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Nancy Grace
Arizona 8-Year-Old Missing From Bedroom
Aired September 03, 2014 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight, live Bullhead City, Arizona suburbs, an 8-year-old little girl just reported missing. She`s just a 2nd
grader, snatched from her own bedroom. Bombshell tonight. Her parents hysterical, frantic to find little Bella. Tonight, we join the search for
8-year-old Bella.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where is 8-year-old Isabella, missing from her Arizona home in the middle of the night?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was no longer in her bed or anywhere to be found in the residence. Actively searching nearby parks and river. Help
look for this girl.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And to Glendon (ph), Minnesota, a mother of three arrested for DUI. And catch this. When Mommy arrested, she still has three Jell-O
shots stuffed in her pockets. In the last hour, Jell-O shot mom in court.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Minnesota mother of three is due in court following her latest arrest for drunk driving. She reportedly has
bloodshot eyes, slurs her speech and smells like alcohol. Inside her pockets, they say they found three Jell-O shots.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) three Jell-O shots -- that would be the equivalent of another three full drinks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, shocking reports a little 5-year-old kindergarten girl viciously attacked on the kindergarten playground, leaving little Ava
Lynn (ph) with horrific facial injuries. Tonight, her devastated mother blasts the school`s claim it was just an accident, demanding justice after
kindergarten classmates kick her 5-year-old little girl near death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bruised and swollen face of 5-year-old Ava Lynn Harris (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lacy (ph) Harris reportedly claims her daughter, Ava Lynn, came home and said another student kicked her in the face
repeatedly until she fell off the playground slide. What happened to Ava Lynn at the playground?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight, live to Bullhead City, Arizona, suburbs, an 8-year- old little girl just reported missing. She`s just a 2nd grade girl, snatched from her own bedroom. Well, tonight, her parents hysterical,
frantic to find little Bella. And tonight, we join the search for 8-year- old Bella.
Straight out to Dan O`Donnell, anchor with WISN. Dan, I`m not quite understanding how this whole thing fits together. And the parents are so
distraught, I can`t get a coherent story about what happened, except she`s at home, last seen around 11:00 or 11:30, 11:40. And she`s going to bed or
in bed. What happened?
DAN O`DONNELL, WISN: Well, what police are telling us is that little Isabella went to bed sometime around 11:40. That`s when she was last seen
inside the house. The 911 call came in at about 1:30 AM, a couple hours later, the parents frantic that Isabella wasn`t in her bed, wasn`t in her
bedroom and wasn`t in the house at all.
GRACE: Hold on. We`re showing a church (ph), a photo -- please go back to the last photo of little Bella in church. You can see her standing
there in her little local church. Here she is in her hiking outfit. Take a look at this little girl, 8-year-old Bella. To all of you moms and dads
out there, this child in the home, fixed (ph), ready for bed, last seen -- spends the night in the room with her sister. The sister gets up around
1:00 AM and notices Bella is gone.
Take a look at this 8-year-old girl. She`s just in the 2nd grade. Tonight, she needs our help. Where is Bella, just reported missing in the
last hours?
Dan O`Donnell, you were telling me about when she was reported missing.
O`DONNELL: Yes. The 911 call came in just after the sister reported that she wasn`t in the bed. At first, it was thought, OK, you know, she
went to the bathroom or something like that. The parents did a complete search of the house, they say, and then called 911 when they couldn`t find
Bella anywhere at about 1:00, 1:30 AM.
GRACE: Out to the lines. Hi, Michelle. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just quickly, Nancy, please. Could it possibly maybe be a neighbor who`s peeping through the window?
GRACE: Well, let me tell you what I know, Michelle. This is all unfolding as we`re going to air. We don`t have the full story yet. The
parents are totally distraught. They haven`t been speaking publicly right now. Joining me in just a few moments, though, is Bella`s grandmother, who
has been helping raise her. She stays with her grandmother quite often.
But Michelle, I know that family friends had been over that night. I know that. I know that there is apparently no sign of a forced entry. You
know, a lot of us, when we were growing up, we didn`t lock the doors or the windows. We didn`t think anything about it. We`d go to sleep with the
windows open, with the screen -- screen window up. Could that have happened here? Remember, this little girl, Michelle, is sleeping in the
room with her sister.
Dan O`Donnell with us, anchor with WISN. Dan, isn`t it true that little Bella sleeps with her older sister? The sister is, like, 10 years
old?
O`DONNELL: Yes, that`s what we believe.
GRACE: OK. Dan, another question, because my children, they sleep in the same room. But if one of them gets up and leaves the room, the other
one does not wake up. That does not wake them up. So if someone came in that room and got the girl and left with her, that does not mean the 10-
year-old girl would wake up.
OK, so Dan O`Donnell, we keep breaking in with more questions. Go ahead. Tell me what you know.
O`DONNELL: Well, what we know so far is that after little Bella went to bed sometime around 10:30, 10:40, or possibly even later than that, she
was last seen by her family inside the house. About two hours later, she was reported missing. And the last thing she was (ph) seen, obviously,
would be bed clothes, dark-colored shorts, a green tank top. She would possibly be barefoot if, in fact, she was outside for a prolonged period of
time. The family as you said, Nancy, just incredibly distraught because they have no clue what happened to her.
GRACE: OK, I`m hearing in my ear we are just now being joined by Chief Brian Williamson, the Bullhead City Police Department chief. Chief,
thank you for being with us. Chief, I understand that there`s also a vehicle nearby the home that`s got crime scene tape around it and it`s
being processed. Why?
CHIEF BRIAN WILLIAMSON, BULLHEAD CITY POLICE (via telephone): We currently have that area, Nancy, blocked off because we are conducting a
criminal investigation and we are conducting another search of the house in the area. And that`s just part of the procedure and what we do.
GRACE: There`s the car we`re seeing. Our sources there on the ground have spotted this car, and they`re telling us it`s surrounded by crime
scene tape. Chief Williamson, who does that car belong to?
WILLIAMSON: I do not know the answer to that question right now, Nancy.
GRACE: What is the significance of the car with crime scene tape around it?
WILLIAMSON: I can`t see what you`re seeing. But the areas of the house where I was just out with some other media does have crime scene tape
around it because we are treating it like a crime scene.
GRACE: Oh, OK. We were wondering if that car had special significance. With me is Chief Brian Williamson, and also taking your
calls. Chief, a lot of questions, and I know some of it you may not be able to release. But is it true that Bella sleeps in the same room with
her 10-year-old sister?
WILLIAMSON: That is the information that we have been given.
GRACE: OK. Is there a window in Bella`s room?
WILLIAMSON: I believe so, yes.
GRACE: Was there any forced entry spotted on the window?
WILLIAMSON: There were no signs of forced entry into the house.
GRACE: OK. Was the window open? Did they sleep with the window open at night?
WILLIAMSON: I do not have the answer to that question.
GRACE: Question. Do they have a burglar alarm system in the home?
WILLIAMSON: To my knowledge, there is no burglar alarm system in the house.
GRACE: OK. Any other siblings in the home?
WILLIAMSON: There were other children in the house, as well as adults. And I do have information, Nancy, that there was no open window in
that room.
GRACE: Oh, good to know. No open window, no window left open in the room. And I`m just assuming there`s a front door and a back door. Are
there any other doors in the home other than those two?
WILLIAMSON: No. Those are the points of entry into the house.
GRACE: OK. And the time she was last seen going to bed, we think around 11:00-ish at night, were other people still awake? Did she go off
to bed and everybody went to bed, or did the other people stay awake?
WILLIAMSON: From the information that I have, there were other people in the house, some had left, some had come in, and that there were other
people awake in the house at that time.
GRACE: OK. So I know family friends.
Everybody. I`m talking to Chief Brian Williamson. For those of you just joining us, an 8-year-old little girl is missing, Bella. Take a look
at her, Isabella Grogan-Cannella missing tonight out of her own home. She was last seen going to bed. She was wearing dark-colored shorts and a
green ruffled sparkly tank top. That`s what she wanted to sleep in that night.
Now, I know family friends were over at the home, Chief Williamson. Were any of them men?
WILLIAMSON: There were males in the house, yes.
GRACE: Males in the house. Now, I know there`s the husband. Who are the other males, do we know? Were they relatives or just friends?
WILLIAMSON: There was at least another male who was a friend known to Bella and the family as an uncle, but was not a blood uncle.
GRACE: Not a blood uncle. I`m hearing in my ear the grandmother is about to join us. Hold on. Chief Williamson, I want to clarify what you
just said. New York was talking in my ear. You said the other male in the home was an uncle but not a blood uncle.
WILLIAMSON: He`s a family friend known to Bella as an uncle, but he`s not a blood uncle.
GRACE: And has he been questioned?
WILLIAMSON: Everybody that was in the house has been questioned, yes.
GRACE: Has anybody agreed to take a polygraph?
WILLIAMSON: I can`t release that information at this time.
GRACE: OK, I`m going to take that as you have asked them and they said no. Now, I know that may not be entirely accurate, but I know that
you will be asking everybody in that house to take a poly just as SOP, standard operating procedure.
We all know that from Marc Klaas, founder of Klaas Kids Foundation. His daughter, Polly, was taken from the home. The first thing he did was
say, Hey, take my polygraph, take my DNA, take my fingerprints so you can move on. All investigations start at the center. The center is the home
and who was there that night.
We are taking your calls. But right now, in addition to Chief Williamson, I`m being joined by Toni Page. This is little Bella`s
grandmother. Ms. Page, thank you for being with us. Ms. Page, are you with me?
TONI PAGE, GRANDMOTHER (via telephone): Yes, I`m here.
GRACE: Ms. Page, thank you for being with us. I know that, like myself -- my grandmother helped raise me, my grandmother Lucy. And you
have helped raise Bella. What can you tell me about Bella? Is she very trusting? Would she go with somebody she doesn`t know?
PAGE: Yes, I think she would go if they -- you know, if it was, like, (INAUDIBLE) these are my friends or these are my Mommy`s friends and my
Mommy said to go with them. Yes, she would go.
GRACE: Let me ask you, do you -- I don`t think there`s any possibility that this child ran away. She has not been classified as a
runaway. She has never run away before. She has never left home before. She`s only 8 years old. But let`s just get that off the table.
With me, Isabella`s grandmother, who has helped raise her, like many of us with extended family. Do you think little Bella would ever have run
away, Ms. Page?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At approximately 1:30 this morning, police were called to the 2400 block of Lakeside Drive. The residence there reported
that Isabella Grogan-Cannella, an 8-year-old girl, was missing. She was no longer in her bed or anywhere to be found in the residence.
Since that time, we`ve been involved in a very active search for Bella. Bella is 4-foot-8, approximately 80 to 90 pounds, with shoulder-
length dirty blond hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a green ruffled sparkly tank top and dark-colored shorts. She is most likely
barefoot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I can hardly even stand looking at the pictures of little Bella, the one where she`s got the little gap in her teeth. My little
girl, Lucy, just pulled -- had this tooth right here pulled over the Labor Day holiday. I`m just thinking they`re almost the same age. I cannot even
imagine going in her bedroom and her gone out of her bed.
Tonight, please join us in the search for Bella. You see the tip line flashing there, 928-763-1999. For those of you just joining us, Isabella
Grogan-Cannella missing from her own home, this little 8-year-old girl gone, missing around bedtime, goes to bed around 11:00 at night, last seen.
She insisted on wearing a green ruffled sparkly tank top to bed that night and dark-colored shorts, definitely barefoot. Where is little Bella? No
sign of forced entry in the home.
With me, not only her grandmother and Dan O`Donnell, anchor WISN, but joining us is Chief Brian Williamson to give us the very latest. Chief
Williamson, isn`t there a huge park or playground of some sort near her home?
WILLIAMSON: Yes, Nancy. Right across the street from Bella`s house is Rotary Park, which is a very large park complex with soccer fields and
running trails and things of that nature.
GRACE: Have you guys been focusing on that park? Has there been a shoulder-to-shoulder search of it?
WILLIAMSON: That obviously has been a focus from the beginning. We have searched it several times. We have many search teams from several
different counties in Arizona here. We`re using air assets to search that park, as well. We have a river -- the Colorado River borders that park.
And we have boating units assisting in that search, as well, obviously, as searchers on the ground.
GRACE: Everyone, please help us find Bella. Especially disturbing to me, Chief Williamson, is the body of water that is adjacent to the -- it`s
not really a playground. It`s humongous. It`s a huge, huge complex of playground and ballfields. And there you see a part of the Colorado River
running alongside. There is brush. There`s trees. This girl could be anywhere, this 8-year-old barefoot little girl who insisted on wearing her
green ruffled sparkly tank top to bed that night.
Chief Williamson, what does your search entail right now? What are you guys trying to do to find Bella?
WILLIAMSON: We are conducting a very extensive search of those areas that you just mentioned, as well as other open areas in that vicinity. We
also have teams that have come into Bullhead City to assist with door-to- door searches. And we have an active investigation going on, where we`re following leads, talking to people, conducting interviews, anything we can
possibly do to get information to help us all find Bella.
GRACE: Chief Williamson, when did they first notice she was gone? It was the little girl`s sister, right, that noticed?
WILLIAMSON: That`s what we are told, yes, around 11:00 o`clock, and the little girl`s sister noticed, yes.
GRACE: OK, I thought she went missing a little after 11:00. The 10- year-old sister noticed around 1:00 AM when she went to the bathroom.
WILLIAMSON: The information I have is we got the -- she was last seen at 11:00, you`re correct. We got the call at 1:30 in the morning.
GRACE: OK. Who called 911, may I ask?
WILLIAMSON: The mother.
GRACE: Excuse me?
WILLIAMSON: We are told the mother called.
GRACE: The mother called 911. And did she give any details in the 911 call that we have not heard tonight on our program?
WILLIAMSON: I do not believe so.
GRACE: OK. When the mother called, obviously, they were searching for the girl. Did they notice that a door or window was open at that time?
WILLIAMSON: I don`t have the answer to that question, Nancy.
GRACE: Everyone, little Bella missing. Shawn Parcells joining us, forensic consultant out of Kansas City. Shawn, what should investigators
be looking for right now in the home before forensic evidence is destroyed?
SHAWN PARCELLS, FORENSICS CONSULTANT: Well, they`re doing the right things. And they got to treat that house as a...
GRACE: Whoa! Whoa! Wait, wait, wait, wait! What do you mean they`re doing the right things? What right things? Hey, you know what?
Everybody watching this show is a legal eagle. You can`t just say they`re doing the right things. What are the right things, according to you,
Professor?
PARCELLS: They need to be treating that home as a crime scene, and they need to process it as such. So they need to be looking for clues of a
struggle. Is there blood there? If so, they need to be picking that up to test it for DNA. They need to look at every person in that household as a
suspect, and hopefully, getting their consent to give their DNA to be able to cross-match certain things. And they also need to do...
GRACE: You know, that`s an excellent point, Shawn. Hold on, Shawn Parcells. I`m going to follow up on what you just said with Chief
Williamson.
Chief, that leads me to a question, talking about the home as a crime scene because she was taken from the home. Was her bed slept in? When you
went in there, had her bed actually been slept in?
WILLIAMSON: I`m not going to comment on the particulars of the investigation at this time. Our teams are out there. We do have
investigators with the FBI who are assisting us. We have evidence collection teams. And we are looking at all angles and collecting all
available evidence and all information that`ll help us find Bella.
GRACE: Chief Williamson, now -- now, you`ve got -- now you`ve got me suspicious because you`re not telling me if her bed had been slept on. And
that makes me wonder, why would he not tell me that. Can I ask you, have you searched the home with luminol, with prints?
WILLIAMSON: Nancy, it`s not that I`m trying to avoid the question or make you suspicious. It`s simply that the teams are out there conducting
this investigation. Obviously, I`m not the person on the ground conducting the investigation, and I don`t want to feel (ph) -- I don`t want to speak
for what they`re doing and what techniques they`re using at this time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Breaking news tonight. We are just learning about an 8-year- old little girl that goes missing from her home. For those of you that are joining us by Sirius radio, by XM, please be on the lookout for 8-year-old
Bella -- 8-year-old Bella, 4 feet, 8 inches, about 80 pounds, shoulder- length blond hair, big blue eyes, gap between her front two teeth, last seen in green ruffled sparkly tank top, dark-colored shorts, barefoot. She
just started the 2nd grade. A 2nd grade little girl is gone.
With me is Chief Brian Williamson and the little girl`s grandmother, Toni Page. Justin Freiman, what more can you tell me? I understand police
are going door to door and using a helicopter. What about sex offenders? How many in the area?
JUSTIN FREIMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Nancy, we`ve looked and there are actually multiple sex offenders in the area, 42
registered sex offenders in a 10-mile radius.
GRACE: OK, everybody, take a look at this. All you have to do -- and get me the info, Liz, about the Web site -- is put in your zip code and
find out how many registered sex offenders are in your area. That`s registered. That doesn`t mean convicted, arrested, suspected. These are
just the ones that have already been convicted and have risen to the level of registered sex offenders.
That many that close to Bella`s home. With me, Chief Brian Williamson from the Bullhead City Police Department. Also with me, Shawn Parcells,
forensic consultant.
Shawn, you were telling me what you believe as a forensic professor what should be done. Tell me.
PARCELLS: Well, first of all you got to start at the house. That house is a crime scene right now. And you`ve got to process it from top to
bottom. You`ve got to look at every person in that house as a possible suspect. You`ve got to try to get their swab from their cheek to collect
their DNA. You`ve got to look at luminol and other procedures to see if something was cleaned up or if there was blood or some sort of assault
occurred. And the other thing to look at is habits of this girl in the bedroom. I`ve got two kids the same age so my thoughts go out to the
family. My kids are very habit-forming in their bedroom. Things have their place. So what was out of place? What told the mom and dad
something`s not right and that -- what could have occurred? And those are all clues to look into to possibly figure out what happened to Isabella.
GRACE: Right now, Chief Williamson isn`t even telling me if her bed was ever slept in. So he`s a little bit of a tough nut to crack. Chief
Williamson, that`s not altogether a bad thing. Can you tell me if this child had a cell phone?
WILLIAMSON: Nancy, I`m not trying to be a tough nut to crack. As you know through your experience, these investigations are fluid, and there`s
people on the ground actually doing the investigation. As the chief of police, I can`t sit in the background and comment on what they may be doing
and what they may not be doing
GRACE: Yes. Right.
WILLIAMS: We have the best people we have out there, a team of FBI agents, evidence collection. We have people that specialize in this, the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is on scene. We are doing everything by the book, everything that needs to be done. And our
focus is bringing Bella home.
GRACE: And Chief Williamson, believe you me, we are not trying to tell you how to run your investigation. We just like to talk about
forensics. That`s what we do. That`s what we`re all about. Chief, you mentioned FBI and NICMA are there. What brings the FBI into this
investigation?
WILLIAMSON: When we put out our first press release to get information out to the public, the special agent in charge in Flagstaff
immediately called me and said we`re here to help. You can have the full resources of our office. I took him up on it. They`ve provided experts in
this field, experts in evidence collection. And it`s so important to us to bring Bella home that we`ll take any help we can get.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: And now to Glendon, Minnesota, a mother of three arrested for DUI. Catch this. When mommy`s arrested, she still has three jell-o shots
stuffed down in her pockets. I guess she was going to have that later when she was getting booked in. In the last hours, jell-o shot mom in court.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A mother of three is pulled over after allegedly speeding and swerving across the road. She told them she`d already been
arrested for driving drunk five times before.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three shots is like having three margaritas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Inside her pockets they say they found three jell- o shots.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a woman that`s clearly very, very committed to drinking and driving.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: This is mommy`s sixth DUI? Jay Thomas, host of the Jay Thomas Show, WDAY, what`s going to make police happy? Until she kills somebody?
She`s got three kids she drags around in the car with her. Now she still has three jell-o shots stuffed down her hoody. When was she going to enjoy
those? On the way to her book-in? I mean, her sixth DUI?
THOMAS: This what is gets people upset, Nancy. You know, you hear all the complaints. We got to do something with DUIs. We got to do
something with people driving while intoxicated. Here`s a woman that`s had six DUIs between two counties. Had her license pulled because she`s a
threat to public safety. And the prosecuting attorney cuts a plea deal with this woman. Are you kidding me? She should be in jail for double,
triple what they gave her!
GRACE: I`m not a firm believer in any kind of a sweet deal. To Michael Christian, I know that she had three more jell-o shots stuffed in
her hoody pocket. What`s a jell-o shot? Explain why it`s so, so potent.
CHRISTIAN: Nancy, it`s a combination of jell-o. Instead of water you would make normal jell-o with, you use liqueur, normally vodka because it
doesn`t have a taste. The thing is when you drink these things--
GRACE: Are you saying vodka is an liqueur? That`s news to me, that`s breaking news. Oh, liquor? Because you said liqueur, and that`s very
important.
CHRISTIAN: Yes, I did. Vodka is usually what they use.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Get your facts together, Michael Christian. We`re talking about her sixth DUI. Cheryl McCollum, she`s not making this with schnapps.
Cheryl McCollum, former state director of MADD, director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, this woman is so plowed she still has
three jell-o shots. Let me see what she had in her pocket, please. Stuffed in her pockets on her sixth DUI. She`s out of her gourd, Cheryl.
MCCOLLUNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s out of her gourd, Nancy. The reason she`s wanting the jell-o shots later is because that liquor goes directly
into her system very, very quickly. And the vodka is because she is a seasoned drunk driver, which means the alcohol will not be detected on her
breath.
GRACE: The reality is, Cheryl McCollum, that for every single time you`re caught drunk driving, how many times have you been drunk driving?
MCCOLLUNIDENTIFIED MALE: At least 80. So in her case, Nancy, we`re talking about an astronomical number. This woman needs to go to prison and
she needs to get some help.
GRACE: Okay, Michael Christian, get out your bar recipe pocket detailer and tell me what`s in a jell-o shot.
CHRISTIAN: You put boiling water and jell-o, like you were going to make jell-o. But rather than using cold water, which sets up the jell-o,
you use some sort of cold liquor. Normally vodka. You slurp these things down when the jell-o sets up. And the problem is it just tastes like jell-
o. You don`t really taste the vodka. And boy, they become real deadly real fast.
GRACE: Michael Christian, you did better that time. What were you reading directly off your DUI app off your iPhone?
CHRISTIAN: I was actually remembering my college days, I`m sorry to say.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Joining me Eleanor Odom, death penalty qualified prosecutor, former senior attorney with the National District
Attorneys Association. Also with me defense attorney in the Atlanta jurisdiction, Peter Odom. Okay, Eleanor, I don`t understand this. Are
they actually trying to say that because her DUI convictions and arrests have been in other jurisdictions, what, they don`t count in that
jurisdiction? That`s not true.
E. ODOM: No, it`s not true, Nancy. Every one counts. Because of that, you should get increased punishment, of course, for each new DUI.
Because it`s a huge problem and she could have killed someone.
GRACE: What`s irritating me so much about it, Peter Odom, is she`s got three children that she carts around in the backseat all the time. And
according to Cheryl McCollum and statistics, she`s been drunk driving around 480 times that we can statistically extrapolate. So let`s hear your
defense. Let`s start with the jell-o shots stuffed down her pants.
P. ODOM: Well, Nancy, first of all, this is a woman that needs treatment. You talk about how she could have killed somebody.
GRACE: You say that every time I ask you anything.
P. ODOM: Let`s just be square.
GRACE: It could be a mass killer and you say they need treatment.
P. ODOM: You ask me for a defense. I`m telling you what a good defense attorney would offer in her defense. Frankly, the jell-o shots,
the six DUIs, those are tough facts. This is a negligent act. This is a woman that needs treatment.
GRACE: Did you say this is a negligent act?
P. ODOM: This is a negligent act, absolutely.
GRACE: Let me ask you a quick series of yes/no questions.
P. ODOM: Now I get to be cross-examined by Nancy Grace? I can hardly wait. I`m ready.
GRACE: Where do you think you are, in a courtroom? All right, good, let`s see how you can do. No. 1, do you think it was negligent or
unintentional that she walked into the bar? Yes, no.
P. ODOM: How do you know she was drinking at a bar? She could have made these at home.
GRACE: Do you think it was negligent or unintentional when she began drinking?
P. ODOM: Absolutely, Nancy, this is a negligent act.
GRACE: Okay. So you`re saying she didn`t intend to make the very first drink and down it? That was negligent?
P. ODOM: That`s not what I`m saying.
GRACE: Well, then be clear.
P. ODOM: Nancy, I can`t answer your question because you don`t know the facts, either. Was she drinking in a bar? Could someone handed her
these?
GRACE: I know she had a blood-alcohol way over the limit and that she had three jell-o shots stuffed down her pants in a hoody.
P. ODOM: You`re right. Terrible facts.
GRACE: Cheryl McCollum, let`s get some straight answers here. When people say that a DUI deadly crash was an accident, Cheryl, according to
me, and most DUI crash victims, you intend to take the first drink and the second drink and the third drink and the fourth drink. You intend to get
your car key and crank the car and put it in drive and get out on the road. All of those are intentional acts.
MCCOLLUNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s zero doubt that this was not intentional, Nancy. She set it up that way. She also knew she was driving
without a license. She set that up before she ever got the first drink in her body. Then she picks up a passenger. A man that was with her.
Everything she did that day was because she wanted to drink, and she didn`t care about the consequences.
GRACE: You know, Dr. Ish Major, board certified psychiatrist, author of "Little White Lies," Dr. Major, do you think that if she dries out
behind bars, that`s step one to rehabilitation?
MAJOR: You know, Nancy, that`s step one. You`re talking about six history of DUIs. What she really needs now is just the clean time to get
some sober thought, to really reflect on some of the consequences. Because it doesn`t seem like she`s had a lot of clean time or sober time.
GRACE: It`s time for her to have sober thought. Let me redirect you to the question. Can she have your so-called sober thought behind bars?
MAJOR: Well, Nancy, what she`s going to get behind bars are just the basics for detoxification to keep her from having any type of life-
threatening type of withdrawal.
GRACE: She won`t get any jell-o shots.
MAJOR: I don`t even know how that works in the pockets. But she`s going to get the minimum medications to keep her from having a seizure, any
kind of life-threatening withdrawal signs or confusion behind bars. She won`t get any therapy or treatment behind bars.
GRACE: Jay Thomas with the Jay Thomas Show, WDAY, did you tell me she`s getting a sweetheart deal?
THOMAS: She`s getting a sweetheart deal. Listen, she was charged with multiple accounts. She walks out of this thing, Nancy, with one
felony when she was charged with two felonies. She was also charged with giving a peace officer a false name, driving after cancellation of license.
Her license was yanked because she was considered a threat to public safety. She walks into the courtroom and walks out with one damn count of
DUI, gets three years, and gets credit for three months and five days served when she should be technically under Minnesota law if they would
have took this thing balls to the wall, she`d have been in prison for seven years and a $14,000 fine.
GRACE: Preach it!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Shocking reports. A little five-year-old kindergarten girl viciously attacked on the kindergarten playground leaving little Emma Lamm
(ph) with horrific facial injuries. Tonight, her devastated mother blasts the school`s claim it was just an accident. Mommy demanding justice after
kindergarten classmates kick her five-year-old girl near death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A mother is demanding answers after allegedly posting photos on her Facebook page, showing her daughter`s face severely
bruised after returning home from the school playground.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are no cameras outside in the recess area.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mother demanding answers. Went and spoke to police who are now reportedly investigating the incident.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I understand the school district claiming that it was just an accident, that she fell off of a playground thing like the slide or the
jungle gym. Those injuries don`t look that way to me. April Havens is joining me with Gulflive.com. April, what`s the story?
HAVENS: Well, basically we have the story of little Ava Lynn (ph). We know that she fell at the playground at her school, and her mother
reported it to the police, and we have the school saying that it was an accident and the mother saying that the child was kicked.
GRACE: Well, Matt Zarrell, according to the child, she was brutally kicked on the playground by playmates.
ZARRELL: Yes, Nancy. On a Facebook post, the mother says Ava Lynn told her she was kicked in the head repeatedly and the face causing her to
fall off of the playground slide.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: This child, according to the mom, beaten brutally on the kindergarten playground. Eleanor, those injuries are not consistent with a
fall off of a jungle gym.
E. ODOM: No, Nancy. If it was an accidental injury, you would see it mostly on bony prominences like your nose, your chin, elbows, knees. But
when you see those types of--
GRACE: Slow that down. Tell me that again.
E. ODOM: Well, if it`s an accident and somebody falls, they`re not going to fall on their eye. As you see in there with the bruises. They`re
going to put their hands out and maybe fall on their hands, on their knees, maybe their chin or their nose, because that`s what`s going to hit the
ground or the object first. But you can see where her injuries are, and those do not look like accidental injury. They look like inflicted. They
look like trauma, nonaccidental.
GRACE: Everyone, Eleanor Odom, death penalty qualified prosecutor, specializing on crimes -- in crimes on women and children. To Peter Odom,
of course the school, the (inaudible) school district is saying she fell. Yes, we know she fell. But she was kicked horrifically near death before
she fell. I know she fell. But she fell after a brutal kicking incident, Peter. What`s the school`s defense?
P. ODOM: Really, Nancy, it boils down to what the school knew and when did they know it. Was there someone from the school watching as this
child was kicked? And then did this school know that the children that kicked this poor young girl had violent tendencies?
GRACE: To April Havens, Gulflife.com, does this school keep adults on the playground while children are having recess, and are older kids allowed
to mingle with kindergartners?
HAVENS: From what I`m hearing, there were four adults present on the playground at the time of the incident. I`m not sure if they`re teachers
or assistants. But they do say there were four adults there.
GRACE: Well, they much have been enjoying a cup of coffee or chatting amongst themselves for all of this to happen. On the playground. A
kindergartner, this little girl is five years old. Sean Parcells, do you agree or disagree with Eleanor Odom and her assessment of this?
PARCELLS: I completely agree. When people fall, it`s going to be on bony prominences and areas that we see in typical falls. And I might add,
that if it`s one fall, which this was one fall, it`s going to be in one area if we even see that, depending on the makeup of the ground where this
child fell. Versus if we have areas that are covered in blunt force trauma type bruises like the eye, multiple areas on the face or even the arms if
she`s putting herself up for a defense like this, you have to really question how those got there.
GRACE: And (inaudible) no cameras on the playground, everybody is sticking together and agreeing she fell. But that`s not what the injuries
say. This mother is not letting it go.
Let`s stop and remember American hero, Army Sergeant Corey Clark, 25, Plant City, Florida, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on
Terrorism Service Medal, dreamed of culinary school, and opening a restaurant. Mother Renita, widow and high school sweetheart, Monica. Four
children. Corey Clark, American hero.
And tonight, a special good night from friends of the show, Chris, Sandy and Gwen. Aren`t they gorgeous? Everyone, a special good night from
our friend and colleague, Eleanor Odom, off to take a special job with the U.S. government in Washington, D.C. Walk slow and hurry back. Everyone,
I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
