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Crime and Justice With Ashleigh Banfield

Hunt For Missing Girl After Parents Killed. Aired 6-6:30p ET

Aired October 17, 2018 - 18:00   ET

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

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

[18:00:00] HILL HARPER, HOW IT REALLY HAPPENED SHOW HOST: Thanks for watching.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone`s feeling very helpless right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ll be honest, you know, I`m struggling with this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tonight, a 13-year-old girl is believed to be in danger.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jamie is a sweet quiet girl, who is a loyal friend and loves to dance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She vanished from home two days ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I haven`t seen anything like this in rural western Wisconsin. We just don`t see this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Disappearing from the same home where her parents were soon found dead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Really frightening.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The police say, she is not a suspect.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m telling you Jamie is missing and endangered.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So who killed the Closs parents and why.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was some kind of disturbance going on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who called police from the house without saying anything to the dispatcher?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t know that if the word help was said.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where is young Jamie tonight?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every second counts in this case.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From frat President to alleged attacker.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just found it unbelievable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is accused of raping a fellow student after a party.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Facts are incredible. He nearly choked her to death. He raped her violently. He left her passed out in the room.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, how could he totally avoid jail?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let it be a rich kid from Dallas and suddenly --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And does this sound like a story you`ve heard before?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HOST, HLN CRIME AND JUSTICE: Good evening, everyone, I`m Ashleigh Banfield, this is Crime and Justice. And tonight the hunt is

on for a missing 13-year-old girl believed to be endangered tonight. She vanished early Monday morning as gunshots rang throughout her house. While

the country is banding together to keep their eyes open for this face.

Jamie`s Closs` parents are not able to join in that search. Because they were found dead in that home. That same morning their daughter went

missing. That same morning those haunting gunshots rang out. It is also the same morning a mysterious phone call came into 911. From somewhere

inside that home, but no one responded to the dispatcher.

Police say there were sounds of a disturbance somewhere in the background. And they believe that Jamie was there, but she was gone by the time the

police arrived.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS FITZGERALD, SHERIFF, BARRON COUNTY SHERIFF`S DEPARTMENT: We don`t know where she is gone, but we have her entered as missing and endangered.

I`ll be honest, you know, I`m struggling with this.

I haven`t seen anything like this, in rural western Wisconsin. We just don`t see this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: With me now, CNN correspondent, Athena Jones, also trial attorney Randy Kessler, and retired detective Karen Smith. Also on the

phone with us tonight. Baron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald. Athena Jones, I am going to begin with you, just to report out this story. It

doesn`t sound believable.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It`s remarkable and it`s frightening. We know that Jamie Closs attended a family gathering on Sunday. They don`t

believe that she ran away, they believe she is in danger. And we know that this 911 call came in just before 1:00 a.m. on Monday morning. As you

mentioned, no one talked to the dispatcher, but they could hear sounds in the background. We know they brought in the FBI and other experts to try

analyze that --

BANFIELD: They know the call came from inside the house.

JONES: They know the call came from inside the house. In fact we believe it came from a cell phone inside the house. But they`re not saying who the

call came from. We believe that they know who that is, but they`re not sharing that information. There`s a lot of information that they`re not

sharing that they may know, they don`t want to share with the public, because of the investigation.

BANFIELD: And that is something that always surprises me, because an amber alert went out for Jamie Closs. And that is usually a case whereby every

piece of information, every shred that you can dig out of every corner and crevice is given to the public. But there are things being held back.

JONES: Much more interesting, because usually with an amber alert they have more information on the suspect or a vehicle. Certainly they know who

the victim is, the intended victim here, the abduction, but this is interesting the things that they are keeping back. They would not for

instance comment on whether there was any sort of sign of forced entry. They probably know the answer to that, but they`re not sharing it with the

public, because it is a part of the investigation.

BANFIELD: They may say that, but at the same time, you know, reporters see with their own eyes, detectives and investigators are carting away the door

to the home, right?

JONES: Right. It`s interesting. We saw this press conference ended a short while ago. There were some questions, it`s clear they know the

answers to, but they just don`t want to share it. We heard the Sheriff --

BANFIELD: Look at the pictures. This is the kind of thing you see. They are taking away -- it looks like a dining room chair. They`re cloaked top

to bottom in a Kevlar -- those suits. The investigative suits, they`re gloved, they are booted. This is the door, I don`t know if it`s the front

or the back. It`s hard to believe there isn`t some formed of forced entry when they are going to investigate this door.

[18:05:11] JONES: Right and they talk about this disturbance that is what could be heard on this 911 call, so those items they`re removing from the

house may have something to do with that disturbance, with the noises they say they heard, they`re analyzing. One thing we did just learn is that

authorities were able to get on to the scene within four minutes of the end of that 911 call. So that would be just after 1:00 a.m.

BANFIELD: Four minutes?

JONES: Very, very quickly.

BANFIELD: Four minutes.

JONES: That is when they found Jamie Closs`, Denise and James dead.

BANFIELD: And no signed of this 13-year-old Jamie. Let me bring in Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald Barron County Sheriff`s Department. Sheriff, can

you hear me OK?

FITZGERALD: I can.

BANFIELD: Sir, I am confounded. I think like everyone else who has heard about this story, and I`m hoping that you are not as confounded as me. Is

there a lot that you know that we don`t know?

FITZGERALD: Well, I mean, yes, I think there`s parts of -- an active part of an investigation that we don`t want to put out yet, but I don`t have any

good you know, concrete information that we`re asking for the public`s help on. And I think that is what`s key in this.

Yes, we know a few more things and we`re able to release some stuff, in just a short while ago as you talked about, about the gunshots and the

manner of death. And things like that. But there is a lot of parts of this case that we are still actively working and looking for signs. I

don`t know where Jamie is, and I want to bring her home safe. And that has been our focus for our investigation.

BANFIELD: So, Sheriff, obviously you have two massive crimes you`re dealing with here, the murders of her parents and the disappearance of

Jamie. Let me just start with the first investigation and that is the murders of these two people. You mentioned in the press conference just a

few short moments ago, that they indeed died from gunshot wounds. Was it execution style?

FITZGERALD: I can`t comment on that, and I actually don`t know the answer to that question. We are not going to discuss the manner except that they

died from gunshot wounds and that is all we released on that. Really it`s a double homicide now. So, you are right, we are investigating two

separate crimes, a double homicide and a missing child. So we continue to work both leads on that.

BANFIELD: And what about the disturbance inside the home, we`ve been looking at these pictures of investigators bringing out a chair, looking

like they`re carting away the front door to the home. What did the inside of the home look like?

FITZGERALD: And again, I can`t comment a lot on that, but there was an active crime scene. That is why remove evidence to take to the Wisconsin

crime lab. To look for DNA, to look for fingerprints, and look for any other piece of evidence. Gunshot residue. Things like that is what we`re

collecting at a scene like this. This scene or any other scene that you know, you`ve talked about on your show.

BANFIELD: Can you tell me if there were more than two shots fired. Meaning, was each of the victims killed with a single bullet. Because the

neighbor only heard two gunshots.

FITZGERALD: I can`t comment on that. We`re still following up on tips like that neighbor tip and that is why we asked people to continue to call

in their tips. And you know, we don`t know where Jamie is, and that is why we`re on shows like yours, because we don`t know where Jamie is, we don`t

know if she is in Barron County or somewhere in the United States. We ask people to keep calling in tips, no matter how little or how insignificant

they think it is. It could be part of a bigger piece of the puzzle here.

BANFIELD: So, I am with you. That is a lot of the reason that we do this show. There are unsolved crimes every single night that we pursue on this

program, and it is for that reason I`m going to continue to press you. You`re not going to like it, but at the same time it`s an advantage to you

to keep this story on the air as a lead story as well. So for that, with that preface, can you tell me if you think this is a targeted attack or is

it random?

FITZGERALD: I wish I knew the answer to that question. Because that would clear up some more things. And I agree, I want to keep this the lead

story. I don`t mind your questions. Also, we respect that we are not going to interfere with the investigation or put something in somebody`s

mind that they call in tips or don`t call in tips, because of information we give, but that is the key question that we continue to work on every

day.

Talk about at our daily briefings and are part of, so you`re exactly right. That is the question that we are looking at every day, when we open up our

briefings and I don`t know the answer to that question yet.

BANFIELD: Can you tell me this? There were neighbors that said they heard two shots, and if you are a neighbor, anywhere near this home, clearly you

are living in fear. Do they have reason to live in fear? Is anyone else in that vicinity in direct danger right now?

[18:10:02] FITZGERALD: Yes, again, I don`t know the answer to that question, but I can comment on the fact that they don`t received no other

threats, no other complaints or other suspicious activity in that area or any other area. But we continue to follow up on tips about that. So,

well, I can`t say that community or the Barron County community in our northwest Wisconsin area here is in danger, we want people to stay vigilant

and just continue to call in those tips and continue to help us bring Jamie home.

BANFIELD: Well, we`ll try to get them there. Because often times it is just a tweak of information that they haven`t heard before, that may just

bring them to think of something they hadn`t thought of before. In that vein, can you tell me about the cell phone that launched that 911 call?

What do you know about that cellphone aka who owns it? Where is it and has it yielded any further information?

FITZGERALD: Well, I can tell you, we have the cell phone. We know whose cell phone it is. It came from inside the house. The call came from

inside the house. No one was on the line, and I called that call different in nature or odd, because when a 911 call is taken. 911 what`s your

emergency. And somebody says I need help at whatever address. There was no address given, there was no somebody asking, or giving a specific

instructions or reasons of what`s going on. We just heard what we believed to be a commotion.

Again, that is why I brought in agencies like the department of investigation for Wisconsin, and you know, using resources by Wisconsin

Attorney General and our FBI friends and partners, because they are the experts in breaking down 911 tapes, looking at our phone phones and taking

care of all the evidence in that manner. That is being done 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to try to give us more information that we can give to

the public so we can bring Jamie home.

BANFIELD: So, I`m going to read a little into what you just said. And as I understand it sir, correct me if I am wrong, you have somewhere in the

vicinity of 200 law enforcement officers on the ground who have come in from surrounding areas, nationally as well, to try to help you crack this

case. And you just mentioned, they are experts in breaking down 911 calls as well as phones. Does that mean that you are trying to access this

phone, but have not accessed it yet? And it`s going to be a two part question. Are you into the phone? And is it Jamie`s phone.

FITZGERALD: Again, I will not interfere with the investigation. And a digital analysis -- the audio we`re looking at doing, and we`re continuing

to look at that information. We have all the pieces of evidence that we need from inside the home, or we believe we have, again as we analyze

stuff, we continue to go back and maybe look for something else or a different piece of the puzzle here, that is again when a tip comes in, we

can use the evidence collected to go back and look at something or something that we didn`t think was significant at the time. Based on a tip

we can go back in and look at that digital analysis of that evidence.

BANFIELD: Can I ask you this Sheriff, where you able to find the phones that belong to Jamie`s parents, James and Denise?

FITZGERALD: We have all the evidence that I feel is necessary. It was collected by our investigation team.

BANFIELD: Ok. So often times when a young person goes missing, the digital trail is almost like a popcorn trail, which leads me to the

question about Jamie`s social media. 13-year-old girls are almost always on their phones or on some form of social media, I`m guessing, and I think

it`s a good guess. You have been blanketing that angle. Have you found any information from her social media? Is it possible she has a phone with

her?

FITZGERALD: I do not know the answer to the second part of the question, if she had the phone with her. I can tell you that we are looking at the

social media platform. Again, that is why our partners in the FBI are so key in this, because they have the experts for smaller agencies like mine

in a county of 44,000 people.

I depend on our friends and our partners in the FBI and our DCI agency to help us with that, and that is why they -- I asked them to come in and help

me on that. And then when we find the tip through some of the social media platforms.

BANFIELD: Is it helping, sir. Have you found anything throughout her social media that has led you somewhere?

FITZGERALD: We continue to follow up on all the information in her social media. And again, if there was something credible that the public could

help us with, we will release that one. And when it`s appropriate.

BANFIELD: Forgive me for pressing. I know you`re short on time. I am just going to go there, we cover too many stories of sexual offenders who

reach out via social media to young 13 year-old girls, boys, anybody. And then show up.

Have you been able to track whether that is a possibility in this case? As we show the registered sex offenders just in the immediate vicinity of her

home?

[18:15:05] FITZGERALD: We look at everybody on this, we don`t key on any one type of offender, and across the nation. We`re looking at everyone or

anybody --

BANFIELD: Has her social media shown that there may have been someone communicating with her, who may have shown up?

FITZGERALD: We`re exploring multiple theories on that, at this time I don`t know of any that have been reported to me, but again with, having 200

plus people on the ground, I have not been alerted to anything significant, we need to get out to the media. Again, I would not hamper the

investigation to you know, answer your question or anybody`s question for that fact.

And I appreciate the respect you`re giving me for not answering some of these and I am respecting to answers the questions you`re giving. But

again, we just can`t answer some of those questions, because it`s an ongoing investigation. And our goal is to bring Jamie home.

BANFIELD: I completely respect that and our goal is as well. To inform the public as well and not impede what you are doing, because as god works,

my friend and I really wish you luck and I hope you`ll come back tomorrow and update us and tell us how you are doing. In the meantime, comb those

files and see if there`s something else that you can provide to us. Like you said, the smallest it can tweet someone`s thoughts or someone`s

memories. That could provide a lifesaving phone call to you.

Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald, joining us from Barron Wisconsin. Athena Jones, just back to you. Obviously, the questions about this 13-year-old girl. I

went there with the notion that we cover these stories about predators who just leech themselves through the phone lines and the computer lines to get

into these kid`s lives. I don`t know that that is the case here. I don`t know this little girl, do you know anything about her life?

JONES: We know a little bit about her, of course, she is 13 years old, she is only 5 feet tall, and she weighs 100 pounds. She has green eyes, Blonde

hair or strawberry blonde hair. And by all accounts, she was a sweet girl. The sheriff describes her as a sweet girl, a shy girl, who enjoys dancing

and sports. We know she ran cross country in school.

Her school district superintendent called her a loyal friend. And here`s another glimpse into what kind of person she was. We learned that recently

she had a school assignment and she was asked, what would you do, if you were given a million dollars? And she answer, her answer is that she would

feed the hungry and give the rest to the poor.

BANFIELD: That is what this little 13-year-old girl said?

I want to talk about her in present tense, because she is present tense. I know this is the person that we`ve learned before missing. She is without

question, she is still there, god, I hope she is still there and they will find her. Athena, thank you for your reporting. I still have a lot more

questions about this, though, I have to be honest. When you have a case like this, who could better provide clues than the people closest to the

victims. You cannot get much closer than the next door neighbors. What did they see? More importantly, what did they hear just after midnight

screeching through the dark? You are going to hear from one of them next.

[18:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: We`re still talking about the nationwide search for missing 13 year-old girl Jaime Closs was last seen Sunday afternoon at some kind of a

family gathering. But just a few hours later, something terrifying happened at the Closs house. The police were called to the scene by a

person who would not speak to the 911 operator. Or maybe could not speak to that operator. Because when the police got to the house they found

Jaime`s parents dead, and Jaime was nowhere to be seen.

Joan Smrekar is James and Denise Closs` neighbor. He joins me now from Barron, Wisconsin. Joan, thank you for being with us tonight. And I`m so

sorry we`re speaking under these very upsetting circumstances. Can you tell me what it was you heard just after midnight the night that Jamie went

missing?

JOAN SMREKAR, CLOSS` NEIGHBOR: We had come home about 11:30. We went to bed about quarter after 12:00. We were not sleeping and we heard the first

shot and just a couple seconds is the second shot. And I asked my husband, I said, were those gunshots? Because they were so loud? And he said, yes,

and he said, it`s a big gun and I rolled over and looked at the time on my clock, and it said 12:38. My clock is off by seven minutes per the

Sheriff`s department, so this happened roughly around 12:30.

BANFIELD: And you said you heard those two shots and by your best recollection, those shots were a couple of seconds, like two, three, four

seconds in between?

SMREKAR: It was just bang and bang. That close together.

BANFIELD: Did you hear any other shots after that? Or was that it?

SMREKAR: That was all we heard. We have people that hunt in the woods around us, and we hear gunfire out here off and on, people like in a rifle,

whatever, but this was so totally loud that it -- you couldn`t help, but have a feeling about it, because it was just so loud.

[18:25:17] BANFIELD: Can I ask you Joan --

SMREKAR: It was a lot closer than usual, that we would hear something at that time of night.

BANFIELD: Even though this is fairly rural, you are right next door, correct?

SMREKAR: Right.

BANFIELD: Yes. Can I ask you, just prior to hearing those two shots, as you said, a couple seconds apart, would you have been in a position to hear

any other shots before or after? Was there anything noisy that you may have missed?

SMREKAR: When we came home, we noticed nothing different in the neighborhood. And there was nothing prior to that. No noise, no nothing.

And when that happened, it was so overpowering, the noise, we did not hear anything else. There was no -- we hear the shots, like I said, from the

woods, and they`re not anything near the sound of this gun.

BANFIELD: Can I ask you about the Closs family? I mean, this is just such a horror that is been visited on them. I think most people are wondering,

what were they like?

SMREKAR: They were very quiet people. We only saw them come and go from their home. We took mail up to them that got delivered to us, and they

didn`t even want to come to the door. They were just quiet, preferred I guess to be alone. You didn`t see them out in the yard doing anything. At

least we didn`t.

BANFIELD: Did you ever see Jaime with any friends? Or did she ever come and go and get picked up by friends in vehicles of any kind?

SMREKAR: That I can`t tell you, I just know that the school bus dropped her off?

BANFIELD: And you would see her dropped off daily in front of the house by the school bus?

SMREKAR: Yes.

BANFIELD: But other than that, you didn`t see collections of friends coming and going from that house?

SMREKAR: No. We didn`t even know they had any children. They just weren`t out there doing things.

BANFIELD: That is remarkable. And that night, I guess it goes without saying you didn`t hear any vehicles coming or going, especially right

around the time of the gunshots?

SMREKAR: No, and I don`t sleep well at night and I was about at the boat. 1:00 --ish and our dog was on the porch and he was doing some light noises

and I knew something was up. But I could not see anything anywhere that looked or felt out of line. And I told the FBI people that have been here

a couple times.

I said, you know, from now on, if I hear something that doesn`t sound appropriate for that time of night. I`m going to call in immediately,

because we just thought it was maybe a neighbor chasing a bear out of their yard, you know.

BANFIELD: Well, Joan, don`t think anything otherwise, because I`ve lived in a rural area for a long time, and there are just many sounds that you

wouldn`t think twice about. Thank you for being on with us, and thank you for helping us sort through these very difficult details. I want to bring

in Karen Smith if I can. She is a retired detective with the Jacksonville Sheriff`s Office and a forensic specialist.

So, Karen, I`m going to ask our control room to roll some of those pictures we saw in the first block of the investigators carting away what looked

like the front door. Part of the front door. At least one of the interior doors. Glass in color, it looks like it is maybe been dusted for prints.

I am not sure but it looks a little bit opaque and then what might be a dining room chair -- wooden dining room chair. It looks as though there

may be ties on the back of it. That could have been a cushion tied to it. Walk me through what you think investigators were doing, given what the

sheriff was telling us earlier?

KAREN SMITH, RETIRED DETECTIVE, JACKSONVILLE SHERIFF`S OFFICE: I am looking at these photos, Ashleigh and there are a couple things that are

catching my eye. I don`t know what that is on the glass door. I can`t tell if its gunshots and I can`t tell if it`s in prior process or maybe

stickers or something that is on it. It`s really hard to tell, but I can tell you a couple things that they`re doing. They`re being very careful

not to touch the glass as you can see that. They are not cross contaminating, they are tie back. They are taking it to a place that is

safe and secure, so they can process it for the evidence.

They`re going to look for latent prints, they are going to look for DNA. Touch DNA and swipe Marks. The door handle, any handprints that are on

that glass. You know, crime scenes are not the easiest place to process evidence. The lighting`s not great, you have a lot of items around you, if

you take that item to a safe and secure location. It`s a little bit easier to be more meticulous with it, and get the evidence off of it.

Now, if you just roll back here for a second and say, if those are bullet holes through that glass, I`m not sure, because I`m not sure that glass

would be laminated. That would be two pieces of glass pressed to a laminate and it would prevent that glass from shattering.

If that`s the case like a car windshield, they can sequence those bullet holes. There are radial cracks that come from bullet holes, and you can

sequence based upon where one radial crack terminates at the point of prior gunshot. So, that`s a little bit tedious work. I don`t know if they would

necessarily do that.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CRIME AND JUSTICE SHOW HOST, HLN: Can I ask you this? Since we were just listening to (INAUDIBLE) and her description of two

distinct gunshots just a couple seconds apart, nothing prior, nothing after, and she would have been in that position, she said, to hear that,

that gives me the chills.

Because if both of those parents died from gunshot wounds then it sounds awfully likely that they were close to each other and they were killed with

one single bullet which sounds execution-style to me, but I am not the officer, I am not the investigator. What does it sound like to you?

SMITH: Right. I mean, what send chills down my spine was the fact that she said it was so loud. That tells me it`s a high caliber gun. I don`t know if

we`re dealing with a rifle. I don`t know if we`re dealing with a handgun. I have no idea.

And at this point with two gunshots, whether those were outside the house, fired in toward the house through the door or through an open door, or what

she heard was actually inside the house and it was so loud that it disturbed her at a neighboring home, I just don`t know whether it would be

muffled and she may not have heard additional gunshots.

BANFIELD: Yeah.

SMITH: These are all questions that we`re just going to have to wait for.

BANFIELD: I think what we know at this point was that those parents were killed inside the house and at that point they think that she might have

been there. They think she might have been in the background noise. Jayme might have been in the background noise.

There`s the information in the tip line, 855-744-3879. It`s the tip line. You can from anywhere, 1-855-744-3879. There are the specs on Jayme. She`s

little. She`s just 13, 5`0" feet, 100 pounds, green eyes, blonde hair. If you know anything, call the police.

A young woman is sexually assaulted at a fraternity party. The suspect has offered a sweetheart plea deal. And of course that poor young woman is face

down outside. And I think you know who I`m talking about, right? And I think you`re going to have to think again. Because this time it happened in

Texas.

The suspect, Jacob Anderson. Good looking young kid. President of his fraternity. And instead of serving minimal jail time, he`s poised to serve

none.

[18:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: This story might just sound familiar to you. A young man partying at a frat house, meets a girl, girl isn`t feeling great just after

someone offers her a drink. Boy takes girl outside, and that`s where girl says she`s sexually assaulted before being left alone, passed out, face

down in the dirt in a pile of vomit.

Boy then charged with sexual assault. Girl finds the bravery to share her story but boy gets a sweetheart of a pass by the justice system. That`s

really familiar. If the boy in this story sounds like Brock Turner from Stanford University, the dumpster sex assault story, it should sound

familiar, because Brock Turner, that former swimmer, was sentenced to just six months after he was caught violating an unconscious girl next to a

dumpster outside a college party.

But tonight, it is my deep regret, ladies and gentlemen, to introduce you to a man who might just end up being Brock Turner 2.0. Because an eerily

similar case is unraveling in Texas. Twenty-three-year-old Jacob Anderson stands accused of meeting a girl at his frat house. The frat where he used

to be president, and taking her outside to get some air. That`s where she says he raped her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIC FEAZELL, VICTIM`S ATTORNEY: Facts, they`re incredible. He nearly choked her to death. He raped her violently. He left her passed out in her

own vomit. The rape exam confirmed rape.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Jacob Anderson was expelled from Baylor and his fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, well, that was suspended. And folks, that might just be the

end of it and the very worst of it, because even though he was no sweetheart to this girl, he`s been offered a sweetheart deal, one that

requires no jail time at all.

I want to bring in the Jeff Boney. He is the associate editor for "The Houston Forward Times." What am I missing, Jeff? This doesn`t make sense.

JEFFREY BONEY, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, HOUSTON FORWARD TIMES (via telephone): Ashleigh, unlike the Bill Cosby high profile case that went to trial, Jacob

Walter Anderson, who got indicted on four accounts of sexual assault back in 2016 after allegedly assaulting this female victim at a frat party, got

this sweetheart plea deal including no jail time, doesn`t have to register as a sex offender, and so he pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of

unlawful restraint.

[18:40:00] And under the prosecutor`s deal, they worked this deal -- he would only be sentenced to three years of deferred adjudication probation,

meaning that the four counts of sexual assault would completely be dismissed as if it never happened. If he satisfies probation terms, he

would also pay a $400 fine and seek counseling.

BANFIELD: So four counts of sex assault go away in favor of one count unlawful restraint, which sounds like what I do to my son near the cookie

jar. This is just astounding, especially when you hear the victim`s attorney explaining that this wasn`t just messy sex gone wrong. This was

violent, according to this victim. This was ferocious. She was left unconscious face down in a pile of her own vomit in the dirt, all after --

BONEY (via telephone): Absolutely.

BANFIELD: -- receiving one drink from someone else. I want to bring in Randy Kessler, if I can. As a defense attorney, I want you to sort through

this with me.

RANDY KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yeah.

BANFIELD: I want you to hear what Vic Feazell says. This is the victim`s attorney. This is what he has to say about this. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FEAZELL: I just found it unbelievable, because this county has a reputation for being tough on sexual assault. All the former football

players were prosecuted. Let it be a rich kid from Dallas, who`s president of a fraternity, and suddenly it`s slipped differently.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So there is where it gets crazy. Baylor University was in the headlines for years because of the football team and its sexcapade. And,

you know, even Ken Starr of Clinton thing (ph) as president had to step down amid the sex scandal. It did result in charges and prison sentences

for some of those players. And now this. What do you make of this?

KESSLER: So, you know, the easy thing to believe is, there`s some conspiracy. Rich people get off easy. Rich people are connected. They got

some dirt on the other side. But, that`s the easy way to think about it. We don`t know all the facts. They didn`t feel like they could prosecute and

get a full conviction or they would have prosecuted.

And the defense must have felt pretty darn good about the ability to go to trial and get off to be able to push this kind of plea. That has to be the

case.

BANFIELD: Well, what doesn`t make sense is what the victim`s family has said in a statement. By the way, we invited them on and they didn`t want to

be on. She wants to remain anonymous. I think she is being called Donna Doe (ph). But this is what the victim`s family said about the process and about

working with the D.A. in this.

The victim was told there was an enormous amount of evidence and a conviction was almost sure. And now two and a half years after living

through hell, having the trial delayed a week before it was to occur and then never rescheduled, the D.A. has decidd not to bother even trying to

get justice.

What does this mean? An enormous amount of evidence and a conviction was almost sure. How do you get from that to let`s maybe do away with four sex

assault charges?

KESSLER: Maybe they shouldn`t have said that. Civil war, criminal war, we all hear a case. The first time you hear the case, you think, that is a

great case. You got all the facts. There`s always another side.

And as you dig and you learn, cases are never as strong. This one apparently was not nearly as close and maybe they shouldn`t have raised the

expectations that high. Maybe that was the dilemma or the fault. But they did it and they`ve got some explaining to do.

BANFIELD: OK. I want to bring in Shari Karney. She is a survivor rights attorney and the founder of Roar As One. That`s the group that fights for

the civil rights of survivors. I know what you`re going to say. I feel the same way. I don`t even -- honestly, I don`t even know what to ask you. I

just feel like we`ve been down this road too many times to be interviewing about this again.

SHARI KARNEY, SURVIVORS` RIGHTS ATTORNEY, FOUNDER OF ROAR AS ONE: Ashleigh, first of all, thank you for having me. And secondly, here`s what

this says to me. Rape is no longer a crime in Texas and it`s no longer a crime in the United States.

We have a Supreme Court justice who was accused of sexual assault who was confirmed. We have a president of the United States who was accused by 17

women of sexual assault, he is the president of the United States. We have white males of power and privilege being let go, let off for sexual

assault, sexual abuse.

We tell survivors, report, speak your truth, speak up, and then the legal system doesn`t do anything about it. So that`s why I have formed this

nonprofit called Roar As One to make sexual assault a civil right.

That means that if the local authorities don`t take action, then the U.S. attorney and the attorney general could step in. Because honestly,

Ashleigh, we have heard the story. We tell women and men speak up. Tell us your truth, report Title IX.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: -- on you Kevlar (ph) because even if you`re Dr. Ford and you`re brilliant and you`re believable and you`re humble and there is really

nothing wrong with your story other than you don`t remember stuff when you`re 15. I don`t remember standing in line for my graduation, by the way.

Big deal for me, but I don`t remember standing in line when I was 17 for my graduation. I must be an idiot.

[18:45:00] KARNEY: Exactly.

BANFIELD: What I`m saying is that when you have two equal people and one`s a lady and one`s a dude, apparently she`s mistaken. Just automatic. She`s

mistaken.

KARNEY: I just think --

BANFIELD: I got to go to break, but I want you to stick around. Can you stick around until after the break?

KARNEY: Sure.

BANFIELD: When we come back after the break, there`s one more voice that has to weigh-in on this story, before everything just goes the way of Brock

Turner, and that is the judge, because the judge in the case against Jacob Anderson can still make a decision. The judge can still say yes or no to

the sweetheart deal. Talk about that, next.

[18:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Why would a kid get a sweetheart deal in a sex assault case when the victim was told by the prosecutors at one point it looked like this was

almost surely a conviction and that there was an enormous amount of evidence?

Well, the prosecutor is telling us something different. And here in a statement they say, the McLennan County D.A.`s office is known throughout

the state for our aggressive prosecution of sexual assault cases, to say otherwise is simply absurd. Let us remind everyone that our oath is to seek

justice. This office stands by the plea offered and believes we have achieved the best result possible with the evidence at hand.

Randy Kessler, that`s what the D.A. says, but ultimately the judge is the one who`s going to have to step in --

KESSLER: Right.

BANFIELD: -- and actually decide if this plea deal is fair or they go back to the drawing table and actually go to trial on those four counts. The

judge in this case is the 19th state district judge in Texas, Ralph Strother. Ralph Strother. We have seen judges go down for this. In the

Stanford rape case, what happened was disastrous. The judge in that case is gone.

KESSLER: The judge shouldn`t be persuaded by the press or by the public reports. This was not a conviction. This guy is getting this deal because

there`s some sort of compromise. The judge can say, I don`t like it, go to trial.

BANFIELD: It`s judicial discretion that this judge needs to use and know they shouldn`t be persuaded by pitchforks outside --

KESSLER: That`s right.

BANFIELD: -- but they do represent the people who elect them.

KESSLER: But so does the prosecution. The judge has to have a lot of respect for this prosecutor`s office. If this judge thinks this prosecutor

made this deal because --

BANFIELD: Why is it just a rubber stamp?

KESSLER: Because it got publicity and because they said at the beginning it is such an easy case.

BANFIELD: Because the judge has judicial discretion.

KESSLER: Right. So the judge can listen to what the pundits and what everyone else is saying, the victim is saying, or the judge can say, this

prosecutor`s office is known to prosecute harshly and if they thought they have a good case, they would prosecute it, they would not have offered this

deal.

BANFIELD: But if the prosecutors told the victim they had enormous amounts of evidence, it would almost surely result in a conviction, doesn`t that

count?

KESSLER: It does but but now in that statement you just read, they`re basically saying, we made a mistake. Based on the evidence at hand, we

think this is the best deal we can get.

BANFIELD: I can tell you this. Donna Doe (ph) and her family are devastated over this.

KESSLER: I understand.

BANFIELD: And it feels as though they weren`t even a part of the process, and that is horse you know what.

KESSLER: That part of it I agree with you.

BANFIELD: Devastating. Randy, thank you for that. And my thanks also to Shari Karney and Jeffrey Boney for their input into this repetitive,

disturbing theme story.

Two Ohio teenagers stopped by a police officer because they were flashing a gun.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could have killed you. I want you to think about that tonight when you go to bed. You could be gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: How that cop`s cool head and tough talk diffused what could have been a nightmare confrontation, and parents, if you have teenagers, you

need to see this next.

[18:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: In Ohio, body cam video shows the startling moment a Columbus, Ohio police officer confronts two teenaged boys with his service weapon

drawn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here`s the thing. Are you scared?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. You know why you should be scared? This is getting kids killed all over the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Officer Peter Casuccio approached those teenagers after getting a call about a boy flashing a gun. And as he approached, one of the teens

tossed that gun to the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That thing looks real, bro.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m so sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You should be sorry and you should be scared.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see the gun leaving his hand and out the corner of my eye, you saw it bust into a million pieces once it hit the sidewalk.

That`s when I realized it was a BB gun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: You heard right, it was a BB gun that just looked like a real gun and it almost escalated into a deadly confrontation with some very real

consequences.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How old are you, boy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eleven.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How old are you, young man?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thirteen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think I want to shoot 11-year-old? Do you think I want to shoot 13-year-old?

I could have killed you. I want you to think about that tonight when you go to bed. You could be gone. Everything you want to do in this life could

have been over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: A great lesson for these kids. And a great lesson if you have kids. I tell my kids all the time, don`t go flashing anything that looks

like a weapon outside, because you are no match for the real thing, and the real thing comes out when officers are scared.

[19:00:00] Thank you for watching, everybody. The next hour of "Crime & Justice" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice over): Everyone`s feeling very helpless right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): I`ll be honest, you know, I`m struggling with this.

BANFIELD: Tonight, a 13-year-old girl is believed to be in danger.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jayme is a sweet quiet girl, who is a loyal friend and loves to dance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: She vanished from home two days ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I haven`t seen anything like this in rural Western Wisconsin. We don`t see this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Disappearing from the same home where her parents were soon found dead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Really -- really frightening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: But police say she`s not a suspect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m telling you Jayme is missing and endangered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So who killed the Closs parents and why?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: there was a disturbance going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Who called police from the house without saying anything to the dispatcher?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t know that -- I don`t know if the word help was said.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: And where is young Jayme tonight?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every second counts in this case.

BANFIELD: From frat president to alleged attacker.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I found it unbelievable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: He`s accused of raping a fellow student after a party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Facts are incredible. He nearly choked her to death. He raped her violently. He left her passed out in her own vomit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So could he totally avoid jail?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let it be a rich kid from Dallas and suddenly --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: And does this sound like a story you`ve heard before? Good evening, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. This is Crime and Justice.

And tonight, the hunt is on for a missing 13-year-old girl, believed to be in danger tonight.

She vanished early Monday morning as gunshots rang throughout her house while the country is banding together to keep their eyes open for this

face. Jayme`s Closs` parents are not able to join in that search because they were found dead in that home that same morning their daughter went

missing.

That same morning those haunting gunshots rang out. It is also the same morning a mysterious phone call came into 911 from somewhere inside that

home. But no one responded to the dispatcher. Police say there were sounds of a disturbance somewhere in the background. And they believe that

Jayme was there. But she was gone by the time the police arrived.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS FITZGERALD, WISCONSIN SHERIFF: We don`t know where she`s gone. But we have her entered as missing and endangered.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ll be honest. I`m struggling with this. I haven`t seen anything like this, in rural Western Wisconsin. We just don`t see

this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: With me now CNN Correspondent Athena Jones, also trial Attorney Randy Kessler, and retired detective Karen Smith. Also on the phone with

us Tonight, Barron county sheriff Chris Fitzgerald. Athena Jones, I`m going to begin with you just to report out this story. It just doesn`t

sound believable.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It`s remarkable and frightening. We know that Jayme Closs attended a family gathering on Sunday. They don`t

believe she ran away. They believe she is in danger. And then know that this 911 call came in just before 1:00 a.m. on Monday morning.

As you mentioned no one talked to the dispatcher. But hey could hear sounds in the background. We know they brought in the FBI and other

experts to try to analyze that call --

BANFIELD: they know the call came from inside the house.

JONES: They know the call came from inside the house. In fact we believe it came from a cell phone inside the house. But they`re not saying who

the call came from. We believe they know who that is. But they`re not sharing that information. There`s a lot of information they`re not sharing

that they don`t want to share with the public because of the investigation.

BANFIELD: And that`s something that always surprises me because an Amber Alert went out for Jayme Closs. And that`s usually a case whereby every

piece of information, every shred that you can dig out of every corner and crevice is given to the public. But there are things being held back.

JONES: That`s right. It`s interesting because usually with an Amber Alert, they have more information on the suspect or the vehicle. Certainly

they know who the victim is. the potential victim here, the abduction victim. But this is interesting the things they are keeping back. They

would not for instance comment on whether there was any sort of sign of forced entry. They probably know the answer to that but they`re not

sharing it with the public because this is part of the investigation.

BANFIELD: They may say that, but at the same time, reporters see with their own eyes, that detectives and investigators are carting away the door

to the home, right?

JONES: Right. It`s interesting. We saw this press conference ended a short while ago. there`re some questions, it`s clear they know the answers

to but just hey don`t want to share it. We heard the sheriff --

BANFIELD: I mean look at these pictures. This is the kind of thing you see -- they`re taking away a dining room chair. They`re cloaked top to

bottom in the Kevlar or those suits, the investigative suits. They`re gloved. They`re booted.

This is the door. I don`t know if it`s the front or the back. It`s hard to believe there isn`t some sort of forced entry when they`re going to

investigate this door.

JONES: Right, and they talk about this disturbance. That`s what could be heard on this 911 call. So those items they`re removing from the house may

have something to do with that disturbance, with the noises they say. They heard the noises that they say that they`re analyzing. One thing we did

just learn is authorities were able to get on to the scene within four minutes of the end of that 911 call. So that would have been just after

1:00 a.m on Monday morning.

BANFIELD: Four minutes?

JONES: So very,very quickly.

BANFIELD: Four minutes?

JONES: That is when they found Jayme Closs` parents Denise and James dead with a gunshot wound.

BANFIELD: And no sign of this 13-year-old girl Jayme. Let me bring in the Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald of Baron County Sheriff`s Department. Sheriff can

you hear me okay?

FITZGERALD: I can.

BANFIELD: Sir, I am confounded. i think like everyone else who has heard about this story, and I`m hoping that you are not as confounded as me. Is

there a lot that you know that we don`t know?

FITZGERALD: Well, I mean, yes but think there`s parts of it are an active part of an investigation that we don`t want to put out yet. But I don`t

have any good, you know, concrete information that we`re asking for the public`s help on. And I think that`s what`s key in this.

Yes, we know a few more things and we`re able to release some stuff a short while ago as you talked about, about the gunshots and the manner of death

and things like that. But there is a lot of parts of this case that we`re still actively working and looking for signs. I don`t know where Jayme is,

and I want to bring her home safe. And that`s been the focus of our investigation.

BANFIELD: So Sheriff obviously you have two massive crimes you`re dealing with here, the murders of her parents and the disappearance of Jayme. Let

me just start with the first investigation and that is the murders of these two people. You mentioned in the press conference a few short moments ago,

they indeed died from gunshot wounds. Was it execution style?

FITZGERALD: I can`t comment on that and I actually don`t know the answer to that question. We`re not going to discuss the manner, except that they

died from gunshot wounds and that`s all we released on that, really it`s a double homicide now. So you`re we are investigating two separate crimes,

a double homicide and a missing child. So we continue to work both leads on that

BANFIELD: And what about the disturbance inside the home. We`ve been looking at these pictures of investigators bringing out a chair, looking

like they`re carting away the front door to the home. What did the inside of the home look like?

FITZGERALD: And again, I can`t comment a lot on that, but there was an active crime scene. that`s why remove evidence to take to the Wisconsin

crime lab to look for DNA, to look for fingerprints, any other piece of evidence, gunshot residue. Things like that is what we`re collecting at a

scene like this. I mean this scene or any other scene that you`ve talked about on your show.

BANFIELD: Can you tell me if there were more than two shots fired. Meaning, was each of the victims killed with a single bullet. The neighbor

only heard two gunshots.

FITZGERALD: I can`t comment on that. And we`re still following up on tips like that neighbor tip, that`s why we asked people to continue to call in

their tips. And, you know, we don`t know where Jayme is, and that`s why we`re on shows like yours, we don`t know where Jayme is, we don`t know if

she`s in Baron County or somewhere, you know, in the United States. So we ask people to keep calling in tips, no matter how little or insignificant

they think it is. It could be a bigger piece of the puzzle here.

BANDIELD: So I am with you. That`s a lot of the reason we do this show. There are unsolved crimes every single night that we pursue on this program

and it is for that reason I`m going to continue to press you. You`re not going to like it, but at the same time it`s an advantage to you to keep

this story on the air as a lead story as well. And so for that -- with that preface Can you tell me if you think this is a targeted attack or is

it random?

FITZGERALD: I wish I knew the answer to that question because that would clear up some more things. And I agree. I want to keep this the lead

story. And I don`t mind your questions. And also with respect that we`re not going to interfere with the investigation or put something in someone`s

mind that they call in tips or don`t call in tips because of information we give.

But that is the key question we continue to work on every day. Talk about at our daily briefings and are part of, so you`re exactly right. That is

the question we are looking at every day. I don`t know the answer to that question yet.

BANFIELD: Can you tell me this? There were neighbors that said they heard two shots, and if you are a neighbor, anywhere near this home, clearly you

are living in fear. Do they have reason to live in fear? Do they have reason to live in fear? Is anyone else in that vicinity in direct danger

right now?

FITZGERALD: Yes, again, I don`t know the answer to that question, but I can comment on the fact that I don`t -- we`ve received no other threats,

no other complaints or no other suspicious activity in that area or any other area, But we continue to follow up on tips about that. So while I

can`t say that community or the Baron County Community in our Northwest Wisconsin area here is in danger. We want people to stay vigilant and

continue to call in those tips and continue to help us bring Jayme home.

BANFIELD: We`ll try to get them there because iften times it is a tweak of information that they haven`t heard before, to make them think of something

they hadn`t thought of before. And In that vein, can you tell me about the cell phone that launched that 911 call? What do you know know about that

cell phone? AKA, who owns it? Where is it? And has it yielded any further information?

FITZGERALD: Well can tell you we have the cell phone. We know whose cell phone it is. It came from inside the house. The call came from inside the

house.

No one was on the line, and I called that call different in nature or odd, because when a 911 call is taken. 911 what`s your emergency and then

somebody says I need help at whatever address. There was no address given. There was no somebody asking, or giving specific instructions or reasons of

what`s going on.

We just heard what we believed to be a commotion. Again that`s why I brought in agencies like the Department of Investigation for Wisconsin, and

using resources by Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel and our FBI friends and partners because they are the experts in breaking down 911

tapes, looking at our phones and taking care of all the evidence in that manner. That`s being done 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to try to give us

more information to give to the public so we can bring Jayme home.

BANFIELD: I`m going to read a little into what you just said. and as I understand it, sir, and correct me if I`m wrong, you have somewhere in the

vicinity of 200 law enforcement officers on the ground who have come in from surrounding areas, nationally as well, to try to help you crack this

case. And you just mentioned, they are experts in breaking down 911 calls as well as phones. Does that mean that you are trying to access this phone

but have not accessed it yet?

And it`s going to be a two part question. Are you into the phone? And is it Jayme`s phone.

FITZGERALD: We`ll not interfere with the investigation. And a digital analysis is the audio we`re looking at doing, and we`re continuing to look

at that information. We have all the pieces of evidence that we need from inside the home, or we believe again as we analyze stuff, we continue to go

back and maybe look for something else or a different piece of the puzzle here. And that`s again when a tip comes in, we can use the evidence

collected to, you know, go back and look at something or something that we didn`t think was significant at the time. But based on a tip we can go

back in and look at that digital analysis of that evidence.

BANFIELD: Can I ask you this? Were you able to find the phones that belonged to Jayme`s parents, James and Denise?

FITZGERALD: we have all the evidence that I feel is necessary and was collected by our investigation team.

BANFIELD: OK. So often times when a young person goes missing, the digital trail is almost like a popcorn trail, which leads me to the

question about Jayme`s social media. 13-year-old girls are almost always on their phones or some form of social media, I`m guessing. And I think it`s

a good guess. You have been blanketing that angle. Have you found any information from her social media? Is it possible she has a phone with her?

FITZGERALD: I do not know the answer to your second part of the question about if she has a phone with her. I can tell you that we are looking at

the social media platform. Again that`s why our partners in the FBI are so key in this because they have the experts for a smaller agency like mine,

in a county of 44,000 people. I depend on our friends and partners in the FBI and our DCI agency to help us with that, and that`s why they -- I asked

them to come in and help me on that. When we find the tip through some of the social media platforms --

BANFIELD: Is that helping? Is it helping, sir. Have you found anything throughout her social media that`s led you somewhere?

FITZGERALD: We continue to follow up on all the information in her social media. And again, if there was something credible that the public could

help us with, we the release that one and when it`s appropriate.

BANFIELD: And forgive me for pressing, and I know you`re short on time, but I`m going to go there. We cover too many stories of sexual offenders

who reach out via social media to young 13-year-old girls, boys, anybody. And then show up.

Have you been able to track whether that`s a possibility in this case? As we show the registered sex offenders just in the immediate vicinity of her

home?

FITZGERALD: We look at everybody on this. We don`t key on any one type of offender, and across the nation. We`re looking at everyone or anybody --

BANFIELD: Has her social media shown there may have been someone communicating with her who may have shown up?

FITZGERALD: We`re exploring multiple theories on that. At this time I don`t know of any that have been reported to me. But again with, having,

you know, 200 plus people on the ground, I have not been alerted to anything significant where we need to get out to the media. But again I

would not hamper the investigation to, you know, answer your question or anyone`s question for that fact.

And I appreciate the respect you`re giving me for not answering some of these. And I`m respect the answers -- your questions you`re giving. But

again we can`t answer some of those questions, because it`s an on going investigation. And our goal is to bring Jayme home.

BANFIELD: I completely respect that. And our goal is as well to inform the public as well, and not impede what you`re doing because that`s God`s

work, my friend. And I really wish you luck and I hope you`ll come back tomorrow and update us and tell us how you`re doing.

In the meantime, comb those files and see if there`s something else you can provide to us because like you said, the smallest thought can tweak

someone`s thoughts, someone`s memories. And that could provide a life saving phone call to you. Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald joining us from Baron

Wisconsin.

Athena Jones just back to you obviously, the questions are myriad about this 13-year-old girl, I went there with the notion that we cover these

stories about predators who just leech themselves through the phone lines and the computer lines to get into these kids lives. I don`t know that

that`s the case here. I don`t know this little girl, do you know anything about her life?

JONES: We know a little bit about her. Of course she`s 13 years old. He`s only five feet tall. She weighs 100 pounds. She had green eyes,

blonde hair or strawberry blonde hair. And by all accounts she was a sweet girl.

The sheriff described her as a sweet girl, a shy girl who enjoys dancing and sports. We know she ran cross country in school. Her school district

superintendent called her a loyal friend. And here`s another glimpse into what kind of person she was.

We learned that recently she had a school assignment and she was asked what would you do if you were given a million dollars? And she answered -- her

answer is that she would feed the hungry and give the rest to the poor.

BANFIELD: That`s what this little 13-year-old girl said. And you know I want to talk about her in present tense, because she is present tense. I

know this is the person we`ve learned is missing. But she is without question, she`s still there, God, I hope she`s still there and they will

find her.

Athena, thank you for your reporting. I still have a lot more questions about this, though, I got to be honest because hen you have a case like

this, who could provide clues than those closest to the victims. You cannot get much closer than the next door neighbors. What did they see?

More importantly, what did they hear just after midnight screeching through the dark? You`ll hear from one of them next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: We`re still talking about the nationwide search for a missing 13 year old girl, Jayme Closs was last seen Sunday afternoon at some kind of a

family gathering. Just a few hours later, something terrifying happened at the Closs house. Police were called to the scene by a person who would not

speak to the 911 operator or maybe could not speak to that operator because when the police got to the house they found Jayme`s parents dead, and Jayme

was nowhere to be seen.

Joan Smrekar is James and Denise`s neighbor. She joins me now from Baron Wisconsin. Joan thank you for being with us tonight. And I`m so sorry

we`re speaking under these very upsetting circumstances. Can you tell me what it was you heard just after midnight the night that jayme went

missing?

JOAN SMREKAR, CLOSS NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR: We had come home about 11:30. We went to bed about quarter after 12:00. We were not sleeping, and we heard

the first shot followed just a couple seconds by the second shot. And I asked my husband, were those gunshots?

Because they were so loud? And he said, yes, and he said, it`s a big gun and I rolled over and looked at the time on my clock, it said 12:38. My

clock is off by seven minutes per the Sheriff`s Department, so this happened roughly around 12:30.

BANFIELD: And you said you heard those two shots and by your best recollection, those shots were a couple seconds, like two, three, four

seconds in between?

SMREKAR: It was just bang and bang. That close together.

BANFIELD: Did you hear any other shots after that? Or was that it?

SMREKAR: that was all we heard. But, you know, we have people that hunt in the woods around us, and we hear gunfire out here often on people

sighting in their riffles or whatever. But this was so totally loud that it -- you couldn`t help but have a feeling about it, because it was just so

loud.

BANFIELD: Can I ask you Joan --

SMREKAR: And it was a lot closer than usual than we would hear something at that time of night.

BANFIELD: Because even though this is fairly rural, you are right next door, correct?

SMREKAR: Right.

BANFIELD: Yes. Can I ask you, just prior to hearing those two shots, as you said, a couple seconds apart, would you have been in a position to hear

any other shots before or after for instance. Was there anything noisy you may have missed [00:05:38]?

SMREKAR: No. When we came home, we noticed nothing different in the neighborhood. And there was nothing prior to that. No noise, no nothing and

when that happened, it was so overpowering, the noise, we did not hear anything else. There was no -- we hear the shots, like I said, from the

woods, and they`re not anything near the sound of this gun.

BANFIELD: Can I ask you about the Closs` family? I mean, this is just such a horror that`s been visited on them. I think most people are

wondering what were they like?

SMREKAR: They were very quiet people. We only saw them come and go from their home. We took mail up to them that got delivered to us, and they

didn`t even want to come to the door.

They were just quiet, preferred I guess to be alone. You didn`t see them out in the yard doing anything at least we didn`t.

BANFIELD: Did you ever see Jayme with any friends or did she ever come and go and get picked up by friends in vehicles of any kind?

SMREKAR: That I can`t tell you, I just know the school bus dropped her often?

BANFIELD: And you see her dropped off daily in front of the house by the school bus?

SMREKAR: Yes.

BANFIELD: But other than that, you didn`t see collections of friends coming and going?

SMREKAR: no, no. We didn`t even know they had any children. That`s how -- they weren`t out there doing things.

BANFIELD: That`s remarkable. And that night it goes without saying, you didn`t see or hear any vehicles coming or going, especially around the time

of the gunshots?

SMREKAR: No, and I don`t sleep well at night. And I was up about 1:00 o`clock-ish, and our dog was on the porch. And he was doing some light

trumping noises. And I knew something was up. I couldn`t see anything anywhere that looked or felt out of line. And I told the FBI people that

have been here a couple times. I said, you know, from now on, if I hear something that doesn`t sound appropriate for that time of night. I`m going

to call in immediately, because we just thought it was maybe a neighbor chasing a bear out of their yard.

BANFIELD: Well, Joan, don`t think anything otherwise, because I`ve lived in a rural area for a long time, and there are just many sounds that you

wouldn`t think twice about. Thank you for being on with us, and thank you for helping us sort through these difficult details. i want to bring in

Karen Smith if I can.

She`s a retired detective with the Jacksonville Sheriff`s Office and a forensic specialist. So Karen I`m going to ask our control room to roll

some of those pictures we saw in the first block of the investigators carting away what looked like the front door, part of the front door or at

least one of the maybe interior doors, glass and color it looks like it`s maybe been dusted for prints.

It looks a little opaque. And what might be a dining room chair, a wooden dining room chair. It looks as though there may be ties on the back of it.

That could have been a cushion tied to it. Walk me through what you think investigators were doing given what the sheriff was telling us earlier.

KAREN SMITH, JACKSONVILLE SHERIFF`S OFFICE: I`m looking at these photos Ash and there`s a couple things that are catching my eye. I don`t know

what that is on the glass door. I can`t tell if it`s gunshots. And I can`t tell if it`s been prior processed of if it`s maybe stickers or

something that`s on it.

It`s really hard to tell. But I can tell you a couple things they`re doing. They`re being very careful not to touch the glass. You can see

that. They`re not cross contaminating it. They`re wearing (INAUDIBLE).

They`re taking it to a place that`s safe and secure, so they can process it for the evidence. They`re going to look for latent prints, DNA. Touch

DNA and swipe marks, the door handle, any handprints that are on that glass. You know crime scenes are not the easiest place to process evidence.

The lighting`s not great. You have a lot of items around you so if you take that item to a safe and secure location. It`s a little easier to be

more meticulous with it, and get the evidence off of it.

Now let me just roll back here for a second and if those are bullet holes through that glass, I`m not sure, because I`m not sure that glass would be

laminated. That would be two pieces of glass pressed to a laminate and it would prevent that glass from shattering. If that`s the case like car

windshield they can sequence those bullet holes. There are radial cracks that come from bullet holes, and you can sequence based upon where one

radial crack terminates at the point of a prior gunshot. So, that`s a little bit of tedious work. I don`t know that they would necessarily even

do that.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HLN HOST: So -- but can I ask you this, since we were just listening to Jones (INAUDIBLE) and her description of two distinct

gunshots, just a couple seconds apart, nothing prior, nothing after, and she would have been in that position, she said, to hear that. That gives

me the chills, because if both of those parents died from gunshot wounds, then it sounds awfully likely that they were close to each other and they

were killed with one single bullet, which sounds execution style to me. But I am not the officer, I`m not the investigator. What does it sound

like to you?

SMITH: Right. I mean, what sent chills down my spine was the fact that she said it was so loud. That tells me it`s a high-caliber gun. I don`t

know if we`re dealing with a rifle. I don`t know if we`re dealing with a handgun, I have no idea. And at this point, with two gunshots, whether

those were outside the house fired in toward the house through the door or through an open door, or what she heard was actually inside the house, and

it was so loud that it disturbed her at a neighboring home, I just don`t know. Whether it would be muffled and she may not have heard additional

gunshots. These are all questions that we`re just going to have to wait for.

BANFIELD: I think, you know, -- I think what we know at this point was that those parents were killed inside the house. And at that -- at that

point, they think that she might have been there, they think she might have been on in the background noise. Jayme might have been in the background

noise. There is the information in the tip line: 855-744-3879. It`s a tip line, can you dial from anywhere. 1-855-744-3879. And there are the specs

on Jayme. She`s little, she`s just 13, five feet, 100 pounds, green eyes, blonde hair. If you know anything, call the police.

A young woman is sexually assaulted at a fraternity party. The suspect has offered a sweetheart plea deal. And of course, that poor young woman is

face down outside. And I think you know who I`m talking about, right? And I think you`re going to have to think again, because this time, it`s

happened in Texas. The suspect, Jacob Anderson, good looking young kid, president of his fraternity. And instead of serving minimal jail time,

he`s poised to serve none.

[19:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: This story might just sound familiar to you. A young man partying at a frat house, meets a girl, girl isn`t feeling great, just

after someone offers her a drink. Boy takes girl outside, and that`s where girl says she`s sexually assaulted before being left alone, passed out,

face down in the dirt in a pile of vomit. Boy is then charged with sexual assault. Girl finds the bravery to share her story, but boy gets a

sweetheart of a pass by the justice system. That`s really familiar. If the boy in this story sounds like Brock Turner from Stanford University,

the dumpster sex assault story, it should sound familiar because Brock Turner, that former swimmer was sentenced to just six months after he was

caught violating an unconscious girl next to the dumpster outside a college party.

But tonight, it is my deep regret, ladies and gentlemen, to introduce you to a man who might just end up being Brock Turner 2.0. Because an eerily

similar case is unraveling in Texas. 23-year-old Jacob Anderson stands accused of meeting a girl at his frat house, the frat where he used to

actually be President, and taking her outside to get some air. That`s where she says he raped her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIC FEAZELL, VICTIM`S ATTORNEY: Attacks that are incredible, he nearly choked her to death. He raped her violently. He left her passed out in

her own vomit. The rape exam confirmed rape.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Jacob Anderson was expelled from Baylor and his fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, well, that was suspended. And folks, that might just be the

end of it. And the very worst of it, because even though he was no sweetheart to this girl, he`s been offered a sweetheart deal, one that

requires no jail time at all. I want to bring in Jeff Boney, he`s the associate editor for the Houston Forward Times. What am I missing, Jeff?

This doesn`t make sense.

JEFF BONEY, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, HOUSTON FORWARD TIMES (via telephone): Well, Ashleigh, unlike the Bill Cosby high-profile case that went to trial, Jacob

Walter Anderson who got indicted on four accounts of sexual assault back in 2016 after allegedly assaulting this female victim at a frat party got this

sweetheart plea deal, including no jail time, doesn`t even have to register as a sex offender, and so, he pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of

unlawful restraint and under the prosecutor`s deal, they worked this deal - - he would only be sentenced to three years of deferred adjudication probation. Meaning the four counts of sexual assault would completely be

dismissed as if it never happened. If he satisfies probation terms, he`d also pay a $400 fine and seek counseling.

[19:40:16] BANFIELD: So, four counts of sex assault go away in favor of one count unlawful restraint, which sounds like what I do to my son near

the cookie jar. This is just astounding. I mean, especially when you hear the victim`s attorney explaining that this wasn`t just messy sex gone

wrong. This was violent according to this victim. This was ferocious. She was left unconscious face down in a pile of her own vomit in the dirt

all after receiving one drink from someone else.

I want to bring in Randy Kessler, if I can. As a defense attorney, I want you to sort through this with me.

RANDY KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: OK.

BANFIELD: Because I want you to hear what Vic Feazell said, this is the victim`s attorney. This is what he has to say about this. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FEAZELL: I just found it unbelievable because this county has a reputation for being tough on sexual assault. All the former football players were

prosecuted. Let it be a rich kid from Dallas, who`s president of a fraternity, and suddenly it`s looked at differently.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So, there`s where it gets crazy. Baylor University was in the headlines for years because of the football team and its sexcapades. And,

you know, even Ken Starr of Clinton fame as president had to step down amid the sex scandal, it did result in charges, in prison sentences for some of

those players. And now, this. What do you make of this?

KESSLER: So, you know, the easy thing to believe is, there`s some conspiracy, rich people get off easy, or rich people are connected, or

they`ve got some dirt on the other side, but that`s the easy way to think about it, we don`t know all the facts. They didn`t feel like they could

prosecute and get a full conviction, or they would have prosecuted. And the defense must have felt pretty darn good about the ability to go to

trial and get off to be able to push this kind of plea. I mean, that just has to be the case.

BANFIELD: What doesn`t make sense is what the victim`s family has said in a statement. And by the way, we invited them on and they didn`t want to be

on, and she wants to remain anonymous. I think she`s being called Donna Doe. But this is what the victim`s family said about the process and about

working with the D.A. in this. The victim was told there was an enormous amount of evidence and a conviction was almost sure. And now 2-1/2 years

after living through hell, having the trial delayed a week before it was to occur and then never rescheduled, the D.A. has decided not to bother even

trying to get justice. What does this mean? An enormous amount of evidence and a conviction was almost sure. How do you get from that to

let`s maybe do away with four sex assault charges?

KESSLER: Well, maybe they shouldn`t have said that. We`re civil lawyers, criminal lawyers, we all hear a case. And the first time you hear the

case, you think, that is a great case. We`ve got all the facts -- there`s always another side. And as you dig and you learn, cases are never as

strong. This one apparently was not even nearly as close, and maybe they shouldn`t have raised the expectations that high, maybe that was the

dilemma or the fault. But they did, and they`ve got some explaining to do.

BANFIELD: OK. I want to bring in Shari Karney, she`s the survivors rights attorneys and the founder of ROAR as ONE. That`s a group that fights for

the civil rights of survivors. I know what you`re going to say. I feel the same way. I don`t even -- honestly, I really don`t even know what to

ask you. I just feel like we`ve been down this road too many damn times to be interviewing about this again.

SHARI KARNEY, FOUNDER, ROAR AS ONE: You know, Ashleigh, first of all, thank you for having me. And secondly, here`s what this says to me, rape

is no longer a crime in Texas, and it`s no longer a crime in United States. We have a Supreme Court Justice who was accused of sexual assault who was

confirmed. We have a President of the United States who was accused by 17 women of sexual assault, he`s the President of the United States. We have

white males of power and privilege being let go, let off for sexual assault, sexual abuse. We tell survivors, report, speak your truth, speak

up, and then the legal system doesn`t do anything about it.

So, that`s why I have formed this nonprofit called ROAR as ONE, to make sexual assault a civil right. That means that if the local authorities

don`t take action, then the U.S. attorney and the attorney general could step in. Because honestly, Ashleigh, I -- we have heard the story. We

tell women and men speak up. Tell us your truth, report Title IX.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: Well, speak up and then -- and then put on your Kevlar, because even if you`re Dr. Ford and you`re brilliant and you`re believable and

you`re humble, and there`s really nothing wrong with your story, other than you don`t remember some stuff when you`re 15. I don`t remember standing in

line for my graduation, by the way, big deal for me, but I don`t remember standing in line when I was 17 for my graduation. Oh, I must be an idiot.

KARNEY: Exactly.

BANFIELD: What I`m saying is that when you have two equal people and one`s a lady and one`s a dude, apparently she`s mistaken, just automatic.

[19:45:05] KARNEY: I just think --

BANFIELD: She`s mistaken. I`ve got to go to break, but I want you to stick around. Can you stick around until after the break?

KARNEY: OK. Sure.

BANFIELD: Because when we come back after the break, there`s one more voice that has to weigh-in on this story, before everything just goes the

way of Brock Turner, and that is the judge because the judge in the case against Jacob Anderson, can still make a decision. The judge can still say

yes or no to the sweetheart deal. Talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:50:35] BANFIELD: Why would a kid get a sweet heart deal in a sex assault case when the victim was told by the prosecutors at one point, it

looked like this was almost surely a conviction, and that there was an enormous amount of evidence? Well, the prosecutor is telling us something

different, and here in a statement, they say, "The McLennan County D.A.`s office is known throughout the state for our aggressive prosecution of

sexual assault cases to say otherwise is simply absurd. Let us remind everyone that our oath is to seek justice. This office stands by the plea

offered and believes we have achieved the best result possible with the evidence at hand."

Randy Kessler, that`s what the D.A. says but ultimately, the judge is the one who`s going to have to step in and actually decide if this plea deal is

fair or if they go back to the drawing table and actually go to trial on those four counts. And the judge in this case is the 19th state district

judge in Texas, Ralph Strother, S-T-R-O-T-H-E-R, Ralph Strother. We have seen judges go down for this. In the Stanford rape case, it was -- I mean,

what happened was disastrous. The judge in that case is gone.

KESSLER: Well, the judge shouldn`t be persuaded by the press or by the public reports. This was not a conviction, this guy is getting this deal

because there`s some sort of compromise. The judge can say I don`t like it. Go to trial.

BANFIELD: It`s judicial discretion that this judge needs to use. And no, they shouldn`t be persuaded by pitchforks outside, but they do represent

the people who elect them.

KESSLER: But so does the prosecution. And the judge has to have a lot of respect for this prosecutor`s office, and if this judge thinks this

prosecutor made this deal because --

BANFIELD: So, why isn`t it just a rubber stamp?

KESSLER: Because it -- because it`s got publicity and because they said at the beginning, it`s such an easy case.

BANFIELD: Because the judge has judicial discretion.

KESSLER: Right. So, the judge can listen to what the pundits and what everyone else is saying, the victim`s saying, or the judge can say, this

prosecutor`s office is known to prosecute harshly, and if they thought they had a good case, they would have prosecuted, they would not have offered

this deal.

BANFIELD: But if the prosecutors told the victim they had enormous amounts of evidence that would --

KESSLER: That was a mistake.

BANFIELD: -- almost surely result in a conviction, doesn`t that count?

KESSLER: It does. But now in that statement you just read, they`re basically saying we made a mistake. Based on the evidence at hand, we

think it`s the best deal we can get.

BANFIELD: I can tell you this that Donna Doe and her family are devastated over this.

KESSLER: I understand. I understand.

BANFIELD: And it feels as though they weren`t even a part of the process, and that is horse you know what.

KESSLER: Yes, that part of it, I agree with you.

BANFIELD: Devastating. Randy, thank you for that, and my thanks also to Shari Karney and Jeffrey Boney for their input into this repetitive,

disturbing theme story. Two Ohio teenagers stopped by a police officer because they were flashing a gun.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER CASUCCIO, POLICE OFFICER, COLUMBUS OHIO POLICE: I could have killed you. I want you to think about that tonight when you go to bed. You could

be gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: How that cop`s cool head and tough talk diffused what could have been a nightmare confrontation. And parents, if you have teenagers, you

need to see this, next.

[19:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: In Ohio, bodycam video shows the startling moment a Columbus, Ohio Police Officer confronts two teenage boys with his service weapon

drawn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASUCCIO: Here`s the thing, are you scared (BLEEP)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

CASUCCIO: OK. You know why you should be scared (BLEEP)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

CASUCCIO: This is getting kids killed all over the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Officer Peter Casuccio approached those teenagers after getting a call about a boy flashing a gun. And as he approached, one of the teens

tossed that gun to the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASUCCIO: That thing looks real, bro.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m so sorry.

CASUCCIO: You should be sorry and you should be scared.

When you see the gun leaving his hand and out of the corner of my eye, I saw it bust into a million pieces once it hit the sidewalk, and that`s when

I realized it`s a BB gun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: You heard right. It was a BB gun that just looked like a real gun and it almost escalated into a deadly confrontation with some very real

consequences.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASUCCIO: How old are you, boy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 11 years old.

CASUCCIO: How old are you, young man?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 13.

CASUCCIO: Do you think I want to shoot an 11-year-old? Do you think I want to shoot a 13-year-old?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir.

CASUCCIO: I could have killed you. I want you to think about that tonight when you go to bed. You could be gone. Everything you want to do in this

life could have been over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: There is a lesson not just for those kids but all of our kids in that moment. Thanks for watching, everyone. We`ll see you back here

tomorrow night at 6:00 Eastern. "FORENSIC FILES" begins right now.

END