Return to Transcripts main page
Nancy Grace
Baby-Sitter Pleads Not Guilty in Murder of 9-Year-Old
Aired January 04, 2012 - 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. Christmas Eve a 9-year-old girl vanishes from the home of Mommy`s neighbor, Aliahna, partially deaf and blind, her two younger sisters with the same neighbor just a few doors down from Mommy sick in bed with the flu. Neighbor says he finds his front door unlocked, Aliya (ph) gone. With presents still under the tree, the search for 9-year-old Aliya comes to an unthinkable end.
After reporting Aliya`s disappearance here on our program, her tiny body found dismembered in the freezer of the so-called family friend.
Bombshell tonight. In the last hours, the trusted neighbor/male baby- sitter hauled into court in full shackles. A stunning twist, in the face of shocking physical evidence, 39-year-old Michael Plumadore says, I didn`t do it. This as we learn it`s not his first time at the rodeo, Plumadore already charged with stalking and sending sex messages, including naked body shots, to a 13-year-old girl.
Hey, didn`t anybody check this guy out before leaving a 9-year-old little girl alone with a monster?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The accused killer of 9-year-old Indiana girl Aliahna Lemmon pleads not guilty in court today.
GRACE: Her body has been found.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What a horrific crime.
GRACE: Dismembered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How can this happen?
GRACE: In the neighbor`s freezer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And why did it happen?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Michael Plumadore...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What was going on in his home?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The accused murderer of 9-year-old Aliahna Lemmon.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It turns my stomach!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s charged with murder.
GRACE: The 9-year-old little girl. She partially deaf and partially blind.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Abuse of a corpse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We find that disabled children, disabled people in general, are more likely to be abused.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And removing a body from a crime scene.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Us, the parents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re the only thing that stands between them and the monsters that are out there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He says little Aliahna woke up at 2:30 in the morning with a night terror.
GRACE: For the longest time, he stuck to that story. I could smell it from there to here. His story stunk!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What person goes out at 6:00 o`clock in the morning, buys a cigar, smokes it and goes back to bed?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the individual that she`d been living with for the last week. He was friends of the family.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why`d he have to do that to her?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And he was the one that saw her last.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She didn`t do nothing to him at all.
GRACE: We want justice!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. In the last hours, the trusted friend of the family/male baby-sitter hauled into court in full shackles. A stunning twist. In the face of shocking physical evidence that this man hacked up a 9-year-old girl with a hacksaw, placing her head in his freezer, 39-year- old Michael Plumadore says, I didn`t do it, I`m not guilty.
We are taking your calls. Let`s go straight out to the scene, there at the jail where Plumadore is being held, to WANE`s Drew Blair. Drew, the judge entering a not guilty plea in court for this guy.
Take a look at him. Let`s see that video again, Dana. When I look at this guy, I just -- I can`t believe in the face of all the physical evidence, including the girl`s head in the freezer, he says he didn`t do it? What happened, Drew?
DREW BLAIR, WANE: Well, Nancy, to be clear, Michael Plumadore never actually said the words, I didn`t do it. As far as we are concerned, there is still...
GRACE: Excuse me!
BLAIR: ... a confession with police...
GRACE: Excuse me, Drew! Did he enter a guilty plea today, Drew? That`s a yes/no question! Did he say, I`m guilty, I did it?
BLAIR: The judge actually entered...
GRACE: So that would be...
BLAIR: ... that not guilty plea on his behalf.
GRACE: ... a no! He did not say, I`m guilty. Therefore, a not guilty plea has been entered for him! Was he standing there in court, Drew?
BLAIR: That`s correct. He was standing there and...
GRACE: OK...
BLAIR: ... and he was very quiet, very solemn the entire time.
GRACE: Did he correct the judge when the judge entered a not guilty plea for him?
BLAIR: He did not.
GRACE: OK. So a not guilty plea entered in court today. Please describe Plumadore, Drew.
BLAIR: Well, again, Nancy he was very quiet. He was reserved. He hung his head low the entire time as he was escorted in the courthouse and then outside the courthouse.
I`ve been covering court cases here for a while now, Nancy. I`ve never seen anything like this. There was all kinds of extra security and precautions in place for his appearance, 30 sheriff deputies surrounding the perimeter of the courthouse and the courtroom the entire time he was there.
GRACE: Thirty sheriffs, according to WANE`s Drew Blair, joining us there live where Plumadore is being held in isolation for his own protection -- 30 sheriffs for Plumadore`s safety. But nobody was there to protect this 9-year-old girl.
And tonight we learn it`s not his first time at the rodeo, people. Plumadore previously charged with sexually harassing and stalking another little girl, including sending that little girl naked shots of a male body. Why wasn`t this monster checked out before he was left alone with a 9-year- old little girl for nearly a week?
Joining me right now, the man responsible for cracking the case, Sheriff Ken Fries with us from the Fort Wayne, Indiana, sheriff`s department. Sheriff, thank you for being with us.
SHERIFF KEN FRIES, ALLEN COUNTY, IN: Glad to be here, Nancy.
GRACE: Sheriff, I know that you -- your stomach must turn. It was you and your law men and law women that cracked this case, that worked 24/7 around the clock over Christmas holiday to find the killer of little Aliahna.
When you hear that he was previously charged with sexting, sending sex messages to another little girl, including naked male photos -- did you know that?
FRIES: We didn`t know it at the time, but that`s one of the things that has concerned us. That`s why I`ve asked the FBI to reach out to their sources around the country, anyplace he`s been in the past, to see if there`s any type of cases like this still out there that are unsolved that he may be involved in.
GRACE: With me, standing there at the jail where Plumadore being held in isolation, Sheriff Ken Fries, responsible for cracking the case. Sheriff, the fact that now we know that he has been charged with sexting, sending sex text messages, to another little girl -- her mom found out and brought to it the attention of authorities. Of course, nothing was done with that case, I might add. But he was -- he did get the accusation against him.
Let me ask you, Sheriff, when he confessed, as he did to you and your people, please tell me it was caught on video, or at least audibly recorded.
FRIES: Yes, it was. It was on videotape.
GRACE: Can I just say that`s the best Christmas present you could have ever given me, Sheriff, because you know when this thing goes to trial -- and we learn today he says, I didn`t do it. His plea in court is not guilty, entered by the judge. That means that there is going to be a trial, Sheriff. And if you didn`t record that audibly or video, you know they would have said, Oh, the sheriff beat him, the sheriff forced him into a confession, it`s not true, blah, blah, blah.
Did you do an audible or a video recording?
FRIES: We have both video and audio. At one point, when he starts to talk to us, we`re outside of the camera view, so it`s all on audio. The rest of it`s all done video. And you`re right, he only has two avenues of defense. One could be that he says that we coerced the confession. The other`s going to be insanity. So we have taken that one out of the mix.
GRACE: Sheriff Ken Fries, are you surprised at his not guilty plea in court?
FRIES: No. The courts enter that in, and I`m not surprised that he didn`t stand up and say, No, no, I did it. He is going to let this go to trial, I`m sure. I don`t think there`ll be a plea arrangement made in this case. So it didn`t surprise me. I think he`s going to let this go through the process. He`ll have a public defender assigned to him, and we`ll move on from there.
GRACE: You know, what`s stunning to me is we are learning tonight for the first time that this is not the first time little Aliahna has been left alone with a male baby-sitter, not the first time.
I want to go out to Bonnie Druker, our producer on the story. Bonnie, what do we know about this not being the first time this child has been left alone with a male baby-sitter?
BONNIE DRUKER, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Oh, Nancy, this is so tragic. She was left in 2010 with a guy -- I`m going to put his name out there -- Curtis Alan Kennedy (ph), and he essentially molested her, but he pled down to indecent contact with a child, a lesser charge, Nancy.
GRACE: You know, how did that happen, Bonnie? Was that another male baby-sitter for Aliahna?
DRUKER: Yes, and we understand that he is actually related. He is the bio dad`s ex-wife`s stepbrother, Nancy.
GRACE: OK, I don`t get it. I don`t get it. Patricia Saunders, clinical psychologist -- and I am not attacking the victim`s family, the mom or the grandparents. I know that they are deeply distraught. But after this child has had her clothes pulled down for one male baby-sitter that we know of -- so you know, that didn`t turn out very well, that male baby-sitter, and here she is with another male baby-sitter, and now she`s dead, Patricia?
PATRICIA SAUNDERS, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: She was surrounded by sex offenders, Nancy. There were 15 reported sex offenders out of 24 homes. Her own grandfather had a history of child sex offense. So this sets up an environment that`s a haven for pedophiles. And we know that the level of denial of those around and related to pedophiles is astronomic. They distort reality -- It didn`t happen, it couldn`t have happened, not my daddy.
GRACE: But you know, the thing is, I don`t want to blame the mom. I don`t want to get into blaming the victim in this case and the victim`s family because that mom moved into this area so she would have family near her to help her with the children. The grandfather lived very close to them. So the fact that these predators were around her is not her fault.
We are taking your calls. Out to Tim in South Dakota. Hi, Tim. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. Actually, it`s a two-part question.
GRACE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As far as this case in Iowa, where he sent pictures of his genitals to a 13-year-old girl, I see that it was dismissed because it did not meet the requirements for domestic abuse. But let me point out that the judge who dismissed this, Judge Daniel P. Wilson -- by law, he had a duty to refer that case to sheriff`s investigators, just like a teacher would or anyone.
Nancy, you`re our voice. We need this judge off the bench.
GRACE: You know, I`m kind of stunned. Hold on, Tim. Keep Tim on the phone. Tim in South Dakota has an excellent point. I`ve got -- what we are talking about right now is a prior claim of sex text messages sent by this guy, this alleged killer, Plumadore, to another little girl. And in that case -- I`ve got all the information right here in front of me. Right here, we`ve got the allegation against him, against Plumadore, and we`ve got what the judge did with it. The judge`s name, Daniel Wilson.
To you, Darryl Cohen, Randy Kessler. You`re the big defense lawyers. What about the judge not reporting Plumadore`s charge, Cohen? Is there any recourse against him?
DARRYL COHEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: He had every right to report it or not report it. He was in a courtroom. There were all sorts of sheriff`s deputies. There were court officials. Why in the world would he have to do any more than he did? It was brought to his attention.
GRACE: Yes. You know what, Darryl? You`re so right. Kessler -- Kessler, why do we expect a judge to do the right thing?
RANDY KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You know, we should expect the judges to do the right thing. It sounds like he didn`t do the right thing. He may have been overwhelmed and he said, Go to see the prosecutor. And of course, Mom didn`t go to the prosecutor because she was disenchanted with the whole system.
GRACE: Put the lawyers up! You know what, Darryl Cohen? I`m embarrassed for you because I expect our judges to do the right thing! This judge had a chance to do something, and he didn`t.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A head, feet and hands were found in the freezer of this mobile home right behind us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why`d he have to do that to her?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Plumadore told police he killed Aliahna outside his trailer home by hitting her in the head multiple times with a brick.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She didn`t do nothing to him at all.
GRACE: Tonight, we want justice!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The chief deputy prosecutor reminds the public Plumadore is innocent until proven guilty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back. We are live outside of the jailhouse where Michael Plumadore being held. In the last hours, a stunning twist. In court, Plumadore, I didn`t do it -- the judge entering a not guilty plea on his behalf. There you see him in full shackles. Imagine the 9-year-old Aliahna being alone in the home for a week with this guy and her two little sisters, Mommy a few doors down, sick with the flu, trusting the male baby- sitter to take care of her three little girls. It ended with Aliahna being murdered, dismembered, her head in the freezer, Plumadore dismembering her with a hacksaw.
And today, he stands by while a not guilty plea entered on his behalf, his head hanging in court. But don`t worry. He`ll cost the taxpayers millions of dollars when this case goes to trial.
With me, the lawman who led the team that cracked this case. With me, Sheriff Ken Fries, outside the jailhouse. Along with him, WANE`s Drew Blair.
To Sheriff Ken Fries, joining us, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Sheriff the elected sheriff, Ken Fries. Sheriff, when you find out that this judge dismissed Plumadore`s case for sexting another little girl with photos of a man`s naked body -- Sheriff, what do you think I would do if I found out somebody sent one of my children, my 4-year-old twins, naked photos? You`d have to drag me off...
FRIES: Well, probably the same thing I would do.
GRACE: ... the person with my hands around their neck! And this judge didn`t do anything! What`s his name again, Bonnie? What`s this judge`s name? I`ve got it, Daniel P. Wilson -- Daniel P. Wilson, Centerville (ph), appointed 1995. What about it, Sheriff?
FRIES: It`s disturbing that happens. And I -- somebody should have followed that case through to the natural conclusion instead of just letting it go. And whether it`s his fault or the investigators` fault, I don`t know, but somebody dropped the ball, or several somebodies. And they didn`t follow through like they should have. And we need to do that to protect our kids.
GRACE: You know, Sheriff, as many people have pointed out, you know, you don`t just suddenly commit a dismemberment on a child. I was saying the night this cracked that there had to be more in his background, and sure enough, there is. Are you surprised, Sheriff Fries?
FRIES: No, I`m not surprised at all. I`m concerned there may be others out there that we don`t know about yet.
GRACE: I`m concerned too, Sheriff. And what have you done about that?
FRIES: Well, you know, we pulled the FBI in very quickly in this case, and we`ve asked them to reach out to their contacts across the country to find out any places where Michael has been before, if there are any cases like this or similar to this that are still unsolved that he may have had involvement in.
And that investigation continues, as well as the local investigation. We continue to try to close up loose ends, and there are a lot of them.
GRACE: And is it true, Sheriff Ken Fries, that you guys have actually picked up the home and taken it in, like you impound a car, to continue looking for forensic evidence?
FRIES: That`s correct. The home is in our custody in a safe keeping, and it`ll be there until after the trial.
GRACE: When we come back, taking your calls. With us, metro editor of "The News Sentinel," in court today, Elbert Starks, along with Drew Blair, WANE, and Sheriff Ken Fries.
Today in a stunning twist, I didn`t do it is the message sent by alleged child killer Michael Plumadore.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Michael Plumadore has admitted he killed the 9- year-old girl.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s been a close family friend.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The man accused of killing 9-year-old Aliahna Lemmon.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pled not guilty in court today.
GRACE: Her body found dismembered in the neighbor`s freezer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mike would never hurt...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hitting her in the head multiple times with a brick.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... any children.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He put some of her body parts in a nearby dumpster.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Period.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But he kept her head, feet and hands in his freezer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s charged with murder, abuse of a corpse and removing a body from a crime scene.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back. In the last hours, a stunning twist in the case. The man accused of murdering, dismembering this 9-year-old little girl, placing her head in the freezer, sends the message in court, I didn`t do it. This in the face of stunning physical evidence, evidence amassed by Sheriff Ken Fries his law men and law women, who worked through the Christmas holiday around the clock trying to crack the case of Aliahna`s disappearance.
To Elbert Starks, metro editor, "News Sentinel," in court today. What was his demeanor, Elbert? Did he ever look up at the judge?
ELBERT STARKS, "NEWS SENTINEL" (via telephone): Yes, he looked at him because, again, he had to pay attention to what he was being asked. But it really was a short appearance.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers, Darryl Cohen, Randy Kessler. What is a first appearance, Kessler?
KESSLER: Chance to be notified of what you`re being charged with and to tell the court whether you`re going to plead guilty or not.
GRACE: Darryl...
KESSLER: Pleading guilty doesn`t...
COHEN: It`s just walking into a courtroom. It`s formal, normal for him to say, Not guilty. That doesn`t mean that at some point, he`s not going to enter a plea of guilty. It doesn`t mean...
GRACE: Yes, you know what, Darryl? You know what, Darryl? Put him and Kessler up, please. Of course, at some point, he`s probably going to ask, to beg to plead not guilty to life behind bars. That alternative would be the death penalty. And I`ve got the statute right in front of me. And he fits, Kessler, very neatly into several of the aggravating circumstances that call for the death penalty. Of course he`s going to try to plead guilty at some pout!
KESSLER: Right, but even a life sentence in prison is a death sentence for him, a child molester, child murderer in jail?
GRACE: Oh, really?
KESSLER: He right now...
GRACE: Name one. Name one other than Jeffrey Dahmer and a Catholic priest who met one of his molestation victims. Name one person that has ever been killed behind bars, Kessler.
KESSLER: Well, tell me what good does it do to plead guilty now, for him? He gets no benefits out of pleading guilty.
GRACE: Oh, so you can`t name one.
KESSLER: Not offhand, no. If I had my Google right now, I`d look some up.
GRACE: OK. Your Google, Kessler -- I`ll give you your Google!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s been a close family friend for a long time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael Reed (ph) Plumadore. Date of birth is 11/16 of `72.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) kids out (INAUDIBLE) because they could play on the floor in front of the TV, watch TV, and they played games.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say a trusted family friend has admitted he killed a 9-year-old girl who was partially blind.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The only blame is to the person that took her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael Reed Plumadore.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The man accused of killing and dismembering a 9- year-old Indiana girl pled not guilty.
GRACE: Her body has been found dismembered in the neighbor`s freezer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In 2010, Michael Plumadore was accused of sending inappropriate text messages to a 13-year-old girl.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mobile home where Aliahna was allegedly murdered was hauled away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Preservation of evidence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As news of Michael Plumadore`s arrest spread, the local story turned into a national one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The murder has received so much attention. He`s charged with murder, abuse of a corpse and removing a body from a crime scene.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In 2010, Michael Plumadore was accused of sending inappropriate text messages to a 13-year-old girl. In court documents, the alleged victim`s mother stated, quote, "Michael is 38 years old. My daughter is 13 years old. He is stalking her, sending explicit sexual text messages and photographs. I have told him to stop over a month ago, and he continues to seek out and make contact with my daughter. Messages have included messages of wanting to get her pregnant and photos of exposed genitalia."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are living and taking your calls outside the jailhouse that is housing the alleged killer of this 9-year-old little girl, Michael Plumadore, a 39-year-old so-called family friend, who we now learn was accused of sext messaging another little girl in another state. That judge did nothing. Now this girl is dead, allegedly by beating her in the head with a brick.
Straight out to Sheriff Ken Fries, the Allen County sheriff joining us, his team responsible for cracking the case. Sheriff, I know in his confession to you and to your people, he stated he beat the child in the head with a brick there on the front porch of his home. I find that very, very hard to believe that he would kill the child in the open that way. But that aside, did he make any admission as to whether he molested the child?
FRIES: No, there`s been no admission of that so far. As I say, the investigation continues. And we do know that the majority of the stuff he told us that night is factual. There are some questions we have, trying to verify some other things. But as far as molesting, no, he has not admitted to that yet.
GRACE: Back to Drew Blair at WANE, joining us there with the sheriff outside of the jailhouse. Drew, again, thank you for being with us and braving the elements. I see the snow in the background. Drew, where is he now, and why is he being held in isolation?
BLAIR: Well, Nancy, he is in this building right behind us. This is the Allen County jail. And as far as we know, he`s being held in isolation for his own safety. Obviously, there is all kinds of outrage throughout this entire community, as anyone can understand. That`s why you saw that police presence in the courtroom today.
No only are they protected Mr. Michael Plumadore, they`re protecting the community as a whole, the sheriffs deputies themselves, because there`s so much anger surrounding this case.
GRACE: Let`s talk about where he`s being housed. What`s the name of the jail, Drew Blair?
BLAIR: This is the Allen County jail. We`re at Fort Wayne, in Allen County, Indiana.
GRACE: To Marc Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation. As you recall, Marc Klaas minding his own business when his little girl, Polly, was abducted and murdered. He has devoted his life to victims` rights ever since.
Marc, take a listen to this. He gets to sit in a nice area with tables and chairs to watch TV and make phone calls, as many phone calls as he wants. It`s an indoor common area. He gets served up on a platter -- frankly -- he gets room service, macaroni and cheese, green beans, cake and juice. That`s what he had for lunch. We`re waiting on his dinner menu.
He gets to visit with his lawyer. He gets private, basically, security because he`s at risk. He gets visits from family and friends.
What do you make of that? You know, I wish somebody would serve me up macaroni casserole, green beans, cake and juice!
MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: You know, we`re giving this guy presidential levels of security and we`re giving him the kind of consideration that he never afforded that young child.
I`d like to address the 800-pound elephant in the room, though. There`s plenty of blame here. There`s a criminal justice system that has given this guy a pass on his past sex offense against a young child. And remember, there`s another goon who molested the girl, who had been given a pass on that crime.
And we have a criminal justice system, Nancy, that does this time and time and time and time again, gives the devil a pass, moves him on to the next community again and again and again. And oftentimes, very little is done with these guys or about these guys until a horrendous crime like this is committed.
How do I know this? I`ll tell you. Yesterday would have been Polly`s 31st birthday, Nancy. But instead of celebrating her birthday, the date was nothing more than a reminder that another horrendous monster has been sitting on death row for more than 16 years for the hideous crime that he committed against my child.
And he, like Plumadore, like many of these people, regardless of the disposition of this case, will never be executed. Why? Because there`s a very vocal group of individuals, of judges, of dilettantes, of abolitionists who want nothing more than to offer the kinds of service and considerations for these horrendous monsters so they can contemplate the crimes that they have committed against our loved ones until they die of natural causes and never have the justice served that should be!
GRACE: And you know what else, Marc Klaas? Here you are, working double time. You`ve got Klaas Kids going. You go all over the country speaking. I work two jobs and take care of my children. And long story short, we`re working our fingers to the bone so we can support people like Plumadore, so he can have -- what did he have? Macaroni casserole, green beans, cake and juice for lunch. I`m feeding him!
The public -- there`s Fries -- Sheriff Fries, the Allen County sheriff, working over Christmas, all his people working out in the snow, many of them with second jobs because you know sheriffs don`t get paid hardly anything. They`re all working so their taxes can buy this guy`s macaroni casserole, so he can make unlimited phone calls and watch television in the common area. That`s what`s happening.
I`m hearing in my ear, in addition to Marc Klaas, I`m being joined by Aliahna`s cousin. Joining us from Fort Wayne is Elizabeth Sepponen, joining us exclusively tonight.
Ms. Sepponen, first of all, coming from a crime victim of violent crime myself, I want to tell you and your family that we have been praying for Aliahna and her mom and sisters since she first went missing, since we first broadcast her story.
I`d like to know how her little sisters are doing. I know that they are under court supervision now.
ELIZABETH SEPPONEN, COUSIN OF ALIAHNA (VIA TELEPHONE): Yes. As far as I know, they`re just -- they`re in protective custody. There have been a lot of death threats against, of course, her mother, Tarah, and Jeremy (ph), the owner of the park that they live in. So you know, the kids had to be protected.
GRACE: Ms. Sepponen, thank you again for speaking with us tonight. You stated that Tarah gave you information about Aliahna that she wants the viewers to know. What is the message?
SEPPONEN: She was a very kind, trusting and helpful girl. In fact, she taught her siblings how to tie their shoes. She loved school, dancing, of course, her sisters and brother. And she always put others first. If she got an A-minus, she worked so hard to get an A-plus the next time. And she just really was a sweet kid.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say a trusted family friend...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s been a close family friend for a long time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The man accused of killing and dismembering a 9- year-old Indiana girl pled not guilty in court today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In 2010, Michael Plumadore was accused of sending inappropriate text messages to a 13-year-old girl.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He at one point talked about giving her a kiss on the forehead.
GRACE: We all know what was probably going on at about 2:30 AM when he gave her a chaste kiss on the forehead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back. We are taking your calls. Outside the jailhouse where alleged child killer -- the child`s body found dismembered, her head in the guy`s freezer -- in court today. Joining us outside the jailhouse is Sheriff Ken Fries from the Allen County sheriff`s and Drew Blair, WANE.
To Dr. Bill Manion, joining us now, medical examiner, joining us tonight out of Philadelphia. The cause of death still pending, Dr. Manion. Why?
DR. BILL MANION, MED. EXAMINER/FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST (via telephone): Well, I think the medical examiner wants to be very careful here and just gather as much information as possible. He wants to get toxicology results. Was this child given the date rape drug or was the child given barbiturates to knock her out? He wants to do a microscopic exam to confirm that the child was dead when the child was dismembered.
He wants to, you know, do a -- I`m sure a careful exam with DNA testing. He`ll be looking for sperm, evidence of sexual abuse, evidence of prior child abuse. Are there any old fractured ribs, any old broken arms, things of that nature? And it`s a homicide case, so he`s got to have all his facts lined up very carefully.
GRACE: Dr. Bill Manion, many of us, many of the viewers became intimately familiar with how important the medical examiner`s findings are during the tot mom, Casey Anthony, trial...
MANION: Absolutely.
GRACE: ... where the body was largely decomposed. It`s very difficult. In fact, no cause of death could ever be determined. There`s really no way to -- nice way to ask you this question, Dr. Manion, but I`ve learned from all my years in court, sometimes niceties have to be disposed of.
Dr. Manion, with her body, Aliahna`s body, dismembered, cut into so many pieces, how will they be able to make all the determinations you think are necessary, like toxicology, prior abuse, prior sex abuse? Will they ever be able to put it back together again in order to determine those answers?
MANION: Well, if the body -- you know, the body was frozen and so it`s going to be well preserved, certain body parts. In addition, the body was outside in the cold, and so the decomposition will be delayed. So you`d be surprised what can be found in a careful exam.
And again, using DNA techniques, using microscopic examination, toxicology techniques, you don`t need blood or urine. You can use liver or brain or kidney for toxicology analysis. So you`d be surprised what we can do in a situation like this, that you think, how you could put anything together. But believe me, they`ll come up with a very logical cause of death. And of course, the manner of death will be homicide.
But they`ll also be looking for evidence of sexual abuse or sex activity. That would make it a felony homicide, which is eligible for the death penalty in many states.
GRACE: To Steve Moore, former FBI violent crimes investigator. Steve, thank you for being with us. Thanks to Sheriff Fries out of Allen County and his people, police are -- as we go air tonight are trying to determine whether Plumadore linked to other crimes. How can they piece that together, Steve?
STEVE MOORE, FMR. FBI INVESTIGATOR : Well, what they`ll do is find his -- find his trail, where he lived, where he went, where he vacationed. And they`ll forward that to the FBI offices in those areas, who will confer with the police in those areas and determine whether they have crimes with any kind of similar MO. People like this guy are not going to change the way they do things. It`s habitual. It`s instinctive to them. It`s not something they learned in a book. They`ll do it the same way every time.
GRACE: To Elizabeth Sepponen, joining us exclusively tonight. This is Aliahna`s cousin. Again, Ms. Sepponen, our prayers and thoughts out to you and her family. You know, it seems to me like this Plumadore had Aliahna`s mother and grandmother, the whole bunch of them, really fooled. How did he present himself to the mother and the grandmother in order to persuade them to let him baby-sit?
SEPPONEN: Well, clearly, he was very deceptive. He wasn`t on the sex offenders list. And before Tarah moved to the trailer park, she asked her day, you know, Will my kids be safe? He said yes. She said, What about Mike? He said yes. They had known him from Iowa. He`s just -- he fooled everyone, even some of the reporters he talked to. He just -- he fooled them.
In fact, at Jim`s funeral, I met him and he spoke to my son, which now just makes me sick to my stomach. But he just seemed nice. He was giving the other kids, you know, little trucks and cars to play with and keeping them occupied while the family, you know, greeted everybody who was coming in. And he just -- I don`t know. He just had a way of fooling everybody except for Ken Fries.
GRACE: Well, you know what? I, like a lot of moms -- and I have a male baby-sitter that works with a female baby-sitter. A lot of moms are very hesitant, I guess just instinctively, to leave their children with male baby-sitters, and I guess that`s just because of crime statistics. But I get what you`re saying, Elizabeth, because you`re right. He had a lot of people fooled.
To Dr. Saunders. If you can put it in a nutshell for me, Dr. Saunders, clinical psychologist, joining us out of New York -- we don`t want to think about our baby-sitters, our nannies or our au pairs doing harm to children. We want to believe that they are good.
Why? I mean, a lot of people don`t even run rap sheets. They do nothing. They meet the people and they go, Hey, I really like them. They might get a reference. Maybe not. Why are we so trusting?
SAUNDERS: Well, because most people aren`t murdering, depraved psychopathic pedophiles, Nancy. They don`t just -- a pedophile doesn`t just groom the child, they groom the family, they groom the community, which is what psychopaths do, the chameleons.
GRACE: Back to Tim in South Dakota. What was your question?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, my other question was -- it kind of has to do with Kurtis Kennedy and this whole deal with the family. As of yesterday, I noticed -- I looked up Kurtis Kennedy`s FaceBook profile, and I reported it because they`re not allowed on FaceBook. But I noticed to this day, he was still friends with Aliahna`s dad, Duane (ph) (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: Holy moly!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And my question is...
GRACE: For those of you that don`t know who Tim is talking about, Kurtis Allen Kennedy -- all Ks -- was accused of molesting Aliahna. And now he`s still FaceBook friends with the dad? OK. Creep-out!
We`re taking your calls. If you have any more information for Sheriff Fries, tip line, 260-449-3000. Anyone that knows anything about Plumadore tonight, Fries is trying to amass all the information he can, 260-449-3000.
To tonight`s "Case Alert." Atlanta police searching for 36-year-old Stacey Nicole English, last seen Christmas, Lennox (ph) Road, Atlanta. English 5-3, 120 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes, possibly driving white Volvo. Plate number B-brother P-penny R 4324. Please call 404-577-TIPS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Details of the story are very disturbing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He killed Aliahna outside his trailer home by hitting her in the head multiple times with a brick.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aliahna`s remains have been located.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pled not guilty in court.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s the (INAUDIBLE) that the detectives and the FBI did an excellent job talking to him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say they believed Plumadore was responsible all along.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What person goes out at 6:00 o`clock in the morning, buys a cigar, smokes it, and goes back to bed?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are live outside the jailhouse, joined by Sheriff Ken Fries of the Allen County sheriff`s department and Drew Blair, WANE.
Christine in Connecticut. What`s your question, dear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello, Nancy. It`s nice to be able to talk to you under the circumstances...
GRACE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... (INAUDIBLE) everything that`s happened. I have a question for you.
GRACE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was personally answered earlier, but how could this monster -- and I will use "monster" very freely here -- be able to admit to killing a child, dismembering her, admitting to it fully to the police, and then he gets to walk into court, and you know (INAUDIBLE) obviously, not guilty because the plea went in today? How could they let that happen and not expect him to respond to that? Should they have asked him point-blank? Or are they just going to wait to do that?
GRACE: To Sheriff Ken Fries. Sheriff, does it turn your stomach at all? I mean, your people were there -- your people were there when he gave a confession, leaving out all the gory parts, leaving out the molestation that probably happened. But for him to go into court, getting kid glove treatment -- that doesn`t bug you at all?
FRIES: Oh, it does. You have to remember, we`re all taxpayers, too, and we see this time and time again, that we do our job and through whatever reasons, they don`t get what we believe they should get as far as justice is concerned. But I -- in this case, I think everybody`s going to come together and work as a team, and I think we`ll see a successful prosecution.
GRACE: Thank you, Sheriff.
Put up the lawyers very quickly, Darryl Cohen and Randy Kessler, both veteran defense attorneys. You know what, Cohen and Kessler? I was about to ask you about the death penalty he`s probably going to face. But you know what? I`ll just give you one of these, a little tissue, because I don`t want to hear your whining about how unconstitutional it is.
Let`s stop and remember Army Sergeant Alexander Van Aalten, 21, Monterey (ph), Tennessee, killed Afghanistan on a second tour. Also served Iraq. Awarded Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Army Achievement. Awarded Netherlands Declaration of Merit after assisting in recovery of a fallen Dutch soldier. A black belt in tae kwon do. Leaves behind parents Ed and Susan, brother Dax (ph), sister Nicole (ph), wife Shana (ph). Alexander Van Aalten, American hero.
Thanks to our guests, but especially to you for being with us. See you tomorrow night, 8:00 o`clock sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
