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Nancy Grace
You-Tube, Twitter Show 15-Year-Old Accused Killer`s Dark Side
Aired November 02, 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 the heartland. A 9-year-old Missouri girl has a play date, walks home, still daylight, only about a thousand feet, never makes it home. The search for 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten comes to an end, her body found in a wooded area just houses from her own home. Murder suspect tonight in custody not a registered sex offender or a parolee, it`s a 15-year-old girl. We confirm suspect is the big sister of Elizabeth`s little playmate.
Bombshell tonight. YouTube and Twitter uncover a previously well- hidden dark side to the 15-year-old accused child killer. Listed hobby on her YouTube profile, "killing and Cutting." Repeat, "killing and cutting." That`s her hobby. This along with freakish video of suspect electrocuting herself and her little brothers on an electric fence. We have the video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stunning developments today in the case of 9-year- old Elizabeth Olten, whose body was found in a heavily wooded area behind her home. Social networking sites are allegedly painting a dark portrait of the 15-year-old teen girl accused of murdering Elizabeth Olten.
The teen girl suspect`s alleged YouTube profile page lists her hobbies, including cutting and killing people. The YouTube page also contains disturbing video allegedly showing the teen girl suspect giving herself shocks from an electrified fence on purpose, for fun.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She killed for sport. She killed for a thrill. She`s a cold-blooded psychopath, no remorse, no guilt. Maybe she`s watched one too many slasher films and says, That`s the kind of thing I want to do because that`ll give me the fun which I don`t get out of normal teen activities.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She will remain at the youth detention center until the hearing that will determine if she`ll be tried as an adult or not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And breaking news. Live, Ohio. Cops raid the home of a convicted rapist back on the streets accused of yet another sex attack. Once inside his three-story Cleveland home, seasoned detectives stunned to find women`s bodies hidden throughout the home, bodies on every floor of the home, even stuffed in the crawlspaces. Unsuspecting neighbors in shock over a killer living amongst them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, six bodies recovered from a house of horror, the stench of death so strong, neighbors gagged whenever they went past this house. Now we`re finding out the guy who lives there is a convicted rapist. Why didn`t anyone notice?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ve taken -- confirmed three bodies out of the home. We`ve now, with the assistance of the coroner`s office, removed what we believe are the remains of three additional victims.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 50-year-old suspect -- his name is Anthony Sowell -- he served 15 years for rape before moving into that house in 2005.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police found the bodies during an investigation into separate rape allegations. A woman said he attacked her in that house September 22nd.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What investigators did was they called in the coroner`s office. The coroner brought in a cadaver dog. The cadaver dog was able to go through the residence and to be able to find bodies in the crawlspace and shallow graves outside the home and also just laying about.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The coroner says it could take days, even weeks to ID the bodies. At least five of them were apparently strangled, and the sixth body is too decomposed to make a determination.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bodies may have been there for weeks, months, possibly years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What we`re seeing is these men that are on the sexual registry are continuing to abuse. I mean, this is a violent rapist. And he clearly is a sociopathic serial killer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Also tonight, live, the Florida panhandle, a newborn baby girl vanishes without a trace from her own home, Halloween. Tonight, who took baby Shannon?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators in the panhandle of Florida need your help. They`re looking for a 7-month-old girl who disappeared and may be in danger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking news. A Florida missing child alert has been activated for 7-month-old baby girl Shannon Lea Dedrick. Police say Shannon is believed to have gone missing between 3:00 AM and 11:00 AM Saturday. Shannon`s parents say she was taken from their own home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriffs said nothing indicates she was abducted. But he also said she, quote, "didn`t crawl or walk away."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Volunteers have come out to assist police. They`ve gone through, they`ve scoured wooded areas, they`ve combed through dumpsters. They`ve looked behind buildings. They`ve done everything to try to find this child. And unfortunately, she`s not been found.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators attack the immediate area with search teams and K-9 units, finding nothing. Searches continue. Just how did a 7-month-old baby girl simply disappear?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. A 9-year-old Missouri girl has a play date, walks home, still daylight, only about a thousand feet. She never makes it home. Tonight: The search for 9-year-old Elizabeth comes to an end, her body found in a wooded area just houses away from her own home. Murder suspect in custody. It`s a 15-year-old girl.
Bombshell tonight. YouTube and Twitter uncover a previously well- hidden dark side to the 15-year-old accused child killer. Listed hobby on her YouTube profile? Her hobbies are killing and cutting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New details emerge in the case of 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten, found murdered after vanishing while walking a quarter mile home from a friend`s house.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Olten family knows this 15-year-old girl.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The children played together. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are a YouTube profile and Twitter page giving insight into the mind of a 15-year-old female murder suspect? A YouTube page, allegedly from the 15-year-old female suspect, show her hobbies, including killing people and cutting. Not only that, but a Twitter page allegedly from the teen girl suspect contains disturbing quotes, including discussions of addiction and terrors.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is somebody who has an anti-social personality. She`s not normal. She wouldn`t go ahead and do the kinds of things that you think a teenager would be doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Will this 15-year-old girl face adult trial on an adult crime? That crime allegedly premeditated, planned malice murder of this 9-year-old little girl, her little sister`s playmate.
Straight out to Ladd Eagan, news director with KRCG. Ladd, I`m stunned that I -- we have to find out more about this girl through YouTube and Twitter? What did we learn, Ladd?
LADD EAGAN, KRCG ANCHOR (via telephone): Well, Nancy, the blogosphere is quite ahead of what the media`s actually reporting just in what is being blogged about. And people came across her Twitter page and also her YouTube page. And Twitter -- it`s now all been erased. Maybe her attorney or her family was able to log in and erase those. But before they were erased...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: I got it. I`ve got it the Twitter and the YouTube. And let me tell you, it`s sick, weird, and twisted. Go ahead.
EAGAN: Yes. And as well, we were able to print it out before it was deleted. Now, she only tweeted around 13 times, and they, you know, cite some poets. But also, you could describe it as dark. She discusses addiction, terrors. She says she feels like she`s in a cage and buried. But nothing -- you know, determining what is actually normal for teens, but it is definitely...
GRACE: What is normal for teens? Are you kidding me? What is normal for teens? Describing yourself as being buried in flesh above ground? I`m not a shrink. I`m not an MD. I`m just a JD. But I can tell you this much, Ladd Eagan. That`s not normal.
Let`s unleash the lawyers. Joining us tonight, veteran prosecutor specializing in crimes on women and children, has prosecuted many death penalty cases, Eleanor Odom out of the Atlanta jurisdiction. Also out of Atlanta, defense attorney Peter Odom. Out of New York, defense attorney renowned in his jurisdiction, Alex Sanchez.
OK. Eleanor, give me best case scenario. As the prosecutor, could I get this into evidence? This 15-year-old girl, if she`s going to be treated like an adult -- and we learned today that that decision will be held in open court. That`s right, we`ll be able to get into the courtroom and see what this girl is all about. Can I get in the YouTube and Twitter if I can establish she actually posted it, Eleanor?
ELEANOR ODOM, PROSECUTOR: Yes, you can, Nancy. That`s a simple evidentiary issue. You can get it in. It shows her state of mind. I think it`s great for the prosecution.
GRACE: OK. Peter Odom, how do you plan, if you`re the defense attorney, to keep this out? Her hobbies are killing and cutting people.
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, first of all, we want to see the whole thing. But we can`t use this...
GRACE: Do you want to see the whole thing?
PETER ODOM: We want to see everything, not just little snippets that paint her as a bad person.
GRACE: You know, be careful what you ask for, for you will surely get it. I can`t even report it all on air, OK? I`ve got it all right here. I can`t report it all on air.
PETER ODOM: What`s not allowed is to try and just portray her as a bad person. If it`s relevant to her state of mind...
GRACE: But if that`s what it shows?
PETER ODOM: If that`s what it shows, it`s not admissible for that purpose. It`s only admissible to show potentially her purpose, if she`s charged with first-degree murder, but not just to portray her as a sick individual.
GRACE: Alex Sanchez, what about video that we have -- let`s show that, Rosie -- of her electrocuting not only herself but her little brothers on an electrical fence? This is from YouTube. Go ahead, Alex.
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: This may surprise you, Nancy, but all this information that you`re talking about may actually be more helpful to the defense than it is to the prosecution because if there`s any type of mental defect defense, then you`re going to want to introduce this type of evidence before the jury to establish that she`s a very disturbed, seriously sick individual and should not be held accountable to the same degree as somebody else.
GRACE: OK. To you, Sheryl McCollum, crime analyst, director of cold case squad, Pine Lake PD. Sheryl, you`re seeing this video that she apparently set to music where she electrocutes not only herself but her little brothers.
SHERYL MCCOLLUM, CRIME ANALYST: Right.
GRACE: Rosie, let`s show some of the killers of the past. You know, if you take a look at many serial killers, you find out that they tortured other people, they tortured animals.
MCCOLLUM: Right.
GRACE: And here you have her putting her little brothers on an electric fence.
MCCOLLUM: Yes. Bottom line, if this is how they play, I want to see how they fight.
GRACE: Everybody, we are taking your calls live. Out to Sharon in Alabama. Hi, Sharon.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I`ve had a problem bothering me from the first time I heard this case. I`ve heard of many a time on your show that it`s so hard to move a dead body, and I`m just having a hard time picturing the 15-year-old girl getting little Elizabeth out of the house and taking her that far without some help.
GRACE: That`s a good question. Rupa Mikkilineni, exactly how far was the burial spot, or the hiding spot of the body from the home?
RUPA MIKKILINENI, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: It was only a few hundred feet, Nancy. But still, for a 15-year-old girl to carry another girl, 9- year-old girl, that far, is pretty difficult to imagine. One theory that we`re hearing is that maybe she lured the girl into the woods.
GRACE: So maybe that is actually the murder scene, as well. Good point, Rupa. We`ll all be back live taking your calls.
As we go to break, send us your favorite family photos for our upcoming "NG Family Album." Go to CNN.com/nancygrace. And everybody, at your request, here are the Halloween photos of the twins. Here`s little Lucy as a pirate and John David as a fireman. And he`s holding his little Dalmatian dog. He had a fire hat that went with it. We don`t know what happened to that. But they happily terrorized the neighbors with lots of tricks on Halloween night.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it rolling?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. I would like to grab (INAUDIBLE) fence with my hands. Oh!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The teen girl suspect`s alleged YouTube profile page lists her hobbies, including cutting and killing people. Several messages from what was allegedly the teen`s Twitter page discusses topics such as addiction and terrors. Those alleged messages have since been erased from the Web site.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A 15-year-old committed the offense of murder in the first degree.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If this crime is premeditated, she`s going to be doing some adult time!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) go ahead and just reach inside you and pull your heart out! That`s what it`s like!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no way this juvenile will get a fair trial in this city, county, state. I don`t know where my client would get a fair trial once this name is released and the facts of the case are released.
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GRACE: BS! Even O.J. Simpson got a fair trial and was acquitted in double murder. Don`t crank up that same old verse, second verse same as the first, We can`t get a fair trial.
This case is highly disturbing. A beautiful 9-year-old little girl in her own neighborhood goes to a playmate`s house. She is murdered, never makes it home the thousand feet, broad daylight. Behind bars awaiting trial, not some convicted killer, not a sex offender, not an escapee or a parolee, a 15-year-old girl. And tonight, her postings on YouTube and Twitter reveal a previously hidden dark side.
We are taking your calls. To Anne Marie, Illinois. Hi, Anne Marie.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. The twins are growing up so much. And I want to...
GRACE: Can you believe it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s crazy. "The Eleventh Victim" is fabulous and everybody needs to go buy that book.
GRACE: They`re turning 2 on Wednesday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Didn`t close it. It was fabulous. Nancy, my question is this. With the Twitter page and the YouTube video, people that followed that, that potentially followed her on Twitter, did anybody not find this alarming and maybe tell their parents (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: Good question. Pat Brown, criminal profiler, what about Anne Marie in Illinois`s question? If I saw something like that on YouTube or Twitter, I would find it very disturbing. If I knew it was a minor, I would try to contact their family.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, I think Anne Marie`s got a good point. What she`s pointing out is we have a very disturbing teenage culture going on here, this anti-death (ph) culture going, where people are going on the net, they`re looking at gore, they`re looking at slasher films, they`re going out to see "Saw." I mean, when I was a teenager, I saw "Mary Poppins," "Romeo & Juliet." But these kids are not seeing that, they`re seeing a lot of gore and violence and they`re getting obsessed with it.
Now, that doesn`t make a non-psychopath do something like this, but it does take a psychopathic person leaning toward violence get justification for it, have lots (ph) of people say, Isn`t that cool? And she gets really into it and nobody calls her on it and says, Hey...
GRACE: Well, it`s almost like she`s bragging about it on YouTube and Twitter.
BROWN: Absolutely.
GRACE: Everybody, we`re taking your calls live. This 15-year-old will be in court in a couple of days to determine whether she will be treated as an adult on this murder charge.
Everybody, as you know, November, National Alzheimer`s Awareness Month. Over five million in the U.S. live with it, the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. It`s a brain disease, progressive, fatal, no cure. Warning signs, confusion, memory loss, misplacing things, changes in mood and personality. Early diagnosis crucial. For more information, go to Alz.org.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The sheriff said that they received a handwritten note, and he wouldn`t elaborate on if someone brought it to them or if they found it. And he said that note led them to find this juvenile, and then it was that juvenile who led them to the body out in the woods. They even said they went over this area twice and didn`t come across the body until this juvenile...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Ellie Jostad, our chief editorial producer. Ellie, what can you tell me about the upcoming court date? Will the cameras be open? I mean, typically with juveniles, closed courtroom.
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right. Well, this is the certification hearing. This juvenile will be certified for trial as an adult, if the judge decides to do so. Now, the judge has ordered that that hearing will be open to the public. However, he has prohibited either video or still cameras from that hearing.
GRACE: Now, Ellie, we talked about this earlier. The Supreme Court had a recent -- well, in the last five years, I believe -- ruling that no longer in this country in any jurisdiction if you`re under 18 are you death-penalty-eligible. Now, in Missouri, as I recall, it`s a choice between gas chamber and lethal injection.
JOSTAD: That`s right.
GRACE: That`s quite a choice. But she won`t face that, even if convicted. Now, Ellie, try to boil it down for me. If a juvenile is treated as an adult, if she gets life without parole, is there a chance when she turns 21 that she could walk free? Yes, no.
JOSTAD: There is a chance, yes.
GRACE: OK. Jeff Gardere, psychologist, author of "Love Prescription." Jeff, we need a shrink. Weigh in. She`s 15. Have you seen these YouTube and Twitter sightings, her hobbies are cutting and killing? Help me, Jeff.
JEFF GARDERE, PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes, I think when we look at this issue of cutting and killing, I think perhaps she is probably cutting herself, killing animals. These are all of what we see of being a sociopath or even a psychopath. I would say that something has happened. Now, she`s not the victim here. The real victim is Elizabeth Olten. But I would think...
GRACE: The only victim is Elizabeth!
GARDERE: Right. But something has happened to this young girl. We need to know more about her family.
GRACE: Why? Unless she is certifiably and legally insane, why do I care? Are you trying to somehow create a defense for her?
GARDERE: Because she`s a product of her environment.
GRACE: So?
GARDERE: We need to find out where it comes from.
GRACE: But why? Why do I need to know that, Eleanor?
ELEANOR ODOM, PROSECUTOR: You don`t need to know that. All you need to know is that she did it and she needs to suffer the consequences.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Grieving families are now joining cops outside a convicted rapist`s home in Cleveland, Ohio. Police say they could smell death just 15 feet from the door. Six bodies scattered all over the home.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The coroner says it could take days, possibly weeks to identify the bodies. At least five of them apparently were strangled. The sixth body is too decomposed to know how that person was killed.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The 50-year-old suspect, Anthony Sowell, he served 15 years for rape before moving into the house in 2005.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: According to investigators, he was actually walking down the street when he was looking rather suspicious. He was wrapped sort of in a hood, and there was a gentleman who was driving by and noticed him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He looked at me real hard. And I had a chance, you know, to look at him real hard. I said that look like the dude that the police is looking for.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Once a violent sex offender, serial murderer, you know, he`s not going to stop. So we have to look everywhere. Six bodies in his own home. And here`s somebody that would go on doing this from here to eternity if unchecked.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t believe these individuals can be rehabilitated at all. I mean, I think we need to wake up as a society and they need to be put away for life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the last half hour the suspect has been arrested in the fourth district and has been confirmed. A citizen came into the 4th district police station, stated that they saw the suspect on a street called manor.
Zone car responded to the area, located the suspect on Mount Vernon, placed him under arrest without any problems. He was taken into the district, fingerprinted and identified, and stated that he was the suspect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: This man was living in his three-story home with multiple dead bodies. Seasoned detectives go in, and they`re going in -- he`s a convicted rapist. They go in to arrest him on another rape that he allegedly did after he got out of his 15 years behind bars, and they find - - instead of finding him there they find half a dozen -- at least -- dead bodies.
Dead bodies on every level of the home, including stuffed in the crawlspace. My prediction? There will be more.
Out to Ken Robinson with WTAM 1100. Ken, what happened?
KEN ROBINSON, REPORTER, NEWSRADIO WTAM 1100, COVERING STORY: Well, Anthony Sowell, a known sex offender who spent 15 years in prison, he was released in 2005. He served the maximum amount of time.
GRACE: Whoa. Whoa. Mr. Robinson, hold on.
ROBINSON: Yes.
GRACE: The man gets out in 2005.
ROBINSON: That`s right.
GRACE: And in that space of time we already have half a dozen dead women in his home that we know of? And I`m predicting there`s going to be more. He`s done all that since 2005?
ROBINSON: Since 2005. We`re not sure when the alleged killing spree actually started. But he`s been out of prison since 2005. He served his time. He served his maximum time, 15 years.
GRACE: Four years. That`s four years.
ROBINSON: Mm-hmm.
GRACE: In four years we`ve got at least six dead bodies. And once they start excavating that back yard, Ken Robinson, the Lord in Heaven only knows what we`re going to find. I didn`t mean to interrupt you. Go ahead, Ken.
ROBINSON: Well, I was just going to jump in and say that today Cleveland police started going -- searching abandoned homes. This is a very depressed area. There`s a lot of abandoned homes in the area. They started going inside homes, looking to see if the suspect left any evidence there or any other bodies there. So this probe may be expanding.
GRACE: With me, Ken Robinson from Cleveland, joining us from WTAM 1100 A.M.
Lieutenant Thomas Stacho joining us, a special guest joining us from Cleveland. He is the PIO with the Cleveland Police Department.
Lieutenant, thank you for being with us. Do we have any idea, Lieutenant, who are these victims?
LT. THOMAS STACHO, PIO, CLEVELAND POLICE DEPT., ON THE CASE (via phone): Well, we`re working right now with the Cuyahoga County coroner`s office to identify the victims. We`ve asked people in the community to come forward with any information on missing persons.
We`ve dedicated a number of our detectives at the Fort District about a mile from where these bodies were found to take reports of missing persons. We`re asking the public to come forward with identifying information, photos, biographical information.
Our detectives are interviewing those people and turning over our findings to the coroner`s office.
GRACE: And I disagree with that banner you`re seeing on the lower third. Six missing women found dead. There`s going to be more. There are going to be more than six women.
Out to Ellie Jostad, joining us. What was his MO that we know of? Because in this case we actually have victims who lived to tell the tale.
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: Right.
GRACE: The women that he raped in the past and the woman he allegedly raped in September, which leads me to another question, Ellie. He rapes her allegedly in September. Why are police just going into his home in November?
JOSTAD: Yes. We don`t know the answer to that question, Nancy. But what we do know is that that rape he was convicted of, this 1990 rape, the MO there, he lures this 21-year-old woman into his house to have a drink with him. She says that after they`re in there he becomes angry, he punches her in the face, he began strangling her with a cord, he rapes her.
Now she managed to get away. There`s another woman in the September rape who describes a very similar MO. She runs into him on the street, he invites her to come drink with him. She says no, thank you. He punches her then, drags her back to the house. Same thing, strangles and then allegedly rapes her.
GRACE: With me tonight, Dr. Howard Oliver, joining us out of L.A., former deputy medical examiner, forensic pathologist.
Dr. Oliver, thank you for being with us. Doctor, assuming -- let`s just assume the worst case scenario that these bodies have been degenerating for the past four years. Now I don`t believe that because there`s still -- there`s a stench and if they were that long dead the stench would be gone by now.
I`m guessing. But let`s just say they`re four years old. I`ve had a case -- I`ve had cases where bodies had been found a couple of years later, and we had to use an artist re-constructionist to try and show the jury what the victim would have looked like in life.
If these women have been dead four years, can we get a facial I.D. on them? Is that possible?
DR. HOWARD OLIVER: Yes, it`s definitely possible. Most of the information you`d get with a body that deteriorated and that old would come from a forensic anthropologist. But you could, using anthropology, get a pretty good idea of what this person looked like.
GRACE: You`re taking a look.
OLIVER: The stench would be gone.
GRACE: . at some notorious serial killers. Jeff Dahmer. There you`re seeing John Wayne Gacy, the clown killer. There`s Dahmer. There`s Ed Gein. Aileen Wuornos. Gein was infamous. Wuornos killed, you know, a dozen men. Then you`ve got the BTK. The guy that worked at the dog pound. Ted Bundy, of course, the smooth-talking handsome killer. There`s David Berkowitz.
They all have a lot of things in common. And this guy we`re talking about tonight fits into that category.
Out to the lines, Rebecca in Louisiana. Hi, dear, what`s your question?
REBECCA, CALLER FROM LOUISIANA: Yes. I want to know what is it that -- they didn`t have him on parole or anything, they just let him go?
GRACE: Good question. And hello to all of our Cajun friends joining us tonight. Back to Ken Robinson, WTAM 1100. Why was he out walking the street -- it`s my understanding that law enforcement had been to his home to check up on him many times but they didn`t have a warrant to go in.
ROBINSON: Well, I guess there`s a.
GRACE: Couldn`t they smell what was inside?
ROBINSON: Yes. I guess there`s two parts to that. Two answers to that question. Number one, he was out because he had.
GRACE: Six dead women.
ROBINSON: Six dead women. He was out because he served his 15 years and police could not go inside his home without a warrant for -- you know, for arrest or a warrant to search. So he was -- he complied with all the requirements that he was required to do, register as a sexual offender, notify police every 90 days of his whereabouts, and police would come and check on him, and yes, he would be at his home.
GRACE: Well, there goes his insanity defense because scrupulously adhere to the rules given to him.
Everybody, we`re taking your calls live. Seasoned detectives go into a three-story home, Cleveland area, to find at least six dead bodies, all women. And we are predicting more. One of the most prolific serial killers of our times.
Very quickly to tonight`s safety tips. You and your children, easy targets, shopping at grocery stores, strip malls, and malls. Here are tips to avoid being targets. Keep your eye on your children at all times, number one. Don`t leave them unattended in shopping carts, even just to go to the next aisle.
Be mindful of your pocketbook. Don`t leave it open. Don`t carry large amounts of cash. Stay focused. Stay off your cell phone. I know it`s tempting. But it is a distraction. Carry self-defense products like pepper spray. Try your best to shop in daylight hours.
I know that`s hard. Remember where you parked. Even if you have to write it down on your parking ticket or on your checkbook like I have to do. And have your keys out when you go back to your car. Children should know how to alert an employee or store security if they get separated from you. For more information go to FBI.gov.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A 7-month-old baby girl is missing, and her parents say she vanished from her own home. Police desperately searching for Shannon Lea Dedrick. A Florida child missing alert initiated. Local, county, and state investigators converge on the scene.
Breaking news. Just moments ago cops say they`ve identified a person of interest but won`t reveal who. Why? Reports the parents` home still sealed by deputies looking for valuable evidence.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Investigators in the panhandle of Florida need your help. They`re looking for a 7-month-old girl who disappeared and may be in danger. The Washington County sheriff`s department says Shannon Lea Dedrick vanished from her home on Saturday and a statewide alert was issued late yesterday.
Her parents reported her missing. The sheriff said nothing indicates she was abducted. But he also said she, quote, "didn`t crawl or walk away." The girl is two feet tall, weighs 11 pounds and has brown hair and, as you can see, blue eyes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The child obviously did not walk or crawl out of the home. That`s why I don`t understand why the police are saying there`s no foul play. You have a 7-month-old baby lying there asleep in the home. This is on Halloween. Now she`s gone. Look at this little baby.
Joining us, Jay Felsberg, managing editor, "Washington County News," joining us from Florida.
Jay, what happened?
JAY FELSBERG, MANAGING EDITOR, WASHINGTON COUNTY NEWS (via phone): Well, as near as we can tell from the amount of information that the sheriff`s office has released, the parents woke up at about 11:00 on Saturday morning and found the baby missing.
By 11:23 they had contacted law enforcement, which in this case was the Washington County Sheriff`s Office. The home they live in is on Brown Street and just outside the city limits of Chipley. So it came under county jurisdiction.
GRACE: Hold on. Jay, let me just stop you right there. With me Jay Felsberg, "Washington County News.` Have the parents taken polygraphs?
FELSBERG: Not that we`re aware of. The.
GRACE: OK. Jay, was there any.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Go ahead. I`m sorry. Go ahead.
FELSBERG: That question was asked at a press conference this afternoon, and the sheriff declined to comment on the details of the investigation.
GRACE: OK. I don`t like it. Number two, was there any forced entry on the home? Door, pride window, any mark?
FELSBERG: Again, nothing was released at the press conference. I`ve gone out to the house. I didn`t see any signs of forced entry personally.
GRACE: Have the parents, Jay Felsberg, made any public pleas for the return of their little girl?
FELSBERG: None whatsoever. The sheriff said at the press conference he was acting as their agent and requesting assistance on their behalf.
GRACE: Have they been on the press at all?
FELSBERG: No.
GRACE: What more can you tell me, Jay?
FELSBERG: Well, at the present time there`s over 70 volunteers, officers and firefighters searching. They`ll probably cut it off at dusk. They`ll be resuming it again in the morning. They started out in an area right behind the house, a wooded area. And they have continued to expand the search.
So far no signs of anything. Nothing really found by the special scent dogs or other search dogs or other searchers.
GRACE: Jay, it doesn`t look good at all.
FELSBERG: No, it does not.
GRACE: Jay Felsberg joining me. To Clark Goldband. What more can you tell me, Clark?
CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: Investigators, Nancy, have a broad timeline that they`re working with here and it`s because according to reports the parents went to sleep around 3:00 a.m. and didn`t wake up until about 11:00 a.m. when they called law enforcement. So it`s about an eight-hour time window and it`s not exactly clear when Shannon was actually taken.
GRACE: Wait a minute, they`re trying to tell me that a 7-month-old baby sleeps through the night? Wait, Clark, that`s directed to you. I know you don`t have any children, Clark. But that`s their story? They didn`t wake up all night long? Now I`m really having a hard time with this.
GOLDBAND: According to reports, they woke up 11:00 a.m., noticed the child was gone, and called the cops.
GRACE: Why were they awake at 3:00 a.m.? What were they doing at 3:00 a.m.?
GOLDBAND: We don`t know.
GRACE: What do you know, Jay Felsberg? Why were they up at 3:00 a.m.?
FELSBERG: That`s a good question. And once again, that information has not been released. And there were a number of questions asked at the news conference. Sheriff Haddock was very circumspect about providing any details of the investigation because he says basically because it`s under way.
GRACE: OK. Jay, do they have -- does the little girl have any siblings? Shannon Lea Dedrick. Seven months. She`s only 11 pounds. Look at her. Any siblings?
FELSBERG: Not that we`re aware of.
GRACE: So this is the only baby in the home. Is this the mother`s first baby?
FELSBERG: Correct.
GRACE: We`re taking your calls live. Out to Lori in New York. Hi, Lori.
LORI, CALLER FROM NEW YORK: Hi, Nancy. Hi, Eleanor. It`s nice to see you back.
GRACE: You know, let`s take a look at Eleanor right now, everybody. Eleanor Odom is back with us. Just a very few brief days after her marriage, beautiful, beautiful marriage. She feels bad when she`s working out in the morning, goes to have her heart checked out, does a stress test. They don`t let her go home. She has just survived open heart surgery. And you look great.
ELEANOR ODOM, PROSECUTOR: Thank you. Thanks, everyone, for your prayers.
GRACE: OK, Lori. What`s your question, dear?
LORI: I have a question in two parts. The baby, does it -- does she have any health problems? I know she`s 7 months, but only 11 pounds. And has the cops tested to see if any of the parents are having extramarital affairs and maybe they can be suspects as well?
GRACE: Good question, Lori in New York. I`m trying to think back. You know little Lucy was born at only two pounds. And I can`t remember how long it took her to get to 11 pounds.
Clark Goldband, what do we know?
GOLDBAND: An aunt has spoken out in the press, Nancy, saying that in fact Shannon has a larger-than-average head size and this is something that her mom apparently passed down to her. So the aunt is saying that it will be quite easy.
GRACE: She doesn`t look unusual to me. Just looks like a regular baby to me. All babies` heads look big, Clark.
GOLDBAND: Well, this is what the aunt has said in press reports. And the aunt is also saying that this should make it easier to identify her if you see Shannon.
GRACE: She looks like a little angel. OK. To the lawyers. Eleanor Odom, Peter Odom, Alex Sanchez.
Alex, weigh in. What do you think?
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You know before you mentioned that you didn`t think the police mentioned that there was no foul play. I think they are alleging foul play. And I think they seem to be pointing fingers directly at the parents because if you say the kid did not get up and walk away by himself and that there was no evidence of any -- breaking in, you know, what are you saying? So I think they`re focusing.
GRACE: I`m saying the facts that I know. Peter Odom, weigh in.
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, let me tell you, Nancy, the police are being very circumspect about this but they`re probably letting the parents lay low and maybe seeing if they`ll make a wrong move. It`s a common investigative technique.
GRACE: Eleanor?
E. ODOM: I would actually agree with that, Nancy, and I think it`s real important to look at the people who are closest to the child first. The parents who never had access.
GRACE: Right. Everybody, quick break. We are taking your calls. But happy birthday to Indiana friend Lakisha. She`s a mom of a 15-month- old baby girl and she never misses our show. Loves going to church and wants to be a correctional officer.
Happy birthday, beautiful Lakisha.
And happy 70th to Arizona friends, twin sisters, Emily and Eileen. Eileen was a flight nurse and Air Force captain for 20 years including Vietnam. She loves antiques, her twin, Emily, a first female commercial airline pilot and captain in the country. They`re best friends and after years apart, now love living near each other, Green Valley.
Happy birthday, Emily and Eileen.
And tonight, thank you, Verizon, for supporting the Atlanta Victim and Witnesses Assistance Program. Supporting victims in every way as they make a traumatic and sometimes painful journey in the judicial system. The program established in Atlanta when I was still a prosecutor and still going strong.
Verizon, thank you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: An intense search right now for a 7-month-old baby in northwest Florida. This case is baffling. Little Shannon Dedrick was reported missing by her parents Halloween Day. The cops say this does not appear to be a kidnapping.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re appealing to the public in this area, Brown Street, Win Street, they seen any suspicious activity or someone carrying a baby, that they would give us a call.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back. This little 7-month-old baby allegedly taken out of the home. Although police are saying no foul play.
Denise, Alabama, hi, Denise.
DENISE, CALLER FROM ALABAMA: Hey, Nancy Grace, I love your show.
GRACE: Thank you for calling in, dear, what`s your question?
DENISE: There was no forced entry in the house?
GRACE: Not that we know of. What about.
DENISE: Well.
GRACE: OK, go ahead with your question, dear.
DENISE: The parents went to bed at 3:00. What time did they put the baby down?
GRACE: That`s what I want to know. Because mine are almost 2 and I go in there at 2:30 in the morning and they`re both up in their cribs going, hey, let`s play, hey, mommy.
Clark, it`s not fitting together for me. And this is just a cursory hearing of the story. You know we`re just getting into it. They say they go to bed at 3:00 a.m. even if they were awake until 3:00 with the baby, I`ve never known of a baby that would sleep until 11:00, 11:30 the next morning. Babies don`t sleep in.
GOLDBAND: There are so many questions we`re trying to get answers to, Nancy. And these are some of the questions we`ve been asking all day. Law enforcement is extremely tight lipped. There have been reports that mom was down at the police station talking with them today, voluntarily.
GRACE: OK. Jay Felsberg, 30 seconds left. Why are police being so tight-lipped?
FELSBERG: That`s a good question, Nancy. They -- I don`t know what kind of evidence they have. In fact, nobody knows what kinds of evidence they have because they`ve once again been circumspect about releasing it.
At the moment, I wouldn`t care to speculate, but I would say they`re obviously conducting this intensive investigation as they can.
GRACE: OK. Everybody, Shannon Lea Dedrick, two feet tall, she`s only 11 pounds. Tip line 854-638-6111.
Let`s stop remember Navy SEAL Lieutenant Michael Murphy, 29, Patchogue, New York. A Penn State grad. Turned down law school to enlist. Awarded Purple Heart, Medal of Honor, the country`s highest award.
Lost lives saving fellow SEALs under heavy fire. Shot twice but still crawled on to a ridgeline to radio HQ for help. A Navy destroyer ship and park in his hometown named in his honor.
Loved hockey, reading, favorite book, "Gates of Fire." Leaves behind parents Dan and Marie, brother, John.
Michael Murphy, American hero.
Thanks to our guests but especially to you for being with us and welcome back, Eleanor Odom.
Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern and until then, good night, friend.
END
