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Nancy Grace
Pompano Beach, Florida, Police Investigating Death of Man Found Shot in Corvette; Air Force Vet Facing First-Degree Murder Charges Tonight in Death of 21-Month-Old Toddler; Suspicious House Fire Leaves Mother and Two Daughters Dead. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired July 13, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:00]
JEAN CASAREZ, NEWS CORRESPONDENT: We begin tonight with breaking news out of Pompano Beach, Florida, police investigating the death of a man found
shot in his Corvette, sitting in a McDonald`s parking lot. New clues tonight, a surveillance video captures a mystery woman and a white four-
door sedan near the crime scene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Florida police have released images of a woman seen on surveillance fleeing from the scene of a murder in a McDonald`s parking
lot. Police say the victim Alex Eichmann was found unresponsive with a gunshot wound inside his Corvette, still sitting in the parking lot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: An Air Force vet facing first-degree murder charges tonight in the death of a 21-month-old toddler boy, while his military mother is
thousands of miles away from her baby deployed overseas to serve our country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A young Air Force mom is deployed overseas, leaving her 21-month-old son in the care of others. Little Evan Dudley was in the care
of family friend and fellow airman, Justin Corbett, when he was fatally injured. Corbett says he was home alone with little Evan Dudley and his
own 18-month-old child when Evan accidentally fell down the stairs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: A suspicious house fire leaves a mother and two daughters dead. The husband is the only survivor. Was this an accidental fire or something
much more sinister? Tonight, conflicting reports as the district attorney says the medical examiner may have jumped the gun.
Good evening. I`m Jean Casarez in for Nancy Grace. Thank you so much for joining us. We begin tonight with the mysterious shooting death in a
Florida parking lot. This just happened and authorities need to find out who did this. To someone, everybody is saying, was just a really good guy.
Straight out to Joel Malkin. He`s a News Director with 1290 WJNO. Joel, tell us about the crime scene.
JOEL MALKIN, NEWS DIRECTOR, 1290 WJNO: Well, they found a 48-year-old Alex Eichmann gunshot wound, unresponsive in his black Corvette that was in the
parking lot of a McDonald`s at shopping center in Pompano Beach at North of Broward Health and he was taken to a hospital where he`s pronounced dead
later.
CASAREZ: OK. So he`s shot to death. Matt Zarrell, give us the timeline, all right, because Alex Eichmann is alive at one minute, dead another.
What about the early evening and the hours before? What did he do that night into the morning hours?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: What we know according to Alex`s family that he had recently left a craps game at a casino about seven or
eight miles away. At about 3:11 a.m., he had spoken to one of his brothers and said he pretty much broke even, and that this McDonald`s was somewhere
that he had frequented, that they would go to the casino once in a while and they would stop at the McDonald`s on the way home because it was nearby
and it was always open late.
CASAREZ: So, how far away was the casino from the McDonald`s, Matt?
ZARRELL: It was only a few miles, probably, say, at five, six, seven, eight miles, something like that and it wasn`t that far away. But 4:15 in
the morning when police say shots were fired.
CASAREZ: So that`s about an hour right there for a few miles and stopping at McDonald`s. Matt, what did he do before the casino?
ZARRELL: We don`t know what he did before the casino, but we do know that from what his family says, he had no known enemies. So, it is unclear at
this point if this was a targeted attack or not.
CASAREZ: Joel Malkin, isn`t it correct that that he actually had a job, an overnight job, at the Walmart?
MALKIN: Yeah. He`s been working for several years at Walmart on the night shift and then dabbles in the stock exchange during the daytime.
CASAREZ: So, this was a routine for him. He had his night job at the Walmart, he goes to the casino and then he goes...
MALKIN: Yeah.
CASAREZ: ...to McDonald`s. We`re going to show everybody a picture because this is an active investigation and police are trying to find out
who did this. This is the person right here that the police are saying is a person of interest. Now, you can tell that the surveillance video, look
at that picture. It is a woman. She is white. It looks like a green tank top, dark pants, a big purse or bag over her left shoulder. They`re
calling her a person of interest, but that vehicle right there, you can`t say there`s anybody in it, but police say there is somebody in it and that
person is a suspect. They`re not saying if it`s a male or a female. They`re not saying where that vehicle was. Matt Zarrell, anything else you
can tell us from the surveillance photos that they`re distributing all over to find out who did this?
ZARRELL: No. We know that the car was leaving the scene of the shooting around the time of the shooting. We know we have one image from the
McDonald`s. We believe it`s the McDonald`s is where you seen the surveillance images from. I would hope that police have more images that
could show the suspect actually getting out of the car. But, Jean, it`s unclear if the suspect ever got out of the car during the shooting. We
don`t know at this point.
[20:05:00]
CASAREZ: And Joel Malkin, do we know where he was shot?
MALKIN: We -- I haven`t seen that anywhere as far as where in the body he had shot, but we know obviously it was a fatal shot.
CASAREZ: You`re looking at the victim right here. This is Alex Eichmann, 48 years old, in the prime of his life. Prime of his life, and joining us
tonight are his brothers that are right here. They want answers. Joining us, Eric and Otto Eichmann. Thank you very much for joining us tonight.
Eric, I know that you spoke with your brother about an hour before this happened. What did he say to you?
ERIC EICHMANN, BROTHER OF VICTIM: Yeah, I spoke to him. He was at the casino, at the Pompano Isle Casino, there on Pompano Beach and we had gone
a few times. We kind of started gambling a couple months ago. We got an interest. We went and tried it one time and we were having fun and it was
something new that him and I discovered.
So, whenever he had a day off which was not very often, he got one night off a week and he did work at night, so he slept during the day while I`m
working and then he -- you know, when he did have a night off, he sometimes would do things and go out at night and I would join him on occasion when I
could at the casino.
So, the casino closes at 3:00. I`m very familiar with that because I`ve been there a few times with him and close the casino at 3:00. So I kind of
know how long it would take to close the casino or finish playing. And then when they close, I know exactly where we`d park and he called me. I
was texting with him that evening. He wanted me to join him. He left about 11:00 p.m. He normally works at 10:00. He went in to the casino at
11:00 to start and he wanted me to join him as I did several times and I couldn`t. I had too much work to do and I couldn`t get there.
So I texted with him and he was texting with me, telling me how things were going and we did that often whenever he was there. But about 3:11, he
called me and he called me to tell me, you know, how the gambling went and how things went. He was happy because he had been losing some money
earlier, $300 or $400 and then he kind of got back to even. So he`s really happy about that.
And so, we talked for a few minutes. While we were talking, I heard a female voice in the background say something and he said to me, "I`m
talking to my brother. I`m talking to my brother." So and then he came back to me. We talked for another minute or two and he said, "Well, I`ll
catch up with you tomorrow." He said, "Eric, I`m going to go talk to this girl." I don`t know who that girl was. He didn`t say. But he said, "I`m
going to go talk to this girl and I`ll catch up with you tomorrow."
CASAREZ: And Eric, were was he? Was he at the McDonald`s when he called you or was he still at the casino?
E. EICHMANN: No. I`m sure he`s at the casino because he called me in at 3:11 a.m. The casino closes at 3:00.
CASAREZ: OK.
E. EICHMANN: And he told me that he played until the machine froze up, which I know that means they`re closing at just a couple minutes before
3:00, then you have to kind of get out of there. And by the time we got to the car, it usually it took -- for him to call at 3:11, that means he
probably just got to his car, he`s probably sitting there and just called me to touch base.
CASAREZ: So you saw that he was communicating with a girl. Otto, did he have a girlfriend at all? Was he seeing anybody in his personal life?
OTTO EICHMANN, BROTHER OF VICTIM: No, not that -- no steady girlfriend. No, no one that that we`re aware of. No.
E. EICHMANN: No.
CASAREZ: Otto, tell me about your brother.
O. EICHMANN: Alex was a great brother. He meant so kindhearted, friendly, caring. We called him the peacemaker of the family. Not a mean bone in
his body. Very generous guy, friendly, outgoing, joking, you know. He was -- he cared about everybody and he really represented the best of our
family. Several friends always said, you know, he would loan people money. The strangers on the street, he would talk to. He was just a very
kindhearted guy.
CASAREZ: You have to be in shock. You have to be in absolute shock. Otto ...
E. EICHMANN: We are.
O. EICHMANN: We are.
CASAREZ: ... have you been told -- either one of you, have you been told by police where he was shot?
O. EICHMANN: No.
E. EICHMANN: No. We don`t know anything.
CASAREZ: You haven`t?
O. EICHMANN: WE don`t know any of these details yet. No.
E. EICHMANN: No.
O. EICHMANN: Not the detectives...
CASAREZ: What have police told you?
O. EICHMANN: We`ve asked.
CASAREZ: Eric, what have police told you?
E. EICHMANN: Pretty much that`s it, that he was shot. We really don`t know much of anything. That`s actually why we`re here. We`re asking for
help. We`re just asking for the public or anybody that saw anything that early morning hours to just please help us come forward.
There`s like -- we do know that -- because I put it out yesterday, there`s a person of interest or -- that they would like to speak to. And we`re
asking, we don`t know the girl, but we`re asking whoever that is to please come forward and talk to the police, and anyone else who maybe saw her or
saw anything that night to just please contact the police and just let them know so they can help us find some answers as to who did this to my brother
and why. Why? We just can`t figure out why. So, we`re just looking and pleading for help to get some answers for that.
CASAREZ: And we`re trying to help you and we hope that we can help you.
E. EICHMANN: Thank you.
O. EICHMANN: We appreciate that.
E. EICHMANN: Thank you.
CASAREZ: And we see that law enforcement have distributed these photographs of a suspect in a vehicle, of a person of interest that they
believe could be potentially responsible in all of these. But the big question, Otto, I think is still why. Now, Eric just said that your
brother had $300 to $400 cash on him. That`s a lot of money. Do you think somebody saw that he had that cash on him that night?
O. EICHMANN: We don`t know. I mean, that`s certainly a possibility. But, it`s not unusual for him to go to the casino, you know, with that kind of
money. But, that`s why we`re here. We want to know what happened during that last hour that Alex was alive.
CASAREZ: That`s right. And, Eric, once again you spoke...
O. EICHMANN: It just makes no sense.
CASAREZ: It doesn`t. It really doesn`t. And Eric, you spoke to him about an hour before he was shot to death. What was his demeanor? What was he
like?
E. EICHMANN: He was actually fine. I mean, he sounded like he normally sounded, you know? And, you know, him and I, he`s my younger brother and,
you know, we grew up together and we`re very close. And he sounded normal. He -- you know, he had a good time and everything seem fine. He was
jovial. He checked in with me just to say hello, give me an update on how things went. It wasn`t uncommon. We would -- I would try to go with him
when I could to the casino. But if he went on his own every once in a while, he`d check in with me. And if I went on my own, I do the same. So
that was something normal for us to do.
CASAREZ: Yeah. Eric, one last thing ...
E. EICHMANN: He sounded normal.
CASAREZ: Yeah. Eric one last thing, tell everybody exactly where this McDonald`s is. Where is it?
E. EICHMANN: The McDonald`s is located on Sample Road. A little bit west of I-95 here on Pompano Beach. And, you know, when the Broward sheriff
office came to my mother`s house, thank God I was there when they came at 11:30 on Monday morning to tell us that my brother had been shot, I said, I
was in shock and what do you mean and where and why, and the officer said, "At a McDonald`s." And as soon as he said McDonald`s, I knew exactly where
that was because I went with my brother many times. At 3:00, the casino closes. We`d be hungry. We wanted to find a quick buy to eat. We Googled
a McDonald`s and it was 24 hours -- we found one that was open 24 hours a day and we figured we could go there. So we found that McDonald`s. We
went there several times and, you know, that was just the only place we knew that we could get a bite to eat at that time in the morning.
And we went there many times and never had any problems. We got our food and went on home, and that wasn`t an issue, but I -- that`s the McDonald`s.
And when they told me, I knew exactly where it was located and which McDonald`s they were talking about.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Broward sheriff office deputy has found 48-year-old, Alex Eichmann, unresponsive in his car outside this McDonald`s. Suffering
from several gunshot wounds, he died just a few hours later. Now, detectives are searching for this woman they`re calling a person of
interest and this white four-door sedan they believe is the suspect`s vehicle.
E. EICHMANN: Who did this to my brother?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez in for Nancy Grace. Thank you so much for joining us. Alex Eichmann, 48 years old, he`d been a Walmart employee for
20 years. At Monday night, he was shot dead in Pompano Beach, Florida at a McDonald`s and authorities are trying to find out who did this.
I want to go to Dr. Lee Norman, joining us tonight from Kansas City, Kansas. He is the Chief Medical Officer at the University of Kansas.
Doctor, we know that there was an autopsy performed yesterday. They are not released, saying any of the results. This was a shooting death. What
can an autopsy show that can help investigators right now?
DR. LEE NORMAN M.D., CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS HOSPITAL: Well, there`s actually quite a number of things it can show. It can show
the angle of the bullet or bullets as they entered a body so you get an idea where the perpetrator was standing, compared to where the victim was.
If there are soot or residue on the body, you can get an idea of how close or how far away. You can recover a bullet sometimes from inside a person.
So there`s a lot of physical evidence on the person.
CASAREZ: In regard to whether he was in the car, even the family doesn`t know if he was in the car. But the processing of that car, the forensics
of that car, you as the medical examiner, take that into consideration as you are looking for the cause and manner of death, what will law
enforcement be doing with that vehicle?
NORMAN: Well, they`ll go with a fine-tooth comb to make sure that the person was in there at the time of the shooting and the time of the death.
If the shooting occurred outside of the car and the body was dragged into the car, there would be a lot of physical evidence on the outside, plus a
lot of kind of residual evidence left behind, tracks, footprints, shell casings and the like.
CASAREZ: And ...
NORMAN: So they`ll understand a lot from what they find.
CASAREZ: And Doctor, there is potentially a witness to all of this, at least at some point. She spoke a little bit to one of our affiliates in
Florida. Let`s listen to what she had to say.
[20:20:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was definitely in the car when he was shot. Definitely didn`t expect something like that on a Monday morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the shadow of the Golden Arches Restaurant, yellow crime scene tape crisscrossing the parking lot, the focus, this black
Corvette. She says she was out on the parking lot before the sun came up. She says she heard one gunshot then saw a white four-door sedan speeding
away east on West Sample. She tells me the victim was in the driver seat. This morning, deputies confirmed the man was found shot, dead inside the
Corvette. Moments after the shooting, deputies were in the parking lot, taking measurements, photographs, gathering what evidence they could.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: Defense Attorney Robin Ficker, police and authorities, they are circulating a photograph of a young woman, green tank top, sleeveless,
black long pants, bag over her shoulder, looks to be in a running position. But, are you concern that they are so focused in on one person right now,
not only potentially for her reputation, but the fact that the person that may have done this is not even being looked at?
ROBIN FICKER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, there`s certainly is no weapon in her hand. The first thing people do when they hear a gunshot is run.
Crime outside these casinos is common because there are desperate losers, people who have lost money and also people coming out who have been
flashing money inside and who drive away in a nice looking cars like this gentleman did.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the shadow of the Golden Arches Restaurant, yellow crime scene tape crisscrossing the parking lot, the focus, this black
Corvette.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was definitely in the car when he was shot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She says she heard one gunshot then saw a white four- door sedan speeding away east on West Sample.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez in for Nancy Grace. Kirby Clements, Defense Attorney, joining us out of Atlanta. There`s got to be a surveillance
video that we don`t know about because they`ve got these still images, one person, they say, is a person of interest. The vehicle, they say, there`s
a suspect in there which is a really serious term. A suspect means that there is probable cause that you believe someone had something to do with
this. Kirby Clements, how important is the surveillance video for you as the defense attorney?
KIRBY CLEMENTS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, as a defense attorney, it`s extremely important. I mean, number one, if you are the representative of
the guy at the car or the person in the car, you need to be able to show that that person had nothing to do with this case. And depending on the
angle, it might show that. As far as this lady is concern, you have to be able to show that she was definitely not connected to it and that maybe
that person of interest label should maybe, you know, deescalate now to just possible witness or bystander. But that surveillance video was very
important. It will make or break you would is what I say.
CASAREZ: And maybe the surveillance video at the casino to either collaborate this to show that there is some -- that they have something to
do with him there or something to exonerate him, especially since he spoke with a female, some of the last words that he ever spoke.
I want to go back to Eric and Otto Eichmann who are the brothers of this young man that -- whose life was cut way too short. We -- you want
answers. This has to be, you know, cases get cold. You want somebody to step forward. There is a reward. Eric, tell us about the reward.
E. EICHMANN: Yes. There`s a $3,000 crime stopper reward out now and we`re looking to raise that and get more money, you know, whatever it takes for
someone to just come forward and say whatever they saw that night, anything that can help the police solve this case, we would be forever grateful and
we`re hoping that that the girl who`s a person of interest or anyone that knows her or anyone that saw anything that night, saw my brother or saw
anything that night to please come forward and just help the police, help us.
CASAREZ: And, Eric, I know how close you were with your brother because I know that you were a soccer player, you went to the U.S. Olympics. Your
brother was also a soccer player. But, Otto, you also were close to your brother. I want to give you the final word. Tell us.
O. EICHMANN: Yeah. Alex was a great guy. He meant the world to us. And we`re devastated with his lost to our family. My mother is taking this
very, very hard.
E. EICHMANN: Yeah.
O. EICHMANN: And we`re really here just because we want to know what happened to Alex. We know that there`s a person of interest and the
suspect vehicle and we`re asking anybody, anybody out there that knows anything on that early Monday morning in that area to come forward. We
know we`re going to -- we`re doubling the crime stopper award to $6,000, we know that, and we`re going to try to increase that even more.
CASAREZ: All right.
O. EICHMANN: So, we`re asking anyone that knows anything to -- for the -- for us. We just want to know what happened.
E. EICHMANN: My mother put it best this morning when she told us that someone reached into her and ripped her heart out, and we feel the same
way. So we`re just looking for justice for my younger brother. That`s all. So, if anyone can help us, we would have really appreciated it.
CASAREZ: All right. Thank you so much for joining us, and somebody knows something. You can be assured of that. And the reward now, up to $6,000.
Thank you so much for joining us.
The search for twin babies missing from the Riviera Beach, Florida home, eight month old Cariyah and Major, last seen Tuesday morning when their
mother goes to work. The twins, one boy, one girl, left with their father, all three missing, possibly in a 2003 cream Infiniti. Cariyah, wearing a
pink onesie, Major wearing an orange and blue onesie. The tip line is Riviera Beach police at 561-845-4123.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez in for Nancy Grace tonight. A beautiful baby boy, was it an accident or was it murder at the hands of a caregiver, found
dead while his Air Force mother forced to leave him behind to deploy overseas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Dover Air Force based airman calls 911 to say 21- month-old, Evan Dudley, had fallen down the stairs and was unresponsive. Justin Corbett says the child, who was staying with him while his mom was
deployed overseas, had accidentally fallen down eight carpeted stairs at his home. Investigators discovered the child had bruises to his head and
body as well as a detach retina and excessive swelling and bleeding in his brain.
[20:35:00]
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: I want to go straight out to Solomon Jones, he is the morning host of WURD Radio in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. First of all, start from
the beginning because this is a military mother and her beautiful baby and then, she had to be deployed, right?
SOLOMON JONES, MOSRNING HOST, WURD RADIO: Yes. So, Staff Sergeant Nicole Dudley was deployed To Qatar. The father wasn`t available, hadn`t been
involved, her parents lived all the way in Iowa. She had a godmother Nicole Payne, and her boyfriend Dave Holecek who were involved with the
child`s life but she was also friends with Corbett and his wife. And so, they would keep the child from time to time while she was away. Nicole
Payne had left the child with Justin Corbett and his wife and three children and while Justin Corbett was alone with the children, the child
was injured, Evan Dudley was injured, and he called 911 and claimed that the child had fallen down eight carpeted stairs. But the kinds of injuries
he had, bleeding on the brain, detached retina, authorities didn`t believe it from the very beginning.
CASAREZ: So Justin Freiman, let`s looks at the time lime. So, the caregiver has this little boy and the caregiver has other children too,
although, we think just one child was with him in the home that day. It was Saturday and he was watching this little boy, Corbett, all day during
the day. Something happens, he calls 911. So it`s very close in time and what does he tell 911, Justin?
JUSTIN FRIEMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: He tells 911 that the child is unresponsive because he fell down the stairs, about 8 steps.
CASAREZ: OK. Fell down eight carpeted steps. We don`t know how but we know those were the first words out of his mouth, very close in time,
right, which is significant. Let`s look at the injuries here. All right, Justin, what were the injuries that this little boy had?
FRIEMAN: Well, an autopsy revealed there were about 10 superficial contusions on his head and face, seven under his skull, other bruises on
the thigh, elbow, buttocks, hemorrhages in both of his eyes and a detached retina.
CASAREZ: So we have a detached retina, excessive swelling and bleeding in his brain, numerous bruises on his head and his body. So, there is your
question right there. Was it an accident? Did he fall down the stairs, an infant skull is very thin, it`s very soft even at almost two years of age,
or was it murder? His mother is joining us right now. With us is Nicole Dudley who was away in Qatar when she suddenly gets a phone call. Thank
you so much for joining us. Nicole, can you tell us, you get a phone call, your sergeant comes up to you, what does he say?
NICOLE DUDLEY, MOTHER OF EVAN DUDLEY: He said that there was an accident and that my son was being air lifted to a children`s hospital.
CASAREZ: Did they say what kind of accident?
DUDLEY: No, ma`am, they didn`t go on to any details. They just wanted to let me know and then ensure that I got home as soon as possible.
CASAREZ: Do you remember how that felt? What were your emotions at that time? Were you in shocked?
DUDLEY: I was definitely in shock. I didn`t want to believe that anything of that nature could happen to my son especially being in another country.
Though, shock was probably the biggest part, I just wanted to get to home and see what was happening.
CASAREZ: And I bet that felt like days for you to get home and literally, it was a few days. So, what happened after that? You got on the next
plane?
DUDLEY: I left on a plane that next evening and it took me about two days to get home.
CASAREZ: So, when you got home and you went to the hospital, what did you see?
DUDLEY: I saw my son lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to a bunch of machines and he was brain dead.
CASAREZ: And at one point, you had to make a decision. ] DUDLEY: Yes, ma`am, I did. After they did all of their routine test that they had to complete, it has been determined that he was completely
unresponsive, he wasn`t responding to any treatment and he was continuing to get worst to the point where they did say that he was brain dead and
that there is nothing else that could be done.
CASAREZ: So I understand that you wanted to remove the breathing tube yourself.
[20:40:00]
DUDLEY: Yes, ma`am, I did.
CASAREZ: That took a lot of courage but it`s what you wanted to do and that brings us to this point here. I want to go to Dr. Lee Norman (ph),
Chief Medical Officer for the University of Kansas Hospital. I want to look at these injuries here for a second. When I hear detached retina,
excessive swelling, bleeding in the brain, I think of shaken baby syndrome.
NORMAN: Yeah, those are the findings that are classically identified was shaken baby syndrome. We always look to see if the mechanism of injury
described is what we see on the injured young patient. And I have to say that those do sound excessive for the mechanism of injury of carpeted
steps.
CASAREZ: You know, Nicole Dudley, when you heard about all of the injuries of this little baby, your little baby, did you think it was an accident?
Did you think that Corbett, who you had entrusted your care with, would intentionally or recklessly cause all of that?
DUDLEY: When you are put in situations like that, you know, you make sure that you`ve known the people for a long time and that you trust them and,
of course, I would, you know, never leave my child in the care someone that I didn`t trust. Though, of course, in that duration did not ever imagine
that something like that could happen to him by the hands of anyone.
CASAREZ: What do you believe now?
DUDLEY: It`s hard to say. I mean, I don`t think that it was an accident, but again, I can`t speak too much on that topic and, you know, hopefully,
once the trial happens, you know, all the details, et cetera, will be released and we`ll be able to come to a conclusion of what happened.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CASAREZ: A suspicious house fire leaves a mother and two daughters dead. The husband is the only survivor, but was this more than just a tragic
accident?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A scene of a triple fatal fire, husband and father, Brent, made it out alive.
BRETT PATTERSON, SURVIVOR: I tried to go back inside. It was so hot and it`s burning me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He had a burn on his wrist, at the back of his calf and some singed hair.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean it`s literally burning down. Everybody`s trapped inside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators tell me that they`re looking at all angles in this case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: What a horrible, horrible fire, and it kills a mother and her young children. The father, the only that survives. Scott Kimbler,
reporter from News Radio 106.7 there in Atlanta, Georgia. Start from the beginning here, tell us what happened?
SCOTT KIMBLER, REPORTER NEWS RADIO 106.7: Jean, what we know from this case is the husband and his -- he`s the only testimony we have to go on so
far. The house -- he says he was in the master bedroom with the daughters and with the wife and then, came downstairs when he heard coughing, but was
able -- unable to get upstairs when he noticed a fire, and he got out of the house. But the house burned down around the rest of the family. And
what`s cause a couple of wrinkles in this case is that there seems to be inconsistent statements of when this fire happened back in February of him
saying he tried to get back in the house, but neighbors are having contradicting statement to that.
And also, right after this fire happened, the father was outside, Mr. Patterson was outside talking to reporter about how the fire happened. He
said it was an electrical thing that went up a back wall and that was not determined at that point by fire investigators and still not determined by
fire investigators. So, reporters have a very close eye on this case right from the beginning and it`s not rolled out that it will be prosecuted at
some point.
CASAREZ: And Brent Patterson, not charged, not a person of interest, he`s not a suspect at all in this case. We do have a little bit of interview
that he gave to a local affiliate right here. We`re going to here from this father that lost his wife and his two daughters. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATTERSON: When I came downstairs, I opened the door because I heard something and then it kind of just -- I don`t know if it`s an explosion. I
don`t know what happened.
Me and neighbor, we got a shovel and we went and broke the back glass on the back door and the heat was just so much. There`s no way we could get
back in.
I tried to go back inside and I couldn`t because it was too hot, and it was burning me. So then my neighbor, George, tried to help. He tried help and
we tried beating in the back glass, and they burned to death. They`re dead.
CASAREZ: Michael Christian, we know there are inconsistencies. I mean, he said several different things at different times. He went right back to
the home the next morning, he talked to the media at length, doing interviews. We just saw some of them, but now, the medical examiner came
out with a ruling just days ago. It`s controversial. What did she say?
[20:50:02]
MICHAEL CHRISTIAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: She said, Jean, that she did not see anything in this investigation to suggest that this was not an
accident. She said that she saw no physical evidence that this fire was set and nothing to suggest that this father had set it.
CASAREZ: All right, Michael, wait a minute. She`s the medical examiner. The medical examiner looks at the victims and determines a cause and manner
of death. She`s not the fire martial.
CHRISTIAN: No, that`s exactly right, Jean, and that is why the prosecutor here, Danny Porter, almost immediately said, "Her ruling is fine but it`s
not binding on me. I`m waiting till all of the investigations are done, and if I think there`s a reason to charge this man, I`m going to do it."
CASAREZ: And, Michael, didn`t he also say that there is information as to the cause of the blaze that the medical examiner doesn`t know about?
CHRISTIAN: That`s what he said. Now, unfortunately, we don`t know about it either because they haven`t released what that information might be, but
that is what the district attorney said that he was aware of things that the medical examiner was not aware of.
CASAREZ: Dr. Lee Norman, you`re a chief medical officer, would you come out and make a statement like that that really exonerates someone as the
investigation has continuing when the district attorney obviously didn`t want you to do that?
NORMAN: Well, I would always stick to my knitting and talk about the things that I know something about. And so, I wouldn`t come out with a
comment like that because I`m not an expert in that area and I think most medical examiners are not.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(END VIDEO CLIP
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gwinnett 911, what`s the location of your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: House is on fire. There`s kids trapped inside.
PATTERSON: When I came downstairs, I opened the door because I heard something and then, it kind of just it -- I don`t know if it`s an
explosion. I don`t know what happened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, it`s literally burning down. Everybody`s trapped inside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: I want to go at to Arson Investigator, Robert Rowe, joining us out of Los Angeles, the President of Pyrocop Incorporated. Sir, isn`t an
arson investigation one of the most specific and one of the most detailed and difficult investigations there are?
ROBET ROWE, ARSON INVESTIGATOR: Yes, that is correct. And if you spend enough time, you know, if you spend a lot of time on a fire, there`s even
that chance that you may not come up with an answer.
CASAREZ: Why so?
ROWE: Well, because the investigation of a fire is very scientific. You have to go through the entire fire scene, you have to develop by
hypothesis, you have to examine all of the evidence, and there is some cases when even after examining all of the evidence, it`s difficult to
prove your hypothesis.
CASAREZ: And what about if investigators go in and they don`t have an arson expert and they start doing their own investigation, once the expert
comes in, does that even make it more difficult for you?
ROWE: Well, there`s a spoliation of evidence at that point. If you have investigators that aren`t trained and aren`t certified to do that type of
investigation, sometimes, the fire scene to be compromised and that is, you know, one of the problems that exist, an investigation when two different
eyes go into a fire, not that it`s bad that a second set of eyes go in, but sometimes, the fire scene can be disturbed or evidence collected that the
second investigator might not have a chance to look at.
CASAREZ: If an accelerant or something is used to set that fire, is that easy to find? I mean, you can find that, can`t you?
ROWE: Typically, you can go through a building. There`s ways of determining whether an accelerant was used or not. There`s equipment that
can be utilized to detect the presence of various products and there`s also the use of K9s that can go in and identify locations where an accelerant
may have been used. At that point, then you take samples to confirm those finds and then determine through various testing what type of products that
were, you know, were used for that particular fire.
CASAREZ: To Sanam Hafeez, she is a neuropsychologist, joining us right here form New York. The father in this, Brent Patterson, he gave several
different scenarios of stories, but how horrific for someone to go through this? Is it logical that somebody is going to say different things because
of the shock they`re in?
SANAM HAFEEZ, NEUROPSYCHOLOGIST: It`s possible, you know, that they may not be able to come up with an explanation because they had no ruling in
it, or it`s also possible that they had a story but when facts begin to emerge, their story falls apart, you know, the cracks began -- begin to
become visible. You know, people tend to lie because now, their story is falling apart or unraveling. But it`s also very likely that, you know, he
didn`t really have all the answers and maybe might have provided some possible explanation, and when another fact emerged, that was contradictory
then he, you know, stumble to find something else. So, it`s really hard to say and it`s ...
CASAREZ: All right.
HAFEEZ: ... hard to imagine a father being involved in his daughter`s death, so.
CASAREZ: And Brent Patterson is not a suspect but Kathy Patterson, 36 years old, their two daughters Kayla and Madelyn are all victims in this
horrific fire.
HAFEEZ: Very sad, very sad.
CASAREZ: We salute American hero, 9-year-old Samya Walker surprising Detroit police officers with lunch and she used her own birthday money to
do it. Now, after the recent tragedies in Dallas, she wanted to do something to show police her support. She made up dozens of bag lunched
with sandwiches, chips, fruits, cookies, even giving bag lunches to the homeless. Samya also honored officer of the day and she is tonight`s
American hero.
Thank you so much to all of our guests and to you at home for being with us. I`m Jean Casarez. "Forensic Files" is coming up next. Goodnight,
everybody.
END
