Return to Transcripts main page
Nancy Grace
Murdered Bathtub Bride`s Groom on the Run
Aired May 16, 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, Illinois suburbs. A beautiful 26-year-old bride last seen literally walking down the aisle, 48 hours later, she`s found stabbed to death in her sequinned designer wedding dress in a bone-dry bathtub.
Bombshell tonight. In the last hours, we uncover surveillance footage of the bride in full regalia, gorgeous, sequinned wedding dress, that night leaving reception festivities. Little did we know it would be the last wedding photo ever. We have the video.
As we go to air, stunning reports the new groom -- he`s not at home grieving. He`s not at the police station. He`s not with the family. Tonight, the groom apparently on the run in a jet black Maserati.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Beautiful ceremony, gorgeous dress.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just hours after they said their vows.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twenty-six-year-old Estrella Carrera.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Found stabbed to death in her bathtub.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Found in her wedding dress.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Multiple stab wounds, dry bathtub.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wearing a silver sequinned cocktail dress from her wedding celebration.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brand-new groom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Arnoldo Jimenez.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Husband of a bride.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She apparently failed to pick up her kids.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They brought someone out in a body bag.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last seen driving a black 2006 Maserati after his wedding reception.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He could have changed vehicles. He could be traveling with somebody else.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why would you take her from us?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. In the last hours, we uncover surveillance footage of the bride. She`s in full regalia, a gorgeous sequinned wedding dress. That night, she`s leaving the reception festivities.
And as we go to air, stunning reports emerge the new groom is not at home grieving. He`s not at the police station with the cops or with his family. Apparently, at this hour, the groom apparently on the run in a jet black Maserati. Whoa! A Maserati? That`s over a $100,000 vehicle.
Right now, in the field, joining me live, Jean Casarez, legal correspondent, "In Session." Jean, what happened?
JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION": Nancy, they had just gotten married. And then after that, it was time for the celebration. They went out to dinner. They got a limo. They went to a nightclub. And then everybody disbanded about 4:00 o`clock in the morning. That`s the last time anybody ever saw Estrella.
She was found in her wedding dress in the bathtub, and her husband -- he took off in his $115,000 Maserati.
GRACE: You know -- with us, everyone, Jean Casarez is in the field -- a woman is found in her designer sequinned wedding dress. This is just hours after she walks down the aisle. Tonight, we uncover surveillance footage of her leaving reception festivities. She still has on her sequinned designer wedding gown, found stabbed multiple times in a bone-dry bathtub.
And it wasn`t the groom who reports her missing, it`s a sister. Now, this really narrows it down to likely suspects. Who would have been around her at the time when she`s just leaving her own wedding? At this hour, the new groom apparently on the run.
Back to you, Jean Casarez. Give me the timeline of the wedding up to the point where we know she is reported missing.
CASAREZ: The wedding about 4:00 o`clock in the afternoon, and then they start the celebration. They get a limo. They go to dinner. They go to a couple of other places. They finish off at a nightclub at about 4:00 in the morning. Everybody goes their separate ways.
And then after that, we believe that the bride and the groom go back to her apartment. And then after, that she was never heard from again.
Finally, the next day, she hadn`t come to her family`s home. They did a welfare check on her. They asked for that. And that`s when authorities at 2:00 o`clock the next afternoon found her lifeless body in her wedding dress in the bathtub, stabbed to death.
GRACE: Now, apparently, the bride had been dating the groom for about three years. They had put off a honeymoon. They had the wedding. They have the reception. They`re with their friends. They stay out and party. She`s still got on her wedding dress when about 48 hours pass, her sister doesn`t hear from her, and she calls police.
We are taking your calls. Out to Josh in West Virginia -- oh, John in West Virginia. Hi, John. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, Nancy. Thank you very much for taking my call. We`re looking at a $100,000, $110,000 Maserati. Whose car was it? Was it his? Was it hers? And could this very well be financially related?
GRACE: John in West Virginia, I got a couple of the answers myself. I know it wasn`t her car. She is an interpreter for Spanish/English social services. So she helps the needy. She`s, like, a social worker. So I know -- having been a public servant all my life, I know she could not afford, as you say, $110,000, $115,000 Maserati. So where did the money come from?
Out to you Robyn Walensky, anchor with TheBlaze.
ROBYN WALENSKY, THEBLAZE.COM: You know what, Nancy? Nobody knows. Even police are not saying what this guy does for a living. We cannot figure it out, where he got the money for this $100,000-plus car. Now, he`s driving an older model, but still, even an older model Maserati still costs close to $100,000.
What`s really strange about this story that struck me is that how do you go on a Friday afternoon from saying, "I do" and "I love you" and getting married to "I don`t" and "I hate you" and a violent argument, perhaps, that led to her possibly, you know, being stabbed to death in the bathtub.
GRACE: You know, so many women dream of the moment they walk down the aisle. It`s the beginning of happily ever after. And in those vows, you typically say, "Till death do us part." Little did this bride know, "Till death do us part" meant only about 12 hours.
We`re taking your calls. Unleash the lawyers. Joining me tonight out of Chicago Kelly Saindon, former prosecutor, Renee Rockwell, defense attorney, Atlanta, Mickey Sherman, defense attorney and author of "How Can You Defend Those People?"
All right, Renee, the groom is on the run.
RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: How do you know that, Nancy?
GRACE: That`s my interpretation. He hasn`t been seen. He can`t be found. Last seen in a Maserati. Well, why isn`t he with the family? Why isn`t he grieving? Why hasn`t he met with cops?
ROCKWELL: Why can`t he be a victim also, Nancy? Just because he`s not around doesn`t mean he hasn`t fallen to some kind of disaster, also. He`s in a big, nice car. He could have gotten kidnapped and taken away. Just a thought.
GRACE: I`d like you to put Ms. Rockwell up when she spins her tales on national TV! There`s absolutely no evidence, not a scintilla of evidence to suggest that he is a victim. Hold on.
Jean Casarez is out in the field. Jean, hasn`t he been spotted in the Maserati?
CASAREZ: You know, there have been a lot of sightings of a Maserati in and around Illinois, because that is the state all of this happened in. No sightings of him, however. But speculation is he could have abandoned the car at this point.
GRACE: We are waiting and standing by to find out if police have made a positive ID, and if they are going to be able to find the boyfriend, to find the new groom.
Back to you, Rockwell.
ROCKWELL: Well, Nancy, aren`t we being precipitous if we`re making him a suspect already? Just because he`s the closest one to her doesn`t mean he`s guilty.
GRACE: OK.
ROCKWELL: So I say we wait to find out...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Let me repeat to the New York control room, please put up the lawyers. Thank you. All right, Renee, just answer as simply as possible in light of the fact that you are a lawyer and do have a JD. All right, Renee, who was the last person seen with her alive?
ROCKWELL: If it`s him, it does not...
GRACE: Excuse me! That would be...
ROCKWELL: ... that he killed her.
GRACE: Could you just answer? It was the groom. What was she wearing at the time of her murder, Renee?
ROCKWELL: Her wedding dress. Does not mean that he...
GRACE: And who was she last seen with while wearing her wedding dress?
ROCKWELL: The groom.
GRACE: And who also has access to her apartment, beside her, where she was found dead?
ROCKWELL: The groom. But that does not mean that he`s not also a victim, Nancy.
GRACE: And Mickey Sherman, who hasn`t been found at this hour?
MICKEY SHERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Objection. You`re harassing the guest lawyer, by the way.
GRACE: The groom.
SHERMAN: I got to -- I got to defend Renee. You know, just because he`s not around, just because he`s got a fancy are car and he`s got a crappy record, that doesn`t necessarily mean he is the killer. He may be part of a victim -- he may be a victim in another plot, for all we know. Remember back when Jennifer Willbanks...
GRACE: OK, let me just...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: No, I never thought her husband did it. I never thought her husband did it because he had an alibi and because he was doing everything right, looking for her, cooperating with police, going on searches himself.
SHERMAN: But we were castigating him for not taking a lie detector test on -- that was televised. It`s not always as it seems.
GRACE: Can we -- can we get back to this case?
SHERMAN: OK.
GRACE: OK? Now, Mickey, what is the fabricated scenario in which the groom is somehow a crime victim?
SHERMAN: Well, we don`t know. And that`s what Renee is -- the point she was making. We just don`t know...
GRACE: That`s what Renee was making up.
SHERMAN: All we know is the woman is dead and the guy is not around. That may mean that he killed her, but it doesn`t necessarily mean that.
GRACE: All right, out to you, Kelly Saindon, former prosecutor. What do you know?
KELLY SAINDON, FORMER PROSECUTOR: As a prosecutor, I know this looks really bad for him, the fact that he`s on the run, the fact that neighbors didn`t hear a sign of a struggle. You`re exactly right, he`s the last to see her alive.
They have a turbulent past. He`s hit her in the past. He`s on the run, Nancy. So I`m not buying these fabricated theories that he`s a victim. I think that he is the number one suspect for a reason. They`re going after him.
We heard about sightings. Why isn`t he around? Why isn`t he saying, Help bring my wife`s killer to justice? It`s not happening because he`s somehow involved, and I don`t see him as a victim here.
GRACE: OK, Renee, I want you to think back a couple of years. Do you remember when -- think hard, rack your brain -- Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman were found dead in the front yard with their heads nearly chopped off? Who went on the run in a low-speed car chase in a white Bronco?
ROCKWELL: And who got acquitted?
(LAUGHTER)
GRACE: And who was guilty anyway? O.J. Simpson.
ROCKWELL: Oh, well, we don`t have to talk about that. That case is over. But Nancy, obviously...
GRACE: That`s convenient!
ROCKWELL: Yes, and then there was another little mishap in Vegas. But at any rate, Nancy, it`s still too early. I wasn`t in the room. I don`t know what happened. Sure, he`s the likely suspect. But can we not execute him until we find out what happened?
GRACE: OK, hold on. Out to the lines. Dawn in Illinois. Hi, Dawn. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, Nancy. I`m so glad to finally get to talk to you.
GRACE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is, I`m wondering if this may be another Dipolito situation. Does he maybe have life insurance on this young lady?
GRACE: Well, you know, a typical problem with the whole life insurance scenario is if the person is murdered, you don`t get to collect on life insurance. But that`s a good point.
Do we know -- straight back out to you, Jean Casarez. What about that question from Illinois? Was there life insurance involved?
CASAREZ: We don`t know. But she held down that full-time job as a translator for a welfare agency. Were there benefits that she had? Could he collect now that he was the husband...
GRACE: Oh, please, Jean! Jean, Jean, Jean! What`s he going to get? She`s a public servant. What is he going to get, health and dental coverage?
CASAREZ: You know what? Maybe he needs to make the payments on the Maserati and he needs the money, anything he can get.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why? Why would you take her from us?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was not necessarily the stuff of fairy tales.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Carrera and 30-year-old Arnoldo Jimenez were married on Friday. It was all celebration for a Burbank bride one day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Estrella Carrera was found stabbed to death in the bathtub.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s 26 years old. She still has a life to live.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her body lying in a dry bathtub, stabbed to death.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was still in the dress she wore to the reception.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A death investigation now under way to find the murdered bride`s killer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bring justice for the family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: As we go to air, we uncover surveillance video of the young 26-year-old bride still in full regalia. There you see her in a designer sequinned wedding dress. She`s leaving the reception festivities right there. Little did we know that when we obtained this video, this was the last wedding photo ever for this young bride, Estrella found dead, multiple stab wounds, found in a bone-dry bathtub.
And at this hour, the groom is nowhere to be found, last seen in a jet black Maserati, price tag over $100,000. Now, the two had been together for about three years. They have a child, a 2-year-old child, together. At this hour, we believe the child is with her family. The groom is nowhere to be found.
And we are taking your calls. Out to Danita in Virginia. Hi, Danita. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. My question is, the guy was -- is he related to a gang, or you know, doing drugs, you know, owe somebody, and they...
GRACE: You know, I just keep wondering the same thing, Ellie Jostad. Where does he get money to buy a Maserati? And come on, let`s see a map, Dana. Where could he be headed? If he is headed to Mexico, what do you think the border patrol is going to snooze through a Maserati coming through border patrol, a jet black Maserati? I mean, how can you hide in something like that, Ellie?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right. That`s already attracting attention, and it`s certainly raising questions with investigators, who say they can`t find any job that this guy had, any source of income that`s on the books. So they`re wondering, too, where is this guy getting his money? How did he pay for this car? But they`re certainly hoping that somebody is going to spot him in this very distinctive, very expensive vehicle and turn him in.
GRACE: Joining me right now is a longtime friend of the murdered bride. Jesus is with us. He does not want to be identified until the groom has been found. Jesus, are you with us?
JESUS, FRIEND OF MURDERED BRIDE (via telephone): Yes.
GRACE: Jesus, how did she, this beautiful, young interpreter in social work -- how did she get hooked up with the groom?
JESUS: I have no idea how her type of personality ends up with a person like him. He`s very -- he was very I want to say, you know, controlling her and she was very liberal.
GRACE: When you say, Jesus, that he was controlling, Arnoldo Jimenez -- what makes you say he, Arnoldo, the groom, was controlling?
JESUS: Well, I mean, he was very quiet. He had an anger in him always. He was very short-tempered and -- I mean, you know, there`s been cases between them, too, where he had beaten her. So you know, I mean, there was already things that were happening that (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: Did you just say he beat her?
JESUS: Yes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police are searching for a man whose wife was found dead in her bathtub.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She apparently failed to pick up her kids.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They found her dead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And left her dead in the bathtub.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was found stabbed to death in the bathtub.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A silver sequinned cocktail dress from her wedding celebration.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) out in a body bag.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last seen driving a black 2006 Maserati.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are live and taking your calls. Take a look at this bride, a beautiful young woman devoted to social services. She was Spanish/English interpreter. Estrella Carrera, just 26 years old, found dead in a bone-dry bathtub still wearing her sequinned designer wedding dress -- she`s absolutely stunning -- leaving behind a 2-year-old little boy who tonight wants Mommy. At this hour, the groom, the new groom, nowhere to be found, last seen in a jet black Maserati.
We are taking your calls. Out to C.W. Jensen, retired Portland police captain. C.W., what do you make of this? You heard the defense already spinning a web of what might have happened, totally ignoring the facts, of course. But this guy is on the run. There`s no two ways of explaining it.
C.W. JENSEN, RETIRED PORTLAND POLICE CAPTAIN: Nancy, apparently, you and I are the only people here that are being rational tonight. Here`s what happened. They went home hours after this wedding. They got in an argument, and this dirtbag grabbed a knife. She probably ran to the bathroom. He followed her. He stabbed her multiple times and he fled.
And he is running from the cops. He`s probably scared. This was probably a -- you know, as they say, a crime of passion or just anger. And he`s not -- hey, he`s not a brain surgeon. God knows where he got a Maserati. But he`s running scared right now, and he`s going to get caught.
GRACE: Well, you know what? When you say that, C.W., I agree with you 200 percent. But the fact that he`s not a brain surgeon? I still say, Pat Brown, criminal profiler, remember another car chase, where Orenthal James Simpson was (INAUDIBLE) along in a white Bronco, slow-speed chase, and he managed to be acquitted. I mean, to me, it`s black and white. But apparently, when I hear from Renee Rockwell and Mickey Sherman, they seem to think it`s extremely gray.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, yes, I agree entirely with what I just heard. We know about domestic abuse. Domestic abuse always escalates at some point. and when there`s a lot of pressure around or a lot of high emotions, then it can get out of control.
An we`re talking about an impromptu wedding that just popped up, that really happened very quickly. You`re getting tired on the wedding night. You`re drinking too much. God knows if he thought she was flirting with someone or she didn`t want to have sex that night.
Yes, the fact she was in the bathroom shows me the same thing that was just said. She got backed in there because she couldn`t get out the door, so the guy backed her into the bathroom and attacked her. It`s not a crime of passion. It`s a crime of anger and control.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This picture of Carrera celebrating with family after marrying her boyfriend of three years.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Just hours after her wedding --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And she did not pick up her two children --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police found her body in the bathtub of her condo.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: In her wedding dress stabbed several times.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She was wearing the same sequined dress.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The groom apparently is nowhere to be found.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: If there was a honeymoon, it was long over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: We are live and taking your calls. At this hour we`ve obtained surveillance video of what apparently is the last wedding photo of this gorgeous, young, 26-year-old bride. She marries the man of her dreams after a courtship of three years. Then she is found about 72 hours later stabbed to death, still wearing her sequined designer wedding dress, her body in a bone-dry bathtub.
We are taking your calls. Straight out to Jean Casarez joining us live in the field.
Jean, for those viewers just joining us, explain the timeline to me.
JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": Well, first of all, this is a couple that took out a wedding license together at the beginning of May intending to get married, and they did just that. They took vows at city hall in the afternoon. They then went out to dinner, got a limousine, went to some other places. Ended up at a nightclub and this beautiful girl, Estrella, which means star, Nancy, in Spanish, she had her wedding dress on. They finish at about 4:00 in the morning, friends and family leave. They go back to her apartment, and she is then found dead in her beautiful designer wedding dress in the bathtub and authorities are saying it was a violent scene.
GRACE: Out to the lines. Mary, Pennsylvania. Hi, Mary. What`s your question? Oh, excuse me. Renee, Illinois. Hi, Renee. What`s your question?
RENEE, CALLER FROM ILLINOIS: Hi, Nancy. So nice to talk to you.
GRACE: Likewise.
RENEE: You know, I -- living in the Chicago area, we hear news about this going on and listening to your program and one of the questions about the drugs is something I was thinking about, but another thing is he -- I believe he has a past record. I believe there are some stories that he has done similar abusive actions with somebody else.
GRACE: You know what, you`re absolutely right. As a matter of fact, I`ve got in my hand right now his criminal history for Arnoldo Jimenez, domestic battery, and this was not the same woman. A conviction back in 2003. There`s a series of issues with him with the law, domestic incident, issues with cars. It goes on and on and on.
I want to go to Caryn Stark, psychologist.
Caryn, I firmly believe that this is the suspect. I firmly believe cops are going to name him as a suspect. Why? I don`t get it. Why go through the wedding license, the tuxedo, the designer wedding dress, the reception, the dinner, all that to stab your new wife, your bride, to death and then take off in a Maserati? I don`t get it.
CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, it`s such a terrible crime, and he sounds like he`s a nefarious character, Nancy. So I don`t feel like any of this was premeditated. I feel like he had a history of abuse. He really had a hot temper. He didn`t think about her at all. And then he winds up stabbing her.
I agree with you. And I want to say that the act of stabbing in and of itself is so personal and intimate. You have to be really furious and not care about the person. And then he leaves her in her wedding dress. What`s more telling than that, she thinks she`s going to start a wonderful new life and instead she is dead.
GRACE: You know, Caryn Stark, you brought up something very interesting and I dubbed it a sweetheart murder scenario when someone is stabbed multiple times when I was still a prosecutor. And the phrase goes to it doesn`t have to be people that are in love. It has to be people that have an intimate or close relationship. It could be neighbor on neighbor. It could be husband and wife, it could be victim and stalker.
But someone that you feel a certain degree of closeness with, and instead of shooting someone a distance of 15, 20, 30 feet, you are up close, grappling with them physically as you stab them multiple times and, Caryn Stark, what about the fact that there were multiple stabbings? I mean you hear the defense lawyers, Mickey Sherman and Renee Rockwell, going on and on and on about how this could have been someone other than the groom. But the number of stab wounds, I mean, just look at history, Caryn Stark, it speaks volumes.
STARK: It`s terrible aggression, Nancy. It is someone who is so furious, I am sure it had nothing to do with her and his need for control would make him strike out like crazy the minute that she would not be doing what he wanted. And now he`s married to her. That`s about as close as you could be, but he can`t possibly own her.
GRACE: To Dr. Bill Lloyd, board certified surgeon and pathologist. Dr. Lloyd, have you ever once performed an autopsy on a woman still in her wedding dress?
DR. BILL LLOYD, BOARD CERTIFIED SURGEON AND PATHOLOGIST: No, Nancy, not in a wedding dress, but a couple important concepts about this. As you mentioned earlier the woman had only been dead 10 hours or so. That means the medical examiner will be able to place the time of death probably within an hour that it happened immediately after they came home.
Maybe it happened a bit later in the morning. The medical examiner will be able to find out.
GRACE: And how is that, Dr. Lloyd?
LLOYD: There`s a variety of physical clue clues. Gastric contents, food in the stomach, the nature of the blood clotting, the body gets stiff over time. We know these different timelines. One special one close to mind is called tashmar or the black touch. When people die, they most of the time do not close their eyes. The exposed eye will turn black over six hours. If tashmar is present, that means the person has been dead for over six hours.
GRACE: OK. Dr. Bill Lloyd, in all my years of prosecuting and actually attending autopsies, I never knew that, what you just told me about the eyes, repeat?
LLOYD: Tashmar is a French expression meaning the eye turns black. The white of the eye will darken if exposed to the air. When somebody dies, most of the time they don`t close their eyes. The eyes remain open, so the expose eyeball will turn black. It takes about six hours for that to happen. If you come across a body and the eyes are still white, they probably haven`t been dead for six hours.
And there`s a catalog of physical clues just like that that will help the medical examiner track the specific hours. In that first 24 hours, Nancy, there are plenty of opportunities to pinpoint the moment of death.
GRACE: Dr. Lloyd, throughout your explanation, all I could think about is the little boy, the 2-year-old child that is a product of this three-year courtship. According -- let me go back to Jesus, the longtime friend of Estrella.
Jesus, her neighbors describe her as quiet, sweet, reserved, a loving mother. They hardly ever heard her next door above or below them. They always saw her with the child. She`d go to work. She`d come home and be with the child. That was her life, Jesus. Are we wrong?
JESUS, LONGTIME FRIEND OF MURDERED BRIDE IN BATHTUB: No, you`re right. Ever since I`ve known her she is a great mother. She`s always been. There`s no doubt about that. And she always kept to herself, only to friends would she have fun and, you know, converse with everybody. A great mother she always was.
GRACE: I want to see the video surveillance again. For those of you just joining us, a young bride murdered in her designer wedding gown. Just hours after she walks down the aisle, literally. One of the last times many people saw her was walking down the aisle.
You are seeing pictures right there often known as star, Estrella Carrera, leaving the reception festivities.
Unleash the lawyers. Kelly Saindon, Renee Rockwell, Mickey Sherman.
At this hour the groom reportedly is on the run in a $100,000 plus Maserati. OK, let`s hear your theory, Sherman, on how he raked together 100 grand for a Maserati.
MICKEY SHERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, AUTHOR OF "HOW CAN YOU DEFEND THOSE PEOPLE?": We have no idea. He may -- someone may have given it to him. And you know one of your callers had a very illuminating question, and that is, was he mixed up with drug gangs? This may be a part of a drug gang.
Bottom line, Nancy, this guy is probably the guy who did it. Probably.
GRACE: Please repeat. Put up the lawyers. So now you`ve gone from your last scenario to, what -- oh, that reminds me, another O.J. illusion, a Colombian drug lord.
SHERMAN: O.J., that`s the guy who is not found guilty, right?
GRACE: Yes. Yes. Now it`s all fitting together, Renee. A drug lord.
RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, if it I go missing after my husband is murdered, please look for me. Please don`t indict me and execute me. Go look for me, please.
GRACE: OK. Kelly Saindon?
KELLY SAINDON, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Well, here`s the thing. The police are scouring around the apartment complex, they`re looking for the murder weapon. They haven`t confirmed or denied that it was found inside the house. But the reality of the situation is all signs point to the husband, all signs point to his violent background. There was no sign of forced entry. No neighbors heard any noise or altercation. He was the last one seen with her alive and now he`s gone. He`s got some explaining to do.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Welcome back. We are live and headed to the Illinois suburbs, a beautiful, young, 26-year-old bride found stabbed to death in her designer wedding gown in a bone-dry bathtub.
I`m getting a lot of questions on Twitter. You can reach me @NancyGraceHLN. Michelle on Twitter wants to know, and I`m going to throw this to you, Becky Schlikerman, reporter with "Chicago Tribune." Was there surveillance video from the condo or from the apartment? What about the elevator? Was the groom seen leaving? Becky?
BECKY SCHLIKERMAN, REPORTER, CHICAGO TRIBUNE: Police haven`t disclosed that yet, but we do know that there`s surveillance from the night when they were celebrating as you`ve shown.
GRACE: Becky Schlikerman, what do we know about the whereabouts of the groom, Arnold Jimenez?
SCHLIKERMAN: Police are just saying that he could be anywhere at this point. Earlier this afternoon the FBI announced that they are seeking a federal warrant, which is usually sought when the suspect has fled the scene and he -- then that at this point he could be anywhere in the country or international.
GRACE: So, Becky, are they thinking at this juncture that the groom has fled the state? They don`t think the groom has been a victim of foul play himself, Becky Schlikerman?
SCHLIKERMAN: They are not disclosing that go. They`re just disclosing that they issued a federal warrant or they`re seeking the federal warrant looking for him.
GRACE: OK. Everyone with me from the "Chicago Tribune" is Becky Schlikerman.
Becky, the FBI now in on it. The warrant to which you are referring, what is the crime listed?
SCHLIKERMAN: They haven`t disclosed what the warrant would be for it. The local warrant is for first-degree murder which federal warrant might be for the same thing.
GRACE: Sherman, Rockwell, Saindon, we are hearing the feds now looking for the groom. So it doesn`t sound to me like he`s duct taped in a trunk somewhere, Renee Rockwell.
ROCKWELL: OK, Nancy. There you have it.
GRACE: That`s what you`ve got to say, after all the webs you`ve spun?
ROCKWELL: I mean, Nancy, I wasn`t there.
GRACE: There you have it.
All right. Kelly, what more do you know? Kelly, what other sources told you about the thing?
KELLY SAINDON, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Well, my sources told me that it was very gruesome. That the detectives said it was obviously a violent killing that it was odd the way she was positioned in the bathtub that didn`t appear that she has followed an end to the tub. That it was almost as if she had been placed that.
And we`ve also heard from iReport some people that I have talked to, reporters here in the Chicago area then in fact the groom`s sister received a phone call from him after he left the scenes saying we had a bad fight, and I left there bleeding. So it sort of just the defense attorney`s theory that he`s a victim and then when his sister, the groom`s sister, called him back.
He stopped answering polls. And the police are saying they don`t have the murder weapon and they`re not telling us what they know but for some reason they`re focused on him and they put out reports to all the neighbors, this was domestic, don`t be worried, it`s an isolated incident, and you guys are safe.
GRACE: OK. Mickey Sherman.
SHERMAN: Yes.
GRACE: Look up. Look up. Look me in the eyes. All right. We had a big fight, I left her bleeding.
SHERMAN: Yes, first of all, that`s hearsay. But I`ve got to tell you, he`s the last one to see her --
GRACE: You`re not in court. We`re actually talking about the truth, not the watered down version a jury is going to hear.
SHERMAN: All we`re trying to do is remind everybody there is that annoying presumption of innocence here. That`s all.
GRACE: Actually, we`re not in court and what I`m trying to do --
(CROSSTALK)
SAINDON: That`s what I`m trying to do, too.
GRACE: Yes, you`re right, it is a hearsay under excited utterance. So long story short, let me remind you, Mickey and Renee, we`re not in court. We`re talking about the truth not some, as I said, edited version a jury is going to hear.
SHERMAN: We`re not in court and the trial isn`t over. We`re talking about this guy as though he`s already guilty and convicted and ready to be sentenced.
Ellie Jostad, what do we know about motive, if any?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE CHIEF EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, the police have told local media there that there are some indications that the reason he may have allegedly committed this crime was because he wanted to keep this wedding secret.
We know that some family and friends have said they found out about it the last minute. Apparently he didn`t want the news to get out at all according to police, so that may have a part in this motive here.
GRACE: Robyn Walensky, I don`t understand it. Robyn, joining us, anchor with "The Blaze," why would you get married and think that was going to be a secret?
ROBYN WALENSKY, REPORTER, WDBO RADIO: Yes, you know what, Nancy, when I think about the motive, just to expand on what Ellie was saying, maybe he had another woman on the side. Maybe there`s some other woman in the picture and, you know what else I`m thinking? It`s a very short list of what could set off a guy on your wedding night. Maybe, and I`m just throwing this out there and the autopsy will reveal it, but maybe she said, surprise, honey, we`re having another baby. And maybe he lost his mind.
GRACE: OK, you know, we`re throwing out a lot of if scenarios. Out to the lines. Mary, Pennsylvania. Hi, Mary, what`s your question?
MARY, CALLER FROM PENNSYLVANIA: Hi, Nancy. My question is the bride was found stabbed, they`re keep saying, in a bone-dry bathtub. So does that mean she was stabbed somewhere else then put in the bathtub?
GRACE: From what we are understanding -- I`m going to go to you on this, Pat Brown, it looked to the crime scene techs as if she had been placed there. Not as if she had fallen there like tripped and fallen, not like she had been stabbed and fell in that way, that she had been stabbed and then placed in the tub. So what does that say to you as a profiler?
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER, AUTHOR OF "ONLY THE TRUTH": Well, in that case, I guess she didn`t get into the bathroom trying to protect herself and close that door and put something between him and her. I guess he killed her in the main room and then he tried to -- maybe he thought he could just hide her body in the bathtub and get away and nobody would find out about it for a while. It seemed like a good idea at the time. But let me give him a little hint, next time, black Honda.
GRACE: Not black Maserati.
Caryn Stark, psychologist, in a lot of murder cases I prosecuted I would see after the death, the perp, for instance, cover the body with a blanket, cover the face, put trash or other belongings on top of the body. I don`t know what that means but I noticed it over and over, like putting the bride`s body in a bathtub.
STARK: That`s right. Putting the bride`s body in the bathtub, think about that. It looks like she was placed there. It could have been that the blood was bothering him because he supposedly hearsay said that she was bleeding and he left her. So he put her in the bathtub to catch the blood. It had nothing to do with him feeling affection or caring about her.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: At this hour, on the run, a young groom, his new young wife in her wedding gown, found stabbed to death. More Twitter responses. Wanted to point, groom wanted to keep carpets clean, put poor soul in tub.
Out to the lines, Ashley, New Mexico. Hi, Ashley. What`s your question?
ASHLEY, CALLER FROM NEW MEXICO: Yes. They say the last time they saw him, they were at a club, and does anyone know, if he has an alcohol problem and could this be an alcohol murder?
GRACE: To Jean Casarez joining us in the field. Jean, what do we know?
CASAREZ: Well it was -- it was a celebration, it was all night until 4:00 a.m. in the morning. But voluntary intoxication is no excuse so that really is not a reasons why.
GRACE: You`re right, Jean. Kimberly, Ohio. Hi, Kimberley. What`s your question?
KIMBERLY, CALLER FROM OHIO: Hi, Nancy, I love your show. If the suspect`s sister said that he left her bleeding or whatever, why isn`t there a warrant for him?
GRACE: As a matter of fact, as we go to air, we`re learning a warrant has issued by the feds, Kimberly in Ohio, for murder, we believe. A warrant has just issued.
Susan, Tennessee, hi, Susan, what`s your question?
SUSAN, CALLER FROM TENNESSEE: Yes, I am curious. They had all their -- some of their friends and family at the wedding. How did they think that they were going to keep this marriage secret?
GRACE: Yes, I don`t understand that either. I don`t understand that. Becky Schlikerman with the "Chicago Tribune." He was angry that people found out about the wedding but people were there celebrating?
SCHLIKERMAN: Well, relatives have told me that they Estrella kept the plans a secret, even up to possibly just the week of the -- when they -- when they got their marriage license. But no one -- everyone was surprised to hear that they planned a celebration for last Friday.
GRACE: Everyone, license plate, L, Love, 641441, 2006 black four-door Maserati.
Let`s stop and remember Navy Chief Special Warfare Operator Richard Freiwald, 30, Armada, Michigan, killed Afghanistan. Navy SEAL Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, Purple Heart, Joint Service Commendation medal, buried, Arlington, loved skydiving, scuba, family. Leaves behind parents, Richard and Carrie, brothers Jeremy, Adam and Eric, in the Navy, widow, Stacy, daughter, Jasmine.
Richard Freiwald, American hero.
Thanks to our guest, especially to you.
And tonight, congratulations to Katie and the Georgia Southern Eagles winning the Southern Conference Softball tournament, now on to regionals.
Everyone, stay tuned for Dr. Drew coming up next. And I`ll see you tonight 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
