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Nancy Grace
American Sniper Murder Trial Continues
Aired February 17, 2015 - 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, Texas suburbs. The trial of the man who guns down the nation`s hero known as the American
sniper commences. Bombshell tonight. As we go to air, we obtain chilling police body video of the killer, blood on his shoes, in the American
sniper`s stolen pick-up. And we get the video of the killer as he tells police, I know what I did was wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Routh starts with a rambling and incoherent answer when he`s asked what happened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "The pigs. I`ve been smelling it this whole time, you know? I`m just tired of everybody`s (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (EXPLETIVE
DELETED). I can smell (EXPLETIVE DELETED) and pig (EXPLETIVE DELETED)."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The detective asks, "Who did you shoot first?" And Routh says, "The one I could clearly identify." He`s talking about
Chris Kyle here. "I knew if I did not take out his soul, he was coming to take mine next."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, Vegas suburbs. A young mom of four teaching her daughter to parallel park unwittingly triggers a shocking chain of events
when a car follows Mommy home after the driving lesson and opens fire because he feels he was wronged on the road. Tonight, Mommy is dead, her
family left in shambles while Mommy`s killer still at large. As we obtain secret surveillance video of the perp caught on closed-circuit TV, we join
police tonight in the road rage murder manhunt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had a wife. I don`t have one now. I`m going to be burying her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In mere moments, Robert Meyers`s (ph) life unraveled, his wife, 44-year-old Tammy Myers (ph), taken off life support
after she was shot in the head in an apparent road rage incident.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. The trial of the man who guns down the nation`s hero known as the American sniper commences. As we go to air, we obtain
chilling police body video of the killer, blood on his shoes, in the American sniper`s stolen pick-up. And we get the video of the killer as he
tells police, I know what I did was wrong.
Joining me right now at the courthouse, Ed Lavandera, CNN correspondent. So Ed -- oh, everybody, what we were just showing you --
hold on, Ed. If you could show that again, Liz? What that was is the body video. And we`ll show you more later. That is Routh, the admitted killer,
in the American sniper`s black pickup truck. Police find him there and they talk to him 30, 40 minutes before he takes off and leads them on a
wild chase at speeds over 100 miles an hour.
But let me get to the courthouse. Standing by, Ed Lavandera. Ed, as I just told the viewers, we have the video. We see the video from in the
courtroom where he tells police, I know what I did was wrong. If I had stayed, would that be all right?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no, that video was incredible. I think the most significant part of all of this is that this is the one
piece of video that takes this jury as close as possible, as close as they will be able to get, to Eddie Ray Routh`s state of mind the moment of the
killings. And so they`ll be able to look at that video and have to determine for themselves his state of mind, his demeanor, the way he was
talking. I think that`s why this piece of evidence is so crucial for them.
GRACE: Well, I think it`s crucial, as well, because Ed Lavandera, if you look carefully and you hone in on his shoes, he has got the victim`s
blood on his shoes -- the victim`s blood on his shoes!
LAVANDERA: And we learned today that that blood -- it`s actually on the right front of his toe, on the right boot, and that that blood -- a DNA
expert testified that that is the blood of Chad Littlefield.
GRACE: Everyone, you`re seeing what we have just seen in court right before we go to air tonight. Those are the boots with the victim`s blood
on them. The trial has commended of the man, Eddie Ray Routh, who admittedly guns down the American sniper. We`ve all seen the hit movie
"American Sniper." This is about the real American sniper, Chris Kyle. You`re seeing movie footage right now of "American Sniper" from Warner
Bros.
So Ed Lavandera, give me a recap. What happened in court today?
LAVANDERA: Well, you know, some -- more fascinating video. We`ve seen video from inside the police car after Eddie Ray Routh was taken into
the custody, thrown in there. Again, he kind of starts rambling about feeling paranoid and schizophrenic, that he`s very worried about what is
happening to him, that he can`t understand what`s going on.
And we`ve also heard a jailhouse interview that he had done with a reporter from "New Yorker" magazine, where he talks about being frustrated
with Chris Kyle because they had driven him to a Whataburger, a fast food restaurant, on the way to the gun range, and he sounded, like, frustrated
and annoyed that Chris Kyle would do that. Then they said that they were shooting pistols at one point...
GRACE: Wait. Wa-wait! What am I missing? What am I missing? Ed Lavandera standing with me right there at the Texas courthouse. You`re
seeing video that we obtained. This is Routh, the killer, in the back seat of the patrol car. This is what Ed Lavandera is telling you about. This
is just a couple of hours after the American sniper, Chris Kyle, husband and father, is gunned down, still got his gun strapped to his waist. He
didn`t see it coming. Here`s footage from "American Sniper" movie from Warner Bros.
So Ed Lavandera, they take him through Whataburger. And what`s the problem with that?
LAVANDERA: Well, I mean, exactly. So there -- you sense -- you hear this agitation in his voice as he`s describing these moments. This is
about three months after the shootings, and he`s describing this to a reporter from "The New Yorker" magazine.
And then -- this was the -- even more fascinating. He starts talking how the men were shooting pistols and that he interpreted that as being,
Oh, OK, we`re going to shoot pistols here today. And he took that as if it were going to be a duel, is what he said, like, he was going to have a
showdown and a duel with Chris Kyle. And you presume that shortly after that is when the shootings took place.
GRACE: So he thinks he`s going to have a duel. This -- isn`t this true, Ed Lavandera, after we hear in court four -- I believe it`s four
voicemail messages that the killer, Routh, leaves on Chris Kyle`s telephone, going, Hey, man, he, brother, call me back. Let`s get together.
He didn`t think it was a duel! This whole thing had been set up between Chris Kyle, the American sniper, and Routh`s mother to try to get
Routh out of his shell, to try to help him. This was all about him trying to help him.
They take him out for a meal. They take him to target price. And what do they get? Tell me about the injuries, Ed Lavandera. Tell me about
the injuries that Kyle and Littlefield sustain.
LAVANDERA: Oh, you know, Nancy, that`s really the toughest part. And they were each shot multiple times, I think four or five times each in the
back. Chris Kyle was shot in the face. You know, the jury has seen some of those pictures, and it`s, you know, incredibly tough to look at and
brutal to kind of stomach. So awful pictures of the crime scene that this jury has seen.
GRACE: One time in the head, five times in the back and the side, struck major arteries, damaged his lungs. One shot struck his spinal cord
and went through his jaw. Those are the injuries sustained by Chris Kyle.
And here you see Routh in the back of the police squad car. This is right after the incident.
Candace Trunzo, senior news editor, Dailymail.com -- Candace, explain what your version is about what`s going on in court.
CANDACE TRUNZO, DAILYMAIL.COM (via telephone): Well, it`s very interesting. I mean, yesterday, indeed, the 90-minute confession was
incredible. And the testimony of Texas Ranger Danny Briley (ph) was clear in that he felt it was a brutal, violent act that was intentional, that
this was not the act of a man who did not know right from wrong.
And in fact, in the 90-minute confession, he does say that he knew that it was wrong when asked directly. And he left the scene. Should he
have done that? I mean, it was pretty incredible. And today was another incredible day, where he`s in the back of a police car. At first, he`s
very relaxed. Then he gets more panicky, upset. He`s shifting around, lying down, getting up again, and talking about how paranoid...
GRACE: Well, wait a minute. Wa-wa-wa-wait! Before we talk about how he`s shifting and moving around, remember he has just led police -- let`s
see that chase video, Liz. He has just led police on a very long high- speed chase. Now, watch this. Watch this cruiser. There you go. That`s a police person right there that risked their lives to stop Routh. He
slams into -- he`s driving the American sniper, Chris Kyle`s, pickup right there. He slams into it to stop Routh, risking his own life to try to save
other people`s lives, OK? That`s -- it`s starts right there. Then he keeps going. They finally have to throw down stakes to -- there you go --
to stop this car. This is what happens, OK?
So we go through all this. He`s only stopped when police officers army-crawl on their stomachs out and place spikes or stakes out in the
road, and Routh runs over them and disables his car.
Now, after all that, let`s see him in the back of the patrol car. I guess he is agitated. He`s just led a bunch of Texas Rangers on a high-
speed chase, and he`s just gunned down an American hero.
You know, we can all talk about loving our country and we can say the Pledge and sing the anthem. But Chris Kyle risked his life over and over
and over for our country, and now he`s dead. He`s got children left behind, a wife left behind. This guy is twisting our system, claiming
insanity.
You are seeing "American Sniper" by Warner Bros.
Unleash the lawyers, Hugo Rodriguez, Parag Shah. I want you to take a listen, you two defense lawyers, to this confession video. Roll it, Liz.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "After you killed them, what did you do next?"
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I fled. I didn`t know what else to do. My adrenaline was so high. I didn`t know what was right and what was wrong.
Well, I know what was right now. I left, you know?"
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "You know what you did today was wrong? You understand that?"
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Yes, sir."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "What did you tell your sister today? You told her something bad happened, right? What did you tell her?"
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I told her I had to kill men today. It wasn`t a `want to,` it was a need. I had to, to get out of that situation I was in
today. "
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "How many did you have to kill today?"
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Two."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you kill them with?"
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "A pistol, a 9."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "How many times did you shoot them today?"
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "A couple, a few shots."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Did they know you were going to shoot? They didn`t know? Why do you think that?"
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Because their training wasn`t as good. My training"...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: OK, Ed Lavandera standing by at the courthouse -- defense lawyers, I`ll get to you in a moment. Isn`t it true, Ed Lavandera, that we
learn today that Eddie Ray Routh starts bragging that he is a better shot, that he had more training than the American sniper?
LAVANDERA: Well, yes, you heard it in that confession tape, where he kind of bizarrely says that he`s got better training than Chris Kyle, who -
- you know, Eddie Ray Routh spent four years in the Marines. Obviously, a great deal of training goes into that. But I think, you know, by and
large...
GRACE: I mean, not only did he say...
LAVANDERA: ... most people would tell you that Chris Kyle`s training was much better.
GRACE: Not only did he brag to police, after he guns down Littlefield and the American sniper, Chris Kyle. After that, he brags to police, Well,
my training was just better than theirs. I mean, they didn`t even see it coming. They didn`t even know they were about to die. That`s how great my
training was.
You know, what? He was high on pot laced with formaldehyde!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The interrogation video lasts nearly 90 minutes. Routh complains about the handcuffs being uncomfortable. He`s left alone
and tries to put on a pair of glasses. He asks to speak with his mother, asks for a cigarette, and when he doesn`t get one, pops off, "Doesn`t
anyone smoke anymore?" The investigator asks Routh, "After you killed them, what did you do next?" Routh responds, "I fled. I didn`t know what
else to do. My adrenaline was so high, I didn`t know what was right, I didn`t know what was wrong."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Everyone, the state has just rested in the American sniper trial, as it is being called. The man on trial is 27-year-old Eddie Ray
Routh, admits that he got high off marijuana and often used marijuana laced with formaldehyde. And as we know, the law is voluntary use of drugs or
alcohol is not a defense.
Here`s "American Sniper" from Warner Bros.
Back to Ed Lavandera at the courthouse. Ed, question. After the jury sees and hears his confession to police, what`s their reaction?
LAVANDERA: Well, I think they`ve been pretty riveted and pretty intensely watching all of that. They don`t give away any kind of -- or at
least I haven`t noticed any kind of signals about which way they might be leaning, other than the fact that, I mean, they`re clearly intent on
watching what`s going on and paying close attention.
GRACE: Now, what can you tell, Ed Lavandera, about him driving about 105 miles after he guns down Chris Kyle, American hero, and his friend,
Chad Littlefield? He leaves the scene in the dead man`s car, as he brags, goes to his uncle`s, wakes him up, says, I`m driving a dead man`s car. At
first, the uncle thought he was going to kill him. He didn`t know what he was talking about until he sees the pickup out front. I don`t know if they
did any more pot then or not, but he stays there a while, leaves, goes to his sister. He tells her he`s killed two people and sold his -- sold (ph)
for a pickup truck. She calls police. Then he goes and drives through Taco Bell and has a double bean burrito and kicks back. Is that what
happens, Ed?
LAVANDERA: That is. And that`s -- oh, even more importantly, that`s about a 100-mile path that he`s taken from the Countryside Gun Range back
toward the Dallas-Fort Worth area to the suburb of Lancaster, which is where Eddie Ray Routh -- and it`s that phone call to 911 from his sister
that alerts detectives and investigators, and that`s how they first identify the person that they`re looking for, and they start putting the
pieces of this puzzle together. And that`s leads the police officers to Eddie Ray Routh`s house. And as you mentioned earlier in the show, that
initial -- the bodycam video that you saw with the officers is them approaching him just outside of his home in Lancaster.
GRACE: I mean, look at this guy in the confession. He is coherent. He is articulate. He describes what happened. So let me understand this.
Ed Lavandera, what? Was he crazy out on the shooting range? And then he suddenly became sane when he went to his uncle`s house and his sister`s
house and the Taco Bell and the confession? I mean, when does the crazy snap on, and when does the crazy shut off?
LAVANDERA: Well, you know, if you watch that video, he is calm, except when you listen and -- to what he`s saying, it makes absolutely no
sense. It`s incoherent. He`s talking about warlords. He`s talking about souls, and this and that. And obviously, Chris Kyle...
GRACE: Well, hold on! When you...
LAVANDERA: ... felt like...
GRACE: ... say...
LAVANDERA: ... there was something going on...
GRACE: When you say "souls," Ed Lavandera, both in the military and, for instance, pilots refer to people as souls. That`s common vernacular.
Matt Zarrell, let`s follow up on what Ed Lavandera says. In his confession, to me, he seems completely articulate.
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Yes, in fact, Nancy, the cop makes a point of going back repeatedly and saying, Did you
understand what you were doing was wrong? He said yes. He used the term that he fled when he got in the car. He specifically said "I fled." He
also made clear that he wanted to apologize to the victims` families. He also made some very other bizarre comments about talking to a wolf and pig
excrement, for like, five minutes, which made no sense whatsoever.
GRACE: OK, let`s take a look at it for ourselves.
You`re seeing "American Sniper," the movie, from Warner Bros.
Let`s take a look at his confession, caught on tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "It`s so sad how it had to happen and stuff, you know, how it did happen. I keep talking to Chris. There`s a few dozen
Chrises in my world. And it`s, like, every time I talk to another man named Chris or get sent to another man named Chris, it was like talking to
the wolf, you know? The ones in the sky are the ones that fly. You know what I mean. The pigs.
I`ve been smelling it this whole time, you know? I`m just tired of everybody`s (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (EXPLETIVE DELETED) . I can smell
(EXPLETIVE DELETED) and pig (EXPLETIVE DELETED), you know? I can (ph) the difference between two kinds of pig (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I don`t know how
you smell your (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I`m not trying to say nobody`s (EXPLETIVE DELETED) stinks, but (EXPLETIVE DELETED) is stinking. You know
what I mean?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "You know, kind of -- kind of a sad day when it rains."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Listen, my brother just came by here. I was at (DELETED). He`s now left. He told me that he`s committed a murder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I told her I had to kill men today. It wasn`t `want to,` it was a need."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: As we go to air, we obtain the chilling confession that Eddie Ray Routh gives as to gunning down the American sniper, Chris Kyle, and
friend Chad Littlefield.
Unleash the lawyers, Hugo Rodriguez joining me tonight out of Miami, Parag Shah, defense lawyer joining me out of Atlanta.
All right, to you, Parag Shah. Let me understand the defense theory here because Texas law, which I have researched exhaustively, says in black
and white that PTSD, post-traumatic stress syndrome, is not a series of anti-social or criminal behavior. That`s not what post-traumatic stress
syndrome is.
This guy, Eddie Ray Routh, had never even seen action. So post- traumatic stress syndrome from what? Is my next question. But is the defense that they`re presenting, Parag Shah, that he`s crazy at the firing
range when he guns down two guys who, quote, "didn`t see it coming," but then as soon as he hops in the stolen truck, he`s normal again, the crazy
is shut off and he goes to his uncle`s and he goes to his sister`s and he goes Taco Bell and he talks to police coherently?
So how does that crazy thing work in your mind, Parag Shah?
PARAG SHAH, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, unfortunately, Nancy, your questions are premature because we still haven`t heard from the experts,
the medical experts that can talk about psychosis, how it affected this defendant. And they have to be able to explain his actions. So until we
hear from them, we`re simply speculating, and it would be unfair to give any information...
GRACE: You know, Parag...
SHAH: ... about this video just based on speculation without hearing the experts.
GRACE: Parag Shah, we heard the opening statement. To you, Hugo Rodriguez. You always put your first -- your best foot forward in opening
statements. You give it all you`ve got. And even in opening statements, it didn`t make any sense that he is crazy at the time of the shootings, but
within an hour, the crazy`s all gone?
HUGO RODRIGUEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, insanity is at the time of the action, not before and not after. You were talking about PTSS.
They`re presenting an insanity defense...
GRACE: I`m not talking about PTSD.
RODRIGUEZ: ... that he wasn`t sane at the time he did the act.
GRACE: The defense is talking about post-traumatic stress syndrome. And let me add that -- everybody, you`re seeing "American Sniper" movie
from Warner Bros.
I mean, Hugo, a careful study of Texas law shows that for post- traumatic stress syndrome to rise to the level of legal insanity, you must be in a dissociative state. You must be essentially comatose or in a fugue
state. You must be in throes of a flashback for it to rise to insanity. A flashback of what, sitting on a ship outside of Haiti? He never even went
on land, for Pete`s sake! A flashback of what?
RODRIGUEZ: That is for the experts. But the flashback is important. Unfortunately he was put into a situation with arms and guns. They took
him out there because they were trying to help people like him, who have been previously diagnosed with delusions, being psychotic. Unfortunately
it resulted in their death. Obviously this guy snapped. We don`t know what caused it --
GRACE: Snapped is not a defense --
(CROSSTALK)
SHAH: -- he didn`t know what he was doing was wrong and that`s what they are establishing. That more likely than not he didn`t know that what
he did was wrong, and that is why we have to wait for the medical experts to testify.
GRACE: Okay. You know what? It`s a sad day when two veteran defense attorneys like yourself, who both won a lot of trials, even you cannot come
up with a way to make this defense work under posttraumatic stress syndrome. You can`t do it. And you know why? Because it`s not true.
When he gets to his sister`s house, he`s formulating a plan to flee the jurisdiction and run to ArKansas. Listen to what the sister said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Listen, my brother just came by here. I was (redacted). He has now left. He told me he`s committed a murder.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, hold on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m terrified for my life. Because I don`t know if he`s going to come back here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Routh starts with a rambling and incoherent answer when he`s asked what happened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The pigs. I`ve been smelling it this whole time, you know? I`ve just tired of everybody`s [ expletive ]. I can smell
(expletive) and pig (expletive).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The detective asks, who did you shoot first? And Routh says the one I could clearly identify. He`s talking about Chris
Kyle. I knew if I did not take out his soul, he was coming to take mine next.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Let`s listen to the confession given by then 27-year-old Eddie Ray Routh after he guns down the American sniper Chris Kyle and friend Chad
Littlefield. This is as those two were taking him out for a meal. Taking him to the shooting range. It was Chris Kyle`s business after he came home
from many, many tours overseas fighting for our country. He created Fitco. It was a company to help rehabilitate and assimilate war veterans. He
dedicated his life to his country, to his family, and to war veterans that were hurting physically, emotionally and mentally. And this should speak
to all of us with veterans in our families. He lost his life when Eddie Ray Routh opened fire on him, American sniper Chris Kyle, husband and
father, and friend Chad Littlefield.
Now, his defense is posttraumatic stress syndrome from his war service. You are seeing "American Sniper" from Warner Brothers. But he
never saw action. That was in opening statements. He sat on a ship outside of Haiti and was in a green zone overseas. So posttraumatic stress
syndrome from what? Listen to the confession.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I can`t just keep eating my soul up about this, you know. You can`t just let people eat your soul up for free, you
know. It is not what it`s about. It`s about having a soul that you have in you for yourself, and there are tons of people that are eating on my
soul right now [ expletive ]. I haven`t even been able to sleep. Been waiting for them to come back and get my soul. I just wish this world
wasn`t such a soulless place, you know. Sometimes it feels like there is no soul anymore, anywhere.
The first time I met either one of them was yesterday, and I didn`t know who they were. I knew who they were, but I didn`t know who they were.
It`s very evident now who they were, because I`m obviously here on the topside of the world, and they are not. They came and got me at my house.
We drove into the country right there. Went and did some shooting sports, you know. I try to be as normal and as reasonable every day of my life.
I`m pretty damn reasonable. I`m pretty damn fair. I was reasonable and fair with them boys. They looked at me in the eyes and I looked at them in
the eyes and then --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And then he murdered them. Joining me right now is a special guest, Dr. Harry Croft, former Army psychiatrist, PTSD expert and author of
"I Always Sit with my Back to the Wall." He`s treated thousands of cases of posttraumatic stress syndrome. Dr. Croft, thank you for being with us.
DR. HARRY CROFT: Thank you for having me.
GRACE: You know, Dr. Croft, I don`t know that you can equate insanity with smoking pot all morning that`s laced with formaldehyde. I want to
understand your thinking when it comes to the American sniper trial.
CROFT: So posttraumatic stress disorder, which is what is being blamed for the behavior, is not the cause, Nancy. There are thousands of
people with PTSD, and they don`t behave in this manner.
Now people with PTSD can be psychotic, but that is a separate illness. They can abuse drugs, but that is a separate process. And I believe it was
not PTSD but rather other things.
This guy was obviously disturbed. But whether his mental illness rose to the level where he couldn`t understand right from wrong is something for
the jury and the court to decide. I don`t think it does.
GRACE: Wait till you hear this, doctor. Matt Zarrell, you have very carefully researched his fascination with dying animals, explain.
ZARRELL: I`ll get to the significance, because the prosecutors say from about 2000-2006, this is before the military, that Ralph would kill
small animals and took interest in watching them die. And he made statements that he liked to hear them take their last breaths. The
significance of that is going back to the confession tape. Because on that confession tape, he describes how the bodies were laying there and they
weren`t breathing anymore. In other words, he saw them take their last breaths as well.
GRACE: Dr. Harry Croft, I know lady justice is blind so she doesn`t see the difference regardless of who the victim or the perpetrators are.
But when I think of the American sniper, Chris Kyle, and friend Chad Littlefield, who -- he had done so much for our country. Risking his life
over and over. Going out in the mornings. Flying back out at night, tour after tour after tour. And now this? He dies at the hands of a man who
long before he went into the military was fascinating with killing animals and watching them take their last breath? And he did that to the American
sniper. How does his fascination with seeing things die factor into his defense?
CROFT: I don`t know about his defense. But it to me makes me believe this guy had a personality disorder long before he ever entered the
military. And that maybe that plus the psychosis plus the substance abuse was what caused this tragedy. And one thing that I`m concerned about.
I`ve made it a mission to work with businesses to help hire veterans, especially those with PTSD. And stigma that comes from the mistaken notion
that it was PTSD that caused Routh to do this horrible act, that stigma keeps veterans who deserve work from getting work. And that worries me as
does the tragedy of the killing of the American sniper.
GRACE: And Dr. Bill Mannion, forensic pathologist. What effect will weed laced with formaldehyde do to your mind? That is voluntary use of
drugs and alcohol.
MANNION: Yes. It is a similar effect. Both formaldehyde and PCP with marijuana. It`s called wet, and it will cause psychotic behavior.
With PCP, superhuman behavior. These are people the police can`t arrest. They tase them five times. So it can cause bizarre psychotic behavior,
absolutely.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As she beeped the driver sped past and ultimately pulled in front of her vehicle. Stopped the vehicle and the driver exited.
Her 22-year-old son came out of the house. Got into the car. He was armed with a firearm that is registered to him. And then they left the house.
They left the house in search of that person that Mrs. Meyers was involved in an incident with just prior.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Live, Vegas suburbs, a young mom of four teaching her daughter to parallel park. Unwittingly triggers a shocking chain of events when a
car follows mommy home after the driving lesson and opens fire because he, the driver, feels he was wronged on the road. Tonight, a mom of four is
dead. Her family left in shambles while mommy`s killer still at large. As we obtain secret surveillance video of the perp caught on closed circuit
TV. We join police in the road rage murder manhunt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say the mother of four was teaching her daughter how to drive in a nearby school parking lot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Meyers says Tammy was given their 15-year-old daughter driving lessons here at Walter Johnson Junior school and was
returning home when some kind of altercation happened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police released video of the getaway car. They describe it as a four-door gray or silver sedan and may possibly have
damage to the front driver side of the vehicle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can catch these guys. And they could get what they deserve.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I can`t believe they can`t figure out exactly the make of that car. Because it was driving really slowly. And especially the FBI. If
you could run that closed circuit TV video. Obviously taken from somebody`s home surveillance camera. Look at that. There you go. Cops on
the lookout for a gray or silver four-door sedan. Possible damage on the front driver side, may also have gunshots, bullets in it. Take a look at
that vehicle. That is the best clue we`ve got.
Straight out to breaking news reporter with the Vegas Review Journal. Chris Kudialis. Chris, thanks for being with us. What do we think
happened?
CHRIS KUDIALIS, VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL: Well, Nancy, it was a young daughter, a 15-year-old driving with her mother, 44-year-old Tammy Meyers.
And police really are basically still trying to figure that out. All we know at this point is that there was a confrontation on the way home from
school, and that when Tammy arrived at her house with her daughter, got out, shots were fired, and she was struck in the head.
GRACE: You know, her husband issuing one of the saddest statements I`ve ever seen. Her life support was removed on Valentine`s Day, and he
had already gone out, you know, got his wife flowers and all that for Valentine`s, hoping for the best. Michael Christian, I just don`t
understand how a mom of four can go from helping teach her daughter parallel parking to dead, lying with a gunshot wound in her head right in
front of her daughter in the front yard. What do we know, Michael?
CHRISTIAN: Something happened on the way home from school, Nancy. And this is important because the school and the home are only about a one-
minute drive apart. This was a very short period of time. Some kind of altercation happened. The mother got home, realized she was being
followed. The daughter ran inside, told her brother, listen, somebody`s following us. The son ran out, he had a gun, gunfire was exchanged between
this car and the brother and the woman, as you say, Tammy, this beautiful mother, ended up with a bullet in the head.
GRACE: I`m just sick. I`m just sick. I mean, how many days do I drive my children to school, I drive them home. I mean, a lot of times
when people have road rage, you the driver don`t even know what, if anything, you did wrong, and all of a sudden the mom realizes she`s being
followed home and she`s got her daughter in the car with her. She gets out of the car, tells her daughter to go in the house, the next thing you know,
mom is dead. Shot in the head with four children left to be raised without their mother. And you`ve got this little girl learning to drive who sees
her mother shot dead in the front yard.
To Dr. Brian Russell, forensic psychologist, Brian, when does road rage take you over? This is a young man in his early 20s, we believe, the
perp, and he had two other guys in the car with him. But his age, his youth is not a mitigating factor, Dr. Russell.
RUSSELL: That`s right. I`m so glad you asked this question, Nancy, because I think what we`re seeing here is actually a common thread between
what we were discussing earlier, the American sniper defendant, and this case, which is, you know, we`ve all gotten agitated by things. Our
friends, driving conditions, other drivers. But what we don`t do is feel entitled, then, to go out and hurt other people in order to soothe our
agitated feeling. Who feels that way is a malignant, entitled narcissist, and I think that is what we`re seeing probably in both of these cases.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had a wife. I don`t have one now. I`m going to be burying her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In mere moments, Robert Meyers` life unraveled. His wife, 44-year-old Tammy Meyers, taken off life support after she was
shot in the head in an apparent road rage incident.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A mother of four shot dead in her front yard. She was out teaching her daughter how to parallel park, comes home from a driving
lesson, apparently she irritated somebody, and the guy follows her home. She sends her daughter in, afraid because she realizes she`s being
followed, get in the house, get in the house, the daughter gets in, mommy not so lucky. Shot dead in the front yard. Her life support removed on
Valentine`s Day.
Unleash the lawyers. Hugo Rodriguez and Parag Shah, you know what, Dr. Russell calls him malignant, narcissistic. I call him a cold-blooded
killer and he`s looking down the wrong end of a barrel called the death penalty. That`s what I`ve got to say to him. What about it, Shah?
SHAH: The first thing is, we`re going to have to figure out who this person is, and I think that will be the main defense is, identity. Whoever
they find or catch, it is going to be an issue as to whether they are the actual perpetrator.
GRACE: If I`m hearing correctly, the two of you are going to start making excuses for him, like he was enraged, he was angry, that brings us
down to voluntary manslaughter. Is that where you`re headed, Hugo?
RODRIGUEZ: No, I don`t know enough yet. But, you know, there`s more to this than what we`re being told.
GRACE: Yes, because the little girl was afraid, afraid for her life. That`s why. Okay. Let me just tell you, the tip line, 702-828-5634.
Let`s remember American hero, Army Corporal Billy Farris, just 20, Arizona, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, loved visiting family on the Wind River Indian
reservation. Dreamed of moving to Wyoming. Parents, Elizabeth and Larry, two brothers, one sister, son Kaden (ph). Billy Farris, American hero.
And tonight, a call to arms, anti-Semitic attacks, on the rise across Europe. Christians being executed by ISIS. ISIS recently beheads 21
Christians after deadly attacks in Paris and Copenhagen. A reporter for a Jewish news outlet NRG walks the streets undercover for hours, harassed and
threatened, even spit on. Tonight, a call to action to stop the hate.
Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night at 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
