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Nancy Grace
Louisiana Police Search for Missing 21-Year-Old Lafayette Woman; Co- ed Missing; 911 Operator Sleeping on the Job
Aired May 24, 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, Louisiana. A 21- year-old blond co-ed heads to Taco Bell drive-through Friday night, never seen again, 21-year-old Mickey Shunick and her gold and black Schwinn seemingly vanish into thin air. And we tried it all, her school -- U of Louisiana -- her job -- a horse farm -- even her pet store -- nothing.
Bombshell tonight. Mickey last seen after Taco Bell on her Schwinn clutching her trust can of mace, that mace no match for whoever took her and her bike. Tonight, where is 21-year-old co-ed Mickey?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She reportedly left a friend`s home on her bicycle, headed home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tiny, cute girl, curly blond hair.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She left here at this house around 2:00 in the morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Checked her bike, checked her mace, told her to be safe. That was the last time I saw her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mickey Shunick vanished.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody took her. Somebody knows where she is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her bike is missing, a black and gold Schwinn bike.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dozens of people search frantically, still in shock.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something is wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Knocking on doors, retracing Mickey`s steps and posting flyers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) searching areas such as drainage canals.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want our child back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A social media campaign.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bring Mickey home now, please. Please bring Mickey home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Determined to bring Mickey home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just want her back. We want her safe! We want our friend!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, to Maryland. A hysterical mom frantically calling 911 when her husband stops breathing and turns blue. But what does she get from 911? Help is on the way? No. Directions on CPR? No. She gets snoring! We have the audio! Yes, 911 snoring on the emergency hotline! Hey, 911, can you spell F-I-R-E-D, fired?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the last thing you want to hear when you pick up the phone and you dial 911.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On the other end of the line, the dispatcher apparently asleep and snoring on the job.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on one second, ma`am. I`m going to try and get them on the line again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The second dispatcher thinks the victim`s snoring, not the first dispatcher.
911 OPERATOR: Is that him I hear in the background?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
911 OPERATOR: How old is he?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Forty-three.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, that`s not him in the background because he can`t breathe, and the guy who`s snoring clearly can breathe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) only thing (INAUDIBLE) all blue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can hear the dispatcher snoring 17, 18 times.
911 OPERATOR: OK, so it looks like he`s looking backwards? Is the blueness going away?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was reportedly on his 17th hour of work.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Could you send (INAUDIBLE) ambulance (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. A 21-year-old co-ed heads to a Taco Bell drive-through on a Friday night, never seen again, 21-year-old Mickey Shunick and her gold and black Schwinn seemingly vanishing into thin air. How can that be? Where is 21-year-old Mickey?
And on our end, we tried it all. We tried at University of Louisiana. No leads. Her job -- she taught riding horses at a horse farm -- no luck. Even at the pet store where she would get all of her put supplies -- big animal lover -- no good. Talked to all of her friends. Nothing. Tried to find surveillance video at surrounding businesses or homes. Nothing.
How can a woman, a co-ed majoring in anthropology, and her Schwinn bike, black with gold accents -- how can they just disappear into thin air?
We are taking your calls. This is a sound (ph) alarm, sound (ph) alarm to all of our Cajun friends in Louisiana -- missing tonight, a 21- year-old anthropology major.
Straight out to Robyn Walensky, reporter with TheBlaze.com. Robyn, what do we know?
ROBYN WALENSKY, THEBLAZE.COM: Good evening, Nancy. You know, this is a beautiful blonde with reportedly no enemies, who goes missing on her bike.
I lived in Louisiana, Nancy, for three years, and the number one thing that sticks out to me on this story is the location of Lafayette. This is a very rural part of the state, and the I-10, a major thoroughfare that goes from the east coast, from Florida, goes all the way through Texas, all the way out to California -- and this girl, in the middle of the night, at 2:00 AM, could have been snatched and been on the road and is now far, far away.
GRACE: And let`s see a map, Liz. We all know about the interstate leading -- I-10, which can get you straight to the Mexico border, is one of the major drug mule thoroughfares in our country, that and 75 going north and south.
This girl on just a four-mile bike trip home after Taco Bell on a Friday evening. And we have established she was there. She was around all of her friends, very close friends. They all stayed. They were with her that evening, no problem. She was tired, ready to go home, goes to the Taco Bell drive-through.
In fact, we confirm with her father her ATM is used there at the Taco Bell. Everything`s adding up, from what her friends say, until she gets on her bike, holding her little can of mace, and heads home. It should have been maybe an 11-minute ride, at most, at the most, door to door to her parents` home. where she lived.
The next day, her little brother`s graduation. She never made it. She never attended. She never came home that night. In that space of time, those few minutes, this 21-year-old co-ed is gone.
According to our sources within the police department, they have searched everywhere, in drainage ponds, under bridges, in landfills, even just for her bike, a black Schwinn with gold accents. The bike`s even gone. We`ve contacted Taco Bell. We learned that video shows corroboration that she was there, driving through that evening.
Straight out to Ken Romero, co-host of "Mornings With Ken and Bernie," KPEL. Ken, what more are you hearing in Lafayette? I`ve been to Lafayette many, many times. It`s beautiful country. What do you know?
KEN ROMERO, NEWSTALK 96.5 KPEL (via telephone): Well, as you said, it`s beautiful country with 100,000 in the city and 210,000 in the parish. So quite a few people out and quite a few people are out searching at this time. Every morning at 10:30, there have been search parties of hundreds of people out searching for her.
And as you said, it`s like she just disappeared into thin air at this time.
GRACE: You know, we keep saying that phrase, while we know that it`s impossible. I`m hearing in my ear, joining me right now a special guest we have just gotten with us, Chief Jim Craft with the Lafayette Police.
Chief, thank you for being with us. You and your people have an excellent reputation. If you could, Chief, go through the timeline with us one more time. What happened that evening?
JIM CRAFT, CHIEF, LAFAYETTE POLICE DEPARTMENT (via telephone): Well, thank you. Well, we know that she was reported missing to the police department about 6:00 o`clock Saturday evening after numerous attempts by her friends and family to contact her. As you said earlier, she missed her brother`s high school graduation.
She was immediately entered into a database, a national database, as a missing person. We followed our protocol in missing persons by putting out bulletins to surrounding agencies and our own officers, and we began searching. And by Sunday morning, we had an investigator out on a case -- because nine out of ten times, people who get reported missing usually turn up in this area.
And so by Sunday morning, we had an investigator out, and by Sunday at noon, we had a full investigative team out and actually called out our entire investigative section and began doing grid searches, trying to coordinate with volunteers who had showed up to search, and to begin following up leads.
By Monday, we had established a tip line monitored 24 hours by investigators, and we have since then received literally hundreds of leads, all to no avail. Each lead followed up by an investigator. The minute we receive the call, we dispatch someone.
We`ve conducted interviews. We`ve done searches. We`ve done searches of areas with different teams to make sure that we get a different set of eyes looking at the same area. And there is just -- there just seems to be no trace of her.
GRACE: Everyone, we are taking your calls in the hopes that we may generate more tips and leads in the search for this 21-year-old co-ed.
With me right now is Mickey`s father, Mr. Shunick. Tom, thank you for being with us.
TOM SHUNICK, MISSING WOMAN`S FATHER: Sure.
GRACE: Tom, I know that police were finally called on Saturday evening. When did you first notice that she was not there?
SHUNICK: Well, actually, I had just backed out of my driveway at about 2:30 on Friday morning -- or Saturday morning. I was called offshore. I was driving to a home on Louisiana, and I had to catch a helicopter out to a rig a little bit later on that day. So I was not here. I was out there.
And I talked to my wife that night and I could tell she was upset, but she didn`t tell me anything. She was just hoping that, you know, she was going to show up. And then when I woke up the next morning, when I finally got on line out there, I had the e-mails that Mickey was missing, and they flew me back in.
So initially I was not here. My wife told me that she had tried to contact her, I think about 9:00 or so later that morning, and her phone went straight to voicemail. So she tried a couple more times.
Then they went to my son`s graduation, and Mickey didn`t show up, which she was (INAUDIBLE) she was certainly planning on being there. Her sister was in from Dallas and it was -- you know, it was a big family thing.
And then she tried to call her afterwards, and I think they started to file a missing, you know, persons report about 5:00 o`clock. Her sister is sitting here. She said about 5:00 o`clock.
GRACE: With me is Mickey`s father, Tom Shunick, who was out on an oil rig in the wee hours of the morning. He had no idea his girl was missing until he gets on line, sees his e-mails, and is immediately flown back home to Lafayette.
With me also, in addition to Mickey`s father, Mr. Tom Shunick, is one of her very best friends. In fact, Brettly Wilson was with her that evening. Brettly, thank you for being with us.
And everybody, I know the first place you start an investigation is who saw her last. And they get a lot of scrutiny. And let me tell you this young man, Brettly Wilson, has cooperated with the police fully, goes into the police station without a lawyer, endures, to my understanding, about a 16-hour interrogation, submits himself to a polygraph, has been on searches, has been on the airwaves trying to find his friend.
Brettly, thank you for being with us. I want you to go through -- and I`m actually getting chills right now listening to Mr. Shunick, Brettly, because when I think of my son and daughter -- they`re just 4 now, but when I think of all the love I pour into them every day and to have them ride off on a bicycle and I never see them again -- it`s extremely overwhelming.
But Brettly, I want you to very carefully go through what happened that evening from the point where you and Mickey are at the Taco Bell, and you drive away, you go to your place, you eat, and you see her on the bike. Just take it from Taco Bell.
BRETTLY WILSON, FRIEND OF MISSING WOMAN: We entered (ph) a Taco Bell because at that point, it was too late to go and bike (ph) and sit down in there. She had ridden her bike all the way from home to the venue (ph) we went to. So I offered to drive her there.
We picked up the food. We drove back here. She ate. At that point, a friend from the venue earlier got in contact with me. My phone died. They then called Mickey, touched base, checked that -- where we were. She told them, I`m with Brettly, went to Taco Bell, we had some food.
They then decided that they were going to, as we originally planned, go to a diner. Mickey said she -- you know, she had food. She was tired. She didn`t feel like going.
In addition to her graduation (ph), me and Mickey had planned on going out earlier that day before and videotaping her doing some riding on a horse she was trying to sell. So she had really just been ready to get to bed at that point.
She finished eating. She went to the bathroom before she rode (ph). She checked her bike, talked a little bit more. She took out her mace. She made sure that it was on. She checked it.
I walked her to the back door. She went out. I told her to be safe. I watched until she got to the driveway, and I closed the door, locked it, and that was the last time that I saw her.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: News of her disappearance shocking to those who knew her best.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just want her back. We want her safe!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not knowing where Mickey is has been agonizing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t think you realize what a special person this is and how many people she has touched and what you`ve done!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No one had heard from her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It went right to voicemail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Family and friends are trying to keep their hopes up. But with each passing hour, that becomes more and more difficult.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back. A 21-year-old anthropology student, a co-ed at the University of Louisiana, takes off on her black Schwinn with gold trim, never seen again, this after a trip to Taco Bell. And we have confirmed she was there. There`s (ph) surveillance drive-through. Not only that, her dad confirms her ATM shows she was there at the time we believe she was there.
Take a look. This is the local Taco Bell where she was last seen. This girl had the whole world in front of her and we are not ready to give up in the search for Mickey.
We are taking your calls. Diane in Florida. Hi. What`s your question, Diane?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. How far was Mickey`s home from Taco Bell?
GRACE: Let`s see, from Taco Bell, Tom Shunick, how far was it?
SHUNICK: I don`t know if it`s quite that far. Brettly, do you know?
WILSON: Yes, the Taco Bell -- it`s going to be about three-and-a-half to four-and-a-half miles on the route she would have most likely taken.
GRACE: Well, three-and-a-half, four-and-a-half -- out to you, Brettly -- for her a bicycle, that couldn`t have been over 15 minutes, at the most.
WILSON: Yes. We`ve been saying the timeframe, given the fact that she was pretty tired, anywhere from 15, at the most, 25, 30 minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s really scary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mickey Shunick vanished.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Disappeared days before her birthday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Determined to bring Mickey home and back to her family.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want our daughter back, and that will make everything better.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She reportedly left a friend`s home in Lafayette on her bicycle, headed home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was the last time I saw her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What a special person this is!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody knows where she is, and we want her returned alive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Let`s go through a few rudimentary questions. And I`m going to go to Chief Jim Craft from the Lafayette Police Department. His people have done all they know to do at this juncture to find this 21-year-old student. With me, her father is with us, Tom Shunick, and one of her very best friends, Brettly Wilson, who was with her the evening just before she vanished. And we`re taking your calls.
Very quickly, to you, Chief Craft. Again, thank you for being with us. I know that you have obtained surveillance video from Taco Bell. You can see the car with Brettly in it driving through. It`s my understanding you can`t get a good shot of her, but her ATM confirms she was there. They used it for the order. So we know she was there, correct?
CRAFT: That`s correct. We were able to see him in the video shot, but we can`t see her. But her ATM card was used there. And we have information from a friend -- in that conversation, she said, We just went to Taco Bell, went to pick up something to eat.
GRACE: And on that video, you may also look toward the tail end of it, when they get the food, Brettly turning to her, handing her food, gearing (ph) it (ph) to further corroborate it.
And Brettly, it`s not that we don`t believe you. It`s not that at all. It`s that police want to corroborate everything you say so they can get off of you and then extend the search even past you, all right? Everyone close to an investigation will tell you that. And your cooperation is to be commended.
But back to you, Chief Craft. What about other businesses or residences that she would have gone past on her bike on the drive home? Do they have surveillance video? Because my sources are telling me there was a surveillance video where somebody goes by on a bicycle. You can`t tell if it`s a man or a woman. Do we know what time that was?
CRAFT: No, we don`t know what time it was, and the video is such a poor quality because a lot of these cameras are actually located inside of businesses for the purpose of videoing inside the business, and so they might catch something on the outside but...
GRACE: Well, Chief, what I don`t understand why we don`t know what time it was because, I mean, the fact that somebody is going by on a bike at, say, 1:45 when she`s missing at 2:00 could have establish that she had made it that far, Chief Craft.
CRAFT: Well, in that particular video, though, the time was noted to be off in the business. So we can get it down to about within an hour, but that`s about the best we can do on that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want our daughter back, and that will make everything better.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If she`s been taken by somebody, where is she, what are they doing to her?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mickey Shunick --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Disappeared.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: Where is 21-year-old anthropology student, Mickey. Mickey Shunick vanishes after a drive-through at the local Taco Bell in Lafayette.
We are taking your calls.
I want to go right back to you Chief Craft -- with me is Chief Craft from Lafayette, also Tom Shunick, her father. Also with us one of her very best friends who is with her the night she goes missing.
What I`m trying to get at, Chief Craft, is that the location of that video, I know it`s poor quality because it`s meant to be an indoor, on-the- premises video of inside the business, but it catches somebody go by. It`s been narrowed down to within an hour.
My two questions are, one, is that hour around the time she goes missing? And two, is that location between her friend`s house and her parents` house?
JIM CRAFT, POLICE CHIEF, LAFAYETTE POLICE DEPARTMENT (via phone): To answer your first question, it is within that hour that she goes missing. And the second question between her house and her friend`s house, it is on the way, yes.
GRACE: So if we think that`s her, and who else would be driving by on a bike at that time of the day or night she made it that far.
CRAFT: We actually -- actually we have, you know, a lot of bicycle traffic in that area.
GRACE: At that time of night?
CRAFT: Because of the type of area it is. And so we do have other bicycles visible in different shots that we`ve been able to pull up.
GRACE: Can I ask you, Chief, are there a lot of bicyclers at 1:30 a.m. in that area?
CRAFT: Yes, there is. It`s a -- the area is a largest populated --
GRACE: Students.
CRAFT: A large student population.
GRACE: Yes. Yes.
CRAFT: And there`s a lot of pedestrian and cyclist traffic.
GRACE: All right. I thought I was on to something, Chief Craft.
Everybody, we are taking your calls.
To Marc Klaas, president and founder, KlaasKids Foundation. Mark, thank you for being with us. This is your specialty. Weigh in.
MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION (via phone): Well, there`s a couple of things that stand out. The fact that her bike has not been located, very reminiscent of the 2002 snatcher Sean Hornbeck. He, too, disappeared with a bike on -- and it took 4 1/2 years to recover him. The fact that she was --
GRACE: Alive.
KLAAS: Alive, absolutely. Yes. The fact that she was very near a major freeway on-ramp, I think the reporter that mentioned the fact that she could be skirted miles and miles away made a very valid point. But it seems to me that a lot of things are being done, the investigation seems to be well run. The volunteers helping, the search and rescue are very good.
Her sister said something that I think is very relevant. She wants people to stop spreading rumors on Facebook. She wants people to contact the police tip line with possible information, and she wants people to share information, to spread the word about Mickey. And I would add to that that property managers, real estate agents, farmers, ranchers or other individuals that have access to unoccupied residences, outbuildings such as barge, et cetera, take a few moments to check those places out just to eliminate them as possible areas where she might be.
GRACE: Well put, Marc Klaas.
To you, Ellie Jostad, what more do we know?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE CHIEF EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, there`s a couple of things here. This was a very regular route that she took. But she was very safety conscious. Her friends, her family, they all say she always had that mace with her.
And the other thing to keep in mind, too, is that people have been retracing this route. Any likely route they think she could have taken from Brettly Wilson`s house to home, her parents` house. And they haven`t been able to find any of those items she had with her. Her backpack, it was a brown leather backpack, she had a yellow and black, one of those quilted fabric, Vera Bradley wallet with her. She had that can of pepper spray or mace, the small pink container. Those items in addition to her phone or cell phone and her bike still haven`t been located even though there`ve been these extensive searches.
GRACE: Let`s talk about the cell phone. Chief Jim Craft, what about the cell phone?
CRAFT: We know that she last used that phone about 1:30 in the morning. She got a call from a friend asking about whether or not she had had something to eat. And she replied that she had done so and gone to Taco Bell. And as far as we can tell, nothing else after that. And no answer on the phone.
GRACE: Well, you know what`s interesting, I and many, many other people keep their cell phones on all the time. At night I charge them, they`re on. I leave them on all day long. So my question to her father, Brettly Wilson also with him. Brettly and Tom -- first to you, Tom Shunik, did she normally keep her cell phone on all the time?
TOM SHUNIK, FATHER OF MISSING CO-ED BEAUTY, MICKEY SHUNIK: As far as I know, yes, she did.
GRACE: What about it, Brettly?
BRETTLY WILSON, FRIEND, LAST PERSON TO SEE MISSING CO-ED MICKEY SHUNIK: Yes. You know, she was -- she always had it on. Always had somebody to contact her. And I know -- and that night in particular she had received a phone call from a friend. Also before she left she received a text message, and to the best of my knowledge, she hadn`t mentioned anything about the phone being about to die or anything like that.
GRACE: OK. Out to you, Chief Craft. Would the phone ping when you cut it off?
CRAFT: No, it would not. And we tried that. That`s a good strategy. But we didn`t get anything on that. It doesn`t -- after it`s off, you cannot, you cannot ping it.
GRACE: Darn.
CRAFT: And then on that particular phone that she had. And it has not been used since. It has not been turned back on, as far as we could tell.
GRACE: How about her ATM or credit cards, Chief?
CRAFT: No, not used at all. The last use was that the Taco Bell. And that`s been it.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Latonia Hines, Peter Odom, Atlanta, Alex Sanchez, defense attorney, New York.
All right, Latonia, weigh in.
LATONIA HINES, PROSECUTOR: Well, I think it`s such a heart-wrenching thing when somebody disappears like that and we don`t have any other information. I want to know were there any cars out there? Do we see any of those on the video. If all these things are gone, like her bike and everything, maybe it was someone with a van, somebody who`s going to be able to move that bicycle very quickly.
GRACE: Do we see any other cars where?
HINES: On the video, when they said that that they`re still on the Taco Bell video, is there anybody out there who could have seen vehicles traveling in that same path, anybody who is been able to say anything about that.
GRACE: Peter Odom?
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, it`s so difficult because we don`t even know if this is a crime yet. I mean the longer she`s gone, the more it looks like an abduction but I`m reminded of a case that we --
GRACE: What are you talking about?
ODOM: Well, this might be someone that fell off her bike into a ravine, had an accident.
GRACE: Well, you just heard the chief say they`ve searched all along the path.
ODOM: I`ve heard about the extensive searches, Nancy, but --
GRACE: She didn`t fall down a ravine.
ODOM: I`m reminded --
GRACE: I can tell you, I can rest your mind on that one. She did not fall down a ravine. Next?
ODOM: So, I mean, Nancy, until the police find some trace, there`s really no way of even knowing whether a crime has been committed.
GRACE: And I believe you were about to say you`re reminded of what now? What are you --
ODOM: I`m reminded of a case that we analyzed on this show where a young woman was released from a police department and everybody assumed that there was foul play involved and she indeed was found at the bottom -- tragically found at the bottom of a ravine. So there was no trace of her just as in this case. There`s no trace of this victim. I know that the police believe that this has been an abduction. It might have been abduction but there`s just no way to know at this point.
GRACE: Ellie Jostad, I believe we all know the case that Peter Odom to which he is referring.
JOSTAD: Right.
GRACE: This has absolutely no resemblance whatsoever.
JOSTAD: Right.
GRACE: He`s talking about Matrice Richardson. And there -- you know, some other details in that case. She`d been acting strangely before. She went off on her own. It was pretty clear she did leave on her own.
GRACE: OK. Peter, thanks. OK, Alex Sanchez, go ahead.
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No, from everything I see about this case, it seems like a legitimate abduction. But I would like to focus in on something the chief said.
GRACE: Yes.
SANCHEZ: He said at that time in the morning there`s a lot of bicycle riders out there. Well, if there`s a lot of bicycle riders out there, perhaps one of those bicycle riders has some information about what happened to this young lady.
GRACE: You know what, that is an excellent point. And Peter, I`m not giving you a hard time. It`s -- OK, maybe a little. But the point is that she didn`t fall down a ravine. They`ve done all that -- back to you, Chief.
I want to talk about what Sanchez and Odom and Latonia are saying. What -- regarding Sanchez, what are you doing as far as the University of Louisiana goes, as far as student bikers? How have you alerted them to to her disappearance?
CRAFT: Well, there`s a large-scale search of bicycles as well. So the university police are alerted in case that bike shows up on campus. We`ve got the flyers out. We have -- the civilian volunteers have been great in this case. They have posted flyers, there`s hardly anywhere you can go in the city without seeing them.
GRACE: Right.
CRAFT: And so that`s been good. And of course we`re also checking our local pawnshops and secondhand dealers and flea markets and antiques dealers and anybody who is a secondhand dealer regarding the bike.
GRACE: Right. What about Craigslist, Chief Craft? Have you gone on Craigslist?
CRAFT: Yes.
GRACE: I mean because --
CRAFT: Yes, we have.
GRACE: You get all kinds of people advertising things on Craigslist, including the Craigslist killer, you`ve got hookers, you`ve got all these people on Craigslist. Who knows what -- who might be trying to sell this bike.
But back to you -- to Tom Shunick. Tom, what is your message tonight?
SHUNIK: My message is that if anybody knows anything about this, and for whatever reason they`re afraid to come out, I mean the bike could have been taken after the fact, somebody else could have taken it and, you know, said it looks like a nice bike and they really weren`t involved in anything, please come forth. We`ve got a reward out there. Let us know. We need any little shred of evidence possible. I mean if it`s not --
GRACE: Any shred whatsoever, Mr. Shunick.
And to you, Brettly Wilson, her disappearance has been devastated to you. Explain.
WILSON: You`re right on with that. Everything is different now. We`d like to have return to normalcy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. He`s blue. No. He -- I don`t know. He`s blue again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: She calls 911 hysterical when her husband stops breathing and turns blue. And what does she hear on the other end? Does she hear directions to perform CPR? No. Does she hear advice? No. Does she get consolation? No. What does she get? Yes. 911 is asleep on the other end of the line.
To Neil Augenstein, WTOP News. Neil, what happened?
NEIL AUGENSTEIN, REPORTER, WTOP NEWSRADIO: Well, it happened on April 4th, a woman in Montgomery County, Maryland, called 911. Her husband was having trouble breathing. She spoke with a 911 person who picked up the phone, transferred it to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue, and the person who picked up the phone was apparently asleep.
I`m not clear -- I`m not sure that the woman actually realized that the person was asleep because she said, "hello, hello, hello." Within about 30 seconds or so another dispatcher jumped in on the line and said, "Let me try that again." This time a second dispatcher did get in -- die get in on the call but you could still hear this initial snoring dispatcher sleeping in the background.
GRACE: Dan Morse, criminal justice reporter from "The Washington Post." Dan, I`m so disgusted. Because the times I`ve called 911 the last thing I want to hear other than their typical condescending, ma`am, calm down, what your DOB, is snoring, Dan.
DAN MORSE, CRIMINAL JUSTICE REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON POST" (via phone): Well, the first thing that the caller heard was a 911 call taker. She was transferred to what they call, you know, a secondary center, and she actually didn`t hear anything. And then as she doesn`t hear anything, this original caller breaks into the call, sort of reroutes the call.
And now they`ve got a operator on the line who`s actually doing something about it. But what you`ve got now is a situation where it is almost like a three-way call, where you`ve got the original guy who was transferred to who didn`t hear anything because he was asleep. The secondary guy who`s now taking care of the call --
GRACE: You know what, Dan Morse, you`re describing it beautifully. But let`s hear the original.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Fire and ambulance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello? Hello? Hello?
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Hey, ma`am. Fire and rescue, are you there?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello?
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Hello?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello. Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Hold on one second, ma`am. Let me try to get them on the line again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What`s the address?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s all blue right now. I don`t know what to do.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: All right. Is that him I hear in the background?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Excuse me?
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Is that him I hear in the background?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, uh-huh.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: How old is he?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Forty-three.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Yes, no, it`s not the guy that can`t breathe and is turning blue, it`s the 911 operator snoring.
I want to go out to Eric Parry, the chair of the National Emergency Number Association Education Advisory Board.
All right, Eric, what do we do? What -- he`s got narcolepsy?
ERIC PARRY, NENA, THE 911 ASSOCIATION EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD CHAIR (via phone): Well, first of all, it`s a completely intolerable situation for 911 or any public safety --
GRACE: You know what, thank god for you, Eric Parry, because at least you`re not trying to see why a -- you`re telling it like it is. This is awful.
PARRY: Absolutely. But like anything else it requires a full in-depth investigation to determine what the circumstances were and what led up to this unfortunate situation.
GRACE: Do I care? Do I care why he`s asleep on 911? Do I care if he partied all night?
PARRY: Absolutely.
GRACE: Do I care? No, I don`t care. All I know is this lady`s husband is turning blue and he is asleep on 911.
To doctor -- excuse me, Greg Kading, former LAPD, author of "Murder Wrap," how essential is 911? I`ve used 911 dispatchers and recordings in almost every felony trial I`ve ever prosecuted.
GREG KADING, FORMER LAPD DETECTIVE, AUTHOR, "MURDER RAP": Well, it`s critically important because every second count. In this particular incident there were 38 seconds wasted, and that can be the difference between irreparable brain damage, death or full recovery. Fortunately he fully recovered, but it could have ended different.
GRACE: And, you know, Wendy Walsh, Dr. Wendy Walsh, psychologist, co-host of "The Doctors."
Wendy, when people feel disempowered, you`re trying to do everything you can. If this guy had died, to top it all of, 911 snoring.
WENDY WALSH, PH.D., PSYCHOLOGIST AND CO-HOST OF "THE DOCTORS": Yes, I mean, I can`t imagine the fear that this woman was was feeling during this moment of emergency to have this in the background. But you know as one of your earlier guests said, we do have to figure out what is going on systemically. If this worker was on a 24-hour shift or something crazy like that, there might be systemic issues and not just to blame one individual on this.
But yes, it`s frightening, Nancy. Frightening.
GRACE: Wendy, don`t give me a big social issue. All right? The 911 was asleep on the call. I don`t want to hear about a systemic issue or what. His parents didn`t send him to the right preschool. I don`t care. This lady deserved a 911 operator that was awake, Wendy Walsh.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It`s a complete emergency and the sleepy dispatcher has fallen asleep. He`s snoring.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Hold on one second, ma`am, let me try to get them on the line again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Alexis Weed, what do you know?
ALEXIS WEED, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: No known medical issues for this guy, but he was 17 hours into a 24-hour shift. And he was set to take a sleep break in about 30 minutes. That means he takes his sleep break at the very tail end of his shift.
GRACE: You know what I have to say to that, wah-wah, Alexis. Let`s wait until you call 911 and they`re asleep on the other end of the line. I don`t want to hear about a sleep break. I want a sleep break right now. I`m going on hour, what, 15, but I`m not falling asleep on the job.
Out to Lynn in Michigan. Hi, Lynn, what`s your question?
LYNN, CALLER FROM MICHIGAN: Hi, Nancy, I just wanted to say, I love your show, and I love it when you talk about your twins.
GRACE: That`s why I`m on hour 15.
(LAUGHTER)
LYNN: But my -- well, I have a comment/question.
GRACE: OK.
LYNN: My question first is, was he reprimanded? And also, here in Michigan, we had an incident that happened that the 911 operator was yelling at a teenager and he was being attacked and he was trying to, you know, let the operator know what was going on and he pretty much was screaming at the teenager like he was lying.
GRACE: You know what, Lynn in Michigan, will it never end? What I also hate is when you get a 911 dispatcher that`s condescending. You`re having an emergency.
OK. Eric Parry, I know it`s not your fault, but I`d like to hear your response. He`s the chair of the National Emergency Number Association Education Advisory Board.
Go ahead, Eric.
PARRY: Well, you know what, customer service has always been a big issue with 911 and there`s several programs out there that measure how well a dispatcher is doing in terms of whether following the protocols, the standard operating procedures, customer service in 911 is a relatively new thing. But it is being measured by the more progressive centers.
GRACE: Well, all I have to say is praise the lord on that. The headline is, this guy lived. The one that was blue, he`s alive. No thanks to 911.
Let`s stop and remember Army Sergeant Preston Medley, 23, Baker, Florida, killed Afghanistan. Two Purple Hearts. Bronze Star, National Defense Service Medal. Loved the outdoors, hunting, football, music, and big black, his `96 Chevy Impala. Leaves behind his widow Sarah, daughter, Raylynn, son, Dylan.
Preston Medley, American hero.
Thanks to our guests but especially to you. And happy birthday to Georgia friend of the show, Jarrett. Loves working out his recliner, controlling the remote.
And happy birthday to one of our stars, Yankees and Knicks fan, Clark. Loves his wife, Riva, I was there, I witnessed the wedding. And dog, Clyde.
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
