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Nancy Grace
Missing Police Cadet`s Ex Arrested for Fraud
Aired March 15, 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, live, Florida. Since starting her police training, a gorgeous young police cadet never misses a single class until now. After a girls` weekend of yoga, then lunch at Chili`s, she hasn`t been seen since, her green Subaru found parked on a tree-lined street just two miles from her condo.
In a bizarre twist, Kelly`s live-in, a cop, moves out of the condo and drives all the way to New York just 72 hours after his love goes missing. Police search the boyfriend`s home and car as secret video emerges of Kelly just before she vanishes.
Bombshell tonight. Ignited by media attention garnered on our program and viewer outrage, an arrest goes down. After we learn Kelly`s boyfriend heads to Hawaii to get married just weeks after she vanishes, cops lock up the former live-in -- he was a prison guard -- for faking disability, raking in over $300,000 -- that`s right, over a quarter million dollars -- all the while refusing to cooperate with police in Kelly`s disappearance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is one of the last known images of Kelly Rothwell, seen on surveillance video leaving a Publix supermarket with her best friend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just weeks away from realizing her dream of becoming a police officer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To be honest with you, we have a lot left to do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kelly explaining she was getting ready to have a talk with her long-time boyfriend, Dave Perry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She had plans to break up with Dave.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is now the prime suspect in her disappearance and has never cooperated with detectives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely being tight-lipped, absolutely refusing to cooperate, absolutely refusing to provide us with any information.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Family and friends of Kelly Rothwell believe the worst.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kelly Rothwell is dead, and her body is out there, dumped like a piece of trash. She doesn`t deserve that!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. A gorgeous young police cadet never misses a single police class until now. After a girls` weekend, she hasn`t been seen since. Ignited by media attention on our program and viewers` outrage, an arrest goes down.
We are taking your calls. Out to Steve Summers, news anchor. Steve, what can you tell me? Steve joining me from Tampa Bay.
STEVE SUMMERS, AM 820 NEWS (via telephone): Well, Nancy, the boyfriend, the ex-boyfriend, David Perry, the one who is a suspect in the disappearance of Kelly Rothwell, has been arrested for the second time now on charges that he was defrauding the New York state disability benefits system.
He apparently was faking a back injury. He was -- however, he was seen playing -- wind-surfing and weight-lifting after this injury. And now police are going after him for that.
GRACE: You know, Steve Summers, news anchor AM 820 joining us out of Tampa Bay, the neighbors -- the day after Kelly goes missing, when she`s last seen alive, the neighbors hear him upstairs. They hear banging. They hear excessive vacuuming.
They also told me that this guy would vacuum the entire apartment every single day, as if he were obsessive-compulsive about it. That never sounded like a back ailment to me, with him moving boxes.
We find out he clears out of town 72 hours after Kelly goes missing. How can he pack and lift all those boxes? How could he do all that vacuuming and banging and moving furniture if he had a back ailment?
Now it comes to light, thanks to our program, you, the viewers`, outrage, he has now been arrested for defrauding the taxpayers of nearly a half a million dollars, claiming -- what else -- a back ailment. This as the search for Kelly goes on. And tonight, we learn of a tip of a local spotting the suspect in a park, hiding, as a matter of fact.
To Ellie Jostad. What can you tell me about that?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right. Well, this woman said that she was walking her dog in Eagle Lake Park. She said that she saw a man that she realized was David Perry, and she recognized him from seeing...
GRACE: Let`s see shots of the park. Go ahead, Ellie.
JOSTAD: Yes, she said that she actually recognized him from news reports about Kelly Rothwell`s disappearance. She said that when she saw David Perry, he actually jumped behind a palm tree and tried to conceal himself. She thought he was acting very suspiciously.
And remember, this is, you know, in the days around the time where Kelly went missing. So she went forward to police and investigated it. We believe police did search the park. And it`s unclear -- they didn`t appear to find any evidence there.
GRACE: Joining me right now, before I unleash the lawyers, is special guest Sheriff Bob Galtieri, Pinellas County sheriff`s office. Sheriff Galtieri, Thank you so much for being with us.
Major, major break in the case. An arrest goes down of the live-in boyfriend of young police cadet Kelly Rothwell. This after he clears out of town 72 hours after the love of his life goes missing, promptly hooks up with another woman and gets married in Hawaii just a couple of weeks after her disappearance.
Sheriff Bob Galtieri, thank you for being with us. Sheriff how do you view the arrest that has gone down ostensibly for defrauding the public out of about a half a million dollars, Sheriff?
SHERIFF BOB GALTIERI, PINELLAS COUNTY (VIA TELEPHONE): Well, Nancy, he -- you know, he obviously committed that offense in New York, and the New York authorities, you know, took him into custody on it. What we would hope, of course, is that it may provide some information through that somehow that would help resolve this case.
But you know, frankly, I`m not that optimistic about it. You know, Perry was a New York corrections officer for a long time. He was in the criminal justice system for a long time. And he`s absolutely refused to talk to us and cooperate. And you would think, of course, that somebody who had their -- the love of their life, as you say, go missing would be eager to cooperate with us. And he`s refused and he`s totally clammed up and totally uncooperative with us.
So unfortunately, I`m not too optimistic because of his history so far in this case.
GRACE: With me, special guest and taking your calls, Sheriff Bob Galtieri out of Pinellas County. Sheriff, your people did everything right. This guy actually had a history of problems there in the condo association. I recall speaking directly to some of his neighbors that say he had all sorts of anger outbursts. They noticed him bullying Kelly Rothwell.
She never missed a day of police cadet training until she went missing, her car, her green Subaru, parked just a couple of miles from their condo.
What sort of a history did he have there in the condo association with his neighbors, Sheriff?
GALTIERI: It`s pretty much the way you describe it. Definitely had a -- you know, a rocky relationship, tenuous at best, with everybody. He had very few friends. And it appears he was very possessive of Kelly.
And you know, one the things that is most astonishing to me is that as much as Kelly loved the police academy -- and she was doing great in the police academy -- is that all of her police academy materials -- her binder, her notes, everything that she would need to pass the state exam -- found in the dumpster of the apartment complex.
And you know, to me, that`s also very telling to this. And there`s no way in the world Kelly would have thrown her police academy things away.
GRACE: You`re seeing shots of Kelly, who was the focus, the centerpiece of a profile in the week before she went missing about being a female police cadet, a real superstar in the elite police cadet program.
Sheriff Bob Galtieri is with us. Sheriff, at one point, the suspect, David Perry, was pulled over in his car. Why?
GALTIERI: Well, we talked to him in his car. We talked to him because we called him because it was on that Sunday and he was heading to - - he was heading to New York. And when we learned that she was missing, we entered the apartment, couldn`t find anything. We located a cell phone. One our deputies called him on the cell phone to talk to him, and he was completely cooperative, very evasive, and actually hung up the phone on the deputy.
And we know that he was just north Tampa at the time that happened. And we believe at that time, he was en route to New York.
GRACE: Robyn Walensky, anchor and reporter with "The Blaze," all over the story. Robyn Walensky, many are hoping that today`s arrest will signal a crack in the case in the search for a missing police cadet, Kelly Rothwell. What do you know?
ROBYN WALENSKY, "THE BLAZE" Well, you know what, Nancy? This guy is a very shady character. He might try to strike up some kind of a deal. We don`t really know. You know, he was just arrested on that second degree grand larceny, which is a felony. We don`t know what`s in that. The indictment is sealed.
So you don`t know. The cops could interview him, and maybe he wants to cut some sort of deal. He`s a really problematic person, and he`s facing many, many years. So you don`t know what he`s going to give up when pressed.
GRACE: Well, according to Sheriff Bob Galtieri, hope is dim that he`ll crack behind bars. But what we know right now is the chief suspect in the disappearance of police cadet Kelly Rothwell is behind bars for defrauding taxpayers to the tune of nearly a half a million dollars, claiming a fake back ailment.
Tonight, her family wondering, Where is our little girl? Where is police cadet Kelly Rothwell?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kelly was training to become a police officer. But now 35-year-old Kelly Rothwell is missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boyfriend David Perry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He had a very, very bad temper.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say the boyfriend won`t talk to investigators at all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I`ve done everything I can do (INAUDIBLE) to protect her. I cannot protect somebody who does not want to be protected.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why would she stay with him if he is being accused of killing Kelly Rothwell and murdering her, essentially?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, your guess is as good as mine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kelly Rothwell is dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do believe that Kelly`s deceased.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boyfriend Dave Perry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Prime suspect.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unusual noises coming from Kelly`s condo above.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thumping and banging on the ceiling.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kelly`s best friend, Donna Scharrett, was the last person to see her alive. These are the last images of Kelly alive at a Publix where the women were buying groceries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donna, Donna butterfly! It`s Kelly. Happy Sunday!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The only thing I hoped for from day one is that we find Kelly`s remains and get them back to her mother. And I know that justice will be done.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re going to keep going. And we`ll never stop. And we`ll keep going until we find Kelly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Contact with him. However, he`s been uncooperative concerning anything to do with the investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has elected not to discuss anything to do with this case, provide us any background.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Tonight, an arrest goes down after this story featured on our program, national media attention sparked viewer outrage, an arrest. The chief suspect behind bars, but not on murder charges, the live-in, David Perry, 47 years old, leaving town just 72 hours after the alleged love of his life goes missing, now behind bars, thanks to good police work in multiple jurisdictions, for stealing over a quarter million dollars from the public, claiming some phony back ailment.
We are taking your calls. But with me right now, in addition to Sheriff Bob Galtieri, Pinellas County sheriff`s office -- his people have been on the case since the beginning -- Donna Scharrett, friend and last person known to see Kelly Rothwell. Also with us, Kelly`s younger sister, Lindsay Rothwell.
To both of you ladies, thank you for being with us. Donna, first to you. You last saw Kelly alive. What was her frame of mind regarding her relationship with her live-in, David Perry?
DONNA SCHARRETT, FRIEND OF MISSING CADET (via telephone): She was done. It was clear in her mind, and there was no changing her mind. She was completely set on ending her relationship and starting a brand-new life and a brand-new career with new friends.
GRACE: Donna Scharrett, last person to see Kelly alive that we know of, with us and taking your calls. Donna, you state she was, quote, "done." Why?
SCHARRETT: She had gotten really tired being controlled and told how to live and told who she can speak to and who she couldn`t speak to. You know, the wedge that he placed between Kelly and her beloved family, it was too much for her. She wanted her own life back.
GRACE: When you say a wedge, Donna Scharrett, what do you mean by that?
SCHARRETT: She caused -- he caused, like, a distance. He would control her and keep her from her family. You know, there were times during his many trips back up to New York that, you know, Kelly wanted to stop and see her family, who meant the world to her, and he wouldn`t allow that.
GRACE: You are seeing shots of Kelly Rothwell with friends and family.
And joining me now, speaking on her behalf, her sister and her very dear friend, Lindsay Rothwell and Donna Scharrett. You last saw her alive, Donna, that we know of. What happened that evening?
SCHARRETT: Kelly and I had a yoga class together and we had some lunch later on, and we said good-bye in the parking lot. And I asked her if I could go with her back to the condo to just give her moral support, and she told me that it was going to be OK.
She said, It`s going to be all right. It`s going to be really good. I`m going to walk in there, I`m going to tell him that I love him but that it`s over, and I`ll help him get through it. And then I will meet my other cadet friends, get the key to the house that I`m renting and start my life.
And that was the last time I heard from Kelly.
GRACE: To Lindsay Rothwell. This is the younger sister of Kelly. Lindsay, tell me how your family is doing. And tell me also your reaction to the live-in, the boyfriend, David Perry, being taken into custody on this -- defrauding, really, close to half a million dollars of the taxpayers` money.
LINDSAY ROTHWELL, MISSING WOMAN`S SISTER: Yes. Our family, the past year has -- it`s been very difficult for us and we just try to go day by day. And we`re just waiting for some answers. And we`re really actually glad that he has been arrested. That way, he cannot hurt and manipulate or control anyone else.
GRACE: Lindsay, what was his relationship like with your sister, Kelly?
ROTHWELL: The very few times I met him, he was very quick to anger, very controlling, very obsessive-compulsive about cleaning.
GRACE: A suspect behind bars. Is it a crack in the case for missing cadet Kelly Rothwell?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s only been four-and-a-half weeks. So to be honest with you, we have a lot left to do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a missed day at the academy with an otherwise perfect attendance that made some believe something wasn`t right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The fact that she didn`t show up for class raised huge red flags because she hadn`t missed a class since they had started.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leaving a Publix supermarket with her best friend. The two had lunch at this Clearwater Chili`s. It was her connection to this man, boyfriend David Perry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was going home to break up with Dave. He was very controlling.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls, but now to special guest Sheriff Bob Galtieri, Pinellas County sheriff`s office, joining me in addition to Kelly`s younger sister and one of her dearest friends, the last person to see Kelly alive that day.
Sheriff Bob Galtieri, your team has done so much to crack this case. Sheriff, you know, I prosecuted felonies for a very, very long time, and I noticed that defendants would very often backtrack to the scene of the crime or where they had disposed of a body.
A local spots the live-in in a local park, Eagles Landing Park, I believe it is -- Eagles Lake Park. And they see him. When they make eye contact, he suddenly hides. He runs off and hides.
Tell me, Sheriff Galtieri, about Eagles Lake Park and the search, if any, of that area.
GALTIERI: Eagle Lake Park is a county park here in Pinellas County. And after the lady came forward -- and we did search the entire park. It`s a fairly new park here in the county. And it was thoroughly searched, and we didn`t come up with anything.
And we searched a lot of areas throughout the county. We`ve also searched areas along the interstate leading north out of the Tampa Bay area. So we`ve done very thorough searches of every place where there`s any sign whatsoever, any indication whatsoever where Kelly may be found. And so far, we`ve come up with nothing.
GRACE: Let`s see the shot of the suspect, David Perry, windsurfing.
Eleanor Odom, Peter Odom, Karen Conti (ph) joining us today, Karen out of Chicago, Odom out of Atlanta.
Eleanor Odom, have you seen the shot of him windsurfing? If he will lie to the government to rake in out of my pocket over a quarter million dollars, you don`t think he`d lie about his girlfriend`s disappearance?
ELEANOR ODOM, PROSECUTOR: Of course not, Nancy. We all know a leopard doesn`t change its spots. And something that I think is very interesting about the timing of her disappearance is that she was planning to leave. And for a woman in a domestic violence situation, that is the most dangerous time period for her. That`s when you see murders and heavy abuse.
GRACE: Agree or disagree, Peter Odom?
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Oh, I completely disagree, Nancy. If they had enough to arrest this man for murder, they would have arrested him by now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This is one of the last known images of Kelly Rothwell seen on surveillance video leaving a public supermarket with her best friend.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Just weeks away from realizing her dream of becoming a police officer.
KELLY ROTHWELL, MISSING YOUNG POLICE CADET : To be honest with you, we have a lot left to do.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Kelly explaining she was getting ready to have a talk with her longtime boyfriend Dave Perry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She had plans to break up with Dave.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: He is now the prime suspect in her disappearance and has never cooperated with detectives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely being tight-lipped. Absolutely refusing to cooperate, absolutely refusing to provide us with any information.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Family and friends of Kelly Rothwell believe the worst.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kelly is dead and her body is out there, dumped like a piece of trash. She doesn`t deserve that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: Bombshell tonight, in the last hours, an arrest goes down, after being profiled here on our program. Viewer outrage. And good police work. Out of multiple jurisdictions, evidence emerges that the live-in David Perry has scammed nearly a half a million dollars from the government, from us the taxpayers, of some bogus back ailment. There are shots of him windsurfing. There are reports of him moving heavy boxes. This guy did not have an ailment. He is behind bars at this hour. Does this signal a crack in the case of missing police cadet, Kelly Rothwell.
She had never missed a single day of police cadet school until the day she decides to break up with her live-in. Just weeks after she disappears, he meets another woman and heads to Hawaii and gets married. And more -- more coincidental, coincidental, within 72 hours after Kelly goes missing, he packs up and heads out of town in Florida. Drives all the way to New York City.
With me, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, Pinellas County Sheriff`s Office.
Sheriff, again, thank you for being with us. Sheriff, I understand he had quite the meltdown. And your people observed that when he went to go pick up his car. What happened, Sheriff?
SHERIFF BOB GUALTIERI, PINELLAS CO. SHERIFF`S OFFICE: Yes, I mean, it`s very typical of his, you know, continuing behavior in this, Nancy. I mean, you know, he got very upset, and he was, you know, moving away from the officers, and he just didn`t want to cooperate at all. I mean this has been the typical case of him. You know we try to make contact with him, he runs the other way. Again, inconsistent with somebody who had a relationship with someone he claimed to love. And you would think would want to help police find the person who was responsible for it. But his actions are totally opposite. And this is just another example of it.
GRACE: Sheriff Gualtieri, what executive did he give you as to why he packed up and left town? Your people pulled him over on the highway within 72 hours after her disappearance. He has packed up all those heavy boxes, they`ve been boxed and moved. And he`s heading out town. Did he tell you why he was leaving?
GUALTIERI: No, he -- no. In fact the day before this happened, he actually went into a local gym down here and told the people that -- he cancelled his gym membership. So, you know, he had a plan, I believe, he knew -- he knew what was going on here. And he cancelled his gym membership and told the people that he and Kelly were moving to Hawaii while Kelly is right in the middle of police academy. Kelly wouldn`t move into Hawaii. And that was the day before.
GRACE: So, Sheriff Gualtieri, he canceled the gym membership and tells people they`re moving away, so they wouldn`t be seeing Kelly any time soon before she goes missing?
GUALTIERI: Yes. Yes. Did that the day before.
GRACE: OK. Ellie Jostad, the sheriff is protecting his investigation. What happened at the time of the meltdown at Elmira Prison where he was a jail guard?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE CHIEF EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Yes. Well, Nancy, this is actually -- what had happened is, after he was charged with these fraudulently obtaining insurance benefits, he -- his car was impounded. He went to go pick it up, and when he did, two of the Sheriff Gualtieri`s officers, detectives, were there. They wanted to try to talk to him.
They say that as soon as he saw -- he`s up in New York, and as soon as he sees these two Pinellas County detectives, he turns the other way, he`s shaking, he tries to run out the building. They manage to track him down in the parking lot, try to calm him down and talk to him, but again he refused to cooperate, refused to answer questions. He has also refused to even give a DNA sample for the investigation.
GRACE: Isn`t it true, Ellie, that when police walked up to him, he literally ran away?
JOSTAD: That is exactly how the detective described it. They say he turned and headed out the front door.
GRACE: OK. Unleash the lawyers. Eleanor Odom, death penalty qualified lawyer. Peter Odom, joining us out of Atlanta. Karen Conti out of Chicago.
All right, Peter Odom. When a police officer walks up to you, do you just take off running?
(LAUGHTER)
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, no, I don`t. But not everybody has the same reaction.
GRACE: OK. That`s all I wanted to know.
P. ODOM: Juries are instructed, Nancy.
GRACE: I`m sure.
P. ODOM: That there can be lots of explanations for people running from police. Maybe he`s running from police because he`s -- because he knows something.
GRACE: Put Odom up.
P. ODOM: But he`s under no -- he`s under no obligation to talk to the police. It`s called the Fifth Amendment.
GRACE: You know what, Peter? No, actually, I didn`t ask you anything about the Fifth Amendment, right to remain silent. I asked you, if when with you saw a cop you took off running.
P. ODOM: No.
GRACE: All they saw was behind and elbows when they walked up to this guy. He took off.
All right, what about it, Karen Conti? Let`s hear your spin on that.
KAREN CONTI, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, you know, he`s a correctional officer, he knows how people are caught. He`s not going to be talking to the police. He`s smarter than that. And listen, you know what, if it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it`s probably a duck. But as you know, the courtroom is not a duck pond and there`s no environments here. There`s no hard evidence.
GRACE: Karen.
CONTI: There`s no corpse.
GRACE: Karen. Karen. Karen.
CONTI: There`s no corpse, there`s no conviction. We know that. Yes.
GRACE: I appreciate your verbal manifesto, but I asked you about him taking off and high tailing it when cops walked up to him.
All right, Eleanor, let`s hear the real truth. Hit me Elle.
ELEANOR ODOM, FELONY PROSECUTOR, DEATH PENALTY QUALIFIED: Well, you know what I tell my juries, Nancy, is the wicked man flees when no one pursues, but the righteous stands as bold as a lion.
So if he wasn`t guilty of anything, why didn`t he stand there? Why didn`t he answer questions? Why didn`t he show concern for his missing girlfriend that was supposedly the love of his life? I mean I`d like to think if I went missing that my husband would go search high and low for me. This is -- it`s got guilt written all over it, Nancy.
GRACE: I want to go back to Donna Scharrett and Lindsay Rothwell. Lindsay is Kelly`s younger sister. Donna, one of her very dearest friends. The last person that we know of that saw her alive.
Some unusual texts came in from Kelly exactly around the time she went missing. Why were they unusual, Donna?
DONNA SCHARRETT, FRIEND OF MISSING YOUNG FEMALE CADET KELLY ROTHWELL: Well, you know, it wasn`t -- the text wasn`t in the normal syntax and vernacular that Kelly would use with me. You know, just a misspelling, you know, an acronym was used. It just -- it just didn`t --
GRACE: Do you recall the acronym?
SCHARRETT: It didn`t coincide with how Kelly would communicate with me.
GRACE: Do you recall the acronym?
SCHARRETT: No, I don`t.
GRACE: You know, what`s interesting, Lindsay Rothwell, her younger sister, I have a way of texting that people laugh at. I make it absolutely as brief as possible. I use every abbreviation that I could come up with. If I were to write a fully detailed text, everybody would know something was wrong. What do -- where do you believe those texts came from?
LINDSAY ROTHWELL, SISTER OF MISSING YOUNG FEMALE CADET KELLY ROTHWELL: David did them after what he did to her, Kelly. I believe strongly.
GRACE: Pat Brown, criminal profiler, author of "Only the Truth." Let`s hear your analysis, Pat.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER, AUTHOR OF "ONLY THE TRUTH": Well, first of all, I would like to say why he was running. This man likes to be in control. And when the police showed up, he knew he wasn`t going to be, so he`s going to get out of there.
And secondly, I`m sure he doesn`t want to help the police find out who`s responsible for the crime, why should he? Yes, everything points to the man, but the problem is, yes, there`s not much evidence to convict him. And I don`t think he`s going to say anything if he goes to prison for anything else. Make any deals because hey, he`s going to -- not going to get that much for the fraud compared to what he`s going to get if he admits he killed her and put her body some place. So I don`t think he`s going to do that.
GRACE: To Dr. Leslie Seppinni, clinical psychologist. What`s your analysis of him going back to Eagles Lake Park and being spotted by a local where he immediately hid behind trees and bushes?
LESLIE SEPPINNI, PSY.D., CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, whenever someone goes back who`s allegedly committed murder, and I believe he did commit murder here, they`re usually checking the scene to make sure that whatever it is that they did is finished. If they haven`t finished it yet, they`re going back to finish it. If they finished it, it`s also a sign that they`re checking to see and make sure that they`re not going to get caught.
GRACE: Everybody, we are taking your calls. Is there a break in the case of missing young police cadet Kelly Rothwell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASSANDRA WALKER-WILLIAMS, SISTER OF DAVID PERRY`S EX-WIFE: I have everything I could do, Melanie, to protect her. I cannot protect somebody who does not want to be protected.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why would she stay with him if he is being accused of killing Kelly Rothwell and murdering her, essentially?
WILLIAMS: Your guess is as good as mine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Our family album is back, showcasing your photos. Here are California friends, the McIlhaney family. Mom Kylie, a former second grade teacher, loves trying new recipe, 11-year-old Lily, an avid reader and boogy border. She loves to baby-sit. And their Cavalier King Charles spaniel Molly. The family loves going with Daddy Trent to Tahoe.
Share your photos with us at iReport Family Album. Go to hlnTV.com/nancygrace and click on "Nancy`s Family Album."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Just week as way from realizing her dream of becoming a police officer.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Days since anyone has seen this face.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Her mother says she enjoys helping people, and succeeds at whatever she attempts.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Kelly Rothwell is missing.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It was her connection to this man, boyfriend David Perry --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Where is missing police cadet Kelly Rothwell, and is there a break in the case? Her live-in lover now behind bars in the last hours, charged with defrauding taxpayers to the tune over a quarter million dollars, claiming some bogus back ailment.
To Ben Levitan, telecommunications expert, joining us out of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Ben, what do you make her friends and relatives saying, this is not her text?
BEN LEVITAN, TELECOMMUNICATIONS EXPERT: They`re absolutely right, Nancy. And that`s really perceptive of them. That -- that just tells me exactly what they think. People have patterns, you yourself, you said you were very short. If you sent someone a text that`s very long, they`d probably send out the police for you. And it`s not only the text messages, it clearly indicates that someone else sent those text messages.
But we also have to look at the patterns of calls that he made. If he did this, and I see this all the time, when someone has committed a crime and they preplanned it, their calling pattern for the month or two before the crime changes completely. They`re talking to different people. If he was planning open going to New York at all or Hawaii. You would think that they probably made a couple calls to Hawaii. You`d think they probably have made, you know, plans to rent an apartment there and move their stuff.
We`re not -- you know the Pinellas police did a great job, they did not see that. So what happens is, if someone does a crime of passion as they call it, all of a sudden you see them reaching out to friends and family, and all those people are probably going to be good people to talk to.
He started calling around, and what I call as panic calling, you see this a lot when a -- like a drug deal goes bad. Everybody takes off, and all of a sudden they pick up the phones and start calling friends for advice. He probably had a period of panic calling after, found a friend in New York, who said come up here, I`ll take care you. And that`s going to lead us -- you know, that kind of call pattern is going to show he had never planned to go to New York.
You know obviously before --
GRACE: I think you`re right, Ben Levitan. I wish you could see that photo of him windsurfing. All the while -- sucking in over $300,000 of disability payments for his back.
Greg Kading, former LAPD detective, author of "Murder Wrap." Weigh in, Greg. What should cops be doing right now?
GREG KADING, FORMER LAPD DETECTIVE, AUTHOR OF "MURDER WRAP": Well, I think they`re doing everything they can, obviously for them, this is a colleague. And first my heart and prayer goes out to the family and friends and to the sheriff for his transparency in the case.
Clearly the actions of this individual are really beyond a reasonable doubt at this point. Circumstantially. He`s looking so guilty. He`s a frightened animal, and a frightened animal is going to continue to become more desperate and more reckless. What a great break in the case that he`s going to be in a position where he`s in a controlled environment. That`s a great break for these investigators. And they`re going to use that to their full advantage. They`ll be able to monitor his communications. They`re going to have him in a situation where they can completely monitor his activities.
And keep in mind he`s law enforcement. Where is he going? He`s going to go into protective custody. Who`s in protective custody? Informants. So I mean his problems are going to continue to compound.
GRACE: Out to Dr. Bill Lloyd, board certified surgeon and pathologist, if her remains are found now, what condition will they be in, Dr. Lloyd?
DR. BILL LLOYD, BOARD CERTIFIED SURGEON AND PATHOLOGIST: Good evening, Nancy.
This depends on the circumstances on how the body was disposed. Was it kept intact and put inside a large hefty bag? Well, if it were buried the remains may be very much intact. Were they submerged in water? We`re talking bones here. Or was the body dismembered? We know David went around the country in the weeks following Kelly`s disappearance and he may be depositing her remains in many different venues.
GRACE: Tonight, is there a crack in the case in the search for missing police cadet Kelly Rothwell. She had never missed a single day of police training until now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said we didn`t want any trouble with Dave, the live-in, why? Had there been any trouble with him in the past.
KEN WILLIAMSON, MISSING POLICE CADET`S NEIGHBOR: When he first moved out here he asked if he could have a barbecue. And I said yes, but only one that`s electric. You can`t have an open flame device on the premises, because it`s a wood structure building. And he went -- really went out and bought himself a really nice barbecue. And when I saw it sitting downstairs in the parking area, I told him, Dave, you can`t use this. It`s against the condo docs and it`s against the city rules and regulations.
And he became very upset. So I said, all right, I`ve got to find exactly what`s going on here, I called the Fire Marshall from the city to come out and explain to me what the rules and regulations were. They said that he can`t have an open flame device within 10 feet of the building. The condo docs says he couldn`t have it either.
GRACE: What was his reaction?
WILLIAMSON: He was really upset. If something didn`t go his way, he became very volatile. Very confrontational. He would just -- would not back off. He would just keep coming at you and keep coming at you to the point well, you sort of had to draw the line in the sand and say no, no more of this. You know, if you come any further, we`re going to have a big problem. And finally he took and he did get rid of the barbecue.
Here`s some information you may want to be aware of. A gentleman by the name of Dave Mosher, M-O-S-H-E-R, from New York called me the other day. He said I`ve been trying to find out if your the Ken Williamson that knows anything about the Perry situation as to -- I said, well, I sure am. He says well I`m a retired correction officer for the state of New York and 25 years and then I retired.
And he -- I knew Dave. I had worked with Dave during the time I was there. Dave was not like anybody in the apartment. Three times they tried to fire him but he sweet talked his way out. And got out of the thing. I said well, I thought he retired from the -- you know, the prison system. And he argues, no, he`s not retired. He complained -- he said that he -- when he had a confrontation with other prisoners, he hurt his back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Tonight, is there a crack in the case in the search for missing police cadet Kelly Rothwell. She had never missed a single day of police training until now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROTHWELL: It`s Kelly. Happy Sunday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) why he`s dead, and her body is out there. Just there. Dumped like a piece of trash.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This is one of the last known images of Kelly Rothwell, seen on surveillance video leaving a public supermarket last with her best friend. She was getting ready to have a talk with her longtime boyfriend Dave Perry.
ROTHWELL: It`s only 4 1/2 weeks, but to be honest with you, we have a lot left to do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have the lower unit. And they`re directly above us.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I mean he and his wife heard unusual noises coming from Kelly`s condo above.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pumping and banging on the ceiling. I don`t know how to describe although something were like threw something down or jumped on the ceiling real hard.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The same day she disappeared he left town for New York and detectives say he`s not talking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s kind of hard to continue having, you know, hope that we`re going to get good news any time soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Let`s stop and remember Army Specialist Marcus Futrell, 20, Macon, Georgia. Killed Iraq. Bronze Star, Army Achievement medal. Army National Guard medal. Loved the electronics, videogames, football, basketball, weightlifting. His Pomeranian (INAUDIBLE). Favorite food pizza, Mexican, his mom`s sweet potato pie. Red velvet and salad cream pound cake. Leaves behind mother Sheryl, sister Shidra (ph).
Marcus Futrell, American hero.
Thanks to our guests but especially for you for being with us. And a happy sixth birthday to little crime fighter Luke. Here he is celebrating at school with classmates and brother Will, daddy Dean, our show`s executive producer and creator.
Happy birthday, little Luke. See you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
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