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Nancy Grace
Friends of Tiger Wood`s Wife Reportedly Say She`s Divorcing Him
Aired December 17, 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, Windermere, Florida. Superstar golf phenomenon Tiger Woods drives out of his multi-million- dollar compound barefoot, 2:00 AM after Thanksgiving, and has a head-on collision with a tree and a fire hydrant. Woods immediately pulling out of his own golf tournament as the alleged mistresses hit double digits, including a swimsuit model, two porn stars and a waitress at a pancake house. Woods just gets a slap on the wrist, even though a witness tells police Woods was drinking and was prescribed sleeping pills and painkiller Vicodin.
Bombshell tonight. The divorce is on. Sources confirm Woods`s wife, Elin Nordegren, will file for divorce, leaving Tiger Woods, Nordegren contacting divorce lawyers, taking the two children home to Sweden while Woods holes up and parties with guy friends over Christmas.
With tell-all books in the works, alleged mistresses keep coming out of the woodwork. The tally as of tonight, a whopping 16 women. Legal experts surmise Nordegren biding her time until all the alleged mistresses come forward. This despite reports Woods offers $75 million for Nordegren to stay in the marriage just seven more years.
After alleged payments surface by Woods to multiple women over the years, payments of up to $20,000 a month, another mistress reportedly negotiating a multi-million-dollar payout, this after an alleged payout to mistress number one, reportedly $5 million, structured like Michael Jackson`s first multi-million-dollar payout to an alleged boy victim to guarantee silence.
Nordegren goes public, caught on video showing the world she shed her wedding band. Do you blame her? As Woods announces an indefinite leave from golf and admits, quote, "infidelity," Dubai is full steam ahead with the Tiger Woods Dubai, a multi-million-dollar luxury hotel and golf course. And just to top it off, Tiger Woods named "Athlete of the Decade" by the Associated Press. Up to $35 million in endorsements dry up, paparazzi buzzing like flies, trying to nail a shot of Woods and his wife to the tune of a quarter-million-dollar price tag. Tonight, what really happened to Tiger Woods?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Elin, how are you? Do you still love Tiger, Elin?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elin has pretty much had enough. Every day, it seems like there`s another woman (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two unnamed sources tell "People" magazine Elin, his wife, plans to leave the world`s greatest golfer.
JAIMEE GRUBBS, TIGER`S ALLEGED MISTRESS: He never mentioned her, and it was kind of -- you know, I never thought about it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to divorce him, Elin? What do you think of his 14 mistresses?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She recently was photographed without her wedding ring.
GRACE: That`s very typically the first sign of a divorce, people start taking off the ring.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s not very happy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s decided, at this point, take off her ring and it`s time to move on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A moving van did pull up in front of Tiger`s home. They moved out lots of boxes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can`t get any more definite than that, taking items out of the home. It just shows that their home is broken.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "People" magazine is also reporting that she and her two children will spend the holidays in her native Sweden and that Tiger Woods will not be there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So she`s going to take the kids to Sweden for the holidays, and we`ll see if she ever comes back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And breaking news tonight, live, Newburgh, New York, the desperate search for a 4-year-old little boy vanishing from his own home. Mommy at work. The live-in baby-sitting the little boy when he goes missing without a trace 1:00 PM, broad daylight. Just in, grainy surveillance video of the 4-year-old surfaces. As we go to air, a tip leads investigators, K-9s and dive teams to scour the Hudson River. Tonight, what happened to 4-year-old Marc Anthony Bookal?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The desperate search for 4-year-old Marc Bookal...
CHRISTINA BOOKAL, MISSING 4-YEAR-OLD`S MOTHER: Just let him go. I miss him. That`s my baby. Nobody deserves to take him from me!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cory Byrd (ph), his mother`s boyfriend, has been arrested, charged with child endangerment. Byrd claims the 4-year-old wandered away from the house. Earlier that morning, the two were seen on surveillance video at a nearby bodega.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The little kid got on the phone with his mommy. He was laughing, smiling, saying, Ma, I got some gum. And everything was fine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cops swarm the ground along the shore of the Hudson River, walking the railroad tracks with police dogs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They searched the frigid waters of the Hudson River and in the woods by the shore and through the dirt near a sewage treatment plant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s basically saying that the little guy vanished. He turns his head and turns around, and he`s gone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Christina Bookal say she`s still holding onto hope that she will hug her son again soon.
BOOKAL: I am just going to hold him (INAUDIBLE) my baby.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. The divorce is on. Sources confirm Tiger Woods`s wife, Elin Nordegren, will file for divorce, leaving Tiger Woods.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tiger Woods is keeping a low profile, you could say, but that isn`t stopping reports about the state of his marriage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "People" magazine reporting this, Tiger`s wife, Elin, wants out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Quote, "She plans to leave Tiger."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s finally had enough.
GRACE: Re-up on the prenup.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s working on a different settlement.
GRACE: Oh, I`m pretty sure that $75 million ought to do it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will you ever forgive him?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, it`s -- it`s Tiger. I need you to do me a huge favor.
GRACE: Alleged monthly payments to these various women, some up to $20,000 a month.
GRUBBS: I guess, if I were to seriously think about it, I -- you know, I`d -- I`d feel guilty.
GRACE: Tiger Woods allegedly still in touch with mistress number one, Rachel Uchitel.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is a report out there -- this is from "US Weekly," I believe -- that he has continued to send text messages to Rachel Uchitel.
GRACE: Is he crazy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you please take your name off your phone? My wife went through my phone and may be calling you.
GRACE: She`s going home for the holidays. Any suggestion she`s not coming back?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is definitely mad about everything that`s going on, and I don`t think that you can rule out the fact that they`re not going to be together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Tom O`Neil, senior editor, "In Touch Weekly." So O`Neil, is it a done deal? Is the divorce going forward?
TOM O`NEIL, "IN TOUCH WEEKLY": It`s kaput, this marriage is, Nancy. We`re hearing it from multiple sources who`ve spoken to multiple friends of Elin`s. And ABC News is saying this is a 100 percent certainty. The only uncertainty is how will it play out? ABC News, for example, says she wants to take her good, sweet time and she wants all the dirty laundry out there before she wraps up this marriage. Other sources, like Radaronline, are saying, Nope, she wants this done sooner the better.
GRACE: OK, let me ask you something, Tom O`Neil. No offense to you and your "sources." But how do you or ABC or anybody else know what Elin Nordegren plans to do? Number one, even on the pro golf circuit, she is deemed to be elusive, somewhat reclusive. She doesn`t plop down at the Masters and start chatting everybody up. That`s not her thing. So how do you, Tom O`Neil...
O`NEIL: Right.
GRACE: ... senior editor at "In Touch Weekly" -- how do you know what Nordegren is going to do?
O`NEIL: Well, this case, we have to trust the sources, like ABC News and "People" and Radaronline, who are talking to friends of Elin`s. What - - the pattern is this. If you ever wonder how we get our stories -- the relatives and close friends of famous people are very eager to talk to us.
GRACE: It`s Elin.
O`NEIL: Elin. Sorry.
GRACE: Elin.
GRACE: It`s not Chateau Elan.
(LAUGHTER)
GRACE: It`s Elin.
O`NEIL: OK. And so if we trust the news sources, they all have attorneys behinds the scenes who are checking these sources for us.
GRACE: OK. To Ken Baker, executive news editor at E! Ken, thank you and Tom O`Neil for being with us. How are you so sure that the divorce is on, that when she takes those kids home to Sweden, back home, her homeland for Christmas, that she`s not planning on coming back?
KEN BAKER, E!": Well, we`re not sure. What we do know for sure is that the first time that we saw Elin come out just a few days ago after being in hiding for a very long time, she was out pumping gas without her wedding ring on. That was the first sign that things were going south...
GRACE: OK, hold on.
BAKER: ... that she was going to leave.
GRACE: Hold on, Ken Baker. As I have used this example several times, day before yesterday, I didn`t have on my wedding band because I was up about 40 feet off the ground, trapped inside a McDonald`s play station with the twins. Now, I`m glad I didn`t have it on. So why do you place so much emphasis on the fact she did not have on her band?
GRACE: Well, that`s the observable evidence. And we have not only that, but we have sources, just like Tom said, who have told E!, as well, that she is not happy with this, that she does want to get away. On top of that, everything is a context. I doubt that you found out just within the last couple weeks that your husband may have allegedly been with 16 different women. That puts your not wearing your ring into a different context. I think everyone knows exactly what that means. When she comes out with a swarm of paparazzi around her without that wedding ring on, you can assume what that means.
GRACE: Ken Baker and Tom O`Neil, gentlemen, you are right. You`re absolutely correct.
To Ellie Jostad, our chief editorial producer. Ellie, what can you tell me about yet another alleged mistress payoff? Now, I know there`s allegedly, reportedly a payoff in the works for mistress number one, claimed mistress number one, Rachel Uchitel, the New York party hostess, $5 million over five years, a la the Michael Jackson payoff. And correct me if I`m wrong, Ellie, but the way that works is, it`s the carrot. You`ve got the horse chasing the carrot.
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right.
GRACE: You get a million this year. Well, you don`t get your next million until you keep your piehole shut...
JOSTAD: Right.
GRACE: ... for another year.
JOSTAD: Exactly.
GRACE: And it goes on and on and on until the end.
JOSTAD: That`s right. And this second mistress is also reportedly represented, like Uchitel, by Gloria Allred. Now, there`s supposedly a deal in the works...
GRACE: Uh-oh! Did you say Gloria Allred?
JOSTAD: That`s right. Now, Gloria...
GRACE: You know, just who you don`t want to look across the courtroom at is Gloria Allred. Go ahead.
JOSTAD: Yes, and Gloria won`t confirm, however, that she represents this woman, but supposedly, another deal in the works.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: How much can a paparazzi or really anybody -- me with my cell phone -- can you get for a shot of, say, Tiger Woods with Elin Nordegren right now, say, having a candlelight dinner, trying to make up?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nancy, the reports are out there that somebody that took this photo could get about $250,000.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tiger Woods hasn`t just kept a low profile since the scandal erupted, he`s basically disappeared. The billionaire golfer has not been seen at his home in Florida. He dropped out of his own tournament. And except for messages on his Web site, Tiger has not said a word in public.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reportedly, Elin has had enough -- this is what sources are saying -- doesn`t believe Tiger Woods will change. I mean, could she ever trust him again?
GRACE: Elin Nordegren has closed on a family mansion in her homeland. Now we see boxes being loaded onto Woods`s multi-million-dollar yacht.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We do know that in two public appearances within a matter of days, she has appeared without her ring on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It wasn`t one woman. It wasn`t two. You know, we think the number has been up to 13.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re talking abut serial affairs. And so I think to rebuild trust would be really, really difficult. And so what she needs to do is try and build her own self-respect. And if that means leaving him, then that`s what she`s going to do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She may also at some point in time want to sort of push back and say, Look, I`ve been wronged. I want to let people know I`ve been wronged. She`s been holed up in that house now since Thanksgiving.
GRUBBS: What I have done to her, her family, I guess I would be deeply sorry for never considering her during the whole process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Reports in that the divorce is on, Elin Nordegren planning to divorce Tiger Woods, taking the two children to Sweden. This as she heads home for Christmas holidays to be with her parents, her twin sister, the rest of her family. Tiger Woods planning to spend the Christmas holidays with his guy friends.
OK, Ken Baker, what does that mean? What do you do over the holidays with your guy friends? Isn`t being with his guy friends what got him in all this trouble to start with?
BAKER: Yes, you could definitely say that. I mean, what we`ve learned about Tiger is he definitely likes to have sort of that fraternity lifestyle. We`ve seen it from Vegas to New York to Miami to Australia. This is usually his MO. And I think right now, he probably is looking to go to the support that he has. And what is it? It`s a bunch of guys who`ve always been around him, his little entourage for years. Now, of course, the problem is this entourage now is in the awkward position of having to defend this guy when they know exactly what he`s done and the world knows what he`s done. And for him to go out and hang out with these guys -- talk about bad PR. It`s already bad, it would just make it much worse.
GRACE: Let`s unleash the lawyers. Joining us tonight, Neal Hersh, divorce attorney joining us out of LA. Mr. Hersh has represented such famous starts as Kim Basinger, Robin Givens, a very long list of real talents. To renowned attorney out of the Philadelphia jurisdiction, Joe Lawless, defense attorney and author of "Prosecutorial Misconduct," and also well-known attorney in his jurisdiction, Paul Batista, trial lawyer, defense attorney, author of "Death`s Witness."
Gentlemen, welcome. Now, to you, Mr. Hersh. What do you make of this re-up of the prenup, reportedly Tiger Woods offering Elin Nordegren $75 million to $80 million just to stay in it for seven more years?
NEAL HERSH, DIVORCE ATTORNEY: Well, prenuptial agreements are renegotiated oftentimes after they`re -- after the marriage, and this is just no exception. Obviously, I think he`s trying to work on saving his marriage, and I`m sure there`s negotiations going on that will provide her a financial incentive to stay. It seems from the news reports that they haven`t succeeded, obviously.
GRACE: Let`s talk about their assets. Mr. Hersh, if you would, just for a moment -- Ellie Jostad, could you please go through what Woods`s assets are, that we know of?
JOSTAD: Right.
GRACE: And then I`ll get the lawyers to weigh in, what would she be entitled to now, in light of a prenup that is allegedly ironclad. Could she get more if a divorce goes through? Go ahead, Ellie.
JOSTAD: OK, so hold your horses, or hold onto your seat. This is a lot of stuff -- $92 million in career tournament winnings, estimated $100 million a year in endorsements -- that includes $30 million from Nike, an estimated $10 million from Gatorade, an estimated $20 million from Gillette -- $17 million in personal appearances. He`s got a billion-dollar company, Tiger Woods Designs, that designs golf courses all over the world. He`s got that $10 million yacht, the Privacy. He`s got a $38 million estate in Jupiter, Florida. I believe that is still under construction. He`s got another $65 million estate in the Hamptons. He`s got that home in Windermere, Florida, estimated at $2.5 million. He`s got a second home in that same subdivision. He`s also got this $2.2 million home in Sweden, which we believe is under his wife`s name. Then we`ve got homes in California, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Dubai, and an apartment in Stockholm.
GRACE: OK. I was doing some very quick addition, but I got over $1.5 billion, Neal Hersh. So I will let you, Lawless and Batista tell me what you think she would get in a divorce. First you, Mr. Hersh.
HERSH: Well, if the prenup is valid and they seem to indicate that it is a good prenuptial agreement, she gets only what that says. And then she obviously, of course, has a right to ask for child support. If the prenup is set aside for a number of reasons, all of the assets that just were listed are up for grabs.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, it`s -- it`s Tiger. I need you to do me a huge favor. Can you please take your name off your phone? My wife went through my phone and may be calling you. Because she can, please take your name off that, and what do you call it, just have it as a number on the voicemail, just have it as your telephone number, OK? You got to do this for me. Huge. Quickly. All right, bye.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Neal Hersh, Joe Lawless, Paul Batista. To you, Joe Lawless. What about it? If there were no prenup, she would be getting half of nearly $2 billion. If she sticks to the prenup, she`s going to get a whole lot less, maybe $55 million.
JOE LAWLESS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, you know, Nancy, I think what Elin Nordegren wants more than anything else at this point is her life back, some privacy for her kids. And $55 million or a billion isn`t going to undo the damage Tiger Woods did to his wife, to his family, to the sport of golf. And I think what she`s going to do is pack up, go somewhere and let the lawyers hash out the numbers and try to get on with her life.
I grew up in an era where you didn`t -- you know, your first thought when you`re trying to rebuild your marriage wasn`t writing your wife a check for $75 million. This has become about money to everybody but her. And from what I`ve seen, she`s just interested in maintaining her privacy and keeping her kids together.
GRACE: Well, hold on, Batista. To you, Dr. Bethany Marshal, psychoanalyst, author of "Deal Breakers," joining us out of LA. Lawless makes a good point, Bethany, because when rumors hit, reports hit that she was the one that went after him with a golf club...
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: Yes.
GRACE: ... that`s not about a check.
MARSHALL: No.
GRACE: That is anger and that is love scorned when you go after somebody with a golf club or display anger in that way, if that is true. This is not just, you know, what`s written at the bottom of a check to her.
MARSHALL: No. This suggests that she really loved him and cares about him, and she was so enormously shocked and disappointed and outraged that she lost it. But let`s keep in mind Tiger Woods throws money at women all the time in order to control them. He`s done this with these women, $20,000 a month, $5 million. It`s not just hush money, it`s so that they can be available to do what he wants them to do, so he can have power and control. And he may be trying to do that with his wife.
GRACE: Good point, Bethany Marshal. OK, Paul Batista, weigh in.
PAUL BATISTA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, hell hath no fury like a scorned woman, and in this case, money is going to be the best revenge, Nancy. That`s where she`s going to go.
GRACE: Now you`re talking like a lawyer, Batista. What is your heart made of, stone?
BATISTA: Oh, never, Nancy!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, the one woman, when that first came out, she -- she has decided that she was going to stay with Tiger. They were going to work through it. But every day, it seems like there`s another woman coming out, forward. And since that`s been happening, she`s just been getting angry. And she`s decided at this point to take off her ring and it`s time to move on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Tiger Woods, the battered brand, the fallen superstar. While his alleged mistresses continue to speak out and continue to pop up, his self-imposed seclusion continues. He`s on an indefinite leave from professional golf.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know his image before was pristine, very carefully controlled. And now there is a huge disconnect between his private life and his public persona. One is carefully controlled, the other was irresponsible about his family.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Elin, ready to leave Tiger Woods or not?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re hearing that she is, you know, a very tough woman. That she doesn`t, you know, take this kind of thing lying down. That she is very upset and that she is not the kind of woman that would stand for this kind of thing.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Reports are surfacing that he is very afraid that Elin Nordegren is going to divorce him and take the children to Sweden.
DREW PETRIMOULX, REPORTER, WDBO RADIO: There were also reports that there was a moving van.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of our sources spoke to Rachel Uchitel, mistress number one in this whole situation, and she is texting with him and apparently he is telling her that he wants to see her, he`s making plans to see her, and that he is ultimately going to leave his wife for her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tiger has clearly been living a double life for a lot of years and he`s just continuing to do that. He`s really habituated to it in a way. It`s become who he is and how he lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Tonight, sources confirmed that Elin Nordegren is divorcing Tiger Woods. There is no going back now. She is headed for Sweden with her two children for Christmas holidays. Big question, will she come back? Tiger Woods set to spend Christmas holidays with his guy friends.
Back to Tom O`Neil, "In Touch Weekly" senior editor. Tom, the tally of alleged mistresses now up to 16. Who are the last four?
TOM O`NEIL, SENIOR EDITOR IN TOUCH WEEKLY, COVERING STORY: A lot of them are unidentified. We have, for example, a mysterious woman who is -- mature woman we know who is a politician. I`ve heard TV personality in Britain, for example. And then there`s this.
GRACE: Put O`Neil back up.
O`NEIL: Right.
GRACE: O`Neil, what do you mean by mature?
O`NEIL: I mean somebody my age or north of that?
GRACE: And that would be what?
O`NEIL: No, no, it`s not one of these.
GRACE: What? What?
O`NEIL: Forty years old or over. No, it`s not one of these cocktail waitresses. But I think the one that you`re referring to, that is the most interesting....
GRACE: I`m not referring to anybody. I`m asking you an open ended question, who are the last four alleged mistresses. So you`re saying a TV personality in London. OK, go ahead.
O`NEIL: Right. Another one is this 40-year-old cougar who is.
GRACE: Oh. You only have to be 40 to be a cougar? I guess that makes me a snow leopard.
O`NEIL: Oh.
GRACE: All right. God ahead.
O`NEIL: This is the one who is a client of Gloria Allred`s. That we believe.
GRACE: And -- OK. And where is that one located?
O`NEIL: I believe that one is in New York.
GRACE: OK. That`s the TV personality, 40-year-old in New York.
Ellie Jostad, who are the others that are just surfacing?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: Yes, the other ones that have come out recently is another cocktail waitress, another young cocktail waitress. I think she is either based in New York or Florida. Then we`ve got this other woman, and I think this is in addition to the one that Tom is talking about. There`s a woman who is 48 who lives down in Florida.
GRACE: OK, Ken Baker, E! executive news editor, do we think there is going to be more than 16 that come forward? Or are there more and they`re staying silent? Or are there no more?
KEN BAKER, E! EXECUTIVE NEWS DIRECTOR: Well, I have to tell you that in all the kind of scandals these kinds of stories that I have covered over the years, I have never seen a situation like this where you don`t have to go looking for these women. They are coming out of the woodwork. And it`s not stopping. So I think that conventional wisdom would say there are more out there and they`re not talking yet.
But so far there are just so many, you have to think that there are more. And they are willingly coming forward.
GRACE: And how long have they been married, Ken Baker?
BAKER: They`ve been married for just over four years. And they have two kids under 2 years old.
GRACE: And Ellie, how long have these relationships lasted? It`s not like they`re one-night stands. I know that much.
JOSTAD: Oh no, you`re right, Nancy. Some of these lasted as long as three years. And at least a couple of the cases. This 48-year-old woman I was talking about supposedly got together with him before he was married, continued the relationship after his marriage, a total of five years.
We`re hearing -- I think the shortest one we`ve heard about is a three-month deal. So, yes, not just one-night stands.
GRACE: To Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst joining us out of L.A. Dr. Bethany, why are they all coming forward? You`d think they just want to go hide under the bed. They`re breaking up. They`re not the ones doing it. It`s Tiger Woods. But they`re helping to break up a marriage with two little children involved.
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": Well, it suggests that something may have happened interpersonally that makes them not too fond of him. I mean maybe they feel scorned. Maybe they feel taken advantage of.
Maybe he was controlling and arrogant. Maybe he hogged their time and wanted them available to him but didn`t want them to go out and engage in other activities. But keep in mind, Nancy, the women who have come forward are primarily single women.
What about all the married women out there? Or the religious women? Or women who really don`t want to be exposed to their communities as having cheated with golfer`s great? So there could be a lot more than we really know about.
GRACE: You know what, Bethany? That`s a good point.
Back to the lawyers, Neal Hersh, L.A., Joe Lawless, Philadelphia, Paul Batista, New York.
Back to you, Neal Hersh. I know you`re probably going to say no, it doesn`t matter. But does the sheer number of alleged mistresses matter in a divorce proceeding like this? Is it any worse to have 16 mistresses as opposed to one or three or 10? I mean, when they -- does it matter that they are mounting?
NEAL HERSH, DIVORCE ATTORNEY, HAS REPRESENTED KIM BASINGER & ROBINS GIVENS: The simple answer is no. California is a no-fault state. I believe Florida is a no-fault state. We don`t care in terms of what causes the demise of the marriage. There can be issues raised which I don`t think will be really relevant in Tiger`s case.
But if I`m spending money on a mistress that belongs to the community, I am doing something that I shouldn`t be doing, then I have to repay the community. There are so much money.
GRACE: You mean the community assets?
HERSH: Yes. In other words if I`m taking our money instead of taking you and myself to dinner I`m spending money on a mistress.
GRACE: Right.
HERSH: I owe that money back to the community, to the two of us. There is so much money in Tiger`s case that that`s not really going to be an issue. So the short answer is, other than the salaciousness of it and, you know, the public interest in knowing about this, from the divorce legal point of view, I think it`s going to have virtually no impact.
GRACE: To Dr. Jake Deutsch, doctor of emergency medicine, New York. Dr. Deutsch, Tiger Woods has still yet to show his face. What does that say to you about the injuries he sustained, 2:00 a.m. after thanksgiving day celebrations?
DR. JAKE DEUTSCH, M.D., DOCTOR OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE: Yes, Nancy, there is still a big question mark in the severity if he was admitted to the ICU, if he was on a respirator as we have heard reports of.
I really think that there were some serious injuries. And you know, myself, as a physician, like everybody else is really wondering why we haven`t seen him. Are there physical injuries that are preventing him to be seen by the public?
GRACE: To Ron Shindel, former NYPD, deputy director. Ron, it`s great to have you with us again. Ron, how difficult will it be if she has to prove these affairs, these infidelities, if she`s got to go to trial or she has to go that far, say, depositions, that`s deemed litigation, how hard would it be to prove all of this?
Because you know, according to source he didn`t just find these women on his own, he would have friends approach them. He would have a whole separate team of employees. Facilitate all of this.
RON SHINDEL, FORMER NYPD DEPUTY INSPECTOR: Well, Nancy, we have a lot of people coming out of the woodwork here. Supposedly number 16, I mean, if he just proves half of that, that`s going to be easy.
These women are coming forward. They`re going to have phone records. They`re going to have -- they`re going to have text message records. They might even have hotel receipts that will match up for times and dates, and all of these things.
A good private investigating firm, they`ll be able to take this. Connect all the dots together. Show a timeline. Show opportunity. And they`ll be able to prove all of this for the plaintiff which will be his wife in this case.
GRACE: And is it true, Ellie Jostad, that there are -- reports are that there was a whole another team that facilitated these affairs, these alleged affairs?
JOSTAD: Right, Nancy. The "Daily Beast" was reporting that the way that Tiger was able to do this is that he had one set of employees, his agent, other people that handled the business, other people handled the women.
GRACE: Quickly to break, everyone. But tonight photos of the twins. Here they are. These are recent. There is Lucy. We put the tree up first without any ornaments or tinsel so they wouldn`t pull the tree on themselves. And then I gave in and this is them putting up the tinsel. Last Saturday morning.
And this is us at our little Methodist Church. Our family lit the advent candle. And there we are, of course, John David started picking the berries off of the -- the bush you see there. And Lucy was drawing the whole time.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINA BOOKAL, MISSING 4-YEAR-OLD`S MOTHER: He is a happy little boy. He had on a red long sleeve shirt. A pair of gray, with black, Roca Wear sweat pants and a white pair of sneakers. He didn`t have no jacket or anything on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The temperature here tonight is just about freezing.
BOOKAL: He is probably cold right now.
GRACE: This little boy is freezing tonight. A 4-year-old boy missing in Newburgh.
CHIEF ERIC PAOLILLI, CITY OF NEWBURGH POLICE: Cory Bird is currently being held on a parole violation. The charges from our department would include endangering the welfare of a child. He has an extensive criminal background. And part of the background does include violence.
GRACE: You left your son alone with a man that has a history of beating a child. Why do you believe that he has nothing to do with the disappearance of this 4-year-old baby boy?
BOOKAL: For one, he has a good relationship with Mark. And for a child, if he was being abused or whatever, he would not go to that person.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Honestly I think there is some fault involved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Rupa Mikkilineni, our producer on the story.
Rupa, I understand that bloodhounds have been scouring the Hudson River. There was a report yesterday that one of the boy`s shoes had been found? You know what? Take it from the top. How did the boy go missing?
RUPA MIKKILINENI, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Monday afternoon, about 1:00 or so, just a little bit after 1:00, he called the police saying that the boy had gone missing. Walking out the front door.
GRACE: Who? Who called police? Who? What? Where? And why?
MIKKILINENI: Cory Bird, the 30-year-old boyfriend of the mother who is babysitting the child. And he called police at 1:00 saying -- he`s the one -- he was the only person at home that day, taking care of the child who`s apparently sick and did not go to pre-k that day.
And he called police and said that the child wandered out. He woke up and -- he either was sleeping, watching television, something, and he noticed the back alley door open, Nancy, and saw that the child was gone.
GRACE: OK. Michael Mazzariello is joining us from Newburgh, New York. He is there covering the story. Michael is the host of "Street Court."
Michael, what more do you know?
MICHAEL MAZZARIELLO, HOST, "STREET COURT" (via phone): I spent about three hours with the mom today, Nancy. She is saying that the boyfriend has agreed and wants to take a lie detector test. She too has authorized the police if they want to give her a lie detector test she would do it.
She is in a lot of pain, anxiety. She has been crying, hysterical. I then spent the number of hours in the car.
GRACE: Really? Whoa, wait, wait. Because when I had her on the show the other night, she wouldn`t even look the camera straight on. She wasn`t crying. She wasn`t hysterical. Whatsoever.
MAZZARIELLO: Yes, she was - -she`s in shock, Nancy, as you could imagine. You have children. I have a 5-year-old. I live in this community 50 minutes away from where this child disappeared. And as the days and hours progress the pain on her face is just immeasurable. She has a good group of family and friends staying with her.
GRACE: OK. Great. I was just trying to find out any updates on the story.
Michael Mazzariello was joining us, former prosecutor, now host of "Street Court."
I want to go to Chief Eric Paolilli, he is the chief of police there in Newburgh, New York.
Chief, did you know that the boyfriend, the live-in agrees to take a polygraph?
PAOLILLI: Absolutely not. That is news to us. We were informed earlier on today by your producer that the mom was alleging that he had offered -- that is Cory Bird had offered earlier, when he was first taken into custody here on Monday, to take a polygraph. And he made that offer to the police officers. That is absolutely incorrect.
If in the interim, since he has retained counsel, he has decided that he wishes to take a polygraph test, we would be more than willing to make those arrangements.
GRACE: Thank you, Chief Paolilli, for straightening that out.
Michael Mazzariello, then how is it the mom is saying that they are begging police for a polygraph? The police haven`t heard one peep from them?
MAZZARIELLO: Nancy, when I was interviewing the mother today, the sister of the boyfriend, Cory Bird, was also present. She had just come from the Orange County jail where he was incarcerated. She informed me numerous times that he said that he`s willing to take the test.
I said you need to go to the police immediately, immediately with this information, and get it done. As Marc Klaas says all the time on your show, Nancy, eliminate the parents and get going and look for the child. It`s really.
GRACE: OK, Michael, let`s talk about the now 12-year-old boy that was hospitalized when this same live-in, Cory Bird, allegedly, performed the Heimlich maneuver on him and his injuries were so severe he had to go to the hospital. Now that was a while back. But what do you know about that?
MAZZARIELLO: Well, I know that -- he got incarcerated and was determined not to be responsible. The eldest brother said that he was responsible. He was playing with his little brother. I do know that he was incarcerated in 2003 for an assault using a knife. He was then paroled a month later.
He got pinched for criminal sale of controlled substance. He was given 5 1/2 to 9 years. He served 6 years, got out, and here we are now.
It`s really cold out, Nancy. We`re about an hour and a half north of New York City. It`s a small community, city of Newburgh. Very, very high crime rate. The police are doing a stand-up job. The sheriff is out. The cadaver dogs are out. The police, state troopers, Orange County sheriff`s department, using all resources they can. This is very, very cold.
GRACE: I want to go back to Rupa Mikkilineni, our producer on the story. Rupa, you gave me the story the other night about the live-in performing the Heimlich on the other little boy.
But isn`t it true, Rupa, that a careful reading of the hospital records shows that that little boy, the older brother of the missing 4- year-old, had prior child abuse -- evidence of prior child abuse that they could see at the hospital, yes, no?
MIKKILINENI: Yes, Nancy. This is correct. When he took the child to the hospital, the 1-year-old, hospital staff noticed through x-ray that there were prior broken wrist, broken leg, injuries that had just barely healed.
GRACE: Rupa. Rupa, he had a fractured skull, broken ribs, a lacerated liver and a lacerated spleen.
Now, Dr. Jake Deutsch, does that normally happen? When you perform the Heimlich maneuver?
DEUTSCH: No, obviously not. I mean this is a procedure we teach lay people in order to help somebody who is choking. So removing a piece of food that is stuck in somebody`s esophagus shouldn`t cause injury to your liver and spleen, certainly not skull fractures and other broken bones.
There are some times some side effects but this wreaks of child abuse and is absolutely a reportable crime and is unbelievable to me.
GRACE: And this, the boyfriend, the live in with this history of abuse on her other son is who she left the boy with.
Bethany Marshall, no medical doctor can answer this.
MARSHALL: No. She left her children with a malicious, noxious, angry, rageful child abuser who was beating the children while she was away. She must have felt that he was the only prize in the world. That he was more important than her own children.
With women who form alliances with men like this it`s all about the love object. They do not care about their own children. And if I was Child Protective Services I would be evaluating to see if she was ritually, ritually abusing the children along with the boyfriend.
GRACE: I have no evidence that the mother has abused them. I have concrete evidence that the live-in had done so.
Joe Lawless, Paul Batista. Paul Batista, I am at a loss about this little child. Weigh in.
PAUL BATISTA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY, AUTHOR OF "DEATH`S WITNESS": Well, it`s obviously hugely tragic and everything points -- I`m reluctant to say this as a defense lawyer, to Cory Bird`s responsibility for it, and perhaps even the mother`s responsibility for participating in this or aiding it.
GRACE: Joe Lawless?
JOE LAWLESS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY, AUTHOR OF "PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT": You need a license to drive a car, any whack job can be a parent. To live a child alone with someone with this record says to me it`s a woman who shouldn`t have a child.
GRACE: Right know the search is still on for this tiny boy, Mark Anthony Bookal, 3`5", 42 pounds, light skinned. Take a look at him. The tipline, 800-FIND-KID, 800-346-3543.
We`ll be right back. But as we go to break, a very happy birthday to beautiful Joe at the Children`s Wellness Center, Atlanta. I want to thank you for loving the twins and giving them those lollipops that always get stuck in mommy`s hair.
And happy 80th to Georgia friend of the show, Nell Thigpen. She never misses a show. Watches every night with her Tennessee daughter, Gale. They call each other on the phone after every show.
Ladies, thank you. And Nell, happy birthday.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOOKAL: My son was going next door to his aunt`s house, and my boyfriend went behind him and he was gone like a minute later. And my sister, he was never there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Rupa Mikkilineni, I understand that was not the little boy`s shoe that was found, and what have -- what has led the cops to bring dogs to the Hudson River?
MIKKILINENI: Nancy, they brought blood hounds to the house and got the little boy`s scent and then followed a scent towards the river. This is my understanding. Now I also understand they received a tip just yesterday from an anonymous tipster that somebody saw suspicious looking person by the river the same day that the child went missing.
GRACE: Back to special guest, Chief Eric Paolilli, the chief of police, Newburgh. Chief, you know, I was just showing photos of my little twins putting up Christmas tinsel on the tree, and we`re about to celebrate one of the holiest days of the year, for us anyway.
And when I think about this little child out in this temperature and you looking in the Hudson River. Chief, what can you tell me? Do you think there`s any real hope that he`s still alive?
PAOLILLI: I will tell you that there is a feeling of discouragement among the officers who are out there and have been out there for the last three days. But we have two representatives here from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
They`ve been here since early, early Tuesday morning. And have been providing us some real valuable opinion and insight on this whole thing. And when we were discussing just what you said at 2:00 this morning on my front porch when I looked, it was 26 degrees and I also have a 4-year-old, so I understand what you`re saying.
And he said that the survival stories of children are remarkable. So we are going to -- we are going to continue this search in this pattern.
GRACE: Got it.
PAOLILLI: For as long as we can.
GRACE: Chief Paolilli, thank you so much. Michael Mazzariello, especially, host of "Street Court", thank you for being with us.
And again, there are no suspects. No one has been named a suspect and no one has been named a person of interest.
Let`s stop and remember Army Specialist Alexander Rosa, Jr., 22, Brooklyn, New York, killed Iraq. On a second tour, awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart. Loved cooking, good food, playing spades, hip-hop, Jay-Z, New York Mets, reading.
Left behind recordings of baby books he read for his little girl, dreamed of being a cop. Leaves behind mother Janet, sister Shanel, brother Shane, widow Melissa, baby girl Elli Niece Alana.
Alexander Rosa, Jr., American hero.
Thanks to our guests, but our biggest thank you is to you. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
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