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Nancy Grace
Young Mother Admits Suffocating Newborn Twins
Aired September 20, 2011 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JEAN CASAREZ, GUEST HOST: We begin tonight with breaking news. After emergency personnel rush to a quiet cul-de-sac in the Tennessee suburbs. A father gets the shock of a lifetime. He goes into his daughter`s bedroom to get her laundry. Well, it`s in the laundry basket, he thinks. There, mixed in with the dirty clothes, a blanket and the body of an infant boy just days old, dead. But in another bizarre and gruesome twist, a second infant, the little boy`s twin brother, also in the same laundry basket.
The unsuspecting grandparents are shocked to learn that their 25-year- old daughter was not only pregnant but secretly gives birth to the twin boys in the family bathroom, then slowly smothers them to death. According to investigators, while the baby`s mother breaks down in court, her family stands by her side, insisting she`s a good girl, studying interior design, working at a dentist`s office, and the primary caregiver for her mother who has a brain tumor.
But prosecutors paint a different picture, calling this tragedy what it really is, double homicide, first degree murder. The same mother who looked her twin babies in the eyes smothers the tiny boys to death, then turns her laundry basket into their coffin!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty-five-year-old Lindsey Lowe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lived a seemingly normal life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) model daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pictures show Lowe as a happy...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The kindest, sweetest girl I know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lowe`s father and police discovered a secret she`d been keeping for the last nine months.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We received a call from Ms. Lowe`s father. He had discovered a deceased child in his daughter`s bedroom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But when officers arrived, they made a second shocking discovery. That newborn boy was a twin. They found a second deceased baby.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now she`s charged with murdering her babies.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her own twins.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Their lives had been terminated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one knew that she was pregnant.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She kept it a secret.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She killed her babies Monday night by holding her hand over their mouths.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Using her bare had.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She then did the same thing to the second newborn and confessed to putting them in a laundry basket in her room.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Covered them with blankets to prevent their discovery.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That question that everyone is asking, why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone wonders that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s a troubling crime, could end up costing her her life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The case does carry the potential for the death penalty.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: I wouldn`t need a gun. I`d use these.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: And good evening. I`m Jean Casarez of "In Session" on the truTV network, in for Nancy Grace. Thank you so much for joining us.
Tonight, before we take you live to Tennessee, Nancy Grace made her debut on season 13 of "Dancing With the Stars," and we are all so proud of her. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dancing the cha-cha-cha, Nancy Grace and her partner, Tristan MacManus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: Look at that rhythm! Fantastic!
And everyone, Nancy really wants us to look at this story tonight out of Tennessee. I want to go to Nicole Partin, investigative reporter joining us out of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Nicole Partin, what happened here?
NICOLE PARTIN, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER (via telephone): Good evening, Jean. A community is shocked and a family is devastated as the details surrounding the death of twin baby boys comes to surface. Now, Jean, this all began when the father of 25-year-old Lindsey Lowe looked in a clothes basket in his home, where he found a newborn baby boy. He immediately called authorities. Authorities went to his daughter`s place of employment. She agreed to go in for questioning. It was during that questioning that the details of the death of not just one...
CASAREZ: Nicole...
PARTIN: ... but two newborns (INAUDIBLE)
CASAREZ: Nicole Partin, here is the question I have. Where were these babies born? She lived at home with her parents. She gave birth to twins at home? Where?
PARTIN: At home in the family bathroom. We understand that she is telling authorities she went into the bathroom, she gave birth to one of the twins. He began to cry. Then she gave birth to a second baby -- all of this inside the family home in the bathroom.
CASAREZ: So you`re saying she gave birth to them in the toilet? Is that where she gave birth to them?
PARTIN: She did. She did. She gave birth to both of them alone in the family bathroom.
CASAREZ: And how did she -- and how do prosecutors say she ended their life?
PARTIN: She explained that one of the babies, the first baby boy born, began to cry. And she didn`t want anyone in the home to hear him crying, so she placed her hand over the baby boy`s mouth so that he could not breathe.
CASAREZ: To make sure he couldn`t breathe for others (ph), is what prosecutors are saying. Alexis Weed, NANCY GRACE producer, joining us from New York. Talk to us about this young -- she was a mother. She`s not a mother anymore. But tell us about her because she`s not just your average girl.
ALEXIS WEED, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right, Jean. She didn`t sound like she was an average girl. It was testified in court that she`s above average. By all accounts, Jean, Lindsey Lowe is the all-American girl. She attended Western Kentucky University. She graduated in 2008 with an interior design degree. Also, very active in her youth ministry in her church, a Methodist church there locally. Jean, everyone who testified at her bond hearing yesterday said that this girl was as good as it gets.
CASAREZ: And it just doesn`t make sense, Alexis Weed. And bond was set for this girl, right?
WEED: Right, it was, $250,000, Jean. She`s still in jail as we speak.
CASAREZ: So $250,000, about $25,000 will get her out. We`re taking your calls tonight.
I want to go to very a special guest. With us tonight is Ray Whitley. He is the district attorney general of Sumner County, Tennessee, joining us from Nashville tonight. Sir, thank you for joining us. How does someone charged with a double homicide, two counts of first degree murder, get her bond set? I know that constitutionally, one can have bond set, but this is a double murder.
RAY WHITLEY, DISTRICT ATTORNEY GENERAL, SUMNER CO., (via telephone): Well, Jean, we had a bond hearing yesterday, which was Monday. She was being held without bond. Her attorney asked that a bond be set. I believe he was asking for a much lower bond than actually was set.
But we, the state, asked that she be held without bond because this is a first degree murder case times two. And if both -- if she`s convicted of both crimes, she could get consecutive life sentences. She could get consecutive life sentences without parole, or this case does carry the death penalty.
We asked that she be held without bond. The judge ruled that she be released on $250,000 bond. The only circumstance we had was the fact that she had been accused of these two horrific crimes. The judge found that she was not a threat or a danger to the community. And that`s one of the things that has to be considered under Tennessee law, as to whether or not she was a danger to anybody else, and the judge said that she was not.
So therefore, he released her, or he set the bond at $250,000, and that was over our objection. But that`s something that we couldn`t control from this side.
CASAREZ: You know, everyone, we`ve got with us tonight Ray Whitley, who is the prosecutor and will be the prosecutor in this case. He`s the district attorney general from Sumner County, Tennessee. Mr. Whitley, what do you know at this point are the facts?
WHITLEY: Well, I think the facts have been well stated so far. The affidavit said just what Nicole had said earlier, that these two babies were found pursuant to the investigation. We first started out thinking there was just one, but then as the interview with the detective proceeded, we realized that there were two babies instead of one. A search warrant was drawn up and taken, and both babies were found, along with much other evidence inside the house.
CASAREZ: Is it true at this point, with your understanding, that she never sought to go to a doctor during nine months of pregnancy?
WHITLEY: We have no evidence whatsoever she went to see any medical person. We have no evidence or idea whatsoever that anybody knew that she was pregnant other than herself. If there`s somebody she told about it, we do not know that. And it`s -- our information at this point would indicate that she did not.
CASAREZ: And so she lived with her parents, and you`re saying from everything you know at this point, even her parents under the same roof did not know she was pregnant with twins?
WHITLEY: I think it`s without question they had no idea that she was pregnant. You have to feel really sorry for her parents under the circumstances because of what has happened here. This time last week, they didn`t even know that they had a daughter who was pregnant, and now all this has happened in the last seven days.
CASAREZ: When her father went into that bedroom, to the laundry basket, believing there were dirty clothes in there, is that why he went into the laundry basket, or was there an odor coming out of the basket that lured him to that to take care of things?
WHITLEY: I think the actual facts are that the mother is the one that discovered the baby, the first baby in the laundry basket. She went up, as we understand it, into Ms. Lowe`s room and saw the baby. She told the father, and then the father did the correct thing by calling the police at that point. The father reported it, but the mother called it to the father`s attention.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Details of two newborn twin boys discovered dead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A college graduate, dental office employee, 25- year-old Lindsey Lowe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Confessed that she knowingly and intentionally killed each of her children using her bare hand to stop their breathing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the only time that I`ve seen a crime such as this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She knew she was pregnant but never went to the doctor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She placed them, the dead babies, in a laundry basket in her room and covered them with blankets to prevent their discovery.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wanted to throw up. Like, I was seriously nauseated to my stomach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... Ms. Lowe`s father, and he reported to us that he had discovered a deceased child in his daughter`s bedroom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She kept it a secret from friends and family.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re all just shocked and saddened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A secret she`d been keeping for the last nine months. A bridesmaid in a sorority sister`s wedding.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Charged two counts of first degree murder.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So many lives are ruined. It`s a tragedy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez of "In Session," in for Nancy Grace tonight. A young woman, 25 years old, her whole life before her, engaged to her high school sweetheart -- prosecutors say in the bathroom after she gave birth to her first child, she held her hand over the mouth of that child to make sure it couldn`t breathe so it would cry out and her family would know what had just happened.
We`re taking your calls tonight. She did it to the second child, too, prosecutors say. To Jessica in Texas. Hi, Jessica.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. I have a question. (INAUDIBLE) at work knew that she was pregnant? I mean, you just don`t gain weight that fast without figuring something was going on. And you said that she was engaged. He didn`t know? I mean, he didn`t know the difference? I mean, they just didn`t touch each other for nine months or...
CASAREZ: You know, Jessica in Texas, you know what this reminds me of? It reminds me of Casey Anthony. Casey Anthony was pregnant, and we heard in testimony that her family didn`t know, didn`t question. Her brother saw something that looked like she was pregnant.
I want to go out to Ray Whitley, the district attorney general with us tonight out of Sumner County. He`ll be the prosecutor in this case. People have to know you`re pregnant, especially with twins. Did only her family not know, and everyone else in the community did?
WHITLEY: Well, I`d say that nobody knew that she was pregnant. We have had cases like this before, when people are -- young people have given birth, and no one else knew. Usually, the people are very large and -- it`s not unheard of. So I do not at this point have any evidence that anyone knew that she was pregnant, other than herself.
CASAREZ: What theories of first degree murder do you have in Tennessee? Obviously, premeditated murder. Do you have felony murder under first degree also?
WHITLEY: We have felony murder. We have premeditated murder. And of course, these are children under the age of 12, and that`s an aggravating circumstance under Tennessee law. And that`s what makes it a potentially capital case.
I do not want to sensationalize this case by saying that we are going to be seeking the death penalty in this case, but in every single case of first degree murder, it`s the district attorney`s duty to assess the case to determine what the appropriate punishment would be, assuming there`s a conviction. And we`re undergoing that process right now. It`s far too early to determine whether we`ll file a death notice or not. But at the very least, if she`s convicted, she will be looking at a life sentence.
CASAREZ: All right. We also have -- there are two sides to every story. Also especially joining us tonight is John Pellegrin. He is the attorney for Lindsey Lowe, joining us tonight from Gallatin, Tennessee. Have a lot of questions for you. But first, we want to ask you -- this appears to be a very intentional crime done by your client. She potentially could face death. Why should we have empathy for her tonight?
JOHN PELLEGRIN, LINDSEY LOWE`S ATTORNEY (via telephone): Well, the allegations all are an indication to me -- and I`m certainly no psychiatrist or psychologist, but certainly, that is an indication to me that it was done (INAUDIBLE) obviously (INAUDIBLE) inexplicable (INAUDIBLE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A crime that may never make sense.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That everyone is asking why? And that`s something that I can`t give you the answer for.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) that somebody couldn`t take the time to, you know, love a child that much and to do something like that, it just tears me apart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Grim-faced police outside a Hendersonville home piece together details of two newborn twin boys discovered dead inside the residence. In a police affidavit, officers say Lowe confessed that she knowingly and intentionally killed each of her children using her bare hand to stop their breathing until they were dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the time that I`ve been with Hendersonville, for 17 years now, this is the only time that I`ve seen a crime such as this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez of "In Session" on the truTV network, in for Nancy Grace. We were talking with John Pellegrin, who is the attorney representing Lindsey Lowe. And I want to go back out to you, joining us from Gallatin, Tennessee. How do you defend this case? Because it appears as though the actions were very intentional. She was pregnant for nine months, placing your hand over the mouth of your baby that has just been born and leaving them in the toilet for a period of time -- how do you defend that?
PELLEGRIN: Well, we don`t know what we`ve got yet. Keep in mind this case is just getting started. You know, I`ve not had a chance to interview all the detectives. I`ve not seen the statement that she made. You know, we`re just getting into this case. We don`t know what lies ahead.
CASAREZ: You know, I asked you before why should we have empathy for her because we look at the one side, and it`s just -- it`s just horrible that two young babies cannot live a life. But tell us about her home environment. It sounds very good in one respect. Was she the caregiver for her mother, who has been ill?
PELLEGRIN: It`s my understanding it came out in the bond hearing yesterday that, yes, she had been the caregiver for her mother, who had a brain tumor (INAUDIBLE)
CASAREZ: All right. Joining us is Marc Harrold. He is a former police officer with the Atlanta Police Department, attorney and author of "Observations of White Noise," out of Washington, D.C., tonight.
What do investigators, as they build this case right now, need to look for? Because it`s premeditation that they will be looking for. This is charged as a first degree murder, and then also felony murder, aggravated child abuse, and a killing that ensued during that aggravated child abuse.
MARC HARROLD, FMR. OFFICER, ATLANTA PD: Yes. I mean, you know, the premeditation in this case, it`s going to be hard to defend against because, as I understand it, you have the twin boys, and one was killed and then the other was killed. So especially on that second victim, the premeditation`s going to be pretty clear. So this is going to be a tough case to defend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 25-year-old suspect accused of killing her newborn twin sons.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s a tragedy for everybody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: FaceBook pictures show Lowe as a happy Western Kentucky student a few years back, but now she`s a young woman charged with murdering her babies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A gentleman had discovered a deceased infant in his daughter`s bedroom.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: When officers arrived they made a second shocking discovery. That newborn boy was a twin. They found a second deceased baby lying right near the first. Twenty-five-year-old Lindsey Lowe lived a seemingly normal life.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Now she`s a young woman charged with murdering her babies. Officers say Lowe confessed that she knowingly and intentionally killed each of her children using her bare hand to stop their breathing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wanted to throw up. Like I was seriously nauseated to my stomach.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say it happened here at her parents` home Monday night moments after giving birth to the twin boys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s my understanding at this point no one knew that she was pregnant. Why? And that`s something that I can`t give you the answer for.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": I`m Jean Casarez in for Nancy Grace. We want to let everybody know we are just finding out that the bodies of these two little baby twin boys have been taken to the state medical examiner`s office. They are going to be performing autopsies to determine the exact cause of death.
Out to Tracy in Georgia. Hi, Tracy.
TRACY, CALLER FROM GEORGIA: Hi.
CASAREZ: Thank you for calling. What are your thoughts? What are your questions?
TRACY: My thoughts is a lot of these women are doing this for publicity. But my question is, is the state going to allow her to put in the insanity plea or whatever it is that they allow these women to do or say after they commit such awful crimes?
CASAREZ: Well, you know, Tracy, the law allows the insanity defense if the defense gives notice of that.
Let`s go out to John Pellegrin, Lindsey Lowe`s attorney. Do you think that it is conceivable in this case that you may plead that Lindsey Lowe did not know right from wrong at the time that she gave birth?
JOHN PELLEGRIN, LINDSEY LOWE`S ATTORNEY: You know, I suppose it`s conceivable. In Tennessee the insanity defense is what`s called an affirmative defense, meaning that essentially the -- it`s incumbent upon the defendant to put forth that defense, and you`re correct, give notice, have competent proof about that. And you know we don`t -- obviously don`t have any idea at all at this point whether or not --
CASAREZ: You know, John Pellegrin, let me ask you a really important question here. Who is the father of this baby? Because she was engaged, but don`t know if he`s the father. Do you know who?
PELLEGRIN: It`s my understanding that there`s paternity testing being done, and the state and myself will be informed of that shortly, I am sure.
CASAREZ: And that, everyone, can go toward motive in this case.
Out to the lawyers, Susan Moss, family law attorney, child advocate, joining us out of New York. Mark Nejame, defense attorney out of Orlando.
Susan Moss, this is a horrendous case. These babies born in a toilet. And after she smothered them both, prosecutors say she left them in the toilet for a while, yes, until she got the laundry bag and then put them in that laundry basket.
SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY & CHILD ADVOCATE: If mom was 14, for her we`d feel sad. But this woman was 25, and now we`re just mad.
This is a college graduate, a woman with a family, a woman with a place to live, a woman with a job. She doesn`t get the same type of sympathy than if she was just a young kid going through an awful situation.
I mean, there is no defense there. What`s her defense? That Ray Cronk moved the laundry basket? There is no defense, and she`s going to be convicted and serve a lot of time.
CASAREZ: And to Mark Nejame out of Orlando, this reminds me of the Casey Anthony case. It has elements of Casey Anthony, because her family didn`t she was pregnant, she lived in the home, and we have a laundry basket just like we did in Casey Anthony.
MARK NEJAME, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, but the difference here, Jean, and it`s a pleasure to always be with you, as neonaticide is what`s happened here. When a child is killed within the first 24 hours of birth, there`s a whole category. And this is neonaticide.
Different than generalized infanticide. And this woman, by all accounts, fits the classic profile of a woman who kills their children within the first 24 hours. In fact, there`s a defense -- I know we`re not in the United Kingdom, but it allows a defense under the law because it`s not as infrequent as some people would suggest.
The reality of it is, is that women believe -- they completely disassociate themselves from the child that they`re carrying. In fact, the -- when they`re getting ready to have the child, they can believe that they need to defecate or that they`re having something else going on.
There`s a complete dissociation. And as both sides the prosecution, which sounds very balanced, and the defense lawyer who sounds like he`s trying to get into this appropriately, I think they`re going to find out that there`s a whole area that a lot of people are unaware of.
Most people don`t realize that a child under one years old in America has a greater chance of being killed than the adult population. There are things that go on --
CASAREZ: All right, Darryl Cohen --
NEJAME: -- that we need to figure out.
CASAREZ: But Darryl Cohen, when I just heard Mark Nejame say that she was pregnant for nine months and may have not even realized she was pregnant? I mean come on.
DARRYL COHEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Come on, Jean. That`s ridiculous.
CASAREZ: Come on.
COHEN: That`s absurd. Now she may very well have denied --
NEJAME: Women can actually --
COHEN: Excuse me. She may very well have denied it.
CASAREZ: That`s ridiculous.
COHEN: But this woman -- there was nothing normal that took place from the time she realized she was pregnant until the time she murdered those two innocent infants. Now for her to say she was not --
CASAREZ: And that`s -- yes.
COHEN: Not aware of it, that just doesn`t fly. What probably happened is she --
NEJAME: I`m not saying she`s not aware of it. I`m saying that people can be so -- I apologize. People can become so disassociated that what ends up happening is they can actually look like they`re hardly carrying because no friends, no fellow workers, no family members detected it.
Some women have even been known to have menstrual bleeding while they`re pregnant because they are so disassociated from it. I`m not saying she didn`t know. I`m saying that we have a pathology there, we have a psychiatric issue there, we have case studies that are there that people need to look at and not be hysterical about it. We have the death of two innocent children. Without question.
CASAREZ: We`re not being hysterical.
NEJAME: But we need to find out why.
CASAREZ: But we need to talk --
NEJAME: We need to find out why.
CASAREZ: -- to a psychotherapist.
COHEN: No, we don`t need to find out why.
CASAREZ: All right. We`re going to find out why.
COHEN: Jean, what we know is forget the psychobabble. We know what physically happened, she killed two innocent infants, period end of discussion. Now what we`re looking at as possible mitigation as to why she was in the state of mind that she was in.
And in my view this is a case that needs to be -- and her lawyer sounds very, very good. Needs to look at this with the district attorney and probably work out some sort of plea bargain where she does serve a significant amount of time. Whether that means life in prison or a little bit less, that`s a whole different situation. But she knew that --
NEJAME: And we don`t disagree --
CASAREZ: All right -- Leslie Austin --
NEJAME: We don`t disagree --
CASAREZ: -- psychotherapist joining us out of New York. Come on. How does she disassociate herself for nine months as twins are growing inside of her?
DR. LESLIE AUSTIN, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: That is possible, but that`s not what I want to argue. What I want to argue is that there is something going on here that we don`t yet know that put her in a state where she could make these terrible, terrible actions.
And it`s complicated. It doesn`t meet the standard of legal insanity in any way. Psychologically something else -- there`s a pathology going on there that she did this with one and then the second child, and then there`s getting the -- laundry bags and then there`s cleaning up and then there`s dealing with her own body.
She probably was very disassociated. I imagine she was under terrible pressure. Something was going on that she needed to hide, and this was the worst choice, especially with a Safe Haven law in Tennessee where she could have given the babies up for adoption, no questions asked. Something is terribly wrong here that we don`t know yet.
CASAREZ: But they were conscious choices that she made, and that`s why prosecutors have charged this as first-degree murder. But it is tragic. You are so right, because she could have given these babies up for adoption.
AUSTIN: The thing is she might not have known that that moment she was about to give birth and panicked, but all the subsequent actions are not panic actions. They`re meditated -- premeditated, planned actions after the first one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: After reviewing the evidence and interviewing Lowe, they felt it was no accident and charged her with two counts of first-degree murder.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have family and you`ve got God, they can always help you through any kind of situation like this to ever feel that you have to do this. It`s just awful.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Two newborn twin boys dead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lindsey is not a monster.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The young woman charged with murdering her babies. Charged with suffocating twin boys.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: By holding her hand over their mouths.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Minutes after giving birth to them.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So her parents would not hear them cry.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Disturbing details revealed in a confession to police, confessed to putting them in a laundry basket in her room covering them with blankets so no one would find them.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The 25-year-old`s father discovered one of the two dead babies.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A second shocking discovery, the second deceased baby lying right near the first.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The 25-year-old woman --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: -- charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez in for Nancy Grace.
We have got the facts for a question that we had last block. I want to go out to Alexis Weed, producer for NANCY GRACE.
Here`s the question. Did Lindsey Lowe tell police that she had known that she was pregnant for nine months?
ALEXIS WEED, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Yes, Jean. Police say in their affidavit that, yes, she admitted that she knew almost the entire time since January of this year that she was pregnant.
CASAREZ: OK. And so is it also true, as the prosecutor told us tonight, that there is no medical record that she went to a doctor for nine months?
WEED: As far as we know, that`s right.
CASAREZ: All right. Tells a big story.
I want to go out to Alicia in Rhode Island. Hi, Alicia.
ALICIA, CALLER FROM RHODE ISLAND: Hi, Jean. Jean, you took the question right out of my mouth. This is so similar to Casey Anthony, and I`m so afraid that these young girls are going to use Casey Anthony as a role model, as sick as it sounds.
CASAREZ: Yes.
ALICIA: And think that they can get away with it because Casey Anthony did. I mean, it`s so --
CASAREZ: Yes. You know --
ALICIA: I don`t know how any parent cannot know their child is pregnant, especially with twins.
CASAREZ: No, I agree with you. And I thought that when I was in Florida, I said to myself, oh -- when she was acquitted, I thought, are there going to be copycat artists out there? Now psychologists have told me now.
But Dr. Leslie Austin, can`t someone look at Casey Anthony and see it as a glamorous, something glamorous and say, gee, I can -- I can portray this, too, get away with it and lead a good life?
AUSTIN: Jean, you could do that, but the personality profile as they`ve been described so far is so different. This is not actually so similar to Casey. This is not a young party girl, as far as we know, unless she had a secret life we don`t know about yet. This is not a young party girl. She was active in a Christian ministry. She worked in a pediatric dental practice, a children`s dental practice.
She was caring for an ill mother. That`s not Casey Anthony`s profile at all. It`s a totally different personality structure, so the only thing they have in common that we know of right now is it appears they both killed their children, although Casey was acquitted.
CASAREZ: All right.
To Dr. Bill Manion, M.D., New Jersey medical examiner joining us out of Philadelphia tonight.
Doctor, her parents went in and found the laundry basket, and then found the infants after two days, because it`s believed those babies were in the laundry basket for two days. Is an odor going to be coming out of that basket that maybe made the parents suspicious that they needed to wash the clothes maybe?
DR. BILL MANION, M.D., MEDICAL EXAMINER, BURLINGTON COUNTY, NJ: Well, there definitely would be the beginning of breakdown, decomposition or (INAUDIBLE) of organs, and there may be a small odor. But these are small infants, maybe with twins, maybe 3 or 4 pounds apiece. If the placenta was with them, the placenta may weigh a pound and a half or two pounds.
I don`t think the placenta could be flushed down the toilet. It`s a fairly large, firm structure. So maybe 8 or 10 pounds of total biologic material. If there was a heavy towel on top it, that could absorb the fluid and dry it out a little bit. It may not give off much of an odor for several more days.
I found it interesting --
CASAREZ: To Nicole Partin, investigative --
MANION: She made no --
CASAREZ: Yes.
MANION: She made no effort to get rid of the babies. That`s what was interesting to me. I`m not sure how premeditated this is if she had killed the children, and then actively taken these babies to a dumpster or something, to me, that`s sounds more like a premeditated act. Here just leaving the babies sit in the laundry basket doesn`t make any sense at all.
CASAREZ: Covered up so no one would find them, and maybe she was figuring out what to do.
Nicole Partin, investigative reporter joining us from Nashville, Tennessee. Go through everything with us from the beginning again. What are the facts of this crime that prosecutors are alleging?
NICOLE PARTIN, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Here`s what we know, Jean. It was Monday evening around 8:30 p.m., and we know that Lindsey said she wasn`t feeling good, kind of confined herself to her bedroom. Between 8:30 and 9:30 she goes into the bathroom and she gives birth to baby boy number one.
In the toilet he begins to cry. She says that she places her hand over his mouth so that he could not breathe because she was in fear of those other people inside the house hearing this baby cry. A few moments later she gives birth to baby boy number two, and in return kills him the same way.
CASAREZ: To Alexis Weed, NANCY GRACE producer, what can we assess as motives here? I mean what I`m hearing is, didn`t want the babies to cry. So the alternative you cover the mouth with your hand until it will cry no more?
WEED: Right, Jean. The allegations are that she told police that that was her reason, that she had these children. The first one began to cry. She wanted to quiet the child. Same thing happens with the next child. She said well, this second child didn`t cry so much, so -- but she also smothers that child to death, police say.
But motive, we did ask police, Jean, they do not know at this point or at least they`re not telling us.
CASAREZ: And this is a very new case. This is what is being investigated at the moment. The infants are at the state medical examiner`s for an autopsy, but she has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Prosecutors obviously taking this extremely seriously.
To Debbie in Alabama. Hi, Debbie.
DEBBIE, CALLER FROM ALABAMA: Hi, Jean. Thanks for taking my call.
CASAREZ: You`re welcome.
DEBBIE: I have a thought and a question real quick. This is such a horrible, horrible story. I have twins myself, and I still can`t believe that nobody or -- you know, could tell she was pregnant, because like even -- I lost weight, but my belly got big. I mean how do you camouflage something like that? Because your belly does get big with twins.
But what was my question was after she put the babies in the hamper, what was her plans on her next step in doing with that? And what was the time period after she had those babies until her parents found the baby?
CASAREZ: It`s a good question. You know, Debbie from Alabama, Nancy told me this morning she wanted us to do this story because of exactly the reasons you`re saying. That these were two twin babies that should have had a life. They should have lived.
I want to answer your questions with Ray Whitley, he`s the district attorney general joining us tonight out of Sumter County, Nashville, Tennessee. Why do you think that the babies were left in the laundry basket in the bedroom? Do you think that there was more of a plan that just wasn`t carried out at this point?
RAY WHITLEY, DISTRICT ATTORNEY GENERAL, SUMNER COUNTY, TENNESSEE: Jean, that`s something having to do with the evidence itself, and I`m not at liberty to comment on that. I shouldn`t be speculating on what she was thinking at the time, so that`s something that I`m not ethically able to say.
CASAREZ: And factually speaking because this is written in reports, how many days later did her parents, her mother, you said earlier, find this laundry basket?
WHITLEY: The babies were born between 8:30 and 10:30 on Monday night and they were discovered on Wednesday morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our dispatch center received a call that a gentleman had discovered a deceased infant in his daughter`s bedroom.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Apparently hidden and lifeless.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wanted to throw up. It just tears me apart.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: When officers alive, they find a second deceased baby lying right near the first.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CASAREZ: It is season 13 of "Dancing with the Stars" and our very own Nancy Grace made her dancing debut. Let`s take a look at Nancy and her partner Tristan MacManus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dancing to cha-cha, Nancy Grace and her partner Tristan MacManus.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: And tonight, let us stop to remember Army Corporal Matthew Stanley, 22 years old from Willsboro, New Hampshire. He was killed in Iraq. He was awarded the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, an Army Commendation medal. He loved spending time with his friends and music and helping others. He`s remembered for his practical jokes and a smile that lit up a room.
His favorite holiday was Christmas and he loved the color red. He leaves behind his parents, Richard and Lynn, his stepfather Jim, his sister, Melissa, his brother Richie, and his widow, and new bride, Amy.
Matthew Stanley, a true American hero.
Thank you so much to all of our guests and to you at home. See you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, everybody.
END
