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Crime and Justice With Ashleigh Banfield
Casey Anthony's Parents Threaten to Sue Her/Ohio Murder Mystery; Shocking 911 Call; Life After 'The Juice'; Disturbing New Allegations; Hunt For Attacker; Robbery and Carjacking. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired October 30, 2017 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HOST (voice-over): More than six years after beating the rap...
CASEY ANTHONY: Nobody's letting me speak! Can someone let me -- come on!
BANFIELD: Casey Anthony's parents have some choice words for their lying daughter.
GEORGE ANTHONY, CASEY'S FATHER: I don't want to see her. I don't want to talk to her.
BANFIELD: In an exclusive interview with "Crime Watch Daily"...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Putting blame on everybody else.
BANFIELD: ... George and Cindy are crystal clear about Casey.
G. ANTHONY: Stay away. Stay away from me.
BANFIELD: And how they feel about a rumored reality show with O.J.
C. ANTHONY: Oh, God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think someone killed my wife.
BANFIELD: A husband's call to 911.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like she has stab wounds on her back.
BANFIELD: About the shocking way he found his wife.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've had people trying to break in our house all year.
BANFIELD: He says they've called police for help before.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) nothing getting done here!
BANFIELD: Now stunning news. Melinda wasn't just stabbed, she'd also been shot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This whole city is getting frickin' taken over.
BANFIELD: Five teenagers charged with murder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't give them enough punishment.
BANFIELD: Cops say they threw a rock off an overpass that killed a father of four.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even if they spend 30 years in prison, they get to wake up every single morning. They still get phone calls from their
parents. My son won't get none of that no more.
BANFIELD: Now word it may not have been the first time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You took away a child's father!
BANFIELD: Did these teens throw chairs and a shopping cart before?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not a prank. It's second degree murder.
BANFIELD: A disturbing scene. A pizza deliveryman cold-cocked, robbed and carjacked, but the perps were caught on camera, and tonight matching mugs
to go with the video.
Plus another jaw-dropping moment caught on tape, a woman violently attacked and knocked out cold. What's more disturbing, what happens next.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like a sideshow in a circus.
BANFIELD: No one stopped to help but instead snapped pictures.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a human being.
BANFIELD: One even took a selfie as she lay unconscious. Who would do such a thing? And can they be charged?
And O.J.'s ex-girlfriend today. Once a stunning dead ringer for Nicole, she now talks about life since O.J. and fighting drugs for decades.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Good evening, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield, this is "PRIMETIME JUSTICE."
For almost a decade, Casey Anthony has kept a secret close to the vest. The woman many have called the most hated mom in America is still suspected
by a lot of people in the death of her daughter. Now her parents are talking. And frankly, nothing of what George and Cindy Anthony have to say
about Casey is particularly complimentary. They opened up to Chris Hansen and "Crime Watch Daily" about what they think happened to their
granddaughter, Caylee, a potential reason why Casey still says nine years after her little girl's death that she doesn't know what happened to that
little girl.
But possibly even more shocking, that they would consider a lawsuit against their own daughter if she continues to speak out or if she decides to do a
rumored reality show with O.J. Simpson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
G. ANTHONY: If it gets to the point that my daughter would sell her story and that she would want to talk about it and get paid, yes.
CHRIS HANSEN, HOST: You would file a lawsuit.
G. ANTHONY: Oh, absolutely I would. Absolutely.
HANSEN: Would you support a lawsuit against your daughter?
C. ANTHONY: I don't think it'll ever come to that. I don't think she'll sell her story.
HANSEN: George seems to think that it might. And now there are rumors of reality shows, even a show with her and O.J. Simpson.
C. ANTHONY: Oh, God.
HANSEN: What do you say to that?
C. ANTHONY: If it came down to that, I probably would.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Way back in June of 2008, little Caylee had been missing for about a month before George and Cindy called police on their daughter. And
it would be six more months of wondering where Caylee was before her little body eventually turned up in a wooded area not far from their home.
And during those six months, George and Cindy did this. They visited Casey in jail, peppering her for info, trying to find their granddaughter,
recorded conversations which are all the more remarkable today now that we know from the trial Casey admitted to knowing all along that that little
girl was dead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Casey, how does it feel to be free?
CASEY ANTHONY: I'm frustrated and I'm angry. So please stop it! I don't want to be angry. This is the first time I've truly, truly been angry this
entire time. Give me three seconds to say something.
(CROSSTALK)
CASEY ANTHONY: No, I'm going to hang up and just walk away right now because -- can someone let me...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What can you tell us?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go away! Go away!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on!
CASEY ANTHONY: I'm just as much of a victim as the rest of you. And it hasn't been portrayed that way and it probably won't.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back up. Come on. Give her a break.
CASEY ANTHONY: Mom!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: When Caylee's body was found, she was so badly decomposed, a cause of death could not be officially determined. At trial, Casey was
found not guilty of murder and other serious offenses, but she was convicted of providing false information to the police. Now she is living
as a free woman and moving on with her life, which is something her parents say they are still having a lot of trouble doing.
I want to bring in the man who interviewed George and Cindy Anthony, the host of "Crime Watch Daily," Chris Hansen. Thanks so much for being here.
CHRIS HANSEN, HOST, "CRIME WATCH DAILY": Well, thank you for having me, Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: Congrats on the scoop.
HANSEN: Thank you very much..
BANFIELD: Excellent interview, and lengthy.
HANSEN: It was about three hours and very intense, among the most intense I've had in 30-some years of doing this.
BANFIELD: They said some things that they've not said before.
HANSEN: That's correct.
BANFIELD: The thing that think stood out to me first and foremost was that they're angry that she's been saying anything at all, and they might
consider suing her.
HANSEN: Well, two things. One, George, the father, is absolutely still bitter about these allegations that came up during the trial that he
somehow had inappropriate contact with Caylee, his granddaughter. So he's very, very much still upset about that, and this notion of her doing a
reality show or somehow profiting from all this is also something that makes him think that if that happens, they will file some sort of civil
suit.
BANFIELD: That's some anger. I mean, honestly, these people have had so much press, you would think all they'd want to do is shrink away and never
see a camera again, but raising the specter of a lawsuit would just...
HANSEN: Well, brings it all back together, but that's how angry they are. You know, a number of things came out in this interview, and you know, one
of them is this notion that Cindy, the mother, talks about mental illness and seizures. Now you can buy into that or not.
She also talks about the guilt she feels because on the day that Caylee disappears, she says that Casey called her and she was so busy at work, she
didn't have time to take the call and said, I've got to get back to you. And she thinks that maybe if she had gotten involved earlier on, we would
know more about the case as we sit here tonight.
BANFIELD: I don't know. Second guessing with a mom like (INAUDIBLE) and the lies that she now admittedly -- you know, now we all know that what --
the excuses that were being made before are just flat-out lies, admittedly so.
HANSEN: Absolutely, yes.
BANFIELD: I want to get to this one question that you ask...
HANSEN: Sure.
BANFIELD: ... because I think, you know, this is the central question. What did they know? What did they (INAUDIBLE)
HANSEN: Right.
BANFIELD: What do they think now about Casey and her culpability in the death of her daughter? Effectively, did she kill little Caylee? And I
just want to play for our audience how that question and answer went. Have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANSEN: Do you think Casey killed Caylee?
G. ANTHONY: Casey knows what happened to Caylee. I feel that in my heart. Do I feel that she took my granddaughter's life? I don't want to believe
that, but Casey is the one that can answer that question.
HANSEN: Do you, Cindy, think that Casey killed Caylee?
C. ANTHONY: No, I don't think. I truly and honestly don't think.
HANSEN: Then what happened to her?
C. ANTHONY: I don't know. I don't know if it was an accident or what happened. I don't know if Casey got distracted and Caylee drowned in the
pool.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: They could not be more divergent.
HANSEN: There's a big disagreement here, Ashleigh, between George and Cindy. George, you know, for him, the jury's out. You know, what did she
do? Was it negligence? Did she do something aggressive to the girl? You know, Cindy wants to believe that whatever happened was an accident and
that there was a cover-up.
BANFIELD: So you asked specifically about that to George. You asked specifically about what he thinks actually happened and why that little
girl is dead. I want to play for our audience what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANSEN: What do you think really happened?
G. ANTHONY: My gut feeling inside...
HANSEN: As a father. As a grandfather.
G. ANTHONY: As a grandfather, I believe Caylee was given something and just didn't wake up. That's my feel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: I think a lot of people thought that. In fact, I talked to some of the jurors after the case, and they -- I mean, they acquitted her and
felt that she'd done something to that child.
HANSEN: Well, you know, there's this notion of Zany the nanny, Zany, according to Casey, being this woman who was watching Caylee. Zany to a
lot of people is a nickname for Xanax. So the notion would be in that case that maybe she was giving Caylee some sort of, you know, drug, medicine, to
keep her calm, sedate while she continued this party life that was (INAUDIBLE) And it went wrong in some way and then, you know, she has to
cover it up.
BANFIELD: So what's so fascinating is, you know, the eyeballs of the nation were on this case. I think there was no other news. There
certainly wasn't Trump at the time.
HANSEN: I mean, for a lot of reasons. I mean, look at it. It was one of those enduring cases just like O.J.
BANFIELD: There is.
HANSEN: Absolutely.
BANFIELD: Because it's still a mystery. The trial didn't clear anything up except that Casey had lied a whole bunch. And one of the issues that
you nailed in your interview with Cindy in particular was that Cindy's still coming up with some ideas as to what's wrong with her daughter. And
this, actually, I find offensive because I felt like they scraped every barrel they could to come up with something for trial. And if this had
existed back then, they would have used this. When I say this, I mean...
HANSEN: I agree.
BANFIELD: ... this question that Chris asked of Cindy. Have a look.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
C. ANTHONY: She doesn't remember when she has seizures unless she knows she'd bit her tongue or something. I'm not sure if she didn't have a
seizure that day and blacked out and found Caylee in the pool.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Seriously? Seizures now?
HANSEN: Well, she seemed very sincere. But I got to tell you, if you're a parent and you have one child -- and their son who is normal, not a
sociopath, who is married and has a child, their grandchild -- what accounts for Casey being the opposite side of it? I mean, you got to
wonder as a parent, How does that happen? And I think they're still trying to reconcile this, Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: And think that, you know, the fact that Casey has a brother -- she brought him up in the trial a lot. He was part of this case -- Lee.
He has a child himself that I think many people might have missed, that since all of this, George and Cindy have become grandparents again.
HANSEN: Right.
BANFIELD: And they have a lot to say about that whole process of being a grandparent to Lee's child.
HANSEN: Absolutely. It's sort of a rebirth for them because, you know, they lost out on this. You know, George in the interview talks about
seeing Caylee in the house -- convincingly. I said, Is this a dream, is it an apparition? No, I see Caylee like she comes up and touches me on the
head like when she was alive as my grandchild.
BANFIELD: When I read that, I want to see that. I have to see that moment because that sounds crazy to me.
HANSEN: It's amazing.
BANFIELD: Let me play it.
HANSEN: Absolutely.
BANFIELD: Let me play it that moment where he talks about the apparition or whatever he thinks it is that he's seeing in his house that he's certain
to you that it's his little granddaughter. Have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
G. ANTHONY: I've seen Caylee on a couple of occasions. I've walked with her down the hallway. She walked into her old room where...
HANSEN: Is this an apparition?
G. ANTHONY: Oh, no, I've seen her. I've seen her in the flesh. I've seen her...
HANSEN: In your house?
G. ANTHONY: In my house. One time she woke me up in the morning...
(CROSSTALK)
G. ANTHONY: ... tapped me with her little finger like she used to do.
HANSEN: Was this a dream?
G. ANTHONY: Oh, it wasn't a dream.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: I couldn't help but notice Cindy off to the side saying, I believe him.
HANSEN: Oh, yes. No. As many times as they had differing opinions on many aspects of this case, on this and a few other things they're totally
united. I mean, it's amazing really, Ashleigh, when you think about it that they have stayed together through this entire ordeal. I mean, this is
the kind of thing that blows up relationships. Somehow, they have managed to keep it together.
BANFIELD: I met them early on before trial. I think every one of us probably had lunches and dinners and tried to score interviews and tried to
get to the bottom of this, anything we could find out. And I found them to be completely delightful.
HANSEN: They're lovely people. I mean, here's a guy who is working, you know, multiple jobs to keep it together. She had a big job. And they're
still hustling. They're trying to get through this.
BANFIELD: Look at all these people on their lawn back then. Literally, they were just -- they were attacked by the public. People somehow held
them culpable.
HANSEN: This guy couldn't get a job because of what happened.
BANFIELD: I remember him telling me back then that he was -- he'd applied for a job stocking store shelves. Now, this is a professional...
HANSEN: Absolutely.
BANFIELD: ... who'd lost his job because of all this hullabaloo over his daughter. He gets a job stocking store shelves and it didn't last because
they figure out who he was.
HANSEN: Absolutely. And he was painted with this image, experience, you know,During the trial when the defense attorney claimed that there was some
inappropriate contact between him and his granddaughter, which there was no proof of, but that stigma stayed with him. And he could not, you know, get
a job.
BANFIELD: Maybe that's why he had this answer to this question you posed to him. And it sort of speaks to the lingering bitterness perhaps from
those accusations at trial, from that defense that effectively threw him under every bus she could possibly find. Have a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
G. ANTHONY: Stay away. Stay away from me. If she wants a relationship again with her mom, she's got a lot of explaining to do, but I don't want
to hear it no more from her. Cindy, if Casey is watching this, what do you say to her?
C. ANTHONY: Casey, be true to yourself, start being honest with yourself and own everything. Quit putting blame on everybody else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: I get it. I get why George would feel the way he did. His life was completely up-ended before trial. His life was completely obliterated
during trial. His marriage, as you said, it's remarkable that they survived...
HANSEN: Amazing, really.
BANFIELD: ... but maybe they're the only two people in the world who have gone through what they went through. That is the most appalling life
experience.
HANSEN: That's a good point. I mean, who wakes up one day and says, Our daughter was capable of being involved in something like this, and to go
through all this? I mean, it either tears you apart or brings you closer together. And again, it is palpable that they have disagreement about
this. I think Cindy would be open to a reconciliation if Casey were to say, OK, Mom. This is it. I'm finally going to come clean. This is
exactly what happened. George -- he's done.
BANFIELD: Can I ask you this one question, and I say it's a bit rhetorical.
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: ... As is almost every question about Casey Anthony. Do you think we're ever going to find out what happened?
HANSEN: You know, that's a good question. I hope so because I think it's a question that America wants answered, but the fact that it's not been
going on 10 years and she has not wanted to give this up, I don't know what makes you give it up unless somebody pays her millions of dollars to do it.
BANFIELD: Well, there's no statute of limitations against murder. However, we do have this thing called double jeopardy, so she could scream
it from the Eiffel Tower if she wanted to...
(CROSSTALK)
HANSEN: ... O.J. wrote the book, "If I Did It."
BANFIELD: Right.
HANSEN: I mean, she could do something like that. But I guarantee you if she did, George and Cindy would be all over it in some sort of civil
matter.
BANFIELD: And there is a very complex financial arrangement right now...
HANSEN: Oh, yes.
BANFIELD: ... with who owns the rights to her story, and she broached it and may have breached it and that's still to be reconciled when she gave
that very small little snippet...
HANSEN: To the AP, yes.
BANFIELD: ... of interviews to the AP.
HANSEN: Which really rankled her parents. I mean, I've played that for them, and it was very emotional moment. They were cringing.
BANFIELD: I don't know, I'm still so fascinated by it. I'm still fascinated by Manson, for God's sake, 40 years later.
HANSEN: I know.
BANFIELD: So I am still so -- and I will never get over this one.
HANSEN: No. I agree. I agree. And you're right, Manson is just like that. I mean, I interviewed one of his cult members last week for
(INAUDIBLE)
BANFIELD: Oh, dear God! Will you come on again and talk about that?
HANSEN: Oh, yes. Look, I mean, it's fascinating. She wrote a book (INAUDIBLE) It is, it's like, you know, O.J. or this or any of the other
crimes or terrorist attacks or anything else. The mystery behind why these people get involved in it and how this all comes together is -- to me, I
mean, the criminal mind is fascinating.
BANFIELD: Well, to catch an interview. Look at you.
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: Chris Hansen, so great to have you. Come back any time. Come back often. Thank you.
I'm going to move on to this weird, bizarre story, a beloved teacher and mom very brutally killed in her own home. And you may have heard a story
like that before, but the husband's 911 call to the police revealed that she'd been stabbed. And it turns out the medical examiner has something
completely different to say. It wasn't the only cause of her death. We'll tell you what else happened.
Also, she dated O.J. Simpson after his murder acquittal. And yes, there was an eerie resemblance to Nicole Brown Simpson. Now why she has been
talking about what life has been like since O.J. And why life with him was just too much.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: There's an unsettling mystery that's got people in Strongsville, Ohio, pretty rattled tonight because somewhere out there, a cold-blooded
murderer is on the loose, somebody who burst into an unassuming home on Blazing Star Drive and slaughtered a beloved teacher and mother of three.
It was her husband who dialed 911 told them that he walked in to find her dying on the floor, lying in a pool of her own blood. Just want you to
hear part of that call that he made to 911.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: What's the city of your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Strongsville, Ohio. We have people on the way already. I think someone killed my wife.
911 OPERATOR: You think someone killed your wife?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It looks like she has stab wounds on her back. We had people trying to break in our house all year.
911 OPERATOR: Sir, sir, I need to ask you questions. Are you there right now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just got in the door with my new son-in-law. My son was here with her.
911 OPERATOR: Sir, what I want you to do is walk outside and stay in the front. You said she's stabbed in the back?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I don't want to...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you don't start CPR.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her face hit the ground and there's a pool of blood.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Now, tonight we are learning that he was not the only one to make a call to 911 upon discovering this gruesome scene in the home. A
second 911 call that was made from that same house that very same night was from the man who was about to become that victim's son-in-law in actually
just a matter of days. Listen to this.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: 911, what's the address of your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody's been attacked in my house.
911 OPERATOR: Somebody's been what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Attacked.
911 OPERATOR: They attacked who? Who was attacked?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mel Pleskovic was attacked.
911 OPERATOR: He was attacked by whom?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just came home. She's on the kitchen floor. I took her son and my daughter outside. Her husband is inside with her now.
911 OPERATOR: So the husband attacked her?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no. We just came home. We just came home.
911 OPERATOR: You came home and found her injured on the floor?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We found her in the kitchen. She's not moving. I took the kids and I walked outside.
911 OPERATOR: Does she look like she was beaten or what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She has blood all around her. I diplomat look. I grabbed the child and left.
911 OPERATOR: Sir. Hi, OK. All right. I have the police responding, OK? All right? I need to get.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a lot of blood.
911 OPERATOR: There's a lot of blood? OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I only have...
911 OPERATOR: How do you know this woman?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I live here. She's my fiancee's mother.
911 OPERATOR: Has she had, like, anybody trying to harm her, harass her, anything like that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no.
911 OPERATOR: Who is talking to you right now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Her husband. We just came home together.
911 OPERATOR: And what's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) telling you? Is she conscious?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He says she has multiple stab wounds. He's on the phone with somebody else.
911 OPERATOR: She has multiple stab wounds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what he just came out and told me.
911 OPERATOR: Do you see anything like a forced entry to the house?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm outside. The door was locked.
911 OPERATOR: The door was locked?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The front door was locked.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BANFIELD: So there is something odd about this because both of those men called 911 pretty much at the same time. One was in the house, one was
outside the house. And they both missed something pretty huge because tonight we're learning that Melinda Pleskovic wasn't only stabbed to death,
she had also been shot and a few times. The cause of her death determined to be both sharp force injuries and gunshot wounds, plural.
But police are saying very little else in this mysterious case which means there are more questions than answers especially when it comes to suspects,
who did it. I want to start with Melissa Neeley, an anchor for WLW radio in Cincinnati. Melissa, why are the police being so quiet given that this
kind of a crime would make people very scared and not just on that street.
MELISSA NEELEY, WLW: Well, they haven't released that information. But I think what we do know is that her 18-year-old son was at the home at the
time and he has Down syndrome and I'm sure that he can at least relay to the police what or who happened to his mother. I think that's going to be
a very sensitive issue with him, and so I think that they're probably taking their time at this point with the investigation because, as we know,
it's a lot more violent than what we first suspected.
BANFIELD: And we should be superclear, even though it's weird and that the circumstances are odd -- even the 911 calls at the time seem odd -- no one
in this house at this point is a suspect in this crime, not the husband, not the soon-to-be son-in-law, not that 18-year-old Down syndrome child
that you're referring to.
I do want to ask you about this soon-to-be son-in-law, that's the 911 call that we just heard. As I understand, he was due to marry the victim's
daughter last weekend, like literally within just a couple of days. And instead, they held a funeral. Is there any connection at all or is that
just an extraordinarily sad point to them?
NEELEY: Well, it is extremely sad, but I think since the police and the investigators are being so tight-lipped about what's going on with their
investigation, it's hard to say at this point. But we do know that they had called the police several times and that reported several incidents of
attempt break-ins, break-ins, her keys had gone missing, and then someone was setting off her car alarm. There was a lot of suspicious activity
going around that household for about a year that was reported to the police which her husband, you know, then asserted to the police that maybe
they hadn't been paying attention. So I'm sure they're looking into all of those things as they continue to investigate.
BANFIELD: I want to play a 911 call about a guy in a blue hoodie because this was a call specifically that was made to 911. Just like you said,
Melissa, there had been a lot of things going on at that home. I think within two years, maybe a half dozen incidents that they had called to
report to police, people in the yard, suspicious characters, people trying to get in. And this particular call, October 19th, which was just four
days prior to her death, the son-in-law, the soon-to-be son-in-law called 911 and said this.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: What's your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone just tried to walk into my house.
911 OPERATOR: OK. What did they look like?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't really see. I only saw a blue hoodie.
911 OPERATOR: A blue hoodie? OK, could you tell was it male or female?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Probably male.
911 OPERATOR: OK, which door did he try to get in, the front or the back?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The back door.
911 OPERATOR: OK. We do have officers en route. Can you remember anything else? Did he have -- he did have gloves on. You saw this -- did
he touch the door?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He touched the door.
911 OPERATOR: OK, this is -- I don't want you to touch anything. I don't want you to go out back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I already did open the door, though.
911 OPERATOR: From the inside or the outside?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From the inside. And I walked out on the deck when it happened.
911 OPERATOR: OK. Don't touch anything else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: OK. So that is an interesting phone call. Four days later Mel Pleskovic was dead. I want to bring in Steve Moore. He is a former FBI
agent and investigator.
Steve, the reason I want to bring you in on this was because four days later as Mel is dying in a pool of her own blood, that same person, that
same soon-to-be son-in-law dialed 911. We heard it at the beginning of the segment, but there's a little tiny piece, a quick little piece of what he
said that didn't sit right with me.
And I want to play it for you. Given what we just heard, a very long long call to 911 about these people, you know, really frustrating us and trying
to get in and all, here is that moment four days later on the 911 call.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): How do you know this woman? Is she --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): I live here, I live here. She's my my fiance's mother.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): It's your fiance's mother, OK. Has sh, like had anybody trying to harm her, harass here, anything like that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): No, no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Has she had anybody tried to harm her, harass her or anything like that? No, no. Steve Moore, there had been almost a half dozen call to
911 within a two-year period saying people were harassing them. Why did he say no, no? And will that be a problem here?
STEVE MOORE, FORMER FBI AGENT AND INVESTIGATOR: Well, it's going to be a line of questioning that's going to be pursued. Because as you said,
nobody's a suspect. But at the same time, every single person close to her has to be eliminated from being a suspect before they can go on and
investigate further, or at least at the same time.
So, yes, that's concerning. On the other hand, you can't just say that a person who has found somebody who might be dying or dead is going to be
completely rational and --
BANFIELD: You're right.
MOORE: Yes.
BANFIELD: You're absolutely right. I think that makes perfect sense. We jump to conclusions about how we would react in a situation. It happens all
the time in a courtroom. People grieve differently.
MOORE: Right.
BANFIELD: People react differently. It stood out. It was strange to me that so many of these calls had been about people harassing at home and the
first time --
MOORE: Right.
BANFIELD: -- he's asked about has she been harassed, he said no, no, not at all. It's still a bizarre mystery. We're going to have to watch this.
Steve, thank you so much. I'll ask you back when we get more information on this case --
MOORE: You got it.
BANFIELD: -- as it continues to develop. Police are being quiet, though. Hopefully they'll start letting us know a little bit more.
I want to move on, if I can, it's been almost a month, if you've been counting, since O.J. Simpson has released from prison. And he really hasn't
exactly been lying low. But now we're hearing from O.J.'s ex-girlfriend, Christie Prody, about her life now, many years after she dated the juice.
And you might remember her when you look at these pictures. Although she looks a hell of a lot different now. She's speaking out about her battle
with drug abuse. She tells Inside Edition that that drug use was part of her life back in the day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIE PRODY, EX-GIRLFRIEND OF O.J. SIMPSON: Money and pain, that's the problem. That's really the problem.
A lot of people we knew partied or drank or used.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: O.J. Simpson's attorney told Inside Edition that he wishes her the best. But the O.J. saga continues.
Five teenagers, behind bars, all of them charged with a crime violent beyond their years. Prosecutors say they dropped a rock off of an overpass
killing a dad driving home from work instantly. And now we're learning it may not have been the first time they played such a dangerous game.
[20:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: It was bad enough. Five teenage boys allegedly throwing rocks off an overpass at the cars driving 70 miles an hour below. But their late
night out on the town has turned into a second-degree murder case.
That's because one of the rocks struck and killed a young father of four coming home from work, killed him instantly. But we're learning tonight
that rocks may not have been the only thing these boys tossed off an overpass. Police say the night Kenneth White (ph) died might not have been
the only night this deadly game was played.
The cops are saying there may have been an earlier incident involving a shopping cart and another time allegedly involving a tire. At least 20
rocks were found on the expressway in this area. One of them weighing at least 20 pounds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LEYTON, PROSECUTOR, GENESEE COUNTY: We also have here the rock that went through that windshield on which you can see blood spattering all over
the car. That rock lodged in the pocket there in the door of the car and you can just imagine what trauma was inflicted upon the individual.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: All five teenagers are also charged with conspiracy to commit murder. I want to bring in the Genesee County, Michigan sheriff, Robert
Pickell, if I can. Sheriff, thanks for being with me this evening. How are you doing in this investigation?
ROBERT PICKELL, SHERIFF, GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN (via telephone): My pleasure.
BANFIELD: With five defendants,
[20:40:00] it is very easy for all five to point at each other, and then very difficult to avoid reasonable doubt if you go to trial. Where do you
stand right now in this investigation?
PICKELL (via telephone): Well, you're right, Ashleigh. Getting a warrant is just a probable cause procedure. The hard part is the conviction. And our
job is to present an objective investigation to the prosecutor.
What we're looking at now is I direct my captain or detectives to check and see if there's any pattern of behavior with one or more of these kids that
have done that in the past. And so I directed him to get a hold of 911 in Saginaw, Michigan, south of us and the other counties as well as look at
more 911 calls in Genesee County where they live.
BANFIELD: And what did they find? What did they find? Straighten out some of these rumors. We're hearing shopping carts and tires and other
incidents. What's true, what's not?
PICKELL (via telephone): Well, we know on the night where we found the debris field in Genesee County where the gentleman was hit in the face with
a rock, about a mile north of that on Farron (ph) Road, we found what they call a spare tire, a doughnut, it's commonly referred to as a doughnut.
That was thrown over the overpass there. Up in Saginaw, what we found was that a shopping cart was thrown from the overpass and perhaps a chair.
We're still looking at whether it came from an overpass or whether it was, you know, came from some other part of environs on to the highway.
But what we want to do is give the prosecutor, you know, the whole show whether we have a pattern of behavior here or if it was just a one-time
thing.
BANFIELD: Sheriff, you know, I dare say you can go to any overpass and find debris. What connects the debris that you just outlined, the chair and the
shopping cart potentially to these kids?
PICKELL (via telephone): Well, that's a good question. I'm reasonably confident, and I can't go into the exact reason why, but I'm reasonably
confident that one or more of the same kids or the same people threw that shopping cart that were involved in the rock-throwing incident when the man
was killed.
BANFIELD: That's scary. Actually, sheriff, don't go anywhere. Don't go anywhere. I want to bring in Frank Manley because he represents Mark
Sekelsky who is one of the teenagers charged in the case.
Frank, thank you for being back. We spoke last week. You were adamant that, you know, it's not fair to say that your client was even there or that he
threw anything. But I do want to ask you about this new development. Did your client at anytime ever throw anything off an overpass, a shopping
cart, a rock, a tire, a chair, anything like that?
FRANK MANLEY, ATTORNEY FOR TEEN SUSPECT MARK SEKELSKY (via telephone): Hi, Ashleigh, good evening. You know, it's outrageous. Last time I was on your
show -- and thank you for having me. I talked about being short on facts and long on emotion.
Since that time -- and this is very important because you played a short clip of the prosecutor who is our chief law enforcement officer in Genesee
County. Now you've got a guy who is talking about shopping carts, tires, and you had said it yourself, it would be very difficult to place anybody
with those types of items at any particular time.
So now you have somebody going on national TV and indicating he doesn't know -- he doesn't know about placing these items with anybody. Maybe one,
reasonably sure. This is outrageous.
BANFIELD: Frank, I respect what you're saying, sir. I do. I respect what you're saying because a good, you know, defense attorney is going to stick
up for his client. But I did ask you a question. The sheriff told me, as very often, there's a lot of -- wait a second. Hold on.
The sheriff told me there's a lot of information he can't tell me, which I clearly understand. But you didn't tell me yes or no when I asked you if
your client had ever thrown anything off an overpass.
MANLEY (via telephone): Well, I'm certainly not going to talk about privilege outside on a TV show. But I am going to say that's a topic for a
court of law. What I am going to say is that it's telling it's not the prosecutor talking about this. The next thing I know the guy will be on
page six of the New York Post.
I am supposed to look -- are the people supposed to look at potential jurors into Vogue magazine? This is a guy that came on your show that gave
an interview to People magazine. What is this world coming to? I mean --
BANFIELD: We're definitely a TV show, but we are a legal show as well. I think we pride ourselves on getting to the facts. Hold it for a second.
[20:45:00] I want to go back to the sheriff with this if I can. Sheriff, Frank Manley made a very good point. This is a very emotional case. We have
a father of four who is dead. We have allegations that are outrageous. We have people calling for first-degree murder.
And this is clearly not a case of first-degree murder, by the statute. But there are five kids who are denied bond. They are ages 17, 15, 16, 16, and
15. Is that -- I guess I say is it fair or will these kids get out any time soon before trial if there is a trial?
PICKELL (via telephone): You know, that's up to the judge whether he gives a bond. But let me say this, Ashleigh. The prosecutor said when they were
arraigned that there was a deliberate intentional act, OK?
He did say that there's no premeditation. And he read this from the Michigan jury instructions, what the judge reads to the jury before they go
out to deliberate the second degree. In this case, the facts of this case were appropriate to that charge.
Now, you know, and I said to you what's fact. We have, you know, it's not just, you know -- I'm not giving you lawyer talk. I always refer to lawyer
talk as, you know, something that's not substantive.
That tries to blur -- it blurs the facts. Like the guy on television tonight for one of the guys who was just indicted, he says he was trying to
further democracy, you know, in the Russian scandal. That's what I call lawyer talk.
BANFIELD: We're getting far afield here. I am interested in the case because I think --
PICKELL (via telephone): I know. But you're hearing lawyer talk. I'm giving you facts. I'm telling you --
BANFIELD: Well, and that's what happened. You know, they're represented.
PICKELL (via telephone): I'm telling you what was -- go ahead. I'm sorry. I'm telling you what was thrown off up in Saginaw. And I'm saying that we
have evidence to support that.
BANFIELD: I hope you'll come back, Sheriff Pickell. And Frank Manley, I hope you'll come back as well. I don't think this case is going away. That
community is outraged. There's a big part of that community that's devastated over the loss of this father.
And we all have kids and there but for the grace of God go we as kids as well. Thank you to both of you. I look forward to speaking to you both
again as this case develops.
There is this other case we've been covering, pizza delivery guy, sucker punched, robbed, carjacked. A beat down caught on security camera. The
update on the search for the suspects in the attack. Yes, we got their pictures and now their mug shots.
Plus, a woman knocked unconscious with just one punch, but what may be even worse is what people did after.
[20:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD:
BANFIELD: Justice is served after a man who is just doing his job delivering a pizza became the victim of a brutal carjacking. In this
surveillance video from a Philadelphia gas station, you can see a guy pull out a gun and pistol whip the deliveryman, and then go through that 56-
year-old victim's belongings, through his pocket, not the mention the car was stolen.
Philadelphia Police arrested four suspects following tips from the community because this thing played out everywhere on TV. The guy with the
gun, police say, they're not releasing his mug shot because he is just 13 years old. Thirteen. That's the alleged pistol whipper.
And then there's this guy, 22-year-old Semaj Headen arrested and Jashaun Matthews just 15. So is Jordan Wilson. All of them busted in this attack.
The other day we saw a fifth guy who was riding a bicycle in the video, but now police say he was just a witness, and they have made all of their
arrests.
The victim is recovering, but not before spending three days in a coma from that unbelievable assault. Thank you for watching. And whoever you are who
was able to help and call in, thank you as well.
Assaulted on the street, knocked out cold as if it couldn't get worse for a woman on a Pittsburgh sidewalk, but it did. And the whole thing was caught
on camera. The scene began with a man and a woman talking before he suddenly just hauls off and kicks her in the leg and then cracks her right
in the face.
He leaves her there unconscious on the pavement. But the assault didn't end there because as she lay there unable to move, people began to gather,
whipping out their phones and taking pictures. Not calling 911. One of them off camera reportedly actually laid himself down next to the victim to
frame up a good selfie.
And police say one man even took it to another extreme. They say he took her money. Eventually, somebody did call 911. She was taken to the
hospital. But police are now looking for the person who put her there as well as the person who took cash from an unconscious woman.
With me now, trial lawyer Mark Tate. While I am sickened by the people who did this, not only the assaulter, but the assailant --
Right.
BANFIELD: -- but those who decided to just take pictures, is there anything illegal about that?
MARK TATE, TRIAL LAWYER: Well, first of all, it's obviously a shocking thing. It looked like those two were involved in some kind of conversation
and he was very effective in his takeout of her. He kicked her legs out from under her.
He punked her hard enough to take her out. She was out. I think all of the people who were surrounding her and taking pictures, obviously stealing
from her is a crime, and they can be charged with that if they --
BANFIELD: The stealing I get --
TATE: Yes.
BANFIELD: But the people who just decided to take pictures and do they actually have a duty to respond?
TATE: No, you don't have to help somebody. But once they start to run and help them,
[20:55:00] they obviously have a duty to be non-negligent in what they do to the lady. But in terms of there being any mandate to help someone else,
unless the state of Pennsylvania which obviously has a lot of weird violence, you know, picking on the pizza guy and taking out this girl.
You know, unless there's something specific that says there's a mandate to help someone in need, there's really no criminal action that can be taken.
BANFIELD: So basically what you're looking at is morally reprehensible.
TATE: Yes.
BANFIELD: People who stand around, don't call 911 and take selfies --
TATE: Yes.
BANFIELD: But not criminal?
TATE: No, I don't think you're going to see any criminal charges brought against them. Now, you know, the lady could in fact, if she can ever
identify these people, she can file a lawsuit against them. And you know, (INAUDIBLE) filing civil lawsuit, but they don't have anything.
BANFIELD: She's out cold.
TATE: Right. She's not going to identify them. And there's not going to really be any hope of a civil lawsuit.
BANFIELD: That's just the way it is. And it's just reprehensible.
TATE: Yes.
BANFIELD: Don't go anywhere. I have one more thing, and that's when we come back.
[21:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
