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Jane Velez-Mitchell
Where is Baby Elaina; Jodi Arias Trial
Aired June 19, 2013 - 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: Tonight, jaw-dropping new developments in the mysterious case of baby Elaina, who vanished from her home in broad daylight. Now more and more people are coming forward saying there was something very wrong, very toxic inside her home.
Tonight, I`ll talk exclusively to the baby`s aunt. I will also talk to the child`s grandfather.
Plus, a friend now claims the mom, who is behind bars as we speak right now, told him some very disturbing secrets.
Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TERRY "T.J." STEINFURTH JR., BABY ELAINA`S FATHER: Her and her boyfriend were fighting because of the way he was treating my children.
MARY SCHIEWE, ANGELA STEINFURTH`S SISTER-IN-LAW: I overheard her saying stuff to other people that Elaina had a black eye, a broken nose and lump on her head. I asked her how she got it. She said she wasn`t sure.
T. STEINFURTH JR.: She would snatch my oldest daughter by her arm, yank her, drag her around, smack her in the mouth.
SCHIEWE: I told her right away, when you seen [SIC] a black eye and blood coming out of your child`s nose, no matter what the situation is, you take that baby to the hospital.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What happened to little Elaina? Her mom, this woman, Angela, yes, she`s crying there. She says she put the child down for an afternoon nap. In this brand-new video we have just obtained, we are getting a first look inside this Toledo, Ohio home. And the actual bedroom where that mother claims she left her napping child.
Cops went through baby Elaina`s room with a fine-toothed comb, looking for any clues. But it`s been two weeks and still no sign of the adore an, innocent, helpless 18-month-old baby.
This mystery starts when the dad comes to pick up the baby in a custody exchange. Mommy hands over the older daughter, age 4, but refuses to hand over little Elaina. She says she doesn`t want to wake the sleeping child. Then she says she`s afraid if she gives him the child, she`ll never see that baby again.
After two hours of fighting between the mom and the dad and her ex- boyfriend, who she was living with, mom finally agrees to go get Elaina. A few minutes later, she comes running out of the house, screaming, "The baby`s gone, the baby`s gone." What?
Now a friend of Elaina`s parents who wants to go only by the name Frank, is coming forward saying the baby`s mother revealed secrets to him. Frank released this surveillance video of Angela -- that`s the mother -- and the baby who`s now listening, little Elaina, taken just one day before the baby disappeared.
Last night he said this on HLN`s "NANCY GRACE."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
"FRANK," FRIEND OF ELAINA`S PARENTS: I was talking to Angela. She made it clear that, you know, the baby had a black eye, dried blood and a bump on the head. I asked her straight up, "How did this happen?"
She said when she woke up, the baby was already like that.
I questioned her, "Why didn`t you call an ambulance? You know, call the police?" If it`d be me, I`d be flipping out.
She said she asked the boyfriend to check the baby and make sure the baby was OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Straight out to our exclusive guest. Mary Schiewe, the half-sister of Angela, the mother of the missing child, the mother who is in jail right now.
Mary, I thank you for joining us. I know that this is very difficult for you, and I applaud your courage: speaking out honestly, despite the awkwardness of the situation, because I know you want what`s best for your precious little niece.
What do you know about your half-sister, discovering this child with a black eye, an injured nose and a bump on her head, and then, according to published reports, leaving to go to a store to go shopping?
SCHIEWE (via phone): I just know that I want to say it happened Saturday night that they knew about the black eye and the blood coming out of her nose.
And then Sunday I did hear that they went to a Family Dollar around the corner and went shopping. I don`t know for what. I just know that they were there.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: The baby`s dad told Terry Junior -- HLN`s Nancy Grace that he had seen bruises on little Elaina before she disappeared, and that his estranged wife, Angela, told him that she didn`t like the way her boyfriend, Steven King, was treating the kids.
Listen to this, and then we`re going to talk to Mary about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HLN ANCHOR: What did you do when you saw these bruises or this behavior?
T. STEINFURTH JR.: There was several arguments about it. I was trying to get ahold of someone at CSB. I never had a chance to make contact.
The week before she went missing, Elaina went missing, Angela actually gave me the girls to live with me because she said that she couldn`t care for them because she was getting thrown out of her boyfriend`s house, because her and her boyfriend were fighting because of the way he was treating my children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, we have reached out to Steven King. We have gotten no answer. We want to stress that authorities say he is not a suspect or a person of interest in this case. So we certainly do not want to point the finger at him. He is invited or his family members or his lawyer on our show any time.
But Mary, getting back to the half-sister of Angela, you spoke to our producer about problems that you believe that this ex-boyfriend, Steven, had. Can you elaborate on that? Because according to our producer, you said something about substances?
SCHIEWE: Yes. My sister told me before that he has a problem with pills. I`ve never been around or seen anything like that, but I don`t see why she would lie.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So elaborate on that a little bit.
SCHIEWE: About the pills?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes.
SCHIEWE: I just -- I just know that the medication that he was taking is a medication that`s given to people when they`re trying to wean you off of drugs. That`s the only thing I know about the medication that he was taking.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So -- OK. So if you`re taking medication to get off of drugs, that means you may have a drug problem, hypothetically speaking. So are you suggesting that then there was a drug problem in the home?
And did your sister have a drug problem, as well? Have you ever heard anything about your sister? Because quite often one person has a problem, the other person does in the same home.
SCHIEWE: I definitely think that there was some kind of a drug problem. I`m not sure with everybody in the home. And I know that a few of them smoked pot. That was my sister`s main thing. And I`m not 100 percent sure if she had a different drug problem. I know that, you know, if one person is doing it and another person is doing it, you know, sometimes people peer pressure. So I`m not 100 percent sure; I don`t know.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. And very quickly, I want to go to Terry Steinfurth, the paternal grandfather of the missing child.
You were there during this confrontation where your son, the baby`s father, wants to get the child from this woman, and she refuses to hand her over, and then ultimately says the baby is missing.
Do you know anything about problems in this house involving Angela or her ex-boyfriend vis-a-vis pills, pot, drugs, anything like that?
TERRY STEINFURTH SR., BABY ELAINA`S GRANDFATHER (via phone): All I know is hearsay. I have been told he has a drug problem, but it`s hearsay to me. As far as Angela goes, I do not know.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I want to bring in HLN`s law enforcement analyst Mike Brooks, because Mike, we don`t want to indict this gentleman, Steven King. Authorities have told us that it`s a red herring, and that`s the phrase they used. And they said the mother has changed her story behind bars, and we`ll play those clips for you.
But what do you make of the family members now talking about some toxic dynamics inside this home?
MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: You know, the big question is, should these children have even been in this home in the first place? Should they have been living with the boyfriend in the first place? Would they have been better off with the father, with another relative? You know, is this the reason that law enforcement has charged her right now, basically with the holding charge of child endangerment because of what they have gathered so far?
You know, there`s a lot of questions remaining. And all the people that we heard were in that house, Jane, when the baby apparently disappeared. You know, law enforcement was saying six to eight people may have been inside that house and you`re telling me that no one, none of those people know anything about her disappearance? B.S.!
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, to that point, Mike, the now-jailed mother of this missing baby reportedly told people that she was threatened, not by one person but by people, that if she told what happened to her baby, something bad would happen. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANK (via phone): She told me that she knowed [SIC] what happened to the baby. She got afraid, because people threatened, "If you say anything, you`re next." That`s what she told me Thursday from the jail.
She doesn`t know where the baby is, is what she told me, but she does know what happened to the baby and who took the baby out of the house.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, I have to remind you that law enforcement, hearing that, says A, the mother is changing her stories behind bars. And B, they describe her pointing the finger at her ex-boyfriend whose home she was staying in as a red herring.
Jon Leiberman, HLN contributor, Wild About Trial, we are putting pieces of a puzzle together, and a portrait is emerging. What`s the portrait?
JON LEIBERMAN, HLN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, the portrait is unclear, and I`ll tell you why, Jane: because the cops are trying to figure out what is the truth; what is -- what that this mother says is true and what that she says is untrue.
That`s exactly why she`s behind bars right now on, as Mike alludes to, the child endangerment charges. That`s just a way to hold her, keep her in custody, put the pressure on her while police question everybody else involved and try to figure out what the real story here is.
And that`s why we can`t put too much stock in what the mother is saying, telling other people about being threatened, and this and that, because we don`t know if what she`s saying is true or not, and we don`t know what she`s hiding.
But I do know one thing, Jane: the first 48 hours in missing-child cases are the most important, and the longer that this goes on, the less the prospect for hope in this case. We all want to hope that this little toddler is still alive, but with every passing day that somebody isn`t telling the truth, the prospect looks dimmer. And that`s the heartbreaking part of this case. This mother knows. This mother knows.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s go out to Selin Darkalstanian, senior producer in our investigative unit. What have you learned, Selin?
SELIN DARKALSTANIAN, HLN PRODUCER: Jane, I just got off with the Toledo Police Department. And they tell me that they`re still searching the river by baby Elaina`s house. Today, there are no divers at the river, but they are out there with fireboats. They are searching. They`re not 100 that baby Elaina -- they`re not 100 percent sure that baby Elaina could be in the river, but they`re saying that that is the most likely scenario, and that they`re hoping if she is in there, that her body will eventually come up. And that is what they`re looking for.
As of today, there are no new suspects in the case. The mother is still under arrest. The boyfriend is not arrested. And the Toledo Police Department tells me that, still, this is their No. 1 priority of all their cases. They are actively looking for Elaina.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: It`s significant, I think, that they are going out of their way in their news conferences and in their comments and their appearances to say any pointing of the finger at the ex-boyfriend is a red herring and that the mother is changing her stories. We are trying to get to the truth, but we are wading through a sea of what looks like lies.
More on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think Steven King has anything to do with this?
T. STEINFURTH JR.: I`m not going to speculate on that at this time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do we know where Steven King is at?
T. STEINFURTH JR.: As far as I`ve been told, they`re not -- it`s all rumors. I personally don`t know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANGELA STEINFURTH, MOTHER OF ELAINA: I just want her home in one piece. I just want to know she`s OK. It`s very hard not having her around. My other daughter is going insane without her sister. They need to be together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, as you are looking at pictures of this beautiful, innocent child and the adults around her, the gentleman you see up there in the white shirt is her paternal grandpa. And he went with his son to try to pick up the child from this woman, the mother, because that`s his right. And it was the mother`s boyfriend who said, "Nope, you can`t have her."
Terry Steinfurth Sr., grandpa of the missing child, what happened when you went back with your son, after they told your son, "No, you`re not going to have the child"? You go back, and you say that this ex-boyfriend acted in a threatening manner towards you. Paint a -- paint a picture for us.
T. STEINFURTH SR.: I walked up to the porch. I asked his mother and father, who were sitting on the porch, to see my daughter-in-law. And the boyfriend come down the porch yelling and screaming that I wasn`t getting the baby, and that he would fight me like he wanted to fight my son. And I just told him to back up.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And did he give you any indication as to why he didn`t want you to see the baby? I know the mother said her line about, "Well, I give her to you, I`ll never see the child again," which doesn`t make a lot of sense, because she was very willing to hand over the 4-year- old.
So if she was willing to hand over the 4-year-old daughter, it doesn`t make sense that, oh, she`s afraid of handing over the other daughter, unless that other daughter was already missing at that point, and they were stalling because they couldn`t give you something they did not have. They could not give you someone they could not have.
Tell us what your sense was as he was very insistent that you can`t have this child.
T. STEINFURTH SR.: His mother said -- he just said that she said that she wasn`t giving T.J. the baby, because he wouldn`t bring her back. And the mother sent him into the house, because she`s told him that I was talking to them as an adult and I wasn`t there to argue. And I talked with them for a few. And they tried to get Angela to come out and talk to me, and she wouldn`t come out.
And then the boyfriend came out, and the mother sent him back in to get Angela. And she didn`t come out. The mother went in, and then Angela and the mother came back out.
And that`s when Angela and I got into an argument, and she insisted she wasn`t going to give me the baby. And I told her, "I don`t care what my son and her do, but I want to see my granddaughter."
And after about 20 minutes, she decided she would let me see the baby, and she went in the house to get it, and never came out with it. And then 15 minutes or so later, she come out crying that the baby was gone.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, here`s...
T. STEINFURTH JR.: Well, she wasn`t crying. She was...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: ... here`s connecting the -- Oh, she wasn`t crying. Well, that`s very telling.
T. STEINFURTH JR.: No, she wasn`t crying. She just came out and she said, "The baby`s gone."
And I said, "What do you mean, the baby`s gone?"
And she said, "She`s not in the house anywhere. I can`t find her."
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And what did she do then?
T. STEINFURTH SR.: Herself, myself, my son, and Steven`s father, who had been sitting on the porch the whole time, we all ran into the house, and we looked to see where the baby -- where she said the baby was supposed to have been.
And -- and then I went back out front and I told her to call the police, her dad, her sister and anybody that knew what the baby looked like. And she said, "For what?"
And I said, "Because I want to find my -- my baby." I said, "I want her back here."
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Whoa, wait. Hold on. What you just said is a jaw- dropper. She`s saying she can`t find her precious 18-month-old, and you say, "Well, call the cops."
And she says, "For what?"
Did you just say that to me?
T. STEINFURTH SR.: Yes, I did.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wow! Listen, I have to go to Levi Page, crime blogger. And now we`re learning the other back story that, before all this, she says she woke up and the child had a black eye, a bloody nose and a bump on her head. I think we`ve got a graphic that outlines that.
And then we learned that she says, "Well, I didn`t take her to the hospital, because I showed her to my boyfriend and he said, `Oh, she`ll be fine`."
And then we learn that she goes out shopping at a Family Dollar store. Connect the dots for us.
LEVI PAGE, CRIME BLOGGER: Well, Jane, how many cases do we have to talk about where a child goes missing and then we learn that she should be in an environment that she shouldn`t be in?
This child was obviously being abused, if she has all of these -- a black eye, blood under her nose, a welt on her head. The father of this child should have had custody of her. This mother should not have had her. The father says that he -- that she mistreated this baby. Now she`s in jail for child endangerment.
And according to police reports, when police went inside the home, there was sewage coming out of the toilet, and there was dog feces all over the floor.
So this is a case where a child goes missing, and they`re living in an environment that they should have never been in. And quite frankly, I`m sick -- I`m sick to my stomach of talking about these cases, one right after the other, and it does not look good for this poor child.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, Terry -- Terry, I want to go back to you, because you said you ran in the house. Was the house dirty?
T. STEINFURTH SR.: The living -- the bedroom where the baby was supposed to be sleeping had clothes all around the floor, all around the bed. I mean, they were literally piled up.
The living room didn`t look too messy to me, although I didn`t pay that much attention to it. I mean, I was in looking for the baby, and out.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Look at that house. What happened inside that house?
(CROSSTALK)
T. STEINFURTH SR.: I was ready to go outside.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Unbelievable. I have so much that I want to say, but look inside this room. Now, admittedly, the cops had gone through it. But still, you`re hearing from Terry who was in there that there were clothes piled everywhere. You`re hearing from Levi Page that the authorities are saying there was sewage, that the bathroom was stopped up. We`re hearing from the half-sister of Angela, that there were alleged drug issues.
There`s a big mess here. And in the middle of it is a little helpless baby who can`t say, "Get me out of here," and now nobody can find her.
More on the other side, and we`re taking your calls.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANK: She`s guilty of not taking care of that baby like she should have. She should have took the baby to the hospital. She should have been truthful and done. She shouldn`t even have been in the house from the get- go. She doesn`t know where the baby is at, but she knew what happened to the baby.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just wish that somebody, whoever has her, would bring her home safely to us. Just return her.
And if you don`t want to give your name or anything like, that just drop her off to a church or somewhere and just put in an anonymous call, you know. Just bring her home. Bring her back to us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, Angela, the mother, on whose watch this child disappeared, has already admitted that the baby had a black eye, a bump on her head and a bloody nose. She claims oh, she woke up and the child was like that.
OK, then she says she didn`t take her to the hospital because she showed her to the boyfriend and the boyfriend said, "Oh, she`ll be fine."
And now she`s saying, according to various people, like her stepfather, that whoever took the little baby threatened her that if she said anything she would be next.
Now, I spoke to a local police sergeant last night and he wasn`t buying any of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. JOE HEFFERNAN, TOLEDO POLICE DEPARTMENT (via phone): If my child was injured, threatened or not, I`m going to make sure that child is getting proper medical attention. She did not do that. That`s why she`s in jail right now for this child endangerment. I think this is maybe a little bit of a red herring that`s going on with this whole "I`m -- I was threatened" thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Mike Brooks, HLN law enforcement analyst, we have to read between the lines when the sergeant comes out and actually says that the mother`s story is a red herring about being threatened. What does that tell you?
BROOKS: It tells me the law enforcement doesn`t believe a word she`s saying, as she`s trying to point fingers, you know, at other people, trying to blame them for the baby`s disappearance, when in fact, Angela knows exactly what happened to that precious little baby.
You know, we`ve got that video surveillance on June 1 at 6:35. And I would want to have that enhanced to take a look and see what the condition of that little baby was then. And we`re looking at right here. We see the baby, she was on the porch. She doesn`t seem to be stumbling around at all, but you know, what kind of condition was she is? Did she have any kind of bruises? Did she have a black eye and bloody nose back then? It doesn`t appear so in what we`re seeing here, Jane.
But I wanted to have that enhanced and take a look at that, just another piece of the puzzle to try to find out what happened to this girl the next day.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, as you`re looking at this video, actually the cousin on the father`s side, I believe, of this little baby, felt that the affectionate movements by the mother were exaggerated and theatrical, and that she may have been aware -- this is her claim and just her observation, really -- that to her it seemed like the mother was aware that the cameras were there and was trying to act super-affectionate toward her child, because she was aware that her friend had this surveillance camera, and she suspected that the child may have already been injured.
Now I don`t know. I would love to ask the person who shot the video whether he observed her firsthand.
But wow, I have to go back to Mary Schiewe. You are the half-sister of Angela. She`s taken some hits from law enforcement, from our panelists who feel that, you know, she`s not being truthful. Mary?
SCHIEWE: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: She`s not being truthful, according to the police. Like if you read between the lines, our law-enforcement analyst said, when they say that her saying she was threatened is a red herring, when they say that she`s changing her stories behind bars, that she`s not being truthful. And I don`t want to put you on the spot, but you know her better than anyone. Why do you think she would not be truthful about this? Why would she tell the father of, well, the grandfather of her own child, "Why are you calling the police?" when the child is missing?
SCHIEWE: I have no idea why she would even say such a thing. I know that if it was my child, I would have opened up right away, threatened or not threatened. I just feel that she -- she waited 11 days before she -- when she got locked up to come out and say something. What else is going to be said? That`s how I feel.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you know her psychologically. Is she somebody who sidesteps problems or does she have a tendency to create a lot of drama? I mean, what`s her M.O.?
SCHIEWE: It`s kind of like if it don`t [SIC] benefit her, or if you`re not doing something for her, then everybody else is the worst person in the world. That`s how it`s always been.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Mm. So, yes, OK. That says a lot. That says a lot. So possibly she`s crying these tears for herself right now in court, as she realizes the...
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HLN HOST: You know her psychologically. Is she somebody who sidesteps problems or does she have a tendency to create a lot of drama? What`s her MO?
MARY SCHIEWE, HALF SISTER OF ANGELA STEINFURTH: It`s kind of like if it don`t benefit her, or if you`re not doing something for her, then everybody else is the worst person in the world. That`s how it`s always been.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Mm. So, yes, ok -- t That says a lot. That says a lot. So possibly she`s crying these tears for herself right now in court as she realizes the enormity of her predicament.
More on the other side -- we`re just getting started.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERRY STEINFURTH JR., ELAINA`S FATHER: I`m not going to say she was directly responsible for anything, but my daughter was in her care at the time that this happened, and the police are handling it the way they feel they need to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She does know what happened to the baby. Who took the baby out of the house?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give me immunity and I`ll tell you what`s going on. Somebody has to know.
STEINFURTH: My daughter was in her care at the time this happened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The baby was injured at one point, she was aware of it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She told my dad that she was threatened. That if she was to seek any kind of medical attention for Elaina that she would be next.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: After two weeks of searching, authorities have uncovered few clues that may lead them to missing Elaina, this precious 18- month-old baby who disappeared out of her home -- her mother`s boyfriend`s home.
The search has focused on the Maumee River. As you could see on this map, the river very close to the house Elaina went missing from. Less than a mile away, this river leads into Lake Erie. So if Elaina was thrown into the river, she could be deep into the lake by now. Police say they aren`t sure she`s in the river.
And we understand that her paternal grandfather believes that she is alive. We certainly hope so. Straight out to Jon Leiberman, what is the very latest on this case because I understand, Jon that -- and I`ll hold up a little prop here -- authorities found a diaper, same size, same match of the type of diaper used by Baby Elaina near this river.
JON LEIBERMAN, HLN CONTRIBUTOR: They did. And I mean these are the types of clues that they`re looking for on the banks of the river and, of course, in the river, as well.
You know Jane, I`ll tell you, this kind of case, you would think that this case would be easier for the cops than say a stranger abduction case, because there`s no indication this is a stranger abduction case.
But the problem here is nobody seems to be wanting to be truthful, particularly this mother. So it`s posing huge challenges for law enforcement as they continue to search for clues like that diaper you just showed, like anything else that can give them some clue as to where Baby Elaina is.
Now also Jane, we have learned Child Protective Services actually visited the previous home where this baby lived. So this family is not unknown to the system. The living conditions are not unknown to the system.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Terry Steinfurth, paternal grandfather of this missing baby, you believe the child is still alive? From your mouth to God`s ear, as they say -- why?
TERRY STEINFURTH SR., PATERNAL GRANDFATHER: The way the mother is acting. I don`t feel that mother is acting like a mother that has lost a child. I don`t see how any mother that`s lost a child can show so little emotion as she has.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, we see her crying in court, but you`re saying when you saw her announce that the baby was missing, you were right there. You didn`t see any emotion?
STEINFURTH, SR.: No, none. And afterwards, up until the time she went to jail I never really saw any emotion.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wow.
STEINFURTH, SR.: It`s got its puzzles. I just -- to me, I believe she knows where that baby`s at.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I mean, she`s admitted as much, Terry. She said, I know what happened but I don`t know where she is. And that`s the missing piece of the puzzle. I mean it almost sounds like somebody else took care of a quote-unquote "problem", if you know what I mean. The question is who?
And I don`t know, I`m not pointing the fingers at anyone. The only person under arrest right now is that lady right there. And I want to thank her half sister, Mary Schiewe, for having the courage to come on and answer some tough questions. I know you`re doing it because you care about your niece.
And it`s -- you know, my hat`s off to you to participate in this, even though it`s got to be very difficult for you as well, Terry Steinfurth, the grandfather of this missing child. We`re going to stay on this case. We`re not giving up. We want to find little Elaina. What a helpless innocent.
Up next, huge developments in the Jodi Arias trial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ESTEBAN FLORES, DETECTIVE: You don`t look like the person that would plan something like this. You`re just not that person. I can believe other things, but not that.
JODI ARIAS, CONVICTED MURDERER: It looks like you don`t even need a good prosecutor any way.
FLORES: You`re right.
ARIAS: I have to maintain my innocence. I can`t admit to doing something I haven`t done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`re now in the second phase of intense jury selection in the George Zimmerman trial; in that courtroom, of course, Trayvon Martin`s parents. Vinnie Politan sat down with Tracy Martin to talk about losing his son, Trayvon. What he thinks happened that night and the impending trial. Here`s a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRACY MARTIN, FATHER OF TRAYVON MARTIN: We just hope that, overall, that there are six good people selected. Six people that understand the values of life, whether you`re black or white. And six people that truly treasure their life, and the core values of the youth, you know, of our society.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Watch a special "HLN AFTER DARK" interview with Trayvon Martin`s dad tonight, 10:00 p.m. Eastern only on HLN.
Next, more Jodi Arias.
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ARIAS: I am not someone that is jealous or maybe (inaudible) insecurity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Travis was one of the nicest and kindest man I`ve ever met.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was the type of guy that you just wanted to be around.
JUAN MARTINEZ, PROSECUTOR: She slit his throat as a reward for being a good man.
Would you agree that you`re the person who actually slit Mr. Alexander`s throat from ear to ear?
ARIAS: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, breaking news. We`re less than 24 hours away from the moment of truth. Jodi Arias will be back in court tomorrow to find out when she`s going to be retried for life or death.
But she won`t be the only one making a repeat appearance. That`s right, a pool of the original jurors -- they can`t have enough of it. They plan on going back to court tomorrow on their own time to watch this stunning next chapter unfold.
Listen to what they told Dr. Drew.
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MARILOU ALLEN-COOGAN, JUROR: I do plan on going to the hearing that`s being held on Thursday. I feel like I need to see this through as much as I can with my home schedule and my work schedule. I just feel like I`m invested.
DR. DREW PINSKY, HLN HOST: Are the rest of the jurors going to go with you?
ALLEN-COOGAN: Not all of them, no.
PINSKY: Terry, you`re going though, is that correct?
TERRY, JUROR: Yes. Again with Marilou, we were so invested.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jodi, convicted of premeditated murder in the brutal, and I mean brutal killing of her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander. But since that jury could not decide whether she deserved life in prison or the death penalty by lethal injection, a new hearing tomorrow to determine when they will retry that death penalty phase with a brand new jury.
Travis` family wants that retrial right away, ASAP. But the defense says "Wait, please wait. We`re not ready. We need to delay until 2014" -- unbelievable difference there.
So let`s debate it with our expert panel. What do you think will happen tomorrow? When will they start this retrial? Starting with Danny Cevallos.
DANNY CEVALLOS, LEGAL ANALSYT: Yes, this is a denial. And here`s why. Arizona law is pretty clear on granting motions to continue, and whether or not those will be appealable later on at appeals court. In this case, there isn`t really any compelling reason. There has to be some sort of material need, some substantial prejudice that will happen if they don`t grant this continuance. They have to absolutely need it.
And mere preparation, courts have held, that is just not enough. They need some concrete reasons. Remember, this is a case that`s not actually complex. It`s not a multiple co-defendant conspiracy.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, yes? Excuse me, my friend, you sit through five months of this testimony and tell me it`s not complex.
CEVALLOS: I didn`t say it`s not grueling.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Adam Swickle, for the defense. Hold on.
CEVALLOS: I didn`t say it`s not grueling, I said it`s not complex.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok. I think I`m going to go to Judge Larry Seidlin. What is this judge, this fabulous judge -- I watched her, she`s a great judge -- what is she going to do tomorrow? Is she going to say let`s do it right away or is she going to say let`s do it in 2014?
LARRY SEIDLIN, JUDGE ON ANNA NICOLE SMITH CASE: She`s going to grant no continuance. Why don`t the authorities in Arizona just buy a rope and hang her in the lobby of the courthouse? Why don`t the legislators of Arizona read the U.S. Constitution? The Supreme Court just blasted them on their voting rights law. Their law on death penalty is completely unconstitutional.
The jury already could not agree on death for Jodi Arias. It`s over. Go try another criminal. This case should be over with. It`s unconstitutional, their procedure. No one has seen this procedure before - -
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok. Everybody is into monologuing today, and I have to cut you off, because I want to give everybody a chance to weigh in and argue and yell just like you guys have been able.
A close of friend of Jodi`s family wrote a letter in their local paper, defending Jodi`s parents after he saw that death threats and harassments were directed at Jodi Arias` family. They`ve committed to crime, they`re just family members. Listen to what this guy told Dr. Drew.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can`t blame the parents, especially when a child as old as Jodi is, you can`t blame the parents for the decisions she makes. They`re working hard to try and survive this mess that their daughter has put them into.
PINSKY: And how are they doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think they`re doing very well under the circumstances. It`s just a very painful thing to see their daughter go through this, especially for the mother. The dad is pretty angry that people are so vicious about it. But he`s not happy with his daughter, either because he tried to get his daughter to break the relationship with this guy some time ago.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s debate this with our expert panel. Listen, some of the people who wanted to testify initially, although they backed out, one of the reasons is they said they were getting threats. Can Jodi put on a mitigation case, Loni Coombs, former L.A. County prosecutor, if people who support her in any way, shape or form, even to say she was a nice person as a child, are getting death threats?
LONI COOMBS, FORMER L.A. COUNTY PROSECUTOR: Yes. You know, this is a real huge issue. And it`s kind of a case of first impression that I know is going to be a big issue on appeal. The defense is saying we have not been able to follow the constitutional right of putting on a full defense because these witnesses are scared to come into court because they`re being threatened by the public.
That`s never really happened in my experience to the point where it`s kept witnesses off the stand. Now, in gang cases, in mob cases, in murder cases, I`ve had witnesses who felt like their lives were being threatened by other unsavory criminals if they got up on the stand and testified. But never in a case like this where the witnesses have done nothing wrong -- they did not commit the crime. They`re just going to come in and take an unpopular position in the eyes of the public, and because of that they feel like their lives are in danger to the point where they do not want to come in testify. This court is going to have to agree -- have to deal with this issue.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Danny Cevallos, ten seconds, even if she`s found, well, we`re going to give her the death penalty if it turns out that nobody testified on her behalf in the mitigation phase because they`re all afraid of threats. Could that be an appealable issue -- 10 seconds?
CEVALLOS: Yes, it could be an appealable issue. However, as with most issues on appeal, the court will have to look at the relative standard and find out if that is something they review brand new or just to see if it substantially prejudiced her case.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Danny, we`ll get to you and we`ll also get to Adam Swickle on the other side. Stay right there. So much other controversy.
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ARIAS: He was grabbing at my clothes and I got up and he`s just screaming angry. He said I`m going to (EXPLETIVE DELETED) kill you, bitch. The most clear memory that I have after that point is driving in the desert.
KIRK NURMI, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Do you remember dragging him across the floor?
ARIAS: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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TRAVIS ALEXANDER, MURDER VICTIM: (inaudible) The way you moan, it sounds like you`re this 12-year-old girl having her first orgasm. It`s so hot.
ARIAS: It sounds like -- it sounds like what?
ALEXANDER: A 12-year-old girl having her first orgasm. (EXPLETIVE DELETED) every day sometimes two, three times a day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: A sex-drenched trial -- will we listen to it all over again. Jodi`s team says they need more time to prepare for retrial. Their calendars, they say, are totally booked through July and August. They want to push it back to 2014.
Let`s debate it. If the retrial does begin in just a couple of weeks, is that enough time given that the defense says they have other cases and they need more time to really prepare a mitigation case or can they appeal if they lose, saying they presented the fact that they needed more time to the judge and she said no? Starting with the very patient Adam Swickle.
ADAM SWICKLE, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Thank you, Jane. Let`s talk about the appellate question first. Any time somebody gets a motion or any type of pleading denied, one can always appeal that so long as it is properly preserved. So as far as being able to appeal it, if it`s been denied, I think they will be able to appeal it whether they are successful or not is a completely different story.
But as far as the time frame, what are we in a big rush for, Jane? They got a crack at the apple. They are asking for more time. And while the victims have rights and we all sympathize them, none of those rights -- everybody else`s rights involved in the case trump the right to a fair and impartial mitigation phase.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Adam, I want to throw this to Judge Seidlin. The family lives in California. This trial is occurring in Arizona. They`ve had to give up jobs. They had to move there. It`s threatened their relationships. My gosh, it`s threatened the relationships of reporters covering the story. I mean people are living there for months on end.
SEIDLIN: They`ve lost a son and it`s painful but Jodi Arias is going to get life imprisonment and that`s right now in penalty. The issue of whether the defense needs time, you`ve got to give what time. What are the rules in this new game? What rules do we have? What evidence is going to be presented to the jury? It`s unprecedented, this approach. And I think the defense attorneys need time to figure this all out.
This is brand new. This has never been done before, this procedure. And the Supreme Court is going to blast the Arizona legislature for this law.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Just a couple of seconds left. Expert legal panel, raise your hand if you think the trial will start in August. All right. So Judge Seidlin raised his hand. Do it like this. Can we see you? Ok. I guess it`s a split decision, right? Is that what it is? A split decision?
COOMBS: I have a half hand. I have a half hand.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. We`ll see what happens tomorrow. Come right back here for the answer.
END
