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Nancy Grace
Police Search for Missing 12-Year-Old Colorado Girl
Aired April 02, 2010 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JEAN CASAREZ, HOST: We begin tonight with breaking news out of Colorado. A 12-year-old girl tells her mother, I love you, then leaves home in broad daylight to walk nearby to a little friend`s birthday party. But she never gets there. Somewhere in the eight blocks, the 6th-grade girl goes missing without a trace. Tonight, local police, FBI, K-9s and search teams combing every square inch of Greeley, Colorado, for missing 12-year-old Kayleah Wilson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This case started with the report of a missing juvenile reported to the Greeley Police Department Sunday night, this past Sunday. Information on this missing juvenile, Kayleah Wilson, was initially entered into a national crime database, the statewide crime database. We got the assistance of our detectives involved early in the case. We`ve been working this pretty much around the clock since Sunday night. Very early in the week, it was clear to us we needed additional resources at that time. The FBI agreed to come in and assist us, which has been going on ever since then.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twelve-year-old Kayleah Wilson was headed to a birthday party and vanished, the 12-year-old girl now missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She left the house on Sunday, we`re confident. Her mother saw her leave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re talking a distance of only a few blocks, not a huge distance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She has asthma. She uses an inhaler, and she took her inhaler with her when she left the house. So we`re looking for something that looks just like that. That is the inhaler that she uses. So if anybody sees, that, maybe finds it out in the street, anything at all related to something like that, that would be very important for us to know about.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Local police and the FBI working the case, interviewing students, taking away potential evidence, tracker dogs searching for clues outside, combing roads and ditches along route U.S. 34. Just how does a 12-year-old girl disappear from what was suppose to be a happy celebration that`s now turned into heartbreak for Kayleah`s loved ones?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: Good evening. I`m Jean Casarez of the legal network In Session on the truTV network, in for Nancy Grace. Thank you so much for joining us tonight. Breaking news out of Colorado. A 12-year-old girl leaves home in broad daylight to walk nearby to a little friend`s birthday party. But somewhere in the eight blocks it normally takes to get there, she goes missing without a trace. Tonight, the search for 12-year-old Kayleah Wilson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If they`ve seen anything, know anything, anything is -- even if it doesn`t seem like it`s anything, it might be something.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The day was Sunday, presumably like any other day for 12-year-old Kayleah Wilson. She left her suburban Colorado home to attend a friend`s birthday party just blocks away, but never arrives. How does someone just disappear?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want people to call us with anything that they think that may in any way be involved or may help us bring Kayleah home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops now expanding the search and desperately making pleas to the public for assistance. One potential break, law enforcement says Kayleah has asthma and took her inhaler when she left her home, law enforcement asking if anyone sees this specific model of inhaler to call cops.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we`re involved in right now is not real probably exciting, sexy things. It`s basic police work, foot-slogging police work, interviewing, reinterviewing, doing searches, checking leads.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We assume the worst, as I said before. We assume the worst, and we put all the resources we have to resolve the case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: We are taking your calls live tonight. We have got the FBI with us. It`s on this case. But first let`s go out to Troy Coverdale. He is news director at KFKA radio in Greeley, Colorado. Troy, what`s the latest with this case?
TROY COVERDALE, KFKA RADIO: Kayleah Wilson has been missing since Sunday afternoon about 3:40, when she left her apartment near the Greeley Mall at 23rd Avenue and U.S. 34, left on foot, walking to a friend`s birthday party. In fact, her mother saw her walk away. And that is the last that this little girl has been seen.
It`s been a search that has been ongoing with the FBI, as you mentioned, being pulled in, now to the point of more than 50 of their agents working out of the local police station, as well as helping the local police, utilizing resources from across the nation in trying to determine just where Kayleah Wilson has disappeared to.
CASAREZ: To Peter Banda, reporter of the Associated Press. Peter, thank you for joining us, from Colorado also. Give us the timeline in all this case on Sunday. When did she leave the house? did she say good-bye to her mother at all? Who saw her last when she left?
PETER BANDA, ASSOCIATED PRESS (via telephone): Well, she left the house at about 3:40 in the afternoon on Sunday. And all she was going to do was cross this highway and go to a friend`s house that`s just behind the Greeley Mall. And that was the last she`s ever been seen.
CASAREZ: All right, let`s go straight out to Dave Joly, FBI Denver spokesperson. Thank you so much for joining us. I understand the FBI has joined this case now. When did you come on board, and how many FBI agents do you have working the case?
DAVE JOLY, FBI DENVER (via telephone): Jean, we came on board Tuesday afternoon. We have about 50 agents and several professional support staff that are assisting in this investigation.
CASAREZ: Now, I understand that you`ve done a search inside the home. Tell me -- first of all, did you get a search warrant executed inside the home, or was it a consent search?
JOLY: This was a consensual search by the family. The reason for us searching the home is to find forensic evidence that might lead to some information that we might use at a later date. DNA reference samples were collected from each of the family members in the residence, so we have a good reference sample if we should find some leads that might have some DNA evidence, where she`s been or where she, hopefully, will be found.
CASAREZ: What else did you take outside of the home?
JOLY: Just the forensic evidence, the DNA evidence. We interviewed the parents. They`ve been very cooperative, trying to provide us with information and knowledge of her whereabouts.
CASAREZ: Now, talk to me about her mother. Her mother`s been very cooperative with police, right? What did she tell you was the last thing she saw with her daughter as she left?
JOLY: She left about 3:40 in the afternoon, as has been reported. She told her mom, Bye, that she loved her, and she was heading out the door to go a party. She was going to meet an individual, a friend, just a few blocks away in order to go to the party together.
CASAREZ: So she was going to walk to meet a friend. Did she get that far, to meet the friend?
JOLY: She did not. The mother started calling out to family members and neighbors and friends around 9:00 PM that Sunday evening, trying to find her daughter.
CASAREZ: So she didn`t even get to the friend. What`s the area like in Greeley, Colorado, that she would have walked to meet the friend?
JOLY: Mostly residential. There`s a few parks in the area, as well.
CASAREZ: Are you searching right now -- I understand you brought out dogs.
JOLY: We have. We brought out some K-9 dogs, some bloodhound-type dogs. We`ve been searching dumpsters in the area for evidence and any kind of items that might pertain to her clothing, or as you heard earlier from my special-agent-in-charge, the inhaler that she had with her.
CASAREZ: Talk to us about that. She took her inhaler with her. So she has asthma.
JOLY: She does. And the inhaler was still -- you know, it was fairly new, so she still had quite a few uses on the inhaler. But we`ve used that as a prop just in case the public should see the inhaler or see one on the ground, they need to notify law enforcement immediately.
CASAREZ: All right. Let`s go out to a caller, if you don`t mind. Linda in Maryland. Hi, Linda. Thanks for calling tonight.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Jean. It`s an honor to talk to you.
CASAREZ: You`re very kind.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is, where is this mother`s head? Why is a 12-year-old dating a 17-year-old? When I was 12, I was riding my bike and roller skating. I mean, what`s she doing with a 17-year-old boyfriend in the first place?
CASAREZ: Well, let`s ask the FBI. First of all, is it true that Kayleah Wilson had a boyfriend? And what was his age?
JOLY: That`s really not part of our investigation. Our main focus is to try to bring the girl home safely.
CASAREZ: OK. Are you interviewing everyone, though, that knew her, that could have known something that can help your investigation?
JOLY: Absolutely. We`re interviewing -- we`re canvassing the neighborhood. We`re interviewing classmates, school teachers, friends, relatives, even some local businesses and residents that might have cameras or some sort of surveillance system. We`re trying to gain that information, as well.
CASAREZ: To Troy Coverdale, news director KFKA radio, what can you tell me about a boyfriend or ex-boyfriend?
COVERDALE: That would be an ex-boyfriend, age 17, as alluded to just in the general discussion. We`ve not ascertained his name, but we do know that police did, in fact, question him. He is not necessarily a person of interest or anything along those lines, just standard questioning to that 17-year-old, much the same way as everyone else in this case that has a connection has been approached by either the police or the FBI.
CASAREZ: Right. Back to Dave Joly, FBI agent, Denver, Colorado, spokesperson for this case. In regard to her friends or boyfriend or an ex-boyfriend, how would her mother have felt about that? Have you talked to her mother at all about how she felt about her daughter having someone like that?
JOLY: I have not interviewed the mother personally. I haven`t spoke to her, either. Our main focus is trying to get the public to call in and give us something that they might have saw or think they might have saw around the time that she went missing.
CASAREZ: How many tips have you gotten so far?
JOLY: We`ve gotten over 100 tips, and we`re following those leads completely. We have agents and police officers from the metro area that are assisting in the investigation.
CASAREZ: All right. The reason I ask you about a boyfriend and her mother possibly not liking a boyfriend, breaking up -- my gut tells me you don`t think this is a runaway situation because you would not have 50 FBI agents on this case, in addition to all the other local and state enforcements. This is urgent, isn`t it.
JOLY: It is urgent. This is the top priority right now for the Denver division of the FBI, and we`re leaving no stone unturned and we`re ruling out no suspects. And all of the clues and information that we`ve received is all on the table.
CASAREZ: Are you going beyond Greeley? Are you going to truck stops? Are you going to neighboring states even?
JOLY: If we get a lead in a neighboring jurisdiction or even a neighboring state, we will contact the FBI office in that jurisdiction and they can follow up that lead for us within minutes.
CASAREZ: What was Kayleah wearing when she left her home, kissed her mother, said she loved her, and was going to the birthday party?
JOLY: I don`t have her physical -- I have her physical description but not her clothing description.
CASAREZ: OK. Tell us about her physically, then.
JOLY: Twelve years old. She has brown hair, brown eyes, 5-1, 145 pounds. And we`re asking folks to call the 1-800-CALL-FBI with any leads that they might have.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her mother saw her leave. And then beyond that, I think, you know, we`d be talking about something that`s going on in the investigation, and I just -- you know, I`m not comfortable (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking news. Law enforcement needs your help finding 12-year-old Kayleah Wilson.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did do specific searches in the area near her home where she would have crossed the highway.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s just a great 6th-grade kid. She`s a typical middle school kid.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Information on this missing juvenile, Kayleah Wilson, was initially entered into a national crime database. We`ve been working this pretty much around the clock.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She left her home for a birthday party just blocks away, but never arrives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She has good grades, has good friends, likes to be involved.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a huge amount of leads in this case. Every single one of them has to be tracked down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kayleah vanishes in broad daylight. How could it happen?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a very manpower-intensive investigation at this point.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Law enforcement says no case in the area has higher priority, police desperately concerned for her safety, asking for any tip, big or small.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we`re asking is if anybody has seen something that they think would apply to this case, something on the street, some information from a neighborhood, anything at all...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As over 50 investigators combing the area, some with dogs, hoping to score a potential lead that brings the little 12-year- old girl home safely.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We really, really are in great need of assistance from the public. We want people to call us with anything that they think that may in any way be involved or may help us bring Kayleah home. That is our goal here.
I can say that there is at this moment no higher priority in the Denver division of the FBI. We have significant resources here assisting in this investigation. I`m guessing that we have -- well, I can say that we have over 50 investigators here working this case. In addition to that, we`ve requested resources from other divisions and across the bureau. We have actually brought in the child abduction response rapid deployment team.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: This is serious. This is very serious. I`m Jean Casarez of the legal network In Session, in for Nancy Grace tonight. This is a little girl. She`s a 6th-grader. She`s not even a teenager yet. She`s 12 years old. So she walks from her house to join another little girl. They`re going to go on to a birthday party. She never even meets the first little girl.
I want to ask Peter Banda, reporter from the Associated Press out of Colorado. Can you tell us what she was wearing when she left her house?
BANDA: Yes. Police say she was wearing a white and pink shirt over white tank top, bluejeans and white and red shoes.
CASAREZ: OK. All right. Light colors. To Troy Coverdale, news director KFKA radio out of Greeley, Colorado. This is what I want to know. She leaves her house. How far is it from her house to this highway that they say she had to cross? And what highway is it?
COVERDALE: Yes, not a very far distance at all. You`re only talking about three to four blocks of that eight blocks to get to her friend`s place. It actually is an overpass. It`s one of the busiest stretches of roadway in the city. It`s U.S. 34, a bypass that for years has passed through that area and has become more of a central roadway than it has a bypass, to be honest with you.
CASAREZ: So you`re saying she would walk over the bypass, not under and across the highway?
COVERDALE: Yes, she would walk under the bypass on (INAUDIBLE) Avenue.
CASAREZ: Across the highway?
COVERDALE: Uh-huh.
CASAREZ: Across the highway. OK. To Dave Joly, FBI out of Colorado. Do you think she even made it to the highway?
JOLY: We`re not sure. We have a window of opportunity from about 3:40, and that`s why we`re looking for the public`s assistance between that 3:40 and probably about 4:10, 4:15. That`s the critical time that we need to find out where she was and who might have actually witnessed her in that area.
CASAREZ: And that highway, how many drivers are on that highway? I mean, someone could have seen her that was just driving on the highway.
JOLY: Absolutely. And that`s why we`re asking critical from the public -- you know, some people might pass an automobile accident, 100 people might pass an automobile accident, and no one will call and report it because they think someone else did.
CASAREZ: Right.
JOLY: So we`re really hoping on the public to come forth and give us some information of something very minor that they might have witnessed or saw that might be beneficial to this investigation.
CASAREZ: All right. Richard in Massachusetts. Good evening, Richard.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi.
CASAREZ: Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, I feel so bad about these children. They`re under attack this time of the year, and it`s an awful thing. Now here`s another missing child. The parents need to get more cautious. Every day in our community, we see kids getting off the bus and walking alone, nobody with them at all.
CASAREZ: Richard, it`s just what I was thinking before this show started. Let`s go to Pat Brown, criminal profiler out of Washington, D.C., author of "The Profiler: My Life Hunting Serial Killers and Psychopaths." You know what? What Richard says, out of Massachusetts, is so true. What`s happening? I mean, I don`t remember hearing about all of this before, Pat.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: That is true, Jean. I think we just didn`t have as much of this 20 years ago, and it is getting worse. And I want to first of all compliment the investigators on this case for giving that information about the inhaler. That is fabulous. Sometimes they won`t give that information out. I`m glad they did because somebody might have seen it around the road or in somebody`s home.
But I want to point out something about victimology, too. It`s very important to know about this girl`s nature, that she did have a 17-year-old boyfriend, that her father -- biological father`s not in the home. She may be seeking out older male attention.
So when you let a girl have a lot of freedom and she`s wandering off and she`s all happy, it`s less likely that a serial killer is going to grab her. To tell you the truth, it has nothing to do -- anything negative about weight, but they tend to like real thin little girls. This little girl is a little bit pudgier, and that usually means somebody she knows, that she`s able -- they`re able to, you know, lure her in.
CASAREZ: But Pat, what do you think about 133 -- we just showed the map a second ago.
BROWN: Exactly.
CASAREZ: ... 133 sex offenders, registered sex offenders in that area near where she lived?
BROWN: Exactly, Jean. And if these are child predators, they`re the type of person that can lure her in by talking to her sweetly and bringing her into their home. And they need to look right in that neighborhood and see who`s out there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twelve-year-old kids don`t usually just disappear altogether.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anybody who might see this inhaler, somebody carrying the inhaler or that sort of thing, I mean, that`s the one thing that we know she took with her, and that`s the one thing that we`re asking for help with.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police go door to door looking for answers, the FBI joining police in looking for any clues in Kayleah`s disappearance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a huge amount of leads in this case. Every single one of them has to be tracked down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez of the legal network In Session, in for Nancy Grace. The FBI is saying this is urgent. A little girl, a 6th- grader, is going to a little friend`s birthday party. She doesn`t even meet her little friend for them to go together. She never reaches the party.
I want to go out to FBI agent Dave Joly out of the Denver FBI, agent on this case. Did she have a cell phone at all that she took with her?
JOLY: She did not have a cell phone. That was one of the first things that we reached out to the family about, and that was -- no phone that she brought with her.
CASAREZ: All right. Now, I`m going to ask you a tough question. You might not know the answer. But how did she carry her little inhaler? Did she have a purse, a pocket? How did she carry it?
JOLY: Probably in her pocket, from what we`re gathering. That was her normal mode of traveling with her inhaler.
CASAREZ: Was an Amber Alert called out on this case?
JOLY: It was not. Amber Alert has certain criteria that needs to be met that a child abduction has actually occurred, and there was no way to confirm that at the time and there`s still not a way to confirm that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The FBI joining the police in looking for any clues in Kayleah`s disappearance, and her family is not taking a wait-and- see approach.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s a good girl. She gets good grades. She does good in school. She doesn`t hang out with bad people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say she left home and was supposed to meet up with friends for a birthday party. She never showed up. Wasn`t reported missing for six hours.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her mother saw her leave.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s a good girl. She gets good grades. She does good in school. She doesn`t hang out with bad people.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Now there may be holes in the family`s timeline.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Authorities now expanding the search.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pulling all traffic off a road near the mall where the girl would have had to cross when she was walking to the birthday party and just started randomly asking them if they had seen anything strange there.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Desperately making pleas to the public for assistance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If anybody has seen something that they think would apply to this case, something on the street, some information from a neighborhood, anything at all, even if you think maybe it`s not very important, we`re asking folks to please share that information with us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please don`t assume that we already know something.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: 4:00 p.m. supposed to meet friends. 7:00 p.m. the party time. Leaves three hours early.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Kayleah vanishes in broad daylight. How could it happen?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a very manpower-intensive investigation at this point. But we are sparing no resources in conducting that investigation. There will be no lead that is uncovered because of lack of resources.
And just to be clear in how important this is to law enforcement at the moment, you know, we -- I can speak for the chief. We have received offers of assistance from other police departments in the area, departments in the Denver area. Other federal agencies have called me and offered to lend resources to this thing.
So there will be a considerable effort brought to bear to bring Kayleah home, and that effort will continue until we have done everything we can and -- or she is safely home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JEAN CASAREZ, GUEST HOST: I`m Jean Casarez of the legal network "In Session", in for Nancy Grace.
Over 50 FBI agents are on this case now as well as local authorities, Denver police, the entire state of Colorado, is looking for Kayleah Wilson, a little sixth-grade girl that was going to a birthday party but she never made it. Her mother thought she was at the birthday party, but she wasn`t. She never got there.
I`d like to go out to a very special guest. I am so -- always so honored when you are on this show, Dr. Joshua Perper, chief medical examiner, Broward County, Florida.
You know, when I think about this, and -- she had enough foresight to take her asthma inhaler with her. That shows me, Doctor, she thought she might need it. We don`t know where she is now, but what are the health concerns about a child with asthma?
DR. JOSHUA PERPER, MEDICAL EXAMINER, AUTHOR OF "WHEN TO CALL THE DOCTOR": Well, a child with asthma is subject to what we call asthmatic attacks, in which with shortness of breath which is significant, and those inhaler help because they dilate the airways so the person -- the child can breathe easier.
And children have smaller airway than adults, and also some of those inhaler have steroids. In other words, substances like cortisone, which fight or combat infection. So it`s very important to have this kind of inhaler because they prevent or they control an asthmatic attack of shortness of breath, which can be significant and can be complicated even by a loss of consciousness at that.
CASAREZ: All right. Let`s talk really bluntly here because I heard the FBI agents say that they are searching in dumpsters for things from her that could have been put in there. The only thing we know she had with her was the inhaler.
If something has happened to her and she doesn`t have her inhaler, what could happen?
PERPER: Well, I believe that -- it depends what were the severity of her attacks. In other words, that we should know, and we should know whether he -- she uses the inhaler and with what frequency.
And based on that, we can conclude whether she would have a severe asthmatic attack or not. And as I said, she can have severe shortness of breath. Sometimes it may develop in an asthmatic, in what we call status asthmaticus in which an attack of asthma follows another attack, and it`s very dangerous both to health and to the life of the patient.
CASAREZ: Yes. Sometimes you can`t breathe at all, right? To Mark --
PERPER: That`s correct.
CASAREZ: -- in Pennsylvania. Mark, good evening.
MARK, CALLER FROM PENNSYLVANIA: Hi. Good evening. Thank you for taking my call.
CASAREZ: You`re welcome.
MARK: My original question was did the young lady have a cell phone, but I see on the TV that she didn`t. Did anybody have her cell phone? Did her girlfriend who she was supposed to meet up with have a cell phone that they could have tried to get this information out there faster than they did?
CASAREZ: You know, it`s a good question because cell phones are so important. I think the little girl has gone to authorities. They know where she was waiting for her, which gives a bit of a timeline.
But to Paul Penzone, director of Prevention Programs, Childhelp.org, out of Phoenix, Arizona. By not having a cell phone how do you even begin to construct that necessary timeline?
PAUL PENZONE, DIRECT OF PREVENTION PROGRAMS, CHILDHELP.ORG, FMR. SERGEANT, PHOENIX PD: It`s not going to be easy and I commend law enforcement because if you listen every time they respond to something they have one focus, and that`s recovery of this little girl and to do a very thorough investigation.
They`re not getting side-tracked of the subjectivity. They have to find a starting point. That`s why the community has to have the same sense of urgency that law enforcement does.
Time is critical. The longer time passes without getting evidence the more difficult it is to recover her. And additionally, it increases the volume of violence and the unlikelihood of recovering her and that`s very scary.
CASAREZ: And a very good point.
Let`s go to the lawyers. To Randy Kessler, defense attorney out of Atlanta. Doug Burns, defense attorney out of New York.
Thank you both for joining us. Obviously, somebody knows something, right? Somebody knows something. First of all to Randy Kessler, defense lawyer. What`s the next step in all of this?
RANDY KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, you know, if it`s a random act of violence, that`s the scariest proposition. If we don`t know who did it, somebody just saw her and picked her up and had no plans, that`s hard.
You`ve got to start with the known. The known things are, she dated a 17-year-old. What does this 17-year-old see in her? Vulnerability. Maybe his friends saw vulnerability.
CASAREZ: But they say -- they say he`s cooperating at this point.
KESSLER: But maybe he has friends that saw that he dated a young girl who was vulnerable. Maybe his friends had ill intentions. Who knows? And the sex offenders. Those are the two starting points in my opinion.
CASAREZ: And let`s show everybody the list of sex offenders. There are 133 registered sex offenders in the area close to where she lived.
Doug Burns, your thoughts.
DOUG BURNS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, my thoughts track with what the police are were saying, Jean. In other words, you`ve got to interview everybody very, very carefully. Other students, teachers, friends. Reconstruct what she was doing in the time leading up to when she left to go to the birthday party.
You made a good point about a cell phone. That`s always critical because, A, you can see calls back and forth, but B, you can also sometimes track somebody`s location through a cell phone.
So, I mean, the police are doing everything they can. It`s a baffling case, though. I`ve got to tell you.
CASAREZ: It`s a baffling case, and it is urgent, the FBI is saying.
To Stephanie in Arizona, hi, Stephanie. Thanks for calling.
STEPHANIE, CALLER FROM ARIZONA: Hi. How are you?
CASAREZ: Good. Good. Your thoughts.
STEPHANIE: I just have a quick question and comment. My comment would be, I think some of these parents need to be charged with neglect. You`re letting your 12-year-old walk across the freeway who has medical issues. What is she thinking?
I just think that`s absurd. I think if these parents got charged with neglect maybe some of them would watch their kids closer.
And my question is, are there any cameras in the area where she was or went missing that could maybe be viewed and maybe see it, what happened to her?
CASAREZ: All right, Stephanie. Two good thoughts. First of all to Troy Coverdale, news director, KFKA Radio. You`re right there in Greeley, Colorado.
Is there any surveillance video anywhere? I heard you say earlier it was a residential neighborhood.
TROY COVERDALE, NEWS DIRECTOR, KFKA RADIO: It is predominantly a residential neighborhood. However, at the intersection of 23rd Avenue and the 34 bypass, which is -- again, the overpass that we were discussing that she had to make her way around to go to her friend`s place, that happens to be a traffic signal that has surveillance cameras at the signals.
You`re also talking about the fact that the Greeley Mall is centrally located right there. I`m thinking off the top of my head of a number of restaurants that line 23rd Avenue right there that potentially, if they have surveillance cameras connected to the outside of the restaurants, they would be able to maybe go back and try and at least locate and see if they had anything of her walking by.
CASAREZ: So Troy, would -- was her little friend that she was supposed to meet before the mall or at the mall or close to the mall? Run us through that whole thing.
COVERDALE: This would have been -- yes. This would have been after the mall. And the reason that we keep referring to the mall is just because it stands as a solid landmark in terms of -- in terms of the direction she was headed.
In terms of the fact that it lay in between the two places, her apartment as well as her friend`s home.
CASAREZ: To Dr. Lillian Glass, I have to ask you this. A mother allowing her child to be out at 10:00, not calling authorities, not calling anyone. It`s a school night. This is a sixth-grader.
LILLIAN GLASS, PSYCHOLOGIST, BODY LANGUAGE EXPERT, AUTHOR OF "TOXIC PEOPLE": Exactly. And I question the mother. I question what she`s all about. Because she`s not very responsible. She`s allowed her to be with a 17-year-old boy. I want to know her emotional state.
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NANCY GRACE, HOST: Tonight is Good Friday. For everyone that still seeks the Prince of Peace we wish you a wonderful and blessed Easter. And Happy Easter from the twins.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Frantic search in Colorado where a 12-year-old girl vanished on her way to a birthday party.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re talking a distance of only a few blocks, not a huge distance.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Authorities are stepping up their search for a missing 12-year-old girl.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Kayleah Wilson`s her name. A sixth-grader. She was last seen Sunday afternoon walking to a friend`s a few blocks away again for this birthday party.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When she left she was apparently going to meet a party that was going to walk with her to this birthday party and they were supposed to meet at approximately 4:00. So the time that she left was an appropriate time to leave to walk to this location.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Never arrived at the party.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Authorities north of Denver are now looking at places where she hung out and they`re going back to re-interview some people.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Then there`s this. Her mom says recently she broke up with her much older boyfriend. She`s 12. He is 17.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has been cooperative with us. He`s not a person of interest at this point in time. He`s not considered a person of interest or a suspect.
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CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez of the legal network "In Session," in for Nancy Grace today.
Little Kayleah Wilson, sixth-grader, 12 years old, she leaves for the birthday party. She doesn`t have money with her. She doesn`t have credit cards with her. She doesn`t have a cell phone with her. She`s just got her asthma inhaler with her. That`s not going to get her too far.
I want to go out to Peter Banda, reporter from the Associated Press. Out of the state of Colorado.
What about her father? Where is he? Have police spoken with him?
PETER BANDA, REPORTER, THE ASSOCIATE PRESS: Her father -- the police are telling us her father is in California. And apparently, really hasn`t been in the picture. But they have talked to him. And they`ve let him know what`s going on and they`re staying in contact with him.
CASAREZ: All right. Good to hear. Rhonda in Alabama. Rhonda, Hi. Good evening.
RHONDA, CALLER FROM ALABAMA: Hi, Jean. How are you?
CASAREZ: I`m fine. Your question.
RHONDA: Yes. If she was on her way to a birthday party, what happened to the birthday present she was carrying? Did they find it anywhere between when she left home and the shopping mall?
CASAREZ: Good question. Troy Coverdale out of Greeley, Colorado, news director, KFKA Radio. Any birthday present?
COVERDALE: There`s been no indication whatsoever that she was carrying a birthday present when she left the home. Nothing has been discussed as such at least as far as we`ve been able to ascertain. Again, the only thing that she had with her when she left home was that asthma inhaler.
CASAREZ: Right. Right. You know, Rhonda, it`s a good question because I thought about that. Because when I was a little girl you always took a birthday present to the birthday party and I think most people do.
But I think sometimes you might just go to the party and not take a present. But it`s a good question about a party in general. I agree.
Stephanie in New Jersey, hi, Stephanie.
STEPHANIE, CALLER FROM NEW JERSEY: Hi. How are you?
CASAREZ: I`m fine, Stephanie in New Jersey, what`s your question?
STEPHANIE: I have a question. Have they searched like the boyfriend`s car and the boyfriend`s home? I understand that they`ve questioned him. But have they really? Because if he has a car, you know, you never know. He could have taken her, you know, and took her somewhere and like, you know, hid her in a closet or anything.
CASAREZ: Peter Banda, reporter, Associated Press, out of Colorado, what do we know about the boyfriend? Have they spoken with him? Does he live in the area? When did they break up?
BANDA: As far as when did they break up police --
(CROSSTALK)
CASAREZ: If a 12-year-old can break up with a boyfriend.
BANDA: -- when they broke up but they did question him as far as specific steps that they`ve taken, searches, what have you. All we know is that they`ve collected some evidence from the home, from Kayleah`s home, but that`s all they`re telling us at this point.
So whether or not they searched the boyfriend`s car, we don`t know.
CASAREZ: OK. So the boyfriend has a car. I guess he would at 17 probably, right? But you know, the question is how can a 12-year-old really break up with a 17-year-old? At least they shouldn`t have to really break up. Shouldn`t be there to begin with. But that`s my opinion.
Leslie in Colorado -- Leslie, I want to go to you because you are in the state we are talking about tonight. Where do you live in Colorado?
LESLIE, CALLER FROM COLORADO: I actually live in Greeley.
CASAREZ: You live in Greeley?
LESLIE: Yes.
CASAREZ: Oh, my goodness. I got chills. Tell us, what is your community going through right now?
LESLIE: Nobody wants their kids to actually leave presents. There`s a lot of banners up showing -- I know the school -- her school`s wearing ribbons, the teachers.
CASAREZ: Is it front-page news? Is the community getting involved?
LESLIE: Yes. Everybody is waiting to see if there`s anything new. I know everybody (INAUDIBLE) to find this little girl and to find out what has actually happened, if she was abducted and if we need to look out for - - you know, our little ones -- if she just, you know, took off to a friend`s house and plans to stay for a while.
CASAREZ: All right. Well, I`m sure the community is scared and concerned because you just don`t know.
Leslie in Colorado, thank you for calling.
And right now to tonight`s "CNN Heroes."
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NARAN KRISHNAN, PROTECTING THE POWERLESS: Because of the poverty India faces so many people are being abandoned by their own family and left uncared on the roadside of the city.
I saw a very old man eating his own human waste for food. It really hurt me so much. I was working for a five-star hotel as a chef. I had all the ambitions. I want to excel in whatever I was doing. But the old man changed everything.
My name is Naran Krishnan. I feed and care for the abandoned and mentally ill in my hometown, Madurai, India.
I get up at 4:00 in the morning. Every meal which has been prepared fresh. They go distribute. People are waiting for us. They totally rely on the food which we give. It is a continuous process. Cooking. Distributing. Then again coming.
We are feeding almost about 400 people three meal a day around the clock. Rain or shine. No holiday. Others feel difficult to do this. I don`t feel it difficult. My mission and my ideas are very clear.
The happiness I see in their face keeps me going. I take energy from them. I want to save many people, and I feel that this is the purpose of my life.
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CASAREZ: And now a look back at the stories making the headlines this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Casey Anthony wrote 50 letters, 258 pages, to another inmate at the Orange County Jail. Drug dealer Robin Adams. Those letters still being kept a secret to the public hold damning evidence against Casey in the murder of her daughter Caylee.
GRACE: What is in those letters? Do they obtain a confession?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Just days after winning her first Oscar for best actress, Hollywood sweetheart Sandra Bullock faces heartbreak.
SANDRA BULLOCK, ACTRESS: I`m just -- I`m wondering when it`s just going to hit.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: As reports emerge her husband of almost five years has been cheating, allegedly with at least four other women.
BULLOCK: I didn`t aspire to this.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: News broke that her husband, reality TV star Jesse James, carried on an affair with a model.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No one saw it coming. While Bullock was making the movie that won her the Oscar.
BULLOCK: This was -- these odd circumstances.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She goes off to do that movie, she goes off on her career, she`s doing her thing.
BULLOCK: Things came together in a way that you just -- I didn`t see it coming.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And now the temptation comes in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The guy`s name, though, is Jesse James, and his ex-wife was a porn star. What part of that equation equals a good guy?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The movie star was completely blindsided by the scandal.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Haleigh`s father Ronald Cummings and former stepmom/babysitter Misty Croslin were in court today. Both (INAUDIBLE) not guilt on trafficking thousands of dollars worth of prescription painkillers.
Undercover video allegedly captures Cummings and Croslin selling drugs to an undercover police officer over five times during a one-month period.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If anybody out there can help me, please help me get my little girl back.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The case of 7-year-old Aja Johnson, she went missing back in January.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is something that`s just happened.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Just moments ago, cops say a vehicle belonging to kidnapping and murder suspect Lester Hobbs may have been found.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Within the last hour, hour and a half.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Hobbs is accused of killing little Aja`s mom Tonya Hobbs, his estranged wife.
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CASAREZ: Tonight, let us stop to remember Army Staff Sergeant Travis Atkins, 31 years old. Bozeman, Montana. Killed Iraq. On a second tour, awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation`s second highest medal for heroism. The Bronze Star, the Purple Heart.
He loved the outdoors, the Montana mountains, and snowmobiling, hunting, fishing. He leaves behind his grieving parents, Elaine and Jack, a Vietnam veteran, sister Jennifer, and son Trevor.
Travis Atkins, an American hero.
Thank you so much to all of our guests, to you at home, for being with us tonight. See you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, everybody.
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