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Nancy Grace
Newborn Found in Toilet in Public Restroom at Circus
Aired February 07, 2011 - 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, South Carolina. After 10,000 people clear out the Greenville Bi-Lo arena and the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey circus, the shot (ph) of a lifetime. Bombshell tonight. In a secluded toilet of the ladies restroom, a newborn baby just one hour old abandoned, left barely clinging to life, whimpering, crying in the commode of a bathroom stall. Right now, that baby fighting for its life as police comb hours of grainy surveillance video to find the mommy, the mommy who left her baby to die.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After spending more than an hour in a toilet, a newborn baby is fighting for its life after his mother gave birth to him and left him to die. He`s suffering from hypothermia and other health conditions. Investigators say a Bi-Lo Center employee who was cleaning the bathroom after the circus heard what he thought was a child whimpering. That`s when he went into the stall and found the baby in the toilet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don`t think it`s physically possible that a mother would not know that she had given birth to a child.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police are now searching through surveillance video to try to identify and track down the mother.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: EMS took the baby to Greenville Memorial, where he`s currently in critical condition. And police say his mother faces serious charges.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we believe that the child was purposely abandoned, left there, then certainly, there would be charges against that person.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sadly, this is not the first time a baby has been abandoned in a public restroom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I heard about this young lady who had this baby, all I wanted to do was cry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A newborn baby abandoned, left in a handicap toilet stall on the bathroom floor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She found a newborn baby wrapped in a towel and an infant`s jacket in the handicap stall of the restroom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, live, Texas, 30 miles north, San Antonio. A parent`s worst nightmare, a desperate 911 call when an 18-month-old toddler boy vanishes, last seen just 10 minutes earlier -- 10 minutes! Local temperatures dipping into the 20s. Tonight, where is baby Joshua (ph)?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Texas authorities are desperately searching for a missing 18-month-old boy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His mother believes her son, Joshua Davis, Jr., was taken from his home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My baby`s out there somewhere. Somebody has him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Speculation began swirling yesterday when reports that a child`s toy was found on the family mailbox, saying (ph) only an adult could have left it there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Joshua`s parents tell us they believe he was abducted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators are checking in with sex offenders in the area.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police tell us they have brought in cadaver dogs to help search for the boy. So far, they have not found any sign of him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They had the scent dogs out here, and there`s no scent of him leaving out of the, you know, yard.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where is Joshua Davis, Jr.?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. And I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight, live, South Carolina. After 10,000 people leave the Greenville Bi-Lo arena and the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey circus, the shock of a lifetime. There in a secluded toilet of the ladies restroom, a newborn baby just one hour old, abandoned, left barely clinging to life, whimpering, crying in the commode of the bathroom stall. Tonight, who`s the mommy who left her baby to die?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police are searching for a mother who abandoned her newborn baby in a public toilet during a Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus performance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say thousands of people were at the Bi-Lo center for the circus. After they were gone, police say a custodian found someone left behind.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He heard what he believed to be a child crying or whimpering.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The baby boy was found around 11:00 PM inside a ladies restroom. Cops believe the baby was born within the last few hours and was suffering from hypothermia.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police are asking for the mother to come forward. Not only do they want to know what happened, they say she also needs medical help.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The baby, admitted to the hospital and listed in critical condition, is reportedly clinging to life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A teenage couple went to this motel in Newark, Delaware, and inside room 220, gave birth to a baby boy, an infant who was later found dead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She said the baby was deformed and didn`t have hands and feet, and so she flushed it down the toilet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Melissa Drexler (ph) killing her baby at the 1997 Lacy (ph) high school prom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Nicole Partin, investigative reporter. Nicole, what happened?
NICOLE PARTIN, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER (via telephone): Good evening, Nancy. It was about 11:30 PM on Friday evening when a member of the cleaning crew found a fragile 6-pound baby boy alive in an arena restroom toilet, where authorities believe he had been for about two hours. Tonight, he is fighting for his life in an area hospital while authorities continue to search for his mother.
GRACE: To Jean Casarez, legal correspondent, "In Session." It`s a huge arena, the Bi-Lo arena there, and there were 10,000 people there. How are we going to find the mommy, dare I even use the word for her, mommy -- she doesn`t deserve that title -- that gives birth and leaves the baby to die in the toilet, in the commode in a secluded bathroom stall, hoping, I guess, that the baby was going to drown? For all I know, she probably tried to flush it down the commode and it didn`t go down.
JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION": Could be. It`s going to be a very difficult task. We want to tell everybody this little baby is in critical condition right now. But there is surveillance video of it, Nancy. That`s a needle in a haystack, when you`ve got 10,000 people coming and going out of this huge arena. This was the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey circus. Families wait all year for this. But they are scanning that video. They`re asking anyone who knew of someone who was pregnant, who`s not pregnant now, to go to authorities.
GRACE: Joining me, special guest Chief Terry Wilfong, joining us from the Greenville, South Carolina, Police Department. Chief, Thank you for being with us. Chief, here`s my question. Talking about surveillance video, was there any surveillance cameras trained on the bathroom, the ladies bathroom? Seems like they would have had a surveillance camera there. I mean, when you go in any stadium, be it, you know, a football stadium, an arena like this that`s used for multi-purpose, they have surveillance videos all over the place -- and especially if you can isolate the time. They`re saying the baby was one hour old. Can`t you just back that video up, say three hours, and get the women coming in and out of that bathroom?
CHIEF TERRI WILFONG, GREENVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT (via telephone): That`s what we`re working on, Nancy. Unfortunately, the cameras do not stay stationary. They move. So we don`t have a constant image of the bathroom. So we`re scanning as much as we possibly can. But 10,000 people in there -- it`s been very tedious and very difficult.
GRACE: You know, Chief Wilfong, you have an excellent reputation. I don`t want to be hard on -- let`s just say a teen mother that, quote, "didn`t know what to do." That`s one thing, giving your baby up for adoption, going to a safe haven. You know, I`m all for it. But leaving your baby to die in the commode, in the toilet of a public bathroom at the Bi-Lo arena, probably flushing the child? I mean, you know she left it there to drown to death. It didn`t work. This baby survived, even though its life is hanging by a thread tonight.
How are you going to go about trying to find the mommy, Chief?
WILFONG: We`re doing everything that we can. Of course, the media has helped us very much with the information that we`re getting out. Other problem we have is people that came to the circus -- we had tickets that were sold in states around South Carolina. So there`s a possibility that this mother and the child might not even be from our state.
GRACE: It`s incredible to me, the lack of caring. Caryn Stark, how do you just turn off, turn off your empathy for another human? Look, and I`m not saying she had time to bond with the baby, nothing like that. But how could you do that to a defenseless baby, leave it to drown in the toilet water?
CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: That makes you wonder, Nancy, because it`s such a good pint. Was this a teenager? Because developmentally -- although I know it`s hard to understand -- for a teenager to attach to a baby that it didn`t want, it doesn`t surprise me if there`s that ability. And we`ve seen it before in other instances where teenagers just abandon babies or know that they`re going to die and they have no connection. So it isn`t always true that you have an automatic connection.
GRACE: And wait a minute, Caryn Stark.
STARK: Yes, ma`am?
GRACE: Let`s just don`t presume this is a teen mom, as if that somehow makes it OK to drown your baby in a public bathroom toilet. It doesn`t. But you know, we`re painting it with a very light brush. For all I know, this could be a grown lady who definitely knew better.
STARK: And I was thinking it might be a grown person just because it`s a circus.
GRACE: Now, wait. You`ve got to pick! First you say maybe it was a teen, now it`s a grown lady. Come on!
STARK: Both. Both because we have no idea. The only reason I thought about somebody who was older was because maybe they brought a bunch of kids to go to the circus.
GRACE: Good thinking. Let`s go to Pat Brown, criminal profiler, author of "The Profiler." But first, Pat, let`s take a call. To Christie in South Carolina. Hi, Christie.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. How are you?
GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is the little baby going to make it?
GRACE: You know, right now, they don`t know. The baby was only an hour old, and it had been floating, I guess floating, don`t know if it was face up, if it had been face down. My guess is the mom gave birth and tried to flush the baby...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh!
GRACE: ... down the commode.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And which part of South Carolina?
GRACE: Right now, the baby`s alive, but in my -- in my book, this is attempted murder. Right now, we know the baby`s in critical condition. It suffered from hypothermia, had been lying there naked, I mean, a newborn baby in the cold water of a public bathroom toilet, you know, having likely been dunked in the water and having been flushed.
Pat Brown, let`s talk about who`s the mommy.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, I think -- one of the things we have a hard time looking at is how anybody could carry a child for this long and go through the birth process and then actually see the little baby coming out, you know, and feel the baby coming out and hearing it cry, and the just walk away, letting it die.
But this is clearly a person who has a personality disorder. Whether they`re a teenager or they`re older, they simply have made a choice, that baby or me. And that person decided that baby isn`t worth what I`m going to have to go through if I have to even go give up the baby. Somebody`s going to talk about me and say bad things about me. I don`t want to deal with that. I just want to get rid of this thing. Because that`s the way they look at it, as a thing. It`s not a human being. It has no meaning to them. So they didn`t even do the least bit to try to, you know, make sure the baby survived. They just wanted it to go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We asked that she seek medical attention because we know that, physically, that she would need medical attention at this point, and after doing that, have, you know, herself or a family member contact us so we can speak with her at length and figure out what`s happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The baby boy was lying in a toilet in the ladies restroom. Police believe he was only about an hour-and-a-half old.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don`t think it`s physically possible that the mother would not know that she had given birth to a child.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now the search begins for the mother, as police comb through hours of surveillance video, hoping to find the key piece of evidence that could lead them to her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now police are asking for the mother to come forward. Not only do they want to know what happened, they say she also needs medical help. Police say they have surveillance video of people coming to the show and leaving afterwards, but that sorting through those thousands of people will be difficult. They`re hoping that someone close to the mother can give them a clue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody -- a parent, a family member or friend -- would know that a friend or a family member was pregnant.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Out to Donna in Wisconsin. Hi, Donna.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. How are you?
GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just wanted to know if there`s any security cameras in the area that would give a clue as to the woman that went in pregnant and came out without.
GRACE: I`m going to throw that to Chief Terri Wilfong, the chief of the police there in Greenville, South Carolina. What about it, Chief? Was the camera trained on the bathroom? I know you told me earlier the cameras were rotating.
WILFONG: Yes, there`s a possibility that the person that went in and gave birth to the child, that the camera was not on the restroom at that time. So it`s very difficult because of the number of people, and just as the camera moves so quickly, it`s very difficult to capture an image.
GRACE: And you know, Caryn Stark, you had a question about the identity of the mom, even if you`ve got her on camera. What is it?
STARK: Well, the problem is, this is somebody who was able to hide a pregnancy, it appears. It seems like it. So how could a camera possibly pick up someone who doesn`t look pregnant?
GRACE: Good question. I want to go to Dr. Vincent DiMaio, former chief medical examiner, Bexar County, forensic pathologist, joining us out of San Antonio. Doctor, thank you for being with us. Explain to me what that child went through. I mean, I know when I had the twins and they were first born, completely defenseless, totally -- Lucy was two pounds, John David was five pounds. And they could very well die in the cold water of a public toilet at Bi-Lo arena. The baby was only an hour old. The baby had hypothermia. Explain to us what this baby went through.
DR. VINCENT DIMAIO, FMR. CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER, BEXAR COUNTY: Well, what happened was, this baby is ejected into cold water, in a cold toilet, and the water conducts the heat from the body 25 times greater than air. So the body temperature would begin to drop precipitously.
And the toilet material itself, you know, the stoneware, would again conduct heat, causing the hypothermia. At the same time, the child would aspirate toilet water, which you know is contaminated with bacteria. So the child is in a hostile environment with the heat being sucked from it, at the same time it`s inhaling bacteria in water.
GRACE: So when you`re saying the heat, the heat, the body`s heat is being sucked out, it`s like when you put your spoon in your coffee cup and then the spoon gets warm. The water is actually extracting the body heat out of the baby. Hypothermia, that term applies when your body temperature gets to what level?
DIMAIO: It`s lower than 25 (ph) degrees. And by the time it gets to 75 degrees, your heart stops.
GRACE: For those of you just joining us, a baby one hour old found abandoned, left to die, likely flushed down a public toilet after the Barnum and Bailey Ringling Brothers the circus. Amazingly, crews find the baby. Right now, as we go to air, the baby clinging to life. If it doesn`t make it, there`s a mommy facing a murder charge.
We`re taking your calls. Out to Rhonda in Mississippi. Hi, Rhonda.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. How are you?
GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m wondering, what are the odds of them being able to save this baby`s life?
GRACE: You know what? I really don`t know. I know that this baby is in critical condition. For all you mothers out there, you know the defenseless nature of your baby when you first had the baby. This baby right now critical condition, it`s clinging to life, as police there in Greenville, South Carolina, comb over grainy surveillance video. They`re on a quest to find who left the baby to die.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After spending more than an hour in a toilet, a newborn baby is fighting for its life tonight. He`s suffering from hypothermia and other health conditions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Investigators are looking at the video from that night to try to determine who the baby`s mother was. But they say with so many people there, it won`t be an easy task. Police say they haven`t seen anything like this before and are asking the mother to come forward for both the baby`s safety and her own.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We ask that she seek medical attention because we know that physically, that she would need medical attention at this point.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She could face serious charges if they can prove she intentionally abandoned her baby. It is unknown if the baby will survive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Investigators are looking at the video from that night to try to determine who the baby`s mother was. But they with so many people there, it won`t be an easy task. Police say they haven`t seen anything like this before and are asking the mother to come forward for both the baby`s safety and her own.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Unleash the lawyers. Joining us tonight out of Chicago, Jennifer Smetters, family law attorney. Out of the Philadelphia jurisdiction, renowned attorney Joe Lawless, author, "Prosecutorial Misconduct." Out of Atlanta, trial lawyer Randy Kessler.
First of all, to you, Jennifer Smetters. She`s looking at attempted murder, plain and simple.
JENNIFER SMETTERS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Absolutely. Let`s pray that that baby survives. But at the minimum, she`s looking at attempted murder. What she did is she had reckless disregard for this baby`s life by abandoning it in the toilet. Now, we`re not saying necessarily premeditated, but she surely did not take care of the baby when she had him.
GRACE: Whoa! Who-ho! Ho-ho-hold your horses! Lawless, come on. Premeditation...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... formed in an instant, in the blink of an eye. How much time do you think it took this mother to cut her umbilical cord, put the baby in the commode and flush a couple times of and leave? That`s enough time to form intent, Lawless.
JOE LAWLESS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: There`s no question she`s facing the possibility of an attempted murder charge. But at issue is something that Pat Brown also raised. Her mental state is going to be an issue. At a minimum, it`s reckless disregard and that -- and it could easily be attempted murder, and I think that`s the first charge she`ll face, obviously.
GRACE: Kessler, she had the wherewithal to hide her pregnancy, to do this in secret, and to leave the bathroom stall as if nothing had happened.
RANDY KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You know, there are a lot of explanations for this. None of them are good. Maybe she had a lover that she didn`t want to know she had a baby with. Maybe she was married...
GRACE: Maybe, schmaybe! Do I care if she was married? No, I do not! What I care about is whether this baby lives or dies, Kessler!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He heard what he believed to be a child crying or whimpering. Somebody, a parent, a family member or a friend would know that a friend or a family member was pregnant.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police are searching for a mother who abandoned her newborn baby in a public toilet during the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performance.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say thousands of people were at the Bi- Lo Center for the circus. After they were gone police say a custodian found someone left behind.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He heard what he believed to be a child crying or whimpering.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The baby boy was found around 11:00 p.m. inside the lady`s restroom. Cops believe the baby was born within the last few hours and was suffering from hypothermia.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police are asking for the mother to come forward. Not only do they want to know what happened, they say she also needs medical help.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The baby, admitted to the hospital and listed in critical condition, is reportedly clinging to life.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A teenaged couple went to this motel in Newark, Delaware, and inside room 220 gave birth to a baby boy. An infant who was later found dead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She said the baby was deformed and didn`t have hands and feet, and so she flushed it down the toilet.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Melissa Drexler killing her baby at the 1997 Lacy High School --
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: We are taking your calls, for those of you just joining us at this hour, a little baby clings to life in the critical care unit of a local hospital, Greenville, South Carolina after cleanup crews find him nearly drowned to death, hypothermia, in a public toilet of a lady`s bathroom at the Bi-Lo Arena, following the Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey circus. Ten thousand people clear out of the arena, left behind the one-hour-old infant.
Straight to Paul Penzone, former sergeant, Phoenix, PD. What do we do now -- what do we do now, Paul, to find the mom? Anybody going to hospitals, to medical doctors? How can we find her?
PAUL PENZONE, DIRECT OF PREVENTION PROGRAMS, CHILDHELP.ORG, FMR. SERGEANT, PHOENIX PD: You have to be very aggressive. It`s a very difficult case for law enforcement, but you`re right on with what you`re looking at.
Any hospital that might have seen someone who`s gone through symptoms that are going to be similar to -- after a pregnancy, that video could be critical. What they`re going to look for -- I know you`re not going to see the obvious physical signs. But you`re going to look for somebody who`s been in the bathroom for a long period of time and comes out looking a little bit exhausted.
GRACE: To Chief Terri Wilfong with the Greenville, South Carolina Police Department.
Chief, typically, it`s my understanding that when a doctor is seeing a pregnant patient they follow through until the baby comes. What about doctors that realize their patient just never came back?
CHIEF TERRI WILFONG, GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA POLICE DEPT.: That`s one thing we`re also looking at with the media`s help getting the information out and all the phone calls that we`re receiving, we`re hoping that that`s the case.
But unfortunately, there`s the possibility that that mother never sought out a doctor. Because she didn`t want anybody to know anything that -- possible that she was pregnant so maybe she never saw a doctor during the pregnancy at all.
GRACE: Are you telling me there`s -- you believe that there is a mom that never knew she was pregnant?
WILFONG: I don`t think that`s the case, I think it`s a mom who never sought medical treatment.
GRACE: Yes, I agree, Chief Wilfong, entirely possible.
The police need your help. This is a near-impossible task. Number one, let`s pray that the baby lives, that`s the first thing. Number two, where`s the mommy that left her baby to die. It is so easy to leave a child at Safe Haven.
This is not the first time. For instance, take a look at Melissa Drexler, the so-called prom mom. Gives birth during school prom, puts the baby in the trash, returns to the dance floor and makes a specific request for Metallica`s "Unforgiven" to be played.
Christie Freeman denied being pregnant or having delivered a baby. The baby found hidden in bloody towels in the bathroom vanity. Then police finds three more babies in trash bags in a trunk, a motor home, on her property.
Amy Grossberg gives birth in a motel room, boyfriend -- both college students, throws the newborn into the dumpster, the baby died of head fractures and shaken baby syndrome.
Don`t worry, they`re walking free.
Katie McCoy gives birth in a dorm room. Wraps the baby in a towel, puts it in a gym bag and hides it in the utility room.
What`s wrong with these people?
Out to the lines, Crystal in Illinois. Hi, Crystal.
CRYSTAL, CALLER FROM ILLINOIS: Hi, Nancy, thanks for taking my call. I`ve got a quick question and a comment. Do they have the death penalty in that state? Is my question.
GRACE: They absolutely do. What`s your next question?
CRYSTAL: The comment is, I believe it was premeditated. There`s no way she could have cut the umbilical cord and got out of there without thinking about how to do it. And the other part is, they do have a place to take children if you don`t want them. It shouldn`t be in a toilet.
GRACE: You know what, Crystal, you`re leading me to some very important information in addition to the tip line that Chief Terri Wilfong wants to get out there, 864,467-5333, 864-467-5333. There`s a $2,000 reward as this baby clings to its life in a local hospital.
Alexis Weed, Safe Havens, explain.
ALEXIS WEED, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: They provide a Safe Haven law, and it allows the mother of this child to simply drop off the child at a hospital, at -- with law enforcement, at a place of worship, at a fire station, she could have done that, she could have taken that path. The law is in place there in South Carolina.
GRACE: Put Alexis up. She could have. She could have done that. Did you just say that. Could have, would have, should have, Alexis.
WEED: Anonymously, yes.
GRACE: Ends up in a murder charge if this baby dies. It`s a matter of when, not if. But when. The police are looking for this mother. What she did, in my mind, is attempted murder.
As you`ve pointed out, Alexis, there are thousands of safe havens where you can leave a baby, no questions asked.
WEED: Right.
GRACE: No judgment, no questions, just give us the baby, don`t kill the baby. Not in this case. She chose to deliver the baby in a public bathroom in the Bi-Lo arena, cut the umbilical cord and try to flush her baby down the commode.
You know what? She`s going to jail. This is not OK. I don`t care if she`s a teen mother, I don`t care who she is. This is wrong. And right now, that baby may very well die, Alexis, because of her behavior.
Everyone, we are switching gears right now, I want to tell you about an 18-month-old that has gone missing. Can we help find the baby?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Texas authorities are desperately searching for a missing 18-month-old boy.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: His mother believes her son, Joshua Davis, Jr., was taken from his home.
SABRINA BENITEZ, MOM OF MISSING 18-MO-OLD BOY: My baby is out there somewhere, somebody has him.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Speculation began swirling yesterday when reports of a child`s toy was found on the family mailbox, saying only an adult could have left it there.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Joshua`s parents tell us they believe he was abducted.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Investigators are checking in with sex offenders in the area.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Straight out to Michael Board, WOAI Newsradio.
Michael, what happened? I don`t understand how you can see the baby and 10 minutes before, and then suddenly the baby`s gone.
MICHAEL BOARD, REPORTER, WOAI NEWSRADIO: Well, police are saying that it looks like he just was able to wander out of his home. We know that the latch on the door in this home did not work.
Some big developments in this case today, Nancy, though. We have to tell you that the radius, the search radius for little Joshua has been expanded now for two miles. One of the things that they`re doing is, this is a neighborhood full of prefabricated homes, some of the officers as well as search dogs are going underneath these homes to see if maybe the baby was able to wiggle its way underneath there.
Also in the cases where a human or a dog couldn`t fit under there, they`ve got high-tech cameras that are able to go underneath these homes to see if maybe possibly this child was able to make its way under there -- underneath here in the freezing weather we`ve had in south Texas.
GRACE: Dana, let me see a picture of the baby. He looks like a baby doll that you get down off the shelf. Look at him. He absolutely -- he looks like the Gerber baby.
Everybody, where is Joshua Davis, Jr.? He`s only 18 months old. The tip line, 830-221-4570. He`s only two feet tall, 30 pounds, black hair, brown eyes, wearing a blue and red long sleeved shirt. Gray long sleeved t-shirt, beige and white onesie. Beige jeans, black and white socks. His mommy wants him home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENITEZ: My baby is out there somewhere, somebody has him. I still have hope he`s going to come home.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Authorities continue to search for a missing Texas boy last seen Friday night. Eighteen-month-old Joshua Davis, Jr. was last seen by family members inside his home. Authorities have been searching day and night for the toddler, who`s only two feet tall and just 30 pounds.
The community became very concerned when reports of a child`s toy was found on the family mailbox. Police are investigating. Multiple police agencies are assisting in the case. And over 100 volunteers are also working to find any sign of the little boy.
Where is baby Joshua Davis, Jr.?
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Where is baby Joshua? Joining me right now is the baby`s mother, Sabrina Benitez. She`s joining us from Texas.
Sabrina, thank you for being with us.
BENITEZ: Hello.
GRACE: I`m here. I hear you -- I hear you crying. Tell me what happened when Joshua went, Miss Benitez?
BENITEZ: We were all in the house. There was nine people in the house. I was sitting on the bed watching "Toy Story" with my baby. He was wandering from our room to the living room where the other family members were when I realized after about 10 minutes that it was unusual my baby hadn`t been back in the room to come get a toy or watch the movie.
I jumped up and I ran to the grandfather`s room where there was another baby that my baby was interested in. And asked if he was in there, when the grandfather`s girlfriend tell me, he hadn`t been in there. So I ran out to the living room and I asked everyone if they`d seen the baby.
We started searching but there was no signs of the baby. I ran up the house and everyone started looking and we called the police about 10 minutes after we realized we had no -- nowhere where we hadn`t found him.
GRACE: What do you think happened, Sabrina? Do you think he got out the door?
BENITEZ: At first I kind of -- honestly, at first, there was a family friend in the house, and that was the last time the door had been opened. And I at first thought like maybe the friend had took him. But the police say there`s no signs of that.
So they said he had been in and out the backdoor, I thought maybe he could slipped -- like walked out the backdoor. But I highly believe that - - I believe that wasn`t the case either. Because when I walked out the back porch, there was ice all over the steps. It was too cold and my baby is real smart, I mean, if -- if it was that cold he would have found a way to come knock on the door, or there would have been signs of him out the backdoor because it was icy.
GRACE: Now, Sabrina -- everyone, with me is baby Joshua`s mother, joining us by phone, Sabrina Benitez.
I know you guys are doing everything possible to help find him. Tell me, you -- did I hear you say there were nine people in the home when he went missing?
BENITEZ: Yes, ma`am.
GRACE: Who was in the home?
BENITEZ: There was me, his father, his older brother, his godmother, his two grandparents, his father`s friend and his grandpa`s girlfriend.
GRACE: And nobody saw him get out the door. But here`s the thing, a lot of people don`t believe a baby that age could get out the door. They can. They absolutely can. I`ve seen my children do it. They can switch the lock and get right out the door. I had to put a latch high up like five and a half feet up so they can`t reach it.
They don`t understand what they`re doing, they just want to play, and switch locks and get out the door. They do it. Has your son ever done that before? Have you seen him go out?
BENITEZ: No, ma`am. He can`t even -- he can`t reach the doorknob like he reaches maybe to the bottom of it. But he can`t reach tall enough to where he could turn the doorknob.
GRACE: Well, if he can`t reach the doorknob, then how did he get out?
BENITEZ: That`s what I want to know.
GRACE: OK. I thought the theory was that somehow he had managed to turn the doorknob and get out the door, but you`re saying he absolutely could not do that, right?
BENITEZ: Yes.
GRACE: Joining us also, live from Texas, Lieutenant Michael Penshorn from the police department there in New Braunfels.
Lieutenant, thank you for being with us. If the baby couldn`t turn the doorknob or reach the latch, what`s your theory?
LT. MICHAEL PENSHORN, NEW BRAUNFELS POLICE DEPT.: Well, in a case like this, obviously we had a number of people, we had seven adults and two children in the residence.
According to the parents, the residence was completely secure. Yet we had a child that one moment he was there, the next minute he was simply gone, he disappeared. And in a situation like this where we know for a fact that at least one of the exterior doors had a faulty lock mechanism.
We did have one person that did leave during this time period that we`re talking about. In all likelihood, the first scenario that we are looking at is that somehow the child was able to exit the house, able to slip out of the residence and basically disappear into the night.
GRACE: But here`s my question, Lieutenant, the mom has just told us the baby couldn`t even turn the doorknob. And since it`s icy and cold outside, even if somebody left, they would have shut the door?
PENSHORN: You would think so, but with this type of situation, though, there is no other possibility or other way that the person would have gotten out. The only other scenario that we may be looking at, and part of what the parents have been saying, is that the child was possibly abducted.
But again we had seven adults that were at this residence with the child inside the residence. If for some reason somebody came and took that child, not only would they have seen the child leave the residence, but they also would have seen somebody come in and take him.
GRACE: Let me try to understand something. Back to you, Sabrina Benitez. You`re saying the baby couldn`t reach the doorknob, but what about when the door was shut, when the adult left, are you saying the latch didn`t work and the door wouldn`t shut correctly?
BENITEZ: The only way -- there`s only one way that if the baby would have got out the door, there`s only one door, and that would be that the front door had to be open, which like you said, it was cold, there`s no reason for the door to be open. Any little kind of cold breeze, my baby has bad asthma, so we have the doors closed.
The only way he could have got out was the front door, the screen door might not lock -- close properly, and he could find himself and push the door open, but like I said, that door was closed -- that door had been closed all day.
GRACE: To Ellie Jostad, our chief editorial producer.
Ellie, it`s just hard to take in how the baby got outside. Of the adults in the home, who can place the child where at what time?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE CHIEF EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, the father says that at about 8:00, he was sitting in a chair, the little boy was behind him, kind of playing with his hat. Trying to pull the hat off his dad`s head because he kind of told him to stop it, the little boy looked at him, smiled.
As Mrs. Benitez explained too, she said that she was watching a video, "Toy Story." The little boy was in and out of the room. She said earlier that she saw him about 7:40 p.m.
GRACE: OK, she sees him at 7:40, the dad sees him at 8:00 p.m.
JOSTAD: Right.
GRACE: And to you, Sabrina Benitez, what happens after 8:00? What happens then?
BENITEZ: That`s when I realized that the baby hadn`t been -- like it wasn`t normal that he hadn`t been in and out the room. That`s when I jumped up and came to see if he was in the room when I realized he wasn`t in that room. He hadn`t been in the living room. And everyone in the house started looking for him.
GRACE: And what time was this?
BENITEZ: Around 8:00.
GRACE: Well, your husband -- the father says he saw the baby at 8:00, so what time did you realize he was missing?
BENITEZ: It was all right around that time. I mean everything happened so quick I wasn`t looking at the clock. But it was all around that time frame.
GRACE: To Jean Casarez. Weigh in, Jean.
JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": You know, Nancy, here`s what`s so strange. Immediately they called the police, 15 minutes after that child was last seen, police were called. Police immediately arrived on the scene. And there`s emergency notification system in that area. 2500 residents got the notice immediately that the child was missing. So everybody was out looking for the child. And they couldn`t find him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSHUA DAVIS, DAD OF MISSING 18-MO-OLD BOY: I don`t think he wandered off. He knows his play zone, and -- they had the scent dogs out here and they said there was no scent of him leaving out of the, you know, yard or anything like that. So I don`t see how he could have wandered off. They said they would have picked something up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Texas authorities are desperately searching for a missing 18-month-old boy last seen Friday night. Speculation began swirling yesterday when reports of a child`s toy was found on the family mailbox saying only an adult could have left it there. Investigators are checking in with sex offenders in the area.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Let`s go out to Michelle in Texas. Hi, Michelle.
MICHELLE, CALLER FROM TEXAS: Hey, Nancy, how are you?
GRACE: I`m good, dear, what`s your question?
MICHELLE: Well, I actually wanted to say I love your show and I`m going to get to the point really quick. And I want to know, I`m from New Braunfels where Josh is from, and I know a lot of people in this area -- this is actually going on like a mile and a half from where I live.
And a lot of people in this area want to know why an Amber alert was not issued for this baby Friday night. You know, regardless, the child is missing and an Amber alert should have been issued. Everybody in this town should have known what was going on.
GRACE: You know, that`s an excellent point.
Out to you, Lieutenant Penshorn. What about the Amber alert?
PENSHORN: Well, the Department of Justice has very specific criteria in order for us to issue an Amber alert. And we`ve actually had several different times within the past several years where we`ve had situations very similar, not obviously not to this extent, where we wanted to utilize the Amber alert system, and because we did not have specific information that indicated an abduction had occurred, such as a vehicle description, a suspect distribution, any of those items indicating there was an abduction, when the information was sent in it did not meet the criteria and an Amber alert could not be issued.
GRACE: So you actually have to get permission to issue the Amber alert?
PENSHORN: Correct. Yes. You actually submit the information. It is reviewed at the level somewhere within the Department of Justice and it is decided at that time whether or not an issue or an alert will be issued.
GRACE: Everyone, let`s stop and remember Marine Lance Corporal Andrew Russoli, 21, Greensboro, North Carolina. Killed Iraq. On a second tour. Awarded two Purple Hearts.
Smile lit up a room. Wise beyond his years. Motto, live with strength and honor. Wanted to be a firefighter. Nicknamed Rusty. Mom named her new farm Rusty`s Retreat in his honor. Leaves behind parents Sally and Roland, brother, Roland Jr.
Andrew Russoli, American hero.
Thanks to our guests but especially to you.
Everybody, when I first started the show, "Cochran and Grace," Joan Rivers, the first person to have me on her show, `97. Today I got to ask her parenting advice. And in 10 minutes she taught me so much.
Joan Rivers, you`re really the best. Keep going, friend.
Our thoughts and prayers to the family of Maine friend, Irene Tate, passed away just before her 80th. Never missed a show, even replays. Loved scrabble. Simple things in life.
Irene Tate, goodnight, friend.
Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
