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Nancy Grace
Missing Atlanta-Area Mother Found Alive, in Hiding
Aired April 14, 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. A gorgeous mother of five, kindergarten teacher, heads to Wal-Mart to rent a movie, never seen again. Her husband just headed out for a weekend hunting trip, but turns back when he has the wrong weekend, only to find the five children all alone. Mommy`s gray Nissan found in a parking lot just 12 miles south of Wal-Mart. As suspicious text messages from Mommy`s phone emerge, police comb through hours of surveillance video, confirming Mommy never makes it to Wal-Mart.
Bombshell tonight. As we go to air, mother of five Wazineh found alive in a secret location.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The case of Wazineh Suleiman is closed. She is in a safe location. She is alive. She is well. She does not wish at this time to let anyone know where she is. We will respect her wishes as law enforcement officers. She made that request, so we will not tell anyone where she is.
Why she left is her business, not ours. Our main concern was to make sure that she was safe, and we have discovered that. Can`t tell you where she is at her request. Anything that`s going on in her residence is her business and her husband`s business. I don`t have any comments about that. But our case -- we`ve done a little more interviews with her. There`s no criminal charges to be filed against anyone. This case is now officially closed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. A gorgeous mother of five, a kindergarten teacher, heads to Wal-Mart to rent a movie, never seen again. Her husband had just headed out for a weekend hunting trip, but turns back when he realizes he`s got the wrong weekend only to find the five children all alone. As we go to air tonight, mother of five Wazineh found alive in a secret location.
We are taking your calls. Straight out to Alexis Stevens, reporter with "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution." Alexis, what happened?
ALEXIS STEVENS, "ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION" (via telephone): Well, as far as I know, a sheriff in the vicinity wherever Ms. Suleiman has been found, contacted the sheriff here in Bartow County today, early this morning, to let him know that she is OK and she is safe in that location.
GRACE: To Eric Jens, news director of WRGA. Eric, thank you for being with us. Explain to me what happened.
ERIC JENS, WRGA RADIO: Well, Nancy, we do know first and foremost that she is alive and well, and if not well, at least safe at this point. The sheriff, as we heard moments ago, has officially closed this case. No criminal charges are to be filed at this point, and so no further investigations are believed to be going on. We are making attempts to contact the family members, but of course, we don`t know where Wazineh is herself.
GRACE: Eric Jens...
JENS: ... and that`s not being released.
GRACE: Eric Jens, you know something you`re not saying. It`s written all over your face. I also notice...
JENS: There`s a lot of speculation going on out here today.
GRACE: I also notice that you said if she`s not well, she`s at least safe now. What do you mean by that?
JENS: Well, yes...
GRACE: Hey, listen, I`m a JD...
JENS: ... there are indications...
JENS: ... not a dentist. I don`t know how to pull teeth, so just spit it out.
JENS: OK. Obviously, if she left her home last Friday and did not want to return home or speak with anyone for X number of days here, then there is a problem. And the sheriff alluded to that himself in the short news conference that was held moments ago, that whatever problems exist, that`s up to the family members to work out on their own, and at this point, there is nothing to warrant any criminal charges nor further investigation.
GRACE: OK. I`m reading between the lines. Tell me this, Eric Jens, is she in a battered women`s center? Put Eric Jens on the screen, please, so I can look at him!
JENS: No. I do not know her location. We have reason to believe that it is within the state of Georgia. Beyond that, we have no idea where she is, other than that there is no immediate fear for her safety.
GRACE: To Bonnie Druker, former crime reporter joining us on the story. Bonnie, Is Wazineh in a battered women`s center?
BONNIE DRUKER, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Nancy, as you heard, cops won`t say, but I can say she is alive. She is safe. But also, there are a lot of reports out there that she`s extremely scared.
GRACE: Of?
DRUKER: Of -- there are reports out there that she`s extremely scared of her husband. After all, this was an arranged marriage.
GRACE: Oh, OK! Hold on. Hold on. Don`t just throw something like that out there, "After all, this was an arranged marriage." Bonnie Druker, you are in the United States of America, correct?
DRUKER: I am.
GRACE: OK. And you do know there was the Emancipation Proclamation. No more slavery, right?
DRUKER: Right.
GRACE: And you do know about the suffrage movement, where women now have the right to go and come as they please. They can vote. They can do all sorts of things now, Bonnie, correct?
DRUKER: Correct. But apparently...
GRACE: So what are you trying to say, an arranged marriage?
DRUKER: Well, they were in an arranged marriage. Apparently, Abed said that when he "picked" his wife, he immediately fell in love and she immediately fell in love with him. So yes, this was an arranged marriage, no matter what you`re saying, Nancy.
GRACE: OK, what -- an arranged marriage? Where? It`s my understanding she got married when she was 17. How is she supposed to know who to pick for a husband? And take a look at her. She`s 30. She`s already got five children. Arranged marriage? Where? Where did that happen?
DRUKER: To my knowledge, it happened here in the United States.
GRACE: OK. To Eric Jens, WRGA. an arranged marriage in the United States? What?
JENS: I have no information to confirm or deny that. That is part of the speculation, of course. And just the overall family atmosphere is something that`s probably a little different than what, you know, common people might have expected or are used to living in.
GRACE: Isn`t it true, Bonnie Druker, that this information that Wazineh was in an arranged marriage came from her friend?
DRUKER: It actually came from one of Abed`s...
GRACE: His friend.
DRUKER: Yes, one of Abed`s really good friends. Apparently, they spoke every second day. And he said that he saw Wazineh at barbecues, but he was also very, very respectful of Wazineh because they are Muslim and there is that separation between man and woman sometimes. So he said he would see Wazineh, but they were not good friends. They didn`t engage in a lot of conversation. It was like, Hey, how are you? Nice to see you.
GRACE: OK, Bonnie Druker, since you seem to know about all of this, who was it that says she, at age 17, had the same instant love for Abe (SIC), her husband, that he had?
DRUKER: Well, what happened today was we did speak to the friend who Abed was supposed to go hunting with, and he is the one who said they were in an arranged marriage.
GRACE: Yes, I`m talking about the love at first sight thing. Who says Wazineh-
DRUKER: Abed said that.
GRACE: ... had love at first sight?
DRUKER: Obviously, Abed said that. We haven`t spoken to Wazineh yet.
GRACE: OK. All of this is coming from the friend. We have spoken to the friend. We are taking your calls live. Right now, no charges, but the speculation is that the woman left the home and is in a battered women`s center.
I want to talk about her parents coming to the United States. Bonnie, where did the parents come from?
DRUKER: Well, they are of Palestinian decent, but just came here the past couple of days from Israel.
GRACE: So do they live -- do they live overseas?
DRUKER: Her parents live in Israel.
GRACE: OK. Did this arranged marriage happen in Israel or here?
DRUKER: Well, it is my understanding that it may have happened here.
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Out to Lorraine. Hi, Lorraine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello, Nancy. How are you today?
GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is what on earth would terrify this woman so bad that she would want to leave her home and leave her kids behind? And is she planning to return to her country, or was she born here or was she born overseas?
GRACE: Leave -- scared enough to leave behind five children, children that by all accounts, she absolutely loved and adored. And remember, if the husband`s story is correct that he had the wrong weekend, had left for the weekend, she was thinking that he wasn`t going to come right back.
Back out to Eric Jens, WRGA. Eric, what do we know about her motivation for leaving the home?
JENS: Yes, very little officially, Nancy. But of course, you can make some logical jumps here, I suppose, in that if she left the five of them home alone, then either she was at some point planning on returning home a short time later or somehow knew that perhaps he may have been returning home himself at some point in the near future.
GRACE: Back to Bonnie Druker, former crime reporter joining us. Bonnie, it`s my understanding that after we go to air last night with the story, her -- Wazineh`s friend contacts the husband and says, She`s with me. She`s alive and she`s safe, but would not tell the husband where she was. Is that your understanding of what happened?
DRUKER: That`s my understanding of what happened. Also, I did speak to the sheriff today, and he said he found out last night at midnight because another sheriff`s officer called him at midnight and said, She`s safe. She`s alive. We know where she is. I spoke to the sheriff at 8:30 this morning, and that`s what he told me.
GRACE: Straight out to C.W. Jensen, retired Portland police captain. C.W., you have seen this scenario many, many times. What do you make of it?
C.W. JENSEN, RETIRED PORTLAND POLICE CAPTAIN: Well, what everyone is saying probably is exactly what happened. A lot of times, women can become very scared of their spouse. A lot of men can be very emotionally frightening without being physically abusive, and over time, women can get scared.
I`ve investigated cases like this in the past, and sometimes that`s the case. Other times, they have gotten into another relationship, and that`s why they want to leave. I would assume the police looked into this. She may have had somebody that was going to come over and watch the kids so there was no possible, you know, child neglect or things like that.
And it sounds like right now, like they said, the case is closed. They`re not going to deal with it anymore, and I would assume that she may be dialing up a divorce attorney pretty soon.
GRACE: To Joe Navarro (ph), former FBI profiler, author of "What Everybody Is Saying," we`ve learned from the sheriff she is alive, but A, not revealing her location, and B, saying no charges. The fact that they are not bringing any kind of charge against her suggests that the speculation is true that she is in some sort of a battered woman`s center.
JOE NAVARRO, FORMER FBI PROFILER: Well, at least she`s in good hands. You know, it strikes me that this woman ran away perhaps to -- for a rendezvous, finds out her husband is coming back, and so she`s sort of busted.
GRACE: I don`t know if I would consider a battered women`s center a rendezvous.
NAVARRO: Well, we don`t know that. We don`t know that. She may have been going to a rendezvous because she left her car.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABED SULEIMAN, HUSBAND: After work, I went to my Friday service. And while I was there, I walked out to the vehicle and I get a missed call from her. And I also got a text message from her saying to please, you know, go to Domino`s and pick up four pizzas for us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to her?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A couple of things that are just making us scratch our heads a little bit.
SULEIMAN: We were sitting in the back yard. We were eating the pizza. Then I told my wife, I said, Honey, come on, I need you to help me finish packing for my trip.
Then my buddy came over my house so we can get all the gear up on my trailer and attach it to his truck for our Kentucky turkey-hunting trip.
We were heading towards the border, and then a buddy of his calls him...
GRACE: Is that when you realized you had the wrong weekend?
SULEIMAN: Yes, this is when I realized it.
GRACE: Why didn`t you call your wife and say, Hey, I`m coming back?
SULEIMAN: Because I`m only an hour away from the house.
I want everybody to be positive that there is -- I have absolutely nothing to hide. My wife is my life. She is. And I will do anything for her to make her happy.
Wazineh, if you hear me, all -- we all love you. Your parents are here. Everybody`s here. We all love you. Your family loves you -- people that are so concerned and just want to see you come home.
He (ph) said, It`s over. I`m throwing the phone out the window. Wazineh would never, ever, ever, ever talk to me like that and never text me like that. She never, ever has. And I was, like, Something`s not right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. First, unleash the lawyers. Joining us tonight out of Philadelphia, Joe Lawless, renowned defense attorney, author of "Prosecutorial Misconduct." Also out of Atlanta, defense attorney Peter Odom.
Joe Lawless, last night, the husband, Abe (SIC), called in and spoke to me at length. And he said, Obviously, someone else has her and they have her cell phone. She`s texting me that it`s over, used profanity, that, I`m throwing the phone out the window. She would never have done that. Obviously, someone has taken her cell phone, that they did not have a heated text message exchange before she went missing.
Now we find out she`s alive and well, and speculatively, in a battered women`s center. So what does that mean out of all his statements to police? Were they false statements to a police officer?
JOE LAWLESS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, it certainly sounds like they could have been. Obviously, what`s going to happen is the cops are going to take a look at the cell phone records and any text records that there are and try to see if there was a history.
It sounds like the guy`s in denial. It sounds like he`s trying to make himself sound like the innocent, injured spouse himself, when that may well not be the case. Now to jump to the conclusion, though, that she`s in a battered women`s center at this point is a little premature because if there was that problem, I would think the police would have investigated -- been investigating the husband for a criminal act relating to an assault on the wife. And so far, that hasn`t surfaced. So I`m really kind of perplexed by the whole thing.
GRACE: But you also know, Joe Lawless, that if the wife is not willing to go forward with charges, they are -- very unlikely they`re going to force her to go forward with a criminal charge.
LAWLESS: Well, it`s unlikely...
GRACE: Without a victim, what kind of case do you have?
LAWLESS: Well, it`s unlikely, but believe it or not, literally today, I was talking to a prosecutor about a case just like that, where the woman appears to have been seriously injured. There`s a question about how the injury were inflicted. And the prosecutors generally don`t want to take the chance that they`re guessing wrong, and they want to err in favor of prosecuting someone if they think there`s been...
GRACE: Put Lawless up!
LAWLESS: ... an injury regardless of whether the wife is going to cooperate or not.
GRACE: Put Lawless up. Here`s the deal. I had cases like that many, many times, felony abuse cases. But in those cases, I already had a statement by the victim that went to a grand jury and came to me to try. But when you have nothing, when your victim won`t tell you anything...
LAWLESS: That`s another issue, you`re right.
GRACE: ... you can`t go forward.
LAWLESS: That`s absolutely another issue.
GRACE: So -- and to you, Peter Odom. Try to be straight with me on this. Last night, he comes on and says, Oh, these text messages must have been written by somebody else. This would never have happened. And that is what he told police. Now we`re finding out that she did send these text messages and he did have these heated exchanges with her. What about false statements to police? Is that not a charge anymore?
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, look at the facts, Nancy. If the police had charges, they would probably bring them. I think on these facts, it`s more likely that she`s checked herself into a mental health facility or a hospital than a battered women`s center...
GRACE: No, there is...
ODOM: ... and that would really explain all explain...
GRACE: ... absolutely...
ODOM: ... these inconsistencies.
GRACE: ... no evidence that she`s in a mental health facility at all! And I think to throw that out there is slanderous.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Did she know that you were turned around and coming back?
SULEIMAN: No, no, she didn`t. She did not.
GRACE: Did you call her and tell her you had the wrong weekend?
SULEIMAN: No, I did not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: How did you get so in debt?
SULEIMAN: Easy. I have a good income, and I bought two very expensive properties in south Florida.
GRACE: What do you do for a living?
SULEIMAN: I`m a pharmacist.
GRACE: And so when the real estate market went bust, that`s when you got into money troubles. Next question -- standard operating procedure -- is there a life insurance policy on your wife?
SULEIMAN: No, there`s not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. As of this hour, there are reports that Wazineh is extremely afraid of her husband, in fear, and the cops have agreed not to tell him her location.
Out to the lines. Laura in Kansas. Hi, Laura.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. How are you, Nancy?
GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was just wondering, could this woman have been possibly manipulated by another man? A mother that`s afraid wouldn`t leave her children.
GRACE: What do you mean, manipulated by another man? Hello. Do I have Laura in Kansas with me?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes.
GRACE: OK. What do you mean, manipulated by another man?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Perhaps because of their religion, she had talked to someone and felt guilty and -- or you know, the man manipulated her. Why would an abused woman leave her children? That doesn`t make sense.
GRACE: Well, if she was deathly afraid of him and had arranged for someone to come over to be with the children, why would she stay, Laura?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I was deathly afraid of a man, I would be afraid for my children, as well.
GRACE: That`s a very good point. Out to Caryn Stark, psychologist, joining us out of New York. Weigh in, Caryn Stark.
CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: It is an excellent point. But we have to assume, if that`s the case, that she was planning to do something about her children. It sounds to me, Nancy, that there is this huge probability that she was afraid of her husband because of the text messages that you mentioned, the fact that he said it didn`t sound like her, she was very confrontational, she used curse words. She had safety at that point. And so there`s a lot more going on here than we`ve been led to believe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SULEIMAN: Why would I not cooperate? That would be -- I would not be cooperating, not give them anything they want. Because I have nothing to hide, I`m not worried. Whatever (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: Right. And are you willing -- are you willing to perform even a lie detector test?
SULEIMAN: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABED SULEIMAN, HUSBAND OF MISSING MOM: She`s about 130 pounds. 5`7", very beautiful.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What happened to this mother of five?
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Did she know that you were turned around and coming back?
SULEIMAN: No, no, she didn`t. She did not.
GRACE: Did you call her and tell her you had the wrong weekend?
SULEIMAN: No, I did not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And one of the texts that he said, said that I`ll just throw my phone out the window. Now that`s strictly from him.
SULEIMAN: You can imagine how I`ve been harassed and getting all these numerous phone calls and e-mails from all these different stations and radios and newspapers.
CLARK MILLSAP, SHERIFF, BARTOW COUNTY: That they did go to the Steak `n Shake. They did go to the Wal-Mart there. They did go to the Park store.
SULEIMAN: But of course, like everybody else, it`s human nature to start assuming the worse. And that`s fine. I anticipated that.
They were coming in, you know, slowly. They were -- exchanging a lot of text messages, but from the very first one, and I just finished talking to one of the investigators, and we just finished going over -- it took us about 2, 2 1/2 hours. We went over all the text messages. He asked a lot of great questions. And --
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Reports now coming in from ABC that Wazineh is extremely afraid, in fear of her husband. Cops agree not to tell him her location.
I want to go back to Joe Navarro, former FBI profiler and author of "What Everybody is Saying." He`s joining us out of Tampa, Florida, tonight.
Joe, I don`t quite understand your reasoning that somehow she was having a rendezvous with another man? Where does that come from?
JOE NAVARRO, FORMER FBI PROFILER, AUTHOR OF "WHAT EVERY BODY IS SAYING": Well, here`s what I`m thinking, because she didn`t know he was coming back. She leaves with her car. I think she was coming back to her children. And now finds out that he`s returned and it`s only then that she goes into this panic mode and starts making the phone calls and maybe then and there decided to leave the children and seek help and leave the husband behind.
I think she thought all along that he was gone for the weekend, and as she -- you know, she probably has always done, came back to the kids. I have to think that as a mother, she was concerned about those children.
Once she knew the father was there, she was no longer concerned about that and maybe said to herself, OK. I have got to escape now.
I suspect in those text messages and phone records, there`s going to be something there that doesn`t pass the stink test.
GRACE: What do you mean by that?
NAVARRO: Well, the possibility that maybe she was already seeking somebody else`s help or assistance or alliance. Maybe she`s fallen for somebody else and just felt like she couldn`t get out of this arranged marriage.
You know, this goes on in America all the time where we have traditional societies and marriages to this day are still being arranged. And a lot of times these young ladies are finding out that after five, seven years, it`s not all that rosy. And this arrangement goes to the head and not the heart.
GRACE: We are taking your calls. For those of you just joining us, last night, we aired a search for this woman, a gorgeous 30-year-old mom of five. A kindergarten teaching assistant. Wazineh Suleiman went missing. Her husband returns from a hunting trip -- an ill-fated hunting trip to find the five children home alone.
Her car found parked 12 miles south of the Wal-Mart she had said she was going to to rent DVDs for the children.
Out to the lines. Kimberly in Virginia. Hi, Kimberly.
KIMBERLY, CALLER FROM VIRGINIA: Hey. How are you?
GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?
KIMBERLY: OK. Actually, I don`t have a question. I have a comment.
GRACE: OK.
KIMBERLY: I hope that`s OK. Pretty much, I was following this last night, and I just want to say thank you because you were grilling him. You were asking him the questions that I wanted to ask him because I just felt like the police wasn`t asking the right questions.
But I honestly think because he`s already lied about the nasty text messages, I think she knew he was coming home. I think that`s why she left the kids because she knew -- she knew that he was close by home and she knew once he got there, she was probably going to get, you know, beat up or, you know, you never know.
I`ve been in abusive relationship before and that is like a scary feeling knowing that the person that`s abusing you is on their way home and there`s a chance that when he gets there he`s going to abuse you again.
I think the reason why she wasn`t scared to leave the kids with him, because those are his kids and he`s probably never -- he`s abusive to the kids. It`s one thing to be abusive to the kids and another thing to be abusive to her. Because the person that was abusing me was not abusive to my son. He was just abusive to me.
I would have left him with my son as well. You know, and I just think that she knew he was coming back because he`s been lying about those nasty text messages. I think she knew he was coming back. I think she called a friend and told her friend to meet me by the Wal-Mart so I can get out of here, because he`s going to hurt me.
I honestly -- I honestly think that. And if the oldest child was like 12 or 13, to me, in my opinion, that is old enough to leave them for 10 minutes and go --
GRACE: OK. Let`s go out to the experts.
Joining us, Joe Lawless, Philadelphia defense attorney. Peter Odom out of Atlanta.
I mean, look at what we know. We see that she is not being prosecuted like Jennifer Wilbanks.
Let`s see a shot of her, Liz.
Everyone remembers the runaway bride who went on a jog, I think, it was the night before her wedding or before the rehearsal supper and never came back. She was prosecuted and actually had to pay for the search the state did for her. But in this case, we are seeing no suggestion of a prosecution against Wazineh Suleiman.
Why?
Also the husband is not being told where she is. In fact, we got ahold of him and asked Abe for a comment about his wife being found. Instead of saying, praise the lord, I can`t wait to hold her and kiss her, her children and I miss her so much, he says, I`m not saying a word until I see my wife. No comment.
Now, you know, Joe Lawless, I`m sure in court you`ll say that doesn`t mean anything. But we`re not in court, are we? What does it mean to you?
JOE LAWLESS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY, AUTHOR OF "PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT": No, we`re not. And I think, Nancy, if you look at the logic of it and I`ve thought about this since our last segment. I have to draw the same conclusion that you`ve drawn.
If you have a wife who`s in an abusive relationship, who is afraid of her husband, who doesn`t want to get involved in the criminal prosecution and is looking for breathing space, they are not going to aggressively prosecute it. They then don`t have a charge against the husband. So we are where we are.
I haven`t seen a situation like this in a long time. And I think that`s probably what it is.
GRACE: To Ben Levitan, telecommunications expert joining us out of Raleigh, could investigators track her text messages back to where they were sent?
BEN LEVITAN, TELECOMMUNICATIONS EXPERT: Oh, absolutely, Nancy. Yes. Every time you send a text message or make a call, there`s an incredible amount of data as to when the call was made, what cell tower that call was made, what side of the cell tower it was made. We know within about a square mile where she is.
GRACE: Out to the lines, Jerry in West Virginia. Hi, Jerry.
JERRY, CALLER FROM WEST VIRGINIA: Hey, Nancy. How are you doing?
GRACE: I`m good, dear. What`s your question?
JERRY: I`m going to be real quick. I love you, Nancy.
GRACE: Thank you.
JERRY: Why can`t they charge her with child endangerment for leaving her children knowing he`s -- she was out of town?
GRACE: Well --
JERRY: No. When he was out of town.
GRACE: Yes. What I`m thinking, Jerry in West Virginia, is that, for some reason, the cops are taking her side. Now that leaves us to deduce why because in other situations when you leave behind a child age 12, 11, 10, 7 and 6 alone, you are absolutely right. That could be child endangerment.
However, if she is fleeing for her own safety, that puts everything in a different light. And I`m sure you agree with me, Jerry.
Let`s go to the lawyers. Peter Odom, what about it?
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, there`s a big difference between faking one`s own disappearance, that is actively trying to make the police believe that you`ve been kidnapped or abducted and doing what this woman apparently did which was just really just leaving the scene. Backing -- just disappearing.
There`s no possibility of bringing charges against her. And if there was a 12-year-old at home then there really isn`t a possibility of bringing child endangerment charges. That would be something of a stretch. So I just don`t see the police bringing charges against her at all.
GRACE: What about false statements by the husband to police about the text messages?
ODOM: I just -- I just don`t see those particularly relevant towards her. Don`t see it happening.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SULEIMAN: They were on spring break all week. I guess somebody did see her. People had to have because she went to Lowe`s that morning and made a purchase for all the -- the landscaping work they were doing.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Abed Suleiman says his wife left their five children to rent a movie while he was on a hunting trip. And when his hunting trip was canceled he came home early, she was gone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to her?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A couple of things that are just making us scratch our heads a little bit.
GRACE: Who was the last person to have seen her alive outside her family?
MILLSAP: Her 12-year-old son.
SULEIMAN: Every time I tried to call her and I was never able to verbally speak to her, I was trying to track, you know, because it went to voice mail. And it went to it very quickly.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: For those of you just joining us, last night we told you about a 30-year-old stunner Wazineh Suleiman who had gone missing. Her husband had gone on a hunting trip but then turned back home when he realized he had the wrong weekend, he says.
Tonight, Wazineh found alive. But there`s still mystery surrounding her disappearance. Cops refuse to tell her husband where she is. All we know is she is alive and well.
Out to Eric Jens with WRGA. Another thing I don`t understand, I tried to establish last night was, who was the last person outside that family that had seen her so I could get a timeline established, not just what the husband said. Nobody had seen her. Is she not allowed out of the house?
ERIC JENS, NEWS DIRECTOR, WRGA RADIO: Yes, that`s also among the speculation here today. Every time you ask that question, you get the 12- year-old, you know, child. And we have no one we can point to and say this was the last person who have spoken to her. What her state of mind was, what her thinking, what her plans were.
You know these are all unanswered questions at this point. And a lot of the things you`ve been talking about and speculating with tonight, you know, virtually any one of those things could be true.
GRACE: Well, what do we know about the children?
To Bonnie Druker, former crime reporter. What did they tell police? Is there a way that they could have helped their mother make a getaway?
BONNIE DRUKER, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, FORMER CRIME REPORTER: Well, I mean, that`s obviously possible. Police have interviewed the kids but because they`re minors, they won`t say anything about what the kids actually said. Other than the kid were the last to see their mother leave.
Now, Nancy, we`re talking about just how scared this woman was. I mean, the bottom line is she was extremely scared. Cops are not even telling her husband where she went. So, you know, she`s scared out of her mind.
And I just want to say another thing when it comes to her financials. And I had to write it down. I`m going to look away for a second. The family was $500,000 in debt. Fifty creditors were on their back and they filed chapter 7 in August.
GRACE: Yes, from what the husband Abe told me last night, he had invested in real estate down in Florida that didn`t pan out. So they are in hock up to their eyeballs. The pressure on her must have been incredible.
But another point I want to bring out is, talking about rendezvous and charges against her. It`s not against the law to go missing. It`s not against the law to just disappear. In our jurisprudence system, that is absolutely OK.
What the runaway bride did, Jennifer Wilbanks, as was pointed out by the defense lawyers tonight, is to give false statements to police. That is a crime.
This woman Wazineh Suleiman did not do that. And when it comes to leaving her children alone, that is discretionary because one of the children is about to turn age 13. So when can you leave your children? And it becomes a crime? That will be in the discretion of a judge.
As of right now, again, no charges against this woman Wazineh Suleiman. But everyone is left wondering why she left and will she have to go back.
Back to Bonnie Druker. I want to find out more about this arranged marriage and why she apparently wanted out of it. What do you know?
DRUKER: What I know is that she was scared out of her mind. That`s what police have said. We really don`t know that much about the arranged marriage. We actually just found out about it, and we found out about it from the friend who Abe was going hunting with. He`s the one who said that they were in an arranged marriage.
GRACE: Out to the lines. Jerry in West Virginia. Hi. Oh, excuse me. Excuse me. Maria Elena in Louisiana.
Hi, dear.
MARIA ELENA, CALLER FROM LOUISIANA: Hi.
GRACE: Hi. What`s your question?
MARIA ELENA: You know, after listening to all of this, all I have to say is that the husband struck me as -- he has something to do with it. He showed very little feeling of concern of where his wife was and what had happened to her. Arranged marriage does -- I mean, that`s what I said. Strictly religious beliefs, a lot of times very unhappy marriages.
And third, 12-year-old, 13-year-old, 14-year-old, 15-year-old, it doesn`t matter to me. I don`t care about what judge says is OK. You just don`t abandon your children. And the 12-year-old going on 13 is also a child.
GRACE: Let me ask you this, Maria Elena. What is your ancestry? Where are you from?
MARIA ELENA: I am born and raised in Cuba.
GRACE: Are you familiar at all with these arranged marriages?
MARIA ELENA: Yes, from the Arab countries and Asia, and probably some old Spanish, whatever cultures from way back who knows when. But where I come from --
GRACE: Well, I`m just -- I`m just stunned that they are going on in America now. As of today, 2011. Arranged marriages that end in this.
Back to Bonnie Druker. At this point, are there -- is there a possibility of charges against the husband for any possible false statements? And are we convinced the wife Wazineh Suleiman is not facing any charges? And what about the children, Bonnie?
DRUKER: OK. Well, you heard that the case is closed. So at this point, it doesn`t look like the husband is going to face anything. You`re the lawyer. You might know after the case is closed, could they come back and actually charge him with something? That I really am not sure of.
GRACE: I think -- to Peter and Joe Lawless -- there`s always the possibility if false statements have been made that there could be charges. I don`t see them backtracking on Wazineh Suleiman and charging her with anything.
What about it? What about it, Lawless?
LAWLESS: I don`t think they`re going to do anything at this point.
GRACE: Me either.
LAWLESS: I think they`re going to want to cool off and see where it goes. I just see this case dying a slow death, and unless there`s some other problem with the husband.
GRACE: Yes.
LAWLESS: Or the wife comes forward and decides she wants to do something about it criminally.
GRACE: What about it, Peter Odom?
ODOM: I take the police officer at his word that this case is closed.
GRACE: And to you, Caryn Stark, interesting comment from the husband, Abe Suleiman, when we got -- finally tracked him down today, his response is no comment until I see my wife.
CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: That sounds pretty angry, Nancy, and it doesn`t surprise me. He`s being kept from his wife by his wife. And this man who reported her missing has a lot of accounting to do, I`m thinking. He really has to take a look at what`s going on.
She wouldn`t leave five children unless something was really wrong. And she wouldn`t keep him away from her.
GRACE: Yes, you know what, Caryn?
STARK: If they had a good marriage.
GRACE: That`s true because last night I asked the husband, has she ever left them before? And he said she would only leave them briefly if she had to run an errand and only in daylight hours and this was well past sunset.
STARK: Yes, I really do believe, Nancy, that if we get any kind of follow-up on this, it`s going to be about the fact that she was really frightened and terrified of him.
GRACE: Out to the lines, Kelly. Hi, dear. What`s your question?
KELLY, CALLER: Hi. It`s really strange. My question is pretty much like everybody else`s that she thought her husband was going to be gone all weekend and she still left. For all she knew, her kids were going to be at home alone all weekend.
GRACE: And for all we know, she has someone coming to the house to check on them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SULEIMAN: People are like -- this doesn`t make sense. There`s a bunch of idiots out there who don`t know all the facts. But of course, like everybody else, it`s human nature to start assuming the worst. And that`s fine.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SULEIMAN: She has left the home before but never left them home alone at night. But if she`s left them alone, you know, it would be very quick just to go run to Red Box. But that`s it really. And I knew it`d be -- you know, broad daylight or anything, I would know about it. I might be, you know, on the way home from work or something like that.
According to my sons, she left, I got home at around 8:50. And that`s about the time that she -- I got home -- I got home around 9:00 and he said that she left about 10 minutes ago. And I said, well, you know, he`s going to be 13 in a few months. So, you know, I did ask him, though, still, even though I know he`s very intelligent and knows what 10 minutes means, you know, some kids you tell them 10 minutes they --
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. The big headline tonight, Wazineh Suleiman found alive. But the twist is the cops refuse to reveal to her husband where she is.
To Eric Jens, again, I`m not clear on where her children are. And I`d also like to know this friend that calls the husband, to tell him she`s alive, this is after our show airs last night, was that friend male or female?
JENS: That would be the male friend who called -- or the female friend I believe who would have been with her. As best we know at this point.
As for the children, we`re trying to make contact with the family members at this time. We believe they are at home as is Mr. Suleiman.
GRACE: To CW Jensen. Last question about this. I want to put it to bed. What the husband told us last night about those text messages does not appear to be accurate. I mean maybe we`ve got some kind of mix-up, but if he told the same thing to police, they`re not going to pursue anything regarding a false statement?
CW JENSEN, RETIRED PORTLAND POLICE CAPTAIN: You know, sometimes, Nancy, in these criminal investigations, what you`re really concerned about is safety. So they went, they found out that she was safe.
Her story may have been, look, I`ve been planning to get out of this marriage for some time. Every time I have a little bit of time I go and I make some arrangements. I was going to be home within a half an hour. I was going to bring the thing back. So it`s just -- it`s just over and do with.
GRACE: And, again, we don`t know that they were false statements. They just appear that way tonight.
Everybody, let`s stop and remember Marine Corporal Michael Brandon Presley, 21, Batesville, Mississippi. Killed Iraq. Awarded the Purple Heart, National Defense Service medal, Iraq Campaign medal.
Loved football, playing jokes with his little brother. With a smile that lit up a room. Never met a stranger. Leaves behind grieving mother Pamela, stepfather, Joe, brother, Collin.
Michael Brandon Presley, American hero.
Thanks to our guests but especially to you. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
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