Jason, and Parker.

Jeff Henderson, Glenn (INAUDIBLE), please walk slow and hurry back.

And tonight, the verdict is in. Tonight`s winner of the "Number One Fan" contest, Flora and Tennessee, friends of the show, Kristyn and Wade. Our show inspired Kristyn so much she endured eight hours of pain to get this tattoo of me with a quote, "Hello, friend," on the inside of her arm. Ouch. She said it reminds to stay strong.

In Tennessee, during a late-night feedings of their 10-week-old, Wade, his wife Cindy and their baby boy Liam never misses a show. Mommy and daddy convinced first words will be "unleashed the lawyers."

But they`re not the only fans at home. 14-year-old Alexander also watches the show. He calls us the pretty lady show. Now that`s nicest compliment I`ve ever had next to John David and Lucy calling me mommy.

Congratulations, Kristyn and Wade. You both win copies of the new thriller "Eleventh Victim." And friends, thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A bride-to-be vanishes just days before her dream wedding? A ceremony friend says she was excited about it. Been planning for a year.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This may be the last account of 24-year-old Annie Le. A Yale School of Medicine graduate student.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re finding it extremely strange and unexpected that things like that would happen to a student in this manner. I mean she actually -- it`s not like she`s going it a weird place.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say this video surveillance was caught right after she left her office at the Sterling Hall of Medicine. Police found all of her belongings inside Sterling including her purse, wallet and money. Investigators believe she took her grad school ID. And there was a fire alarm at Sterling so that`s why her belongings may have been left inside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The surveillance video shows her going into a laboratory and does not show her leaving. And at this point, she has not been found.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: To the lines. Patricia in Georgia. Hi, Patricia.

PATRICIA, CALLER FROM GEORGIA: Good evening. How are you?

GRACE: I`m good, dear, what`s your question?

PATRICIA: My question is, just curious. Are both sides of family in favor of this wedding? Are they supportive?

GRACE: What do we know about it, Thomas Kaplan?

KAPLAN: I`ve not heard from the family at all. All we know is that we`re told they`re cooperating but we don`t know anything about that.

GRACE: Let`s unleash the lawyers. Bill Sheaffer, Orlando, Mickey Sherman, New York, Richard Herman from New York, been joining us out of Las Vegas tonight.

I don`t even want to know what you`re doing in Vegas, Herman. But go.

RICHARD HERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Researching.

GRACE: Right. Weigh-in, Bill Sheaffer.

BILL SHEAFFER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY, WFTV LEGAL ANALYST: Listen, earlier you asked why did this investigation lag? I`ll tell you why it lagged because as early as Wednesday, campus police are saying that the facts are more consistent with not -- no foul play. That this girl just disappeared.

Look, if you believe.

GRACE: You mean, she`s pulling a Jennifer Wilbanks?

SHEAFFER: I`m going to say, if you believe she`s a runaway bride as opposed to being a victim of some foul play, perhaps you`ll believe me, Nancy, when I tell you, though, I`m George Clooney`s body double.

GRACE: Now, Mickey Sherman, do you agree with Sheaffer, that this is more likely a kidnap or a foul play as opposed to a missing bride?

MICKEY SHERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, AUTHOR OF "HOW CAN YOU DEFEND THOSE PEOPLE?": Yes, I mean, it doesn`t sound like a Jennifer Wilbanks` situation. What you`ve got to remember is Yale University is (INAUDIBLE) and is beautiful as it is. It`s kind of set in the middle of New Haven, an inner city area.

Remember that Christian (INAUDIBLE) murder case many years ago we talked about on CourtTV, where this young man was murdered right in the halls of Yale.

GRACE: I remember. I remember.

SHERMAN: So, you know, bad things can happen to good people in very nice places.

GRACE: Richard Herman?

HERMAN: Well, pretty lady, let me just say as Marc Klaas teaches us all the time, the first 24 to 72 hours are critical. Looks like they dropped the ball the first 24 hours. They`ve got to wake up. The FBI`s got to get on this. I don`t think this is a mistake.

GRACE: Marc Klaas, Herman is right.

MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: Well, he is right. And I think people have to understand that college campuses are not the safe haven that people believe they are. In fact, college women are more likely to be victims of sexual assault than their non-college-bound peers. 1 in 5 college-bound women is going to be a victim of an attempted sexual assault during their lifetime.

And assaults on campuses are more often that the not conducted by somebody that is known to the victim.

GRACE: Out to the lines. Nancy, Pennsylvania. Hi, Nancy.

NANCY, CALLER FROM PENNSYLVANIA: Hi, Nancy. I finally got through. I`m so excited.

GRACE: Thank you for calling in, dear. What`s your question?

NANCY: Well, they partially answered it because my first impression is I thought maybe she was a runaway bride but my actual question is this. Maybe it`s work related. Maybe she was taken because of some project she was working on?

GRACE: Interesting theory. Thomas Kaplan, what was her research?

KAPLAN: We don`t really know. She was a graduate student in the Pharmacology Department. But that`s all we know. We don`t know specifically what she was working on.

GRACE: I`m not getting the feeling that she`s been kidnapped because she has some super secret cure to a disease. I don`t get it.

But back to you, Bill Sheaffer. Following up on the runaway bride theory. You don`t think that`s accurate, why?

SHEAFFER: She left all her personal effects, her money, her credit card, her wallet, her identification. If you`re going to plan a runaway, you`re not going to run away and leave all of those objects.

GRACE: Wait a minute, Jennifer Wilbanks did. Remember she went out for a jog? And all she had on was the clothes on her back and some cash.

SHEAFFER: Yes, but she`s crazy, for haven`s sakes.

GRACE: OK, well -- OK, you got me. OK, what about it, weigh in, Jean?

JEAN CASAREZ, CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": Well, here`s something, Nancy, that hasn`t been brought up. You`re not going to like this. It`s reminiscent of Virginia Tech but Yale University knew she was missing Tuesday afternoon. They saw that she left her purse and her cell and her money and her credit cards.

They did not alert the student body that someone was missing. It wasn`t until Wednesday, yesterday, that they told the student body that there was a missing person.

GRACE: Thomas Kaplan, is that true? And if so, what`s going on up there?

KAPLAN: Well, we know that her going missing was first reported to the police Tuesday evening. The first notification to the public came Wednesday afternoon. So it`s not immediately clear how quickly her co- workers got suspicious that maybe something had happened.

GRACE: Well, even at best, we know it`s Tuesday evening. And the campus was not alerted until 24 hours later.

KAPLAN: A little less than that. It was the afternoon on Wednesday. But there was some lag between the two times.

GRACE: Why?

KAPLAN: That`s unclear at this point.

GRACE: Well, what is the -- what are the authorities saying at Yale?

KAPLAN: I think -- I think the explanation is given so far.

GRACE: They`re hoping nobody is going to ask?

KAPLAN: Well, I think what they`ve said is they were trying to sort of look into it and find out what might have happened, where she might have gone before blasting out an alert.

GRACE: So many people are dropping the ball in the search for this young girl, set to be married on Sunday.

We are taking your calls. As we go to break, happy birthday to truly one of the sweetest people I know. Georgia, friend of the show, Donna Abrams, married to Steve Abrams, mother of 18-year-old twins Zach and Nick, and mommy to two golden labs, Buddy and Bo who watch the show every night.

She`s artistic, creative, a tennis player with a lot of heart and she loves Chick-fil-A. She`s even been known to dress up like a cow, go to Chick-fil-A to get a free Chick-fil-A sandwich along with her entire family.

Donna, happy birthday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A state police bloodhound has been called in and they`ve been searching this area over here. Annie Le works on Cedar Street and she comes around here to the lab where she keeps some animal and she does some research.

State Police have been using their bloodhound to go up and down the streets looking for any scent of the missing Yale student.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Ironically, the missing girl, Annie Le, had just written this article, "Crime and Safety in New Haven" in the Yale University magazine.

Clark Goldband, what was she saying on her Facebook? What`s the latest posting?

GOLDBAND: I can tell you, Nancy, that on her Facebook page as recently as Sunday, that Annie Le was actually counting down the days to her wedding, saying she was so excited and there are multiple posts on her Web site to that effect.

GRACE: And Jean Casarez, give me her description.

CASAREZ: She was a small little girl, 4`11" tall, 90 pounds, and the last time she was seen, which is that surveillance video, she was going into that lab building, a knee-length brown skirt, a bright green short- sleeved shirt, brown shoes and a brown necklace.

GRACE: Bethany Marshall, weigh in.

BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": She had so many risk factors for being a victim of kidnap and sexual assault. She was small and vulnerable. She walked the same route every single day. She was on a college campus where women are so vulnerable, for god sake.

She was 24 years old. Women between 20 and 24 are at the greatest risk of stalking and because she was about to get married, was someone stalking her and extremely jealous.

GRACE: Everyone, the tip line, 203-432-4400.

Let`s stop and remember Marine Sergeant Ryan Lane, 25, Castle Shannon, Pennsylvania. On the second tour, dreamed of serving Marines since high school like his father. Loved baseball. Remembered as a sweetheart who helped others. Dreamed of building a life with his wife in a new home they`ve just bought before deployment.

Leaves behind parents, Kathleen and Herald, brothers David, Mark and Michael, widow, Valerie.

Ryan Lane, American hero.

Thanks to our guests, but especially to you for being with us, and happy birthday to Florida, friend of the show, Phyliss Mimi Rector, 84 years young and still beautiful. Secret? Stay happy, stay healthy and leave negatives behind. Mom of seven sons, 17 grandchildren and two greats.

Happy birthday, Mimi.

Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.

END