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Jane Velez-Mitchell

Abduction Suspect Once Questioned for Murder; Officer Knocks Out Kid for Smoking; Where is Brandi Smith; Interview with Shannen Doherty

Aired October 09, 2014 - 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: Shocking breaking news is just coming in. We`re trying to sort it out. We are just now learning that Jesse Matthew,

the prime suspect in the vicious crimes against two Virginia co-eds on separate occasions, was interviewed by cops five long years ago right after

the abduction and murder, but cops didn`t connect the dots, apparently, until after the second coed was recently abducted.

We`re now learning Jesse Matthew was working as a cab driver the very night Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington was kidnapped. She later

turned up dead. And apparently cops knew that she had gotten into a cab. Had cops moved in on him sooner, could they have prevented the abduction of

missing coed Hannah Graham, who vanished just last month?

Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell coming to you live.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mathew is in custody in Galveston, Texas.

JESSE MATTHEW, SUSPECT: Sir, I`ve got a question for you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. is now in custody, charged with abducting missing UVA student Hannah Graham.

JOHN GRAHAM, HANNAH`S FATHER: She`s our only daughter. All we want to do now is to bring Hannah home safely. Please help us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Very shocking new information. We`re trying to sort this out. This just-released information could really blow the murder case

involving the wonderful and beloved coed, Morgan Harrington.

We`ve covered Morgan`s abduction and murder countless times, interviewing her parents repeatedly. We`ve never heard these explosive

details before.

Once again, Morgan vanished five years ago after attending a Metallica concert in Charlottesville. She left the arena. She couldn`t get back in

to meet up her friends, so she texted her friends she`d find her own way home.

Well, now, new reports say that cops knew Morgan had got into a taxi that night, and we`re now learning cops interviewed Jesse Matthew way back

then, because he was driving a cab that very night. Cops let him go. He was never named a suspect.

When Morgan`s body was found in a field, cops found mystery DNA on her body. Then cops connected that mystery DNA to a 2005 abduction and rape of

another woman who survived and helped police make this sketch. Many have commented this looks like Jesse Matthew, who didn`t have dreadlocks several

years ago? Could cops have made the connection sooner?

Now, years later, Matthew`s cab, apparently -- and we`re learning this -- just a couple of weeks ago, just two weeks ago, while they`re searching

for Hannah Graham, they found Matthew`s abandoned cab on a farm!

So much to sort out. What do you think all this? Call me: 1-877-JVM- SAYS, 1-877-586-7297. Join the conversation. Go to my Jane Velez-Mitchell Facebook page or talk to me on Twitter, @JVM.

My expert Lion`s Den panel absorbing all this new information, ready to debate, but first out to Courtney Stewart, editor at "C`ville Weekly."

Courtney, you`re the one who gave us the photo of Jesse Matthew driving a cab that you took as part of a feature story way back in 2007 before either

of these young women had vanished. And we`re going to show that photo of Jesse Matthew as the cab driver. There he is. You took that photo as part

of a feature story before either of these women disappeared.

What is your reaction and what are you learning in the Charlottesville area tonight about these stunning new developments?

COURTNEY STEWART, "C`VILLE WEEKLY" (via phone): There`s a number of things, a couple things I heard you say that I`m not 100 percent sure has

been confirmed. I -- the cab in the picture that you`re showing is a yellow cab. That was not the cab that he was driving, reportedly driving

the night that Morgan disappeared. That was a different cab company that he apparently switched over to. I think it was an Access Cab, and I

believe it was a van.

I have heard, you know, that cab drivers -- I`ve spoken to cab drivers that he was working that night. I do not know that there were witnesses or

anybody who actually saw her get in the cab. Nor did police say that they knew her to have gotten in the cab. And I haven`t heard that confirmed

today. I do know they got the cab that he was driving around that time and possibly that night, as you said, on a property out in the country and had

that in their possession for a couple of weeks, and I presume conducting extensive testing.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let me just ask you one thing. And yes, we`re sorting all this out. But when a cab disappears, they have medallions.

Isn`t that automatically suspicious? I mean, how does a cab just vanish and turn off -- turn up abandoned in a field? He wasn`t driving a cab

recently, to my knowledge. He had switched to another profession, was working as a patient`s aide at a hospital in the area. So how on earth

does a cab disappear without that setting off alarm bells right there?

STEWART: Well, there were a number of things. A number of details on that front that I`m looking to. That company went out of business. It had

changed hands. I believe that he owns that vehicle, as cab drivers often do, and they -- they work for a company.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh.

STEWART: So what happens to a cab like that when the person ceases to work for the company or the company goes out of business, that`s the answer

I`m not sure about. But I guess in this case...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let me jump in, because there`s so much here. I`m reading now from -- directly from NBCWashington.com, and so this is not our

reporting. Keep that in mind.

It says here -- I`m just reading -- "Following Morgan Harrington`s disappearance in 2009, police had interviewed dozens of cab drivers

including Matthew. One of those cab drivers told NBC-29 a Charlottesville detective told him Harrington had gotten into a taxi the night she

vanished. They said, yes, she did jump into a taxicab her last time being seen alive, this cab driver told NBC-29." So that`s what...

STEWART: Yes, I`ve seen him saying that, and I don`t doubt that that is his recollection. That`s not something that I recall ever hearing as

part of the reporting back at the time.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And that`s one of my shockers because Lisa Lockwood, investigator, and we`re going to go to our Lion`s Den panel now, look, it`s

not like New York City, where there`s thousands of cabs.

Charlottesville has a limited number of cab drivers. We don`t know exactly when detectives found out that Morgan Harrington had gotten into a

cab that night. But to me, that narrows down the suspect list to a very relative handful of people, namely the people who were driving cabs that

night. And so when I hear in this report that says that -- that they talked to Matthew that night. Matthew had worked as a cab driver in the

Charlottesville area the night Harrington had vanished. And that apparently -- and I`ll find it here, but had they talked to him, how come

they didn`t connect the dots? That`s what I want to know?

LISA LOCKWOOD, INVESTIGATION: That`s a great question. Why was he so quickly omitted from it?

Think about this. If they`re interviewing cab drivers, they`re thinking there was one of two ways that she got away from that location

when she was locked out. She`d find her own way. She was going to take public transportation or she was going to flag down a cab. If she had

flagged down a cab, there wouldn`t have been a dispatch to know at that location at that particular time Matthew had picked her up. If he`s an

independent and he was waiting outside, he had that opportunity to do that. Therefore, he did not have to notify dispatch of his location or when the

call terminated.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. But here`s the thing that I have to say, and I`ll bring in Loni Coombs, former prosecutor, on this. We know when

Morgan Harrington`s body was found, there was mystery DNA on that body. OK?

LONI COOMBS, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Yes.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Then, a couple years of later, I believe, but sometime thereafter, they connect that mystery DNA to the abduction and

rape of a 26-year-old unidentified woman who helped police come up with a sketch. And we can show you the sketch. We`ve shown it once, but let`s

show it again.

And again, so that mystery DNA connects to that abduction and rape. So at that point, there`s the sketch. And now let`s do the one where we

see the sketch and Jesse Matthew.

So my question is, since they knew he was driving a cab, since they found the mystery DNA on Morgan Harrington, they connected to an abduction

rape that has a sketch that seems to be, many have pointed out, looks like him. Why not back then a couple of years ago when this woman helped cops

make this sketch, go back to Jesse Matthew and get his DNA?

COOMBS: Yes. Exactly. And Jane, this is such an important point. When there are patterns of young women disappearing, law-enforcement

agencies need to work something to put these points together. Because as we look back on it and we see where the line goes now, it seems so clear.

But then, I`m sure they had notebooks and notebooks full of reports and information. And they may not have been...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: DNA is DNA. DNA is DNA.

COOMBS: Jane, here`s my point. Why didn`t they, at the time that they brought those cab drivers in to talk to them, including Jesse Matthew,

why didn`t they say, "Hey, we`d like a DNA sample"?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Exactly.

COOMBS: If they would had got the DNA sample from him that night, they would have connected it to the body when they found it, and they would

have arrested him back then, three months after she disappeared. Then he wouldn`t have been out here all these years later.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Simone Bienne, it`s worse than that, behavior expert. Remember, after this same man was connected to the disappearance of Hannah

Graham, who`s still missing -- and we`ll show you pictures of Hannah Graham. She disappeared on September 13 -- they started digging, and they

determined that this guy who had been -- there`s Hannah Graham, who`s still missing. And I hope cops leverage all this to try to find out where --

what he allegedly did with her after. They were last seen having drinks together.

But here`s the point. We started digging and we found out that back in 2002, this Jesse Matthew was accused of rape or sexual assault when he

was in college as a football player. No charges were ever filed. The women did not step forward to file the charges.

And then, a year later at another university, he was involved in a sexual assault investigation that never resulted in charges. Had they

investigated this cab driver from the get-go, right after the first abduction in 2009 that ended up in murder, they would have found all that.

SIMONE BIENNE, BEHAVIOR EXPERT: Yes. What is very chilling about this whole thing is, Jane, how many more missing women -- and we know there

are more unsolved cases in the area -- how many more missing women is this guy going to be linked to. What we know about serial killers, if he is

linked to Morgan`s death, as well, is that they go after women, they`re socially awkward, which we know about this guy, as well. He had very poor

boundaries. He was, you know, really -- he has this thing about power, using sadistic control over women.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Allegedly.

BIENNE: Allegedly.

Yes. And I just -- my heart goes out to every girl that is in college in Charlottesville now.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Sorry to jump in, because it`s breaking news. Nicky, Indiana, what do you have to say? Nicky, Indiana.

CALLER: Hi, Jane. I enjoy your show very much. Jane, do you know if this Jesse Matthew is being considered a suspect in the disappearance of a

young woman named Lauren Spear from Indiana university? A few years ago.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Not officially, no, but I can tell you every single woman whose case is unsolved, who has disappeared in what they call Route

29 corridor in this Virginia area, they are looking at him to see if there`s a connection.

Very quickly, as we move on, Darl (ph) on Twitter, "He`s very possibly a serial killer. So glad they got him off the streets."

Ashley on Facebook -- Facebook: "Sounds like a serial killer on our hands."

And you know, my question is it`s easy to armchair quarterback to cops. They`re working around the clock. But wow. It was just last month

that Hannah vanished after sitting next to -- after sitting next to this guy at a bar.

You know, had those dots been connected earlier, she could be sitting in her dorm room right now instead of God only knows where.

Next, disturbing video shows a plain-clothes cop knocking a teen out cold. You`ve got to see what happens. It`s unbelievable, really. See it

for yourself. We`re going to debate it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s just a cigarette.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wake him up. Wake him up. Wake him up. Wake him up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s not going to get up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now you`re going to jail. Now you`re done. Now you`re done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, shock and outrage. An unbelievable new video surfaces, two plain-clothes cops allegedly assaulting a 17-year-old,

because they thought his cigarette was a joint. They were wrong. Were these cops over the line? You decide.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can`t do that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was just a cigarette. It was just a cigarette.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh! You`re violent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, get it on film! (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Turn around.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s knocked out. Yes, he`s knocked out. You knocked him out! You knocked him out! You knocked him out! You knocked

him out! You knocked him out! You knocked him out!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You better wake up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You knocked him out!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You knocked him out. Wake him up. Wake him up! Wake him up!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You hit him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You going to jail.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wake him up! Wake him up!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wake him up!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s not going to sit up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, you`re going in now. Now you`ve done it. Now you`ve done it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Seventeen-year-old Marcel Hamer said it started when he and a friend were walking home from school. They say cops in plain

clothes jumped out of an unmarked van, jumped out, accused Marcel of smoking pot. He admits he took off running, but then he says he stopped.

The teen told the hospital he was, quote, pushed to the ground by the cops after he was handcuffed. The officer used his fist and punched him.

Now his family is seeking $5 million in damages, saying cops used excessive force and that this teen is suffering from headaches and memory problems.

The NYPD told us the case is being investigated by internal affairs and the officers are suspended without pay.

Our expert panel Lion`s Den fired up, ready to debate. Taylor Koss, criminal defense attorney, cops gone way too far?

TAYLOR KOSS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Way, way too far! Jane, this is outrageous.

As you know, I was a prosecutor right there in Brooklyn, New York, for almost 13 years, and this type of behavior by individual police officers is

what ruins the public trust and relationship between the police as a whole and the potential jury pool in which it makes it impossible for every

single prosecutor to win a conviction. Why? No one trusts the police after they haul off and punch, literally, kids in the face for doing

nothing.

Ken Thompson, district attorney in Brooklyn, New York, a great man, has to go further than letting the police investigate this in internal

affairs. His police corruption unit has to investigate it immediately.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK, well, here`s my first question. How did the cop mistake cigarette smoke for pot? We all know it smells different. I know

what pot smells like, even though I`m 19 years sober. Shouldn`t the cops have been able to realize it?

And also, joints look different than cigarettes. Listen to what he says. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Turn around.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s a cigarette. Mister, it was just a cigarette. Just a cigarette.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Andell Brown, attorney out of Miami, hello. What is the cop smoking, if I may ask, that he can`t tell the difference between a

cigarette and a joint?

ANDELL BROWN, ATTORNEY: I don`t know what it is, Jane. But it has him really riled up. You see him threatening bystanders who are recording

this interaction as he violently assaults this child that he charges with disorderly conduct.

What`s disorderly conduct anyway? Is he saying the kid behaved bad? I think it`s just a charge to cover up the fact that he knew that he had

knocked this kid unconscious, and he had to explain himself somehow.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to go to my -- go ahead. Who had something to say? Go ahead.

KOSS: He`s exactly right. They charged him after the fact with disorderly conduct, which is a catch-all charge. There was nothing here.

This is an embarrassment.

Obviously, the second he approached him, he knew that it was not marijuana. This is a joke. The kid was smoking a cigarette. But this

officer, you could tell, was in the heat of the moment. Something took him over. He`s cursing. He`s yelling. He`s inviting -- he`s inviting this

crowd and then all of a sudden, he literally hauls off and punches him in the face.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Listen, we`ve got to go to our exclusive guest, Arthur Hill, the attorney for Marcel Hamer. The family is suing the

NYPD. Tell us what he is suffering now, sir, this young man.

ARTHUR HILL, ATTORNEY FOR MARCEL HAMER: First of all, thank you for having me on the show.

And Marcel is presently undergoing neurological care. He suffers from headaches, dizziness. And his mother claims that he`s repeating himself,

something he never did before.

Marcel was 16 years old at the time that this incident occurred. It`s inexplicable, as the other attorneys have stated on your show so far, how

can a police officer justify what took place?

You have a child, a 16-year-old, who`s lying on the ground. He`s prone, lying helpless, and a police officer gratuitously punches him and

knocks him unconscious. As you can see from the video, for many, many seconds following this incident, he`s lying there. And the police officer

handcuffs him and just yells at him to get up. He has to be taken by EMS to the hospital, where he`s treated. And again, he is presently under the

care of a neurologist for the injuries he sustained from this incident.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Let`s go to lucky Luke Burke (ph) at the Hashtag Hub. What are folks saying? Luke.

LUKE BURKE (PH), HLN: Jane, people are outraged. The majority of the people on your Facebook are outraged. But then there`s another side that

say there`s two sides of a story. So I`ll read you a few of those comments so you can get a gist.

The first comment is from Victoria. She says, "When will all this excessive force end?"

The second comment is from Heather. She says, "He was down in a submissive position. There was no need for an officer to beat him. There

was no threat."

Now, the other side says from Jackie, "He brought it on himself. If he complied with the officer, nothing else would have happened."

And then T. Maria (ph) says, "Where`s the rest of the video? How did it start? I`ll reserve my comment until I see that."

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Well, very briefly, Lisa Lockwood, what to the point of, hey, you ran, you have to accept the consequences?

LOCKWOOD: Jane, I was a narcotic detective for three years. I know what it`s like to be undercover and to smell marijuana and actually see

what it looks like. Cops are trained to know what it looks like. Kids dump it all the time. They take off running and say it was a cigarette.

Guess what? There`s no proof any longer.

It was unjustified to have him get socked in the face, because yes, he was prone. He was in a position where he was subdued. And that was just

the adrenaline of the police officer, and that`s why they`re both suspended right now.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. On the other side, is there another side to this story? And let`s point out that this is not on its face a racial

incident. It`s an African-American officer and an African-American young man on the ground. Does that change the dynamic? We`re going to debate

that on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You knocked him out! You knocked him out! You knocked him out! You knocked him out!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wake up!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Marcel, wake up!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wake him up!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wake him up! Wake him up!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`re going to jail on that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wake him up!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wake him up!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wake up!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHEL: A black officer versus a black teen. But we`ve seen countless incidents lately where a white cop is accused of excessive force

of black citizens. For example, the death of Michael Brown, the Ferguson case, a white officer accused of gunning down the unarmed black teenager.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police shot this boy outside my apartment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHEL: Loni Coombs, former prosecutor, this case does not have that racial component, because this is an African-American officer, an

African-American citizen who is hit. Does that change the dynamic?

COOMBS: I think it`s still a very heated, tense issue, because it`s an "us versus them" mentality. It`s the law enforcement versus the

community.

And I`ll tell you, Jane, every time I see one more of these videos where it gets to that point where there`s someone down on the ground and

maybe they`re not immediately complying to an order. Like here the officer is telling him to roll over. He`s not rolling over. He`s still saying,

"Wait a minute. I wasn`t smoking anything more than a cigarette." The response by the officer is to punch him.

Now look, if a parent responded that way to a kid who mouthed off to him or a teacher immediately punched a student that was mouthing off to

him, we`re not allowed to do that. Why do the law enforcement feel that that can be the appropriate response? There`s got to be a lot more

negotiation techniques that they should be able to uses. We need to talk about the training and the hiring practices of all our law enforcement

agencies. Because it`s clear from these videotapes...

VELEZ-MITCHEL: And the burn-out factor.

COOMBS: ... there`s a problem.

VELEZ-MITCHEL: The burn-out factor that cops experience out there. I`ve ridden with cops. Let me tell you, after one day of riding with them,

I`m like, I need a vacation.

All right. Hoezee, Brooklyn, you were right in the neighborhood. You live in the neighborhood where it happened. Is there an "us versus them"

mentality between cops and the citizens?

HOEZEE, BROOKLYN: Listen, basically what this all boils down to -- I will take you back a few steps. That first thing you did with the dude in

Virginia when he`s abducting people --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok, we have to stick to this. We have to stick to this.

HOEZEE: No, no, no. We want to stick with this because this is the problem with that. People like that skate by police all day. People like

that skate by police all day. So what? You figure he`s got a cigarette, throws the cigarette, reefer, joint, whatever it is -- how does that turn

to this? How does that turn to this? This don`t make no sense.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: You`re making a great point. Simone Bienne, what this caller is saying is, the big fish -- excuse me, I don`t like to use

species -- but the big suspect that needs to be chased sometimes they slip through the cracks and then the little guy who`s not really doing anything,

wow, let`s crack down on that.

SIMONE BIENNE, BEHAVIOR EXPERT: I think that is such a brilliant point from that caller. And what we`re looking at is what, is there a

legitimization of harassment? It is the "them versus us". And to me, the impact, social implication is huge because suddenly, it isn`t about race,

about the young black man.

What is going to make somebody more aggressive, feel more defensive, feel more alienated? It is treatment like this. And it is not helping for

this community to be able to support the police.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And let me say this. I`ve ridden with cops and I`ve also take a test and I was told I could never be a cop. I overreacted to

everything. You know, it`s so easy for us to sit here in these chairs and second-guess. I`m not condoning any of the behavior that we`re seeing.

But there is a phenomenal stress to being out on the streets anywhere in the world as a police officer. I just want to throw that in.

Next, a mother of two vanishes without a trace. Why aren`t cops doing more to find her? The woman`s frantic parents join me for an exclusive

interview from Atlanta next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Breaking news, a frantic desperate search under way right now for a beautiful young mom of two who vanished from Atlanta

without a trace. In a moment, the missing woman`s mother and father join me in a primetime exclusive. They`re begging for your help. It`s this

missing woman`s son`s second birthday and she has another son aged 5. They want to know where mommy is.

Her family says 29-year-old Brandi Smith was last seen here at the Peachford Hospital where she was being treated for alcohol addiction

reportedly. Her family says she hasn`t been seen since September 25th. Four days later Brandi reportedly sent a super creepy private message to

her mom on Facebook saying she was upset that alcohol was controlling her life.

In an eerie twist Brandi`s parents say Brandi left the hospital with a mysterious man named Larry. According to a roommate Larry said she was

Brandi`s uncle. The family doesn`t have an uncle named Larry. Did this mystery man take Brandi?

Her parents say cops are not taking this seriously because she was in rehab. We reached out to police and they say quote, "she is an adult who

walked away from a treatment center. We don`t think she`s in any danger. There were no indications of foul play." How do they know that?

We also reached out to Peachford Hospital repeatedly where Brandi was last seen. We have not heard back.

Straight out to our exclusive guests, Brandi`s mom and dad, Jane and Shane Smith. Full disclosure I got a call from you via a friend that said

hey there`s a couple in Georgia that`s frantic. And will you help? And I talked to you this morning. And you convinced me that your story is

deserving of telling even though the cops apparently don`t think there`s anything to see here.

Janet, what has this been like for you since your daughter disappeared more than two weeks ago?

JANE SMITH, MOTHER OF BRANDI SMITH: My heart sank. You know, you can`t eat, you can`t sleep. You don`t know what`s happened to her. I know

a lot of people think she just walked out. You know, don`t look for her. But who`s to say? What do you do? Do you wait until they find her

somewhere and then they say why didn`t you look?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now cops seem to think well, she`s an adult and she just sauntered off with this guy. I understand from you that the guy had

been in rehab as well. And that they sort of crossed each other. He was checking out shortly after she checked in. So wouldn`t they know that he

wasn`t the Uncle Larry since he had been there? I guess he just approached the front desk and said I`m the Uncle Larry, allegedly?

J. SMITH: That`s what I presume happened. The one day that she had left with him, I got a call and she ended up in the hospital with a

seizure.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, she does have medical issues and she needs medication.

J. SMITH: Yes.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to bring in Lisa Lockwood. From my understanding talking to this family she doesn`t have credit cards, she

doesn`t have a bank account; she has a kind of phone that`s sort of a disposable phone. Could they still -- if coos wanted to -- could they

track her cell phone pings even if it`s a disposable phone?

LISA LOCKWOOD, INVESTIGATOR: It depends on who the provider is for that. And even if they don`t take an official missing persons report they

certainly have the resources to go ahead and try and check out who Larry is. Call the rehab facility. Find out if Larry is somebody who is a

person of interest. Does he have a background? What was the association that she had with him? Why did he come there and pick her up. That to me

is suspicious enough.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: That`s what`s frustrating to me about this. Loni Coombs, former prosecutor, whereas Larry -- mystery Larry -- was in rehab

there, wherefore they know in that rehab center who Larry is presumably. By the way, we called them repeatedly -- they`re invited on any time. The

mom`s called the rehab and they won`t give her information. I understand there are laws and they`re abiding by the law, but couldn`t cops do

something to get that information?

LONI COOMBS, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Well, you know, there are the HIPAA laws, that`s what you`re referring to -- Jane. That protects any of the,

you know, hospital or medical records of an individual. Look, this place already didn`t recognize him apparently when he came in and said he was

Uncle Larry. I`m not sure what kind of records they had or how familiar they were with this man.

Let`s also recognize as devastating as this is for her family, you know, police also are looking at this as how much evidence do we have to go

on. What we do know is that she is an adult. She has had addiction issues and it`s not uncommon for people with addictions to take off and go on a

bender.

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let me say this. Let me say this. I have the dubious honor of being an expert in this department. We don`t want to

knock the rehab. They`re doing good work.

COOMBS: Right.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: It`s more that I think the officer should get a subpoena to get that information.

But here`s the thing. Simone Bienne, I used to drink excess excessively, why I`m in recovery for 19 years one day at a time. If I had

disappeared 20 years ago do you think that would have made me unworthy of being looked for? And I know about benders. You go on a bender for a

couple days or maybe a week. You don`t disappear forever and fail to show up or even call anybody. She hasn`t called any of her friends or her ex-

boyfriend, or the people who are looking after her two kids.

BIENNE: Jane, it is such a tricky one. And I really wrestled with this and I thought of you when I was trying to get my mind around this.

There is an argument that says, look, ok, alcoholism is a brain disease. So what? If she had cancer and found out she was going to die and she went

missing, would we not look for her? Of course we`d look for her.

So yes, there`s that issue. Of course they need support. This is a disease. But then also we have to look at one in 10 Americans are

alcoholics. We are plagued with -- addicts are plagued with the disease. Have police got the resources to do this? And we know it is part of the

disease.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Listen, Shane, you`re the dad. And I spoke to you this morning. What would you say to your daughter? Let`s assume for a

second she is out there and what would you say to her to urge her to come forward because she`s putting you through hell?

SHANE SMITH, FATHER OF BRANDI SMITH: I just want her to know that we`re looking for her. And that, you know, we`re trying to help her and

we`re praying that nothing bad`s happened, you know.

J. SMITH: She`s never been gone this long.

S. SMITH: She`s never done this. That`s the reason we called the police. We went through three police departments to get somebody to take

it. I`ve not complained about the police. The first day, I seen what they could do or what they were doing and I decided, I`ll take the rest of the

matter in my own hands and get friends and tap into a network that I already have to try to find my daughter.

I`m going to find my daughter with help of the police, the media, anybody I can find. We will find her. Whether she`s an alcoholic or not

shouldn`t even be part of the discussion.

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: She`s a human being and it`s a disease. It`s a disease.

S. SHANE: If somebody called me and asked and said, can you help me find my child, they have an addiction but they`re missing. And I really

want -- it wouldn`t even cross my mind to say, well, because of this, I can`t help you. It shouldn`t even come up.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Absolutely. I agree with you 100 percent. If you`ve seen this woman, call police immediately. She was last seen in the Atlanta

area. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: 29-year-old Brandi Smith, a mother of two has vanished. She was last seen in the Atlanta area. Her parents are joining

us exclusively tonight. They are devastated and say to their daughter if you are not being held against your will, please come forward. It`s your

son`s birthday. He`s turning two years old and he and his older brother are crying out for their mommy.

But they also have a message for the cops. They say she`s never disappeared this long. She hasn`t contacted anybody. So I want to go to

Taylor Koss, criminal defense attorney. You`ve heard, she has no credit card, no bank account, no car. Her cell phone is disposable. What can

cops do to find her?

And obviously they should go and find out from the rehab who is this Larry guy she was last seen with who claimed to be her uncle and wasn`t.

TAYLOR KOSS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Right Jane. First I just want to say to the family my heart goes out to you and I hope that, you

know, you find and locate your daughter. I think the police are going to regret their cavalier attitude towards this case. It`s kind of

embarrassing to release a statement like that. Just because the woman has an alcohol issue and was at a rehab facility doesn`t mean that a horrible

thing couldn`t have occurred here.

And you know, you mentioned that she sent an eerie or a spooky private message to her mother via Facebook. That`s certainly a method of

investigative lane for police here. Why can`t they find the IP address from where that message was sent? All they would need is a little

cooperation from Facebook and I`m sure given the background and facts of this case, they would gladly provide that.

When we know where the message was sent from, I think that would be a huge hint whether or not she`s being held or whether or not this is a

voluntary act.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, that`s the thing.

Shane and Janet Smith, again my heart goes out to you. We`d like to say that anybody who sees this young woman, your daughter or the daughter

herself if you`re ok, you stop putting your parents through hell and come out and tell them where you are and go see your kids because they are

suffering right now.

And I think that what the cops should do is help you out and determine, which I think they could do with relative ease whether or not

this is indeed some kind of horrible crime or she`s out there of her own free will.

Keep us posted. Keep us posted. Thank you, and my heart goes out to you. I know you`re living a nightmare.

S. SMITH: Thank you Jane. Thank you.

J. SMITH: Thanks.

Up next, we have a very special guest and -- we have two special guests. My little Rico is here with me and Shannen Doherty, the famous

actress from 90210, "Beverly Hills 90210" is here to talk about -- well I`m going to let her tell you. It`s something that she wants all of us to get

together and do something about. And she is fired up.

Stay right there.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: It is slaughter time again in Japan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHANNEN DOHERTY, ACTRESS: I can`t process the capability of humans to be this cruel, to do this. It is -- I just don`t understand it. You

watch. I watch. I sit at home and I watch the live stream from Sea Shepherd and I thought that I was prepared. And there is absolutely

nothing that can prepare you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Famous actress Shannen Doherty is here to speak for the dolphins being slaughtered in Taiji, Japan`s infamous cove. The

slaughter is going on and on. Critics call this hunt senseless, inhumane, pointless, cruel. Dolphins are highly intelligent, sensitive animals.

More intelligent than little Rico here. They don`t deserve to be corralled into this cove and slaughtered. The Japanese government who you should

contact if this upsets allows this slaughter for six months every year.

We reached out to the Japanese embassy for comment; so far, no response. Supporters of this hunt say well, American protesters are

hypocritical because Americans raise billions of animals every year in inhumane factory farm conditions and then slaughter them -- about 9 billion

every year. They have a point, but, look, is it a competition to see who can be most cruel and kill most animals?

The critics of the dolphin slaughter say dolphin meat is unsafe to eat. It has very high levels of mercury. The real reason they`re doing

all this is to take the pretty ones and sell those into captivity. In fact, this beautiful rare albino calf named Angel was torn away from her

mother and rounded up last year and is currently in a museum in Taiji. We reached out for comment and did not hear back.

If sold into captivity Angel could fetch a whole lot of money -- who knows how many, half a million, a million. Actress Shannen Doherty

recently visited Angel in that museum while serving as a cove guardian in Taiji for the incredible organization Sea Shepherd.

You, of course, know Shannen from her starring role on the beloved teen drama "Beverly Hills 90210" from Spelling TV.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON PRIESTLEY, ACTOR: Why didn`t you tell me you didn`t go to the movie?

DOHERTY: What movie?

Oh, that movie. Right.

PRIESTLEY: Is that supposed to be funny?

DOHERTY: Sorry. It`s no big deal, is it?

PRIESTLEY: No. No, I guess not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Straight out to our special guest, Rico, the beautiful actress, activist and compassionate cove guardian Shannen

Doherty. Thank you for joining us. You bravely went to witness the senseless slaughter. Tell us what that was like to actually bear witness

to that kind of cruelty.

DOHERTY: It was amazing in so many ways and horrific in so many ways. You know, you`re there and you`re giving this sort of slaughter -- you`re

bearing witness to it. And you`re watching and in a way it is giving a little bit more dignity to an otherwise senseless and very cruel and

barbaric and inhumane death.

You`re in an absolutely gorgeous country with some really, really lovely people and that`s why it is also so difficult because you just look

around you and go this is not necessary. There are so many other options that they have. For instance eco tourism for that entire area would really

do well and they would probably prosper a lot more than from what they`re doing currently.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, yes.

DOHERTY: It was an emotional roller coaster for me personally. It was -- it was -- you want to react, you want to dive into the water. You

want to cut the nets, you want to do all this stuff and you can`t. You`ve got police surrounding you at all times.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: By the way, if you agree with Shannen, contact seashepherd.org, get involved. Contact the Japanese embassy. Japan is a

beautiful country. And this is really bad PR for Japan. When people think of Japan now, they`re almost as likely to think of the cove and this

slaughter as they are to think of all the wonderful things about Japan. They`re doing themselves a disservice. Now, the dolphin hunt was

highlighted in the Academy Award winning film "The Cove". watch this briefly from Lions Gate.

(EXCERPT FROM "THE COVE")

VELEZ-MITCHELL: That`s national star Hayden Panettiere overcome with emotion after witnessing the slaughter. What would you tell Americans to

do to try to end this?

DOHERTY: I personally would say, you know, use social media. You`ve got to write your embassy, your government. I would say save your money

and go there and bear witness. Some people call for boycotting of all Japanese products. I don`t necessarily know if that`s the right way to go.

Maybe it is. But, you know, keep on using your voice. The thing is we have to give dolphins a voice. We have to give these animals a voice.

And what people don`t realize, you know you talk earlier about how they claim that we have all these sort of animal factory farms where we

kill things inhumanely. They`re sort watched over and governed so supposedly we do not.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: We do. We do. We do. It is a horror show.

(CROSSTALK)

DOHERTY: Dolphins are believed to use a much larger percentage of their brain than humans and the larger part is the emotional part. It is -

- they are incredibly emotional. Very strong familial bonds and you can actually see that some of them are not dead.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`ve got to leave it there. We love you Shannen Doherty, thank you for speaking.

DOHERTY: Thank you.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Bye.

END