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Nancy Grace
Guilty Verdict in Deadly CT Home Invasion; Mother of Two Found Dead in Cornfield; Wife Says Hubby Shot by Pirates
Aired October 05, 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: ... reaper enters your house on a quiet, tree- lined street, the grim reaper in the form of two parolees. After bludgeoning Daddy nearly to death and separating him from the women, the mommy and her 11-year-old little girl brutally tied up and raped after Mommy`s forced to walk into a bank to withdraw thousands. And then the house torched after Mommy strangled to death. The girls, 11 and 17, die, choking down smoke, burned alive.
Bombshell tonight. We have a verdict. In the last hours, a Connecticut jury brings down the hammer on suspect number one, the monster home invader, Steven Hayes. Next step, the penalty phase. Will he get the needle?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A new ruling that has just come down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A guilty verdict.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the Steven Hayes triple murder trial.
911 OPERATOR: What`s your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ve got Bill Petit here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A brutal 2007 home invasion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Steven Hayes convicted on 16 of 17 counts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Assault.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And a guilty verdict.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First-degree aggravated sexual assault.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guilty verdict.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kidnapping.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty verdict.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Burglary.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Found guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Robbery.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Steven Hayes guilty of murder.
DR. WILLIAM PETIT, WIFE AND DAUGHTERS MURDERED: My family is still gone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jennifer Hawke-Petit, Hayley Elizabeth Petit and Michaela Rose Petit.
PETIT: It doesn`t bring them back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They forced his wife to go to the bank and take out $15,000.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her husband and children are being held at their house.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rape, kidnapping.
PETIT: It doesn`t bring back the home that we had.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He told an inmate that he had poured the gasoline in the house.
PETIT: Certainly, guilty verdict is a much better sense of relief than a verdict of not guilty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, the mystery surrounding the sudden disappearance of a beautiful young mother of two, 29-year-old Crystal Grubb, only deepens when there in a remote cornfield, an Indiana farmer stumbles onto human remains. In the last hours, those remains positively identified as the young mom. Tonight, who murdered 29-year-old Crystal Grubb?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s so hard on us (INAUDIBLE) all of this!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The family of 29-year-old Crystal Grubb is heart- broken after they received the news that their loved one is dead and her body was found in a cornfield.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the last place friends saw Crystal Grubb. It was Saturday night. There was some sort of fight, and Crystal walked off into the woods.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they never saw her again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m pretty sure (INAUDIBLE) there`s foul play here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The vegetation is so thick.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Woods back here are very dense.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know my daughter. She just didn`t go off and die, you know, because she`s in good health.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her body was found in a field here off of state route 37.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Crystal leaves behind two daughters. Her family says it hurts to know their girls will grow up without their mom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want to find out what happened to her and why! She won`t rest until we find out!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And an American couple, high school sweethearts, head out to explore a historic, centuries-old church, submerged under water, Falcon Reservoir Texas. Suddenly, they`re attacked by three boats of pirates. Yes, drug runners! Watching helplessly as her husband is thrown off the jetski, shot in the head, his body blown down into the water, sinking, after risking her own life trying to save her husband, she somehow manages to escape in a hail of bullets. In a bizarre twist, authorities now say her story doesn`t add up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A man allegedly killed on his jetski during a pirate attack.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: David and his wife, Tiffany, had jumped on their jetskis to do some sight-seeing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She says they were approached by boats carrying gunmen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A deadly encounter, Hartley shot in the head, his wife sped away, just barely, under gunfire.
911 OPERATOR: Are you sure that your husband got shot?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. In his head.
911 OPERATOR: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
911 OPERATOR: Was he -- was he thrown out of the jetski that he`s in the water or something?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was thrown off the jetski, and I couldn`t pick him up to get him on mine. He`s just too big!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But mexican authorities say there`s no evidence a crime was committed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They`re beginning to question Tiffany Hartley`s story.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. Imagine going to sleep at night in your own home, Daddy snoozing off, reading the paper, Mom and her two girls bunked up together to watch TV, 3:00 AM, the grim reaper enters your home there on a quiet, tree-lined street, the grim reaper in the form of two parolees. After bludgeoning Daddy nearly to death, separating him from the women, the mommy and her 11-year-old little girl brutally raped after Mommy`s forced to walk into a bank, withdraw thousands, and then the house torched., Mommy strangled to death. The girls, 11 and 17, die.
We have a verdict. In the last hours, a Connecticut jury brings down the hammer on suspect one, the monster home invader, Steven Hayes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Justice.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Justice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Justice is being served.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is now official.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the day Dr. William Petit has been waiting for.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Steven Hayes was responsible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Convicted on 16 of 17 counts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Capital murder.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rape.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s now a convicted killer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kidnapping and arson.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He could face the death penalty.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tragedy, the heinousness of the crime.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If the police are told, they will kill the children and the husband.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The nature of the criminals.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twenty-six-year-old Joshua Komisarjevsky and 44- year-old Steven Hayes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The evidence was fairly overwhelming.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They tied him up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were being held captive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Beating Dr. William Petit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fighting for their lives.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Setting the house on fire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Killing Dr. William Petit`s wife and two daughters.
PETIT: Good will overcome evil.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Michael Christian, senior field producer, "In Session," in the courtroom the entire day. Michael Christian, what happened today?
MICHAEL CHRISTIAN, "IN SESSION": We had a verdict, Nancy, and it was not a good verdict for defendant Steven Hayes. He was convicted of 16 of the 17 counts with which he was charged. He was convicted of multiple counts of murder, multiple counts of kidnapping. He was convicted of sexual assault, of assault, of burglary. The only thing he was not convicted of was arson.
But what`s most important, Nancy, is he was convicted of six capital felonies. Now, those are the crimes that carry the possibility of the death sentence in this case.
GRACE: With us at the...
CHRISTIAN: So this trial will be going...
GRACE: ... the New Haven, Connecticut...
CHRISTIAN: ... to a penalty phase.
GRACE: ... courthouse is Michael Christian. And I want to just interrupt briefly, Michael. I`m going to come straight back to you there at the courthouse. But we are showing you photos that were admitted into evidence.
Liz, if you could run through the evidence at trial as the jury saw it. This is a shot of Dr. Petit there. He lost nearly all the blood in his entire body. And there in the end -- Michael, remember how you told me he managed to escape his bonds. There he was tied up in the basement and literally rolled across the yard, as his house was being set on fire, in an attempt to save his wife and his daughters` lives. He was so bloody, so bludgeoned, his own neighbor of over 20 years did not even recognize him.
What, Michael Christian, did the defendant do when the jury handed down a verdict of guilty?
CHRISTIAN: You know, he stands and looks straight ahead, but he had his head very slightly bowed. And it`s not really fair to say he was looking down at the ground because I don`t think he was. But his head was slightly bowed, and he pretty much looked straight ahead. Now, he didn`t show, as far as I could tell, any reaction to any of the convictions. He didn`t show any reaction to the one count where he was acquitted. You`d think that maybe that would have surprised him or he would have shown some reaction to that, but really nothing, just standing there and listening and the head bowed.
GRACE: We are taking your calls live. Straight out of the courtroom, Michael Christian and Jean Casarez are both joining us, both of them in and out of that courtroom for the entire jury trial.
For those of you just joining us, a Connecticut jury has brought home a verdict in the case against two monster home invaders that claimed the life of a nurse, a mother of two, as well as those lives of her two little girls, the father nearly being a fourth murder victim. You are seeing evidence that we have obtained that was entered before this jury.
Michael Christian, I thought the two girls, 11 and 17, died of smoke inhalation, but we learned different.
CHRISTIAN: Well, they technically died of smoke inhalation, but what we learned -- the horrible truth that we learned is that gasoline or something just like gasoline was poured on them while they were tied to their beds. So literally, these girls were lit up while they were alive. It was the smoke inhalation that killed them, not their burns. But these girls were set afire while they were alive.
GRACE: I am absolutely beside myself and wondering what the father is going through now, now that he knows as he was bound below, his wife and his daughters, after being molested, had gasoline poured on them, as they were lit on fire.
And what did we learn about those cell phone photos, Michael Christian?
CHRISTIAN: There were six cell phone photos on the phone belonging to Joshua Komisarjevsky. Now, he`s the co-defendant in this case. He will be tried sometime separately next year. But there were six photos taken of a young female in various states of undress, tied to her bed. Some of the photos focused on her genital area. And we now know that all six of those photos are Michaela Petit, who was indeed 11 years old.
GRACE: We are referring to an 11-year-old girl. And all I have to say is may he rot in hell!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a tragic, tragic story.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: While neighbors slept, members of the Petit family were fighting for their lives.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They`re tied up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the day Dr. William Petit has been waiting for.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The father of the family, a prominent doctor, was tied up, severely beaten.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ve got Bill Petit here, who`s hurt, my neighbor.
PETIT: You probably would all do the same thing for your families.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s getting $15,000 to bring out to them. And if the police are told, they will kill the children and the husband.
PETIT: If your family was destroyed by evil...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hayes and another man, who has yet to be tried, were accused of killing a mother and her two daughters and burning their house down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This man has been found guilty on 16 of the 17 charges against him.
PETIT: Good will overcome evil.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a torturous, torturous case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The jury brings down the hammer on monster home invader number one with a guilty verdict today on multiple counts. But now, will he have a date with the needle? Next, the penalty phase, the death penalty phase, the same jury set to hear evidence in aggravation and mitigation, and will determine whether this man, one of two home invaders, will get the Connecticut death penalty.
We are taking your calls. To Jessica in Maryland. Hi, Jessica.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I love you, and I love your show. And your kids are gorgeous, by the way!
GRACE: Thank you. And ever since I first heard about this case, all I can think about -- home invaders. What`s your question, dear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What I wanted to know, the home invaders, did they know the family? Were they connected in any way to the family?
GRACE: Good question. Jean Casarez, I think you know the answer.
JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION": That is what makes this case something we all can relate to because it could happen to anybody. Nancy, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, her two daughters, Michaela and Hayley, went to the supermarket Sunday night to get things for dinner. But Komisarjevsky, the other defendant, was in the parking lot, saw them, followed them home, found out where they lived. And then he got together, allegedly, with his buddy, now convicted Hayes, and drove to the home and got in at 3:00 AM.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Ken Hodges, former prosecutor out of Atlanta, Raymond Giudice, defense attorney, Atlanta, Richard Herman, defense attorney, New York.
So where does that leave me, Richard Herman, me going into the QuickTrip (ph) or the 7-Eleven with the two twins in either hand, dragging a broken foot in a cast behind me, if pervs like this are going to be at every QuickTrip and 7-Eleven and Tom Thumb (ph) in the country?
RICHARD HERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, clearly, one of the most horrific cases I have ever seen or read about. It`s absolutely horrific. But on the 18th, the mitigation phase of the trial will begin, and that`s where the defense will try to offer up reasons of fairness and of mercy...
GRACE: Put him up! Put him up!
HERMAN: ... to try to reduce the blame.
GRACE: They raped an 11-year-old girl in her pajamas. Don`t talk...
HERMAN: Animals.
GRACE: ... to me about mitigation! What about it, Ken Hodges?
KEN HODGES, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Well, certainly, the defense will put up their best effort at mitigation, but I can`t think of a single thing to mitigate this. If they`re mentally retarded or if there is a legal reason not to, but certainly, this is one of the most horrendous cases and they ought to face the death penalty.
GRACE: You know -- you know what? Ken Hodges, former prosecutor, Atlanta, you`re bringing up a pretty good point. To you, Raymond Giudice. Here`s what I`ve got on him so far. Born in Florida, dropped out of high school, earned his GED in Cheshire Correctional Institution -- I guess he`s going to get a gold star for that -- worked in kitchens of well-known restaurants, started drinking age 11, cocaine age 19, has two teenage kids. I guess they`ll bring the two teenagers on and subject them to begging to a jury.
Do you have a better idea, Giudice?
RAYMOND GIUDICE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, let me say this much. The death penalty cases that are overturned on appeal are almost always overturned because of the failure of defense counsel to do an adequate job in mitigation -- putting up a priest, a school teacher, the college coach...
GRACE: What if they can`t find out?
GIUDICE: ... the high school coach. Well...
GRACE: What (INAUDIBLE) how hard they look, they can`t find one priest, one...
GIUDICE: Everybody`s got...
GRACE: ... one nun that ever was confronted or spoken to this guy. Why do you think he`s on the front row in Catholic church?
GIUDICE: You might have to...
GRACE: At mass? I don`t think so!
GIUDICE: Nancy, you might have to get the minister that is going to be attending to his religious needs while he`s in jail. But you`re going to have to come up with something. That`s your obligation. On the other side is great prosecutor like Ken Hodges, and he`s going to drive this home. I agree with Richard, it`s a death penalty case.
GRACE: So bottom line -- put Giudice up! Bottom line, I hear you loud and clear. I don`t know if the viewers get it because they haven`t tried a death penalty case. But what I hear you saying is you`d fabricate a defense.
GIUDICE: No. No.
HERMAN: No.
GRACE: You would find a minister!
GIUDICE: No.
GRACE: You`d send a chaplain...
GIUDICE: If you hear -- if you hear that...
GRACE: ... into the jail...
GIUDICE: ... you`re not listening.
GRACE: No, I`m hearing you.
GIUDICE: If you hear that, you`re not listening. I`m telling you...
GRACE: Ken Hodges...
GIUDICE: ... that every lawyer worth his salt will dig something up. There`s something good about that...
GRACE: That`s what I just said!
GIUDICE: ... human being, and that will come up.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Hodges, Hodges, Hodges -- OK, I heard you, Ray! Now I`m going to Mr. Hodges, OK? Mr. Hodges, in other words, as Giudice just said, dig up mitigation. Dig it up!
HODGES: Well, the only thing that I can think of in possible mitigation for this is mental retardation or some legal technical reason...
(CROSSTALK)
HODGES: ... not imposing the death penalty.
GRACE: In my thinking -- in my thinking, that would have already been raised as a defense. And listen, if this guy could drive her to the bank and force her to withdraw thousands of dollars and pull this thing off, he`s not insane. He`s not mentally deficient. He is just the devil from hell!
HODGES: I agree with you, Nancy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The verdict is now in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a gruesome case. Gruesome.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That brutal home invasion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All this grisly evidence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This crime was so incredibly horrible.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guilty 16 times.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, a jury convicted Steven Hayes, a paroled burglar, of capital murder in the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is petrified.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The court clerk would ask the jury foreperson, On count one, what is your verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On count two, what is your verdict?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guilty. Every time the answer was.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guilty verdict.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Except for the one count of arson.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I don`t know how they found him not guilty on arson. But you know what? That doesn`t matter when it comes to death penalty phase.
With me right now a very special guest, a friend of the Petit family. Megan Alexander was in court today. She is joining us from Connecticut. Megan, thank you for being with us.
MEGAN ALEXANDER, FRIEND OF PETIT FAMILY (via telephone): Thank you for having me.
GRACE: Megan, you were a very good friend of one of the girls, correct?
ALEXANDER: Yes. I met Hayley in 3rd grade. We were 7 years old. And we went to school together for six years, car pooled every day for three, and stayed in touch throughout high school, so...
GRACE: Megan, I do not want our coverage of this story to boil down to them being just another crime statistic in America. I want you in our few remaining moments to tell me about Hayley.
ALEXANDER: If you don`t mind, I`m going to tell you about the whole family because they were another family to me, as well. I can tell you that Hayley was the most incredible person I`ve ever met. She was strong and intelligent, and graceful at a time most girls could not manage to keep petty things aside. You know, middle school is not exactly an easy time. And she was the peace keeper and the girl with a future. She was athletic. She was academically incredibly gifted...
GRACE: Megan, what...
ALEXANDER: Yes?
GRACE: What is your most vivid memory of Hayley Petit?
ALEXANDER: Actually, the last time I got to spend a good chunk of time of her, she was in the hospital with a collapsed lung. And she had just walked at graduation with her lung being drained. And she was laughing and joking with me about this tube coming out of her body. And I was sickened by it, and she just thought it was awesome because she loved science and wanted to be a doctor. And I was with her and I was with Jen. And my mom actually had a chance to sit with them for about four hours and just laugh and enjoy their time.
GRACE: Her last moments with Hayley were of Hayley laughing. Hayley Petit 17, Michaela 11, Jennifer 48.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The Bloomington woman, 29-year-old Crystal Grubb, missing for about two weeks leaves behind two daughters. Detectives spent five hours searching.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: They have the dogs with them.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The girls will grow up without their mom.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: They say the last cell phone call Grubb made came from this area Saturday night. Her body was found in a cornfield.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s foul play here.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Now friends say she was last seen on Route 37.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The victim`s family showed them to the place where her body was located.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The vegetation is so thick.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Woods back here are very dense.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As soon as I recognized this body, I just called the sheriff.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Detectives plan to re-interview the friends who were with Grubb when she got into an argument and walked off, friends who then took off.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Anyone with information on this case should call Bloomington police.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: The mystery surrounding the disappearance of a beautiful young mom of two only deepens when a farmer in a remote cornfield finds her remains.
Out to Gage Lutes, news director, WBIW 1340 AM.
Gage, how did he stumble upon human remains in this remote area? Why was he out there?
GAGE LUTES, NEWS DIRECTOR, WBIW 1340 AM: Well, he was just working on his crops and he came upon it and immediately called the sheriff`s department.
GRACE: Man, that`s some discovery. How long has she been missing, Gage?
LUTES: She`s been missing for about two weeks, since the 18th.
GRACE: And are you telling me, Ellie Jostad -- Ellie, our chief editorial producer -- that we still don`t know cause of death? She`s only been gone two weeks. Is the body so decomposed they can`t figure it out?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE CHIEF EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Yes, that`s right, Nancy. They said that there is no visible injury like a gunshot wound, a stabbing. No sign of head trauma. So they couldn`t determine the cause and manner of death.
Now they`re planning to do some more microscopic tissue sample tests this week.
GRACE: To Dr. Veronica Anderson, host of "Wellness for the Real World" at DrVeronica.com.
Dr. Anderson, you know, I just don`t see how they can rule out a gunshot wound right now because, you know, there is such a thing as an entry and an exit wound. If her body is that decomposed, that could very well have happened.
DR. VERONICA ANDERSON M.D., HOST, "WELLNESS FOR THE REAL WORLD," WWW.DRVERONICA.COM: Yes, that`s true. It can happen. So they do -- need to do some analysis and see what that is. But it is more likely that there are some substances that caused the death such as alcohol or drugs or something like that.
And it could be foul play. Even though you do not see a gunshot wound or a stab wound, it still can be foul play.
GRACE: You know, interesting you brought up alcohol or drugs. There`s no indication, is there Gage Lutes, that she OD`d or, what, drank herself silly and ran into a tree by foot? That didn`t happen.
LUTES: No, they just believe she was hanging out with her friends.
GRACE: Now, OK, what do you do in a cornfield? You`re hanging out with your friends? What`s that? What were they doing out there?
LUTES: Well, they were walking along -- one of our smaller highways, (INAUDIBLE) Road 37. Just walking along it. And I think she just got into an argument with her friends and disappeared. Then they figured she got a ride with somebody else home.
GRACE: OK. That doesn`t make sense. That does not make sense.
Ellie Jostad, how can somebody disappear into thin air? That didn`t happen. I can tell you that right now.
JOSTAD: Well, Nancy, her father talked to us and said that he`s talked to these friends. What they say happened is that she kind of walked off into the woods. They figure that she was going to go catch a ride. They left the area. They looked around for a little bit, couldn`t find her.
Now the family reported her missing the next day because none of them could get in touch with her. She actually missed her older daughter`s birthday party and they became very concerned.
GRACE: Now did the rest of the friends just keep walking? And I`m supposed to believe some phantom was waiting for her out in a cornfield?
JOSTAD: Well, you know, that`s what her father says. He says she was very healthy. There`s no reason she would just walk off and die.
GRACE: Uh-uh.
JOSTAD: He also said that she knew the woods. She knew how to survive in the woods. So if something happened and she got lost, disoriented, she would have been able to survive out there. She wouldn`t have succumbed to whatever was going on.
GRACE: OK. Unleash the lawyers. Ken Hodges, Raymond Giudice, Richard Herman. But first to you, Sgt. Scott Haines, sheriff`s officer, Santa Rosa County, Florida.
Scott, this story is not hanging together for me. Something is wrong with this story. I can see her, you know, having an argument with somebody in the group as they`re walking along a country road and stomping off into -- for her own walk.
Well, you know, fine, people, get lost, I`m leaving. I can see that. But I don`t see some total stranger lurking, waiting for her in a remote area of a cornfield.
SGT. SCOTT HAINES, SHERIFF`S OFFICER, SANTA ROSA COUNTY, FL.: I don`t see that either. And it`s not likely for someone, especially if it`s dark in a remote area, to leave their group of friends and wander off like that. So investigators are going to definitely need to question very thoroughly all these people that she was seen with last, to make sure everybody`s story fits together, and make sure that there`s nothing to lead to foul play.
GRACE: Well, you know, I can definitely fathom, Scott Haines, someone getting irritated or ticked off with somebody in the group and saying, fine, I`ve had it with you people and walking off.
I can see that. That`s not that farfetched to me. But the suggestion that in that space of time between the argument and that evening, when she was supposed to be back home, that she`s killed by a stranger in this remote area? That does not make sense. That did not happen.
HAINES: They`ll normally follow a roadway as well. They`re not usually going to just wander into the middle of a dense cornfield if they`re angry at their friends. They`ll go somewhere.
GRACE: No.
HAINES: Whether it`s the other direction.
GRACE: You`re right. You`re right about that. Out to the lines, Katherine, Ohio. Hi, Katherine. And for those of you just joining us, we`re talking about a 29-year-old mother of two, Crystal Grubb. Her skeletal remains have just been discovered by an Indiana farmer in a remote cornfield.
Who killed the mother of two there in a cornfield? What about it, Katherine, what`s your question?
KATHERINE, CALLER FROM OHIO: Hello, Nancy. It`s a pleasure to finally talk to you.
GRACE: Likewise.
KATHERINE: My question is really a comment.
GRACE: OK.
KATHERINE: And it`s just -- it`s an open season on women and children. It doesn`t end. It keeps going. And every time you turn on the news it`s another woman. And I think all of us need to start arming ourselves because this is just ridiculous.
My remedy for this animal that massacred the family along with all these other creeps that walk on the streets is to load them in the belly of a plane and dump them into shark infested waters where they can be devoured.
And I believe that would be justice. And I believe that would make great reality TV to boot.
GRACE: Have you ever thought about being a trial lawyer? I`d love to hear you deliver that to a jury in closing argument.
So what`s your question about this mom`s remains turning up in a remote cornfield?
KATHERINE: Well, being 52, I mean, I`ve come close myself, weirdoes hanging out. When you least expect it, they jump out. So I don`t know if I would rule out if there was someone homeless maybe sleeping. But it does seem like it would be someone that knew her and someone may be hiding something. But I wouldn`t put it past just someone --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Here`s a picture of the victim. Her body was found in the field off the State Route 37.
Crystal leaves behind two daughters. Her family says it hurts to know the girls will grow up without their mom.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Just released a frantic 911 call from that bizarre shooting.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Officials say gunmen approached on boats and opened fire on the couple. Tiffany managed to dodge the bullets. But David was hit in the back of the head.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: What`s your husband`s name?
TIFFANY HARTLEY, SAYS HUBBY WAS KILLED BY PIRATES ON JET SKI: David. Hartley.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. Ma`am, were you shot at?
HARTLEY: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Did you see anybody?
HARTLEY: There were three boats.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Three boats?
HARTLEY: Three boats. And they came back looking at me.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The Good Samaritan who helped Tiffany Hartley out on the water.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was frantic, crying, sobbing. I mean, she looked very, very jittery.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The Mexican authorities questioning whether or not it happened the way the victim says it happened here.
HARTLEY: They know the pirates are out there. We knew that. We knew that they -- you know, there`s a possibility of them being there.
I believe in my heart that they went back and took him. And they`re hiding our jet ski. They`re hiding him. And we just pray that we get him back. And when you`re looking at the end of a barrel of a gun, and wondering if they`re just going to shoot you, too, and wonder if your families are just going to never know where you are.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That was Tiffany Hartley this morning, just a few hours ago on the NBC "Today" show.
To Will Ripley, reporter with CNN affiliate KRGV, this couple were real adventurers. And to my understanding they set out on jet skis at the reservoir there on the Texas shore to look at a partially submerged, centuries-old church.
And now I understand authorities are questioning her story. I don`t -- I don`t agree. I watched her on the "Today" show, and I believe her.
What about it, Ripley?
WILL RIPLEY, REPORTER, CNN AFFILIATE KRGV: Hey, Nancy. Well, you know, this church really is a tourist attraction. A lot of people go there. Our station has done special reports out there in the past. So this is something that a lot of people like to go and photograph. Because how often do you get to see a partially submerged village, basically, just the church steeple sticking out of the water.
So Tiffany says she and David went out there on their jet skis. They enjoyed doing that. You can see photos of them on vacation on their jet skis. They go to take pictures of this church and that`s when she says these pirates ambushed them.
GRACE: You know, and it`s quite a lure. I mean I traveled, I don`t know how far, to try to go dive to see an underwater statue of Christ. So this is a big, big attraction for water lovers and adventure seekers.
And the story she tells is so scary. But I was watching her I really believe she`s telling the truth. And I resent authorities questioning her story. I know his body has not been found. I know there`s no sign of the jet ski.
That does not disturb me. Looking at her, I believe this woman. We`re going to replay that sound of her speaking earlier today.
To Alexis Weed, tell me her story in a nutshell, Alexis. Don`t embellish. I want to hear what she said.
ALEXIS WEED, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Nancy, she said that her -- she and her husband David were traveling on their jet skis. It was ambushed by several boats with gunmen. She said that the gunmen opened fire on both of them, that one of the gunshots from these men struck her husband in the head.
She then went over to her husband, jumped off her jet ski, went to check him, flipped him over. He was -- had this gunshot in the back of the head. She decided she better flee because she had a gun pointed at her head, she said. She fled and then went to the shore and went back to the U.S. side.
GRACE: And this is what else I heard. I heard her say three boats of pirates, drug runners, approach her. That, first of all, she hears bullets. And they`re hitting in the water around her. She turns to see three boats approaching.
Her husband goes down. She goes back, risking her own life to save her husband. She pulls him up. She sees that he`s shot. She pointed right here. And tries to lift him. And the pirates come up to her.
They look down at her, pointed the gun right at her, and they`re talking, she doesn`t know what they`re saying, and they leave. She leaves in a hail of bullets. She said she felt God telling her, you`ve got to go now, you`ve got to go now, you`ve got to go now, and she did.
Take a listen to Tiffany Hartley who survived an alleged pirate attack. Her husband shot in the head. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARTLEY: When I looked back -- after I had seen some bullets hit the water next to me, I looked back to check on David, and I saw him fly over the jet ski. He had been hit.
I quickly turned around and went to him and jumped off my jet ski. And I had to turn him over because he was face down in the water. And turned him over and he was shot in the head.
And that`s when a boat came up, one of the boats came up to me, and had a gun pointed at me, trying to decide what to do with me. And then they left. And that`s when I tried saving David and getting him onto my jet ski.
But I just -- I couldn`t get him up. And I just kept hearing God tell me, you have to go, you have to go. So I had to leave him. So I could get to safety.
He would never, ever put me in a position of danger. And we hadn`t heard anything of -- anything going on over there. We had heard about the pirates, but we didn`t know -- you know, we just hadn`t heard anything recently.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Hearing that woman, there is no doubt in my mind that this is what went down. You were just seeing her speaking a few hours ago on the NBC "Today" show.
Out to the lines, Latoya, South Carolina, hello, Latoya.
LATOYA, CALLER FROM SOUTH CAROLINA: Hey, Nancy. I just want to let you know, I love your show, I watch it every night.
GRACE: Thank you, dear.
LATOYA: My -- my question is, just to clear this all up, because I believe her, too. But has she taken a polygraph test?
GRACE: I don`t know. Let`s go to Lieutenant (INAUDIBLE) Garza with the Zapata County Sheriff`s Office.
Lieutenant, thank you for being with us. I doubt she`s in any frame of mind right now to take a polygraph.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, ma`am. One hasn`t been provided to her, or offered at this time.
GRACE: Well, I`ve got to tell you something, Lt. Garza, I really believe her. And the fact that the body has not been discovered yet, and that the jet ski has not been discovered, that doesn`t concern me at all.
Can`t you look at this lady and tell she`s telling the truth?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I was here actually when Miss Hartley came into the office. And we also had a witness out there corroborating Mrs. Hartley`s event of a boat chasing her into the U.S. side of the lake.
GRACE: Let me go to Dr. Leslie Austin, psychotherapist joining us out of New York.
Leslie -- Dr. Leslie, you can size somebody up in a heartbeat. What do you think?
DR. LESLIE AUSTIN, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: I find her totally credible. I absolutely believe her. I just wonder why they started shooting first rather than trying to capture them and rob them. But I find her completely credible.
GRACE: Well, they`re drug runners. Why ask why? Why do they act like animals? I don`t know. Why do they kill people? I don`t know. Do I need an excuse? Maybe they only wanted the jet ski.
AUSTIN: No. But there was a history of people being robbed there. I mean it`s just something that I wondered about.
GRACE: So what are you --
AUSTIN: But she is absolutely credible.
GRACE: -- trying to say, because she`s not robbed, she`s lying?
AUSTIN: No, no, no. I find her completely credible. I just don`t understand the scenario yet. But she is totally believable. There is no way this woman is lying.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers, Ken Hodges, Raymond Giudice, Richard Herman.
Weigh in, Herman.
RICHARD HERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, her story sounds ridiculous to me. Why would they aim a gun at her and not shoot her and not take her jet ski? Pirates just don`t come up to people and shoot them for fun of shooting people. I don`t know what went on here. It`s tragic. This man apparently is dead. But the story sounds absolutely ridiculous.
GRACE: No, no. Because I have prosecuted cases where victims were murdered, were gunned down just for the hell of it.
What about it, Giudice?
HERMAN: Why didn`t they shoot her?
GRACE: I don`t know.
RAY GIUDICE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Let me tell you.
GRACE: I don`t know. I don`t know why they didn`t shoot her. I only thank God in Heaven. They didn`t.
What about it, Raymond?
GIUDICE: My two concerns are. Every picture I see in him --
GRACE: Your concerns?
GIUDICE: He`s wearing a floatation device, a life jacket. Secondly, those jet skis are designed to float. There is no reason that that body and that jet ski in a lake, not out in the ocean, have not been found yet.
GRACE: Ken Hodges, what do you make of it?
KEN HODGES, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I think the most compelling thing to support what you say is that an independent witness observed it and corroborated what she said. It needs to have a full investigation and hopefully it will reveal what you`ve said that she was a victim of a horrible crime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. So you more or less know where he is?
HARTLEY: Yes, but he`s -- he`s --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. What`s your name?
HARTLEY: Tiffany Hartley.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Tiffany? Hartley?
HARTLEY: Yes.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was coming towards me. I noticed she was looking over her shoulders. She right away told me, gave me instructions as far as to call law enforcement and an ambulance because my husband has been shot.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Are you sure that your husband got shot?
HARTLEY: Yes, in his head.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She told me he had been shot in the head and then she tried to make it back for him.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls, out to Cheryl in Georgia, hi, Cheryl.
CHERYL, CALLER FROM GEORGIA: Hey, Nancy. How are you?
GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?
CHERYL: I have a couple of questions. If I was going to go on a jet ski vacation I wouldn`t like go near borders of, you know, where they were, where it was dangerous. And also, if boats were coming towards them, why didn`t they shoot at her? Is there a life insurance policy on her husband?
GRACE: To Will Ripley, reporter with KRGV. Will, it`s my understanding from what she says it all happened so fast they just came up and started shooting, which that`s the way drug runners do. What about the rest of the questions?
RIPLEY: Well, one thing you need to remember about this couple is that they lived in Reynosa, Mexico for two and a half years before moving back to the Texas side of the border and they`ve only lived here in McAllen for the past five months.
So these are people who are familiar with Mexico and also Falcon Lake is not very clearly marked. I mean, because there is no, you know, physical basically boundary line you can cross into Mexico and if you happen to miss the buoy you may not even know you`re in Mexico.
And this lake is -- this reservoir is a drug runner`s paradise. We have smuggling going on so much because there`s really not enough law enforcement out there.
GRACE: Well, you know, Will Ripley, something you said is absolutely correct. The only way you can tell you`re going over the water border are there are some buoys and they are very far apart. You don`t know that you`re crossing the border.
Everybody, very quickly, let`s remember Army Corporal William Long, 26, Lilburn, Georgia, killed Iraq. Awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Global War on Terrorism medal, Combat Infantry badge.
Loved basketball, golf, Georgia Tech, sports, reading classic literature, sketching, cooking. Had a million-dollar smile. Leaves behind parents Sue and Lee, brother Aaron.
William Long, American hero.
Thanks to our guests but especially to you. And a special good night from North Carolina friend, Susan.
Susan, thank you for being with us.
Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
