Return to Transcripts main page
Nancy Grace
Estranged Husband, In-Laws Arrested in Ohio Kidnapping
Aired March 28, 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 to the heartland, Ohio. A beautiful 25-year-old mother of three, Summer Inman, kidnapped from the parking lot of the local bank. Eyewitnesses say kidnappers include a woman with long bleached blond hair and two men.
Bombshell tonight. You think you`ve got in-law problems? After grainy video emerges of Summer at the bank just moments before she`s snatched, tonight police hone in on who they suspect kidnapped and possibly murdered 25-year-old Summer Inman, her own mother-in-law and big mama`s boy Summer`s estranged husband. As we go to air, every hour counts in the search for Summer, police and family fearing tonight she may be dead. Tonight, where is 25-year-old mom Summer Inman?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: 911. Where`s your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m calling about my daughter, Summer Inman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say the first 911 call came in from Summer Inman`s father.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s nowhere to be found.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mom of three Summer Inman.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is 25-year-old Summer Inman moments before she was kidnapped outside a bank in Logan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say two witnesses saw the kidnapping take place near the intersection of Hunter and Market Streets in downtown Logan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two suspects dressed in all black were seen forcing the female into the back of their vehicle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We found her coat and her iPod. There`s a restraining order against her husband. We don`t know what`s going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, live, Florida. Since starting her police training, a gorgeous young police cadet never misses a single class until now. After a girls` weekend of yoga, then lunch at Chili`s, she hasn`t been seen since, her green Subaru parked on a tree-lined street just two miles from her condo. In a bizarre twist, Kelly`s live-in, a cop, moves out of their condo and drives all the way to New York just 72 hours after she goes missing.
Breaking now. In the last hours, police search the boyfriend`s home and car as video emerges of Kelly just before she vanishes. We have the video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is a potential that this has turned into a homicide investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kelly specifically told me that she was going home to break up with Dave.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The fact that she didn`t show up for class raised huge red flags.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thumping and banging on the ceiling. I don`t know how to describe it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shortly after hearing all that racket upstairs, Dave`s car suddenly disappears.
GRACE: Police execute search warrants. They search his car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Perry will only say he and Kelly went their separate ways.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In her words, it was suffocating.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A series of loud thuds up above, the ceiling directly below their master bedroom.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They processed evidence inside the home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His 21-year-old son was there at the condo when police were there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He basically advised that his dad had told him to go water the plants.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police see him leaving with a box.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did retrieve a box, which we retrieved from him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police will not tell us what was in that box.
GRACE: Was she afraid of him?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. A beautiful 25-year-old mother of three, Summer Inman, kidnapped from the parking lot of the local bank. Bombshell tonight. You think you`ve got problems with your in-laws? After grainy surveillance video emerges with Summer at the bank just moments before she`s snatched, tonight police hone in on who they suspect kidnapped and possibly murdered 25-year-old Summer Inman, her own mother-in-law and that big mama`s boy, Summer`s estranged husband.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty-five-year-old mom of three Summer Inman was reportedly working the night shift.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two suspects dressed in all black.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops think she was abducted back in the alley.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By two men in the parking lot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Witnesses told police that two men grabbed her, threw her in the back of a white car and then took off. But Logan police say there was one more kidnapper involved.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They said there was a bleached blond female in the driver`s seat.
911 OPERATOR: 911. Where`s your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m calling about my daughter, Summer Inman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her father called 911 when she did not come home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s nowhere to be found. We found her coat and her iPod. We don`t know what`s going on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One day after Summer`s kidnapping, SWAT team officers from the Akron Police Department descended on the Inmans` Faye (ph) Road home. Summer and her husband are in the midst of a bitter divorce. That`s something Summer`s father mentioned in the 911 call.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s a restraining order against her husband.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say they need new leads and time is of the essence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I am hearing in my ear an arrest is going down or has just gone down. To Matt Bruning, reporter, 610 WTVN, joining us out of Columbus. Matt, is it correct the mother-in-law is behind bars for the kidnap of the 25-year-old mom of three?
MATT BRUNING, WTVN (via telephone): Well, Nancy, not only is the mother-in-law behind bars, but the estranged husband, William Inman II, and his father, William Inman -- they`re all three behind bars in southeastern Ohio.
GRACE: Well, that`s a happy-looking bunch. We`re showing their mug shots right now. And I get it now, Matt Bruning. An eyewitness claimed a bleached blond -- a woman with long bleached blond hair was in the car with two men when Summer was snatched out of the bank parking lot. I mean, of all places to get snatched. It`s just like being in -- out in Vegas at a casino. They have security surveillance out the ying-yang! And eyewitnesses actually see Summer Inman -- she`s a young mom of three, just 25 years old -- coming out of the bank. And boom, it`s over just like that. She`s snatched, taken away. And one of the perps, allegedly, is a woman with long bleached blond hair.
Elizabeth, let me see that second mug shot you showed one more time, where the hair is really -- no, not that one. The hair is really, really blond. Yes, there you go.
OK, back to you Matt Bruning, joining us out of Columbus, Ohio. What do you know, Matt?
BRUNING: well, Nancy, something else that`s kind of damning in this case for the Inmans is the fact that -- and you mentioned this -- there was a raid on their home in Akron, in the Akron area. And several items were seized, including a vehicle, a white Ford Crown Victoria. And if you remember, the witnesses here in this case have said that they believe it was a white vehicle that took off with Summer Inman in it. So you`ve got the bleached blond hair from the mother. You`ve also got the white Ford Crown Victoria. So a lot of evidence stacking up here.
GRACE: You know, it`s kind of hard to mistake a Crown Vic. There`s only one car that still looks like a Crown Victoria, and that is a Crown Victoria.
And to you, Rochelle Hawk, the editor with "The Logan Daily News." The eyewitnesses seemed very clear, even though it had gotten dark when she came out of the bank, that there was a blond woman, bleached blond -- they were very careful to say bleached blond -- two men and a white vehicle.
What vehicle did they describe, Rochelle Hawk?
ROCHELLE HAWK, "LOGAN DAILY NEWS" (via telephone): That`s right, Nancy. They did describe a vehicle that was either a Crown Victoria or a Mercury Marquis, and it was white. So that does fit with what parents have registered in their name.
GRACE: You know, to Pat Brown -- everybody, we are taking your calls live -- Pat Brown, criminal profiler and author of "The Profiler" -- that`s pretty bold, and it also sounds targeted, to snatch a victim, a grown woman, in a parking lot of a bank.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, I think you have this group here, and if they`re involved, a son and his mother and father all angry, enraged at this woman for filing that divorce against him, for trying to keep the kids away, and probably (INAUDIBLE) got a new boyfriend, too. She`s moving on and she`s -- she`s just -- she`s gone against us, you know? So we have the right to go out and take care of the problem.
GRACE: So the pack mentality...
BROWN: Absolutely.
GRACE: ... according to police, may have taken over. We are just getting information that an arrest has just gone down. A mom of three kidnapped in plain view in a bank parking lot, 25-year-old mother of three Summer Inman. She is small and petite, 5-3, 120 pounds, brown hair, green eyes. Just like that, she comes out of the local bank, it`s over. Here`s a shot of Summer. Some (ph) police divided tonight. Is she dead or is she alive? At this hour, every minute counts in the recovery of Summer Inman.
Back to Matt Bruning, joining us from 610 WTVN out of Columbus. Matt, what were the circumstances surrounding this scenario? I mean, how does a mom -- if, in fact, they did it -- a mom convince her son to kidnap his estranged wife? I mean, what went into this? Why? What`s the motive?
BRUNING: Well, it`s going to be really interesting to find out how the conversations went around (ph). In fact, some of us reporters that have been covering this case have been talking about, How`s this come up, at the dinner table or something?
But what we do know is that Summer Inman was getting a divorce from her husband, William II. It had kind of been a contentious relationship here toward the end because we do know that there was at least one case where someone had tried -- or Summer had tried to go over to her home and get some of her belongings. There was a confrontation there because she had her boyfriend with her. And the Vinton County sheriff`s department even filed some disorderly conduct charges against William Inman, the father-in-law, because of an altercation there. So we do know that this has been kind of contentious at the end.
We`ve also learned through some court filings that, apparently, William Inman II, according to Summer, threatened to kill her if she took the kids away from him. So we do have some documented cases of some contention here in this relationship.
GRACE: That`s to put it mildly. But the reality is, she was just trying to get custody. They were breaking up. They`ve been breaking up. That didn`t mean he would not see them or have possibly even partial custody or joint custody. So they`re going to have a tough time showing motive.
Everyone, Summer Inman missing at this hour. A young mom of three goes to the -- is at the local bank, and she is kidnapped as she comes out, there in the bank parking lot. Tonight, police are asking for your help in finding Summer Inman. As every hour passes, the possibility of finding her alive decreases.
Just in, an arrest has gone down for the kidnap of 25-year-old Summer Inman. It`s her mother-in-law and big mama`s boy Summer`s estranged husband.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A 25-year-old mom snatched in the bank parking lot.
911 OPERATOR: 911. Where`s your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m calling about my daughter, Summer Inman. She`s nowhere to be found.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She went outside, was forced into a white vehicle. They`re saying either a Ford Crown Victoria or a Mercury Grand Marquis.
GRACE: One of the perps, according to an eyewitness, is a female with long blond hair.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The woman has been described as having bleached blond hair.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No license plates on the car and tinted windows, and took off with her. And she hasn`t been seen since.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As for who the witnesses are, we`re hearing that there are two witnesses. And they may have actually been in the vicinity of the bank.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was no tag on the vehicle at all, so there`s no license plate number to get. But that`s one of the reports we`ve been told is that, again, no license plate on this vehicle.
GRACE: Where is Summer Inman?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. For those of you just joining us, those were happier times you see on the left of your screen. That`s Summer Inman`s wedding photos. Tonight, in the last hours, as a matter of fact, the husband, the estranged husband, and his mother, Summer`s mother-in-law, booked on suspicion of kidnap. As each hour passes, the likelihood that Summer will be found safely plummets.
Out to the lines. Sheryl in Ohio. Hi, Sheryl.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. How are you?
GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, first of all, I have a comment, Nancy. You`re every missing person`s angel. And second, my question is this. Did Summer and her mother-in-law get along in the past?
GRACE: Good question. To Ellie Jostad, our chief editorial producer, who`s been on the case, following it, for a couple of days now. Ellie, what do we know?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, as Matt Bruning brought up earlier, we don`t know much about the relationship Summer had with her mother-in-law, but we do know the father-in-law arrested for allegedly threatening to kill Summer`s boyfriend. However, the mother of the mother-in-law -- this would be the grandmother of Summer`s husband, estranged husband -- said that they all still love Summer. These arrests are a huge shock to her, and that they hope she`s found.
GRACE: Ellie! Put Ellie up in full, please, quickly, Elizabeth. All right, so the grandmother`s daughter has now been booked on suspicion of kidnap.
JOSTAD: Right.
GRACE: And they go, I`m surprised. We all loved her so much. Did you just say that?
JOSTAD: I did just say that. That`s what she told a local reporter, yes.
GRACE: Well, didn`t you just start this scenario out with the father- in-law has been arrested for something?
JOSTAD: Yes.
GRACE: A domestic problem related to Summer?
JOSTAD: Right. That`s true.
GRACE: Explain that. What was that about?
JOSTAD: That was back in December. Summer went back to this home where they`d lived when she and her husband were married to pick up some of her things. She asked a deputy to be there when she got the stuff. And apparently, when she arrived, her father-in-law was there. When Summer`s boyfriend arrived, the father-in-law allegedly started threatening him, threatened to shoot the boyfriend. The deputy had to intervene, tried to put the father-in-law`s hands behind his back. He allegedly started resisting. They scuffled. Long story short, the deputy had to hold the father-in-law at taser point until back-up arrived.
GRACE: And the father-in-law`s -- the grandmother says she`s surprised. She didn`t see it coming.
JOSTAD: She`s surprised. That`s right.
GRACE: OK. Let`s go back to the eyewitnesses. That`s what I want to find out about. What I`m interested in, Ellie, is the possibility that Summer may be alive at this hour.
JOSTAD: Right.
GRACE: That`s what I want to -- what are police telling us? What are police telling us when we call them?
JOSTAD: There is a massive search going on, Nancy, in four counties in Ohio, trying to find any sign of Summer. They say they don`t know if she`s dead or alive, but now they have to consider the possibility she could be seriously hurt or even dead. But they`re asking home owners there to check their property, to look along roadways, to look under overpasses, bridges for any sign of Summer or the clothing she was wearing the day she was last seen.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Joey Jackson, defense attorney, New York, John Burris, famed defense attorney, San Francisco.
Hey, Jackson, it`s never a good thing when police start telling property owners, Could you check your outbuildings, your sheds, your barns, walk the cartilage (ph) of your area. That`s not looking for a living person, Joey Jackson.
JOE JACKSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, that`s...
GRACE: I would say that mommy-in-law is in a heap of trouble, Jackson.
JACKSON: Well, listen, I think that cases are won and lost on evidence. First, of course, we hope that she`s safe. But you`re basing it on there`s a white car. There`s a description. There`s equivocation as to the type of a car. Is it a Victoria? Is it a Mercury type of car? That`s one. There`s a lot of common cars...
GRACE: Number one, nobody says "a Victoria," so OK...
JACKSON: Crown Vic.
GRACE: ... cut his mike! Burris, weigh in. Nobody says "a Victoria." It`s Crown Vic.
JOHN BURRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I...
GRACE: Weigh in, Burris. Let`s hear your side.
BURRIS: I agree that right now, there`s insufficient evidence to convict any one of these people. That evidence around the two guys is just two guys in a description. That`s not an ID -- identification...
GRACE: Two guys and a bleached blond! What do you see on the screen right now?
BURRIS: But so what? That doesn`t mean it`s these two guys.
GRACE: Come on! Burris! Burris!
BURRIS: They haven`t been identified.
GRACE: They had to throw...
BURRIS: No ID!
GRACE: ... the father-in-law down on the -- face down on the...
BURRIS: No ID.
GRACE: ... carpet at Christmas!
BURRIS: No ID at this time. That`s what I`m telling you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who allegedly kidnapped Summer?
911 OPERATOR: 911. Where`s your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m calling about my daughter, Summer Inman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Law enforcement is searching for Ohio mom of three Summer Inman.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Summer`s kidnappers were described as two men, with a woman driving who had bleached blond hair.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Neighbors say investigators towed three cars from the home, including a white Crown Victoria which matches the description of the car used in Summer`s abduction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s nowhere to be found. We found her coat and her iPod.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was reportedly kidnapped outside this bank.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Well, if police are correct in their suspicions, it gives a new meaning to "monster-in-law." Take a look at 25-year-old Summer Inman, an absolute beauty, walking out of the local bank. She is snatched by two men and a woman with bleached blond hair.
Let`s take a look, Liz -- there you go. There`s mother-in-law, estranged hubby, big mama`s boy on the left, and the father-in-law on the right. Now, according to the mother-in-law`s family, this is all a big surprise. They didn`t know a thing. But the reality is, according to Ellie Jostad and our research department, the father-in-law was thrown face down on the carpet at Christmastime for a confrontation with Summer when she tried to remove her own belongings from the home she had shared with the estranged husband.
We are taking your calls. To Janet in Florida. Hi, Janet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. Thanks for taking my call.
GRACE: Thank you for calling in, dear. And let me emphasize, right now, police have charged them with kidnap. This is some indication that there is a chance Summer Inman is still alive. But where? What is your question, Janet?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have two questions. One is, do they have any evidence that she is dead, or is there any evidence left at the scene that would indicate that she was harmed in any way?
GRACE: OK. OK, keep Janet on the line. Let`s answer that one first. To Rochelle Hawk with "The Logan Daily News." I know that the mother-in- law`s white Crown Vic was impounded. Do they still -- do police still have the Crown Victoria?
HAWK: To our knowledge, Nancy, they do. We have not been privy to what evidence, if any, they were able to retrieve.
GRACE: OK. So if they`ve still got the car -- to Sergeant Scott Haines joining us out of Santa Rosa County, Florida. Very quickly, Haines, if they`ve still got the car, that means they`re processing something. There could be evidence in the car. Yes, no.
SGT. SCOTT HAINES, SHERIFF`S OFFICER, SANTA ROSA CTY., FL: Absolutely. There can be a lot of trace evidence. They can test for blood, fibers or anything else visible that they may find in that car.
GRACE: So bottom line, the fact that they`ve still got the Crown Vic -- they didn`t impound it, look at it and release it -- they`re processing something in that car, Janet in Florida. We believe that car may have been used in the kidding of this girl, Summer Inman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Summer Inman, only 25 years old and a mother of three, now missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Witnesses tell cops they see Summer being forced into a white car in the parking lot of Century National Bank.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Logan police here in Hocking County say she was kidnapped.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: 911. What`s your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m calling about my daughter Summer Inman?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say the first 911 call came from Summer Inman`s father.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s nowhere to be found.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mom of three Summer Inman.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: 25-year-old Summer Inman moments before she was kidnapped outside a bank in Logan.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say two witnesses saw the kidnapping take place near the intersection of Hunter and Market Streets in downtown Logan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two suspects dressed in all black were seen forcing the female in the back of the vehicle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We found her coat and her iPod. There is a restraining order against her husband. We don`t know what`s going on.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Pastor Michael Martin said he officiated the wedding service for Summer and her now estranged husband.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We found her coat and her iPod.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Detectives think that she possibly may have come out of this door and empty trash in this dumpster and that`s when she was forced into that car right in this alley.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The family says Summer is going through a divorce with her husband.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a restraining order against her husband.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: We are receiving a police bulletin that there has been an arrest in this case. And it`s not who you would imagine. It was not a bank robber or a convicted felon. No.
Twenty-five-year-old Summer Inman, mother of three, snatched out of the parking lot of a local bank. Just as she comes out the door. Tonight, behind bars, in the last hours, arrested her mother-in-law, her estranged husband and her father-in-law.
Take a look at this unlikely trio. Now behind bars. And according to our sources clamming up. Not saying a word.
At this hour, their Crown Victoria still in impound. Police combing over the interior of the car with a fine-toothed comb. And at this hour, police not willing to say this is a murder case.
Is Summer still alive? And tonight, where are her children?
To Matt Bruning, 610 WTVN joining us out of Columbus. Who has the three children?
MATT BRUNING, REPORTER, NEWSTALK 610 WTVN: Well, we do know that the three children are with some family members. We do know that her boyfriend, Adam Peters, lived with her here the last couple of months. I don`t know exactly which of the family members have these children but I do know they are not in foster care or in a state home or anything. They are with family members right now.
GRACE: Now you are saying family members. Are they -- you`re seeing a shot of Summer there at the bank just minutes before she`s snatched in the parking lot.
When you say family members, you`re not talking about the estranged husband`s family, are you?
BRUNING: No, no, no. No. We understand that Adam Peters, the boyfriend, was very close with the children, as he had been involved in a relationship with Summer over the last couple of months. There is a possibility he`s in care of those kids with his family members or some of Summer`s family members. More likely, probably Summer`s parents are taking care of the kids right now.
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Back to Janet in Florida.
Janet, what was part two of your question?
JANET, CALLER FROM FLORIDA: Part two, Nancy, was where is the boyfriend? And has he been questioned?
GRACE: Good question. What about it, Ellie Jostad? What do we know about the boyfriend?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE CHIEF EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Well, we do know a little bit about the boyfriend. As Matt mentioned, they`ve been dating for at least several months. Police we believe have talked to him but they -- or talked to him, although they haven`t told us anything about that. Although, of course, they`re not calling him a person of interest or a suspect or anything like that. As far as we know, he`s cooperating.
GRACE: You are seeing shots of Summer Inman not only wedding photos but photos of her and her husband, in happier times on vacations.
To Rochelle Hawk, what are the ages of the three children?
ROCHELLE HAWK, EDITOR, THE LOGAN DAILY NEWS: Nancy, the children are all under the age of five. These are really small toddlers we`re talking about here.
GRACE: I`ve got five, three and one. Does that sound accurate, Rochelle?
HAWK: That does. That does.
GRACE: Back out to the lines. Melanie in Illinois. Hi, Melanie.
MELANIE, CALLER FROM ILLINOIS: I`ve been (INAUDIBLE), hon.
GRACE: Hi, dear. What`s your question?
MELANIE: My question is, are the kids taken care of?
GRACE: I think what she`s asking, even though she`s breaking up, are, are those children being taken care of? The answer is yes. We believe the boyfriend and other members of Summer`s family have the children right now.
An arrest has just gone down in the case of Summer Inman. But right now, is she still alive?
Out to Dr. Jake Deutsch, doctor of emergency medicine, joining us out New York. OK, best-case scenario, Dr. Deutsch --
DR. JAKE DEUTSCH, M.D., DOCTOR OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE: Yes.
GRACE: Say she`s locked up in some abandoned apartment and a farm house. Who knows where. It`s entirely possible. It`s happened many, many times in the past. How long can she survive if she is locked up somewhere and they are in custody with the cops and not talking?
DEUTSCH: Yes, it depends if she`s injured. I mean if she`s got serious injuries, Nancy, it may just be a matter of hours or less than that. If she is doing all right and just not being attended to, somebody can live for a couple of days without food and water.
Once you go beyond three days without water, people start to really decompensate. So best-case scenario we`re talking about three to five days if she`s doing alright.
GRACE: As you can see, every hour is counting now in the hopes of finding Summer Inman alive.
Back out to the lines. Veronica in Colorado. Hi, Veronica. What`s your question, dear?
VERONICA, CALLER FROM COLORADO: Hi, Nancy. I was just wondering if the family is all arrested and they have this girl somewhere, where are her children? Who`s caring for them?
GRACE: Her children -- her children right now are with her boyfriend and her family.
And of course, under the law -- correct me if I`m wrong, Joey Jackson, John Burris. First to you, Jackson.
The state is never required to prove motive. But in this case, apparently, custody fights had broken out. A custody battle over the three children ages five, three and one.
JOEY JACKSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes. Yes. Absolutely. I would agree with that. But simply because there was a custody dispute, we can`t confer any guilt obviously as to that issue. And we`re ultimately have to see what happens.
In the event hat this person was seen with blonde hair, a lot of people have bleach blonde hair so it`s kind of curious they`re basing that and that alone on the arrest of her. But --
GRACE: Really? Does that really seem curious to you, John Burris? A bleached blonde woman and two men in a white Crown Victoria? The father- in-law as I point out-- where`s Burris?
JOHN BURRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I`m here.
GRACE: Was thrown down, faced down on the family den, facing the carpet at Christmastime over a confrontation with the daughter-in-law, Summer Inman. Trouble has been brewing for some time. It culminated.
Is it that big of a leap, that huge of a stretch to book these people?
BURRIS: Well, circumstantially --
GRACE: And their white -- and seize their white Crown Vic?
BURRIS: No, that`s not a huge, huge jump in terms of reasonable suspicion. It is a difficult question if you say it`s probable cause to support an arrest. So therefore I do think there is a problem with the arrest and whether or not you can go forward with conviction. Reasonable suspicion, yes. Enough to talk, detain, but not enough to arrest at this moment.
GRACE: Joining us right now is Monica Caison, K-9 searcher, the executive director and founder at CUE, Center for Missing Persons, joining us tonight out of Wilmington.
Monica, how would it work?
MONICA CAISON, K-9 SEARCHER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND FOUNDER, CENTER FOR MISSING PERSONS: Thanks for having me. How does it work? The search in general?
GRACE: Yes, with canines.
CAISON: Well, basically, when you respond to a missing person, you need certain information which is like where the person was last seen. In this particular case, I would definitely look at where the people were arrested as well, learn as much as we can about them and places that they had visited.
I have looked at the area. There are many forest trees there, parks and there`s also a reservoir and a lake. I`d be heavily focusing on those rural areas and any search for any evidence and/or her. And also, do make a plea to the public. You always --
GRACE: OK. Hold on. Monica Caison, where is the reservoir you`re talking about?
CAISON: The reservoir is in the route if you go from the bank to the place that they were arrested from what has been available to me. The reservoir is right there.
GRACE: Right.
CAISON: It`s --
GRACE: We`re showing a map right now. With us is Monica Caison, K-9 search out of Wilmington.
To Paula Bloom, clinical psychologist. Paula, a lot of people seem to have in-law problems. But analyze this.
PAUL BLOOM, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes, it`s incredible. Actually I was sitting here looking at what her t-shirt said. And it says, "I don`t have an anger problem. I have an idiot problem." And that`s very much what captures sort of the personality of the father-in-law and what happened when he was pushed to the ground.
Listen, when there`s custody issues, a lot of times it`s about ego and not about the welfare of the kids.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: 911. Where`s your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m calling about my daughter Summer Inman. She`s nowhere to be found. We found her coat and her iPod. We don`t know what`s going on. There is a restraining order against her husband.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Breaking right now, an arrest has just gone down in the disappearance of 25-year-old mother of three, Summer Inman. She was coming out of the local bank and snatched in the parking lot. Eyewitnesses described the perps as two men and a woman with long bleached blonde hair.
Let`s see the picture of the mother-in-law. The other picture, Liz.
Very quickly to Matt Brunning, 610 WTVN. What led police to the mother-in-law? And again, at this hour, they`ve only been charged with kidnap, not murder.
BRUNING: Well, Nancy, the investigators have done some interviews with those closest to Summer. We`re not exactly sure what piece of evidence they say led them exactly to make the arrest in this case. But we do know that they did do some interviews with those closest, and that`s when this arrest came out, is after those interviews were completed.
GRACE: You`re seeing shots of the mother-in-law right there.
Ellie, do we have any idea what led police to the mother-in-law?
JOSTAD: No, we don`t, Nancy. Although, obviously, we`ve mentioned the physical resemblance to what the witnesses says they saw as well as the car`s resemblance to the getaway vehicle.
GRACE: To the lawyers. Joey Jackson, John Burris.
Everybody, we are taking your calls live. The breaking news as we go to air, we learned actually arrest have gone down in this case. Still just a kidnapping case. Every hour counts in the search for Summer Inman.
You know once this goes to trial, if it does, if in fact these are the true perps, John Burris, I guarantee you this whole thing goes all the way back to the wedding cake, between Summer Inman and that mother-in-law. You don`t just kidnap somebody out of the bank parking lot like that. This is something that`s been brewing.
BURRIS: Well, assuming that it`s true, I mean that the mother-in-law is involved in this, yes, I`d have to say this is a longstanding situation. I`d be very surprised. I mean I`m trying to get my head around why would a mother-in-law would get involved in this kind of thing unless something has gone on between she and -- for a long period of time.
And she probably resent that her son married this particular woman. That`s all speculation but right now --
GRACE: You have that whole "she wasn`t good enough for you" thing. And then you get the children and, of course, somehow, Jackson, I don`t know what there is for you to be smiling about. But somehow, I guarantee you, they brainwashed themselves that it was for the good of the children. I`m sure they`ve got a fat chance at custody now behind bars.
JACKSON: Well, you know what? That depends. And what I`m smiling about is this relationship between mother-in-law. You say it comes back to that. There are a lot of people who have issues with mother-in-laws. It doesn`t mean that there`s a kidnapping fraud --
GRACE: Hey, hey. Don`t -- don`t put me in that pot. I don`t have a problem with my mother-in-law. I like her.
JACKSON: I don`t mean to suggest that. I don`t mean to suggest that.
GRACE: Yes.
JACKSON: Nor do I, Nancy. Please. But what I`m saying is that simply because there might be some turmoil between that, we cannot be jumping to the conclusion that there`s some guilt here for kidnapping or something that may be worse.
We have to let the facts come out. See what other evidence. I`d like to know these witnesses. What did they see, when did they see it, who exactly are they, what type of lighting conditions were there, et cetera, before we jump to these massive conclusions that this person is guilty. That`s all I`m saying.
GRACE: And let me just clarify one misstatement of fact. I don`t just like my mother-in-law. I love her. And that`s for the record.
Right now, we`re switching gears. But I want to give you the tip line in the search for Summer Inman, everybody. 740-385-6868. This girl. A mother of three. The children ages five, three and one, without their mother tonight. Without their mother tonight.
Mothers out there, you know what this means to these children. 740- 385-6868.
And now switching very quickly to the missing police cadet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: You are seeing surveillance video.
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": She`s a beautiful young woman. She`s about to graduate to complete a degree.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This is one of the last-known images of Kelly Rothwell.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was very excited. She was happy. She was talking about the next steps of her life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Only four and a half weeks, but to be honest with you, we have a lot left to do.
GRACE: She hasn`t been spotted since.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And those steps did not involve her boyfriend David Perry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is some information that you want to be aware of.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was going home to break up with Dave.
GRACE: Police execute search warrants on Kelly`s condo.
KRISTEN ROTHWELL, SISTER OF MISSING POLICE CADET, KELLY ROTHWELL: We felt that he was overbearing.
GRACE: He has not been named a suspect at this juncture.
ROTHWELL: A bit possessive and controlling.
GRACE: The downstairs neighbor hears a series of loud thuds around the time Kelly disappears.
KEN WILLIAMSON, NEIGHBOR OF MISSING WOMAN, KELLY ROTHWELL: Somebody like threw something down or jumped down the ceiling real hard.
GRACE: Where is Kelly Rothwell?
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to David Lohr, the crime reporter with AOLNews.com. What is the latest in the search for Kelly?
DAVID LOHR, CRIME REPORTER, AOLNEWS.COM: Well, we`ve got a couple of developments tonight, Nancy. We have the boyfriend, David Perry. He has voluntarily turned over his car to New York State Police. We have an individual claiming to be an attorney of Perry`s who has contacted the police there and gave then a very brief, somewhat sketchy timeline of his activities that day but it only covers about three hours or so.
GRACE: Alexis Weed --
LOHR: And then we also --
GRACE: When David Lohr says that -- David Lohr, joining us from AOLNews.com. He`s their crime reporter.
Alexis, when he says he voluntarily turned over the car -- come on. He voluntarily turns over the car after not turning it over for days on end knowing the police wanted it. He is a former cop. He knows the deal. And also, giving this timeline, he only covered about three hours, did he not?
ALEXIS WEED, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right, Nancy. Police tell us today that the timeline was extremely selective. It was very vague. And police say there`s really nothing they can do with this timeline. It`s useless to them.
GRACE: Now why is the timeline useless?
WEED: We don`t know exactly why, we just know that it was extremely vague. They call it selective. That`s all they`re telling us right now, Nancy.
GRACE: To Pat Brown, criminal profiler. Isn`t that the way? Haven`t you seen -- I did -- for all the years of prosecuting, if a defendant does give a statement, that they`ll start talking. Then when it comes to the critical moments, say, of the shooting, of the kidnapping, of the dope deal, everything goes fuzzy. And they kind of pick up after that. So the statement in itself becomes useless.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER, AUTHOR OF "THE PROFILER": Well, if the person is innocent, they`re going to just give the information from beginning to end. They`re going to open their home, their car, they`re going to say go for it.
Mr. Perry has left the state so the police cannot see his body. He took the car away for nine days so he can do whatever he want to it. Now he`s giving them just what he wants to give them.
GRACE: And you know a cop will know how to clean out a car. Let me report, he is not an official suspect tonight.
To Detective Michael Bailey, joining us from Pinellas County Sheriff`s Office. I understand that you have searched her condo. He sent his adult son into the condo to retrieve items. Are you ready to tell us what was in that box yet or is it still a secret?
DET. MICHAEL BAILEY, PINELLAS CO. SHERIFF`S OFFICE: Nancy, it is still -- it`s still under wraps at this time. I said, what was in this box may or may not be related. Just the fact that the -- David Perry, Sr. wanted to have that item out of there may have some concern for us. But like you said, it`s too early to tell at this time whether that item will be relevant or not.
GRACE: Well, you`re right, Detective, because why couldn`t he get the item himself? What was his fear of going back into the condo? And if he had any intent of going back to search for Kelly, why would he want his son removing items from the condo?
Tonight, Kelly Rothwell, missing, a 35-year-old police cadet, had never missed a single class at the police academy. The elite St. Pete Police Academy. Until now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Leaving a public supermarket with her best friend. The two had lunch at this Clearwater Chili`s.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She allegedly told her friend she was headed to her apartment to break up with her boyfriend.
WILLIAMSON: He was so confrontational that he wouldn`t back off, you know what I mean? He kept coming at you.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: We are just hearing in our ear news that the live-in boyfriend goes back to Florida. This weekend he meets very briefly with the police, not as long as they wished. I`m sure.
To Detective Michael Bailey with Pinellas County Sheriff`s Office. Is that true, Detective?
BAILEY: Yes, Nancy, we had a very brief encounter with David Perry on Sunday. It would have been probably about 10:30 in the morning.
GRACE: Now when you say encounter, that doesn`t sound like a meeting.
BAILEY: Well, it was a roadside encounter so it wasn`t like a sit- down type of interview like we wanted.
GRACE: You pulled him over? He got pulled over?
BAILEY: He did not get pulled over. He was traveling with his vehicle with some items in it. We were behind him. He pulled over. He must have felt he was being surveilled and we had an encounter with him at that time.
GRACE: An encounter. When you say encounter, I`ve learned a little bit about you, Detective Bailey, that could mean anything under the sun. An encounter. Did he get out of his car?
BAILEY: Yes, he got out of his car. We had, like I said, a very brief contact with him. We introduced ourselves. We asked him to come back to the station or provide us any details about this. He declined. We asked him for DNA sample. He refused. And he was released at that time.
GRACE: Do you have any idea what it was he took out of the condo?
BAILEY: Yes. It looks like it was some barstools and stuff like that that were originally in the condo. I think he had them removed from the condo and they were at a storage unit.
GRACE: Do you know when he removed them from the condo?
BAILEY: Probably a day or two ago.
GRACE: Why would he remove barstools? That`s an awfully long drive just to go pick up some barstools.
BAILEY: Well, I think that he was taking his possessions out of the condo and cleaning it out and having them put in a storage unit and these are the items that he had in the back of the truck.
GRACE: Do you think there could be forensic evidence on them?
BAILEY: No, I don`t think so. I think he was just cleaning them out to --
GRACE: OK.
BAILEY: You know, be out of the area. So --
GRACE: And let me report, again, that the boyfriend has not been named an official suspect. Tip line, 727-582-6200.
Let`s stop and remember Army Specialist Patrick Herried, 29, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Killed Iraq. Highly decorated. Awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal, Iraqi Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism and Action Badge.
Enjoyed football, mountain bike, playing guitar. Loved listening to music and spending time with friends. Leaves behind parents Rita and Marshal, sister, Stacey.
Patrick Herried, American hero.
Thanks to our guests but especially to you. And a special good night to Georgia and Illinois friends, Ann, Tina and Jenny. Aren`t they beautiful?
Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
