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Nancy Grace
Mom Charged for Falling on Infant While Drunk and Suffocating Her
Aired February 18, 2011 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SAM CHAMPION, GUEST HOST: Breaking news tonight, as we go live to West Virginia. A beautiful young mother bonds with her newborn girl, feeding her, changing her, then putting her down for a nap. And then after Mom heads into the room to do some cleaning, she comes back to find the 3- month-old not breathing. Baby Raynna is dead.
But the autopsy doesn`t lie, and neither can the mother`s new husband. He finally breaks down and tells cops what he says really happened. The mother, high as a kite and binge drinking into the night, passes out right on top of her own baby. The 3-month-old is smothered to death. And you talk about an odd coincidence, it`s all just a month before she admits to Nancy Grace on "Swift Justice" that she has a history of blacking out from drinking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The picture of a beautiful baby girl, but Raynna Ray (ph) Boggs lifted a very short life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have been charged with a child neglect causing death.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A West Virginia mother faces charges after cops say she drunkenly passed out on top of her 3-month-old infant, smothering her to death.
NANCY GRACE, HOST, "SWIFT JUSTICE": Is it true that sometimes after drinking a great deal, you would black out?
LESLIE BOGGS, MOTHER: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The defendant had been drinking and using drugs the previous evening and earlier that morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when he woke up that morning, he saw Boggs, quote, "passed out" on the floor and saw the little 3-month-old infant`s legs sticking out from underneath her.
GRACE: Did you black out only on the nights you drank with Gillespie (ph), or did you also black out when you were alone?
BOGGS: Also alone.
GRACE: Thank you. That`s all I wanted to hear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHAMPION: Good evening. I`m Sam Champion of ABC`s "Good Morning America," in for Nancy Grace. A shocking story out of West Virginia tonight. A young mother finds her 3-month-old baby girl dead in the family home, the baby blue in the face, her tiny head mangled. The prime suspect? Well, cops say it`s the baby`s drink mother, who passes out, crushes her own baby to death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say it`s all because of alcohol and drugs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A 3-month-old infant was smothered to death after police say her mom passed out on top of her.
GRACE: When you would black out after drinking, did that only happen when you were with Gillespie?
BOGGS: Yes. But I was 22, you know...
GRACE: No, I don`t think you understand my line of questioning. Please try to focus.
BOGGS: OK.
GRACE: This is very important to me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Raynna was found not breathing in an apartment in south Charleston.
BOGGS: And I`m dealing with my daughter`s death.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He says Boggs passed out on top of the baby. She`d been smothered.
BOGGS: I`m dealing with a lot of stuff, you know?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He noticed little Raynna`s head appeared pushed in and her face was blue.
GRACE: Believe me, we`ll be watching you.
BOGGS: OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHAMPION: Get them, Nancy. I want to go to straight out to Andrew Clevenger, your courts reporter with "The Charleston Gazette." Andrew, good evening. Give us a time on this because it`s a stunning turn from May in 2010, when the mom says, I don`t know how the baby died, to today, she`s charged for the baby`s death.
ANDREW CLEVENGER, "CHARLESTON GAZETTE" (via telephone): Well, thanks for having me on. I think police didn`t feel that they had enough to charge Ms. Boggs, who, of course, is innocent until proven guilty, with until they spoke with her husband in January of 2011.
CHAMPION: All right. So he has something a little bit more to say about what happened, oddly, about nine months after the original death, then.
Art Harris, let me -- reporter with "Swift Justice With Nancy Grace." So the baby dies last May. They finally get around to talking to the -- who was then the boyfriend, now the husband, and he tells them a little bit more about the story. So fill us in. Why did it take so long to get these charges? What was the bombshell?
ART HARRIS, "SWIFT JUSTICE WITH NANCY GRACE": Andrew (SIC), this starts out as a medical mystery. A mother goes to the hospital to meet the baby that she has found that morning not breathing, she says. The baby is pronounced dead at the hospital. Suddenly, the police arrive, and they notice, as the -- as the medical examiner later -- later notes, the baby`s head is pushed in and the body temperature is a bit too cold for the time that the mother says the baby died.
So flash forward. That`s a suspicion. We don`t know any more than that until police go and talk to the husband. By now, he`s in jail. January 21st is the date Detective Gordon goes there. And he says that, in fact, he came downstairs and found his wife passed out, her body over the baby, her legs over the baby`s head...
CHAMPION: Oh!
HARRIS: ... and the baby`s face was blue.
CHAMPION: Oh!
HARRIS: So suddenly, you have a smoking gun and a live witness who will be very important to the prosecution`s case, Sam.
CHAMPION: A witness who walks around and actually says he sees the baby laying under the mother`s body, describes seeing arms and legs sticking out from under the mother.
We are fortunate enough to night to have both a detective and a prosecutor in this case tonight. So A.R. Gordon, you`re a detective with South Charleston PD. Why does Thomas Myers come forward? Why does the husband come forward now so long after the death?
DET. A.R. GORDON, SOUTH CHARLESTON PD: I believe that Mr. Myers knew that this was wrong that this happened, and you know, that he knows wrong is wrong and that the right thing to do was to relay that information to us.
CHAMPION: OK, but there`s something that goes on between now and then. Fill us in a little bit because he doesn`t say anything right away, even if he believes that something may be wrong. But how did you guys get him into custody? Did you just go around for another round of questioning with him? Or how did you come upon this conversation with him?
GORDON: He had originally gave us a statement early on in the investigation. That statement was important. We learned that he had been incarcerated, and we had had some further questions that we wanted to ask him. We believed that he maybe knew more information than he originally had provided us with. And at that point, we went and spoke to him again and the additional information came out.
CHAMPION: Mark Plants, you`re the prosecutor for Kanawha -- did I get that right? Kanawha County there?
MARK PLANTS, KANAWHA COUNTY PROSECUTOR: That`s right.
CHAMPION: Now, is he in custody now for any reason?
PLANTS: No. Leslie Boggs is the only person in custody at this point. She`s the only person that charges have been filed against up to this point. I mean, in every case, there`s a process to be followed. There`s evidence to be collected. And we`re not -- we`re not stuck to (ph) this charge. In West Virginia, everyone has to be indicted by a grand jury. So once I see the report and all the evidence is collected and reviewed, we`ll make an ultimate charging decision. But at this point, Leslie Boggs is charged with neglect resulting in death, which is a 3-to-15 incarceration period.
CHAMPION: Right. Thank you, Mark. I got that. Now, Art Harris, let me go back here because I`m trying to make a point here, and that is that I believe -- and am I right in this? -- that Thomas Myers is actually in prison when he comes forward with this testimony, and he hadn`t been prior. And so now I`m trying to figure out, does he get anything here? How did this bombshell all of a sudden get dropped?
HARRIS: Well, we`ll have to ask the district attorney about that because, of course, he`s there for a probation violation, I believe, having to do with a drug conviction. So here he is and he`s in jail, and we all know why some people do speak to law enforcement officers in jail and try to get some time shaved.
But for all intents and purposes, what he tells the officers is enough for them to take that information to the medical examiner, who says, A-ha, now I can explain those strange marks on the baby`s head and that radical difference between the body temperature at the time the baby was taken to the hospital and the time that Leslie Boggs says she discovered the baby not breathing. She said she got up that morning, did some cleaning, put the baby down, comes back and finds the baby not breathing.
CHAMPION: Yes, two completely different stories. And now I can go back to you, Mark Plants, if you would, and just kind of say that -- I just wanted to establish the fact that you guys kind of got to him in prison, you go over this, and now, all of a sudden, he wants to tell you things that he might not have said early on in the investigation. And you`d always had some kind of suspicion because the coroner`s report didn`t quite jive with what the story that mom tells initially.
So does this new story ring true to you guys immediately? And does Myers get anything out of this testimony?
PLANTS: Well, I think that you`re absolutely right. Myers`s statement is consistent with the allegations in the complaint that are generated from the medical examiner`s report. That`s in the complaint, and of course, these are allegations at this point. But it`s always good have witness testimony corroborate the physical evidence. And of course, there is a delay in this case, and a lot of that had to do with, in the serious cases like this, when you`re talking about families, oftentimes witnesses don`t cooperate right at the beginning.
CHAMPION: All right. And Dr. Gwen O`Keeffe, we`re lucky enough to have you with us tonight. You`re a pediatrician, founder and CEO of Pediatricsnow.com. Let me ask you this, and maybe you can help us understand why it`s so important that this testimony would kind of tell us what the medical examiner saw at first because they were inconsistent. It just didn`t seem right, and now you get an eyewitness who says something. And he hasn`t read the medical examiner`s report. But now, all of a sudden, he`s saying exactly the same thing that was in the report, and everyone goes, A-ha. Why is that so important?
DR. GWEN O`KEEFFE, PEDIATRICIAN: Well, Sam, initially, Mom gave a story of what sounded like SIDS or crib death. And in those cases, the babies die without any obvious cause and there wouldn`t be those marks on the baby`s head and body. The baby would look like just a normal healthy baby that just died, and you would see just a beautiful baby. And that`s why those deaths are so traumatic.
In this case, the marks really fit with something that happened on top of the baby, and that`s what those overlay suffocations are, something that falls on top of the baby. And it`s typically a parent rolling on top of a child during sleep. So the mother passing out or falling asleep on top of the baby would fit exactly with what the coroner found, a head that`s somewhat mushed in, and those lividity marks are from just the pressure of one body on top of the other. So it fits exactly with the story.
CHAMPION: And let me say it again because this is a beautiful baby that we`re looking at. And cops say the face was blue, her head appeared to be pushed in. The medical examiner says originally, the cause of death is asphyxia. And so now again, Gwen, is this common? Do a lot of babies die this way?
O`KEEFFE: Sadly, a few babies do die this way each year from this type of suffocation, Sam, about 500 a year, which is still too many, but down quite a bit due to the Back to Sleep campaign from the American Academy of Pediatrics and other groups, if people don`t co-sleep and learn to not roll on top of their children. The incidence had dropped dramatically in the last 10 years. It used to be close to 1,500 babies around 2000. So it does happen. When parents sleep or fall asleep with their children, they can asphyxiate this way.
CHAMPION: But not passed out and on drugs. We`ve got a lot more ahead.
O`KEEFFE: But (INAUDIBLE) passed out, no.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LESLIE BOGGS: For him to sue me after my daughter dies, you know what I mean, over petty stuff, like, tanning sessions, and I`m dealing with my daughter`s death on top of that!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A 3-month-old infant was smothered to death after police say her mom passed out on top of her during a night of heavy drinking and drug use.
GRACE: Is it true that sometimes, after drinking a great deal, you would black out?
LESLIE BOGGS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have been charged with child neglect causing death.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police have arrested 25-year-old mom Leslie Boggs after a witness came forward and told cops he saw Boggs passed out on top of the infant.
GRACE: Just please try to focus.
LESLIE BOGGS: OK.
CHAMPION: OK? This is very important to me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He says she`d been smothered, making the tiny girl a devastating victim of drug abuse.
GRACE: Did you also black out when you were alone?
LESLIE BOGGS: Also alone.
GRACE: Thank you. That`s all I wanted to hear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boggs faces up to 18 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHAMPION: I`m Sam Champion, in for Nancy Grace. And from the outside, it`s a picture perfect situation. It`s a beautiful mom, a beautiful 3-month-old baby. Leslie Erin Boggs, 25 years old -- she says she walks in the bedroom to find her baby dead. Imagine how awful that is. Cops say the story she gives is not consistent with the autopsy results. The witness says mom was passed out, high on drugs, drunk on alcohol and laying on top of the baby.
Patricia Saunders, you`re a clinical psychologist. Help me understand this mother.
PATRICIA SAUNDERS, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, first, Sam, A blackout is not the same as passing out. A blackout refers to a memory loss, and it usually occurs when people who have severe alcohol addiction drink a lot. They chug it down and they get blasted. This woman is a severe addict. That night, she was highly intoxicated on drugs and alcohol. It impaired her judgment. It impaired her sense of reality.
And the baby was on the floor under her legs, so I`m assuming that she might have just passed out standing up and fell on the baby, not just rolled over in sleep. This woman has major addictive problems and should not have a 3-month-old in her care.
CHAMPION: She certainly told Nancy that it had happened before. Daniel Horowitz, you`re a defense attorney. And the picture that`s being painted now of this young woman, Leslie Erin Boggs, is not a very sympathetic one. How do you defend her? Where do you start?
DANIEL HOROWITZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I start where Dr. Sanders started. She had a severe addiction problem. I`d like to know why her, quote, "boyfriend," now husband, let her be along with that 3-month-old child or where the father of that child was.
My other question is this. How do we even know how this child died? She blacked out. She doesn`t know. The child could have died many different ways other than being smothered, although that seems like the most likely possibility. But I think we have to treat this as a tragedy because this is probably a very kind, loving mother with a severe addiction problem, and the rest of her life, she`ll be tortured. Nothing will bring this child back, so let`s be kind to this mother as much as we can.
CHAMPION: Oh, Daniel, you`re a wonderful man for being able to say those things because when you`re faced with a coroner`s report that talks about the skull of this baby crushed in, that the baby is blue, that the witness finds the baby`s arms and legs underneath this passed-out mother, who says that she does this and has had this happen to her before, it`s hard to find sympathy like you were able to conjure up there. Good defense attorney.
Anne Bremner, let me ask you this, Anne. How do you start to tear apart, as Daniel just said, the credibility of this man? Was the boyfriend at the time they find the body, is now the husband -- how do you tear him down?
ANNE BREMNER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You start with 10 months. I mean, why the delay? I mean, if he really had this information and it was true at the time, why the wait? And then second, he was trying to get -- he filed a motion to reduce his prison sentence in December, and then he comes clean in January. He`s looking out for himself. And he`s coming out when he`s in prison with this, quote, unquote, "information."
The other thing is, 1,500 deaths and then 500 deaths of babies out there -- I want to know how many of those are charged cases criminally because what we`ve heard so far, those are parents meaning well that may have rolled over on their child.
And finally, her legs are over the child. That`s all he saw. And he carefully steps around her body and then moves on and does nothing. The autopsy report back then didn`t say homicide. It doesn`t say cause of death homicide. And in fact, they didn`t "solve" the case, quote. unquote, until now with this really dubious, I think, testimony as a defense lawyer.
CHAMPION: All right. Well, we`ve heard from two defense attorneys who say that they can try to conjure up your sympathy if you`re a juror. When we come back in just a second, we`re going to talk to the reporters who are actually on the ground. They`ve been talking to people around town. They`ve been getting the reports on what happened. And do think they that people who knew this woman and knew this family have any sympathy?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Did you black out only on the nights you drank with Gillespie, or did you also black out when you were alone?
BOGGS: Also alone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Has the self-esteem of zero.
GRACE: Why are you crying?
BOGGS: I`m dealing with my daughter`s death!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops say she drunkenly passed out on top of her 3- month-old infant, smothering her to death.
BOGGS: (INAUDIBLE) marks of...
GRACE: OK...
BOGGS: ... 2010.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A beautiful baby girl.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops say as the boyfriend was able to free Raynna, he saw her face was blue. Her head appeared pushed in, and he was certain the infant was dead.
BOGGS: Caused me problems and grief, you know...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHAMPION: I`m Sam Champion, in for Nancy Grace tonight. There is no surprise that you are loading up the phones tonight to talk about this, and little Raynna Ray Boggs, just 3 months old.
Janine from California. Good evening. Thanks for calling.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. Thank you for taking my call. I am just -- I`m flabbergasted at how many of these mothers -- they drink and they smoke around their kids. They`ll get in the car with their cigarettes with the kids. And it`s, like, does anybody ever -- has anybody in her family ever thought, you know, there`s just something`s not right? Did they ever seen anything on that child before? I mean, it`s only a 3-month-old baby, but - - and my comment is that, you know, I have a 16-year-old daughter that I`m trying to keep alive every day. And it just kills me that there are these mothers that -- that kill their children. I mean, this baby was underneath her legs! How could she not feel a baby, even though you`re passed out?
CHAMPION: Well, there have been quite a few stories in the headlines about mothers and their children and mothers being impaired, on drugs or alcohol.
Art Harris, any sign that the family involved or the neighbors involved ever said, Hey, stop, take a look at yourself?
HARRIS: Well, it was no secret, Sam, that this young woman had a drinking problem. In fact, one of the things that her former boyfriend or friend was suing her over on "Swift Justice" was for the immobilizer he paid for to put in her car. She`d had, I`m told, a couple of DUIs, and she could not drive without -- starting the car without puffing, blowing into a device that allows her to start the car only if it measures that she has not been drinking at a certain level.
CHAMPION: So people had, indeed -- Andrew Clevenger, you`re out there on the ground, as well. Heard stories like that?
CLEVENGER: You know, I haven`t spoken to many family members. But I do think that this -- this probably came out of the blue. I was there when she was arraigned, and she did seem stunned and just shocked that this charge was coming at her.
CHAMPION: OK, but we just found out that she had a Breathalyzer on the car and there had been conversations about it in other ways, as well.
Coming up, we have Detective Steve Rogers. We also have Brad Lamm, a certified interventionist. So we will -- we will get the answer on how you get involved if you see a situation like this. Could someone have stopped this from happening to little Raynna Ray Boggs, just 3 months old?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The picture of a beautiful baby girl. But Raynna Ray Boggs lived a very short life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have been charged with child neglect causing death.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A West Virginia mother faces charges after cops say she drunkenly passed out on top of her 3-month-old infant, smothering her to death.
GRACE: Is it true that sometimes after drinking a great deal, you would black out?
BOGGS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The defendant had been drinking and using drugs the previous evening and earlier that morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when he woke up that morning, he saw Boggs, quote, "passed out" on the floor and saw the little 3-month-old infant`s legs sticking out from underneath her.
GRACE: Did you black out only on the nights you drank with Gillespie, or did you also black out when you were alone?
BOGGS: Also alone.
GRACE: Thank you. That`s all I wanted to hear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHAMPION: I`m Sam Champion in for Nancy Grace. And tonight, we`re just trying to find some answers and figure this all out. Brad Lamm, you`re a certified interventionist and author of "How to Help the One You Love." We said earlier we`d give you a chance to help us understand this. Now, she was charged with stealing prescription pills called Suboxone (ph), this young mother, and she`s admitted to the fact that she`s had blackouts before. What do you want to say.
BRAD LAMM, INTERVENTIONIST: Sam, Suboxone is oftentimes a street drug now. It was introduced to help people get off opiate addiction. And look, this is the challenge to every family out there to open your eyes. Stuff like this is happening every day, whether it`s a drunk driving accident, whether it`s this tragedy like (INAUDIBLE) she had an immobilizer on her car, and people around her are now saying it was a surprise? That (INAUDIBLE) and they just -- sometimes they just pray that something will happen. And the truth is that the good Lord gave us families to help us when we`re stupid and fall into addiction like this. Families do have power when they have an addicted loved one, and this did not have to happen.
CHAMPION: Well, I tell you, you broke up just a little bit, but that -- that message, the last part, was loud and clear, that this is our opportunity.
Andrew Clevenger, tell me about the other drug connections, the charges that happened with this young woman and the other times that you`re aware of that she`s had a run-in with drugs and alcohol?
CLEVENGER: Well, I think there are several cases in the courthouse where she`s alleged to have been intoxicated. I know she pleaded guilty to obstructing a police officer when she was allegedly intoxicated during an incident. And in September, she did, as you mentioned -- she did get charged with taking 38 Suboxone pills out of a car.
CHAMPION: And she was in a parking lot at a rehab facility or where a meeting was going on, and she gets out of her car and -- as police say, and goes into a car next to her from someone who`s in there? Is that the story?
CLEVENGER: That is the story. It`s an outpatient treatment facility for substance abusers.
CHAMPION: OK. So clearly, it was kind of -- the idea in her head was maybe that there might be some of those pills in the car or some kind of drugs in the car. Now, so certainly, you can understand why people are sounding off about this tonight, going, you know, Why didn`t someone jump in, why didn`t someone say something?
Amanda from West Virginia, you`re on the line. Go ahead. Tell us what you`re thinking tonight.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello. Thank you for taking my call.
CHAMPION: Oh. Our pleasure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First of all, I think this is a horribly sad story, and I think it`s a great example of what can go wrong when doing drugs and alcohol after a pregnancy and having a young child. And I think that all young mothers should see this story and realize how it`s so important to stop those habits after having a baby.
But my question is, I noticed that they said right now she`s being charged with neglect causing death, and that was a 3-to-5-year sentence. What are the chances of it going to homicide? And what could be her maximum sentence?
CHAMPION: Really good question. Amanda, you`re a good viewer because we hadn`t even gotten there yet, to these charges. I`ve got to ask you, Mark Plants, prosecutor here at the courthouse. A lot of us were wondering about these charges because you don`t see the charge written out as murder. So what`s the thought process here in charging?
PLANTS: Well, she`s charged right now with child neglect resulting in death. And first degree, second degree murder, I have to -- what I would have to prove the specific intent to kill another person. In this case, the allegations are that she didn`t reach over and intentionally smother the baby with her hand or with a pillow. The allegation so far, based on the complaint, is that she got wasted, she got drunk, she got high, and she fell asleep and rolled over on the child. There`s no evidence indicating that she intentionally killed the child. That`s the reason for the neglect resulting in death.
Of course, as in all investigations, after I receive the report and review the evidence, we`ll determined, based on the evidence, what the maximum charge can be. This charge is a 3-to-15-year charge, not a 3-to-5. I heard that. I just wanted to correct that. But once we review the evidence, we can determine what -- based on the evidence, what a maximum charge can be based on the evidence.
CHAMPION: So am I hearing you correct in that this charge could actually carry a little bit more time than another charge that sounds a little worse? Is that what you`re telling me?
PLANTS: That`s right. I mean, this is a 3-to-15, and involuntary manslaughter is a misdemeanor. It could be up to a year. Another -- a negligent homicide is a misdemeanor. So based on the evidence, this is the highest charge. And again, I haven`t reviewed all the evidence. And after I review the evidence, we`ll determine what -- you know, we will find a charge based on the evidence and maximize the prison sentence.
CHAMPION: All right, thank you so much, sir. Now, Detective Lieutenant Steve Rogers, who`s with the Nutley, New Jersey, Police Department is a former member of the FBI joint terrorism task force, is with us tonight. And I got to say, one of the things that I`m wondering from you tonight, Steve, is when you go in to talk to a mother and her baby is dead and the baby`s already gone to the hospital and -- is it standard procedure to look around and say, What was going on in the house at the time, to give the mother a Breathalyzer test, to do anything like that invasive to the family, that might be considered invasive to the family? Is that standard procedure?
DET. LT. STEVE ROGERS, NUTLEY, NEW JERSEY, POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, yes, it is. Certainly, in the death of a child, pictures will be taken. It will considered almost a crime scene. Although, in this case, it wasn`t a crime until after the fact. But that is standard procedure.
And I`ll tell you something, Sam. This was excellent police work. Detectives, when they go in on a scene like this, these fellows, these officers down there, had something click, some instinct clicked in for them to go back and to talk to the guy in prison. And as a result of that, they were able to nail this case shut. So what you saw was excellent police work from the time they walked in , looked at what happened, to the time they went to the hospital, spoke with her, to the time they went to the prison and spoke with him.
CHAMPION: Detective Gordon, A.R. Gordon, with South Charleston PD, you just heard excellent kudos on your work there. Was there something initially that clicked in your head when you`re standing there early in this case that said, This doesn`t seem quite right?
GORDON: Yes, there was. As previously stated, Leslie`s comments and statements that she gave about what happened that morning -- it became evident early on that that simply wasn`t what happened. There are some additional things that we will address later on when we get to that point in this criminal procedure. I can`t talk about those here tonight, but those are outside of the scope right now of the criminal complaint, and that`s all I can address here tonight. But those will come out eventually.
CHAMPION: And am I correct in saying that, also, when you get the husband and he starts talking, he starts remembering things like, Oh, yes, and her mother gave her gum or breath mints in the hospital so that she didn`t seem drunk? Is that true? Am I misstating something here?
GORDON: No, that is what he stated to us that happened.
CHAMPION: OK. So you end up with his testimony, you end up getting an entire picture of that night, or of that morning. Is that true?
GORDON: That is correct.
CHAMPION: All right. So again, with Mark Plants, so you got this picture and you`ve got to make these charges. What about charging the boyfriend? What about charging the mother? Are they allowed to be charged in this situation in West Virginia?
PLANTS: Well, we`d have to review all the evidence. At this point, only the defendant is charged. The boyfriend obviously is one of our witnesses. After we review all the evidence and determine whether there`s anything that he can be charged with based on the evidence.
The mother, the allegation, if it`s -- you know, right now, if it`s a true allegation that she gave a piece of gum or she tried -- she somehow tried to help her daughter hide the truth -- that`s -- she could possibly be an accessory after the fact. But in West Virginia, unfortunately, if you`re a family member, you can`t be charged with that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have been charged with child neglect causing death. (INAUDIBLE) the defendant, Leslie Erin Boggs, stated that she had left Raynna alone in the room while cleaning after she fed her and changed her clothing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say it`s all because of alcohol and drugs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A 3-month-old infant was smothered to death after police say her mom passed out on top of her.
GRACE: When you would black out after drinking, did that only happen when you were with Gillespie?
BOGGS: Yes. But I was 22, you know...
GRACE: No, I don`t think you understand my line of questioning. Just please try to focus.
BOGGS: OK.
GRACE: OK? This is very important to me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Raynna was found not breathing at an apartment in South Charleston.
BOGGS: And I`m dealing with my daughter`s death!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He says Boggs passed out on top of the baby. She`d been smothered.
BOGGS: I`m dealing with a lot of stuff, you know?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He noticed little Raynna`s head appeared pushed in and her face was blue.
GRACE: Believe me, we`ll be watching you.
BOGGS: OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHAMPION: I`m Sam Champion, in for Nancy Grace. And tonight, we`re trying to unravel this story. Raynna Ray Boggs, 3 months old, found dead, blue, head smashed in. A coroner`s report says it appears that the body had been rolled on top of. Police later say that it was the mother, that she was high on drugs, drunk, and they have now charged her.
Here`s something you haven`t seen yet tonight, and I want to show you this as we look at this together. These are MySpace postings, and this is -- as I`m being told and I`m looking at them now, and if you look at the date, this is after the baby`s death. And in most of these cases, this is just a few months after the baby`s death. And this has a lot of people talking tonight.
You know, you start with a little bit before the baby, and then you go right into afterwards, where (INAUDIBLE) "Sitting in the hospital with my beautiful, healthy daughter. I love her so much." That`s in March. And now remember, you know, we`re still in March here -- "Spending family time."
But you`re going to go to these MySpace postings that are just after. And you know, she`s enjoying being skinny again. And you`re going to see that, you know, she starts talking in a way that to some people might not - - this is August 12th. "Loving life and myself. Going to the beach."
I`m not sure. A lot -- some people are saying this doesn`t quite seem right. So I`m going to go to Patricia Saunders. We`re watching these MySpace postings now. You`re a clinical psychologist. You see the ones where she`s happy, like any mother would be. She is excited at the delivery. She`s happy to be in the hospital. And then oddly, just months after the baby`s death, when, quite frankly, I don`t know -- I don`t know that I`d be out of bed yet. She`s planning a trip to the beach.
Is it just me or is there something we need to know about these MySpace postings?
SAUNDERS: I think there really is something there, Sam, when she says, to get away from Raynna, to get away from her daughter, as if being herself, being back to herself had nothing to do with her daughter. I mean, she may have had the fantasy that having a baby girl was going to make her happy and joyful, then been really disappointed when the little baby was a lot of hard work and decided that she really didn`t like her very much. This is not normal mommy stuff.
CHAMPION: Yes. I mean, when I`m looking at it, I`m not comfortable. The feeling I generally get from it is not comfortable.
And as we said, the calls are pouring in tonight. You`re on the line. Denise from Illinois. Good evening, and thank you for calling.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. Thank you for taking my call. To the point, I agree with you. You know, the timeline between the baby dying and her postings, it`s like the baby was never there.
CHAMPION: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, I get what you`re getting. And I want to know -- I know the mother allegedly gave her gum -- Hide your breath. And here this boyfriend is in jail for I don`t know what. And she`s found with Suboxone which pulls you off the opiates. And there`s just a lot of missing links, I think. And I get how you feel about. It doesn`t fit.
CHAMPION: Yes, it...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And...
CHAMPION: Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can I quickly -- Anne Bremer, Denise in Chicago. Hi. We love you.
(LAUGHTER)
CHAMPION: We love them, too, because it`s where we get a lot of our answers. But OK, Denise, so you`re with me here that it doesn`t quite feel well. So Art Harris, what is it that we`re missing in this story? What do I need?
HARRIS: You need to understand her relationships. And who was the father of that baby? By the way, he insisted on a DNA test. She didn`t want one. And he got a court order to take one. He took, and suddenly, he is the father, the same man who later sues her for damages, you know, in, you know, small claims court.
So what you have is a possible rivalry, friends close to the family tell me, between this Eric Gillespie and Thomas Andrew Myers, who marries her. By the way, that was his drug class she was dropping -- she was dropping him off the night that she went into that Jeep and got the drugs. So a lot of irony there. And that was the day before her episode on "Swift Justice" aired. But the timeline is fascinating. This father actually sued her to get clothes of the baby.
CHAMPION: Oh. OK. So that helps us tie some of these pieces together. Of course, folks who have been following Nancy all week long certainly know a little bit more about these stories and can put these edges all together.
And tonight, here`s CNN`s Heroes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is my honor to present CNN Hero Dan Wallrath!
DAN WALLRATH, CNN HERO: Being a top 10 CNN Hero was just very humbling. The true heroes are servicemen and women who answer the call. Since the show aired, we`ve been getting phone calls and e-mails and donations from all over the world. It`s just been incredible.
GEORGE VERSCHOOR, "EXTREME MAKEOVER HOME EDITION": We had seen Dan on the CNN Heroes tribute, and we thought that`s a perfect guy we got to team up with.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning, Patrick and Jessica!
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "AC360" (voice-over): ABC`s "Extreme Makeover Home Edition" joined forces with Dan to build a home for an Iraq war veteran wounded in the 2009 attack at Ft. Hood in Texas. Thirteen soldiers died, but Staff Sergeant Patrick Ziegler pulled through.
WALLRATH: He was shot four times, once in the head. He`s just made a remarkable recovery.
COOPER: For Dan, who normally works with around 200 people, it`s a chance to help build a home on a much larger scale.
WALLRATH: It has been 4,000 or 5,000 volunteers involved. We have tons of military folks helping us.
Bless you.
This house is going to be built in about 100 hours, where normally, we take about six months.
COOPER: At an event at Ft. Hood honoring Patrick and his fiancee, Jessica, Dan made a special announcement.
WALLRATH: We have established a Ft. Hood victims` fund to reach out to all the families affected by this tragedy.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
WALLRATH: I feel so good all the time about seeing these lives change. Now we`re going to be able to change a lot more.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHAMPION: Let`s take a look back at the stories making headlines this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The images are eerie. In the far background of this home surveillance video, you can see a sexual predator going after his latest victim, a 12-year-old girl.
GRACE: Look at this perv chasing the little girl!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s been three attacks in same general area.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was physically shaken. She did not have any pants on. And the first thing she said to me was, Some guy just tried to rape me.
GRACE: We want him off the streets and behind bars where he belongs!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Skeletal remains were found in a remote Malibu canyon.
GRACE: Are they those of Mitrice Richardson?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m looking at the life of my baby flash before my eyes!
GRACE: This is Mitrice`s mother. You had gone to the area and you actually discovered remains.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is correct. I can`t even grieve her because I`m too busy investigating.
GRACE: There`s Mommy shaking and trembling and all wide-eyed and crazy-looking.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly how you`d expect someone to look who`s accused of executing her children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sixteen-year-old Caylx.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shot her twice in the head.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And 13-year-old Beau.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She shot him in the head twice.
GRACE: Even after cops say she confesses in full detail, Mommy pleads not guilty.
Where is missing mom Tiffany Brown?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 26-year-old mother of two boys left her kids with a baby-sitter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And she never made it back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someone has made (ph) her from making it back here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every time she comes back from surgery, she`s been getting stronger.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her parents rushed her to the emergency room at Sacramento`s Methodist Hospital, but were forced to wait five hours before ever seeing a doctor.
GRACE: In those five hours, she loses feet, hand, fingers, nearly her life. We want answers!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHAMPION: And tonight, let`s stop to remember Army Specialist Matthew Holley, 21 years old, from San Diego, California, killed in Iraq. He was awarded the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and the Combat Medical Badge. A national tae kwon do champion, he also loved graphic art. Remembered for always having a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes, he leaves behind his parents, John (ph) and Stacey (ph), both gold star parents. Matthew Holley, a true American hero.
Thank you to all of our guests tonight, and to you at home for being with us. I`m Sam Champion, in for Nancy Grace. Thanks, Nancy. And we`ll see you all tomorrow night at 8:00 o`clock Eastern. Until then, good night, everybody.
END
