Return to Transcripts main page

Crime and Justice With Ashleigh Banfield

A Prominent Lawyer Shoots His Wife Dead And Says That It Was Just A Horrible Accident; A Woman Left Her Atlanta Restaurant Job Frantically On October 28th And Has Been Missing Ever Since. Aired 8:30-9p ET

Aired December 22, 2016 - 20:00   ET

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


RITA COSBY, GUEST HOST (voice-over): The husband of a young mom and a 3- month-old boy found dead with their throats slit has been arrested. We`ll have the very latest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Smoked a bunch of signs.

COSBY: A Walmart truck driver swerving across lanes nearly crashes before stopping the 18-wheeler for police, the driver falling out of the truck.

But why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You feel the effects of the alcohol you drank?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

COSBY: And you`ll never believe what they found inside his vehicle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have two bottles of Barton Charcoal Filtered vodka.

COSBY: A wealthy lawyer puts out a gun in the car. It fires, and the bullet kills his wife.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shooting his wife by pulling the trigger of the gun.

COSBY: And he says it`s a tragic accident? Really?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was frantic when she left.

COSBY: A woman abruptly leaves work in a panic and vanishes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

COSBY: But no one reports her missing for weeks?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I think that she`s in grave danger or worse.

COSBY: And what has this holiday shopper so Grinch-like?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go back to wherever the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you come from, lady!

COSBY: Shouting anti-immigrant rants.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Speak English! You`re in America!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSBY: And hello, everybody. I`m Rita Cosby, in tonight for Ashleigh Banfield. This is PRIMETIME JUSTICE.

We are following breaking news of an arrest in the double killing of a young Texas mom, and also her 3-month-old boy, both found dead in their

home with their throats slit.

In the past few days, the storyline has gone from the dad, Craig Vandewege, coming home from his job at Costco to finding this tragedy, then to the dad

hiring an attorney and refusing to cooperate with police. And now the dad is under arrest for capital murder in the gruesome deaths.

This blockbuster comes after detectives returned to the crime scene and removed evidence from the Ft. Worth home. They even took the back door of

the house with them. The details of the Vandewege arrest are even more dramatic after he`s pulled over for speeding in Colorado, where his wife

and baby were being buried.

And Jeffrey Boney is the associate editor of "The Houston Forward Times." Jeffrey, let`s go right to it, a lot of breaking news. Let me understand

this. The deaths happened in Texas, but yet he is arrested in Colorado. Explain what happened.

JEFFREY BONEY, "HOUSTON FORWARD TIMES" (via telephone): Oh, absolutely, Rita. So dispatch was advised of a suspicious car at a 7-Eleven in

Glenwood Springs, Colorado. And so the reporting party that called in the suspicious call advised that there was a male getting into a white Hyundai

with no front license plate, and he had stated that he was on the run from police.

And so this officer that responded to the dispatch observed a white sedan matching the description that was driving along. He stopped the

individual, Craig, who turned out to be Craig -- ended up pulling into a Shell gas station. And he got out and actually screwed a Texas license

plate onto the vehicle. And so the officer began to follow him, ended up pulling him over for speeding.

And once he pulled him over, I mean, things got really crazy. He actually started talking to him. He said, It`s been a long week. My wife and kid

were murdered in Texas. He handed over his lawyer`s information, told him to call and verify.

And what ended up happening is they put him in the police cruiser because they said that he wouldn`t get out of the vehicle. And once they searched

the vehicle, they saw a bunch of boxes of different caliber ammunition, empty gas cans, camouflage clothing, numerous bottles of medication, and

other guns, like an AR-15 assault rifle and a .22 revolver.

COSBY: You know, amazing. I have a lot of questions to ask you. Who overheard him saying, I`m going to flee? I understand it was a caller who

said this guy is acting erratically, Jeffrey.

BONEY: Right. Absolutely. The reporting party, who was noted -- who`s been identified as a gentleman by the name of Corey Steele (ph), said that

he was told by Craig that he was actually on the run from police.

COSBY: So he said he overheard that. What about what Craig is saying?

BONEY: Well, Craig is saying, basically, that, you know, he -- actually, he`s been avoiding the police. He was investigated a second time. After

that investigation, he stalled all communication with law enforcement. And of course, he ended up in Colorado, seemingly on the run.

COSBY: Yes, certainly sounds so. Let me bring in the prosecutor. Stay with us, Jeffrey. I want to bring in former prosecutor David Schwartz,

also Kathleen Mullin, defense attorney. David, all right, you just heard the laundry list of things that we just heard from Jeffrey -- pulled over,

there`s guns, camouflage. The person overheard him saying, I`m planning to flee police. That doesn`t sound good.

[20:05:10]DAVID SCHWARTZ, FORMER PROSECUTOR: No, that`s what we call consciousness of guilt, so when you have the...

COSBY: I`d say it`s called overwhelming consciousness of guilt.

SCHWARTZ: Overwhelming consciousness of guilt. So I mean, this guy -- I don`t know what snapped. Those pictures look so nice, the wedding pictures

that we saw. But the bottom line is, that evidence will be brought into this trial, and so that`ll be on top of whatever evidence they have as to

the motive of the killing.

COSBY: And Kathleen Mullin, defense attorney, all right, we hear the camouflage, we heard that it`s a AR-15-like gun. We also hear a .22

caliber, ammunition. That doesn`t sound good if you`re the defense attorney. What do you do?

KATHLEEN MULLIN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: So it`s a throwback to the O.J. white Bronco, you know? And it really sort of...

COSBY: Sounds a lot to me like Scott Peterson with the camouflage.

(CROSSTALK)

COSBY: We don`t know about the dyed hair at all in this case, but remember, that was, like, he was caught with all these things.

MULLIN: Yes. And none of those things are good, Rita. But...

COSBY: Certainly not!

MULLIN: ... let`s focus on this. The crime is one of a knife. The throats of the wife and baby were slit. I heard nowhere that there was a

knife found or that there was any evidence consistent with the crime found. Everything found in the car doesn`t bode well for this gentleman, Mr.

Vandewege. But let`s keep our eye on the ball. This is a crime where a 3- month-old baby has had his throat slit.

I mean, this is not a crime where -- this man is employed at Costco. He goes to work every day. There`s no indication that co-workers said he was

behaving erratically or...

COSBY: So the cop just arrested him randomly...

(CROSSTALK)

COSBY: Is that what you`re saying?

MULLIN: I don`t think they arrested him randomly, but I think that we have to take one thing at a time. I know that people have been very upset that

he lawyered up. Well, it was the smartest thing he ever could have done. It`s the smartest thing anyone who is being looked at...

(CROSSTALK)

COSBY: Let me ask you, David Schwartz -- the cops are saying that hindered the investigation. Kathleen brings up that he did stop. He said, I don`t

want to talk. He did two interviews, but then said, Oh, I`ve got to talk to my attorney. If your wife is found dead and your baby is found dead --

they had been trying to have a child for some time, you go, OK, well, I`m not going to help? Don`t you say, I`ll tell you everything. Come on in.

SCHWARTZ: Of course. I mean, when you put on your prosecutor`s hat, of course that`s going to raise -- that`s going to raise the lights for the

police department. They know that they`re going to focus in on this individual. However, you know, I do agree with Kathleen, you know, from

the criminal defense standpoint. If you`re the husband and you come home and you find your baby and your wife killed, you should get a lawyer. And

it`s -- and it`s...

COSBY: But don`t you cooperate with authorities?

SCHWARTZ: Well, if you`re innocent, you do, but if you`re guilty, you may not.

MULLIN: Those things are not mutually exclusive. You can get an attorney and still cooperate with the investigation.

COSBY: But that`s not what we`re hearing. We`re hearing from authorities that he has hindered the investigation by not talking. What does that say

to you?

MULLIN: That his attorney has made a decision based on what he or she knows that to provide an open access to his or her client at this time is

not in the best interests of the client. Remember, we have one job, which is to zealously represent one client at a time to the boundary of the law.

SCHWARTZ: But he`s arrested because there is other evidence. We don`t know the other evidence yet. He`s arrested because there`s other evidence,

not because he has an attorney.

(CROSSTALK)

COSBY: In fact, let me go to (INAUDIBLE) Let me go back, if I could, to Jeffrey Boney. Jeffrey, one of the things that`s interesting about the

knife, authorities -- what I`m being told is that, apparently, when they pulled him over, they said, Do you have any knives in there? And he gave a

bizarre answer. Tell us about that.

BONEY: Yes. So Craig indicated to the officer who had stopped him that -- he asked him if he had any knives on him. And he stated, No, I`m not a

knife guy. And so they didn`t locate any knives on his person or in the vehicle. But they did also locate two loaded pistols that were on his

person, one in his waistband and one in his ankle holster. He did provide them with a concealed handgun permit that was issued out of Weld County,

but no knives on him.

COSBY: Was he allowed to be there? Because, of course, again, the deaths took place -- now they`re saying murders took place, of course, in Texas.

He`s apparently going to Colorado for the funerals of his wife and his baby. Was he allowed to be where he was found in Colorado? Do we know

that, Jeffrey?

BONEY: Well, we know that he`s been taken into custody and he`s been charged with capital murder. Whether he`s going to be transported back to

Texas, we don`t know that as of yet.

COSBY: All right, but we do know something else was found. And Jeffrey, I got to ask you about this. This to me does not look good for him.

Apparently, also in the car, they find, what, condoms and that his wedding band conveniently doesn`t sound to be on his finger, but it is in his

pocket? Is that right?

BONEY: Yes, there are numerous things that really are odd about this particular case. And of course, there are the items that were found in his

vehicle. We don`t know exactly what the motive and intent that he had the condoms and his wedding band removed and all that stuff were.

[20:10:00]But what we do know is that he`s been now charged with capital murder, and he`s going to have to face up to these very serious charges.

COSBY: And he also said he was going to Las Vegas. Doesn`t everybody who finds their dead wife and child say, I`m going to go to Las Vegas and

gamble?

BONEY: Well, I mean, you know, clearly, this gentleman has some emotional challenges and some deep, deep things going on within him. So let`s hope

justice comes to the family of these two precious individuals who had their lives taken.

COSBY: You bet.

Well, we also have some breaking news on an Amber Alert which is out of Missouri tonight. Police are looking for a baby, 5-month-old Eden Brooke

Hawthorne (ph). You can see Eden right here.

This is what we know. Eden was last seen on Monday night at a Church`s chicken restaurant in Normandy, Missouri. Police say Eden`s mom went into

a church (sic) with a friend, but was left -- and left the baby in the car. And there were two other men in the car with Eden, and they took off with

the car and also with the baby inside.

The car that they are searching for is a dark gray 2006 Town and Country minivan. Police don`t have the exact license plate number, but they say

that it could be -- you can see it up there on the screen. It`s PN4-R7B. Again, PN4-R7B. They also say the two men were unknown to Eden`s mom.

Anyone, of course, with any information is asked to contact the Missouri State Police.

And we still have a lot more to tell you about in the arrest of Craig Vandewege in the slit-throat killings of his young wife and infant boy.

Stay with us. A lot more after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:15:30]COSBY: And breaking news tonight. I`m Rita Cosby here, in for Ashleigh Banfield.

A young nurse and her baby boy were found with their throats slit in their Ft. Worth, Texas, home. And now we are getting more details on the arrest

of the husband and father. Some breaking news tonight. He has been arrested on charges of capital murder more than 900 miles away in Glenwood

Springs, Colorado. When police pulled him over for speeding, he had multiple guns and ammunition with him in his car, and a lot of other

things.

Jeffrey Boney, I want to ask you -- what did he say to cops when they said, OK, why do you have all the guns in the car? What was his excuse?

BONEY: Well, basically, he had stated to them that he had went to 7-Eleven to borrow a phone to call his parents. As far as the guns being concerned,

he wanted them to protect himself because he felt like individuals were not, you know, basically -- you know, they were looking for him. He wanted

get rid of some stress, go to the shooting range, let off some steam.

COSBY: And didn`t he claim also that, you know -- that, you know, oh, he was just, you know, relaxing and that -- you know, that he was just upset

about everything and that he was getting details about other people being arrested?

BONEY: Yes, he had mentioned to the law enforcement officials that his parents notified him that three people had been taken into custody for the

murders already. He also indicated that his attorney advised him that he should leave the state. Otherwise, he would likely not be able to bury his

family. And so, you know, he made some very off-the-wall statements.

COSBY: Yes, and in fact -- I`m not going to say it because it`s a swear word, but he basically said, yes, I kind of blanked up the story, huh? I

mean, he even basically admitted to cops, This doesn`t really make sense.

BONEY: Yes. Absolutely. He made some very, very serious comments. But you know, the thing that stands out the most is the fact that this

gentleman had no emotion. The officer that was questioning him said that he absolutely had no emotions that he was showing and reflecting as it

relates to what actually happened to his wife and his 3-month-old son.

COSBY: Yes, and again, as you point out, a 3-month-old baby, both wit their throats slit. Kathleen Mullin, David Schwartz. Kathleen, OK, shows

no emotion -- you just heard from Jeffrey Boney, I`m going to the gun range to let off steam. And he needs to have camo and he needs to have condoms

when he`s going to the gun range?

MULLIN: Well, so the one thing that he didn`t say that he needed to say when they asked him about the guns in the car and the ammo was, I have an

attorney. I`m represented by counsel. You can`t ask me those questions. Call my lawyer.

COSBY: Well, at first, he said, I`m not getting out of the vehicle, too. And he basically said for five minutes, Jeffrey was just saying, he didn`t

want to get out of the car, either.

MULLIN: I mean, he went as far as to hire the lawyer, and then he didn`t go ahead and assert his privilege to have the lawyer represent him...

COSBY: But let me tell you what he also said. He even said to cops, Look, yes, I kind of blanked up the story, huh? Like, he even says, yes, my

story does sound pretty fantastic.

MULLIN: Yes. And now, of course, everything he has said, you will have a hearing on whether or not it`s admissible, given that the police knew that

he was represented by counsel at the time that he said it. So did they have the right to question him, knowing that he was represented...

(CROSSTALK)

SCHWARTZ: I mean, you know they have the right to question him.

COSBY: Come on! By the way, they would not have...

(CROSSTALK)

MULLIN: He was pulled over for speeding. And then they said -- which is a whole other thing. Clearly, there was something in the works because you

don`t say, OK, let`s hold this speeding guy, you know? Come on.

SCHWARTZ: When you -- when you pull someone over for speeding, you have the absolutely right to ask questions. Why are these guns here? What are

you doing? You have the absolutely right, notwithstanding the fact of the other case. And he wasn`t a defendant on the other case at the time. So

the police absolutely had the right to question, and those statements will come on.

You know, you mentioned before the similar (sic) to the Scott Peterson case. It really is. I think a lot of the Scott Peterson conviction were

his actions after the fact, not before.

COSBY: Yes, the fleeing, the this, the that.

SCHWARTZ: Exactly.

COSBY: Let`s talk about also -- I want to ask you, Craig -- I want to ask you, David, about Craig Vandewege`s wedding band in his pocket and the

condoms? I mean, it`s a little odd he`s got that. What is that -- I mean, behavior -- if a jury hears that, I go -- it`s not conviction, but it`s bad

behavior.

SCHWARTZ: Yes, the DA will throw everything at the defendant in this case, but I don`t think that`s dispositive of anything. There are a lot of men

don`t have their wedding rings on.

COSBY: Absolutely. Look, he`s innocent until proven guilty.

SCHWARTZ: Absolutely.

COSBY: I want to get into one other point with you guys. The back door was taken by authorities. They took out, apparently, a lot of evidence,

and we know that they also removed the back door from the house, which I find interesting because we haven`t heard, was there forced entry? Was

there -- what happened in the -- what do you think they`re looking for? What could have been on that back door?

[20:20:08]MULLIN: There may be some form of forensic evidence there. There may be blood spatter. There may be some other signs of a struggle at

the back door that are relevant.

But Rita, you`re still looking at a circumstantial case. And this idea that he was pulled over for speeding with all of this other paraphernalia

in the car -- it just goes back to the one thing that I`ve said for my entire career, one crime at a time. If you have all those things in the

car, don`t speed! That`s that -- you know, the...

COSBY: And don`t change your license plate.

(CROSSTALK)

MULLIN: When you get pulled over, don`t -- and you have an attorney...

COSBY: I can`t wait for the attorney to be asked about that. Hey, did you tell him to switch license plates to a different state?

MULLIN: And leave state, right.

SCHWARTZ: He`s clearly not thinking logically. I think there`s blood on the door, though. That`s my prediction.

MULLIN: There`s got to be...

(CROSSTALK)

COSBY: ... something forensic. That was my thought. Thanks, guys. Stay with us.

And everybody, this truck driver can hardly keep his hands on the wheel. Take a look at this. But boy, he has a firm grip on the bottle, and he`s

way above the limit. The amazing thing here is no one was hurt. As you can see, he`s zigzagging across a Minnesota interstate in this Walmart big

rig. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:25:13]COSBY: And I`m Rita Cosby, in for Ashleigh Banfield.

We have all (INAUDIBLE) the fear of a big truck beside us barreling down the highway. But how about then the driver is flat-out drunk, like this

one, and swerving his 80,000-pound Walmart semi truck on the interstate. When a Minnesota trooper finally pulls him over, we see him tumble out of

the cab. In this police dashcam video, he is so drunk -- you can see him there -- he can`t even walk. The best he can do at first is roll, then

crawl. And there`s a state trooper right there and he`s on the asphalt. There he is.

The trooper asks him also a few questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You feel the effects of the alcohol you drank?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes? OK. Do you have alcohol in the vehicle?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No? OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSBY: But in the end, the truth always comes out and you can see it in the trooper`s hands. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have two bottles of Barton Charcoal Filtered vodka.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSBY: And Jack Tomczak is the host of "Up and at `Em" radio show. She joins me from Minneapolis. It`s almost amazing. I`m laughing, but it is

such a serious thing when you`re in a semi truck and you`re barreling down the highway. This is an unbelievable case, Jack.

JACK TOMCZAK, HOST, "UP AND AT `EM": It is serious, of course. But the fact that nobody got hurt, we can afford to laugh at it a little bit

because this guy was technically hammered, a lot, with...

COSBY: And by the -- and by the way, how hammered? I want to go into this with you because he was what, seven times over the limit, which is amazing!

TOMCZAK: Yes, it was .28, and that was two hours after he was pulled over. So at the time he was driving, I can only imagine, but loaded.

COSBY: Yes. Unbelievable.

TOMCZAK: Really loaded.

COSBY: And by the way, for commercial drivers, it`s .04. So there`s a higher bar when you`ve got a big semi truck like that.

Jack, stay with us because I want to play a little more of the Minnesota state trooper because this video`s just so incredible to see. Here`s a

little more of the exchange with this hammered driver.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) I don`t know exactly what`s going on yet. (INAUDIBLE) or something.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Smoked a bunch of signs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got the semi stopped.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stand up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get up on your feet there? (INAUDIBLE) Are you fully loaded?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it an empty trailer?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m going to have you walk back towards my squad car, OK? Would you be able to do that? Lean against that. Hold onto my arm,

if you need to, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. And I`m not in a hurry. What`s your first name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John? OK. How much did you have to drink today, John?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think you can drive right now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No? OK. You feel the effects of the alcohol you drank?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes? OK. Do you have alcohol in the vehicle?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No? OK. Where were you last drinking at? Think you can sit right on the front of my squad car bumper here? Think you can do

that? Take your time. Not in a hurry. There you go. OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have two bottles of Barton Charcoal Filtered vodka.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSBY: And Colonel Matt Langer is the chief of the Minnesota State Patrol. He joins me now from St. Paul, Minnesota. Colonel, what was the first

sign, because he was swerving all over the highway? What was the state trooper saying?

COL. MATT LANGER, CHIEF, MINNESOTA STATE PATROL (via telephone): Well, this trooper did a great job...

(CROSSTALK)

LANGER: We actually got calls. We received 911 calls on this driver, and the trooper was in a great position to go find it, and you see the end

result.

COSBY: How dangerous was this? Because especially when you`re dealing with something, you know, 80,000 pounds, this is a -- this could be

catastrophic. And in this case, he was almost swerving into the other highway, into the other lane. This is very dangerous.

LANGER: It`s about as dangerous as it can get. You can see the video there. And sadly, it`s something that troopers see pretty regularly when

they`re doing their work. But he was swerving all over the road, almost went off the road, hit a sign, and we were lucky to get him stopped before

anyone was hit.

COSBY: And Colonel, I want to ask you, because we were trying to do some research before the show, and this guy, Jonathan Czech, 45 years old, we

were seeing some reports that he might have even had a prior DWI. We looked, by the way. There were reports of that. We didn`t see any reports

in Minnesota, of course, where he is. Does he have a prior DWI or problems with his record?

LANGER: I think we discovered one prior impaired driving arrest on his record, but it was many years ago, and it wasn`t used to enhance this

violation.

RITA COSBY, JOURNALIST, HOST OF CNN "PRIMETIME JUSTICE": All right. Let`s go back to Jack Tomzak, who is the host at WKTLK AM 11:30. Jack, this is

very serious when we see this and this is not the first time we`re seeing just how common this is. I mean there have been hundreds of commercial

drivers who have actually had over the limit where their licenses have been revoked.

JACK TOMCZAK, UP AND AT EM HOST: Yes, and I -- the report I saw about this, they said that he`d be able to get his license back, but he would have to

jump through a few hoops to do that. I don`t know what those hoops are, but it`s harder to jump through when you`re drunk.

COSBY: Yes, they sure are. Let`s go to David Schwartz and Kathleen Mullin. David, here he is, 0.28. It is two hours later. He can`t even stand up when

the trooper is out there. That`s seven times the limit for commercial drivers. And now we just heard from Colonel Lander, he was saying there was

a prior.

DAVID SCHWARTZ, FORMER PROSECUTOR: First of all, we can`t afford to laugh at this. This is not a laughing matter.

COSBY: It`s scary.

SCHWARTZ: This is unconscionable behavior. And you know what? There will be a plea taken in this case. But what I want to know is what did Wal-Mart

know? What`s in his employment file?

COSBY: By the way, I do want to make sure this is a third party carrier in this case. But what`s interesting --

SCHWARTZ: So what did the third party carrier know?

COSBY: Well, we need to know whether they know in their background. The other thing I thought about first of all was also the Tracy Morgan case.

Remember the guy? The guy was at that point over, you know, he`s tired.

So we looked up the Tracy Morgan case, the guy just entered a plea. He could have gotten some very serious charges. He`s going to do 300 hours of

community service and the guy is going to walk. And there was a guy dead in that case, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN MULLIN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well (inaudible) the thing about this is, I mean, even for a defense attorney, a picture is worth a thousand

words.

COSBY: Yes, a stumble is worth a million words.

MULLIN: This dash cam video of him falling out of the cab is my signal to immediately begin -- start trying to negotiate a plea. But I understand

your concern about the level of sentence. In the Tracy Morgan case, we`re dealing with sleep deprivation which we know from studies that have been

done, that if you`re deprived of sleep for a period of time, 17 to 20 hours, you could behave similarly to if you have 0.5 alcohol level.

COSBY: Absolutely. Then go behind the wheel is the answer.

(CROSSTALK)

SCHWARTZ: And that truck is a weapon and he should not be afforded ever drive one again.

COSBY: Well said. Stay with us. We`re going to have more with you guys on the next story. A prominent lawyer shoots his wife to death and says that

it was just a horrible accident. Do you believe him? This wasn`t his first gun related incident.

[20:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSBY: This is Rita Cosby in for Ashleigh Banfield. A wealthy and also influential Georgia man who calls his wife his life partner says that he

didn`t mean to shoot and kill her. Claud "Tex" McIver, he is a prominent Atlanta attorney, says it was an accident when he pulled out a gun and shot

his wife Diane in the back of their Ford Expedition SUV.

Now, the initial police report gave very little detail, saying the case was under investigation. But now McIver faces charges in his wife`s mysterious

shooting death and there are lots of questions including why didn`t he call 911? Craig Schneider is a reporter with the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Craig, let`s start right away. What do you think it is that lynched this case to get him arrested?

CRAIG SCHNEIDER, REPORTER, ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION: Well, there`s been some questions and some inconsistencies and the account by McIver and

his attorney, and it`s just sort of an odd situation. The couple were being driven home to Atlanta from their second home about an hour outside of

Atlanta, when they said they -- when he said that he pulled off the highway due to traffic. He was sitting in the rear seat, and his wife was in the

front passenger seat and he had been sleeping and he woke up and said that he thought that he was in something of a dicey part of town and they

decided to pull their gun out of the center console of the car --

COSBY: And now, Chris, let me stop you because real quick, there are two different versions, too. He has this like sort of family spokesperson and

the attorney, and at one point they said yes, it just went off, and then another time there was a bump. There are some inconsistencies. Describe

those for us.

SCHNEIDER: Well that occurred a little later, a couple of miles away. They got away from that scene that they were in. He was in the back seat. He

said that he fell back asleep with the gun still in a plastic bag in his lap. They -- he suddenly awoke and pulled the trigger.

COSBY: Suddenly awoke and pulled the trigger.

SCHNEIDER: I`m sorry.

COSBY: He suddenly awoke, pulled the trigger but he doesn`t call 911, is that right?

SCHNEIDER: He didn`t call 911. They said that they called the hospital and there`s been some inconsistency in terms of what happened at the moment

that the gun was fired. His spokesman said originally that they had hit a bump in the road. Later, Tex McIver and his attorney said that the -- and

the driver of the car said that they were stopped at a light. I think it`s those kinds of inconsistencies that have raised questions.

COSBY: Yes, certainly. Let`s go to the attorney David Schwartz also Kathleen Mullen. David, you just heard sort of different stories, and

granted (ph), at one point he says I`m asleep, the other point he says he`s afraid of protests. It`s sort of a weird murky mess.

SCHWARTZ: It`s a weird set of circumstances. I`m sure there was a lot of shock involved here. As far as the charges come, I`m not surprised that

there`s a charge here. I don`t think for any -- for a minute this is a murder case but certainly it`s a negligent homicide case.

COSBY: Right. And they`re now looking apparently it was also like a reckless conduct, a manslaughter, all these things. Do you think that`s

appropriate?

SCHWARTZ: I think maybe manslaughter but I believe the case will end up in negligent homicide.

[20:40:00] COSBY: What do you think Kathleen?

MULLIN: I think that we have the right to remain silent and I think that unlike in other countries where you don`t have that right, you cannot be

beaten into talking. You cannot be hung by your (inaudible)

COSBY: But they had a family spokesperson.

(CROSSTALK)

COSBY: They voluntarily had a family spokesperson and even the family spokesperson and the attorney can`t keep their stories straight. They seem

different.

MULLIN: A family spokesperson and a trained attorney are two entirely different things. And Rita, one of the most interesting things about this

case and you may have noticed it also David, is that Mr. McIver and his brother use very similar language in describing the decedent. Mr. McIver

calls her "my life partner," and his brother called her "his life mate." It sounded very scripted to me like someone had prepared them for the

language. These are --

COSBY: Which also raises some red flags don`t you think. I mean that`s not good.

SCHWARTZ: I don`t think there`s anything to dispute that this is not his life mate. But the bottom line is, it looks like it`s a horrible accident,

it looks like it`s a tragedy, but it`s criminal. It`s still criminal and McIver is an attorney. He knows he has the right to remain silent.

COSBY: And by the way, he says that it`s politically motivated. He says he`s innocent. Let me go back to Craig Schneider. Craig, also what do we

know about motive? We do know that, you know, they were obviously -- we haven`t heard anything about problems in the relationship.

In fact, when they were married, the interesting kind of a bizarre detail, that the maid of honor was a horse. They got married on an 85 acre farm.

That`s a very nontraditional maid of honor. But what have we heard about a motive, if they believe that there might have been something behind this

more than just recklessness.

SCHNEIDER: Well, this case legally is no longer about whether or not he had an intent to harm his wife. That`s not what these charge is about. The

charges are about recklessness in the way that he handled the gun. The police are not asserting that he purposefully shot his wife.

They are actually accepting that it was an accident, but that the way that he handled the gun, it being in his lap, it going off, that it was so

reckless that it rises to the level of a felony.

COSBY: And also the other thing too, there are some interesting things about where the hospital was, she was taken to the hospital a lot further

away than one which is closer. We`re looking at a map. You can see he took her to Emery Hospital which is about 4.5 miles away and there were other

ones that were closer. Didn`t call 911. There are some, you know, questions about the behavior that lead to recklessness.

When we come back, an Atlanta woman vanishes, but it takes weeks for anyone to tell police. Find out.

[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSBY: And it`s Rita Cosby here in for Ashleigh Banfield. A woman left her Atlanta restaurant job frantically on October 28th and has been missing

ever since. Cecilia Bustamante`s family never reported her missing. Instead, a friend called police weeks later when she didn`t show up for a

Thanksgiving dinner. She has a 7-year-old boy and friends say she would never leave him behind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. ERNESTO FORD, CHAMBLEE POLICE DEPARTMENT: Disappeared against her own will. I don`t think that she voluntarily left the state of Georgia or

Chamblee and I think that she`s in grave danger or worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSBY: And police chief Donnie Williams and Captain Ernesto Ford of the Chamblee, Georgia police department are joining me now from Atlanta. Chief,

let`s start with you. Tell us the last time she was seen. And we hear that when she frantically left her job, she works at a restaurant. What else do

we know about her disposition or was there anything else unusual?

CHIEF DONNIE WILLIAMS, CHAMBLEE POLICE DEPARTMENT: I will let Captain Ford talk about that part. I`m just going to say we`re happy to be here so that

you can help us generate some leads into her disappearance.

COSBY: Absolutely. Before I let you go, chief, obviously, I know you guys are frantically -- she`s still missing at this point correct, chief?

WILLIAMS: Right. She was reported missing under circumstances we think suspicious and she didn`t leave on her own will, and we suspect she`s in

danger and we need her help.

COSBY: Absolutely. Well, we are glad to be here to do that. Let`s go to Captain Ford. The question I was asking the chief too also was about was

there something unusual? We heard that from co-workers she works in a restaurant and that she was seen frantically leaving. Do we know that she

get a call, what precipitated that?

FORD: We`re not sure what the employee -- the co-worker meant by "frantic," but we`re assuming that she left in some sort of distress and

that was on the 28th of October.

COSBY: And then the husband, she lives with (inaudible) her husband lives with her and also the 7-year-old, doesn`t report her missing, correct? Who

finally says, wait a minute, this poor woman is not around?

FORD: That`s correct. We received an anonymous call or someone that wanted to remain anonymous from out of state, stating that she was concerned about

Ms. Bustamante. She told us that she hadn`t heard from her since late October.

COSBY: What about social media, what about her cell phone, can you tell me about that, captain?

FORD: Yes. No social media activity. No cell phone activity after October 28th.

COSBY: What do we know about Cecilia Bustamante as we`re seeing this picture of a beautiful woman. Looks like a small woman, too.

FORD: Right. She`s a 42-year-old woman. She`s about 5`3 and 125 pounds. Has no immediate family in the United States. Most of her family is in the

Philippines.

COSBY: And Captain Ernesto Ford, you have talked to the husband and I understand that there was a little bit of unusual behavior or a little bit

of distance, he seemed kind of, you know, unconcerned?

FORD: Yes. Well, you know, the bizarre thing is he`s not the one that reported her missing. And when he attempted to interview him on two

separate occasions, his answers just were not consistent with someone who ought to be concerned about the whereabouts or the well-being of his wife.

His answers basically were --

[20:50:07]COSBY: Yes.

FORD: Well his answers were, you know, she left on the 28th of October and I don`t know where she is, but I think she may be in Baltimore or even the

Philippines. No concern, no -- a total lack of concern.

COSBY: Did he say there was something unusual that day?

FORD: He didn`t, no.

COSBY: He did not. Just the co-workers, is that correct, captain?

FORD: Right, just the co-worker and then the anonymous caller, you know stated, that there was some things and that she knew that Cecilia had

confided in her that raised concern for her.

COSBY: What were those things? I understand that a friend had said there may have been some past abuses, according to the friend.

FORD: Right. She -- Cecilia had confided into the caller that there had been abuse in the past, and also she said that should something ever happen

to her, she wanted to make sure that her child was taken care of because she did not think that her husband was capable of taking care of the child.

And she also wrote her a letter stating the same thing.

COSBY: And now, again, at this point, he is not charged with anything at this point. We just know that she is missing along with the child, correct?

Or just her, correct?

FORD: That`s correct.

COSBY: The other thing we know, and I want to bring in back to the attorneys, as we look at it, one of the thing that`s interesting, the baby

-- we`ve got a child, OK. We`ve got, you know, a young child and the friend, the same friend that the captain was saying, has said that she

loved this child and that would never leave the child alone.

And that`s interesting too, just suddenly just disappear, leave the child. No reports of saying anything to anybody. What is your suspicions here?

MULLIN: Nothing about the facts as we know them to be now bode well for Ms. Bustamante. They also seem to be saying that she self-terminated from

her job after she disappeared. I don`t know if that means she called in or someone called in.

COSBY: Well, it sounds like she`s missing.

MULLIN: Yes, someone called in on her behalf.

COSBY: The other thing that`s interesting, no activity. I want to repeat, no ID, no credit cards. All these items were left behind. We talked about

that she has connections to the Philippines, David, but no sign that she has taken a flight anywhere.

SCHWARTZ: What are we missing here, that`s -- we`re missing a lot of pieces of evidence here. Something is going on. I think the police

investigators know a lot more than what they`re saying out loud here on TV, which is the right thing to do because they`re conducting an investigation,

but there must be more to this story, we just don`t know.

COSBY: Well, let`s pray that she is found safe and sound.

And everyone, it`s the "bah humbug" rant that has heard around the world and it takes aims on immigrants. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just because you come from another country, that don`t make you nobody. You`re nobody as far as I`m concerned. Probably on

welfare. We probably -- the taxpayers probably paid for all that stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSBY: And I`m Rita Cosby in for Ashleigh Banfield. A shocking anti- immigrant rant and it`s all caught on camera in a Kentucky mall. A lady unloading on two women at the checkout counter and it`s something that you

have to see and hear to believe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it starts back there. And it don`t bother me if I say it and I don`t care if everybody hears me. I think everybody here

probably feels the same damn way I do. Thank you. Go back to wherever the (BLEEP) you come from, lady. Hey, tell them to go back to where they belong

because they can`t act like -- you know, they come here to live, then act like everybody else.

Get in the back of the line like everybody else does. And be somebody. That`s the way I look at it. You`re a nobody. Just because you come from

another country it don`t make you nobody. You`re nobody as far as I`m concerned. Probably on welfare. We probably -- the taxpayers probably paid

for all that stuff. It`s true.

We probably paid for every bit of that stuff, you know that? Probably all the food they get and everything else. I`m sorry, but that`s the way I

feel. That`s OK, speak English, you`re in America. If you don`t know it, learn it. And I`m sorry that I`m that way, but you all need to realize

you`re not the only ones around here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSBY: It`s disgusting to hear that. Well, J.C. Penney is trying to find the two women who took the brunt of that woman`s wrath so they can

apologize to them and also pay for their purchases. They also issued a statement and here it is. "We are deeply disturbed by the incident that

took place at our Jefferson Mall store. We absolutely do not condone this behavior in our stores."

And that is not all. That angry woman has also been banned appropriately I think from the Jefferson Mall. The mall is saying, "We absolutely do not

condone this type of behavior. We will work to identify this woman, and once identified, she will be permanently banned from Jefferson Mall."

Joining us are the attorneys, again, Joey Jackson joining us now. Joey, what`s your reaction -- it`s disgusting to hear and shocking.

JOEY JACKSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Rita, it`s great to see you.

COSBY: Thank you. Great to see you.

JACKSON: It`s horrific to talk about something like this. You know, it`s embarrassing. It`s mortifying. And the restraint to have to endure the

hatred that they were enduring, and the restraint that they exercise, which could very well have really, you know, it could have turned into a very

ugly incident.

COSBY: Could anything else have been done to this woman? Is there anything else they can do other than banning her from the mall?

JACKSON: What say you?

SCHWARTZ: Well, first of all, I`m glad this was recorded. I think all they can do really is ban her from the mall. But hopefully that tape living on

will be justice for her.

MULLIN: You know what we can all do Rita is we can all step up when we see a situation like that unfolding. There was silence from the other customers

in the line. We have to get in there and we have to say that this is not appropriate behavior.

[21:00:00] COSBY: Yes, shocking when you see it. Very shocking. And everybody, Kathleen, David, Joey, thank you very much guys for being here.

And everybody, thank you so much for watching. I`m Rita Cosby. It`s been great being with you tonight. "Forensic Files" starts right now.

END