Return to Transcripts main page

Nancy Grace

Search Continues for Missing South Carolina Cheerleader; Teen Girl Vanished on the Way to Mall

Aired September 19, 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, South Carolina. A 15- year-old high school cheerleader, Ridge View High, asleep in her own bedroom when Mom happens to check on her 3:00 AM, 7:30 AM she`s gone, Gabbiee never seen again.

Stunning new leads emerge. In the last hours, investigators reaffirm they`ve got rock-solid evidence she did not leave her home willingly and are convinced she`s still alive somewhere.

Bombshell tonight. Gabbiee`s mother comes forward, insisting Gabbiee is alive, being held. In the last hours, we uncover new searches by police just 12 miles east of Gabbiee`s home. What do they know? Tonight, we chase the leads. Where`s the cheerleader, 15-year-old Gabrielle?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gabbiee`s out there hidden and we just have to find her and bring her home.

GRACE: Gabbiee did not leave her home willingly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A forceful and violent disappearance investigators believe was engineered...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: By 52-year-old Freddie Grant.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m appealing to him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s a monster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A monster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As monster as he is, I`m asking, you know, for God`s sakes, tell us where she`s at.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My daughter is not home yet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Being charged with kidnapping 15-year-old Gabbiee Swainson.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Still not cooperating.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) just calling him a monster. How does that advance the search for Gabbiee?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The sizable collection of physical evidence that appears to tie the convicted felon to Gabbiee`s abduction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The duct tape was found in Mr. Grant`s house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gabbiee`s hair, Gabbiee`s blood on duct tape in the suspect`s house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Still have hope.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gabrielle, Mommy loves you and Mommy is still trying to find you, baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: And tonight, live to Denver. A 16-year-old high school junior heads to the downtown mall to perform a hula hoop stunt as part of a youth performance. Last text message to Avery`s (ph) sister, 2:45 -- 5:00, 5:00 PM, she`s gone. Was the teen performer drugged and snatched by a mystery man, whisked away from the local mall?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops are desperately searching for leads after 16-year- old Avery vanishes in broad daylight while performing in Denver, Colorado. Her sister, who was supposed to pick her up, received a text message in the late afternoon. Since then, no one has heard from her. The teen seemingly vanishes into thin air.

A witness says they saw the girl later that day in a nearby park with an unknown man. Now investigators are reportedly saying they believe the red- headed 16-year-old with blue eyes may have been drugged and taken out of town! Where is Avery?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight, live to South Carolina. A 15-year-old high school cheerleader, Ridge View high, asleep in her own bedroom. Mom checks on her by happenstance 3:00 AM, 7:30 Gabbiee is gone, her mom coming forward in the last hours, insisting she is alive and being held.

And in the last hours, we uncover new searches by police just 12 miles east of Gabbiee`s home. What do they know?

We are taking your calls. I want to go straight out to Dave Mack, on the case, morning talk show host, WAAX. Dave, what do we know?

DAVE MACK, CLEAR CHANNEL WAAX: What we know is that police, as well as her mother, believe she is still alive. And they believe that, Nancy because there just wasn`t enough blood found in the bedroom or at the kidnapper`s home, the alleged kidnapper`s home, to indicate that she is gone. So they`re operating on the pretense that Gabbiee is alive...

GRACE: Put Dave Mack up!

MACK: ... and they just want (INAUDIBLE)

GRACE: Dave Mack, you know, I appreciate all your journalistic integrity, but isn`t it true, Dave Mack, that duct tape was found in the handyman`s home? He did their yard Friday. She goes missing -- within 24 hours, that morning between 3:00 and 7:00 AM, she goes missing, all right?

The handyman, this guy, this helper, Freddie Grant, age 52, was in there front yard and back yard a couple hours before. In his home, we find duct tape with Gabbiee, 15-year-old Gabbiee`s hair and blood on it.

Now, you want to keep saying the alleged kidnapper? Can you give me one innocent scenario where her blood and her hair should be on duct tape in his home? Listening, not hearing!

MACK: There is no reason. I shouldn`t even say "alleged."

GRACE: OK. Go ahead.

MACK: So the kidnapper took Gabbiee from the home, but there`s not enough physical evidence to indicate that she was dead. And police know what they`re looking for and how much blood. So because of what they found at the scene, they believe Gabbiee is still alive.

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Ellie Jostad on the story, our chief editorial producer. Let`s just get down to it, Ellie. You and I have covered a lot of cases together. Let`s talk about the possibility that Gabbiee is alive.

Now, cops are telling us, even from within the investigation, where we`ve been digging around, that she was taken unwillingly from her bedroom. Why do they think she`s still alive? Do we have any inkling as to their reasoning?

ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, what the sheriff is saying right now is that, yes, there was duct tape found with her DNA on it, with her hair and her blood on it. Yes, blood was found in her bedroom.

But the good news is, is that it`s not enough blood in the bedroom or on that duct tape or anywhere else that could tell them this has been -- this is someone who`s been murdered or even seriously injured.

Now, of course, we don`t know if there`s another secondary crime scene somewhere else, but what police have found so far is not enough for them to conclude that she was killed.

GRACE: Everybody, we`re taking your calls. Alicia, Kentucky. Hi, Alicia. What`s your question, dear?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I just want to say we watch your show every night, and my daughter can cue when you`re going to cut a mike. But my question is, with him being charged with the kidnapping, when will they start, like, a jury trial? Will they wait or...

GRACE: Oh, honey, honey, honey, honey! We`ve got so far to go. We`ve got so far to go. Think about it, Alicia in Kentucky. And thank you for what you said. One of my first friends practicing law, as a law clerk for a judge, was a woman from Lexington, Kentucky.

What do we have? We have him clammed up behind bars. In fact, Alicia in Kentucky, one of the reasons -- put up Freddie Grant, age 52.

Have you seen this guy? Have you hired this guy? Do you know him? And if so, what do you know? This guy did their yard. He had a key to their home. Mom said, I want my key back. He wouldn`t give it back. He made up a lie because when cops searched Freddie Grant`s home, they found the key.

Give me that shot, Liz, of the police chief holding up the key. They found it hanging on a cord in his home, a lanyard of sorts.

Alicia, so what do we have? We`ve got the key to her home that the mom gave him unwittingly. We`ve got blood on duct tape, hair on duct tape. That`s all we`ve got. His fingerprints, if they`re in the home, are rightfully there, Alicia, because he did some remodeling inside.

So what do I have? Police first became suspicious of him because he clammed up and wouldn`t even speak when they tried to ask him about Gabbiee. If he did take a lie detector and failed, which I doubt he would even take one, that`s not going to be admissible unless it was stipulated by both parties ahead of time -- agreed upon.

So all I`ve got is a piece of duct tape, Alicia. If I took that to trial right now, I may not get a conviction. Do I want to risk that? No, I do not. I need more, Alicia in Kentucky.

What do we have, Ellie? What do we have? He`s not talking.

JOSTAD: Right.

GRACE: He hasn`t confided in anybody. We may have a little bit of a similar transaction going on because his last girlfriend -- give them to me side by side, Liz -- looks a little bit like Gabbiee. She was very young compared to him. He`s what, 52, and this girlfriend was in her early 20s.

JOSTAD: Right.

GRACE: She goes missing. So Ellie, what do I have? I want to take it to trial, too, but what do I have?

JOSTAD: Well, Nancy, the other thing you`ve got, too, is cell phone records. Remember, Gabbiee`s mom, before she left for work, put a cell phone into Gabbiee`s hands or put it next to her. That phone was missing when Gabbiee was missing in the morning. And police say that they can prove that that phone went from Gabbiee`s house to the suspect, Freddie Grant`s, house. So we`ve got that information, as well.

GRACE: So we`ve got her at his place immediately when she goes missing. We`ve got some blood in her bedroom. To me, that`s enough to make out a kidnapping offense. Hop on your computer, El, and tell me what`s the max - - OK, never mind, I`ve got Clark here.

Clark, what`s the max we could get him in that jurisdiction on aggravated kidnapping or just straight kidnapping? Aggravated is probably with a weapon or some if other offense was included, like robbery or rape. What`s straight kidnapping? Give me the max you can get on that.

OK, to Victoria Taft, talk show host, KPAM. Weigh in, Victoria.

VICTORIA TAFT, AM 660 KPAM: Well, Nancy Grace, I have to say that this guy looks like he`s guilty. He`s not saying one word. And he has DNA evidence in his house. And they sniffed in the junkyard across the street from his house. And now, hope against hope, they think that they might still be looking for a live young girl, poor Gabbiee, 15 years old.

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: But explain to me why they think she`s still alive? Because you know that is in direct conflict to statistics. Why do they believe Gabbiee`s alive? Which means that somewhere, if that`s true, she`s being held against her will right now somewhere. If she`s still alive, somebody is helping him.

TAFT: Well, they think that there`s a dearth of evidence in the house and a dearth of evidence in his house. But he had a key. You`ve laid it out. The fact of the matter is the searches that we`ve seen so far are places where you don`t stuff somebody who`s alive, Nancy.

GRACE: OK. Got it. It`s 30 years for kidnapping, 30 years behind bars. And I want to find out something else while I`ve got you on the computer. In that jurisdiction, is it day for day? Do you get good time, or is it really 30 years? If he gets 30 years, does he do 30 years? Because he`ll never make it. He`ll never make it to 82 behind bars.

This family is so desperate to find their little girl, they are looking in trash cans for evidence of their little cheerleader. They can`t walk by a trash can without sifting through the trash can.

Hey, I have children, praise God. Can you imagine that you cannot walk by a trash can, a dumpster, without feeling you`ve got to pull your car over and get into the dumpster and start going through the dumpster, looking for evidence of your teenage girl?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m asking, you know, for God`s sakes, tell us where she`s at.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s not all over because my daughter is not home yet. She`s not here yet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elvia says community support gets her through bad days.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That`s when it`s over for me, when she comes home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s concerned people will give up on Gabbiee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Tonight, police conducting searches just 12 miles away from where Gabbiee last seen in her own bedroom. This high school cheerleader at Ridge View High -- happy, upbeat, straight-A student, played an instrument in the church`s Praise Band, was going to a magnet school for children interested in medicine. Where is Gabbiee?

Police now intimating, as well as the family, they believe this girl is still alive somewhere, being held against her will. Where is she and what is happening to Gabbiee?

We are taking your calls. Out to Heaven, Illinois. Hi, dear. What`s your question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nancy, I was wondering (INAUDIBLE) you believe the motive of all this is. Has there been any evidence that maybe he was interested in the girl (INAUDIBLE)

GRACE: Well, typically, Heaven in Illinois, your motive is either going to be sex or money or somebody drugged out of their skull that doesn`t know what they`re doing, which is not insanity, I might add. Voluntary consumption of drugs or alcohol does not constitute insanity. So you`ve got sex, you`ve got theft. Nothing was stolen from the home, OK?

Let`s go back to Ellie Jostad. Ellie, wasn`t there something -- wasn`t Gabbiee questioning the disappearance of his last girlfriend?

JOSTAD: Well, Nancy, there`s another case that he`s involved in that he is considered a person of interest in. It`s a man who was found shot to death in his front yard. That man apparently argued with Freddie Grant about the missing girlfriend.

And Nancy, the other thing to mention, too is, is that Adriana Laster`s disappearance has led to a bunch of people coming forward that knew both Freddie Grant and Laster and say that he has a history of domestic violence with this former girlfriend.

GRACE: Unleash the lawyers, Becca Crumrine, John Manuelian, Kirby Clements. Out to you, John Manuelian, joining me out of LA. Weigh in, John. He`s clamming up. If he`s innocent, why?

JOHN MANUELIAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I don`t know why. But I can tell you that the defense attorney for him should step up, contact the prosecutor`s office and try to get a deal on the table so that we could find out some more information about where this girl is, if she is alive.

Remember, a defense attorney`s job is not only to defend, it`s also to protect the community. So I would be telling this guy, Look, if you know where she is, `fess up, mitigate your damages, don`t aggravate them.

GRACE: Before I go to Becca Crumrine and Kirby Clements, I`m hearing in my ear -- I`m just now in touch with Tembi Gray. This is the assistant director at GMG Music Center, where Gabbiee took guitar and vocal lessons. Tembi, thank you for being with us.

TEMBI GRAY, ASST. DIR. OF GABBIEE`S MUSIC CENTER (via telephone): You`re welcome.

GRACE: Ms. Gray, what can you tell me about Gabbiee? I`ve got so much video of her singing. And I know she was a cheerleader and just so bright and sparkly, the love of her mother`s life.

GRAY: Yes. She is.

GRACE: Tell me about Gabbiee.

GRAY: Yes, she`s definitely a phenomenal young lady. She attended our summer camp this past June for an entire four weeks, where she was able to take lessons in vocal and guitar. She was able to interact with other students with a passion and desire to do the same thing in music.

And because she did so well during that first session, and her -- you know, her passion and so forth, we actually had her volunteer and come back the next month in July to volunteer as a teacher assistant and a mentor to our younger students.

And so Gabbiee -- she is -- she lights up the room when she comes in. I mean, she always has a smile on her face. She`s a positive person. She`s very intelligent, not only in music she`s gifted, but she`s also academically, you know, gifted in that area, as well. And so Gabbiee is a phenomenal young lady.

GRACE: You know, Ms. Gray, my mom also is a musician and she teaches piano. She plays classical piano. She says that if you`re musically gifted, it`s just -- you`ve got a muse. You`ve got something that other people don`t have.

I understand that Gabbiee played an instrument in her Praise Band at church?

GRAY: Yes, that`s correct. And I remember her telling me how she is joining the Youth Praise Band and she`s excited about that. And I believe her mom just got her a new guitar and an amp, and she was just really excited about that, you know, really excited about just everything coming up with the 10th grade year, just her future in general.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have great faith. The Bible said all you need is faith as small as a mustard seed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Swainson describes her daughter as a good student, a cheerleader at Ridge View High School.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bring my baby home. I believe she is still alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Is Gabbiee still alive? If so, she is being held right now somewhere against her will. Her mom sees her 3:00 AM there asleep in her own bed, 7:30 AM she is gone. Her mom working overtime to try to send her to a good school, to get her guitar lessons, buy her a new guitar. Where is the cheerleader, Gabbiee? We are evaluating the clues left behind.

I want to go out to Ellie Jostad. Ellie, I also understand that searches are going down, we have learned in the last hours, within 12 miles of her home. Where are the searches?

(CROSSTALK)

JOSTAD: This is actually within 12 miles of the suspect`s home. Now, police will not talk about anything they`re doing right now as part of the investigation, but a source in Gabbiee`s family tells us that police have been doing recent searches near the suspect, Freddie Grant`s, home. This is just about 12 miles or so away from where he lived in Elgin, South Carolina.

GRACE: But that is not inconsistent with the cops` belief she`s still alive. They could be searching for other evidence...

JOSTAD: Correct.

GRACE: ... that has been discarded.

JOSTAD: That`s right, Nancy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gabbiee`s out there hidden and we just have to find her and bring her home.

GRACE: Gabbiee did not leave her home willingly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A forceful and violent disappearance investigators believe was engineered...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: By 52-year-old Freddie Grant.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m appealing to him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s a monster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A monster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As monster as he is, I`m asking, you know, for God`s sakes, tell us where she`s at.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My daughter is not home yet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Being charged with kidnapping 15-year-old Gabbiee Swainson.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Still not cooperating.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) just calling him a monster. How does that advance the search for Gabbiee?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The sizable collection of physical evidence that appears to tie the convicted felon to Gabbiee`s abduction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The duct tape was found in Mr. Grant`s house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gabbiee`s hair, Gabbiee`s blood on duct tape in the suspect`s house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Still have hope.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gabrielle, Mommy loves you and Mommy is still trying to find you, baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls tonight. Where is Gabbiee?

To Pat Brown, criminal profiler, author of "How to Save Your Daughter`s Life," what do you make of this? Is there a chance she`s alive? We know cops are conducting searches. We`ve learned that in the last hours, 12 miles from her home. The family is saying she`s still alive, being held.

The guy behind bars, the handyman who had a brief relationship with the mom, has totally clammed up, not saying anything, Pat Brown.

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER, AUTHOR OF "ONLY THE TRUTH": Yes, I don`t believe the police really think that she`s alive. I think they`re just keeping that option open. I think they probably think she was strangled in his home.

This man is an anger retaliatory killer. He does things just on the spur of the moment when he thinks it`s a great idea. Hey, here`s a girl to kidnap and rape. I don`t see him as the type to plan carefully, to make a bunker to put her in. And if she`d been in a -- she had to have assistance or she`d be dead by now a month later.

GRACE: Out to the lines. Shy, Oklahoma. Hi, dear, what`s your question?

SHY, CALLER FROM OKLAHOMA: Hi, Nancy. I was just wanting to say I love you very much and Oklahoma loves you.

GRACE: Thank you. Thank you.

SHY: I was -- you`re welcome. I was calling to see, have the guy wanted to make any type of deal to try to, you know, lower what he might get or to try to find her?

GRACE: You know, Shy in Oklahoma, let`s go to the lawyers on that. I see where you`re coming from, like make a deal in exchange for getting a light sentence, tell where she is, be she dead or alive.

Becca Crumrine, John Manuelian, Kirby Clements. What about it, Kirby?

KIRBY CLEMENTS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, quite honestly, I mean, as a defense lawyer, that`s -- you really couldn`t tip your hand too much. I think that the ball is in the prosecution`s court. They should probably say, look, we`ll forego the death penalty if your guy will tell us where this woman -- where this young lady is. If they want it -- if they really want to find her and --

GRACE: Well, wait a minute. Put Kirby up.

CLEMENTS: And resolve that matter.

GRACE: Kirby, what the lawyers say amongst themselves, their plea negotiations, will never come into evidence. So --

CLEMENTS: Well, no, no. That`s true.

GRACE: -- the defense lawyer could absolutely say, hey, you give me a deal, you give me the right number of years, I`ll tell you where Gabbiee is.

CLEMENTS: But no, but that --

GRACE: Now that way the lawyer would be saying whether she`s dead or alive. But no, no, no. If a deal`s in place, then a deal`s in place. If they find the body or they find Gabbiee, the prosecution is still bound to the deal. Who would -- they wouldn`t care if it came out then. They`d be walking off with a sweetheart deal. Am I right, Becca?

BECCA CRUMRINE, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: You know, absolutely. But the same point, I mean, you know, what`s the prosecution losing by doing that? And he needs to talk. The defense needs to tell him he needs to talk that -- he needs to tell them where her body is.

GRACE: Well, OK, morally you`re right, but under the law, Becca, of course they don`t have to.

CRUMRINE: Of course.

GRACE: Of course he needs to, but he`s not going to unless he has an incentive. You`ve got a carrot and you`ve got a stick, Manuelian. You can offer him a deal in exchange for where she is, dead or alive. That`s a pretty steep price in my opinion. Because I`d want to know before I enter into any deal, is she dead or alive, because I would not offer him 10 years if she`s dead. If it`s a kidnapping and she`s alive? Maybe. If I could find her and save her life, hell yes, Manuelian.

MANUELIAN: But whatever you do, you`re still helping your client out. I mean you could tell this guy no matter if you start assisting right now you`re making your situation better, not worse, so there is incentive.

GRACE: OK. I want to go back to you, Kirby. The possibility of a deal in exchange for the location of Gabbiee. I mean, Kirby, if there`s a chance to save her life, I`d offer the guy straight probation to save her life, I`d give him anything to save her.

CLEMENTS: No, I agree. And when I was a prosecutor, I would have -- anything you want. I mean you`re not going to walk away free, but anything you want if this girl is going to come back alive. I agree with your other guest who said that they don`t think -- we really don`t think she is alive. But quite honestly as a prosecutor, I would say if she`s alive, you -- we won`t -- you will not be executed, obviously. We will offer you something that you can live with. But we need to find this girl.

GRACE: Oh, no, no, you`ve got to be specific, Kirby. You`ve got to be specific. If she`s alive, the family would probably go with an extremely light sentence, if she`s alive.

CLEMENTS: No -- absolutely.

GRACE: Which makes me wonder, Kirby, is she dead? And that`s why they`re not doing a deal, getting down and dirty and doing a plea deal, because they know that she`s dead.

CLEMENTS: Exactly.

GRACE: You know -- you know, Pat Brown, back to you. Would he be honest with his defense attorney if the girl was dead or alive?

BROWN: Well, he may be since the defense attorney can`t say anything. But they`re absolutely what`s the point of a deal if you`re just going to tell them where her body is. You might as well hold out that they can`t find it claim -- his defense attorney can claim after he kidnapped her and did whatever he did he let her go and she ran away from home. Stupid but hey.

GRACE: I want to go to Morgan Daniels. This is Gabbiee`s cheerleading coach.

Morgan, what can you tell me about Gabbiee?

MORGAN DANIELS, MISSING GIRL GABBIEE`S CHEERLEADING COACH: Gabbiee was one of my JV cheerleaders. She is a beautiful young lady. She had a gorgeous smile. And she`s a hard worker and willing to do anything you ask of her.

GRACE: She was extremely close to her mother, by all accounts, is that correct?

DANIELS: Yes, ma`am. Miss Elvia was very involved as a parent with our program. She participated in all of Gabbiee`s fundraisers with her. She would -- we sold doughnuts and Miss Elvia I think sold the majority of the doughnuts. And just -- she was always a present parent.

GRACE: To Caryn Stark, psychologist, joining us tonight out of our New York studio.

Caryn, weigh in with what the mom is going through, because she has apparently, unwittingly introduced this guy into her daughter`s life. I mean how was she supposed to know that the guy who was cutting the grass and remodeling -- she did have a brief relationship with him. She did. We got that finally.

At first he was just titled an acquaintance. Finally we figured out that she had a relationship with him. It`s long been over. She asked for the key back. He lied about it. What is the mother going through?

CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: Nancy, nothing is worse than losing your child and not having your child around and not knowing where your child is. And this mother, in addition to the normal guilt that anyone would feel if their child is missing, is now telling herself that she caused this to happen. So she is in emotional turmoil and I could understand where she`s taking every minute, going through garbage bins, doing whatever she can to locate her daughter because she is in agony.

GRACE: The tip line for Gabbiee, 1-888-CRIME-SC. There`s a $6,000 reward for help.

Also teen girl Stevie Bates vanishing. Travels by greyhound bus from Hot Springs, Arkansas, to Brooklyn, to see her friends. Last seen, security cameras, bus station. 5`6", 115 pounds, shoulder length hair.

Take a look. If you have information on Stevie Bates, call 646-345-3410.

Something exciting, Friday nights, 8:00 p.m. Cold-blooded murder, gambling, jealousy, inside the most baffling and heinous crimes ever committed. Cutting edge technique. Science combines with crime sleuthing.

We uncover what makes the average man or woman cross the line to commit murder. Sometimes the answer is simple. Other times, the answer is never found.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: Back in 90 seconds. Tonight we remember Marine Sergeant Michael Roy, 25, Ft. Myers, Florida. Second tour, Bronze Star, Purple Heart. Navy Achievement Medal. Dreamed of flying helicopters. Parents, Lisa, Michael, brothers Joshua, Richard, sister, Christine. Widow, Amy. Children, Olivia, Michael and Landon.

Michael Roy, American hero.

Back in 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: Where is the cheerleader? We are re-evaluating, reinvestigating, sifting through the clues left behind.

Straight out to the lines. Janet in Florida, hi, Janet. What`s your question?

JANET, CALLER FROM FLORIDA: Hi, Nancy. Thanks for covering this case. It`s so important that we keep Gabbiee`s name alive in the media.

My question is, and I don`t mean to come down on the family, I`m sure it`s awful, but why if they believe she`s alive are they searching through trash cans, dumpsters, crawl spaces? I mean if she`s in there, she`s dead, right?

GRACE: Well, hold Janet in Florida. Janet, you`re right, but I`m sure -- you know, you sound like a legal eagle -- that you must understand that there are two parallel investigations going on. There`s got to be a homicide investigation as well as a kidnapping investigation. They have to do parallel investigations.

Ellie, speaking of the police investigation, what can you tell me about an attempt by the defense to put a gag order on the sheriff in this case who has spoken with us many times, Sheriff Lott?

JOSTAD: Right, Nancy. Freddie Grant`s defense attorney said that the comments that Sheriff Lott was making about this case were going to make it impossible for Freddie Grant to get a fair trial down the road.

You know, Sheriff Lott has been very outspoken, called Grant a monster, talked about his past criminal record. However, Nancy, the judge denied this gag request order. She said that what the sheriff was doing was of utmost importance since there was a missing 15-year-old girl out there. She also said that he had a First Amendment right to speak. So the judge said, you know, I`m going to let judge -- rather, Sheriff Lott talk, but she did warn him that, you know, he needs to abide by his professional rules of conduct.

But she declined to put anything in place that would prevent him from speaking out as he`s done in the past.

GRACE: OK. So the question from Janet, if they`re looking through trash cans, how can they say they think Gabbiee is alive?

Unleash the lawyers. Becca Crumrine, John Manuelian and Kirby Clements. But first Steve Kardian, former police detective, it`s absolutely consistent with the parallel investigation, kidnapping and homicide, is it not?

STEVE KARDIAN, FMR. POLICE DETECTIVE, SELF-DEFENSE EXPERT, LEAD INSTRUCTOR AT DEFEND UNIVERSITY: Yes, it is, Nancy. It is a parallel investigation. But law enforcement is looking at this man. He doesn`t have the organizational skills to pull off an Elizabeth Smart/Jaycee Dugard type of a case. He acts on impulse and law enforcement is going to be treating it strictly as a homicide investigation. We have to keep faith for the family. That`s why they`re responding as they are.

GRACE: Out to the lines. Caroline, Texas. Hi, Caroline. What`s your question?

CAROLYN, CALLER FROM TEXAS: Hey, Nancy Grace, thank you for taking my call. We love you in Texas.

GRACE: Thank you. Thank you.

CAROLYN: And I`m just wondering why on earth in god`s name haven`t they arrested this man? Our little community is a small area and our sheriff -- with all that evidence would have already had him behind the bars and then we`d have found out the rest of the information.

GRACE: Caroline, they`ve got him. They`ve got him on a couple of specific counts, but not murder. And Caroline, he`s still not talking. What do you make of that, Caroline in Texas?

CAROLYN: It`s Carolyn? But I think that they need to just get in here and do like they would here in Setting County, and put him to some real hard down-to-earth questioning and put somebody like you and our sheriff in there with him and he`d come up with some answers.

GRACE: You know what, I can`t help but agree with you.

You know, back to you, Pat Brown, what, if anything, can be done to make him talk? You know, unless you`re going to give him straight probation on a deal.

BROWN: Well, you know, here`s the thing about psychopaths. They will talk when there`s something in it for them. If there`s nothing in it for them, they`re not going to say anything.

GRACE: He`s not going to talk. OK.

BROWN: He`s not going to talk.

GRACE: To Dr. Bill Manion, medical examiner, joining me tonight out of Philly. Dr. Manion, I want you to evaluate the duct tape, I want you to evaluate what they found in the home and why, based on the physical evidence, they have not charged him with a murder.

DR. BILL MANION, M.D., MEDICAL EXAMINER, BURLINGTON COUNTY, NJ: Well, as was mentioned before, there wasn`t that much of a volume of blood. I don`t think they found any semen, they didn`t find any evidence of rape. But obviously if they`ve got duct tape and blood and she`s going for 30 -- 30 days, I would favor that she`s dead. I would favor that.

Unless they can come up with some confederate he would be working with who would be trying to keep her alive and trying to keep her as his woman out in the wilderness somewhere, I think she`s gone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: Now switching gears. A young girl, a teen, goes to the local mall, is never seen again.

Ellie, what can you tell me about Avery?

JOSTAD: Nancy, Avery Workman, she`s just 16 years old. She was in Denver this -- just a couple of days ago performing with a youth circus group. Now she`s texted her sister at about 2:45 in the afternoon. They made arrangements to meet up later that evening when she was done performing. However, she never made it home and never made it to the meeting point with her sister rather, and police say that they have witnesses who saw Avery talking to a man in a park.

They thank that this man may have drugged her and taken her by bus to Boulder, Colorado, which is about 30 or so miles to the north. They said she never would have willingly gone with this guy unless there was something involved like drugs.

GRACE: And the performance at the local mall was with a teen youth group, was totally legitimate.

With me is Avery`s mother, Jenny Workman.

Miss Workman, thank you for being with us.

JENNY WORKMAN, MISSING 16-YEAR-OLD AVERY`S MOTHER: Yes.

GRACE: Tell me about the -- it was a hula hoop type gymnastics performance she was doing at a local mall, correct?

WORKMAN: Yes. She`s -- she is with the local Circus Your Way. This weekend she had the plans were with her sister and she was performing by herself.

GRACE: Well, she is absolutely stunning.

WORKMAN: This was a family events.

GRACE: We`re showing shots of her doing her performance. This was not some ruse to meet a boyfriend, nothing like that.

WORKMAN: Absolutely not.

GRACE: She was going making her family and her school proud performing at a local mall.

Jenny, what are you hearing from investigators? Have they checked her computer? Has she had any online activity? Does she have a cell phone with her?

WORKMAN: She had her cell phone with her. The cell phone died. We don`t know if it was just the battery or if it was smashed. But on Sunday at 5:00 p.m. is when all activity on her cell phone ceased and they have not been able to -- they`ve gotten the cell phone tower records, but they have not been able to place -- to locate it because the device has been turned of as of 5:00 on Sunday.

GRACE: She was carrying a large black, white, and yellow hula hoop for her little performance there at the mall.

Tip line, 720-913-7867. With me tonight, her mother. Where is Avery?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: A young teen girl, great grades, performing with a youth troop goes to the local mall to put on a preplanned demonstration with gymnastics and hula hoops.

Nia Bender, KNUS. What do you know, Nia?

NIA BENDER, REPORTER, KNUS: Well, what I do know at this point is that the police are of course searching for her. The family has been out (INAUDIBLE) flyer in Boulder yesterday, you know, a missing person`s flyer, and that, of course, you know, the mother even the family in general was out, you know, trying around the area on the other side of the 16th Street Mall from where this happened down near the Platte River.

They`ve been out searching and looking for any signs of her and really at this point no one has a clue where she`s at.

GRACE: Right. To Jenny Workman, this is Avery`s mother. Miss Workman, what is your message tonight?

WORKMAN: My message is pray, and if anyone ever asked you about a missing child, stop, look, listen, and then look around you. We have been down here for days. We come -- we don`t live here in Denver. We are actually an hour and a half away in the country. We have a very tight-knit family. We have a very tight-knit community. We are a small county and it is evident that she has loved and that she has -- she has wanted by the amount of people who have driven an hour and a half one way to come here, and to put their feet on the ground and to search with us for hours and hours.

We have had so many people from our community and around who have been down here. It is not a quick trip for all of us. And they have been down here late, late, late. Myself and her older sister, and my fiance, we have -- we are not leaving. We slept here last night. We`re not leaving until we find her.

GRACE: With me is Jenny Workman. This is Avery`s mother.

You know, I`ve got John David and Lucy in gymnastics. And I would be so proud if they were putting on a little demonstration at the mall. That`s just what Avery was doing. Making her family so proud. She went missing from the local mall. The tip line, 720-913-7867.

"DR. DREW" up next. I`ll see you tomorrow night at 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, friend.

END