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Nancy Grace
Another American Woman Disappears in Aruba
Aired August 09, 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: Bombshell tonight. Another American girl goes missing, Aruba. After Aruban police refuse to make a case against judge`s son Joran Van Der Sloot in the disappearance of Alabama girl Natalee Holloway, Maryland tourist Robyn Gardner disappears without a trace from the very same resort town as Natalee Holloway.
Tonight, where is American tourist Robyn Gardner?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Six years since the disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway, vanishing on a high school trip in Aruba. And now another blond beauty goes missing from the same resort town.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thirty-five-year-old Robyn Gardner.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was on vacation in Aruba with a male companion, Gary Giordano.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her boyfriend, Richard Forester, said they quarreled before she went on vacation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was before she was reported missing. He got his last e-mail from Gardner.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ll talk and sort things out when I get back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: According to reports, Gary Giordano says the two were snorkeling.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said a current pulled her out to sea.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All I could imagine is that she was screaming for me and I wasn`t there!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Aruban authorities calling Gary Giordano a suspect in Robyn`s mysterious disappearance. What happened to Robyn Gardner?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, a whole church stood by and let it happen, little girls repeatedly sexually assaulted over and over and over! A church, a society, entire state governments let it happen for years, until tonight, when a Texas jury brings down the hammer on polygamist cult leader Warren Jeffs, gets life plus 20.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARREN JEFFS, FLDS LEADER: I`m not the prophet. I never was the prophet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Polygamist cult leader Warren Jeffs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A Texas jury has sentenced Warren Jeffs to life in prison plus 20 years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Warren Jeffs is guilty of sexual assault against a 14-year-old child and aggravated sexual assault against a 12-year-old child.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four new audiotapes, graphic and emotional testimony about the abuse Jeffs inflicted on children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a great deal of incest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Set aside inhibition and reservation."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The jury was so convinced, if not repulsed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He will never see the FLDS ranch again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "There is an even younger girl that the Lord wants me to take. She is 13."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s more than brainwashing. It`s indoctrination.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The drama of Warren Jeffs, we can put that behind us and begin to focus on what really matters. And that is freeing these people from his grasp and freeing their mind from the religious shackles that he`s placed on them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Creepy perv has been at it for decades! Finally, a Texas jury is strong enough to say, No more, Warren Jeffs, and good riddance. Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. another American girl goes missing, Aruba. Maryland tourist Robyn Gardner disappears without a trace where the very same resort town as Natalee Holloway.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have breaking news.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A 35-year-old Maryland woman, Robyn Gardner, goes missing from the same resort town in Aruba where Natalee Holloway vanishes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can`t even explain it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her boyfriend fears Robyn Gardner is dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s been (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gardner`s travel companion, reportedly an American named Gary Giordano, allegedly claims the two were snorkeling and that Gardner never makes it back. She was lost at sea.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just don`t think that she was snorkeling. I feel in my heart that something happened at this person`s hand.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As Aruban police search for the beautiful missing blonde, many wonder, just like in the Natalee Holloway case, will Robyn Gardner`s disappearance ever be solved?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had the best time of my life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Another American girl vanishes in Aruba in the same resort community as did Natalee Holloway. Tonight, we are getting very little information out of Aruba. But take a look at this girl, absolutely gorgeous, a tourist from Maryland, apparently last seen snorkeling, but we don`t even know if that is true or not.
Straight out to Rupa Mikkilineni. Rupa, what can you tell us?
RUPA MIKKILINENI, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Nancy, this is a shock tonight. We`re finding that yet another American, blond American, beautiful girl, goes missing six years later, after Natalee Holloway goes missing in the same resort town.
Here`s what we know. We know that she was with a traveling companion. We know that last Tuesday was the last time she was in touch with her boyfriend back in Bethesda, Maryland. She`s from the Maryland area. She`s 35 years old. She went traveling.
There`s some sort of issue between her and her boyfriend. We know she was traveling with a friend. Authorities are being very unclear about whether this is a lover, a boyfriend, a friend, but we know it`s a traveling companion, 50-year-old man named Gary Giordano, also from the Maryland area. And we know that he claims they went snorkeling last Tuesday on Baby Beach, just 12 miles away from the exact...
GRACE: Well, hold on. Hold on. Hold on. To Michael Gast, founder of the National Academy of Police Diving. Michael Gast, I`ve dived, I know, maybe close to 300 times. That`s a lot different from snorkeling. When you`re diving, you`re out at sea. When you`re snorkeling, you`re in more shallow water. How can you get swept out to sea from shallow water?
MICHAEL GAST, NAT`L ACADEMY OF POLICE DIVING (via telephone): Well, if you`re careless, it could be possible. I just really doubt it. Usually, a strong rip current or something might pull you out, but that`s only a limited amount of area. Were there any questions about whether she was wearing weights or a weight belt or a wetsuit or anything like that?
GRACE: It`s my understanding she was not wearing a wetsuit, that she was snorkeling in her swimsuit, and that she was not wearing a weight belt.
GAST: Yes, that`d be very difficult to get swept out to sea snorkeling because once you get to where you`re in water too deep to see to the bottom, you`re not going to be snorkeling anymore, first of all. And they should have been together.
GRACE: Well, I mean, the whole point, Michael Gast, when you`re snorkeling, you`ve got to be in a position to see. It`s got to be shallow because you can`t see down to the bottom, to the sand. You can`t see the fish.
GAST: That`s correct.
GRACE: You can`t see what you`re looking for. That`s why snorkeling is typically done in more shallow water, clear water.
GAST: That`s absolutely correct. And to be able to be swept out into deeper water in a circumstance like that, apart from a storm or anything, it`s virtually impossible.
GRACE: Let`s go straight to Aruba. Joining us tonight, the CEO of "Aruba Herald." It is Mark Benson Denz. Thank you very much for being with us. What are you hearing from Aruban authorities about the missing American girl?
MARK BENSON DENZ, CEO, ARUBA HERALD (via telephone): Good evening, Nancy, and to your other guests. Well, we have spoken a few minutes ago with the prosecutors here in Aruba. And as you said, there`s not much new information that they are willing to disclose at this time. What we do know is that they have put together a special task force of the police headed by one of the chief of the policemen and are working day and night to find a solution to see exactly what has happened to Robyn.
GRACE: Joining me right now, CNN correspondent Martin Savage. Martin, a lot has been made as to whether the guy she was snorkeling with is a boyfriend, a lover, whatever. The reality is, is that her boyfriend, to my understanding, was back home. And what difference does that make, other than, Martin Savage, he may have been the last person to see her?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, here`s the problem. And as you have pointed out here, there is a boyfriend supposedly at home. And who is this traveling companion and what was the relationship that they were having at the time? It is clear that when she left, apparently, the conditions under which she was traveling was upsetting to the boyfriend back in Maryland.
And from what we have heard, this was a couple now that had met by the Internet. I`m talking about the new relationship, the 50-year-old, Gary Giordano. And this is the relationship that authorities now are focusing on here.
And one of the things that I`ve heard from talking to people on the island today is that they found that after he reports her missing, Gary Giordano reports Robyn missing, he then a couple of days later is getting on a plane back to the United States when he`s apprehended.
Many folks down on the island, many folks here would say, Well, wait a minute. Why aren`t you saying behind? Why aren`t you spearheading the effort to try to find the young lady you were traveling with? Why are you more concerned about going back to the United States?
And that is why authorities on the island are beginning to suspect that this whole snorkeling story may not be true. As you point out, in many cases here, this Baby Beach, as it`s called -- it has that name because it is a beach the locals will say is so calm, the weather so predictable, you could take your baby there. The idea of some sort of riptide or current that pulled her out to sea, they don`t buy it.
GRACE: Martin Savidge, it`s incredibly ironic that this is the same resort area where Natalee Holloway went missing so long ago. Now, at that time, it was -- you know, wild horses could not have forced Aruban authorities to go forward with a prosecution on judge`s son Joran Van Der Sloot. But they`ve taken this American guy straight in and questioned him. But as of right now, his story apparently is still the same, that they went snorkeling, that they were separated, and he thinks she may have gone out to sea. I find that very hard to believe, Martin Savidge.
To you, Ellie Jostad. What more can you tell us?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, Martin Savidge brings up something very important. Remember when Natalee Holloway went missing, that was when everybody wondered, could she have drifted out to sea? Could her body be at sea? And we were told repeatedly that that western side of the island is very calm. It`s almost just like a bathtub. So you wouldn`t have a body ripped out to sea. It would have to be taken out some distance.
GRACE: Ellie! Ellie! Is that what they always say in Aruba? Oh, she must have floated out to sea!
JOSTAD: Well, you know, that was the thing that people were speculating on. And we were told then, no, the currents aren`t like that on the western side. You`re not going to get swept out to sea. So that could be one of the reasons they`re looking at this story.
And the boyfriend back home apparently didn`t even know she was headed to Aruba. He thought she was heading to Orlando with a friend, and it wasn`t until later that he found out she was down there in Aruba with this other guy.
GRACE: Back to Mark Benson Denz joining us, the CEO from "The Aruba Herald." I`m just very curious if -- has any evidence seized? Do we know anything about what police are actually doing to find the girl? What -- are they searching right now? What are they doing to find Robyn?
DENZ: Correct. Well, immediately after Robyn was reported missing that Tuesday afternoon at around 6:00 o`clock, we know that the Dutch coast guard together with the local search and rescue organization and the local police, as well as on land and also in sea, started to search. But after about 11:00 o`clock at night, it was very dark, so it didn`t make any sense to really continue the search.
And the next morning at 6:00 o`clock, they continued to do the search. Even the minister of justice was present to make sure that everything possible was being done in order to search for this person that has been reported missing.
GRACE: Well, Mark -- Mark, are they still searching for her? Or have they called off the search?
DENZ: No, there are still search going on, specifically more from the water, on the water side.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tonight, her boyfriend fears 35-year-old Robyn Gardner is dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s been six days!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What`s going through your mind when you realize that a woman may have gone away with him and now she may be dead?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I was -- I`m still shaking because I have children and that could have been me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The last message I got from her was, I love you, we`ll talk and sort things out when I get back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A case strikingly similar to the 2005 disappearance of teenager Natalee Holloway, whose body was never found.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And the response from the Aruban government -- She must have just drifted out to sea.
OK. We are taking your calls and we are live in Aruba. Let`s go to the lines. Patty in Florida. Hi, Patty. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I just wanted to say I think you`re a great person for speaking out for...
GRACE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... all the missing people and all the children who can`t speak for theirselves.
GRACE: Thank you, Patty.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And your twins are precious.
GRACE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I just wanted to -- I was wondering -- I mean, if you`re snorkeling with someone, you`re snorkeling together. You would be able to tell right away if somebody`s getting away from you or drifting away. Did anybody see them snorkeling? Do they know for sure that they were snorkeling and something else didn`t happen?
GRACE: You know, Patty in Florida, you bring up a really good point. You know when you see all these commercials for resorts, and they`re always off on the islands somewhere, you always see a man and a woman, face down, snorkeling, looking at these beautiful fish, and they`re holding hands. Yes, you typically snorkel with somebody on trips like these.
Let`s go back to Michael Gast, joining us out of Miami, founder of the National Academy of Police Diving. Michael, every time -- well, no, not every time, but many times that I dived, you had to go through a certain, let me say, registration. You had to fill out forms. You had to rent oxygen. You had to rent equipment to go diving.
And don`t you typically -- tourists typically get their snorkeling equipment from, say, a resort hotel or a snorkel outfit near the beach? Don`t they have to sign up? Wouldn`t somebody be able to corroborate his story that they were snorkeling, Michael Gast?
GAST: That was a question I had, and the investigators really need to find the dive gear. They need to find the mask, the snorkels, the fins -- his, too -- to be able to corroborate that information because I`m sure they didn`t bring it with them. And also, the nearest places to do this is -- this looks like a resort beach that they supposedly occurred on, so someone should have been able to see them going into the water, going out of the water, what have you.
GRACE: That`s a good point, Michael. Back to Mark Benson Denz with "The Aruba Herald." Mark, again, thank you for joining us -- Mark joining us tonight from Aruba. Mark, have police been able to narrow down that they were, in fact, actually snorkeling? Have they been able to determine where they rented their snorkel gear from?
DENZ: OK, I have to explain something. They were seen, it has been confirmed -- there are people that have testified that they have seen these two people together at the Baby Beach. But Baby Beach is not the exact area. It`s close by. It`s about six to seven minutes walk from the area where they actually went to snorkel, which is behind 90 (ph) Concrete (ph) Club.
And it`s a bit of an abandoned place. There are a company that rents out gear for snorkeling and also diving. We have not received the information from the police if they have rented snorkeling gear because snorkeling gear is actually pretty easy to just buy at a store and just use. So we do not have that information.
But the Baby Beach, where a lot of people traffic with their children and go to the beach, is a very populated area, and there they have confirmed to see them together. But we did not receive information -- the police did not want to release information if they have seen them actually snorkeling at the 90 Concrete Beach Club area, where the mister (ph) who has been detained is saying that they were snorkeling.
GRACE: When we get back, we`ll unleash the lawyers, Raymond Giudice and Pilar Prinz. Another American beauty goes missing, vanishes there on the beach in Aruba, ironically, the same resort area where Natalee Holloway goes missing. We are taking your calls. And we`ve got the tip line from Aruban authorities.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Robyn Gardner goes missing from the same resort town in Aruba where Natalee Holloway vanishes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her boyfriend fears 35-year-old Robyn Gardner is dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The last message I got from her was, I love you, we`ll talk and sort things out when I get back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Robyn Gardner was on vacation in Aruba with a male companion, Gary Giordano.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said a current pulled her out to sea while snorkeling.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Robyn`s boyfriend suspects foul play.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was there. Whatever was happening to her, she was screaming for me and I wasn`t there.
I can`t even explain. It`s been six days!
The last message I got from her was, I love you, we`ll talk and sort things out when I get back.
I just don`t think that she was snorkeling. I feel in my heart that something happened at this person`s hand. All I can imagine is that while she was there, whatever was happening to her, she was screaming for me, and I wasn`t there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back. We are taking your calls, and we are live in Aruba, bringing you the latest. Another American beauty vanishes without a trace there in Aruba.
Unleash the lawyers. Joining us tonight, Raymond Giudice and Pilar Prinz. OK, Raymond Giudice, this traveling companion says they were snorkeling as she floats out to sea. Weigh in.
RAYMOND GIUDICE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I`ve learned a lot tonight from Martin Savidge and the other folks about tides and how calm the water was, so the snorkeling argument is not a strong one.
But here`s my problem, Nancy. In six years, the Aruban Dick Tracys have never solved the Holloway case. They may be ambitious about this case. It sounds like they`re trying to act that way. But they, in my opinion, have no clue after six days how this young lady disappeared.
GRACE: OK. Your point is you`re blaming the police?
GIUDICE: You asked me to weigh in, and what I`m weighing in on is that all these observations and focus on this gentleman that was with her - - if I have to say -- this is from the Aruban authorities, I take that with two grains of salt...
GRACE: Hey, you know what?
GIUDICE: ... and a heavy dose of skepticism.
GRACE: Ray Giudice, I advise you to take it with a box of salt. Forget a grain of salt!
GIUDICE: OK.
GRACE: Pilar Prinz, defense attorney, family law attorney, I want to hear what you`ve got to say. I don`t know if you know this, Pilar, but there are two prior complaints by companions, female companions, against this boyfriend, two domestics, two different women, not the same woman twice, but a history of women complaining about domestic violence.
PILAR PRINZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, first of all, they`re complaints, they`re not convictions. I don`t know what they`re for. But you`ve got -- you know, unfortunately, you`ve got a young woman who wasn`t honest with her boyfriend, who went down to Aruba...
GRACE: Whoa! Wait!
PRINZ: ... with a man that she met on the Internet...
GRACE: Wait! Put her up! Put her up! Pilar Prinz, are you actually trying to tell me she`s the one that`s at fault? Because she`s not married. She`s not engaged. She could go wherever the hell she wants to go! What are you talking about, that it`s her fault?
PRINZ: I`m not saying it`s her fault. She can go wherever she wants to go.
GRACE: That is what you`re saying!
PILAR: I`m saying we don`t know what happened to her at all. Nobody knows what happened.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Six years since the disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway. And now another blonde beauty goes missing.
RICHARD FORESTER, ALLEGED BOYFRIEND OF MISSING WOMAN IN ARUBA: No. It`s been six days.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thirty-five-year-old Robyn Gardner was on vacation in Aruba with a male companion.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I knew he was very jealous and possessive.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: From the same resort town.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m still shaking because I have children and that could have been me.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A man claiming to be Robyn`s boyfriend suspects foul play.
FORESTER: All I can imagine is that while she was there, whatever was happening to her, she was screaming for me. The last message I got from her was, I love you, we`ll talk and sort things out when I get back.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: We are taking your calls live tonight. Another American beauty goes missing from Aruba, ironically the same area where Natalee Holloway disappeared.
Take a look at Robyn Gardner, reportedly snorkeling at the time she, quote, "drifted out to sea."
OK. We`re not even close to finding out what happened to Robyn Gardner. We are taking your calls. I want to go back to the lawyers, Raymond Giudice and Pilar Prinz.
Back to you, Pilar. When I asked you your opinion on the traveling companion Giordano, who has coincidentally had two other women in his past, complain about domestic incidents -- when I asked you about his snorkeling story, you immediately attacked the victim in this case and began talking about how she`s got a boyfriend back home and she`s with this guy.
Could you explain to me what relevance that has?
PILAR PRINZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Nancy, I`m not attacking her for going on this trip. But what I`m saying is we don`t know what happened. The boyfriend back --
GRACE: Well, I know that.
PRINZ: The boyfriend back in the United States doesn`t know what happened. And what he`s saying is I don`t think she would go snorkeling, well, he probably didn`t think that she would go to Aruba with another man either. So that really --
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Now I appreciate -- I appreciate all those observations. But that`s not what I asked you, Pilar. I asked you about Giordano, the companion, with whom she was snorkeling.
PRINZ: Well, Nancy --
GRACE: Focus. Bring it back in the middle of the road. Come on. What do you think?
PRINZ: Nancy, all I know is you`ve got a guy who meets her on the Internet, who goes down there and he told the police in Aruba that she was snorkeling and they`re going to look into it, and they`re going to look and see if there is any evidence that she went snorkeling if they find her.
I have no idea what happened.
GRACE: To CW Jensen, retired Portland police captain -- what do you make of it, CW? I mean you`ve got this guy, Giordano, who is snorkeling with her. I mean that`s the whole point of having a diving buddy.
Am I right about that, Michael Gast? When you have a diving buddy, the whole point of having a diving buddy is in case something goes wrong you`ve got somebody to help you.
Is Gast there? Is Michael Gast on the line?
MICHAEL GAST, FOUNDER, NATIONAL ACADEMY OF POLICE DIVING: Yes, I am.
GRACE: Isn`t that the point of a diving buddy?
GAST: Yes, it is, to assist one another.
GRACE: Exactly. So, CW Jensen, you`re in shallow water. How can somebody drift away? You`re there as a couple for a reason, to assist the partner.
CW JENSEN, RETIRED PORTLAND POLICE CAPTAIN: Well, I know I`ve done more homicide investigations than the history of the Aruban police force. But this is so obvious, even they must know that this story is probably a lie.
So while I would be searching in the ocean, and I would be certainly searching around the beaches and stuff like that. I wouldn`t believe that that happened, that they maybe went scuba -- or snorkeling and then got out and then here`s this guy that has a history of domestic violence, and he`s drugged this American woman down to Aruba, maybe he wants something she doesn`t want to give, and something bad happens. And I`ve seen that over and over and over again in my career.
GRACE: To Dr. Leigh Vinocur, emergency room physician, joining us out of Baltimore.
Dr. Leigh, thank you for being with us, I really appreciate you weighing in on this. Got a couple of questions.
DR. LEIGH VINOCUR, M.D., UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Sure.
GRACE: Number one, if she did drown.
VINOCUR: Yes.
GRACE: In what condition would her body be tonight?
VINOCUR: Well, I mean, it depends -- you know, if he just left her there and she drowned and he didn`t get help right away, and it`s now been six days, and you know, you would assume it would wash up on shore as some of the gases would start to form in her body. That`s how people are found when they`re drowning.
GRACE: Well, let me be more specific.
VINOCUR: Right.
GRACE: Would you be able to tell cause of death?
VINOCUR: It would be harder. The longer it`s in the water, any kind of evidence you would start to lose that evidence.
GRACE: OK. Dr. Leigh Vinocur, if she drowned in the ocean, would you be able to tell that from an autopsy as opposed to her drowning in a bathtub with tap water or whether she was bludgeoned and thrown in the ocean? Would you be able to tell that from autopsy?
VINOCUR: Well, certainly if she was bludgeoned and thrown in the ocean, you would see trauma, head trauma or whatever.
GRACE: Right.
VINOCUR: For -- held under water, usually when you drown you sort of get this reflex and you don`t always breathe in and get a lot of, you know, saltwater into your lungs. And a lot of times it equilibrates. So sometimes you can`t always tell the difference.
GRACE: Right.
VINOCUR: But if there was trauma related to it, and if he was holding her down and, you know, trauma to her neck and stuff.
GRACE: Right. Got it.
VINOCUR: But it depends how long the body has been left.
GRACE: To Dr. Leslie Austin, psychotherapist joining us out of New York.
Dr. Leslie, it was just pointed out that the companion, as everyone is differentiating him from the boyfriend back home, was trying to board a plane and get home.
Now I find that odd. However a lot of people don`t. I`m sure the defense attorneys don`t think it`s unusual at all. They probably think he had to get back to work. But what does it mean, if anything?
DR. LESLIE AUSTIN, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Well, to me, of course it looks odd. It looks like he wanted to get out of the way and get out of the domain of the Aruban police. If she`s missing, I would think he`d want to stay. If there was not a crime committed here, he`d want to stay and help out or at least notify people and let them know where he was or where he was going.
GRACE: To Martin Savidge, CNN correspondent.
Martin, the companion, the snorkeling companion, Giordano, has been questioned by police. What, if anything, did they learn and do you know anything, Martin, about the allegation that he may have changed his story somewhat?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. That has been reported by a number of sources, both with the investigative team and also those who were reporting down there in Aruba. They say the story has changed. There were reports that he got in deep water and that it was too deep, he swam back to shore.
Then there`s this story of no, there was a current that swept her away. So there is two significant differences right there. On top of that, authorities say we haven`t found the snorkeling gear. They had divers in the water over the weekend in that area. They searched. They expect the snorkeling gear would have watched ashore. They would have found it.
In either case, they did not. All of this seems to sense to them that they got a man here who isn`t telling them the truth and they may not have a body where he says it should be.
GRACE: The tip line, 011-297-597-5201. Another blonde American beauty missing in Aruba.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FORESTER: I can`t even explain. It has been six days. The last message I got from her was, I love you, we`ll talk and sort things out when I get back.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Justice has arrived for Warren Steed Jeffs.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The max, life in prison, plus 20 years.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: They had DNA evidence connecting him to the 14 or 15-year-old.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Aggravated sexual assault of the 12-year-old child and 20 years for the second count of sexual assault.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These brave victims deserve a tremendous amount of credit for their ability and willingness to step forward.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: They had the audiotape with the 12-year-old on it.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A whole church, a whole society stood by and let this guy and others repeatedly assault little girls, some victims as young as 5 years old. Nobody had the backbone to do anything about it. Apparently the church wouldn`t do anything about it. The neighborhood wouldn`t do anything about it. Family members wouldn`t do anything.
State governments wouldn`t prosecute until finally, tonight, a Texas jury brings down the hammer. Thank God, on Warren Jeffs, polygamist cult leader.
Look, these are just some of his wives. OK. Take down -- take down the banner and play these again. I want the viewers to see the photos of Jeffs with that little girl, his so-called bride.
Warren Jeffs, polygamist leader. Look at this. There`s more of those. This is what he actually allowed photographs to be taken of.
What else do you think this scheme perv was doing behind closed doors?
Straight out to Beth Karas, correspondent "In Session," she`s joining us outside the courthouse there in Texas.
Welcome, Beth. What happened?
BETH KARAS, CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": Hello, Nancy.
Well, it only took the jury 30 minutes to sentence him to life in prison. They heard from 11 witnesses over the last three days on this punishment phase. And this is after convicting him of sexual assault on a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old, two of his 79 wives -- 24 of them, by the way, underage.
The jurors heard more audiotapes of him apparently having sex with someone and another tape made an hour later where he instructs girls ages 13 to 15 on what they had just witnessed.
There was yet a third audiotape which involved five of his wives, young women, he was instructing on how to pleasure him, please themselves with each other, in order to excite him.
GRACE: You know, Beth Karas, I don`t know how you sat there in the courtroom and listened to that.
I want to go to Michael Board, WOAI News, joining us out of San Antonio.
Michael Board, the evidence was horrific, it was so awful, that jurors were openly weeping.
MICHAEL BOARD, REPORTER, WOAI NEWSRADIO: They used Jeffs` own words against him. He`s the prophet of this. Don`t call it a church. This is a cult of child molesters. They used his own words against him. Because he`s the so-called prophet, everything he said, everything he did was written down, was recorded, and prosecutors in Texas used his own words against him.
They used the priestly records which are his own words talking about sexually molesting girls as young as 12 years old. Texas finally stepped up and did something. When Arizona and Utah refused to go after this cult of child molesters, Texas said, not in our backyard, we`re going to do something about it, and today they did, sentencing him to life in prison, the maximum amount.
GRACE: You know, Michael Board, I don`t think you`re really conveying the evidence the way I heard it, the way I read it.
BOARD: It was very hard to hear in the courtroom. You`ll hear a lot about the tapes that were played. They weren`t very good quality. This isn`t high definition audio. This was maybe someone with a cassette recorder --
GRACE: I don`t care.
BOARD: -- in a room where there`s --
GRACE: I don`t --
BOARD: You can`t really hear it. You hear -- Nancy --
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Don`t talk to me about the quality of the tape.
BOARD: Nancy, I was in the courtroom.
GRACE: I want to know -- I want the viewers to know what`s going on in that cult, what Utah and Arizona let happen to all these children.
BOARD: What you heard on the tapes in the middle of sexually assaulting a girl who was 12 years old, he stopped and asked her, how does she feel? And in a tiny pubescent voice, she said it feels good. Almost a squeaky voice.
That`s what you heard on those sex tapes. It wasn`t, you know, some - - you know, tawdry porno tape playing in the courtroom, you could barely hear it. But what you could make out was absolutely outrageous.
GRACE: Don`t you see, Michael Board, that that makes it all l the worse because porn is pretend, it is not real? This is real. The elders in the church had outfitted beds covered in plastic to, quote, "withstand what was going to be done on them."
These children were offered up by their mothers and their fathers to not only Warren Jeffs, but others, and Utah and Arizona -- yes, I`m calling you out, because you stood by and you let it happen over and over and over. Apparently not understanding the effect this has on children for the rest of their lives.
And that`s not all, Beth Karas. There were little boys called out. Tell me, Beth Karas, about the witness that testified, the male witness, that says Jeffs pulls him out of a church service and sodomizes him and says it was the will of god.
KARAS: That is Warren Jeffs` now 28-year-old nephew who says that he was 5 years old -- and that`s the one recollection he has. His name is Brent Jeffs. And he says that his uncle took him into a bathroom, told him to take his pants off and kneel, like in prayer, and then told him that he was doing god`s will.
GRACE: Joining me tonight outside the courtroom --
KARAS: There were not --
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Go ahead, Beth.
KARAS: I was just going to tell you, Nancy, there were a lot -- there were a lot of tears in the courtroom while he testified. And his sister testified also about being raped when she was almost 8 years old.
Jurors crying, other people in the audience crying, as they heard those stories.
GRACE: To Willie Jessop joining us outside the courthouse as well. He is a spokesman for the FLDS.
Mr. Jessop, I`d like to hear your side.
WILLIE JESSOP, SPOKESPERSON, FLDS: Well, I think that there is -- you know, it`s a very awkward situation to sit here and defend, you know, something that`s so terrible and so crushing and -- you know, one of the things that people just don`t understand is that it was very loud and clear for Mr. Jeffs that no one, except for him, could get away with what he was doing.
And he had placed people under covenant and secret oaths that nobody outside of just him and those that he -- you know, sanctioned to have access to this information could do it. And I know that -- you know, it makes it look like the entire church was part of -- you know, being a part of this act, and I think everyone has to take some responsibility to this, but I think what the deception is -- look, this guy was a pervert.
He did some very terrible things and it came out. And he made these confessions back in 2007. His brothers covered it up. Members of the church weren`t told about it. And it`s inexcusable and it`s very awkward to try to excuse it when there is -- yes.
GRACE: Mr. Jessop --
JESSOP: And people has got to step up and take some responsibility.
GRACE: Mr. Jessop, I know you`re a fine man, but the fact that there were others within the church that knew about it, and let it happen -- sanctioned, my foot. Sanctioned by what?
I mean, there is the law to answer to, not Warren Jeffs sanctioning them.
To Elissa Wall, former FLDS member, weigh in, Elissa. You`re the author of "Stolen Innocence," forced to marry a cousin when you were a young girl. What does this sentence -- what does this conviction mean to you?
ELISSA WALL, FORMER FLDS MEMBER, TESTIFIED AGAINST WARREN JEFFS IN 2007 TRIAL, AUTHOR, "STOLEN INNOCENCE": You know, Nancy, that`s a really emotional time for me just because there were so many people that have sacrificed and so, so many people have worked so hard and sacrificed our lives outside of this sect to see this day come.
I know, myself, it`s been hard because we`ve all been -- we`ve all been almost screaming at the top of our lungs. These truths that are coming out in trial. And saying that Warren and this society were capable of it. And that`s the saddest travesty in this, is that the society of the FLDS, the men in the FLDS, the women in the FLDS and outside of it. The states, the government, we all step -- we all let this happen. And that is the saddest reality of what we`re facing right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: "For some reason, the Lord is sending me these girls that can be worked with."
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Through the guidance of god is going to convince all of us that he is -- should be left alone to rape children.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Joining me, a special guest, in the wake of the stunning verdict, the stunning sentencing, is the Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.
Mr. Abbott, thank you for being with us.
GREG ABBOTT, TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL: Thank you, Nancy.
GRACE: Mr. Abbott, no offense to other states, but thank God you all had the backbone to finally put this guy on trial. I`m just so proud that someone stood up and said no more. This has been going on for so long.
Tell me your thinking in bringing this prosecution.
ABBOTT: Well, a couple of things. First of all, the FLDS sect involved here came over here in the mid-2000s. It`s about 2006 and set up this compound. Soon after that a report was made that led us to believe that there could be these criminal actions taking place inside the YFZ ranch.
With the team effort of the Texas Rangers, a great prosecutorial team, and CPS, the Child Protective Services, we were able to uncover literally about a billion documents including tapes that you heard described played at trial, including testimony that came directly from documents generated by Warren Jeffs.
It has led to an unveiling and a revealing of what has gone on with the FLDS sect here in Texas and probably across the entire country.
And Nancy, this is a multigenerational crime. Warren Jeffs happens to be the eighth person we have convicted of sexual assault against children. We have seven more before Warren Jeffs and we have others under indictment. This is going to be an ongoing process until we root out and prosecute and put behind bars everyone who`s harmed a child in any way.
GRACE: Well, Greg Abbott, Texas attorney general, if you never do another day`s work you`ve earned not only your paycheck but your title. And I want to congratulate you on doing good.
Everyone, let`s stop and remember Army Captain Jason West, 28, Pittsburgh, killed Iraq. Awarded Bronze Star, Purple Heart. Soldier of the Year. Wanted to enlist since he was a little boy playing GI Joe. Loved Europe. Get-together with his family and friends. Cooking. Many recipes.
Remembered as the go-to guy with the big heart. Leaves behind a Gold Star mother Dee, brother Doug, widow Julie.
Jason West, American hero.
Thanks to our guests but especially to you. And tonight our prayers with the family of Kevin Bryant who passed away July 16. Born New York, relocated to Brooklyn where he dedicated his life to mentoring others in his community. Leaves behind mother Caroline, stepfather Jerry, three brothers, one of our stars, A.J., three sisters.
Kevin Bryant, good night, friend.
Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
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