Return to Transcripts main page

Nancy Grace

Teacher Found Stabbed to Death by Husband in Home

Aired July 11, 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: Tonight: A high school English teacher comes home from work, broad daylight, to find his young school teacher wife stabbed, face down in a pool of blood, the home ransacked.

Bombshell tonight. No forced entry, no sex attack on the 29-year-old social studies teacher -- his wife. The family dog never even barked once. Tonight, what could be motive for murder of a 29-year-old social studies teacher there in her own home? What happened to Simeonette?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A 29-year-old social studies teacher is found dead in her home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bloody body of a city school teacher taken out of her home after being stabbed multiple times.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reportedly stabbed between 10 and 20 times.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can`t believe it! I really cannot believe this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s found by her husband of five years, also a teacher.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Found his wife in the entryway, face down in a pool of blood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reports neighbors did not hear anything until the husband screamed on the phone, My wife was murdered, she`s dead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why her? Why now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s devastating.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops claim there`s no sign of forced entry. Who killed her?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.

No forced entry, no robbery, no sex attack on a 29-year-old social studies teacher. The family dog never even barked once. Tonight, what could be the motive for murder of a 29-year-old social studies teacher there in her own home? What really happened to Simeonette?

We are taking your calls. But first, let`s go straight out to Brett Larson, afternoon anchor joining us. Brett, what do we know?

BRETT LARSON, FM NEWS 101.9 (via telephone): Well, Nancy, it`s -- what we know is this is really tragic. There`s this beautiful young woman, not even 30 years old, a school teacher, a volunteer -- she did volunteer work with the ASPCA -- found middle of the day by her husband dead inside their duplex condo -- she was stabbed over a dozen times -- in a pool of blood. The house was ransacked.

But here`s where it gets interesting. The house is ransacked, but there`s no signs of forced entry. Nothing was taken. The dogs locked up in a room, and neighbors say not only did they not hear anything -- no struggle, no fight -- they didn`t hear the dogs barking.

And I mean, I`m a dog owner. If I put my dog in the bathroom and try and eat dinner, he`s going to bark at me. So why these dogs were so quiet is questionable.

And what`s even more sad is her and her husband just survived a drive- by shooting. She just posted something a couple weeks ago about surviving this drive-by shooting. So this young high school teacher found dead by her husband. Police say no suspects.

And you know, they`re in a nice neighborhood. They live near a manicured golf course. And the neighbors are just shocked that something this tragic happened right near them.

GRACE: You know, Brett Larson, you said this is where it gets interesting, that the dog didn`t bark. Well, I got a lot of other -- other red flags waving at me. In addition to the point about the family`s two dogs, not so much as one little woof, nothing...

LARSON: Yes.

GRACE: ... and they were home. I want to back it up just for a moment. I heard you say she was stabbed. How many times was she stabbed?

LARSON: Stabbed over a dozen times. Different reports say between 10 and 20 times in the back and torso.

GRACE: Well, I`m just telling you right there, Brett Larson, I don`t know all of the facts, but I can tell you that this is either someone that is insane, or it is not random because, for instance -- and I know all three of my lawyers are going to agree with this, whether they want to or not, whether they want to admit it -- but a burglary -- typically, if somebody comes into their home -- these are two high school teachers. She`s a social studies. He`s an English teacher, seemingly a very happy marriage on the outside, never any suggestion that there`s any problems between these two.

If somebody had been watching their home and believed them to be gone during the day and they break in, and whoops, the wife is home, typically, a burglar will leave. Burglars don`t want to come in when somebody is home, all right? That`s typically not why there`s a home intruder.

Home intruders typically occur when they want to steal. It`s really just that simple. They want something you`ve got, all right? Whether they want to feed a drug habit, whether they want to fence the items, it doesn`t matter. They don`t want to break in when you`re home, and if you are home and you spot them, typically, they leave -- immediately. That is the mind of a burglar.

Am I a shrink? No. But have I prosecuted literally thousands -- thousands -- of burglaries? Yes, I have.

So let`s think, Brett Larson, afternoon anchor joining me. Let`s think, why would a burglar who comes in most likely -- the most common scenario`s to steal something -- why would he then turn on this woman that he doesn`t know and stab her, what did you say 20 times?

LARSON: Yes, between 10 and 20 times. But what`s so -- but again, I`m going to agree with you that this can`t be a burglar because if it was a burglar, he`s already committed the murder, why not take some stuff? She had a Movado watch just sitting there. None of it was taken. But the house was just ransacked.

And my view -- the dogs never barked. No barking dogs? I mean, what -- find me a breed of dog that doesn`t bark when somebody breaks into your house, and I`ll find you -- you`ve found a deaf dog. I mean, how could they not be barking when their owner was in some sort of trouble?

GRACE: OK, tell me -- you said it`s an upscale neighborhood with manicured lawns and so forth. Tell me about that. Tell me about the area.

LARSON: Well, it`s a nice neighborhood. It`s right outside of a golf course, a well-manicured golf course, the neighbors around the home saying, you know, this kind of stuff doesn`t happen in our neighborhood. There`s only been less than a half dozen people murdered in that area in the year.

And neighbors also saying they`ve never heard fights between the two. They`ve never seen anything like this. They were shocked that something like this had happened in their own back yard. They thought that somebody had...

GRACE: As a matter of fact, these condos actually edge a luxury golf course, a very sought-after golf course. Among the people that have nine hours to spend a day on a golf game, they love this golf course. So it`s a very, very beautiful area, almost idyllic-looking.

Very quickly, to you, Alexis Tereszcuk, senior reporter, Radaronline.com. Did the husband and the wife -- this is just -- this is neither here nor there, but I want the know. Did they work at the same high school?

ALEXIS TERESZCUK, RADARONLINE.COM: They did, Nancy. And she was actually scheduled to start teaching summer school just four days after she was murdered. This was a plan that they had had. She was a school teacher. She was beloved by her students. She was so kind, in fact, that when there were 15 students in the senior class that could not afford a cap and a gown, she paid for it out of her own money.

The two of them were very close, and she was so loved in the community. So her murder has been shocking to everyone that knows her.

GRACE: You know, another thing about that, Alexis Tereszcuk, the husband -- what was he saying? What did he say when police first got there?

TERESZCUK: He was screaming. He was losing his mind. He said, She`s been murdered. But what one neighborhood said was so weird is he kept saying, It`s hot, she`s dead, it`s so hot, it`s so hot in here. And he was just screaming hysterically that, She`s been murdered, she had been murdered. And the neighbors found that to be very unsettling.

GRACE: Well, I got to tell you something, as a crime victim myself, Alexis -- and we`ve discussed this many, many times on and off camera. At the time that something like that happens, your mind isn`t straight. Your -- I know it doesn`t make sense to anybody else, but I could see him screaming, Why is it so hot in here? Why is it so hot in here? I could see him saying that.

But what I was getting at is, why is he -- if they teach at the same high school, why is he at work and she`s not at work? That`s making me wonder about their schedules that day. If they`re teaching at the same high schools, why is he working and she`s not working?

TERESZCUK: He said that he just had to go in for the morning for a little while and that he came home. He was home -- the call was made to 911 about...

GRACE: For what?

TERESZCUK: ... 1:48 in the afternoon. Just that he had a meeting in school. And he hasn`t really clarified what he was doing at the school that morning.

GRACE: But summer school started in four days. It could have been a number of things.

I want to go to Matt Zarrell. Matt, what more can you tell me about the scene? I know the home was ransacked. I`m just trying to get in my mind this timeline. They find the home ransacked. She`s dead, face down in a pool of blood. She`s stabbed between 10 and 20 times.

And very quickly, joining me right now -- I`m going to come back to you, Matt -- is renowned Dr. Henry Lee, chaired professor of forensic science, University of New Haven.

Dr. Lee, we`re saying she`s stabbed between 10 and 20 times. A lot of people may say, Well, why don`t you know if it`s 10 or if it`s 20? That`s a big difference. But there are reasons why sometimes, when you initially look at a body, you don`t know if it`s been stabbed 10 or 20 times. Explain.

HENRY LEE, PROF. OF FORENSIC SCIENCE, UNIV. OF NEW HAVEN (via telephone): Yes, you`re correct. They have to do a complete autopsy to determine the number of the stabbing wounds. And of course, can determine the type of knife, the type of weapon, the direction of the stabbing and the possible positioning of the suspect.

But 10 to 20 times, usually represent -- that`s called frenzy killing. And usually, as you say, you know, there are a couple possibilities. And you know, another -- just really another possibility could be somebody high on drugs. In an automatic (ph) fashion, which 10 to 20 times stabbing on the neck area, so of course, we don`t know whether or not carotid artery was cut or not.

If that`s in fact, we should see a lot of so-called anterior gushing. The reports say pool of blood. What does it mean? Of course, we want to see whether or not vertical, low-velocity dripping and what`s the distribution of the blood stain pattern, whether or not the victim walked into a home invasion or burglary case because that`s -- in the entry area. She just walked into the apartment?

Also, as you mentioned, (INAUDIBLE) if this is a high-end neighborhood, they probably have a videocamera, CCTV, whether or not have alarm system. All those they have to check. This case, you know, clearly have a lot of issue, and indication (ph) forensic evidence can be very important.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say just before 2:00 PM, Mapes-Crupi`s husband, Jonathan, came home and found his wife in the entryway, face down in a pool of blood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A female witness told The Daily News that the husband was saying, quote, "She`s dead. I came home. It was hot. She was dead."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Interestingly, just a week ago, the teacher posted a near-death experience on her Facebook page, writing, "Crupi" -- her husband -- "and I survived a shoot-out today. Thank God we`re OK."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops claim there`s no sign of forced entry, "The Daily News" reporting nothing of value missing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Straight back out to Matt Zarrell. Matt, you know, I always say there`s no coincidence in criminal law. I want to talk about another issue, some would say unrelated. A drive-by shooting happens a week before and she miraculously survives, a drive-by shooting on a high school social studies teacher.

Just give me some quick answers, Matt. No need to expound. Where was the drive-by shooting?

MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Across the street from the school.

GRACE: Right across the street from the high school, right? It`s a public high school?

ZARRELL: Correct.

GRACE: Residential area?

ZARRELL: Yes.

GRACE: Matt, was anybody with her at the time of the drive-by shooting?

ZARRELL: Her husband.

GRACE: He was with her at the time?

ZARRELL: Yes.

GRACE: OK, Matt, what more do you know about that drive-by shooting?

ZARRELL: Well, after she got home, she actually posted on her Facebook wall saying, Thank God we`re OK, I`m sure over summer school, we`ll find out what the fighting is about.

However, she also referenced these gangsters of this area that she was referring to, threatening them, warning them that, You really don`t know what you`re doing, and you have to stop trying to live a lifestyle you`ll never understand. She issued this threat as she got home and posted this on her Facebook wall.

GRACE: OK, tell me that again?

ZARRELL: Yes. She referenced to all these wannabe gangsters who say they`re from this area but really aren`t, Be grateful you have what you have and stop trying to live a lifestyle you will never understand, referring to the shooting just across the street from the school.

GRACE: So long story short, there is a seemingly unrelated drive-by shooting right across the street from where she works. School was not in session, Matt. So I`m trying to determine why, in between school sessions, there`s a drive-by shooting when basically nobody`s around but she and her husband coming in or going out of that school, getting ready for the summer session. No students are there.

So why is there a drive-by shooting, and she says it`s a miracle she survives, then a week later, she`s found dead, face down in a pool of blood in the entrance to her condominium there on the edges of this luxury golf course? I`m just trying to process everything I`m hearing.

Out to the lines. Charlotte in Kansas. Hi, Charlotte. What`s your question, dear?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I originally was going to ask why the husband was home during the day, but I heard that he was a school teacher and I -- that he went to school for a meeting.

My other concern would be about the dogs not barking. Surely, this woman screamed and the dogs should have reacted to that. I`m just wondering what they could have done to the dogs in order for them not to react at all.

GRACE: To Brett Larson, afternoon anchor, joining us. Do we know what kind of dogs they were? And again, school was not in session. She was at home, and the husband says he had a meeting at school, I guess to prepare for summer session.

Was he going to teach summer session, Brett Larson?

LARSON: We don`t know if he was set to teach in the summer session. We have to assume that he was. The dogs, likely rescue dogs, but nonetheless, they -- you know, they were found locked in a room and she was home, so they shouldn`t have been locked up in a room. But again, the neighbors...

GRACE: Why would they be locked in a room if she`s home?

LARSON: Exactly. And the neighbors have all said they didn`t hear her dogs barking, which -- I mean, you know, my dog won`t bark when I`m in the room. But if a stranger comes in, the dogs will start to bark.

GRACE: Hey, Brett, I`m seeing a very -- I`m just seeing a big numbers of Disney photos. I just saw a picture with Tigger there in one of the places where they have character breakfasts. I could recognize it in the background. Had they just been on a trip? Did they just go to Disney?

LARSON: Well, they did just -- she did just have a birthday. And he did, you know, shower her with gifts and flowers and balloons and things like that, so a Disney trip is likely part of that celebration.

GRACE: Flowers and balloons? She got flowers and balloons for her birthday? Is that what you just said?

LARSON: Flowers and balloons for her birthday -- 29, flowers and balloons. It`s not a big- it`s not a big year. Maybe 30 -- maybe he was holding out the big guns for 30.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: We are back and taking your calls. A high school social studies teacher in between sessions -- she`s getting ready to go back to summer school in just four days to teach at a local high school -- found dead, stabbed between 10 and 20 times in the entranceway to her condo that she shared with her husband.

We are taking your calls, but I want to go back to what we know happened when police arrived. What exactly was said and what exactly was observed at that time, Matt Zarrell?

ZARRELL: OK, 30-year-old husband Jonathan Crupi told cops that his wife was face down in the entryway in a pool of blood. And the condo appeared to have been ransacked.

Now, the victim, the teacher, was stabbed at least 10 to 20 times in the neck, midsection, back and head. Now, cops say there was no forced entry at the home, and sources told "The New York Daily News" that no valuables were taken, including an expensive Movado watch that was sitting there in the home.

Now, reports are that police are trying to determine if this was a botched home invasion or something more close to the victim. They`re still working on that.

But also, Nancy, there`s questions about what the neighbors heard because when the husband got home, the neighbors didn`t hear anything until they heard the husband come out of the house, screaming on the phone, My wife was murdered, and, She`s dead. He appears visibly distraught. But at the same time, also yells about the heat thing -- It was hot, interchangeably saying with, She`s dead -- It was hot, she`s dead, she was murdered.

GRACE: What about -- Was he saying something about, I was at work, I wasn`t there? What else was said, or do we know?

ZARRELL: Yes, Nancy, he also mentioned that he wasn`t here -- I had to work. The witnesses described it as very, very weird. And also, as we`ve talked about, the reports are that the couple`s two dogs were locked in a room, and neighbors didn`t hear any barking. The only time they heard anything was when the husband came out of the house on the phone screaming about this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: What happened to a beloved social studies high school teacher found stabbed between 10 and 20 times, face down in the entranceway of her condominium, her condominium she shared with her husband there on the edge of a luxury golf course?

He was at school. They were getting ready for the summer school session. He had a meeting, she was at home. Nothing taken from the home, the home ransacked, no sex attack on the teacher that we know of.

We are taking your calls. Out to Marcy in Texas. Hi, Marcy. What`s your question?

MARCIE, CALLER FROM TEXAS: Hi, Nancy. Listen, I used to work for a criminal defense attorney, god knows I`d never want to go up against you because you`re amazing. But these are the things that bother me the most. There are a lot of red flags, but one, no barking of the dogs. I have useless dogs at home but they will always bark at a stranger.

Two, a lot of times that she was stabbed. If I`m robbing the house and I`m trying to get out, I`m going to stab you once, knock you, I`m going to haul. So I think there had to be some passion going on in that stabbing.

And then nothing missing of value. And also the drive-by earlier, as you said, it also bothers me because he may have been with her, but that doesn`t mean that he was trying to target her. So my two concerns and questions are, one, is there a large amount of insurance that he maybe could cash in on? And two, when they check on her, you know, when they found her and took her for her autopsy, were there any signs of rape? Because that would indicate somebody else.

GRACE: OK. First of all, I know there`s no personal attack on her, no sex attack. That much I know. Insurance policies.

Alexis Tereszcuk, senior reporter Radaronline.com. I`m a little thrown off by the balloon. All right? Don`t give me a balloon for my birthday, all right? Or I will take a straight pin to it and it will go pop.

Now that`s a whole other can of worms and certainly a bad birthday gift does not a murder make. But let`s talk about life insurance, now we`re talking, Alexis.

ALEXIS TERESZCUK, REPORTER, RADAROLINE.COM: You`re absolutely right, this is a young couple, but they are teachers, they`re very well respected. The families have all been together and so this is something that the investigators are definitely going to be looking into. But this is not a very wealthy couple, but they did live in a very nice community, as Maria said, on a golf course.

They`re certainly not struggling for money in terms of what you can see they have, they have expensive watches and nothing was taken. So this is definitely something that does raise a red flag.

GRACE: Alexis Tereszcuk, I know you don`t have children yet, but when you do, let me just say, go ahead and get your credit cards ready to go to Disney, OK? It costs out the ying-yang and this couple -- let`s see those pictures. They went every single year, every year they would re-enact a Disney trip. I mean all these photos I`m showing you, Mickey, Mini, Cinderella, Tigger, Piglet, that cost a lot of money. They are spending their money -- what I can see of it, on leisure, leisure activities.

And actually it sounds funny, I`m not kidding, every one of these breakfasts cost hundreds of dollars go to to see all the -- because there`s a really performance until you`ve seen all these characters, too. It`s not cheap, Alexis. You`re out there near Disney out in California. You`ll see. So I can see that they`re not hurting for money because I just got back from Disney, all right?

And that costs -- you`re spending your money, what you`ve managed to save, on leisure. They`re not trying to pay the light bill, is what I`m saying. But that doesn`t preclude a life insurance policy.

I`m also hearing a lot of other scuttlebutt about this, but what also concerns me, to you Caryn Stark, not only psychologist, but dog lover. Locking the dogs in a room. Now she`s at home. Having had pets in the home, I don`t lock them away when I`m at home. OK, I want to be with them. So -- in fact I don`t remember locking them away ever at all. Not even when the children came home from the hospital. The kitty cat was right there, I know everybody thinks that`s crazy, but long story short, why would the dogs be locked away in a room?

CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: Well --

GRACE: Every time I have ever been to your place, the dogs were certainly not locked away, let me put it mildly.

STARK: I think they were all over you, Nancy.

GRACE: Yes.

STARK: The only reason they`d be locked in a room would be if they -- if they weren`t there, if the people weren`t there, the owners, and they wanted just a smaller space for them. It doesn`t make a lot of sense because she was home. It`s also a very intimate, personal crime because whoever killed her, with so much rage and aggression --

GRACE: Caryn, Caryn, Caryn.

STARK: Stabbed 20 times.

GRACE: Caryn, Caryn, Caryn.

STARK: Yes, yes, yes.

GRACE: The dogs were locked away. Who would go and lock the dogs away? Who would do that? Would you do that before the attack? After the attack? Would you lock the dogs away while you were trying to burglar the place and suddenly she walks out? She was not unclothed so she was not in the shower or something like that, and then walked out, they didn`t know she was there.

She was there puttering around in the home. It almost seems like she answered the door, it was in the entrance way to the home. So how do we go from a frenzy stabbing, ransacking a home to thinking to lock the dogs away. They had to be locked away first.

So analyze that for me, Caryn Stark.

STARK: To me, locking the dogs away fits with the personal nature of the crime. And perhaps this is a person who really didn`t want the dogs to be a part of it. Maybe somebody who knew the dogs, cared more about the dogs than the person, that`s not unbelievable to me. I know that people like that exist. And it just adds to the intimacy of the crime that there`s so many stabbings, repeated stabbings. So somebody cared to have the dogs removed from that scene.

GRACE: Or, Padowitz, Renee Rockwell --

(CROSSTALK)

STARK: She greeted somebody and didn`t --

GRACE: Parag Shah, joining us -- yes, that`s a possibility.

Renee Rockwell, you have -- I don`t know how many dogs you have running around in your home, those mini-pinnie things.

RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Too many.

GRACE: Question, who would take the time to lock the dogs away, then have a frenzy murder killing of up to 20 stab wounds? Because I guarantee you, in all of this, they didn`t think, oh, I just murdered somebody and ransacked the home, now I`ll go and put the dogs in the bathroom.

It didn`t happen that way, somebody was in the home with the luxury of time to lock the dogs away to either kill or burgle. Now who was that person?

ROCKWELL: A couple of observations, number one, what if she was going somewhere and she locked the dogs away. And everybody keeps saying nothing was taken from the house. Nothing that we know of was taken. Somebody was looking for something --

GRACE: Why would you lock your dogs up in a room just because you had an errand?

ROCKWELL: Nancy, some people do that. They want their dogs in smaller spaces. I know that -- I have friends that put their dogs in kennels when they leave the house, just to have them in a smaller space. That`s not to -- concerning me more than the house was ransacked.

GRACE: All right.

ROCKWELL: If it was ransacked --

GRACE: OK. Now your theory is -- your theory is going on that she left the home and put them away, that`s your theory, that right?

ROCKWELL: She could have been. But if somebody is ransacking the house, are they -- trumping through puddles of blood? Did they ransack before? Did they ransack after?

GRACE: Good questions. Hold it, Renee.

ROCKWELL: Did somebody --

GRACE: Renee, whoa, whoa. Hold it. I want to follow up on what you just said. That`s a good thought.

Dr. Henry Lee, chair professor, forensic science, University of New Haven. Let`s talk about that. The blood. As a matter of fact just today you`re teaching blood spatter. Give me your thoughts on blood.

DR. HENRY LEE, PH.D., CHAIR PROFESSOR OF FORENSIC SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAVEN: Right. That`s an excellent explanation, if a stabbing occurred before the ransack, we expect to see some blood stains, shoe prints or hand prints. Of course regards to the no sign of break entry, as we have to look at the lock. Some locks are pretty easy to pick. Some maybe have a -- you know, key which the apartments, so who knows.

The evidence, you know, at the scene, at the entrance way, that really bothers me so much. With a numerous stabbing, we should see some sign of a struggle. You can stop someone one time, twice, but multiple, say 10 to 20 times, definitely going to have some sign of a struggle unless the first stabbing already killed her.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A 29-year-old social studies teacher is found dead in her home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can`t believe it. I really cannot believe this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Why was this beloved high school social studies teacher found facedown in a pool of blood there in the entrance way to her own condo, stabbed, we think, 10 to 20 times?

To you, Dr. Bill Manion, medical examiner, joining us out of Philadelphia tonight.

Dr. Manion, why can`t they tell us straight out how many stab wounds there were?

DR. BILL MANION, M.D., MEDICAL EXAMINER, BURLINGTON COUNTY, NJ: Well, they can`t at the scene because the blood has dried over the wounds and coagulated so. But when they get home, get them back to the morgue, they`ll wash the blood off, and then they`ll be able to do a very careful count. And they`ll get a very accurate result. In fact we have to count them very carefully, and document each wounds. Make sure they were made by one knife, make sure we can figure out the length of the knife, the width of the knife, single blade, double blade, things of that nature.

GRACE: To Steve Moore, a former fed with the FBI, violent crime investigator, joining us tonight out of L.A.

Steve Moore, I want to hear your thoughts on the murder weapon. What if we discover the murder weapon came from inside the home?

STEVE MOORE, FORMER FED WITH THE FBI, VIOLENT CRIME INVESTIGATOR: Well, that would be kind of a sign of an impulse time murder where you might find a -- might find the husband and wife fighting. The fact that we haven`t identified the knife yet --

GRACE: Well, why couldn`t it be a burglar that came in and used a kitchen knife? It could be that, too.

MOORE: It could, but then it`s hard to explain why he would be in the entrance hall there. I mean that`s entirely possible. But somebody who is -- who has a propensity or an inclination to use a knife, usually brings it with them to begin with. A burglar frequently will carry a knife with them. That`s their only form of defense.

The fact that she was in the entrance hall makes me pretty suspicious of the possibility of walking on in a burglary. I want to know where her car keys are, I want to know where her purse is, I want to know if she was walking in from coming -- from the car or whether she was headed out to the car, or whether somebody knocked on the door and she answered it and started to run back in the home.

There`s so many things that are unanswered right now because we don`t have, in our view, some of the things that an investigator would be asking.

GRACE: Well, another issue about that, to you, Ken Padowitz, former prosecutor joining me tonight out of Miami. He says why would the perp be in the entrance hall, but my question would add on to that, why would the perp be in the entrance hall with a knife from the home?

Because if you`re going to go in to burgle, you want your hands free. You don`t go in to burgle, you think the place is empty. You don`t go in and get a kitchen knife and starts talking around trying to take items out. All right? Because we know there was no sex attack. That`s not the motive, all right?

We know the place was ransacked, like somebody was looking for something in particular, there`s no evidence of anything illegal going on in the home such as drugs, all right? So why would somebody be in the entrance way with a knife from the kitchen? That doesn`t make sense, if they`re coming in to burgle -- see, the whole point I`m making, Ken Padowitz, is I`m thinking about motive, because if we can unlock motive, then we can narrow down who the perpetrator is.

It`s obviously not a sex attack. We know that. She was fully clothed, her clothes were not disarranged or disheveled in any way. There`s no sex attack at all. Nothing is taken from the home, there`s things in plain view like an expensive Movado watch. Nothing else taken out of the home, no jewelry, nothing. Of course she did get balloons for her birthday, so I don`t know how much jewelry there is to start with, but nothing was taken.

So I`m looking at motive because that`s going to identify the killer for me.

KEN PADOWITZ, FORMER HOMICIDE PROSECUTOR: Nancy, you said it all except for the answer, and the answer is 10 to 20 stab wounds around the neck and the head, this is what I see in crimes of domestic violence. This is what I see in a situation where there`s anger and passion and there`s intimacy between the people. And, you know, dogs locked away, nothing taken from the home.

These police need to take a very hard look at this husband. They have to put him under a microscope, all the signs are indicating that they have to take a very close look at whether or not there`s a motive for him to kill his wife and he has to be a suspect, even if they`re not naming him as a suspect.

GRACE: OK. Parag Shah, he has not been named a suspect or a person of interest. Response?

PARAG SHAH, DEFENSE ATTORNEY, AUTHOR OF "THE CODE": He was at work. He -- there`s no reason for him to be a suspect. Who they should be looking at is I would think someone that she knew, possibly students, that would explain why the dogs are put away, maybe she was expecting someone who doesn`t like dogs. That explains the frenziness --

GRACE: Parag Shah, statistics are so against you. Statistics are against you, that a student would murder a teacher. That`s highly unlikely if you just look at the lay of the land statistically.

SHAH: Well, I`m not going based on statistics, I`m going based on the evidence that we have so far. It explains the shoot-out at the school and it explains the --

GRACE: You have evidence that explains who did it?

SHAH: I`m sorry?

GRACE: With her husband with her? You`ve got evidence -- you`re saying I`m going on the evidence, what evidence tells you a student did it?

SHAH: Well, just the answer is the shoot-out at the school and the reason why it was at the entryway, she knew the person, that`s why she opened it, that`s why there`s no yelling from her, and it explains the frenzy actions by an impulsive adolescent.

GRACE: Yes, but that`s not what I asked you. I asked you, you said the evidence, I`m saying it`s a student based on the evidence. What evidence tells you it was a student?

SHAH: The evidence shows that it`s someone that she might knew. That`s what I`m saying. And so I`m trying to think of people she might know and she is a schoolteacher involved with students and there`s a good possibility that student should be investigated.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: Why was a young social studies teacher found stabbed multiple times facedown in a pool of blood in her own home?

Tina, Arkansas, what`s your question?

TINA, CALLER FROM ARKANSAS: Yes, I have a couple of points to make, Nancy. One, I`m --

GRACE: OK.

TINA: I`m a high school teacher so, you know, I understand that he possibly was or had to go to a meeting if he taught in a different subject area. Now the life insurance thing has come up. This is an automatic benefit that is given to teachers. Everybody gets a life insurance policy. Now you can pay up on the policy and make it larger than what the district, you know, gives to you or what the state gives to you.

The other thing is, I can tell you my dogs would bark at the drop of a hat on a stranger. Locking them up, to me, means that those dogs also -- if somebody tried to harm me, my dogs would try to harm them, whether it be my husband or a stranger. My dogs would go after them. So -- but my point with the life insurance, you know, that`s something I would definitely look into and the length of time being married.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: We are taking your calls, tip line, 800-577-TIPS, 800-577- 8477. A social studies teacher found facedown in a pool of blood, up to 20 stab wounds in the entranceway to her condominium.

Matt Zarrell, what more can you tell me about their marriage, how long were they married? Did he go to the funeral? What was his behavior like if he went?

MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE STAFFER, COVERING STORY: OK, Nancy. They were married five years. And the funeral was held this week. The husband did attend. Reports are he was sobbing and shaking uncontrollably as he was holing rosary beads. He actually kissed two love-stem roses before throwing them wrap bouquet on his wife`s casket. He appeared very, very distraught during the funeral.

GRACE: You know, everybody always looks at the husband, Alexis Terezcuk. Other than that drive-by shooting that he was with her when that went down the week before and he having this meeting and coming home, that could be anybody. That doesn`t necessarily implicate him. And if he hated her I don`t see him -- just what Matt said about kissing the roses and throwing them to her, to me that puts everything in a very different light. I`ve never of seen a killer kiss roses and then throw them on as the casket is being lowered.

TERESZCUK: You`re absolutely right. For every indication, this couple was incredibly happy. There were no reports of domestic violence. Everybody thought they were incredibly happy together.

GRACE: You know, Alexis Tereszcuk, it`s so easy to blame the husband, but just that moment when Matt said that, that reminds me, when my fiance was murdered, I remember when his casket went by,. And I don`t really remember a lot. I remember kissing him. And hearing him say that part about kissing the roses and throwing them as the casket`s being lowered, I know everybody on this panel is going to think that`s crazy, maybe not you, Renee, that means something to me, Renee.

ROCKWELL: It does, Nancy, and I can just tell you what`s going on right now. The police are going to try to eliminate him first so they`re going to check his phone records. And as long as he will talk to them, they`re going to ask him 20 questions and they`re going to know the answer to 10 of them. So they`re just going to eliminate him first, Nancy, before moving on.

GRACE: Let`s stop and remember Army Private Steven Drees, just 19, Peshtigo, Wisconsin, 19. Served Afghanistan, lost his life at a German military hospital far away from home. Bronze Star, Purple Heart, loved sports, giving toys to Afghan children, a foundation helping military families named in his honor. Leaves behind parents Paul and Dawn, twin brother Charles.

Steven Drees, American hero.

Thanks for our guests but especially to you for being with us. Dr. Drew up next.

Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, friend.

END