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Jane Velez-Mitchell

Where is Alexis Murphy?; Death Penalty Still Possible for Jodi Arias

Aired August 14, 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, breaking news. Fast and furious developments as the search for beautiful Alexis Murphy intensifies. Where is this stunning 17-year-old right now? The suspect in her abduction behind bars as we speak.

And tonight, we`re learning cops grilled this very same man in the case of another missing girl who vanished nearby three years ago. What happened there? Alexis was last seen about a week and a half ago on in a surveillance tape from a gas station near her home.

Forty-eight-year-old Randy Taylor was also at that gas station at the very same time. Take a look at the suspect. He is now charged with abduction. But the mystery we do not know: what led police to arrest this guy? All right? And we don`t know where Alexis is. So tonight, the burning question is, will this suspect talk?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We really have got to get her home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last seen on surveillance video at a Livingston gas station.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the arrest of Randy Allen Taylor, we made a significant step closer towards bringing her home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Randy Taylor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators arrested Randy Allen Taylor and charged him with abduction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you wish to have an attorney to represent you?

RANDY ALLEN TAYLOR, CHARGED WITH ABDUCTION: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s remanded to jail without bond.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will never stop until you are home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You do not deserve whatever has happened to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Such a beautiful girl. We`ve got chilling new details about this creepy suspect. Let`s call it for what it is.

One local man says he often sees this Randy Taylor fellow just sitting in his car watching people. That`s right, just watching people in the parking lot of a supermarket that just happens to be right near the gas station where Alexis was last seen and he was last seen.

We also know that Taylor rented a couple of porn videos from this store, Ultimate Bliss, just hours before Alexis vanished and her car turned up abandoned near that adult video store.

Tonight, people in this small town and across the nation wondering, could Taylor be connected to another girl`s disappearance?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY MAZANEC, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: I know there is some speculation that this case may be connected to other similar disappearances or abductions in the region. We are certainly looking at all possibilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Are we dealing with a serial kidnapper here? And why hasn`t the suspect`s arrest broken this case wide open? He may know -- in fact, cops believe he does know the answer as to where Alexis is. Her family is desperate for that piece.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA ANN MURPHY, MISSING GIRL`S MOTHER: Today would have been her first day of school. I took my youngest son to school this morning. But I don`t have a daughter to send. If anybody knows anything, please, please let us know. Please.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Call me: 1-877-JVM-SAYS. We want to help this family solve this case. 1-877-586-7297.

And we have an incredible panel tonight, including one of the leading voices for missing children, Marc Klaas, and we`re also going to talk to two relatives of the missing teenager.

Thank you fantastic panel, but first, straight out to Nadine Maeser, reporter for WDBJ in Virginia.

What are cops doing to find Alexis? Where are they looking for her? Where are they searching for evidence?

NADINE MAESER, REPORTER, WDBJ: Well, Jane, thanks for having me. And, you know, we are dealing with such a specific area here in Nelson County. It is heavily wooded, and from day one, investigators were saying this was going to be very challenging terrain for them to cover.

But the newest thing that we found out today, which you did mention, is that Randy Taylor was at this sex shop the day that Alexis Murphy went missing. It`s called Ultimate Bliss. I spoke to the manager just a few hours ago. He told me that Randy Taylor came in, bought two adult DVDs, paid with cash, $100 bill and then walked out.

And what`s even more interesting is two hours later, he was spotted on that surveillance camera at the Liberty gas station, which is just a few miles outside of Alexis`s home and also one of the last places that she was seen. She was also seen at that gas station.

FBI agents told me they were not interacting; they were not talking, but they were both seen there at the same time at the same place.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, we have a map that outlines exactly what you`re talking about, Nadine. And it shows that, OK, in one area you see where Alexis`s car was found. And Ultimate Bliss, the porn shop where he rented videos. And then you see it`s 30 some miles away where the suspect`s home -- that`s Randy Taylor`s home is, near the gas station, where she was last seen and he was last seen. And it`s also near her home.

So you see these two different areas, one where the suspect and the missing girl lived and were last seen and then almost 40 miles away where this porn shop where he visited and then her car. Put the pieces together for us there, Nadine.

MAESER: Well, clearly, you know, surveillance cameras don`t lie. So he was seen around 5 p.m. at that sex shop. He had a two-hour window to drive about 30 miles south to Livingston, again, where Alexis is from, where the school is, where he lives. He lives a couple miles down from the high school and the middle school. So we`re not sure how he got back down south or if someone else was involved with this. But somehow, you know, he was up there and made his way back down and was seen on those surveillance cameras.

Now, her car was found three days after she went missing in Charlottesville. And again, Charlottesville is about 30 miles north from where she lives. So there`s still a lot of pieces to connect. I really don`t have those answers, and it seems like the FBI really doesn`t at this point, either.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Well, we are going to try to connect the dots tonight. Nadine, stand by. Thank you for that report.

At least one member of the community coming forward tonight, saying he thought this suspect, Randy Taylor, was a little cuckoo in the head, because he saw him lurking around town, sitting in his camouflage vehicle with a camper top, and just watching people going in and out of the supermarket. Check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was just sitting in a parking lot watching. You know? And that`s kind of strange to me, too. You sit in the parking lot here, and he just sat in his vehicle. I went in the store, got what I got, and came back out and he was still sitting in the vehicle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Straight out to the Lion`s Den. Marc Klaas, you`re the president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation. And you are the leading expert in the country on missing cases.

The place where this -- this witness says he saw the suspect, Randy Taylor, sitting in his truck watching people go in and out of the supermarket, just happens to overlook the gas station where Alexis and he were last seen. What do you make of it?

MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT/FOUNDER, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: Well, characters like this just make my blood run cold.

Listen, Jane, you don`t get implicated in two missing person cases by coincidence. One maybe, but two? Not a chance. I suspect that he stalked her for some period of a time. I know for a fact that beauty can be a double-edged sword. That it can take you to the red carpet, it can give you fame and fortune, but if you get attached to the wrong guy or if the wrong guy sees you, then you can be in some very real trouble.

That`s what happened to my daughter Polly. We`ve seen it time and time again. We can only hope that we can find this young girl alive.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Alexis. Well, first of all, Jon Lieberman, jump in. Because you`ve been tracking this case.

JON LEIBERMAN, HLN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, I`ve got. I`ve got to tell you, Jane. First of all, obviously our hearts go out to Alexis`s family. It appears that this guy was actually lying in wait, because this girl had a pattern of behavior that rarely changed. She regularly, we have learned, went to this gas station to get some snacks, to get a caramel frappe, around the same time of day every day, or at least most days. So it appears that he was lying in wait, that he knew she was going to be there, and that`s when he allegedly snatched her.

We can also tell you, Jane, that my law enforcement sources confirm that the federal government, the FBI is also looking into whether this guy is connected to a number of other missing persons cases in this same region, and they`re really branching out, because there are dozens of cases in this region that are similar snatching cases to this.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, and along those lines, later in our broadcast, we are going to talk to two of my people who are my heroes, really, Dan and Jill Harrington. They lost their beautiful, precious daughter, Morgan, who was found murdered, all of this happening in the same 60-mile radius. So is there a connection? We`re going to talk to them, coming up.

But first, we have a very, very special guest, Trina Murphy, Alexis Murphy`s great-aunt.

You are joining us from Virginia. Our hearts go out to you. I can`t even comprehend what you`re going through right now. We want to help. We want to find this beautiful, movie-star beautiful young relative of yours, your great niece.

First of all, I know you have a shocker that when you saw the suspect, Randy Taylor, you said to yourself, "Oh, my gosh, I`ve seen this guy before." Tell us about that, Trina.

TRINA MURPHY, ALEXIS MURPHY`S GREAT-AUNT (via phone): You know, we obviously are from a very small community. So I definitely have seen the truck, and I actually purchased a car about three or four years ago from the dealership that he used to work at. And he actually cleaned my car up and detailed it before I drove it off the lot.

So when I realized that he was that person, I felt doubly violated. You know, it`s like I have been in close proximity to this man. I feel like he was -- he was just in our midst. He was kind of hiding in plain sight. And you know, I`m sure he has his side of the story, but he`s a predator. You know, he does not sit in gas station parking lots watching people for no reason.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And as has been mentioned, Trina, your great-niece had habits. She would go quite often. There`s a McDonald`s connected to this gas station, and she would get a dessert drink. And it was kind of a fun habit for her.

But when he`s sitting there in that parking lot overlooking that area, watching every day, and he happens to be there at the same time and sees her, he might be able to figure out that she`s got a pattern. Does that sound like a plausible theory to you, Trina?

T. MURPHY: Yes, it does. I think without a doubt that he has been watching Alexis for a while. He got her pattern down. Unfortunately, you know, she did have the same kind of agenda every day, and she loves caramel frappes, and so, you know, she goes and gets them.

But I think he watched her, and I think he waited until he had the perfect opportunity to snatch her.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: There`s the gas station, the Liberty gas station where she was seen on surveillance, and he lives near that gas station. The missing teenager, Alexis Murphy, lives near that gas station, and they both go to that area regularly. He to stare in a creepy way at people, and she to get a dessert drink.

T. MURPHY: Yes.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: So we`re putting the pieces together, but we are just getting started. We have so much more for you on the desperate search for Alexis Murphy. We want to find her.

And later, our exclusive guests: the parents of a beautiful young woman found murdered in the very same area. We will talk to them in just minutes. They have devoted their life to stopping these kinds of horrors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seventeen-year-old Alexis Murphy missing for ten days.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s like my heart has been ripped out. My heart is ripped out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her alleged abductor behind bars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We made a significant step closer toward bringing her home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where is Alexis Murphy? And could this man be involved in the disappearance of other young women?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody pretty much knows everyone. And so yes, we`ve all seen him at the gas station or at other businesses. We`ve seen the vehicle. We`ve seen the vehicle on the road that Alexis lives on. So yes, we have all seen him, but none of us know him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Where is Alexis Murphy? This beautiful teenager is missing. They have arrested someone, Randy Taylor, 48 years old, kind of a local ne`er-do-well guy, in her abduction. But they haven`t said why. What connected him to her?

I want to go straight out to our exclusive guest, Angela Taylor, the missing young woman`s aunt.

First of all, thank you for joining us exclusively tonight. And again, my heart goes out to you. We don`t know what you`re going through, but we pray that we help find this beautiful young lady, and we want to get every last detail.

What have cops told you, ma`am? Have they given you any hint as to why this particular suspect was arrested?

ANGELA TAYLOR, ALEXIS MURPHY`S AUNT (via phone): They have not. They said in the very beginning in this investigation that they would be very tight-lipped with what they have found and that they would only tell us information that was significant.

So finding the car and having a suspect, they did not go into detail as to what evidence they had that links them to my niece. But in my heart, I feel that it`s significant enough -- significant enough to keep him in jail and locked up until he wants to talk.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let me bring in Wendy Murphy, former prosecutor. At first, I was sort of really irritated when I saw that his next court appearance was January 9. And I was like, what the heck? Why slow justice?

Then I thought about it for five seconds, and I said, oh, they`re probably keeping him there to put the squeeze on him.

WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Yes, yes. And that`s the only tolerable explanation, because you don`t want a guy sitting in there while you`re desperate to try to solve these crimes unless you`re turning up the heat and he`s going to talk. And frankly, maybe he`s going to rat out some other people. So you also want him just so you can protect him. Maybe he is involved in some kind of organized criminal activity.

Look, if he`s hunting for women, whether it`s 2 or 12, if he`s hunting for women and doing things with them, whether he`s selling them in some sex trafficking business or killing them or whatever he`s doing, he`s not doing it alone. And the cops are right to put the squeeze on him.

But look, this woman`s name is Murphy. She`s my people. Marc Klaas said his blood runs cold. Mine is raging hot, hot! That in the state of Virginia, like in a lot of states -- in fact, only 28 states comply with what I`m about to say. It is not a hate crime, a bias crime, a human rights crime to hunt for, target, victimize, rape and beat the hell out of women. What is wrong with this country? Virginia, step up! Because if it were a hate crime in Virginia, if it were a bias crime, as it should be, one woman would be enough for people to worry about a guy like this.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Target, target crimes aimed at women as hate crimes. I couldn`t agree with you more. Now, here`s what gets my blood boiling.

Randy Taylor`s rap sheet, it stretches back, oh, let`s see, 20 years. And I`m not talking just speeding tickets. I`m talking arson. 1992, he`s convicted of statutory burglary and grand larceny, sentenced to ten years behind bars. 2004, he`s convicted several times of misdemeanor assault and battery. 2005, he`s convicted of arson.

But my dear friend, Dorothy Lucey, social commentator, we have covered many crime stories together over the years. Here`s what drives me crazy, Dorothy. This guy was convicted of arson eight years ago. He got a suspended sentence. The sentence was revoked two years ago because he didn`t pay $6,000 in restitution. But guess what?

DOROTHY LUCEY, SOCIAL COMMENTATOR: And they re-suspended it.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Exactly.

LUCEY: Why isn`t this guy in jail? I mean, it`s -- 20 years you were saying. He has a record 20 years long: assault, stalking, brandishing a weapon. But for the arson thing, Jane, you`re so right; he should be in jail.

And you know what? Listen, for me, I was raised in Virginia. I have a -- I have a high schooler. I mean, this really hits home. And not that it should matter, but I`m looking at that girl`s face, and she is breathtakingly beautiful. And you just wonder why the hell wasn`t this guy in jail?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, absolutely. And I`ve got to tell you that it gets worse than that, because there`s another woman, and we`ve been talking about it, another young woman he was the last to speak to three years ago. She`s never been found. She`s missing. What`s the connection? He had complained to a local reporter. We`re going to talk to that reporter, the editor, the chief editor of "The Hook" out of Virginia on the other side of the break.

And he had said, "Oh, they`re bugging me. The cops are bugging me about this case. They should leave me alone. They`re harassing me."

Where is Alexis Murphy? Where is this other woman, Samantha Clark? Much more on the other side.

And later, guess who`s back in the news, people? Jodi Arias. Her attorneys say the convicted murderer, well, is not eligible for the death penalty. Not so fast, because the judge just weighed in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you kill Travis Alexander on June 4, 2008?

JODI ARIAS, CONVICTED MURDERER: Yes, I did.

JUAN MARTINEZ, PROSECUTOR: She rewarded that love for Travis Victor Alexander by sticking a knife in his chest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MAZANEC: I know there is some speculation that this case may be connected to other similar disappearances or abductions in the region. We are certainly looking at all possibilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Alexis just the latest beautiful teenage girl to go missing from the same area. Cops say they are looking into possible connections between this suspect and other cases, like Samantha Clark, the 19-year-old girl who disappeared three years ago from the same area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAZANEC: I know there is some speculation that this case may be connected to other similar disappearances or abductions in the region.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get the word out again, makes people think about what they know or not. Maybe somebody knows something they`ve been reluctant to come forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Straight out to Courtney Stewart, editor in chief of "The Hook." Thank you for joining us via Skype from Virginia.

You`re looking at Samantha Clark there, who is still missing.

Courtney, you spoke to this suspect, Randy Taylor. And he was complaining to you that they considered him, by his own words, a suspect in this girl`s disappearance. Tell us about it.

COURTNEY STEWART, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "THE HOOK": That`s right, Jane. He came into the "Hook" office, the newspaper where I work, last fall in October and had a story about police harassment and police trailing him because he was considered the main suspect. But he had a good explanation, he said. And he felt that this was unfair targeting, harassment, and he was -- he was wanting to talk about that.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And what was his explanation? Because apparently, it sounded very similar to him trying to throw attention on another hypothetical suspect in Samantha`s disappearance.

STEWART: Right, yes. He said -- he admitted that he had contacted her multiple times by phone and text on the night she disappeared and that he may well have been the last person to contact her by phone. But he said he heard a voice in the background, a man`s voice. She had a younger brother who was sleeping upstairs that night. He said he heard somebody who sounded older than that, a man, and he believed that there were other people that they knew that they had been, I guess, been spending time with in previous days who -- who had expressed a wish to harm her and that his calls were actually to offer her a warning to help protect her from these other people who he said wished to hurt her.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, what a nice guy. Not! Straight out to the Lion`s Den. Stand by for it. We`ll be back to it. But Dr. Judy Ho, clinical psychologist, isn`t there a term for that, where you are acting like you`re the savior, when in fact, you might be responsible, possibly, hypothetically?

DR. JUDY HO, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes, Jane, it`s called projection. And he`s obviously trying to just throw somebody else under the bus so the attention will go away from him. But we have seen so much of this man`s history, and it`s all come to light in past times. And I just don`t know why it`s taken people so long to realize that this is a dangerous person.

And this is only what has come to the attention of the authorities. Think of all the other things that he might have done that he`s gotten away with that we don`t know about.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you know, this is our reactive system of justice. It`s easy to play armchair quarterback, and I couldn`t be a police officer for five minutes. In fact, I took a course, and they told me, "You will never be a police officer," because I made so many mistakes.

However, you know, Marc Klaas, get back to you. The lead investigator in Samantha`s disappearance was at Taylor`s home with the other investigators. They`re trading information. If they had suspicions about this man, couldn`t they have kept him under watch, at least?

KLAAS: Well, I believe that they did try to keep him under watch. I believe that there was a GPS device involved at some point.

But Jane, let me just point out, we had a very similar -- we have these issues all over the country, these criminals that skirt by, time after time after time, and we know that they should be in prison because they`re victimizing people and they`re stealing things. So we started something called three strikes and you`re out in California back in 1994. And it proved to be hugely successful in keeping bad people behind bars. Based on the premise that a small percentage of criminals are committing a huge percentage of the crimes.

This guy is a case study for the three strikes law. If they had that in Virginia, he would be in prison, and probably a lot of young girls would be walking the street today that aren`t.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I agree with you, in a certain sense. I agree with what you said, except that I think that there -- our prisons are full of nonviolent drug offenders and let`s face it: more people are O.D.`ing from prescription pills than they are from legal drugs. I say throw the violent criminals behind bars. People who commit arson like this guy did. He should be behind bars before any of this hit the news.

But we have more people behind bars than any other country in the world, surpassing China and Russia. So maybe we don`t put the right people behind bars or are putting them behind bars for the wrong reasons. We have to look at that.

OK. On the other side, we`re going to talk to the parents of a beautiful young woman from the very same area. She was murdered. She disappeared. Her body turns up, the case never involved. They want to weigh in. Stay right there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

L. MURPHY: Today would have been her first day of school. I carried my youngest son to school this morning, but I didn`t have my daughter to take. If anybody know anything, please, please, let us know. Please.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was kidnapped from a gas station.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody is feeling this hurt and pain.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have all seen him but none of us know him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The suspect has been arrested but Alexis is nowhere to be found.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He seemed kind of strange to me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s like he was hiding in plain sight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know there was some speculation that this case may be connected to other similar disappearances.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If anybody know anything, please, please let us know. Please.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HLN HOST: Alexis Murphy`s family devastated. They want to know where she is, and they think the answer lies with this suspect, 48-year-old Randy Taylor, who was also questioned extensively, he says by his own admission, he was considered a suspect in a previous young woman`s disappearance, a case that`s never been found -- never been solved, she has never been found.

So the family of missing Alexis Murphy thinks this guy, who has been arrested and charged with abduction in Alexis` disappearance, has the answer. But police aren`t saying why they arrested him, and so far we do not know where Alexis is. We hope she`s ok.

Now, get this. This suspect, his boss is defending him to a local news station saying this Randy Taylor, this 48-year-old who worked at a car shop, disclosed his criminal record to her -- he has a long rap sheet. And she decided to give him a second chance and insists he never acted inappropriately around her beautiful daughter.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THERESA PHILLIPS, RANDY TAYLOR`S BOSS: I have a beauty queen for a daughter. She`s 19 years old. She`s Miss Virginia United States. Never had a problem with him. He was in a room with her a week and a half ago before all this happened on Friday night and that day before the girl went missing. Never acted inappropriate, never did anything inappropriate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jon Leiberman, you`ve been investigating this case. Why is he, do you think, considered a suspect in this case?

JON LEIBERMAN, HLN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, he was a suspect because he was the last person to be seen with her and the last person to have contact with this young girl. And the most sickening part about that case and about the Alexis case is that this guy is locked up, they`re grilling him, they`re putting his feet to the fire, and yet he still refuses to acknowledge his role in either of these cases. And that`s really the sickening part.

This guy simply by talking it appears could bring justice to a lot of families, and he is refusing.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, we`ve been following another tragic case out of Virginia since the very beginning. We`ve been all over this story from the moment beautiful 20-year-old Morgan Harrington disappeared. She was abducted and brutally murdered after leaving a concert at the University of Virginia.

No arrest in connection with her death but a non-profit organization in her honor is asking that we help save the next girl.

So take a look at this, that they put together to bring awareness to the vulnerability of beautiful women from YouTube. And then we`ll talk to the parents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will always trust my inner voice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If it makes me feel uncomfortable and nervous, I will say no.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will love myself enough to ask for help.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am strong, smart and trust my instincts.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will call someone.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will always carry my cell phone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will never let a friend leave an event alone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will check on friends when I haven`t heard from them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will always use the buddy system.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will not become a statistic.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will help save the next girl.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Joining me now, Morgan Harrington`s parents. Thank you so much. My heart always goes out to you and I admire your courage and your persistence in seeking justice. Your daughter went missing also in the same area, in the Charlottesville, Virginia area. We`ve been talking about missing Alexis Murphy last seen at a gas station in Lovingston just south of Charlottesville. And then we also have this other case of Samantha Clarke who disappeared three years ago and could be connected to the suspect that they arrested in the abduction of Alexis Murphy.

Now, police have told you that this suspect is not a person of interest in your daughter`s murder. But why? How can they know? That`s what I don`t understand. How can they know that so quickly?

GIL HARRINGTON, MOTHER OF MORGAN HARRINGTON: You know, I don`t know that, Jane. There`s much behind the scenes that I am not privy to. But I do know that there is a really hideous scatter pattern of missing and murdered young women on the 29th corridor. It`s of great concern. And you know, I feel there`s either a mini crime wave or there`s the work of a serial offender or murderer in that area. We need to find him, get him out of commission, and make the community safer. There`s been enough loss and devastated lives there already.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Again, I admire your courage. You two are my heroes. I`ve said that from the very beginning, how you have conducted yourself in the wake of unimaginable horror.

And I want to go back to Dorothy Lucey, my dear friend and social commentator. You know, what just gets me is that this guy they arrested in this latest disappearance of beautiful Alexis Murphy. We don`t know if he`s involved really. Let the justice system play out.

But the fact is that they were questioning him about the disappearance of another girl who disappeared three years ago and that case has never been solved. Now all the investigators are talking to each other. Wouldn`t there be a way, especially since this guy was given a pass on arson, to keep him under watch, so that he did not have an opportunity for example to sit in the parking lot and watch pretty girls go in and out of the grocery store, as he was doing.

DOROTHY LUCEY, SOCIAL COMMENTATOR: Well, Jane, you know my dad was a cop. So my dad would say, as I said before, why the hell wasn`t this guy in jail? I mean everything you mentioned -- I had to look up some of his crimes. Statutory burglary, I wasn`t even sure what that was -- I had to look it up.

It is surprising to me that he was not in jail and it is somewhat surprising to me that he was not being watched closely if we thought he had something to do with the last one.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I mean, Judy Ho, clinical psychologist. For a guy who`s 48 to sit in a parking lot in his camouflage suburban and watch people go in and out of a grocery store, a supermarket, what does that tell you? You`re a psychologist.

JUDY HO, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, Jane, that`s obviously not very normal behavior. This man is doing this and that`s his pattern, you know. He`s been doing this seemingly for a long time.

And the more you do something like that, that`s a very isolative behavior, you know. You`re kind of sitting in your car for hours. The fact that he`s kind of just taking this on, watching people go by but he`s not having any real human interaction, you kind of lose sight of reality.

And so I think sometimes when people do this for a long time, you know, when they do interact with reality, when they do interact with people, they do things that we wouldn`t even imagine because in their minds, as they`re sitting by themselves, they`ve been concocting all kinds of weird plots and plans that nobody else could come up with because we just don`t have that kind of time or that type of creepy behavior going on.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: On the other side of the break, we`re going to talk to former prosecutor Wendy Murphy, as well as the Harringtons. We`ve got to get a handle on this. This has to end.

More on the other side.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We really have got to get her home. Our family is just struggling with this and we really do need the public to come forward with any information that you may have.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were just sitting in a parking lot watching, you know, and that kind of was strange to me too. You know, you`re sitting in a parking lot -- and he just sat in the vehicle. I went in the store, got what I got and came back out and he was still sitting in the vehicle.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Abduction suspect Randy Taylor rented two pornos from the Ultimate Bliss Adult Store in Charlottesville. He paid for those videos with a $100 bill. The guy washes cars for a living, where does he get a $100 bill?

Take a look at this map. That store -- that adult video store is just two miles from where missing Alexis` car was found. He reportedly visited the store just hours before she was last seen.

Wendy Murphy, former prosecutor, when I hear porn, I always feel like, well, that`s a big problem.

WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Well, it`s more than a big problem. There are naysayers who will say there`s no scientific research that shows a causal relationship between the use of violent pornography and violence against women, which is a bunch of hooey, you know.

Sometimes you don`t need science, you just need common sense. The guys watching all this crap where women are being raped and beaten and it`s all disgusting and it`s very sexualized violence and then they go do sexually violent things to girls. Ding, ding.

I think we`ve talked about the failure of law. We`ve talked about the failure of law enforcement. We`ve talked about, you know, we need more incarcerations of these guys so they don`t do it again.

What about the failure of leadership? Where is the damn governor of Virginia? That`s his state where women are going missing and they`re dying in huge numbers? Where is the President of the United States? Doesn`t Alexis Murphy look like one his damn daughters? He spoke up about Trayvon Martin. Is the death of a woman -- I mean I know Alexis -- we don`t know if she`s dead or alive -- I hope she is alive.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: We do hope she`s alive.

MURPHY: But is it -- I mean how many women have to go missing before he says that could have been my daughter? Does he ever speak up about daughters? The leadership vacuum is part of the problem.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I think that you`re making a valid point, that there is sort of a post-feminist era that a lot of women don`t feel like we, as women, as a gender, need to stand together to protect each other. And I agree that we need to speak up for young girls.

And I want to go back to Angela Taylor, Alexis` aunt. She`s joining us exclusively. Ma`am, I know you want to make a plea to the community, and I want to give you an opportunity to say whatever you want to say.

ANGELA TAYLOR, ALEXIS MURPHY`S AUNT (via telephone): I would just like to say to everybody in the community, to anyone who may have any information about Alexis` whereabouts to please, please call the authorities so we can bring her home. You know, they`re three days into their senior year, and she should be able to enjoy her senior year so she can go off to college.

I think my family has suffered enough with this. And you know, we all want her home and we`re willing to do whatever it takes to bring her home safely. We really need the community`s input if they know anything about her whereabouts so we can get her home safely.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Angela, thank you so much. And whoever knows anything, somebody out there knows something, call the cops. Thank you, fantastic panel.

Up next, we have breaking news to tell you about. Jodi Arias, yes. Breaking news -- is she still facing the possibility of death? Well, there was a motion and there was a response and the judge has just weighed in.

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JUAN MARTINEZ, PROSECUTOR: What factors influenced your having a memory problem?

JODI ARIAS, CONVICTED OF TRAVIS ALEXANDER`S MURDER: Usually when men like you are screaming at me or grilling me or someone like Travis doing the same.

MARTINEZ: So that affects your memory fog, right?

ARIAS: It does make my brain scramble.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Time for Pet of the Day, send your pet pics to hlntv.com/jane.

Mossy -- you are so bossy. I think you are very glossy. And Martha -- oh, you are just pure and simple and elegant and divine. I wish you were mine. And Jon Riggins -- you look like a movie star about to hit the red carpet. How did you get so cool? Bella -- you are, I don`t think you`re a fella, but I love you any way, Bella. You`re fabulous. Yes.

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ARIAS: I`m ready to meet my maker, but if that time should come --

CROWD: Justice for Travis. Justice for Travis.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Breaking news to tell you about. Jodi Arias can still get lethal injection. That`s what a judge just decided a little while ago when she denied a defense motion that would have taken the death penalty off the table. Yes, Jodi`s defense team wanted the judge to set aside the judge`s decision that her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, was killed in an especially cruel manner. That`s the criteria for the death penalty, one of them -- the aggravated. They consider it.

That despite the prosecution saying this slaughter was horrific and lasted two very long minutes.

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MARTINEZ: Ma`am, were you crying while you were shooting him?

ARIAS: I don`t remember.

MARTINEZ: Were you crying when you were stabbing him?

ARIAS: I don`t remember.

MARTINEZ: How about when you cut his throat? Were you crying then?

ARIAS: I don`t know.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right, straight out to former prosecutor, Wendy Murphy. Look, you`re looking at horrific, graphic photos, but we`re showing them for a reason. They show the extent of Travis Alexander`s injuries. He was stabbed 29 times. His throat was slit ear to ear. He was shot in the face. He was tortured for two excruciatingly long minutes.

How on earth does Jodi Arias` defense team have the nerve to argue this was not cruel?

MURPHY: Well, because they get to charge the state for writing the motion comes to mind. Obviously, it`s a stupid motion and thankfully, the judge was smart enough to not be a dupe for her poop and notice Jane, I didn`t say, you know what I mean. Right?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes.

MURPHY: I`m very glad that the judge is clearly playing this straight. I wish she had dropped a footnote saying you know, too bad we can`t try the firing squad or drawing and quartering her as well as a lethal injection because really in the history books, there aren`t a lot of crimes more vile, more evil, more gruesome, more intentional and more planned than this and the only thing she has going for her is what she looks like and the judges don`t care. Juries sometimes care. Judges don`t care and I`m so glad to see that this judge gave that no respect whatsoever.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And we`ve got more information and I`ve got brand new information on the Jodi Arias case in my new book, "Exposed: the secret life of Jodi Arias" and it hits next week.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: State of Arizona versus Jodi Ann Arias. Verdict, count one. We the jury, duly impaneled and sworn in the above- entitled action upon our oath, do find the defendant as to count one, first degree murder, guilty.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: My book "Exposed: the secret life of Jodi Arias" goes to the deeper why. Why did this happen? How could a demure, supposedly, young woman -- petite, pretty, soft spoken -- slit a guy`s throat ear to ear six inches across and three and a half inches deep? How does that happen? This book answers that question with stunning new information that has never been reported before.

A portion of the proceeds of this book will go to two charities. One, Travis Alexander`s and the other, animal causes, which Travis Alexander was very involved in.

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MARTINEZ: I thought you said the relationship with Mr. Alexander was very stressful.

ARIAS: Some of the sex wasn`t.

MARTINEZ: Pardon?

ARIAS: Some of the sex wasn`t.

MARTINEZ: So, you did enjoy the sex then? Is that what you`re telling me?

ARIAS: At times, I did.

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VELEZ-MITCHELL: In less than two weeks, we`ll learn when the penalty phase retrial will happen. Wendy Murphy, that retrial, how long do you think it`s going to go on? Is there going to be another trial?

MURPHY: Well, very good question and I think the answer is it`s going to go on as long as possible from Jodi Arias` perspective and as short as possible from the prosecution`s perspective. The real question is, how much will the judge let her get away with, especially when it comes to all the sex talk which she`s going to want to do? Last time, it was 18 or 21 days. Let`s hope it`s a lot shorter this time.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`ve got new information and we`re all over the Jodi Arias case. We`re going to be covering extensively next week.

Stay right there. Nancy Grace is up next.

END