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Jane Velez-Mitchell
Jessica Ridgeway Spotted in Maine?
Aired October 10, 2012 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST: And tonight, we have breaking news. We are hearing about a possible sighting of missing Colorado 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway in across the country from Colorado, Maine. Maine. Thirty-six hours away from her home where she vanished last Friday. Could it be her? We`re going to go live to Maine next.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL (voice-over): Tonight, stunning new twists and turns in the case of missing 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway. The beautiful girl mysteriously vanished on her way to school almost a week ago. Tonight, why is the FBI searching inside her mom`s house for clues in her disappearance? This as a sexual assault on a Wyoming girl, and a possible sighting of Jessica in Maine have investigators scrambling across the country. Could there be a connection to little Jessica? We`re investigating. And tonight I`m taking your calls for the hour.
Then, shock rips through a Texas town as cops arrest a 17-year-old boy who calls 911 and calmly informs the operator he just killed his mother and sister. Adding he wasn`t really angry at them but that he`d planned to kill somebody for a while. Did this homeschooled boy snap? We`ll play the bizarre and chilling 911 call tonight.
Plus, it`s happened again. Cops show up to another Lindsay Lohan drama as the troubled star allegedly gets into a screaming, sobbing battle with her mom, Dina, over dollars. That after a late night of mother/daughter clubbing. Did La Lohan call her dad, Michael, to beg for help?
SARAH RIDGEWAY, MOTHER OF JESSICA: I watched her walk out the door. And I shut the door. And that`s the last time I saw her.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, breaking news in the search for missing 10- year-old Jessica Ridgeway. Could there be a connection to the reported abduction and sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl just seven hours away?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On Twitter Jessica Ridgeway is the most popular story that`s being pushed.
JEREMIAH BRYANT, FATHER OF JESSICA: Probably the worst thing I`ve ever been through. Still is. I just want to find my daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can`t imagine what she must be going through. I just thank the lord that I have my children. And I pray that she will get hers returned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you have any information, doesn`t matter how insignificant you may think it is, call.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope they find her safe.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, breaking news as the search for missing Colorado 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway hits hyper speed. Tonight, new reports that Jessica has possibly been spotted in Dexter, Maine, by two separate people.
Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell coming to you live.
The report says two women reported seeing Jessica riding in a light blue mid-`90s station wagon with fancy five-spoke chrome wheels and -- here`s the key -- Colorado plates. In Maine. The car is in Maine. But Colorado plates. Jessica disappeared from Colorado.
We don`t know yet if it is indeed Jessica, but we`re going to have more from Maine live in just a moment.
There`s also that investigation going on eight hours north of the Colorado home where Jessica vanished. We`re talking about across state lines in Cody, Wyoming, where an 11-year-old girl was abducted and sexually assaulted only two days after Jessica disappeared. Thank God that that little girl got out and is at least physically OK. Could that crime be connected?
Jessica vanished last Friday as she walked to school in Westminster, Colorado. Her parents desperate to get her home. Here`s Jessica`s mom talking about the last time she saw her precious little girl.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
S. RIDGEWAY: I make sure that, you know, she`s going to meet her friend, because it is snowing. And you know, she -- her friend says, "Yes, I am walking, too." And I watch her walk out the door. And I shut the door. And that`s the last time I saw her. I want her walking back through that door. I need her to walk back through that door.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That poor mom. We have some breaking news about that mother, as well.
We know the FBI searched Jessica`s house yesterday while her mom and the dad, who`s separated from the mom, were out doing that interview. Well, just a little while ago police held a news conference, saying they have ruled out Jessica`s mother and father as having anything to do with Jessica`s disappearance, meaning that that raises, really, the very, very great likelihood that this is one of those awful, rare stranger abductions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point in the investigation after thoroughly looking at the parents, we`re confident that they are not involved in the disappearance of Jessica Ridgeway. The focus shifts to an unknown suspect, as we think that she was abducted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`re still waiting to find out about any DNA found on Jessica`s backpack and water bottle. Those items found in a neighborhood six miles from Jessica`s home. Could that DNA evidence lead authorities to the kidnapper and to Jessica?
Call me: 1-877-JVM-SAY, 1-877-586-7297.
Straight out to radio talk show host Ken Altshuler, who is live in Maine. Ken, tell us about this possible sighting of Jessica across the country from where she vanished.
KEN ALTSHULER, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST (via phone): Well, Jane, a woman reported seeing Jessica, or a girl who resembled her, in Dexter, Maine, riding in a light blue Buick station wagon with Colorado plates. And evidently, Jane, a second woman has reported also seeing her in another car in Harmony, Maine, which is a little town about ten miles west of Dexter. So Jane, we`re having two women reported seeing someone who looks like Jessica in an identical car with Colorado plates.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Lisa Bloom, legal analyst for Avo.com, to me -- you`ve covered so many of these cases, as well -- I think the idea that two individuals called in across the country and they mentioned these Colorado plates.
But my question, does the family have a connection to Maine? And also, how would this child get -- it`s a 36-hour drive from Colorado to Maine. Does that add up?
LISA BLOOM, LEGAL ANALYST, AVO.COM: Well, I agree, Jane. I`ve covered a lot of these cases. And there`s always sightings. Usually, they end up being nothing. Sometimes it`s just wishful thinking, and people hope that they`ve seen this child. Or they`ve seen her on the news and somebody resembles her, and it`s not her.
But this is different, because these are two different people in a remote location near Dexter, Maine, which is a small town, talking about a light blue car with Colorado plates. And two different women making this I.D. So it`s obviously highly significant. I`m sure law enforcement is following up on it.
And, look, if someone`s going to abduct a child -- and clearly this little girl was abducted by strangers, because her backpack was found six miles away -- they could do anything. They could certainly drive across country as fast as they could, you know, trying to get the heck out of Dodge as quickly as they could. So it`s certainly possible.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. She disappeared Friday morning. It is now Wednesday evening. That is enough time to drive from Colorado to Maine. But you`ve got to wonder -- this case is No. 1 on Twitter -- that somebody wouldn`t have seen them on the way.
Now, just within the last hour or so police in Colorado held this news conference, talking about the possible connection between the abduction of an 11-year-old girl in Wyoming and Jessica`s disappearance. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re not at a point to say that they -- they are or are not connected. Obviously, the team here is in direct communication with those working that incident in Cody. We`re sharing information to try to identify any similarities in those things. But we`re not making a connection at this time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, I want to go to Jennifer Morgan, news reporter, Clear Channel in Denver. You`ve been covering this. Here`s another startling commonality. It`s two days after Jessica disappeared. It`s seven-hour drive away, and it`s a girl -- she`s a girl who`s only a year older than Jessica. And according to a lot of reports, there are very similar, similar features with these two girls, little Jessica as well as this unidentified girl who was horrifically abducted. What do you know?
JENNIFER MORGAN, REPORTER, CLEAR CHANNEL: Well, we know it`s an 11- year-old girl. She was enticed by this man to come help him look for his dog. There was another girl with her. The friend said no. This little girl ended up getting -- trying to get in the passenger seat. The man pulled a gun out and said get in the car. He ended up did sexually assaulting her.
And about a few hours later she was then seen walking up the highway. Someone spotted her after an Amber Alert was put out. And they are not releasing her name or much information because she is a sexual assault victim.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, what makes it very chilling for me, and I`ll go to Tom Shamshak, former police chief and private investigator, is that there is this letter I`m holding in my hand that, in Colorado where Jessica goes to school, the district sent this letter to parents warning that a child was approached by a stranger offering candy asking them to get into the stranger`s car. This is about three weeks before Jessica was abducted.
Now you`re hearing a seven-hour drive away a couple days later it`s a little puppy that`s being used or the looking for a puppy that`s being used as a lure. Do you see a commonality?
TOM SHAMSHAK, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: Jane, good evening. Yes. These are the ruses that are employed by pedophiles, the puppy, the candy. The difference here is that the second victim was allowed to leave the vehicle. We don`t know what happened in the case of Jessica, if this is a stranger abduction.
Now, the typical stranger abduction model here is that somebody Jessica`s age, around 11 years old, female from a stable family, blue collar with a good relationship with the family, goes missing. Whoever picked up Jessica had been in that neighborhood and had some familiarity with how to grab her and then flee.
And then if you look at the neighborhood where the backpack and the bottle are found, they`re quite similar in composition. I would focus more on the local people, known sex offenders and strangers that were doing construction work in the area, delivery men, people that were in and around that school that saw children -- Jane.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And that bag is what contains the backpack. You see investigators removing that backpack. They are testing it for DNA and fingerprints. More on the other side.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
S. RIDGEWAY: You don`t hear anything. And then you get the pit in your stomach that you don`t want any, any parent -- any parent to ever experience in their whole entire life. When you hear your child`s just been taken.
BRYANT: Probably by far the worst thing I`ve ever been through. Still is. I have nowhere to start, you know? I mean, I don`t know what to do. I just want to find my daughter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Someone who can understand what these parents are going through is Mark Lunsford, one of my heroes. Mark`s daughter, also named Jessica and also known to the world as the girl in the pink hat, was kidnapped from her home by a convicted sex offender, raped and murdered. A horrifying ordeal. We covered it here on the show. Her very sick, demented, evil killer, John Couey, was sentenced to death but died in prison.
Mark, what`s going through your mind when you hear about another little girl named Jessica? Now it seems pretty clear she`s been abducted. Just tell us what is going through you right now.
MARK LUNSFORD, FATHER OF JESSICA LUNSFORD (via phone): It brings back a lot. But it`s more disturbing to me than anything because, I mean, we`ve got another little girl. Her name is Jessica. Colorado is one of the four remaining states that don`t have Jessie`s Law. So, I mean, it just brings a lot on my mind.
I want the community and the public to know that, you know, there`s all this information out there where she might have been seen. People can get a flier and they can e-mail it to someone, and they can post it places. I mean, this family deserves to have as many people as possible sending out this little girl`s picture to find her.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Mark, again, as I always say, you`re my hero. You took the worst thing that could happen to a human being, and you turned it into a crusade to get better protections for children against child predators. And I hope that Colorado does indeed pass Jessie`s Law real soon.
Melissa, Georgia, your question or thought, Melissa?
CALLER: Hi.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hi.
CALLER: I`m a single parent. And I want to know why the mother did not walk the child to school.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. It`s a very good question. But let me tell you, Stacy Kaiser, the answer, and you`re a psychotherapist, we cannot blame this mother. She works the graveyard shift. She works overnight. She comes home at 7:30 in the morning, and then she gets her child ready for school and sends her off at about 8:30, and then she sleeps.
She`s got to make a living. She`s got to put food on the table. She`s got to pay her rent or her mortgage. So we can`t blame the mom.
STACY KAISER, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: We absolutely cannot blame that mom, though I guarantee you that mom is now wishing she walked her to that location.
Part of what`s going on here is we parents, whether you`re a single parent or a two-parent family or whatever it is, we all think that we put our kids into situations where they are safe. And she truly believed in the town that she lived in and the plan that she had set up that this was a safe plan for her daughter. And this really was a random, horrific event that happened under what she thought were safe conditions.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Jennifer Morgan, you`re there. And I understand that parents in the neighborhood are terrified. Actually, from Colorado seven hours away in Wyoming and maybe even in Maine, and their sightings. People, this is No. 1 on Twitter. Everybody is concerned. People across the country are keeping their kids inside.
MORGAN: Absolutely. I am a resident of Westminster, as well. And I can tell you firsthand that Westminster is a very nice area. It`s a place where kids play at the park. They walk to school. There`s schools everywhere. And the last thing you think about in the morning is your child being abducted.
This mother, like you said, was going to bed because she has to make a living. The last thing she thinks about is somebody abducting her child. Her daughter was going three blocks away to meet a friend and then onto school. So it wasn`t in her mind at the time.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And it`s a sick world we live in that a child can`t walk three blocks anymore. Unbelievable. More on the other side.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Garbage that was collected around the time of the disappearance has been isolated. And the team of investigators will determine at a future date if there is a need to search through that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tom Shamshak, former police chief, private investigator, what would they do? They`ve also searched neighboring ponds and lakes. But what will they do with the garbage and the landfill from the neighborhood that Jessica`s from? What`s the point of that?
SHAMSHAK: Well, they would begin searching if they had some inkling that she might have been disposed in a container. And what they would do is use dogs, cadaver dogs, to go through and see if there are any hits. And I think that`s quite appropriate for them to do.
You know, as I see it from the outside, the police are doing everything in a methodical manner. And they`re approaching this with great care and extreme due diligence. Jane.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Pat, North Carolina, your question or thought, Pat.
CALLER: Yes. I live here in North Carolina. I think we need to get stronger laws against these sex predators. And we as parents need to stand up and let our voices be heard. We just sitting and taking this and not doing anything.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Mark -- thank you, Pat. Good point. Mark, briefly can you tell us in a nutshell what Jessica`s Law does?
LUNSFORD: Briefly Jessica`s Law would be 25 years to life for lewd and lascivious molestation of a child under the age of 13. It`s -- it increases sentencing for failure to register. There`s a part in there for harboring sex offenders. Everything -- a lot of loopholes are closed.
There`s just so much to it; it`s just a wonderful thing. Each state has their own version, but you know, Colorado needs it, everybody needs it. It puts -- it takes -- it takes repeat offenders off the street for 25 years. What else do you want?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Mary Jo, Ohio. Mary Jo.
CALLER: Hi, Jane. How are you?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Good, thank you.
CALLER: I have a question. What do they do in terms of possibly looking for the predators` releases like in a generalized area like Colorado or Wyoming and find out who possibly had been released?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Excellent -- excellent question. Lisa Bloom, what are they doing about sex offenders?
BLOOM: Well, I`m sure one of the first things that law enforcement looks at after they rule out the family, which they`ve done here, is look at the sex offender registry and determine where everybody is.
I want to just say something quickly on the parenting issue that a couple people have weighed in on. As you know, I speak and write about parenting.
This mother, in my view, did absolutely nothing wrong. In fact, children walking to school are safer than children riding in cars with their parents to school, because the No. 1 cause of harm to children is actually car accidents.
So millions of kids walk to school safely every day in this country. And we have to separate fear from facts.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes.
BLOOM: This is a highly unusual occurrence. Many kids are abducted from their own bedrooms. Are we going to say children shouldn`t be in their own bedroom? We have to be very rational when we`re assessing the dangers to kids.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, look at -- look at Jessica Lunsford. Look at Jessica Lunsford, the other Jessica. We`re talking to her dad, my hero, Mark Lunsford. She was abducted from her bed, her bedroom. So you are absolutely right, Lisa. I mean, we can`t stop children from moving. What we`ve got to do is stop these predators from moving.
We`re going to stay on top of this story.
Time for your "Shocking Video of the Day." This man`s lucky to be alive after a driver literally ran into him, sending him flying. Look at this. Boom. It`s unbelievable. We`re only showing it to you because Sean Lewis is fine. He has a broken leg, but otherwise, he says he feels like God was looking out for him.
He was run down on the way to work. And it`s just unbelievable that somebody would do this and then keep going. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. They`re looking for this hit-and-run driver.
Lindsay next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What`s the emergency?
JAKE EVANS, CONFESSED TO KILLING MOM AND SISTER (via phone): I just killed my mom and my sister.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jake Evans was arrested and will be charged with capital murder. On the 911 call, Evans said that he`d planned the killing but did not explain why.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come outside with his hands raised and then taken into custody.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Friends describe him as the quiet kid, really sweet and gentle. But in the call he made to 911 early Thursday, he describes himself as pretty evil.
EVANS: No, I`m pretty, I guess, evil.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, an upscale Texas neighborhood reeling after a 17-year-old boy calls 911 and calmly, in a monotone voice, confesses to brutally murdering his mother and his little sister. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. What`s the emergency?
EVANS: I just killed my mom and my sister.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What?
EVANS: I just killed my mom and my sister.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just killed your mother and your sister? How did you do that?
EVANS: I shot them with a .22 revolver.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: The alleged double murder took place just 20 miles outside Ft. Worth, Texas, in a wealthy gated community. The teen suspect, Jake Evans, told the 911 operator in a chilling monotone voice that he shot his sister and his mother multiple times but that he would have killed just about anyone.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there any reason that you were so angry at your mother and your sister?
EVANS: I don`t know. I wasn`t -- it`s weird. I wasn`t even really angry with them. It just kind of happened. I`ve been kind of planning on killing for a while now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The two of them or just anybody?
EVANS: Pretty much anybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jake`s father was out of town on business. And his two other sisters, thank God, were not home at the time of the killings. Jake is now charged with capital murder. He`s being held without bond.
What dark hidden secret would make a seemingly normal and nice-looking teenager snap and shoot his mother and sister? What do you think? Call me, 1-877-JVM-SAYS, 1-877-586-7297.
Straight out to psychotherapist Stacy Kaiser; Stacy, look at this kid. He comes from a very well-off family, has everything ahead of him in life, has a really beautiful accomplished family. He`s a good-looking kid. And yet he`s so filled with rage that he executes his mother and his sister?
STACY KAISER, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: You know, Jane, we end up describing a lot of people who we`re talking about as killers with similar attributes and upbringings as what you described.
And what I really think is going on here is a deep psychological disorder. Just because he was a quiet young man from a good family doesn`t mean that there isn`t a storm brewing inside. And one of the things that we know is a lot of mental illnesses really break around the teenage years.
So it`s really possible that he was doing ok, maybe having some issues. And then this compulsion started to develop in him that he needed to kill someone and he felt that way. And instead of getting himself help, he took a gun and killed his mother and sister.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, it`s a mystery. Cops say they don`t have a motive. We`re trying to basically dig deep and find out what possible factors may have led him to this. Jake gave the operator a very cryptic answer about why he says he shot his family.
Listen to this and then we`ll analyze.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EVANS: It`s just my family. I don`t know, they kind of really -- I guess this is really selfish to say, but to me they -- I felt like they were just suffocating me in a way. I don`t know. I can`t obviously, you know, I`m pretty I guess evil.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So, Lisa Bloom, weigh in on this. He felt his sister and his mother were suffocating him.
Here`s a key that I think is very significant. Jake was being home- schooled. Now, I have nothing against home-schooling hypothetically. But he had reportedly withdrawn from high school in January -- so almost a year ago -- which meant he had to quit the golf team which he was involved in. In middle school he had played football.
We`re talking about a kid that may have been extremely social. And if he was yanked out of school and his mother was teaching him, she was a former teacher and assistant principal and she was also teaching the kid sister that he executed, allegedly, according to him. Could this have been resentment and rage that he was taken away from his peers and put in this situation where he felt suffocated?
LISA BLOOM, ATTORNEY: Well, I generally do think it`s better for children to go to school with their peers than to be home-schooled, but there are exceptions. Some home-schooled kids do very, very well. But it puts a lot of stress on everybody in the family to be together all the time, for mom to be both mom and teacher. And for your only play buddies to be your siblings.
But having said that, I think it`s pretty clear this young man is a sociopath. He`s saying that he just wanted to kill and these are the two people who happened to be there at the time that he was killing. It`s all about him. I felt suffocated. You know, poor me is kind of the attitude.
He says he`s evil and that`s the kind of thing, that frankly sociopaths are evil. They don`t have compassion for other people.
So I don`t think we can blame home-schooling for this horrific act. It was probably one of the stresses in his life. But there was a lot more going on than that.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know, a couple of things occur to me just as I`m thinking about this story now. He asked the 911 operator for medication saying "I`m afraid I`m going to have nightmares." And it occurred to me just now, is it possible that he was addicted to some kind of medication?
I want to hear one more sound bite. I`d like everybody to listen to it to see if he sounds slurred, ok. Let`s play whatever sound bite we have cued up and see if it sounds like he might be medicated, you know, because parents these days have medications and kids often steal the meds and they can become hooked to the medications in their parents` medicine cabinet. And he may have been in withdrawal seeking more. This is another hypothetical. I have no evidence to support this except for the fact that he asked the 911 operator, "Can I get medication?"
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EVANS: I don`t know. I don`t really like people`s attitude.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
EVANS: I think they kind of -- they`re very, like, you know, emotional -- I don`t know -- verbally rude to each other and stuff like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What do you think, Stacy Kaiser? Does he sound like he might be high on some kind of a med? Sort of --
KAISER: I mean, he certainly sounds like he`s talking kind of slurred and slowly -- I agree with you. I think it is possible it`s medication. Also one of the things that we see with these sociopaths and also disassociate disorders is they have this big adrenaline rush when they`re engaging in the activity, in the killing. And then there`s this big downward spiral and they get really low and lethargic. It could be that as well.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s go out to the phone lines. Wendy, Texas, your question or thought, Wendy.
WENDY, TEXAS (via telephone): yes, Jane. It`s so great to talk to you. Thank you for all you do.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You too. Thank you.
WENDY: on this case here, I have known people that has been diagnosed bipolar, through different walks of my life I have dealt with knowing people that was insane. And I`ve known people that just did it to lie and get by with it. Calling from east Texas, I am so tired of hearing these cases over and over and over again as I`m sure everybody is.
But I really do believe like a lot of callers, there`s more going onto this story than what people know.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And absolutely. That`s why I want to go to our producer, Josey Crews, you`ve been monitoring social media. What have you learned about this young man?
JOSEY CREWS, HLN PRODUCER: Jane, today I spent most of the day poring over Facebook, Twitter and even MySpace just to kind of search what this teenager, who he was, what did he like to do? What kind of activities was he in? But I`ll tell you there were hundreds of Jake Evans on Facebook. None of them were this teenager that we were talking about.
You know, it kind of brings to mind the last time I was searching a killer like this. We all remember James Holmes, the Colorado shooter who, you know, shot up a theater full of people. That same day all of us, all of our producers were searching Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, to find out what kind of person he was -- nowhere to be found.
I actually read some research today that more and more of the mental community is coming forward to say, especially people like my generation and younger, it`s healthy to be on Facebook. It shows a good social environment. That you have a group of friends you can actually interact with. None of that was going on with Jake Evans.
More and more psychologists are actually coming forward to say kids and teenagers who aren`t on Facebook show deep social problems.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I think you`re making a good point. He`s home- schooled. And then if he`s not on social media, he is truly isolated. And that can create feelings of alienation. It can also create a fantasy life that sometimes feels more real than the real life.
And what I`ve learned in studying unfortunately killers over several decades is that when the fantasy world feels more real than the real world, it is -- it becomes easier to commit a crime in the real world because in that twisted demented mind, that real world feels less real than the fantasy world in their minds.
All right. Check this out. And we`re going to be back with Lindsay Lohan in a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`re hearing more and more about potentially dangerous ingredients in the beauty products we slather on our bodies. You know, 100 ingredients in the bottle, we don`t know what those ingredients are.
My alternative is I make my own -- makeup remover, perfume, body lotion. And essentially what I do is almond oil, very simple, I pour that in, and then I use essential oils like tea tree oil and rosemary and lavender. And I mix it all up. And put it in various bottles. So that I can go on trips, I can go exercise. People always ask me, what are you wearing and I say, "I made it myself".
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And your "Viral Video of the Day". Splish splash, take a look at this little fellow. He loves his bath. And he is -- that`s like a hot tub. My gosh. He`s enjoying himself -- a day at the pool. You know, animals are amazing. They really enjoy so many of the things that we enjoy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lindsay Lohan back in the news.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, Lindsay and her mom, Dina, apparently got into a fight this morning that was loud enough to attract the attention of the police.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: A Lindsay Lohan blowout feud brings cops to her family`s Long Island home. But this time Lindsay`s allegedly battling her own mom, Dina. We know Dina.
We spoke with Lindsay`s father, Michael, today. And he told us this all started at about 4:30 in the morning when the mother/daughter duo was on their way home from a late-night out clubbing.
Ok. Right there mother, daughter, out clubbing; given everything we know about Lindsay and all her troubles, why is she out clubbing with her mother? Allegedly, according to the father who is estranges from the mother, of course. He claims Lindsay called him on the way home and asked him, please record what`s going on in this limo.
Listen to this from TMZ.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
LINDSAY LOHAN, ACTRESS: I have to go back to the house because I have to like leave tomorrow. I have to work and there`s like (EXPLETIVE DELETED). She called the cops she said --
MICHAEL LOHAN, FATHER OF LINDSAY LOHAN: Where is she taking you now Lindsay?
LINDSAY LOHAN: But I`m supposed to go home and I`m afraid she`s going to do the same (EXPLETIVE DELETED) that I was describing, arrest me like she did to you.
MICHAEL LOHAN: Has she been -- has she been out all night with you?
LINDSAY LOHAN: Yes. She`s been out all night, dad.
MICHAEL LOHAN: And she broke your diamond bracelet too?
(inaudible)
LINDSAY LOHAN: We had a fight --
MICHAEL LOHAN: I know. Where`s your diamond bracelet? Did she take it?
LINDSAY LOHAN: She said disgusting things to me.
MICHAEL LOHAN: She`s horrible, Lindsay.
LINDSAY LOHAN: She just said I`m dead to her. I`m dead to her now.
DINA LOHAN, MOTHER OF LINDSAY LOHAN: That`s right. You`re dead to me.
LINDSAY LOHAN: I have a gash on my leg from what happened.
MICHAEL LOHAN: Mom put a gash on your leg? That`s ridiculous.
LINDSAY LOHAN: She`s like the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) devil right now.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Unbelievable. We haven`t independently confirmed that`s Lindsay or her mom in the car with her, but we reached out to both Dina and Lindsay and got no comment.
You know, TMZ news manager, Mike Walters, I think for the first time I`m really starting to feel sorry for Lindsay Lohan. The dysfunctionalty in her family -- my gosh, the apple doesn`t fall far from the tree.
MIKE WALTERS, TMZ NEWS MANAGER: Jane, that`s exactly what we`ve been seeing in our newsroom. We cover Lindsay Lohan a lot, but I feel bad for her now. You know, two major things that were on that tape I want to mention that are really important.
Number one, she says that her mom`s doing cocaine. So you already know they`re at a club at 4:00 a.m. We don`t know for sure Dina did drugs, but that`s what Lindsay says to her father on the phone. So Dina should be doing none of this around her daughter who`s been to rehab several times. She shouldn`t even go to the nightclub.
Number two, Lindsay mentions part of the reason they fought is because she let her mom borrow $40,000 to save her house. Guess what? A 26-year- old girl should not have to, number one, take care of her mom because she`s drinking or doing drugs, or number two, financially support them, which is what is happening in this relationship. It is so dysfunctional.
And the fact that she`s calling her dad while she`s in the car with her mom and she`s having to deal with this mess and the cops show up, I`m starting to feel bad for Lindsay Lohan. I think a lot of people are.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I am too. And I think a lot of people are. And by the way, we have obviously no independent confirmation of any drugs. We don`t know whether any drugs were involved. We reached out to Dina, didn`t get word back. She`s invited on our show any time.
Michael, Lindsay`s dad told us this argument started, as you mentioned, Mike Walters, over $40,000 Lindsay allegedly loaned her mother.
Listen to this from TMZ.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
LINDSAY LOHAN: You`re crazy I was like give me my money back, give me my $40,000 back that I just gave you that you owe. And (inaudible) because you won`t do that -- It`s not her fault you just don`t pay.
(CROSSTALK)
LINDSAY LOHAN: (inaudible) but you don`t (EXPLETIVE DELETED) do it. I ask her to give it back and she`s like, you`re sick. You don`t give me anything. You don`t do anything for child support.
MICHAEL LOHAN: You do everything for everyone. You gave mom $40,000?
LINDSAY LOHAN: Yes.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. And she said because she was going to lose her house. And then Michael said, oh, that`s a lie. Obviously there`s no love lost between Michael Lohan and his ex, Dina Lohan. But I do have to say -- and we don`t know whether this $40,000`s a real issue or not -- I don`t know what was going on in that car. I just know that this poor girl, my gosh, you get an insight into why she`s had so many problems. All right.
Listen, we`re going to do "Kooky Video of the Day" now. This is a special one. What can I say? I can dance. Take a look at me on the "Anderson Cooper Show". I made a co-hosting appearance there. And Anderson was very sweet to have me on. And of course I said, well, I`m going to dance. Why not? What other opportunity do I have? Look at these moves though. You`ve got to admit it`s pretty darn goofy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Time for our "Pet o` the Day". Send us your pet pic to hlntv.com/Jane. Sydney, you are gorgeous. I love you, love you, love you. And Bruno, same deal, you obviously have a very exotic life. Mr. Chi Chi, oh Chi Chi. Hugo, you are all fabulous. And Oliver, too.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
LINDSAY LOHAN: Yes I do, go ahead. You know what, I`m asking you to be respectful, you`re being --
(CROSSTALK)
MICHAEL LOHAN: Call up the --
(CROSSTALK)
MICHAEL LOHAN: Call the driver and say --
(CROSSTALK)
(END AUDIO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you are listening to this fight between -- purportedly, we can`t say for sure but Michael Lohan says between Lindsay - - sounds like her -- and Dina. And then Lindsay calls her dad and dad starts recording it he says at Lindsay`s request.
It`s just a portrait of family dysfunction. Stacy Kaiser, psychotherapist, we have all criticized Lindsay Lohan, the myriad trips to rehab, the missing court dates, et cetera, etcetera. The dramarama but -- now you are getting an insight that might give us a little bit more compassion towards her.
KAISER: Absolutely. One of the things I can tell you is as children grow up in the spot light it is really important that they have good parents and good role models. And I don`t really think she had that then.
Now here as an adult, as she is running into legal trouble, clearly struggling to really be a high-functioning adult she needs to be surrounded by people who are looking out for her, who are responsible and who are role modeling good behavior. The last person at this moment that she should be hanging out with is her mother.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, why is her mother partying with her? Let`s say they were drinking water, still given everything that is going on, given the fact that Lindsay has had so many problems, that she`s been in rehab numerous times and nothing really great happens after, you know, 1:00 in the morning in a night club, why are they out purportedly clubbing until the wee hours of the morning -- mother and daughter.
Right there -- that is enmeshment. That`s a lack of boundaries. That is a twisting of roles. And in the sense it really is very, very confusing and unhealthy for this child. And she still is Dina`s child.
More on the other side.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Lindsay, if you are listening, after hearing that tape I think you have a dysfunctional family. You`re 26. You`re a superstar. You have to be the adult. And now what you need to do is work your program of sobriety, which I hope you have, and detach with love from your dysfunctional family. Put up boundaries and say I love you but stay away. Keep a distance.
Nancy is next.
END
