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Jane Velez-Mitchell
Who Killed Hiawayi Robinson?; Family of Five Found Dead in Master Bedroom; Can Jodi Arias Get an Impartial Jury?
Aired September 30, 2014 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... we were able to, through the forensic evidence, put Kyle Gilley at the scene. We`ve showed that Kyle Gilley was the killer.
Without the forensic evidence, there`s no conviction.
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST: Tonight a frantic search for a child killer. Eight-year-old Hiawayi Robinson vanished two weeks ago when she left her
family`s apartment to go see her cousin in the very same complex. The family says she walked down a short flight of stairs into the courtyard.
She didn`t have to leave the area. She didn`t have to cross the street, but her cousin wasn`t home.
Around the same time, investigators say tonight that Hiawayi was captured on surveillance video -- You`re looking at it right there -- at a
convenience store just three blocks away from her home. She bought $4 worth of candy, $4 worth of candy, and then ran around the side of the
building.
Now her family says she didn`t have money when she left to visit her cousin. Who gave her the $4? Is that the killer, the person who gave her
those $4?
The image you`re looking at is the last image of this precious child ever seen alive. Two days later, the third grader`s body was found behind an
abandoned building just two miles away. The autopsy shows she was suffocated. Sources tell our affiliate, WRKG -- KRG, there were no signs
of sexual assault.
So what was the motive for snuffing out this innocent life? That remains a total mystery tonight.
And also tonight, the FBI is now diving in and heading up the homicide investigation to find this child`s cold-blooded killer, pleading with the
public for any clues whatsoever.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I need is for someone who knows something to call, to give us some information, because I`m confident there`s somebody out
there somewhere who knows...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We want to help. Tonight we`re digging deep into this mystery to get to the naked truth of what really happened to this innocent
child, who loved Hello Kitty and candy and who was excited about celebrating her 9th birthday last week. Tragically, she died before she
could celebrate that 9th birthday.
Did authorities drop the ball by failing to issue an Amber Alert when she first went disappeared? We`re going to talk to a local politician who is
up in arms and demanding change in the Amber Alert system.
What monster did Hiawayi encounter in the moments after she left home? What`s your theory? Call me: 1-877-JVM-SAYS, 1-877-586-7297. And please
join the conversation by going to my Jane Velez-Mitchell Facebook page. Or you can talk to me on Twitter, @JVM.
Our Lion`s Den expert panel is standing by, ready to debate. But first, straight out to reporter Emily Hill from AL.com. Emily, you`re on the
ground in Mobile -- Mobile, Alabama. What is the very latest?
EMILY HILL, REPORTER, AL.COM: Well, yesterday a group of community members gathered outside of the Mobile County Metro Jail in anticipation of an
arrest in the Hiawayi Robinson case. However, I spoke with the Mobile County District Attorney, Ashley Rich, who told me that these were just
rumors. An arrest had not been in the case. I also spoke with the FBI today, and they say that they can continue to investigate along with local
and state partners, and they again urge anyone with information to call 1- 800-CALL-FBI.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Listen, I want to go back. You see the search that occurred and then, ultimately, this child found behind an abandoned
building just two miles from home. A precious girl who loved candy. Everybody who knew her knew she loved candy. A smart, just wonderful
child, snuffed. Snuffed out, killed for what reason? What motive?
Now my question: let`s take a look at the surveillance tape. And I want to bring in my expert panel. Let`s bring in the surveillance video, OK. And
we`re talking about the convenience store about three blocks from her home where she was spotted at 4:04 p.m.
Right around the time that her family says she left home to go visit her cousin, who turns out wasn`t there. So she leaves her home, let`s say.
Let`s just operate on this theory. And she goes three blocks, and in the course of these three blocks, she runs into somebody. And that somebody
gave her $4 and knew or found out that she liked candy.
She went in there. She spent about six minutes picking out the candy that she so enjoyed, paid $4, and then ran out.
Now here`s what`s interesting. Lisa Bloom, legal analyst, Avvo.com, when she went into the convenience store, she did not come from what you would -
- the direction that you would if you were coming from her apartment complex. She seemed to be coming from behind the convenience store.
When she left the convenience store, she seemed again to go behind the convenience store. Was a sicko, a deviant waiting behind the convenience
store, and could that be the very person that gave her the $4?
LISA BLOOM, LEGAL ANALYST, AVVO.COM: Well, the first thing that law enforcement should be doing is looking at all of the sexual predators in
the neighborhood. And it`s very easy to get an 8-year-old to do what you want when you give her a couple dollars for candy. You gain her trust,
because this is a naive innocent child. So that`s one of the oldest tactics in the book. "I`ll give you some money. Get some candy for
yourself. Get some candy for me. I`ll meet you out back." Grab her, pull her into the car. I mean, it`s a horrible, horrible scenario, but that
seems to me like what probably happened.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, here`s what`s interesting in a terrible way. The autopsy concluded that little Hiawayi died of suffocation. And according
to our affiliation, the source says there were no signs of sexual assault, so that eliminates a motive.
She was only 9 years old. She was a third grader at a nearby elementary school. So Gaytan -- Gaetane Borders, president, Peas in Their Pod, you
are a leading advocate nationally for missing children. You`re an expert on this. If there`s no sign of sexual assault, then what on earth could
the motive be for killing an innocent 8-year-old?
GAETANE BORDERS, PRESIDENT, PEAS IN THEIR POD: Who in the world knows the mind of these sickos? There`s no way to know. And I`m with you. The fact
that there was no sign of the sexual abuse, to me, points to a different direction. And you know better than me doing all these shows that you can
never eliminate everybody. There`s times when there`s other children who murder other children. So there`s no way to know.
But she got that money from somewhere, and it didn`t come from home. So it`s somebody that had a plan in mind.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jane, let me tell you something.
BLOOM: ... be a sign of sexual assault. You know, a lot of sexual predators don`t leave a sign. I don`t want to be too graphic on your show.
But he could have been touching himself. He could have been making her do things to him that wouldn`t necessarily leave a sign.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Brian Claypool, criminal defense attorney.
BRIAN CLAYPOOL, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Jane, it could also be that this child predator tried to sexually assault her, and then she rebuffed
those efforts, or fought back, and then the predator reacted by suffocating her. So I would not rule out that there was -- that there was an attempt
to commit sexual abuse on this little girl.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Elizabeth Espinosa, the $4 could be crucial. I wonder if there`s any way that they could find those four bills and see whether
there`s DNA or fingerprints on those bills that would lead back to whoever might have given her the money.
ELIZABETH ESPINOSA, CNN ESPANOL ANCHOR: Absolutely spot on. And I agree with you. But let me say this: the fact that this little girl was
suffocated to death says that there was so much anger. This person wanted her to stop talking. They didn`t want to hear a peep out of this third
grader.
And so I think that the family has to get looked at closely. I`m sure they`re doing that. We need to hear more, because this little girl
obviously trusted whoever this was. They gave her money. She didn`t look like she was distressed in this video. You know, she looked like any
little kid that`s given money to buy candy. She`s happy, and on her way, she goes.
We don`t know, as you pointed out, whether or not she walked there by herself. But I think this is someone much closer to this family circle.
It may be someone she knew, somebody who`d kind of seen her in the neighborhood and had seen her walk by herself in the past. And decided,
"Wait a minute, this might just be my chance." A crime of opportunity.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s go out the phone lines. Betty, Pennsylvania, what do you have to say? Betty, Pennsylvania.
CALLER: Hi, Jane. Love your show. Watch it every night.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you.
CALLER: This little girl, with her parents, were her married or divorced? If they`re divorced, did she have a boyfriend and he have a girlfriend and
they didn`t want -- they didn`t want her around so they just disposed of her?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let me go back to Emily Hill, reporter for AL.com.
My understanding is that the mother was at work when this occurred, this child`s mother, and that her mother -- in other words, the child`s
grandmother, was at home. But there`s also reporting that the child was talking to her dad about what she wanted for her birthday. And that`s why
she ran down to see her cousin to discuss the proposed birthday gift that she was so excited about.
So that being said, do we know anything else about who was home? And frankly, why didn`t they realize that the cousin that she was going to
visit wasn`t home? Because it would appear, if that story is true, that she left to visit her cousin and her cousin isn`t home, that it was after
that, perhaps, that she went off, figuring, "Well, I have nothing else to do. I`m going to go down to the convenience store."
HILL: According to police, she was in the care of her grandmother and was speaking on the phone with her father. Went to go to her cousin`s place in
the same apartment complex but never made it there.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Well, listen. We have to talk a little bit about the background of the dad. And we say this not to, in any way, make
anybody feel bad. This is because we have to just lay out the facts to look at everything, in the hopes of finding whoever`s responsible. So no
stone unturned.
We`ve looked at the background, and it appears that -- according to our background check, Hiawayi`s father was arrested for alleged domestic
violence about six years ago. At the time, it appears that he had a probation violation as well.
Got to go back to Emily Hill, reporter. Do we have any idea whatsoever what the domestic violence entailed? The alleged domestic violence? Did
it involve any children? This child would have been about two years old at the time, so that was several years ago. What do you know, if anything?
HILL: Right now, we really don`t have any more information on the father and his circumstances. We have, of course, been in contact with Richard
police, but right now, we do not know anything further than that.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Do we have state senator...
CLAYPOOL: Jane?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Go ahead, go ahead, Brian.
CLAYPOOL: Jane, I just have a question. Do we know whether it`s been confirmed that the cousin was not home when she went over there? Because I
agree with Elizabeth. I really believe that this was committed by somebody really close to her, either family, relatives, or a close friend. And they
really need to take a close look at that, as well.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: State senator Vivian Figures, I believe that`s how you pronounce your name. Thank you for joining us. I know that you are upset
that an Amber Alert was not issued immediately for this precious child.
Look at her. Look at that face. Think about the excitement she had over her upcoming 9th birthday, only to be asphyxiated, is what they think.
Asphyxiated, basically deprived of air and killed in the process, before she could celebrate her 9th birthday. What do you think should have been
done by authorities the second they were told this child was missing?
VIVIAN FIGURES, STATE SENATOR (via phone): Well, actually, Jane, you know, Hiawayi has just stolen the hearts of the entire community, so the
community was very upset that an Amber Alert was not put out upon knowing of her disappearance.
However, as you know, the Amber Alert has certain stipulations that must be followed before an Amber Alert can be put out. You know, it has to be
reasonable belief by law enforcement that an actual abduction has taken place.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. Let me stop you right there. Let me stop you right there. An 8-year-old doesn`t hail a cab and say, "I`m going to lunch. My
cousin isn`t home." Anytime an 8-year-old child disappears, it`s a suspected abduction. Do you agree with me, Gaetane Borders? You`re the
president of Peas in Their Pod. You`re an advocate for missing children.
BORDERS: Jane, you know me well enough to know that this is a pet peeve of mine. It just rubs me the wrong way. Absolutely. Of course there are
stipulations that Amber Alert has to put in place, but come on. The obvious here is that there was a child that was in danger, and an Amber
Alert should have been initiated. The Amber Alert is flawed. Absolutely.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Should the Amber Alert system be changed so that, when an 8-year-old goes missing, even if there`s no vehicle involved, it`s
automatically a suspected abduction? We`re going to discuss that on the other side.
And how can we solve the mystery? Who`s responsible? Who gave her the $4? How did she get three blocks at the age of 8 to a convenience store? Why
didn`t she approach from where she would if she was coming from home? Somebody knows answers. Call me. Stay right there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are committed to overturning every stone in diligent pursuit of the justice of little Hiawayi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Where is little Hiawayi? She was reported missing just hours after she vanished the afternoon of September 16. Cops claim they
couldn`t put out an Amber Alert, because her disappearance didn`t meet Department of Justice criteria. She was found dead two days later. Listen
to this explanation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did not put out the Amber Alert, as I explained before in the previous media releases, simply because we`ve not been able
to determine at this point whether or not an abduction had occurred. And that`s one of the key elements to an Amber Alert.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Out to our debate panel. Elizabeth Espinosa, and 8-year- old. When an 8-year-old girl disappears -- and we`re looking at other child abduction Amber Alerts, which they did not issue for this child.
When an to me, it`s automatically suspicious. You`ve got to assume that she`s abducted because the child, despite maybe being given $4 by some
deviant, cannot hail a cab and go off to the movies by themselves by the nature of being a child. They are -- by the very nature of being a child.
If you disappear, it`s suspicious.
ESPINOSA: Exactly. And you know what? Jane, this is a third grader. It`s not like she jumped on her smartphone and said, "Let me call Uber or
Side Car for a ride to the candy store." Clearly, there`s a problem here, and we need to act quick.
Those first 24 hours are everything. Talk to any homicide investigator. They will tell you, those are crucial hours. And so yes, I understand we
don`t want to overburden the system with all this information. If you`re walking down the street, or you`re driving down the highway and you see a
little girl and description, that`s all.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Lisa Bloom, did cops drop the ball?
BLOOM: Jane, can we talk about the elephant in the room? If this was a little white girl, she`d be all over the national media. Kudos to you. I
think you`re the only one in the national media covering this story.
And of course there would be an Amber Alert. All right? This is about the devaluation of African-Americans in America. That`s why this little girl
didn`t get the same level of attention, didn`t get wall-to-wall coverage. And especially in that first 24 hours, which is the most critical time.
You can`t sit around when an 8-year-old is missing and wonder, "Oh, gee. I don`t know. Is it an abduction? Let`s talk about it tomorrow; let`s talk
about it three days from now." The first 24 hours is the most critical time period.
CLAYPOOL: Lisa -- Lisa, respectfully, how do you -- you don`t have any information at all this is racially motivated. Have you done any research
at all to confirm that?
BLOOM: I have books about this.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: One at a time.
CLAYPOOL: Let me finish. Let`s focus on whether an Amber Alert is practical in this kind of situation. I have a little 8-year-old girl. I
would love to have an Amber Alert issued immediately if something happened.
Look, parents have to police from within, as well. A lot of these instances in which kids are missing turn out to be something family
related. Somebody didn`t call so and so. We can`t be using law enforcement resources to be responding to all...
BLOOM: What is...
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: One at a time.
BLOOM: What is a more important use of law enforcement resources than finding a child? Tell me one thing that`s more important for our police to
be doing.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. I want Gaetane Borders to respond to that.
BORDERS: Thank you. I mean, a lot of valid points here. Every 40 seconds a child is reported missing, and the vast majority of them are found.
However, there is something to be said for common sense. If you interview the parents and they assure you that their child has never run away,
they`re 8 years old, they`re out in the rain, God knows where. Why not implement something?
The structure of the Amber Alert is flawed. And I`m tired of people saying that this is the way it is.
CLAYPOOL: Why are their parents letting an 8 -- why are their parents letting an 8-year-old run out of the house?
BORDERS; That`s not the issue. That`s not the issue.
CLAYPOOL: Well, the issue is parents need to start...
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hold on. I want to go back to State Senator Vivian Figures. You are proposing a new law that you`re going to name after
Hiawayi to revise the Amber Alert system. Tell us very quickly in laymen`s terms about that.
FIGURES: Yes, ma`am. This bill is going to put in effect the major goal of this it is to make sure that an alert can be put out almost immediately,
at least within two hours of that child being reported missing.
The fact of the matter is that the Amber Alert is outdated. And it was my -- it is my intention to put something in place that`s going to help
protect children; it`s going to help increase the probability of children being found as soon as humanly possible.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Listen, she disappeared at around 4 p.m. She was seen on that surveillance tape at 4:04. Her parents, her family reported her
missing that night. So let`s say around 8:30 at night. Had an Amber Alert been issued immediately, then perhaps, would it be fair to say, Elizabeth
Espinosa, that two days later she may not have been found behind an abandoned building, asphyxiated, but she might have been found maybe in
somebody`s car or maybe walking the street? We don`t know.
ESPINOSA: Well, but it`s a very fair question. And I think it`s a fair assessment to say that the outcome could have been different. And I think
you just have to increase your odds. Do whatever you can to make sure that we find children that go missing and we do it in that critical 24-hour
period.
And also to your credit, Jane, I also think that local media outlets need to do more. They also need to cover these stories and actually get time
and keep putting the picture up there, because it is a platform. It is a very important platform for them to get the word out.
And I also would be interested in knowing, you know, this is a small town. I`m not discriminating here, but I am, you know, coming to you from Los
Angeles. And, you know, there is something to be said about the training in different parts of the world in terms of, like, how much experience they
have. And I would want to know how much this police department knows how to handle a situation like this and pushing on their end.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: On Twitter...
ESPINOSA: ... coverage or something for this little girl.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: On Twitter, somebody says, "This beautiful young girl was killed and abducted by a familiar face that knew her very well."
OK? She loved candy. Did somebody who knew her know that she loved candy and lured her with the money?
We`re going to stay on top of this story. We want to figure it out.
Now, this is a shocker coming up. Five members of the same family, including mom and dad and three children, all found dead in the parents`
bedroom and there is not a single thing that indicates what killed them. Not a single thing. No sign of forced entry. No violence to their bodies.
No suicide note. No nothing. How on earth did this beautiful, healthy family suddenly all die? We`re going to talk exclusively with a close
family friend next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Friends, neighbors, and police officers alike still can`t believe what happened after five members of the Strack family were
found dead in their home Saturday night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I mean, this was five -- two parents and three of their children all at once, and we don`t know what caused it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Five members of one family died over the weekend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don`t know what caused it. They went in and found the five people and the family were all deceased. No sign of violent
trauma. There were no, for example, gunshot or stab wounds or anything like that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The bodies of Benjamin Strack and his wife and three of their children were discovered by their oldest son on Saturday night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The very strange mystery of an entire family that died unexplainably --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, breaking news in a very strange, very mysterious case. A community in Utah stunned as cops say a family of five found dead,
all five found by their adult son found dead in their Utah home, not a single shred of evidence points to how or why. Family and neighbors are
totally devastated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Read that it was them. It was like a part of me was gone. A part of me was lost.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Investigators say 37-year-old Ben Strack, his wife 36- year-old Kristi, and their three children ages 11 to 14 were all found dead inside the master bedroom of the duplex. But that`s where the answers end.
Police say they found no sign of gunshots, no stab wounds, no sign of a break in, no injuries on their bodies, no suicide note, no nothing. Cops
say tests for carbon monoxide were negative as well.
My expert "Lion`s Den" panel is ready to debate this. But first I want to go straight out to my exclusive guest, Amanda Muir, a very long-time friend
of the deceased mom, Kristi Strack. Amanda, thank you so much for joining us. I know this has to be horrifying and shocking to you. So my heart
goes out to you. I can`t imagine losing a good friend in this bizarre way.
Tell us about your friend Kristi and her marriage to Ben and, you know, how long they`d been together, why they home schooled the kids. Describe this
couple for us.
AMANDA MUIR, FRIEND OF KRISTI STRACK (via telephone): They`ve been together since `96 or `97. I just want to say I haven`t -- I haven`t
spoken with Kristi for about four or five years, but I was best friends with her from junior high to about five years ago.
She was -- she was crazy. She was so much fun. She`s always in a good mood. She loved Ben so much. When she met him, she just fell head over in
heels in love with him. She had to have him. She tried forever and she finally got him and she just -- they both loved each other so much. And
they love their children --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And why did she home school her kids?
MUIR: Well, I think there`s probably a few reasons for that. Probably why anybody home schools their children is she probably wanted to protect them
from the crappy world that we live in. Who knows what reason why she home schooled them. There`s lots of reasons why she could have done it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We have to -- not to embarrass or add to anybody`s pain, but to understand the mystery, to try to solve it we have to do background
checks and we did background checks on this family and we have to say, it pains me to say this because I know the family is suffering, but they had
some problems. They had filed for bankruptcy about ten years ago and they both owed money to numerous people.
In fact, let`s leave it right there for the time being. The dad was arrested for writing bad checks, obtaining illegal credit cards, allegedly
stealing property. He was arrested for disorderly conduct. The mother was arrested in 2008 for alleged forgery, theft, a DUI.
Let me ask you about that, because, again, Amanda, it pains me to even bring this stuff up.
MUIR: Right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But this is a total unadulterated mystery. Nobody has the slightest clue why five people including three innocent children and two
adults that appeared to love each other and love their kids, ended up dead in the same room. So we can`t ignore this.
MUIR: I don`t think anything financial had to do with it, but then again I haven`t been in contact with Kristi for five or six years. So who knows?
But I cannot --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let me say this, Amanda. Her bankruptcy, their bankruptcy was before that in 2004 when you knew her. Did she ever talk to you about
money problems?
MUIR: Oh, sure. I mean we talked about everything, but it wasn`t -- I don`t think financial reasons were the reasons for this at all.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, what do you think happened?
MUIR: Well, we`ll have to wait to get the toxicology screen back.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So do you think they committed suicide en masse? Do you think they were murdered? Do you think -- what do you think?
MUIR: I just think that will be interesting to see what the toxicology report comes back with.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I have to ask you to stand by. And I want to bring in our panel for a second. Then we have another exclusive guest, Ben`s
former boss who is delighted to join us -- we`re delighted to have him, I should say.
But here`s a very, very bizarre aspect to this. Cops say when they arrived at their home, several doors had been opened. The family`s adult cat and
ferrets -- pets were free to walk around the house. They were fine. They also found a kitten locked inside a separate room -- a different room from
where the dead bodies were found. The animals -- all three of these household pets were totally uninjured.
So let`s go out to the "Lion`s Den", Lisa Bloom, legal analyst (AUDIO GAP), so it doesn`t look like carbon monoxide poisoning, and then you have the
kitten in the room. What could have happened?
BLOOM: Right. It does sound like carbon monoxide poisoning because the pets weren`t in the same room and they could go in and out and this family
was all in the same room. However as you point out, the tests are negative. So was a window open? I would want to retest because that seems
like the most obvious.
The next most obvious would be poisoning. But you would think that one of the five would have vomited. There would be some signs of the body trying
to reject the poison. Typically you see that in poisoning cases. You don`t see that here. So frankly I`m at a loss. And I agree. We need to
see what the toxicology would show.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, the other thing is you would see maybe some cups, some kind of a glass or something if they were, as they say, drinking the
Kool-Aid. There would be some kind of evidence of what they were consuming because they would be dying. And you also think that one of them would
have decided, I`m not going along with this and high tailed it out of there.
On the other side of the break, we`re going to talk to the former boss of the father here to try to solve this tragic mystery. All the people you`re
looking at there are dead. What happened to them? There is not a single shred of evidence. It is a complete and utter mystery.
I want you to tweet me and Facebook me and call me. What do you think?
Stay right there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A family member told us they had spoken with the people who live here earlier this morning, and that they hadn`t heard from them.
They stopped by when they came by. They went in and found the five people and the family were all deceased.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I read that it was them, it was like a part of me was gone. A part of me was lost.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What happened to the Strack family of five -- this gorgeous family out of Utah? Every single person that you`re looking at
there, dead -- the entire family. Twitter saying "A family of five doesn`t just sit in the master bedroom and drop dead without something happening."
Twitter: "Secrets kill. A family who`s in trouble decided to end it."
We don`t know, but we do know that the family had filed for bankruptcy ten years ago. They both owed money to numerous people. The dad had been
arrested for allegedly writing bad checks and obtaining illegal credit cards. And the list goes on and on.
I want to bring in Alex Smith, our exclusive guest. You are Ben Strack`s, the dead father`s former boss. I want to thank you for joining us sir. I
know you speak from a good place hoping to solve this case, but we have to look at some of the things that are -- are wrong -- that were going wrong
with this seemingly perfect family.
Now, I understand -- first of all, tell us about Ben and the kind of worker he was and the kind of person he was.
ALEX SMITH, FORMER BOSS OF BENJAMIN STRACK (via telephone): He was a good worker when he came to work. No one had any complaints.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But I understand he would sometimes disappear for stretches.
SMITH: Yes, we hadn`t seen him in two weeks.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You had not seen him two weeks before you found out that he and his family were dead.
SMITH: Right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And this wasn`t a case where the family was lingering for a long time. We understand that it was this past Saturday at about 8:00
p.m. that the family was discovered dead by the 18-year-old son of the woman from another marriage and they had been seen Saturday morning,
apparently, talking to somebody, according to cops. They were only actually deceased for a short time before they were discovered which would
mean their bodies were not badly decomposed. We`re going to get to a forensic consultant in a second.
But Alex, what about the money issue? Because I understand that -- again, we say this not to embarrass, but to get to the truth so we can understand
what happened -- that the father owed you some money.
SMITH: I had helped him out before, yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`m sorry. Can you speak up, sir? I can`t understand.
SMITH: Yes. I had helped him out before through some rough times because like I said, when he was at work, he was an excellent worker.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So, did he use the money to pay his rent or what?
SMITH: Yes, I believe to pay his rent. I think he said he`s going (AUDIO GAP) to repair his car because he had car troubles with getting to work.
So it was to repair his car so he could make it to work more. So he called me.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Do you think that this was a suicide over financial issues or do you think this was a murder or an accident? What do you think?
SMITH: I`d like to think it was an accident. I mean I`m as puzzled as anyone else, you know. I would like to think it was an accident, but I
really have no idea because on the personal end I just knew little bits about his family and his wife and what I`d done to help. And like I said
just basically had him working for us.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, last question, do you think he was troubled? I mean if indeed this was some kind of suicide, and we don`t know, it would
certainly take a very deeply troubled man --
SMITH: No. I didn`t get that feeling at all that he was troubled. His kids were everything to him. So I didn`t get that from him at all.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok. Thank you, Alex. I appreciate you coming on and talking about that.
Dr. Joy Carter, forensic consultant, this is a puzzle. No signs of forced entry, no injuries to anyone. No sign of suicide in a sense of a suicide
note, or cups or pills. What the heck, Doctor?
DR. JOY CARTER, FORENSIC CONSULTANT (via telephone): Well, I think it the scene is going to be very important. Looking at photographs --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know what? I`m going to have to get back to you. I can`t hear you.
Elizabeth Espinosa -- what the heck? I`ll ask you that technical question.
ESPINOSA: It is a technical question because I thought the same thing. As soon as I saw the story I`m like, are you kidding me? But I have to tell
you, and you may remember this, especially if you`re out here in southern California. You may remember that Heaven`s Gate story which is like a
religious cult where like 39 people and like these Nikes the same color --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes -- sure.
ESPINOSA: -- like a cocktail. Remember that? With sedatives and poison and all these stuff.
And so I think here investigators are going to look into -- it`s going to turn out to be a suicide, I believe. I don`t think anybody else went in
there and killed them. I think that somehow that they went downstairs and you know -- it was like another day in the family home and the kids drank
something. They all went upstairs and they explained -- let`s go have a powwow of some sort and they were really going out to kill their children
and, you know, commit suicide.
(CROSSTALK)
CLAYPOOL: Jane.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Brian Claypool --
ESPINOSA: Some kind of religious ideology here.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Brian.
CLAYPOOL: Jane this is -- in my opinion, this is clearly a mass suicide. I don`t have a problem with two grown adults who want to choose to end
their life, but when they bring kids into the picture, I have a real problem with that.
The reality of this is these two parents had a criminal list that`s longer than my bucket list. I mean the mom was even charged with several
felonies. So that now raises another issue here, which is why weren`t these kids protected? I mean there were clearly signals --
BLOOM: Yes, but those were financial issues.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok.
CLAYPOOL: No, they`re not. They`re felonies for forgery.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: There`s a weird aspect to the story. The 18-year-old comes into the house, thinks something is wrong, then he goes and gets the
grandmother before he discovers the bodies. And then the two of them together enter and they both discover the bodies. What`s your thought on
that? Lisa.
ESPINOSA: Who are you addressing?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Lisa.
BLOOM: Jane, listen. Millions of Americans have financial problems. Millions of people declare bankruptcy and write bad checks and use credit
cards after they were cancelled. That`s a big difference between killing your children and killing yourself.
CLAYPOOL: Lisa, they had felony convictions.
BLOOM: I mean let`s not broad-brush them as terrible people because they had financial problems.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, listen, we could very well have to wait for --
CLAYPOOL: They home schooled their kids because they were brainwashing them.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh please -- no one knows that.
(CROSSTALK)
CLAYPOOL: They home schooled their kids. They brainwash them.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I have to bring us back to planet earth on this. We do not know. And I want to emphasize this. Our heart goes out to the family,
the extended family. We do not know why they died. We have to wait for the toxicology reports.
For all we know, it was some kind of poisoning in the air and the pets escaped because they weren`t in that room perhaps where the poisoning
occurred -- carbon monoxide. We don`t know.
We`re discussing it because it`s a news story, but we do not know. I want to emphasize that.
We`re going to stay on top of it.
Now, we do know Jodi Arias is a pathological liar. We do know she is at trial again to see whether she lives or whether she gets the needle,
literally; whether she should die by lethal injection. Her penalty phase is underway this week. It begins. Will we see her back on the stand
again? I`m going to talk to a friend victim, Travis Alexander`s on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jodi had a pony tail which makes her look very young. She was wearing a baggy tan sweater of some kind and she was doing what she
does best. She was turned towards every one of those jurors walking through the door and giving them a little bit of a smile.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fatal attraction. I don`t know how many times I`ve heard that. Look at Jodi. For Jodi to have done this or she had someone
to do it for her.
JODI ARIAS, GUILTY OF MURDER OF TRAVIS ALEXANDER: I`m not guilty. I didn`t hurt Travis. If I hurt Travis, if I killed Travis, I would beg for
the death penalty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: She is back and it`s chaos in the killer courtroom. Jodi Arias back in court this week face to face with a whole bunch of potential
jurors who say, "You know what, your honor, I`ve already made up my mind." Ok. Still, they`re being asked to decide whether she should get the death
penalty. Dozens of possible jurors have already fled, dismissed from her retrial after saying, "Yes, my minds are made up about Arias and I cannot
be impartial."
Jodi has, of course, already been convicted of murder. We`ve all heard the gruesome details about how she stabbed her lover Travis Alexander 29 times,
put a bullet in his head, sliced his throat ear to ear nearly decapitating him. A dismissed juror told one reporter, quote, "I was shocked that the
first jury didn`t deliver the death penalty. It was pretty clear cut to me, she butchered her boyfriend. She needs to die," end quote.
Wow. I wonder if there are jurors that are capable of being impartial about this case. All right. And could there be jurors that say they`re
impartial but they`re stealth jurors? They just want to get in there so they can have their way with Jodi Arias?
I want to go out to Julie Christopher, a friend of the victim Travis Alexander. Julie, as you see this get underway, do you see the circus
returning to Phoenix once again.
JULIE CHRISTOPHER, FRIEND OF TRAVIS ALEXANDER: Yes, ma`am. And you know what, knowing Jodi she had plenty of time to work on her acting skills.
This is her final act. We`re going to see a Jodi that is a victim. What`s painful, Jane, is that she`s going to paint a picture of Travis that`s
probably the horrible abuser, the horrible boyfriend. And the pain is that the family`s going to have to see that, to hear that.
And we know that Travis was completely the opposite. We already know that she`s going to be coming up with probably a different version of a
different story and lies, lies, lies. It`s going to be fake tears, Jane. Fake.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Julie -- you raise an important point. Will she try to put the victim on trial again? Jodi made Travis out to be a
monster, an evil guy. Even though all his buddies say he was a great guy. Jodi claimed that he beat her, he was a sexual deviant, a pedophile -- even
though there was absolutely no evidence that any of that was real.
Do you remember when she accused him of being interested in young boys?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KURT NURMI, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Did you believe Travis had an interest in young boys?
JUAN MARTINEZ, PROSECUTOR: Objection, hearsay.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Overruled.
ARIAS: Yes. One time it went sailing off the bed and it fell and (inaudible) the paper falls and it landed face up near my feet and it was a
photograph.
NURMI: What was in the photograph? What was the photograph of?
ARIAS: It was a picture of a little boy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We have 20 seconds left in the show. Brian and Lisa, will she get the death penalty? Yes or no starting with Lisa.
BLOOM: Oh, she probably will. This is Arizona, law and order state. Everybody despises Jodi Arias. I`d be shocked if it was anything else.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Brian, five seconds -- yes or no?
CLAYPOOL: No.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. We`ll see.
Nancy next.
CLAYPOOL: One juror`s going to fall in love with her.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
