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Nancy Grace
Possible Blood Found in Home of Missing Teen Mom`s Friend; Video of Dead Crash Victim Posted on Internet
Aired October 19, 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, live, Cincinnati suburbs. A beautiful 17-year-old girl, popular, outgoing, heads to the sister`s home just 10 miles away and vanishes without a trace. Bombshell tonight. Reports blood evidence found in a kitchen sink and traces of blood discovered on latex gloves. This as a series of cell phone pings torpedoes the police timeline, tonight leading to a massive search of Ohio`s East Fort State Park, a 10,000-acre park. Tonight, what happened to 17-year-old Paige Johnson?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Details emerge in the disappearance of 17-year-old missing mom Paige Johnson.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She wouldn`t want to just leave.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s not like her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just leave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seventeen-year-old.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seventeen-year-old.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mom Paige Johnson is missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last seen September 23rd. Investigators are now focusing their search efforts at a nearby park after cell phone records show the last person to see Paige Johnson was in that area the night the teen was last seen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The man at the center of the investigation tells investigators one thing, but his phone and these cell towers tell something very different.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After determining the cell phone records didn`t match his story, investigators conducted a search warrant on the home of that friend, Jacob Bumpass, where they found what appeared to be blood and latex gloves in the kitchen sink.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These court records shed doubt about the story Bumpass gave police. He was arrested for a parole violation, and when police searched his home, they found what appeared to be human blood on clothing and other objects.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bumpass has since lawyered up and is allegedly refusing to cooperate with the investigation. He is currently behind bars on an unrelated parole violation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, a parent`s worst nightmare, their beautiful daughter killed in a horrific crash. Then in the midst of grieving, another blow. Video emerges of their daughter in the first moments of her death, her head, her face mangled. The death video goes viral on the Internet of their daughter. The ghoul behind the camera, a so-called hero, a firefighter. One of the first at the scene, instead of helping their girl, he allegedly whips out a cell phone and starts a home movie, actually narrating the crash scene, images no parent should ever see. Tonight, we want justice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The family in Georgia, they lose their daughter in a car crash.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty-three-year-old Dayna Kempson-Schact.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mother of two.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was driving on...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When she lost control, ran off the road and slammed into trees.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very horrific crash.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was the darkest day of their life until two- and-a-half months later, cell phone video of their daughter`s severely injured body at the crash scene had been circulate.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They invaded her privacy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her parents say they can`t get the video out of their mind.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m upset.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A firefighter shot the video with his personal phone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He took a video of my daughter lying deceased in that vehicle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The images are way too graphic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The audio you`re about to hear has been given to us by the victim`s parents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s a piece of skull right (INAUDIBLE). (INAUDIBLE) Pull that down for me. Put it down. Oh, my God!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He moves his flashlight from the console to her upper torso and her head. It took the whole side of her head off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, a 10-year-old little girl snatched from her own bedroom in the dark of night. Little girl Zahra, completely dependent on a hearing aids, only walks with a prosthetic leg after losing her leg to childhood bone cancer, vanishes into thin air, her bedroom empty, prosthetic leg missing, hearing aids left behind. Last person to see her alive, stepmommy.
Just released, we obtain the entire 911 calls from stepmommy and Daddy that night. Tonight, we have the full 91 call. You judge it yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: Catawba County 911.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, how you doing?
911 OPERATOR: I`m good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need police.
GRACE: He said, How are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, how you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s just a greeting.
911 OPERATOR: (INAUDIBLE) 911. What is your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, my daughter is missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`s no emotion going on here.
911 OPERATOR: Your daughter`s missing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He seems very lackadaisical about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The police were out here last night, and we found a ransom not for my boss`s daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sounds like the next thing is, Let me tell you the story I made up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got up (INAUDIBLE) a little while ago, and it appears that they took my daughter instead of my boss`s daughter.
GRACE: Completely conversational tone when he discovers his little girl is gone.
911 OPERATOR: No one has seen your daughter since 2:30 this morning?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That`s as cold as you could possibly be.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She has a prosthetic leg, which apparently, they`ve taken with her. My daughter is, I think, coming into puberty, so she`s in that brooding stage. So we only see her when she comes out -- when she wants something, and that`s about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell, live, Cincinnati suburbs. A beautiful 17-year-old girl, popular, outgoing, heads to her sister`s home just 10 miles away and vanishes without a trace. Blood evidence tonight found in the kitchen sink and traces of blood discovered on latex gloves.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seventeen-year-old mom Paige Johnson is missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Covington police call Paige`s case a critical missing (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because she`s the mom of a 2-year-old toddler.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking news in the case of missing mom 17-year- old Paige Johnson. Search warrants reveal what appeared to be blood was found in the home of Paige`s friend, Jacob Bumpass.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To the guy that was last with my daughter, please talk! Please tell the truth!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This man, 22-year-old Jacob Bumpass, said he dropped Paige off around 1:00 AM. But Bumpass is no longer talking to police.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just find out where she is and what happened to her. Please tell us! Please!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Evidence and statements of Jacob Bumpass conflicted, according to police. Detectives say he told them he dropped Paige off in Covington the night she disappeared.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was nowhere in Covington. He completely lied about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But his phone records show cell towers picked up his phone at East Fort Lake Park.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re doing everything we possibly can to find anything we can out about Paige`s disappearance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls live. Straight out to Jessica Noll, reporter/producer KYpost.com. Jessica, what can you tell us?
JESSICA NOLL, KYPOST.COM: Well, we know that police searched his home back on October 4th. And while they were in the kitchen area, a detective spotted what he said appeared to be dried blood and also two latex gloves that were there with the same red substance that was on the sink.
GRACE: With us right now is a special guest, Captain Teal Nally, the PIO of the Covington Police Department. Captain, thank you for being with us. This friend, it`s not even a boyfriend. Tell me about him. Why was he picked up? He`s behind bars on an unrelated charge, Jacob Bumpass. What can you tell us about him?
CAPT. TEAL NALLY, COVINGTON POLICE DEPARTMENT (via telephone): That`s exactly right. He`s been picked up for parole violation. It`s my understanding that he may have had weapons and alcohol in his residence, which he was not allowed to have as a person on parole.
GRACE: Well, Captain, didn`t he say that that evening -- well, there you go. We`re showing a shot of him drinking straight out of a liquor bottle, Captain. I wish I had had that earlier. I could have just sent it on to the probation and parole department there. But didn`t he actually tell people his story was that he had Paige over, who was just a friend -- and what she`s doing hanging around -- she`s 17 -- with, what is he, 22 or 23 years old -- had her over, giving her alcohol that evening? Right there, that`s a violation of probation and parole.
NALLY: It`s my understanding that they`re described as acquaintances, that they did -- you know, they did hang out together. I`m not certain if it was romantic or anything like that between them. They`re just acquaintances, friends, and they do things together. It is my understanding that she, you know, had been with him quite a bit.
GRACE: Roll it back, Liz. Roll it back. Do I see Jacob Bumpass taking a photograph of himself smoking a joint in his car? Roll it back!
Everybody, we`re talking about a missing 17-year-old girl. And I would like to point out that a lot of people are not covering the story. Somehow, they have branded her as -- as not worth -- there you go! There`s the young man smoking a joint! He`s on parole -- because she is an unwed mother. She`s a 17-year-old girl. She is absolutely precious. And she is missing. Tonight, reports of blood evidence emerges, blood possibly in the kitchen sink, on latex gloves.
Captain Nally, what can you tell us about the blood evidence?
NALLY: I know in an original search of that residence, there was -- there were some gloves taken in as evidence, and there was a red substance that was there that could potentially have been blood. And right now, those items have been sent off to the Kentucky State Police lab for analysis, and we just don`t have any results back yet on that.
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Out to Jessica in Maryland. Hi, Jessica.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I love your show! And your twins are adorable, by the way.
GRACE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wanted to know, did they even (INAUDIBLE) they said that he had dropped her off -- I`m sorry -- that the tolls (ph) on his phone were at a park. Did they check the park? Have they checked his car?
GRACE: Well, Jessica, you`re right on because that`s what they`re doing as we go to air. As a matter of fact, police did their work. They did the legwork. They looked up the pings on his cell phone. And it turns out those pings that they discover completely torpedo his story.
Now, let`s go back and take a look at his story. Marlaina Schiavo, go ahead. Give it to me in a nutshell. What`s his story that night?
MARLAINA SCHIAVO, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: His story is that he dropped off Paige Johnson on an intersection. And she was supposed to go to her sister`s house that night, but the bottom line is she never showed up. And when they checked the cell phone records, he was actually 10 miles from the area he said he was and then...
GRACE: Marlaina, Marlaina, Marlaina! Wait a minute. What about all the FaceBooking? Remember, he goes on line as late as, I think it was, 11:30 PM that night, and then suddenly, he pops back on around 6:00 AM. And this is a guy that posts all day and all night. So he has this interval. Then he comes on at 6:00 AM and goes, Oh, this insomnia, it`s killing me. Like anybody cares that he`s been awake all night? It`s almost like he`s giving himself an alibi.
SCHIAVO: Well, as you see here, Nancy, what we just showed was the FaceBook posting that was earlier that evening. And he is talking about Paige Johnson and how she`s missing. But honest -- but he said he dropped her off at 1:00 AM, so how was she missing at 7:00 o`clock at night?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s a teen mom of a 2-year-old child.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s never been gone like this before.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re doing everything we can.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you see her anywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seventeen-year-old Paige Johnson.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Paige.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Paige.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Paige mysteriously disappears and is never heard from again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to Paige Johnson?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An extensive search.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looking for clues.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Intensify the search.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Large-scale effort.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 17-year-old mother of a 2-year-old.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cell phone records show the last person to see Paige Johnson.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty-two-year-old Jacob Bumpass.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was in that area.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ve organized an extensive search of the park.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The night the teen was last seen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Friends and family searching over dozens of miles.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To the guy that was last with my daughter, please talk! Please tell the truth!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say a latex glove with a drop of possible blood was recovered in the friend`s sink.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So that we can, you know, just find out where she is and what happened to her. Please tell us! Please!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We`re taking your calls. Let`s go back to that timeline. Ellie Jostad, I want to go back to the evening before she went missing. What do we know about Bumpass that evening?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, here`s -- I took another look at his FaceBook page to see what was going on, and he says at -- this is all September 23rd. That`s the early morning hours that Paige Johnson is last seen. At 12:21 AM, Jacob Bumpass posts, "Like a fish." And then he doesn`t post again until 5:04 AM. Now, he says he dropped Paige off at 1:00 AM. At 5:04, he says, "Still up. There must be something to cure this insomnia." And then that night, the night of the 23rd, it`s at about 7:05 PM that he says, If anybody has seen Paige Johnson, please let me know if you`ve seen her. She`s missing. Her friends and family really need to find her and nobody`s heard from her.
GRACE: Ellie, what, if anything, do we know about his criminal history?
JOSTAD: Well, he was actually on parole for a theft violation. It was when the police came to his house to question him about Paige Johnson. He wasn`t there. They found beer cans laying all over the place. They went to his job. They heard he`d just quit his job. So those two things were a violation. We`ve also heard that he reportedly had weapons in the house, also a parole violation.
GRACE: And Ellie, again, what was his story about what happened the night she goes missing? Everybody, we are talking about a 17-year-old girl, her name Paige Johnson. Take a look at these photos. What did he say happened that evening?
JOSTAD: He says that he dropped her off at 1:00 AM and that`s the last time he saw her.
GRACE: Dropped her off where?
JOSTAD: He dropped her off at an intersection in Covington, Kentucky.
GRACE: Why, may I ask, Jessica Noll, is he dropping her off on a street corner at 1:00 AM?
NOLL: That`s a good question that police have not been able to answer. The only thing that we do know is that her sister did live a few blocks away from there, and she may have been going there at the time.
GRACE: Out to Marc Klaas, president and founder, Klaas Kids Foundation. That doesn`t even make sense. Why not drop her off at the door if she`s only a couple of more blocks away?
MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: Well, of course it doesn`t make sense. And it looks like this girl has come to some harm at the hands of this individual. He`s going to clam up. He`s not going to tell anything to law enforcement. He seems to be a pretty street-savvy guy.
I think what has to happen here is the search and rescue people are going to have to focus on locating this girl in this 10,000-acre park. Now, this is obviously a very challenging assignment and it`s going to take search and rescue professionals from multiple agencies. And everybody should know that every sheriff in America has search and rescue professionals on their force, people who know exactly how to do this.
What they`re going to have to do because this is such a large assignment, is they`re going to have to figure out the resources they need. They`re going to need things like divers because there`s a 1,200-acre, 100- foot deep lake there. They`re going to need sonar. They`re going to need boats. They`re going to need planes because it`s such a huge area. They`re going to need search dogs. And they`re going to need multiple boots on the ground. They`re going to have to go over this many times in hopes of locating this girl.
And if that effort fails, ultimately, what might happen is a volunteer organization like Klaas Kids or Lower (ph) Recovery will come in, and pick up where law enforcement has left off. And hopefully, at the end of the day, they`ll find this girl and be able to resolve this mystery.
GRACE: The tip line, 859-292-2222.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Looking for Paige, the teen mom 5-foot-1 and 110 pounds, last seen wearing a multi-colored jacket and bluejeans.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just need to -- want to get a lot of these up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police extremely concerned for the mom`s safety.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I`ll probably be doing this forever until she comes home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back on July 17th, 23-year-old Dayna Kempson- Schact was driving on Georgia highway 1941 as it bypasses downtown Griffin (ph) when she lost control, ran off the road and smashed into trees. Crosses now mark the spot where she died.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) I kept wondering what that smell was. Hold that down some there. Put it down. Oh, my God!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Eric Jens, news director WRGA radio. I just can`t get over what has happened to this poor girl. And her parents must be reeling. This beautiful 23-year-old girl dies in a horrific crash, and then while the parents are still grieving, they find out video, home video of their girl in the first moments of death, have been taken and have actually gone viral on the Internet. What can you tell me, Eric Jens?
ERIC JENS, WRGA RADIO (via telephone): Well, as you well know, it`s one of those situations where things spiral out of control a lot quicker than most people would possibly imagine. And you know, of course, what seems like it was an insensitive thing at the least to begin with has become much more worse. A firefighter with the Spaulding (ph) County sheriff`s office on his personal cell phone took a video immediately after the accident occurred, July 17th, shared that video with some fellow firefighters. And now a lot more people than that have gotten to seen this horrific scene.
GRACE: To Dale Austin (ph), retired NYPD detective. I don`t understand how this can happen. I really don`t. I have not seen one crime scene, I have not been on one crime scene -- I`ve been on plenty of them -- where police or firefighters are taking home videos from their cell phone. Didn`t anybody notice?
DALE AUSTIN, RETIRED NYPD DETECTIVE: You know, it`s very sad because it just shows how insensitive this individual really was towards this. This is not a firefighter`s job function. We know that. And you know, being a former forensic investigator, crime scene investigator, it was my job to take the -- do the photo documentation because that investigation -- in this case, this is an investigation. This is an accident investigation. This might go to court some day and this is evidence.
GRACE: Well, I think that it will. There`s no doubt in my mind it will.
Everyone, just being seated right now are two guests of ours tonight. These are the victim`s parents, Jeff and Lucretia Kempson. To both of you, thank you for being with us.
LUCRETIA KEMPSON, MOTHER Thank you, Nancy.
JEFF KEMPSON, FATHER: Thank you for having us.
GRACE: Ms. Kempson, when did you first learn this video existed?
LUCRETIA KEMPSON: On September 29th. We received a call from our sister -- my sister-in-law telling us that her ex-husband had received it.
GRACE: Mr. Kempson, what did you think when you first learned the video existed? Did you believe it?
JEFF KEMPSON: Actually, no, I didn`t believe it. I had to actually see the video. I spoke with my ex-brother-in-law, and once he actually sent it to me and I viewed the video, it was...
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: 23-year-old Dayna Kempson Schact.
LUCRETIA KEMPSON, MOTHER OF CRASH VICTIM: She was disrespected.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Lost control of her car then crashed into some trees.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The images are way too graphic.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The firefighter --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Allegedly --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: -- videotaped those gruesome images.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Audio from a cell phone video allegedly taken by the firefighter has been turned over to us by the parents of crash victim Dayna Kempson Schact.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can hear firefighters talking.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Smell like she`s been drinking. There is a piece of skull right there on the console.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I kept wondering what that smell was. Hold that down some there, put it down. Oh my god.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Seeing the video was bad enough, but the audio made it even more disturbing.
JEFF KEMPSON, FATHER OF CRASH VICTIM: Very horrific crash.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Firefighter showed no urgency, no compassion, and they were not focused on helping Dayna.
L. KEMPSON: Disrespected by people that we trust to take care of us.
J. KEMPSON: We want to do whatever it takes to try to make sure that this never happens again.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Jeffrey and Lucretia Kempson thought that was the darkest day of their life until two and a half months later when they got a call that cell phone video of their daughter`s severely injured body at the crash scene had been circulating.
Later investigators informed them a firefighter who responded to the scene shot the video with his personal phone.
Her parents say the young mother of two was a very strong, independent woman who smiled constantly. But now they can`t get the video out of their mind.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: We have seen the audio and we have heard the audio and seen the video, but the video is too graphic for us to show. Do we have the audio?
Also, I want to point out to Dayna`s parents with us tonight. Isn`t it true that while this firefighter goes on and on saying he smells alcohol, hadn`t she been pickling all afternoon with I believe it was her grandmother with vinegar and all the ingredients for pickling?
L. KEMPSON: Yes, she has -- there were eight to 12 cans or jars of pickles that she had just canned with her grandmother that afternoon. And they were all over her car, all over the road. You go to her car today and it still smells of vinegar.
GRACE: You are seeing shots of Dayna Kempson Schact, just 23, dead in a horrific crash. But in the last moments of life, in the first moments of death, a would-be hero, a firefighter narrates a home video of her face and body mangled. Then it goes on the Internet. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Smell like she`s been drinking. There`s a piece of skull right there on the console.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I kept wondering what that smell was. Hold that down some there. Put it down. Oh, my god.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I can only imagine, back to the Kempsons, when you first heard about it, did you even believe it was true, Lucretia, when you realized that one of the firefighters, one of the finest, had created a home video of your daughter`s dead body?
L. KEMPSON: No, I couldn`t believe it. That they would disrespect her like that.
She was my baby. You know? And to see her like -- what gave him the right to do that, to do that? Take memories from us, or give us those kind of memories of our daughter?
GRACE: Well, I`ve got to tell you something, you were forced to do what many people never do. When my fiance was murdered, I never, ever saw him in death, ever. Even at the funeral home.
Before I went in, they closed the casket because I did not want to see him in a casket. And even at a distance when I first saw the casket, I passed out. It`s just too much emotionally for people to take in.
Unleash the lawyers. Jennifer Knight, Anne Bremner, Darryl Cohen.
Jennifer Knight, if this isn`t criminal, I don`t know what is.
JENNIFER KNIGHT, FORMER PROSECUTOR: I agree with you. These facts are so egregious that you really want to look at what should that firefighter have been doing? He should have setting the scene for an investigation of an accident. We just heard earlier that, you know, this could be obstruction of justice. It`s obstruction.
GRACE: What about it, Anne Bremner?
ANNE BREMNER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, the authorities are saying there`s no criminal there, but it`s the kind of thing criminal offense. But you think there has to be a law. And my sympathies go out to the Kempsons. It`s horrific.
But right now there`s no criminal law that they`re pointing to that can be used. There`s certainly civil actions, claims of outrage. And finally, I just say the law doesn`t keep up with the speed of cyberspace.
I mean if you mailed this out some place, that was the old law. But this goes viral.
GRACE: What about it, Daryl?
BREMNER: It`s horrific.
DARRYL COHEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Outrageous, egregious, Nancy.
GRACE: OK, yes, we know, outrageous, egregious. I want answers. I`m not here to pontificate. You can`t think of any obstruction of justice or abuse of power that can be used in a case like this? You can`t think of anything, Darryl?
I`ve seen you defense attorneys take the statute and twist it and turn it and somehow turn it into something, but now when I need you to do it, you can`t do it?
COHEN: We always -- Nancy, we`ve all seen this. Yes, there`s a great deal that can be done. There`s a lawsuit.
GRACE: What?
COHEN: He has happened is that he has violated her First Amendment right. What he has done to her parents is beyond belief. No one should have to undergo this. And a jury of their peers will probably make him pay and pay he should.
GRACE: I want to go out to Dr. Jeff Gardere, psychologist.
Dr. Gardere, why is it so hard for us as humans to sometimes look upon someone we love in death? Why?
JEFF GARDERE, PSYCHOLOGIST, HOST OF VH1`S "DAD CAMP": Well, because first of all, it is something that reminds us of when they were alive and in happier times. And now to have to look at the finality that they`re no longer going to be with us.
And the horrible thing here is the Kempsons were getting over the death of their daughter. It had been over three months and time was healing those wounds and then for them to have to see these videos now that opens the wound all over again.
GRACE: I`m going to go back to the Kempsons. Tell me about your daughter. All I know about her are these photos and that she, like me, knows how to home-can and pickle, and she actually made time to do it. I haven`t done it since I was living at home with my parents in 4-H.
Tell me about her.
L. KEMPSON: Dayna was wonderful. She was amazing. She was an awesome mom. She loved her boys. She was happy, stubborn, full of life. She was just learning how to can pickles and learned how to make biscuits that day which I have in my freezer and they`re pitiful, but she was learning.
She had a beautiful smile and she loved her family. I was envious of Dayna because she was so strong and fought for what she believed in and that`s why I`m here to fight for her.
GRACE: Mr. Kempson, I know there must be a million, but what is your most vivid memory of her?
J. KEMPSON: Actually, it`s when she was very young, when she was probably 6 months old. We were on vacation and everybody was scared to put her in the pool and I got in the swimming pool with her and I would just launch her 10 feet in the air, and she`d come down, and go under water, and bounce right back up and laugh and want to do it again.
And that pretty much set the tone for Dayna her entire life. If she knew she could do it, she would -- she would take it on. She did not care if she was that committed to enjoying her life and in doing what she wanted to do.
GRACE: Where are her boys?
J. KEMPSON: They`re in South Carolina right now with their father and stepfather.
GRACE: And what do you tell the two little boys about where mommy is?
J. KEMPSON: Well, unfortunately, we did have to tell them. One is 5 and one is 3. The 3-year-old, I guess, just natural instinct could tell something was wrong, but the 5-year-old, when we told him that his mom was gone, he immediately started crying and it was just -- it was pretty rough on him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The audio you`re about to hear has been given to us by the victim`s parents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Smell like she`s been drinking. There`s a piece of skull right there on the console.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I kept wondering what that smell was. Hold that down some there. Put it down. Oh, my god.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He moves his flashlight from the console to her upper torso and her head. It took the whole side of her head off.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We haven`t found her body.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Ten-year-old Zahra Baker.
GRACE: But she`s dead.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Presumed murdered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Homicide investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s no body yet.
GRACE: The child is dead.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She was last seen sleeping in her bedroom.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The first time 911 call made by Zahra`s stepmother.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The backyard is on fire.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Your what is on fire?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The backyard.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Her dad reported her missing 12 hours later.
ADAM BAKER, FATHER OF MISSING 10-YEAR-OLD GIRL ZAHRA BAKER: We had all that drama last night and me and my wife went back to bed and my daughter`s I think coming into puberty so she`s hitting that brooding stage, so we only see her when she comes out and when she wants something.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Adam Baker believes that Zahra is alive.
A. BAKER: It appears they might have taken my daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police do not believe that Zahra is still alive.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The child is dead. I want to hear the entire 911 call that we have just gotten. Do you have it ready, Liz? First of all, back to you, Ellie Jostad, as Liz cues that up. Tell me what we know.
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE CHIEF EDITORIAL PRODUCER: This is a 911 call. This is Adam Baker you`ll hear on the phone, Zahra`s dad. This is when he called at about 2:00. Remember they`d already had the fire in the home that morning. And this is the call when he says they discovered her missing at about 2:00.
GRACE: OK. Let`s hear it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Catawba County, 911.
A. BAKER: Hey, how are you doing.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: I`m good.
A. BAKER: I need police.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Hickory Police, 911, where is your emergency?
A. BAKER: Yes, my daughter is missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m sorry? Your daughter is missing?
A. BAKER: My daughter -- yes, ma`am.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. What`s your address?
A. BAKER: 21 -- 21st Avenue Northwest. The police were out here last night over a fire and a ransom note for my boss` daughter. And I got up a little while ago and it appears that they took my daughter instead of my boss` daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I`m not familiar with what happened last night. What happened last night?
A. BAKER: OK. Last night, we were woken up. My dog woke me up and I had a fire in the backyard and somebody had poured gas in my company vehicle that I drive for work.
They left a ransom note on the company vehicle to my boss saying they had his daughter and his son was next and his daughter`s fine. His daughter came with him here last night when I called him, and it appears that they may have taken my daughter instead of his daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. Do you know who this was?
A. BAKER: I don`t know who it was.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: That may have taken her?
A. BAKER: No, ma`am.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Do you have any idea why they were threatening to take his daughter?
A. BAKER: I don`t know.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. What`s your name?
A. BAKER: My name is Adam Baker?
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: So no one has seen your daughter since 2:30 this morning?
A. BAKER: No. Like I said we had all that drama last night and me and my wife went back to bed, and my daughter`s I think coming into puberty so she`s hitting that brooding stage so we only see her when she comes out when she wants something, and that`s about it.
A. BAKER: Did you say that she was handicapped?
A. BAKER: Yes, ma`am. She has above-the-knee amputation.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. She has one leg?
A. BAKER: One leg, yes, ma`am.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: That`s partially amputated.
A. BAKER: Yes. She has a prosthetic leg which apparently that`s taken with her.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Prosthetic leg was taken with her?
A. BAKER: Yes, ma`am.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. And you don`t have any idea at all?
A. BAKER: No. Like I said it was all addressed to him and it was all taken out on him and I guess they thought he lives in this house.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. Did you talk to your boss about it?
A. BAKER: I`ve just spoken to him and he told me that he`s going to be here shortly.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. So do you think that he knows?
A. BAKER: We had an officer out here last night.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Now, take a listen. I want you to compare and contrast. Do you remember this 911 call? Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONALD CUMMINGS, FATHER OF HALEIGH CUMMINGS: I just got home from work. My 5-year-old daughter is gone.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK.
CUMMINGS: I need somebody to here now. I`m telling you.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Listen to me. We`ve got two --
CUMMINGS: If I find whoever has my daughter before you all do, I`m killing him. I don`t care. I`ll spend the rest of my life in prison. I`m telling you. You can put it on recording. I don`t care.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. It`s OK, sir. We got him on the way. OK, can you give me any -- what kind of description of her pajamas that she was wearing?
CUMMINGS: I don`t (EXPLETIVE DELETED) know. I was at work.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: The officer is going to come out there and do what they can. We can`t have him screaming and yelling at the officers whenever they get there, OK?
CUMMINGS: OK.
Give me the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) phone. I`ve got better people to talk to than a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) that ain`t coming.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: What`s her date of birth?
CUMMINGS: You all (EXPLETIVE DELETED) playing games, man. I`m going to (EXPLETIVE DELETED) kill somebody.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. Tell him we understand. We need to get her date of birth.
MISTY CROSLIN, FORMER STEPMOM/BABYSITTER OF HALEIGH CUMMINGS: What`s her date of birth?
CUMMINGS: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) we need to find her. (EXPLETIVE DELETED) her date of birth.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK, sir, let me talk to your wife. Let me get some information from her.
CUMMINGS: Man --
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK.
CUMMINGS: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Can I talk to her? OK.
CUMMINGS: How the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) can you let my daughter get stoke, bitch?
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: He can`t even talk. There are points where he sounds like an animal moaning, whining, crying. His daughter is gone.
Not so in the case of Zahra Baker. The father sounds like he`s reading a script, like he`s reading an ad on TV for cell phone minutes. It`s just beyond anything I`ve ever seen.
Marc Klaas, weigh in.
MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: Well, the whole idea that they found a ransom note that morning on a car saying that they have taken the other guy`s daughter and then simply not checking on your own daughter when your daughter is the one that lives in the house even makes it more incriminating.
And the whole idea that this thing is premised upon a note that somebody is after somebody else`s daughter, yet it turns out that the person that wrote that note was a stepmother makes this entire thing fall apart.
This is absolutely absurd and ridiculous, and I feel so badly for this little child.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Catawba County 911.
A. BAKER: Hey, how you doing.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: I`m good.
A. BAKER: I need police.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Hickory Police. 911. Where is your emergency?
A. BAKER: Yes. My daughter is missing.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: I`m sorry? You daughter is missing?
A. BAKER: My daughter -- yes, ma`am.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. What`s your address?
A. BAKER: 21 -- 21st Avenue Northwest. . The police were out here last night over a fire and a ransom note for my boss` daughter. And I got up a little while ago and it appears that they took my daughter instead of my boss` daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: I`m not familiar with what happened last night. What happened last night?
A. BAKER: OK. Last night, we were woken up. My dog woke me up and I had a fire in the backyard and somebody had poured gas in my company vehicle that I drive for work.
They left a ransom note on the company vehicle to my boss, saying they had his daughter and his son was next, and his daughter`s fine. His daughter came with him here last night when I called him, and it appears that they may have taken my daughter instead of his daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. Do you know who this was?
A. BAKER: I don`t know who it was.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: That may have taken her?
A. BAKER: No, ma`am.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Do you have any idea why they were threatening to take his daughter?
A. BAKER: I don`t know.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. What`s your name?
A. BAKER: My name is Adam Baker?
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: So no one has seen your daughter since 2:30 this morning?
A. BAKER: No. Like I said we had all that drama last night and me and my wife went back to bed.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: In addition to getting that entire 911 call, to Dr. O`Keefe, pediatrician, author of a new book "Cyber Safe".
Dr. O`Keefe, reportedly investigators have now asked for Zahra`s medical records. Why?
DR. GWENN O`KEEFE, M.D., PEDIATRICIAN, FOUNDER & CEO, PEDIATRICSNOW.COM: Well, Nancy, there`s a number of reasons. One of the most important would be to look for a prior history of possible abuse and neglect, given some of the allegations we`re hearing about in the news.
Also we need to learn more about that bone cancer and what was going on with her past history, when that cancer occurred, what was happening with the hearing loss, because we can learn a lot about her current state of health with that.
GRACE: To the lawyers, Jennifer Knight, Atlanta, Anne Bremner, high- profile lawyer, Seattle, Darryl Cohen, defense attorney, Atlanta.
Darryl, he tells the 911 operator she is reaching puberty. She`s getting broody. Did you hear that?
COHEN: Nancy, I have three daughters, 16, 11, and 9.
GRACE: I know you do.
COHEN: Outrageous. This guy is, as you said, reading a script that is by far the most under statement I`ve ever heard. Any father who has -- frightened that his daughter is gone is going to be in an absolute panic, nothing less.
GRACE: You know what, Darryl? Truer words I`ve never heard you speak. But you`re right. And as a defense attorney, you`ve got to deal with those obstacles.
Anne Bremner, also, he`s had a ransom note found on his car for the daughter and he`s telling the 911 dispatch he hasn`t gone to check on her?
BREMNER: Well, it`s that old, you know, he that excuses himself accuses himself. I was more frantic when Jamie the cat went missing, you know, in the neighborhood.
GRACE: Boy, I was, too.
BREMNER: You know, he`s making all this -- he`s using these types of excuses and that way he accuses himself. But you know what? You deal with it. There is not a case right now and there may never be.
GRACE: And Jennifer Knight --
BREMNER: Ever.
GRACE: Yes/no? You`re a former prosecutor. If a trial comes, can this be used at trial?
KNIGHT: Yes, absolutely, this can come in.
GRACE: Jennifer Knight, Anne Bremner, Darryl Cohen, everyone, let`s stop and remember Army Sergeant Arnold Duplantier II, 26, Sacramento, California, killed Iraq. Awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Army Achievement medal, Iraq Campaign medal, National Defense Service medal.
Loved collecting toys, building model cars, telling jokes, video games, hiking. Remembered as always being the life of the party. Leaves behind a grieving father, Arnold Sr., four brothers, and three sisters, widow Tonya, daughter Isabelle, son Ethan.
Arnold Duplantier II, American hero.
Thanks to our guests but especially to you and happy birthday to one of our stars, Jillian. She loves Britney Spears, puppy Emma, and spending time with sister Kristin.
Happy birthday, beautiful Jillian.
Everyone, see you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern and until then, good night, friend.
END
