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Nancy Grace
Missing New Jersey Woman`s Belongings Found in Florida
Aired August 31, 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 mom goes out to hear music, heads off into the night afterwards. She`s never seen again. But now, over a thousand miles away, Ft. Lauderdale, does grainy surveillance video spot Mommy cleaning out her bank account? Was she forced? Then the trail goes cold. Bombshell tonight. Thrown callously, strewn on a Florida golf course, a duffel back stuffed with Emily Grace`s clothes, her credit cards, her keys, apparently jettisoned from a moving car. Tonight, what happened to Emily Grace?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s 45 and she`s been off the radar for nearly a month now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She went to watch a friend perform in a band on Sunday. One day later, Emily Grace vanished.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Emily Grace was seen leaving the Hotel Chelsea August 1st.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: August 3rd of 2010, Mrs. Grace made a cash withdrawal from a banking institution in Ft. Lauderdale.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... Emily seen withdrawing a large amount of money out of a Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, bank just two days after she vanishes, and it`s caught on tape.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... and that it is believed that on August 4th of 2010, she checked out of her hotel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now police say workers at a golf course near Orlando discover Emily`s ATM card, credit card, checkbook and keys scattered on the course.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have a black duffel bag containing some of her clothing and personal belongings that was also found.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bag, cops say, may have been tossed from a moving vehicle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, live, Texas. Out riding motorcycles with a best friend, a father and husband mowed down in the dark of night, the driver speeding away without so much as slowing down. And tonight, that husband, that father, lies in a coma, clinging to life in a Houston, Texas, hospital bed. His little girl, Tamia (ph), has her 4-year birthday with Daddy in a coma, not knowing whether he`ll live or die. And tonight, we want justice!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A husband and father of a 4-year-old little girl in a coma after a hit-and-run driver runs him down and flees the scene.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He can`t even speak to his wife and daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, to be honest with you, I thought he was dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On July 31st, while riding his Harley Davidson (INAUDIBLE) Gordon, was involved in an accident. They happen every day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But this one here along FM (ph) 1960 near Veterans Memorial is particularly disturbing because the driver who hit him never stopped, even after Gordon flew up in the air and landed on the hood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The driver didn`t stop to help, just hit the gas and just sped away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was amazing to see a thousand-plus-pound bike in flight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gordon lost a leg in the devastating crash, and his other leg is shattered. He has severe brain trauma, and although he remains in a coma, his wife says he responds when she speaks to him, blinking and squeezing her hand.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can`t see myself, you know, hitting somebody and not going back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. A mom goes out to hear her friend play in a band, takes off into the night afterwards. She`s never seen again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one has heard from her, no one has seen her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Friends last saw Emily Grace leaving a concert on Sunday and never heard from her again. For weeks, friends and family searched. But finally, a break in the case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Along with her ATM debit card, another credit card was found, her checkbook, keys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mysteriously, they say Grace checked into a hotel in Ft. Lauderdale August 2nd.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops say Emily`s ATM card, credit card, checks and keys are found at a golf course more than 1,000 miles south. But no sign of Emily.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Detectives can`t figure out why Emily Grace would be in Celebration or anywhere in Florida.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Emily`s duffel bag also located at the golf course. Police now say they believe the bag may have been tossed from a moving vehicle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A black duffel bag was also found.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops desperate for clues to bring Emily Grace home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Where is the missing mom, Emily Grace? She just seems to disappear off the map. Has she been spotted in grainy surveillance video? Was she forced to clean out her checking account in Ft. Lauderdale? And now callously strewn on a golf course, a duffel bag and all of her clothes, credit cards, keys, anything connected to Emily Grace.
Straight out to Drew Petrimoulx, reporter with WDBO. Drew, what happened?
DREW PETRIMOULX, WDBO RADIO: She left from a concert up north without telling her family members, came all the way down to Ft. Lauderdale. A surveillance camera in Ft. Lauderdale captured her withdrawing large amounts of money from a bank teller. The next day, she checked out of her hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, and she wasn`t heard from for another couple weeks. But then employees at a golf course just outside of Orlando found a duffel bag full of her clothes and her credit cards, keys and a checkbook. And investigators say it appears they were thrown out of a car. But nobody has heard from this woman, and cops say they can`t find where she is.
GRACE: OK, very quickly, to Ron Shindel, former NYPD deputy inspector, joining us out of New York. Very quickly, you can only get, say, 200 or 300 bucks out of an ATM. Sometimes you can do it maybe twice, maybe three times, then they close you down. But when you go into a teller, you can clean out your whole account, isn`t that right, Ron?
RON SHINDEL, FMR. NYPD DEPUTY INSPECTOR: Nancy, that`s exactly right. You can usually get about $500 out of an ATM. But you go to the teller, you tell them what you want and they`re going to give it to you if you have the proper identification and the account numbers.
GRACE: OK, that says a lot to me. This woman is spotted on grainy surveillance video. Was she forced to clean out her account, to get so much money, she couldn`t use an ATM, but unwittingly was spotted on the surveillance video?
We are taking your calls live. Out to Elaine in Illinois. Hi, Elaine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy.
GRACE: Hi, dear.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You`re just so awesome!
GRACE: Thank you. What`s your question, dear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just was wondering, so if they got her on camera in the (INAUDIBLE) was she with anyone? Did the cameras catch anybody else in the car?
GRACE: That`s a good question. Drew Petrimoulx, didn`t she go inside to the teller, or was she in a vehicle?
PETRIMOULX: She did go inside, but there were no other people captured along with her. Also, she`s say to not have a boyfriend. She was married before, but she has since been divorced, and police have not said whether the ex-husband is a suspect in this case.
GRACE: OK, so far, police are saying nothing about the ex-husband being involved. To Clark Goldband. What more can you tell me?
CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: (INAUDIBLE) question is, how did she go north from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, about 175 miles north, to right outside of Orlando, Florida? The New Jersey State Police told us they`re examining car rental data from all over the area in Florida, and they have not been able to trace her back to a car rental facility.
GRACE: Take a look at this mom. Her name is Emily Grace, white female, 5-7, 121 pounds, light brown ,hair brown eyes, last seen wearing a long, a maxi-length floral dress and sandals. Left Rockwood Music Hall, got into a cab, has never been seen alive by her family or friends since. Somehow, mysteriously, over a thousand miles away, she turns up on video surveillance, cleaning out a checking account. Then a few days later, all of her belongings strewn along a central Florida golf course.
To Rupa Mikkilineni. Rupa, so many questions about this case. What do we know about any phone calls or credit card usage?
RUPA MIKKILINENI, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Nancy, the police are being extremely tight-lipped about what they want to release in the investigation. But what we do know is that -- actually, what we don`t know is even if she was even at this golf course. Her belongings were found there, but police have not been able to confirm if she was there. They spoke to witnesses at the golf course. No one saw her there. The maintenance workers found her belongings, however. But they do possibly consider foul play here because her belongings looked as if they were strewn from a...
GRACE: Rupa! Rupa! Rupa! How can you even say that with a straight face? Who throws their credit cards, their keys to their home, their car, everything they`ve got, and their clothes out on a golf course? Who? Why would anybody in their right mind do that?
MIKKILINENI: Nancy, it`s a great question, which is why police are very seriously looking at this case as possible foul play.
GRACE: Obviously, foul play involved at some juncture in Emily Grace`s disappearance. We are taking your calls.
To Pat Brown, criminal profiler and author of "The Profiler," joining us out of D.C. Weigh in, Pat. What do you think has happened?
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, Nancy, we`ve got a number of scenarios I`m sure the police are looking at, depending on this particular woman`s past and her recent behaviors, whether she went off with somebody and then something went wrong and that person has done something to her and tossed her stuff, or whether she`s a runaway bride type, staging something. She wants to disappear, throws her stuff out, that says, Look, see, I`m gone.
GRACE: She`s not a runaway bride!
BROWN: We don`t know that yet.
GRACE: She was not about to get married.
BROWN: I`m not saying she was a bride...
GRACE: There was nothing...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: You said runaway bride!
BROWN: I`m talking about Jennifer Wilbanks...
GRACE: Did you say bride?
BROWN: Yes. Yes. And her -- Jennifer Wilbanks staged an abduction so that she could disappear off the face of the earth. Sometimes people do that. We`ve seen it in more than just Jennifer Wilbanks`s case. I`m saying this woman may have been abducted, or she may have staged an abduction. And that`s why we need to know what her background is...
GRACE: Good point.
BROWN: ... and what she was going through.
GRACE: Good point, Pat Brown. To Dr. Leslie Austin, psychotherapist out of New York. Dr. Leslie, in the Jennifer Wilbanks case, as nutty as a fruitcake that girl -- not in the legal sense insane, I might add -- but that was at a time of great stress for her. She was about to go through with a wedding that she apparently didn`t want to go through with. Long story short -- oh, please take that down!
Long story short, this woman was going through nothing. And we can`t get away from the fact that she very likely was forced to clean out her whole checking account.
LESLIE AUSTIN, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Well, the key phrase here is she was going through nothing that we know about. She had to have been going through something, or this event wouldn`t have occurred. So I`m sure the police are investigating did she meet someone on line? Did she go voluntarily (INAUDIBLE)...
GRACE: What do you mean...
AUSTIN: ... happened after...
GRACE: ... she had to be going through something? All I know is she left a music hall where her friend was playing in a garage band or something, and she`s never seen again. I don`t know what you mean she has to be going through something.
AUSTIN: Something was...
GRACE: Every day, women are abducted and murdered! Why does she have to be going through something?
AUSTIN: Well, because she had to have some motive. I think it would be very hard to say that she was forced to leave the hall, stay in a hotel somewhere, go down to Florida, withdraw money...
GRACE: Leslie! Leslie!
AUSTIN: ... and be forced the whole time.
GRACE: Leslie! How many times have women hooked up with the wrong guy?
AUSTIN: Well, that`s what I`m saying.
GRACE: And the least of their worries is they get a broken heart, but they can get ripped off or worse!
AUSTIN: I call...
GRACE: Murdered!
AUSTIN: I call that something going on if she hooks up with the wrong guy and gets in trouble. Something was happening that we don`t know about, and we need to know what it was.
GRACE: This mother, Emily Grace, disappears after hearing music played by one of her friends, hops into a cab in a long floral maxi-dress and sandals. She`s never seen again, her items found strewn along a golf course in central Florida, her checking account totally cleaned out!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s 45 and she`s been off the radar for nearly a month now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Friends last saw Emily Grace leaving a concert on Sunday and never heard from her again. For weeks, friends and family searched, but finally a break in the case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A black duffel bag containing some of her clothing and personal belongings was also found.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She went to watch a friend perform in a band on Sunday. One day later, Emily Grace vanished. For weeks, friends and law enforcement scour the country in hopes of finding her. But there may be a break in the case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of Emily`s belongings were found at the Celebration golf course.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... scattered on the course...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Along with her ATM debit card, another credit card was found, her checkbook, keys, and then a black duffel bag containing some of her clothing and personal belongings was also found.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... Emily seen withdrawing a large amount of money out of a Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, bank just two days after she vanishes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Emily`s family created this FaceBook page hoping it would help in locating her. Plenty of words of encouragement, no resolution.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: August 3rd of 2010, Mrs. Grace made a cash withdrawal from a banking institution in Ft. Lauderdale. And then it is believed that on August 4th of 2010, she checked out of her hotel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls live. Out to Tina in Canada. Hi, Tina.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. It`s such a pleasure to really speak to you. You`re such an inspiration. And I truly adore you, and your kids are beautiful.
GRACE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Something doesn`t make sense in what happened -- in what happened with -- with this case is that I don`t believe that she -- you know, that she would toss her belongings out of a window or somebody (ph) that did. My question is, is that did they find prints on the bag? And also, is there a trace of the taxi that she took? I mean, it`s -- for me, it`s unbelievable that nobody has any traces of her from the taxi and even from the hotel. I mean, that -- I don`t believe that she was alone.
GRACE: I agree with you, Tina, because in so many cases, we see -- I mean, look at Joran Van Der Sloot. We see him walking through the hotel lobby, going up to his room. Even the halls are monitored in most hotels now.
What about it, Clark Goldband? What about prints? What about surveillance at the hotel?
GOLDBAND: That`s what is so confounding about this, Nancy, is that reports say right after all those personal effects were found on the golf course, law enforcement came in with search dogs, but the dogs were not able to find anything.
GRACE: You are taking a look at the Chelsea Hotel, the last known night that this woman spent alive. She went to go see a friend play music in the Music Hall, left wearing a long flowered maxi-dress, sandals. She`s never seen again after that night. Then over a thousand miles away, grainy surveillance video reveals her cleaning out her checking account.
Unleash the lawyers. Raymond Giudice, defense attorney, Atlanta, Doug Burns, defense attorney, New York. Ray, no woman is going to throw all their stuff out on a golf course. There is foul play involved.
RAYMOND GIUDICE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I agree. And women traveling alone don`t carry large amounts of cash. It makes them a target. To think that this woman abandons her family and her friends to move to Tibet to start a new life is absolutely silly.
GRACE: What about it, Doug Burns?
DOUG BURNS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Look, it`s a very, very puzzling case, but I think you`re right in the sense that the clues of her taking out a lot of cash, obviously, and then the clothes being thrown in a manner inconsistent with the way she would do it -- I think on some levels, you`re right. But there`s still lots of questions in terms of her immediate circle of friends and family and...
GRACE: What question?
BURNS: Well, no. Who are the closest people around her? They`ve got to be interviewed extremely closely about the days right before she left. And second point, Nancy, what are her day-to-day consistent activities, and why would she just chuck them all and take off?
GRACE: To Drew Petrimoulx. What do we know, Drew?
PETRIMOULX: No, they haven`t -- investigators haven`t released much about the family and friends and exactly what happened in the days leading up to her disappearance. But we do know that she wasn`t the type of person to just get up and leave her family that she was kind of entrenched up there -- up north, and that she didn`t -- another thing that`s interesting is she didn`t have any ties to Florida, from what investigators have been able to gather so far. So why she would come down here, withdraw money and then be spotted -- or her belongings be found here outside of Orlando is got to be puzzling to investigators.
GRACE: Take a look at Emily Grace, white female, 5-foot-7, 121 pounds, light brown hair, kind of a dishwater blonde, brown eyes, last seen in a long floral maxi-dress with sandals getting into a cab. Tip line 800- 709-7090. Right now, her children don`t know Mommy is gone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one has heard from her. No one has seen her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... Emily seen withdrawing a large amount of money out of a Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, bank just two days after she vanishes, and it`s caught on tape.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... no sign of the missing woman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s 45, a mother...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Emily Grace was last seen leaving the Hotel Chelsea in New York City August 1st. Mysteriously, they say Grace checked into a hotel in Ft. Lauderdale August 2nd.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops say Emily`s ATM card, credit card, checks and keys are found at a golf course more than 1,000 miles south.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: August 3rd of 2010, Mrs. Grace made a cash withdrawal from a banking institution in Ft. Lauderdale.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... fear there`s evidence Emily was taken or a victim of foul play.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Along with her ATM debit card, another credit card was found, her checkbook, keys, and then a black duffel bag containing some of her clothing and personal belongings was also found.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls live. To Diane in West Virginia. Hi, dear.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I am a big fan! First let me say I know you feel so very blessed to have Lucy and John David in your life, but you know what? When they`re old enough, it`s not as half as blessed as they`re going to feel when they find out that the Nancy Grace is their mommy, and everything she stands for!
GRACE: Thank you. Thank you so much. And I hope you`re right. I hope you are. And everybody says, Do you spank your twins? I`m, like, No, not at all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not Nancy!
GRACE: Are you -- no, in fact, I`m such a pushover, Diane. If you knew, it`s the exact opposite of the way I`ve ever been in a courtroom, the exact opposite. I`m that mom that their kids just go, you know, wild. And I`m happy! You know, it doesn`t bother me!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, you know, when they`re your little angels, it`s always different.
GRACE: Yes, you`re right about that!
(LAUGHTER)
GRACE: What`s your question, love?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was wondering, when she went into the bank to remove this money, did the -- did the teller notice anything?
GRACE: Good question!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was she acting funny or scared or nervous?
GRACE: Because I was wondering if they saw anyone lurking on the perimeters of the bank because, you know, who in this day and age goes in, gets out of your car and goes in to get money out? If she was just traveling on her own, why not take 100 bucks, 50 bucks out of a tilly (ph), the ATM machine? Why? What do we know?
Back to you. Clark Goldband, what do we know about the bank episode? To me, that`s the strongest evidence we`ve got.
GOLDBAND: Well, and the big question is, Nancy, exactly how much money did she take from the bank?
GRACE: Well, they won`t tell us, right, because it was a huge amount. I guess the cops don`t want us to know.
GOLDBAND: Exactly. We have not been able to find out. But as you said before, if you take out $400 or $500 in a transaction, maybe you can do that two, three times max in a day. This has to be some serious money we`re talking about.
GRACE: Everybody, take a look at Emily Grace. She disappears from a music hall, never seen again, her bank account cleared out over a thousand miles away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She`s 45 and she`s been off the radar for nearly a month now.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She went to watch her friend perform in a band on Sunday. One day later Emily Grace vanished.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Emily Grace was last seen leaving the Hotel Chelsea August 1st.
JUSTIN BLACKWELL, NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE: August 3rd, 2010, Mrs. Grace made a cash withdrawal from a banking institution in Fort Lauderdale.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Emily seen withdrawing a large amount of money out of a Fort Lauderdale, Florida bank just two days after she vanishes and it`s caught on tape.
BLACKWELL: And it is believed that August 4th, 2010, she checked out of her hotel.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Now police say workers at a golf course near Orlando discover Emily`s ATM card, credit card, checkbook, and keys scattered on the course.
BLACKWELL: A black duffle bag containing some of her clothing and personal belongings was also found.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The bag, cops say, may have been tossed from a moving vehicle.
BLACKWELL: August 3rd, 2010, Mrs. Grace made a cash withdrawal from a banking institution in Fort Lauderdale and then it is believed that on August 4th, 2010, she checked out of her hotel.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: To Dr. Titus Duncan, general surgeon at Atlanta Medical Center.
Dr. Titus Duncan, question. If she were having any episode, such as amnesia or disorientation, don`t you believe one of the bank tellers would have noticed that?
DR. TITUS DUNCAN, M.D., GENERAL SURGERY, ATLANTA MEDICAL CENTER: They might. It all depends on how disoriented she may have been. But it`s sort of -- I`m not exactly sure why she would be disoriented at that particular point in time.
GRACE: And the other thing, Dr. Duncan, is if she`s disoriented, how can she know all of her banking information?
DUNCAN: Right.
GRACE: And so she can`t be that disoriented. But on the other hand -- to Dr. Leslie Austin -- if she were forced into this, if she were forced, if they didn`t catch someone lurking within the bank.
Everybody, you`re taking a look at Emily Grace, a mother who disappears after a night with her friend playing music at a music hall. Steps into a cab. Never seen by friends and family again.
Would she leave her family? Would she leave her children and her life?
She turns up over 1,000 miles away in grainy surveillance video cleaning out a checking account. Totally cleaning it out. And then a disturbing note by Florida police. Her belongings -- clothes, credit cards, keys to her home and vehicle -- found strewn on a Florida golf course.
Dr. Leslie Austin, don`t you think that she would have given some kind of clue to the bank teller if she could have?
DR. LESLIE AUSTIN, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Yes, I absolutely think she would have if she could have. And so we need to know what was the hold that somebody would have had over her that she would have gone through with that act without somebody with her?
GRACE: Out to the lines, Jamie in Ohio. Hi, Jamie.
JAMIE, CALLER FROM OHIO: Hi, Nancy. Love the show.
GRACE: Thank you, dear. What`s your question?
JAMIE: Well, it`s -- I just find it a little strange, if she was not planning to go anywhere, then why would she have a duffle bag with clothes at a nightclub and getting into the cab to go home? I mean was she staying at the Hotel Chelsea? Why did she have a duffle bag?
GRACE: She did. I know the answer to that, Jamie. She decided to stay in the city that night after hearing the music. Her friend playing in this music hall. She stayed. She had one night. Isn`t that right?
To Rupa Mikkilineni. She had agreed she`d checked in one for one night only, the night of the concert, and then was leaving.
RUPA MIKKILINENI, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: That`s right. And she left the very next day after checking out. She paid for the hotel with her credit card, Nancy.
GRACE: So she used her credit card then, and since then, Rupa, the credit card and ATM trail goes cold?
MIKKILINENI: That`s correct.
GRACE: Very, very odd. It`s like either someone is forcing her not to use her credit cards, her cell phone, or she`s choosing to. But the clothes -- back to Jamie in Ohio`s question -- were just the clothes that she had with her the night she stayed in that hotel following the concert.
Out to the lines, Kim in Georgia, hi, Kim.
KIM, CALLER FROM GEORGIA: Hi, Nancy. Absolutely love you. We have a new set of twins in our family as well.
Got a quick question. Was there anything going on in her life that would cause her to just leave? I mean, if she -- the credit cards are strewn and they -- she don`t have them, she did had a lot of money that she took out of the bank so she wouldn`t need them, right?
GRACE: For a period of time.
What about it, Rupa? What do we know? Was she going through any drama? Any trauma? I don`t think there was upheaval surrounding the divorce. I think that was a done deal.
MIKKILINENI: That`s right, Nancy. And this is very unclear. Basically police have interviewed her family relatives, blood relatives, many of whom don`t live in this area.
GRACE: Hey, hey, hey. Put Rupa up.
I can tell you one thing, Rupa. A man is involved. Somewhere, somehow, there`s a man in this. I can tell you that right now. And nobody accompanied her to the bank?
MIKKILINENI: Not that we know of. The surveillance camera does not indicate that.
Also, Nancy, the police have been clear that she did not have a boyfriend, was not in a relationship. She was single.
GRACE: Rupa, that does not mean a man is not involved just because her friends didn`t know about a man. That doesn`t mean there is not one involved.
MIKKILINENI: Yes.
GRACE: Out to the lines, Edna in Illinois, hi, Edna.
EDNA, CALLER FROM ILLINOIS: Hi, Nancy. I was just wondering if her computer has been looked into to see if she had any connection with anyone on the Internet.
GRACE: Good question. To you, Clark Goldband. What do we know?
CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: Well, Nancy, we know law enforcement has all the angles covered. They have not specifically addressed whether her computer has been searched but you would have to assume it has been.
GRACE: Everyone, we are taking your calls live and right now we and a Texas family needs your help.
A husband and father of a 4-year-old little girl needs answers. Their husband, their daddy, is lying in a coma as we speak. The wife believes that he is responding by blinking his eyes or squeezing her hand.
He was mowed down out riding motorcycles with his best friend. The driver kept going into the night. Who did this? Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Law enforcement in Houston seeking the public`s help in locating the driver who took off after striking Derrick Gordon, the father of a 4-year-old little girl, on a busy roadway leaving him with severe injuries.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Gordon has been in a coma for nearly a month.
KENNETH FURCH, DERRICK GORDON`S FRIEND RIDING WITH HIM THE NIGHT OF ACCIDENT: It is truly amazing that they didn`t stop.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Derrick Gordon was riding his motorcycle when a car roared up from behind and hit him. Throwing Gordon from his Harley Davidson. Gordon rushed to the hospital in critical condition, now in a coma.
FURCH: To be honest with you, I thought he was dead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can`t see myself, you know, hitting somebody and not going back.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It looked like a grayish Toyota Camry. The driver of that car may have been racing. Because in the very next lane what appeared to be a dark colored SUV hit Gordon. Neither vehicle stopped.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The sheriff`s department says the driver could face up to 10 years in prison for failing to render aid to the badly wounded husband and father.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls live. The little girl Tamiya has her 4th birthday with her daddy in a coma. She doesn`t know if daddy is going to live or die.
Straight out to Jeff McShan, reporter, CNN affiliate KHOU, we are talking about Derrick Gordon, the 34-year-old married father of a 4-year- old girl. Her birthday this passed August 19th as her father lies in a coma.
No one sees a thing. Nobody hears a thing. Nobody knows anything. But you know what? Somebody does know. Somebody did see what happened to him. He is clinging to life in a hospital right now in Texas.
Jeff, what do we know?
JEFF MCSHAN, REPORTER, CNN AFFILIATE KHOU: You know what? You talk about that. I`m thinking about body shops, too. You know whoever hit this particular person, Derrick Gordon, they had to take their car to the shop, right, Nancy?
So somebody maybe at an auto mechanic shop knows something. But right now, as you mentioned, Derrick Gordon in intensive care, in a coma. They amputated his left leg. His right leg is broken. And as you mentioned he`s unable to talk to his daughter or his wife Tamika.
And, you know, it`s just -- it`s terrifying at their house right now. They were in tears when we talked to them and they`re just hoping that somebody will come forward with some information.
GRACE: You know, every day, Jeff McShan, everybody leaves and goes to work. You kiss your children, you give them a bath, you kiss your spouse. You don`t expect when you come home that your husband or your father is going to be lying in a coma and may never wake up again.
And that is what happened to this Texas family. And to top it all off, the driver that did this just kept going, just put the pedal to the metal and drove off into the night, leaving this husband and father in a coma. One leg amputated.
MCSHAN: Yes, that`s true.
GRACE: Go ahead.
MCSHAN: Yes, that`s what`s so disturbing about it. You know accidents happen every day. But here in Harris County they have, like, 300 to 400 in this type of cases every month. And it`s just unheard of that somebody would keep on going.
So there must have been something behind him. I`m thinking they were either street racing that particular night or that particular driver may have been under the influence of something and just decided not to stop. But they didn`t even pull up and take a look at Derrick. They just kept on going.
And like you said, it`s really mystifying. I don`t understand it.
GRACE: Don`t let this little 4-year-old girl go the rest of her life without answers.
Elizabeth, put up the vehicles in suspect. 713-674-5393. This went down July 31, 2:00 a.m.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I talk to him. I know he hears me. He squeezes my hand and he blinks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of people praying for him. Churches. (INAUDIBLE) and just calling and just telling him to stay strong.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can`t see myself, you know, hitting somebody and not going back.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Derrick Gordon is a loving husband and father. But right now he can`t even speak to his wife and daughter. You see Gordon has been in a coma for nearly a month.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I talk to him. I know he hears me. He squeezes my hand and he blinks.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A hit-and-run driver runs him down and flees the scene.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Kenneth Firth was riding his motorcycle in the next lane.
FURCH: Actually, to be honest with you, I thought he was dead.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Kenneth Furch says shortly after he and Gordon pulled out on to FM 1960, he felt a car coming up behind him fast.
FURCH: And when I went to look back, he was coming so fast I can just -- I just hit the throttle just enough to just soften the impact if he hit me. But the car went around me.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: He says it looked like a grayish Toyota Camry. The driver of that car may have been racing because in the very next lane what appeared to be a dark colored SUV hit Gordon. Neither vehicle stopped.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Kenneth Furch was riding his motorcycle in the next lane. Furch says shortly after he and Gordon pulled out on to FM 1960 he felt a car coming up from behind him fast.
He says it looked like a grayish Toyota Camry. The driver of that car may have been racing because in the very next lane what appeared to be a dark colored SUV hit Gordon. Neither vehicle stopped.
With your help, perhaps deputies will be able to make an arrest before Derrick Gordon wakes up.
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GRACE: The tip line, everyone, 713-674-5393. Out to the lines, Rose in Oklahoma, hi, Rose.
ROSE, CALLER FROM OKLAHOMA: Hi, Nancy. Two years it took me to get ahold of you.
(LAUGHTER)
GRACE: Well, thank you for trying and thank you calling in.
ROSE: Yes.
GRACE: What do you think about this case? A little girl has her 4- year-old birthday while daddy is a coma.
ROSE: You know what? I believe in miracles and I believe that God can have a miracle here. And there`s two comments I want to say to you, Nancy, is that your twins are gorgeous. And that when you go to heaven God (INAUDIBLE) in you and say well done, my faithful servant.
GRACE: Rose, I hope you`re right.
ROSE: I know I`m right.
GRACE: I hope you`re right.
ROSE: And I believe in miracles and I believe that man is going to be healed in the name of Jesus and I will pray for him and get my friends to pay for him, too.
GRACE: Well, let me give you the name. Derrick Gordon, age 34, wife, Tamika, daughter, Tamiya. This happened July 31, around 2:00 a.m. in the morning that we know of there in Houston, Texas.
And speaking of the facts, I want to go back to Jeff McShan, with CNN affiliate KHOU. We haven`t even gone over what happened that evening. That may job somebody`s memory. What about it?
MCSHAN: Well, you know, what`s frustrating, I talked to the deputy a couple of hours ago. He was saying that after he`s done his investigation, there were a number of people out there that particular night. FM 1960 is one of those roads where they`ve got all kinds of businesses opened 24 hours. They`ve got clubs out there as well.
And a lot of people saw this happened, Nancy, yet nobody really called police to give them any kind of information.
Now, Kenneth, who was riding in the lane next to him, is actually the lead witness in this case because he actually saw the Camry coming behind him and then the dark colored SUV hit Derrick.
But it`s amazing now in our country how so many people don`t want to get involved and just with a little bit of information can help solve some of these crimes.
GRACE: Let`s go through it. You say a gray Camry and a dark SUV. What exactly do we believe happened that night?
Hold on. I`m just being joined by Michael Board out of WOAI Newsradio, also joining us out of Texas.
Michael, what more can you tell us?
MICHAEL BOARD, REPORTER, WOAI NEWSRADIO: Well, it`s very important that we know when this accident happened. And it happened just after 2:00 in the morning. And here in Texas, our nightclubs they stop serving alcohol at 2:00 in the morning.
So it`s very likely in this case that the driver, who is a very likely a street racer, had a couple of drinks that evening. That`s a good reason why he would not stop after this accident.
We`re still trying to figure it out. You don`t hear about any skid marks before the accident. That means that this driver, this alleged street racer, didn`t even slow down when he hit Derrick.
GRACE: Why are we so convinced he`s a street racer, Michael Board? And what exactly do you mean by street racer?
BOARD: Well, street racing is a big problem in Texas. The statewide street racing is a big problem according to the Texas Department of Insurance and -- the DPS office which I spoke to today.
They make, you know, hundreds of arrests each year about street racing. It`s two people, maybe three people driving down a street, usually in the middle of the night when there`s not a whole lot of people around who just race from stoplight to stoplight.
It is a big problem here in Texas, as is a problem of drunk driving and no insurance. All of this is a big problem here in Texas. And when you hear about two cars in an area where there`s lots of bars and clubs opened late at night, you know, you have to start thinking about that 2:00 closing time.
They`re out there driving fast on the streets. There`s no, no -- Nancy, we have to remember there`s no skid marks here. You didn`t even see this guy. He plowed right into him from behind.
GRACE: Well, what it says to me, Michael Board -- Michael, joining us, WOAI Newsradio -- is that even if you saw him, he didn`t bother to slow down. I`m saying he. It could have been a she.
Out to Ellie Jostad, our chief editorial producer. What more can you tell me, Ellie?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE CHIEF EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, his family says that there does seem to be some improvement. They say there`s a little bit of movement in his arm and that leg that he lost part of. They also say that he`s opening his eyes briefly.
But at the same time, Nancy, he`s had a number of problems since he`s been hospitalized. He`s had pneumonia, he`s had staph infection. And his little girl, they are telling her that her dad is sleeping. She`s only able to look at him through glass.
GRACE: To Dr. Titus Duncan, a general surgeon at Atlanta Medical Center.
Dr. Duncan, he had brain trauma. But I know for a fact, a lot of times when you have swelling to the brain you can put an opening in the top of the head, put a shunt in, take that pressure off, let the brain slowly, slowly lose the swelling.
But what do they mean by brain trauma?
DUNCAN: Well, there are several types of brain trauma you can. What you just described is sort of an epidural type of hematoma where you can relieve that pressure. But if you have deep brain trauma or the brain is actually injured or -- then there`s a little less surgery or anything that you can do about that. That has to heal on its own.
GRACE: But can`t brain trauma heal just like any other part of your body?
DUNCAN: It can. I mean, and again, the more severe it is in the middle of the brain, the worse the outcome is. So it sort of depends on how much of the injury to the brain is accomplished.
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FURCH: And when I went to look back, he was coming so fast, I could just -- I just hit the throttle just enough to just soften the impact if he hit me. But the car went around me.
It`s truly amazing that they didn`t stop. And it`s just amazing to see a thousand plus pound bike in flight. To be honest with you, I thought he was dead.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Law enforcement in Houston seeking the public`s help in locating the driver who took off after striking Derrick Gordon.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It looked like a grayish Toyota Camry. The driver of that car may have been racing because in the very next lane what appeared to be a dark colored SUV hit Gordon. Neither vehicle stopped.
FURCH: It`s just amazing to see a thousand-plus-pound bike in flight.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: With your help, perhaps deputies will be able to make an arrest before Derrick Gordon wakes up.
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GRACE: We are taking your calls live. Out to Janet in Indiana. Hi, Janet.
JANET, CALLER FROM INDIANA: Hi, Nancy. I love you and I watch your show every night. And thank you so much for the work that you do.
GRACE: Thank you. Thank you, Janet. What is your question, dear?
JANET: I just wondered, that looks like an area that has a lot of businesses around it. And so I was wondering if there wouldn`t be like some kind of surveillance cameras that they can check?
GRACE: Good question. What do we know? Out to you, Michael Board.
BOARD: The security camera -- the area where they were leaving right there is a shopping mall which means the security guards -- the security cameras are back off the street. But they have been looking at areas around there, at different areas, at the businesses at the intersections to see if they can figure out where those cars left after the collision happened.
GRACE: To Helen in Ohio. Hi, Helen, what`s your question, dear?
HELEN, CALLER FROM OHIO: Nancy, I have a question and a comment.
GRACE: OK.
HELEN: What kind of penalty will he get when he -- if he does get caught? And my comment is, I had a son that went through the same thing. He had a closed head injury.
GRACE: Yes.
HELEN: And was in a coma. And he had spinal cord was injured. And now he`s a Marine. So just let the family know that it can happen.
GRACE: That miracles do happen, Helen in Ohio. Helen, he can get up to 20 years.
Everybody, let`s stop and remember Army Corporal Jacob Palmatier, 29, Springfield, Illinois, killed Iraq. Awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, National Defense Service medal. Graduated magna cum laud from Illinois College.
Loved history, old English, guitars, reading science fiction. Favorite shows, "Monty Python", "Kids in the Hall", "The Simpsons". A street named in his own back home. Leaves behind parents David and Margaret, widow Bridget.
Jacob Palmatier, American hero.
Thanks to our guest but especially to you for being with us. And happy birthday to one of our CNN stars, Javier. Isn`t he handsome?
And good night from Georgia friends, Jane and Jean, the twins, and Daniel, their son, and his fiancee, Jane. What a beautiful bunch.
Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
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