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Jane Velez-Mitchell
Teen Neighbor Arrested in Jessica Ridgeway Murder
Aired October 24, 2012 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, HLN ANCHOR: ... to send in a poem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s right. Very smart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL starts right now.
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST: Tonight, fast-breaking news in the Jessica Ridgeway murder case. Police make an arrest. And it`s a 17-year-old neighbor. He`ll also be charged with an attempted abduction of a young jogger at a nearby lake.
And we are getting news just into our Blackberries right now about what one CNN affiliate is reporting about what may have been found inside the home of this suspect. And we`re also going to delve into the mind of this alleged psychopath. We are live on the scene in Westminster, Colorado, where this is all happening, next.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, breaking news in the Jessica Ridgeway murder investigation. Cops make a shocking arrest, accusing 17-year-old neighbor Austin Sigg of kidnapping and dismembering little Jessica. Are there more victims out there?
Plus, what about the claims the teenager wanted to be a mortician when he grew up? And that it was his mom who turned him into police. Are there still more toxic secrets in that house? We`re investigating. And I`m taking your calls.
Then, troubled superstar Lindsay Lohan`s dad, Michael, joins me live for a one-on-one debate with a top Hollywood addiction specialist over Michael`s very public attempt at an intervention for daughter Lindsay.
Michael claims Lindsay`s fallen off the wagon, drinking bottles of vodka and doing cocaine. But what about Michael`s actions? And what about LiLo`s claims that dad is a big liar and that she`s fine? We`ll ask him tonight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have made an arrest in the Jessica Ridgeway case. Seventeen-year-old Austin Sigg is in our custody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now police are searching his home. And that`s what you`re looking at here, just the authorities descending here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s scary. Very scary. And that`s why we`re here. It brings up the conversation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because Jessica is in a much better place than we are now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That broke my heart. It broke my heart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We recognize that there is a predator at large in our community.
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. I want her to come walking back through that door.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The family has been notified. We can`t begin to comprehend the grief that they`re going through.
JEREMIAH BRYANT, FATHER OF JESSICA: By far the worst thing I`ve ever been through. Still is. I don`t know where to start.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, breaking news as murderous secrets are exposed. As we speak we`ve got new information just coming in.
Police have arrested one of Jessica Ridgeway`s own neighbors for the 10-year-old`s grisly dismemberment killing, a teenage neighbor no less. And CNN affiliate KCNC is just reporting now that the suspect told police human remains could be found in a crawl space at his house.
Remember, this poor child`s body was found not intact, dismembered as it were.
Good evening, Jane Velez-Mitchell coming to you live.
Take a good look at this murder suspect. We`re talking about a 17- year-old neighbor, Austin Reed Sigg, an average-looking college student who police say is responsible for Jessica`s dismemberment murder.
Tonight, we`re going inside the mind of this alleged psychopath, trying to uncover the dark and deadly secrets that appear to have been festering inside his mind.
And this gets even more twisted. Our affiliate, KDVR, is reporting just moments ago that Austin Sigg wanted to be a mortician, a mortician. Is that the connection in his mind to what he allegedly did to Jessica Ridgeway by dismembering her body?
Right now cops are going over the Siggs` home, where he lived with his mother and brother, and looking for any traces of evidence to prove the case against this teen.
TV station KDVR reports Austin`s own mother turned him in after he allegedly confessed to her. Other reports say he turned himself in.
Jessica vanished 19 days ago while going less than three blocks to meet friends for the walk to school. Her body found a few days later dismembered in a field six miles away.
Police talked to Jessica`s family today. Here`s their announcement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We notified the Ridgeway family this morning of this arrest. And we hope and pray that this arrest gives them some measure of closure in dealing with this horrible tragedy and loss that they have suffered.
We hope also that knowing that an arrest has been made in this case can cause our community to rest a little easier and maybe feel a little -- little safer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: The fact that Jessica and her alleged killer lived in the very same neighborhood, reports are they went to the same elementary school at different times. It`s so terrifying to all of us, the killer next door, allegedly. Only about a mile apart they lived. And neighbors say they always saw Austin out and about, walking around.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (via phone): Well, I was totally shocked like everybody else. Well, I would see him go up and down the street I assume going to school. I thought he was in high school. But I guess he dropped out of Stanley and went to Arapahoe Community College.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So what evidence do cops have to link Austin Sigg to Jessica`s murder? Could it be the wooden cross that was found at the crime scene?
Cops say they`ve made a definite link between Jessica`s murder and the nearby attempted abduction of a female jogger this spring. And if cops do have their killer, what would make a 17-year-old with his whole life ahead of him murder and dismember a little girl?
I am taking your calls: 1-877-JVM-SAYS, 1-877-586-7297.
Straight out to CNN`s Jim Spellman, who is live in Westminster, Colorado, where this all is happening. Jim, where are you exactly? And what is the very latest?
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we know is this 17-year- old young man, he was a high school student. A little over a year ago he stopped attending school, and he was currently a student at a local community college.
Now, we know that after they announced the arrest today they were serving a search warrant at his mother`s house. We know they took away an SUV from that house.
One of the reasons they wanted to release the photo of this young man, unusual with a 17-year-old suspect, is they say it`s still an active investigation. Remember, that between the time Jessica disappeared, her backpack was found and then unfortunately when her remains were found about two weeks passed. They want to put -- place him during that time. They still need to build a case here, Jane.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. And again, we are getting new information as we speak from the CNN affiliate, KCNC.
Sigg came from a troubled home, according to that affiliate, that included divorce and many run-ins with police. Sigg`s father, Robert Sigg, has a long arrest history.
Mike Brooks, I know you were looking at this breaking news that is coming in to you just as I am reading it. What do you make of this back story involving the father who is divorced from the mother with whom this young suspect lived?
MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I`m focusing everything on Sigg. Yes, he might have come from a broken home and maybe people can say well maybe that contributed to his actions.
But I`m looking at him. And I`m looking at what --- I want to know what`s going on inside his head. And is he responsible, Jane? And that`s the big question. Is he responsible for any more attempted abductions? We know that they`re going to most likely charge him in the attempted abduction of that 22-year-old woman right near his home on May 28. So -- and is he responsible for anymore? That`s what I want to know. And was there any evidence from that case back in may linking him to that? And I think that`s maybe where we have. Then you have the backpack and the water bottle where that was found a little bit northwest of where she disappeared. And then her body was found in Arvada.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Again, we`re hearing from KCNC that this suspect told police that human remains were inside a crawl space under the home. And we know of course that this poor beautiful 10-year-old girl, Jessica Ridgeway`s body was found not intact, in other words dismembered.
And now we`re also hearing a horrifying report, and that`s from KDVR, that this suspect had ambitions to become a mortician. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fresh out of the box homicidal psychopath. This young fella very dangerous. And he may have victimized other people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So I want to go to David Swanson, licensed clinical psychologist. We`re trying to put the pieces together. He`s alleged, he has his first court appearance tomorrow, but if you`ve heard those very disturbing facts or allegations, what do you make of it?
DAVID SWANSON, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, clearly there`s a lot of signs here of sociopathic behavior. It`s said that early on in life -- or life events as a child could really disrupt the development of the human brain and the central nervous system.
And typically, you know, we start to see this aggression towards animals, we start to see this fire setting, things like that. Murdering somebody is not a part of normal development. Murdering somebody shows a callousness. It certainly shows a disregard for others, oftentimes anger. And this clearly to me looks like a sociopathic type of behavior if not a psychotic break.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: On the other side of the break, we`re going to talk to one of my heroes. Diena Thompson, whose daughter, precious daughter Somer, was abducted by a neighbor as the child walked home from school and ran ahead of her siblings. What does she make of the eerie parallels between her tragedy and this case?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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 -- to ever experience in their whole entire life that you`ve been told your child`s just been taken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That poor woman. And now we are learning -- and this is the suspect`s house. Police removed that vehicle you see in the front there. They`re going through that house. We just heard from the affiliate that this suspect allegedly told police that there are human remains in a crawl space in that house or under that house.
And this is so upsetting for anyone who has ever had even a situation that is remotely like this. But it`s frightening how many creepy parallels there are between this case and the case of beautiful Somer Thompson.
Young Somer vanished walking home from school a couple years ago as she was with her siblings and simply ran ahead for a second. Her body found two days later in a landfill. And this neighbor, Jerrod Harrell, pleaded guilty to Somer`s death. He lured her to his house with a puppy.
One of my heroes, Somer`s mom, Diena Thompson, joins me now by phone. The eerie parallels, the neighbor, the fact that it was walking to and from school, it`s unbelievable.
DIENA THOMPSON, MOTHER OF SOMER: It is, Jane. And let me start out by thanking you for what you do for our missing children.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You too.
THOMPSON: It means a lot to us parents in this situation. I just want to make sure that you know that.
But the parallels between our cases are unbelievable. But unfortunately, obviously a thing that is happening in our society. And Somer has only been gone for three years, and you see that in the same month and at the same time, very similar actions. It`s scary. It`s a call to action.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tanya Acker, attorney, we are getting these facts just in. So I`m reading them raw from KCNC, a CNN affiliate, which says that the father, who does not live in the home in question, OK, this mother of this suspect for all we know is a hero who turned her own son into police in a search for the truth, but the father who doesn`t live there who is divorced, according to KCNC, has a long arrest history, multiple DUIs, assault, domestic violence, drug dealing arrests, civil actions and most recently convicted for involvement in a mortgage fraud scheme. We can`t independently confirm this. This is what our affiliate is reporting. Do you see any linkage between that if it`s true and this?
TANYA ACKER, ATTORNEY: You know, I`m not sure that I do, Jane. Only because the types of crimes that are mentioned in that arrest record, which I understand you haven`t yet confirmed, you know, there is just a big step between mortgage fraud and killing a little girl and dismembering her. I think that we are right now talking about a real sociopath.
Now, that being said it can be a sociopath who has learned, who may have learned at an early age, perhaps by way of family example, to disregard the law, to mistreat women. You mentioned there was a domestic violence allegation there, and so, you know, you never know how people become so twisted that you don`t know why.
But I think that what`s happened in this case with this Sigg, I mean, we are talking about a creature who`s -- this is a demented person of the highest order.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jim Spellman, we only have a couple of seconds. What is the community, reaction given that it`s a neighbor?
SPELLMAN: There`s definitely a sense of relief here for the Ridgeway family and of course for other parents in this neighborhood that have been so worried that there was somebody still on the loose.
But no sort of joy, because the young man who`s in jail, the suspect in this case, is also a neighbor less than a mile away from here. So some sort of mixed emotions. They know there`s another family going through their whole own kind of, you know, pain here. But there`s definitely a sense of relief. Everyone I`ve spoken to here is holding their kids a little closer tonight and feeling a bit safer here as families, Jane.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: On the other side, your calls and a reporter who happens to live in the neighborhood, what`s she feeling tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRYANT: This is 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, you know. I just want to find my daughter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And police have made an arrest in the murder of that man`s daughter, beautiful Jessica Ridgeway, only 10 years old. And now the suspect is someone 17 years old, a neighbor who went to the same elementary school at different times, only seven years apart.
One neighbor who spoke to HLN says that she spoke to this young man, whose first name is Austin. His cats would end up in her yard, and he was unfailingly polite. Here`s what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (via phone): They have always have cats they haven`t taken very good care of. And the cats would get out. And I`ve always had big dogs, and the cats would come in the yard. So I, you know, ask him to come get his cats. He was polite. Come and got the cat. No problem. Said he`d keep the cats home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: One of our show`s producer, Josie Cruz (ph), spoke to another nearby neighbor who didn`t want to go on camera, wanted to remain anonymous. Josie, what did he tell you about this murder suspect, Austin?
JOSIE CRUZ (PH), JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL PRODUCER: I talked to a lot of neighbors today, and they pretty much say the same exact thing. He was a very, very polite young man and super respectful.
But the actual neighbor that I talked to today that brought the most insight and gave the best kind of explanation to what kind of person Austin was, was a guy who grew up next door to Austin. He was a friend to Austin. His dad actually took Austin to several baseball games, to outings.
They say that Austin was a great, great guy. He was a normal kid. They never had any trouble out of him. And actually on Sunday they actually saw Austin in the -- in his front yard, talked to him, carried on a great conversation about how his college was going, about how his life was, and they said that they didn`t suspect anything.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Police also plan to charge Austin Sigg with an attempted abduction over Memorial Day this past spring of a woman, 22 years old, at a nearby lake, Ketner Lake. KDVR reporting there`s a DNA match between Jessica`s murder and this attempted abduction.
Now, get this. He supposedly, allegedly, in attempting to abduct this woman, tried to put a rag with chemicals on her face. And she`s 22. She ran away.
So then, two years earlier, there was another assault on a woman. And the same exact description. So that would have made him -- and he hasn`t been charged in the 2010 case -- only 15 years old.
Jennifer Morgan, you live in the area. You`re a reporter in the area. This is a horror story out of a movie.
JENNIFER MORGAN, REPORTER (via phone): It absolutely is. I can`t tell you how many times I`ve come across cars while I`m pulling out of my driveway or walking down the street I see people and I -- you know, I`m suspicious about them.
So at this arrest I am so relieved to even walk out of my house anymore. It`s such a nice feeling, knowing that I can walk down the street with my dog or go to the mailbox without having to worry about who`s coming down the street.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: An entire community literally in the grip of fear, kids not allowed outside, that will change now as this arrest is announced.
On the other side we`re going to put the pieces together and analyze the psychology of this alleged monster.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police in Westminster announce they have someone in custody now: 17-year-old Austin Sigg. He was arrested in the death of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A fresh, out-of-the-box homicidal psychopath. This young fella very dangerous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We notified the Ridgeway family this morning of this arrest.
BRYANT: This is by far the worst thing I`ve ever been through. Still is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody in their right mind perpetrates the kind of crime that this young man is going to be charged with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And tonight we are learning new information about the shocking arrest that was made, announced just a little while ago, made last night in the murder of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway.
Police believe the 17-year-old neighbor is responsible for her dismemberment death. Cops took Austin Sigg, a 17-year-old who lives less than two miles from Jessica`s house, into custody. They are going over that house with a fine-tooth comb, CNN affiliate KCNC reporting just a little while ago that the suspect told police that human body parts could be found in a crawl space under that house.
Even more twisted, KDVR is reporting that this young man, this suspect, wanted to be a mortician. Is there a connection between that and what he allegedly did to Jessica Ridgeway by dismembering her body? Too awful to even think about, but this is unfortunately the key facts of this terrible story.
Tom Shamshak, former police chief, private investigator, now they`re going into this house, going under this house. What do you suspect they`re going to find as it relates to Jessica`s remains?
TOM SHAMSHAK, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR (via phone): Jane, good evening. Thank you for having me on. What a sad outcome here. And I suspect that they`re going to find extremities and perhaps a skull. And I won`t go into any more gruesome details beyond that.
This individual, as I have said in your program for several nights, is an extremely disturbed individual. He fits the classic profile, although he`s ten years younger than the average age, of the typical child abduction murderer, which is 27.
This young man is extremely disturbed. He might have just broken apart emotionally within the past year, year and a half.
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HLN HOST: Are you saying he`s a psychopath? Alleged?
SHAMSHAK: Absolutely. He`s a homicidal psychopath.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to go out to the phone lines waiting very patiently, Rita, Michigan, your question or thought, Rita?
RITA, MICHIGAN (via telephone): Hello, Jane.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hello.
RITA: I watch your show every night.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you.
RITA: I was just wondering, what are we going to do when we can`t let our children walk three blocks to school? It`s just --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, it`s an outrage. And, Mike Brooks this is just one of several stories that we`ve been covering in recent days. There was another youngster who went biking and was found dumped in a recycling bin. What is going on here?
MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, that was up in New Jersey, those two brothers that killed that little girl. Her neighbor lived right down the street, almost sounds very similar to this, Jane. But no, you know, it`s a sad state of affairs where you have to walk your child from place to place. I know when I was a kid I`d go outside, play. My father would whistle, I`d come home and we`d have dinner, you know.
But one other thing, Jane, we look at this cross right here, this wooden cross. Look at his booking picture and you see --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`ll show it.
BROOKS: -- a cord around his neck. I am wondering what is on the other end of that. You can`t see it that well. What kind -- is there another wooden cross on the end of that leather or that cord that he had around his neck? That`s just because -- just wondering whether there was a connection.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tanya Acker, ten seconds. Here`s my fear and I pray it`s not true. I pray that whatever is under the crawl space or in the crawl space under the home isn`t another victim. Remember he`s now accused of trying to abduct that 22-year-old. Then there`s that 2010 attempted abduction with similarities. This child, could this be the tip of the iceberg?
TANYA ACKER, ATTORNEY: You know, it very well might be, Jane. And one thing that your viewers might be interested to know is that because the suspect is 17, if he`s found guilty, the Supreme Court has held that he cannot be executed because apparently he`s less culpable because he`s not a year older.
So, you know, Jessica`s family has said that they want to see this guy burn. That`s not going to happen if in fact he is ultimately convicted.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. We are going to be all over this case as it develops.
Keep it right here. Nancy Grace is all over the arrest of this neighbor in the murder of Jessica Ridgeway. She`s coming up in just a few minutes 8:00 p.m. Eastern. So keep it here.
And we`re also going to talk to Michael Lohan, Lindsay Lohan`s dad, in just a couple of seconds about Lindsay Lohan. Is she off the wagon? Should he stage an intervention?
Next, a stranger suddenly collapses on the sidewalk in front of two off duty EMTs, they standby and they do absolutely nothing. Turns out they`re actors. But the people who witness this theater, they don`t know. Would anybody call them out? "WHAT WOULD YOU DO?" It`s the hit show that`s now on HLN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN QUINONES, HLN HOST: Inspired by real events, we wondered what people would do if they witnessed EMTs who neglect their sworn duty because technically they`re on their break.
Luckily this woman doesn`t need help. She`s a stunt actress. And these negligent EMTs, they`re not real either. They`re actors hired by "WHAT WOULD YOU DO?"
Our hidden cameras are busy on this sidewalk in Hoboken. When this woman collapses, these EMTs don`t move a muscle. But not a second goes by before this woman rushes over.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you ok? We`re right here. There`s an ambulance on the way.
QUINONES: The bystanders are looking for help, but these EMTs are more worried about their food.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you want fries?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want fries with like a muffin or something.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You want a muffin?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is amazing to me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They`re medical technicians.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What -- did she just slip or something?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You look so bored about it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Well, I`m on break right now.
QUINONES: And even though the paramedics walk off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Carissa, let`s get out of here.
QUINONES: Amazingly Carissa keeps her cool.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t want to yell and scream at these people because I don`t think it`s good to be yelling around someone who fell.
QUINONES: Hi.
And when we introduce ourselves, she tells us why.
What were you trying to do?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just wanted to keep her calm. I just thought if I was somebody who was on the ground, I wouldn`t want to be left by the person who was near me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: "WHAT WOULD YOU DO? The show comes to HLN Thursday nights, 9:00 p.m. This hidden camera show hosted by John Quinones, a series of dilemmas that will entertain you and make you think what would you do. Thursday night, 9:00 p.m. Eastern; got to check it out here on HLN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: There`s a whole school of thought that you can save a ton of money eliminating unnecessary products by using white vinegar to clean a lot of surfaces in your house. Let`s test it out. Here we go.
Some white vinegar. Let`s see how it is for cleaning mirrors. And I`ve been told you can get a mirror really nice and clean with white vinegar. And I see that it is working.
Now, guess what? You can clean so many things in your house with simple ingredients like white vinegar. It`s not harmful for the environment. It will save you money. And, it`s kind of fun.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Your "Viral Video of the Day" -- SDSU student, Craig Horlbeck, sinks a -- boom -- half-court shot at midnight madness. That is amazing. Wow. Can we see it again? Please, please, please.
Uh-oh, no I can`t.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael Lohan says he tried to stage an intervention for his daughter, Lindsay, but it didn`t work. And her rep says he was just trying to get publicity.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It seems like every time Lindsay gets behind the wheel of a car, something crazy happens.
LINDSAY LOHAN, ACTRESS: And I respect you and I`ve been taking it seriously.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s been one thing after another, hasn`t it, for the former child star, who`s trying to make this comeback. She could certainly go back to jail. It`s really going to be up to the judge.
L. LOHAN: I`m not taking this as a joke. It`s my life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, Lindsay Lohan`s family drama has reached new heights, or lows -- I didn`t think it was possible. But now Lindsay`s dad, Michael Lohan, he made an attempt to stage an intervention on his famous daughter. And that`s created a whole new controversy.
This latest scandal started when Lindsay`s father, Michael Lohan, claimed Lindsay was drinking more than a bottle of vodka a day and had cocaine in her hotel room. He said he tried to stage an intervention for Lindsay to get her to rehab to get her help, but a Hollywood addiction specialist on this show said, "You? You? Are you kidding me?"
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD SAMUELS, CEO, THE HILLS TREATMENT CENTER: I don`t know if she`s using, but I must say, I mean Michael Lohan is the last person in the world that should be staging an intervention. I mean just six months ago he was drunk and arrested for an altercation with his girlfriend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So, Michael called in and he disagreed with everything that guy just said. Check it out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL LOHAN, FATHER OF LINDSAY LOHAN: I was watching your show and I saw that Howard said -- first of all, he said that I was arrested and I was drunk only six months ago. He`s got that wrong. I`ve been clean and sober for eight years outside of that one occasion when I got a DWI. I was clean for seven years before that.
Secondly, this whole thing was sanctioned by Lindsay`s entire team as the e-mails reflected on TMZ. They came to me and asked me to help get Lindsay into treatment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Now, listen, we`re going to give these two guys a chance to battle it out. Michael Lohan, I think -- are you Skype or phone? And then we have addiction specialist Howard Samuels. So it`s going to be a debate. Not probably as sophisticated as the presidential debates, but we`re going to give it a shot.
Michael, almost a year ago you were arrested. There was a domestic abuse complaint from Kate Majors, your squeeze. You jumped off a balcony, allegedly to escape cops. I think that`s what Howard Samuels was talking about when he said you`ve got to act like a role model in order to have the cred to do an intervention. And we`re looking at this video of you being wheeled around in an orange suit, that you don`t have that cred. What do you say to that?
M. LOHAN: Well, let me preface this by saying, first of all, this might take a little more time than we will have tonight. So I =`d really like to, if we can continue tomorrow --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Just, you know what, just get -- if you could just get to the answer that would help.
M. LOHAN: Sure. Listen, let`s get the record straight. Number one, he said I drank and I was arrested six months ago. I`ve been clean and sober for eight years. I was arrested over a year ago, not six months ago. And I was arrested for helping somebody.
On the other end, Howard, in `69 and `71 you were arrested on drug- related charges. Mine wasn`t drug-related. I mean this is all about celebrities to you and picking on me when they call you Doc Hollywood and say you turned rehab into a celebrity addiction. They closed Wonderland on you because you leaked to the press that my daughter was in the place.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok. Ding, ding, ding, ding. We`re going to give Howard Samuels, founder and CEO of The Hills Treatment Center, a chance to respond. And remember, this is all in the spirit of understanding how to help Lindsay as opposed to just calling each other names. Go ahead, Howard.
M. LOHAN: Absolutely.
SAMUELS: First of all, Michael, I`m here to help you. And that`s -- and what I`m trying to also do is help Lindsay and help you help her. Because I think Lindsay`s the issue. You`re not the issue. But you`re making yourself the issue.
M. LOHAN: No.
SAMUELS: And -- let me finish.
M. LOHAN: How am I doing that?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hold on. Let him finish. Wait a second, let him finish.
SAMUELS: Michael, you have to let me finish, Michael.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes.
SAMUELS: The reality is that you`ve been arrested three times in the last year and a half -- ok -- March of 2011, twice in October of 2011. You`re absolutely right. You were not arrested six months ago; you were arrested twice a year ago. And during that arrest on October 27th in the police report that I have right here it says "Condition: consumed alcohol and drugs." Now, that is not being sober for eight years, Michael. And you have a credibility problem.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Ok. You had your say. Ding, ding, ding.
Now we`re going to give it to Michael Lohan. Respond. And let`s just try to not call each other names. Thank you.
M. LOHAN: They took a blood toxicology test at that time and I had nothing in my system. The only thing I did have in my system is heart medication. So he`s absolutely wrong. They can say whatever they want in the police report and they do that and when it goes to court then it`s tried by a judge. And I did not have anything in my system. I`ve been clean for eight years. You can say whatever you want to say.
On the other hand, when it comes to my daughter, I mean I did everything I could under the radar and her team came to me and said, Michael -- I do interventions, Jane. I`ve done 15 interventions in the last eight months. Of the 15, I`d say 12 are successful, a few people still in treatment.
However, I know it`s different to treat other people than my own daughter. But this was done under the radar. Her team told me to put this together. I contacted Dr. Drew. Dr. Drew told me that he didn`t think that he was the right person because he would scare Lindsay away.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok. So let me jump in. This is my question to you. He`s right. You don`t make it a high profile thing. So when she called you because she was having a fight with her mom and it was a big mess and there could have been problems there, somehow that conversation ended up on TMZ.
M. LOHAN: Absolutely.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Do you understand why she might feel betrayed?
M. LOHAN: Yes. But, Jane, you have to understand something -- and, yes, I did release it to TMZ. But the reason I did that is because everyone blames Lindsay. People have to know that this poor kid whether it`s my fault or Dina`s fault, she goes through a lot of things. It`s the trauma that has to be treated not the drink.
Drug addiction specialists like Howard go right away when the person goes into treatment like Lindsay did under his auspices two times already, she goes in on drug and alcohol and comes out on pills, on prescription meds.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Whoa, whoa. Ok. Got to take a break. On the other side we`re going to give Howard a chance to respond to that.
I like it this way.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Time for our "Pets o` the Day". Deja Blue, oh my God, mon dieu. Zeus, you are just god like. Mistie and Sox, you are so cute. And Averi is just gorgeous. As is Dime or is it Dime?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
L. LOHAN: I`m not taking this as a joke. It`s my life and it`s my career.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL : Is Michael, Lindsay`s dad, trying to help her? Well, Lindsay`s rep said "It`s apparent Michael continues to be very focused on getting publicity for himself. Lindsay`s team is in no way aligned with him." Meantime she has been to rehab five times.
Howard Samuels, Michael is saying that you treated her in rehab and that she came out on pills -- your response.
SAMUELS: Well, first of all, Jane, because of confidentiality I cannot confirm or deny that I have ever worked with anybody and I will never do that. So let`s get back to the issue at hand which is really whether or not Michael has the credibility to do an intervention on his daughter.
I mean I must say somebody who has been arrested three times in a year and a half and the last arrest was forced to go to residential treatment for four months is not --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Michael -- Michael, your chance to respond.
M. LOHAN: He is making this all about me. Number one, I went into treatment not for drugs or alcohol. I went in for steroids and that is very clear.
Secondly, if I didn`t try to do the intervention, they asked me to step in and put the team together and spearhead it. I picked the people to do the intervention. They came to me and TMZ proved it with the e-mails. So for Steve Hoenig (ph) her publicist who was on board -- and I even proved that with all the texts to me -- to say that they weren`t behind me, that is absolutely ludicrous. This was in the planning for two months. (inaudible) was first brought in, he`s one of the best interventionists and then after that we brought in Earl Hightower at the recommendation David Salman (ph) Lindsay`s lawyer.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Well, let`s not get into names that people don`t even know.
Let me go to this. Lindsay claims she is clean and sober. What does that mean? Because we know from her 2010 probation report that they said she was fine and she hasn`t done anything wrong. However, she is on some powerful prescription meds including Nexium, Zoloft, and the anti- depressant Trazadone, Adderall and even the pain reliever Dilaudid for dental pain. Some have said Dilaudid is as strong as morphine.
Howard, what do you make of Lindsay`s sobriety given that that probation report said those are ok?
SAMUELS: Well, first of all Dilaudid is not ok. I mean Dilaudid is one of the strongest opiates out there on the market. I mean you usually only give it in the hospitals.
Adderall is very controversial as far as somebody who is sober especially for women who want to, you know, keep the weight off because it`s speed, it`s an amphetamine. So, you know, basically Lindsay`s behavior in the last year does not show she is in any kind of recovery. But I have to say, Michael`s behavior in the same way shows the same thing. And that`s the issue.
M. LOHAN: Here we go again. Here we go again.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Here we go again. This is really starting to sound like a debate.
More on the other side. Here we go again? Who does that remind you of? Remember?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And now, closing statements. We begin with Michael Lohan.
M. LOHAN: All right. Jane, let me just -- let me just address what Howard just said. He keeps putting the focus on me but Adderall is not a weight loss drug. It is a focus medication. And it is one of the biggest problems in the world today including with Xanax. And as far as Trazodone, that`s a non-narcotic sleeping medication and a lot of people that are addicts are on it.
As far as -- you know, Mitt Romney said the other night in the debate that if you throw things enough some people think it`s going to stick. Howard, you keep saying things that aren`t true about me and they`re not going to stick because I`ve proven otherwise.
I want to focus on my daughter. I love her. She is battling demons. No one is helping here and some of those very demons are the people around her so she has to take it upon herself now to do what is right. But if you want to speak about confidentiality, why are you offering these celebrities` names and why do you --
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok. All right. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
I have new compassion for all the debate moderators. Your final statement -- Howard Samuels.
SAMUELS: Yes. Listen. Michael, please, you have to take a different approach. This approach is not working. You have to stay off TV. You`ve got to do it differently. You have lost your credibility. You`ve become extremely confrontational with me but with everybody. Please, Michael. It is embarrassing for you to go through this. Take a different approach.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. We are out of time. Thank you both.
We`re going to do this again soon.
Nancy, next.
END
