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Jane Velez-Mitchell

Husband Found Guilty of Pregnant Wife`s Murder

Aired March 05, 2012 - 19:00   ET

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

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST: I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell, coming to you live from New York City.

A lying, cheating husband found guilty of beating his pregnant wife to death. Jason Young is hauled off to prison for life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VELEZ-MITCHELL (voice-over): The verdict is in. A jury decides the fate of Jason Young. He`s accused of murdering his wife, who was five months pregnant, because he didn`t want another kid. He insists he was away on business. The prosecution says he drove home back to their home in the middle of the night and viciously killed his wife. Who do you believe? Did the jury get it right?

Then outrage after an adoptive father is accused of raping his own children and pimping out at least one of the boys to two men. And get this: cops say the junior league basketball coach was in the process of adopting another child. We`ll tell you how an undercover cop broke this wide open. But who was supposed to be looking out for these children?

And Lindsay Lohan hosts "Saturday Night Live", but critics say the troubled starlet bombed. What do you think? We`ll play some clips and take your calls on all these stories tonight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think my sister`s dead. Oh, my God.

JASON YOUNG, FOUND GUILTY OF MURDER: I just -- I just fell.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s been a jerk. He`s a philanderer. He`s a womanizer. He says grossly inappropriate things and does grossly inappropriate things. But that doesn`t make him a murderer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is guilty of first-degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no direct evidence linking Mr. Young to this crime.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is your duty to find Jason Young not guilty. We`re not ever going to know what happened in that house that night.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This case is solved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be mad at him. Hate him if you want to. We don`t send people to jail. We don`t put them in prison for the rest of their lives because we hate them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, secrets, lies and a double life explode in the face of a convicted murder.

Jason Young has just learned he will spend the rest of his days behind bars for his pregnant wife`s murder. Listen to the verdict.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We, the jury, by unanimous verdict, find the defendant, Jason Lynn Young, to be guilty of first-degree murder of Michelle Fisher Young.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Michelle`s family sobbed and hugged each other. You saw the defendant there. He had no reaction at all.

This trial revealed the Youngs` toxic marriage. Beautiful on the outside, very ugly on the inside.

Who could forget the testimony from Jason`s mistresses and from his ex-fiance whom he assaulted? And then there was that phony alibi of his. Jason claimed he was away on business when Michelle was bludgeoned to death in their bedroom. The jury didn`t buy it. This was a very personal killing, at least 30 blows.

And testimony revealed the Youngs` 2-year-old daughter -- there she is, that little angel, likely saw her mother, who you`re looking at there, being attacked, being murdered. Little Cassidy hid under the covers next to her mom`s body, poking her head out when her aunt finally discovered the bloody scene. Can you imagine that?

Jason`s first trial ended in a hung jury last year, split 8-4 in favor of acquittal.

Jason didn`t take the stand this time, but prosecutors made a pivotal decision to play his testimony from the first trial. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: She said Michelle is dead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you do?

YOUNG: I just -- I just fell. I just -- I broke on the inside. I just broke, and I didn`t believe it. It was -- it just didn`t feel real. It didn`t feel like it was -- it didn`t feel like it was happening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I think the jury decided those tears didn`t feel so real.

What do you think about this guilty verdict? Call me: 1-877-JVM-SAYS; 1-877-586-7297.

Straight out to "In Session`s" Beth Karas, who is on the ground in North Carolina.

Beth, you were in court for the verdict. Take us there. Take us inside the courtroom and describe that moment for us.

BETH KARAS, TRUTV`S "IN SESSION": Well, I must say, Jane, it was a little puzzling, because the jury was asking for breaks a lot today. They had one substantive note early in the day where they asked to look at 12 items of evidence. Eleven were given to them. One of them didn`t exist. And then wanted a 20 minute break in the afternoon. They wanted to go home at 4:45.

So they get the 20-minute break, and ten minutes later they had a verdict. So it was about an hour before they were scheduled to go home. So it appears that there wasn`t a lot of division in the ten hours that they deliberated over two days, last Friday and today.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: But I want to know about the courtroom. The moment in the courtroom. Who was crying? I heard people were crying.

KARAS: Well, it was -- it happened so fast that people were still assembling, and word was getting out that there was a verdict. It was already read. It happened really fast.

So jurors come in. They`re stone-faced. They don`t look at the defendant. We know that`s a sign. That`s bad for the defendant.

Now behind the prosecutor, seated throughout the trial, Michelle Young`s mother and sister and an aunt in a row behind them and some other friends and supporters. Tears galore on that side of the courtroom. I mean, audible even, during the -- actually more during the sentencing. But certainly, when they heard the judge say "guilty of first-degree murder." It just happened so fast.

But on the defense side, stone-faced. I did not discern anything from Jason Young and his mother. I believe it was a brother-in-law seated not far from me. But his mother was two rows ahead, and a friend of hers was there throughout the trial with her. Nothing. Just stone-faced, from what I saw. Certainly didn`t see any tissues in anyone`s hands or wiping their eyes.

Now we want to analyze this. I would say, in my humble opinion, the most memorable testimony came from Jason Young`s mistresses. He was cheating with at least two women. One of the women we call the smirker and the other was the sobber. Let`s check them out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Put Cassie to bed, had some drinks, and we ended up having sex.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we ended up having an intimate relationship while he was there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And so at that point, were you actually engaged in an affair with the defendant?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, ma`am.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Two mistresses. Their testimony further proved Jason Young was a cheater, therefore a liar, therefore not be believed.

Wendy Murphy, I think the lessons for women out there are, if your man`s cheating, if you can`t agree on whether or not to have children, if he has a drinking problem and if he has a rage problem, get the heck out, because it`s a deadly, toxic situation, Wendy.

WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Yes. I mean, there are a lot of bricks in that pile, Jane. I would say even one of those is enough of a warning sign for any woman with her head on straight.

You know, the fact is guys who are dangerous sometimes pick women who are vulnerable, because they`re naive, and they`re trusting and they think they can make it or they can fix the guy. And chances are you can`t, so get out soon. And please don`t have children with any guy where these red flags are present. It`s a very, very important message.

I`m so elated for this family, Jane. What a long road to justice for them. And I`m so proud of the D.A. for staying the course. You know, lots of prosecutors, if they get a hung jury first time out, won`t spend the money and time to do it again. This prosecutor did the right thing. And I think, they must have used an I.Q. test for the jury this time around. Because boy, I don`t know how they came up with a hung jury the first time.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I know. It`s common sense. Who else had a motive to kill this woman? Who else wanted her dead? Nobody. There is nobody other person on earth, Jon Lieberman, who wanted to kill her.

JON LIEBERMAN, JOURNALIST: Well, justice was done here. That`s the good news.

The reason why I didn`t think this was going to be the outcome was because we have what we call "CSI" juries these days. They want DNA. They want fingerprints. They want all this physical evidence in order to convict. So luckily, this jury got it right, even in the absence of any physical evidence.

And you know why? Because prosecutors said, they acknowledged they didn`t have all the evidence. And the prosecutor said the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: But I do feel there was evidence. Jason Young claimed he was sleeping in a hotel 170 miles from his home, which was the murder scene, the home. Prosecutors say he drove home in the middle of the night, murdered his wife and then headed back.

And there was this key testimony from a gas-station attendant 45 minutes from the defendant`s hotel. She testified that an angry Jason Young came in to pay for gas and cursed her out at the very time that he claims he`s asleep in the hotel. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t forget nothing like that. When somebody yells at me or cusses me or something like that, because I`ve been through a lot with that, with my ex. And I know the steps on that. And I don`t forgive people that does it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something happened to Grace Calhoun. There`s no question about that. But it wasn`t Jason Young. And it may not have even been that same morning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ultimately, the jury believed the gas-station attendant, meaning Jason was not asleep at the hotel.

Steve Moore, former FBI agent, I think the obvious, obvious thing that pointed at him is that he refused to cooperate with police and refused to talk to cops for something like 1,693 days. Why would you not cooperate and help solve the murder of your wife?

STEVE MOORE, FORMER FBI AGENT: I think that`s exactly what -- what the jurors were wondering.

This guy had so many reasons, so many motives to commit the crime that they -- he was accused of. I heard the defense attorney saying it doesn`t make sense; it doesn`t make sense.

Well, the only thing that made sense was the fact that this guy had motive to kill his wife, and the circumstances were just beyond coincidence. You can take out that person at the gas station and still have more than enough to convict here.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Let`s go to the phone lines. Jackie in Indiana, your questions or thought, Jackie.

Jackie? Hi, Jackie. What`s your thought, Jackie?

CALLER: Yes, I`m here. Sorry. I`m sitting here watching the show.

Yes, I was wanting to say on the Jason Young trial, I`m so happy he was found guilty. And at the same time, it disturbed me. Yes, I`m here.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, go ahead. What`s your question, dear?

CALLER: Oh, wow. There`s a delay.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. You know what? We`re going to figure it out, and we`re going to tell those folks over there in the control room to make sure to tell the guests to turn off their television. We`ve talked about that before. You know that. Right?

OK. We`re taking your calls on the other side: 1-877-JVM-SAYS, 1-877- 586-7297.

Coming up, a man is accused of raping and prostituting his adoptive children. It`s an outrageous story you`re only going to hear here. How does it happen?

But first, more on Jason Young`s guilty verdict.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We, the jury, by unanimous verdict, find the defendant, Jason Lynn Young, to be guilty of first-degree murder of Michelle Fisher Young.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENEVIEVE CARGOL, FORMER FIANCEE OF JASON YOUNG: Something inside him snapped like I`d never seen before. And he physically came after me to get the ring off of me, off of my finger. He grabbed me by the arms and threw me down onto the bed but with such force that it just -- it stunned me. And he grabbed my arm so tightly that it ended up leaving bruises in the shapes of his fingers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: That was Jason`s ex-fiance, who helped establish that this guy had a pattern of violence against women. And she testified about that violent argument that led her to call off their engagement and said something snapped inside him. That was obviously a huge win for the prosecution.

Wendy Murphy, as we show -- as we talk about the key participants in this case, Jason Young had a capacity for violence, and that was proved by the testimony of the ex-fiance.

MURPHY: Yes. I mean, I still don`t even know what the defense was here. Because everything you would want -- this was a prosecutor`s dream case. Everything you would want in terms of evidence, except for a video tape was present. And the idea that he had a history of violence was just, you know, the last nail in the coffin.

Now it happens to be true that you can have been an abuser in the past, and that doesn`t prove your guilt automatically. But we know from all the studies that the batterer who hits one woman once will always do it again, if not to her because she smartens up, then to the next woman and the next woman.

And violence always escalates. We know that from the research. Recidivism in this context, you know, is through the roof. I think sex offenders are the only category where recidivism numbers are even higher.

So it should come as no surprise that he has this in his background. But let`s be clear. Scott Peterson did not previously beat his wife, and he slaughtered her like a pig.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: To me this crime was pure evil, because it was the brutal bludgeoning of this woman in the presence of their 2-year-old daughter whose bloody footprints were all over the house.

Now, the second jury, that convicted Jason of murder one, heard a lot more testimony in this trial than they did in the first trial. They actually heard daycare workers describe little Cassidy`s possibly using dolls to act out the crime against her mother. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I noticed her playing with two dolls and a chair in the dollhouse. And she was striking one doll with the other doll and the chair, and she told me, "Mommy has boo-boos all over."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Beth Karas, what was the new information that jurors heard in this case that they did not hear in the last case?

KARAS: Well, this time the prosecution introduced Jason Young`s testimony from the first trial in their case in chief, and then they put on evidence to show where he lied. Inconsistencies in that statement. Something the prosecution wasn`t prepared for in the first trial, because they didn`t know what he was going to say, so they didn`t know how to prepare for it. Because he never spoke to anyone about this. Not just the police. He didn`t file an insurance claim for the $14,000 diamond ring because he`d have to explain the circumstances of the theft.

He agreed to give up custody of his child on condition he wouldn`t have to give a deposition or undergo a psychological evaluation. That stuff the first jury didn`t know.

He told the jury the first time, "I didn`t have enough money to fight the custody." This jury learned he had $60,000, and they learned from a lawyer he had those two conditions to giving up custody. No deposition. He wouldn`t have to be asked about the night in question, and no psychological evaluation.

So there was more -- significantly more that this jury heard in terms of his statement to challenge the veracity of his statement.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And let`s remember: when prosecutors get a redo, they learn from all their previous mistakes. They get to compress their case. They get to compress their case. They get to organize it better. And that`s exactly what they did here. They presented a very cogent case, very methodical. And they won this time around.

More on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: More of Jason Young in a minute, but first, here`s your "Viral Video of the Day."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE DONALD STEPHENS, OVERSAW JASON YOUNG TRIAL: This woman wasn`t just murdered. She suffered a beating the likes of which we seldom see. This woman was punished. The assailant continued to beat her until he was exhausted. The assailant was overcome completely by anger and rage. And even then, apparently, he had the energy to strip her of her engagement and wedding rings, perhaps because, in his mind, she was unworthy to wear them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: That was the judge making the case after the verdict that this verdict of guilty, murder one, is absolutely something that makes perfect sense. Jon Lieberman, a common-sense verdict by the jury, finally, after so many verdicts that seem to have made no sense in recent times.

LIEBERMAN: Right. And the judge actually encapsulated what the jury was trying to say. The judge actually said that, if on the day before she was killed, if Michelle Young had called police and reported that her husband had beaten her and police found her with missing teeth and with black eyes, none of the couple`s friends would have been surprised. And that`s what this jury said.

This jury said this guy has these patterns. It looks like domestic abuse. Therefore, he committed this murder.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And as you said, they didn`t demand this kind of "CSI," if he really killed her, where`s the videotape of the killing, which seems to be what some jurors are demanding these days, and that`s not how it works. People don`t videotape a murder when they commit a murder. You have to put the pieces together.

And I applaud this jury for having common sense.

Let`s go out to the phone lines. Denise in Pennsylvania, your questions or thought, Denise.

CALLER: Hi, Jane. Thanks for taking my call.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you.

CALLER: I was wondering, why isn`t Jason Young convicted of -- charged with the murder of the unborn child?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, that`s an interesting question. Wendy Murphy, former prosecutor.

MURPHY: Yes. I mean, it`s obvious to me that there was a question about viability, because that`s the standard. If the fetus is viable at the time of what I would call, in many cases, a double homicide, then there usually are two charges.

But if it`s unclear that the child would have been able to survive outside the womb, had it been born, rather than killed, then the charge doesn`t make sense. You know, the prosecutor probably can`t win, because they can`t prove viability.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. She was 20 weeks pregnant at the time of her murder.

Jason, clearly stuck in a marriage he resented, a life he didn`t want from the beginning. He tried to get Michelle not to be a mother. Check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER POWERS, VICTIM`S FRIEND: I received a phone call from Michelle in the summer of 2003, and she was hysterically crying. And she said to me, "You have to promise to keep a secret for the rest of her life. I have to tell you something. I`m pregnant. And Jason wants me to abort the baby."

I tried to listen as best as I could as a friend. I, you know, I -- I listened, and she was telling me how she thought this could work. She thought she was the one, and she didn`t understand why he was making this demand if they were going to have a future together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jon Lieberman, that says it all. He didn`t want to be a father. And he left that child to walk in the blood of her mother.

LIEBERMAN: Prosecutors made a great case that he was never going to win husband of the year. He didn`t want to be a husband. He didn`t want to be a father, and he felt trapped.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: This is a cautionary tale. Ladies, beware, because sometimes you are living with the enemy.

Next, outrage. A man with three adopted children accused of raping them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s unfathomable. I can`t imagine my children ever going through anything like that (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Troy is accused of raping three of his adopted children, boys between the ages of 9 and 12.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s just -- it`s really sad what`s happening to our world.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He also allegedly allowed these men Patrick Rieder of Dayton and Jason Zwick of Beaver Creek to have sex with one of the kids, too. And according to this police affidavit, Rieder may have videotaped the entire encounter.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Children don`t deserve that. And it`s just an act of evil.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Good evening, everyone. Jane Velez-Mitchell back with you live in New York City. An Ohio man charged with raping three of his adoptive boys and prostituting one of them to other men. How is this alleged monster allowed to adopt three times? And he was in the process of adopting the fourth kid who was already living with him?

This happened here in the single family ranch home in a Dayton, Ohio suburb. Looks pretty normal, huh? Cops say young boys were forced into unimaginable sexual acts and had to keep sick secrets. A high fence surrounds a backyard. Now we know why.

This is the man -- we`re pixelating his face to keep the adoptive children`s identities private. He was caught in an online sting operation. Kudos to the undercover cops who responded to a posting on a Craigslist site seeking taboo sex with boys.

His neighbors are aghast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s unfathomable. I can`t imagine my children ever going through anything like that. Children don`t deserve that. And it`s just an act of evil. It`s really sad what`s happening to our world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Police first nabbed these two alleged customers, Patrick Rieder and Jason Zwick who led them to the adopted father; the search warrant details heart-wrenching. "The little boy began to shake as I asked him about Jason and Patrick," says the cop. "He didn`t want to tell me anything because he would be taken from his home and separated from his new brothers and sisters."

These poor kids. I want to hear your thoughts. Call me, 1-877-JVM- SAYS, 1-877-586-7297.

Straight out to Jil del Greco, crime reporter for WHIO on the scene in Dayton. Jil, what really got to me is this little boy, he wanted to stick with his new siblings. And he finally spelled out, while weeping what happened, drawing out the letters s-e-x. What is the reaction in that area tonight?

JIL DEL GRECO, CRIME REPORTER, WHIO: It`s just -- you know, it`s just -- there are almost no words. I mean, that`s what we`re coming up with when we`re talking about the allegations against this adoptive father -- allegedly prostituting out one of his sons, adopted sons, raping all three of these adopted children.

People are outraged, upset, just, you know, what can you say? It`s just something that you don`t expect to happen in a small area like Troy, Ohio.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let me ask you this question, Jil. We`re pixelating the guy`s face. He`s 39 years old. I understand he`s an insurance adjuster who worked out of his home. What about these other two alleged creeps -- 31-year-old Patrick Rieder and 29-year-old Jason Zwick? What did they do for a living because what`s really scary for me is that this is -- it looks all American. The ranch house, the insurance adjuster, these guys -- what do they do?

DEL GRECO: Well, you know, we don`t know that much about Jason Zwick. We know he lives in Beaver Creek. As for Patrick Rieder there, he lives in this downtown part of Dayton called the Oregon District, which is really sort of upper class type neighborhoods, expensive homes. He lives in an apartment complex there -- very, very nice area.

He works at a local hotel in downtown Dayton -- I`m not sure exactly of his role there. I was checking out his Facebook page today. He seems like a normal kid.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, that`s what is so shocking and that`s what we have to be aware of. Let`s get the stereotypes of what predators alleged look like. And let`s realize that they can look like anybody and look very wholesome on the outside.

How did police catch this adoptive dad who is now being called a child rapist by cops? It`s all spelled out in the search warrant. First it says detectives -- and they did a great job -- they responded to an ad posted in the casual encounters section of the Dayton Ohio Area Craigslist asking for taboo incest, two brothers or dad and son. They quickly got a response from the poster of the ad using an e-mail address we`re not going to repeat.

Well, Wendy Murphy, former prosecutor, here`s my question. Why on earth can you post ads looking for taboo incest on Craigslist? By the way, we reached out to Craigslist for an answer and have not heard back.

WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Yes, well, you know the answer is because of free speech. And you can say we`re not really engaged in any bad behavior yet. We`re just talking about it. I mean please. Don`t get me going on the way we allow the sales pitch to be made. And then we claim that we give a damn about protecting children from child prostitution, child rape and child pornography. Please.

First of all, the number one makers of child porn and the number one predator who pimps their kids out is the parent. Now, often it`s not the biological parent; it might be an adoptive parent in this. What worries me the most -- I mean, those cases are hard enough to get at. Here we have a guy who became a foster and then adoptive parent to three kids in a very short period of time and these were slightly older to kids. In other words, they`re not the little babies, the cute babies who get adopted so quickly.

So you would think that somebody in charge of this adoption agency, private or the government oversight entity might have said, maybe we need to worry about this guy. He likes kids too much.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`ve got the adoption agency that helped place these children. They have a video on YouTube explaining their screening process. Check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In order to adopt a child in the state of Ohio, a family needs a home study completed by state of Ohio certified adoption assessment. Once training is complete, paperwork is in place, an assessor will visit the home. The assessor will conduct a safety audit and interview all family members.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Sounds pretty darn nice. Now, they`re saying, hey, we are cooperating with authorities. We`ve followed procedure. And everybody is pointing at well, this guy had no criminal record.

But here`s my question. I`m going to Lauren Book, who is a sexual abuse survivor. Ok. Where were the school officials? This adoptive father removed the little girl from Troy, Ohio school system January 2nd and then removed two of the boys from school February 13th claiming he wanted to home school them. Where were they? Why -- can you just take a child out of school and stick them in a ranch house and say I`m home schooling them and nobody comes and checks, Lauren?

LAUREN BOOK, FORMER ABUSE VICTIM: Unfortunately home schooling is a free choice for parents. What we believe and what we hope is that JFS would have gone out to check on these children once they were taken out of school.

It`s important to note that the age that boys go into prostitution is 11 to 13 years old. They were ripe. They were prime. These are the ages and we wish that JFS would have done more to trigger an investigation, to look at what this man was doing with these children.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, the details, absolutely heartbreaking. And the search warrant. Listen to what happened when detectives questioned the young adopted son. The boy became teary eyed and admitted he had met Jason and Patrick. When asked what Jason and Patrick had done with them. He spelled out the word s-e-x.

Dr. Dale Archer, clinical psychiatrist, what are these boys going to go through? And we`re going to find out in a minute if they`re allowed to stay together? I hope so.

DALE ARCHER, CLINICAL PSYCHIATRIST: Well, first of all, you have to realize with an adoptive child. They just want to be normal. They want to have a family. They want to have a brother. They want to have a sister. And they`ll do almost anything to get it.

And here is a case where this went on for probably a very long period of time, but he put up with it in order to have that family structure. So these adoptive kids are ripe for the predators. I mean that`s a breeding ground for the predators and that`s what we have to target.

In terms of going forward, I think he`s going to do ok because he finally did come forward. So he did take charge and do that. Obviously he`s going to need a lot of therapy. The other kids are going to need therapy as well.

But you know what, when you make the first step and you have the resources there, you can generally do pretty well.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I pray. And I want to find out in a second are they still together?

But let`s go to the phone lines. First, Eddie Tennessee, your question or thought, Eddie?

EDDIE, TENNESSEE (via telephone): Yes. And these pedophiles like these, they ought to come up with laws. At least at the second omission (ph); now they get life or parole (ph) due to the fact there is no cure for it. And what he`s doing to these kids, you can`t tell me they don`t deserve it.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jil Del Greco, are these kids going to be able to stay together? Where are they tonight?

DEL GRECO: Well, right now we know that they are in the custody of a family member of the main suspect here. And it`s his mother, is what we`re told. But the latest information that I have is they don`t know if they`re going to keep these kids there. The one child who has not been formally adopted yet, now these kids are from Texas. They were adopted out here, brought out here from Texas.

The one child who is still just a foster child, the last that I know, they`re looking at sending that child back.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, that`s not right. I mean these kids should stay together. That`s what the little boy said. He said, "Please, I don`t want to be separated." That`s all they have is each other. They`ve already been through hell.

If any of these agencies are watching tonight, please ask these kids what they want. They`ve already been betrayed by adult after adult after adult after adult in the worst possible way. To separate them now, after they`ve established a bond, it`s just too cruel -- too cruel for words.

We`re going to stay on top of this story. He`s going to be in court tomorrow. So we will have an update for you.

We`ve got more disturbing stories for you. But we`re also going to talk a little bit on the lighter side.

Lindsay Lohan, hosting "Saturday Night Live"; her critics say, she bombed. What do you think? Call me 1-877-JVM-SAYS.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s unfathomable. I can`t imagine my children ever going through anything like that. Children don`t deserve that. And it`s just an act of evil. It`s just really sad. What`s happening to our world?

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, these poor kids. They came from Texas. And they were adopted by this guy. So they came from Texas. They`ve already been put up for adoption, traumatized once. Then they`re put up for adoption and they`re moved from Texas to Ohio. And this guy adopts them, and he`s an insurance adjuster who works out of his home as well as a junior league basketball coach.

These kids are 9-year-old girl, 9-year-old boy, 10-year-old boy, 12- year-old boy. And he`s, according to cops, raping the three boys and then puts the 10-year-old boy up for prostitution. And then there`s two other guys, this one, alleged, and another one, who -- this is the alleged customer, who cops say raped them. So these guys are charged with rape, too.

Now take a look at this. The father in this case, the adopted father, charged with rape and prostitution, held on $800,000 bond. He`s college educated. He has no prior criminal record. He was in the process of adopting the fourth child, and previously way back in 2005, I think, he started adopting kids. 2006. He had four foster kids. So he`s been doing this for a long time.

Dr. Dale Archer, could we find out that this the tip of the iceberg and that some of the foster kids -- they might have to talk to them.

ARCHER: Absolutely. And pedophilia doesn`t come with an on/off switch. I mean these guys often start very young, but they start maybe with the Internet or maybe with a peek here or a touch there, but they progress. It gradually gets worse and worse and worse until it explodes. So I suspect now that we know looking back at this guy`s past, there`s going to be history throughout.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And the fact that he`s a junior league coach, God only knows what he might have done with those kids. Jerry Sandusky -- remember that case? It was all over the news that we covered here?

ARCHER: It`s about opportunity. I mean they gravitate to teachers, coaches, camp counselors, youth group coordinators. That`s where these guys go. It`s not the CD guy in a trench coat hanging out by the school room that you have to worry about. It`s the people that are in your kids` life every single day.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And by the way, these two guys who are accused, we`re happy to have their attorneys on any time to hear their side of the story, or the man who`s remaining anonymous, the adopted father.

Let`s go to the phone lines. David, Virginia, your question or thought?

DAVID, VIRGINIA (via telephone): Well, I think they need to investigate the adoption agency. If the three guys done it, I think they just ought to go ahead and just give them all a bullet and let them shoot themselves.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: People get very, very upset about this because these kids are voiceless and they`re helpless and there are a lot of adopted kids who are being victimized.

This reminds me of a case from Oklahoma last year. You probably remember this. Two parents arrested for abusing and neglecting three adoptive children who were forced to live in horrific conditions. Check this out.

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SHERIFF RANDALL EDWARDS, CANADIAN COUNTY, OKLAHOMA: The 15-year-old boy easily could pass as a 10-year-old. That`s how small and frail he is from being malnourished. The husband has shown a little bit of signs of or outward guilt and remorse. The adoptive mother insists that`s the way that you gain control and discipline children.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Just horror stories. Remember the case from the mother who adopted a child from Russia and then the child became too much, and she just put him on a plane back to Russia with a note saying, "Here, I`m returning him."

Now Lauren Book, you`re a sexual abuse survivor. There are a lot of good people who adopt children, and I know some of them. And most of them, the vast majority care deeply and they want to be good parents. But what can we do to make sure that this kind of thing doesn`t happen again? It doesn`t seem like a lot of people were checking up on this guy or taking the kids away from him and interviewing them separately or maybe in a group away from dad.

BOOK: Absolutely, Jane. That`s the most important thing. But another important thing that we need to do is educating -- educating our children. 90 percent of the time children are abused by someone they know, love and trust. And if you ask your viewers tonight, ask their kids to sit and think about what does a stranger look like, they will draw somebody with a knife, a gun and a sword, and that`s just not the case.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, it`s so sad. Our hearts go out to these poor children. I hope they`re together tonight. We`re going to stay on top of this.

On the other side of the break, we`re going to have a laugh break. Boy, do we need one.

And we`re also going to talk about Lindsay Lohan on "Saturday Night Live".

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: La Lohan in a moment, but first, you deserve a laugh break.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Call it a comeback. Lindsay Lohan returning to "Saturday Night Live" over the weekend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, Lindsay Lohan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Critics say Lindsay Lohan started out strong in her monologue, but then they say her performance went south from there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was "Saturday Night Live`s" second highest rated show of the season.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the return of Lindsay Lohan. The new, old Lindsay Lohan is back.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, "Saturday Night" triumph or train wreck. Lindsay Lohan`s getting mixed reviews on her return to SNL. A lot of people saying her best performance was her monologue. Check this out from NBC.

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LINDSAY LOHAN, ACTRESS: You know, this studio feels like a home -- wait, the alarm goes off if I leave the stage? I thought it was only if I left the studio? I thought you guys trusted me?

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: And there was also a funny kind of spoof on "Desperate Housewives". But after that it seemed like things went downhill for Lindsay. It seemed like she never really took her eye off the cue cards is the impression we all got. Check this out.

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LOHAN: Oh, so you`re the big boss man, huh? Did he cross me? What? You think I never got in trouble with a vehicle before? One time I became friends with a Volkswagen Beatle that had a mind of its own. I believe his name was Herbert. I magically switched places with my mom and lived in her body. Then I discovered I had two long lost -- a twin sister and devised a scheme to get our parents to reunite.

Is that what you want, huh? First you`re hanging out with the "Mean Girls", then you get accused of stealing a diamond necklace? Because this here is real.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait, that`s "Herbie Fully Loaded", "Freaky Friday", "The Parent Trap", "Mean Girls", and the stolen necklace part, I guess that was just you.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. You saw how she was kind of looking like this, like she was talking, but she was reading something over here. Was it a comeback or was it a dud?

Straight out, we`re very happy to have with us, "Entertainment Weekly`s" Meeta Agrawal. So what`s the buzz? What`s the reaction to her performance?

MEETA AGRAWAL, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": I think a lot of people tuned in for this, to kind of see how she was going to do, and it got huge ratings. It was the second biggest SNL of the season. And she passed. I think I would say that. You know, there was no major flubs. There was no kind of huge gaffes. But I do think you kind of want more from your movie stars, don`t you?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, what was interesting is, I think she almost -- this is what people who are recovering addicts often do, they go from one extreme to another. They go from bad, bad girl to really good girl. So it was almost like she`s trying to undo all of her past and come across pristine, and innocent. And that`s really not what we want. We want somebody real.

AGRAWAL: Right. Absolutely. I also think that she was clearly using this night as kind of an audition, almost. If she really clearly wants to get her career back on track and doing a live show in front of millions of people is a way to do that if you do really, really well. But when you don`t, when you just kind of read off the cue cards and get through the end of the night, it`s not so great.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Look, in my opinion, it`s too early. She was just telling NBC, oh, I`m sober, but I can`t tell you how long I`ve been sober. I hope she is sober, but she`s got to work on herself and then her life will fix itself. Don`t work on your career, Lindsay, work on yourself and your career will naturally rehabilitate itself.

I, personally, think it was a little too early for her to put herself under this intense pressure of hosting "Saturday Night Live". She did pass, but at what cost?

AGRAWAL: That`s true.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Just hours after we debated Iowa`s Ag-Gag bill here Friday, Iowa`s governor, Terry Branstad passed the Ag law. He says, "If somebody comes on somebody else`s property through fraud or deception or lying, that is a serious violation of people`s rights."

But what is this really about. This bill follows the release of disturbing videos like this from the group Mercy for Animals showing outrageous abuse of farm animals on these industrial farms, where there are no way to look in from the outside. The executive director of Mercy for Animals, Nathan Runkle, who we had on the show Friday, says this bill will only protect animal abuse.

And he says this law has created a safe haven for animal abuse and other criminal activity in the state of Iowa. This law has passed in Iowa, but the battle is far from over. If these videos upset you, go to Mercy for Animals and get involved in their campaign to fight the AG Gag bill or just go to mercyforanimals.org and get involved in speaking for voiceless animals.

"NANCY GRACE" is up next.

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