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Nancy Grace
Tommy Croslin Recants
Aired April 30, 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, Satsuma, Florida. A 5- year-old girl tucked into bed, five hours later, she`s gone. Daddy comes home from the night shift to find not a trace of little Haleigh. Last person to see her alive, new stepmother Misty Croslin, who goes on to flunk four polygraphs. Haleigh`s father, Ronald Cummings, and stepmother Croslin both booked on drug trafficking.
Suddenly, search teams, cadaver dogs, scuba divers, helicopters all coming to St. John`s River, Croslin rousted out of jail, taken down to the docks, motioning out in handcuffs to a specific spot for police. Cops announce 5-year-old Haleigh likely dead. Evidence, including two cinderblocks, pulled from the muddy waters of the St. John`s.
As the search for little Haleigh`s entire body and the murder weapon goes on, bombshell tonight. After the trial judge brings down the hammer on Croslin`s co-defendant in the drug case -- 19-year-old Hope Sykes, basically along for the ride -- getting a whopping 15 years hard jail time -- that`s for one hand-to-hand sell (ph) -- Croslin charged with eight -- that`s 120 years for her -- tonight we learn exactly why police bring Croslin to the banks of the St. John`s. And tonight, a major player recants a key statement to police.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOMMY CROSLIN, MISTY`S BROTHER: The truth will come out, and you know, then they`ll know that they were (EXPLETIVE DELETED) with the wrong people, not doing their jobs right.
GRACE: You`re saying that your client knows what happened that night?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I am dying for an arrest to be made in this case.
FLORA HOLLARS, MISTY`S GRANDMOTHER: She says, Nanny, Tommy and Joe took a rope, a yellow rope, and wrapped Haleigh up with a yellow rope, tied it around her.
CHELSEA CROSLIN, MISTY`S SISTER-IN-LAW: I don`t believe that Tommy and Misty could do anything to harm a child.
HOLLARS: They tied brickle blocks to the other end of it and dropped her into the St. John`s River. If they dropped her in the St. John`s River, where was she at? How did she know? How did she see it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is your grandmother, and she`s coming out over the past week or so with so many types of bad theories, you know, how these terrible children did this, that.
TOMMY CROSLIN: I ain`t got nothing to say to them jokers. I ain`t got nothing to say to you lying people.
HOLLARS: She grabbed Junior and got into bed, and they covered up their heads and -- completely.
CHELSEA CROSLIN: I don`t believe that -- anything that Flo Hollars is saying I think is a complete lie.
HOLLARS: And when she took the covers off of her head, Haleigh was gone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do not see Misty sitting there and listening to her baby cry.
TOMMY CROSLIN: If I knew something, you`d know a long time ago. Leave me alone.
HANK CROSLIN, MISTY`S FATHER: You tell them where Haleigh is. Bring Haleigh home.
MISTY CROSLIN, HALEIGH`S BABY-SITTER: I can`t just bring her home, you know?
HOLLARS: It`s going to take a little bit more than that to break her down. And him, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. We learn exactly why police bring Misty Croslin down to the banks of the St. John`s. And tonight, a major player recants a key statement to police.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOMMY CROSLIN: The damn police said, You`re facing three years in prison unless you help us find Haleigh. I said, I can`t help you find nobody. I don`t know where she is.
GRACE: Is it true that you have stated that your client can ID the killer?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s first of all not culpable, but he does know what happened that night.
MISTY CROSLIN: Youthful offender. I would do it. I would take it. Three years in and four years out, I`ll take it. I`ll take it and run.
HANK CROSLIN: If they think Joe had something to do with it and...
TOMMY CROSLIN: Go get his (EXPLETIVE DELETED) punk ass and put him in jail!
HOPE SYKES, MISTY`S COUSIN: Not going to boot camp. I`m telling you right now, they think I`m bad now, wait until I get out of that.
GRACE: Are you convinced in your own mind that your granddaughter, Misty Croslin, and grandson Tommy Croslin and Joe Overstreet are all three responsible?
HOLLARS: Yes, ma`am, I am.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t know why she would want to hurt and implicate three of her grandchildren. It`s just very sad that she would do that.
HOLLARS: I want that little girl to be put to rest.
HANK CROSLIN: I know for a fact Tommy -- Tommy ain`t got the heart. He -- I don`t give a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) what anybody says. Tommy had nothing to do with that case.
GRACE: He did take a polygraph on April 8th. Because of the polygraph, we were on the dock with Tommy and law enforcement.
TOMMY CROSLIN: I want out of here so bad, I`d do anything to get out of here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do believe Joe Overstreet is involved in the disappearance.
HOLLARS: I changed my mind when I put two and two together that she knowed where to go to at the river. She`s involved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Art Harris, investigative journalist at Artharris.com, with breaking news. Art, explain.
ART HARRIS, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: Nancy, I can tell you why Misty Croslin was taken down to the river by police. She was there because she says she can identify the dock that Haleigh was thrown off. She`s told police her brother Tommy took her to that very dock shortly -- about four months ago and told her this is where he and Joe had dumped the body.
GRACE: OK. Now, Art, when does she tell cops this story?
HARRIS: This was a month before her arrest. About four months ago, Nancy.
GRACE: OK, wait a minute. She tells cops that she`s taken down to the river and shown where Haleigh`s body was disposed. She tells cops before the drug arrest?
HARRIS: Before -- a month before the drug arrest, my sources tell me. And they wanted to know if she could identify the dock. There`s several docks around that area...
GRACE: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I still don`t have the timeline. Are you telling me Tommy Croslin took her there a month before the drug arrest or she told cops about it a month before the drug arrest?
HARRIS: Tommy took her there a month before the drug arrest, and she told cops about it. And they have taken her back to the river to see if she could identify the dock.
GRACE: OK. When does she tell cops about it, while she`s in jail and wants to get out?
HARRIS: That`s right, Nancy.
GRACE: OK.
HARRIS: And Tommy denies it. His lawyer says, Didn`t happen.
GRACE: And not only that, we`ve got a major recantation. That`s when you tell police one story or you tell something on the stand under oath, then you think about it and you go, Ruh-roh, that didn`t happen. Explain, Art Harris.
HARRIS: Nancy, as strange as it seems, I`m reporting on Artharris.com that Tommy Croslin now says he lied when he told police he was at the trailer at 10:00 o`clock the night Haleigh vanished. He says it didn`t happen. He lied because he wanted to get out of jail. He was facing a $50,000 bond on a gun theft charge. And right after he told that, what he says is a lie now, it was reduced to $5,000 and out he went. He went home.
GRACE: To Marc Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation. This changes the whole scenario, Marc. Frankly, I don`t know if any of them are capable of telling the truth.
MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: There are so many shifting scenarios, so many shifting alliances, so many shifting loyalties in this, so many things that have been said, so many lies, that I think the only way that this will ever be resolved is if one of these individuals ultimately shows the authorities proof of life or proof of death.
GRACE: Marc, how long have you been in this business? You`ve been in this business since Polly, your daughter, was taken.
KLAAS: Yes.
GRACE: You`ve got it on your lapel. How long ago was that?
KLAAS: That was over 16 years ago, 16-and-a-half years, just about.
GRACE: Do you really believe that anybody involved in this is going to tell the cops the truth? They`re all lying to save their own skin!
KLAAS: Oh, I don`t think that they`re going to stop lying. But I think that it`s not going to get resolved in any way, shape or form until somebody receives proof of life or proof of death on this little girl. Otherwise, it`ll just be this revolving -- this revolving loyalties, these revolving scenarios, these revolving stories that we keep hearing again and again and again.
GRACE: So far, we`ve counted up 11 scenarios, 11 different scenarios -- can you hand me that cart? Thank you -- that this bunch has come up with. Let`s see them, Rosie. First of all, Misty Croslin asleep. When she woke up, Haleigh`s gone. That`s the first story.
Second, Croslin wasn`t home that night. Unknown kidnapper. Third, Overstreet and Tommy Croslin assault, rape the little girl, kill her, dump her body. That came straight from Misty Croslin to her grandmother. Fourth, Haleigh overdosed at a drug party.
Fifth, Croslin hit Haleigh on the back of the head. Croslin and Overstreet dispose body. Next, Overstreet takes Haleigh, tied rope and cinderblock around her, threw her in the St. John`s dead or alive. Next, man in black, unknown stranger. Next, four people in the trailer the night Haleigh vanished. They took Haleigh.
Next, Timmy and Chelsea helped hide Haleigh. She was spotted in Massachusetts. Tenth, someone holding Haleigh, demanding $35,000 to get her back. And last, Croslin out partying, having party time, drugs, et cetera, says Haleigh saw it and said, I`m telling Daddy, and gets killed -- eleven different scenarios.
Out to Ellie Jostad. Where did the different scenarios come from?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, there`s a bunch of different sources for these. Obviously, that first story -- I was asleep, when I woke up, Haleigh was gone -- that comes direct from Misty Croslin. Now, the other version, that Misty wasn`t home that night -- that story came out just a day or two after Haleigh went missing. We heard it from a variety of sources. It wasn`t pinned down to anybody.
Remember, though, shortly thereafter -- actually, a few months later - - Tommy Croslin, her brother, says he goes to the house that night, knocks on the door, nobody`s home. And now, as Art Harris is reporting, he`s apparently taking that story back. So we don`t know. Was he there that night or not?
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Out to Raeleen in Florida. Hi, Raeleen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello.
GRACE: Hi, dear. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. First I have a comment on you. I love your twins. And you are my hero. I love you.
GRACE: I don`t deserve it, but thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, you do deserve it. I live, like, 30 minutes from this bunch, and so I have two things. The first is if Misty took the cops to the river and they -- she showed them where the body was, and if they found anything, can she -- can they go ahead and arrest her, like, on this murder charge as of right now?
GRACE: OK. I know you`ve got a second question, so hold tight. Let`s go to that one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
GRACE: With us tonight, Renee Rockwell, Peter Odom, both defense attorneys out of Atlanta, and our correspondent and attorney, Jean Casarez, joining us from "In Session." What about it, Jean Casarez?
JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION": Well, I think what she`s talking about is accessory after the fact. In other words, you can know about a crime. That`s not a crime to know about it. But if you helped conceal it, if you help so someone doesn`t find out about it and actively help that person escape authorities, then you can be an accessory after the fact.
GRACE: But Renee Rockwell, she would have to be part of it because she was at home with the girl when the girl was taken.
RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Unless, Nancy, she was just so overdosed or so exhausted and...
GRACE: Well, she wasn`t.
ROCKWELL: ... and passed out -- wait a minute. If she was, the question, is she going to be arrested in the murder or is she going to be arrested in the cover-up?
GRACE: Renee, you can make up whatever you want to, but the grandmother, Sykes, was there that night and said she was perfectly normal. Isn`t that right, Jean Casarez?
CASAREZ: That`s right, but...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... make up a scenario!
CASAREZ: It was earlier, 7:00 o`clock at night, not 3:00 in the morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Are you now suggesting that Ronald Cummings, Haleigh`s father, may somehow be to blame for her disappearance?
HOLLARS: Yes, ma`am. For leaving the kids there with her, with her all strung out.
GRACE: So are you convinced in your own mind that your granddaughter, Misty Croslin, and grandson Tommy Croslin and Joe Overstreet are all three responsible?
HOLLARS: Yes, ma`am, I am.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOLLARS: Those three grandkids of mine is involved in this, and I don`t know why!
GRACE: She is blaming Joe and Tommy.
MISTY CROSLIN: They`re going to know. They`re going to know.
GRACE: Tommy Croslin is blaming Joe Overstreet.
TOMMY CROSLIN: I didn`t do (EXPLETIVE DELETED). That`s my story and I`m sticking to it.
GRACE: Joe Overstreet saying, I wasn`t there.
JOE OVERSTREET, MISTY`S COUSIN: I didn`t do it.
GRACE: All three are pointing the finger at each other.
HOLLARS: What Tommy told me...
TOMMY CROSLIN: They don`t want to listen to me.
HOLLARS: He says, Nanny, I`ve got to break down...
TOMMY CROSLIN: But I promise you, I`m done with all this stupid (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
HOLLARS: I`ve got to tell somebody.
TOMMY CROSLIN: And I ain`t had nothing to do with none of that crap.
HOLLARS: I said, Are you going to tell me Joe did this? He says, Yes, Nanny, Joe did.
HANK CROSLIN: Play with fire, you get burnt.
TOMMY CROSLIN: Yes.
GRACE: She would have been awake when the brother came over there banging on the door.
TOMMY CROSLIN: She needs to go ahead and tell the truth, man...
MISTY CROSLIN: When I woke up, she was gone!
TOMMY CROSLIN: ... and don`t be making up stories.
MISTY CROSLIN: I was, like, Oh, my God!
GRACE: One of them are lying.
TOMMY CROSLIN: Misty`s going to get her little butt kicked.
HANK CROSLIN: I know for a fact Tommy -- Tommy ain`t got the heart.
TOMMY CROSLIN: I`m not no drug trafficker or anything. You know that.
They can`t do nothing. They can`t prove (EXPLETIVE DELETED). They cannot prove nothing. They`ve got no proof.
LINDSAY CROSLIN, TOMMY`S WIFE: Oh, my God. I know. It`s funny.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: You know, instead of going, I`m innocent, I didn`t have anything to do with this, I want to find Haleigh, they keep saying, They don`t have any proof, They don`t have any proof, They can`t prove it, they can`t prove it. I find that highly probative.
And as to attorney Renee Rockwell`s made-up scenario that Misty Croslin was strung out of her gourd the night Haleigh goes missing, take a listen to what an eyewitness had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I know that by now, you are aware that Ms. Hollars, who is Misty Croslin and Tommy Croslin`s grandmother -- she`s the one, one of the ones that called police and ended up mounting this search of the St. John`s River, really believes that Ronald Cummings, your grandson, is partially at fault. What`s your response?
ANNETTE SYKES, RONALD`S GRANDMOTHER: I heard what she said on your show about Ronald being responsible because he left the children with her and she was all strung out. But I was there and she was not strung out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight back to Art Harris at Artharris.com, who`s breaking the story tonight regarding not only the fact that Croslin had this knowledge for some time as to where the body was dumped, but that Tommy Croslin is now recanting on a major, major milestone in the timeline.
Art Harris, he`s now saying he never went to the home, banged on the door between 10:00 and 10:30, and that nobody answered.
HARRIS: That`s right, Nancy. And his private investigator, Steve Brown (ph), tells me that`s not possible because his wife got home about 10:15. He was baby-sitting. He doesn`t rule out he could have gone over there later. But the fact that Tommy is now saying he lied to police does not help the prosecution`s case, it seems.
GRACE: To Leonard Padilla, bounty hunter, who has offered to bail Croslin out from behind bars, now offering to bail out Ronald Cummings, what do you make of Tommy Croslin`s about-face?
LEONARD PADILLA, BOUNTY HUNTER: Well, we`d -- I discussed this thing at length with Lindsay on several occasions, about the 10:00 o`clock thing. And I kept asking Lindsay, How could it be true one way or the other if he had never said anything about it for about eight months? It seemed to me that he would have said right off the bat, I went over there and there was nobody there at 10:00 o`clock, but he didn`t do that until October.
And then afterwards, something came to me from an individual in the investigation that Tommy -- and this was about a month ago -- had said, Well, maybe I didn`t go over there after all. And myself and Lindsay were more inclined to believe that he hadn`t gone over there because he was home until 10:15 with the kids, and she didn`t get home until about that time from school.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Has evidence been found that may close the case on who killed Haleigh Cummings?
HOLLARS: I was told that Misty had knocked her in the head and killed her and that Joe and Tommy god rid of her.
GRACE: Knocked her in the head with what, a cinderblock?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will follow this case to the end.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Officers spent three days searching the St. John`s River, but they did not find 5-year-old Haleigh`s body.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s involved, too, because she was pointing a spot out on the river on the TV.
MISTY CROSLIN: It was crazy.
HOLLARS: They have no remorse or something!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who was with her, the last person with her? She was.
MISTY CROSLIN: I woke up and she was gone, and the back door was wide open!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is the one that holds the key information to finding out what happened to this beautiful little girl.
HOLLARS: I believe the one that Misty told me, that they tied her up in a rope and dropped her in the river.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He didn`t make any calls until either she saw him pulling in the driveway or until he actually started coming in the house.
HOLLARS: Just don`t know whether they raped her or not. I just hope and pray that the child was already dead before she hit that water.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls live. Raeleen in Florida, you had a two-pronged question. What`s the rest of your question, dear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. The other one is, OK, the sister-in-law -- I don`t remember -- she was on your show.
GRACE: Chelsea. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She said -- she was saying that Ms. Hollars hadn`t had nothing to do with her grandkids over seven years. But I`ve seen a picture on her wall of her and Misty...
GRACE: I saw that, too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... and it hasn`t been seven years. Misty was not 10 years old in that picture, or younger.
GRACE: You`re absolutely correct. Hey, before you get to your question, Rosie, let`s pull up that interview we had with Ms. Hollars. And in fact, I pointed it out one night when I was speaking to her. You can see Misty and Ms. Hollars, Misty Croslin and Ms. Hollars together in the photo, just as Raeleen is pointing out. So what`s your question, dear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK (INAUDIBLE) my question is, so she`s -- she is -- you know, she`s lying about it because she`s -- you know, that was my question, that...
GRACE: That`s an excellent point, the fact that...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I mean...
GRACE: ... she is lying about it. To Marlaina Schiavo. What do we know about Ms. Hollars and her communications and her relationship with the grandchildren? Because she was very specific and detailed in what she said they told her from behind bars.
MARLAINA SCHIAVO, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Not only was she very specific, Nancy, but we know from all the jailhouse conversations that they have had a lot of contact. And a lot of times, you hear them say, I need to call Nanny, Tell Nanny to write me. So there was a relationship here. But according to Chelsea Croslin, there was not much of a relationship. So again, lots of inconsistencies in what we`re being told.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Why would Ms. Hollars make up a lie about her own flesh and blood?
CHELSEA CROSLIN: Ms. Hollars has not been around our family for the last seven years that I have been with the Croslins. I have met Flo Hollars maybe two times. She is not involved in our family, so I don`t know why she would want to hurt and implicate three of her grandchildren. It`s just very sad that she would do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Who killed Haleigh Cummings?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Divers removed two cinder blocks which are being examined.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He misses his baby. I mean, good lord. His heart`s tore out.
RONALD CUMMINGS, FATHER OF HALEIGH CUMMINGS: I come home from work, and my child was not there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s a daddy`s girl. Everywhere she went, everywhere daddy went, Haleigh went.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Without a body the case against Haleigh`s killer may have to be built entirely on circumstantial evidence.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police have obtained yellow rope from Tommy Croslin`s home.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sources say it could be the possible murder weapon.
CUMMINGS: Please, all we want is my child. That`s it.
FLORA HOLLARS, MISTY CROSLIN AND JOE OVERSTREET`S GRANDMOTHER: I think he knows more than what he`s saying.
CUMMINGS: If I find whoever has my daughter before y`all do I`m killing them.
HOLLARS: I know one thing. Misty had been out on a drug binge for three days. Her and Ron had fought that day, and she told him she didn`t want to babysit, and he told her yes, you are going to babysit.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I want to know, does she have any contracts with any newspapers or any tabloids?
NANCY GRACE, HOST: No.
HOLLARS: I have not made a penny off of this story. I have told exactly what those two kids has told me. And if none of them down there don`t like it, they can kiss where the sun don`t shine.
KATRINA BELCHER, HOPE SYKES` MOTHER: Hope, she said the cops had you on the video in the back. When you got back in the car you had the pills in your hand.
HOPE SYKES, RONALD CUMMING`S COUSIN: I didn`t have no pills in my (EXPLETIVE DELETED) hand.
BELCHER: Well, at one point in the game according to the video --
SYKES: No. Not at one point --
BELCHER: -- you had pills in your hand.
SYKES: Bull (EXPLETIVE DELETED). No, at no one point in the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) game I had no pills. I don`t know. She must got you (EXPLETIVE DELETED) or something because there is no pills.
BELCHER: Well, Terry Shoemaker`s saying the same thing, Hope. They`ve all reviewed the videos. You had the front scene video and then you have the rear view video, which is what she was talking about in court today.
SYKES: No, mom, she was talking about that they have me sitting in the back of the vehicle.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Well, Hope Sykes can carry on all she wants to. But in the middle of her plea sentencing the state very wisely played back where she is basically taunting the judge, saying things like, if you think I`m bad now just wait until I get out.
If you`re going to give me six years, you might as well give me 15 years. I don`t want boot camp. I don`t want youthful offender.
Well, the judge listened. Be careful what you ask, my dear, for you will surely get it. She got the 15 years behind bars. That should be a lesson to Misty Croslin.
We are taking your calls live. For a recap, for you that are just joining us, right now we know in breaking news from Art Harris why cops bring Misty Croslin down to the docks of the St. Johns River.
And also tonight, in a stunning twist, a bizarre recantation by a key player in this case. It throws the timeline out the window. Cops now starting square one.
Out to Art Harris, investigative journalist at Artharris.com. What did you learn?
ART HARRIS, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST, ARTHARRIS.COM: Nancy, I can tell you that Misty Croslin is telling police that Tommy took her to that dock on the river to identify the place that he threw -- he says he and Joe Overstreet threw Haleigh`s body.
Police took her there to see if she could identify that as the dock that they went to purportedly the night Tommy showed her where it happened.
GRACE: And what about the recant?
HARRIS: Tommy Croslin has now said he lied to police when he said he went to the trailer at 10:00 p.m. He says he never did -- he said it to get out of jail so they would reduce his bond on the gun theft charge. And now -- you`re right. It throws the case out the window.
Police still believe, they`re hanging on. They believe his first story. But his lawyer says it`s likely that it was not 10:00 because that`s when his -- that`s when he was baby-sitting.
GRACE: Well, wait a minute, Art. If he goes over there anytime that night -- I don`t care if it`s 10:00 or 1:00 a.m. -- he`s placing himself at the scene of the crime. Don`t they get that?
Out to the lines, Kathleen, New Jersey. Hi, Kathleen.
KATHLEEN, CALLER FROM NEW JERSEY: Hi, Nancy. It`s an honor to talk to you. And your twins --
GRACE: Likewise.
KATHLEEN: -- are just precious. I so enjoy the photos. OK. I have a quick comment and a question.
GRACE: OK.
KATHLEEN: You know, the three of them are obviously -- they`re all lying to save themselves. And I was thinking, they aren`t the smartest bunch. So I really find it hard to believe that one of them didn`t blab to one of their friends by now.
And I just think if you find that person that they spoke to who has nothing to lose by talking, that`s the only way you`re going to get to the truth.
GRACE: Hold on. Just a moment, Kathleen. Don`t go anywhere because we may have that person.
Rosie, roll the sound.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SYKES: I`d rather go to (EXPLETIVE DELETED) prison. You got a lot (EXPLETIVE DELETED) up. I`m not going to boot camp. Because I`ll be -- I`m telling you right now, they think I`m bad now, wait until I get out of that.
BELCHER: Let me explain something to you, Hope. You screw up on anything at this point in the game, you will get 15 years.
SYKES: Well, I ain`t doing no damn six years mandatory nothing. They can kiss my ass. You might as well stick me with 15.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Kathleen in New Jersey, this woman, Hope Sykes, got 15 years hard jail time for being there during one hand-to-hand sale to an undercover cop. There you go. Now -- right there she`s just brimming with attitude. Right there. Look at that.
KATHLEEN: Yes.
GRACE: Don`t you know if Misty Croslin ever said one thing to her about what happened to Haleigh that this girl`s going to crack and talk to get out of jail?
KATHLEEN: Yes. I think there`s got to be others. There`s three of them. I really think there`s got to be someone else also. But my question is, what`s Ronald`s reaction to all these recent developments that implicate --
GRACE: That`s a good question, Kathleen and New Jersey. Out to Ellie Jostad. What was his reaction when he was told behind bars that Haleigh`s likely dead?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: Well, we`ve told of course -- we`ve been told, of course, that he was very upset about that. However, both he and Crystal Sheffield say that they are not going forward with any sort of funeral plans. They are not planning to go forward and have her declared dead.
They`re still holding out hope that this could be a false tip and that she could still be alive.
GRACE: Let`s stop, everybody. As we go to break, happy birthday to our Cajun friend from Louisiana, Sims Regard. Loving husband of wife Robin, pictured here. Father of Jenna and Ryan. Grandfather to 3-year-old Brianna.
Loves saltwater fishing on the Mississippi. Birthday wish, to save the Gulf Coast from the oil spill.
Sims Regard, happy birthday, friend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MISTY CROSLIN, FORMER STEPMOM/BABYSITTER OF HALEIGH CUMMINGS: I didn`t do anything with that little girl.
JOE OVERSTREET, MISTY CROSLIN`S COUSIN: I didn`t do it.
TOMMY CROSLIN, MISTY CROSLIN`S BROTHER: I had nothing to do with none of that crap.
HOLLARS: Those three grandkids of mine is involved in this, and I don`t know why.
M. CROSLIN: They`re treating our family like crap.
HOLLARS: She`s involved.
CRYSTAL SHEFFIELD, MOTHER OF HALEIGH CUMMINGS: She`s the last one to see our daughter.
CUMMINGS: You let my daughter get stole, bitch?
HOLLARS: She says, Nanny, Tommy and Joe took a rope --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Has something hard to hear.
HOLLARS: Tied it around her."
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: What scenario do you believe unfolded? What do you think happened that night?
CUMMINGS: How the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) can you let my daughter get stole, bitch?
HOLLARS: Exactly what Misty told me, that the rope and the cinder blocks and dropping her in the St. Johns River.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There have been a few stories that have swirled around.
HOLLARS: I don`t even know whether she was dead when she hit the water or not.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Cops in Satsuma, Florida are trying to connect the dots.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know statistics say, you know, that chances are that she`s dead.
OVERSTREET: Sorry. I can`t imagine what they`re going through.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Misty Croslin, the last person to see little Haleigh the night that she vanished, mentioned a cement block day one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said your back door was wide open?
M. CROSLIN: Yes. It was brick. Like a brick on the floor.
HOLLARS: She says, "Nanny, Tommy and Joe took a rope, a yellow rope, and wrapped Haleigh up with a yellow rope, tied it around her, and dropped her into the St. Johns River."
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Could this new lead, the yellow rope, be linked back to little Haleigh and those cinder blocks?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s probably not enough, though, just to have, well, yellow rope and yellow rope. But if you can match up that specific yellow rope found to yellow rope on the bricks, that`s significant.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Croslin and her brother Tommy have both implicated their cousin Joe Overstreet in Haleigh`s disappearance.
OVERSTREET: I didn`t do it.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You didn`t do it?
OVERSTREET: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you can`t show me, you know, why do I believe it?
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Unleash the lawyers. Renee Rockwell, Peter Odom, our correspondent Jean Casarez from "In Session."
Peter Odom, there is no way that these three have not talked. But now anything that Tommy Croslin would want to tell police in exchange for a lesser plea sentence is not worth the paper it`s written on.
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Right.
GRACE: Now that he has recanted something. Didn`t his lawyer tell him about that little problem, his credibility problem?
ODOM: Well, none of these three, Nancy, has any credibility whatsoever. I have to side with Marc Klaas on this. When he said that there`s never going to be a case made on their statements alone.
We`ve got a very important piece of circumstantial evidence. That is that this little -- poor little girl is missing. And then we have a whole lot of statements, all of which have been contradicted and re-contradicted by each other.
Without physical evidence there is no case.
GRACE: Tom Shamshak, former police chief, private investigator, instructor at Boston University, joining us out of Boston. Is there any way without physical corroboration that you can believe anything these three say?
TOM SHAMSHAK, FMR. POLICE CHIEF, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR, INSTRUCTOR AT BOSTON UNIV.: Hi, Nancy. No, I don`t think that we can believe anything they say without some physical evidence. And who knows? The cinder blocks with this yellow rope that has been reported, I`m sure the analysis will be working, you know, to link that up.
GRACE: And to Dr. Michael Bell, chief medical examiner of Palm Beach, if they did find Haleigh`s body at this point, what could they tell from it?
DR. MICHAEL BELL, PALM BEACH CO. CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER: Well, if there`s any injuries or damage to the bones, such as a knife, they could certainly tell that. They`re not going to be able to tell whether or not she was strangled --
GRACE: Yes. Because there`s no soft tissue left.
BELL: -- suffocated. Exactly. So --
GRACE: Everybody --
BELL: -- it will be limited to what they can tell.
GRACE: Switching gears, in the United States every 10 seconds a child is abused. April, Child Abuse Prevention Month. Child Help, an international organization, raises awareness and fights for the abused and neglected children around the world.
And with us live tonight, its founders, Sara O`Meara and Yvonne Fedderson.
Both of you, ladies, thank you for being with us. First of all, out to you, Sara. You got every governor in the U.S. to sign on to a resolution about child abuse. Congratulations.
SARA O`MEARA, CO-FOUNDER, CHILDHELP.ORG: Thank you.
GRACE: What is the resolution?
O`MEARA: The resolution is bringing more awareness to each governor of what`s happening in child -- for child abuse in their state. But also what -- when they sign that resolution they are saying they will do everything in their power to eradicate child abuse.
Child abuse has to stop now. And that`s what it is saying to them. And thank goodness we have all of them that have signed.
GRACE: To Yvonne Fedderson, co-founder of Child Help at Childhelp.org -- everybody, if you want to check it out.
Welcome, ladies. You`re absolutely beautiful.
YVONNE FEDDERSON, CO-FOUNDER, CHILDHELP.ORG: Thank you.
GRACE: Now of course these two were Hollywood actresses before they started their Hollywood crusade to help children.
Yvonne Fedderson, explain to the viewers how serious, how critical the issue of child abuse is right now.
FEDDERSON: Oh, it`s very critical. There are so many hurting children out there who need our help. You know, when you think of one in four girls and one in six boys will be abused before they`re 18, and that`s on record.
And also, 10 years ago there were only three children -- when I say only, that`s terrible. There shouldn`t be any children killed because of child abuse and neglect. But 10 years go there were three children who died every single day. Then it went up to four. And now it`s up to five children who die every single day.
So the problem is huge. We need all of your help. And we`d love for you to look us up on www.childhelp.org and find out all the programs that we have across our nation. And we`d love to have you get involved and help us because we need all the help that we can get to help these children.
O`MEARA: I think that we need to have more stringent laws. We are so lax when we do find that a convicted child abuse case, they are out in no time. And you know, Nancy, you have had these on your program.
You know what I`m talking about. Because when they get out for good behavior after they`ve been incarcerated, what do they do but go out and kill more children? So I think that we do need to really stand firm on our laws in America.
GRACE: To Yvonne Fedderson, what sorts of services do you all provide for children?
FEDDERSON: Well, we do prevention work in the schools. We have our hotline, our national hotline, 1-800-4, the number 4, A-CHILD. And that`s seven days a week, 24 hours a day you can call, you can find out about child abuse, you can get literature on the problem, and you can report child abuse.
It`s -- we save lives all the time on that line. And we have group homes and foster homes. We have villages. We have advocacy centers. I mean we run the gamut to help their children.
GRACE: Bethany Marshall, weigh in on child abuse in our country.
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": Well, I think that one of the biggest contributors to child abuse is the parent who believes that the child is unconditionally bad and because of that they neglect to feed the child, they don`t clothe the child, they don`t send the child to school.
And there`s an escalation of punishment. So I would appeal to the public that if you know a parent who treats the child like he or she is bad constantly step in.
GRACE: I can`t say it enough. Www.childhelp.org. 1-800-4, the number, A-CHILD. And now "CNN Heroes."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANURADHA KOIRALA, PROTECTING THE POWERLESS: In the west, America, Europe, if someone comes and says, I want to make your child a prostitute, they would give them one slap or shoot them. But here families, they are tricked all the time.
Girls are brought from the villages by people who can lure them and tell them that they`re getting a nice job.
The border between India and Nepal is the country`s point of trafficking. Once they are here, there is no way to escape.
I am Anuradha Koirala. And it is my strong hope to stop every Nepali girl from being trafficked.
When we go to the border, exit points, we are intercepting four girls to five girls per day. After the rescue the girl is taken to Maiti Nepal. We started this. Rape survivors, trafficking survivors, we take everybody.
Good girl.
The girls who come back from brothels, they are totally psychologically broken. We give them whatever work they want to do. Whatever training they want to do. One day we will really stop it. Trafficking will end. These are all convicted.
There is always a small scar that, yes, one day I was trafficked. But today I am something new in my life. They are my strength.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: What a week in America`s courtrooms. Take a look at the stories, and more important, the people who touched our lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The skeletal remains of a female, an adult female, now discovered. Is it missing 28-year-old mom of two, Susan Powell?
JOSH POWELL, HUSBAND OF MISSING MOM SUSAN POWELL: Many helped to try to find her, would be appreciated.
SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY & CHILD ADVOCATE: Appreciated? This guy is so suspicious.
GRACE: Josh Powell says he`s taking his two boys camping, age 2 and 4 at midnight?
POWELL: A lot of times I go camping with my boys, you know, not anything big, I just go overnight.
GRACE: In the snow?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you have any idea what happened to her?
POWELL: No.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Also focusing on two other missing women, 21- year-old, mother of three, Stephanie Eldredge, who went missing suddenly. Leaving her 4-month-old daughter, car, and shoes behind.
Also looking at missing 20-year-old Amber Hoopes, who said good night to her family at 10:30, just three hours later she was gone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They`re indicating it`s badly decomposed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only question is who she is.
GRACE: The trial judge brings down the hammer on Hope Sykes, one of Misty Croslin`s co-defendants in the drug case.
SYKES: I ain`t doing no damn six years mandatory nothing. They can kiss my ass. You might as well stick me with 15.
GRACE: Message to Misty Croslin, you will do hard jail time.
T. CROSLIN: The truth will come out, and you know, and they don`t know they`re with the wrong people, they`re not doing their jobs right.
GRACE: You`re saying that your client knows what happened that night?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I am dying for an arrest to be made in this case.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Breaking news again about Sandra Bullock.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Dropping a bombshell to "People" magazine that she`s a new mom.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Smiling Bullock holding her adopted baby boy.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Bullock has now prepared divorce papers.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She`s adopting as a single parent.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Florida police have arrested a Jacksonville man accused of beheading his own mother.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Jumar Henry severed his mother`s head from her body, according to police, and then disposed his mother`s head in a plastic bag across the street from her house.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Then going to church hours later with blood literally still on his hands.
GRACE: Missing, 24-year-old nursing graduate, Phuong Le vanishes from the local Barnes & Noble bookstore.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Phuong Le`s own brother found her sister`s car in the parking lot, her cell phone and backpack were found in the trunk. No sign of the sister.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s never been out overnight before.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police consider her a woman at risk.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Let`s stop and remember Petty Officer 1st Class Joseph McSween, 26, Valdosta, Georgia, killed Iraq. On a second tour, awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Combat Action ribbon.
Left studies and a track scholarship at Norton University to enlist. Dreamed of being a youth minister, leaves behind grieving parents Robert and Florence, a Navy gold star mother, brothers Robert and Kyle, widow Erin and daughters Lilly and Gwinnett.
Joseph McSween, American hero.
Thanks to our guests, but our biggest thank you is to you for being with us. And a special good night from the New York control room.
Good night, Brett, Rosie, Squeaky, Norm. We`re missing Elizabeth tonight, everyone. We welcome her beautiful baby girl to this world.
Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp, Eastern. Until then, good night, friends.
END
