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Nancy Grace
Isabel Celis 911 Calls Released
Aired May 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, 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 to a landfill, police back at the home to seize fabric and pillows from a family car.
Then a stunning reveal from Tucson police, who say the parents have, quote, "no sense of urgency." Mommy, Daddy and the brothers back at the home with heavy police escort to re-create the crime. As cops remove mystery items out of the home, we learn Mommy and Daddy both take polygraphs but refuse to say if they passed. We spot a secret home security camera trained on the pathway to Isabel`s window. Why wasn`t it working that night?
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.
Bombshell tonight. We obtain the 911 calls when Isabel reported missing, revealing a stunning contrast between Mommy and Daddy when both on the line with 911, Dad calm, cool, even chuckling. Chuckling! This is moments after he discovers his 6-year-old girl is gone! Mommy, on the other hand, hysterical, breaking down, heart-breaking. We have the audio.
And now do we learn Daddy`s statements to police inconsistent? Cops revealing they believe there is no evidence of a stranger abduction. Tonight, where is 6-year-old Isabel?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECKY CELIS, ISABEL`S MOTHER: She`s only 5 -- she`s only 6! Could you please hurry and get somebody over here!
911 OPERATOR: Who noticed her gone, your husband?
BECKY CELIS: My husband. I went to work this morning at 7:00. And I just -- I didn`t even come in and check on her! I should have checked on her!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those desperate pleas appear to be in stark contrast to the steely 911 call made by Isabel`s dad.
SERGIO CELIS, ISABEL`S FATHER: I want to report a missing person, my little girl, who`s 6 years old. I believe she was abducted from our house.
She had just left for work. I just called her and I told her to get to the home.
911 OPERATOR: How tall is she?
SERGIO CELIS: She is 5-2.
911 OPERATOR: No, I`m sorry. Your daughter.
SERGIO CELIS: Oh, my daughter. My wife`s just got home and she`s kind of hysterical and freaking out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) so go for it. Say what you want to say.
SERGIO CELIS: I just called her and I told her to get her butt home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I don`t get it. Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. We obtain the 911 calls when 6-year-old Isabel reported gone. And they reveal a stunning contrast between Mommy and Daddy, both on the line with 911. Cops now revealing there is no evidence of a, quote, "stranger abduction."
We are in Tucson and taking your calls. Straight out first to Paul Birmingham, news director, KNST. Paul, have you heard the 911 calls?
PAUL BIRMINGHAM, KNST (via telephone): I have heard the 911 calls, and they`re shocking, to say the least. This disconnect that exists between Sergio and the gravity of the situation, the laughter that is expressed, contrast that with what we hear from Becky Celis, Isabel`s mother. She`s hysterical. She`s telling people, the police, to please get there. Please hurry. Oh, my God, she says a number of times, totally different from the way that Sergio talks to the police.
GRACE: Hey, Liz, play that back. I want to hear Sergio Celis singing in the background. I want to hear -- he is a tenor there in the opera. He has actually been singing with the opera since his daughter went missing. Not judging. I just want to hear that sound.
Paul Birmingham, KNST, have you ever called 911 yourself, Paul?
BIRMINGHAM: I have.
GRACE: And during that call, did you laugh?
BIRMINGHAM: No. No, absolutely not. I wanted to get police there as soon as possible, or emergency first responders as quickly as possible. Laughter is the last thing on my mind, as it should be anybody who`s calling 911 when they`ve just discovered that their 6-year-old daughter has been, in his words, abducted.
GRACE: Out to Jean Casarez, legal correspondent, "In Session." Jean, what more can you tell me?
JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION" (via telephone): Well, you know, Nancy, police are saying that they are not discounting the parents. They are looking toward inside the home, an inner circle abduction or stranger abduction. No evidence of stranger abduction. But Nancy, by its very definition, to have an abduction, doesn`t the child have to be alive?
GRACE: You know, I noticed something else, Jean Casarez. I noticed that when he was asked about her weight and her description, he said, She was about 30 pounds. Did you hear that, Jean?
CASAREZ: And I also heard that in a live interview, the past tense, stopped himself and made it the present tense. I saw that from early on.
GRACE: Let`s take a listen to dad on 911.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: OK. Is Mom there, also?
SERGIO CELIS: She had just left for work. I just called her and I told her to get her butt home.
911 OPERATOR: OK. What kind of vehicle is she going to be en route back in?
SERGIO CELIS: She`s coming from TMC (ph), so she should just be coming straight down Craycroft.
911 OPERATOR: OK. How tall is she?
SERGIO CELIS: She is 5-2.
911 OPERATOR: No, I`m sorry, your daughter.
SERGIO CELIS: Oh, my daughter -- 40 inches, 30 -- yes, 36 to 40 inches.
911 OPERATOR: OK. Is she black, white or Hispanic?
SERGIO CELIS: She`s a fair-skinned Hispanic with clear eyes and light brown hair.
911 OPERATOR: And what do you mean by clear eyes?
SERGIO CELIS: Well, they`re a little bit...
911 OPERATOR: Are they hazel or...
SERGIO CELIS: Green, hazel, sure.
911 OPERATOR: OK. You said she`s about 40 inches tall.
SERGIO CELIS: Yes.
911 OPERATOR: Do you know how much she weighs?
SERGIO CELIS: I believe she`s 30 -- she`s about 40 pounds. She`s probably right about 40 pounds.
911 OPERATOR: Right about 40 pounds, OK. Do you remember what she was wearing last night when you last saw her?
SERGIO CELIS: Before she went to bed, I believe she was wearing little navy blue shorts and a pink, like, little tank top type of a shirt.
911 OPERATOR: OK, navy blue shorts. Has she ever tried to sneak out of a window or anything?
SERGIO CELIS: Oh, no.
911 OPERATOR: Have you guys been having any weird phone calls, anything like that, somebody hanging around?
SERGIO CELIS: No. We got home late from my son`s baseball game, about 10:30 last night. Everyone took their showers and they all went to bed. I even was in the living room watching the Diamondbacks game at midnight. I fell asleep. And I never heard anything weird. So I was, like, just on the other side of the wall from her.
911 OPERATOR: How many siblings does she have?
SERGIO CELIS: Two.
911 OPERATOR: OK, and those are brothers, you said?
SERGIO CELIS: Yes.
911 OPERATOR: How old are they?
SERGIO CELIS: 14 and 10.
911 OPERATOR: And you said they`re out looking?
SERGIO CELIS: My wife just got home and she`s kind of hysterical and freaking out.
911 OPERATOR: All right. OK. Tell her we are on the way. We`ve got a bunch of officers on the way. I want to you guys to stay in the house.
SERGIO CELIS: We will.
911 OPERATOR: OK.
SERGIO CELIS: Bye-bye.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: Ellie, a lot of points have been made by anyone listening to that 911 call. Number one, aside from the fact where Jean and I note that he says Isabel was at 30 pounds, we also hear more about the timeline. We hear that he was at the Little League game the night before. Then he says that he was only, quote, "one wall away" from her that night. That`s not really jibing with the layout of the home that we have. But we also hear him say he watched the Diamondbacks game. But didn`t that end at 9:30 or so?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right, Nancy. This is a bit of the timeline, a bit of what happened that night that we haven`t heard before. Sergio Celis says that he went to watch a baseball game. That would be the Arizona Diamondbacks. Their game ended at 9:30 local time.
But we don`t know if he`s watching a taped game or a replay because he says he`s watching the game until midnight. He says he fell asleep watching the game and that he was just on the other side of that section of the house where the bedrooms are.
Previously, we`ve always thought he was way at the other corner, at the opposite end of the house, in the master bedroom. But now he`s making it sound as if he`s right there in that living room or that family room right next to where those bedrooms are located.
GRACE: What else did we learn, Ellie?
JOSTAD: Well, Nancy, too, the other thing I think that we`ve been trying to get a bead on since this case broke is whether or not Mom, Becky Celis, actually went and checked on Isabel before she left for work. But in the 911 call, she says very clearly she left for work about 7:00. She says, I should have gone in and checked on her, but she says she forgot, she didn`t do it that morning.
GRACE: OK. Take a listen to this portion of the 911 call by Sergio Celis.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SERGIO CELIS: She had just left for work. I just called her and I told her to get her butt home.
911 OPERATOR: OK.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: I don`t like it. Out to Joe Vega. He is a close friend of the Celis family joining us tonight in a primetime exclusive. Mr. Vega, thank you for being with us.
JOE VEGA, FRIEND OF CELIS FAMILY (via telephone): You`re welcome, Nancy.
GRACE: Joe, a lot has been made of Sergio Celis laughing on the phone when he says he told his wife to, quote, "get her butt home." But what do you make of it?
VEGA: He`s laughing because he said the word "butt." That`s what I get from it. If you know Sergio, he doesn`t swear. He doesn`t -- he`s a real good guy. He hardly swears. I don`t think I`ve heard him say more than two swear words in the last four years I`ve known him.
You know, so I think the fact that he said "butt" and caught himself saying it -- to him, you know, that was -- to him, that`s a -- to him, that was funny even saying the word. I think he just caught himself saying the word. I don`t read anything other than that into that.
GRACE: Joe, I want to thank you for being with us. For a long time, we had hoped that you would speak to us, but it`s my understanding the family, Sergio and Becky Celis, do not want anyone speaking to the media. Is that correct?
VEGA: Well, in the beginning, that`s the way they felt. They wanted to be the first ones to speak. I was actually going to come on your show on one day. Sergio called me probably 15 minutes before I was going to go on with you, and Becky had spoken. They felt it was best that they go on first. That was actually the same day they came out with their first news conference here in Tucson. So they wanted to be the first ones to speak.
Recently, they`ve opened up a little bit more to the media. I told them I`d been contacted. They were OK with it. And I`m only speaking on their behalf. I`m in full support of them -- I`m in full support of Sergio and his family. That`s the only reason I`m speaking, and I want it to be known that myself, all the Little League coaches, family and friends of theirs, we all support them and we`re all on their side.
GRACE: I`m glad to hear that, Mr. Vega, because seeing that you are on his side -- and frankly, I think we should all at this point be on Isabel`s side and not the mother or the father or anybody else`s side, but Isa`s side...
VEGA: I agree. And you know, when I say I`m on Sergio`s side, that`s because of recent events that have happened that have made it harder on the family, especially the two little boys. And that`s what I mean by it.
Of course, I`m on Isabel`s side. The number one priority is bringing Isabel home. But you know, everybody now is pointing the finger at Sergio, and in my opinion, that is not where the finger should be pointed. So you know, I am on his side. I believe in him and I believe he has nothing to do with this.
GRACE: Well, when you say you do not believe that`s where the finger should be pointed, where, if anywhere, do you think it should be pointed? What do you think happened?
VEGA: Yes, I wish I knew. I wish I knew.
GRACE: OK.
VEGA: If I knew, Isabel would be home. You know, I don`t believe...
GRACE: Well, what...
VEGA: I don`t believe it was a stranger. I believe it may be somebody that they know or that knows them. But I do know the immediate family is not involved.
GRACE: Sir, let me ask you a question regarding Sergio. I know that you are close to all the members of the family. Why has he been barred from contact with his boys?
VEGA: I don`t know. That`s another big question. And that, to me, is ridiculous. The boys are -- the boys and Isabel are the most important things in his world. He`s a great father. He`s a great person. He`s a great coach.
All the parents, all the kids that are Little League love him. They have loved him for years. This is ridiculous. And I saw your show last night and I heard people say how unprecedented this was. And I agree. I don`t understand. He`s...
GRACE: Well, have you spoken to him since he was barred?
VEGA: Yes, and I don`t -- I don`t know -- I don`t know why. I don`t have any information on that. I wish I did, but I don`t have (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: You talked to him and he didn`t say why this had happened?
VEGA: I spoke with him Saturday to find out if his son was going to attend our Little League game. And he -- I asked him, you know, What`s going on? He told me he couldn`t tell me. He said he would talk to me soon. He said he couldn`t tell me any details. And of course, I did not want to pry and dig anymore.
I already know he`s hurting. I did not want to make it worse on him by prying and digging. I just told him that I was on his side, I supported him, I believed him. He told me he knows the truth. He told me he believes in his faith, and I know he is a very strong...
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Welcome back. Joining me is a renowned expert in body language and voice analysis. Let`s take a listen to a stunning comparison between the 911 calls.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: The screen was on the ground outside?
SERGIO CELIS: Yes.
911 OPERATOR: What`s your address? What`s your name, sir?
SERGIO CELIS: My name is Sergio -- S-E-R-G-I-O -- then initial D, last name is C-E-L-I-S.
911 OPERATOR: "S" as in Sam?
SERGIO CELIS: Yes.
911 OPERATOR: OK. What`s her name?
SERGIO CELIS: Isabel. I-S-B-E-L -- I-S-A-B-E-L, M as in man is the middle initial.
911 OPERATOR: OK. Same last name?
SERGIO CELIS: Yes.
911 OPERATOR: OK, what`s her actual birth date?
OK. Is Mom there, also?
SERGIO CELIS: She had just left for work. I just called her and I told her to get her butt home.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: Who noticed her gone, your husband?
BECKY CELIS: My husband. I went to work this morning at 7:00, and I just -- and I didn`t even come in and check on her! I should have checked on her!
911 OPERATOR: OK, all right. Just take a deep breath, OK?
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: Out to Aaron Brehove joining me from D.C., body language and voice analyst. Weigh in, Aaron. What are your observations?
AARON BREHOVE, BODY LANGUAGE EXPERT: Well, we see the difference between these two parents. We see that it`s not congruent, that he`s very calm, almost lackadaisical, while the mother is so grief-stricken and crying, the operator actually has to tell her to calm down at one point.
And then we also see that Sergio laughs at one point. And we see that people laugh for three different reasons, typically. It`s either happiness, embarrassment or duping delight. And that`s when a little deception is there.
So I don`t think he`s going to be happy at this point. I don`t know why he would be embarrassed. So duping delight is -- seems to be the most probable situation.
GRACE: What is duping delight?
BREHOVE: Duping delight is when people try to tell a lie or try to be deceitful, and they come across and they`re a little bit happy when they get away with something, almost.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECKY CELIS: She`s only 6. Could you please hurry and get somebody over here!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Little Isabel, 6 years old and abducted.
911 OPERATOR: OK, what`s her name?
SERGIO CELIS: Isabel -- I-S-B-E-L -- I-S-A-B-E-L...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s very calm and he`s almost jovial.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining me tonight in a primetime exclusive is a very dear friend of the Celis family. Joe Vega is joining us. Joe, I know that you have spoken to Sergio Celis, Isabel`s father, since he was barred from contact with his two remaining boys. Has he taken a polygraph? And if so, did he pass it?
VEGA: That I don`t know. I didn`t -- we have not talked about that. All I know is basically what you know, what I`ve heard. I don`t know if he has. I don`t know if he passed. That`s not even an issue for me at all. I didn`t ask him about that. He didn`t tell me about that.
GRACE: What do you guys talk about, Joe?
VEGA: I called him Saturday to ask if his son was going to attend our baseball game. We had a baseball game Saturday night, to find out if he was going to be there. I called him Saturday morning. He didn`t answer the phone. I left him a message.
He returned my call Saturday afternoon to let me know his son wasn`t going to go to the game. I did ask him, you know, What`s going on? And I`ve heard some things. And he couldn`t go -- he told me he couldn`t go into it.
He kind of broke down a little bit, and I could tell he was hurting because of the boys, couldn`t be with the boys. He was letting me know that he could, hopefully, soon talk to me more. He just couldn`t at that time.
It was just basically a quick conversation to let me know his boy wasn`t going to be at our game. I`m the one that asked for more information. He couldn`t give me any. And we left it at that.
GRACE: Joining me right now, Alexis Tereszcuk, senior reporter, Radaronline.com. Alexis, what more can you tell us?
ALEXIS TERESZCUK, RADARONLINE.COM: Well, Nancy, we actually learned there have been polygraphs taken. Both of the parents have passed -- I`m sorry, have taken the polygraphs. We do not know if they have passed them or not yet.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Jennifer Smetters, Chicago, Hugo Rodriguez, Miami, Parag Shaw, Atlanta. First of all, to you, Parag Shaw, weigh in.
PARAG SHAW, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, the fact that they haven`t released the polygraph doesn`t mean anything right now. It`s inadmissible and...
GRACE: I didn`t ask you that. We all know it`s inadmissible in court unless it`s stipulated ahead of time by both sides. I`m asking you about Sergio Celis`s demeanor on the 911 call.
SHAW: Odd behavior is suspicious, but odd behavior is not a conviction. That`s just some nervousness, possibly. It doesn`t prove anything. At the very most, his demeanor doesn`t even get you probable cause. It`s just, you know, something that they`re trying to do to cast some suspicion on him.
GRACE: Who is they?
SHAW: And it has no basis.
GRACE: Who is they, Parag? Who is they? He`s the one that made the 911 call. Who is the "they" they`re talking about?
SHAW: The "they" is the police. They already say they have a thousand tips. They don`t know where they`re going. They`re holding him hostage...
GRACE: The police didn`t...
SHAW: ... just to keep attention...
GRACE: ... make the 911 call!
SHAW: ... on the parents.
GRACE: The police didn`t make the call.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: So who noticed her gone? Your husband?
REBECCA CELIS, MOTHER OF MISSING 6-YEAR-OLD ISABEL CELIS: My husband. I went to work this morning at 7:00 and I just -- and I didn`t even come in and check on her. I should have checked on her.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. All right. Just take a deep breath, OK?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: Welcome back. You`ve just heard sound of the mother of Isabel Celis at the time she was reported missing. The mom, Becky Celis, flying home from work where she works as a nurse to discover police on the way to her home, in stark contrast to her husband calling in.
Back to the lawyers. Jennifer Smetters, Hugo Rodriguez, Parag Shah. You know, you just heard Shah say that a lot of people are nervous on 911 but, Jennifer Smetters, family law attorney, Chicago, if there ever is a trial, this 911 call is going to be played, state`s exhibit number one.
JENNIFER SMETTERS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Absolutely, and it`s going to be extremely damaging. There is nothing that I could perceive in this man`s voice that has any sense of drama, emotion, emergency, desperation. Those are the emotions that a father who`s scared to death as to the whereabouts of his baby child would be. We don`t hear that.
We hear aloofness. We hear manipulation. We hear calm and calculated and jovial. It`s disgusting, and this is going to his own words will be turned against him at trial if evidence supports that he has some hand in this.
GRACE: OK, Rodriguez --
HUGO RODRIGUEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY, FMR. FBI AGENT: Why is he a suspect? Why -- what trial? Why is he a suspect?
GRACE: He`s not.
RODRIGUEZ: It may be unusual. We may not handle it but why are we making him a suspect?
GRACE: OK.
RODRIGUEZ: He has done nothing wrong.
GRACE: Number one -- hold it, everybody. OK? You`re just lawyers on TV, as am I, OK? We`re not making him a suspect. We`re not charging him. We are analyzing the facts as we know them tonight.
And here on his behalf is Joe Vega, a very close family friend, and two renowned defense attorneys. He doesn`t need a defense attorney. He`s not charged with anything. But I --
RODRIGUEZ: Good.
GRACE: -- agree with the voice analyst that this is very odd behavior.
Let me ask you just one question, it`s a yes or no answer, Hugo. Yes or no, do you have children? That`s all I want to know.
RODRIGUEZ: Yes.
GRACE: OK. Stop.
RODRIGUEZ: And it is unusual.
GRACE: I knew that wasn`t going to work.
RODRIGUEZ: And let`s not convict him.
GRACE: Again, you`re a TV talking head. You don`t have the power to convict anybody but thanks for blurting that out as if it mattered.
Hugo, I don`t know if you were active in child rearing or if you shuttled that off to your wife, but if you were, there had to be a moment in history where one of your children got away in the toy store, in K-Mart, in the grocery store, did that ever happen to you even once?
RODRIGUEZ: Yes, Nancy.
GRACE: All right.
RODRIGUEZ: And his demeanor is unusual. But let`s not make anything more of it than that. End. That`s it. It`s unusual. That`s it.
GRACE: I`ll keep that in mind.
RODRIGUEZ: But let`s not cast -- let`s not cast anything else, make it any bigger than what it is right now. That`s all I`m saying.
GRACE: OK. You know --
RODRIGUEZ: I heard somebody say if he went to trial.
GRACE: I appreciate that. I appreciate that. But we are analyzing the facts as we know them tonight, and the 911 calls have just been released and I just got my mitts on them and I am analyzing every single word. Thank you for your input.
RODRIGUEZ: I understand but --
GRACE: Marc Klaas, president and founder of KlaasKids Foundation. Marc, weigh in.
MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: Well, you know, it`s not just the 911 call. It`s the fact that it`s very suspicious activity on the 911 call but he can`t see his kids. He was reluctant to talk to the press. He was the last one to see Isabel alive. The supposed inconsistencies in his story, the fact that he`s being isolated from everybody else in the case, and the fact that law enforcement has not recused him as a suspect.
These are all red flags that make this guy look increasingly suspect, and, until he does something to absolve himself, to get himself away from that profile, number one, people are going to continue to look at him and, number two, law enforcement is going to be putting too much resource into the family and not enough resource into the other possibilities.
GRACE: Hey, Marc Klaas, I want you to repeat kind of what you just said, but I want you to speak directly to Hugo Rodriguez and Parag Shah, defense attorney out of Atlanta, because you`ve been there. They haven`t. None of us have. You have. Your daughter was taken out of her home and she was murdered. Polly was murdered.
And it`s very rare that I even say that out loud with you on a panel with me, Mark Klaas, because I know how I feel as a tangential victim of murder, I don`t want to -- I don`t want to hear it thrown in my face all the time. But the point is not to paint the father as a villain.
And Joe Vega, join in here with me. We`re not painting him as a villain. But until he gets out from under this cloud of suspicion, if he does, focus is going to be on him and police are wasting time if he is not involved in this.
Explain what I`m trying to say for me, Marc Klaas.
KLAAS: Well, you`re absolutely correct, and we`re getting messages from law enforcement and God knows why they continue to talk about the money they`re spending. I think that that`s totally inappropriate. But the message is really clear that if this case isn`t solved and solved rather quickly, it may go cold and we may find ourselves without not only suspects but without a child and with a lot of attention still being focused on the father. It`s his job to clear himself as quickly as he can and as prudently as he can so that law enforcement can move on to the other possibilities and ultimately bring this little girl home.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: To Doctor --
JOE VEGA, CLOSE FRIEND OF CELIS FAMILY: He hasn`t been charged with anything.
GRACE: OK, Joe Vega, I`m going to have Marc Klaas -- thank you for asking that question, Joe. And, Hugo, I get where you`re coming from. But I am siding with Klaas on this.
RODRIGUEZ: I agree with you, Nancy.
GRACE: Of course under the constitution, he doesn`t have to explain anything.
RODRIGUEZ: No, Nancy, I agree. The question was, could this be used against him in a trial? That`s what bothers me. We`ve gone -- we`ve made a quantum leap. I agree with everything Mr. Klaas is saying, and I agree with everything you`re saying, but let`s not -- pigeonhole him into being a suspect or going to trial. That`s all.
GRACE: Marc, I`m going to ask you to explain it to Joe one more time because you`ve been there and we haven`t. He doesn`t have to explain anything. He doesn`t have to clear anything. But the longer he is functioning under a cloud of suspicion, he`s taking -- he`s stealing resources that could be used to find whoever took Isabel, Marc.
KLAAS: There`s one focus of this investigation, and that focus is to find Isabel and it to bring her home. Excuse me, the other focus for law enforcement is to find the person that has committed the crime against them. The numbers always point to the family. In the vast, vast majority of cases, it`s family members that are involved in the disappearance of the child. Therefore, they have to eliminate themselves so law enforcement can go in other directions.
GRACE: To Janet in Arizona. Hi, Janet, what`s your question?
JANET, CALLER FROM ARIZONA: I just want to know why he finds it funny. You know what is his -- why is he laughing when he`s trying to call in, reporting that his daughter is missing from home? Why would he -- where would he find a chuckle at?
GRACE: Well, you know, Janet in Arizona, his friend is with us tonight, being his voice, Joe Vega is a friend of the entire family, who says it`s because he thinks he used the word butt, B-U-T-T, which is highly uncharacteristic of him. Maybe I`m projecting but I recall when John David got away from me in a Babies "R" Us and I remember the feeling that I had when he didn`t answer me, and the way I reacted.
Dr. Gwenn O`Keefe, physician, founder of Pediatricsnow.com in Boston. Dr. O`Keefe, I`ll never forget that moment. I could hear myself screaming but it sounded like it was coming from somebody else. And I guarantee you, every security guard in that store came to me. The doors were locked that minute. We found him playing hide and go seek later, but, Dr. Gwenn O`Keefe, how do parents behave when they come into the emergency room with a sick child?
DR. GWENN O`KEEFE, M.D., PEDIATRICIAN, FOUNDER & CEO, PEDIATRICSNOW.COM: Well, I have to tell you, Nancy, I`ve had the same experience with my kids. Even as they`ve gotten older, you have -- just have that sick feeling in your stomach. And as a parent, that`s a normal reaction. And when parents come into a doctor`s office or an emergency room, when anything is going wrong, they are just panicked.
Calming them down is really a challenge. And it`s a palpable emotion. You can see it on their face. You can feel it as they walk into the office. And it`s really something that as pediatricians we spend a long time learning how to -- how to handle.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Welcome back. We have just obtained the 911 calls in the disappearance of 6-year-old Isabel Celis. Joining me, Brian Russell, forensics psychologist joining me out of Kansas tonight. Also with me renowned body language and voice analyst expert Aaron Brehove.
Gentlemen, you both heard Becky, Rebecca Celis. Let me hear your analysis, Brian.
BRIAN RUSSELL, FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST (via phone): Nancy, do you remember the case of Kelsey Smith here in Kansas City?
GRACE: Yes.
RUSSELL: Her father was a police officer and even with all of the police training that he had, he still sounded distraught when he talked about her missing.
The mother in this case sounds genuinely distraught about a missing child. The father does not. It`s bizarre. It doesn`t take a PhD in clinical psychology to know that it is bizarre and quite disturbing.
GRACE: Well, I think all of us are projecting about that moment that our child went missing in a store or some other emergency took place.
Let me hear from you, Aaron Brehove, regarding your analysis of the mom.
AARON BREHOVE, BODY LANGUAGE AND VOICE ANALYSIS EXPERT: Well, we see this incongruency between the mother and the father. So we see her very emotional and we assume that he called her to come home, and we would see that he has no emotion. There`s no emotion coming through in his voice. How did she get so emotional from this?
This is -- their daughter is missing, and she said this, you would figure they would be on par, they would be congruent in their emotions. When they`re so far off, it really raises a lot of questions, a lot of red flags.
GRACE: And I want to go to Greg Kading, former LAPD, detective, author of "Murder Rap."
Greg, take a listen to this along with the rest of the panel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
R. CELIS: Hello?
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Hello, ma`am. Are you the mom?
R. CELIS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. What is your name?
R. CELIS: My name is Rebecca Celis. C-E-L-I-S.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. Anything else you remember she was wearing and her hair?
R. CELIS: Her hair is in braids. It`s in little ponytails. I made little ponytails on her head last night before she went to bed.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. And that was the Old Navy shirt with the flag and Navy shorts?
R. CELIS: Yes, and she`s only 5, she`s only 6. Could you please hurry and get somebody over here?
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Officers are already on the way, ma`am. We`re just getting more information from you, OK?
R. CELIS: OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Greg Kading, former LAPD detective, you have dealt with so many parents that are missing their children or others in their family. I want to hear their normal responses.
GREG KADING, FORMER LAPD DETECTIVE, AUTHOR OF "MURDER RAP": They sound much like the mother does in this case, very sincere, very distraught, very unlike the husband and father sounds. Very unusual. In and of itself not suspicious. Unusual. But when you take that into consideration with all the other activities, all the other issues surrounding him, it does become suspicious. And I would call him suspect.
GRACE: To Alexis Tereszcuk, senior reporter, Radaronline.com, what we are not hearing because they are juveniles, is that the 911 also heard from a brother. What did we learn from the brother, Alexis?
ALEXIS TERESZCUK, REPORTER, RADAROLINE.COM: Well, much like his mother, he is in a panic. He is very upset. He is begging the police, when he`s on the phone, begging them to hurry and come. He`s saying he doesn`t see his little sister. He actually says there`s a screen in the backyard but, again, he`s distraught that his little sister is missing and begging and begging and begging for someone to come and help them.
GRACE: To the lines, Carol, Pennsylvania. Hi, Carol. What`s your question?
CAROL, CALLER FROM PENNSYLVANIA: Hi, Nancy. It`s a pleasure talking with you.
GRACE: Likewise.
CAROL: Thank you for taking my call. I was just wondering if the police are getting any closer to having some concrete evidence on Sergio Celis to be able to name him a prime suspect in his daughter`s disappearance. His whole demeanor, the lack of emotion, the lack of tears at the press conference, and the fact that he was able to chuckle when reporting his precious daughter missing, it just boggles my mind.
GRACE: To Joe Vega, this is the very dear friend of the Celis family, including Sergio Celis, the father.
Joe, in addition to answering that question, I`d really like to find out how the two little boys are doing.
VEGA: It`s hard on them. I spoke with both boys and Becky last night. They both can`t believe what -- all three of them, they can`t believe what`s happening. The situation has just been made worse now that they can`t see their father.
Becky and the boys do not believe Sergio was involved in any way. They`re outraged about what`s happened. They`re -- it`s hard for the boys. They`re trying to get back into baseball -- trying to get back to playing baseball now, trying to put some of this behind them, get some normality back in their lives, but, you know, right when they try to do that, something like this happens.
You know, they`re been very upset, you know, and it`s upsetting to hear how everybody was making their judgments about Sergio and nobody knows him. You know, I spoke with him, you know, a day are or so after this happened, you know, and everybody on your panel didn`t hear him crying on the phone to me.
When I spoke with him Saturday, they didn`t hear him break down on the phone when he was talking to me. You know, we have all these experts saying this, but there are six billion people on the planet. Are they all supposed to act the same?
GRACE: You know what, I agree, Joe. I do. But I think that what Marc Klaas was saying earlier is a good point, and that is, it`s not just him laughing on the 911 call. It`s not just him stating that he won`t reveal whether he passed a polygraph or not. It`s not that. It`s that he`s the last one that saw the little girl. He`s the last one that was with her.
He`s the one who discovered her missing. He is the one that`s been banned from being with his other children. All of that put together is creating a cloud of suspicion, Joe. I know that you are hearing me. I know you are, but on the other hand you`re also --
VEGA: I do. I understand it. You know, but I don`t believe -- I don`t believe it. And, you know, the CPS system here in Tucson doesn`t have a very good name for itself over the last few years, you know, and now they`re doing this and to be unprecedented and not even let him have supervised visitation rights. You know my personal opinion is --
GRACE: Can I ask you what you mean by they, the police, are doing this? What are police doing?
VEGA: I don`t know what police are doing.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Well, you just said now they are doing this. What is it you`re talking about?
VEGA: Keeping Sergio away from his boys. I believe it --
GRACE: Well, why don`t you ask him and find out? You talked to him. Why didn`t you say why won`t they let you be with your boys? I would have asked that out of natural curiosity.
VEGA: I did ask him that on Saturday --
GRACE: And what did he say?
VEGA: And he would not tell me. He said he could not tell me.
GRACE: Why couldn`t he tell you? I understand that he doesn`t want to tell the police because he thinks -- I mean the press because it might impede the investigation, but you`re his -- one of his best friends. Why can`t he tell you?
VEGA: I don`t know. I got the impression that he was advised not to tell me or tell anybody.
GRACE: Does he have a lawyer?
VEGA: I don`t know that. I don`t know.
GRACE: Well, if he doesn`t have a lawyer, I don`t know who would be doing this advising.
Everyone, quick break. I want to remind you, our family album is back showing your photos from iReport. Here are Philadelphia friends, the D`Amicos. Here`s grandmother Gilda with son Don, doing a dance at her 100th birthday party. She passed away with three generations of family with her.
Share your photos at iReport family album at hlnTV.com/Nancygrace and click on Nancy`s Family Album.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Out to the lines. Marie, Mississippi. Hi, dear, what`s your question?
MARIE, CALLER FROM MISSISSIPPI: Hi, Nancy. Thank you for taking my call.
GRACE: Thank you for calling.
MARIE: My question is, it seems now that nowadays it`s standard operating procedure to investigate by thoroughly going through someone`s computer, and the fact that the police stated that whoever did this took great care to cover their tracks, yet they found something in the course of the investigation that led them to keep him away from the boys, leads me to believe that maybe they found something on his computer.
GRACE: Good question. What do we know, Paul Birmingham, KNST?
PAUL BIRMINGHAM, NEWS DIRECTOR, KNST, 790AM/97.1FM (via phone): At this point police have not said specifically about the computer but one has to believe even if that was not recovered from their home they could talk to Internet service providers --
GRACE: Got it.
BIRMINGHAM: -- to try and get that information.
GRACE: Nancy, New York. What`s your question, Nancy?
NANCY, CALLER FROM NEW YORK: Oh, thank you for taking my call. After listening to all these people, I wanted to tell you, I rented an apartment, and I can actually hear -- through the walls from another apartment. And he`s so casual in that laughter. And said so he wants the grocery list and telling his wife to get her butt home. Where`s she going to hear when you hear that? And how do you forget to check on your child? That makes no sense to me. Nothing makes sense.
GRACE: You know what, Nancy in New York, many, many viewers, thousands of them, agree with you.
Let`s stop and remember Army Staff Sergeant Larry Rougle, 25, Taylorsville, Utah, killed Afghanistan. Bronze Star, Purple Heart, two Army Commendation Medals, two National Defense Service Medals. On a sixth tour, buried at Arlington. Loved football, basketball, karate. Leaves behind parents Ismael and Nancy, brother, David, widow, Jackie, daughter, Carmen.
Larry Rougle, American hero.
Thanks to our guests but especially to you.
And a special good night from friends of the show, Eva and Brenda.
And happy birthday to Texas friend, Dudley. A Hall of Fame auctioneer. Helped start a hospital and fire department and called horse races for two decades. He loves dancing and traveling and time with wife, Cookie, and grandchildren.
National Brain Tumor Awareness Month. Each year 200,000 in the U.S. diagnosed. Miles for Hope raising funds. Runs, walks across the country. For more info, go to milesforhope.org.
Everyone, 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
