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Jane Velez-Mitchell

Ex-Con Charged in Teen`s Abduction Points Finger at Mystery Man

Aired August 15, 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 in the case of beautiful missing teen Alexis Murphy. The suspect behind bars and charged with abducting her is now spewing wild allegations about a drug deal, claiming the real kidnaper is a mystery drug dealer with cornrows roaming free at this very moment.

The suspect is also trashing the victim, 17-year-old Alexis Murphy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alexis Murphy, 17 years old. Missing since August 3. A suspect has been arrested, but Alexis is nowhere to be found.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No sign of her, even though police think that they know who took her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Arrested because the FBI found one hair in his camper belonging to Murphy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She made a comment to him about smoking marijuana.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He asked the public not to rush to judgment on Taylor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could be a suspect. I get gas there and go back to my office all the time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He must be the most unlucky guy in the world, because every young girl that he comes in contact with seems to disappear.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Forty-eight-year-old Randy Taylor has been in jail since Sunday, charged with abducting Alexis Murphy, who has not been found. Her family devastated, worried, nervous.

His attorney admits Alexis`s hair was found inside this camper, OK, Taylor`s camper, which was parked on his property. But still, the attorney says police have got the wrong guy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL HALLAHAN, ATTORNEY FOR RANDY TAYLOR: We want the public`s help in locating a suspect.

(SOUND EFFECT: SCRATCH ACROSS RECORD)

HALLAHAN: We want the public`s help in locating a suspect.

Locating a suspect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: What -- what is he talking about? His client is the suspect. Didn`t he hear that FBI agents have swarmed (ph) his client`s rural home, digging for clues?

In a story they find totally ridiculous, suspect Randy Taylor claims Alexis hooked up with him and then hooked him up with a drug dealer the day she vanished nearly two weeks ago.

The suspect claims the stunning 17-year-old went off with the drug dealer and says that mystery man is the real kidnapper. Really.

Listen to his attorney try to explain this one. I think it`s a whopper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HALLAHAN: This missing girl at the Liberty gas station by coincidence. He had parked at the pumps to buy cigarettes. She had parked at the pumps to get gas.

She made a comment to him about smoking marijuana, based upon her seeing him at another car wash in Livingston, weeks, or a month before that. He had indicated to her that he would like to get some more. She said, "I know a guy." My client purchased $60 worth of marijuana from this man.

Black male, mid to late 20s, corn rows in a 20-year-old burgundy Caprice with 22-inch wheels.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Some would say, "How convenient?"

This is the second time suspect Randy Taylor has been linked to that teenage girl`s disappearance. Three years ago, when young Samantha Clark vanished, he pointed the finger at another guy. Just a crazy coincidence that the suspect had chance encounters with two women who then immediately vanished?

What do you think? Call me, 1-877-JVM-SAYS.

Tonight in the Lion`s Den, we have a fantastic panel, including an exclusive interview with the missing teen`s aunt and a reporter who was on the ground.

Straight out to Sandra Jones, reporter with WTBR in Virginia.

And I understand you have breaking news for us -- Sandra.

SANDRA JONES, REPORTER, WTBR (via phone): Yes, good evening. We have just learned that the investigators have found several cell phones on Randy Taylor`s property.

Now authorities are not confirming or saying whether or not they belonged to Alexis at this point, but that information has just come out this afternoon.

And we`re also hearing that a bond hearing has been set for Taylor where he could -- for next week, where he could hear more evidence this the case, which could bring -- shed new light on the -- leading up to what happened in her disappearance.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, I`ve got to ask you. You`re there on the ground, Sandra. What`s the reaction to this story about the mystery drug dealer with the corn rows?

JONES: Well, you know, people are really stunned to hear something like that. I mean, they know from folks that we talked to. They know the family. And they also know the suspect. So you know, a lot of people have a lot of different opinions right now. And they`re kind of shocked to hear that, you know, now this is the story that -- that he has put out there. Obviously, I know you`re going to be talking with the family. But...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: It is a brazen story. It`s a brazen story, Sandra. Thank you. Stand by for a second. Because look, if there is a mystery drug dealer out there, that`s a huge development. But then what if it`s a total lie?

Let`s listen to the suspect`s attorney lay out this story, and then we`re going to debate it in the Lion`s Den. Let`s listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HALLAHAN: Mr. Taylor told law enforcement that he met this missing girl at the Liberty gas station by -- by coincidence. She made a comment to him about smoking marijuana. He had indicated to her that he would like to get some more. She said, "I know a guy." He said they drank a beer together and they smoked.

The girl did not smoke or drink anything. His DNA should be in that bottle in that trailer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Randy worked at a car shop, and he claims that he spoke with Alexis about pot there last month, and then he claims he asked Alexis to help him find, as you just heard, a drug dealer. He runs into her at the gas station hours before she vanishes. He claims Alexis said, "I know a guy." And the three of them end up back at Randy`s camper. And Alexis stood around while he and the mystery man drank and smoked, and then he claims Alexis and the drug dealer took off in separate cars.

Straight to the Lion`s Den. What do you think, panel? Is this a complete and utter fabrication to explain away the fact that cops found a hair, a hair of Alexis in his camper? And I`ll start with J. Wyndal Gordon.

J. WYNDAL GORDON, ATTORNEY: Yes, it is absolutely a fabrication. In fact, it`s totally absurd.

I mean, they found a hair in his camper. I mean, what is he doing in the camper with a 17-year-old girl, save a drug dealer? Why are you in the camper with a 17-year-old girl, even if you are with a drug dealer?

This man looks like he`s about 100 years old, somewhere near...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Forty-eight.

GORDON: ... or perhaps even 50, and that`s what I was going to say, 50. It makes absolutely no sense.

You meet by happenstance at a filling station, and all of a sudden you take her down to a camper and she comes up missing?

And this is not the first woman or young girl, teenage girl who has come up missing in relation to this man, but this is the second. So, you know, they have their work cut out for them. I understand the attorney is trying to spin the case, but I`m not buying it.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Heather Hansen.

HEATHER HANSEN, ATTORNEY: Well, first of all, the other case no charges were filed. And Jane, the direct evidence is consistent with his story.

One strand of hair is not consistent with a struggle. It`s not consistent with an abduction. It`s consistent with the story that he`s told. I`ll be interested to hear what other direct evidence comes up, if there`s evidence of other DNA in that house that could be consistent with the gentleman that he claims to have been there selling the drugs.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you know, let me tell you -- go ahead. I heard somebody. Jump in.

GORDON: It could also be consistent with him abducting and molesting a 17-year-old girl who`s now missing.

HANSEN: One -- one piece of hair? And it`s just not consistent. It`s more consistent, it`s more likely that she was in the -- in the cabin, that she did engage in this conversation. You know, he said that she didn`t do any smoking. She didn`t do any drinking and that she left and whoever this unknown gentleman is...

(CROSSTALK)

GORDON: How does her hair get detached from her head and into..?

HANSEN: Oh, my goodness. I -- I shed like a dog. I shed like crazy.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know what? You talk about no other evidence. First of all, this is the only evidence that the attorney for the suspect has revealed. Who knows how much more they found in that camper? You heard that they`ve got cell phones now that they`re checking.

The day that Alexis disappeared -- you want evidence? OK. Randy Taylor -- got this -- rented two pornos, two porn videos from the Ultimate Bliss adult store in Charlottesville. Randy Taylor paid for the rentals with a $100 bill. The store is about two miles from where Alexis`s car was later found abandoned.

Then the suspect, Randy Taylor, reportedly visited the store just about 5 p.m. That`s a couple of hours before he crosses paths with Alexis at a gas station near where they both live. And of course, he admits that he smoked pot that evening, as well.

Again, back to the Lion`s Den. Simone Bienne, relationship expert. He went and he rented two pornos, and he supposedly frequented that store, as well, according to the manager.

SIMONE BIENNE, RELATIONSHIP EXPERT: He`s a charmer, isn`t he, Jane?

The interesting thing is, why do you buy pornos when you can actually get all the porn that you want online? Now what that says to me is he sees porno. He wants to objectify. He wants to have something that he can hold onto. The same way he has the object in his hands. He sees this girl as the object, as well. That he can throw her away and discard her like trash. And this is giving me an indication of what kind of person he is.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Joe Gomez, reporter, KRLD in Dallas, I got chills when I saw the camper. Let`s show the camper again if we can. Because as you know, you and I have covered so many crimes. Vans and campers, the vehicles of choice when it comes to abductions -- Joe.

JOE GOMEZ, REPORTER, KRLD: Absolutely, Jane. And I got chills looking at that camper myself.

I mean, the whole story that he apparently met her by coincidence at a gas station, and they went back to his camper to get -- to go get high off of some marijuana. It just seems so -- it seems so insane to me. Because why wouldn`t he tell the police this when they first arrested him? It was my understanding that he wasn`t talking at all when police first put him under arrest.

And now he`s got his attorney coming out all these days later, coming out with this story. Why didn`t he tell the story, you know, when he was first caught? Why is he coming out with this now? Is he trying to spin this? Is he trying to create some kind of defense? It doesn`t make any sense to me, Jane.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, on the other side of the break, we`re going to try to get some answers. We have an exclusive interview with the aunt of the missing young woman.

Where was she headed? Does she really -- is it realistic that she`s going to abandon all her plans for that day to help a stranger she`s never met find a pot dealer when she herself isn`t smoking pot? It makes no sense.

We`re going to talk to Angela Taylor, Alexis Murphy`s aunt, in just a moment. Stay right there. And we`re taking your calls.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The search for missing Alexis Murphy growing more desperate by the day.

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her alleged abductor behind bars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ve made a significant step closer towards bring her home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now the suspect tells his side of the story through his attorney.

HALLAHAN: He met this missing girl at the Liberty gas station by coincidence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And he says the FBI has the wrong guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And then outrage tonight. This suspect, Randy Taylor, who has a rap sheet a mile long and who also was grilled in the disappearance of another missing woman in this area a few years ago and was also at the same gas station as the missing woman we`re looking for tonight, Alexis Murphy, he has this new story he`s come up with. A mystery drug dealer that he claims was last seen with Alexis.

And here`s a description. And this is provided by this suspect, who to me doesn`t have credibility. But 20s, cornrows. Drives a 20-year-old burgundy Chevy Caprice.

I want to go to our exclusive guest, Angela Taylor, the missing young woman`s aunt. The aunt of Alexis Murphy.

Thank you for joining us tonight, ma`am, and our heart goes out to you. You hear this story that this suspect, Randy Taylor, has come up with. What is your reaction given the suspect that he has created? Do you think this person even exists?

ANGELA TAYLOR, ALEXIS MURPHY`S AUNT: I think he`s delusional. I think he has just singled out pretty much every African-American male to make himself look better.

I probably know my niece better than anybody. And when I heard Mr. Taylor`s allegations about a drug deal and how my niece approached him, saying that she knew somebody with -- that he could buy some marijuana with, it made me sick to my stomach.

Because first of all, my niece would have never approached a man that looks like that. And nor would she ever offer to make a drug deal with someone. It`s just not the type of person she is.

And for him to accuse her and to try to make her look like such a bad person, he -- he deserves to be where he is. And it`s been really difficult to listen to other people`s opinions to try to take his side when he has no credibility.

And I understand that, you know, his lawyer is doing what he is supposed to do. But at the same time, this is an innocent 17-year-old girl. And if he knew -- if this was supposed to have happened, then why in the hell didn`t he call authorities when he saw on the news that she was missing?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Excellent point. Excellent point.

TAYLOR: And so -- it`s just ridiculous. It is absolutely ridiculous, I think.

You know, my family, we`re already going through enough turmoil as it is and heartache dealing with the situation. And for that just evil person to put out such a heinous story about my 17-year-old niece, it makes me very angry.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, that`s what criminals do. They lie, and they concoct stories, and they have a tendency to blame the victim. How many times have we seen that? We saw it with the Jodi Arias case. This is what they do. It`s called projection. And that`s what a psychiatrist who was on our show yesterday labeled it as. What you do, you put it on somebody else.

But let`s shatter the story, then. Where was your niece going? Because it doesn`t make sense to me that she would suddenly stop everything she`s doing to help out some stranger in some ridiculous deal.

TAYLOR: Absolutely. I mean, I talked to Alexis twice on Saturday morning, because we had actually made plans for her to pick me up so I could go to Nelson on Saturday. But I had ended up actually being already out in Nelson, and so I had called her and said, "Oh, you know, I don`t need you to get me."

She said, "Oh, well, that`s good. I`m going to go home and change, and I`m going to head down to Lynchburg, because I need to go get a couple of things for my senior pictures."

And I was like OK.

And to know Alexis, you know, she is a 17-year-old teenager who is very much about herself. So I know that she would have never destroyed her plans to help somebody else, especially someone that she doesn`t know and someone who looks like that individual. He is very scary. And Alexis, she -- you know, she is -- she`s scared of her own shadow.

So it`s just -- it really is very heartbreaking and sick for him to even try to portray her as something that she`s not.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And...

TAYLOR: And for someone who -- go ahead.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Just to -- again, we`re deconstructing this story, which most of our panel finds completely ridiculous. But based on the description that the suspect offered of this mystery drug dealer, do you -- or do you believe that Alexis knows anyone who drives a 20-year-old burgundy Chevy Caprice who has cornrows? Does that match anybody in your memory?

TAYLOR: No. I mean, I pretty much know all of Alexis`s friends that she has. I`ve at least met them once or twice. And out of all the years that I`ve met her friends, there is no one that I can remember that even remotely matches that description.

So like I said before, I think he has just really singled out a typical African-American male, you know, that he feels that, "Oh, there`s so many of them. Let me turn them off myself and put them on somebody else."

And I honestly, in my heart, feel that that`s what he has done, because you know, if this -- this story so much did happen the way that he said, then again, my point. Why didn`t you call authorities on Monday when you saw her missing persons flier hanging up and on the news? You had your opportunity to, you know, get yourself out of jail, kind of sort of, say, but -- and you didn`t do that.

And it`s until Wednesday that you want to put out some bogus story about my niece? I`m just having a hard time stomaching it. It makes me very angry. It`s just -- I just can`t -- I can`t imagine that this sick person being able to do this to another young girl. It just -- this -- we have -- it has to stop.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: It has to stop. Absolutely. It has to stop.

Simone Bienne, relationship expert and sex expert, you look at the beautiful young lady, and then you look at the suspect, and let`s say -- let`s call it what it is. He`s creepy looking. OK.

I think that the aunt makes an excellent point, that she`s not going to interact with this guy and say, "Hey, you know, let`s go somewhere." Just on the face, the common-sense face of it, the age difference. She`s a hip youngster. He`s this scraggly weirdo. It doesn`t make sense.

BIENNE: No, it doesn`t make sense, which gives us an indication of clearly how much of a predator he is, what he did to lure her in. You know, we don`t want to think about.

But from what we`ve just heard from her aunt, we know that she could be an impressionable young, you know, innocent girl. The aunt just beautifully put that she`s scared of her own shadow. She could have been trying to help him. You know, we really don`t know. But what we certainly do know is that the story he`s presenting doesn`t match up.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I think you raise a very important point. Are there threads of truth, you know, when people lie? And I don`t know. We have to let the criminal justice system play out here. We`re just hypothesizing.

But good liars weave truth into their lies. So she was there. Did he lure her there?

We`re going to keep debating this on the other side. We have so much more. What about the other case that he was questioned about? That girl who`s never been found.

And this story is wild; it`s crazy. Did this handsome, well-known doctor force his wife to get a facelift and then give her a deadly combination of drugs to murder her so he could be with his younger mistress? It`s a -- it`s the craziest story that`s come down the pike in a while, and it`s headed to trial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Utah County attorney`s office arrested and charged Martin McNeill with murder and obstruction of justice. They say he devised a scheme to make his wife`s death look accidental.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(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. The day before the girl went missing. Never acted inappropriate; never did anything inappropriate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: The suspect cops arrested for her abduction, Randy Taylor, is an ex-con with a rap sheet a mile long that includes arson and battery. And ironically, it was his own attorney who revealed in a news conference how cops tied him to the disappearance of Alexis Murphy. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HALLAHAN: I don`t understand how they can get an abduction charge out of a hair.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Straight out to the Lion`s Den. What doesn`t he get -- Joe Gomez, what doesn`t he get about tying somebody to a case on the basis of a hair?

GOMEZ: I don`t know, Jane. That`s a good question. I mean, look, her DNA is in his camper. I don`t understand, you know, why he can`t connect the dots there.

And it`s a good point that was brought up earlier about look how beautiful Alexis is, this beautiful 17-year-old girl. And then let`s pull a picture of this guy. Let`s pull a picture of this Taylor guy. If you look at him and you look at beautiful Alexis, what in the world would she be doing talking to him at a gas station, asking him to get high? That`s the last thing I would imagine a girl like her would be doing. She`s probably got tons of guys -- tons of guys -- coming after her. The last thing she needs is to go and talk to this guy.

So it`s -- you know, the FBI does a great job. You and I, Jane, we`ve covered tons of cases. WE know that if the FBI has, you know, reason to believe that this guy might be -- might be her abductor, there`s probably good reason.

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: It`s not just the hair. It`s also that he was seen at the gas station when she was seen at the gas station, and then she disappeared right after that. And it`s also that he was grilled about the disappearance of another young woman three years ago.

And let`s show that young woman`s picture. We`re talking about 19- year-old Samantha Clark, who vanished three years ago from one county over. And he was grilled in her disappearance. And there she is, Samantha. She`s never been found.

So back to our Lion`s Den. J. Wyndal Gordon, this is a very disturbing pattern. Because the excuse that he gave about why he was talking to Samantha Clark shortly before she disappeared also involved, "Oh, I was protecting her from this bad guy." Do you see a pattern there?

GORDON: Well, I absolutely see a pattern. And one of the things that came to my mind is why would a drug dealer be smoking drugs with a man that he doesn`t know in the presence of a woman, who allegedly connected the two together, who`s not smoking or drinking anything? You`ve got this drug dealer who`s supposed to be smoking drugs and drinking beer with this man, who they don`t know each other.

I mean, the entire story, I`ve said it before, it`s absurd.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes.

GORDON: It sounds like it was concocted by a teenager. It`s just a ridiculous story.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want -- I want to go to Trina Murphy, Alexis Murphy`s great aunt. Thank you also for joining us tonight. Have police told you anything? We`re hearing from the news media, from the attorney for the suspect, that they found a hair belonging to your great niece in his camper. What do you know?

TRINA MURPHY, ALEXIS MURPHY`S GREAT AUNT: Well, we do know that DNA evidence of Alexis was found in his camper. The authorities did tell us that. This breaking news with regard to the cell phone, we actually had to travel about 35 or 45 miles to get here to do this interview this evening. So I imagine if the news came to the house via the FBI liaison, we were not there to receive it.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And what is that -- what is the significance to you of that breaking news?

MURPHY: Well, it just -- it adds another disclaimer to his story. Because one of the things that I`ve always wondered with regards to the story since it came out is, OK, if she did leave on her own, in her own car, why no cell phone activity? Where her car showed up is about 35 miles from where he -- where she was last seen or where her DNA was last at. And she had no cell phone activity. No calls, no Twitter, no Facebook, nothing. So if -- I`m not saying that they did, but if her cell phone was found on his property, that`s a significant finding.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: It is extremely significant. So what you`re telling me is that her cell phone has not been located at all, the physical phone? Because you can see from so many of the photos she loved to be on the cell phone. Like most teens.

MURPHY: Yes, Alexis was always on her cell phone. We teased her all the time because she literally had like five extension cords hooked together so that could always have it on charge in the house and could get from one place to the other with it on charge.

So for her to go even an hour without being on social media, Twitter, Facebook, what have you, is absurd, you know. Even the fact that if she was standing in the house while they smoked and drank, the fact that she never got on her phone is absurd.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to thank you -- I want to thank you for driving the length that you did. I want you to know that we`re going to stay on top of this story. We are not going to forget about Alexis. We`re going to keep the pressure on to find your precious loved one.

MURPHY: Thank you. Thank you very much.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And my heart goes out to your and your entire family.

MURPHY: Thank you.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, and again our viewers. We`re going to stay on the search for Alexis.

Up next, a really incredible, bizarre mystery -- a very prominent doctor calls 911 to say his beautiful wife is unconscious in the bathtub. Cops say she drowned after -- did he give her the dangerous combination of pills on purpose?

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She just had surgery.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What kind of surgery did she have?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Facelift.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She had a facelift.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know how to do CPR?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m doing it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ok. Do not --

(END AUDIO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The world now knows that my father has committed a murder.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She told me, your father just kept giving me medication -- kept giving me medicine and I didn`t need it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s a murder and he`s a threat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my mother. That she means something, that she means so much to so many people, and this is who he took away from everyone. This is our mother.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, breaking news. A once prominent well known doctor/lawyer will be prosecuted for an elaborate murder plot involving his stunning wife and mother to their eight children. Shock and outrage tear through a Utah community as his own adult daughters, beauties on their own, are leading the charge to keep their dad behind bars.

The victim, a former beauty queen named Michelle MacNeill suddenly dies after her doctor/husband forces her to undergo a facelift which her kids say she didn`t want. Her doctor hubby claims she slipped and fell in the bedroom bathtub. The coroner first ruled she died of natural causes -- an accidental drowning. But her daughters, Alexis and Rachel never believed that. They say their mom was murdered by their own dad who is leading a secret double life, hiding a long standing affair with this younger woman named Gypsy, who he eventually brought into the house as the so-called nanny.

Listen to Dr. Martin MacNeill`s incredibly dramatic 911 call.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DR. MARTIN MACNEILL: I need -- I need an ambulance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ok, what`s the problem sir? We need medical. Sir, what`s wrong?

MACNEILL: My wife`s fallen in the bathtub.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ok, is she conscious?

MACNEILL: She`s not. I`m a physician. I need help.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, sir, I need you to calm down. Sir, I can`t understand you. Can you calm down just a little bit? Did you get her out of the water?

MACNEILL: I can`t. I just let the water out. She`s (inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s under the water?

MACNEILL: She`s under the water. Now woman, would you get me an ambulance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ok, sir, the ambulance has been paged. They`re on their way, ok? Do not hang up.

MACNEILL: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What? Sir?

(END AUDIO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, dial tone. What do we make of that? Dr. MacNeill says he finds his wife unconscious, submerged underwater. In a minute we`re going to tell what`s very creepy about that 911 call. The dial tone`s a hint.

Also brand new information on the well-known doctor who apparently was telling lies stretching all the way back to his college days and had a secret rap sheet nobody knew anything about. Is it possible the brilliant Dr. MacNeill drugged and drowned his stunning wife so he could replace her with a younger woman, or was this a terrible accident?

We have a fantastic panel tonight, and we`ve added the famous Judge Larry Seidlin to the panel.

But first straight out to reporter Paige Fieldsted of the "Daily Herald", Paige, tell us about the theory that the affair, the sexual affair, the secret mistress/nanny could be behind the alleged murder plot.

PAIGE FIELDSTED, REPORTER, "DAILY HERALD" (via telephone): Yes Jane. Well, just in a court hearing on Monday prosecutors talked about how Martin MacNeill may be having an affair for up to three years before his wife died.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Did you say 20? Did you say 20? Speak up if you could, Paige. 20 years he was having an affair?

FIELDSTED: Up to three years.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: 30?

FIELDSTED: Three.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Three. Oh three years.

FIELDSTED: Yes, sorry.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok. All right. Yes, speak up. Thank you. Three years. Thank you, ma`am. Ok, continue on.

FIELDSTED: And prosecutors also said in the same hearing that Gypsy Willis had told a couple friends or roommates that she wanted to replace Michelle MacNeill. Now the defense attorneys say that this has nothing to do with Martin MacNeill. He never knew of any statements like that. He never knew that Gypsy Willis wanted to replace Michelle. That Martin MacNeill has nothing to do with these allegations.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, it`s a wild story. And look at this so called nanny named Gypsy. Within two weeks of his wife`s sudden death in the bathtub, a week after having a facelift that she didn`t want but her husband had pressured her into getting, the widower, Dr. MacNeill moved his much younger secret mistress into the house and told the kids she was their new nanny.

Listen to what their older daughters told ABC`s "20/20" about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXIS SOMERS, DAUGHTER OF MICHELLE MACNEILL: She walked into the house like she owned the place. And then when I questioned my dad and said what`s going on he said, "Oh, she`s a guest in our home. How dare you question me?" He said "If you fight me I`m going to get you thrown out of medical school." He started threatening me. "I`m going to take you down."

RACHEL MACNEILL, DAUGHTER OF MICHELLE MACNEILL: I was told I need to leave the home because I wasn`t nice to Gypsy.

SOMERS: We were pushed out of the house by my dad.

(CROSSTALK)

SOMERS: I didn`t even have shoes on. Not even a phone.

R. MACNEILL: He wanted to make it known that it was either Gypsy or his children, and he chose the nanny --

SOMERS: Yes.

R. MACNEILL: -- the nanny.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Unbelievable. Straight out to "The Lion`s Den". Oh my gosh, relationship expert Simone Bienne, got to ask you about that. I mean bringing in the mistress as the nanny?

BIENNE: Oh my goodness. I mean Jane, this is a story that makes "Fatal Attraction" look like Bambi. It is sadistic with a capital S. This guy is good. He is so good. He is a con man from start to finish. It makes my stomach turn.

He`s clearly covering up all of his ways, and I`m sorry to be judgmental here, but quite frankly what we hear about Gypsy -- I`m sorry if I`m being slanderous -- but anybody who abuses animals in my view is a psychopath. She`s gone off the -- she goes in there cold. How can she do that to another woman?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Look, here`s the thing. They look so perfect. They look so perfect, this couple and their eight children.

And we`re just getting started. You will not believe. Some of them are adopted. Some of them he allegedly sent back to the Ukraine, one of them. And then allegedly took that little kid`s identity and tried to give it to Gypsy so she could create a new identity and get the house that the wife used to live in. Oh my gosh.

Stay right there. We`ll be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I do believe that she wanted to go to Cancun with Travis Alexander because as typical borderline personality disorder people do, she had made Travis her entire world. She has co-opted his friends. She had co-opted his career.

So when everybody in her world is going to Cancun and he says I`m not taking you and I`m taking another girl that was enough to make her head explode. And she created, I believe, a blackmail tape that she, I believe, played for Travis Alexander and said, "If you don`t take me to Cancun, everybody, including your bishop and the women you`re chasing will hear this raunchy tape and you will suffer." And he said, "No. You`re evil. You`re the worst thing that ever happened to me. But I`m not taking you to Cancun," and that`s why she decided to kill him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How old is your wife?

M. MACNEILL: My wife is 50 years old. She just had surgery a couple of days -- a week ago.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What kind of surgery did she have?

M. MACNEILL: She had a facelift.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She had a facelift?

M. MACNEILL: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ok. Do you know how to do CPR?

M. MACNEILL: I`m doing it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ok. Do not hang --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Straight out to "The Lion`s Den". And Judge Larry Seidlin, you have presided over so many crazy cases, this one really takes the cake. According to authorities the doctor/hubby calls 911 but repeatedly hangs up before giving the address. As soon as they say, give us the address -- beep, beep, beep -- what do you make of it?

JUDGE LARRY SEIDLIN, FORMER STATE COURT JUDGE: This guy is a complete fruit cup. He lives a life of deception, manipulation, contradiction.

Here`s the issue. Can you trust somebody who cheats on the significant other? Can you be in business with a guy or a woman that is cheating on their partner? What are they going to do to you? They`ll slice you up like a corned beef. I don`t trust people that are cheating on their partner, someone who is supposed to be the closest person to them. What are they going to do to you?

This guy is a serial cheater. He`s an adulterer. Jimmy Carter, our former president, said you can have adultery in your heart, just don`t perform it. You can think some thoughts of being with someone else, but don`t do it. It`s bad. It`s very bad.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Judge Seidlin --

SEIDLIN: Yes.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: -- he brought the mistress into the home disguised as the nanny.

SEIDLIN: Yes, this is one sick puppy, and he may plead guilty to these offenses.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: There`s no indication of that. Wait, wait, wait a second.

J. Wyndal Gordon, my understanding is that he fought tooth and nail to have this case thrown out. If it weren`t for his adult daughters demanding that he be prosecuted he would be walking free possibly.

J. WYNDAL GORDON, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes. I agree with that, and I take a different approach to this case. Look, he`s been dating this woman for three years. Why kill her in 2007? Second of all, do you really have to kill to take on a new wife in Mormon country?

People grieve differently so the fact that he brought in another woman into the house two weeks after his wife`s death, he actually -- he did try to pull a ruse on his daughters so that they would accept her into the home. But the fact that he brought her in, he`s probably a guy who needs comfort.

And with regard to the telephone conversations, he was getting upset because he was a physician and they were asking whether or not he knew CPR. So there are a lot of reasonable explanations for his conduct.

And, you know, I would leave this one up to the jury. I think there`s a lot to this case and it could go either way.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`m leaving it all up to the jury. But that doesn`t stop us from debating in "The Lion`s Den". We have more on the other side.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ok. Is she conscious?

M. MACNEILL: She`s not. I`m a physician. I need help.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, sir. I need you to calm down. Sir, I can`t understand you. Ok? Can you calm down just a little bit?

(END AUDIO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Time for Pet of the Day, send your pet pics to hlntv.com/jane. Sadie -- oh, you are just perts (ph). And ah oh, I love you -- mice are people too, as far as I`m concerned. Saber and Katana, you`ve got a love-fest going on -- look at that couple, so perfect. And Tucker -- you say, "I ride alone and I`m hanging in the grass."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: The murder trial of this well-known doctor/lawyer -- yes, he`s also a lawyer -- in the death of his wife, set to happen soon. He allegedly had a whole string of lies, which dated all the way back to his college years. Listen to what this private eye told ABC`s "20/20".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It appears to me that instead of taking his transcript and altering it, he got somebody else`s. The transcript was totally falsified.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Falsified?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Falsified.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was completely fake?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Completely fake. His entire career is based on falsified transcripts from different colleges.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, so then how did he go about practicing medicine?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The guy is brilliant. I`m not saying that he`s not smart. He just --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Didn`t take the necessary classes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And he lied.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Straight out to "The Lion`s Den". Heather Hansen, criminal defense attorney, prosecutors are saying this guy has been a con man his whole life and his family had no idea.

HEATHER HANSEN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: He definitely had been a con man his whole life. He cheated his way through college. He cheated his way into medical school. He has used, as you stated earlier, he used his daughter`s ID to create a fake ID. I mean without a doubt, Jane, he`s a pathological liar.

Whether that also makes him a murderer is something as you said earlier that the jury is going to decide. And they have a whole lot of circumstantial evidence, but very, very little direct evidence here.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, here`s what gets me. Ok, he convinces his wife to have a facelift, all right? Then he`s responsible for giving his wife the medication after she has the facelift. And guess what they found, she was eight days out of the facelift surgery, and they found four different drugs in her system, including Valium, Percocet, Ambien, and another one I can`t pronounce.

All right, Joe Gomez, what does that tell you?

JOE GOMEZ: Well, I can`t even tell you what that tells me, Jane, it`s so absurd.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`ll tell you what that -- you don`t need those drugs eight days after surgery. All those drugs shouldn`t be combined together.

GOMEZ: Absolutely not.

(CROSSTALK)

(CROSSTALK)

GORDON: It could tell you that his wife is abusing prescription medication as well. So you know this thing goes either way.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Really?

GOMEZ: He`s a physician. He`s a physician. He`s taking care of his wife and he doesn`t know what she`s taking and she`s taking a hot bath and he`s not going to watch her.

(CROSSTALK)

GORDON: -- all kinds of medications within their home. I mean anybody who`s friends with a physician or who knows some will know that they stockpile --

GOMEZ: But this is his wife.

(CROSSTALK)

HANSEN: Jane, Jane -- They don`t know the cause of the death. Jane, the problem is, they don`t know the cause of the death. This is five years ago. It was originally attributed to natural causes. It wasn`t until recently that they had a new forensic medical examiner give a new opinion. We`ve seen how that works at trials. It does not go over well. Changes in causes of death don`t go over well with juries.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And Judge Seidlin?

SEIDLIN: Yes.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: The final word.

SEIDLIN: This doctor could have worked out with Michael Jackson. He would have fit that threshold of what Michael Jackson needed. We`re surrounded by nuts on this earth. And you`ve got to be careful who you let into your home. That`s the name and the game. Be very careful who you let in, because --

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Be careful who you sleep with. More on the other side.

SEIDLIN: What`s that?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Be careful who you sleep with.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: More on this story tomorrow.

Nancy Grace is up next.

END