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Crime and Justice With Ashleigh Banfield
Teacher Found Dead; Murder Trial Underway; CNN Heroes. Aired 8:30-9p ET
Aired September 14, 2017 - 20:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TYLER TESSIER, LAURA WALLEN`S BOYFRIEND: I know we`re all trying to do everything we can to find her.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HOST: Teacher of the year and four months pregnant, Laura Wallen disappeared right before the start of school.
TESSIER: I pray that she`s safe, that she comes back. That`s all I care about right now.
BANFIELD: The father of her baby begging the public for help.
TESSIER: We haven`t slept. We haven`t eaten. We`re just looking or praying that you`re safe.
BANFIELD: But it may have been an Oscar-worthy performance because he`s now locked up and charged with her murder.
TESSIER: Nothing we can`t fix together.
BANFIELD: How could he stand there and make that appeal?
TESSIER: We just want to know if she`s OK. We just want her back.
BANFIELD: Especially with her mom and dad sitting inches away.
TESSIER: I don`t know where she is. That`s all. I don`t know.
BANFIELD: A key witness on the stand spilling grisly details about a heinous murder.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) (EXPLETIVE DELETED) still alive.
BANFIELD: That victim, Holly Bobo, missing for years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said, I need you to help me bury this body.
BANFIELD: That witness is also charged with rape and murder, but blaming the man who`s now on trial.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) that`s Holly Bobo.
BANFIELD: But will the jury buy what he`s saying?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And at that time, boom (INAUDIBLE) the gun went off.
BANFIELD: Or will they blame him just as much?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m hoping for leniency.
BANFIELD: She may look like there`s nothing wrong, but Holly Colino (ph) is in a world of trouble.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why is everyone robbing from me?
BANFIELD: These videos may just highlight a very dangerous woman on the loose.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kylie Jenner (ph) can solicit my lips, eyebrows and my hair and make millions off of it.
BANFIELD: Charged with the random execution of a mom just having lunch in her car.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I, she, Holly M. Colino (ph)!
BANFIELD: Will her state of mind be a big part in the murder case against her?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s a unique level of interest, but there`s also a unique reservation of judgment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Hello, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. This is PRIMETIME JUSTICE.
There is a phenomenon that still confounds us, even though we`ve been duped so many times before, people that beg and plead for the return of their
missing loved ones only to be revealed later on as the killers themselves. They effectively leave a trail of videotape showing crocodile tears that
seal their fate as society`s worst! Case in point, Susan Smith.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN SMITH, CONVICTED OF KILLING HER CHILDREN: I would say to whoever has my children, that they please -- I mean, please bring them home!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Nobody had her children. Smith rolled her car into a lake and watched those two small children drown as the car sank to the bottom and
they were strapped in their carseats. And Susan is serving life in prison for that.
So how about Mark Hacking? Mark reported his wife, Lori, missing, said she just went out for a jog, never came home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK HACKING, CONVICTED OF KILLING HIS WIFE: She never made it in this morning. And I panicked. I called the police. And I raced over here and
found her car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Well, they found her body months later in a landfill, and lo and behold, it was Mark who eventually confessed to her murder.
And now today, we may have another one. I want you to meet Tyler Tessier, who just this week begged and begged for us to help him find his pregnant
girlfriend, Laura Wallen, only to be arrested yesterday and charged with her murder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TYLER TESSIER, LAURA WALLEN`S BOYFRIEND: Laura, if you`re listening, there`s so many people, so many people that miss you! We`re just looking.
We`re praying that you`re safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Uh-huh. All that blubbering coming just after Laura disappeared Labor Day weekend in Maryland. Thirty-one years old, she was teacher of
the year, described as dedicated, involved and responsible. Tyler put on quite a show, all within arm`s length of Laura`s own family members, who
were truly distraught.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK WALLEN, LAURA`S FATHER: We -- we miss her, and we love her, and it`s one of the hardest things a father can do is have your child taken away,
way, way too soon. And all we want is for her to come back to us. And Laura, if you`re out there listening, pick up the phone. Whoever might be
helping and hiding her, please come forward and make it happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:05:16]BANFIELD: Laura was found on Wednesday buried in a shallow grave in Damascus, about 15 miles away from her home. Tyler Tessier was hauled
in after a pile of evidence grew so high against him, it nearly fell over.
And let`s go back to that news conference for a moment. Police say that it was all a setup, a setup to see how he would perform because they had him
in their sights. So with that in mind, makes you look at it a whole different way, right?
If we go back to the beginning, Tyler was seated next to Laura`s parents. And the body language -- it just screams volumes now knowing what we know
that we didn`t know back then.
Roll the tape and look at him grab Mom`s hand and Dad tap his shoulder and leave his hand there. Mom takes her other hand, puts a water bottle down
beside her and effectively doesn`t quite know what to do with it other than put it on top of his.
The parents were involved in this news conference. The police worked with them. They said he was a person of interest, and they asked those parents
to help. Just imagine what they`re going through here.
I also want to show you the moment that from the podium, the police then called Tyler Tessier to come on up to the podium and speak.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now I`d like to ask Laura Wallen`s boyfriend, Mr. Tyler Tessier, to step to the podium to say a few words on Laura`s behalf.
TESSIER: Thank you all for coming her here. Laura, if you`re listening, it doesn`t matter what`s happened. It doesn`t matter -- it doesn`t matter
what type of trouble. There`s nothing we can`t fix together, myself and your family. There`s so many people, so many people that miss you.
There`s so many people that were out and haven`t slept. We haven`t eaten. We`re just looking. We`re praying that you`re safe, and I`m asking you to
just let us know that you`re safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Looks pretty distraught, doesn`t he. So I want to play something again for you because just think of it, if someone you love is
missing, aren`t you going to beg for whoever has that person to let them go? Or are you going to blame that person for maybe doing something or
being in trouble, or Hey, we can fix this, come on home because, effectively, that`s what Tyler said, was the first thing out of his mouth.
Listen again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TESSIER: Laura, if you`re listening, doesn`t matter what`s happened, doesn`t matter -- doesn`t matter what type of trouble. There`s nothing we
can`t fix together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Doesn`t matter what`s happened, doesn`t matter what kind of trouble, nothing we can`t fix, baby.
Chief Tom Manger of the Montgomery County Police Department joins me now live from Washington. Chief, when I heard that, I got a pain in my stomach
because you don`t often blame a missing person for being missing. If you`re begging for them to return and you don`t know anything about how
they could be gone, you usually beg whoever took them, whoever took them to let them go. Did that news conference yield a lot of information for you?
TOM MANGER, MONTGOMERY COUNTY POLICE CHIEF: Well, the whole reason that we asked him to be a part of it was to hear what he had to say and watch how
he said it.
We had already focused on him as a person of interest. We talked to him a couple of times and found that he had already given us conflicting
information. So we spoke with the parents, and we told them that we wanted to put him in front of the cameras, see what he would have to say because
at this point, we wanted to hear him talk. As long as he was talking, we were getting information.
BANFIELD: Did that stand out to you, that little moment where he said, It doesn`t matter what`s happened or what kind of trouble, nothing we can`t
fix? Did that stand out to you as a clue?
MANGER: You know, knowing even then that we suspected that he might be involved, I was listening to every word. And I thought, you know, when he
got up there and said some of the things that he said about, you know, no matter what happened -- well, he knew exactly what happened. And so I
think that he was struggling for what to say, and when he talked about -- every time he spoke about people missing her, and you know, you got to
remember, as you watch that now, he knew exactly what happened to her.
[20:10:28]BANFIELD: Let me ask you about the setup. I can see in the background a couple of the officers involved in this, and I can`t help but
look back to the officers constantly as Tyler`s at the podium to get their facial expressions and to try to get a read. But I`m going to be honest
with you, it seemed like total poker face. Was that tough?
MANGER: You know, we had a job to do, and we knew that if he was talking, we were accomplishing what we were -- wanted to accomplish. The real
Oscar-worthy performance were Laura`s mom and dad. They knew when this was going on. They suspected that Tyler had something to do with their
daughter`s disappearance.
At that point, they -- I mean, up until the end, her parents were really holding out hope that Laura would be found unharmed. Tragically, she was
not. But even then -- believe me, they were very suspicious of Tyler, and so they understood what we were trying to accomplish, and they really
assisted us with the way they embraced him during that press event.
BANFIELD: I mean, I`ll say. I can see her dad with the hand on the shoulder. And he doesn`t take it off after he puts his hand on his
shoulder. That had to have been sort of just excruciating, in a delightful way, I`m assuming, for her father, for Tyler Tessier to have that father`s
hand on his shoulder for such a long period of time.
I want to ask the control room, if I can for a minute, to cue up sound bite number four because when you mentioned the Oscar-worthy performance really
goes to the parents for having to sit through this, knowing full well that he was a person of interest, knowing full well that you needed to hear what
he had to say, to hear what Tyler had to see -- there`s this moment where there`s an awkward walk where Tyler has to pass Dad and head to the podium.
And I just want to play for our audience what that looked like in real time now that we know so much more than we did back then. Have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tyler, can you talk about what she`s been like over the last couple of weeks and your interactions with her?
TESSIER: Like Mr. Wallen said, she was super-excited for the start of the school year. I know she had talked to some -- her principal and her
teachers, like her co-workers about her being pregnant and how excited she was. And it`s just a complete shock that -- I mean, I think leading up to
-- leading up to the weekend that she`s missing, I mean, I don`t -- I don`t believe anybody has any inclination to think that something was wrong or...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: And Chief, just watching him and trying to get a read on the emotions, he went a lot further. You know, he cued the tears and pulled
the emotion, I don`t know from where, but he let it rip at that podium. I want to play one more moment where he`s now decided instead of blaming
Laura for, you know, having done something wrong, and we can fix it, he`s decided that maybe it`s somebody else who has her. And this is how he
articulated it from the podium. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TESSIER: If somebody has her, please understand that you`ve taken away a huge, a huge person in so many people`s lives, friends and family and
students that she has. I know what she means to me. I know what she means to everybody else. We just want to know if she`s OK. We just want her
back. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: So Chief, was the body language or the words that he used more of a clue than, say, the woman that apparently he was engaged to,
unbeknownst to Laura Wallen, who was carrying his child?
[20:15:00]MANGER: Well, I think that the pain, the anguish, the uncomfortable nature that he was displaying was because he knew what he had
done, that he had killed someone. This is a guy that had no previous criminal record. We have no -- he had no contact with the police in terms
of any problems with anyone.
And so you`ve got a guy here who has gone from no criminal record to him knowing that he has killed someone. And I think what you`re seeing is the
anguish, the pain and just a man who is absolutely -- doesn`t know what to do in the situation that he`s in. And I -- see, that`s what I see when I
watch him.
BANFIELD: Chief, don`t go anywhere because I have a lot more questions for you.
Coming up after the break, there is this other issue of text messages that went from Laura`s phone to Laura`s sister. The only trouble is if it were
really Laura who were texting her sister, would she have spelled the name of her boyfriend wrong?
And would she have used the kind of language her sister says she absolutely would not have used? And does that mean police believe that he picked up
her phone and texted her sister to throw them off the scent? That`s coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:20:32]BANFIELD: Crocodile tears from the father of the unborn baby of Laura Wallen because she`d been missing for a week. But just days later,
he`d be arrested after begging all of us to help find her.
Chief Tom Manger of the Montgomery County Police Department is back with me live. So Chief, one of the interesting questions that came from that news
conference where Tyler Tessier begged everybody, reporters and everybody watching, with the police right over his shoulder and the family right to
his left -- one of the things he was unable to do was actually answer a reporter`s question about the last kinds of contact he had with the mother
of his unborn child.
It was a very telling moment, his reaction to the question and then what he actually decided to answer. Have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)
TESSIER: I`m sorry?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any of your last conversations with her?
TESSIER: I don`t know where she is. That`s all. I don`t know. Like, I don`t -- I know we`re all trying to do everything we can to find her. And
I just pray that -- I pray that she`s safe, she comes back. That`s all I care about right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Chief, did he confess to anything? Did he lead you to the location of her body?
MANGER: We actually -- he did indirectly. We noted that he had been during the days from the time of this press event to -- up to the time that
we found her body. He went up to this property up in the Damascus section of Montgomery County several times. And that`s what led us to get a search
warrant for that property, and ultimately, the search team were able to find freshly dug ground, and that`s where we recovered her body. So
indirectly, he, in fact, led us to where she was.
BANFIELD: Did he also text an acquaintance of his asking for a ride to Baltimore on Sunday night and saying he needed help to, quote, "clean up a
mess"?
MANGER: He did. He texted an acquaintance and said that he wanted a ride up to Baltimore late that night, and the acquaintance said, Well, why do we
want to go to Baltimore, you know, late at night? And the acquaintance just declined to assist him. And he said -- he says, That`s OK. He says,
I`m just trying to get help to clean up a mess.
BANFIELD: Let me ask you a little bit about some of the texting that went between Laura`s phone and Laura`s sister. And apparently, these text
messages -- correct me if I`m wrong on the date -- happened Monday, which is after the day you believe Laura was killed.
Apparently, Laura, who you actually believe is not Laura at all, but instead is her -- you know, her boyfriend Tyler, writes to her sister, I`m
like 95 percent sure Tyler is not the father. And then the next thing she writes is, I`m probably going to lose my job over this.
And then the next thing she talks about an ex-boyfriend and says, I`m going to try and get ahold of Antwan. Note the spelling of Antwan. And then she
says, Tyler`s never going to forgive me. If he tries to call you, please tell him -- and this is the best part -- please tell him he`s a great guy
because I know I really hurt his feelings.
You believe that`s actually Tyler texting Laura`s sister, pretending to be Laura and pretending -- effectively trying to sever (ph) him as a father of
this baby. Why do you believe that it was actually Tyler texting and not actually Laura?
MANGER: Well, there had been no activity on her phone, no activity on any of her bank accounts or credit cards or anything for a few days at that
point. So to all of a sudden have activity on her phone and have it be those texts -- that`s the first thing that`s unusual. But then we noted
that the name Antoine was spelled wrong. Laura would have known how to spell it correctly.
[20:25:06]BANFIELD: That`s her ex-boyfriend, right?
MANGER: Well, yes, it was a boyfriend from a couple of years prior. And to our knowledge, she had not had -- had not seen him for a couple of
years.
BANFIELD: And the correct spelling is A-N-T-O-I-N-E for her ex-boyfriend.
MANGER: That`s what she had in her contacts. That`s the way she had it spelled, yes.
BANFIELD: Oops. Yes. Oops, big oops.
MANGER: And here -- but here -- but Ashleigh, here`s the -- later, when we confronted him with this information, he admitted that he was the one that
sent those texts. So we knew that, and that was just another bit of information that just kept accumulating the probable cause that we needed
to make the arrest.
BANFIELD: So Chief, that`s huge. Chief, he admitted to sending those texts?
MANGER: He did. And of course, his excuse was...
BANFIELD: Did he give a reason.
MANGER: Yes...
BANFIELD: What was his excuse?
MANGER: ... his excuse was that he felt -- he was trying to get folks to believe that Laura had gone up to the New England area to meet up with this
person, Antwan, because he was probably the father of the child. And he wanted people to believe that. And he said that he knew that Laura wanted
to be left alone and wanted to deal with this problem, and he was trying to sort of throw people off the track so that she would have the time that she
needed to deal with her problem with "Antwan." Now, this is the explanation that he gave us...
BANFIELD: Wow.
MANGER: ... because, you know, he had to explain why he drove her car to another location, why he took the front license plate off, why he threw her
cell phone and her driver`s license into a dumpster...
BANFIELD: Admitted all those things, too?
MANGER: He had -- after we confronted him with this information that we had, yes, he did admit to them.
BANFIELD: Has he admitted anything about what happened to Laura? Has he admitted his part in the killing?
MANGER: Well, we took him into custody and placed him under arrest yesterday. And that was -- at that point, any interview with him, he would
-- had -- he had to be read his rights...
BANFIELD: Yes.
MANGER: ... and because he was in custody...
BANFIELD: So he clammed up.
MANGER: ... and that sort of thing.
BANFIELD: I get it.
MANGER: But I will tell you that we did -- he gave other information that we knew was false. But we did -- and this is information that`s not been
released before. We did get the medical examiner`s report from the autopsy today, and we found that Laura had been shot in the back of the head.
BANFIELD: Oh, my God! Do you have any information about a weapon? Have you found a weapon? Have you got anything that connects that evidence?
MANGER: Well, this is information that we just received today from the medical examiner. So we have got -- the detectives are still working
around the clock, serving search warrants to look for -- look for...
BANFIELD: The weapon.
MANGER: ... the weapon. And so all of this -- as you know, just because an arrest is made, the investigation does not stop. So this investigation
is continuing.
BANFIELD: Tom, that`s huge. We didn`t know that. Clearly, this is news that you`re breaking on the air with us tonight that that`s the cause of
death, that she was -- you said in the back of the head?
MANGER: Yes.
BANFIELD: And so clearly, with him under arrest, he was a person of interest anyway, I am assuming that you had already served a warrant and
searched his -- the places because, apparently, he lived in three different places per week. He was rotating from place to place. Have you been able
to scour those three places, and ultimately, so far no weapon?
MANGER: I have not -- I don`t know if they found something today. I don`t know. We were still serving some warrants at different locations, so I
don`t know what the results of those searches -- the searches may, in fact, still be going on. But as far as I know for right now, we`ve not located
any weapon. But you`re correct in that he was staying in three different places, and so all three of those locations need to be searched for
additional evidence.
BANFIELD: I`m just looking at her parents sitting at that news conference on September 11, watching him as he made his way to the podium and said
those things. Did they know this? I mean, obviously, I mean, you`re saying it on television, but I`m assuming you had a chance to share this
very difficult information about how she died.
MANGER: Well, I wouldn`t have shared it with you and with the public had we not already talked to the parents.
BANFIELD: Had you not.
MANGER: But it was just heartbreaking, this case, and it`s just senseless, tragic violence. It`s heartbreaking to see what it has done to this
family, the impact it had on the community that she lived in, the community that she worked in. By all accounts, this woman was just...
BANFIELD: She was loved.
MANGER: ... wonderful. And she...
BANFIELD: She was loved.
MANGER: She was. And I think the reason that she was as wonderful and as great a teacher and as good a person as she was is because of her parents
and the way they -- they brought her up. And these -- these wonderful folks. It is heartbreaking to see them going through what they`re going
through.
BANFIELD: Mark Wallen is her dad. And we`ve been looking at him as he made his appeal, as he did everything you needed him to do with his wife at that
press conference with that man seated beside them.
After the press conference and now, you know, buzz forward a few more days, and Mark Wallen had this to say to the press, now knowing he can be free to
speak his mind. And understandably this is what he would say. Have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK WALLEN, LAURA WALLEN`S FATHER: The press conference that we did the other day was a press conference to get out (INAUDIBLE) a picture and a
name of the baby daddy, and it was all we could do to be seen as a unified family with him. He is a monster, and he is a liar.
And it is -- it was absolutely the hardest thing that my wife could do, would be to sit next to him and hold his hand. And she had to hold his hand
with two hands because she was shaking so badly. And -- but we did it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: And did they ever. Because looking at the tape, you would have no idea that Mark Wallen and his wife were in full knowledge of what the
police knew at that point and were helping them to get the reaction that they got out of Tyler Tessier. Look at that body language. There`s Mark
even putting his hand on Tyler`s shoulder and leaving it there perhaps for discomfort.
And there is Mrs. Wallen holding his hand with both of hers, so that he`d have no suspicion whatsoever. What about all the press peppering him with
those questions? What about the press reporting on this story?
Kylie Khan is a reporter with CNN affiliate WDVM. She has been telling the story. Her colleagues were there at that press conference. Coming up after
the break, what they know, what they`ve seen, and what all those kids who had Laura as their teacher have been saying. That`s next.
[20:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Laura Wallen was teacher of the year, but she didn`t make it to the first day of school. Instead, she has been found in a shallow grave,
and the man who was begging for all of us to help find her, is instead locked up and is charged with her murder.
This after the tearful plea for us all to help, as he sat beside her grieving family. Kylie Khan is a reporter with CNN affiliate WDVM. She
joins me from Frederick, Maryland. Kylie, I cannot imagine as well you all in the press covering this story locally.
Some of your colleagues actually in that news conference. Did they get any inkling that something was up? Do they have any clue what the police were
up to, trying to extract any kind of detail from Tyler Tessier in that press conference?
KYLIE KHAN, WDVM, REPORTER (via telephone): You know, Ashleigh, I`ve talked with a couple of reporters on this. And, you know, some say they had a clue
that it might have been him from the beginning and others say that they were completely shocked because, you know, of his tearful plea at that
press conference.
So, you know, I`ve heard it on both sides. I was personally surprised myself to hear, you know, that this was a calculated move. But, you know,
I`ve heard both sides of the story.
BANFIELD: Sure. How are those parents doing?
KHAN (via telephone): Well, they did speak with media today. They said that they are finding comfort in their faith, and that the community has really
stepped up as well, that their own business that they work at, they said that their co-workers have been very supportive and her high school as well
has been very supportive as well.
BANFIELD: So those kids, like her kids loved her. She was teacher of the year. And from what I understand, a lot of kids had gone out to help search
for her.
KHAN (via telephone): Yes, you know, I haven`t heard anything about that. I know that they did make a video. That`s what the father was speaking about
today. And he just said that the reaction from the high school has been a source of comfort for them. And, yes, they said that there`s been a great
outpouring of support from those students.
BANFIELD: I want to bring if defense attorney Joe Tacopina. He joins me live in the studio now. Look, you can analyze each moment of this and I`m
sure you can come up with logical defense points.
But when you hear that he threw out her phone, when you hear that he admits to making those fake texts under her name, when you hear all of these
things that his location was tracked to the burial spot several times over and over, this is an uphill battle.
JOE TACOPINA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Absolutely. I mean, this is -- you know, it was reminiscent of Susan Smith. I think it is actually more reminiscent of
Scott Peterson. I mean, from a factual standpoint.
BANFIELD: I don`t remember big crocodile
[20:40:00] tears from Scott Peterson.
TACOPINA: Oh, I do. I mean, I remember him going on there and making some heartfelt pleas and at one point tearing up, but, anyway, you know, look, I
am just -- it`s ingrained in my DNA to never jump to complete conclusions.
BANFIELD: I hear you.
TACOPINA: Right? We have Richard Jewell, the Unabomber from the Olympics, and all I mean -- remember, that guy was condemned by everyone. He turned
out to be completely innocent. And it looked like there was a mountain of evidence against him.
I am not saying by any stretch that this individual is innocent, but I`m just saying before we go to the sentencing phase, let`s do the trial. Let`s
get this thing under way and then see. What the chief laid out sounds damning.
I mean, when you fake cell phone messages from, you know, your missing girlfriend, pregnant girlfriend`s cell phone, you have a problem.
BANFIELD: And you have another fiancee that apparently your pregnant girlfriend doesn`t know about that is damning. And when you toss these
things out --
TACOPINA: There`s motive, sure.
BANFIELD: -- there`s a lot going on while she`s missing that most people who are crying and begging for help wouldn`t do. One more question if I can
to the police chief. There`s one count, chief, of first-degree murder against him along with a couple of other things.
Altering physical evidence, false statements to law enforcement. I get that. What about the unborn baby? Because in so many jurisdictions, if a
pregnant woman is killed, sometimes you get two counts. Is that possible in your jurisdiction?
MANGER: It is. It`s the state`s attorney`s decision on what charges were brought. I think that there`s -- as the investigation continues, whether
additional charges are brought and specifically second murder charge, that will be up to the states attorney`s office.
BANFIELD: Chief, thanks so much for being with us tonight. I appreciate all of your input. I mean, congratulations for having been able to orchestrate
that news conference and carrying it off and obviously a great congratulations goes out to her parents for being able to pull off what
they did as well and I wish you luck as you move forward in this.
Also, I want to thank Kylie Khan from our CNN affiliate WDVM. And Joe Tacopina is going to stay with me, because we`re learning some unbelievable
new details in a case you probably heard about. A young, beautiful nursing student named Holly Bobo.
One of the three people who are now accused in her rape and murder, one of them is charged, but it turns out the other one is pointing the finger.
Star witness against him. And some of the details are just sickening. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON AUTRY, ALLEGED CO-CONSPIRATOR: As we got going down the road, I brought it to his attention that there were no shovels or pickaxes in the
truck.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: If three people are charged the same crime and they all blame each other, which one do you believe? Now, if those same three are all
former criminals with nasty little rap sheets showing that they happily victimized others, does that job get even more difficult? Because there are
12 people sitting in a Tennessee jury box right now stuck in that very situation.
It`s the trial of a man accused of raping and murdering an innocent nursing student named Holly Bobo. And those jurors are being bombarded with
sickening details of how that beautiful young woman suffered. But the details are coming from a guy whose just as dirty as the man he`s accused
of doing the actual deeds.
When the skeletal remains of Holly were discovered three and a half years after she went missing, Zach Adams was arrested, but so was his brother
John Dylan, and his friend Jason Autry. They decided to try Zach first. I guess his pal, Jason, isn`t much of a friend anymore because today, Jason
was the key witness testifying against that guy right there, Zach.
And there`s Jason, hand up, swearing in. Since there`s no DNA, no fingerprints, no forensics, smoking gun in this case, the witnesses here
are, I think you can say crucial. So, you can imagine that those 12 jurors would really want to hear every single word that this co-conspirator on the
stand had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AUTRY: A few minutes later, I got out and walked back to the 4x4 Nissan where Zach was standing at the door, and he said, I need you to help me
bury this body. And I told him, I said, yes, damn, I hate to joke (INAUDIBLE) that`s Holly Bobo.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: So, that`s Jason Autry. He admitted that he drove with Zach Adams to get rid of Holly`s body, but in a shocking turn, he admitted on the
stand that that young woman wasn`t dead yet. So here`s what he said happened next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AUTRY: I`m standing over the top of her with my hand on my knees, she being right here. And at that time, the sound of distress that sounded like hmm
come out of her voice, come out of her, come from the blanket. At that time, I walked to the door, the passenger side door of the pickup.
Mr. Adams was digging in the fanny (ph) pack. I told him, I said this (bleep) is still alive. And at that time, boom. The gun shot -- the gun
went off. We load the body back into the truck in the same fashion, shut the tailgate, and peel out of there like wild Indians.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:50:00] BANFIELD: In case you`re wondering why Autry is spilling his guts, he`s what you in the business call a rat, a rat testifies against his
pal, in this case, Zach, in the hopes that he`ll dodge, I don`t know, a lifetime in jail?
Jesse Weber is the host of lawnewz.com. So, I want to get to what you had to listen to all day in a moment, but that guy? Someone is going to believe
that guy? That guy who wants a deal so he doesn`t go to jail for a long time? They expect the jurors to believe that guy? Like he didn`t do
anything?
JESSE WEBER, HOST, LAWNEWZ.COM: It`s just so convenient that he comes into the picture when the murder takes place, but no, he had nothing to do with
the kidnapping, he had nothing to do with the rape, but as you said, Ashleigh, in the beginning, this is the case where there`s not a lot of
forensic evidence pointing to Zach Adams. There is nothing of Holly Bobo found in his house, so this was their key witness today.
BANFIELD: (INAUDIBLE) walk me through what he says happened to Holly.
WEBER: Absolutely. I would hope that all these details are not true because they`re so chilling. He basically was called over, he was looking for some
drugs, and went over to Zachary Adams` house to get some drugs.
When he gets there, Zach Adams said, I need you to help me. I need you to help me get rid of this body. He first looked at the body. He didn`t know
who it was. He didn`t know this is Holly Bobo. So, in a cavalier way, he said, OK, I`ll help you.
BANFIELD: I`m in.
WEBER: I`ll take care of it.
BANFIELD: I`m in.
WEBER: Now, his plan is to disembowel her in order to have the body float to the bottom of a river because they didn`t have any shovels to actually
dig a hole.
BANFIELD: They discovered that on the way to the burial site.
WEBER: They drive her. They drive her on the way to --
BANFIELD: Right.
WEBER: They drive her. They say let`s dump her in the river, the turtles will eat her. What happens is they hear some noise from the blanket that
she`s wrapped in. When they checked to see, she says, as you heard so eloquently, she`s still alive. I`m using nice words to explain it.
BANFIELD: Right.
WEBER: Well, he provides a lookout. He goes to make sure no one`s looking while according to him, Zachary Adams takes a pistol and shoots Holly Bobo
right in the head. At that point --
BANFIELD: Right there at the water source.
WEBER: But that`s not when the body`s dumped because then all of a sudden this star witness says, I don`t want to be involved in this anymore. Drive
me back. I don`t want to be involved in this. So, he leaves the area, doesn`t see Zachary Adams for maybe two or three days. Eventually, he meets
up with him again and says, what did you do to the body? He says, oh, we took care of it, we threw it out.
BANFIELD: OK. And then it gets even weirder because these three people who are involved, there`s -- of course, Zach and you`ve got his brother John
Dylan and then there is Jason and then there`s another fellow named Shayne Austin who has killed himself, so he`s not part of this legal picture
anymore.
All three of them are charged with raping her and murdering her and tossing out her body. Jason is trying to get up on the stand to say, yes, I didn`t
do any of those things, but I`ll tell you how it happened.
Ultimately, he also says that these two brothers were engaged in sexual acts with each other, that`s how the information comes out that the others
were all part of the -- is any of this believable?
WEBER: So, jury is going to look at this and say, why should I believe this person that`s providing these graphic details?
BANFIELD: Even want to have his brother killed by --
WEBER: Well, yes.
BANFIELD: -- hey, Jason, I need you to do something else for me. Thanks for not helping me, you know, get rid of Holly, but can you kill my brother
because he might talk about this?
WEBER: This is the most unlikable witness you could possibly have, but jurors are listening to this and wondering enough whether any of this is
actually true. The interesting part about his testimony was, he had no problem disposing and helping in the murder and disposal of a beautiful
young girl, but what the allegation you said was that the two brothers actually engaged in in sexual acts before they raped Holly Bobo. And that`s
when he said, oh, I have a problem.
BANFIELD: I`m out.
WEBER: I don`t want to hear about this anymore.
BANFIELD: Right. Because apparently that`s too much, but gutting a young woman and tossing her to be fed to the turtles is unbelievable. Real
quickly, he got close he says to killing Zach`s brother.
WEBER: Yes.
BANFIELD: What happened?
WEBER: Yes, let`s touch upon that. He was asked by Zachary Adams to kill John Dylan Adams because he thought that he was speaking too much. He was
going to do everything he was going to do to kill him, take him out into a fishing boat and do it, when he realized that there were too many people
around and he had to back away from that plan.
BANFIELD: Ten seconds. Joe Tacopina, defense attorney, I could defend this case. These guys? You want to believe these guys?
TACOPINA: Yes, I mean, their words alone will not carry the day in any courtroom. There has to be something corroborative, something that the jury
can wrap their arms around. His words alone, someone who is incentivized to lie --
BANFIELD: Drug addict. Criminal.
TACOPINA: -- has a reason aside from who he is as a character, but he has a great reason to be able to point a finger. That`s to be something else.
BANFIELD: Jesse is going to continue to cover this. Hold on for one second. I don`t know if you know this, but there`s about three million kids in the
United States who have hearing loss. That`s real hard for parents. They just don`t get a lot of the help that they need. That`s where this year`s
CNN hero has opened up a whole new world. I want you to meet Michelle Christie.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE CHRISTIE, CNN HERO: A child with a hearing loss can achieve anything, but unfortunately some fall through the cracks. Sometimes these
kids are bullied. And a lot of people in their life tell them that they can`t do things. Their parents are
[20:55:00] often told that their child is never going to learn to speak, which is not true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: We invite you to go to cnnheroes.com and see that entire story. We`re back right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Big thanks to my guests tonight. Joe Tacopina, always great to have you. Thank you.
TACOPINA: Thank you.
BANFIELD: You`re very good at your job and it`s not easy. It`s not easy being you. Jesse Weber, thank you so much. You`re going to continue to
cover the Holly Bobo story. We`ll have you back. Thank you, everyone, as well. We`ll see you back here 8:00 Monday night for "Primetime Justice." In
the meantime, "Forensic Files" up next.
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END
