Return to Transcripts main page

Nancy Grace

Investigators Search River, Lake for Missing Tennessee Woman

Aired November 21, 2011 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight, live Tennessee. Upscale Memphis-area neighborhood reeling when a beautiful young mom of four vanishes without a trace. Mommy picks up 9-year-old little girl from sleepover in the middle of the night, 1:45 AM. Mommy and little girl go to sleep together, same bed. Four hours later, the 9-year-old girl wakes up, Mommy is gone. Mommy`s white Nissan SUV found abandoned, flat tire, quarter mile from home. After frantic text messages to Mommy`s best friend, was Mommy`s cellphone used again 5:00 AM?

Bombshell tonight. At this hour investigators dragging a nearby riverbed for Mommy`s body, using high-tech sidescan sonar and heavy-duty dragging equipment. And just found, women`s clothing, being tested for DNA. Is it Karen`s? And did Karen`s husband, in the middle of a highly contentious divorce, cut off communication with Mommy`s family members?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just want to know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police are searching for a missing mom of four who was last seen inside her home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: New evidence seized in the desperate search for missing Tennessee mom of four Karen Swift. Major developments in the mystery.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, please let us know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was putting the final touches on a Halloween party for the girls.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Investigators searched this wooded area a few miles from her home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Preston says nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything seemed OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Later found Swift`s vehicle, a white 2004 Nissan Murado, with a flat tire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re not ruling out foul play. We`re looking for any unknown tire tracks, any unknown items that might be in the area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Friends report some of Karen`s clothing was found in the car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gray zip-up like someone would use for jogging.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She did everything on her phone.

GRACE: In her text message, she said, Call me please, with a exclamation point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every day that we look, we are adding something to the investigation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The search for Karen Swift remains in full swing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love you, Mom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. Upscale Memphis-area neighborhood reeling after a beautiful young mom of four vanishes without a trace. At this hour, investigators dragging a nearby riverbed for Mommy`s body, using high-tech sidescan sonar and heavy-duty dragging equipment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Karen Swift, missing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Disappeared in the middle of the night.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Four children left in the wake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My mom and my little sister went to sleep. They both got in their pajamas, went to sleep.

GRACE: But when the 9-year-old wakes up, Mommy`s gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The search for Karen Swift remains in full swing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her SUV found abandoned with a flat tire, half a mile from home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were three text messages, and the last one was, Call me right away, with an exclamation point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her cell phone gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dad was in the house. Dad was actually the one who reported her missing to the cops.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can tell you that he did not want the divorce.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are very worried, very concerned.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s nowhere to be found.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wish I knew where my daughter is. I wish I`d know if my daughter is safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Where is the gorgeous young mom of four at this hour? A nearby riverbed being dragged and high-tech sidescan sonar being used, looking for Karen`s body. She goes missing seemingly in the middle of the night, this in the middle of a highly contentious divorce.

The 9-year-old little girl calls home from a sleepover wanting Mommy to pick her up. She does, 1:45 AM. She and the 9-year-old little girl go to bed together in the same bed, but when the girl wakes up that morning, Mommy is gone.

We are taking your calls. Straight out to Bonnie Druker, joining us from New York. Bonnie, what`s the latest? What can you tell me about this riverbed being dragged?

BONNIE DRUKER, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Nancy, this is a massive search, certainly the biggest search since Karen Swift went missing. Fifty people are involved, six rescue squads. The river, the lake, the banks are being searched, sonar equipment and dragging equipment. And Nancy Grace, you and I both know that unless there were some kind of tip, the cops would not be looking at that water tonight.

GRACE: With us is Gary Peterson, death scene investigator, search coordinator. Gary, thank you for being with us. Explain the process of dragging a riverbed. And what is sidescan sonar?

GARY PETERSON, INVESTIGATOR AND SEARCH COORDINATOR (via telephone): Hi, Nancy. The process of dragging a riverbed is to take a boat with a rope that attaches onto a bunch of treble hooks, and this is pulled through the water in the hopes the hooks would snag up on a body. One of the downfalls to that is that the dragging operation will also work on vegetation and rocks and things like that.

The sidescan sonar is one step up in technology from doing the dragging. That is able to show the shapes and outlines of anything in the water. And hopefully, the visibility cooperates with that.

My recommendation would be, if they work those two resources, to think about putting in cadaver dogs, water-certified cadaver dogs. They could make their job a whole lot easier.

GRACE: With me, Gary Peterson, death scene investigator and search coordinator. Gary, you mentioned the use of treble hooks. Could you please explain what those are and how they are used?

PETERSON: A treble hook is like a fishing hook that has three prongs on it. And it swivels in the water. And so when it catches on something, it`s like a fishing hook that`s got three hooks on it. And they`re good, but they do take some time and effort and, they have a tendency to get all snagged up and everything else.

GRACE: With me, Gary Peterson, search coordinator. Speaking of the use of treble hooks, Gary, another issue is -- Well, first, explain what they look like, how big they are, because this is intended to find, to detect and bring up a human body.

At this hour, the search of a riverbed using heavy-duty dragging equipment and highly sophisticated sidescan sonar in the search for a lovely young mother of four, Karen Swift, missing out of her own bed with her 9-year-old girl sleeping with her.

How big is a treble hook? And does a treble hook have the potential of harming the body and therefore not being able to determine cause of death, Gary Peterson?

PETERSON: This would be one of the issues, Nancy, that treble hooks are perhaps a foot in diameter, and if you`ve done any fishing at all, the hooks that are used in fishing have a piece on them so when you pull it into something, it`s going to snag.

And yes, it does have the tendency to really do some harm to that cadaver, that body. That`s just the plain, simple truth, that it does get snagged and they have to bring it out that way.

GRACE: Gary Peterson, explain how sidescan sonar works. And Liz, if you could put the map up and show the viewers where the riverbed search is going down? Go ahead, Gary Peterson.

PETERSON: Yes. The sidescan sonar would be in a boat, and on each side of the boat is the apparatus for the sonar. And they would be driving -- taking the boat along the shore, making a sweep, coming back the other end of the lake or pond, and coming back up, and then turning around and going back down again.

Typically, they have an area probably 50 yards that they could see something. When you see an outline on the computer, you stop and mark that spot.

GRACE: What does it look like when you`re looking at the screen, Gary? If they are to find Karen`s body, what would it -- how would it appear on that screen?

PETERSON: It would appear as a body, depending on the depth of the water and how close they can actually get to it. But I`ve seen it where the -- the image is very clear and yet is very discernible as a body.

GRACE: And another issue. I`m going to go back out to Bonnie Druker. Joining us, Gary Peterson, death scene investigator and search coordinator. At this hour, a riverbed being dragged with heavy-duty dragging equipment and highly technological -- high-tech sidescan sonar, looking for the body of mom of four Karen Johnson Swift.

You know, this riverbed, Bonnie Druker, if she had been thrown into the river, I would think unless somebody had a boat, that she would be closer to one of the sides, the sides of the riverbanks, correct?

DRUKER: Yes. I agree with you.

GRACE: But another issue -- you know, a lot of areas in the river -- let`s see the map again, Liz. It`s only five to six feet deep. In the dark of night, someone could potentially weight the body down with, for instance, cement blocks like in the Scott Peterson case, and actually walk out into the water and float the body out to the middle of the riverbed.

DRUKER: Yes. Nancy, again, I agree with you right there. Police are being very tight-lipped right now, so we are waiting for some more information as a result of that.

GRACE: With me right now, Jason Cannon. He is the editor of "The State Gazette" joining us from Dyersburg. Jason, what can you tell me about this particular body of water?

JASON CANNON, "DYERSBURG STATE GAZETTE" (via telephone): The Obian River cuts through the Dyer County, flows out towards the Mississippi River. And it`s several miles long through Dyer County.

GRACE: And you know, it`s my understanding, Jason, that there are certain spots where it`s only five feet, five to six feet deep. Someone could actually walk a body out there and weight it down and put it in the middle of the river that way. Are there very many crossovers, such as bridges...

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: ... Jason?

CANNON: Yes, there are several crossovers in the county.

GRACE: Because that would be perfect cover for somebody to go out into that water with the bridge over them in the middle of the night. We saw that happen a lot in the Atlanta serial killings. A lot of young boys` bodies were thrown off bridges and taken out into the water underneath the bridge, with the bridge being the cover in the middle of the night. Very feasible.

Jason, how far, Jason Cannon, is the Obian from Karen`s home?

CANNON: It`s approximately three miles.

GRACE: Everybody, we are bringing you the latest and taking your calls. Cops expanding their search for a missing mom of four. She picks her little 9-year-old girl up from a sleepover 1:45 AM, goes to bed with the daughter. Daughter wakes up 6:00 AM, Mommy is gone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wherever Karen`s at right now, it is not by choice. She did not leave her children. She would not leave. So whatever has happened, it was foul play.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s a lot of questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re still, you know, doing everything we can to find those answers out right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If anyone has any information about her, please, please let us know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) is unbelievable that she`s gone right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are more questions than answers into the disappearance of Tennessee mom of four Karen Swift.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Dyer County mother who seems to have vanished without a trace.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Preston says nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything seemed OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dozens of volunteers have been scouring.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ve had bloodhounds. We had numerous law enforcement on the ground. We`ve had assistance from the highway patrol.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators took to the sky, looking for anything that could help them find Karen Swift.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to Karen Swift?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re asking for prayers and to look for her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Where is missing mom of four Karen Swift? Goes to bed with her little girl. She`s only 9 years old. At 1:45, she`s going to bed with her little girl, 1:45 AM. 6:00 AM, she is gone.

Straight out to Nicole Partin, investigative reporter. Nicole, she was an avid workout enthusiast. I`ve talked to her mom. Her mom tells me and her best friend tells me that a lot of times, she`d get up and go to the Y and work out. But I contacted the Y. This was a Sunday morning. The Y does not open until 1:00 PM on Sundays. She was not going to the Y, Nicole Partin.

Her car, less than a quarter mile from her home. She`s an avid runner. She could have gotten home in eight -- in five minutes. A quarter mile? Are you kidding, Nicole Partin?

NICOLE PARTIN, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER (via telephone): Good evening, Nancy. You`re exactly right. We do know that she was very athletic, involved in running most every day for the past year or so. Like you said, a quarter of a mile within her home -- had this flat tire happened while she was driving, certainly she would have ran back to her home. That is the reason we suspect foul play.

Is this a set-up? Has this crime scene been posed to make it look like something went wrong? This lady would have had no problem at all tracking back to her home.

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Straight out to Jason in Canada. Hi, Jason. What`s your question, dear?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, Nancy. It`s a pleasure talking with you again.

GRACE: Likewise.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I have two quick questions.

GRACE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. What is the husband doing in the search for the missing -- for his -- his wife? For his wife, sorry.

GRACE: Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what brought cops to the river?

GRACE: What brought cops to the riverbed? Good question. To Jason Cannon, "State Gazette." What is the husband doing in the search for Mommy?

CANNON: David Swift hasn`t been involved, I don`t think, in any type of the search -- official searches for Karen Swift. So he`s kind of staying in the background, I believe.

GRACE: And to you, Bonnie Druker. What led police to the riverbed?

DRUKER: Nancy, you know, this is what I was saying earlier. The cops are being very tight-lipped, but obviously, there is a tip and something has led them to the water. Otherwise, they would not have been there. They wouldn`t be investing all these resources there. So there must have been a tip that led them to that water, Nancy.

GRACE: We are taking your calls right now. A riverbed very close to Karen`s home being dragged, being dragged with heavy-duty dragging equipment and also high-tech sidescan sonar being used to find the body.

Joining us is Jeffery Johnson. This is Karen`s brother, and he will be taking your calls.

Everyone, tip line 731-285-2802. At this hour, is Karen`s body at the bottom of the Obian River?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: The 9-year-old goes to the kitchen, goes to the den looking for Mommy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Disappeared in the middle of the night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Deputies found her SUV at this intersection.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m in total shock, but I keep hoping for the best.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to know she`s OK. I love you, Mom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reportedly last seen by her husband inside their home.

GRACE: Why isn`t he out there front and center looking for his wife, begging for help?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He did not want the divorce. You know, he loved his family and wanted them to stay together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Where is missing mom of four Karen Johnson Swift? We`re being joined by her brother, Jeffery Johnson.

Hold on. I got a big question for the lawyers, Alex Sanchez, New York, Darryl Cohen, Atlanta. First to you, Alex. We understand the husband has not been helping too much trying to find his wife. Why?

ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I have no idea why he`s not helping. But you know, he may just be in the -- in a great -- maybe very fearful at the present time. Imagine being told to go out and search and possibly finding your deceased wife. I mean, that`s a pretty horrifying prospect.

He could be in a state of depression. I`m not sure what his motivations are, but I`m not sure that fact in and of itself should lead someone to believe that he`s somehow connected with the disappearance of his wife.

GRACE: Well, you know, you`re the one that said that. He has not been named a suspect at all. And I thought you might surprise me, Alex Sanchez, but you didn`t. OK, Darryl, your turn.

DARRYL COHEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, there could be numerous reasons why he`s not cooperating. He may very well be involved in...

GRACE: Such as?

COHEN: ... this -- well, he may be involved in it. Keep your mouth shut. Keep it -- keep your mouth shut. They can`t do anything to you if you say nothing.

Why else would he be? It`s said that he was not in favor of a divorce. Maybe he`s trying to get even. Maybe he was so mad, he did something. Let`s face it.

How did this flat tire take place? Was it shot out? Does anybody know how the flat tire took place? Was she set up? Or did she leave? Was she kidnapped? We don`t know. And we need to find out.

GRACE: With us, Alex Sanchez, Darryl Cohen. I`m being told in my ear, joining me right now is Karen`s brother, Jeffery Johnson. He`s joining us from Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. Jeffery, thank you for being with us.

JEFFERY JOHNSON, MISSING WOMAN`S BROTHER (via telephone): You bet.

GRACE: Jeffery, have you been in touch with Karen`s husband?

JOHNSON: I talked to him about a week-and-a-half ago.

GRACE: OK, in the middle of your sister being missing, that`s quite a few days that have passed. What is he doing in the search effort?

JOHNSON: I`m not sure that he`s doing nothing. I don`t believe he`s getting out there.

GRACE: You know, Jeff Johnson, I find it very difficult to believe that Karen would get up in the middle of the night, leave her 9-year-old girl sleeping in the bed with her, and take off. Does that sound like your sister, Jeffery Johnson?

JOHNSON: No, it doesn`t.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This mother disappeared in the middle of the night.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Her car has been taken to the TBI forensic lab for testing.

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER, AUTHOR OF "THE PROFILER": The one thing that bothers me is the car is facing home which means she should have gone someplace. Where did she go? Was there any evidence of her maybe stopping at a store?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe her cell phone is going to be a major player in this from the triangulation logs from days before.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The daughter wakes up and the mother is gone. The car is found several hours later on the side of the road.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Whether the tire was slashed or whether the air was let out of the tire and how the tire became flat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you would look for DNA evidence, blood evidence. I mean she`s going to have DNA in the car. It`s her DNA but is there blood in the car?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My concern is, though, is how was the children, and what is the -- what is the tone in that house with dad there, with everyone knowing they`re getting a divorce? What`s really going on?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls.

Out to Pat Brown, criminal profiler author of "The Profiler."

You know, we`ve gotten her brother with us right now, Pat Brown. He says no way would she have taken off in the middle of the night and left her daughter asleep in the bed with her. That`s a 9-year-old little girl. She picked her up from the sleepover who wanted to come home. Want to spend the time.

She`s also got a 6-year-old little girl in the house. There`s a very contentious divorce going on. It`s like the "War of the Roses" in that. The husband is still living in the house in a different area. All right? Awkward.

He is not a suspect, Pat Brown. But not really helping in the search for his wife. I don`t get it.

BROWN: Yes. I have a problem with that, too, Nancy, because he has to get up every day and look at his 6-year-old and 9-year-old daughters and say, I`m not doing anything to find your mommy.

I don`t even care if you`re angry at her, you`re furious at her, you don`t want to see her again yourself, but your little girls want to see their mommy so you will be out there looking for that woman.

GRACE: With me is Karen Swift`s brother, Jeffery Johnson, joining us. Her family doing everything they can to find her.

Jeffery Johnson, again, thank you for being with us. I understand -- we`ve been hearing rumblings about this for a few days now -- that women`s clothing was found and is being tested at the TBI, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation crime lab, right now.

What do you know, Jeffrey?

JEFFERY JOHNSON, BROTHER OF KAREN SWIFT, MISSING MOTHER OF 4: Well, my mother had talked to the sheriff a while ago, it was probably about an hour ago, and they found some clothes by the old Obarian River and they are searching that river right now with sonar equipment. And trying to see what --

GRACE: Now you`re saying Obarian River? I thought it was the Obion River.

JOHNSON: That`s it. The Obion River. My bad.

GRACE: OK. So they found clothes near the Obion? Is that women`s clothing?

JOHNSON: That`s the way I understood it.

GRACE: OK. We understand that right now treble hooks being used -- give me a shot of that, Liz -- to search for Karen`s body. I know that`s not a good headline but right now her family searching for her desperately. Even if the outcome is bad they want peace.

To Jeffery Johnson, Karen`s brother, joining us, what about the little girls? What are -- what`s everybody telling them about mommy? They`re only 6 and 9 years old.

JOHNSON: Well, the 9-year-old, I don`t know if she is just in shock or whatever. She`s not showing a whole lot of emotion. The little one, she`s just -- she`s, you know, she loves the little girl anyway and she gives you hugs and stuff. I mean they`re in shock, no doubt about it. I don`t know that they`re -- I don`t know that they`re old enough to know, you know, what`s really, really happening.

GRACE: Paula Bloom, clinical psychologist, author of "Why Does He Do That?" "Why Does She Do That?"

Paula, thank you for being with us. Our sources told us the 6-year- old for a period of time refusing to eat without mommy. I mean what do you tell a 6-year-old or a 9-year-old little girl why mommy is gone?

I mean when I even go to work I have to sneak out. I tried telling the truth, Paula. I tried. It just creates so much drama. Lucy will start crying until she vomits if I try to leave to go to work so I now sneak out. I know it`s wrong, OK, don`t reprimand me.

But what do you -- what do you tell them about mommy really being gone? Not just going to work. She`s gone.

PAULA BLOOM, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST, BLOGGER, PAULABLOOM.COM: Nancy, I`m not going to judge you. Literally right now on the floor, next to me, my 9-year-old is here. Just FYI. They didn`t have school today.

So it`s a very difficult thing. I wanted to point something -- first of all I do want to say to Mr. Johnson I`m so sorry. My heart goes out to you and your family.

This mom must have had a pretty good relationship with her 9-year-old. And let me tell you why. A kid has to feel pretty safe that their mom is going to come get them at 1:45 in the morning. To call -- to know your mom is not going to get mad at you, to come pick you up because you don`t feel well.

To me that`s a sign that this was a pretty good relationship and so the idea of her just taking off doesn`t make sense to me.

The 6-year-old, listen, kids cope in different ways. Some kids` personalities are to just take it, leave it very much inside with the uncle of the 9-year-old is describing, not eating, not sleeping, not focusing, those are not unusual typical symptoms of an acute reaction from a child.

GRACE: Also joining us right now, Dr. Cathleen London, attending physician, New York Presbyterian, professor at Will Cornell College.

Dr. Cathleen, thank you for being with us. The use of this treble hook to drag the riverbed is, unfortunately, a necessity in trying to find a human body but what damage could it do to a cadaver, to Karen`s body if it`s there? And how could it stop the determination of cause of death, Dr. Cathleen London?

DR. CATHLEEN LONDON, M.D., ASST. ATTENDING PHYSICIAN, NY PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL, ASST. PROF. AT WELL CORNELL COLLEGE: Well, certainly depending on where it catches, it could certainly interfere.

You know, one of the things that I find really troubling in this whole story is there is no way that somebody came into the house and took mom out with a child in the bed. So, clearly, mom left the house on her own and who knows what happened after that? And that is a question for me. That`s catching with me.

You know, why was this mom leaving the house early in the morning to begin with? You know, and then the father isn`t helping, I understand contentious divorce. I`ve been there. But things just aren`t adding up in any reasonable way. And I -- you know, it`s troubling to me, yes. The mother of his children isn`t there and he`s not helping. That`s odd.

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Joining me right now, TJ Ward, private investigator.

TJ, I want to hear your analysis.

TJ WARD, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: Well, what I think, as I talked about before, I think we need to go back to the phone call from the girlfriend, the panicked phone call at 11:00 at night. There is something that`s going to tie into that phone call.

Obviously she left for some reason. It may have been tied into that phone call. Maybe they did talk, and maybe there was an e-mail, but something about that phone call could have made her leave.

Maybe she changed her mind about getting divorced. Maybe there was a significant other that was calling and she was going to meet. Who knows? And I`m not suggesting that she had a boyfriend or a significant other.

But the phone call is going to be very, very important and the police need to go back and interview this girlfriend in depth and find out why she was making this frantic phone call at 11:00. And then shortly thereafter in the middle of the night she leaves.

GRACE: You know what? As her brother stated I don`t see her leaving her little girl in bed willingly much less at 5:00 a.m. Maybe I`m crazy but I don`t usually hear of sexual rendezvous, you know, at 5:00 a.m. in the morning, leaving your children behind.

But you know what? Let`s explore it. Jeffery Johnson, brother of Karen. Has anybody advised you who that 5:00 a.m. call recipient was?

JOHNSON: I know she`s got some friends that are -- they`re a little different, I guess. I don`t know how --

GRACE: Are you talking about friend girls, her girlfriends, Jeffery?

JOHNSON: Yes. Girls. Friend girls.

GRACE: OK. You don`t know of another man on the scene, do you, Jeffery?

JOHNSON: No, I don`t. No, I don`t.

GRACE: Everyone, quick break. We are taking your calls in the search for a missing mom of four, Karen Johnson Swift.

Very quickly, our "Family Album" is back. Now I`ve shown you pictures of the twins but now it`s your turn. Send your family photos to our iReport Family Album and they could be featured on a special segment of our show.

Go to HLNTV.com/Nancy Grace, then you click on Nancy`s Family Album. I want to see those photos and so do the viewers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESTON SWIFT, SON OF MISSING MOM OF 4 KAREN SWIFT: We just want to know.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police are searching for a missing mom of four who is last seen inside her home.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: New evidence seized in the desperate search for missing Tennessee mom of four, Karen Swift. Major developments in the mystery.

SWIFT: Please, please. Let us know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was putting the final touches on a Halloween party for the girls.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Investigators searched this wooded area a few miles from her home.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Preston says nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary.

SWIFT: Everything seemed OK.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Later found Swift`s vehicle, a white 2004 Nissan Murano with a flat tire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re not ruling out foul play. We`re looking for any unknown tire tracks, any unknown items that might been in the area.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Friends report some of Karen`s clothing was found in the car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gray zip up like someone would use for jogging.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She did everything on her phone.

GRACE: In her text message she said, call me please, with exclamation points.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every day that we look, we are adding something to the investigation.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The search for Karen Swift remains in full swing.

SWIFT: And I love you, mom.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Preston Swift has been making a desperate plea for help.

SWIFT: I love you, mom.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Ever since his mother vanished.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police have searched the area with dogs and helicopters but there`s been no sign of the missing mom.

SWIFT: If anyone has any information about her, please, please let us know.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Deputies found her SUV in this intersection.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Karen Swift --

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: -- seems to have vanished without a trace.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want her to come home safe.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Deputies found her car with a flat tire.

SWIFT: If my mother is out there we are very worried, very concerned.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Investigators searched this wooded area a few miles from her home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are live and taking your calls.

Where is mother of four Karen Johnson Swift? Disappears in the middle of the night as she lays sleeping with her 9-year-old little girl. Volunteers wearing snake chaps and boots combing through thick underbrush as the nearby riverbed, the Obion, is being dragged with heavy duty equipment, side scan sonar in the search for the body of Karen. We have no indication that she`s dead. Her husband is not a suspect.

I`ve gotten clarification on that 5:00 a.m. phone usage. It was actually a Google search, Jeffery Johnson. A Google search at 5:00 a.m. Have cops not told anybody in the family what that search was for, Jeffery?

JOHNSON: No, we haven`t heard on that. They wouldn`t comment on that.

GRACE: Everybody, we`re taking your calls. Out to Nancy in Texas. Hi, Nancy. What`s your question?

NANCY, CALLER FROM TEXAS: Hello, Nancy Grace. As you know I love you. You answered two of my questions but I thought of two more. I want to know --

GRACE: OK.

NANCY: Well, do the police officers, when they look -- do they know what personal belongings are missing like anything from her purse, anything additional items from her home? Anything -- you know --

GRACE: OK.

JOHNSON: That raised a red flag. And also, have they contacted her doctor or anything to see if she was possibly having personal problems like a pregnancy or -- you know, like, just anything out of the ordinary?

GRACE: Good question, Nancy in Texas. Let`s go straight to Jason Cannon, he is the editor of "The State Gazette." He is joining us today out of Dyersburg.

Jason Cannon, again, thank you for being with us. Were any of her personal belongings missing? What was left behind in the car? Where was her pocketbook, driver`s license, cell phone? What do we know?

JASON CANNON, EDITOR, DYERSBURG STATE GAZETTE: I`m not sure exactly what type of items they found. I`m sure they`ve done a thorough search of the vehicle as well as her residence and any other type of evidence that they processed was through the TBS crime task force.

GRACE: Weight in Bonnie Druker, what do you know about that and about any financial, emotional problems? I mean, she`s in the middle of a divorce. That`s emotional.

What do you know, Bonnie?

BONNIE DRUKER, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: Well, we understand that cops found a Halloween outfit in the trunk. We also understand from friends that a zippy, a Hoody was found along with a pair of jeans.

And in terms of financials, according to the family members, I`ve talked to a lot of family members, a lot of friends. There were no financial problems and I understand that David has a good job, makes a good living, and Karen was also helping with that. So I`m not sure that this could have been motivated by financial problems -- Nancy.

GRACE: To Jeffrey Johnson, Karen`s brother, you spoke to David Swift, the husband, almost two weeks ago. What did he tell you at that time, the last time you spoke to him?

JOHNSON: He just -- well, he told me that she did leave the house that night. He was at the top of the stairs when she had left. And that - -

GRACE: At 5:00 a.m.? What time did she leave?

JOHNSON: Well, we never was clear on the time. I really still don`t know the time. I know we didn`t get the phone call that she was missing Sunday until like 4:00 in the afternoon.

GRACE: OK. So the phone call was made -- the Google search on her phone was done at 5:00 a.m. She goes and picks her daughter up at 1:45 a.m. So she`s -- from the sleepover. So she`s getting back home, getting in bed around 2:00 a.m.

JOHNSON: The dog where her vehicle was didn`t pick her scent up out of the -- out of the area. I`m thinking that somebody else drove that vehicle there.

GRACE: That is entirely possible. Karen may never have even been in that car when it was dropped on the side of the road.

Have you learned, Jeffery Johnson, whether the car tire had the air let out of it or was it actually punctured?

JOHNSON: That`s what we haven`t gotten no answers on.

GRACE: Everybody, take a look at Karen Johnson Swift, mother of four. She goes missing in the middle of the night leaving behind her 9-year-old little girl and her 6-year-old little girl sleeping in bed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Karen swift missing.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Disappeared in the middle of the night.

GRACE: Four children left in the wake.

SWIFT: My mom and my little sister went to sleep. They both got in their pajamas and went to sleep.

GRACE: But when the 9-year-old wakes up, mommy is gone.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The search for Karen Swift remains in full swing. Her SUV found abandoned with a flat tire, half a mile from home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was three text messages and the last one was call me right away with an exclamation point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her cell phone gone.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Dad was in the house. Dad was actually the one who reported her missing to the cops.

JENNY GURIEN, FRIEND OF KAREN SWIFT, RECEIVED URGENT TEXT FROM SWIFT THE NIGHT SHE VANISHED: I can tell you that he did not want the divorce.

SWIFT: We are very worried, very concerned.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s nowhere to be found.

CAROL JOHNSON, MOTHER OF KAREN SWIFT, MISSING MOTHER OF 4: I wish I knew where my daughter is. I wish I know if my daughter is safe.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This mother disappeared in the middle of the night.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And her car has been taken to the TBI forensic lab for testing.

BROWN: The one thing that bothers me is the car is facing home which means she should have gone someplace. Where did she go? Wasn`t there any evidence of her maybe stopping at a store?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe her cell phone is going to be a major player in this from the triangulation logs from days before.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The daughter wakes up and the mother is gone. The car is found several hours later on the side of the road.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Whether the flat tire was slashed or whether the air was let out of the tire and how the tire became flat.

LONDON: So you would look for DNA evidence, blood evidence, I mean, she`s going to have DNA in the car. It`s her DNA but is there blood in the car?

BLOOM: My concern goes out with the children, and what is the -- what is the tone in that house with dad there, with everyone known they`re getting a divorce. What`s really going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Investigators took to the sky looking for anything that could help them find Karen Swift.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every day that we look, we are adding something to the investigation. We are ruling things in or out.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: In the meantime, whether it`s by air or by ground, investigators are searching for clues to find the Dyer County mother who seems to have vanished without a trace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls in the search for Karen Johnson Swift, mother of four, goes missing in the middle of the night.

About the clothing, out to you, Nicole Partin, this is a very rural area, is it not? And women`s clothes were found there near the shore of the Obion River. Describe the area for me, Nicole.

NICOLE PARTIN, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Absolutely, Nancy. Dyersburg, Tennessee, has a population of less than 20,000 people. This is a very rural area, a wooded area, very congested with trees along the river bank.

It`s also important to note this is a very small town. There`s nothing open 24 hours a day, except for the local Wal-Mart. There`s nowhere to go at 5:00 a.m. in the morning. This is not Manhattan or downtown Atlanta. There`s nowhere to go in the middle of the night. Something went wrong.

GRACE: And I want to go back now to Bonnie Druker about the missing clothing.

Have police confirmed what the items are? We believe that they are women`s items and they are found near the Obion River. What do you know?

DRUKER: Nancy, police have not confirmed that. We have several calls into the police department and we are still waiting to hear. It sounds like Jeffery`s mother had just spoken to the sheriff`s department and she might have the most up-to-date information on that.

Again, we have tried numerous times to reach the police department, and so far no luck.

GRACE: Everyone, we have been trying into the evening, and trying to find out whether these clothes actually belong to Karen Swift.

Let`s stop and remember, Army Staff Sgt. Clinton Newman, 26, San Antonio, Texas, killed in Afghanistan on a second tour. Awarded Bronze Star, Purple Heart, three Army Commendation medals, National Defense Service medal.

Loved traveling, running, camping, fishing. Left criminal justice studies at U of Texas to reenlist. Leaves behind grieving parents Debbie and Fred, stepparents Bill and Debra, brothers Robbie and Ty.

Clinton Newman, American hero.

Thanks to our guests but especially to you for being with us.

Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern, where we in our own way will be seeking justice. Until then, good night, friend.

END