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Crime and Justice With Ashleigh Banfield

Three Bodies Found on Murder Suspect`s Farm; California mother, she goes vanishing, just gone. And when she`s on a run from her home, authorities have found Sherri`s Papini`s cell phone and they are now checking on many tips, but they don`t know where she is. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired November 07, 2016 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JEAN CASAREZ, GUEST HOST: We are following breaking news tonight. A suspected serial killer leaves a horrifying trail of death and shocking

tell-tale signs of alleged plan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASAREZ (voice-over): A woman is luckily found alive chained by the neck inside a metal container on a remote property.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was really locked up in a cage and she had a chain around her neck.

CASAREZ: Now investigators have found bodies on that farm and linked the suspect, a possible serial killer, to four other killings going back years.

Are even more victims out there?

A young mother vanishes on a jog in broad daylight. She didn`t make it to day care to pick up her children, and now her husband says he believes she

was abducted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just bring her home.

CASAREZ: And the body of a precious 10-year-old Texas girl who vanished from a church service is found in a well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CASAREZ: Good evening. I`m Jean Casarez, in for Ashleigh Banfield. Thank you so much for joining us.

We do begin tonight with breaking news in South Carolina, where a shocking scene of death and incredible survival is still unfolding at this hour.

Thirty-year-old Kala Brown found after deputies heard banging on a metal container. She was chained by the neck like a dog, as the sheriff told the

world, in that metal container for months.

Now three (ph), two bodies, including Kala`s boyfriend -- they have been found on the property in shallow graves. Police are also looking at links

to four other killings, and tonight authorities are investigating what looks to them like the case of a serial killer.

Let us go straight out to Frances Parrish. She is a reporter with "The Anderson Independent Mail." She`s at the scene. Frances, we understand

they have just found another body on this land. What`s the latest?

FRANCES PARRISH, "ANDERSON INDEPENDENT MAIL" (via telephone): Yes, that`s correct. They held a press conference a little while ago saying that they

had a third body, and no identity yet and they couldn`t tell us much about the remains, gender or age or anything like that at this moment.

CASAREZ: All right, this is mounting up. And we did just have a press conference minutes ago. It`s the coroner that held that press conference.

Let`s a little bit -- let`s listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSTY CLEVENGER, SPARTANBURG COUNTY CORONER: We did discover a second body today. I was able to remove the body discovered yesterday on today`s date

and also was able to remove the second body today.

My job is not near finished. I`ll be starting examinations and a number of other testing and things that I`ve got to do tomorrow. So we`re not near

finished with this. But we have been able to say that we did find two more bodies here, both of which are now (INAUDIBLE) Knowing that I`ve got other

things that I`ve got to do, I can`t state male or female at this time, ages. I can`t state, you know, how long they`ve been deceased or how long

they had been buried. There are a number of things I just don`t know at this moment because I`ve got some more testing I`ve got to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Frances, this case just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And I just really want to start at the beginning because it was

just last Thursday that Kala Brown, a woman who had been missing since the end of August -- she`s found alive on the property of the man, Todd

Kohlhepp, that has now been charged with her kidnapping. But just explain the circumstances of how she was found.

PARRISH: Well, I mean, you know, it was previously reported, you know, she was found in the metal container, or in a container, and -- as they were

looking for her essentially a few days ago.

CASAREZ: All right, Frances, I think she was found chained by her neck...

PARRISH: Yes.

CASAREZ: ... and by her ankle in a metal container, and they were on the property, and they found her. They heard her. They heard a human being.

And Frances, isn`t it true that her boyfriend also went missing at the end of August. His name was Charles Carver, and he`s been missing since the

end of August. She told them what she knew.

PARRISH: Yes, that is true. And from what we`ve heard from Carver`s mother, that he was shot, that Kala Brown witnessed him being shot as they

knocked on the door of the garage here on Kohlhepp`s property when they showed up a couple months ago to talk about doing some clearing work on the

property.

[20:05:00]CASAREZ: All right, and Charles Carver`s body was found in a shallow grave on Friday, and we do understand that Kala Brown told

authorities that she actually saw her boyfriend shot to death by the man that has now been charged in the kidnapping of Kala Brown, Todd Kohlhepp.

But it goes on from there, and I want to go to Joseph Scott Morgan, who is a certified death investigator, a professor of forensics at Jacksonville

State University. It goes on from there because on Friday, Kohlhepp would not say anything to authorities, wanted a lawyer. But on Saturday, he

actually confessed -- and we`re going to talk about that in a minute -- to some other murders.

But he took them to the property and pointed out where he said he saw other shallow graves, two other shallow graves. Both now of those victims have

been dug up. So Dr. Morgan, I want to ask you, when you are digging a shallow grave, that is a very complicated procedure because you`ve got a

case here that could be a death penalty case, and you`ve got to very carefully dig up those bodies because you want to preserve evidence.

JOSEPH SCOTT MORGAN, CERTIFIED DEATH INVESTIGATOR: Yes, you`re absolutely right, Jean. In this particular case, the devil is in the details. You

have to be very, very careful. Just like the coroner just mentioned a moment ago, he`s playing things very close to the vest at this point, not

even stating what sex some of these skeletons are, not declaring what their identification is. He has to be very, very careful in taking these steps.

Let`s consider this is a very large, large parcel of property that this fellow has, and it`s reminiscent of other cases in the past where we`ve had

multiple deaths, where we`ve had -- that have been serialized, where we`ve had individuals that have taken the authorities out to various locations.

It would not surprise me if they didn`t recover more bodies.

But the key throughout this entire process is to take things one step at a time. The police and the authorities cannot cave to pressure from the

media or from anyone else that wants information, be very methodical as they move along and make sure that they pick up as much as they possibly

can. They don`t want to lose any of the trace elements that are there.

It`s going to be very difficult to identify these bodies. If they`ve been buried unprotected in the ground, which it sounds like they may have been,

the bodies are not going to be in an identifiable state.

We`re going to be looking for things like specific methodologies in killing. Let`s keep in mind that serial perpetrators generally stick with

a particular type of killing modality, whether it`s shooting, strangling, stabbing or beating.

CASAREZ: And you know, Dr. Morgan, we do believe that the modus operandi of this man -- and remember, he has not even been charged at all with the

bodies that were found buried on his property.

But to Justin Freiman, producer, I do want to ask you -- do we know the identities of these two bodies that were found in the shallow graves, one

being yesterday and one being today, late today, actually, Justin -- do we know who they are?

JUSTIN FREIMAN, SR. PRODUCER, PRIMETIME JUSTICE (via telephone): Authorities have not told us who they are. They haven`t even confirmed

what sex they are.

CASAREZ: So they`ve got a lot to do. Dr. Morgan, are they going to have to call in a forensic anthropologist? Because we don`t know when these

victims were buried. We don`t know if it was a decade ago, if it was at the end of August, if it was two weeks ago. I mean, this could be a very,

very difficult examination.

MORGAN: Yes, yes, it could be, Jean. And it is. I can tell you, I`ve participated in a number of body recoveries like this over the course of my

career.

And let`s keep in mind the earth is going to be stratified. And what I mean by that, it`s layered, and it`s layered unlike unturned -- with turned

earth, as opposed to unturned earth.

Forensic anthropologists will come in. They understand how to read the contour of the -- or tephonomy (ph) of the soil to look for the

disbursement of the elements of the body. Also, they`ll be looking for trace elements, things like bullet fragments, bullet casings, anything

else, even as minute as like cigarette butts that have been kicked into the grave.

They`re going to try to be careful not to displace any bone fragments, if the bone was shattered, for instance. That`s going to tell us exactly how

this individual died. Was it a depressed skull fracture versus a gunshot wound? So they have to be very careful.

And most of the time, the local police departments work hand in hand with the forensic anthropologist at the scene. They recognize the forensic

anthropologist had this particularly type of expertise, and they will guide them, lending them a helping hand along the way to make sure that every,

everything is covered along the way.

CASAREZ: You know, Justin Freiman, we do have to ask you -- because it`s so important what they`re doing right now, the crime scene investigation.

And they are working tonight as we speak because this is such an imperative and important investigation, a murder investigation now, multiple murders.

[20:10:06]And this man, Todd Kohlhepp, is a suspect in seven deaths. And we want to talk about the workplace shooting that has been unsolved for a

decade.

But I have to ask you about Kala Brown. How is she doing? Where is she? What is happening with her, surviving in a metal container for months?

FREIMAN: Authorities have not been saying where she is right now or how she`s doing, but they do say that she has told them that she witnessed her

boyfriend get shot down.

CASAREZ: All right, she witnessed her boyfriend, Charles Carver, get shot. And she also said, Justin, that she believed there were other victims on

that property. This is a 95-acre plot of land that this man, who allegedly kidnapped Kala, owned. How would she know, which came to be true, Justin,

that there were other bodies there? How would she know that?

FREIMAN: Well, one can only assume she was actually talking to Kohlhepp there. You know, she was there for quite some time, and we know now there

is a lot of heavy equipment on site, so they might still be searching the property.

CASAREZ: All right. And we are going to come back in just a minute to talk about a workplace quadruple murder that this man is associated with.

You won`t believe it when you hear it.

But first, I want to update you on some other stories we`re tracking on PRIMETIME JUSTICE. Janet Reno, the first woman to serve as a U.S. attorney

general, has died. Reno had been battling Parkinson`s disease in recent years. She served under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 2001. Janet

Reno was 78 years old.

And in Pennsylvania, police near Pittsburgh arrested a father after they say his girlfriend sent him taunting texts about killing their son, and he

didn`t do anything about it. Andre Price (ph) now paces two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. The mother, Christian Clark (ph), is

charged with homicide and attempted homicide for allegedly smothering their 17-month-old son to death and attempting to kill their daughter. Police

say Clark thought Price was cheating on her.

And in Georgia, jury deliberations begin in the morning about the hot car death trial. You know this case. During closing arguments, Justin Ross

Harris broke down when his attorney told the court that he loved that little boy. He is charged with intentionally leaving 22-month-old Cooper

in a hot car to die in June 2014.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[20:16:34]UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Behind this chainlink fence, the unimaginable happened.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Authorities say Kala Brown was kept in a locked storage container in the dark for nearly two months and given food and

water.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They went over to the container, knocked on the container again. And she really started screaming at that point, you know

-- you know, Help me, get me out of here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And they got her out of there alive after months of captivity. It is a miracle Kala Brown survived. But now authorities are finding the

bodies of victims in what appears to be a case of serial killing.

Justin Freiman, so many bodies have been discovered in the last several days, just summarize for us once again, on the land where Kala Brown was

found alive, chained in a metal container, how many bodies have they dug up at this point?

FREIMAN: They`ve dug up three. One of them has been identified as Kala`s boyfriend. The other two bodies more recently found have not been

identified yet.

CASAREZ: All right. Now, this man, Todd Kohlhepp, has confessed to an unsolved quadruple murder in a workplace right there in South Carolina in

2003. Tell us about this.

FREIMAN: That`s right. It was November in 2003. Four people were gunned down at Superbike Motor Sports, which is a motorcycle dealership. The

owner, Scott Ponder (ph), was gunned down, as well as his mother and two others that worked there, Chris Sherbert (ph) and Brian Lucas (ph).

CASAREZ: Just people taken out in the prime of their life.

And with us tonight -- for over a decade, she`s not known what had happened to her husband, why he was shot and killed. Scott Ponder, who was the

owner of this company -- his widow is joining us right now. Melissa Brackman, thank you so much.

MELISSA BRACKMAN, SUSPECT CONFESSED TO KILLING HER HUSBAND: Thank you for having me.

CASAREZ: I can`t imagine what you`ve been through in the last 48 hours. For all this time you`ve not known, and you were seven months pregnant when

your husband was murdered?

BRACKMAN: I was seven weeks pregnant.

CASAREZ: Seven weeks pregnant.

BRACKMAN: Seven weeks pregnant, yes.

CASAREZ: Oh, my goodness. So 12 years later, you get a phone call a couple days ago?

BRACKMAN: Yes, 13 years later, yes.

CASAREZ: And what were you told?

BRACKMAN: I was walking out of the movie with my husband about 5:00 PM Arizona time, and it was Detective Lachica (ph) who had worked on this case

previously, and I had a good professional relationship with him. And he said, I need to talk to you and I want to make sure you`re available in the

next hour. And it`s really, really important you pick up the phone, so I just need to make sure you`re going to be available. That`s how it

started.

CASAREZ: And what did he tell you, ultimately?

BRACKMAN: He called back at 6:00 o`clock. He let me know that all the families were going to be told the same thing at the same time, that -- he

brought up Kala and he said, We`ve got him. And I became numb.

I never expected the phone call. I never thought I would hear it. I had made peace with the fact that I wouldn`t get that phone call. I created

the most healthy environment I could for myself and my son and -- but he said, He`s confessed, and it`s the same man that held this girl in the

metal crate and we have him.

[20:20:12]CASAREZ: Now, I`m sure that you had heard that she had gone missing because you -- I think you`re in Arizona now, but you do have

family members in South Carolina.

BRACKMAN: Right, I do.

CASAREZ: This man, Todd Kohlhepp, was a customer of your husband`s because he had a motorcycle.

BRACKMAN: Correct. Correct.

CASAREZ: What do you think the motive was? Because he came in there, allegedly, and shot your husband, shot your husband`s mother, shot the

mechanic, and shot someone else, Brian Lucas, that worked there. Why?

BRACKMAN: Right. You know, the detective shared with me that he had previously purchased a motorcycle. The motorcycle had been stolen. He

just decided to go back and purchase another motorcycle, and felt like they were making fun of him and felt like they were saying things, you know,

such as, This is too much motorcycle for you, and this second motorcycle is going to end up in the same spot as the first motorcycle ended up.

And this is a conversation that I can picture in my head Brian and Scott having in a joking manner, never to make someone feel bad, never to -- but

that appears to be what set him off. And I can`t know that for sure, but that appears to be part of the reason, he was very upset at the way they

were coming at him.

CASAREZ: And unsolved since 2003. And it would still be unsolved if not for Kala Brown.

BRACKMAN: Right. Right.

CASAREZ: She`s the one that alerted authorities that there were other victims here.

BRACKMAN: Right.

CASAREZ: How do you feel about her?

BRACKMAN: I`m able to keep my composure when I talk about my husband`s death, but for some reason, when I talk about her, I have a really hard

time thinking about what this girl went through. I have a hard time thinking about the horror she must have experienced for two months, the

things that were done to her, the things that I -- she`s my hero. She`s the reason I`m sitting here. She`s my hero.

CASAREZ: And what would you want to say to her if you could say anything?

BRACKMAN: I want her to look at my little boy. We will meet her. We have every intention. I want to hug her. I -- I want her to see my son, and I

want her to know that the hell that she endured gives my son some answers...

CASAREZ: All right.

BRACKMAN: ... gives me the answers but...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[20:26:54]UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we didn`t even know about it!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Foster`s home runs into this remote back side of Todd Kohlhepp`s property.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was a big trail and it goes all around this land. It goes up there, all his trucks. Why didn`t I hear something? You

know, I felt like something was wrong, but I wasn`t sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And it turns out something was horrifically wrong, and now police are piercing (sic) it all together after the discovery of missing woman

Kala Brown.

Now, we do know that Todd Kohlhepp, who has been charged with kidnapping and four counts of murder from the workplace shooting well over a decade

ago, was also a realtor in the area and pretty successful.

Joining us tonight is his neighbor, Ron Owen, joining us from Woodruff, South Carolina. Mr. Owen, thank you so much for joining us.

RON OWEN, NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOR (via telephone): Thank you much for having me.

CASAREZ: Did you know that your neighbor was a registered sex offender?

OWEN: Yes, ma`am, I did. We always research. About every two or three months, we go on the Web site to find out what, you know, sex offenders

living around us because we have our grandchildren that come quite frequently, spend the night and play with us and so forth. So we did know

that Todd was a sex offender.

CASAREZ: You did. Now, tell us about him. I mean, you`ve gotten to know him a little bit, right, especially out at the trash barrels, right, as

you`re taking your trash out and things. What did he have to say to you?

OWEN: Well, Todd and I just -- as we passed, we would have a greeting, Hello, how are you doing? We didn`t have any long conversations. I do

remember one conversation that we had two days before he was arrested. He was telling me about the farm. He was telling me about the fence that he

had put around the property, also telling me that he was going to put his house on the market the first of the year and was going to build a house on

the 95 acres and move down there. And that was about the conversation that we had then.

CASAREZ: Did it seem like, Mr. Owen, that he owned a lot of properties? He was a realtor.

OWEN: Yes, ma`am, he did have some rental property that he had a box close to his mailbox where people would come by and leave their house payments or

leave their rent payments. And the only property that I knew that he had was here in -- where he lives, where the house is beside me, and the 95

acres that he had purchased I guess a couple years ago.

CASAREZ: And the reason I ask you about other properties is that investigators are now saying that they are going to search other properties

because they are not sure that there are not more bodies buried elsewhere.

I want to ask you -- your own daughter would visit you, along with the grandchildren.

OWEN: Yes.

CASAREZ: And this man made a comment once about your family?

[20:30:00] OWEN: Yes, yes. My daughter -- my daughter is the mother of my four grandchildren, and a very attractive young lady. And one day, Todd

just approached me and says, who is that foxy lady that comes to visit you?

And so I -- it kind of upset me about the phrase that he used. And so I said hey, that`s my daughter, and she is the mother of my four

grandchildren. And that was the end of the comments and no further comments were made as long as he lived here.

JEAN CASAREZ, LAWYER AND NEWS CORRESPONDENT FOR CNN AND HLN: Does it concern you that he being a realtor in your community also was a registered

sex offender?

OWEN: Yes, ma`am, it did. And from my understanding that the law was passed after he got his realtor`s license, the law was passed after he got his

realtor`s license, that a realtor had to go through a background investigation.

CASAREZ: And we actually were able to obtain, Mr. Owen, his application to be a realtor and he admitted that he had been convicted of a felony. But

what he described was a complete lie, when you compare it to the court records, just saying it was a young girlfriend and they had an altercation

and he was charged with kidnapping, he said, because he wouldn`t let her go as they were talking.

Melissa Brackman, you`re still with us, and your husband is a victim. He was murdered, gunned down in his workplace well over a decade ago in 2003.

It is now believed that this man is responsible. Just your thoughts as you listened to Ron Owen, who was the next door neighbor of Todd Kohlhepp.

MELISSA BRACKMAN, WIFE OF SCOTT PONDER: I`m appalled. I`m appalled that he was able to live in society as long as he did, kind of under the radar. And

I`m scared that there is going to be a domino effect of things that will unfold as we go day-to-day. I`m scared as to what we will find out.

CASAREZ: Justin Fryman (ph), I want to go back to you, because this isn`t over. Law enforcement says they are going to other properties, and other

law enforcement agencies, we believe, according to reports, are getting involved in this, right?

JUSTIN FRYMAN (ph): Was that directed to me, Jean?

CASAREZ: Sure, go ahead, Mr. Morgan. Okay, I think -- okay -- Mr. Owen, what we are learning is that other law enforcement agencies are going to

get involved to see if any other bodies are -- are buried anywhere. Have they come to his home that is next door to yours?

OWEN: Yes, ma`am. The home is under 24-hour surveillance, guarded by the sheriff`s office since Thursday, since that occurred. So, there`s no one

allowed on the property at all.

CASAREZ: Have you seen them execute any search warrants at all? Are they taking anything out of his property?

OWEN: Yes, ma`am. On Thursday afternoon, when he was arrested, they did take some items out of the home. I don`t know what they were. I believe one

of them was a computer. I don`t know exactly what they were at that time, but they did -- they did take some things out of his home.

[20:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(START VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was out for a run.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Keith Papini came home and his wife, Sherri Papini was nowhere to be found.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He found out that his kids were still at daycare.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He found Sherri`s phone down the street.

KEITH PAPINI, HUSBAND OF SHERRI PAPINI: Bring her home. Just bring her home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: So California mother, she goes vanishing, just gone. And when she`s on a run from her home, authorities have found Sherri`s Papini`s cell

phone and they are now checking on many tips, but they don`t know where she is. There she is right there. How and why she disappeared remains an

absolute total mystery.

I want to go out to Cristina Davies. She is a reporter for KRCR in Redding, California. Cristina, this is really, really confusing and concerning

because this was a very loving mother. Her husband`s at work. You can tell the story for us. She`s just gone.

CRISTINA DAVIES, REPORTER FRO KRCR: That`s right. So Keith Papini, he actually got a text earlier in the day from his wife, Sherri, asking if he

was going to be home for lunch. He texted her later on in the day, saying he wasn`t going to be home for lunch. And when he came home, he didn`t

suspect anything because her car was still there.

So when he walked into the house, he was expecting to see his family, but his family wasn`t there in the house. So, he looked around and he was

searching in the house, and his two young children, so 2 and 4 years old, so normally they just come running to him. But that wasn`t the case, yeah.

CASAREZ: All right. So she goes jogging, this is her routine. And I want to go to Sheriff Tom Besenko, who is joining us tonight from the Shasta County

Sheriff`s office. Sheriff, thank you. Because this is a very concerning case. You are on the lookout. You are trying to find this woman.

Just describe for me her everyday or at least regularly she would go for a run and she would also pick her children up from daycare. What was a normal

day like for Sherri?

[20:40:00] TOM BESENKO, SHERIFF-CORONER FROM SHASTA COUNTY: That`s right. She would be at home, she had started her exercise routine, and had a very

regular routine. And then would always pick her children up from daycare.

And then when the husband returned home and didn`t find her, and then found out that the children had not been picked up from daycare yet, that was

about 6:00 in the evening almost, that was very concerning and they immediately called 911. He had found the phone not too far away from the

residents, but along where she normally jogged, found her iPhone there.

CASAREZ: Found her iPhone and the ear buds, is that not correct, sheriff?

BESENKO: That`s correct. The iPhone and the ear buds were there at the location. They weren`t damaged or smashed like there had been an

altercation or anything, but they were there on the ground.

CASAREZ: Isn`t it true that a little bit of hair was found?

BESENKO: There was a few pieces of -- we believe it was her hair that there was there with the ear buds and the phone.

CASAREZ: So tell me what you have done so far. Did you bring out the dogs to find her scent? Did you find it where the ear buds were?

BESENKO: Starting that night, because it went into nighttime hours, so we had the availability of a nearby hospital helicopter that had their night

spotlight and some forward looking infrared that was searched.

We had our patrol force out there looking around both alongside the roads in case there was like a pedestrian versus a vehicle. And then the next

morning, we had our search and rescue personnel out, along with search dogs of her scent work, both that night and the next day.

CASAREZ: And did you find anything?

BESENKO: We found no additional clues or evidence, only what was left near where they found the cell phone, ear buds, and a few strands of hair. That

was the only thing that we found to date. Right now, we`ve had over 100 tips.

CASAREZ: Sheriff, did the dogs hit on anything?

BESENKO: No, the dogs did not hit on anything, which makes it a little bit abnormal, too. Because if she had continued on walking or jogging, there

would have been foot prints and there would have been a scent trail.

And now it`s almost ideal weather conditions, we`ve had, it`s in the fall here on the west coast in this area. So it`s a little bit cooler and we`ve

had some rain, and that helps too for the scent conditions. And the dogs did not hit on any scent.

CASAREZ: So sheriff, do you believe that she was there where her iPhone and her ear buds were found, which were about a mile from the home?

BESENKO: We have nothing -- obviously it was her phone and ear buds, so that can lead a person to believe that yeah, she was there or at least her

phone was there at some point. We`re following up on a number of theories of what could have happened, including I know the family believes that she

was abducted. We don`t have anything to lead us that way, nor to dissuade us that she wasn`t abducted in any way.

We have had a critical reach, that goes out to our federal state and other local law enforcement agencies and governmental agencies with a description

of Ms. Papini, a photograph, and the circumstances. That goes out to a tri- state area in California, Oregon, and Nevada.

CASAREZ: All right. We got that tip line up there for anyone that knows anything. We`ll be right back after the break with more information.

[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(START VIDEO CLIP)

PAPINI: It`s the worst thing ever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sherri Papina was said to have gone missing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He searched in the house and the property but learned the children were still at daycare.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We call her super mom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fast, rural, wooded area.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He found her phone close to the road.

PAPINI: I`m doing everything I can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: A husband is making a public plea for his missing wife`s return. Sherri Papini, stay at home mom, raising her two children, picking them up

at daycare, exercising. Routine for her. And all of a sudden, she`s absolutely gone.

Her husband discovers it when he comes home that night. Let`s listen to Keith Papini as he talks about his wife absolutely disappearing from their

home.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

PAPINI: I`m coming, honey. I`m trying. I`m doing everything I can. And I love you. If she`s listening, I want to say to her that we`re trying and --

we`re trying the best we can. And I`m so sorry that I`m not there. Bring her home, bring her home. Just bring her home. Bring her home safe. There`s

a $50,000 reward. Bring her home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And with us tonight is the sheriff of Shasta County, Tom Besenko. Thank you so much, sheriff, once again for joining us. Were any of her

personal belongings gone, her credit cards, her I.D. and sometimes you have that on you as you would jog?

BESENKO: If they did, it would very minimal amount, if you have it with you when you`re jogging. Of course, you`re going to be having your exercise

close. But, no, all of those items were found at her home.

CASAREZ: I understand you`re looking at registered sex offenders and within the county, there are approximately 900 of them?

[20:50:00] BESENKO: That`s correct. We`ve gone in the immediate area and checked registered sex offenders, those people that are on the roll or

probation and have been making contact with those. We`ve been assisted by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Also, it has parole agents assisting us as well, as well as the Redding Police Department has assisted us with giving us some additional

investigators.

CASAREZ: And where was her husband at the time that you believe she went missing?

BESENKO: Well, originally he was at work, and then came home, discovered that she was not at home and had not picked up the children from daycare,

that`s obviously a great concern to him.

CASAREZ: And you verified that he was at work?

BESENKO: Oh, yeah. The husband has been cooperative in our investigation so far and we`re talking to other friends and relatives, trying to establish a

time line of leading up to the disappearance of Ms. Papini.

CASAREZ: How do you even know that she was jogging that day besides the iPhone and the ear buds?

BESENKO: That`s a very good question. We have statements from other citizens, neighbors in the area that did -- did see her, and that we can

last say that she was last seen around 2:00 in the afternoon of that day.

CASAREZ: So if anyone has seen her, sheriff, just describe for us how tall she is. We see her face here, but just describe if someone was to find her,

meet her, what would they be looking at?

BESENKO: Well, she`s a 34-year-old lady, and she does not look 34. She looks much younger than that. She has blonde hair. She`s 5`4" tall and

weighs about 100 pounds, so a very petite build. She has blue eyes. She is Caucasian and in good shape.

[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(START VIDEO CLIP)

PAPINI: I received a text message from her at 10:37 a.m. that day asking me if I was coming home from lunch. I usually don`t bring my personal phone in

on my job, so I didn`t respond to that message until 1:39 p.m. later that day.

She could drop her phone, but she would never in a million years, you know, not pick up our children on the time that that she normally would have. She

was definitely taken against her will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And that was Keith Papini. He was talking about the last time that he heard from his wife. He was on "Good Morning America" this morning. His

wife is Sherri. I want to go to Wendy Patrick, veteran prosecutor, joining us out of Los Angeles tonight. And Troy Slaten, defense attorney also out

of L.A.

Thank you both for joining us. You know, Wendy, I heard the sheriff say the family believes she was abducted. We are working on various theories. Does

that concern you at all?

WENDY PATRICK, VETERAN PROSECUTOR: Well, I`ll tell you what, Jean, this is heartbreaking, partially because of the baffling nature of this

disappearance. We live in the day where it is hard to go missing without a trace, because developments and forensics, social media, technology.

There`s usually some kind of a trail, whether it`s physical or digital. And here there isn`t.

I mean, you heard the sheriff lay out the different things they tried. One can only hope that the community coalition that is mobilized in the Redding

community will be able to find the kind of leads, surveillance footage, whatever it is, anything. And there`s so many people working on it, and we

can only hope this will turn out be just a kidnapping and God forbid not a murder.

CASAREZ: You know, Troy, one of the things I really wanted to know was that if the dog had hit, because we don`t know if it was a search dog or a

cadaver dog, but a dog, if a dog would hit. Because normally they do hit, especially when the person has been jogging in the area and that can help

them determine if someone left by car or left into the wooded area. What does that tell you, that a dog didn`t hit?

TROY SLATEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: And we`ve had very good weather here in Southern California. So you would expect that if she was dragged or taken

somewhere that the dogs would hit. But I just want to touch on something that Wendy mentioned.

If I`m an investigator in this case, I want to do a full social media workup. I want to know that everyone that she was talking to or

communicating with her online. I want to know people that were looking at any of her social media posts to see if they could possibly have

information on this case.

CASAREZ: And Wendy, your thoughts?

PATRICK: You know, Troy and I deal with these cases all the time where you look at cyber stalkers, you look at people that are following different

people on Twitter, and you got to wonder who did this. It`s an excellent place to start, to look and see if there was anybody that was showing an

unhealthy interest in her whereabouts.

Somebody that knew perhaps that she jogged every day at 2:00 p.m. She had that routine who else knew about it. That is no doubt one of the things

that law enforcement is looking at as well.

CASAREZ: You know, Troy, a surveillance video may be far between. Look at the area right there. It`s very rural, but there are homes. Surveillance

video is something that they have to be maybe not talking about now, but absolutely trying to find.

SLATEN: Sure. Investigators want to keep all information that they have close to the vest, unless it`s going to be something that`s going to help

them develop new leads. So yeah, you can`t do anything in private these days. Everything is open.

We can look at her phone and see everywhere that she`s been, everywhere that she`s gone. The fact she doesn`t have her phone with her, that hair

and ear buds were found, leads me to think that something really nefarious has happened here.

CASAREZ: That hair is an important piece of evidence. I want to thank all my guests. Thank you so much to you for joining us tonight. I`m Jean

Casarez. We`ll see you back here tomorrow night at 8:00 for "Primetime Justice." "Forensic Files" starts right now. Good night, everybody.

[21:00:00]

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