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Crime and Justice With Ashleigh Banfield
Missing Realtor Mom`s Cell phone Clues; Bizarre Disappearance; Chilling 911 Call; New Pictures of Capsized Yacht; Caught on Camera. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired September 05, 2017 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HOST (voice-over): Beautiful, successful and missing before the hurricane.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe somebody somewhere will say something.
BANFIELD: Her Mercedes found submerged at a Texas motel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every resource that we don`t have dedicated to the flood is dedicated to this case and this case alone.
BANFIELD: Now, a cell phone ping and a private eye ramp up the effort to find her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re putting some pieces together that I think will answer a lot of questions.
BANFIELD: Tonight, where is Crystal McDowell?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have blood all over me and there`s a bloody knife on the bed.
BANFIELD: A bizarre call to 911.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had a dream. And then I turn on the lights, and she`s dead on the floor.
BANFIELD: A did wife, a knife on the bed and a husband covered in blood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I think I did it.
BANFIELD: His excuse, too much cold medicine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know it can make you feel good (ph).
BANFIELD: Will that fly with police? And what about a jury?
Newlyweds set sail on a Caribbean cruise, but only one of them returns. He claims the boat capsized and his wife disappeared. Now new and eerie
photos from under the sea before the yacht sank to the bottom. Will they tell us what happened to Isabella Hellman?
She admits she shot a teenage boy dead. Does her reason even matter? What if he raped her 7-year-old daughter? Should she be charged with murder,
and will a jury ever convict her?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re done. You`re under arrest.
BANFIELD: A nurse just doing her job, hauled off and placed in cuffs. She refused to let cops break a hospital rule.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not how law enforcement professionals should act.
BANFIELD: Now, she`s the one being commended for standing her ground.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is crazy!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard this thunderous boom.
BANFIELD: Caught on tape, an SUV racing in reverse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I honestly thought it was an explosion.
BANFIELD: A laundromat directly in its path.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The tables and metal was hitting everyone.
BANFIELD: Find out what the driver says happened.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BANFIELD: Good evening. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. This is PRIMETIME JUSTICE.
You can`t see it, you can`t hear it, but sometimes it is the biggest clue in a riddle, a mystery, even a murder. Cell phone pings -- they can be the
star witness in a trial. They can be the lifeline to a missing person. And somewhere out there, Crystal McDowell`s cell phone has been sending
signals even though no one knows where she is.
She vanished well before the driving rains of the hurricane deluged Houston and sent people running or swimming for their lives. But as those
floodwaters receded, somehow, Crystal`s location did not surface.
They did find her black Mercedes "C" class almost under water at a Motel 6 at the halfway point between where she left and where she was going. We do
have home security video showing her as she left her boyfriend`s house around 7:00 AM Friday, September (sic) 25th. She was headed to her ex-
husband`s house to pick up her children.
But even though everything looks normal in this video, she never got there. She got into that car, but that car never got to its destination. And all
of the messages that Crystal was sending along the way on that cell phone - - well, they suddenly stopped, but the pinging did not.
And tonight, we know the last known location of where that cell phone was active, and it was not a place that had anything to do with Crystal. It
was a local park service property, which frankly, just now seems baffling. But we are also now seeing text messages that her phone sent to her
boyfriend the day before she vanished.
And it seemed like Crystal was in no state of mind to just disappear. August 24th, 8:54 AM, Crystal says, "Being with you is the best feeling
ever. I feel like the luckiest girl in the whole world, and I love being in love with you. You are everything I ever wanted."
Later the same day, Crystal texts her boyfriend, "I`m so very excited to go overseas for the very first time, and most importantly, to experience it
all with you."
Crystal`s family has now hired a private investigator to join in the efforts to find her. Paul Hargrave is Crystal McDowell`s boyfriend. He
received those text messages. He joins me live from Baytown, Texas.
[20:05:00] Paul, thanks for being here. Any news since we spoke last week?
PAUL HARGRAVE, CRYSTAL`S BOYFRIEND (via telephone): Unfortunately, no, I don`t have any new updates to provide you, unfortunately.
BANFIELD: What happened over the weekend?
HARGRAVE: Well, I mean, just a lot of hope and praying, and just -- I spent a lot of time with detectives and trying to provide them with as much
information that they wanted. We extracted more information off of my DVR system at the house. So I was able to provide that to detectives, as well
as at my store, more footage there throughout the timeline of all the way from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (INAUDIBLE). So I`ve
just been with them a lot, trying to cooperate as much as possible with the detective.
BANFIELD: And to that end, live on our air, I know the detective had said, We want the video, not the still photographs or the excerpts from the video
of Crystal leaving your home that morning, at 7:00 AM on the 25th of August. And you supplied it not only to them but to us. And so we`re
seeing it now.
And this is her walking sort of inside the home. She`s in this purplish, pinkish long dress and she`s got the bag over her shoulder. And in her
left hand, you can see her carrying shoes. That was something I didn`t notice before, that she`s carrying shoes. You can see her outside in
another video also carrying those shoes in the same dress and she`s walking to the car.
So as we look at these two videos again. I think what stood out, Paul, was the timestamp inside had August 25th, 7:09 AM, just like when you said she
left. But then as the video picks up on a different camera system outside, the timestamp is different. It`s actually six days before. And the dress
may look dark. Some might say that`s because of the shadowing of the black and white video. But it`s 7:35 on August 19th.
What can you tell us about the discrepancy in the timestamps and the color of the dress, even though she looks to be carrying the same shoes and the
same purse and to be wearing the same shaped dress as she walks from the interior to the exterior?
HARGRAVE: That was something my IT guy set up for me. I`m not sure. That was done a year-and-a-half, two years ago. I did provide -- I told
detectives about that. I tried to take a video of my -- I have a Vonage phone -- and then take a video of the live footage with my iPhone. And I
sent that to them, as well. So I told detectives to please come out and they can verify the timestamp is incorrect, that that timestamp is
incorrect, but it is the same footage, though.
BANFIELD: And what about the dress color? I mean, I think to the naked eye and to the average guy, one dress looks purplish/lightish pink and the
other one looks dark black.
HARGRAVE: Yes. I think the -- I think because someone mentioned that IT (ph) cameras on the inside of the house may have, like, an infrared
technology where it`ll change the color of something to a certain degree. I`m not sure, but it does -- yes, it`s the same footage of her coming out.
And if you do the math as far as subtracting the days and the time, then you`ll will find out it actually happens in sequence of her going through
the living room, kitchen and then out the garage door within seconds of each other. So I`m not concerned about that. I think it`s just a --
that`s kind of a normal thing with a lot of security systems where you have timestamps (INAUDIBLE)
BANFIELD: So the timestamps inside show two visions inside and the dress changes color inside. And the dress continues to be that darker color on
the outside. What you`re saying is the timestamp of her walking through the frame in what looks to be pink, then through another room, still
inside, still with the same timestamp, appears to be black. That`s what effectively the video shows?
HARGRAVE: Yes. Yes. The IT (ph) cameras on the inside of the house are updated by the cloud. So those are updated via satellite time. So there`s
no way to manipulate or change those. Those are correct via the internet. So it does change. The dress seems to appear to be a light pinkish purple
color, and then as she comes through the house, it darkens. And then, obviously, outside, with the HD camera, does look like it`s a darker-
colored dress.
BANFIELD: So -- and I know that you had said earlier that you were in the shower as she was getting dressed and leaving, so you really didn`t have an
opportunity to watch her get dressed just to be able to definitively say what that dress color looked like in person.
But I do want to get back to the texts that you got the day before these videos were taken, the day before that, you know, she disappeared. She
said, "I`m so very excited to go overseas for the very first time, and most importantly, to experience it all with you."
We had heard that you were going on a cruise with her, leaving Friday of last week, along with her uncle and her children. But there was also
another trip that I understand you were going to take together to Belgium to go -- buying diamonds for your jewelry business. Did her ex-husband
know about these trips that you were going to take with her?
[20:10:14]HARGRAVE: I`m not sure. I doubt it because she had told me that she didn`t tell him about the cruise. So I think it`s safe to assume she
did not tell him about the Belgian trip.
BANFIELD: So the cruise is an interesting story, though, because as I have come to learn -- and please tell me where I may be wrong -- the cruise
originally was supposed to be Crystal, her two children, her Uncle Jeff, who`s like her father figure, raised her since she was 11, and her ex-
husband. He was the original fifth passenger. But somewhere along the line, he was on the out and you became the fifth passenger. Is that story
wrong?
HARGRAVE: No. That is correct.
BANFIELD: Does he know he wasn`t going on that cruise with Crystal, the children and Uncle Jeff?
HARGRAVE: Yes, she`d notified me that she asked him not to go. But I don`t know if he knew I was going. I can`t verify that or not. But to my
knowledge, he did not know that I was going, or at least she didn`t want him to know. But I don`t think that she felt comfortable going, especially
with the relationship that we had just started. (INAUDIBLE) but she felt compelled to ask him not to go.
BANFIELD: So that when we spoke last week, you know, obviously, you said that your chief concern is finding Crystal, doing everything you can to
find Crystal and cooperating with the authorities. Has anything changed? You know, you were talking about, you know, you didn`t even get a lawyer.
Do you have a lawyer now?
HARGRAVE: No.
BANFIELD: And then what -- did you -- did you -- did you do further investigation or interviews with the police? Did you do polygraph tests at
all with the police?
HARGRAVE: Yes. I did another interview with a Texas Ranger, as well as a polygraph. And they wanted my cell phone again, so I gave that to them.
Anything they want, they can have. I`m not concerned about anything.
BANFIELD: A polygraph test is always a really risky thing. You know, they`re not admissible in court and there`s a reason for that. They can
make mistakes. Did you do OK? Do you know the results?
HARGRAVE: You know, I won`t comment too much on that because I don`t really -- I have my own -- I didn`t like how that -- I was treated. But I
feel -- you know, I understand they have a job to do. I just -- it was a very intense polygraph and I just don`t appreciate the -- you know, how it
was conducted. But I don`t know. I mean, they don`t really say much. But no, he -- I don`t know as far as passing or failing. They acted like I
didn`t do very well, so I don`t know.
BANFIELD: Did you feel like you`re a suspect?
HARGRAVE: No, I don`t feel like I`m a suspect at all (INAUDIBLE)
BANFIELD: Paul, let me -- let me -- let me switch gears. I want to bring in Sheriff Brian Hawthorne, if I can, who`s also obviously got a number one
mission, and that is finding Crystal McDowell.
Sheriff, last we talked, you were still trying to surface from the floodwaters. And I know that the flood waters have receded, but that
doesn`t mean that your workload isn`t enormous right now with flood-related activity.
Have you been able to secure any more surveillance video from all of the businesses where Crystal would have passed after she left Paul`s apartment
and drove toward her ex-husband`s home? Have you found any video to trace her movements?
BRIAN HAWTHORNE, CHAMBERS COUNTY SHERIFF (via telephone): Well, we have collected probably (INAUDIBLE) hours of video. So that`s our primary
mission right now, is we`ve been reviewing a lot of videos and reinterviewing people.
And I will tell you that Paul has been very cooperative. So -- and we have -- he`s turned over all the video, we believe all the video, and he`s been
very forthcoming with his cell phone. And so we`re now combing through the video. As anybody knows from an investigative perspective, it can take
hours and hours, man hours, to watch video because you cannot watch it quickly or you may miss that little single vehicle or that one individual
that is what you`re looking for.
BANFIELD: Or that little detail of what hand she is carrying the shoes in or are they in the same position. I mean, Paul Hargrave has been
incredibly cooperative with us, as well. He has joined us on each of the programs where we`ve asked him.
[20:15:04]We`ve also extended the invitation for Crystal`s ex-husband to join us. He has declined each night. He has cited concerns about his
children. He has said they don`t know about what`s happening, but he has declined our invitation.
So I do have to say, you know, to Paul, he has certainly been very forthcoming to us and very helpful, as you have, as well, Sheriff. I have
a couple more questions.
HAWTHORNE: And I will say this, to be fair, that the ex-husband has also been very cooperative with us.
BANFIELD: Did he take a polygraph this weekend, as well?
HARGRAVE: Well, I don`t think I should comment. But we did -- we had to fly him in by helicopter just because the floodwaters had not completely
receded. We did bring some polygraphers in. And that is part of our investigative step, which you obviously understand.
BANFIELD: So I understand. But just prior to your entry (ph), I don`t know if you were able to listen, but Paul told us that he did a polygraph
with you, that he has not retained counsel, that he`s continued his interview and his cooperation with you. And I wondered if you felt the
same with Crystal`s ex-husband? Has it been equal?
HARGRAVE: Yes, it has been. Very much so. In fact, he -- you know, we have a child advocacy center. We don`t, as police officers, directly
interview children. We have, you know, experts trained in that do that. And he`s been very cooperative with himself and his children. The
investigation is going as we expect and like it. And I will tell you, as you well know, I`ve said it before, this is a marathon, not a sprint.
BANFIELD: Yes.
HARGRAVE: We`d like to make it a sprint, but to do it right, we can`t miss the fine details (INAUDIBLE) details (INAUDIBLE)
BANFIELD: Sheriff, if I can, I am going to pepper you with some quick questions, if I may.
HARGRAVE: Absolutely.
BANFIELD: I`ve just been -- like you said, in real time, I`ve been watching that video over and over. I only noticed the shoes once I saw the
video and not the still photographs. And I wonder, did you ever find those shoes?
HARGRAVE: As of now, we have not. As of now, we have not.
BANFIELD: OK. And just to be clear, from our interviews last week, that big, black bag, it`s like an overnight bag, that she had on her right
shoulder, did you ever recover that?
HARGRAVE: We have not.
BANFIELD: Do you think that the computer she borrowed from Paul, the Surface Pro -- do you think it`s in that bag, that overnight bag that she`s
carrying out to the car?
HARGRAVE: It`s very possible. Now, we have collected a number of computers and a number of hard drives.
BANFIELD: But did you collect the one that Paul lent to her? Because she has told him -- and in fact, I want to give you this text message about
here PC issues that she texted to Paul on August 24th. That`s the day before. She said, "My PC is having a critical error. The start menu
isn`t working." And then she sort of puts that -- you know, that wide-eye emoji. "It`s very new, too, only a couple of months, yikes." And he
answers, you know, quite some time later, "Sorry. It`s been super busy. Come by and pick up the Surface PC."
Did you ever find that Surface PC?
HAWTHORNE: We have not. We have not.
BANFIELD: OK. I still have a whole bunch of questions, as well, about the timestamping, and also her home because for viewers who may not be familiar
with this story, Crystal was staying at her boyfriend`s, and ultimately, also staying at her ex-husband`s in a separate area because her home was
being renovated.
And I want to ask you, Sheriff, if you can stay after the break -- I want to ask if you`ve had a chance to go to her home that was being renovated,
if there`s any clues there, if the flood has done anything to that. And then I really need to ask you about Baytown Park Service because that`s
where her cell phone was last pinging. What is it? What does it do in terms of factoring into this story? And what clues could it possibly
yield?
Back right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:23:20]BANFIELD: Twelve days ago, Crystal McDowell did what all of us do early in the morning, grab your stuff, head out to your car, jump in and
drive off. And 12 days ago was the last time anyone saw her. There are the last images, Crystal getting into the car, beautiful Mercedes. The car
would be found almost submerged, no Crystal. And ever since then, more questions than answers.
Sheriff Brian Hawthorne continues with me now. He`s with the Chamber -- Chambers County sheriff`s office. OK, so Sheriff, when I left off, I told
you that we now know the last pinging of her cell phone, which is the signal that her cell phone lets off to the nearest tower, was as the crow
flies, about seven miles away from where her car was found at the Motel 6. And the location was somewhere in the vicinity of Baytown Park Service.
I don`t know much about that, but what I do know, after a slight, you know, investigation of it, is that it`s just basically a Park Services
Administration building or set of buildings. What significance has that to this investigation?
HAWTHORNE: Well, it definitely has some significance to the investigation, but nothing -- it`s not what we`re focusing on right now, Ashleigh. We`ve
got other leads that we feel are stronger than that particular lead. That cell phone ping became public after the PI, using, I`m assuming, a service
that they probably paid for, determined where the last known ping was.
[20:25:02]BANFIELD: Is it accurate?
HAWTHORNE: It is accurate. And the -- then the family got on Facebook, and next thing you know, we had a mob -- and I`m not exaggerating, a mob of
people.
BANFIELD: Well, that`s hard when you`re investigating, but it sure does make me ask a lot of questions, and I`m sorry about that.
HAWTHORNE: You bet. Ask.
BANFIELD: Yes. Did you take out the K9s to that park area, Baytown Park Service area?
HAWTHORNE: Well, actually, that -- so you`ll know, we had that ping eight days prior.
BANFIELD: OK.
HAWTHORNE: So I mean, we had that early. And we have done a number of different things...
BANFIELD: Is it exhausted? Does it mean nothing anymore, that location?
HAWTHORNE: Oh, no, it...
BANFIELD: Is it still pinging?
HAWTHORNE: It definitely has some significance and it`s definitely on the radar. But it`s not the lead that we`re after right now. It`s not one
we`ve forgotten. It`s not one that we haven`t already looked at. As you well know, you always look, and then you may come back and relook
(INAUDIBLE)
BANFIELD: I would think if her cell phone ended up in a weird location -- I mean, I`d be zeroing in on it and I can`t imagine you didn`t. But did
you take K9s there to search for her in that area?
HAWTHORNE: That particular -- K9s have been there. We have not taken K9s. We have used humans. We`ve used officers to go into the area and look.
But after discussing conference calls with the cell phone provider, that particular provider, the radius of area of which and the accuracy of which
that ping is...
BANFIELD: It may not be the best spot?
HAWTHORNE: That is correct. That`s (INAUDIBLE) some other things.
BANFIELD: OK, you mentioned the PI. That`s the private investigator that Crystal`s family has hired to jump in and help out. Look, it`s not unusual
for a family to do that. And you guys are overwhelmed with the hurricane aftermath, as well. Is the private investigator helping you? I know you
mentioned that Facebook business maybe, you know, created some difficulties. But typically, it`s another staffer, almost. Is it helping?
HAWTHORNE: Yes, Ashleigh, I would say the private investigator is helping. I like her. The difficulties we`ve been having have not been with the
private investigation group. They`ve actually been very helpful and have given us some great information and some great leads.
BANFIELD: What are the difficulties?
HAWTHORNE: The problem we`ve been having has mostly been the family itself.
BANFIELD: Which part?
HAWTHORNE: You know, probably -- you know, everything about just not -- them not coming forward and telling us what they have done or the leads
that they`ve had, trying to track them down themselves instead of discussing them with us.
BANFIELD: OK. I want to be super-clear here because when you say a family is not being helpful, some viewers might take that as, like, That`s the
smoking gun. A family that doesn`t help doesn`t want her found. You`re not saying that. You`re saying that they`re going it alone and maybe not
sharing all the details of what they have? Is that how you`re characterizing it? Or are you characterizing it the other way, which is
(INAUDIBLE)
HAWTHORNE: I would say it`s overzealous, trying to locate her. I by no means think that they are trying to cover anything up. They`re just...
BANFIELD: I can imagine. I would be, too, though, gosh. I mean, if this was my loved one, I`d be pretty overzealous (INAUDIBLE)
HAWTHORNE: Believe me -- and we feel the same way. But obviously, you realize it`s a process. There has been a number of things that have
contaminated or compromised evidence or what could be, hopefully, or either, you know, finding her alive, or if she`s not found, that something
that ends up being a crime scene that we later cannot use because ins
BANFIELD: So that brings me to that car. Yes, that brings me to the car because that car, that Mercedes "C" class was found at that Motel 6. And
clearly, whatever was in that car had to be compromised by those floodwaters. When you got to that car, others had been there. Some
potential looters you mentioned had been mucking about. I think the family had been there, as well. Did you uncover anything of interest in that car
or was it clean? And when I say clean, I mean those dirty flood waters washed out any potential evidence.
HAWTHORNE: Well, luckily, the floodwaters had not overcome it. It had flooding to the point where it could not have been driven out of the
parking lot. We recovered it before the floodwaters ruined anything that would have potentially been inside the car. We were able to get it out of
there because later, the floodwaters did overcome the hotel and the parking lot and ruined all the cars in the parking lot.
BANFIELD: Was there anything you found inside?
HAWTHORNE: A number of things. Yes, we have a number of things that we have retained and...
BANFIELD: Anything useful?
HAWTHORNE: Well, sometimes, that`s the investigative process, as you well know. I mean, there are a number of things that I can`t really discuss with
you. The direction we were taking this, that`s one of the problems, is the family got into the car before we did. So, obviously, we have other issues.
BANFIELD: OK. I want to ask you the next question. It`s kind of (INAUDIBLE), I`m just low on time, and I want to get as many questions as I
can.
HAWTHORNE (via telephone): Sure.
BANFIELD: Number one, was there any action on her credit cards or her bank accounts? Number two, did you get a chance to look through her renovated or
her apartment or home in the process of renovation that may have yielded anything?
HAWTHORNE (via telephone): No activity on her financial records or credit cards. And, yes, we have been into the town home that she is having
remodeled.
BANFIELD: Find anything there?
HAWTHORNE (via telephone): A number of things that we have collected. But, once again, the family had been in it multiple times without telling us,
so, obviously, much of the scene is compromised. We did collect a number of things inside and feel pretty satisfied that the information that we needed
in there, we got.
BANFIELD: Sheriff Hawthorne, this mystery keeps yielding clues it seems day after day. I know you have a lot more than I do. I`m going to keep working
on you. Hopefully, you will come back and talk to us. And hopefully, we`ll find a good resolution to Crystal McDowell`s disappearance. Sir, will you
come back one day?
HAWTHORNE (via telephone): Yes, I will. I hope I have a resolution and a really good story for you.
BANFIELD: I hope so too. Sheriff Brian Hawthorne, thank you. My appreciation to Paul Hargrave as well. We are going to continue to watch
this story where Crystal McDowell is, and the clues that this is yielding.
In the meantime, there is a real life nightmare in Raleigh, North Carolina. A young husband wakes up and finds his wife dead, right beside him. He says
he has no idea how it could have happened, but it is strange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW PHELPS, ACCUSED OF KILLING HIS WIFE (voice-over): I had a dream and then I turned on the lights and she`s dead on the floor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): How? How?
PHELPS (voice-over): I have blood all over me and there`s a bloody knife on the bed and I think I did it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: You see on those cop shows all the time, you know, a guy wakes up, there is a dead girl in bed beside him. They even made an HBO, you
know, huge series out of this, it`s called "The Night Of." I have not seen it, but everybody (INAUDIBLE). It is one of those classic, you know,
Hollywood thing where the guy has no memory, you know, of what happened.
Now, there is this story that is coming out of Raleigh, North Carolina. It is not a story. It is not a show. It is actually real life. It is a
nightmare. There is a 911 call to prove it. The guy in the story is this guy, Matthew James Phelps, a baptist college grad who studied missions and
evangelism. The girl in the story, his young wife of less than a year, Lauren Phelps, a Sunday school teacher. The time was 1:00 a.m. Friday
morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Nine, one, one. What`s the address and your emergency? Tell me exactly what happened.
PHELPS (voice-over): I think I killed my wife.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): What do you mean by that? What happened?
PHELPS (voice-over): I had a dream and then I turned on the lights and she`s dead on the floor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): How? How?
PHELPS (voice-over): I have blood all over me and there`s a bloody knife on the bed and I think I did it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: OK. That`s a really weird story. And if the man himself sounds very weird or maybe very, very guilty, you should know that the police
released that audio after they purposely distorted his voice. And as strange as that seems, that just happens to be part of their law, right? So
we really do not know what he actually sounded like on that call, but we do know what he answered when he was asked what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHELPS (voice-over); I took more medicine than I should have.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): What medicine did you take?
PHELPS (voice-over): I took Coricidin Cough & Cold. Because I know it can make you feel good. So, a lot of times, I can`t sleep at night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: He took cough medicine. Steve Helling is a senior writer for People Magazine. He joins me from Orlando. You also happen to be the
reporter who does all of these stories that just make no sense. And this one is now being blamed on a lot of cough medicine. What else am I missing
in this story, Steve?
STEVE HELLING, SENIOR WRITER, PEOPLE MAGAZINE: You know, Ashleigh, I don`t know that you are missing a whole lot. I mean, that`s what
[20:40:00] his defense is right now, that he took too much cough medicine. And we hear the 911 tape, which of course, like you said, has been altered.
But, you know, it just doesn`t make sense. The story doesn`t make sense. That -- you know, we`ve never heard of that happening from too much cough
medicine in the past.
BANFIELD: Did you see him? Steve, did you see him when he was marched into court making his first court appearance?
HELLING: I did, yes. You know, in his striped jumpsuit. He just -- he didn`t seem like he was all that with it, at least not to me, and so, you
know, I don`t know if he just in a daze from this. I don`t know if he is in some sort of shock. I have no idea. But I just can say that he is certainly
not acting like you would imagine somebody who has just done this would be.
BANFIELD: Yes. It`s bizarre. You are trying to get some insight just looking at his expression. I wanted to hear him talk. And unfortunately,
there is not a lot to hear. But there is one little tiny moment where he answers a question from the judge. I want to play that. Let`s have a listen
to it.
HELLING: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are Matthew James Phelps? Is that correct?
PHELPS: Yes, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Phelps, you have been charged with one count of murder. Sir, you could receive the death penalty or life without the
possibility of parole.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: So, that was kind of it. Just sort of a yes, sir. Real quickly, Steve Helling, he has hired a super gun when it comes to attorneys.
HELLING: He has. He has hired Joe Cheshire who helped defend some of the Duke lacrosse team from those rape charges a few years back. So, this is
not just some strip mall lawyer. This is a big-time lawyer, which means that this is a very serious case against him.
BANFIELD: I think it is going to be a big-time case. Standby for one second, Steve. I want to bring in Dr. Imran Ali. He is resident physician
at Yale New Haven. He joins me now from New Haven, Connecticut.
All right. Dr. Ali, the first person I thought of was you when I heard that he is using a, I took too much cold medication. I looked into Coricidin.
And it actually does say if you research that large doses of this kind of a drug can bring on euphoria, agitation, psychosis and dissociative
phenomena. Can you help me wade through that?
IMRAN ALI, RESIDENT PHYSICIAN, YALE NEW HAVEN HEALTH: Because Coricidin HBP, it has a cough suppressant. He said in that phone call, he took
Coricidin Cough & Cold, which contains antihistamine chlorpheniramine. And also includes dextromethorphan.
So dextromethorphan is the cough suppressant. Now, that can be metabolize by the liver into dextromethorphan which is actually inactive metabolite
which can act in the brain almost like PCP --
BANFIELD: What?
ALI: It affects the same receptors in the brain as ketamine does.
BANFIELD: But how much of it do you have to -- I mean, honestly, they come in bottles like this. How much of it do you have to take to become, you
know, affected like PCP would affect you?
ALI: There are many case reports of young adolescents actually abusing this drug. On the street, it is called triple C. And as many as 16 tablets in
one go during a short period of time is, you know, the dose people usually take to get that euphoria, that high. And that`s what really causes
sometimes hallucinations --
BANFIELD: Can it cause you to black out though, Dr. Ali, and not remember what you did?
ALI: Well, this is very interesting because in 2012, in the journal of forensic science, there was a case report article where they had five
actual people who committed suicide or violent acts after taking dextromethorphan. And in 2015, actually this was used again as a defense
with an endocrinologist, Dr. Chen, I don`t remember the first name, but he --
BANFIELD: So, actually, you know what, you saying that -- you saying that makes me want to ask right away Joey Jackson, you are a defense attorney,
and I look at someone who says, I took too much cough medicine and I think, hog wash. But Dr. Ali says these things are actually true. The cases have
actually presented before as a defense. But do you think he has a hope in hell with the jury?
JOEY JACKSON, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, CNN AND HLN LEGAL ANALYST: He may. So, let`s talk about this. Motive. Right? We always talk about motive. We
know that it is not an element of the charge. This jury is instructed, you don`t have to consider motive but inquiring minds want to know.
So they will do an analysis of this case and say, what, if any, motivation, might he have had to kill his wife? If there is none, it certainly makes a
medical defense a lot more credible. If the guy is known to, you know, he loves his wife and everything is, you know, wonderful, there is no life
insurance policy at issue --
BANFIELD: A baptist college, Sunday school teacher, newly weds.
JACKSON: Exactly. You got to wonder, what made him do it? And then you are going to look to the medicals and why the medical is so important.
BANFIELD: This is their Star Wars wedding.
JACKSON: Yes.
BANFIELD: Not even a year ago.
JACKSON: And the issue is going to be if you look to the medicals, it`s going to be about intent, right?
[20:45:00] Because all you`re doing is trying to negate intent, which means there was no intent here. He did it because of the medicine, which makes it
a lower offense and not murder. And that`s a big deal.
BANFIELD: It`s weird. I look forward to hearing more in the next appearance. Thank you, Joey.
JACKSON: Of course.
BANFIELD: Stay put. I got a lot more for you. I got some new pictures tonight, brand new, of that capsized yacht that Isabella Hellman was last
seen on. A beautiful newlywed on her honeymoon when she disappeared.
And this is the result? And that is the result. So now that you can see it, the mystery doesn`t get any easier to solve, does it? What was that hole?
Does it look like something that just hit the boat? Could they see through those windows. It`s next.
[20:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: In 1975, the movie "Jaws" terrified just about anybody who`s ever taken a dip. There`s just something about what lurks under the murky blue
ocean depth that is just terrifying. But sometimes, what`s under the surface can be very revealing, like the eerie underwater pictures or the
coast guard shot of Isabella Hellman`s sinking yacht before it and maybe she disappeared forever. The photos reveal some pretty telling clues about
how that yacht overturned, took on water, and sank in the Caribbean.
Isabella has not yet been found, but somehow her husband, Lewis Bennett, made his way onto a life raft with plenty of supplies and allegedly some
stolen rare, gold, and silver coins. One thing is for sure, those pictures from under the deep blue sea could start clearing up some of the mysteries
we thought sank 4,000 feet to the bottom of the ocean.
Eliot Kleinberg is a reporter with The Palm Beach Post. He has been chasing this story since it broke. All right, Elliott, were these pictures, are
they the smoking gun to anything or do they match his story?
ELIOT KLEINBERG, REPORTER, THE PALM BEACH POST: Hello. Well, there were no real bombshells in the pictures. They just gave a better picture, if you`ll
excuse the pun, of what might have been going on there out in the ocean 90 miles southeast of Key West.
The timeline in the 134 pages of documents that we got from the freedom of information act gave a little bit of idea of all the things that went on
while the ship, while the catamaran was tipping over, and becoming partially submerged.
It didn`t actually sink for several days, but probably the main thing in these documents is just the pictures were just so eerie.
BANFIELD: That`s exactly what I felt when I looked at them, a sense of doom and of just sheer creepiness, and it made me think, if this is all we have
to go on, because that thing is now 4,000 feet down underwater, then I want to talk to Bobby Chacon because he is a retired FBI special agent.
He actually launched the FBI underwater search and evidence response team. He is live with me in L.A. All right, Bobby, you looked at these
photographs. I`m looking at a pontoon, a catamaran has two pontoons, it`s like two boats side-by-side --
BOBBY CHACON, RETIRED FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Right.
BANFIELD: -- and one of those pontoons has a very clean cut hole in it. I am a boater, and I know if I hit something, the hole in my boat will likely
not be that pretty.
CHACON: Right. And the other hull of that vessel probably also has a similar hole cut in it. That`s probably for the dagger board or foil-type
device. You see it in some of the other photographs. From the top side, you see what looks like two blades sticking up.
Those blades drop down through the hull and into the water to stabilize that boat at times when the pilot feels it`s needed. So that hole is
actually manufactured into the vessel on each pontoon, and usually they`re watertight, so that blade slides up and down as needed. It`s on each
pontoon. So that`s probably not a result of hitting anything.
BANFIELD: So, Bobby, can I ask you something?
CHACON: Sure.
BANFIELD: I don`t know -- I don`t know how to build a boat, but I know that you can go down into the hold of the boat and you can get real low like in
an engine room and maybe to the bottom of that pontoon. Is it possible for a person while at sea to go into the bottom of one of those pontoons and
jerry-rig it and actually release that rudder board, release that rudder- like upside-down fin of a shark --
CHACON: Sure.
BANFIELD: -- and start the boat taking on water purposely?
CHACON: Well, what he have to do is cut through the (INAUDIBLE) so there`s a sleeve that`s watertight that that dagger board slides up and down. Now,
somebody could get in there and slice open that sleeve to take on water.
The hole you see in the picture wouldn`t be that one, because that looks like the port side hole. It`s the starboard-side hole that`s deeper in the
water and all of the pictures. So really, what I`d like to see is, unfortunately, we won`t, I would like to see the leading edge of that
starboard side, the hole, and the dagger board on that side.
BANFIELD: We are going to keep working on it. These are only some of the pictures, Bobby. We`re going to keep working to get more pictures.
Hopefully the coast guard got that camera deeper than what we just saw. I have to leave it there, but the story is not over. Thank you, Bobby, very
much for that. Back right after this.
[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: A Utah nurse ended up in handcuffs after she refused to take a blood sample from an unconscious accident victim to give to the police. She
was in the right. That was hospital policy. She wasn`t supposed to. But the confrontation was caught on the officer`s body cam. Take a look. You won`t
believe it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SCREAMING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: So, nurse Alex Wubbels says that she was absolutely scared to death when the officer got mad at her. She was cuffed. She was placed in
that police cruiser. Left there for about 20 minutes before finally being let go without any charges.
Did not go well with the Salt Lake City mayor or the police chief. Both of them have apologized. The two officers are on administrative leave while
this incident is being investigated. Joey Jackson, two words, holy cow.
JACKSON: Outraged. And never for doing your job should you be subjected to this punishment.
BANFIELD: Unreal. By the way, the supervisor even said, can`t do it, it`s not allowed.
JACKSON: Ouch.
BANFIELD: Joey Jackson, thank you so much.
JACKSON: My pleasure.
[21:00:00] BANFIELD: Thank you, everyone, for watching. We`ll see you back here tomorrow night at 8:00. Meantime, stay tuned. Next up, "Forensic
Files."
END