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Nancy Grace
America`s Missing: Paige Johnson; Teen Mom, 17, Vanishes: Last Person To See Her Alive Won`t Talk
Aired March 07, 2011 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NANCY GRACE, CNN HOST: Vanished into thin air. Look for her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just need to find her.
GRACE: So many cases.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re still looking.
GRACE: So few leads.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Missing.
GRACE: Missing person.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s our duty to find her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The witness seen the suspect on "Nancy Grace."
GRACE: There is a god.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Nancy Grace Show" was out there for us.
GRACE: Found alive. Fifty people, 50 days, 50 nights. Let`s don`t give up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The thing that bothers me the most is not knowing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s not like her not to call someone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don`t understand what happened to Paige.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just -- we miss Paige and we want her home safe. And it`s just been horrible.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On September 23rd, 2010, 17-year-old mom Paige Johnson was picked up from her mother`s house by friend, Jacob Bumpass. Bumpass allegedly told police he dropped Paige off at an intersection in nearby Covington, Kentucky. Paige is reported missing my family soon after and nobody has seen her since.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have tracking dogs and we also have cadaver dogs out there. We`re going to stay out here as long as we can be effective. We`re searching areas that we think have a higher likelihood of finding somebody.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police began focusing their investigation on Bumpass who they say is no longer cooperating with the investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops reveal that Bumpass` cell phone records show he was miles away from the spot he claimed he dropped Paige off at.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was nowhere in Covington. He completely lied about it, you know, so she never had the chance to get to the destination she was going to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s not been named a suspect in the case despite intense searches and possible evidence recovered. Paige Johnson never found.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To the guy that was last with my daughter, please talk. Please tell the truth so that we can, you know, just find out where she is and what happened to her. Please tell us, please.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Every day 2,300 people go missing in America. They disappear. They vanish. Their families are left waiting and hoping but never forgetting. And neither have we. Fifty people, 50 days, for 50 nights we go live, spotlighting America`s missing. Girls and boys, mothers and fathers, grandparents. They`re gone, but where?
Tonight, Cincinnati, Ohio, suburbs, beautiful 17-year-old mother, Paige Johnson. She`s popular and outgoing. Paige goes out with a friend. It`s Friday night. And then she plans to spend the night at her sister`s, it`s just 10 miles away. But she never makes it, vanishing without a trace.
The man Paige last seen with, 22-year-old Jacob Bumpass, not named a suspect, says he dropped Paige at a Covington, Kentucky, intersection. But do cell phone records tell a different story? Was he actually miles away from where he says? Has DNA evidence emerged? What happened to 17-year-old mother Paige Johnson?
I want to go out to Kentucky right now. Jessica Noll, who is reporter producer for kypost.com. Jessica, this was only five months ago. This is a very, very fresh case. Describe for us September 23rd, 2010.
JESSICA NOLL, REPORTER PRODUCER: Well, September 23rd is the morning, 1:00 a.m. is the morning that Jacob Bumpass says that he dropped Paige Johnson off in Covington at the intersections of 15 and Scott Street which is a few blocks from her sister`s house. Earlier that evening he picked her up. They went and they hung out at his place. He`s admitted to giving her alcohol at that time. Again, he said he took her at 1:00 a.m. to Covington. He`s the last person to have seen her.
CASAREZ: All right to Natisha Lance, tell me, who is this guy, Jacob Bumpass? Who is he? We know he`s the last person to have seen her alive.
NATISHA LANCE, CNN PRODUCER: Well according to police, this was an acquaintance of Paige`s. They had known each other for a certain extended period of time but just in the stages of getting to know each other. Now according to a pre interview that we did with Paige`s mother earlier on today, we found out that she had known about this man, Jacob Bumpass and she had seen a picture of him in Paige`s room. She said that he looked to be a little bit older. Paige being 17. He`s 22-years-old. And she had warned her about hanging out with him because she wasn`t sure if it was a good idea for her to be hanging out with this guy who is 22-years-old when her daughter, just a teenager, 17.
CASAREZ: All right, let`s go back to Jessica Noll, a reporter producer for kypost.com. Let`s look at a timeline, all right? What time is it believed that she left her home? She lived with her mother and her grandmother. What time did she leave her home to go with Mr. Bumpass?
NOLL: We`re thinking that she left her home at 11:00 p.m. with Jacob Bumpass. Then between 11:00 and 1:00, they`re allegedly at his house hanging out. Then 1:00 a.m. he drops her off. However, there are cell phone pings that don`t match up to the timeframe that he says he dropped her off.
CASAREZ: To Captain Teal Nally, he is the spokesperson for the Covington Police Department joining us tonight from Kentucky. Thank you, captain, for joining us. I want to talk about these cell phone pings because that was the first red flag that you had that something may be up, that she didn`t voluntarily walk away or leave. How did you obtain those cell phone records of Mr. Bumpass?
CAPT. TEAL NALLY, SPOKESPERSON, POLICE DEPT: We got those cell phone records via subpoena. That is a standard investigative procedure.
CASAREZ: And what did they tell you as compared to what he told you?
NALLY: Well, some things that concerned us was immediately he was somewhat uncooperative with us. He was very vague about when he dropped her off in Covington. He states that he didn`t see what direction she went once she got out of the car. And then he got a lawyer shortly thereafter and refused to talk to us anymore.
So as we got the cell phone records, they showed that his cell phone was in the area of East Fork State Park which is about 30 miles away from Covington and these pings from the cell phone occurred around, between the hours of 3:00 a.m. and about 4:30 a.m. So obviously we were concerned about that.
CASAREZ: Sure. Now, everybody, this is a huge park in the area. It is acres upon acres, thousands of acres. But Captain Teal Nally joining us from the Covington Police Department, you have executed numerous searches in that park with volunteers and law enforcement. You haven`t found anything.
NALLY: We really didn`t. We had a large-scale search in that area. We had over 100 searchers from police departments, fire departments, search and rescue teams. We had 17 dog teams that were out there featuring cadaver dogs and tracking dogs. And we really just have not found anything at that park that has led us in the right direction.
CASAREZ: Captain, how do you even know that he had his own phone that night? Because other people can use people`s phones.
NALLY: That certainly is true, but early in the night he picked Paige up at about 11:00. His cell phone seems to confirm that. We got pings out there in that area. He sends text messages and makes phone calls when they`re at their -- when he`s at his residence. It confirms it is where he said he was then. And it`s the late-night hours that we are having trouble confirming what happened. So he had his phone earlier in the night. He called his brother somewhere during those hours between 3:00 and 4:30 a.m. so really we want to know what`s going on.
CASAREZ: And everybody, Jacob Bumpass has not been charged in the murder or abduction or delinquency of a minor, nothing. He has not been charged in this. And the fact is, where is Paige Johnson? We need to find Paige Johnson. That`s the focus. That`s the issue.
And joining us tonight, a very special lady that has been through so much in the last five months, the mother of Paige Johnson. Donna Johnson joining us tonight from Walton, Kentucky. Thank you so much. We don`t know -- we can`t even imagine what the last five months have been through for you because it is so fresh in your mind and in your heart. How did you find out that something was very, very wrong? Because your daughter lived with you and your mother.
DONNA JOHNSON, MOTHER: Well, when she didn`t show up the next day and none of her friends had heard from her, her sister hadn`t heard from her. I, myself, hadn`t heard from her. This is very unusual for Paige. She would usually be talking to somebody, a friend.
You know, we started asking around, trying to call her friends. Have you heard from Paige? Has anyone seen Paige? No one`s seen her, no one knew where she was. And, you know, then we knew, of course, something was definitely wrong. That she -- no one had heard from her.
CASAREZ: Did you know Jacob Bumpass? Did you know this young man that she knew?
JOHNSON: No, I did not know him. I had seen a picture of him back over the past summer in her room and I said to her, who is this? He`s very scary looking. To me, he just looked really big and scary and he looked like someone she should not be around. You know? He`s supposedly 22 or 23. And in the picture he looked a lot older than that even. And I warned her against him. I told her she wasn`t allowed around him, that whoever he was, I did not want to catch her around him. And apparently she would still go out and hang out with him times I didn`t know about.
CASAREZ: Ms. Johnson, let me ask you about this intersection that he says he dropped your daughter at. What kind of an area is it? Is it a high-crime area?
JOHNSON: Yes. It`s very high crime, just a lot of dangerous things going on down in that area. And there was no reason -- she was going to her sister who was about four or five blocks away. But the story he gave where he just let her off at 15th and Scott, it absolutely does not make any sense at all. It does not add up. Anything he has, the little bit that he has said does not add up. It doesn`t make any sense. And it`s, you know, pretty much you can tell that it`s a lie.
CASAREZ: Have you talked to him? Why did he drop her off at an intersection and not at her sister`s house?
JOHNSON: That`s what I asked him and he said that she suddenly wanted out there. Which there, again, I don`t see why she would just want to get out of the car in a bad neighborhood, you know? Just suddenly say, let me out here when he could -- was very, you know, able to take her on down to her sister`s house. Why he would let her out there, it just -- I don`t believe that he did. I honestly don`t believe that he took her to Covington to let her out there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re doing everything we can to let her know that we love her. And I just, I want her to come home. Her mom loves her. We all love her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She wouldn`t want to just leave.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s not like her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just leave.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re doing everything we can.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just leave.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 17-year-old.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 17-year-old mom Paige Johnson is missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very unusual.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Covington police call Paige`s case a critical missing one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No one to hear from her, that`s why we`re so worried.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Scared.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The 17-year-old was allegedly last seen --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last seen, she was dropped off in Covington by a man --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not like Johnson to disappear like this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cops to refuse to identify the man but say he`s refusing to talk to police.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don`t understand, understand, understand what happened to Paige.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re doing everything we can.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Putting up as many fliers as they can.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pound the pavement.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Scouring the streets.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`ll probably be doing this until forever.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hoping someone will call with a lead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Until she comes home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez. Where is beautiful Paige Johnson? It was just last September. It`s only been five months. She left with a friend at 11:00 at night. Somebody maybe her mother didn`t know, but her sister knew and her friends knew. They said he was a really nice guy. She was never seen again. He said he dropped her off at an intersection. We are taking your calls live.
Elizabeth in Connecticut. Hi, Elizabeth. Do I have Elizabeth? Can you hear me, Elizabeth?
CALLER: Yes.
CASAREZ: Hi, what`s your question?
CALLER: Hi. Yes. Hi, Jean. I want to know if the mother warned her not to go out with him, why did she and the grandmother let her leave the house with him? And also, can they enforce a polygraph on this man that`s not talking?
CASAREZ: OK. He`s lawyered up. So I highly doubt it. Let`s go to Donna Johnson, the mother of Paige Johnson. You already said you warned your daughter about this guy, that you didn`t like his looks. Did you know she was leaving with him that night?
JOHNSON: No. I did not. I knew she was going to go to her sister`s, but I was under the understanding that a guy named Jason, who I knew well, who had given Britney and Paige rides very often, was coming to pick up Paige to take her to her sister`s. So I didn`t know it was this Bumpass guy picking her up. I did not know that.
CASAREZ: Captain Teal Nally --
JOHNSON: She did tell me it was Jason.
CASAREZ: Somebody else. Captain Neal Tally joining us from the Covington Police Department. Have any polygraphs been given in the case?
NALLY: Mr. Bumpass was offered a polygraph test but it was refused.
CASAREZ: What about -- talk to us about -- you executed numerous search warrants which now have been made public. When you searched his home, and that could have even been a consensual search, you found a red substance in a sink?
NALLY: At the time we were looking for evidence that might have been used -- might have had something to do with a crime, a red substance was collected there but was found to not be blood.
CASAREZ: What was it?
NALLY: It was believed to be some sort of a red drink. Maybe Kool Aid, something like that.
CASAREZ: But there was a glove near it, also, correct, that had the red substance on it?
NALLY: That`s correct. And also not blood.
CASAREZ: Jessica Noll, reporter/producer, kypost.com. There`s been a lot of social networking communication between, before she went missing, Paige Johnson and Jacob Bumpass along with others, right?
NOLL: I`m sorry. Can you repeat that question?
CASAREZ: There`s been a lot of social networking, Facebook, different sites that Paige would write to Jacob Bumpass and he even put pictures on his site?
NOLL: That`s correct. He did -- he had pictures with Paige Johnson on his Facebook page and we saw that when she went missing. We looked at the Facebook case.
CASAREZ: All right to everybody, tonight`s case alert. Massive search efforts under way for a 22-year-old San Diego State University student, Austin Taylor Bice. The college senior, he was last seen the night of February 25th in Madrid, Spain, where he was studying abroad. If you have any information, please contact 619-594-1991.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just know Paige. I know she wouldn`t do that to us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just, I want her to come home.
JOHNSON: We miss Paige.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seventeen-year-old mom Paige Johnson was reportedly spending the night at her sister`s house, but she never made it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This man, 22-year-old Jacob Bumpass said he dropped Paige off near the corner of 12th and Scott around 1:00 a.m.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But police can`t find Paige.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police, firefighters, canine units.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re doing everything we can to let her know that we love her.
JOHNSON: And we want her home safe. And it`s just been horrible.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez. Where is Paige Johnson? Is she alive somewhere? She only went missing five months ago. Did something terrible happen? Do you know that she had just filled out her application forms to go to a trade school? She was planning her future. Yes, a young mother. Yes, lived at home with her mother and her grandmother.
I want to go out to Amanda Johnson, who is the cousin of Paige Johnson, joining us tonight from Covington, Kentucky. Thank you, Amanda. Amanda, what do you think happened here?
AMANDA JOHNSON, COUSIN (on phone): I have no idea, but O do know one thing is for sure, Paige is not the kind of person that would just up and disappear. Not from her mother, not from her daughter especially, her sister, me. You know, she just wouldn`t take off like that and not talk to none of us. I mean, it just doesn`t make any sense.
And I think Jacob and Caleb Bumpass know something, and I just wish that they would, you know, talk to us and let us know where she`s at and what happened. And, you know, shed some light on this thing. Because we need to know what happened to Paige.
CASAREZ: Yes, we do. And time is of the essence. To Lynn in Texas. Hi, Lynn.
CALLER: Hello. My condolences, first, to the family. I have two questions. I won`t take up much time. One is why would a self-respecting 22-year-old get a 17-year-old drunk and drop her off four blocks from her sister`s house?
And secondly, did he know the area well enough to know that it was called a dangerous area, like a lot of crime happens there, so he can use it as a cover-up for what he did do?
CASAREZ: That`s a good question. Good two questions. We might have to get the second one after the break. But as for the first one, why would a 22-year-old get a young 17-year-old girl drunk or fused with alcohol? He admitted that he did that, but he hasn`t been charged. But we`ve got to tell you about his parole violation. We`ll be right back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNSON: We miss Paige and we want her home safe. And it`s just been horrible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Vanished into thin air.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look for her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just need to find her.
GRACE: So many cases.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re still looking.
GRACE: So few leads.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Missing.
GRACE: Missing person.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s our duty to find her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The witness seen the suspect on Nancy Grace.
GRACE: There is a God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nancy Grace show was out there for us.
GRACE: Found. Alive. 50 people, 50 days, 50 nights. Let`s don`t give up.
DONNA JOHNSON, MOTHER OF MISSING 17-YEAR-OLD TEEN MOM, PAIGE JOHNSON: The thing that bothers me the most is not knowing.
It`s not like her not to call someone.
We don`t understand what happened to Paige.
We just -- we miss Paige, and we want her home safe. And it`s just been horrible.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On September 23rd, 2010, 17-year-old mom, Paige Johnson was picked up from her mother`s house by friend, Jacob Bumpass. Bumpass allegedly told police he dropped Paige off at an intersection in nearby Covington, Kentucky. Paige is reported missing by family soon after, and nobody has seen her since.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have tracking dogs, and we also have cadaver dogs out there. We`re going to stay out here as long as we can be effective. We`re searching areas that we think have a higher likelihood of finding somebody.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police began focusing their investigation on Bumpass who they say is no longer cooperating with the investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops reveal that Bumpass` cell phone records show he was miles away from the spot he claims he dropped Paige off at.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was nowhere in Covington. He completely lied about it, you know? So, she never had the chance to get to the destination she was going to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s not been named a suspect in the case. Despite intense searches and possible evidence recovered, Paige Johnson never found.
JOHNSON: This is the guy that was last with my daughter, please talk. Please tell the truth so that we can, you know, just find out where she is, what happened to her. Please tell us. Please.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": I`m Jean Casarez. Here`s what we know. Paige Johnson, she disappeared September 23rd, 2010. We know who she was last seen with. It was Jacob Bumpass, a friend of her sister`s and others friends. She left her home where she lived with her mother and grandmother, but they didn`t know she was leaving with him.
To Jessica Noll, reporter/producer with KYPost.com. What did Jacob Bumpass say before he got an attorney? What did he say that the two of them did that night? Because we can`t hear from her. She`s missing.
JESSICA NOLL, REPORTER, PRODUCER KYPOST.COM: Right. He said he picked her up at 11:00 from her house in Florence, took her back to his place, and then, they hung out. He admitted to giving her alcohol. And according to him, at 1:00 a.m., he dropped her off at Covington which was a couple blocks from her sister`s.
CASAREZ: All right. And to Lynn in Texas, who was our last question. Did he know the area at all? Before he lawyered up, did he make any type of statement that he knew the area where he dropped her off in?
NOLL: He did not make any statement with that, however, he lives in Taylor Mill, Kentucky, which is not that far from where he dropped her off. So, it would go to reason that he would know what kind of area he was dropping her off in.
CASAREZ: Common sense would tell us he did. All right. Natisha Lance, he says he drops her off at an intersection. The cell phone pings, and I think we have a map of those to show where they went through the evening and through the early parts of the morning. They tell a different story, right?
NATISHA LANCE, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: That`s right, Jean. He says that he was in this one area. Looking at this map, OK, 1:09 a.m., it says that Bumpass is in this other area which is about ten miles away from where he says he was dropping Paige off. Then, as it continues to go forward, it goes 1:30, 2:00 a.m., there`s another ping from another location which is near Wilder, Kentucky. 2:58 a.m. a ping off the tower near Deadly Pike in Edgewood, Kentucky. 4:13 a.m., now, it gets interesting, this is where his cell phone pings from Ohio.
At 4:18 a.m., there`s another tower ping and that is near that state forest park where police did that very extensive search for Paige Johnson. That, again, is in Ohio. 5:00 a.m. ping, this is now from Cincinnati, Ohio, and 9:43 a.m. is when his cell phone pings back from Kentucky near where he lived at his apartment in --
CASAREZ: All right. To Pat Brown, criminal profiler, what do you make of this? Because this state forest, this park, thousands of acres, it was really searched by investigators from numerous agencies to try to find Paige Johnson. They didn`t find anything.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, not yet, but look at this. Bumpass obviously wasn`t much of a gentleman because he didn`t take the poor girl straight up to her sister`s door. And why didn`t he do that? Because if he did that, he`d have to explain how she disappeared from his car right into the house. Somebody grabbed her on the porch, and he didn`t see it. So, obviously, it`s not going to work if he has to say he dropped her some place else.
And then, after he drops her off, he decides he wants to commune with nature so he goes into the park in the middle of the night to see the stars, I suppose. So, I mean, all of his story is garbage. And it`s interesting, too, that he crossed state lines. And people who are very familiar with the criminal justice system know it`s a good idea to do that. So, I think they`re going to have to continue the search. Unfortunately, it`s very hard when you`re looking through a whole big park.
CASAREZ: But it`s also a bad thing to do that because when you cross state lines, you can get federal charges. So, to Alex Sanchez, defense attorney, joining us from New York. I got another question for you. This case reminds me of what we`re going through with the Casey Anthony case right now, because this Bumpass guy, this was the last person to see her. Police want to ask him where she could be or any more information, but he has lawyered up which is his Fifth Amendment constitutional right.
He has asserted his right to having a lawyer. So, they`re stopped. They can`t get any information from him, and they`re trying to find somebody if she`s still alive.
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You know, it`s very frustrating from the investigators` point of view and from the parents` point of view. He has the most information to provide, but in our system of criminal justice, he has the right to remain silent and not speak to anybody. There`s only one way that he could be forced to speak and that if he is given a subpoena and ordered to testify in the grand jury.
But if he testifies, then he would have immunity. So, they may ultimately find out what happened, but he wouldn`t be prosecuted if he testified in the grand jury under a court order.
CASAREZ: And Jacob Bumpass, everybody, is not a suspect. He has been named a person of interest. He has not been charged in the murder, abduction, or even delinquency of a minor. And we contact his attorney, he did not contact us back. Marc Klaas, what do you think?
MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT & FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: Really concerned about Donna. She`s obviously physically, psychologically and emotionally diminished from the last time we talked to her which was shortly after Paige disappeared. And quite frankly, Donna, you have to get tough. You are the best advocate your daughter will ever have. She needs you now more than she`s ever needed you in her life. You need to start eating, you need to start sleeping. See doctors.
They may be able to help you with these things, but you need to recover for her because she needs you to do that. Take a look at me. I went through what you went through. I went two months not knowing where my daughter was. Fortunately, we did find out. Unfortunately, Polly was dead, but I want to be an example to you of somebody that can get through this and put their life back together.
But you really have to get strong for Paige because this may be a long and bumpy road for you. I don`t believe that Bumpass will ever tell anybody what happened that night. I think it`s in his best interest not to. Therefore, it might be a long slog, but you need to be there for her.
CASAREZ: Miss Johnson, tell us about your daughter. She is beautiful as we`re seeing her pictures on the screen. What is she like?
JOHNSON: She`s just precious. And I miss her so much. I miss watching movies with her and laughing around the house and just going shopping with her and just -- she`s a beautiful, beautiful person. Yet, she`s young and naive and I think she trusted the wrong people as her friends.
CASAREZ: So, she was very trusting. What you`re telling me is she was very, very trusting with people.
JOHNSON: I think so. Yes. And I don`t understand this whole law where you don`t have to talk, you know? I think that if a child`s involved, there should be a law made, a different law, to where if it involves a child, you shouldn`t have the right to remain silent. You shouldn`t have lawyers saying that you don`t have to talk. I don`t understand that. I think that needs to be changed. When it comes to children, you shouldn`t -- you should have to talk. You should have to be made to talk.
CASAREZ: It is a very difficult situation. It`s constitutionally based, but it sure has no place with emotion. You`re so right.
Tonight, everybody, please help us find Chris Shelton. He is 36 years old. He vanished on February 15th, 2011, from Muskogee, Oklahoma. He is a white male, 5 feet 7 inches tall, 175 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. If you have any information, please call 918-687-1275.
If your loved one is missing and you need help, go to CNN.com/nancygrace and send us your story. We want to help you find your loved ones.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s a teen mom of a 2-year-old child.
JOHNSON: She`s never been gone like this before.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re doing everything we can.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you see her anywhere --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seventeen-year-old Paige Johnson.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Paige.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Paige.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Paige mysteriously disappears and is never heard from again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hoping for the best.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re doing everything we can to let her know that we love her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But suspecting the worse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A man claims he dropped off Paige at a friend`s house in Covington, Kentucky.
JOHNSON: This is very unusual.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Law enforcement says that man has lawyered up and refuses to talk with investigators.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just, I want her to come home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Posting fliers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just need to -- want to get a lot of these up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Begging for answers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Investigators reveal Paige didn`t have a cell phone or any credit cards. Another hurdle to tracking Paige.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez. Paige Johnson, where is she? If you know anything, if you`ve been told anything, this is the time to step forward to find her.
I want to go out to Paula Bloom, clinical psychologist, joining us tonight from Atlanta. Dr. Bloom, Jacob Bumpass has admitted before he lawyered up that he took Paige Johnson to his home and that he applied her with alcohol, as the phrase goes. What I want to know is if he dropped her off at this intersection in this bad area, what would being drunk, having that alcohol in her do to her out there on a street corner, and what would it do to him if he allegedly abducted her?
PAULA BLOOM, PSY.D., CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Oh my goodness. Yes, I mean, alcohol, first of all, really, you`re an adult giving alcohol to a kid? That`s one thing right there. And two, I mean, alcohol, in general, is a really bad idea because it impairs your judgment and impairs your ability to override your instinct. People who are using alcohol, you have a much higher likelihood of engaging in violence and doing things that are just really a bad idea.
But a 17-year-old who has a buzz, I mean, it just -- listen, this just doesn`t pass the smell test for me.
CASAREZ: I want to go out to Donna Johnson, the mother of Paige Johnson. Miss Johnson, did your daughter take anything with her when she left that night?
JOHNSON: I think just her purse.
CASAREZ: She did take her purse. We`re so sorry. We`re so sorry what you`re going through.
JOHNSON: Thank you.
CASAREZ: We`re trying to help, and we hope that by broadcasting this that someone --
JOHNSON: I appreciate it.
CASAREZ: Who knows something can come forward, because we want you to find your daughter. So, her purse obviously was never found?
JOHNSON: I just -- I just wish that Bumpass would tell the truth. I know that he knows. I know that he`s lied through this whole thing. There`s too many things, too much evidence showing that he`s lied. And I know he knows and I wish he was watching right now, and he would have a heart and put it into our -- I mean, we`re never going to -- the heartbreak`s never going to be over.
I know that, but if he could just bring, you know, some answers to us so that we can get her back where she belongs here with us, one way or another. I just -- at night, not knowing where she`s at or what exactly they did to her or happened to her. It`s so hard to deal with it.
CASAREZ: I know. I can imagine. Alex Sanchez, defense attorney. I know you`re a defense attorney and I know we all believe in the constitution, but if he has answers, how can we, how can we learn them? He`s on a parole, probation violation for theft. He`s in there for a couple more years. He violated probation by having alcohol in his home, but if you were representing him, what could you say to him to try to just get through to some truth?
SANCHEZ: You know, I tell you, Jean, you know, this case I find very this disturbing. I have a 17-year-old daughter, so I can understand how this woman feels, but in terms of Mr. Bumpass, Mr. Bumpass is not likely to come forward. I can`t believe that Mr. Bumpass watching this show as he is right now would not come forward and say, listen, the heck with the lawyers, I made a mistake, this is what I did, here`s the answers, but that only happens on TV.
And it`s not likely to happen here. If I was representing him, I would be doing the same thing that other defense attorneys would do, and I would advise him to remain silent. And I`m sorry that that`s what defense attorneys have to do, but that`s what I would have to do if I was his lawyer.
CASAREZ: Yes. You`re damned if you do, darned if you don`t. Marc Klaas, president and founder of Klaaskids Foundation. If Bumpass isn`t talking and if he has the answers, he`s a person of interest, has not been charged, his cell phone pings may tell the truth, and they`re in this large state forest area. Do you advise her mother to do everything she can and law enforcement for more searches in that area?
KLAAS: Well, I believe they have no choice because he certainly is never going to say anything to anybody, and quite frankly, may get away with a horrible crime just by keeping silent. So, yes, it`s a 10,000-acre facility, as I understand it, and you could theoretically search that for the next hundred years and never find Paige there even if she is there, but if I could very quickly, Donna asked why there`s not a law.
The reality is, and everybody`s talking about the constitution, the constitution affords endless rights to the perpetrators of crime or to those that are accused of committing crime, but the word victim does not exist in the United States constitution. As far as the constitution is concerned and the criminal justice system is concerned, victims are second- class citizens. And until we get a victims` rights amendment to the United States constitution, we will never have any equity in the criminal justice system. It will always -- it will always default to them.
CASAREZ: Well said, Marc Klaas. To Captain Teal Nally, spokesperson for the Covington Police Department joining us from Kentucky. Do you have more searches planned for that huge area? What are your next steps?
VOICE OF CAPT. TEAL NALLY, SPOKESPERSON, COVINGTON POLICE DEPT.: We`ve been to the park several times. The most obvious one was the large- scale effort that we made, but we`re also teaming up with Texas Equu Search. They`re a group that is very skilled in large-scale searches, and they`re going to come and look at what we`ve got and see if there`s some more evidence that we can turn up and maybe help us, help lead us in the right direction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re very scared, and we want her to come home.
JOHNSON: She wouldn`t want to just leave. This is very unusual. She`s never been gone like this before, and we don`t understand what happened to Paige.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CASAREZ: These are the faces of America`s missing. Every 30 seconds, another child, a sister, a brother, a father or mother, they disappear. Their families are left behind wondering and waiting and hoping. We have not forgotten.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sabah Karriem-Conner vanished from Atlanta, Georgia at age 16. Her mother won`t give up hope.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are very worried and very concerned and I miss my daughter. I love my daughter. I just want some closure on the whole situation. As a young girl, she was loving. She`s very smart. She`s an artist, a poet. She was always concerned about family. That`s why I know that this is not her, this is 11 years later. She wouldn`t go this long without contacting us. I never got to see her prom or anything of her growing up, you know, her childhood. All that`s been taken from me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clinton Devon Nelson is a missing 25-year-old from Princeton, Louisiana. He was last seen leaving a friend`s house. He has a medical condition. If you have any information, call 318-965-2203.
Half sisters, Tiffany Claudette Wise and Brandi Jondell Summers were kidnapped after their mother was killed at home. The girls were just two and five years old. The father looks back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From what I know, they said that somebody knocked at the door, and as soon as my wife answered the door, the door was thrown open. She was knocked to the floor. The bruises indicated that she was stabbed twice and left propped up in the chair in the middle of my living room. So, when I came home from work that`s what I found.
Tiffany Claudette was rambunctious. We called her Little Tazmanian Devil. Brandi was very, very reserved and very quiet and very loving. Brandi also had cystic fibrosis. I believe that somehow, some way, that they`re both grown adults with normal happy lives, and they just have no idea what`s happened. A little ray of hope that maybe somehow, someway, that our paths will cross again in life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez. See you tomorrow night, nine o`clock sharp eastern. Until then, we will be looking. Goodnight, everybody.
END
