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Nancy Grace

Body of Missing Georgia 7-Year-Old Found in Dumpster

Aired December 05, 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. Mommy has to work on the night shift, kisses her 7-year-old little girl good-bye. The 7-year-old heads to a playground just 50 feet away -- 50 feet. Mommy never sees her little girl alive again, the 7-year-old girl, Jorelys, snatched from a playground in broad daylight.

Bombshell tonight. In the last hours, an intense 48-hour search leads to a dumpster just one block away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every parent`s worst nightmare.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The worst thing that can happen to a human being.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seven-year-old Jorelys Rivera.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Horrendous crime.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 7-year-old was last seen Friday afternoon on the playground.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her sister was playing with her, but then she went inside because she was cold.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She went back to her home to get a drink for her friend but was never seen again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need information from the public.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say Jorelys was kidnapped.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jorelys was out there by herself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody`s of interest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now they believe someone abducted Jorelys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s the key to this right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Searches of all the dumpsters in that area. We have no one in custody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody`s been ruled out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police are asking for the public`s help in finding the suspect, while Jorelys`s mother just wants answers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. Mommy heads to work on the night shift. She kisses her 7-year-old little girl good-bye. The girl heads to a playground just 50 feet away -- 50 feet. Mommy never sees the girl alive again, the 7-year-old snatched from the playground in broad daylight! Who in America thinks you can`t -- your child cannot play 50 feet away from you in broad daylight?

Straight out to Eric Jens, news director joining us live there at the playground, WRGA. Eric what happened?

ERIC JENS, WRGA: Well, thank you, Nancy. It is a somber mood in and around this community`s -- this gated community`s playground tonight. Jorelys Rivera last Friday about 5:00 PM, as you mentioned, broad daylight, went back to her apartment about 50 feet away to get some drinks for her friend. That`s the last know place she was ever seen alive. The drinks were found outside of the apartment. Her body was found two-and-a-half days later inside a dumpster.

GRACE: The 7-year-old`s body has been found in a dumpster one block away. Mommy works the night shift. She sees her little girl before she goes. She kisses her little girl good-bye. She never sees her 7-year-old girl alive again. Who killed this girl and threw her away like trash?

We are live at that playground and taking your calls. The tip line, 770-721-7852. Out to Natisha Lance, also joining us there at the playground. Natisha, back it up. Give me the full timeline.

NATISHA LANCE, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, the mother says that she last saw her daughter on Thursday before she went to work. And then by the next morning, when she came home, Jorelys was already at school and she did not see her. When Jorelys came home from school, she went to the playground. Now, there was another woman who was at the playground, baby-sitting some other kids that Jorelys was playing with. She says that she last saw her at about 4:00, 4:30.

At that time, she went back into her home, and that baby-sitter had left the playground area, but the 4-year-old little girl, the 4-year-old younger sister of Jorelys, was still at the playground.

And after that, Nancy, is a mystery. Nobody else saw this girl until that gruesome discovery was made today, finding her body in a dumpster about noon this afternoon.

GRACE: OK, back it up, Natisha. Exactly what time did Mommy go to the night shift?

LANCE: We`re unclear on exactly what time she went to work, Nancy, but when she came home, the little girl was already gone and off to school. So she did not see her on Friday, from what we understand.

Now, there were other people who were in the apartment when the little girl went missing. There was apparently a friend of the mother`s, as well as a 17-year-old girl who was supposed to be watching the little girl. However, when she was seen at the playground, she was seen unsupervised, so it`s not clear as to what happened, why this baby-sitter wasn`t watching her. And also, Nancy, two other children in that home who were removed from the mother`s custody.

GRACE: Whoa! Wait a minute, though, Natisha! Let me get this straight. The children were removed from the home only after Jorelys goes missing, correct?

LANCE: That`s correct.

GRACE: All right. So there`s never been any suggestion that the mother was an unfit mother. From what we know, there`s never been DFACS, Department of Family and Children`s Services, in that home. What do you know?

LANCE: That`s correct. We don`t know any history with DFACS. What we do know is that the mother says that she is a good mother. Police are saying that she has been extremely cooperative. The father doesn`t live in this area. He lives in Florida. There have been other reports that he came in from Puerto Rico. Both parents have been extremely cooperative, and police say that the mother does want to take a polygraph.

GRACE: I want to go to Holly Firfer from CNN, also joining us from the playground. As you can see, stuffed animals, flowers, balloons starting to pile up at the playground just 50 feet from where her mom was napping after coming in from the night shift, 50 feet away, and the girl goes missing. In the last hours, the 7-year-old little girl`s body found in a dumpster, sexually assaulted. The child is dead. We do not know the cause of death. What happened to this little 7-year-old girl.

Holly Firfer, what more can you tell me?

HOLLY FIRFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, basically, the GBI and the FBI have been aiding in the search to the Cherokee County sheriffs and also the city of Canton police here. They`ve been going door to door and knocking, asking anyone if they saw anything, if they heard anything.

And one of the neighbors told us it was about 11:00 o`clock last night -- she had just gone to sleep when there was a knock at her door. It was GBI and FBI, and they said they had gotten new evidence and they needed to search her house. She let them in. /She said they took a cursory look around and then they left.

And she said for a few hours after that, she saw searchlights all around the apartment complex, and they were searching cars, as well. And so she thinks that they may have gotten some information last night that led them to kick up that search, and then perhaps go for that dumpster this morning and bring it across the street, where they can lay out the contents in there and see if they can find any more evidence, Nancy.

GRACE: Joining me right now is James McCollum. He is a neighbor of the victim, the little 7-year-old girl who was snatched off the playground just 50 feet from where her mom was sleeping. James, what happened last night?

JAMES MCCOLLUM, NEIGHBOR: To my knowledge, there was a bunch of police officers behind our apartment here, and they kind of roped it off and stuff. There was kind of searching down in the little groove (ph) thing that`s down there where all the water is. We just kind of surveyed (ph) them and just watched them, and that`s about it.

GRACE: OK, I understand that police swarmed all of the apartment complex last night. What did you see?

MCCOLLUM: They come to our door around -- probably around 10:00 o`clock, and come to our neighbors and walked in and just asked to look around. And we had no problem with that. And you know, we just -- we just, you know, tried to help out the best way we can.

GRACE: So you didn`t have a problem when the cops came to your door and said, Let us in, we`re looking. You let them on in.

MCCOLLUM: No, no problem at all. I welcomed it.

GRACE: In fact, James McCollum, did they tell you what they were looking for? What did they say?

MCCOLLUM: Actually, Friday about 7:00 o`clock, some lady come to my door and asked me if I seen a little girl. And I told her no, I didn`t -- I`ve never seen her. And then about 9:00 o`clock that night, I believe it was a fireman who came to my door, and I told him about the same thing. I just -- I don`t know the little girl. I`ve never seen her. But I just know that -- my girlfriend, you know, knows her real well out here and seen her playing.

GRACE: You know, another thing I want to ask you about, is when you said a woman came to your door looking for a little girl, who was she?

MCCOLLUM: I actually don`t know. She was just, you know, I guess, asking if we seen any kids or not. And you know, I haven`t seen -- I was in the house, or the apartment. So I mean, I don`t know who she was.

GRACE: James McCollum, you saw police searching behind your building. Did you see them remove any evidence? What exactly did you observe?

MCCOLLUM: Just kind of -- just checking everything out, picking up maybe little pieces here and there, just -- you know, I guess just collecting what they could and just to see what they could find.

GRACE: James, how far away is this dumpster from where you live?

MCCOLLUM: About 400 yards.

GRACE: Four hundred yards away. Four hundred yards away.

You are seeing aerial footage right now of the dumpster that cops were led to, and there they found, amongst all the trash, the body of a 7-year- old little girl.

Liz, let me see the picture of her smiling at school and behind her is, like, an art -- an art board. Yes, there you go. Who would take this 7-year-old girl, murder her and discard her like trash in a dumpster?

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, Nancy. How are you tonight?

GRACE: I`m good, dear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s good. Do they have a suspect yet?

GRACE: They absolutely do not have a suspect. And that is why we are helping tonight, doing the best that we can in the search for truth in what happened to a 7-year-old little girl.

Take a look at this apartment. It`s a very nice apartment complex. Mommy works the night shift. She had a baby-sitter with the baby. She -- the child wasn`t just running around the complex by herself. It was the teenage daughter of one of her friends. Apparently, the little girl said she was going to get a drink, a soda. And that`s the last she was seen.

To Marc Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation. We don`t have a suspect. There`s not a person of interest. Where do we go from here, Marc Klaas?

MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: Well, Nancy, first of all, we have to acknowledge that she was more than murdered, she was severely beaten. She was probably sexually assaulted. She was murdered and then she was discarded.

We`re looking at a very small universe of suspects here. I believe that when that little girl went towards the apartment house and she was out of everybody else`s sight, she was taken by another resident of that complex. That individual either had been stalking her or it was a crime of opportunity. And given the fact that the dumpster is also associated with the complex, I think we`re looking at a very small -- and statistics will tell you that the perpetrator is probably very, very nearby.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we know at this point is that a 7-year-old child was abducted, sexually assaulted, murdered, and then the body dumped.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The body of a missing 7-year-old Georgia girl has been found in a dumpster.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They found her body in a trash container near the apartment complex.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was severely beaten. We believe that she was sexually assaulted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now police are searching for answers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need information from the public.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The little girl was last seen at a playground near her home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A couple of friends saw her minutes before she vanished.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her sister was playing with her, but then she went inside because she was cold. And Jorelys was out there by herself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So now focused on a murder investigation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Checking with local sex offenders and combing the dumpster for any more forensic clues.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ll be out here as long as it takes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is going to be a very, very horrendous crime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Who snatched this beautiful 7-year-old little girl off the playground just 50 feet from where her mom was napping? Mommy sends the girl with a teenage baby-sitter. The baby-sitter goes inside. I`m sure you just heard that sound of Jorelys`s older sister saying the baby-sitter went in to go get a jacket. Jorelys was out there by herself.

The next thing you know, that child is gone. Her body has just been discovered in a nearby dump, thrown away like trash. Right now, the investigation hot and heavy, cops going door to door in that apartment complex, digging through trash, trying to find any clue as to who took a 7- year-old girl, abducting her in broad daylight off the playground, with Mommy just feet away taking a nap.

And Mommy`s no slacker. Mommy works the night shift every night to support her girls. That`s why Mommy was taking a nap, thinking her child was safe, the playground just feet away. The mom crying, desperate, asking to take a polygraph, asking for clues. That search ends when Jorelys`s body found in a dumpster.

This is not some third world country. This is America, where a 7- year-old little girl isn`t safe on a playground just a few feet from where her mother is?

We are taking your calls. Unleash the lawyers. Joining us tonight, Sue Moss, New York, Paul Batista, New York, Holly Hughes, Atlanta. Sue Moss, you first.

SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Common sense would render you first look at the local sex offender! And apparently, there`s one very close by to where this little girl lives. Look, we don`t know how to rehabilitate sex offenders, and that`s the first place you look because the level of violence, the level of sexual abuse in this particular crime -- that`s where you got to go. Apparently, the devil did go down Georgia in this instance because this perp belongs in hell!

GRACE: Well, Holly Hughes, former prosecutor, now defense attorney, long story short, I`ve always said -- and this is anecdotal, but I`ve dealt with thousands, literally thousands of sex offenders -- defense attorneys can say whatever they want to, but you cannot rehab a sex predator. Sorry. Just can`t do it.

HOLLY HUGHES, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, the statistics bear you out on that. And this is somebody who was stalking this child. And we know that because, number one, the abduction site, the crime scene and the dump site are all central to that apartment complex. This is somebody who knew they could snatch that child. They`ve been watching her. They took her into an apartment where they would have the privacy to commit this crime, and dumped her on scene.

GRACE: Paul Batista, defense attorney, author of "Death`s Witness," she`s got a good point. The fact is -- I mean, you know, take a look at the Robert Blake shooting, all right? Remember that? And of course, you know what happened at the end of that trial. But the last known sighting was in, I believe, it was Vitelli`s (ph) restaurant. The murder was just outside Vitelli`s restaurant. And the killer deposits the gun just a few feet away in a dumpster, all right?

Here, all of this is happening in a very defined area. That killer, I believe, lives in that complex or is through there frequently, Paul.

PAUL BATISTA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I don`t think there`s any doubt that the killer is in that complex. But let`s not assume because a sex offender has a record that a sex offender committed this crime.

GRACE: Oh, good grief!

BATISTA: You have to look at everybody.

GRACE: Well, if this is a first-time offender, he`s going straight to hell via the death penalty!

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The investigators discovered the body of little Miss Rivera.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Has been found, and sadly not alive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seven-year-old Jorelys Rivera in a dumpster near her home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We also believe that the murder occurred at the apartment complex.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just steps from where she was last seen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police department, the sheriff`s department, the GBI are diligently working.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Searching for her killer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Child who dies under extreme violence is the absolute worst thing that can happen to a human being.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: A 7-year-old little girl playing on a playground, snatched off of a playground, a child`s playground in broad daylight, just 55 feet or so from where her mom is napping from working the night shift? All right, somebody is going to jail!

This is what we know. The child`s body has just been found in a nearby dumpster. Number two, we know she was sexually molested. Number three, we don`t know cause of death. But by powers of deduction alone, we know the killer either lives here or frequents the area, the location where she`s playing to mom`s apartment to where her body was found just in too close a proximity. This killer did not take the body far away.

I mean, weigh in, Woody Tripp, former police commander. What do you make of it?

WOODROW TRIPP, FMR. POLICE COMMANDER: Well, Nancy, we know that, obviously, she was concealed. She was taken in somewhere. Someone would have heard or someone would have seen something. So right now, it becomes very methodical. Every apartment within that course or that path that she walked has to be checked. Every person has to be talked to. Every alibi has to be checked.

All of those persons that would be there that day, why were they there? What were they doing? Their friends, their relatives. Who came there? So it becomes very methodical now. But there`s absolutely no doubt that she was taken inside. She either went in voluntarily with someone that she knew, or she was forcibly taken inside an apartment. But your crime scene is right there.

GRACE: OK, Woody! Woody! I`m going to throw a technical legal term at you, but you know, you`ve been in law enforcement long enough to understand it. Did you hear that crock of BS defense attorney Paul Batista just spouted out, something about rehabbing sex offenders? I mean get real, W.W. Tripp! How many times in all your years you were a beat cop, you moved all the way up the ranks, you were undercover, drugs, vice, you name it -- have you ever seen a sex predator get rehabilitated?

TRIPP: Normally, only after a public hanging, which I advocate after conviction. But then again, that`s not...

GRACE: Only after the death penalty?

TRIPP: ... correct. Or after the conviction.

GRACE: Right now, we don`t have a cause of death, but this is what I know. Someone killed this child and threw her away like trash, and somebody`s going to jail!

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police just announced they have found the body of missing 7-year-old Jorely Rivera in a dumpster near her home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pursuing the person or persons responsible.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say Jorely was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do not have a strong suspect.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The little girl was last seen Friday at a playground near her home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators are out actively pursuing leads.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Checking with local sex offenders and combing the dumpster for any more forensic clues.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The abduction occurred at the apartment complex. We also believe that the murder occurred at the apartment complex.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Now the hunt begins for her killer. Hoping to find the one piece of evidence that could lead to justice. Justice. Justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Do you have children? I have two. Boy and girl twins they just turned age 4. And so help me God, the thought of them playing on a playground and someone taking one of them, I can hardly think about it. But that`s what we have to think about tonight right now, right here.

We have to think about this child. A 7-year-old girl, mommy working a night shift to support her two daughters. She works at night shift. She kissed her little girl good-bye. The last word this girl said to her was, "Mommy, I love you."

How many times have I heard Lucy say that? John David say that over and over and over?

She never saw her child alive again. In the last hours this child`s body has been found sexually molested, brutally beaten to her death, and then thrown away like trash.

I want justice.

We are taking your calls, straight out to our next caller, Lakisha in Indiana.

Hi, dear, what`s your question?

I think I`ve got Lakisha. Are you there, dear?

OK. To Janet in --

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: Lakisha, if that`s you, could I have your question, please?

LAKISHA, CALLER FROM INDIANA: Yes. I was saying it was always nice to talk to you. That`s what I was saying.

GRACE: Well, thank you.

LAKISHA: And I do want -- thank you for letting all your proceeds go to the Missing and Exploited Children.

GRACE: I certainly am.

(CROSSTALK)

LAKISHA: Appreciate that.

GRACE: I certainly am. And as a matter of fact, this case right here hammers it home even harder. That our work is not done, Lakisha. Our work is not done in trying to protect our children. And, you know, you`d think out of all the countries in the world we Americans consider ourselves the most prosperous.

We consider that our government is founded on religion. I mean look at our money. It`s got, "In God We Trust" on it. We think that we`re the absolutely best place in the world live. That`s what I think. And then this happens.

Our children in America are not safe. And if this child isn`t safe, Lakisha, it means my children aren`t safe.

What is your question, dear.

LAKISHA: I worry about this every day.

GRACE: You know, everyone calling in tonight is worried.

You know, to Paula Bloom, clinical psychologist, author of "Why Does He Do That, Why Does She Do That."

Paula, this is really sinking into my psyche. I`ve got two questions for you and I would like rapid fire answers. Number one, do you believe sex predators can be rehabilitated? And please weigh your words carefully on that. I want a straight answer. Not what shrinks are programmed to say.

And number two, for the rest of us that fear this could happen to our children, it`s entirely true. This could happen to her? Her mom is working nightshift to take care of her? I work at night. I think -- I`ve got babysitters to take care of her. This babysitter left to go in and get a coat, the child is gone, Paula.

PAULA BLOOM, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST, BLOGGER, PAULABLOOM.COM: Right. Let me start with the second question that you asked.

Listen, this is a horrible thing. You know I`m a mom. I have a 7- year-old and a 9-year-old. OK? The thing that keeps us from feeling too crazy is that this is possible but it`s not probable. Of course if it happens to you it doesn`t matter what the statistics say, right?

Your first question about are sexual predators able to be rehabbed? Many of them can`t. Some of them can.

GRACE: OK. You know, Sue Moss, I learned really early on in my career when you find a sex predator, and I`m trying to -- get the case ready for trial, trying to offer a plea negotiation which was always hard jail time. Long story short if you look back you can see. It starts with what? Peeping tom, simple assault, simple battery and it graduates, graduates, graduates. That`s why I`m saying whoever did think I doubt very seriously, since it`s a sex assault involved. That tells me it`s not mommy, all right.

SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY & CHILD ADVOCATE: Absolutely -

GRACE: I don`t think this is that person`s first offense. You don`t come out of the -- you know, first time up at bat a homicide and an aggravated child molestation. Oh, no. This is not a first offender.

MOSS: This guy didn`t go zero to 60 on his first shot. Remember not only did he beat her up, not only did he rape her, but he murdered her.

Look, sex predators have a disease and it`s a disease that can`t be cured. The reality is if you live in an area and you`re told by the registry there`s a local sex offender you got to be even more vigilante than you possibly were before because unfortunately, unfortunately the recidivism rate of these people is very high.

GRACE: You know, Holly Hughes, you`re appearing tonight as a defense attorney but let me just remind you of all the years you were a prosecutor and I don`t know why everybody is jumping on a bandwagon that sex offenders can be rehabilitated because I guarantee you Holly Hughes that this is not a first time offender that did this to a 7-year-old girl.

And what`s mommy supposed to think now? She`s worked her fingers to the bone on the nightshift to support her girls. And now, you know, she`s going to feel it`s all her fault. She sent a babysitter. The babysitter goes inside to get a coat. In guess that`s a crime in America. But in those minutes, surrounding that scenario, this girl, a 7-year-old girl, what is that first grade. is snatched in broad daylight off a playground. And you want to tell me a sex predator can be rehabbed, Holly Hughes?

HOLLY HUGHES, PROSECUTOR: Well, Nancy, the problem is, there are probably more than one sexual predator listed in that neighborhood. And what we need to be careful is that we arrest the right one. We do a proper investigation. That we don`t just run every sex offender out there because there`s a lot more than people realize. There`s probably 50 in a three- mile radius. Not all 50 of them are guilty of this crime.

GRACE: OK. That gives me a good idea.

HUGHES: So what we need to do is let the police do their investigation --

GRACE: Hold on, Holly. Holly, hold on, I want to get the actual stat.

Marc Klaas, what`s the Web site that you tell us about to find sex offenders in your neighborhood?

MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: Well, you can go on to Klaaskids.org.

GRACE: OK.

KLAAS: And you can select Megan`s Law and that then gives you a list of every state`s Megan Law.

GRACE: OK.

KLAAS: Gives you a comparative analysis of each state`s Megan`s Law.

GRACE: OK, hold on, Klaaskids.org. Liz, in New York, in our control room, put somebody on Klaaskids.org. I want to find out -- I know there`s one sex predator that we know of living in the apartment. But in that zip code, pull it up on Klaaskids.org. Anybody can do it. And tell me -- whoa, Clark beat you to it. Thirty-five in just five miles. Thirty five in a five-mile radius.

And this is not a densely-populated area. OK, Batista, weigh in.

PAUL BATISTA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY, AUTHOR OF "DEATH`S WITNESS": Nancy, my only point is you cannot go out and arrest 35 people for --

GRACE: Well, did I say --

BATISTA: Well, you are. You are saying that a sex offender --

GRACE: Did anybody say that? No.

BATISTA: And you were saying that a sex offender is the primary suspect. You look at them.

GRACE: No. That`s not what I said.

BATISTA: You don`t arrest the entire community of sex offenders.

GRACE: Whoa, I don`t know what hearing aid you`ve got in, but that`s not what I said. But now that you put it out there, I`m telling you, I`m telling you, Paul -- well, I have this one and this one, OK.

Paul, this is not a first offender. OK. Do you disagree with that?

BATISTA: I don`t disagree with that. But it does not mean --

GRACE: All right. Well, if you think this is not a first offender what do you think that other offense was? Bank robbery? Oh, no, it was a sex offense.

BATISTA: But what was the nature of that sex offense? You`re generalizing.

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: I don`t have a -- I just got common sense, Batista. I`m not a psychic.

BATISTA: It can run a gamut, Nancy. Not all sex offenders are murders.

GRACE: Everybody --

BATISTA: Not all sex offenders are murderers.

GRACE: Tip line. 770-721-7852. There`s a $5,000 reward and it is climbing.

This child, look at her. Look at that beautiful smile. Seven years old. Snatched off the playground broad daylight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: An hour sifting through garbage taken from dumpsters. Investigators were looking for potential evidence but instead confirmed a mother`s worst fear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And she was severely beaten. We believe that she was sexually assaulted.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: They also cannot say if the child`s killer knew the victim or was a stranger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The little girl missing north of Atlanta has been found and sadly not alive.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say Jorely was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was in the dumpster.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Seven-year-old Jorely Rivera`s body was recovered today by Georgia state investigators who say she had been sexually assaulted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It appears from the examination of the agents at the scene that she was severely beaten. We believe that she was sexually assaulted.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say Jorely was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered. And they`re not searching for her killer. The little girl was last seen Friday at a playground near her home.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: They found her body in a trash container near the apartment complex where she vanished.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: A 7-year-old girl playing in broad daylight on the playground is gone. In the last hours her body discovered in a dump, thrown away like trash.

We are taking your calls, giving you the tip line. If you want to find occupant about sex offenders in your neighbor, you can go to Marc Klaas` Web site, Klaaskids.org. You can go Nancygrace.com. Go to hlnTV.com/Nancygrace.

There is a host of sites you can visit to get that info on your zip code.

I want to go to a special guest, Dr. Bill Manion, New Jersey medical examiner.

Dr. Manion, we don`t know the cause of death. We do know the child was sexually molested. Do you believe, as I do, there will be DNA on the body from the killer?

DR. BILL MANION, M.D., MEDICAL EXAMINER, BURLINGTON COUNTY, NJ: Well, hopefully he`s not that sophisticated and wouldn`t take efforts to use a condom or something. In some cases where people are a little sophisticated and use a condom they`ve actually recovered the condom and his DNA will be on the inside and the girl`s vaginal DNA will be on the outside of the condom.

That`s why they have to search that dumpster so carefully. They are looking for cigarette butts, for soda straws. For condoms. Any type of clue that could link that person to that dumpster. So that -- and that`s a very, very difficult search. It`s not dramatic or glorious. It`s a dirty work going through bags of garbage trying to fine some type of evidence that will link the perpetrator to the body in the dumpster.

GRACE: You know, that`s a good question.

Back to Natisha Lance, joining us there at the playground.

Was the body of Jorely, was it in a trash bag?

NATISHA LANCE, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: We don`t know if the body was in a trash bag, Nancy, but I did speak to the GBI director today. What he told me is that the body was not visible when they pulled this dumpster from the apartment complex. And he also said that it took a lot of sifting in order to get down to the body. The body was contained in between heavily condensed garbage.

So there was a lot of work that was done. And this dumpster was taken out just early this morning and found again the body was found around noon this afternoon.

GRACE: To Holly Firfer from CNN, also joining us at the playground.

Holly, was the dumpster in the apartment complex?

HOLLY FIRFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It actually is. But here`s something interesting about this dumpster. So anybody can put trash into the bin, but actually to get it through the trash compactor, which is what it was you need a key to open it up.

So only the maintenance people had keys to actually push that garbage into the compactor. Now it`s possible that somebody could have dumped it in the bin, dumped the body in a bag and maybe the maintenance person didn`t see what that was and just put it into the compactor but they are also using to it see if they can figure also maybe a better timeline, when was she put in the dumpster.

Maybe they can figure out when she was killed. Because -- was she taken. Something else interesting, Nancy, is that there`s a couple of empty apartments near where she lived in her building. And so they are looking very closely at that apartment and between that apartment and that trash dumpster is a bunch of wood, a ravine with walking trails.

So somebody conceivably could have taken the body from an empty apartment to the dumpster and not had to walk through the parking lot or the complex as a whole.

GRACE: You know, what Holly Firfer just said is very, very interesting.

Eric Jens, WRGA, am I getting this correctly, and I want to see that map again, Liz, because I`m not so sure that map is correct. Put that map back up.

Eric Jens, so you have to put the body -- no, wait a minute. Hold on, look at this map. Firfer is telling me that the dumpster is at the apartment complex.

Liz, is that entire map of the apartment complex. Ok, All right, then it is correct. That entire map signifies just the apartment complex, that`s correct.

OK. Back to you, Eric Jens. Firfer is telling me that I`ve to have a key move the trash, move it into the compactor area of that dumpster. Is that correct? Yes, no.

ERIC JENS, NEWS DIRECTOR, WRGA RADIO: It`s a very -- yes, it is. It`s a very large dumpster. It`s used for the whole community here to collect all the trash and then every so often it gets compacted and they`re using that to compare timelines.

GRACE: OK. And the location of her body even as to where that trash is, as to when the trash was moved, will help with the timeline.

Back to Woody Tripp, former police commander. Did you hear what Bill Manion said? Dr. Manion said? I find it very interesting, Woody. If she were in a bag, were there condoms, drinking straws and so forth? And people always say, do you think a killer would be that stupid? Yes, they would to put a condom or a drinking straw, a cigarette butt, something in the same bag with her. And also what about touch DNA, Woody?

WOODY TRIPP, FORMER POLICE COMMANDER, POLYGRAPH EXPERT: Well, Nancy, also remember saliva. You know you`re talking about a sex crime here. You`re talking about a person`s mouth. And as you know with sex offenders, and especially child sex offenders, you know, oral, mouth and things like that all over the body so saliva is very, very good source of DNA.

So there`s a lot of clues there. There`s a lot of evidence that`s there.

GRACE: We are taking your calls, out to June in Florida. Hi, June, what`s your question?

JUNE, CALLER FROM FLORIDA: Yes. I would like to say something to you first. If you only have common sense, you got a million in one mothers and fathers standing behind you because I do not understand these defense attorneys saying that they can be rehabilitated. They can`t. They cannot be.

Summer, one summer, with three minutes away from her home. That man or son of the devil took her. He had been stalking her since the winter. Since October. So they just don`t go and randomly pick up these children, they watch them. They know that they`re going to be alone some time, and they set their mind to it, and they go for it. And another thing --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: Welcome back. We are taking your calls live.

June in Florida`s question, why sex offenders are released where children are? Unfortunately, Sue Moss, you know, based under our Constitution, I guess it`s the Sixth Amendment, I`ll have to think about it, it`s been interpreted freedom of travel. They can be kept X number of feet, like a thousand feet away from schools and playgrounds, but generally they have the constitutional right to travel where they wish.

MOSS: Absolutely, but thank goodness we have the opportunity to know where these people are residing. And every parent, every parent needs to go on Marc Klaas` Web site. Put in -- go to their local state site, put in their zip code, and they will be told exactly who these people are, where they live.

GRACE: Do I still have Dr. Bill Manion?

I`m going to throw this to Marc Klaas.

Marc, we don`t know cause of death yet. We know that she was beaten brutally. Do you think that`s going to be the cause of death?

KLAAS: Gee, I don`t know. I just hope that little girls like this little girl and my little girl Polly are able to somehow disassociate themselves from the brutality that`s being inflicted upon them during those last moments as they look into the eyes of the killer. The eyes that are now looking around wondering if they`ll get caught. I understand from the work of Elizabeth Cooper Ross who did a lot of work with cancer children that they are able to disassociate. And I only pray that it`s true.

GRACE: Let`s stop and remember Army Sgt. Patrick Stewart, 35, Reno, Nevada, killed in Afghanistan, also served other assignments as well. Awarded Bronze Star, Purple Heart, two Army Achievement medal sash, Defense Service medal.

Loves hunting, fishing, rock climbing. Leaves behind parents Steven, Sandy, brother, Jason, widow Roberta, son Raymond, daughter Alex.

Patrick Stewart, American hero.

Thanks to our guests, but especially to you for being with us, and a special birthday. Happy birthday to one of our stars, Kat, runner, fulfilled her dream of running the Chicago marathon.

Isn`t she beautiful?

Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night. 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then good night, friend.

END