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Nancy Grace
Five Baffling Cases of Young Women Who Disappeared
Aired November 26, 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: Imagine the most important person in your life -- wife, mother, sister, friend -- disappears. We take a look at five of the most baffling cases. Their families have endured heartbreak and painful mystery. Tonight, we try our best to answer questions and bring about well-deserved justice.
Father`s Day, 2006. Chanel Petro-Nixon was on the hunt for a summer job. She walked to an Applebee`s close to her parents` home, but she never made it, her body found stuffed in a garbage bag four days later, thrown away like she was trash. The coroner`s report said she`d been dead for less than one day. Who murdered Chanel Petro-Nixon?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That could be Chanel today. Could be someone else tomorrow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s not fair.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not fair.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not fair.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A beautiful 16-year-old honor student goes missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone noticed the unusual amount of garbage.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Black, industrial-sized garbage bag.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) bag (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chanel.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chanel.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) day it is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Found the body.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This sweet little girl in this bag, stuffed in there like trash.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chanel went missing in broad daylight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She went to meet her friends at Applebee`s.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On a busy Brooklyn street.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She kissed me goodbye and she left.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Here`s a little girl who never missed church, honor student. She wanted to become a nurse to help other people. Look at this girl. She was always at home, always studying. She only left that evening to go and apply for a job. She never made it to the local Applebee`s. Take a look at Chanel Petro-Nixon.
Straight out to Jon Leiberman with "America`s Most Wanted." Jon, what happened to this girl?
JON LEIBERMAN, "AMERICA`S MOST WANTED": This little girl, like you mentioned, straight-A girl, honor student, she leaves her house on Father`s Day to go meet a friend and then apply for a job, and she`s never seen. It`s almost like she vanishes. It`s a busy street. There`s a lot of foot traffic, but nobody ever sees anything happen. And then four days later, she`s found, like you said --
GRACE: OK, wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wait!
LEIBERMAN: -- thrown out with the trash.
GRACE: That`s not possible. It is not possible that nobody saw anything!
LEIBERMAN: Well, this is part of the problem, Nancy. So far, no one has come forward. No one is talking to police. Like you said, somebody did see something. And there`s a monster out there.
GRACE: And what`s disturbing me is that this girl was put in a garbage bag and left on the side of the street. And I don`t mean down a darkened alleyway. This girl, a 16-year-old girl, was put in a garbage bag and left on a heavily traveled street, on the sidewalk. For those of you that are unfamiliar, here in New York, the garbage is left out on bags on the sidewalk, and they come pick it up. Somebody wanted this child, a little girl, to be disposed of and out in some dump, some landfill. How was she discovered?
LEIBERMAN: Well, that`s what I was going to say. Somebody wanted her disposed of so nobody would ever know anything about this little girl. A woman looking out of her apartment window, always looks to make sure the trash men take all of her trash -- well, that morning, she was looking out the window, 7:00 AM, and the trash man goes to lift up one of the garbage bags, and it`s too heavy. So the trash man leaves it there.
This woman comes down from her apartment. She wanted to separate it into three separate bags to make it lighter so they would take it. And she finds this sweet little girl in this bag, stuffed in there like trash. Sickening.
GRACE: Joining me here on the set, Chanel`s parents, Garvin and Lucita Nixon. Thank you for being with us.
LUCITA PETRO-NIXON, CHANEL`S MOTHER: Thank you.
GRACE: Ms. Lucita, question to you. All this business about her being investigated as a runaway -- had this child ever run away?
PETRO-NIXON: Never.
GRACE: What happened that evening?
PETRO-NIXON: (INAUDIBLE) I was on a trip from Panama. I was away for three days, came back about 5:30 that evening, Father`s Day. And we spent about an hour. She just asked me if she could go out to meet her friends. I told her, yes, she could. She got a call about maybe 6:18. And I heard when she said, You there already? And I guess the person must have said yes. I knew who she was supposed to --
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: -- correct?
PETRO-NIXON: At Applebee.
GRACE: OK.
PETRO-NIXON: And she went. She got dressed -- not really dressed, fix her hair up. She came to the kitchen. She kissed me goodbye and she left. Never seen her --
GRACE: (INAUDIBLE)
PETRO-NIXON: I would say about 6:30, no later than 6:30 she left.
GRACE: When did you become concerned she had not come home?
PETRO-NIXON: OK, when I got up -- I work nights. I got up about --
GRACE: Where do you work?
PETRO-NIXON: St. Vincent`s Hospital.
GRACE: Are you a nurse?
PETRO-NIXON: No, I`m a mental health worker.
GRACE: Is that -- now, do you think you affected her decision to want to be a nurse?
PETRO-NIXON: Me, my sister, my mom, we`re all in the medical field. So her family -- most of us in the family work in the medical field.
GRACE: OK. So that night, you went to work.
PETRO-NIXON: I went to work. I called before because my husband was trying to call her about 7:30. He didn`t get in touch with her. Her phone was off. When I got up --
GRACE: Well, what do you mean her phone was off?
PETRO-NIXON: It was off. It went straight to the --
GRACE: Voicemail.
PETRO-NIXON: -- to the voicemail.
GRACE: OK.
PETRO-NIXON: And that`s unusual because even if her battery was low and she knew we was calling her, she would have borrowed her friend`s phone to get in touch with us.
GRACE: Now, OK, did she have a boyfriend?
PETRO-NIXON: No. Friend. Friend.
GRACE: And she was going to meet this group of people at Applebee`s.
PETRO-NIXON: Right.
GRACE: Never showed up.
PETRO-NIXON: Never showed up.
GRACE: When did you report her missing?
PETRO-NIXON: Monday, when I got home from work, I said, Uh-uh, this is not Chanel.
GRACE: Why did you wait so long to report?
PETRO-NIXON: I -- really, I thought we had to wait 24 hours before --
GRACE: Oh!
PETRO-NIXON: That was my mentality, was to wait 24 hours before you can report missing.
GRACE: To Doug Burns. Doug, you`ve handled a lot of cases. That is a very common belief. Why do so many people believe the person`s got to be gone 24 hours before you can report them?
DOUG BURNS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, unfortunately, that is promoted very often by law enforcement, Nancy, where they turn around and skeptically say -- and it`s unfortunate -- Look, they`re probably going to turn up, and so on. So that`s why they go with that type of grace period.
GRACE: To Chanel`s father. Sir, had she ever left the home before and not called back?
GARVIN NIXON, CHANEL`S FATHER: No.
GRACE: What time does she usually come home?
NIXON: She comes home before dark. If she`s about to stay a little longer, she will call and ask. I will -- if she is with friends and her family, her friends wouldn`t be bringing her home, I will go and meet her and bring her home, so --
GRACE: You would go get her and bring her home?
NIXON: Yes. And I started to worry at 7:30 because I was out and I call and I ask -- I call the house and I ask if Chanel was home. (INAUDIBLE) said she went to meet her friends at Applebee`s. So I started --
GRACE: Did you call the friends?
NIXON: I started calling --
GRACE: Did you know who the friends were?
NIXON: I know who was the friends, but I --
GRACE: What did they say?
NIXON: They said they was calling. They was calling almost every half an hour, every --
GRACE: She even then was already missing.
NIXON: Yes.
GRACE: You know, interesting. To Allison Gilman, defense attorney. Let`s think about this just for a moment. What do we know about Chanel missing? A, I can tell you she was not in that bag for days sitting on the sidewalk, all right? Someone killed her and had her in an apartment, a car, a car trunk, something, and then in the night put her on that sidewalk. Now, that leads me to believe it was someone in that apartment building or right around it. She never even made it to Applebee`s, Allison.
ALLISON GILMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY Yes. Yes. I absolutely agree with you, Nancy. I think that maybe it was someone that she knew because no one`s coming forward saying they saw something unusual. It may have been just the contact with someone, and there was no screaming, no yelling. And she went with him willingly, and it turned out bad. So I agree with you. It may have been right around where she was living, and it wound up with this horrible tragedy.
GRACE: Back to Chanel`s father. Were you out on the street with her picture?
NIXON: I was out on the next day. I filed a report. Police came, and after that, after they took --
GRACE: What would you do, just go up to strangers on the street?
NIXON: I start putting up posters all over the area, and then I start going up to people and asking, you know, This is my daughter. Have you seen her? She`s been missing since yesterday, and --
GRACE: When they came and asked you about the jewelry -- what was it, a bracelet that she had on? What -- what happened?
PETRO-NIXON: It was sad because I recognized it as soon as I saw it, and I knew something wrong had happened to her.
GRACE: What was the little bracelet?
PETRO-NIXON: It has her name on it, Chanel. It was a gold bracelet - -
(CROSSTALK)
PETRO-NIXON: And I bought it in Panama, so there`s no way it could be duplicated. It was a personalized bracelet.
GRACE: What went through your mind at the moment you saw that bracelet?
PETRO-NIXON: I was in shock. All I could -- I just started rocking and begging God to give me the strength because that`s all I needed at that time was the strength to cope with what I was about to face.
GRACE: Next: She couldn`t wait for her senior class picture but disappeared before she could take it. But there would be one school image captured before she vanished.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: It`s May 2007. Kara Kopetsky, getting ready for her senior class picture. This year, she`s going to the prom without her boyfriend, who she claims tried kidnapping her just days before his hearing (ph). She argues with her teacher, storms out of class. The 17-year-old who dreams of graduation and going to the prom never seen again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES BECKFORD, STEPFATHER: (INAUDIBLE) a person that knows something.
RHONDA BECKFORD, MOTHER: To anyone out there that knows the whereabouts of Kara Kopetsky.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kara Kopetsky.
RHONDA BECKFORD: We don`t have Kara, my daughter. Somebody has to know, somebody somewhere, know what happened to her, know something.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the last place that 17-year-old Kara Kopetsky was last seen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The day that she went missing, she did leave school.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Walking through the halls of Belton (ph) High School.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was known to do this on a regular basis, but she always returned. Somewhere between second and third hour, she disappeared. She did not return that day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The police released footage from the high school security tapes.
RHONDA BECKFORD: Your mind sometimes will understand (ph) that dark, long road.
JAMES BECKFORD: That`s the last picture of Kara.
RHONDA BECKFORD: The negative thoughts and the dark thoughts.
JAMES BECKFORD: Hope that Kara comes home.
RHONDA BECKFORD: It`s like being stuck in perpetual limbo.
JAMES BECKFORD: (INAUDIBLE) hope that Kara is found.
RHONDA BECKFORD: Right now, we know nothing. I mean, it`s like she has vanished.
JAMES BECKFORD: Oh (INAUDIBLE) Kara. That`s one thing she always had was that smile.
RHONDA BECKFORD: The last time that I saw and spoke to my daughter, Kara, was morning of May 4th, 2007.
JAMES BECKFORD: The last time that I saw Kara would have been on May 3rd, 2007.
RHONDA BECKFORD: It was a Friday. And I would normally take her to school, but on that morning, she decided to walk.
JAMES BECKFORD: She looked at me and smiled, and we both kind of chuckled.
RHONDA BECKFORD: It was just like any other morning that Kara would get up and get ready to go to school.
JAMES BECKFORD: We`d just sit there and talk a little while and --
RHONDA BECKFORD: It was like any other day.
JAMES BECKFORD: And one of the last things that I told Kara when I saw her was how pretty she looked.
RHONDA BECKFORD: She just said, Well, bye, Mom. I`ll see you later. Love you. Good-bye.
JAMES BECKFORD: I come home before my wife, and we realized something was wrong when Kara didn`t answer her cell phone calls.
RHONDA BECKFORD: I did not receive any messages from Kara.
JAMES BECKFORD: She was expected to be to work that day, and Kara had not called into work. Kara didn`t call either one of us.
RHONDA BECKFORD: I walked in from work, and my husband asked me if I had heard from Kara, and I told him no.
JAMES BECKFORD: During the time that we didn`t hear from Kara returning our phone calls, we were concerned because she had had some problems with a prior boyfriend, and we were uncertain about a lot of things.
RHONDA BECKFORD: My daughter, Kara, did have a boyfriend who she had just broken up with recently. They kind of had an on-again, off-again relationship. They didn`t always get along all the time.
JAMES BECKFORD: Kara, you know, didn`t call us and there would have only been one time that Kara didn`t return a phone call to home. And we had the understanding that no matter where we were at, whether we were happy or sad or upset, you know, we would answer each other`s phone calls.
RHONDA BECKFORD: We had tried to call Kara. She did not answer the cell phone. She did not call back.
JAMES BECKFORD: Prior to going missing had only had roughly $50 on her. They were just all sorts of indicators outside of the phone call to us that we felt there was cause for concern.
RHONDA BECKFORD: By 5:30 that evening, we called the police department to report her missing.
JAMES BECKFORD: In addition to the fact that there were -- her clothes were still there, there wasn`t anything that, you know, if you were going to run away, those were items that you would take.
RHONDA BECKFORD: And when a teenage person, male or female, goes missing, I think -- I think a lot of law enforcement agencies -- I think a lot of them automatically assume that the person has possibly gone of their own free will.
JAMES BECKFORD: Prior to Kara`s disappearance, her last boyfriend -- they were having some problems in their relationship and with each other. And it raised questions in our minds.
RHONDA BECKFORD: The protective order that my daughter had taken out against her ex-boyfriend was dropped. The authorities came to us, and we agreed with them that it would be the best thing to do because with Kara gone, they did not have a victim or a witness. It would not have been able to have been carried out.
JAMES BECKFORD: Police investigators are still pursuing Kara`s case on a daily basis, as we understand it. Several leads still come in on Kara, even though it has been three-and-a-half years later now.
RHONDA BECKFORD: As the mother of a missing child, you survive on hope, faith, trust and love. And you get up every morning with the hope that today will be the day that you find your missing loved one.
JAMES BECKFORD: After three-and-a-half years, I can only hope Kara is still alive! I never felt she ran away. I don`t think she ran away. I think someone or something is keeping her or has kept her from coming home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A mother vanishes from her upscale home. That`s when we find out things were not as perfect as they seemed.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: She was the mom who wanted to be close to her two children all the time, so she even took a job in the school cafeteria. On the surface, Lisa Stebic had everything, a beautiful home, upscale Chicago suburbs, children, family. So why? Why would she just vanish on the very day she files a petition to have her estranged husband evicted from the home?
Her husband, Craig Stebic, says she just left. He`s refused to take a polygraph, talk to police or even help search for his missing wife. That`s just the beginning of a long list of strange behavior.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You always see it on TV.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The 37-year-old mom --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You never think it would be your family.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She vanished from her home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She would never leave her children.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People everywhere are looking for Lisa.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lisa.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lisa Stebic.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her husband, estranged husband, is the last that says he saw her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was Monday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We would encourage Craig to cooperate fully with the police.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She left home here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Give them any information that they need.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Supposedly to go work out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The two were in the process of a divorce.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And as far as I know, somebody picked her up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is refusing to submit to a lie detector test.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come Tuesday morning to go to work, she wasn`t here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He refuses to answer even the most basic of questions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) all her friends (ph) (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We would that hope he would change his mind.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Craig.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Craig.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Going to the police.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Craig.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Craig.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Craig Stebic is a person of interest in the case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She wasn`t here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The only one named so far.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: To Michelle Sigona with "America`s Most Wanted." Michelle, back line (ph) just a moment and tell us what happened the day that Lisa Stebic went missing.
MICHELLE SIGONA, "AMERICA`S MOST WANTED" (via telephone): You know, it seemed to be a pretty much normal day for Lisa. She went to work. She worked as a cafeteria worker in a local elementary school. And Craig was actually at work that day. Her two children were home at the time. They actually -- what Craig says is they went out to go get some candy, and when they returned, Craig was apparently working the back yard. Suddenly, Lisa was gone.
GRACE: What can you me about the husband refusing a polygraph?
ED MILLER, "AMERICA`S MOST WANTED": This investigation has hit a dead end that the investigation is being severely hampered by Craig Stebic, that he refuses to answer even the most basic of questions. He refuses to let the kids talk to the cops. He is hiding behind the attorney. And basically, everything has come to a dead end. He has refused to take a polygraph test.
DONALD BENNETT, PLAINFIELD POLICE CHIEF: Plainfield police have narrowed the focus of their investigation to the disappearance of Lisa Stebic and now consider Craig Stebic to be a person of interest. Detectives are now focusing on the scenario that she most likely is a victim of foul play.
GRACE: Let`s go out to Dr. William July, psychologist and author. What about the fact that boyfriend, husband, first suspect?
WILLIAM JULY, PSYCHOLOGIST: All you got to do is watch what these guys are doing, these -- these -- when these women disappear, wouldn`t go out and you`d you want to know what happened to your wife, where she is? Wouldn`t you cooperate? You won`t let the kids talk. You won`t talk. It just -- come on! It just doesn`t make sense.
GRACE: Next, a white lie to Mom, a trip to the beach. How did spring break really end?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: A teenage girl tells Mom she`s spending spring break at a friend`s. Instead, she heads to Myrtle Beach. By week`s end, Brittanee Drexel has vanished, the last known image of the 17-year-old girl, grainy surveillance video in a hotel lobby.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAWN DREXEL, BRITTANEE`S MOTHER: Something is very, very wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She wouldn`t just pack up and leave.
DREXEL: It`s not like my daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seventeen-year-old.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brittanee.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brittanee Drexel spent the weekend in Myrtle Beach with friends.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: April 25th.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: April 25th.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: April 25th.
DREXEL: She wouldn`t (ph) need my permission to go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The teenager from Rochester, New York, has not been seen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) found.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since she left a Myrtle Beach hotel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brittanee vanished.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Vanished.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leaving all of her belongings behind.
DREXEL: It`s tearing me up inside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not calling anybody.
DREXEL: (INAUDIBLE) I can just (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s very, very shady.
DREXEL: Someone (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A little (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Surveillance video shows Brittanee fading away into the unknown.
DREXEL: Be laying dead somewhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The final known image of Brittanee.
DREXEL: Without knowing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pray for the best.
DREXEL: Not knowing where she is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prepare for the worst.
DREXEL: Who she`s with.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Evidence is running dry.
DREXEL: How she got there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone, somewhere knows what happened.
DREXEL: She says, I love you, Mom. And then -- then we hung up the phone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Where is 17-year-old high school junior Brittanee Drexel? Take a look -- absolutely beautiful, model student, soccer player, avid athlete. With us tonight is a very special guest. Brittanee Drexel`s mother is with us, Dawn Drexel. Ms. Drexel, thank you for being with us. Your daughter has never gone this many days without being in touch with you, has she?
DREXEL: No, she has not.
GRACE: What can you tell me about the last time you heard from her? What did she say? What did she text?
DREXEL: The last time I heard from her, I was actually -- she`s a very avid soccer player. She`s played soccer for about 10 years. And I was buying her soccer cleats. And I had called her and I had spoke with her, you know, about what kind of cleats she wanted, what her size, because I was getting them in the men`s department. So I had spoke with her. Her younger sister was with me. And we had, you know, texted her a picture message. She said she liked them.
And when I spoke with Brittanee, I asked her what she was doing. And she says, Oh, Mom, I`m at the beach. And it was an 80-degree day in Rochester. So of course, you know, I thought that maybe she was at the beach in Rochester with one of her girlfriends that she had said that was staying -- she was staying overnight. And then I said, Well, what do you plan on doing later? She said, Oh, I`m just going to hang out with my friend. We`re going to watch a movie. And I told her, I said, Well, please give me a call later. And she said, OK, Mom. And then, you know, I told her, I said, I love you, Brittanee. And she says, I love you, Mom. And then -- then we hung up the phone.
GRACE: To Marlaina Schiavo, on the story. Marlaina, what can you tell me about grainy surveillance video emerging that reveals a shot of Brittanee?
MARLAINA SCHIAVO, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Nancy, police are looking at surveillance video from the hotel where Brittanee was the night she went missing. And they said that she left the hotel alone, and she seemed to be untroubled.
GRACE: With me right now, a special guest, Dawn Drexel. This is Brittanee`s mother. She says she is living every parent`s worst nightmare. What did you think when you first saw -- when police first showed you this surveillance video of Brittanee?
DREXEL (via telephone): Well, they had spoken with me prior. You`re talking about the one that was just -- the one that was just released yesterday, correct?
GRACE: Yes.
DREXEL: OK. We had -- they want -- well, what they wanted me to do is to take a look to see, first of all, if it was Brittanee because we wanted to see if she had walked into the motel. And then her (INAUDIBLE) the first one that they showed to me was the back of her, so I really didn`t recognize her. But when I saw her profile, then it was confirmed.
GRACE: So this is definitely Brittanee Drexel.
DREXEL: As far as we can tell, yes.
GRACE: Ms. Drexel, you stated that you are giving up hope that Brittanee is safe and sound? Why?
DREXEL: I don`t -- I just have a gut feeling that -- because the story -- the stories don`t match. Things aren`t making sense to me as far as Brittanee`s luggage and -- she doesn`t have anything. She has, I`m thinking, no money on her. I believe she only went down there with $100. Things don`t -- just don`t add up to me. I can`t make sense of it.
GRACE: Out to Ernest Lamothe with "The Democrat and Chronicle," joining us from Rochester. Her mother, Brittanee`s mother, says police have gone way too fast in clearing certain parties involved.
ERNST LAMOTHE, "DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE" (via telephone): Well, Nancy, yes. Dawn was very frustrated that the main person of interest, which was Peter -- police are still investigating everybody. They interviewed everyone who went down to scar with Brittanee, but they`re saying that because Peter was neither a suspect or simply somebody who they pinpointed as any kind of wrongdoing, they didn`t need to clear him one way or the other.
GRACE: Out to Marlaina Schiavo, our producer on the story. Marlaina, explain who is Peter, who I`d like to point out is not a suspect or a person of interest.
SCHIAVO: That`s right, he`s not. He`s a friend that she knows from her hometown of Rochester. She`s known him for a while. There`s no confirmation that there was any kind of romantic interest. He was just another spring breaker down there that she went to go visit the night she went missing.
GRACE: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Not so fast, Schiavo, because it`s my understanding that was the last person that we know of, that we can confirm, that saw her alive. And his story has fluctuated, has changed.
SCHIAVO: His story did fluctuate a little bit. They wouldn`t give the details of what he said. He was the last person they believe saw her the night she went missing, along with the other spring breakers that were in the hotel with him. But according to him, she left the hotel and he hadn`t seen her that night after she went missing at all.
GRACE: So he`s not like all the other spring breakers, Marlaina. She went to the hotel to visit him. He was the last person, one of the last people to see her alive. And his story has changed. OK, let`s be specific. And again, this guy, this Peter that was there, the one that left at about 2:00 AM, cleared out and drove 17, 18 hours to get back home after police started questioning him and they found out Brittanee was missing.
Ernst Lamothe, he is not a suspect. He is a person of interest. Do we know how he changed his story? Something isn`t fitting together because Brittanee`s mother is saying, Police, you jumped the gun on clearing him and others. Ernst?
LAMOTHE: Well, police are being vague exactly on how he changed the subject. But as you mentioned, Nancy, one of the reasons why he was one of the persons pinpointed is not only was he possibly one of the last people to see Brittanee, but they did talk via cell phone activity late on Saturday night. And of course, the fact that he went up at 2:00 o`clock in the morning back to Rochester, a long drive -- he also left a $100 deposit. He never got that back from the Bluewater Resort Hotel. So because of those inaccuracies and Peter`s slightly shifting his story, that`s one of the reasons why, you know, police are still looking into it. But like I said, once again, he`s not a suspect.
GRACE: With me is Dawn Drexel, the mother of missing high school junior, a model student, a fantastic soccer player, down in Myrtle Beach on spring break, Brittanee Drexel. Ms. Drexel, I`m especially concerned about the stories from the guy, the friend from Rochester -- who is not a suspect, he`s not a person of interest -- who saw her last. What were the differences in his various stories?
DREXEL: Just that -- just what, like -- what he was telling me as far as when he last saw her, you know, who she was -- who she was with, you know, that she may have been upset that night. It was just what he was telling me just wasn`t -- it was something different each time, as far as the times were concerned.
GRACE: Out to Sheryl McCollum, crime analyst and director of a cold case squad. Weigh in, Sheryl.
SHERYL MCCOLLUM, CRIME ANALYST: The biggest thing here, Nancy, there`s no crime scene. We`re going to have zero forensic evidence, therefore. But absolutely, Peter is somebody I would personally want to talk to again and again.
GRACE: Joining me right now is a special guest. This is Brittanee`s long-time boyfriend of many years, John Grieco. John, thank you for being with us. What do you make of police clearing these guys?
JOHN GRIECO, BRITTANEE`S BOYFRIEND (via telephone): Well, the evidence that we`ve gathered so far, being down in South Carolina, does not show any foul play. Now, there is suspicion with how he reacted to the situation. However, all the evidence that we`ve gathered just leaves them in the clear.
GRACE: What leads you to believe that Brittanee, your girlfriend of many years, is still alive?
GRIECO: I believe that she`s still alive because not only is -- she`s the most headstrong person that I -- that I know, that I`ve ever met and that I know. And if anybody is to survive a situation like this, it would be Brittanee.
GRACE: Daddy claims he`s taking his two little boys, ages 2 and 4, for a camping adventure around midnight, in the cold. When he comes home, Mommy`s gone. Where`s Susan Powell?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Josh Powell claims he takes his two young boys camping in the middle of the night while Susan was left at home sleeping. He insists when they get back, Susan Powell has vanished. Investigators don`t believe it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Searching for a missing mom of two.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Susan Cox Powell.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 28-year-old Powell.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Susan Powell.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Simply disappeared.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without a trace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) Josh`s story.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He and their two kids were camping.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were on a camping trip.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that where you were camping?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say the case is very suspicious.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) suspicious.
JOSH POWELL, SUSAN`S HUSBAND: I didn`t.
I didn`t.
I didn`t do anything. I don`t know where.
I don`t know where.
I don`t know where she`s at.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just miss her. She`s somewhere.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have any idea what happened to her?
POWELL: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Bottom line, Josh Powell now breaks his silence not by talking to police, but talking to the local newspaper. He says Susan Powell is alive, that she was gone, that she absconded because she was, quote, sexually and financially motivated," and now she`s embarrassed to come back because she will, quote, "be eaten up like hamburger."
I`m going to go to Chuck Cox. This is Susan Cox Powell`s father. Chuck, what do you make of Josh Powell`s statements to the paper?
CHUCK COX, SUSAN POWELL`S FATHER: Totally baseless and self-serving. He`s just trying to deflect attention from himself.
GRACE: You know, I`m stunned that he would say that your daughter absconded because was sexually and financially motivated. He also says she would chase him around the house to hurt him. If she chased him around the house, I guarantee it was to make him go to work, all right? He hadn`t worked in forever, was filing bankruptcy. She was probably tired of doing all the housework, all the laundry and being the sole breadwinner for the home.
COX: I find it interesting that the first thing that he does come forward and start talking about is to blame her and try to say that she`s - - she`s something less than the mother that she was and the loving wife that she was trying to be.
GRACE: You know, with me now is Jim Kirkwood, KTKK Newsradio. Hi, Jim. Can you give me an update? Why did Josh Powell suddenly go to the local paper to claim Susan Powell is alive? He says she`s alive.
JIM KIRKWOOD, KTKK NEWSRADIO (via telephone): I think she -- he`s trying to divert attention from himself. I mean, the stories are silly. Mental illness? Quite the contrary. She`s obviously the stable one, from the family and friends here in town. But what does the guy do? There`s a lot of pressure on him.
GRACE: Well, I find the stories not to be silly. I find them to be actually evil and disparaging to the mother of his two children. To Sheryl McCollum. Every time he speaks, he`s digging his own grave. He gave an eight-page statement to the newspaper, Sheryl!
MCCOLLUM: Let him talk. I love it when he talks, Nancy, because he`s digging his own hole. And I say let him. When he says that she just left on her own and there`s nothing corroborate that, nothing, no cell phone that we can`t account for, no number that she`s called. She doesn`t have a boyfriend. But you want me to believe she left you, she didn`t take her car, she didn`t take her kids, she left her job? Not true.
GRACE: I want to go to Jean Casarez. Jean, what do we know? Tell me your synopsis of what he said -- eight pages to the local paper, Josh Powell insisting his wife, Susan Powell, is alive.
JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION": Well, it`s really amazing that he came out. It`s not quite a year that she went missing, but he, in essence, blames her and blames her family for the disappearance, saying that she is mentally unstable and that drove her, in part, away from the family.
GRACE: Ridiculous! There is no instability in your family, Chuck Cox. This is Susan`s father.
COX: That`s absolutely correct. Nothing like that.
GRACE: OK, out to the lines. Nicky in Utah. Hi, Nicky.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. How are you?
GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`d like to know if they have talked with his young sons to find out if they recall anything of that night, like him taking her or leaving something there that he shouldn`t when they went camping.
GRACE: Good question. What do we know, Jim Kirkwood?
KIRKWOOD: -- thing we have, and we`re not 100 percent sure, but it looks like the one son talks about Mommy`s in a cave looking at rocks. That`s the most interesting thing said by those children, that we know.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Chanel Petro-Nixon, 16.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I knew something wrong had happened to her. I was in shock. All I could -- I just started rocking and begging God to give me the strength.
GRACE: Kara Kopetsky, 17.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After three-and-a-half years, I can only hope Kara is still alive! I think someone or something is keeping her or has kept her from coming home.
GRACE: Lisa Stebic, 28.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You never think it would be your family. It`s not in character. She would never leave her children.
GRACE: Brittanee Drexel, 17.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Something is very, very wrong. It`s not like my daughter to not call. I know something is seriously wrong. I just don`t have enough information.
GRACE: Susan Powell, 28.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to hear a credible story. I`d like to know the facts. What happened? Where is my daughter at?
GRACE: Let`s stop and remember Army sergeant Paul Anthony Saylor, 21, Norcross, Georgia, killed, Iraq, all a parent could hope for in a son, kind, loving, strong, faithful. What a smile. Always the first to stand up for the underdog. Never took credit. Star football player, drama club member, homecoming king, awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, Combat Action medal. Remembered for his smile, humility, heart. Leaves behind father, Jamie (ph), mom, Patty (ph), brother, Jamie, Jr. (ph), grandmother, Faith (ph). Paul Saylor, American hero.
Thanks to our guests, but especially to you for being with us. See you tomorrow night, 8:00 o`clock sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, friend.
END
