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Nancy Grace
Former Giants Star Lawrence Taylor Charged With Rape
Aired May 06, 2010 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight. A "Dancing With the Stars" phenom stuns fans with moves on the dance floor. But tonight, police say he had a pimp deliver a teenage girl to his hotel room like she`s a pizza, the girl beaten with a black eye when she refused, then attacks the girl, sexually attacks the girl. After secretly sending out a frantic text message, cops managed to locate and rescue the teen girl.
But then, shocking twist. The "Dancing With the Stars" celeb walks free. Tonight, NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor -- you can run, Taylor, but you can`t hide!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police in New York have arrested NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor as part of a rape investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... local police commissioner, who says a pimp from New York City brought a teen prostitute to the Holiday Inn. She was allegedly raped by Taylor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s our belief that he was there alone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... as well as assaulting her because when the rape kit was done on her, she had evidence of assault.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When the pimp and the girl returned to New York City, she texted an uncle, who called police.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The victim was able to contact her uncle, who`d not heard from her in a period of time...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She ran away from home recently.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... was able to give a location where she thought she would be delivered back to New York City.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lawrence Taylor is 51 now, a pro football Hall of Famer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The time of night that this took place, at 3:54, when our police knocked on the door, Mr. Taylor was asleep. He did want to use the men`s room. He was not allowed to use the bathroom. He was taken into custody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... lawyer claiming no sex at all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... denies, denies, denies...
ARTHUR AIDALA, LAWRENCE TAYLOR ATTORNEY: Lawrence Taylor did not have consensual sex with anybody last night. Lawrence Taylor did not rape anybody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It shouldn`t be terribly hard to prove.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And breaking news tonight, live, Idaho. Human remains found. The skeletal remains of a female, an adult female, discovered, first speculated to be missing 28-year-old mom of two, Susan Cox Powell, last seen by her husband and two little boys when Daddy suddenly announces around midnight he`s taking the boys, ages 4 and 2, camping in the snow at midnight, freezing temperatures, at an undisclosed location. He says when they all get home, Mommy`s gone. Tonight, finally, a positive ID on the skeletal remains.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s just dirt, and a perfect place to dump a body.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking news. Remains that many thought may have been Susan Powell have been identified, the remains not Susan. But they have been identified as 21-year-old mother of three Stephanie Eldredge. Eldredge disappeared suddenly, leaving a 4-year-old daughter, purse and car behind. So now the question remains, where is mother of two Susan Powell?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police are desperately searching for a missing mom of two who allegedly vanished from her own home in the middle of the night, sleeping in her own bed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her husband said he and their two kids were on the camping trip when the woman went missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Susan Powell allegedly last seen by her husband around midnight in December.
JOSH POWELL, HUSBAND: She`s somewhere.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know there was quite a huge effort out in the West Desert looking for any sign of her. Is that where you were camping?
POWELL: I just have to go get my boys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... when he claims to have taken his 4 and 2-year- old boys camping and made smores.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have any idea what happened to her?
POWELL: No. Thank you. Any help to try to find her would -- would be appreciated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. A "Dancing With the Stars" phenom stuns fans with his moves on the dance floor. But tonight, police say he had a pimp deliver a teenage girl to his hotel like she`s a pizza, then sexually attacked the girl. NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor -- Taylor, you can run, but you can`t hide!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pro football Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor has been charged in the rape of a 16-year-old runaway girl.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Reportedly, she was brought to him by a pimp.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police in New York say a pimp brought her to Taylor`s suburban hotel room against her will and Taylor paid her 300 bucks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police responded. They interviewed and investigated the individual that answered the door, identified himself as Mr. Lawrence Taylor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In these kinds of cases, you never know what could happen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lawrence Taylor was charged with rape in the third degree.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Taylor was arraigned a short time ago, bail set at $75,000. He denies the allegations against him, and his attorney came out swinging.
AIDALA: My client did not have sex with anybody. Period. Amen. Is that enough?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they had sex, if there`s evidence that they had sex, this man is guilty because it`s already been proven, I guess, that she`s under the age of 17.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You might think, well, she`s a runaway, and if she was a prostitute, then maybe she shouldn`t have the protection of the law. Bottom line is if she`s underage and he had sex with her, doesn`t matter who she was employed by, it is a strict liability crime.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: How can anybody say this teenage girl is a prostitute? According to police, the pimp -- who had just gotten out of jail on voluntary manslaughter, 15 years behind bars -- beats the living daylights out of the girl. She shows up at the "Dancing With the Stars" celebrity hotel room with a big black eye, her face swollen. But yet according to police, he still raped the teenage girl. How could anybody say a teenage girl is a hooker who took a beating rather than go to the hotel room? Instead, she was forced there. We are taking your calls live. And now he`s walking free tonight?
Straight out to Alexis Tereszcuk, reporter with Radaronline.com. Alexis, what happened?
ALEXIS TERESZCUK, RADARONLINE.COM: Well, Lawrence Taylor, who was a fan favorite on "Dancing With the Stars" last year, was arrested for raping this girl. She is 16 years old. She did not want to go to this room. She has apparently been caught up with a pimp ever since she ran away from home a few months ago. He beat...
GRACE: Wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wait-wait-wait! What do you mean "caught up," she`s been caught up with a pimp? That is kidnapping, Alexis Tereszcuk! I realize that you`re a celebrity reporter. You always get the scoop. But in my mind, that`s kidnapping. That is false imprisonment, when you keep someone somewhere they don`t want to be. And that goes for Lawrence Taylor, too. I don`t know why he`s not charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment for keeping her in that hotel room. Continue, Tereszcuk.
TERESZCUK: Absolutely. And you`re right, she was -- she was panicked. She finally texted her uncle, who she hasn`t spoken with in months, and told him what had happened to her, that she says that Lawrence Taylor raped her. After she refused to have sex with him in the hotel room, he went ahead and raped her. He then gave her $300, so paid her for what he thought was sex. And then when she got away with this pimp, she texted her uncle, who was able to find her and to have the police find her.
GRACE: Jean Casarez, legal correspondent, "In Session" -- Jean, could somebody explain to me why he is currently charged with rape in the third degree, maximum four years? This is clearly a case of rape in the first degree, by forcible compulsion. Everybody, that video you`re seeing is from ABC`s "Dancing With the Stars." Go ahead, Jean.
JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION": You know, Nancy, we all watched him last year on "Dancing With the Stars." He was a celebrity contestant. Now charged with rape. This was a minor. This was a 17-year-old girl. And there`s not a definitely when you...
GRACE: Sixteen! Sixteen!
CASAREZ: Sixteen years old. And when you have sex with a 16-year-old girl, as prosecutors say, there`s not a defense because it`s called statutory rape. There`s no defense because of the age. Why is it a third degree felony? That`s a good question. But remember, these are just arresting charges, probable cause to arrest him. The prosecution has not announced yet formal charges.
GRACE: OK, hold on. Rosie, put him up in full. I want to take a look at Lawrence Taylor on "Dancing With" -- no, no! Not that. "Dancing" -- there you go. There he is. OK, hold on. I just want to take it all in. You know what? All dressed up, all tutored, with professional dancer. He was a fan favorite. He made it through about six rounds.
But you know what? Police say this is all for show, that he got in touch with a pimp who -- had just gotten out from behind bars on voluntary manslaughter, shooting a 16-year-old at a party, an unarmed 16-year-old dead, OK? He delivers a little girl, a 16-year-old girl, to this man`s hotel room like she`s Chinese delivery. She`s got a big black eye. She`s clearly been beaten. And he rapes her.
OK, back to you, Jean Casarez. What happens when the cops finally get to the room?
CASAREZ: Well, when they finally got to the room -- and let`s backtrack. Let`s tell everybody a little bit about this young woman. She ran away from home. She lived in New York. About three weeks ago, she met up with this man, last name Davis. Police say he`s the pimp. He took her against her will to this hotel room, told her to go into that room against her will. Prosecutors say she had sex. When she got out, they wanted to take her to another man. She freaked out. She got on her text phone, her cell phone, texted her uncle, went back home to her uncle.
GRACE: Jean, lead me up to when cops get to the hotel room.
CASAREZ: The uncle called police. Police were able to go to the hotel room because she remembered the number of the room at the hotel. They knocked on the door. They walked in. And there he was.
GRACE: And when they got in there, Ellie Jostad, our chief editorial producer, what, if anything, did the "Dancing With the Stars" celebrity have to say?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, apparently, Nancy, asked police -- he was apparently asleep when they knocked on the door, by the way. He asked police...
GRACE: Yes, so he obviously didn`t have a guilty conscience. He just went straight to sleep after allegedly raping a teenage girl. OK. Go ahead.
JOSTAD: Yes. And apparently, after the Ramapo police get there, he asked first if he could use the bathroom before he goes off to jail in handcuffs. They told him, no, he couldn`t. You`re coming with us. And so he was taken into jail. He did make bail today, Nancy. He got out on $75,000 bond.
GRACE: Eleanor -- Eleanor with -- Eleanor Odom with me tonight, felony prosecutor, her specialty crimes on women and children. Go in the bathroom to do what, hop in the shower and erase all the evidence off his body? No way!
ELEANOR ODOM, PROSECUTOR: Heck no, Nancy. You don`t want to do that, especially when somebody`s just engaged in, for lack of a better word, human trafficking with a child alleged prostitute.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At 1:00 AM this morning, a man named Rasheed Davis brought a 16-year-old girl to a hotel room in Rockland County, New York, where she had sexual intercourse with Lawrence Taylor and he paid her $300 for it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police in New York arrested NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor today as part of a rape investigation. That department says the reported rape happened today in Montebello, New York. Taylor is 51 years old. He was a linebacker from the New York Giants from 1981 to 1993. And you have to remember he is innocent until proven guilty here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This pimp took her to this room in Ramapo, New York, to this Holiday Inn. But she had run away from home after having an argument with her parents. This is what...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. The "Dancing With the Stars" phenom wowed the fans with his moves on the dance floor. But tonight, police say he ordered up a 16-year-old teenager like she was a pizza, raped her and then went fast to sleep.
Out to the lines. Pamela in Kentucky. Hi, Pamela.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello, Nancy. We love you. And I know I`m going to be in a little bit of disagreement with you on this, and I don`t want to argue about it.
GRACE: OK. Hit me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But I have a question for you.
GRACE: All right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. If she was raped, why did she take the money?
GRACE: I don`t know. Let`s talk about it. Jean Casarez, did she take the money?
CASAREZ: You know, I think the pimp, the alleged pimp, may have taken the money. So I think he may have done the business dealings. I`m not sure. And if she was handed the money, it was for the pimp. So I don`t know if we can say that she consented because she took money.
GRACE: Ellie, do we know?
JOSTAD: We don`t know that she kept the money, Nancy. And it seems to me that if you`re the pimp, your goal is to get the money earned by your prostitute.
GRACE: Here`s a little -- a little trick about the law. A juvenile cannot enter into a contract, even an illegal contract, OK? That is why 13-year-olds can`t go buy a car, because as soon as they sell you a car, they`ll crash it and default on the payments. That`s why a 9-year-old can`t buy a house. Minors cannot enter into contracts.
So it doesn`t matter what she did. It doesn`t matter if she consented. It doesn`t matter. A minor is incapable under the law of consenting, period, end of story.
But here`s the statute right here, the New York statute. Rape in the first degree -- person guilty of rape first degree when he or she engages in sex intercourse with another person, one, by forcible compulsion -- she was beaten by a pimp. She had a huge, honking black eye when she showed up at Taylor`s hotel room! What more do I need?
Straight back to the lines. Katrina, Texas. Hi, dear.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. How`re you doing?
GRACE: I`m great. What`s your question.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had (INAUDIBLE) all I want to know is why aren`t these athletes being held accountable for their actions? I mean, every time I turn on the TV, I hear, you know, Tiger Woods is cheating, or you know, they`re raping someone, or this and that. And they`re not being held accountable. It`s, like, it`s being swept under the rug.
GRACE: Straight out to Jason Cole, NFL writer for Yahoo! Sports, joining us out of Gainesville, Florida. Hi, Jason. What gives, Jason.
JASON COLE, NFL WRITER, YAHOO! SPORTS (via telephone): Hi, Nancy. How are you?
GRACE: I`m great. I`ll let you answer that question from Katrina in Texas. Why?
COLE: Well, I mean, in some cases, they are held accountable. I mean, if we look at Plaxico Burress, I mean, he`s spending two years behind bars. I mean, but Ben Roethlisberger...
GRACE: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait!
COLE: ... unfortunately, they couldn`t -- they couldn`t...
GRACE: Plaxico -- Plaxico`s got two years behind bars on what?
COLE: Well, he shot himself using an unlicensed gun. I mean, so, look, he was held accountable after he committed a crime. Now, as far as Ben Roethlisberger, yes, that case, unfortunately, there was too much contradictory evidence for the prosecutors to proceed with the case.
In this one, it seems like it`s going to be fairly simple. I mean, the girl is underage. That`s pretty clear. And if they`ve recovered evidence -- I believe that it`s been written that there was a condom that was recovered -- if there`s any other physical evidence, I would think that they`re going to proceed with this charge and that he will be held accountable. I mean, it seems like a fairly simple, straightforward case.
GRACE: Well, you know, the reality is, Jason Cole, there is the perception that star athletes such as him -- he`s a Hall of Famer, NFL Hall of Famer -- are not...
COLE: He`s perhaps the greatest defensive player in the history of the game, actually.
GRACE: Don`t care. But there is the perception...
COLE: I know. That`s fine. I`m just -- I`m just telling you who he is, that`s all.
GRACE: Yes, I know who he is. I know who he is. And I know about his football fame. Don`t care. But the perception amongst many Americans is that star athletes are not held accountable. Now, Jason Cole, do you disagree with that premise? Do you think that they are given star treatment or celebrity treatment when they get in trouble?
COLE: I think that powerful people -- people have a way of getting out of things better than anybody else because they`re rich and they are famous. I think that there`s some truth to that. I think that when prosecutors have the goods on them, they go after them as strong as they possibly can. I think that that`s happened, as well. But I think there`s a little bit of both. But certainly, perception would be -- and I would agree that that perception exists that stars, star athletes, tend to get away with more things.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE TAYLOR, FORMER PRO FOOTBALL PLAYER: I`m the type of guy, if you say one is good, then I think two is better and three got to be best. The way I`m geared, and the way L.T. is geared (INAUDIBLE) so to speak, hey, I`m always looking for that ultimate pleasure. I need more than that just to keep me going. I need some excitement in life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After the events took place in that room, 160, at the Holiday Inn, Mr. Davis then took our victim back to New York City. Our victim had previously been reported as a runaway. She was reported missing in Bronx, New York, in March of this year. Her age at that time was 15. She`s presently 16 years old.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls live. Let`s unleash the lawyers. Joining us tonight, felony prosecutor Eleanor Odom -- specialty, crimes on women and children -- Renee Rockwell, defense attorney, Atlanta, Peter Odom, defense attorney, Atlanta. What about it, Peter Odom?
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: This is the stage of the investigation where the police get to do all the talking. It`s completely untested. When this case finally gets to court, there are going to be a lot of questions. And one of them, your viewer asked. If this was a rape, why did she take the money? If this was a rape, why didn`t she contact the police immediately?
GRACE: Put Odom up!
PETER ODOM: Many questions.
GRACE: Odom, I know for a fact that you -- like Lawrence Taylor, you have a daughter. He has three daughters -- four children, three daughters. If the pimp had just beaten the hell out of her, don`t you think she would have handed that money over to the pimp, rather than take another beating? Think about it, Odom.
PETER ODOM: Nancy...
GRACE: Yes?
PETER ODOM: ... we don`t -- in a court of law, there aren`t going to be suppositions and assumptions and conjecture. It`s going to be based on facts. That`s what we don`t have right now.
GRACE: So you`re not going to answer. That`s fine. I didn`t expect you to. Yes, no, Tereszcuk...
PETER ODOM: I`m not going to answer to speculation.
GRACE: Tereszcuk, did she take the money and give it to the pimp? Yes, no.
TERESZCUK: Yes.
GRACE: Thank you.
TERESZCUK: But she was forced to.
GRACE: To Renee Rockwell. Odom just said that only the police are doing the talking. That`s not exactly true. The defense attorney, Arthur Aidala, has been talking, and he`s already announced nobody had any sex that night. Well, I wonder what that used rubber was doing there in his hotel room? Where do you think that came from, Renee?
RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, that`s not anything you really like to say...
GRACE: Yes?
ROCKWELL: ... but what you do when you put everybody on blast (ph) like that and say there was no sex -- when this condom comes up and it happens to have DNA in it -- obviously, they`re going to take it to the lab -- he will have painted himself in a corner and committed to the public that nothing happened. And this disingenuine (SIC) statement will turn around to haunt him later.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Approximately 3:54 a.m. on today`s date, May 6th, this department received a call from NYPD in reference to a possible rape. It may have occurred in the Holidome which is located in the village of Montebello within the confines of the town of Ramapo.
The officers responded. They interviewed and investigated the individual that answered the door. Identified himself as Mr. Lawrence Taylor. Subsequent investigation, Lawrence Taylor was charged with --
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: The "Dancing with the Stars" phenom Lawrence Taylor really was a smash on the dance floor. The fans loved him. He made it through at least six cuts that I recall.
But now police say he ordered up a 16-year-old teenager like she`s a pizza, sexually molested her, then had a good night`s sleep until cops finally show up.
We are taking your calls live. But first to Sheryl McCollum. Why do you believe the defense attorney has already locked himself in by declaring to the public nobody had sex in the room that night?
SHERYL MCCOLLUM, CRIME ANALYST, DIR. OF COLD CASE SQUAD AT PINE LAKE P.D.: Because having sex with a 16-year-old is illegal. He had to deny it because he knew good and well how old she was. Because he ordered her from his pimp.
GRACE: Joining me right now, a special guest, Marc Klaas, child advocate, president and founder of KlaasKids Foundation.
Marc, you`ve heard all the facts now. Weigh in.
MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: Sure. This is a very, very clear cut case of human trafficking. She is under 18 years of age. She is under the influence and coercion of a pimp. And she was sold as a sexually commodity in a deal between two grown men.
Incidentally, two grown men that are known for their viciousness. One is already a killer. You think she`s going to refuse him? And the other one is known for his brutality on the football field. She can refuse this man as well?
She had absolutely nowhere to go. She`s a complete, total victim of this. They should be charging human trafficking for this. The pimp should get at least 30 years for what he did. They should add on human trafficking charges to Taylor. He shouldn`t be out of jail right now.
Do athletes get a double standard? Do they get a push in our society? Take it from O.J. Simpson killing his wife and walking away from it to this incident right here and you can just put the place markers in as you wish.
This is an offense to humanity. What`s going on here tonight.
GRACE: You know what, Marc Klaas? I think back when I was 16 and I think I was worried about what my 4-H project was going to be for the fair that fall. And what cheerleading outfit we were going to wear and whether I was going to pass chemistry and -- look at what this girl has lived through.
Now, Marc Klaas, everybody that`s a legal eagle, everybody that follows the courts and the justice system knows the meaning of rape, homicide, false imprisonment, kidnapping. But in a nutshell, break it down, Klaas. Explain human trafficking in a nutshell.
KLAAS: Sure. This is simple. This is something that victimizes hundreds of thousands of kids in the United States every year. They find themselves on the streets for whatever reason. And they`re befriended by somebody who soon becomes a very controlling individual.
He`s known as a pimp. He sells these girls out -- or boys sometimes out -- 10, 15 times a day until they`re able to bring in their quota which could be anywhere from $500 to $1,000.
Each one of those dollars, every cent, goes to the pimp. The girl gets nothing. The girl can receive nothing.
Ultimately, as in this case, this needs to be charged as human trafficking so that she can be -- so that she can access some of the services that are available to human trafficking victims.
She is nothing less than a victim of a system and of both of these two men.
GRACE: To Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst, author of "Dealbreakers."
Why is it irritating me so much -- and I enjoyed "Dancing with the Stars" when he was on it. But now looking at him, it`s just -- it`s just making my skin crawl.
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": Because what you`re really seeing, Nancy, is what we call a power rapist who the same type of satisfaction he gets out of paying $300 to use a young vulnerable girl as a punching bag, he goes on "Dancing with the Stars" for gratification at dancing in front of people.
And, Nancy, let`s call him what he is. He is a power rapist. Power rapists rape because they love to see the look of terror and fear on the woman`s face. He -- if he really wanted sex, Nancy, he could have paid $3,000 or $4,000 for a high-class escort. One of these tough girls who sets her own rules and her own hours.
But no. He did not want that. He wanted to pick on one of the most vulnerable members of our society, a child with a black eye who was being kidnapped by a pimp and that is where he derived his satisfaction.
The power and the violence came first. And he was the defensive player. He picked on the most defenseless member of our society. And that`s what`s so egregious.
GRACE: Out to the lines. Edith, Massachusetts. Hi, Edith.
EDITH, CALLER FROM MASSACHUSETTS: Hi, Nancy. First of all, Happy Mother`s Day.
GRACE: Thank you.
EDITH: You`re welcome.
GRACE: You`re the first one that`s said that. Thank you.
EDITH: Yes.
GRACE: You know, I was playing with Lucy today. This indoor jumping house place. And just out of the blue -- out of the blue she said, I love you.
EDITH: That`s sweet.
GRACE: And, you know, they`re just learning to say that. And I cannot even imagine pouring my heart and soul into her and John David, and at age 16 somebody comes along and mistreats her.
EDITH: Yes. I have kind of a three-part question. First of all, do you have any phone records between Taylor and the pimp? Do you have any of the girl`s DNA on the condom? And of the beatings, how would she able to prove which man did what to her?
GRACE: OK. Let`s go through those. Unleash the lawyers. Eleanor Odom, Renee Rockwell, Peter Odom.
First of all, Eleanor Odom, this is your specialty. And as far as the girl`s DNA on the condom, of course, it`s going to be there.
ELEANOR ODOM, PROSECUTOR: Of course. Of course. And his should be there, too, as well. So you`re going to be able to get that.
GRACE: Well, they did say used condom. And we can only assume that there will be DNA.
E. ODOM: Exactly. Phone records, that`s pretty standard, in getting those in investigations. And you always have just the word of the witness. But that`s the most important person. She was the one who speaks. She`s the best one to talk about it.
You know what irritates me? This defense attorneys that act like because she was prostituted out like it`s somehow her fault. She`s a victim, Nancy, and she was raped.
GRACE: So Renee Rockwell, take a listen. Rosie, do you have that sound for me of the defense attorney?
Take a listen to what the defense attorney said, Renee Rockwell and Peter Odom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARTHUR AIDALA, LAWRENCE TAYLOR`S ATTORNEY: My client did not have sex with anybody. No. Period. Amen. Is that enough? I did not say it was consensual. I said that the district attorney`s office is charging him with a consensual act.
He did not have consensual sex with anyone. Lawrence Taylor did not have consensual sex --
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And to top it all off, Taylor`s wife has come out publicly to state it`s all a conspiracy.
All right. Somehow she`s cooked up a conspiracy theory based on the fact that he wrote an autobiography about his life in A&E or "60 Minutes," did an in-depth interview with him.
Who`s in the conspiracy, Renee Rockwell? A&E and the police?
RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No. But hold on. I`d be interested if she got lawyered up as a victim and all of a sudden there was a lawsuit. Don`t think that that has never happened, Nancy. And then she wants the money for damages.
It does not mean that there was not an illegal act.
GRACE: To Dr. Joshua Perper, chief medical examiner of Broward County, author of "When to Call the Doctor."
Dr. Perper, as always, it`s an honor to have you with us. The victim went through a rape exam. What does that entail?
DR. JOSHUA PERPER, MEDICAL EXAMINER, AUTHOR OF "WHEN TO CALL THE DOCTOR": The rape exam would entail the examination of all three area which might have been the object of a sexual assault. The mouth, the anus and the sexual area.
And there would be swabs taken. There would be swabs taken from the skin. If there are any bite marks, there are going to be swabs taken from bite marks. And if there are bite marks, they will be matched to possible -- to the possible rapist.
And there would be also bacteriological tests in order to see if the rapist didn`t have any particular infection. So if there are DNA on the condom, there will be also proof that indeed there was penetration and therefore there was rape.
GRACE: As I said before, Lawrence Taylor, you can run, but you can`t hide.
As we go to break, a special thank you to our Facebook crime fighters. West Virginia friend Robbie, a portrait studio owner, Florida friend Kellie who never missing the show, Ohio friend Clara, retired from law enforcement, now a foster mom helping at-risk teens.
Facebook friends, thank you.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Remains have been found in Idaho. And after weeks of waiting, autopsy reveals they are not Susan Powell.
So where is she? The remains identified as belonging to 21-year-old mother of three, Stephanie Eldredge, who suddenly disappeared, leaving her 4-month-old baby, car and purse behind.
Remains discovered by a truck driver whose vehicle got stuck in the mud and walked around trying to find better cell reception.
So why hasn`t Susan Powell been located after months of searching? Friends and family say she never would have left her kids.
JOSH POWELL, HUSBAND OF MISSING MOTHER SUSAN POWELL: We just miss her and we want her back and -- and my boys and I love her.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How are they doing?
POWELL: They`re doing OK.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you have any idea what happened to her?
POWELL: No. Thank you. And any help to try to find her would -- would be appreciated. So really that`s all. We just -- she`s somewhere.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I know there`s quite a huge effort out in the west desert looking for any sign of her. Is that where you were camping?
POWELL: I just have to go get my boys. Thank you.
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GRACE: Straight out to Jim Kirkwood, reporter, KTKK News Radio joining us out of Salt Lake City.
Jim, what happened?
JIM KIRKWOOD, REPORTER, KTKK NEWS RADIO: With Susan Powell?
GRACE: Well, with the remains that have been discovered.
KIRKWOOD: We`re talking about Stephanie Eldredge up in -- near Idaho Falls.
GRACE: Yes, 21-year-old Stephanie Eldredge.
KIRKWOOD: Yes. She was found, what, 10 miles or so east of Idaho Falls. And apparently it`s been about three years. So it`s just bones. Very limited remains. But there was enough evidence at the scene that the police do believe it`s a homicide, Nancy.
GRACE: To Jean Casarez, what can you tell me about Stephanie Eldredge? At first, many people believed these were the remains of Susan Cox Powell whose husband mysteriously took off in the middle of the night, claiming he was making S`mores out in freezing temperatures camping with his two little boys. Said when he got home Susan was just gone.
But it`s not Susan Powell. Tell me about Eldredge.
JEAN CASAREZ, CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": Stephanie Eldredge. It was August 20th, 2007, last time she was ever seen. She was a young mother, 21 years old. She had a 4-month-old little baby. And her roommate came home at noon one day and Stephanie wasn`t there.
Her purse was there. Her car was there. The baby was there. Her cell phone wasn`t. She was never seen again. They found that cell phone, and there was no activity on it after she left the home.
GRACE: Everyone, take a look. The tip line for Stephanie Eldredge`s disappearance, and now we know murder, 208-529-1200. There is a $5,000 reward.
To Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst and author of "Dealbreakers." I don`t know what the father has been telling the little girls -- three little girls. But he now has told us he has no idea how he`s going to explain to them that mommy is in heaven.
How do you do that?
MARSHALL: Well, I mean, for the 3-month-old, the baby`s not going to remember. It`s going to be out of like a preconscious, preverbal level. For a little one you just keep their environment safe and keep their attachments secure.
The older ones probably are memorializing her in some way. There`s probably her picture on the mantle or there`s pictures around the house. And he`ll have to tell them whatever his faith tradition is, she`s in heaven, mommy`s watching us but she`s in another place. And continue the tradition he`s already set.
GRACE: Out to Sheryl McCollum, crime scene analyst, director of the Cold Case Squad, Pine Lake PD.
Sheryl, what can they learn from the crime scene? How -- they finally have the body.
MCCOLLUM: Right. They can learn a lot, Nancy. They`re going to be able to tell you if there`s injury to the skull, if there`s a bullet lodged in a bone, if there`s a knife injury. They`re going to be able to tell that.
Also, where she was located sometimes can also be very telling. You`re talking about 10 miles into that desert. Again, how far was she from her car. How far did they travel with her. All those kind of things can be indicative of the who done it.
GRACE: This is what we know. Missing since August 20, 2007. Found approximately 11 miles away from where she was abducted. Roommate finds her 4-month-old little girl sitting in one of those swings all alone in the home.
What about it, Eleanor Odom?
E. ODOM: Well, I think it`ll be very interesting to see who had access to that area and who was familiar with that area. That`s one thing I want to look at.
GRACE: It was obviously a local in my mind.
E. ODOM: Exactly. And then the last call in regards to the cell phone records that they`ll be able to look at.
GRACE: Jean Casarez, do we have a person of interest yet?
CASAREZ: Yes, yes. They do say there is a person of interest. They won`t say when he or she became a person of interest and won`t say who they are. But they`re active on the case.
GRACE: To Dr. Joshua Perper. Dr. Perper, what can they tell from skeletal remains? Obviously no soft tissue left at all.
PERPER: Well, they were able to identify the person which is already important. And then if there are any injuries to the bones, fractures of the bone, bullet, any kind of irregularity of the bone as a result of an assault, they could conclude that, indeed, the person was killed.
If the bones are tied together, was there some kind of ligature, this would support a homicide as well. So it depends what will be the findings, what were the findings, rather.
GRACE: Out to Bessy in Indiana, hi, Bessy.
BESSY, CALLER FROM INDIANA: Hi, Nancy, how are you?
GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?
BESSY: I want to know, Stephanie, the person of interest, how would they know? It`s been 2007. That`s a long time.
GRACE: Right. How would they identify a person of interest? Is that your question?
BESSY: Yes.
GRACE: To --
BESSY: Unless --
GRACE: To Jim Kirkwood with KTKK, what do you know about the person of interest? It`s obviously somebody that was in her life at that time.
KIRKWOOD: Yes. In fact, there`s a person of interest and some other people the police are looking at according to Sergeant Grimes, and the family -- in fact the aunt, Deb Robury, has indicated that there are a number of people that know about this so I think the --
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GRACE: We are taking your calls live. To Sheeba in Illinois, hi, Sheeba.
SHEEBA, CALLER FROM ILLINOIS: hi, Nancy. It`s been a long time, dear.
GRACE: It`s nice to hear your voice. What`s your question?
SHEEBA: OK. My question is, if they have a -- not a suspect, but a person of interest, you know, I don`t understand how they find a person of interest, but really to the doctor, if she were strangulated, wouldn`t -- wouldn`t she -- her hyoid be broken and being with her other bones?
GRACE: Good question. Would her hyoid necessarily be broken, Dr. Perper?
PERPER: No, in a young person the bones are very flexible and the hyoid bone is also flexible. So, yes, it`s possible in a strangulation to have a fracture of a hyoid bone but in a young person you don`t have to find one and it`s not surprising if you don`t find it.
GRACE: To Julie in Minnesota, hi, Julie.
JULIE, CALLER FROM MINNESOTA: Hi, Nancy. I really love watching your show. I just really appreciate what you do.
GRACE: Thank you.
JULIE: I don`t really have a question. I guess I have more of a concern.
GRACE: OK.
JULIE: I notice that Joshua Powell said the boys really missed their mom, but he never mentions that he misses her.
GRACE: No, he doesn`t.
JULIE: I find that very interesting.
GRACE: He never does. I`ve noticed that, too, Bethany, Marshall.
MARSHALL: Consciousness of guilt, doesn`t it? And not only that he took them out in the freezing cold weather to make S`mores and then the wife mysteriously disappears? I mean I wouldn`t be surprised to learn that there`s a history of domestic abuse in this household.
GRACE: To Sheryl McCollum, I`m not that surprised that police have a person of interest. I mean, just because --
MCCOLLUM: Sure.
GRACE: -- we`re just now finding her remains.
MCCOLLUM: Right.
GRACE: But it doesn`t mean the police have considered her dead for some time.
MCCOLLUM: Absolutely.
GRACE: They had to have a person of interest at the some time.
MCCOLLUM: Absolutely. This was -- could have been a person of interest from the get-go. But now maybe they have enough to link this person to the crime so very quickly maybe he`ll become their suspect.
GRACE: Everyone, tip line, 208-529-1200. The remains of Stephanie Eldredge, age 21, have been identified.
Let`s stop and remember Army Sergeant Matthew Tallman, 30, Groveland, California, killed Iraq. Awarded the Bronze Star, Iraq Campaign Medal, Army Commendation Medal. Also served Afghanistan.
Loved computers, cooking, hiking Yosemite, flying. Leaves behind grieving mother Virginia, brothers David and Paul, sister Susan, widow Nicole, children Sandra and Matthew.
Matthew Tallman, American hero.
Thanks to our guests and especially to you for being with us, and tonight a special good night from California and Georgia friends, John and Sharon.
Everybody, I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern, and until then, good night, friend.
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