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Nancy Grace
Father of Missing Child Barred From Home; Girl Vanished from Bedroom; New Bride Found Dead after Wedding
Aired May 14, 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 Tucson. A parent`s worst nightmare, Mommy and Daddy tuck 6-year-old Isabel into bed. 8:00 AM, she`s gone. She usually sleeps with her two brothers, but not that night.
After a third search at the home and then a landfill, police back at the home to seize fabric and pillows from a family car. And then a stunning reveal from Tucson police, who say the parents have, quote, "no sense of urgency."
Mommy, Daddy and the brothers all back to the home with heavy police escort to recreate the crime. As cops remove mystery items out of the home, we learn Mommy and Daddy both take polygraphs but then refuse to say if they passed. We spot a secret security camera at the home trained on the pathway at Isabel`s window. Why wasn`t it working that night?
Bombshell tonight. In a major twist, Isabel`s father now banned from any contact with the two remaining young sons, Isabel`s brothers, Mommy and Daddy now living separately. As police dispatch tapes during crucial moments surrounding her disappearance emerge, cops reveal Isabel`s kidnapper covered his tracks the night she disappears. Tonight, where is 6-year-old Isabel?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGIO CELIS, ISABEL`S FATHER: Within 10 minutes of not seeing her and doing the quickness that we did with my sons with running around and screaming after her, 911 was called.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Complainant (ph) woke up and her 6-year-old daughter is gone. They`ve searched the house. The window was found open and the screen was outside on the ground.
SERGIO CELIS: We do have to take care of her brothers, but we want you back and we miss you so much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Child Protective Services banned her father, Sergio, from any contact with her two older brothers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) the welfare of the older siblings...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When the father went to get her up, she was not in the bed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Their mother, Rebecca, now has sole custody.
BECKY CELIS, ISABEL`S MOTHER: I`m very happy I have my two boys, but sad because I can`t really celebrate without Isabel here.
SERGIO CELIS: Tell us your demands. Tell us what you want.
GRACE: No supervised visits, no telephone calls, no anything. That is not common.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) taken polygraphs.
SERGIO CELIS: We`re not allowed to answer specifics on those type of investigative questions. I`m sorry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why have authorities banned him from seeing his other children right now?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: You`re seeing and hearing ABC`s "GMA."
And tonight, live, Illinois suburbs, a beautiful 26-year-old bride last seen literally walking down the aisle. Forty-eight hours later, she is found stabbed to death in her designer wedding dress in a bone-dry bathtub.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An Illinois bride celebrates her big wedding day Friday, then is found dead two days later, still in her wedding dress. Burbank police say they found 26-year-old Estrea Carrerra (ph) two days after her wedding, her body lying in a dry bathtub, stabbed to death. Estrea was reportedly last seen just hours after her Friday night wedding. A major crimes task force now investigating how 26-year-old Estrea Carrerra`s life ended perhaps hours after her wedding. Police found Estrea Sunday afternoon after officers were called for a welfare check. A death investigation now under way to find the murdered bride`s killer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. Major twist. In the last hours, we learn Isabel`s father now banned from any contact, not supervised visits, not phone calls, any contact, with the two remaining young sons, Isabel`s two brothers. Mommy and Daddy now living separately. What does it mean for the investigation into the disappearance of 6-year-old Isabel Celis? This as a man who was found standing over the beds of little girls just a few miles away from Isabel`s disappearance.
We are taking your calls. Let`s go out to Tucson, Paul Birmingham, KNST. A lot of people are trying to pass this off saying, Hey, you know what? It`s common for CPS, Child Protective Services, to get involved in cases when a child goes missing.
Not like this! It is not common for the biological father, the custodial father of the children, to be banned from any contact with his other children, Paul.
PAUL BIRMINGHAM, KNST (via telephone): That`s right, Nancy. And the people trying to put that off on us is Tucson police because they are the people who say it needs to be stressed that it is common practice for CPS to become involved in investigations regarding missing children.
This bomb dropped on Friday afternoon. We`re still getting the fall- out today. It was told to us that CPS was involved. That is all the Tucson police would say. They refused any additional comment.
Those reports, as you mentioned, ABC then saying, in fact, that Sergio Celis is banned from seeing his children. In fact, Mother`s Day yesterday, the two siblings of Isabel, her older brothers, were with the mother. So we knew at that point that there was something going on, and then in fact, that Sergio, we could confirm, was not being allowed to see his children.
GRACE: And this is on Mother`s Day. She is away from her husband on Mother`s Day -- no family outing, no nothing for these two boys and their father.
What else do we know? Ellie Jostad, our chief editorial producer, what have we learned?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, we are trying to find out exactly what information has come to light that led police to involve CPS, have the father eliminated from making any contact with those two boys.
We know that the mother is still able to have contact with them. They were seen yesterday by our affiliate there in Tucson, got video of them out apparently trying to celebrate Mother`s Day even without little Isabel.
GRACE: We are taking your calls, but first I want to go to Captain Chris Nanos, Pima County sheriff`s department captain. He is investigating a bedroom attack on three other little girls not too far away from Isabel.
Captain, thank you for being with us.
CAPT. CHRIS NANOS, PIMA COUNTY SHERIFF`S DEPT. (via telephone): You`re welcome.
GRACE: Captain, tell me about the discovery of the alleged perpetrator in that case. Do you believe there is a link to Isabel`s disappearance?
NANOS: No. At this time we have nothing to show that. Like I said before, we still maintain contact with the Tucson Police Department and we share information. But to answer your question, no, we do not have anything to indicate that the two are connected.
GRACE: What can you tell us about this new Circle K surveillance video just released?
NANOS: Well, the day of the incident, or the evening, we sent investigators out to the local area businesses that are in that neighborhood and obtained videos from a number of the businesses and just started looking at them.
The one from the Circle K, we found an individual who was at that store late at night, within an hour, hour-and-a-half of our incident, and his clothing matched the description of the clothing we were looking at, and so did his physical characteristics.
So we`ve talked to the young man. We`ve identified him, and he has cooperated with us fully. And we`re treating him as we would the other 200-plus leads we have and just moving forward with the investigation. We`ve not eliminated him, nor do we say he is our -- he`s any more a suspect than the other 200 leads.
GRACE: Describe the clothing. We`re seeing video of it right now, Captain. Let`s put it right back up, Liz. Describe the distinctive clothing, Captain Nanos.
NANOS: The girls, all three girls, told us that the intruder had a green tank top or sleeveless shirt and dark or black shorts. And if you look at that video, that`s exactly what this young man has on.
GRACE: So are you saying that this guy is or is not the alleged perp?
NANOS: No, we cannot say that at this time. What we can say is he has cooperated with us. We believe his -- we believe, in our case, we have physical evidence that will either make the young man or eliminate him, and we`re waiting on those forensic examinations to tell us.
GRACE: Well, Captain, it sounds to me like you`re talking about DNA.
NANOS: We have some -- we believe we have DNA and we believe we have latent fingerprints. And the young man gave us -- cooperated and voluntarily gave us his buccal cells and his prints, and those things will be examined. We hope to...
GRACE: Why are you -- you seem to be convinced that whoever the perp is in this case, just a few miles away from Isabel Celis, is not Isabel`s kidnapper.
NANOS: Well, there`s a number of things that I have knowledge of in both cases, and it would be inappropriate for me to comment on the Tucson police case.
GRACE: OK.
NANOS: So I would just say we`ve shared our case information with them and...
GRACE: You know what? If it`s good enough for you, Captain, it`s good enough for me.
NANOS: Thank you.
GRACE: So the headline here is you have identified the guy in the Circle K.
NANOS: That is correct.
GRACE: He`s cooperating, but you don`t know if he is the perp in that case. And in any event, you don`t believe that perp is going to be connected to Isabel`s kidnapping?
NANOS: That is absolutely correct.
GRACE: Got you.
With me is authoritative source on this, Captain Chris Nanos, the Pima County sheriff`s captain investigating this case.
We are taking your calls. To Diane in Tennessee. Hi, Diane. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. I just wondered if this (INAUDIBLE) kind of procedure on this sort of case to take the kids away.
GRACE: I`m sorry -- OK -- oh, OK, to take the children away. Well, the children have not been taken away. They`re still with the mother. Becky Celis is living, to my understanding, with another relative. The father has been booted out and he has no contact.
Unleash the lawyers. With me Robin Sax, former prosecutor, Marla Tchaikovsy (ph), defense attorney, Miami, Darryl Cohen, defense attorney, Atlanta.
Darryl, what is SOP -- standard operating practice -- is, if you think the children are in danger, you take them out of the home. Here we see the father removed. The children are not taken out of the home. That says if there is any danger, it`s related to the father.
And another thing, Darryl. If it were an issue of him just coaching the two brothers as to what to say about the night Isabel goes missing, I don`t know that they would have actually kicked him out of the home, Darryl.
DARRYL COHEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, this is very troubling because it`s saying, without saying it, that he`s a person of interest or a possible suspect because, as you and I both know, it`s normal for Child Protective Services to get involved.
But to take the father or either spouse out, it`s saying to me that the police believe that he is guilty of something, whether he`s withholding information, whether he`s coaching the kids, whether he`s done something in the past. And we don`t know. And we need to make that decision. We need to find out.
GRACE: To Marla Tchaikovsky, defense attorney, Miami. Here`s the other thing. When they were asked -- pull that sound for me, Liz. When they were asked point blank, the mother and father, We know you`ve taken polygraphs -- I mean, the cops confirmed that to me last week, the mother and the father have taken polygraphs. Did you pass them? If they passed them, Marla Tchaikovsky, you know they`d be singing it from the top of the mountain. Instead, listen to what they had to say, Marla.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have either of you taken polygraphs, and are those results available?
SERGIO CELIS: As far as we`re aware, we`re not allowed to speak about that and we`re not allowed to answer specifics on those type of investigative questions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
SERGIO CELIS: All for the integrity of the investigation. I`m sorry.
BECKY CELIS: We`re not allowed to discuss any of that...
SERGIO CELIS: Those specifics.
BECKY CELIS: ... because of the investigation. Sorry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I`m calling BS on that one, Tchaikovsky. No way. If Mommy and Daddy had both passed those polygraphs, they would have said so right then because they would say, You`re wasting time on me. Move on to who the real perp is. Agree or disagree, Marla?
MARLA TCHAIKOVSKY, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I disagree. I think Tucson Police Department are very involved in this case. They want...
GRACE: That`s not what I asked you.
TCHAIKOVSKY: ... things not to be told -- they don`t want things being told to the media. They do not want...
GRACE: Robin Sax, how would it hurt the case for it to be out there that Daddy passed a polygraph? Explain that, Robin.
ROBIN SAX, FORMER PROSECUTOR: There is no hurt. And anyone just -- everybody -- this is a community search. The reason the media is involved, the reason that the police haven`t even stopped the family from going to the media is to be able to talk about it. So of course, they would want to give any information that`s going to help to put it out there. That would be to exclude them.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When the father went to get her up, she was not in the bed.
SERGIO CELIS: We miss you so much, Isa. Your brothers miss you so much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The father, who tearfully pleaded for his daughter`s safe return, has lost his other two children.
SERGIO CELIS: It is about protecting my boys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) possible kidnapping at (INAUDIBLE) woke up, and her 6-year-old daughter is gone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The child was last seen as she went to bed at 11:00 o`clock Friday night, and then at 8:00 o`clock Saturday morning is when they discovered her missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They searched the house. The window was found open and the screen was outside on the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. At this hour, the father of 6-year- old Isabel Celis now banned from any and all contact with the two remaining young boys, Isabel`s brothers.
Now, interestingly, she almost always sleeps with them, in the room with them every single night, but not that night. Why? The home security camera trained on the pathway leading to her bedroom window not working that night.
I want to go out to Dr. Charles Sophy, medical director, LA County Department of Children and Family Services, author of "Side by Side."
Dr. Sophy, thank you for being with us. It`s my understanding that when one child goes missing or is found dead, CPS, Child Protective Services, gets involved routinely -- it`s standard operating procedure -- to find out if the parents really had anything to do with it and if the home is safe for the remaining children.
Would you agree with that, Dr. Sophy?
DR. CHARLES SOPHY, MEDICAL DIR., LA COUNTY DEPT. OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES: Absolutely. It`s all about ensuring the safety and minimizing risk for the remaining siblings in that home.
GRACE: Well, you`re the expert, Dr. Sophy. In your expertise, why would, based on CPS recommendation, cops -- actually, I don`t know if it`s their recommendation. Why would cops remove the father from any contact with the boys?
SOPHY: Well, there`s either something that CPS, children`s services, or the police have found that is in question while they`re investigating the safety of the current children and maybe anything that came up throughout the past in interviewing the other children or interviewing the wife or putting pieces together.
It may not even have to do with the issue of this child`s abduction or whatever right now. It could be something in the past that`s in question, that that dad maybe didn`t provide safety or added a risk at one point.
And so as long as there`s a protective parent -- and in this case, it`s the mother -- they can leave the children in the custody of the mother while they take the father out of the picture and investigate. That way, they ensure those children are at least safe for now until they get an answer.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECKY CELIS: We would never want to risk Isabel, so whatever it takes to bring Isabel home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Isabel was last seen in this home by her parents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have been interviewed extensively.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The child (INAUDIBLE) was last seen yesterday at 2200 hours.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A window was open and a screen was off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe she was taken out the window?
SERGIO CELIS: I will say initially, but then after, you know, more investigating, I`m just not sure anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Right now, the father of Isabel Celis booted from the home by police. He is to have no contact with the boys whatsoever.
To Marc Klaas, president and founder, Klaas Kids Foundation. What does this mean to the investigation, Marc?
MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: Well, Nancy, even in cases of acrimonious divorce, it`s always common for parents to come together in a show of unity when a child goes missing. This is really being severely tested in this case.
And this is also a situation where the latest development turns attention back onto the father. He`s being marginalized. He`s being pushed in a corner. And regardless of what anybody is saying, this is all intimately involved in the case of Isabel.
GRACE: To Woody Tripp, former police commander, polygraph expert. Woody, what does this say to you? And remember, we were told that the father being removed from the home came as a direct result of what the police learned during the investigation into Isabel`s disappearance.
WOODROW TRIPP, FORMER POLICE COMMANDER: Well, it`s obvious, Nancy, that the police are using CPS to maybe do something that they don`t legally have the authority to do. They have discovered something. There`s something there that has caused them to be very concerned about the remaining children and the fact that he is there associating with them.
That`s very dire. It`s ominous. And it`s obvious that that puts out a signal as to his involvement in this.
GRACE: And also, when the parents were answering those questions as to whether they had passed or taken a polygraph -- we already know through police contacts they have both been polygraphed. They wouldn`t answer. Of course, the mother couldn`t come out and say, Well, I passed, because then everybody would look to the father.
I mean, what do you make of the fact that they refused to answer that, Woody?
TRIPP: I just think it`s human nature. And as many as I`ve done and the people that have been involved, it`s one of the things that they want to get on the highest mountain and proclaim that they passed, again wanting that focus to look somewhere else besides at them. And if that`s the way they can do it, they will certainly take that advantage and opportunity.
GRACE: Well, it`s not -- it`s just not being happy or relieved that you passed your polygraph, Greg Overzat. You`ve been there on the scene. You`ve looked at the home. It also has police then take the focus off the parents and move on, instead of wasting resources on the parents if they passed the polygraph, Greg.
GREG OVERZAT, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: You`re right, Nancy. Cops are -- they`re very tight-lipped about the results of the polygraph, as are the parents. Interestingly, they are saying, though, you know, the parents are cooperating.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A possible kidnapping at -- 1-6, complainant woke up and found their 6-year-old daughter is gone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there are so many emotions.
SERGIO CELIS, FATHER OF MISSING 6-YEAR-OLD ISABEL CELIS: To the person or persons who have Isabel, tell us your demands. Tell us what you want.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The father who tearfully pleaded for his daughter`s safe return has lost his other two children.
REBECCA CELIS, MOTHER OF MISSING 6-YEAR-OLD ISABEL CELIS: We don`t have anything to hide. Say what you want to say, but, in the end, we are confident we had nothing to do with it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Isabel Celis, number one female, 4-foot, brown hair, hazel eyes.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Child Protective Services banned her father, Sergio, from any contact with her two older brothers.
LT. FABIAN PACHECO, TUCSON POLICE DEPARTMENT: There was a need to institute some measures, to ensure the welfare of the older siblings.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A possible kidnapping at -- 1-6, complainant woke up and their 6-year-old daughter is gown. They searched the house. The window was found open and the screen was outside on the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: We are taking your calls. Taking a listen to the police dispatch communications in those crucial moments surrounding when Isabel was ultimately reported missing. We now know the mom did not check on her before she went to work as a nurse early that morning.
It seems very unclear, Paul Birmingham, if the father called 911 or if one of the little brothers finally did it.
PAUL BIRMINGHAM, NEWS DIRECTOR, KNST, 790AM/97.1FM: That`s right. It makes it even more difficult to make that determination when you`re hearing some of the confusion that exist over what she might have been wearing and we do get from that tape the fact that the window had been opened and that the screen was off. That initially was not being reported by police. They`re kind of hedging around that.
What you heard there so many dispatches were that report was going out across the city. It`s divided up into four sectors so everyone in Tucson, the officers that were on, were hearing this trying to make sure that they could be on the lookout but, again, that confusion over the dress didn`t help matters initially.
GRACE: We`re taking your calls, to Joy in New York. Hi, Joy. What`s your question?
JOY, CALLER FROM NEW YORK: Hi, Nancy. At what point will the kids actually be able to see their dad? And has dad lawyered up and should he lawyer up?
GRACE: OK. Very quickly, to you, Paul Birmingham, KNST. We don`t know of the father having a lawyer or the mother. And it`s my understanding the ban on contact with his children is indefinite.
BIRMINGHAM: That`s right. We`ve been given no indication as to when that could be possibly lifted.
GRACE: You know, I want to go back to the lawyers. Unleash them, Robin Sax, Marla Chicotsky, Darryl Cohen.
Ok, Robin Sax, you`re a former prosecutor, author of "Predators and Child Molesters," you`ve looked at the parents` demeanor. You know the father is now banned not just from seeing his boys but also any contact with them. No even supervised visits with them.
Now think about it, think about it, Robin Sax. If it were an issue that CPS thought they were in danger, like he had a DUI with them in the back seat in the past or he had used drugs around them and all of these are hypotheticals, all right. If any of those were true, they would still allow him supervised visits at the home where he couldn`t drive or he couldn`t use drugs or whatever the case may be.
What I`m saying is, he doesn`t even have supervised visits. He can`t even call them on the phone, Robin.
ROBIN SAX, PROSECUTOR, AUTHOR OF "PREDATORS & CHILD MOLESTERS": It`s huge. I mean, that is huge. I can tell you it takes an act of god often to get parents to remove any sort of contact whatsoever and as the sex crimes prosecutor I have cases where people have found sexual assault cases where there`s been guilty convictions and they still have the ability to talk to their child on the phone and there`s always the consideration of the best interests of the child and the best interests of the child always is presumed to have some sort of relationship with their biological parents, so by removing any sort of communication, it is a huge sign and it means a lot.
GRACE: Out to Captain Chris Nanos, from Pima County Sheriff`s Department.
Captain, have you ever seen a case where the parent was not a suspect or person of interest where they were banned having contact with the child?
CAPTAIN CHRIS NANOS, PIMA COUNTY SHERIFF`S DEPARTMENT: It can happen if you have an instance where the parent is in a position to protect and they fail to protect or you believe they will not protect. So I`ve seen that occur.
GRACE: That is in the case of ongoing child abuse.
NANOS: Correct.
GRACE: There`s no allegation of child abuse here, Captain.
NANOS: I can`t speak to their case. I believe you asked me if I`d seen a case where the suspect, anybody other than the suspect, and I know that oftentimes when dealing with parents one of the parents might be the abusive parent and the other parent is in a position where she or he fails to protect the child. And in those cases we will remove that child.
GRACE: Good point, Captain.
But, Ellie Jostad, in this case, there`s no allegations -- there`s no allegations of child abuse or ongoing child abuse.
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE CHIEF EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Well, right. That`s one of the questions that we have for Tucson Police. Was there some sort of criminal activity, allegations of criminal activity or abuse that has led to this? And so far they just absolutely are not commenting on what led to this decision.
GRACE: Out to the lines. Megan in Florida. Hi, Megan. What`s your question?
MEGAN, CALLER FROM FLORIDA: Hi. I just wondered why they would remove the kids from the father but not the mother.
GRACE: Well, apparently -- number one, the children have not been removed. The father has been kicked out. The father cannot have any contact, no conversations, no supervised visits, nothing with the children. What does that mean in the disappearance of Isabel Celis?
To William July, Dr. July, psychologist joining us today out of Houston.
William, what`s your interpretation?
DR. WILLIAM JULY, PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, you know, you have some great experts on child custody down -- on the show today, and I would defer to them, but what I`ve seen in my practice as a psychologist is CPS gets deeply involved in a lot of cases for a lot of reasons, so there could be a number of reasons that he`s not allowed -- that he`s not allowed in the house or allowed to have contact --
GRACE: But what?
JULY: Well --
GRACE: Let`s cut the chase, Doctor. What are some reasons?
JULY: Well, some reasons from the side of the psychology of it could be that the children might be influenced in a certain way. They could have questions about the safety of the children, about influences on the children. And so there`s a lot of unanswered questions surrounding that whole CPS thing that could be benign or they could be indicating something else.
GRACE: Joining us right now, Dr. Ann Contrucci, physician, joining me out of Atlanta.
Doctor, thank you for being with us. I don`t think there`s a single benign reason that Dr. William July just referred to to ban a father from any contact with the child? Now you deal with children in the E.R. all day every day. That`s what you do at your hospital.
DR. ANN CONTRUCCI, PEDIATRICIAN: That`s correct, Nancy.
GRACE: It`s extremely rare, Doctor -- Dr. Ann, to have a parent banned from any contact with a child.
CONTRUCCI: It really is, Nancy. This is what makes it so troubling because my experience with DFCS, we call it DFACS, CPS, is it is going to take some really usually very concrete evidence or some past issue to actually remove a parent from the children because the whole idea is for children to stay with their biological parents, and I`ve even argued with CPS before saying you`re what? You`re going to keep them with this parent?
So the fact that this father has been removed, it`s very troubling that either something has happened in the past with one of the children or more of the children or somebody has seen something. I don`t know. But it`s very, very troubling because it`s very unusual --
(CROSSTALK)
CONTRUCCI: Especially at a time like this where, you know, the family needs to be bonding.
GRACE: Let me see Contrucci and Sophy, please?
Dr. Sophy, no offense to you. I don`t see Contrucci.
No offense to you, Dr. Sophy, Dr. Charles Sophy, author of "Side by Side," he`s the medical director at the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services, all we ever hear about family services is that they don`t act and some child ends up dead after being tortured and mistreated for years on end. So for CPS to finally actually remove a parent, that`s a big deal, Doctor.
Did you hear what Dr. Ann just said? This is a big deal, Doctor.
DR. CHARLES SOPHY, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, L.A. COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES: It`s huge, absolutely. It`s speaking volumes.
GRACE: And what does it say? I mean, come on, speak English to me, people.
SOPHY: It`s telling --
GRACE: Dr. Ann, I`m going to go to you. What does it say, Dr. Ann Contrucci?
CONTRUCCI: I`m concerned there has been some allegations or incidents of abuse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her disappearance maybe just a doorway to open to, I don`t know, something else that was happening in the house that nobody knew about before, suspected or allegedly.
GRACE: I think what you`re saying is it was coincidental that something else was uncovered during the investigation to Isabel`s disappearance. As I always say, there is no coincidence in criminal law and also in direct answer to your question, police have revealed that the reason he`s being removed is something they learned during the investigation into Isabel`s disappearance.
They also went on to say that whoever took Isabel, quote, "covered their tracks." Adequately. So who has time to break into the home and also cover their tracks? I mean, there`s no scenario under which this looks good for the father.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, what -- so what do you think this twist means for the investigation into Isabel`s disappearance then, Nancy?
GRACE: I think the fact that they have made this very bold move to actually remove the father from the home means that they may be getting close to a resolution.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It was all celebration for a Burbank bride one day, then the newlywed seemed to vanish the next. Her body found still dressed in her wedding gown, stabbed to death and left in a dry bathtub. A major crimes task force now investigating how 26-year-old Estrella Carrera`s life ended perhaps hours after her wedding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A bride last seen literally walking down the aisle found stabbed to death still wearing her designer wedding gown in a bone-dry tub.
We are taking you to the Illinois suburbs, to Michael Board, WOAI. What happened?
MICHAEL BOARD, REPORTER, WOAI NEWSRADIO: We don`t know and police are not releasing a whole lot of information on this either. All they`re saying is that this bride who was married on Friday evening, Saturday morning was found dead in her own apartment. They`re not releasing information on persons of interest. They don`t know how the groom was involved. We don`t know a whole lot in this other than this was a brutal murder.
GRACE: Straight out to Alexis Tereszcuk, senior reporter, Radaronline.com.
Alexis, she`s literally last seen walking down the aisle?
ALEXIS TERESZCUK, REPORTER, RADAROLINE.COM: You`re exactly right. Just hours after her wedding, she gets married on a Friday night, a beautiful ceremony, gorgeous dress, surrounded with friends and family. And then a few hours later, 2:00 a.m., after the wedding, celebrating, it`s the last time anyone sees her.
GRACE: OK. Matt Zarrell, what more do we know about the distance from the church to the apartment? It was a third floor apartment. I understand she had one child. I`d like to know where is the child. Did the neighbors hear anything? Where is the groom?
I mean, come on. It`s kind of narrowing it down a little bit. She is still dressed in her wedding dress for Pete`s sakes, Matt.
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE STAFFER, COVERING STORY: Yes, Nancy. You`re right. One thing that`s interesting is that talking to neighbors, they didn`t even know she was getting married, getting engaged, anything about it. In fact we`re learning more about this child, whether there`s conflicting reports about how old the boy was, about 3 years old is what we`re hearing.
We`re still trying to get confirmation on the wedding, exactly the wedding certificate has not been filed, but we are hearing multiple stab wounds, a dry bathtub. She was found in her own dry bathtub, Nancy.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Robin Sax, Marla Chicotsky and Darryl Cohen. Also Dr. Ann Contrucci.
All right. Let`s hear it, Marla Chicotsky. I assume all eyes are on the groom right now. I mean who else would be with the bride in that time? She still had on her wedding dress.
MARLA CHICOTSKY, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, absolutely. The groom is going to be the first suspect that law enforcement looks at. However, where is this child and who is the baby`s father? There`s going to be potential more suspects. Maybe there`s an ex-boyfriend who was upset that she married her new boyfriend. There are facts we just unfortunately don`t know right now, Nancy, about this case.
GRACE: Well, another question I`ve got, I`m going to throw this to you, Darryl Cohen, is why didn`t the groom report her missing? Why was it her sister that called it in?
DARRYL COHEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, it makes absolutely no sense --
GRACE: It makes a lot of sense to me.
COHEN: Well, it makes no sense that the groom chose not to report it. Where was he, why was he not reporting it? Why wasn`t he together on their first night of being married? Now having said it, I am wondering if wasn`t some psychopath who saw her getting married --
GRACE: Put him up.
COHEN: -- wanted the love, wanted her to know that I`m going to teach you a lesson.
GRACE: OK, Darryl, I`ve got you on camera. All right? Try to say something that we can all consider as viable, not that some psycho was hiding in the chapel. Where? Behind the bridesmaids, underneath the organ? What? Where? He followed her out of the church to her apartment and stabbed her?
COHEN: Not necessarily, Nancy. It could be that someone --
GRACE: Well, that`s an understatement, not necessarily.
COHEN: Wants to know -- I`m telling you that I wanted to marry you, you dissed me, I`m going to take care of you.
GRACE: I`m making it up as I go. Let me think. What other -- OK, you know what?
COHEN: That`s the way it is. We don`t know anything else right now. We do know she`s dead --
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Good to know that that`s how you do it.
COHEN: Not good.
GRACE: Dr. Ann Contrucci, multiple am stab wounds in the wedding dress. Have you ever seen like that roll through the emergency room?
CONTRUCCI: Pretty sure I have never seen that and I hope never to see that.
(LAUGHTER)
GRACE: To you, psychologist William July. Dr. July, the fact that there are multiple stab wounds, what does the mode of murder say?
JULY: Well, the mode of murder speaks to a lot of emotion, a lot of passion, a lot of anger and fury. There`s something -- more than likely there`s something between the person who did -- this probably wasn`t some random person. This was probably someone who had a very passionate connection with her and wanted to inflict pain and suffering as the mode of death.
GRACE: Woody Tripp, weigh in.
WOODY TRIPP, FORMER POLICE COMMANDER, POLYGRAPH EXPERT: Nancy, obviously we`ve got a situation here. She is in a wedding dress. She`s in a tub that`s dry. Was she ordered to get in that --
GRACE: Can you not talk like a cop? We`ve got a situation. Yes. We`ve got a bride stabbed to death in her wedding dress. I call that a situation. Let`s get down to the reality of who are the persons of interest. Who should the cops be looking at right now? I mean, come on, people. You`ve all tried cases. The woman is still in her wedding dress.
TRIPP: Obviously the groom, Nancy, and that speaks volumes. We haven`t heard anything about him. Is there any forced entry? You know, all of those kind of things are just not there, but it`s obvious the groom is somewhere and he`s not involved in this part of it, so that rings bells.
GRACE: Pam in Minnesota, what`s your question, Pam?
PAM, CALLER FROM MINNESOTA: Hi, Nancy. "Dancing with the Stars" just isn`t the same without you this season.
GRACE: Thank you.
PAM: My question is, if there was a child in the home, did anybody hear the child screaming or --
GRACE: Good question. What about it, Alexis Tereszcuk?
TERESZCUK: The cops are in the very initial stages of their investigation. I`m sure that they`ve spoken with all of the neighbors. But as somebody else said, they didn`t even know, the neighbors didn`t even now she was getting married. It doesn`t seem like she has a very close relationship with these neighbors.
GRACE: You`re right, Alexis. I wouldn`t expect them to really help in the investigation, if they didn`t even know she was getting married.
This is a first. Found dead, stabbed in her own designer wedding dress.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Estrella was reportedly last seen just hours after her Friday night wedding. A death investigation now under way to find the murdered bride`s killer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bad things happen like this. And it`s sad to say, for a person, a newlywed.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Found in her wedding dress in a bathtub stabbed several times.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The 26-year-old Estrella Carrera`s life ended perhaps hours after her wedding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Straight out to Helen in Virginia. Hi, Helen. What`s your question?
HELEN, CALLER FROM VIRGINIA: Hi, Nancy. I was just wondering, could it be that the bride had a lover on the side who was jealous that she was marrying another man and felt if he couldn`t have her then no one should?
GRACE: Hmm. I think it`s possible. But let`s look at, is it probable?
To you, Alexis Tereszcuk. In the time between she`s married and this jilted boyfriend tracks her down, in the space of time, she`s still got on her wedding dress, Alexis. Where`s the groom? I mean, what, did he go buy a pack of cigarettes during all this? Comes home, his wife`s dead in the bathtub, stabbed to death in her wedding dress and he doesn`t call police? Help me out.
TERESZCUK: No, you`re exactly right. The groom apparently is nowhere to be found so far and he is not the one that called her in. It was her sister who hadn`t heard from her in hours. And it`s -- you know, they didn`t go on a honeymoon. So the sister expected to hear from her that day. When she didn`t, she panicked, she called the police. And that was a great thing because they found the poor dead body.
GRACE: Matt Zarrell, people have been taken in for questioning, right?
ZARRELL: Yes, Nancy. We`re just learning now that two people within hours after her body were found were taken into questioning. We`re still trying to get details on the names. And also, Nancy, within hours of the body being found cops were out around the building looking in the dumpsters, looking in the garbage cans looking for the murder weapon.
GRACE: Let`s stop to remember Army Staff Sergeant Frank Adamski III, 26, Moosup, Connecticut, killed Afghanistan. Bronze Star, Purple Heart, NATO medal. Three army commendation medals. Lost his life just one day before his birthday. Two days before his anniversary.
Loved the outdoors, fishing, driving, time with his little girl. Leaves behind parents, Susan and Frank Jr., widow and gold star wife Danielle, daughter, Victoria.
Frank Adamski III. American hero.
Thanks to our guests but especially to you.
And congratulations to Dan. Graduating UGA in finance and international affairs. Headed for a big career in Washington, D.C.
So proud of you, Dan.
And a big thank you to Mike Walker of the "National Enquirer" for the shout-out on my new show "Lifetime`s" new movie based on bestseller "11th Victim."
Mike Walker, you`ve just written yourself into my next book.
Everybody, stay tuned for Dr. Drew coming up next. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern, and until then, good night, friend.
END
