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Jane Velez-Mitchell
Break in Holly Bobo Case?; Judge Rules to Remove Kids from Cancer- Stricken Mom
Aired May 13, 2011 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST (voice-over): Tonight, is there a break in the case of missing Holly Bobo?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you so much. Please try to get home to us.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: As family frustration mounts, are investigators close to cracking this mysterious month-long disappearance? The 20-year-old beauty was last seen with a man dressed in camouflage in the woods outside her family`s home. Blood was found on the driveway, her lunch box miles away. What happened to Holly Bobo?
Then, a baffling child custody case. A mother`s kids ripped away from her, partially because she has cancer. Despite allegations of abuse and cheating in the marriage, critics say the judge seems most concerned with the mother`s breast cancer. What is this discrimination? I`ll talk to the furious mom tonight.
And a head-spinning story. A mother injects her 8-year-old daughter with Botox and waxes her legs, all in the name of beauty and pageant success. This mom claims her little girl was the one complaining about wrinkles. Really? What kid has wrinkles? Is this child abuse?
Plus, a father`s fight to reunite with his son, kidnapped and taken to Brazil by his wife.
DAVID GOLDMAN, FATHER FIGHTING FOR CUSTODY OF SON: I get a phone call, "I`m not coming back. Our love affair is over."
VELEZ-MITCHELL: For five long years, he battled to bring his son home, and finally he won. But is this legal war really over? And more important, is the little boy now calling his father "Daddy"? David Goldman joins me tonight.
ISSUES starts now.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This person could be a suspect. If somebody has suddenly begun cleaning up an ATV or a car or turned around and sold a vehicle.
If somebody is feeling very anxious, behaving abnormally, feeling a lot of anxiety.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, who took Holly Bobo? Breaking news. Investigators in Tennessee say they think they`re just one clue away from cracking this case.
It`s been a month to the day since the beautiful Tennessee woman was reportedly abducted from outside her home by a man wearing camouflage. It`s a case that`s gained national attention, because Holly is the cousin of country and western star Whitney Duncan, and here is Whitney on YouTube.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHITNEY DUNCAN, COUNTRY MUSIC SINGER (singing): Something stopped me in my place. I kind of think that you just can`t see.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Holly Bobo`s brother Clint said he saw Holly speaking to her who pulled her into the woods. But he didn`t think anything of it at first, because he thought it was her boyfriend.
Cops say the mystery man was holding Holly, and they think that she was in fear of her life. Holly`s brother says he became alarmed when he later found blood outside their home. Cops first said the brother was ruled out as a suspect but now there are reports that nobody has been ruled out. What the heck is going on with this investigation?
ISSUES reached out to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to ask for specifics. The director told us there`s nothing new, and there are no upcoming searches planned. Now, that can sometimes be translation for "We think we know exactly who did it, and we`re just waiting to connect the dots before making an arrest." But other times it can mean, "We don`t know anything."
Straight out to Levi Page, crime blogger and host of the Levi Page show on Blog Talk Radio.
Levi, so much confusion. What is the very latest?
LEVI PAGE, CRIME BLOGGER: You know, there is a lot of confusion in this case, Jane, and you just laid out another example of it. And just recently, there was a Facebook group regarding searchers for Holly Bobo, and they had claimed that they found new items, that the search was expanding. But I contacted the TBI his week, and they said no new items were found and the search is not expanding.
So now we have these searchers making these claims, trying to maybe put out false information out there. So that adds to the confusion of this case. And it`s -- nobody knows what happened -- what happened in this case because TBI is not being transparent with the public or the media. And from the family spokesperson, it doesn`t sound like the TBI is even giving the family information.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, here`s my big issue. And you bring me right to it. Information vacuum. Cops have been zip-lipped about this case, only revealing it`s somebody from the local area. This is a small town of 2,500 people. Something very, very small.
This seems to have sparked rumor-mongering, because people in the town are understandably terrified, thinking, "There`s a killer in our midst," and so they`re feeling this information vacuum with their own theories.
Country music star Whitney Duncan, the cousin of the missing woman, is angry about all the talk. Last month Whitney tweeted via her Twitter account, quote, "My cousin Clint, Holly`s brother, is not a suspect, and I`m sick of people saying that he is. He has been cleared for good reason. Shut up," end quote.
Now, Kristin Smith, you are the missing woman`s cousin. What do you know about all of this, all of the talk and this information vacuum?
KRISTIN SMITH, COUSIN OF HOLLY BOBO (via phone): Well, you are absolutely correct. It is a very small county. The area where this happened is -- it`s honestly very hard to understand, because it is so rough and such a rugged terrain, and it is on the northern end of this county.
Everyone is still trying to hold it together and hold onto hope. The TBI is releasing very little information to the public and to the family, and so all of our trust is just in them. And we`re -- we have faith that they`re going to do their job and bring Holly home.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But as you said, cops are not saying anything...
SMITH: Right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: ... not even to the family. Holly`s dad has his own theory since the very beginning. Let`s listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody, it looks to me, (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Might have been somebody close. Might have been somebody that knew her routine. When I left, when she left, when my daughter left to go to school. That`s what I`ve got in my mind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. So let`s recap and review. What are the clues in the case of missing Holly Bobo, a 20-year-old beautiful, gorgeous, stunning nursing student, who was -- it was 7:30 in the morning on a Wednesday. She was going to her nursing school that day, that morning, and abducted, it seems like.
OK. Blood outside Holly`s home. DNA tests were done. Cops will not disclose what the results are.
Holly`s white lunch box was found several miles from her home. Also, an unidentified item of evidence by the side of the road. Cops won`t say where or what it is, but it is significant.
And then we have the mystery man in camouflage seen taking her away. Now the reason why her brother says he didn`t think of it -- anything of it initially, is because Holly Bobo`s boyfriend apparently wears camouflage a lot. But a lot of people says -- they say that means absolutely nothing, because half of the town walks around in camouflage. It`s common for people to be in camouflage in that particular area.
Kristin, am I recapping and reviewing pretty much what we know so far?
SMITH: Yes, you certainly are, Jane. This has -- this has just rocked everyone to the core, honestly. And what you just said is what we know. And there has been no new information released to the general public. There are no active volunteer searches going on at this time.
And everyone is just kind of looking over their shoulder, trying to figure out -- everyone is just kind of on guard and wanting to find Holly desperately and wanting to know who did this. I, too -- I believe that Dana -- Dana was dead on. Someone knew Holly`s routine and I believe was watching her very closely.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, something is not adding up here. Cops say they need one piece of the puzzle, and they think they`re going to find Holly. They acknowledge they`re getting a lot of leads. Something like 280 leads have come in. They tell ISSUES they have no searches planned. Now, I think that`s significant, Levi Page, because sometimes that means, well, they`ve searched the area, and they really don`t think it`s fruitful to search the area again.
But other times it means, they`re not searching because they have a pretty good idea of what happened. And I want to take that out to Tammy Raimey, friend of the family.
You`ve been searching for Holly Bobo but we hear that there are no official searches planned. Why do you think there are no official searches planned, Tammy?
TAMMY RAIMEY, FRIEND OF THE FAMILY: I can`t answer that. I have no idea what law enforcement is -- is planning and thinking. You know, maybe the searches that need to be done need to be done by law enforcement instead of by volunteers.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you`re searching as a volunteer. Can you tell us the last time you searched and where you searched in relation to where Holly lived?
RAIMEY: In relation to where Holly lives, we were northwest of her home up and around the Natchez-Chase (ph) area.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And when was that?
RAIMEY: That was probably a couple of weeks ago before they -- they shut us down.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: They actually shut you down? The cops said don`t search anymore?
RAIMEY: Well, they told they were not having any more civilian- organized searches. Now, we`ve been out, you know, and done our own searches and searched in places and, you know, things that looked suspicious and things like that. But as far as them organizing us and sending us out to areas, they are not doing that at this time.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now one of the most disturbing images in this case is that of Holly`s poor, distraught mother. Imagine the hell she is going through. Here she is, the day after her precious, beautiful daughter, 20- year-old nursing student, is abducted. She collapses and has to be helped to her car afterwards. Holly`s parents have not spoken out since then.
Tammy Raimey, you`re a friend of the family. How is this poor woman doing?
RAIMEY: She is just surviving. I mean, she`s on auto pilot. I don`t know how she breathes. I can`t imagine. And you just go into an auto pilot of existence. That`s all you can do.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Are they frustrated that law enforcement is apparently not telling them anything either? In other words, sometimes law enforcement will reveal things to the family. Like you don`t have to worry about this because we think it`s this way. They are not getting any of that?
RAIMEY: From the information I`ve gotten, no. They don`t know any more than we do. You know, maybe hopefully they do and search keeping it quiet because we cannot do anything, because no one wants to do anything to hurt the case.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What about the fact that there`s been conflicting information about, well, there were reports that, yes, the brother and the boyfriend may have been cleared. Now they`re saying nobody has been cleared? What do you know, Tammy?
RAIMEY: Well, my personal opinion is -- is that the brother and boyfriend have been cleared. Clint has never changed his statement in what he said he seen. TBI has changed some of the reports and things that they have given. But Clint has never changed his story.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Well...
RAIMEY: And he has been cleared.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Our hearts go out to the family of Holly Bobo. We are rooting for her to be found safe and sound. We`re going to stay on top of this story. Other people have forgotten about it. We have not. Thank you so much for joining us, Tammy. Kristin Levi (ph), we`ll talk to you soon.
A mom gives her 8-year-old Botox injections and leg waxes. You will not believe her story.
But, first, a mother loses custody of her kids because she had breast cancer. I am talking to her, the mother with breast cancer, who`s going to lose her kids next about her battle for justice and her children.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: None of us knows how long we`re going to live. My doctors don`t know how long I`m going to live and if you went to your doctor, he wouldn`t know how long you had to live.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No one has a crystal ball. It`s not appropriate for a judge to base a ruling based on something that is an unknown, just because it makes her uncomfortable. Only God knows how long each person is going to live. And a judge just needs to accept that and rule on the facts of today. And that`s not what this judge did.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, a custody ruling sparks national outrage. A mom who survived cancer for more than three years is now losing the battle for her children. Alaina Giordano is my very special guest tonight. A judge awarded custody of her two kids to her ex in part because she has stage four breast cancer. As a breast cancer survivor myself, I find this totally 100 percent offensive.
In her ruling, the female, by the way -- that`s a shocker -- the female judge wrote, children who have a parent with cancer need more contact with the non-ill parent. And, quote, the course of her disease is unknown, end quote.
Guess what, judge? Everything is unknown. Any of us could get hit by a bus tonight. I could slip in the tub and get a concussion and never come out of it.
The judge decided the kids, ages 11 and 5, should be uprooted from their North Carolina home. She wants them moved into dad`s Chicago home by next month. I say this sets a very dangerous precedent.
Alaina Giordano, I am so thrilled to have you on the show. Did you ever think in a million years a female judge, who presumably has breasts and could potentially God forbid get breast cancer herself rule against you using this particular criteria?
ALAINA GIORDANO, BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR: No, I never did. It`s shocking. I have to say it`s shocking.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What was your reaction when you actually heard it?
GIORDANO: Honestly, when the judge first told us and none of us were allowed to speak with the judge, my reaction was I was in shock. I just -- I just was listening and watching her, and I really had no reaction at the time. It was so shocking to me.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And you look very healthy, by the way.
GIORDANO: Thank you very much.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Congratulations. I understand you`ve got stage 4 breast cancer.
GIORDANO: Yes, that is correct.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Or you were diagnosed with stage 4. But you`ve a great team at Duke University, which is an incredible medical institution.
GIORDANO: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And look how great you look.
GIORDANO: Thank you.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: It`s not like you`re on -- yes. And it`s not like you`re in a coma or something.
GIORDANO: No. No. No. I mean, the kids and I live a normal life. It`s -- the cancer does not impact our daily lives. And we do all of the things we`ve always done together. You know, to them I`m their mom. And they know I have a diagnosis of cancer but it does not impact our daily lives together. So...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I feel like you`ve been victimized twice. This is horrifying, especially when you look at some of the parents in this country who win custody cases. Case in point, neo-Nazi Jeff Hall, he got custody of his two children following a nasty divorce in 2003. This was a skin head that preached hate and violence and yet he still got custody. We found out about this custody ruling a few days ago because hall was shot and killed by his own 10-year-old son. Intentionally.
The point I`m making is, it goes to show you how absolutely wrong these judges can be about who deserves custody. And I want to go to Jeff Brown, defense attorney. What is this judge thinking, Jeff?
JEFF BROWN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You know, if this was the sole factor for why he did this, he`s absolutely wrong. In fact, I look at it the other way. I think that this is the perfect time for the kids to be with their mother. One to help with that emotional bond, to help her get through this. And for them, as well. So I look at it and say, gee, "This is all the more reason to keep them together."
If this, though, is the reason he judge did that, that is completely wrong. But Jane, I don`t know what the gender of the judge has anything to do with this. Because I don`t think, just because it`s a woman, it would be different.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. Jeff, you don`t have these mammary glands the way we do. You have, I guess technically. I`m not a doctor. But a person who has breasts could conceivably get that sort of cancer, and you would think would have more compassion or empathy and understanding. And that`s why it`s shocking to me.
BROWN: Than a man? I don`t think that just because of that you would expect more.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. You`re right, you`re right.
We`re going to have more with this mom in just a second. Stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIORDANO: As far as prognosis is concerned, no one knows how long I will live, and that is, in particular, what made the judge feel uncomfortable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: A judge takes custody away from that mom because she`s got cancer. Alaina Giordano is my very special guest tonight. Alaina, what are your plans to appeal this ruling?
GIORDANO: Well, I`m definitely planning to appeal the ruling. Right now I need an attorney to step forward and take on this case pro bono, because I`m pretty much out of money here. I was definitely out-lawyered by my husband and his attorney, and I need -- I need representation.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Maybe you should call Gloria Allred or somebody like that or Jeff Brown. Because...
GIORDANO: You know, I had contacted Gloria months ago, but I`m told that she only takes cases in California.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, OK. All right.
BROWN: That`s not true.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, anyway, what I want to say is -- do you want to represent her pro bono, Jeff?
BROWN: I would love to. If I could get admitted in North Carolina, I would. But Gloria takes cases all over but Gloria usually takes cases where there`s some financial...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Gloria is a big -- I`m a big fan of Gloria`s. If she can take the case and she`s in California -- let`s move on.
I have to say this. We reached out to the attorney for your ex- husband. He`s invited on our show any time to explain his side. We like to be fair. This was a messy divorce. You admitted infidelity and accused him of infidelity and of being abusive. Now did the judge get into all of that? That seems more of what she should be analyzing, not whether you`re ill or not.
GIORDANO: Right. Well, I did have a witness in court who testified that she saw my husband physically assault me in front of my son. The judge somehow put in the order that there was no evidence of anything like that. So I`m confused by the whole thing myself.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Because there was no -- there was no criminal -- you didn`t make it a criminal matter? There was no record, like a police record or anything like that, of your allegations?
GIORDANO: Not for that particular instance. But I mean, an eyewitness, I don`t know.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And again, I want to say, I have no independent confirmation. And if your ex wants to come on and tell his side, he`s absolutely welcome.
BROWN: Jane?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, go ahead.
BROWN: Yes, I have a question, though. Wasn`t there a child psychologist that was talking to the children, because the bottom line here is, who is the -- who are the children more close to and who is the better parent for them? Weren`t they interviewed? And didn`t a psychologist come out with a report?
GIORDANO: She did. And I`ll tell you, she based a lot of her report on the fact that I have the cancer diagnosis also. So she mentioned -- yes. Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, that`s my big issue. Listen to the kids. Wouldn`t the most important thing be what the kids want?
BROWN: Bingo.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Their home is with you.
GIORDANO: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: They live with you.
GIORDANO: Right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And are they happy about having to pick up and move to Chicago next month?
GIORDANO: No, absolutely not. They`re -- they`ve been devastated by this, and it`s been traumatic for us as a family. And you know, my daughter wanted to speak with the judge. We let the judge know that and she did not hear my daughter, so...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: This opens a Pandora`s box. Oh, a parent who`s obese, should they be denied the right to have their kids? A parent who smokes? A parent who`s handicapped and wheelchair-bound? Wow, you could start looking at anybody and say, "I think you shouldn`t be able to be a parent because you have something that I don`t like."
GIORDANO: Exactly.
BROWN: An addiction.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Keep us posted, Alaina. We`re not letting go of this story.
GIORDANO: Thank you very much.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Coming up next, a mom injects her 8-year-old with Botox. Are you kidding me?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: A head-spinning story: a mother injects her 8-year- old daughter with botox and waxes her legs all in the name of beauty and pageant success. This mom claims her little girl was the one complaining about wrinkles. Really? What kid has wrinkles? Is this child abuse?
Plus, a father`s fight to reunite with his son kidnapped and taken to Brazil by his wife.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID GOLDMAN, SON ABDUCTED BY WIFE AND TAKEN TO BRAZIL: I get a phone call, "I`m not coming back. Our love affair is over."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: For five long years he battled to bring his son home and finally he won. But is this legal war really over and, more important, is the little boy now calling his father "Daddy"? David Goldman joins me tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is no reason for this. The girls at this age have horrible self-image any way. Why are we going to make it harder for them to go through school and feel like they`re imperfect so they need to be perfect? It`s -- I have two little girls and I would never do that to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, shock and outrage over a pageant mom who says she`s giving her 8-year-old daughter botox injections. She says her daughter wants them because she doesn`t like the wrinkles on her face. Excuse me. Hello?
This mom might have gotten more than she bargained for because now Child Protective Services is involved, looking into this. Kerry Campbell and her daughter talked to ABC`s "Good Morning America" about the botox treatments.
Look at this little girl. She`s eight. Why in the world would she need botox? Mom says she`s professionally-trained to give botox shots. So was this little girl brainwashed into thinking she needs botox? Listen to her talk about what the injections feel like from ABC`s GMA.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do it but it hurts sometimes but I get used to it.
KERRY CAMPBELL, ADMINISTERS BOTOX TO 8-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER: We talked about it. She didn`t exactly ask me about it but I know that she was complaining about her face having wrinkles and things like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Shows like TLC`s "Toddlers and Tiaras" give us a shocking glimpse inside this competitive world of kiddie pageants. So, we want to know if other pageant moms would go to such extremes and give their kids botox.
Straight out Mickey Wood, a pageant mom whose daughter Eden competes in pageant. Mickey some might say the culture of child beauty pageants brought this on; moms always trying to one up on one another. Does this kind of thing go on in the pageant world? An 8-year-old getting botox?
MICKEY WOOD, PAGEANT MOM (via telephone): Girl, I have been in the pageant industry for five years. We have been north, south, east, west, fixing to head to Australia this summer and there is no such practice. I am so outraged that this -- and I loosely, loosely use the word mother doing this to her child. It`s the most ridiculous -- instead of botox it should be baloney.
Oh, my God, it`s ridiculous. No, we do not -- I have never in my five years of being all over the United States doing pageants, never even heard a rumor of a mother doing this. This is what gives the ones of us out there that know that pageants are not this big evil monster that they are made out to be because of whatever reason, of people like this. It doesn`t exist.
This woman is -- there is something wrong on every level.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, agree with you there. I agree with you there. But she says that she is not the only one. That`s why we asked you. Now, one mom we talked to today said she thinks giving an 8-year-old botox shot is actually child abuse.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s disappointing that that`s where we`ve gotten to in America. I feel really sad for that little girl and hopefully someone can intervene. I really feel like it`s abuse.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We have been unable to reach the mother, Kerry Campbell, and we`ve tried repeatedly. But she`s invited on ISSUES any time to tell her side of the story; there`s always two sides to a story, so we want to hear from her. We know that the San Francisco Child Services agency has now launched an investigation and plans to talk to Kerry Campbell and her daughter.
I`ve got to bring in Paul Nassif, a plastic surgeon. Now, this is a report, I have no confirmation of this independently, but one of the reports said she gets five shots in three different locations. What could that do a child -- a little child`s face?
PAUL NASSIF, PLASTIC SURGEON: You know, first of all, hi, Jane. Nice talking to you. And unfortunately, we`re talking in this situation, this is ridiculous and I`ve never seen or ever heard of anything like this.
When I did see the interview the mother was injecting around the smile lines around the mouth. First of all, you don`t inject botox there in the first place. That can cause problems with drooling or swallowing. And you don`t do that to an 8-year-old girl.
Especially you don`t know how much the mother is actually giving the child. This could actually kill or cause a problem with the child permanently. It is child abuse.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What the heck is botox anyway? I did it once and then (INAUDIBLE) but somebody said that they said something like, are they going to test this and I said, I will never do it again. But what is it?
NASSIF: You know, botox or discord, the two types is botulinum toxin, so it is a purified protein that is used to inject into the muscles to temporarily, shall we say, freeze the muscles from working. When the muscles freeze, or not working as hard the wrinkles are softened on the outside of the face.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What wrinkles? She`s an 8-year-old.
NASSIF: She doesn`t have wrinkles. They are dimples. They`re dimples for goodness sake.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you want dimples, don`t you? Dimples, the last time check, I don`t know --
NASSIF: Of course.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: -- last time I checked. I would like a couple of dimples in the right places, of course.
The ladies of "The View" were outraged when they heard what this mother was doing. Listen to this from ABC.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERRI SHEPHERD, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": The fact that you would inject this poison into your 8-year-old daughter, this is the dumbest mama I have ever seen in my life -- in my life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: The mom, Kerry Campbell, says her daughter wanted to try it, complaining of her wrinkles.
Well, Dr. Janet Taylor, if an 8-year-old said I want to try skydiving, should the parents say, yes, let`s go sky diving together?
DR. JANET TAYLOR, PSYCHIATRIST: No. It`s infuriating, Jane. I mean this mother missed a major opportunity to teach her child not to succumb to the pressure to be perfect by enhancing her self-esteem and self-worth no matter how she looks. She`s a beautiful child. This mother is wrong and I believe it is child abuse.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And any way, this is not how beauty is achieved -- talking about bad messages. Beauty is achieved from the inside by eating properly, eating pure, clean food, veggies and fruits and also exercising. If you`re going to set any kind of a message about being healthy and fit because, for example, we have a childhood obesity crisis in this country.
It`s not shoot injections in your face. It`s, hey honey, get off the couch and go down so exercise.
This isn`t a one-time thing. This little girl reportedly allegedly gets these botox injections what -- let`s see -- regularly. And the mother in the past has reportedly waxed the little girl`s legs.
So here`s what else she told "Good Morning America".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAMPBELL: I do the botox myself. It`s safe. I`m not the only one that does it. A lot of moms do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Dr. Janet Taylor, do you think Child Services should do something about this mother? Because let`s give her the benefit of the doubt. Let`s say she`s well-intentioned.
TAYLOR: Well, for one thing -- the money that she is saving on injecting herself, certainly she can use for psychotherapy. And Child Protective Services should be involved and they are preventative. If the mother is unaware of the consequences they can help her understand how to further parent her child when there are other temptations and important decisions that she needs to make. So, I`m glad that Child Protective Services is involved.
And hopefully they can help this family stay together but learn what they need to do and what is appropriate and what is not appropriate.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And we haven`t gotten into what the mother`s psychology is that would lead her to want to do this. But somehow I suspect it`s her taking something unfulfilled from herself and deciding to project all that energy on her child and make Her child a project. What I say, mommy, heal thyself, take a look in the mirror. Figure out what you need to work on about yourself and let your beautiful child live a natural life.
Mickey, Dr. Nassif, and Dr. Taylor, thank you so much.
Coming up next, I`ll talk to a dad who refused to give up on his son after the child was abducted by his wife.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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GOLDMAN: Father`s day I get a phone call, "I`m not coming back. Our love affair is over."
JOY BEHAR, HLN HOST, "THE JOY BEHAR SHOW": Our love affair is over?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: "Our love affair is over. You`re a great guy, a wonderful father, the best father I could ever imagine for my son -- I want for my son -- but I`m staying in Brazil and he`s staying with me.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Don`t call it a custody battle. It was a kidnapping. That`s what David Goldman says happened when his wife took their 4-year-old son to Brazil and never came back.
Tonight on ISSUES, I will talk one on one with David Goldman who fought for five long years to bring his precious son back home to the United States. Sean`s mother, her family and a new stepdad would do everything possible to keep David Goldman, the biological father out of Sean`s life, insisting Sean would rather live in Brazil with them.
And then Sean`s mother died after giving birth to a daughter but instead of David getting his son back, Sean`s stepfather got custody so the legal battle spiraled out of control again with mob scenes like this one.
Finally in December of 2009, a Rio court ruled Sean should be returned to his biological father in New Jersey. But could they bond like father and son again after so many years apart? And, more important, is the legal battle really over?
Straight out to one of my heroes, David Goldman, who has fought so hard for his precious son and written this amazing book about his five-year ordeal, "A Father`s Love: one man`s unrelenting battle to bring his abducted son home".
Thank you so much for being here David. It has been about a year and a half since you brought Sean home. And we covered this story in depth on ISSUES. I think all of our viewers, all of the country really curious, how are the two of you doing?
GOLDMAN: We are father and son again and Sean is doing tremendous. He`s happy, he`s healthy, he`s got his friends, his family, not only was he taken away from me but he was separated from his grandparents, his cousins, and the surroundings that he had grown up with, that he was born into for over four years. So thank God he is really, really doing well.
And thank you for keeping this issue alive and continuing to move forward with it because there is still a lot of other kids that need some help.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, yes, I`m sure. This is a very dramatic case but it`s happening all over the world. I have to take you back 18 months to when Sean was finally returned to the United States Embassy. Oh, my gosh, everybody was watching. It was a mob scene.
Sean was paraded through the streets of Brazil, mobbed by reporters, in a full on media frenzy. David, I have to ask, this youngster, your child, your precious child was -- correct me if I`m wrong -- 4 years old when he was separated from you, and he was there about 5 1/2 years. You`re talking about approximately 9 1/2-year-old boy mobbed by the media as he`s taken from these people that he has grown to know and taken back to the United States. There`s got to be some psychological trauma from being put in that public spectacle.
GOLDMAN: And you know what? It`s very unfortunate because his abductors chose to put their stamp on what they felt was their Brazilian way. Most of the Brazilian folks were totally against what they were doing and are truly good people. But, unfortunately, these groups that we were dealing with, the abductors wanted to put their message by wrapping him up in a flag that had the colors of Brazil in a soccer jersey, rather, and calling every media outlet and dragging him through the streets. When we reunited into that Consulate -- in the U.S. Consulate -- he just had this big weight lifted off his shoulders. The pressure and the stress that these abductors -- it was basically a hostage situation as the Brazilian court-appointed psychologist who evaluated him wrote in an extensive 20- something page report -- it was called parental alienation.
They were trying to create false memories, erase his real memories, by telling him I abandoned him. I never loved him. America is a bad place; New Jersey is a bad place. It was awful.
So the biggest conflict that my son Sean had when we came home was, wow, I have my dad here and he`s not the enemy as they portrayed him to be. He loves me. I have the rest of my --
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: How did you convince him of that? How did you take this -- he was 4 when he went there, 5 1/2 years of indoctrination and then in this mob scene he`s handed to you. How do you tell a kid, hey, I`m the good guy here?
GOLDMAN: Well, it`s not as much what you say. It`s what you do. It`s having your unconditional love that we would all have for our children and the patience and the understanding. And there were so many people that rooted us on and cheered us on and embraced us in our homecoming that where we would -- when we would go out, people would say, "God bless you, Sean. Thank God your home. We prayed for you. We wrote a letter for you. We attended a vigil for you. We`re so happy."
And you could just feel that love.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Does he call you "Dad"?
GOLDMAN: I`m sorry?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Does he call you "Dad"?
GOLDMAN: Oh, yes. Yes, he does. He called me dad about the third day that he came home. He was breaking some ice with some buddies down on a river and he wanted me to help him get this big piece and he looked up and he says, "Hey, dad, come help me." Of course, I wanted him to say it again so I acted like I didn`t hear him. And I said, "What did you say?"
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What happened in your heart when you heard that?
GOLDMAN: It just -- again, it`s just so overwhelming. Here`s my buddy who went through so much, my son, and here we are father and son again. And just listening to those words and that word "Dad" is never lost on me. Even if he says it every time, "Dad, can you help me do this?" "Dad, I need help with my homework." "Dad, dad, dad, dad," -- I love it every time. Every time I hear it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You are my hero. We cover so many stories here on ISSUES of fathers who have thrown their kids away like trash. Fathers who abused children or don`t even know that they have children or where they are. And you have restored my confidence in fatherhood. And I am so happy for you and your son Sean.
And keep us posted because I know you`re still worried about them trying to get him despite all this. And we`re going to stay on top of this story. We`re not going to forget about it. We will follow your story because you deserve justice. Thank you, David Goldman.
GOLDMAN: Thank you so much for having me on again, Jane. It`s a pleasure.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: An extraordinary man.
Up next: a global crisis, extreme weather everywhere destroying homes, destroying lives.
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ELOISE BURTON, FLOOD VICTIM: It`s just heartbreaking. It hurts me to look out there and see and know that all this has happened. Don`t know what I`m going to do. I`m old. I`m getting old.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Devastation ripping across the U.S. as more floodwaters destroy homes and farmland. These are the worst floods to hit the central United States in 70 years. Just last week tornadoes slammed some of the same states; people still picking up pieces of their shattered lives.
All over the planet, natural disasters are wreaking havoc. An earthquake just hit Spain killing at least eight people. And of course, you remember the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which killed almost 15,000 people.
What the hell is going on? Is it global warming or global weirding as some experts are starting to call it?
Straight out Heidi Cullen, she is a major expert, author of "The Weather of the Future: heat waves, extreme storms and other scenes from a climate change planet".
I agree with you, totally. This, in my opinion, is climate change. In fact, global warming is kind of a misnomer. It`s really going to cause crazy weather everywhere. What do you know?
HEIDI CULLEN, AUTHOR, "WEATHER OF THE FUTURE": Well, I think one of the things we understand really well about climate change or global warming, whatever you want to call it, the fact the planet is heating up. We know that it works its way into our weather and it makes the weather more extreme, more weird, if you will. So, we can expect to see more floods, more droughts, more wildfires; things that are really costly and really deadly in many cases.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, these disasters, as you just said, they cost billions of dollars in damage.
CULLEN: Absolutely.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: My heart goes out to the people all over the world trying to rebuild their lives from scratch.
But this brings me to my big issue. Is it time for us as a culture to say enough is enough? Is it cheaper to stop living a consumeristic, resource-gobbling lifestyle, to stop that? Would that be better than just watching these horrific disasters one after the other that are costing us billions and billions of dollars?
It`s simple. Look what I use. I use a reusable canister. Most people use plastic water bottles. Those are destroying the planet. They`re part of climate change. Is this kind of backlash, we`re 5 percent of the world`s population in the United States, we use 30 percent of the world`s resources and we`re one of the main reasons why there is climate change.
CULLEN: Yes, Jane. It`s such an important point. I mean when we`re looking at floods in the Midwest right now, $4 billion is what they`ve cost so far. And I think when we think about global warming and climate change, we got to break it down into two parts. We`ve got to end our addiction to dirty, polluting energy sources, things like coal and oil and really begin to invest in clean energy sources that won`t run out and that come from right here in the U.S., things like wind and solar. And we also need to invest in our aging infrastructure.
We need to figure out ways to protect ourselves from these increasingly ominous weather events that we`ve been having to deal with.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Every time you see extreme weather, I think we should all think about our own behavior and whether we`re contributing to it because if we`re creating global warming or climate change, I prefer to call it, not some hypothetical person over there, then we`re the ones who are changing the climate and causing all this horrific weather. So, look in the mirror.
This is something that is not just nature. This is something we`re doing, people. Stick around.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want to tell Sarah that we want her home and that we love her. That she`s not in trouble.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything is ok, Sarah. Just come back. If anybody knows where Sara is, to bring back her safely.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Those poor, poor parents. Unfortunately, we have some very, very sad news we just found out about minutes ago.
Sarah Townsend has been found dead. Cops discovered the 18-year-old`s body in a pond in a New Jersey Park. It`s the very same park where her abandoned car was found three hours after she was last seen leaving her home on Monday. Cops said yesterday they believe she may have been suicidal but did not release any more information about how she died.
Our deepest condolences go out to Sarah`s family and friends. We promise to stay on top of this story until every single question about her disappearance and death are answered. So sorry.
Nancy Grace up next.
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