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Crime and Justice With Ashleigh Banfield
Dad Charged With Torturing His Own Kids; Missing Woman`s Car Found Covered in Blood; Joseph Jakubowski Image Released by FBI; A Father Killed His Son Because of Girlfriend; Gunman Kills Teacher and Child In Class. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired April 11, 2017 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[20:00:00] JEAN CASAREZ, HLN HOST (voice-over): A truly shocking crime.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are absolutely heinous charges.
CASAREZ: A married father of two accused of beating his wife and children for years. And police say he made the children sleep in boxes, even
zapping them with an electric dog collar.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It shocks our conscience (INAUDIBLE) everybody else involved.
CASAREZ: Court documents show the father admitted hitting his children, but he claims he never hurt them.
A beautiful 26-year-old missing for weeks. Now her boyfriend is accused of shooting her to death, but police can`t find him or her. The latest
tonight on the manhunt and the search for the woman`s body after her blood- stained car was found abandoned.
A 3-year-old boy whose laughter seemed infectious found dead in a stream near his home.
911 OPERATOR: 911, where is your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just woke up, and my 3-year-old`s missing.
CASAREZ: Now the father accused of killing the boy going on trial for murder...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s a weak circumstantial case.
CASAREZ: ... because prosecutors say his 17-year-old girlfriend didn`t like kids.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... began to make known her disdain for the fact that the defendant still communicated with Brendan`s mother and spent time with
Brendan rather than her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just had to hide under our desk, and then when the SWATs came to our classroom...
CASAREZ: Children at an elementary school detailing their fear after a gunman shot their special ed teacher, two students and then himself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an absolutely tragic event.
CASAREZ: The shooter targeting his estranged wife of just three months.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our hearts are broken.
CASAREZ: While no school can be 100 percent safe, what can be done to prevent these tragedies?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: Good evening. I`m Jean Casarez, in for Ashleigh Banfield. Thank you so much for joining us. This is PRIMETIME JUSTICE.
If there is any place a child should feel safe, it is in their own home. But as we all knew too well, that is not always the case. Police just
outside of Filadelphia say they have been investigating Joseph Myhre for about a month. That is when they say his wife arrived at the hospital.
She had been beaten, had a fractured skull and claimed her husband had been abusing her and their children for six years.
After interviewing the family, officers say they were shocked literally at what was going on inside this house. Police say Myhre punched, kicked,
choked and electrically zapped his 11- and 13-year-old children with electric dog collars.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF STANLEY TURTLE, LOWER PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP PD: These are absolutely heinous charges. In an area where we are, we`re not used to anything like
this by any means. And when it does happen, it shocks our conscience, you know, and everybody else involved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: Joseph Myhre was initially charged with allegedly assaulting and harassing his wife, but now he is facing nearly 150 counts of assault,
strangulation, restraint and other crimes for the alleged abuse of his children.
Solomon Jones is the morning host for WRD radio in Filadelphia. He joins us now from that state. Solomon, this all began to come to light on March
15th when Mrs. Myhre, as we will call her, one of the alleged victims, went to the emergency room of the hospital. What happened?
SOLOMON JONES, WRD RADIO: Yes, apparently, the husband had beaten her, held her down, punched her in the back of the head. Numerous times, she
tried to defend herself. He also put his knee on her hands so that she could not defend herself, really beat her badly until, of course, that
skull fracture took place.
She had to wait until he went to sleep to go to the hospital and to get treatment, and that`s when they discovered her injuries and that`s when she
spoke up about what had been happening to that family for over six years.
CASAREZ: Over six years is what she said that she and the children had endured at the hands of this man. And what you are saying here, Solomon,
an adult woman -- she has a fractured skull because she says her husband kept pounding her head. After that, go on with the story because they then
went and found this husband, right?
JONES: Yes, they found the husband and they began to investigate. And they find in the course of the investigation that not only has he been
beating the wife, but he has also been beating the children, a 13-year-old boy, an 11-year-old girl, who have just been tortured over the course of
six years and with it intensifying over the last two to three years, with him sticking needles under their nails, with him beating them with PVC
pipe...
[20:05:12]CASAREZ: You know, Solomon, we`ve got a little bit of...
JONES: ... with him standing on their back, all kinds of stuff.
CASAREZ: ... the probable cause affidavit here that we want to show everybody. Let`s look at what victim number one -- now, this is one of the
little children. This is his son who is actually 13 years old, what he is alleging. Listen to this.
Victim number one says, quote, "He would sometimes put his knee in my stomach or punch my stomach. Many times, he would hit my head with a
wooden stick. Another thing he would do is shock me with a dog collar. He would also bang my head against the wall or floor sometimes."
And joining us tonight is Dr. Ken Redcross. He is a board-certified internal medicine physician. When we hear this, I mean, there are so many
levels to this, but let`s look at the medical for a second. This is a 13- year-old boy.
DR. KEN REDCROSS, PHYSICIAN: Yes, and there`s a lot going on here, Jean, in what we`ve just heard. Number one, we`re talking about the father
putting all of his body weight on this 14-year-old boy. There are so many injuries that can happen intra-abdominally. We`re talking about the
bladder, body, the kidney, laceration of the liver.
The other thing that we have to talk about, of course, is this dog collar. You know, the interesting thing, even in the K-9 world, it`s kind of looked
down upon to actually have your dog shocked by this. And now we`re talking about a child.
Keep in mind that our heart is pretty much an electrical current that works. So here you are having something on the outside introduced. It can
actually cause arrhythmia and even death. You just do not know, especially in a child.
CASAREZ: Let`s go to victim number two for just a second. This is his daughter. By the way, her birthday is today. She just turned 12 years
old. Listen to what she told authorities.
She said -- "victim number two stated that her father had hurt her countless times since she was approximately 4 to 5 years of age. Victim
two explained that her father has struck her on the head with various types of sticks and/or PVC pipes over an estimated 100 times, causing her to see
stars on many occasions."
Doctor, I just want to ask you one more thing. She was also hit countless times in the stomach. He would stand on her stomach with his shoes on,
allegedly.
REDCROSS: Right.
CASAREZ: Will she ever be able to have children? Will she ever be normal?
REDCROSS: Look, thank God -- the blessing is that she is younger at this point and not necessarily at the child-bearing age. But it`s the emotional
aspect that may make it hard for her to actually get pregnant and move forward in her life in other relationships. That`s the charge and the
thing that I worry most about also.
CASAREZ: Right, you wonder if they will ever be normal. Well, joining us now is CNN legal analyst Areva Martin and Mark O`Mara, who also represent
George Zimmerman. Thank you both so much. It`s an honor to have both of you here tonight.
Mark, how do you defend this?
MARK O`MARA, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you don`t defend the individual acts at all. You have to hope that there is some mental health defense to this.
You have to hope that whatever led a father who`s supposed to be a protector of his children to not only neglect them but to actually and
actively abuse them in a way that`s horrible and over such an extended period of time.
I only pray that he is not fully responsible for his actions and that we`re going to find -- as a good defense team, we`ll look into -- some type of a
mental defense, some type of a mental health problem that led to this horrific act because there is nothing else that you can say about it.
CASAREZ: Areva, here`s what`s so strange. One child is 13, and the little girl`s birthday is today, so she`s 12. They`re saying that it happened --
started about six years ago. So they were about 5 years old and 7 years old. So he didn`t do it from when they were a baby.
AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, he -- something obviously triggered this behavior. And what`s really concerning to me, Jean, is typically, if
kids go to school, this kind of abuse would have been caught by the school teachers, by the administrators because there would be marks and someone
would have reported it to the police or the child protective services.
But what we`re hearing in this case is that these kids were home schooled, leading me to believe they were isolated, kept out of the public`s eye, and
this is why he could get away with this for so long.
But I still have to ask where was the system? The system failed these two children because no children should have to be abused like this for this
number of years. And I hope, Mark, there`s going to be some evidence there to show a pattern or a past of mental health because right now, all we have
is a monster and no evidence that there`s mental health issues that, you know, is the cause of these kinds of horrific acts.
CASAREZ: And it is horrific. We have something else to show you here about one of the young victims and a dog collar. Remember, it was an
electric dog collar, and victim two went on to explain what that dog collar was, that -- that her father would give her the option of being struck with
a stick or being shocked with the remote-controlled electric dog shock collar.
[20:10:12]Victim two stated that there were times that she begged for him to use the dog collar because it hurt less. And Mark, what the little boy
is saying is that -- that it could go up to 100, but usually, he would set it at 40, but if the little child was real bad, it would be set at 100.
Obviously, the wife was a victim here, too.
O`MARA: Well, and you know, there`s a concern here...
CASAREZ: But is the defense going to go to her, that she participated in this?
O`MARA: Well, she was obviously a victim. It seems that way when you have that type of horrific injuries perpetrated upon the wife, as well. So not
going to go as far even in any defense theory to say that she was some co- conspirator.
But unfortunately, because she was a victim and felt whatever pressure she had -- and I`ve seen it so many times before. Areva, I know you have --
only support for the family, no other outside support. Whoever she may have gone to for help couldn`t help here, that she stayed in a relationship
that not only exposed herself to abuse but exposed the children to horrific abuse for six years.
CASAREZ: But...
O`MARA: There is a certain amount of blame, and I know we`re not supposed to blame victims, but there`s a certain amount of responsibility on mom for
not getting out. And like you say, for the system for not having a good avenue for an abused mom to get out with her children.
CASAREZ: You know, Mark, we`ve got some pictures inside the home. Let`s look at that right now. We can see what authorities saw. I mean, that is
a nice house. I mean, you would never dream that something like that happened.
Solomon, I think you are still with us. I want to ask you, the defendant in this case, Joseph Myhre, he was actually questioned by authorities and
he said a lot, didn`t he. What did he have to say to them?
JONES: Well, he said that yes, he did abuse his -- he hit his children. He did discipline his children, but that he never hurt his children, which
is really the complete opposite of what the children said. They said that they would pass out. They said that when he strangled them, there would be
marks on his neck. They said that, you know, he would hit them on their feet until they couldn`t stand up. And so what he said -- he admitted that
he disciplined his children, but he said that he did not hurt them.
CASAREZ: You know, Areva, in cases like this, we always say, What about neighbors? Somebody had to know something. And then once it all comes to
light, they say, Oh, I knew something was going on there, something was strange.
MARTIN: Yes. But people often don`t want to get involved. They`ll see these signs, but they just ignore them. And I think what we also know
about this case is that the father coached the kids to lie, so if someone saw them and saw that there was a bruise or a mark, he told them to say
they had fallen down or some kind of accident occurred, again, to hide his behavior that he was engaged in.
I think it`s important to note, when you look at those -- that house, beautiful, clean, looks like you`re typical middle class family. But
that`s the face often of this kind of violence. It`s not what people think of a home that`s in total disarray. It`s that house that looks so well put
together, where there`s often women who are abused by men and because they can`t get out, their kids suffer, as well.
CASAREZ: And Doctor, there had to be pediatrician visits through the years.
REDCROSS: There you go. So that`s exactly where I was going with this, Jean, because this is where the medical community comes in, as well,
because lots of times, we`re actually the first line to actually see these things and have this little child and wonder why are we seeing bruising?
Why are we seeing marks around the neck that just do not add up?
And you have to sometimes separate the child from the parents and have a really discussion about really what`s going on in the home.
MARTIN: But this is assuming that these kids were even going to the doctor on a regular basis...
(CROSSTALK)
CASAREZ: ... cases where they don`t.
MARTIN: So they may have been isolated and not going around, you know, outsiders at all.
REDCROSS: Right.
CASAREZ: Yes. Well, more will come to light. Thank you all.
A beautiful young woman -- she disappears after a fight with her boyfriend. Why police have not been able to track him down or her body.
Plus, a manhunt for the armed suspect accused of sending a rambling manifesto to the president. What investigators say he may look like now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:18:40]CASAREZ: For more than two weeks, police in Houston have been searching for a woman who disappeared after being out with her boyfriend.
Twenty-six-year-old Karen Ramirez was reported missing by her family March 27th. That was three days after witnesses tell police she had been
fighting with her boyfriend, Miguel Buezo, before leaving a bar. Four days later, officers found Ramirez`s car. It was abandoned on a street in the
southeast part of Houston. According to court documents, detectives found blood under and on the driver`s seat and on the passenger seat. Now, this
is her car.
Police say there was also a bullet hole in the car door, and they believe it was fired from inside the vehicle. In addition to that, officers say
they also found a stain inside her trunk. They have now charged Miguel Buezo with murder, but they have not been able to track him down, and they
believe he may be in Honduras.
Jeffrey Boney is the associate editor for "The Houston Forward-Times." He joins us tonight from Texas. Jeffrey, this is an amazing story. It`s a
tragic story. We don`t know where she is or what condition she`s in or -- but it all started on that March day. Explain -- 3:00 to 5:00 o`clock in
the morning, neighbors started hearing the couple fighting right outside of his home.
[20:20:00]JEFFREY BONEY, "HOUSTON FORWARD-TIMES" (via telephone): Yes, absolutely. Early the next morning -- after they got into a fight at a bar
that they were at, they left to an unknown location. And early the next morning, neighbors report hearing the couple arguing, and two witnesses
said that they saw Miguel standing outside of Ramirez`s vehicle in his underwear around 4:00 AM that morning, yelling at her in Spanish, saying,
quote, "Shut up and calm down, I`m going to shoot at you like I shot at you the other time."
The neighbors went to sleep, but later in the morning, they saw Karen`s car parked in front of another neighbor`s house, and saw Miguel walking back
and forth between Karen`s car and his house. And video surveillance from a neighbor`s house on that day shows a person who looks like Miguel looking
into the open trunk of Karen`s car before shutting it and walking back to his house.
CASAREZ: Right, and that was all on surveillance video. Want to bring in Detective Fil Waters who is joining us tonight from Houston, of the Houston
Police Department. Thank you, Detective. I know that you are now -- have a manhunt out to really find this person that you believe has murdered
Karen Ramirez.
But there is more to this story that Jeffrey just started with, and it is in your police documents that we got. During that day, where the
altercation began between the couple, the boyfriend and girlfriend, he then went to his estranged wife in Houston. What do you believe -- what did she
tell you that they discussed?
DET. FIL WATERS, HOUSTON PD (via telephone): Well, good evening, y`all. I appreciate y`all having me on to discuss this case.
In our discussions with her, we -- I don`t want to go into specific details, but I can tell you that the credibility of the information that
she had was spot on. There was very little that she had to say that was -- we were able to dispute in any way, shape or form.
It would appear that Miguel had actually duped her or used her as a pawn in trying to cover up what he had done and dispose of evidence.
CASAREZ: Right, and according to the probable cause document that we have, he actually told his estranged wife that he had to go back to Honduras
because his mother was sick. And he asked her to help him move a car, that being the blood-stained car of his girlfriend, Karen Ramirez. Did you ask
her at all what she thought about getting in and driving a car to a very remote location that was filled with blood?
WATERS: Well, that`s not what happened. So she was -- when I say -- when I use the term "duped into" or used as a pawn, that`s exactly what I mean.
She had no knowledge about what had happened to Karen. She didn`t even have any view of the evidence that we later recovered out of the car
because she never sat in Karen`s car. So...
CASAREZ: So who drove Karen`s car to that remote location?
WATERS: No, no. She did not drive the car to that location. Miguel drove the car to that location. He enlisted her to take him to the location of
Karen`s car, and then would not even let her drive up to the location. He had her park a block-and-a-half away, got out on foot, walked up to where
the car was located and then came around the corner and pulled up to his estranged wife and spoke to her and said, Follow me.
She didn`t realize that that was Karen`s car. She never saw Karen`s care before, and she had no idea it was him driving that car until he pulled up
next to her and rolled the window down.
CASAREZ: OK, thank you for clarifying that. Now, he did...
WATERS: It gets pretty convoluted, the whole thing .
CASAREZ: But the wife was also duped, right, that the mother was sick in Honduras. You found out the mother`s not sick.
WATERS: That`s correct. So that was the whole -- that was his story. That was why he was indicating to the estranged wife that he was in a hurry
to get back to Honduras. He had mentioned to her before, earlier in their relationship and their marriage, that if any of his family ever got sick in
Honduras, then he would want to quickly go back to Honduras to be with them. So this made sense to her because this is something he had talked
about previously. And so that is what he tells her, My mom is sick now.
CASAREZ: Right, and we also have to throw in, Detective, that he went to the bank and I think the estranged spouse helped him get to the bank and he
put cash in the account so he could buy the ticket for Honduras. Do you think he is in Honduras now? And are authorities there working with the
United States?
[20:25:00]WATERS: Well, we are almost certain that he is in Honduras, or in Guatemala. We know that he is in Central America somewhere. We have
him -- we know exactly when he left. We know what flight he was on. And he did fly to Honduras. We even have him on videotape at the airport
awaiting that flight. And we have pictures of him arriving in Honduras. So we`re comfortable knowing that he is in Honduras or Guatemala.
He`s made a phone call back to some other family members that are still here and has indicated to them that he is in Guatemala. So he`s bouncing
around between the two -- between the two countries at this point.
CASAREZ: Why do you specifically believe she is dead?
WATERS: Where do I believe she -- where Karen is?
CASAREZ: Why, yes. Why do you specifically believe she`s dead?
WATERS: Well, the probable cause, which you all have looked at, the public document there that allowed us to obtain a murder warrant -- it`s very
unusual to obtain a murder warrant in a case where we don`t have a body recovered. But the evidence that we recovered -- and it`s not all listed
in the probable cause, but the evidence that we recovered from the car at the scene where we believe the killing actually occurred and the videotape
footage that we have in a variety of different locations is pretty compelling.
CASAREZ: Do you see him with the body in the trunk?
WATERS: No, no, no.
CASAREZ: Do you have videotape?
WATERS: We don`t -- I wish we had something like that, but we don`t have that. We have the...
CASAREZ: But did you smell decomposition in the trunk?
WATERS: Yes. Yes. There was the -- now, you have to remember that we believe that she is killed on the 25th, the early morning hours of the
25th. And then she -- her body is disposed of quickly thereafter.
CASAREZ: OK.
WATERS: But then about a half an hour of her death, she is disposed of.
CASAREZ: Right. Well...
WATERS: So the car is brought back. We`ve got Miguel in the car. We`ve got Miguel looking at something in the trunk, doing something in the trunk,
taking things in and out of the trunk. We don`t believe that she`s in the trunk at that point. Then the car is recovered five days later. It`s been
sitting in northeast Houston, which is a good 30, 40-minute drive away from...
CASAREZ: Right. So detective, what you need now -- you need to find the body because you can prosecute without a body, but it makes it much more
difficult. And I know that Tim Miller is the person that`s been tapped. He is the founder of Texas Equusearch. His group is now searching for
Karen Ramirez`s body.
Tim Miller, you`re joining us tonight, right?
TIM MILLER, TEXAS EQUUSEARCH (via telephone): I`m here, Jean, thank you.
CASAREZ: Thank you. Thank you for being here. I know you started searching last night. You searched all day today. Do you believe the body
is close to where the vehicle is, close to his home, versus hundreds of miles away?
MILLER: Well, I`ve been working very close with Detective Waters on this, and you know, there are some things I`m not going to disclose, neither.
But I truly believe that we`re probably within a three-mile radius of where it appears as though the incident happened. You know, a three-mile radius
is not very big when you consider the city of Houston because so much stuff is residential. We do have wooded areas. Many areas are mapped out.
Weather did not cooperate with us today. We got the Sims (ph) Bayou that is right there also. So first thing tomorrow morning, we`re putting our
small boat in the bayou in case he did put her in the water and she`s gotten caught up something and she`s in the water.
But I think that we`re narrowing the search area down. And I`m optimistic that we`re going to find Karen. I`m very optimistic. So again, you know,
Detective Waters has done a wonderful job on the detective end, and I think that we`re doing a great job out there on the search end and...
CASAREZ: Are there dogs out there? Are there cadaver dogs that are helping along with the Texas Equusearch?
MILLER: No, we haven`t had any cadaver dogs out there yet because until we really have the general area where the cadaver dogs could be valuable, you
know, they`re probably just useless. But you know, we got a lot of ground to cover and we got plenty of people to cover it. (INAUDIBLE) resources
(INAUDIBLE) and need that little bit of luck to go along with its. And (INAUDIBLE) bring this to a close.
CASAREZ: All right, well, Tim Miller, thank you for joining us. Good luck tomorrow. Tomorrow is a new day, and we will keep following this case.
The nationwide manhunt -- it continues tonight for this man, Joseph A. Jakubowski.
[20:30:00] The FBI and ATF have just released this new image on the left of what Jakubowski would look like if he shaved his head and his facial hair.
He was last seen a week ago in Janesville, Wisconsin where he allegedly stole more than a dozen high-end rifles and handguns from a local gun shop.
They also say he mailed a 161-page manifesto to President Trump that detailed strong dislike for government officials.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT SPODEN, SHERIFF, ROCK COUNTY SHEIFF`S OFFICE: He could be in Washington, D.C. He could be in California. I mean, it depends on wherever
he believes the next step in his plan is. When he talks about revolution, he is talking about having the people rise up. And so I believe he`s
looking for some event or something he can do to promote his cause and that`s what really scares us back here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: And late last night, investigators released these images of tattoos that Jakubowski has but they say they have no idea where Joseph
Jakubowski could be. There is a $20,000 reward for any information that leads to Jakubowski`s arrest.
And in California, the search continues for Alicia Yeoman, the 20-year-old co-ed who disappeared without a trace more than a week ago. The Sutter
County sheriff`s office say they did locate a person who allegedly sent ransom messages to Aly`s family but they have determined the individual was
not involved in her disappearance and didn`t know anything about her whereabouts. Police ask that anyone who might know anything contact them.
And a toddler vanishes in the middle of the night, found hours later in a nearby park, dead. But police say this was no accident. The reason
prosecutors charged this 3-year-old`s father with murder coming up next.
[20:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CASAREZ: A 3-year-old boy vanishes before dawn in New Jersey. Little Brendan Creato was staying with his father that night. His father, David,
claims he dialed 911 as soon as he woke up around 6:00 a.m. report his son was missing.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 911, what is your emergency?
DAVID CREATO, FATHER OF THE VICTIM: I just woke up and my 3-year-old is missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, what is your address sir?
CRATEO: Cooper Street.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cooper?
CREATO: Hold on, he`s out -- is he in there? No? Yeah, he`s missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alright, and what`s your address? Cooper?
CREATO: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three-year-old boy or girl?
CREATO: Three-year-old boy. His name is Brendan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Spell his name for me.
CRETO: B-R-E-N-D-A-N.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And last name?
CREATO: Creato. C-R-E-A-T-O.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CASAREZ: David Creato also made statements during that call that he was worried his son may have wandered off. A few hours later those fears were
realized when Brendan`s lifeless body was found face down in a stream in a nearby park. But who could have killed this sweet little boy? Three months
after his death, prosecutors reveal their cards when David Creato was indicted on charges that he murdered Brendan. His trial is set to begin on
Wednesday.
Richard Fuschino is David Creato`s attorney. He joins me tonight from Philadelphia. Thank you sir for being on the show. What do you feel is your
biggest challenge? I want to say one more thing so everybody understands all the facts here. He had a girlfriend, your client, that didn`t like
children and she continually threatened your client saying I`m going to break up with you because you`ve a son and I don`t like him to be a part of
our lives. Saying that, what is your biggest challenge here?
RICHARD FUSCHINO, ATTORNEY FOR DAVID CREATO: Jean, thank you. The biggest challenge as I see it is that no one, no one, me, you, anyone included
wants to let this go by with a 3-year-old boy who has passed, without justice. And it`s so important to realize that while that is
extraordinarily important to all of us, you and me included, to my client especially included, it doesn`t mean that it`s just to jump to conclusions.
And I believe that`s what happened here. The prosecution has jumped to conclusions. No one wants that.
CASAREZ: Areva, what Attorney Fuschio is saying is this is a circumstantial case. It is a circumstantial case. But here`s the biggest
challenge in my opinion, and Marc you were saying this at the break, the little boy when he was found at the waters edge and it was muddy and dirty
the whole way half a mile from the home his socks were clean.
MARTIN: Yes, it`s a circumstantial case, Jean, but it`s a very strong circumstantial case. You got motive. You have the girlfriend saying she
doesn`t want a child in their lives. You have opportunity. Obviously, the father had an opportunity to take the son out to the wooded area and to
kill him and there`s no explanation for how this little boy would have left his home and ended up in this wooded area. As you just said, his socks
weren`t dirty.
[20:40:01] If a little kid left the house and walked through the mud, his socks would indicate such. So -- and another thing just bothered me. I`m a
parent, Jean, when you call 911 and your child is missing you`re screaming, my son, not a 3-year-old boy. So even his detachment in reporting the
crime, that`s going to be an important piece of evidence that`s played at this trial. And trust me, jurors will not like that.
CASAREZ: And Areva, we`ve got a little more of the 911 call. Let`s listen to this. This is the father reporting his son, all of a sudden is gone.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
CREATO: I just woke up and he wasn`t in my apartment. I don`t know if he wandered out or what happened. I don`t know where he is. The door was
locked. I guess he unlocked it and left.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, we already have the police on the way, sir. What is your name?
CREATO: My name is DJ.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: DJ, your last name?
CREATO: Creato.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Spell for me.
CREATO: C-R-E-A-T-O.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alright sir, do me a favor and just hold on. I already have the police on the way, don`t hang up.
CREATO: Alright, thank you.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CASAREZ: You know Marc, this defendant who you`re hearing right here, the mother of his child, they had a really good working relationship of sharing
the custody. They didn`t have to go through the court system. It was very cordial. Can you keep him? Sure. Can you keep him? Of course. You wouldn`t
have to do it.
O`MARA: You don`t know necessarily what motivates somebody. It`s strange that we live in a day and age now where killing your child is a way out of
having a child. We know about the, what was known as the hot car case last year. It just seems to be happening more and more. But as Areva said there
is no question when you look at this case that all of the elements suggest that he had some responsibility.
There is no question you do not act that way when you have a child missing. And then when you talk about the socks and you talk about the girlfriend
and you talk about the overreaction when he`s talking to the cops at one point. Unfortunately, he seems to have taken the easy way out in his own
mind and ended up with a first-degree murder charge for killing his own son.
CASAREZ: That is right, Mr. Fuschino, you`ve got a big challenge here because your client is facing murder. He can be behind bars for many, many
years. I want to ask you, what is your theory for why his socks were completely clean, and where was the lock on the door of that house because
this was only a little 3-year-old little boy?
FUSCHINO: Well, as a father of a 3-year-old, I can tell you the fact that a 3-year-old can unlock a dead bolt is no news to anyone who has a toddler.
That said, I`m not in a position to suggest what the defense theory is. However, it seems to me that we`re discussing two frankly contrarian
theories on the one hand. Where is the father? What`s he doing? How is he involved?
And on the other hand, no one knows what happened. How can we hold him accountable when even experts -- Jean, your experts don`t know what
happened. And I think it suggests exactly what every parent of a toddler knows, myself included, it`s very, very difficult to determine that.
CASAREZ: So is your client and the girlfriend still together?
FUSCHINO: I have no idea.
CASAREZ: Are they still a couple?
FUSCHINO: That is of no concern of mine, and frankly I haven`t asked so I don`t have an answer for you.
CASAREZ: It may be a concern of prosecutors. Alright, thank you very much. What Mark?
O`MARA: Or the jury is wrong because they`re going to be looking very closely of who he is and who he was the whole time before leading up to
this tragic missing child and deciding whether or not he`s responsible for it.
CASAREZ: And prosecutors --
MARTIN: And that girlfriend is going to be a key witness in this trial. What she says --
CASAREZ: Yes.
MARTIN: -- when she said it and what the boyfriend said in response to her comments about not wanting a child in their relationship. So this
girlfriend is going to be pivotal in this case.
CASAREZ: Pivotal for the defense too because there`s cross-examination to absolutely attack here and we know motive is not critical. It`s not
necessary on element of the crime but boy, that jury, Mark, right.
O`MARA: Absolutely.
CASAREZ: They`re going to want to know. The trial starts next week. We`ll be following it.
A horrific shooting inside of a classroom. You heard about this. Yesterday, California elementary school -- we`ve learned new information about the
shooter and the complicated relationship that allowed him to access the school.
[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CASAREZ: There`s new information tonight about how that gunman gained access to the classroom in San Bernardino, killing a teacher and a student
before turning the gun on himself. Police say that when Cedric Anderson walked into North Park Elementary, he signed in at the front office. He was
known by the staff and he told him he needed to drop something off to his wife.
But when Anderson walked into the classroom, he pulled out a gun and he opened fire without saying a word. His estranged wife, Karen Elaine Smith,
the teacher, she was killed. So was 8-year-old Jonathan Martinez, a 9-year- old survived the shooting. What the staff didn`t know according to police was that
[20:50:00] the couple was having problems, though only being married for three months they already had separated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DALE MARSDEN, SCHOOL DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT: In this circumstance, the staff knew of this newlywed couple. They knew nothing about the crisis they
were in. It was -- the chief said, it was a personal crisis, and so they had every reason after checking identification, following the process,
having them sign in, go through that. No indication that the person was agitated, so these are things that they weigh. And he earned access as
would those of other family members.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: So, procedures are followed and it looks like they were in this case, what extra precautions, if anything, can be done to make sure our
children are safe inside of our schools? David Katz is the CEO of Global Security Group and a firearms and security expert. Thank you so much for
being here.
DAVID KATZ, FIREARMS AND SECURITY EXPERT: You`re very welcome.
CASAREZ: I want to give you a little more information here. The husband actually carried in a .357 revolver. There were ten rounds of fire that he
executed, one reload during the time. There were 15 students in the room, grades 1 through 4 and of course two students struck, one deceased and they
were behind their teacher, his wife.
KATZ: Yes.
CASAREZ: I mean, how can we prevent this from happening? I mean, a husband goes to visit his wife. The school didn`t know that they were separated.
They`ve been dating for four years. They got married in January.
KATZ: Well, there`s a common pattern when people are having problems at home, domestic issues. Most frequently it`s the male acting violently
towards the wife and the wife is reluctant to tell people. It`s embarrassing, it`s upsetting. So the school has no way of knowing. Beyond
that, because we can go through like -- this is what was not actually an active shooter incident. This is a murder/suicide.
But with respect to active shooter incidents, we know that husbands have assaulted wives and then shot co-workers, et cetera in other cases. So we
know there`s an issue with respect to domestic violence. If there`s an incident at home, it`s a duty that people have to have where they tell
people that my husband and I are having problems. He has threatened me in the past.
You know, people don`t want this information become public. It is embarrassing, but had they known, he doesn`t come in. And by the way,
beyond that, why is the husband visiting his wife in the classroom. I understand if he has something to drop off, they know him, great. Whatever
you have to drop off, we`ll keep it at the office, you can`t go back to the classroom she`s teaching. That access control issue, that`s the other
point.
That shouldn`t be allowed. That`s happened many, many times. People gain access. In this case he didn`t force entry. He was admitted and that
doesn`t make any sense.
CASAREZ: You know Mark, it`s really sad that it`s gotten to this point that we have to be concerned if a family member comes to visit a spouse at
work.
O`MARA: The reality is we can`t make ourselves completely safe from events like this. We can`t. We cannot make our schools, our movie theaters, our
malls fortresses. We just can`t do it. Unfortunately, because of the proliferation of a lot of guns that are in hands that maybe they shouldn`t
be, I don`t know if this guy had some mental health issues before, but because we have so many guns, we`re going to have these type of events.
And it`s great to try and be smarter like Areva said in the previous segment, you know, we can look at it and say you have to be able to get a
woman, in this case, out of an abuse situation to some safety, but even here it was a three-month relationship.
CASAREZ: Areva, I want you to watch with me. This is honeymoon video shot three months ago of the couple. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CEDRIC ANDERSON, SHOOTER: My baby and I are on our honeymoon.
KAREN ELAINE SMITH, WIFE OF SHOOTER: Oh, you video.
ANDERSON: Yes, video.
SMITH: Oh.
ANDERSON: Say how much fun you`re having baby.
SMITH: You`re making me shy. Hi. We`re having such a good time.
(LAUGHTER).
ANDERSON: We have been having a good time. She got me hiking. Oh, out here in Sedona. I`ve seen all the folks.
SMITH: Yes, we`re going to do a lot more.
ANDERSON: I`ve seen all the folks. We`re out here hiking.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: You know Areva, I am sure when he went to school and he went into the office where the secretary is, I bet they said, Cedric, how are you?
MARTIN: Yes. What`s so sad about this case, Jean, you know, I`m from Los Angeles and I live about an hour away from San Bernardino, and checking
social media over the last couple days what I realize is that this Cedric was well known in the Los Angeles area. And actually friends of mine knew
him. He frequented churches and community groups and community events in the Los Angeles area.
And we`ve heard from the mom of his deceased wife and she said her daughter moved out. So in some ways she did what you want women to do when they`re
in an abusive relationship. She separated in less than three months. She left the home where they were living together. So I don`t know what else
she could have done if there was violence in the home, maybe she could have gotten a restraining order. But what we know now -- this woman did what she
-- what we want women to do, which is get out.
[20:55:03] CASAREZ: And David, how can she tell everybody at the school, she just got married.
KATZ: It`s troubling. Unfortunately the reality is he threatened her allegedly. There was some history of domestic violence. We know that. But
more importantly you let this person have access to the classroom. I can`t go to my student`s classroom. Why should he? So you`re not making -- you`re
making places into fortresses. You`re taking prudent measures.
If he had been stopped in the office, you say I`m sorry, you can`t go to the classroom during the school day.
(CROSSTALK)
MARTIN: I`m kind of challenging that. Just quickly on that. Parents go into the classrooms to read to kids all the time. It just happens.
KATZ: Well, I can`t go into my kid`s --
MARTIN: I`ve been in mine many times.
CASAREZ: Maybe you can`t prevent it. We`re going to be right back.
[21:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END