Return to Transcripts main page
Nancy Grace
Remains May Be Missing Morgan Harrington
Aired January 26, 2010 - 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. A beautiful young Virginia Tech co-ed keeps tickets to a Metallica concert taped up on the fridge for six months, goes to the concert with all of her friends. Just before the band takes the stage, she goes missing, missing from a packed arena of 16,000 people. Found in the parking lot, her purse, her cell phone, battery removed.
Bombshell tonight. In the last hours, Virginia State Police confirm a partially skeletonized body found in the midst of a pasture of thick grass, 700-acre Albemarle County farm. At this hour, Virginia State Police have blocked off all access to Anchorage Farm, route 29, southern Albemarle. Using a sophisticated map grid technique, CSI searching for evidence inch by inch.
Sources report, unofficially, the body is that of a woman with long blond hair. After a search spanning the country, a search by land, by air, by water, a search that has gone non-stop exhaustively 101 days, is this the skeleton of a beautiful 20-year-old co-ed, Morgan Harrington?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking news in southern Albemarle County, where at this hour, Virginia state police and Albemarle County police are investigating the remains found on Anchorage Farm. Reports indicate that the body of a female with long blond hair, dark clothing has been found on the property here. There is also a report that the skeletal remains possibly have a bracelet around the wrist. Morgan Harrington, of course, disappearing on October 17th following a concert at the John Paul Jones Arena. At this point, though, no one is going out in a limb and saying that it is her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She (INAUDIBLE) concert, that she was excited about it. She tried on the three outfits that she had winnowed it down to, and you know, (INAUDIBLE) this one was the best.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just want Morgan (INAUDIBLE) back safely.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: State police say they won`t know the identity of the body until further tests are done.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The clothing, the long blond hair, the bracelet on her are all things that she was wearing at that point in time when she disappeared on October 17th. The concentration of police in a wooded area behind that house over the hill. Again, this is skeletal remains on this, so the body, presumably, has been here for some time now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. In the last hours, Virginia State Police confirm a partially skeletonized body has been found in the midst of a pasture of thick grass, there at 700-acre Albemarle County farm. After a search spanning the country by land, by air, by water, a search that has gone exhaustively 101 days, is this the skeleton of a beautiful 20-year-old co-ed, Morgan Harrington?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Forensic teams are converging on a farm in Albemarle County, Virginia (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There have been skeletal remains found here. They are of a young woman with blond hair, wearing dark clothing. She was also wearing a bracelet, we`re being told, when she was found.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... just a few miles from Charlottesville. That`s where missing 20-year-old Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington vanished.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think she`s been taken. Morgan wouldn`t leave. You know, I mean, Morgan was tied into -- into home. And you know, she`s - - this is not behavior that she would have.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The farmer here at Anchorage Farm in southern Albemarle County believes that he found skeletal remains on his property, called state police. They are now out here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw what I thought was a dead deer. I got a little closer, and it didn`t look like a deer skull.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are hearing reports that the body appears to be that of a young woman with long blond hair.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is a very empty place, a Morgan-shaped place, in our hearts as well as (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most of the activity right now is happening above the hill. A landscaper that came down from this property a little bit ago told me police are concentrating in a wooded area up in that area right now. State police now out here processing this scene.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ve certainly moved into a new stage of this investigation, and now we begin to work to determine how she came to be in this particular remote location, what the time of death was. We`ll be able to, hopefully, identify who was responsible for her being where she was found.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Morgan was not the kind of person that would take off. You know, she was really quite close to us. And in fact, the day that she went to the concert, she had talked -- she talked with me about meeting with me the next day to go over math in preparation for a test, as well as to help her balance her checkbook.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Tim Martin with Newstalk 960 WFIR. Tim Martin, what can you tell me?
TIM MARTIN, NEWSTALK 960 WFIR (via telephone): Nancy, it all started this morning when a farmer was feeding cows, checking fences on his 700- acre farm in Albemarle County. He says he was in an area of the farm he rarely visits, looked over, saw skeletal remains, then called state police. And that`s when reports started to swirl about whether or not this was 20- year-old Morgan Harrington.
There were reports the victim had long blond hair. The family was on their way to the area. Then at 5:00 o`clock, the news no one wanted to hear came when police held a press conference, announced that they`re fairly certain the remains are Morgan Harrington`s. It`s important to note, though, police have not confirmed without a doubt that this is Morgan. The body has been sent to the medical examiner`s office in Richmond for positive identification. That could come as early as tonight.
GRACE: What more can you tell me about the discovery, Tim Martin? First of all, it`s my understanding that a lot of news outlets have reported that this was a hay field, where hay was three to four feet tall. I understand the owner of the farm, a 700-acre farm, says, No, it`s not, that this is a big pasture where cows graze -- that`s a big difference -- and that at the time the body would have been left there back in October that the grass would have been practically waist high.
MARTIN: Absolutely. You know, there are reports that say this was a hay field, and if that`s the case, if she disappeared and it was waist high, really, anybody in that area would not have been able to find anybody unless they walked right up on it.
Now, one thing that`s happened since she disappeared is we`ve had a lot of weather in the area. Over a foot of snow hit the region a few weeks ago, and likely that padded down whatever was on the ground. I know this area. You know, it`s just 10 miles from the University of Virginia campus, but police say there`s no road that leads to where the body was. It`s a very remote area. Obviously, there`s a road that leads to the farm, to the farmer`s house, but to get to this area, it`s at least a mile from route 26 and it`s not somewhere that`s easy to get to. The farmer said himself he rarely goes out there, a couple of times a year.
GRACE: We are taking your calls live. To Gen in Pennsylvania. Hi, Gen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, Nancy. My husband and I (INAUDIBLE) watch you, and we love you and we love your twins!
GRACE: Thank you. They`re both sick right now, and they`ve given it to Mommy. Mommy`s been up since 2:30 last night with them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no!
GRACE: But you know, when I`m covering a case like this -- you know, we`ve had Morgan`s parents on our show on several occasions, and they loved this child so dearly. And God help me, thinking about how much I love John David and Lucy, and you pour all your love, all your dreams, all your hopes into these two little creatures, and then somebody come along and does something like this? They just must be devastated tonight.
There has not, however, been an official identification that this is, in fact, 20-year-old Morgan Harrington. I do know, however, that our unofficial sources state that it is a female body in black clothing. I know Morgan had on a black outfit that evening with long blond hair.
Back to Gen. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I wanted to know why we`re certain that she was abducted or there was any crime. I recall a report that she was wandering over a bridge and wandering through the streets, and I was wondering if she could have just wandered there and maybe collapsed or -- did she have any sort of -- was she drinking or anything else like that?
GRACE: OK, I know she was drinking, but I also know that this is a 700-acre farm and it`s not accessible by the public. What about it, Stacey Newman?
STACEY NEWMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: This area, Nancy, is just so isolated. The farm owner himself said when he stumbled on these skeletal remains and wanted to call 911, it took him a full 30 minutes to walk back from the location where the remains were found to his home to place that call. Again, 740 acres.
GRACE: Now, tell me why I`m hearing it`s not accessible but (ph) to the public.
NEWMAN: Well, again, this is a very expansive gated property. There are no public access points. And again, this farmer says to get to this area, what you would have to do is you would have to basically walk to this area, Nancy. You could not drive. If you did live on a neighboring property to this farm, you would even have to climb a barbed wire fence just to get over to this property.
There are also crossing (ph) creeks on this property, Nancy. So again, no vehicles can just drive up and down this farm. Also, we`re hearing from the farm owner today investigators had to walk -- once they got on scene, Nancy, they had to walk to this exact location where these remains were found.
GRACE: To Courteney Stuart, senior editor of "The Hook" there at the press conference today. She is there at police headquarters, joining us from Charlottesville, Virginia. Courteney, thank you for being with us. Courteney, it`s my understanding that you actually drove all the way around this property today. What can you tell me?
COURTENEY STUART, "THE HOOK": Yes, Nancy, I did. I was curious to see if there were any back entrances, as a lot of these large properties will have, like, a rear -- a rear road that maybe tractors or other farm equipment can come in. And I -- using aerial maps and that sort of thing, I thought maybe I`d be able to, you know, see one, but there was nothing. And it was very difficult to even figure out how you would access it from anywhere else on foot.
GRACE: There at police headquarters, Courteney Stuart. Courteney, I understand also that the owner of the property who happened upon the body says that there was no attempt made to cover her up. She wasn`t in a shallow grave. There wasn`t a blanket or any covering over her body. She was just lying there.
STUART: You know, he didn`t tell me that specifically, but that was my understanding, as well. I do know also, speaking of weather, we did have torrential flooding in the last week. Just within the last five days, we got inches and inches of rain overnight. And I don`t know whether that could have altered the terrain there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The way this unfolded this morning is the farmer here at Anchorage Farm in southern Albemarle County believed that he found skeletal remains on his property, called state police. Reports indicate that the body of a female with long blond hair, dark clothing, has been found on the property here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw what I thought was a dead deer. I got a little closer, and it didn`t look like a deer skull.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Virginia State Police say skeletal remains have been found on Anchorage Farm on route 29 in southern Albemarle County. Early reports indicate the remains are that of a young woman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... just 10 miles from the concert arena where Morgan Harrington vanished. Is it Morgan?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... with long blond hair. She was wearing dark clothing and a bracelet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She has long blond hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a black T-shirt. She was also wearing black knee-high boots, black tights and a black mini-skirt.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You never thought that you`d be sitting in this place in a thousand, thousand years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Remains are being transported to the office of the chief medical examiner in Richmond for identification and autopsy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just want Morgan to come back safely so we have our baby back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forensics teams are going to move in. They`re not only going to be looking for evidence off of the skeletal remains, but around that area.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As she left, Morgan`s last words to me were, Two, four, one, Mama.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They stand for, I love you too much, forever, and once more.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While this has been a missing persons case, we have always treated this as potentially as a homicide. The cause of death will be determined, hopefully, by the medical examiner. We still proceed as if this is a homicide and most likely will be a homicide. Therefore, whatever we discover from this time forward, we must be very careful because we have perpetrator or perpetrators at large. Now, we certainly intend to catch and to prosecute, so we have to maintain the sanctity of the crime scene and the investigation at this point.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Charlottesville and central Virginia is, you know, an area that is generally considered safe. And of course, you know, the Metallica concert drew people from all over the East Coast. But you know, this kind of thing occurs all over the country. And it`s usually someone who knows the area, someone who`s comfortable with, you know, the roads. And it`s not generally going to be someone who`s just out of the blue, you know, driving through town and decides to do this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Someone who knew the area. You can say that again. Tonight, we are awaiting official confirmation. Are skeletal remains found on a 700-acre farm those of a beautiful 20-year-old co-ed, Morgan Harrington? Now, this is what we know. We know that this farm, the location where the body, the skeleton has been found, which we believe is a female with long blond hair, is not accessible to the public. You`d have to walk for a long way -- 700-acre farm -- to find where this body is. Now, if you were coming from a neighboring farm, you`d have to crawl over barbed wire fences.
I want to go back to Courteney Stuart, senior editor of "The Hook," attended a press conference today. First of all, yes, no. Was the body fully clothed?
STUART: That information has not been officially given. What I had heard was that there were black clothing. I don`t know if they were on the body or near the body. And I don`t even know if that`s a confirmed fact, but that is what I had heard.
GRACE: OK. Courteney Stuart, did she have any jewelry still on her body? We know that her purse and her cell phone was discarded back at the Metallica concert, but what about jewelry?
STUART: Well, I`ve heard mention of a bracelet that was on her arm. But again, I haven`t gotten that confirmed by the police, who have been very tight-lipped and concerned about releasing too much information. They had talked about a necklace and had released a picture of that during the search for her, and I don`t know if that was with her body, but certainly, that would be something that would certainly point to it being Morgan.
GRACE: OK. Stacey Newman, it`s my understanding that a Swarovski crystal necklace was found on the skeleton. Is that similar to the one that Morgan had?
NEWMAN: Yes, it was. And of course, that is the report that we`re hearing, that she did have on some sort of Swarovski crystal necklace with some kind of, like, a linked chain on it, as you`re seeing in this photo that we`re showing you now.
GRACE: OK. To Pat Brown, criminal profiler, author of "Killing for Sport." Pat Brown, you`re the profiler. What does this all tell you?
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Nancy, the most interesting thing to me is that location, way, way back there on a private farm. I`ve seen this before, and usually, it means that the person who put the body there is very well aware it is a private farm. In other words, he thinks no one`s going to accidentally discover the body by hiking by or whatever. He put it there because he knew no one would go there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Morgan was not the kind of person that would take off. You know, she was really quite close to us. And in fact, the day that she went to the concert, she had -- she talked with me about meeting with me the next day to go over math in preparation for a test, as well as to help her balance her checkbook.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: David Bass, owner of the farm, was riding on his tractor about 8:30 Tuesday morning when he made the discovery. Bass is baffled about how the remains ended up in a remote part of his farm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s an inaccessible place. I couldn`t get my pick-up there. My tractor, four-wheel drive, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dozens of police officers spent much of the day going to and from the large farm near Red Hill (ph). Vans and trucks labeled forensic unit with both Albemarle and state police took to the winding road over the hill, leading to the scene.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Morgan has an apartment that`s beautiful in Blacksburg, at Virginia Tech. You know, Morgan -- you know, we`re not monitoring her behavior at Virginia Tech. You know, she could have friends and...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Freedom.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... freedom, you know, that she doesn`t have to run off to have freedom. And you know, this is not behavior that we`ve ever seen from Morgan. I think she was taken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: In the last hours, Virginia State Police confirm a partially skeletonized body has been found in the midst of a pasture of thick grass, a 700-acre Albemarle County farm there in Virginia. Police have blocked off all access to the farm, Route 29. Using a grid system technique of searching, they are searching every inch, looking for clues. But we do believe that if this is 20-year-old co-ed Morgan Harrington, the body may have been there for about 101 days.
We are taking your calls live. To Cindy in Virginia. Hi, Cindy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I live in Charlottesville, Virginia, and my son is the same age as Morgan and was also at the concert that night, so my heart really breaks for her family. My question is -- I was one of the searchers who went out on the volunteer searches looking for her. And when they spoke to us that day, the investigators told us they were specifically interested in finding a digital camera. And I am wondering if any mention was made of that today, as to whether they found that camera or why they would have been interested specifically in a digital camera.
GRACE: Cindy in Virginia, that is right on point because we do have some information about the camera. Apparently, they don`t have it yet. To Tim Martin, Newstalk 960 WFIR. What about the camera?
MARTIN: Yes, Nancy, this was information that came out, you know, a couple months after Morgan Harrington went missing. Joe Raider (ph) with state police said they were looking for a red digital camera that was in her possession, Morgan Harrington`s possession, the night she went missing. And it`s something police would like to find. And you may wonder, you know, how could they, you know, be fairly certain this is her. Well, this could be one of the items that they found with the body. We just don`t know that. We`re waiting for more information from police.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s just touched so many people. The description of her and her personality.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her name is Morgan Dana Harrington.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She has not been heard from since she and her friends went to a Metallica concert.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From what I understand, she went to a restroom and they then got a call from Morgan that she was outside the arena.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is suspicious to me that she ended up outside the arena and it makes me wonder if she saw someone she knew and walked out.
GIL HARRINGTON, MORGAN`S MOTHER: I can`t think that Morgan would leave with someone she did not know. You know, Morgan -- but kids think everyone is their friend.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The remains found in a farmland, a remote area about 10 miles from where this concert took place in Charlottesville, Virginia.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is it Morgan?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While operating a tractor in the field, the owner came across skeletal remains.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a remote area. There is no readily public access to the area. And it`s farm.
G. HARRINGTON: We`re pretty distraught with her absence because we miss our little baby.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Based on the evidence that was there that we recovered, we`re fairly confident at this time that the remains are those of Morgan Dana Harrington, the 20-year-old Virginia Tech student who went missing from the University of Virginia, from their campus during the Metallica concert on October 17th, 2009.
The remains are being transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond for identification and autopsy and until we receive word from the results of that autopsy, we can`t say with 100 percent certainty that this is truly Miss Harrington.
However, as I just said, there were some significant items of evidence that makes us confident that scientific procedure will confirm the I.D.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: At this hour, as we go to air, we can confirm a partially skeletonized body. A skeleton has been found on a 700-acre farm. There in Virginia.
We know that in the particular area where the body has been found, our unofficial sources say it is a woman with long, blond hair. We have a source telling us that a bracelet and/or a necklace was found on the body.
That pretty much rules out a robbery as a motive. We believe the body may have been there for at least 101 days, which means whoever killed this girl, if it is in fact, 20-year-old co-ed Morgan Harrington, has got a head start of 101 days. He`s got the jump on police.
Out to you, Marc Klaas, weigh in.
MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: I believe that -- first of all, I need to extend my most heartfelt condolence to the Harringtons, whom I met just last week when we were both lobbying or all three lobbying to free up only $4 million, the only resource that the federal government would have to give up to help search for missing adults.
And to think that they would put themselves -- they would put the considerations of others ahead of themselves in this very difficult time, it`s just awful for them.
I believe that she was probably walked into that location. I believe that whoever did this left enough evidence that they will be able to figure it out. I believe that they need to find out who the registered offenders are within that community. And I suspect that there`s a pretty small population of individuals who could be responsible for this crime.
GRACE: And could you be more specific? You know you`re making a very, very clear point about who you think the killer is. Make your point.
KLAAS: Well, the point is, is that it`s probably somebody local and that it very well may be somebody with a criminal history and/or a registered sex offender. Certainly somebody that knows the area and is able to get her to that location and get out without being detected.
GRACE: Back to Courteney Stuart, senior editor of "The Hook." She`s there at the police headquarters, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Courteney, would you have to drive to where the body is? How far would you have to walk to get to that location?
COURTENEY STUART, DR. EDITOR, THE HOOK, DROVE AROUND FARM WHERE BODY FOUND; OUTSIDE POLICE HEADQUARTERS: To get to the location on the farm -- what I heard was that it was a mile and a half off of 29 South, which is the main thoroughfare.
How far it is off of the farm road that lead then to sort of the extended driveway, I don`t know. I haven`t been given that number exactly.
GRACE: But, Courteney, can just anybody go down the driveway?
STUART: Well, there`s a gate at the end that was open today, of course, because people were going in and out. And I don`t know whether that would usually be closed. I imagined most of those gates as I drive around Albemarle County are open.
It`s not a high crime area. It`s an area of farms. So I suppose somebody could drive in, but they would have to drive past the house. There`s a house right there, visible from the road.
And you can`t see from 29 how far in the driveway goes. So it could end right there. So I don`t think somebody would randomly turn in there thinking that they were going to have 700 acres. I don`t think you would know if you weren`t familiar.
GRACE: We are waiting for confirmation on the identity of this skeleton. Apparently, the clothes were either on the body or around the body. There`s a very, very big difference. We don`t know if the skeleton had been torn apart by animal activity. We don`t know if it`s intact.
There`s a lot we don`t know right now, but unofficial sources are saying it is a female with long, blond hair, that there was black clothing on or around the body, and that she may have still been wearing jewelry.
Now that says a lot to me, forensically.
Back to you, Tim Martin, Newstalk 960 WFIR. It`s my understanding that the owner of this property very rarely goes to this area. This sector of his farm.
TIM MARTIN, REPORTER, NEWSTALK 960 WFIR (via phone): Exactly right, Nancy. I mean in all likelihood, the farmer wouldn`t even have been out there had a big storm not come over the weekend. He was in the area feeding cows and checking fences to see if any damage was done from the storm that came through the area.
I mean this is an area that you`d have to, literally, you know, go into the farm, stop your car somewhere around his house, and then take the body another mile or half mile to where you were going to drop it off or whatever happened.
It`s not somewhere that someone can just pull in and drop off a body. And it`s raising a lot of questions about what happened. Who knew the area. That`s going to be something police are going to be looking at.
Surely they`re going to be re-interviewing witnesses who may have seen Morgan last, but they`re also probably going to be talking to the farmer about maybe who knew the farm. I know that he said two people hunted in the area. He allowed two men to hunt on the farm. Surely police are going to want to talk to them. They`re going to try to figure out who knew the area well and if they`re involved.
GRACE: Well, it`s not just that did he allow them on the farm, but did they bring a pose with them. You know, what are their ages? Did they live in the area? Were they flown in, you know? A lot of people take hunting very seriously. And they`ll fly to a location just to hunt.
So I`d like to find out. Was it just two guys or was it two occasions with a group of hunters on that farm?
We are taking your calls live. I want to go to Dr. David Posey, medical examiner, forensic pathologist with the Glenn Oaks Pathology Medical Group there in L.A.
Welcome, Dr. Posey. The killer has got.
DR. DAVID M. POSEY, MEDICAL EXAMINER, GLEN OAKS PATHOLOGY MEDICAL GROUP: Hi, Nancy.
GRACE: . a three-month headstart on the police. If this girl was killed the night she went missing, which is October 17, around 8:40 p.m., what condition would the body be in if it had lain in the elements all this time?
POSEY: Well, lain in the elements, Nancy, you deteriorate much faster than if you`re, say, in the water or in ground. And the best way to preserve a body would be in-ground. Now the better part of this scenario is the fact that it`s mid-October when she goes missing and the weather has changed.
It`s no longer hot and humid, it`s going to be cooler to cold. And as -- I`ve heard there have been snow and rain in the area. So that will help preserve, to a degree, the body. So I think that`s why we`re hearing a partially skeletonized remains and that`ll leave a lot of evidence for the medical examiner there in Virginia to work with, as well as the forensic experts who are trying to put this thing together as to how the body got there and the identification process.
I think one of the biggest issues, as you`ve talked about at length today, is the fact that how did that body get to such a remote area. I kind of agree with the police officer. I don`t think that someone carried her in there. I doubt if they drug her in there.
I wouldn`t be surprised she was walked in there, maybe under the influence of alcohol, drugs or what have you. And then something happened at that location. So I think they`ve got a lot of work to do with -- with what they have, but it`s going to take a lot of investigative...
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Daniel Horowitz, famed attorney, San Francisco, Alex Sanchez, also a famed attorney, New York.
First to you, Daniel Horowitz, you`ve already got callers calling in wondering if she wandered out there by herself. Now that`s somebody you`d like on your jury, right?
DANIEL HOROWITZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, that`s not a viable theory. She obviously was taken there and what I find interesting, Nancy, is that at the time it happened, with that three-foot grass, for a while, there was a path right from where they went in to where they ended.
GRACE: What about it, Alex Sanchez?
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You know, there`s a lot of unanswered questions here, but one of the unanswered questions, unfortunately, is what crimes were committed against her at all, if any. I mean it`s not outside the realm of possibility that it could...
GRACE: She`s dead, Alex.
SANCHEZ: Unfortunately, it could have been.
GRACE: She`s dead. That`s a crime.
SANCHEZ: It could have been a drug overdose, I`m sorry to say.
GRACE: Oh please.
SANCHEZ: But it does need to be examined further.
GRACE: A drug overdose as she walks a half a mile -- a mile and a half to just fall down in the grass?
SANCHEZ: That is simply one of the issues that need to be resolved.
GRACE: I wish. I hope the defense argues that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
G. HARRINGTON: There is that very empty place, a Morgan-shaped place, in our hearts as well as our home right now. You never thought that you`d be sitting in this place in a thousand, thousand years.
DANIEL HARRINGTON, MORGAN`S FATHER: We just want Morgan to come back safely so we have our baby back.
G. HARRINGTON: One of our children is missing and we want her back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The Virginia State Police say skeletal remains have been found on Anchorage farm on Route 29 in southern Albemarle County. Early reports indicate the remains are that of a young woman with long, blond hair. She was wearing dark clothing and a bracelet.
DAVID BASS, FARM OWNER: I saw what I thought was a dead deer. I got a little closer and it didn`t look like a deer skull.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: David Bass, owner of the farm, was riding on his tractor about 8:30 Tuesday morning when he made the discovery. Bass is baffled about how the remains ended up in a remote part of his farm.
BASS: It`s an inaccessible place. I couldn`t get my pick-up there. My tractor, four-wheel drive, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Dozens of police officers spent much of the day going to and from the large farm near Red Hill. Vans and trucks labeled "forensic unit" with both Albemarle and state police took to the winding road over the hill leading to the scene.
A police helicopter took to the air searching for potential clues from the sky. The lead investigator on the Morgan Harrington case, Lt. Joe Rader, arrived on the scene just after 12:30.
Albemarle County Commonwealth`s attorney, Denise Lunsford, was also on the scene to inspect the area for her self and to make sure the detectives working the scene are thorough should the investigation turn criminal.
D. HARRINGTON: I don`t know if the security guards have been questioned or not. I don`t think the girls are hiding anything. I think they really don`t know. You know, they -- Morgan went to the restroom by herself and for whatever reason, she ended up outside the arena.
And I think they are as perplexed as we are as to how that occurred and I think the more important question is why didn`t Morgan feel that she could get a ride afterwards rather than staying around until -- we don`t know the answer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Based on the evidence that was there that we`ve recovered, we`re fairly confident at this time that the remains are those of Morgan Dana Harrington, the 20-year-old....
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Out to Dr. Mark Hillman, psychotherapist and author of "My Therapist is Making Me Nuts." A lot of people are speculating this is someone that knew the area very well.
That says a local. But what would possess her to walk out into the middle of this pasture? I disagree with that theory.
MARK HILLMAN, CLINICAL PSYCHOTHERAPIST, AUTHOR OF "MY THERAPIST IS MAKING ME NUTS": Well, Nancy, no one really knows for sure, but the point is, somehow that body got there. And, you know, the investigations, I`m sure they`re not telling us everything up to date.
My concern would be how the parents, Gil and Dan Harrington, are coping with this and the fact that they`re using all their social networks, Twitter, Facebook, FindMorgan.com, and Gil said, she`s going to scour the earth looking for these people who did this to their child.
And I agree with her 100 percent. As far as this idea of drugs and this and that, this guy sitting next tom e, Alex Sanchez, I yelled at him during the break.
GRACE: Thank you, because.
HILLMAN: Because that was preposterous.
GRACE: . if I was there, he`ll get a little finger necklace courtesy of me. Because, listen, Hillman, come on. This was 10 miles away from where she went missing the night of the Metallica concert. She had on, as I recall, a mini skirt and boots. She did not walk 10 miles, OD`d on dope or alcohol then walk out into a 700-acre farm and lay down in the grass, and die.
You know what, Sanchez? I mean -- if you`re not embarrassed, I`m embarrassed for you. All right? Would you like to respond? Go ahead, hit me.
SANCHEZ: Yes, I would like to respond because this case is not...
GRACE: Quickly.
SANCHEZ: There is no final conclusion exactly how this girl died. And until we have the autopsy, we don`t have any final, definitive answers right there. This is speculation at this point, but it is certainly something a defense attorney will bring up if this case ever comes to trial.
GRACE: To Bill Majeski, former NYPD, at Majeski Associates. What about it, Bill?
BILL MAJESKI, FMR. NYPD DETECTIVE, MAJESKI ASSOCIATES, INC.: There`s a whole bunch of things that I`m thinking about here. First, my sympathies to the family. But clearly, the body was there. She probably did not go voluntarily. After the autopsy they will make a determination as to whether or not she was fighting the person that brought her there.
A couple of issues. There may be something like horse hair on the body which would mean that she got there by horseback. There`s also a possibility -- this is 10 miles from the venue, or 10 miles from where she disappeared.
Were there any small planes in the area? Did she go and leave the concern and go with someone and wind up on the plane? And perhaps the body was even dropped out of the plane into this remote area. That will all be determined by the medical examiner when they examine the body and find out what is the cause of death.
GRACE: OK. I can just tell you right now, Majeski, she was not air- lifted into a cow pasture, but thanks for the theory.
MAJESKI: We don`t know that.
GRACE: Yes, well, I know it. OK, I`m hearing in my ear, breaking news, two little girls, missing, sisters age 2 and 3.
Straight out to Will Sterrett, assistant news director, Newsradio 740 KTRH.
Will, what happened to the two little girls?
WILL STERRETT, ASSISTANT NEWS DIR., NEWSRADIO 740 KTRH (via phone): Well, what we`re being told is that they were taken from their babysitter`s house about 3:30 yesterday afternoon, believed to be by their mother, who no longer has custody of those children.
She was the non-parental parent. The paternal grandmother actually had custody of these children. But they were taken from the babysitter`s house in the middle of the afternoon yesterday.
GRACE: Why, Will, did the mother lose custody?
STERRETT: What we`re being told is that they were a couple of reasons. First off, she has a history of drug abuse. And also has.
GRACE: Oh, good lord.
STERRETT: And also has exhibited suicidal tendencies, and so the combination of that. There are perhaps other factors as well, but those are the things, we`re being told right now, is the suicidal tendencies and the drug abuse are the reasons for that.
GRACE: So mommy is a dope addict and has suicidal ideations. The babysitter says -- let me get this straight, Will Sterrett, KTRH. She goes to the bathroom. She comes out, the children are gone? I don`t believe that.
STERRETT: That`s correct.
GRACE: That can`t be true.
STERRETT: That`s what we`re being told at this point. That`s the story from the babysitter. There are obviously a lot of questions here that are going to be continually looked at through this entire process and no doubt in the postmortem examination. But what we have right now is the babysitter saying that yes, she went to use the restroom, when she came back, they were gone.
GRACE: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Did I just hear you say postmortem examination?
STERRETT: I`m using that term for when the story is over. Once they find the children.
GRACE: OK, got it.
STERRETT: . hopefully with a happy ending.
GRACE: I guess under certain circumstances it could be true, depending on where the children were when she went to the bathroom.
Everybody, take a look at these two little girls, ages 2 and 3. Tip line, 713-755-7427.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: We are getting late-breaking news that a 2- and 3-year-old girl, Caydence Gonzales, Isabel Martinez, missing, 2-year-old, 3-year-old. The babysitter says she had her -- she went to the restroom, came back out. I take it this is in the babysitter`s home. The children are gone.
We believe they are with the mother who did not have custody. She is a drug abuser and has suicidal ideations.
Great. Go commit suicide with your girls with you.
OK, Daniel Horowitz, Alex Sanchez, we`ve seen this happen so many times. Where do we go from here, Daniel Horowitz?
HOROWITZ: Well, I don`t buy the babysitter`s story. She knows what happened, that`s what I think. And I think you lean on the friends of the mother, arrest them for drug offenses, and just crush them until they tell you where she is. Somebody knows.
GRACE: Sanchez?
SANCHEZ: This is going to be at the top of the police priority list. Because you have two young kids, very important to the community and to the family, and you can be certain they`re going to be conducting a massive investigation immediately to try to recover those children.
GRACE: Everybody, this is out of Houston, Texas. I want to go back to Marc Klaas.
This is your expertise, Marc. Weigh in.
KLAAS: Well, certainly there should have been an Amber Alert called if this story is true. They should have immediately activated an Amber Alert. So I think that`s a big question.
But what kind of car does this woman drive? Who are her friends? Who are her family? Does she have a cell phone? Does she have credit cards? What are the ways that you can electronically track this woman?
This thing won`t resolve until people that have these huge drug problems don`t really venture too far from home. So she`s probably somewhere in the area and it`s just a matter of time before they bring her in. Let`s hope they do before she causes any harm to those kids.
GRACE: What about it, Pat Brown?
KLAAS: If in fact that`s what this is about.
GRACE: Pat?
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER, AUTHOR OF "KILLING FOR SPORT": The babysitter`s story, either? I mean do you leave a door unlocked, the front door, so the 2- and 3-year-olds can wander out? And how long do you spend in the bathroom? She absolutely knows what`s going on.
GRACE: Everybody, the tip line, 713-755-7427. Look at these little girls, age 2 and 3.
Everyone, let`s stop and remember Army Corporal Joseph Catrell IV, 23, Ashley, Kentucky, killed, Iraq. Awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Army Commendation Medal, Combat Medical Badge. An army medic.
He loved Christ, family, country, sports, and his mini penny, a mini Doberman pincher, Mugsy. He dreamed of being a pharmacist or playing football for army. Loved by so many in his community and beyond.
Leaves behind parents Joe and Sandra, stepmother Irene, an Army vet, brother, Jake, high school sweetheart, Shea.
Joseph Cantrell IV, American hero.
Thanks to our guests but especially to you. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
