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Nancy Grace

Atlanta-Area 12-Year-Old Disappears From Parking Lot

Aired February 23, 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, Atlanta suburbs. A 12-year-old girl heads to the shopping mall to sell flowers for family money. When the uncle goes 10 minutes for a pizza, the 12-year-old little flower girl vanishes. Bombshell tonight. Grainy surveillance video emerges spotting the 12-year-old Pricella walking along at a strip mall when a white van appears in the parking lot. Then a frantic call from the missing girl from a private number, insisting that she has been snatched by a grown woman and can`t get away. Mommy, desperate, begs the little girl to dial 911, but then the call goes dead. Pricella never heard from again. Tonight, where is 12-year-old flower girl Pricella?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIA RISTICK, PRICELLA`S MOTHER: Please, bring her back!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The search intensifies for a missing 12-year-old girl causing even more panic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another agonizing day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gwinnett police have just released these pictures of 12-year-old Pricella Ristick. They show her leaving the shopping center on Indian Trail Road. The second shot shows a white van.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who had befriended her, known only to them as Nancy. Ms. Ristick got a call from Pricella a few hours later.

RISTICK: And she told me, Mom, I can`t get away. I told her to come home, try to find a way to get out of there. She said, I can`t. I don`t know where I am. She`s in the -- in her house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She says she told her to hang up and call 911, but the call ended.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: And tonight, live, Texas, 30 miles north San Antonio. A desperate 911 call, 18-month-old toddler boy, baby Joshua, vanishes, just seen 10 minutes earlier -- 10 minutes! As local temperatures dip into the 20s, did baby Joshua wonder off on his own? In a new twist, cops say no. Eight people in the home at the time. Mommy tells us he could barely reach the doorknob, much less turn it.

Investigators seize evidence from the family back yard, a tarp, a bucket and neighborhood trash can. Breaking tonight. As rumors swirl Baby Joshua is found, investigators confirm kidnap is out. Multiple polygraphs go down. How -- how -- does a little baby just disappear in a house full of people? Tonight, where is baby Joshua?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Still no sign of Joshua.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Children do not simply disappear.

GRACE: His mommy tells me point blank, he cannot turn a doorknob.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He can`t reach tall enough to where he could turn the doorknob.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody in this home knows something about what happened to this child.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have executed some search warrants in that home. They have taken out a bucket, a tarp and items in black plastic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only person who has not been given a polygraph at this point is the mom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is eight months pregnant, which precludes her from taking a polygraph exam.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want to know he`s OK, that he`s still alive and he`s being...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somebody in that house knows. The baby didn`t walk away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something happened to this child in or around this home which led to his disappearance, period.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with you. Bombshell tonight, live, Atlanta suburbs. A 12-year-old little girl heads to a shopping mall. She sells flowers to make family money. When the uncle goes 10 minutes for a pizza, just 10 minutes, the 12-year- old flower girl vanishes. Grainy surveillance video emerges spotting the 12-year-old, Pricella, walking along at the strip mall when a white van appears in the parking lot. Then a frantic call from the missing girl, insisting she`s been snatched by a grown woman and can`t get away. Tonight, where is 12-year-old flower girl Pricella?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twelve-year-old Pricella went for pizza with her uncle in the shopping center on Indian Trail Road.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was helping her uncle sell flowers. He went to grab a pizza. When he came back, Pricella was gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was seconds. It was seconds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She slipped away. They believe she got into the white van of a woman who had befriended her, known only to them as Nancy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About an hour or so later, her mother got a call from the girl, who said a woman had taken her.

RISTICK: I told her, Why would you get in with her in the van?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She said she was at a house with the woman and had no idea where she was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That call lasted only minutes. The line went completely dead.

RISTICK: Please bring her back! Please! I want my baby back!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Straight out to Eric Jens, WRGA Newstalk news director. Eric, what happened?

ERIC JENS, WRGA NEWSTALK: Well, Nancy, a lot of the details in this case have changed slightly from the initial reports, but the main consistency and the main concern on everyone`s minds tonight is where is 12-year-old Pricella Ristick? She was last seen Sunday evening about 5:15 inside the Little Caesar`s pizza restaurant, or just outside of it, actually...

GRACE: That`s broad daylight.

JENS: Yes, and...

GRACE: At 5:15 PM.

JENS: ... you can clearly see, you know, the image, that that was her leaving. And then that`s the last we see of her. We don`t know exactly what happens to her after that. We have some third-party witnesses, actually, that say she was in that white van that you spoke of earlier.

GRACE: Well, hold on. Hold on. Wait a minute. Wait a minute, Eric. First of all, Dana -- yes, that`s what I want to say. Bring it to me in full. I want to see the little girl. There`s the 12-year-old flower girl. There`s the white van. Take it from the top, Dana. I want to see her again.

This little girl at a local strip mall. She and her uncle go there to sell flowers to make family money. He goes into the Little Caesar`s pizza to get a quick pizza. He`s only gone 10 minutes. Everything`s fine. He comes out, Pricella is gone.

Now, a woman in a beauty salon says -- and I`ve got the police report right here -- that she sees the girl getting into a white van. Cops tell us that they have confirmed that she approached the white van. We`re showing you the white van.

Let`s take it from there, Jean Casarez. What happens next?

JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION": ... because no one ever saw her get into the van. They saw her approach the van. You see the still video surveillance photos with her, another picture with a white van. But there`s where the stories are divergent because what happened to her...

GRACE: Wait! Look! Stop, stop, stop! Jean, look! Look at her! She looks like she knows the person, or is she just running over there, she thinks somebody`s going to buy flowers? It could be that. Never mind. I thought I could tell a degree of familiarity in the way she was approaching the van. But she could just be dodging (ph) over there because she thinks they`re going to buy some flowers. Go ahead, Jean.

CASAREZ: But that was my initial thought. I felt her stride right there -- she knew where she was going. She had a reason to do what she was doing. And she has her jacket on her arm.

GRACE: There you see the 12-year-old little girl. Her family has not heard from her since. This goes down in broad daylight, 5:15 PM in a strip center parking mall, a strip center shopping mall. Take a look at 12-year- old Pricella. We are taking your calls.

But I want to get back to, Jean Casarez, the fact that she then tries to call her mother. What happens with that? The little girl calls her mom.

CASAREZ: Yes. The uncle calls police. Police are heading over to the mother`s house. I think right when they get there, right before, she calls her mother. And this is where the story diverges too. She says, I`m with Nancy. Nancy`s going to bring me back tomorrow. Nancy says she`s going to call police. But then another rendition -- and she says, I don`t know where I am. And her mother says, Call the police, get out of there.

GRACE: "She offered me money. She was going to cash a check and give me money to buy food. Mom, I can`t get away." "Try to figure a way out." "I don`t know where I am."

Now, how did we get two conversations? Was it just lost in the sauce? What happened? How am I getting, "I`m with Nancy" or "I don`t know where I am"?

CASAREZ: It`s either inconsistencies or two parts to the same conversation.

GRACE: Yes. They could both be true, actually. She could be with someone identified as Nancy, a grown woman who was driving that van, and she could also not know where their location is. So both of these can be true.

Everyone, the tip line, 770-513-5300. There is a reward. We are looking for a 12-year-old little girl tonight. She was there at a local strip mall, Lilburn, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta, selling flowers to make money for her family at age 12. She has not been seen since. After that call, the mom tries to call back. No go. The line goes dead with little Pricella on the phone.

What I don`t understand also -- to Ben Levitan, telecommunications expert joining us out of Raleigh, North Carolina -- why cops don`t know who made that call already.

BEN LEVITAN, TELECOMMUNICATIONS EXPERT (via telephone): Nancy, they should know it immediately. Maybe they don`t know, but there`s no such thing as an anonymous call, Nancy. It can`t happen. The phone company wouldn`t put a call through if they couldn`t bill it. What happens when you get "private number," it just means that it`s not displayed to Mom. Pricella did the right thing calling.

All the police have to do is go to mom`s telephone company and say, We want to know the number of that call. Let`s say it turns out to be an AT&T number. They can go to AT&T and say, We want to know where the cell phone number is right now, and they will be able to find that phone within an area of 700 acres. That`s the maximum it could be. And then from there, they can call the phone and track it down. We could find her tonight.

GRACE: I don`t understand what the delay is. To Eric Jens, WRGA Newstalk, joining us. What are cops saying about this phone call? I`m sorry. I can`t hear you. Repeat?

JENS: Yes. They`re not releasing any details of the call, other than that one was made and they`re investigating that as an aspect of the case. Of course, as you mentioned, they are going into more details about what the discussion entailed. But as far as using the phone to locate her whereabouts, we don`t know the details of the extent of that effort.

GRACE: Eric Jens! Eric Jens!

JENS: Yes?

GRACE: Did you just hear Ben Levitan explain...

JENS: It sounded very...

GRACE: ... how you can find where the call is?

JENS: ... simple, but -- well, it did sound very simple. That`s not specifically my area of expertise. I don`t doubt that he`s right in that fact, but...

GRACE: What are cops saying about this phone call? What are they saying about the phone call?

JENS: I have heard -- and I have not heard this directly from the police themselves, but what I have heard is that this is one of those disposable type phones and that it could have come from anywhere and it could be anywhere right now.

GRACE: Oh, does that change the scenario, Ben Levitan? Eric Jens is telling us it could be one of those disposable phones. You can get them at the Tom Thumb or the 7-Eleven.

LEVITAN: It doesn`t matter at all. It has a phone number. It`s -- the records are kept for every phone call. When she is called, she -- a record is kept of what cell site she made that call from. It doesn`t matter if it`s a disposable phone or not. What you could do, what the mom could have done is -- if this ever happens, you can hit send, dial 911, hit send again, and you`ll be in a three-way call with 911, and that person`s location will be -- exact location will be telegraphed to the 911 center. 911 is (INAUDIBLE)

GRACE: Everyone, take a look at Pricella Ristick, just 12 years old, 4 feet, 95 pounds, reddish-brown hair, brown eyes. She called her mom and said she can`t get away. Tip line, 770-513-5300. At 12 years old, out selling flowers to help make money for her family. She has not been seen since.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to tell you about a 12-year-old girl. She`s missing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The search intensifies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The girl`s mother frantic to find her daughter.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twelve-year-old Pricella Ristick.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are investigating this case as an abduction.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Vanished from the parking lot outside of a pizza parlor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police are checking surveillance cameras from the strip mall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hours after little Pricella vanished, she called her mom from a private number.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ms. Ristick got a call from Pricella.

RISTICK: And she told me, Mom, I can`t get away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Saying she was at a house with a woman named Nancy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Known only to them as Nancy. She says she told her to hang up and call 911.

RISTICK: (INAUDIBLE) I don`t know where I am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After a few moments, the call was cut off.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then the line went completely dead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pricella and her uncle were outside the Little Caesar`s on Indian Trail at Dickens (ph) Road in Lilburn at about 5:00 PM Sunday. She was helping her uncle sell flowers. He went inside to get a pizza, and Pricella vanished. An hour or so later, Pricella`s mother, Julia Ristick, says Pricella called her from a cell phone and she said she was with a woman named Nancy, who had offered her some money. She was at a house with the woman and had no idea where she was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Where is the 12-year-old little flower girl, Pricella? Take a look at her. We are taking your calls. Out to Kimberly in California. Hi, Kimberly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I love your show. I just want to say...

GRACE: Thank you. Thank you for calling in, dear.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want to say it`s sickening with these missing kids. But my question is, does the uncle know more about the description of the woman that allegedly has taken her? And also, why is it taking the police so long to find this phone number so they can find the little girl?

GRACE: That`s my question, too. Let`s go to Jean Casarez and talk about the white van. You see the picture down in the bottom corner of your screen? The little girl, the 12-year-old girl is going toward the white van right there. Now, Jean, I`ve got the police report. What do we learn about the white van? What do witnesses say?

CASAREZ: About the white van, witnesses saw her approach it, but they never see her get into it or pulled into it, as were some of the initial reports. And you notice, Nancy, we don`t see a picture of the white van and her together. Those are separate photos. But in regard to Nancy, there`s not a composite sketch, that we know of, of this woman.

GRACE: There you see her approaching the white van. And according to a witness -- it says a lady that works in the beauty salon next to Little Caesar`s pizza saw someone pushing Pricella into a white van. Now, that is what he relates to police. Police say they can only confirm she approached the white van. Also, it says here that the uncle waited about 35 to 45 minutes before calling police.

Why, Eric Jens? Why did he wait 45 minutes?

JENS: It would be just speculation on my part at this time. But he might have presumed that she was off selling flowers somewhere, or maybe she was, you know, inclined to have that kind of behavior, where she would take some initiative, go off, do things and come back. He had told her to stay in the area. Obviously, now, it makes more sense to have made that call immediately.

GRACE: To Marc Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation, joining us from San Francisco. That 45 minutes could cost this little girl her life.

MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: Well, there`s many things, Nancy, that could cost this little girl her life. She supplied an enormous amount of information in the phone call to her mother. She was obviously lured to the van and into the van. She also said nine words which completely and totally justify the issuance of the Amber Alert that was never issued. Those words are, I can`t get away, and I don`t know where I am.

Why is it that we have to get a green light for an Amber Alert from a state agency, when the locals know exactly what they need to do? It absolutely blows my mind that nothing was done to rescue this little girl immediately.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The search intensifies for a missing 12-year-old girl.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twelve-year-old Pricella Ristick.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She slipped away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Witnesses say they saw the girl get into a white van.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They believe she got into the white van of a woman who had befriended her, known only to them as Nancy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her mother got a call from the girl, who said a woman had taken her.

RISTICK: She told me, Mom, I can`t get away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then moments later, the phone went dead.

RISTICK: Bring her back! Please! I want my baby back!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re told this is a recent photo but that Pricella now has red hair. She and her mother are visiting a relative for the month. They say she is home schooled and has never done anything like this before. Police say since they cannot confirm Pricella left on her own, they`re treating this as a kidnapping and still looking for leads.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: A 12-year-old little girl goes to a strip mall with her uncle to sell flowers to raise money for her family to help them with family living expenses. She`s never seen again. She is caught on grainy surveillance video going toward a white van, apparently to sell flowers to the woman in the van. She sends a frantic call to her mother, claiming she doesn`t know exactly where she is and she can`t get away. That`s the last she`s heard of.

We are taking your calls. Out to Tamara in Texas. Hi, Tamara.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. How are you tonight?

GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question has really been answered. I was going to ask why the cell phone had not been traced and why it took the uncle so long, 35 to 45 minutes, to call. If I had my niece or nephew with me and I walked out and they were gone, it would be immediate in this day and time. But so let me ask you this question. Do you think the uncle is in on something with this woman driving the van?

GRACE: Well, I tell you this much. When I first -- before I found out we had the surveillance video, I was very disturbed about the uncle and the whole story in general because in these type of cases, you look at the last person to see them, the last person to be with them, the family members, especially male family members and extended relatives and neighbors.

But here we`ve got her going toward the white van. Cops also verify with the lady in the beauty salon next to the pizza that she was approaching a white van. That`s not his van. So that kind of corroborates his story.

I want to go to Sheryl McCollum, crime analyst, director of cold case squad, Pine Lake P.D. What do you think, Sheryl?

SHERYL MCCOLLUM, CRIME ANALYST: This woman is a problem. I`m still not exactly comfortable with the uncle, either. Nancy, I`ve got a feeling this child was sold into the sex slave industry.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please bring her back.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The search intensifies for a missing 12-year- old girl causing even more panic.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Another agonizing day.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Gwyneth Police have just released these pictures of 12-year-old Pricella Ristick. They show her leaving a shopping center on Indian trail road. The second shot shows a white van.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Who had befriended her, known only to them as Nancy. Miss Ristick got a call from Pricella a few hours later.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She told me, mom, I can`t get away. I told her, come home, try to find a way to get out of there. She said, I can`t. I don`t know where I am. She was in her house.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She says she told her to hang up and call 911 but the call ended.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: We want to tell you about a 12-year-old girl. She is missing and family members from around the country are gathering in suburban Atlanta right now where the 12-year-old disappeared. They are looking for any signs of Pricella Ristick who vanished from a parking lot out of a pizza parlor on Sunday.

She went there with her uncle to apparently sell flowers. He`s kept inside for a few minutes and when he returned the girl was missing, was gone. About an hour or so later, her mother got a call from the girl who said a woman had taken her.

The girl identified the woman only as Nancy and couldn`t offer any other information. After a few moments, the call was cut off.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Out to the lines, to Heather in California. Hi, Heather. I think I`ve got Heather.

Heather, are you there?

HEATHER, CALLER FROM SOUTH CAROLINA: It`s Heather in South Carolina. But that`s OK.

GRACE: Hi, dear. Hi, Heather in South Carolina. What`s your question?

HEATHER: I love your show and I just wanted to know in the -- in the camera footage, it shows the back of the van. Is there any shot of the --

GRACE: Tag?

HEATHER: Yes. The license plate tag?

GRACE: Good question. What do we know Jean Casarez? And for those of you just joining us -- Jean, give us a recap, please.

JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": Well, the recap is that this young, little 12-year-old girl, she was selling flower with her uncle. She and her mother had just moved back to -- the Georgia area. And all of the sudden, her uncle went into the Little Caesar Pizza parlor to go to the bathroom, and he comes out and she`s gone.

And he waits for her. And witnesses said that she got into a white van. But nobody actually saw her get in.

But the question about the license plate, nobody got that license plate number, Nancy.

GRACE: You know, Dana, put that -- there you go. Take a look at this van. I`m just wondering why cops have not released the make and the model? That was a great shot of the white van to the side.

Dana, go back a few shots and let me see the side shot of the van. It`s an excellent -- there you go. Back again.

What about it, Marc Klaas? That`s a huge clue.

MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: Well, it is but unfortunately white vans are ubiquitous in our society. There are probably 10 million white vans out there. There is probably no vehicle that is more prevalent on the roadways than a white van.

I think, though -- that certain people have said some very significant things. I think that Ben`s explanation of how to contact 911 while you`re on such a call personally bears repeating. But I also think that Cheryl said something significant when she said that this little girl may very well have been sold into slavery.

Generally, when kids are kidnapped, they are kidnapped by sexual predators. This doesn`t sound like a sexual predator. This sounds like something very different all together. And there is a premium for young girls in the human trafficking trade. So I think that that is definitely an avenue that needs to be explored as this case moves forward.

GRACE: Well, unleash the lawyers. Kirby Clemens, defense attorney, Atlanta, Pam Hayes, veteran trial, defense attorney, New York.

Let`s talk about it -- that theory that she has been sold, sold into the sex trade or sold for some other nefarious purpose.

First of all, to you, Pam, to believe that, you`d have to believe that not only was the uncle in on it but that the little -- but that the mom was in on it? What about that?

PAM HAYES, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I don`t know about the mom, but I clearly have some questions about the uncle. If you noticed the --

GRACE: Wait a minute. If you believe that she was sold into the sex trade or sold for some nefarious purpose, you`ve got to believe the uncle is lying about what happened, then you`ve got the lady in the salon who must have been in on -- in on the conspiracy. She saw the little girl approaching the white van. And the mom who says the girl called her at home.

Did they all three make up their stories?

HAYES: I don`t know, Nancy. Let me just make a point. If you look at this little girl, she`s walking across the street. And you talked about that. I don`t see any flowers in her hands. I`m not clear about why this uncle went into the pizza parlor. They say to go to the bathroom. Someone else says to buy pizza.

But if it was an innocent reason, I think she would have gone in there with him. And it does makes me feel uncomfortable and with so many instances of this human trafficking going on, and I might add right in the United States, I`m just really skeptical about what happened and why the police aren`t tracking it and closing down these leads.

GRACE: Well, amazingly, Pam, and you know, you worked in inner city Atlanta just like I did as a prosecutor before you turned to defense, now Atlanta is one of the child sex trade capitals in the country.

It certainly is. I don`t know why if it`s because of Hartsfield having the international airport? I don`t know how this has happened. I don`t know if it`s because of the major interstates going north through Atlanta. But it has definitely turned into one of the child sex trade capitals of this country.

You are absolutely right. What about it, Clemens?

KIRBY CLEMENS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You`re absolutely right, Nancy. You know, when I was in Brooklyn, I was actually in sex crimes and I focused on sex crimes prosecution. So two things. Number one, Atlanta is the child sex trade -- it is the capital, I think, at this point.

Number two, I am very suspicious of the uncle. I don`t think the mother was involved. Nor that other woman. But you know I have kids. I go to Little Caesars. They got those hot and readies, you`re in and out of there in two, three minutes tops, unless they`re not cooked.

So his story doesn`t make much sense to me. The little girl doesn`t have flowers in her hand. He`s leaving a 12-year-old child in a parking lot by herself. That makes no sense to me.

I would say that the onus is on him to prove to me or to prove to law enforcement that he was not involved, he doesn`t know something. Was he paying off some debt that he owed? What do his cell phone records show? Can we link that phone number that this girl supposedly called from to his cell phone or to the house again? Because if so, that uncle has got some explaining to do.

GRACE: To Dr. Caryn Stark, psychologist, joining us out of New York. What do you think?

CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: I think, Nancy, that it is very possible that whoever this Nancy woman might be, she could be somebody who is doing any kind of trafficking if we go along with that theory. Let me tell you why because you don`t find women, usually, who are sex offenders.

It doesn`t make a lot of sense for this woman to be kidnapping her and yet, you know, someone did see her go to this van. You see it in the photograph. So what would this woman want to do with her? Maybe this woman was acting with someone else that had nothing to do with this family. And unfortunately, this girl was left unattended.

Also, she`s home schooled, which means that she isn`t that sophisticated. And I hear that she met with this woman possibly the week before. Maybe she seemed friendly to her and exciting, because she is not exposed to that many people.

GRACE: You know, that`s a good point.

Back to you, Jean Casarez. Jean, there is evidence that shows the little girl had met Nancy the week before, selling flowers in that same strip mall parking lot. So this is somebody she knew. Even if casually.

CASAREZ: But lured in. If we take it as the truth of this phone call, that she was lured into the van by Nancy offering her money, why was she lured in? I mean we can`t discount Sandra Cantu. Little Sandra Cantu out in California. The woman, Melissa Huckabee, was then charged with rape after she abducted Sandra Cantu. It does happen.

GRACE: And also, back to you, Caryn Stark, very often, I would say the majority of molesters are people the children know, whether this woman molested her or is molesting her herself, or selling her or putting her out there.

STARK: Or working with someone else.

GRACE: This is somebody she knew.

STARK: And she does seem to have somehow spoken about her before because that`s what I read anyway. That this woman had come up the week before.

And I want you to know something, Nancy. That somebody like this person who could kidnap a child, they are wonderful at luring children. And here is this girl who really hasn`t had that much exposure. And she meets this woman who seems very sweet and nice, offers her money. I mean she`s out selling flowers so how appealing was that.

GRACE: To Dr. Holly Phillips, doctor of internal medicine, joining us out of New York. How can you tell if a child has been molested by a man versus a woman?

DR. HOLLY PHILLIPS, M.D., INTERNAL MEDICINE: Well, really, Nancy, in this case, we would look for abrasions and bruising on the body which would just show that she had been molested. But it`s really DNA evidence, skin, bodily fluids that would help differentiate whether a man was involved or it was a woman.

GRACE: And also, Doctor, isn`t it true if a woman molests, the child may maintain a hymen, where if the man molests, it`s more likely that the hymen will be destroyed?

PHILLIPS: That`s true. It is more -- it is less likely if a woman is the molester that the hymen will be destroyed. It`s not in every case but it is a good clue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please bring her back, please, bring her back. I feel empty, empty, because she wasn`t there. I felt empty and lost. Because she wasn`t there, I felt empty and lost.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Authorities released this picture of 18-month- old Joshua Davis. They say it was taken hours before he was reported missing.

CASAREZ: Bloodhounds went to that home. They could not find a scent outside of that home of the little baby.

SABRINA BENITEZ, MOTHER OF MISSING TODDLER JOSHUA DAVIS: They had the cadaver dogs. He`s nowhere in this area, I don`t believe, because there`s no trace of him coming in the yard. But I do believe he`s alive.

GRACE: Eight people in that home when baby Joshua seemingly vanishes into thin air.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The child had to be in an eye shot of one of these adults at all times.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you have that many people in a residence, obviously there are people that probably have information and for whatever reason are not necessarily sharing it with the police.

BENITEZ: There was a family friend in the house and that was the last time the door had been opened. And I first thought, like, maybe the friend had took him. But the police say there`s no signs of that. So they say he had been in and out the back door. I thought maybe he could have slipped - - like walked out the back door. 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`s real smart. I mean, 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.

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GRACE: We are taking your calls. What has happened to this toddler boy, baby Joshua?

With me, special guest from New Braunfels, Texas, Lieutenant Mike Penshorn.

Lieutenant, tell me the latest. The whole story is not fitting together for me. There are a total of nine people there, eight in addition to the baby. And it`s a very small residence. We`ve shown the viewers the photos of the home. And nobody sees when the child leaves?

I mean, there`s an adult in practically every room in the home that has a door to the outside.

LT. MIKE PENSHORN, NEW BRAUNFELS POLICE: Correct. Yes. We`ve received a lot of different calls, a lot of information that`s been coming in from the public, specifically looking at different possibilities, different scenarios of what may have happened that evening at that residence.

GRACE: Now, earlier you told me that you could not administer a polygraph to the mom because she was pregnant. Has she had her baby yet?

PENSHORN: From what I understand, she has had her baby, yes.

GRACE: All right. What about that polygraph, Lieutenant?

PENSHORN: Really, we can`t indicate whether or not someone is planning on taking one. I know that she may have given some indication that she is willing to and I`m sure that`s something we`ll be looking at. But whether or not she actually takes one or what the results are, unfortunately we can`t go into that.

GRACE: So my question is, do you plan to give her a polygraph if she agrees to take it?

PENSHORN: That`s up to the investigators. I imagine that`s a tool that we will definitely be looking at utilizing, though.

GRACE: Out to David Ferguson, news director, KGNB, joining us from New Braunfels, Texas.

David, what`s the latest?

DAVID FERGUSON, NEWS DIRECTOR, KGNB RADIO: Well, you know in more recent days, Nancy, there have been some rumors that Joshua Davis had been found. Most of them through the Internet or social networking sites. People are hopeful here, though, that he`ll be found.

Basically, what`s happened is that they see police activity as they follow up on tips. They get excited, post it on Facebook or Twitter. And then the telephone game starts, and that kind of rumor mill starts. And all of those rumors have been proven untrue by police.

GRACE: OK. David Ferguson, how big is New Braunfels?

FERGUSON: Well, we actually just got our most recent census data. Our census puts us at about 57,700 residents. That`s an increase of 60 percent in the last decade.

GRACE: That`s pretty big. But it seems to me in this one small area, this neighborhood of New Braunfels, don`t you think if he were there in that city he would have been discovered by now?

FERGUSON: Nancy, you know, I think that`s a good point. But this is a very close-knit community. I mean, we`re relatively small compared to the surrounding cities and very close-knit.

This home is in the southeastern part of the city. It`s in a less developed part of town. It`s an area that`s currently being developed. About 40 homes just in that general area. And then the rest of the area is rocky fields and heavy brush. So it`s not like it`s a highly populated area of the city.

GRACE: To Jean Casarez, legal correspondent, "In Session." What more can you tell me, Jean?

CASAREZ: You know, Nancy, the scent dogs picked up the scent at the house and I think even in front of the house, near the door, but not down a road either direction. So that doesn`t -- that means the child did not crawl or walk down the road by himself. But yet they`re saying that this is not a kidnapping, they do not believe this is an abduction.

GRACE: To Marc Klaas, president and founder of KlaasKids Foundation. What`s your theory?

KLAAS: Well, I don`t know that I really have a theory, but I do know that the little boy did not open the door and walk out by himself. It was a bitterly cold evening. And his mother said that he could barely reach the doorknob, let alone open the door and leave.

Is there a possibility, do you think, that this is sleight of hand, that perhaps those adults were in the house and people were referencing the boy, saying things about the baby, but the baby was not there the entire time?

I really don`t know. I mean, it`s a true mystery. There`s no question about that.

GRACE: OK. Put Klaas back up.

Marc, we`ve got eight adults in the house with the baby.

KLAAS: Yes.

GRACE: It`s an extremely small house.

KLAAS: Yes.

GRACE: I think there`s only two doors in and out of the home. The mother told me personally the baby could not turn the doorknob.

KLAAS: Right.

GRACE: So the baby did not wander out on its own. Right?

KLAAS: Exactly.

GRACE: That leaves me with eight people that could have taken the baby.

KLAAS: Well, it`s --

GRACE: Am I crazy, or does that make sense?

KLAAS: Well, it does make sense. I mean it`s like an Agatha Christie movie -- or story. There are eight people and at least one of those people knows what happened. Either the baby wasn`t there but everybody thought the baby was there because of things that were being said or somebody somehow got that child out of the house and got back into the house without being detected.

Neither of those scenarios makes much sense. But then on the other hand I certainly don`t believe that there was a grand conspiracy afoot and that everybody is somehow involved. I don`t think that possibility is very real either.

GRACE: I don`t either.

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JOSHUA DAVIS, DAD OF MISSING 18-MO-OLD INFANT BOY: I don`t think he wandered off. It`s -- he knows his play zone. And they had the scent dogs out here, and they said there`s no scent of him leaving out of, you know, the yard or anything like that. So I don`t see how he could have wandered off.

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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Search and rescue dogs, cadaver dogs, bloodhounds.

GRACE: Trying to find baby Joshua. Where is the 18-month-old toddler?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The mother tells us that an FBI evidence recovery team came to the home, took the clothes that she was wearing that night, and the clothes that the father was wearing that night. They`ve collected trash cans from every home on that block where the family lived. Still no sign of Joshua.

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GRACE: To Mark Smith, VP of New Jersey Polygraphist, joining us from (INAUDIBLE), New Jersey.

Mark, thanks for being with us. What is the deal with polygraphing a mom that has just given birth? I`ve been told you can`t or shouldn`t polygraph a pregnant mother because various stresses could determine the outcome improperly on the polygraph. What about a woman that has just given birth?

MARK SMITH, POLYGRAPH EXPERT, V.P., NJ POLYGRAPHISTS: Well, there`s no reason a pregnant woman cannot be tested. That`s sort of an old wives` tale. It`s an old way of thinking. There`s nothing scientific or medical that would happen to the woman. There`s nothing that would affect the test. And certainly not for someone who`s already given birth.

GRACE: Out to Anne in Michigan. Hi, Anne. What`s your question?

ANNE, CALLER FROM MICHIGAN: Hello, Nancy. It`s great to talk to you.

GRACE: Likewise.

ANNE: Myself as a mother, my son`s 26, I would want to take a lie detector test, and I would insist on taking one, as I`m sure marc knows of, you know, wanting to take a lie detector test just to find your child. And why isn`t the mother insisting that everybody in that --

GRACE: Well, I tell you this. I tell you this, Anne. They`ve been - - they`ve conducted multiple polygraphs. There are other offers. You can`t force somebody to take a polygraph. And I believe the mother will take a polygraph. It`s got to be set up in bringing the expert.

I want to give the tip line tonight. 830-221-4570. On baby Joshua.

But let`s stop and remember Army Specialist Joseph Lucas, 23, Augusta, Georgia. Killed Iraq. Awarded Bronze Star, Purple Heart, National Defense Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon.

Loved soccer, making others laugh. Remembered as the life of the party. Dreamed of being a state trooper. Leaves behind parents Jeffrey Sr. and Barbara. Six brothers. Widow Heather, son Joseph Jr.

Joseph Lucas, American hero.

Thanks to our guests, but especially to you. And tonight I want to send out a special happy birthday to Texas friend Ila Mae, 105. Raised 10 children.

And happy birthday to North Carolina friend Mary Ann, mother of our friend, Radaronline`s Alexis Tereszcuk. You must be some mom. The proof is in the pudding.

Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night. 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.

END