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Nancy Grace
Lacrosse Player Charged With UVA Murder
Aired May 04, 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. Beautiful, talented star athlete, scrubbed in sunshine, just days before 22-year-old co-ed Yeardley Love set to graduate UVA, her body found, likely still warm, battered, beaten, face down in a pool of blood in her own bed, her life, so full of promise, cut short.
Bombshell tonight. As we go to air, search warrants reveal 22-year- old Love`s head slammed repeatedly against the wall before she`s left face down on her own pillow, now soaked in blood. Killer? Oh, no, not a parolee, not a violent felon, not a drifter with a record. Suspect number one, another UVA athlete, a college lacrosse star turned killer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Patrol officers arrived on the scene.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don`t understand what led to this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was quickly apparent to them that this young lady was the victim of something far worse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twenty-two-year-old Yeardley Love was found dead in her apartment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeardley Love was dead upon our arrival.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The entire university community is shocked and...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... shocked...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... shocked...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... but that shock is magnified by the fact that she was murdered by one of our own.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How could this happen to such a wonderful person...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Love`s body was found in her apartment bedroom by one of her roommates.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... a person that was described as an angel?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An affidavit says police found Love face down with a pool of blood on her pillow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At the center of it all, 22-year-old George Huguely.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say Huguely killed Yeardley Love by shaking her...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were obvious physical injuries to her body.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... and hitting her head repeatedly against a wall.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huguely, also a student at the University of Virginia, became the focus of our investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know that they were dating.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has since been charged with first degree murder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s unclear whether she had wanted to leave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are two people that knew each other. And obviously, something took place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, live, rural Michigan -- 7:30 AM, Mommy, in pajamas, goes to the mailbox in the front yard to mail a letter. Mommy never seen again. In the front yard, clear signs of struggle in the grass, the driveway, gravel where Mommy kicked and fought . Kidnapped at the mailbox, 7:30 AM, in her pajamas? Where is gorgeous young mom of two Venus Stewart?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She told me earlier she was going to go mail a letter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Law enforcement desperately searching for mom of two 32-year-old Venus Stewart.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) mother, but she should have told her father (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Venus disappears heading down the driveway to drop a letter in the mailbox, wearing just slippers and pajamas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An abduction of some sort. That`s what appears to have happened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops say there are signs of a struggle. But what happened? Police say it appears Venus just fell off the face of the earth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s hard to believe that no one saw anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Venus and estranged husband Douglas (ph) Stewart both accuse the other of abuse, in fact, Venus just winning temporary custody of her 3 and 5-year-old daughters one week before she vanishes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She had moved in with her parents because of her problems with her marriage.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police tell us that he is their only person of interest because of their turbulent relationship.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was scared to death of her husband. She told me that he was going to get her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Breaking tonight, beautiful, talented star athlete, scrubbed in sunshine -- just days before 22-year-old co-ed Yeardley Love set to graduate UVA, her body found battered, beaten, face down in a pool of her own blood in her own bed, her life, so full of promise, cut short. The killer? Not a parolee or a violent felon. Suspect number one, another UVA athlete, a college lacrosse star turned killer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are more interested maybe than most people in getting to the bottom of it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... twenty-two-year-old Yeardley Love. She was found dead in her apartment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... understanding what happened...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... George Huguely, also 22 years old, and charged him with murder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... acknowledging that we don`t understand what led to this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are in a state of shock right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... mourning, grieving, feelings and expressions of disbelief...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not something we would ever imagine happening.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My presumption is that a couple things at play here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Inside the search warrant affidavit, police say fellow UVA lacrosse player and murder suspect George Huguely admitted he was involved in an altercation with Yeardley.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t know what relationship they may have had with respect to him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say Huguely told them he kicked in Love`s door during an argument.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe there was a relationship at some point in time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... during the course of the altercation, shook Yeardley and her head repeatedly hit a wall.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What the nature of that relationship was last night, I can`t say.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Huguely appeared by video conference in court today. He didn`t speak.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huguely`s attorney just releasing a statement saying...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re confident that Ms. Love`s death was not intended.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... and people shouldn`t jump to conclusions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... but an accident with a tragic outcome.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The best and brightest from all over the world come to this university and thrive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The life of this beautiful, talented 22-year-old lacrosse player came to a tragic end.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Charlottesville police received a call for service to respond to 222 14th Street Northwest here in the city of Charlottesville for what was reported at the time as a possible alcohol overdose. Patrol officers arrived on the scene. It was quickly apparent to them that this young lady was the victim of something far worse. There were obvious physical injuries to her body, which prompted them to immediately secure the crime scene, contact investigators, detectives and forensic personnel from the department.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Alcohol overdose? This woman was murdered, and murdered brutally, a young life cut short in the prime of her life. Take a look, a star lacrosse athlete at UVA, one of the best schools in country.
Out to Courteney Stuart, senior editor at "The Hook," joining us via Skype from Charlottesville. What happened, Courteney?
COURTENEY STUART, SR. EDITOR, "THE HOOK": Well, we got word yesterday that there was a student that had passed away. At first, it was presented, as they were saying earlier, as a possible alcohol overdose. But by the middle of the day yesterday, they had announced her name and also the arrest of George Huguely, both, of course, lacrosse players. Then over the course of the next 24 hours, details have been coming out. And as has been mentioned a little bit, they`ve been pretty horrific.
GRACE: To Jean Casarez. Jean, what happened?
JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION": Well, after about 2:15 in the morning, one of her roommates called police and said that they couldn`t arouse her. She was on her bed. Authorities came and they found a lifeless body. We`re learning from the search warrant affidavits that have been released that her body was found to (ph) a bruise to the right-hand side of her face, blunt force trauma. Her eye was swollen shut. There were bruises and scrapes to her chin. It goes on to say that George Huguely himself admitted that he went to the apartment, bashed into the bedroom door with his foot, got in. There she was. He shook her, and her head repeatedly hit the wall.
GRACE: We are taking your calls live. Out to Jackie in Illinois. Hi, Jackie.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. Love your show.
GRACE: Thank you, dear.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was just wondering, with two murders associated with UVA six months apart, do you think there`s a connection with the Harrington case? I recently read, actually from an article that Courteney Stuart wrote, that lacrosse players were the ones to find Morgan Harrington`s purse.
GRACE: Back to Courteney Stuart, senior editor of "The Hook." What about it, Courteney?
STUART: Well, I asked police that very question because, of course, there is that kind of weird coincidence. But I do believe from what they told me, it is just that. There was another coincidence in that Morgan Harrington`s shirt, of course, was found just three or four blocks from where -- Yeardley Love`s apartment. And so -- but both the police and Morgan Harrington`s mother, Jill Harrington, have said that they have no reason to think that these things are connected, that this is just a coincidence.
GRACE: Joining us right now, a special guest out of Charlottesville, Virginia, Chief Timothy Longo with the Charlottesville Police Department. Chief, thank you for being with us.
CHIEF TIMOTHY LONGO, CHARLOTTESVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT (via telephone): Oh, Nancy, thank you for having me. I really appreciate the opportunity to be on your show tonight.
GRACE: Thank you. Chief, I know the crime scene must have been devastating to the police officers that worked it because this girl -- I mean, she had so much to live for, a real star not only on the lacrosse field, but amongst her friends and family absolutely adored. What first led you to another lacrosse player?
LONGO: Well, suffice it to say that investigators very quickly began looking at Mr. Huguely in this particular case, perhaps because of his relationship with Ms. Love and information that they began to gather from potential witnesses. They contacted him initially at his apartment. He voluntarily came to the police station and began a discussion with them.
You`ve read from the search warrant affidavits that you have copies of that at some point during the court of a Mirandized statement, he began to give admissions against self-interest and describe the activity that took place in that apartment.
And the facts are horrific. They`re shocking. They`re incomprehensible. They`re unthinkable. And to witness that, and particularly as a parent, to look at the body of a young girl who, as you said, you know, had so much to look forward to, is -- it`s just a terrible situation. And to have to sit here tonight and to hear the graphic description of how her body was discovered and to think, at home in a hotel room somewhere here tonight in Charlottesville, her mom`s hearing that, is just completely troubling. And this is a very sad, sad set of circumstances for an entire community.
GRACE: Chief Longo -- everyone, with us, Chief Timothy Longo, the chief of the Charlottesville Police Department. Again, I am so glad you`re with us, Chief, because there have been so many reports out there about what really happened. But I`m looking now at one of the affidavits, and it`s so disturbing because I see that Huguely admits he kicked his right foot through the door that leads to Love`s bedroom, that he blames it on being angry, that he came over and her apartment was unlocked?
LONGO: Well, you know, the affidavit says what it says. Those are highly incriminating statements, and certainly something he is going to have to be accountable for when this case makes its way to trial. I don`t want to speak too much to what the affidavit says. I mean, it is what it is. You have it in front of you. But clearly, these are admissions against his own self-interest, and they`re facts and circumstances that he`s going to have to answer to.
And you know, in one respect here, some of the defense that was raised today -- and certainly I`m not going to comment on that. It would be inappropriate for me to do so. And then to look at these facts -- it`s a pretty difficult comparison to make.
GRACE: With us, special guest Chief Timothy Longo from the Charlottesville Police Department. There was a pool of blood on her pillow. Love had a large bruise on the right side of her face caused by blunt force, her right eye swollen shut, bruises, scrapes to the chin, the door to the bedroom forced open, this girl dead. Is it at the hands of another UVA lacrosse star?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are still investigators up and around the scene of this incident. We`re still trying to locate and interview friends, people that may have information about not only what may have taken place last night but the relationship that Ms. Love and Mr. Huguely had in the past and may have had up until the occurrence of this incident.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Students on grounds at the University of Virginia are reeling from the murder of women`s lacrosse player Yeardley Love. Friends describe 22-year-old Love as the sweetest girl who was always happy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Love`s body was found in her apartment bedroom by one of her roommates, who called police. An affidavit says police found Love face down with a pool of blood on her pillow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She also allegedly had a large bruise on the right side of her face, Yeardley`s right eye also swollen shut.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Within hours, fourth year student and lacrosse player George Huguely became the focus of the investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: George Huguely admitted he was involved in an altercation with Yeardley, and during the course of the altercation, shook Yeardley, and her head repeatedly hit a wall.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were obvious physical injuries to her body.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was serious physical injury to this young lady. She was dead on arrival.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know that they were dating. It`s unclear whether she had wanted to leave him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I think what we might be looking at is an issue of entitlement. They feel that they`re entitled to the woman they want and they`re entitled to get everything they want. And if they don`t get it, they can go into a rage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How can this happen to such a wonderful person...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was goodness epitomized.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... a person that was described as an angel by teammates and friends?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huguely`s attorney just releasing a statement saying he`s confident Yeardley`s death was not intended but an accident with a tragic outcome.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are talking about a 22-year-old star, an athlete, scrubbed in sunshine, loved by friends and family. Right now, her family gathering there near UVA after the news that their girl is dead.
I`m reading now from a police document I`ve got in my hands -- a pool of blood on her pillow. Love had a large bruise on the right side of her face, which appears to have been caused by blunt force trauma, right eye swollen shut. bruises, scrapes to the chin, the bedroom door forced open, a hole in it, appeared to have been made by a fist. Hair still visible in the hole.
We are talking about 22-year-old Yeardley Love, and now suspect number one, another UVA star lacrosse player.
Out to Matt Zarrell. What more can you tell us?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, we know from the search warrant that they did have a relationship and the relationship had ended. That`s what we know from police. Now, friends have told media outlets that they had an on-again, off-again relationship for about a year, a year-and- a-half, and the relationship had gotten volatile recently, that he allegedly had problems with alcohol. He has one alcohol-related arrest in `08. He did probation for that. But so from what friends are telling us, it had gone bad recently.
GRACE: To Dr. Joshua Perper, chief medical examiner, Broward County, author of "When to Call the Doctor" -- we`re also being joined by Chief Timothy Longo, the chief of the Charlottesville Police Department. Dr. Perper, if she had been beaten to death, as it sounds, due to all the trauma to her face, why the pool of blood on her pillow, lying face down in a pool of blood?
DR. JOSHUA PERPER, BROWARD COUNTY CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER: Well, because, according to the history and the findings, most likely, she has head injury and perhaps a fracture at the base of the skull, which results in bleeding from the ears. In addition, she might have been bleeding from the nose.
So she had a variety of injury, and clearly, she died as an assault which -- which resulted in head injuries.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The history between the two of them will become highly relevant from an investigative perspective, but we`re really not in a position to talk to those issues right now and are still kind of sorting those things out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Certainly, our interviews are to get to those very things and to learn more of the history about what happened in past times, and importantly, what happened in the days preceding her death and the day of her death.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... George Huguely, who`s also a student at the University of Virginia -- both seniors at the institution. He became the focus of our investigation. And suffice it to say, by early morning, probable cause existed for us to take him into custody and obtain warrants for his arrest. He has since been charged with first degree murder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did neighbors hear any disturbance?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m not aware of that. At this point, that`s certainly something that we`re trying to gather through doing an area canvas of that building and the adjacent buildings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Parents all across this country struggle their whole lives -- I know mine did, and I`m sure I`ll do the same -- to send their children to an institution like UVA, one of the best schools in the country, and therefore in the world. Their girl makes it. She doesn`t just make it, she`s on the lacrosse team. She`s a star athlete, beautiful, beloved. Look at that smile. Now, there`s a smile that lights up a room.
Her body has been found face down in her own bed, there in off-campus housing, lying in a pool of blood, her pillow soaked in her own blood. Suspect number one, not a parolee with a long record, not a drifter or transient, another star lacrosse player there at UVA.
I want to go back to Courteney Stuart, senior editor with "The Hook." What do we know about him, Huguely?
STUART: What we know about him is that he comes from a prominent family from Chevy Chase, Maryland, went to the Landon School up there, which, incidentally, is where some of the Duke lacrosse players had gone.
GRACE: Hold on, hold on, Courteney, Courteney, Courteney, Courteney! Not all of us were born in a pot of honey. What`s the Landon School? What are you talking about?
STUART: The Landon School is a private preparatory school in Maryland. It`s an all-boys school. I think it`s 3rd through 12th grade. And it`s for privileged boys from -- you know, from good families. It`s a good academic school, and that -- and it happens to be where a lot of good lacrosse players come out of, apparently.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did the incident actually occur in the apartment or was she moved there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I can tell you that her body was discovered in the apartment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you say (INAUDIBLE) injuries?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don`t want to get into that, other than to say that there were obvious physical injuries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re confident that Miss Love`s death was not intended but an accident with a tragic outcome.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This morning 22-year-old George Huguely appeared in court through a video link. His mother, father and step-father were also there but did not wish to make any statements. They have left that up to their son`s attorney.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is our hope that no conclusions be drawn or judgments made about George or his case.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The graphic details inside these search warrants are chilling. According to the warrants, two people found 22- year-old Yeardley Love face down on a blood-soaked pillow in her bedroom early Monday morning.
Charlottesville police officers first on the scene say Love in a large bruise on the right side of her face. Love`s right eye was swollen shut. There were also bruises and scrapes on her chin.
When questioned by investigators, George Huguely, a suspect now charged in Love`s death, admitted to kicking down the door that leads to her bedroom. He says he shook his ex-girlfriend, repeatedly hitting her head against a wall.
Huguely also said he took Love`s computer which had e-mails on it and hid it. He later told police where it was.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the meantime, George is withdrawing from the University of Virginia and remains in the custody of the authorities.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Back to our special guest tonight. Chief Timothy Longo, the chief of the Charlottesville Police Department.
Chief, again, I know you`ve got a long night ahead of you as does your whole department. They have been working 24/7 on this case. And I want to thank you for taking the time to speak to us, to answer questions from the callers.
Everyone devastated by the death of this 22-year-old girl. Her whole life in front of her. Yeardley Love. Absolutely stunning. The picture in my mind really youthful innocence. Going away to college at a place where people would give their right arm to go -- UVA -- and then may being it on to their lacrosse team. Giving it her all.
Take a look at her. Living out her life dream only to have it cut short there in her off-campus apartment.
Chief Longo, what did police first observe when they went into her apartment?
CHIEF TIMOTHY LONGO, CHARLOTTESVILLE, POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, you know, keep in mind when we`re looking at Yeardley, it`s from a different perspective.
GRACE: Yes.
LONGO: I think than her roommates that discovered her. I think part of the confusion with the 911 call and how that was characterized was we don`t know from what position they were observing her body.
I know when police officers arrive there, it was a very different scene. Yeardley was being treated by emergency medical personnel. Her body was turned over. It was fully exposed to the extent that we could clearly see the dramatic injuries -- traumatic injuries to her face that are so vividly described in the affidavit and has been reported by reporters across country.
You can imagine that -- how that sight played out and what that caused that immediately to become a crime scene for a potential homicide from which an investigation resulted that eventually led to Mr. Huguely and the charge of first-degree murder.
I mean, these facts are what they are.
GRACE: Chief, I know you have been dealing with her family from the very beginning, but I don`t know if you know or not, but I`m a new mother. I have twins, a boy and a girl.
And I already dream of, you know, working hard and saving up my money and sending them to whatever college I can afford and they can get into.
And I just can`t imagine having to tell her family to come -- to come to the campus about what had happened.
Where is the family tonight? Are they all gathered there?
LONGO: You know, I believe they`re still here in Charlottesville. I met with them last night along with several others. I believe, Investigator Olson met with them today.
And I will tell you, Nancy, as a father of four children, I -- since yesterday morning, I cannot stop looking at this case and what I saw, and from the photographs of that crime scene -- you know, as a father, if that were my child -- and every time I see her face, I think of my own children and I think of what Miss Yeardley and her sister are feeling tonight as we speak about the tremendous loss.
And you know, three weeks down the road, they were expecting to come to watch that child walk across the stage and begin a spectacular life.
GRACE: And you know what? You know what, Chief? These two would have separated and probably gone their own ways. I believe he had a job lined up already for him in Washington with some real estate firm.
She was headed out to do something different. Their paths may never have crossed again.
LONGO: Absolutely.
GRACE: Chief, I know that your force have worked this case must just be devastated. Tell me something, Chief. When the police got there, when her body was discovered, was she clothed?
LONGO: You know, I don`t want to give a graphic description that --
GRACE: OK. Say no more, Chief.
LONGO: -- out of respect to her family. I will tell you that those injuries were very apparent, very obvious that the minute, the minute that investigators walked into that bedroom.
GRACE: Oh, Chief.
LONGO: Out of respect for her mother, I really don`t want to get into whether the body was clothed or not. I -- but Nancy, if I can comment further on this, there`s been a lot of discussion and speculation about this relationship, about some disruption that has taken place in recent time with regard to that relationship.
And we`re working very hard to speak with friends and with teammates to get a better understanding from an historical perspective of what was going on with these two young people to try to get a sense for what may have led someone to do what happened just a short while ago and led to these charges.
These are just a completely unbelievable set of facts. And we want to make sure that we have a full understanding of what that relationship was, particularly in the days preceding her death. That`s kind of where we are now in the investigation.
GRACE: Right. Chief Timothy Longo joining us. He is the chief of the Charlottesville Police Department.
Chief, did he state that he took her computer with him?
LONGO: That is the information that`s related in the affidavit.
GRACE: OK.
LONGO: And that`s how we`ll certainly respond to that. And again, another piece of information that will be an issue that he`ll have to deal with down the road. It can`t be changed.
As I said before, these facts are what they are, and they`re compelling and they`re certainly the basis for which we concluded that the charges that were brought against him were the most appropriate charges, and that was murder in the first degree.
GRACE: With us, Chief Timothy Longo. Chief, you`ve certainly led your team, the Charlottesville Police Department, to a quick, a swift and a just resolution.
I know you`re going to hand this over to the District Attorney`s Office, and I want to thank you so much. I know you`ve got a very long night ahead of you. For taking this time with us.
Good-bye, Chief. And God bless you for your hard work.
Everyone, we are taking your calls. Let`s unleash the lawyers. Joining us out of L.A., Robin Sax, former prosecutor, author, "Predators and Child Molesters: What Every Parent Needs to Know about Keeping Their Kids Safe." Alex Sanchez, defense attorney, New York. Raymond Giudice, defense attorney, Atlanta.
Robin Sax, did you hear what the defense attorney said? I`ve got it right here. I couldn`t believe my ears. So I got a printout to make sure 2020 and 2018 got it right.
Her death was not intended but an accident with a tragic outcome. She was beaten to death. That is not an accident. That is one blow, another blow, another blow, another blow until she bled to death through her nose, ears and mouth.
That is not an accident, Robin Sax.
ROBIN SAX, PROSECUTOR, AUTHOR OF "PREDATORS & CHILD MOLESTERS": It`s absolutely not an accident. And the defense is trying to set up something like it`s some shaken baby syndrome going on here, throwing someone`s head against a wall. Not calling the police himself. And then taking a computer sounds like a lot of consciousness of guilt here to me and does not support an accident.
They`re better off going with some psychological defense.
GRACE: Raymond Giudice, give me your best shot.
RAY GIUDICE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I`m going to disagree with Miss Sax. I think defense counsel is working with the facts that he has which are horrible. And he is shaping this case to, one, keep it from being a death penalty case, which the DA has a right to do, and secondly, try to bring this home as a manslaughter charge and not an intentional homicide.
GRACE: Put Giudice up. Put him up.
GIUDICE: I`m ready to come up. He is shaping the jury from day one, that`s his job to do.
GRACE: Giudice. You always say --
GIUDICE: Yes?
GRACE: And I always mean to tell you, you always say the facts are horrible. The fact. Like there`s something I`m reading about in a textbook at the library. That is BS. These are the actions of the suspect according to the police. They`re not --
GIUDICE: In the law, they`re called facts.
GRACE: -- called sterile facts.
GIUDICE: In a courtroom they`re called facts.
GRACE: All right, you know what? You`re not in a courtroom. Weigh in, Sanchez.
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I think the defense attorney in this case has made a very serious error as far as I`m concerned. Because he`s gone on national TV and he`s basically proclaimed a defense in this case and he`s locked himself in.
Those statements may be suppressed at a later date. He may want to interpose the defense of extreme emotional disturbance. By locking himself in, he`s made what I consider to be a very serious mistake.
GRACE: Sanchez, you hit the nail on the head.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Love`s body was found in her apartment bedroom by one of her roommates who called police. Detectives and investigators combing the scene and interviewing any witnesses.
Within hours, fourth year student and lacrosse player George Huguely became the focus of the investigation. The college senior is charged with first-degree murder. The two did know each other. They had a past relationship.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The search continues for 32-year-old Michigan mother of two, Venus Stewart, after a stunning disappearance.
LARRY MCCOMB, MISSING MOM VENUS STEWART`S FATHER: They told me that mommy went outside. So I went outside and she wasn`t there.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police believe she was taking her mail to the mailbox around 7:30 in the morning and say there was evidence of a scuffle in the yard.
L. MCCOMB: She had hard-soled slippers on, and there were prints from her slippers on the side of the propane tank. Somebody had picked her up and she was kicking against the tank to get away.
GRACE: And you can see where the yard is churned up where she fought.
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: The mother was awarded temporary custody of her two children just a week before she disappeared.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Venus and estranged husband Douglas Stewart, both accuse the other of abuse. Cops calling Douglas Stewart their only person of interest. He denies he has anything to do with his wife`s disappearance.
THERESE MCCOMB, MISSING MOM VENUS STEWART`S MOTHER: She`s the best mom in the world. And I know she would never leave on her own.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Well, they may have had cross-claims and both seeking custody, but she got the custody. That says a lot to me.
To John McNeill, news director, WKZO News Radio, joining us, Kalamazoo, Michigan. It`s almost more than I can take in. About 7:00 a.m. in the morning, mommy goes to the mailbox in her pajamas. She`s never seen alive again.
What more do we know tonight, John McNeill?
JOHN MCNEILL, NEWS DIRECTOR, WKZO NEWSRADIO: Well, we have learned from a filing for a search warrant for Douglas Stewart`s pickup that they may have a lot more evidence than they`ve talked about previous to this. We`re hearing about the discovery of a clear plastic packaging in the driveway that may have been used to cover a tarp.
We`re learning that they have the tire tracks taken from a field nearby, an eyewitness account of a pickup in a field nearby, with a white male crouching behind it about the time of the disappearance.
We`re hearing that -- or we`re reading in this request for a warrant that they want to match the tire patterns that they found in the field with the ones on Douglas Stewart`s pickup truck. That the general tread pattern is similar, but they need to match the actual tires.
This is all new information that we didn`t hear about before. The truck description matches the eyewitness account. It`s a crew cab, a four- wheel pickup truck, light in color, very similar to the Dodge Ram that Douglas Stewart drives.
We -- the only question in my mind is why they waited so long to do this. Why we haven`t -- why this hasn`t been done. Why it was filed yesterday.
GRACE: OK, John McNeill joining us, WKZO News Radio. What did you say about the cab of the vehicle?
MCNEILL: It`s a crew cab. It`s a four-door -- not a unique style but relatively, you know, rare one. Most pickup trucks have two doors, some have four doors. And the one that was seen in the field had four doors just like Douglas Stewart`s.
GRACE: Describe it for me one more time. We`re trying to get a shot of it right now. Are you saying a crew cab, C-R-E within W?
MCNEILL: That`s the nomenclature here in Michigan, the nomenclature is important. If it`s a Ford, it`s a one thing. If it`s a Dodge Ram, it`s called a crew cab. And a crew cab means four doors.
GRACE: I understand. I understand. I see it now. A crew cab. Yes, I understand what you`re talking about.
Everybody, take a look at the vehicle on your right. That is stunning evidence, John McNeill. So you`ve got a man, a white male -- husband, white male -- crouched in the field beside -- is it adjacent or across from the home?
MCNEILL: We don`t know. It was probably up the street a little ways.
GRACE: OK.
MCNEILL: Judging from the layout of the neighborhood, it could have been across the street. It doesn`t specify --
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Matching the description of his vehicle. The guy crouched down. This is all around 7:00 in the morning.
Joining me right now, a very special guest -- and we are taking your calls live. This is Venus Rose Stewart`s parents, Larry and Therese McComb, joining us from Colon Township.
Thank you so much, Mr. And Mrs. McComb, for being with us. I understand that you were there at the propane tank where, Mr. McComb, you observed heel marks where you believe your daughter kicked in to the propane tank as she was struggling to be set free?
L. MCCOMB: Yes.
GRACE: Is that it behind you?
L. MCCOMB: I didn`t understand you.
GRACE: Is that the tank there behind you?
L. MCCOMB: Yes, it is. That`s the tank with the footprints on it.
GRACE: Are they still there?
L. MCCOMB: Yes, they`re still there.
GRACE: While you are speaking, could we get Miss McComb to go show us where you observed the footprints, if your microphone allows you to move?
L. MCCOMB: No, they`re on the other side of the tank.
GRACE: They`re on the other side. So we can`t see them.
L. MCCOMB: No.
GRACE: When did you first observe them, Mr. McComb? Immediately after she went missing?
L. MCCOMB: No. It was after it was dusted by the state police. They showed right up. They were dusting for fingerprints, I believe.
GRACE: Mr. And Mrs. McComb, joining us tonight. These are Venus Rose Stewart`s parents.
To Miss McComb. Miss McComb, when we`re talking about a white male crouched down beside a pickup truck with a crew cab, resembles a Dodge Ram, where is that field in relation to your home?
T. MCCOMB: Across the street like kitty corner in a vacant lot.
GRACE: Miss McComb, would he have known that she would come out in the morning to leave mail or get to leave mail or get mail?
T. MCCOMB: I don`t know how that was possible. I think -- I don`t know how -- I can`t answer that. Because I really don`t understand that.
GRACE: Mr. McComb, what do you think?
L. MCCOMB: I think it was sheer luck. I wonder if he wasn`t just planning on breaking in the house and taking her.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Straight out to Sergeant Scott Haines, sheriff`s officer, Santa Rosa County, Florida.
Sergeant, what about the tread pattern? How often do you make those kind of comparisons?
SGT. SCOTT HAINES, SHERIFF`S OFFICER, SANTA ROSA COUNTY, FL.: Those type of comparisons are actually extremely helpful. Tires are very unique in the different nicks that they may have on them, the wear patterns, the placement on the vehicle, whether on the front or the real.
They`re all very unique depending on what type of abuse they`ve had, what they`ve hit. If you get a good tire impression, you can match it specifically up to any tire on a vehicle. So if they do have good tire impressions and they have the actual tire, they can definitely match up an identical tire.
GRACE: With us, Sergeant Scott Haines.
To Dr. Leslie Austin, psychotherapist, New York. Weigh in, Leslie.
DR. LESLIE AUSTIN, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: My heart really goes out to the McCombs, and they`re doing an admirable job for keeping up hope for those grandchildren`s sake. It`s really important not to give up hope until proven otherwise. And we can only hope for the best.
GRACE: Ellie Jostad, weigh in.
JOSTAD: Nancy, we know that the husband claims that he`s been in Virginia the whole time but police are testing that truck, looking for any evidence that might have been in Michigan. They`re looking for soil, insects, fibers that would link it to Michigan.
GRACE: Back to Larry and Therese McComb, Venus Stewart`s parents. I know that you are keeping the children, the two little girls, safe. How are they without their mommy?
T. MCCOMB: They ask a lot about her. They don`t understand. The 5- year-old accidentally seen her on TV. And she said, why is mommy with daddy? She was scared. That scared her. She goes, why is mommy with daddy? She didn`t understand.
GRACE: Miss McComb, you are still praying tonight that she is unharmed and only kidnapped.
T. MCCOMB: I pray. If he -- Doug, if you hear me, please -- those little girls love their mommy so much. If you love your children, please, please -- don`t do anything to hurt her please.
GRACE: To our viewers, you see the suffering on the McCombs. The tip line 269-483-7611. Please help.
Let`s stop and remember Army Specialist Kamisha Block, 20, Vidor, Texas, killed Iraq. Awarded the Bronze Star, National Defense Service medal, Army Service ribbon.
Remembered for a big Texas smile. Loved traveling, interacting with people, dreamed of law enforcement. Leaves behind parents, Jerry and Jane, sister Shanta, and a nephew she never got to meet, Hagan (ph).
Kamisha Block, American hero.
Thanks to our guests but especially to you. And thank you to Texas friend, Tony, for this authentic, original Walthall County cream pitcher. The cream pitcher of Mississippi.
Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern, and until then, good night, friends.
END
