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Nancy Grace
Missing Baby Elaina; Family Fights Over Missing Toledo Child
Aired June 20, 2013 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let him open his mouth and he`ll go to jail. (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What the hell is wrong with these people?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drama outside the courthouse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, keep it down.(INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get him away from me. I got a restraining on him!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`ve got a restraining order on him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s about the (INAUDIBLE) baby. It`s not about what this person said and what that person said.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mom Angela in court for a preliminary hearing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He got his mouth going when we first (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... everyone together in a courtroom. The emotions are running very high.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The whole time that we were out here looking for Elaina, she had -- we were asking if she knew anything, anything at all. She kept telling us, No, I don`t know anything. But really, this whole time, she knew.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) you bring the baby home. Then after the baby`s home, then you can start slandering people and talking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. Live to Toledo, a parent`s worst nightmare, 18-month- old baby Elaina last seen taking a nap. Minutes later, she`s gone. Now, tell me, how does an 18-month-old baby girl disappear from the family`s own bedroom in the middle of the day and nobody in that home sees a thing?
We obtained secret video of Mommy with baby Elaina just hours before Elaina vanishes seemingly into thin air. Did Mommy take off in a mystery van at midnight, just before her baby vanishes?
In the last hours, Mommy in court, and a full-on fight breaks out at the courthouse over baby Elaina. As we ourselves investigate, we learn, contrary to earlier reports, nobody sees baby Elaina after Saturday night before the baby disappears on Sunday. Nobody! Nobody but boyfriend and Mommy.
We are live and taking your calls. Out to Fred Lefebvre, morning host, WSPD. Fred, what happened in the preliminary hearing today? This is the day the state is supposed to lay out the case why Mommy was arrested. Why are they still holding her? Should the case be bound over to felony court, misdemeanor court, juvenile court, or cut her loose? It was dropped for today. And then a fight breaks out, Fred.
What happened?
FRED LEFEBVRE, WSPD (via telephone): That was the first surprise of the day, that it was Toledo police that asked for the continuance. Normally, I would think it would have been the defense attorney not prepared, not ready to go. But it was actually TPD which came into the court and asked the judge for a continuance, which, of course, he granted.
The family seems to think, in talking with them afterwards, that -- they think police may have something more, and that`s why they`re holding it off until next Monday or Tuesday.
The altercation after the fact, out in front of the courthouse, right on the streets of Toledo, was just an embarrassment to everybody and began as a shouting match. Luckily, it didn`t get to fisticuffs, which it could easily have been done. There was a little bit of shouting...
GRACE: You know what, Fred Lefebvre?
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... but I hardly would call this -- I hardly would call this an embarrassment. You know what? When your baby`s missing, things happen. Tempers flare. Emotions are running high.
I`ve had cases when I would be prosecuting the case in the courtroom, I`d be trying to keep the witnesses apart out in the hall. I`d have them held in different parts of the courthouse so they wouldn`t all start fighting and kill each other during the trial. So I`m not surprised at this at all.
But let me ask you this, Fred Lefebvre. What I`m more interested in, I`m more interested in why the state, why police -- it was not the lawyer, not the prosecutor. He asked -- the prosecutor asked on behalf of police, they want a delay. Something is brewing. They think they`re going to get something over the weekend?
Why did they want a delay?
LEFEBVRE: That`s what is the question on everybody`s mind today. When I talked to the family afterwards, they have hope that it means the police are very close to a resolution.
GRACE: Who said that?
LEFEBVRE: And obviously, they`re hoping that it means baby Elaina is back with them this weekend and...
GRACE: Fred, who said that?
LEFEBVRE: ... that charges will be filed on Monday or Tuesday.
GRACE: Who told you that they believe police are close?
LEFEBVRE: I talked to T.J. after the court appearance this morning. I went over to the neighborhood and talked to both T.J. and Terry, Senior.
GRACE: OK. When you`re saying T.J., are you referring to the biological father, Terry Steinfurth, Jr.?
LEFEBVRE: Yes, his family refers to him as T.J., and so I just do, too.
GRACE: OK. Good to know. All right, let`s see what happened outside the courthouse. Liz, roll the footage, please.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let him open his mouth, and he`ll go to jail. (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, let`s keep it down. Keep it down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep him away from me. I`ve got a restraining order against him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m got a restraining order on him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One thing after the other with that one. He`s got -- he had his mouth going when we first come in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He had his mouth going (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: You know what? All that to me is insignificant. I`m not embarrassed by it. I`m not upset by it. What I care about is where is the baby?
Joining me, Fred Lefebvre, WSPD. Also with me, Brett Larson, investigative reporter. Brett, what do you know?
BRETT LARSON, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Nancy, I mean, as you just played the video of them fighting outside of the courtroom, we definitely know that. We have learned about the restraining order. And also, they`re getting a lot of attention. We`re hearing that people are driving by the grandfather`s house, yelling that he`s a murder.
But another interesting fact that we found out today, no searches were run from today. You know, yesterday, they said that they were still on the water, but they didn`t put divers in the water. Today, they said they`re not even doing a search, but they are following up on any leads.
And we also learned today that a group is coming up from Texas to help in the search, and as are a lot of volunteers. They`re continuing to search for baby Elaina.
GRACE: Well, hold on. Brett Larson, investigative reporter, they didn`t search? Does that mean they`re on the trail to a live baby? They`re not out with bloodhounds and cadaver dogs? Do they have an idea where the baby is being held, that the baby is still alive?
LARSON: We -- this -- Nancy, we just don`t know this. We know that she is in jail. The Mommy is in jail. She`s talking to the family. We still can`t find out what she`s telling to the family, if anything. And we know that she`s talking to police because they wanted to hold her through the weekend. They delayed letting her go until Monday. And we -- but again, we don`t know why the police are holding her through the weekend.
GRACE: Wait! Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait! I don`t know that anybody delayed letting her -- are you referring to letting Mommy go? They`re not about to let her go. That`s not what the delay was about.
LARSON: Right.
GRACE: The delay was about putting up evidence to send her to felony court to be prosecuted for felony endangering a child.
LARSON: The -- that would be the technical terminology that you would be familiar with. But yes, they`re not -- they`re -- they want to delay it until Monday. And...
GRACE: All right.
LARSON: But no one is saying why.
GRACE: Nobody`s letting anybody go. As a matter of fact, a lot of family members, including Richard Schiewe, Angela Steinfurth`s father, thinks more people should be in jail in connection with this case.
With me right now, Gale St. John. She is a certified K9 handler, and she is also a psychic who has helped search for baby Elaina. And for those of you that want to pooh-pooh psychics, you know what? Fine, jump on the bandwagon. But she did successfully in the last two years lead a family to their family member that was deceased, all right? So you know, pooh-pooh all you want to. My ears and my mind are open to whatever might bring this baby home.
Gale St. John, thank you for being with us. Why do you have a cadaver dog?
GALE ST. JOHN, K9 HANDLER (via telephone): Well, you know, at this point - - and I don`t like saying it, but you know, if she is passed and possibly presumed dead -- I mean, we need to look at all avenues. If we`re going to find anything, we have to be open to everything.
GRACE: Why do you have a cadaver dog?
ST. JOHN: Well, I`m out there looking. If I have a cadaver dog, then it`s a possibility that, you know, we`re thinking she`s presumed dead. She`s not out there at 18 months old living off the land on her own.
GRACE: OK. So as you are following your intuition, or whatever visions you may have, you have a trained K9, a certified -- your a certified K9 handler, with you. Tell me, did the cadaver dog hit anywhere?
ST. JOHN: When you say hit, see, there`s a fine line there. Indicating would be saying for sure, you know, that the dog has come across scent.
GRACE: Did it show interest?
ST. JOHN: Both dogs showed interest.
GRACE: Did you say both dogs?
ST. JOHN: Both dogs.
GRACE: You have two. I thought you only had one.
ST. JOHN: I actually have three. I have one that`s trained in live air scent and two that are trained in cadaver.
GRACE: OK. This makes that even stronger. Now, as you all know, a cadaver dog`s only going to hit on a dead human or dead human tissue. They could hit on blood. This is not -- does not mean it`s a dead body.
So Gale, where was it that the dog showed interest?
ST. JOHN: Well, all I can say is I did have -- I did get permission to do a perimeter search of the home. And that was after the first dog, Simon, went up and down the alley, which I had no clue which house was which. They wanted me to check the alley for different things that had been thrown out there. No interest whatsoever, even came across a dead squirrel, all this stuff just kept going.
GRACE: Where did it show interest? That`s my question.
ST. JOHN: Wow. It`s really hard to disclose that information. But it was in...
GRACE: Why?
ST. JOHN: ... the corner of the yard.
GRACE: It was where?
ST. JOHN: In the rear of the yard.
GRACE: In the rear of the yard. Back out where that aboveground pool is?
ST. JOHN: Further. Towards the alley.
GRACE: Has someone asked you not to reveal it?
ST. JOHN: You know, it`s a difficult situation because I walk the line between psychic, but I`m also on a task force team, working with police. So I...
GRACE: Did somebody ask you not to reveal the location, Ms. St. John?
ST. JOHN: They haven`t asked me not to reveal it.
GRACE: OK.
ST. JOHN: But I`m doing it out of respect for Toledo police.
GRACE: Good to know. With me, Gale St. John, who took her K9s out to the area. The K9s did not hit, but they did show interest in an area in the back yard where baby Elaina had been staying with Mommy`s boyfriend.
Back to you, Clark Goldband. What more can you tell us at this hour?
CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, law enforcement has confirmed that they, in fact, have brought in a specialist to question the 4-year-old sister and other children that were in and around the home. Questions swirling. Perhaps maybe these children saw something or heard something, law enforcement trying to get to the bottom of that, bringing in a specialist to speak with young children.
GRACE: To Richard Schiewe. This is Angela Steinfurth`s father. What happened at the courthouse today? Why did it devolve into a fistfight, a big brouhaha, right in front of the courthouse? What happened?
RICHARD SCHIEWE, ANGELA`S FATHER: I went in the courthouse today and told T.J.`s dad that I didn`t want you to make any smart remarks like you did last week in the court. And he said, I didn`t. I said, You did, too. I don`t want to hear it no more.
There was another guy next to him, I don`t know who he is, telling me to shut my damn mouth. (INAUDIBLE) sit down. Go get the cops. Put his ass in jail with his daughter. They`re no good.
I was outside texting my daughter, Mary, to let her know what was going on, and a friend walked up and I told him what happened up in the courtroom. And then T.J., he just come out running out, running off at his mouth.
GRACE: OK. Hold on. Let`s hear your side of it...
(CROSSTALK)
RICHARD SCHIEWE: ... right down the street.
GRACE: Steinfurth, Senior, what happened out there?
TERRY STEINFURTH, SR., ELAINA`S PATERNAL GRANDFATHER: I was sitting upstairs in the courthouse hallway, waiting for the courtroom to open and go in and waiting for my son to arrive. I was sitting with my mother-in- law and father-in-law.
And Mr. Schiewe came upstairs and made a straight bee line from the escalators to me and started yelling at me that he didn`t want to hear any more lies out of me like last night. And if I heard any more, he was going to kick my ass. And I told him to go sit down. I didn`t want to hear it.
GRACE: OK, Steinfurth, Jr., I spotted you out in front of the courthouse. Terry Steinfurth, Jr., what happened out there?
TERRY STEINFURTH, JR., ELAINA`S FATHER (via telephone): As my father said, he informed me of what happened before I got there. The deputies and bailiffs were around us throughout the court proceedings. We walked downstairs.
I walked outside, where Mr. Schiewe was (INAUDIBLE) and he was talking to - - I believe it was a reporter. I`m not sure. But he kept saying that my brother was driving past his house yelling "Baby killer." And all I said was that there was a whole bunch of people in a car. They`ve been driving all over the east side yelling, Bring Elaina home, bring Elaina home, to get people`s attention.
And there was an altercation where they drove by down Richard Street, I guess. And when Richard heard them yelling, he told them to shut up and then threw a rock at their vehicle. They then made a police report about it.
GRACE: OK.
TERRY STEINFURTH, JR.: So when I heard him saying that, I simply said, you know, That`s not what they were saying. Get your facts straight.
GRACE: Well, you know, Terry Steinfurth Jr., Sr., and Mr. Schiewe, I get it. I get it. I`ve been there. I get it. But this is not going to bring baby Elaina home.
We`ve heard from the three sides. You take a look. You be the judge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let him open his mouth, and he`ll go to jail. (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, keep it down. Keep it down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get him away from me. I got a restraining order against him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got a restraining order on him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One thing after the other with him. He`s got -- he had his mouth going when we first come in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He had his mouth going.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... the room where Elaina was reportedly last seen torn apart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I just looked at her and I said, You had the baby sleeping in there? That`s a pigsty.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any ideas of where she could be and who hurt her and what happened, and she kept telling us, No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As Toledo police and the FBI continue following leads, and Elaina`s mom remains in jail on a child endangering charge...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The baby was injured at one point. She was aware of it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t know anything. But really, this whole time, she knew.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to bring the baby home. Then, after the baby`s home, then you can start slandering people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get him away from me. I got a restraining order against him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got a restraining order on him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... the baby girl`s east Toledo neighborhood are growing more and more frustrated and desperate, hoping and praying that they`ll find answers soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back. We are taking your calls. Everyone joining together, trying to find 18-month-old baby Elaina.
And with me, shedding light on the entire timeline, is Christy Edmonds. Finally, we are hearing from the boyfriend`s camp.
Now, as you know, Angela Steinfurth`s married to Terry -- show me the family tree, please -- married to Terry Steinfurth, Jr., OK? Elaina is his baby girl in the marriage. They`re estranged. He`s got a girlfriend, she`s got a boyfriend. Mommy`s staying at boyfriend`s home when baby Elaina goes missing.
We keep hearing about the boyfriend, the boyfriend, the boyfriend. Well, now the whole timeline has been shattered. See, there`s the father on the left, Elaina in the middle, there`s the mom, there`s the boyfriend, Steven King, his mom, Julie -- it was her home -- and Steinfurth, Sr., all right?
Finally, we`re hearing from the boyfriend`s camp. Now, this is the significance. We were told, police were told, that people spotted the baby the day she went missing. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHIEWE: They were in the house. You read the newspaper, I think it was the next day stating that the boyfriend`s mother changed the diaper and gave her a bottle. (INAUDIBLE) What the hell is wrong with these people?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Out to Christy Edmonds. This is Steven King`s cousin. Christy, did Steven King`s mom change the diaper on Sunday? Did they actually see the baby?
CHRISTY EDMONDS, STEVEN KING`S COUSIN (via telephone): No, ma`am, they did not. My aunt went to bed about 9:30, 10:00 o`clock Saturday night, and that`s the last time she saw that baby. I was told directly from my cousin Steven that Angela changed the baby`s diaper and gave her a juice cup before they left for the store, not my aunt.
GRACE: This is a major development in the case. This is shattering the timeline. This baby was not spotted the entire day on Sunday by anyone but Mommy and boyfriend!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Welcome back. A baby girl goes missing in broad daylight, last seen napping in the family home. But now we are learning she wasn`t seen the day she went missing.
With me, special guest Christy Edmonds. This is the boyfriend, Steven King`s, cousin. Christy, I know you talk to your cousin, Steven King, every day. He even stayed at your home recently. What is he saying happened the day the baby goes missing?
EDMONDS: From what he tells me, is that the baby got up in the morning, and it was no different than any other morning and she was playing, you know, with her toys and things. She got tired. They laid her down for a nap. Steven placed her on the bed. Angela changed her diaper and gave her a cup.
They left the house and went to a store called Universal, came back from that store, was home for a while. He was out front with the older kids, playing. Steven -- my cousin Steven was out front with the older kids playing. Angela was in and out of the house. He says she would come out and smoke, and like, go back into the house.
Then they left and went to the Dollar General, came back from there. A short time later is when T.J. showed up, and they gave T.J. the first, you know, daughter. And they got into an altercation, yelling. T.J. left, came back with his dad, and they got into it again.
My aunt had Steven go into the house so that they could stop arguing. And my aunt and uncle stayed on the porch and tried to, you know, calm the situation. My uncle spoke to my aunt and told her, you know, You need to tell Angela to bring the baby out. And when she went in, that`s when Angela told her the baby was missing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD SCHIEWE: Get on it and look for the baby. Don`t be sitting around campfires talking all smack and stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get him away from me. I got a restraining order against him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got a restraining order on him.
MARY SCHIEWE, MISSING TOT`S AUNT, HALF-SISTER OF MISSING TOT`S MOM: It took her a lot of days to tell us that she knew that she was hurt. Where is Elaina? That`s what we want to know, is where is she at? Somebody has to know where she`s at.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The witness says he saw Elaina and Steven King pull away in a van between midnight and 1:00 a.m. Saturday night. That would be just hours, about eight hours, before she went missing.
M. SCHIEWE: When I got there, the van wasn`t there. And it wasn`t in the alley, it wasn`t down the street. It wasn`t across the street. We looked. Then Steven comes home from questioning, and the van appears.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Where is 18-month-old baby Elaina? Joining me tonight for the first time we hear from the boyfriend`s camp, Steven King. Christy Edmonds with us. Steven King staying with her. She speaks to him every day.
Christy, do you mind repeating what you just told me about the Sunday where baby Elaina goes missing?
CHRISTY EDMONDS, COUSIN OF MOM`S BOYFRIEND STEVEN KING: Like I said, we were just told that -- I was told directly from Steven that they got up in the morning, you know, 8:30, 9:00, he said the baby was playing with her toys, there was nothing out of the ordinary with the baby. She got tired. And -- I had picked her up and laid her on the bed to take a nap. Angela had changed the baby`s diaper and gave her some juice. They left the house to go to Universal. It`s a store here. Got some cigarettes, came back. There were two --
GRACE: They both left? Christy, they both left the baby?
EDMONDS: Yes, ma`am. They both left.
GRACE: Who is supposed to be watching the baby?
EDMONDS: That is what the question is. There was a young friend of his brother sleeping on the couch. So Steven knew that if the baby woke up he would get up with her.
GRACE: OK. A friend of Steven`s brother.
EDMONDS: Right.
GRACE: All right. OK. Go ahead.
EDMONDS: And then they went to Universal. They came back. Steven was outside with the two older kids. They were playing out front. He said that Angela was in and out of the house. You know, she would come out and smoke and go back in and then she go back and forth. They left and went to the General Dollar. Came back there -- from there.
GRACE: Why? Whoa, whoa. They left the baby again?
EDMONDS: They left a second time, yes.
GRACE: For what?
EDMONDS: I am not sure what they purchased at General Dollar.
GRACE: OK. Go ahead.
EDMONDS: He never did tell me. He just told me that they went to General Dollar, came back and he said just a short time after they got back is when TJ showed up to pick up Kylee, and everything kind of escalated from there and they did get into an altercation and then he left to go get -- which we find out now is to go get his dad and come back.
My aunt and uncle at that point came downstairs, came outside to try to deescalate the situation. My aunt had Steven go into the house. My uncle told my aunt to go in and tell Angela she needed to bring the baby out and give -- you know, give the baby to TJ. When my aunt went in, that`s when Angela told my aunt that the baby was missing.
GRACE: Have you seen Angela during all of this, Christy?
EDMONDS: I have seen her one time. The Friday after the baby went missing, when she came to my aunt`s home to retrieve her clothes, the baby`s clothes and toys and things out of the room.
GRACE: And what happened?
EDMONDS: She came in. She was very angry because the room was a mess, and she -- in the beginning, accused my aunt of allowing TJ to come in and tear up her stuff and then my aunt explained and the FBI agents that was with her explained that the police tore up that room. Then she went in and she not a single care, not a single emotion, started talking to the FBI about, oh, that TJ wouldn`t let her have Kylee for the weekend and the FBI agent, you know, just said, you know, we`re here to get your stuff.
She was going through her stuff. Packing it up and I heard her open something, and I don`t know if it was a drawer or a box. And the FBI agent said, you know, what is that? And she said oh, these are two bracelets that TJ and I bought the babies when they were born, she said. Kylee will be so happy to be able to get hers back and wear it. I just didn`t have enough time with Elaina. I just didn`t have enough time with her.
GRACE: I didn`t have enough time with Elaina?
EDMONDS: Yes, ma`am.
GRACE: That`s very odd.
EDMONDS: As soon as she said it, my stomach went in my throat, because I was just -- didn`t think it was a comment that you would make if you thought your baby was coming home.
GRACE: Did Steven King ever see a black eye or blood around the baby`s nostrils?
EDMONDS: He tells me no. I talked to him about it. Like I said, I talk to him daily. He said that when he picked baby Elaina up on Saturday, he picked her up and was holding her, kind of caressing her head, he felt a small bump on the back of her head. He said it was like the size of like a mosquito bite or like a bee sting. He said I asked -- he asked Angela, you know, what it was. And she said that she wasn`t sure but the kids were playing really hard today so she probably just got a little bump. But he said that the baby at no time had a black eye and he did not see any blood.
GRACE: Why did Steven King run out the back door?
EDMONDS: He -- what happened was, my aunt went in, and as soon as the baby was missing, they searched the room. My aunt and Steven went out the back door, because everybody was out front arguing and carrying on. They knew clearly the baby didn`t go up the front door and they knew nobody else went out the front door. So they went out the back door. Obviously, you know, when you`re in a state when you`re worried about a baby, you don`t think, OK, yes, she can`t climb in the pool. But you think the pool, you think the backyard. You think, you know, whatever.
GRACE: So he ran out to look for her?
EDMONDS: Yes, they ran out to look and make sure not just herself got out but, you know, nobody went out that way. And my brother joined them out back.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: OK, so, Christy, let me -- let me clarify something. So nobody outside your cousin, the boyfriend, Steven King, and the mom, Angela Steinfurth, saw the baby after 10:00 p.m. the night before on Saturday night?
EDMONDS: My aunt did not. Steven and Angela did see the baby on Sunday.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Alan Ripka, defense attorney in New York. Heather Hansen, defense attorney out of New York.
Alan Ripka, what would you do as the defense attorney at the preliminary hearing on Monday?
ALAN RIPKA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I would -- first of all, I would never, never allow there to have been a continuance. Because in allowing the continuance, you allow the authorities to gather further evidence. They would have had nothing on her on that day, and they would have had to lower the bail and they would have gotten her out of jail and with -- back with her family.
GRACE: OK. Alan, you know, it`s not up to the defense to not allow a continuance. If the judge wants to grant a continuance, that`s on the judge. I mean, you can do a somersault in front of the judge, but that`s not necessarily -- you know, you really think in a potential child kidnap or homicide case if the defense attorney of all people opposes a delay, the judge is actually going to grant it? Please.
RIPKA: The district attorney has to show some reasonable cause for the delay. You just can`t leave someone in jail --
GRACE: Well, I know that.
RIPKA: OK. So they didn`t show that.
GRACE: She`s been in jail for a week.
RIPKA: OK. Well, that`s a week too long if she didn`t do this. And as a result of that, now she`ll be in for the rest of the week until Monday.
GRACE: If she didn`t do what?
RIPKA: If she -- had nothing to do with the kidnapping or hurting of the baby.
GRACE: Put him up, please.
Heather Hansen, she`s already stated that. The baby had a black eye. Bleeding at the nostrils. And a bump on the head. And she did not take it from medical treatment. Right there, that is endangering a child.
HEATHER HANSEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Sure, absolutely. But that`s all that it is. And to keep her for this long, I have to agree, that --
GRACE: A week?
HANSEN: As a defense attorney -- to keep her over the weekend. The problem is here, Nancy, that all we have is doubt. We have reasonable doubt everywhere. There`s no --
GRACE: Why are you even talking about reasonable doubt, Heather? We`re not at a jury trial. We`re at a prelim.
HANSEN: Well, absolutely.
GRACE: They don`t even have a burden.
HANSEN: No --
GRACE: All this is -- a skeleton case, the state is going to put up --
HANSEN: Exactly.
GRACE: -- get transferred to the right court.
HANSEN: Exactly. So the fact that they`re keeping her again over the weekend. You reported earlier this week that the police were getting some information from her cell mates and the people that are in the jail with her. I think it`s absolutely unfair that they continue to do that over the weekend, so that they can try to compile evidence so that they can put on a case.
Right now all that they have is exactly what you said. The affidavit and her own words. Nothing more than that. And to continue to keep her in jail based on just that without having --
GRACE: Well, you know what, Heather, do you have any children?
HANSEN: No, I don`t.
GRACE: OK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Who else saw the baby alive that day?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not sure. My sister, for sure. She is saying that she`s seen her.
TERRY STEINFURTH, SR., GRANDFATHER OF MISSING BABY ELAINA: And she walked over, sat down on the front porch and said, "I don`t know what to do."
RICHARD SCHIEWE, STEPFATHER OF ANGELA STEINFURTH: This is my daughter that they arrested. They did a very bad thing.
TERRY STEINFURTH, JR., FATHER OF MISSING 18-MO-OLD BABY ELAINA: We don`t know. That`s the only answer that I keep getting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She said somebody came in the house and took her baby. The baby couldn`t just walk out of the house.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Then the member say the mother`s story just doesn`t add up.
ANGELA STEINFURTH, JR., MOTHER OF MISSING 18-MO-OLD BABY ELAINA: People are pointing fingers at me. And they don`t even know what`s going on.
R. SCHIEWE: My daughter hasn`t been tried or convicted at all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is no way that I would have waited. I would have opened my mouth the very first day. Threatened or not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back. Tip line, 1-800-CALL-FBI. There is a $10,000 reward in search for baby Elaina.
To Dr. Bethany Marshall. Bethany, weigh in.
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": Well, you know, when you hear Angela, the mom`s story, there is such an air of unreality about it. The way she talks about leaving the little girl on a bed, giving her some juice, going to the dollar store. As you said earlier, who leaves an 18-month-old unattended? Or with a friend of a relative?
One of the things that strikes me, too, is the mother`s complete lack of empathy and bonding towards the child. When the bond is read in court, the bond amount of $250,000, she mouths, $250,000. Like she is more attached to the cost to her of being in jail than to the search for her own daughter.
I have heard nowhere that she has inquired about her daughter, asked for her daughter to be found. Commended the searchers, tried to advocate for her daughter. She only thinks about herself.
I don`t blame this family for fighting on the courthouse steps. This mom has probably been fracturing and dividing this family for a long, long time. So many stories have been --
GRACE: So now wait a minute, Bethany.
MARSHALL: -- have been spawned by this mother.
GRACE: Bethany, I`m usually on your side. But you know, they put the mom behind bars. I don`t know how she could advocate for her daughter or do anything else for her daughter behind bars. And I`m certainly not saying she should get out. But, I mean, I don`t think it`s fair to say that she is not doing anything to try to find her daughter when she is behind bars.
MARSHALL: But you had her sister on the show last night, right? And the sister reported -- I don`t remember the exact words. But that she said something like, you can`t pin this on me. Or she was very self referential. She was only concerned about the cost to herself of being in jail. And that she wasn`t going to talk anymore. Is that a mom who is concerned about her child, Nancy?
If your darling twins went missing, you would not be talking about yourself. You would be talking about them. Right?
GRACE: Bethany, you`re right. You`re right, Bethany. You`re absolutely right.
Dr. Michelle Dupree, medical examiner, forensic pathologist, joining me out of Columbia, South Carolina.
Dr. Dupree, I want to talk to you about these injuries. Now, according to the boyfriend, he didn`t see any of these injuries. But the mom says black eye, bloody nostrils, and a bump on the head.
MICHELLE DUPREE, MEDICAL EXAMINER, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Yes, Nancy. Typically, children are not going to get black eyes at that age. That`s highly suspicious. I don`t know about this bump on the head, how big was it, really.
GRACE: What do you mean, they won`t get black eyes at that age?
DUPREE: Well, when people fall, typically they`re going to fall and they`re going to injure the themselves. Amy prominences or many parts of their body. A black eye is more like obviously someone was punched. I don`t know about the other kids or the other people in the family. But again, a child in normal play at that age is probably not going to stumble and fall on something and get a black eye.
Unless then to have something on the back of the head, again that`s too many injuries, not in the same place, very, very suspicious. Blood coming out of the nostril. Again. Haven`t really seen it. Don`t know exactly what they mean by that. Or how serious it was. But kids don`t do that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Take a look at mommy. This is secret surveillance just before baby Elaina goes missing. She`s very loving to the child. She holds the baby. She loves on the baby. She makes sure the baby is -- she tells the baby, don`t go to that step, don`t go down that step. You see her later on in this. She`s saying, get back from the step, come back from the step. You see her buckling the baby into a stroller, making sure the baby is safely in the stroller.
As she walks to the door she kisses the baby. Later, you see her on the front porch holding the baby, rocking back and forth and back and forth with the baby, cradling the child. But now she`s behind bars for endangering this child.
Fred LeFebvre, WSPD, what more do we know tonight in the search for the baby?
FRED LEFEBVRE, MORNING HOST, 1370 WSPD: The only thing that we`ve heard so far is that the Equus group will be in tomorrow, the group from Texas, EquuSearch. They`re bringing 45 people in. They`re staying here at their own expense. And during the weekend they will be doing searches throughout the area probably covering a lot of the same ground. But these people are experts in what they do and in speaking with the Steinfurth family --
GRACE: Yes, they are.
LEFEBVRE: They`re looking forward to that. They really are excited about this group.
GRACE: Out to you, Clark Goldband, what do we know about Toledo`s sky cams. They`re all over the city is my understanding. The sky cams?
CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: Yes, Nancy. There are sky cams all over the city on corners in high crime or high traffic areas. We talked to law enforcement and asked them about this, they would not comment citing the case. However you`d have to assume that quite a few of these cameras are in the area and may have captured some activity whether it`d be on the street, on the side walk, or also retails surveillance perhaps, Nancy.
GRACE: And Fred LeFebvre -- excuse me, Brett Larson, what can you tell me if anything about local landfills?
BRETT LARSON, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: You know, Nancy, that is a very good point that you bring up here. We haven`t heard any reports of these landfills being searched. And here`s what`s interesting about these landfills is they`re actually laid out on a grid so it wouldn`t be a complicated procedure. It would literally be we want to see the trash from this day that was picked up from this neighborhood, where would it be? And they could go right to it in the landfill. But so far, not one report of a search from one of these Toledo landfills.
GRACE: Fred LeFebvre, WSPD, joining me from Toledo, what about the landfills?
(CROSSTALK)
LEFEBVRE: Well, there is one large one. That`s all we have.
GRACE: I know the trash is picked up there on Wednesday.
LEFEBVRE: It`s called the Hoffman landfill, and as your other guest just said there`s been no word yet that they`ve checked it. The trash is picked up on a day-by-day basis, it would be very simple to go out and say, we want to see the trash picked up Tuesday. Where was it dumped? Our trash and our recyclables are separated so it would be a pretty simple procedure just to go out and find the trash from that neighborhood.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: We remember American hero, Marine Lance Corporal Terry Honeycutt Jr., just 19. Waldorf, Maryland. Purple Heart, National Defense Service medal, Combat Action Ribbon, buried Arlington. Parents Terry Senior and Christine. Sister Dawn.
Terry Honeycutt Jr., American hero.
And now back to the search for 18-month-old baby Elaina. Out to the lines, Janet in Texas.
Hi, Janet. What`s your question?
JANET, CALLER FROM TEXAS: Hi, Nancy. I was just curious. She stated to her stepfather that she knew what had happened to the baby but did not know where the baby was at that time. If that was your baby, I would be giving all the information that I knew. Who is she protecting? Herself or her boyfriend?
GRACE: But do you really think, Janet, that she would stay behind bars to protect the boyfriend?
Unleash the lawyers. Alan Ripka, Heather Hansen, do you really think she would stay behind bars if the boyfriend was the one at fault and not rat out on him?
HANSEN: I think that if she`s afraid, she may stay behind bars.
GRACE: OK.
HANSEN: I don`t think she would stay behind bars just not to rat him out.
RIPKA: I don`t think she`d stay behind bars, I think she`d want to get out and she`d want to be fighting for her baby and help find her.
GRACE: Out to the lines. Bonnie, Louisiana, hi, Bonnie, what`s your question, dear?
BONNIE, CALLER FROM LOUISIANA: Nancy, my question is, the boyfriend. Has anyone questioned him? Has he been into the police department?
GRACE: Good question.
BONNIE: and also, where is the other child? Didn`t she have another little girl?
GRACE: Christy Edmonds, cousin of Steven King, the boyfriend, he`s been staying in her place.
Christy, has he been cooperating? The police have told me he has. And has he taken a polygraph?
EDMONDS: He has. We don`t know the results of that because they don`t release that. And he does cooperate, every single time they come out, every single time they ask him any questions or ask him to come down, he has been fully cooperating with them.
GRACE: He did take a polygraph, you said?
EDMONDS: Yes, we don`t know the results of that.
GRACE: Gina, Ohio, what`s your question, Gina?
GINA, CALLER FROM OHIO: Hi, Nancy. Hi, Nancy. I was just wondering if anybody has checked on Angela`s family and has made sure that they accounted for all of her family members.
GRACE: Good question. To Terry Steinfurth, Sr., what do we know about that?
TERRY STEINFURTH, SR.: I don`t really know any of her family. I mean I know her mom. I`ve seen her.
GRACE: Well, we`ve had her dad on and her sister. And it`s my understanding, everyone has been accounted for at the time the baby goes missing.
Everyone, tonight our prayers with baby Elaina. "DR. DREW" up next. I`ll see you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, friend.
END
