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CNN Larry King Live

Dr. Phil: Inside Chester Stiles' Mind

Aired October 17, 2007 - 21:00   ET

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

DR. PHIL MCGRAW, GUEST HOST: Tonight, relief -- the man who struck fear in the hearts of parents is off the streets in a Nevada courtroom. Chester Arthur Stiles is not going anywhere. He faces 23 felony charges related to the sexual assault of a child his ex documented on videotape.
What makes him tick?

And could he really have done it?

His former girlfriend unlocks the secrets.

And hear from the mother of the girl Stiles is accused of raping. I have the exclusive.

It's an explosive hour that tackles tough questions and answers tonight on LARRY KING LIVE.

Well, good evening.

It's Dr. Phil.

And I am in for Larry King tonight.

And we're talking about Chester Stiles, the man that has been arrested now and charged with sexual assault of a precious, precious 3-year-old child.

My guests tonight are Ted Rowlands, CNN correspondent that's been covering the story for CNN, from Las Vegas this week.

Ed Miller, "America's Most Wanted" correspondent, who's covered the story since it broke.

We also have Elaine Thomas, ex-girlfriend of Chester Stiles. They dated back in 2003 for four to five months and then remained friends. She's been in touch with the police for the past month and trying to help them.

Conrad Claus is her attorney, that will be joining us, as well.

And Jerry Donohue, the attorney representing the little girl and the mother, who was depicted in the Nevada sex assault tape.

I'll tell you up front, gentlemen, I'm going to ask all of us to respect the name of the mother and the name of the child. While we want to talk about this, focus on it, raise awareness and learn from this, we don't want to unduly pull them into the middle of all of this.

Let me start.

Ted, you've been in Vegas covering the story this week.

What's the latest from Vegas and the courtroom?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was in court this morning when Stiles made his first initial court appearance. It was a relatively short appearance, about three minutes in duration. But if you see the videotape, he walked in. He was shackled -- both his arms and his legs shackled. And he looked straight down the entire time -- never really moving his eyes up at all.

He did have a short conversation with the judge when she asked him questions, but he kept his eyes on the ground.

Heavy security in there. Obviously, this guy is public enemy number one because of what he is accused of and the disgusting nature of that videotape. Heavy guards. Nobody in there from the family, we could tell. No stakeholders in the courtroom. But they wanted to make sure everybody was frisked going in.

Stiles basically waived his right to a quick arraignment right away. He is going to be back in court next month.

But this is a guy who's in protective custody for a reason. A lot of people are after him.

MCGRAW: Do you know what his situation is in jail?

Do they have him in isolation?

Does he have special guards on him?

He's certainly not in the general population or he would likely be dead before dark, right?

ROWLANDS: No doubt about it. He is being held in isolation by himself for his own protection. And the folks in Las Vegas are very aware of the charges against him, what this guy is accused of. And because of all the coverage of the case, everybody else in that prison -- or in that jail knows what -- what he did or what he is accused of doing.

MCGRAW: Ed, you've been on the story since the moment that it broke.

Tell me, were you surprised at his appearance in court today?

ED MILLER, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED," COVERING STILES STORY SINCE IT BROKE: Surprised a little bit. You know, I don't know if it's arrogance or stupidity, but usually when a fugitive is on the run and he knows people are looking for him, he changes his appearance. He shaves his head, colors his hair. We said on "America's Most Wanted" he probably had long hair, he probably was driving this old white Buick. And when they found him, he had the long hair. He had the white Buick. He didn't change anything.

So, again, I'm not sure whether he's stupid or just arrogant.

MCGRAW: You know, we've heard all of this about he'll never taken alive. He's a martial arts trained survivalist with attack knives and all of this sort of thing.

Were you surprised that when he was stopped, he basically reportedly kind of volunteered who he was...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

MCGRAW: ...and went peacefully without a fight?

MILLER: He kind of tried to talk his way out of it for a little bit. But then he gave up. Yes, I am a little surprised, because he does have a history of gun violations and of fighting back against police.

You know, this is not the first time he's in trouble with the law. He's resisted arrest before. As a matter of fact, he punched out a couple of cops once before when he was arrested.

So, again, he does have a violent past.

MCGRAW: Yes, so this is a bad guy.

Now, as all of you know, we have a platform on Dr. Phil this year called "Dr. Phil Now," where we're able to cover the stories that are on your mind.

And on today's edition of "Dr. Phil Now," I had a chance to talk to this little girl's mother. It's the first time she's talked to anyone. She broke her silence and agreed to share her thoughts and feelings with us.

Here's a clip from today's show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "DR. PHIL," COURTESY PETESKI PRODUCTIONS, CBS TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION GROUP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She doesn't remember anything. And we had a conversation, actually, just recently about if anybody touched her. And she says no, that shed tell me if they did. She'd scream she, she says.

MCGRAW: Describe your worst day, your worst moments about this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just cry and I blame it on myself.

How I could leave my daughter with somebody that I trusted and this still happened? Now, it's just -- I just don't trust anybody now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCGRAW: I can tell you that this mother is absolutely heartbroken. I mean all of us are so touched by anything that happens to a child, certainly anything this tragic.

And I know there have been a lot of people in the press, the media, the public that have said how in the world could you let this happen to your child and not know?

Well, let me tell you, these people are slick. They are professionals. They're good at what they do when they start worming their way into a child's life. So I promise you, it can happen to anybody. We're going to talk about that some more.

I'd like to go to Jerry Donohue and I'd like for you, if you could, Jerry, to tell the viewers how the alleged sexual assault happened, because this wasn't the mother that was watching the child whenever the alleged predator got his hands on her.

How did it actually happen?

JERRY DONOHUE, ATTORNEY FOR MOTHER OF GIRL SEEN IN NEVADA SEX- ASSAULT TAPE: Good evening, Dr. Phil.

The mother has told me that she really doesn't know how it happened, but because the video showed it was during the daytime and the mother did work during the day -- she went to work at 6:00 in the morning, got off at 3:00 in the afternoon, went home and spent time with the child. She strongly believes it occurred while she left the child in the care of a babysitter. She believes that somehow Stiles got past the babysitter.

MCGRAW: OK. And it's my understanding that this babysitter, in fact, had a relationship with Stiles, and it was through that relationship that he got into the house and got his hands on this child. That's what my understanding is.

Is that correct?

DONOHUE: Well, my understanding is, as well. I'm not sure that the mother knows exactly -- the mother knows that Stiles got access to her child through Tina Allen. Now, I don't think Tina Allen was ever the babysitter. But somehow, yes, he got through to -- from the babysitter.

MCGRAW: Now, that was the connection through there, whoever the actual babysitter was. The point is that it didn't happen in her home while she was there watching the child. By she, I mean the mother.

DONOHUE: Absolutely not.

MCGRAW: Elaine, let me ask you, did you have any indication, when you were dating Stiles, that he was capable of this type of thing? Did you have any indication whatsoever that made you nervous to be around him?

ELAINE THOMAS, SUSPECT'S EX-GIRLFRIEND, REMAINED FRIENDS, HELPED INVESTIGATORS: No, not at all. He -- he had told me about his criminal past, at least in some aspect of it. I was not fully aware of all of the things that he had done or the severity of them. But I'm a very much -- a person that believes that people can change. And he seemed like he was trying to do the right thing. He was working. He treated me well.

MCGRAW: So you...

MILLER: He was very good with his son.

MCGRAW: All right. So you were aware that there were other criminal activities on his part where he had been charged and/or convicted?

MILLER: Correct. Right. But none of them had anything to do with children.

MCGRAW: Ted, do you know whether or not he was hiding out in Las Vegas?

Was he in the sewers underneath the city?

Do we know that?

ROWLANDS: Well, according to sources within the Metro Las Vegas Police Department, they had this manhunt going -- and Ed will tell you the same thing -- from the beginning. And they were getting help from the FBI. And they always believed that he was in Vegas. They were confident that they were going to -- at one point that he made a telephone call at a pay phone. They went there and they just missed him. And they were getting credible tips.

The long hair -- they had informants that were helping them out. They were on him. And it was just this lucky stop that actually got him. But they were confident they were going to get him and he was, it sounds like, in Las Vegas the entire time.

MCGRAW: Well, he certainly is now. He's in a Las Vegas jail.

I want to thank Ted Rowlands for being here.

We're going to come back after the break with comments, additionally, from Chester Stiles' ex-girlfriend. And we're going to hear more from Ed Miller.

We'll be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chester A. Stiles, arraigned. Entered as a plaintiff (INAUDIBLE). UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me or my team will be in (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MCGRAW: We're back.

Dr. Phil in for LARRY KING LIVE tonight.

We're talking about Chester Stiles and the tragic videotape that we have all seen of the young girl molested in Las Vegas.

He is now arrested. He is incarcerated in Vegas and he is facing multiple charges concerning sexual assault.

Even though everybody believes this is him on the tape and we've seen it, at this point he's not been found guilty, but things are moving toward bringing him to trial.

The guests I have with me right now, Jerry Donohue, the attorney for the mother of this little girl and the little girl.

Elaine Thomas, an ex-girlfriend of Chester Stiles, and her attorney, Conrad Claus.

I want to add to the conversation, if I can, colleague if I can, a colleague of mine, Dr. Frank Lawlis. Dr. Lawlis is a clinical psychologist. He's author of "Mending the Broken Bond," which has to do with how kids become so disenfranchised and can wind up in conflict with society and the law.

Dr. Lawlis, thank you for joining us.

I have a question, if I could.

What do we know right now about this little girl's reactions?

We're told that she doesn't really show any signs of what has happened and doesn't have a remembrance of it.

Is that unusual?

DR. FRANK LAWLIS, AUTHOR, "MENDING THE BROKEN BOND": No, that's not unusual. But what's important is that her body remembers, so that sooner or later, when she gets in a situation that's associated with intimacy and she's touched in these particular areas, I would not be surprised if a lot of anxiety and fear comes up.

Unfortunately, those fears and anxieties will not be touched -- will not be associated with any particular thing or person, but will be just this vague kind of anxiety, which makes things very uncomfortable and maybe even critical to mental health.

MCGRAW: OK. So is what you're saying is that while these feelings -- any bad reactions that she might have might be dormant at this point, that these things are likely to be awakened when she hits puberty, when she starts dating, when she becomes sexually active?

Her body may react and trigger memories and anxiety reactions at that point.

So this could lie dormant for a while then become active?

LAWLIS: Absolutely. It's kind of like when you get burned by fire. Your body remembers that pain. And when you get around fire again, you have that instinctual rejection of the fire.

So this will possibly emerge later on when she gets a lot older and gets involved with intimacy more closely.

MCGRAW: Jerry Donohue, how much time have you spent around the mother and daughter at this point and what are your observations?

I know you're an attorney, not a psychologist, but what are your observations of the little girl at this point?

DONOHUE: Well, I have been around them a little bit.

Sorry for the noise, Dr. Phil. There's some helicopters flying over.

The little girl seems really healthy, really happy. Seems like a typical 7-year-old little girl.

The mother, on the other hand, is having some depression. She -- she tells me that once a day she usually kind of loses it, cries it out for 30 minutes and gets on with her day. It's quite understandable.

MCGRAW: You and I were talking on my show today and you know that I talked with the mother extensively. And she feels like she's been vilified somewhat in the press for this in terms of you got married too young and therefore you allowed this to happen because you weren't mature enough to protect properly.

And how in the world could you let this happen?

You know, I talked to her about that and tried to offer her support.

Is she still getting this kind of feedback from the media and from others?

DONOHUE: Well, thankfully, not nearly as much. Thankfully, once she came forward, made her statement and told her -- told what happened -- the media really reflects that this community understood that she was, in fact, trying to be a great mother. She was trying to provide for her baby when the biological father ran away from responsibility and, you know, neglected his daughter. They understand she was doing the best she can to be the best mother she could. And to this moment, she insists that she believed she left her child in proper care.

MCGRAW: Of course.

OK, Dr. Lawlis, as you know, I talked to the mother on my show today.

Let's take a look at a clip of that and then I'd like your reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "DR. PHIL," COURTESY PETESKI PRODUCTIONS, CBS TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION GROUP)

MCGRAW: Is there a part of you that wishes you never found this out?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I could have lived without knowing it.

MCGRAW: Do you want to see him caught and prosecuted?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That or dead. One or the other.

MCGRAW: That or dead?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes. I never thought I'd say that about anybody in my life, but...

MCGRAW: Well, hey, listen, I...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would be more than willing to -- to do it myself.

MCGRAW: You are entitled. You are entitled to those feelings, I can assure you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just keep beating myself up for it, that I let this happen to her.

MCGRAW: This is not something you should beat yourself up about. And I want to say that to America. I want to say it because there are so many mothers out there that do wind up with somebody infiltrating and getting to their children, and they forever live in guilt. And that's not -- that's not right and it's not fair. And I don't want you feeling that way. And for all of the mothers that watch and hear this, I want them to hear what I'm saying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCGRAW: Dr. Lawlis, she seems sincere to me.

What is your take?

LAWLIS: Oh, I think she's very sincere. And as a parent myself, I would be -- I would feel like the worst day of my life. Like the worst nightmare that I could think of would be that somebody would harm my child. And I can see whereas a true mother, that she would be going through the feelings of guilt and shame and wondering what the heck she could have done.

MCGRAW: But, of course, we all know that she does have this daughter. She is eight-and-a-half months pregnant, from what I understand -- certainly very close to delivering. So she's still got a job to do. She's still got to be a mother. And so the important thing is that you can't change what's happened in the past. You've got to focus on what kind of mother you are now and what kind of mother you can be going forward.

LAWLIS: Absolutely. And that's very true for all parents, as well, that anything happens to their children or themselves, they've got to march forward.

MCGRAW: Well, next, we're going to talk to a woman who has been through a situation similar to what that little Nevada girl endured and how she deals with it as an adult.

As we go to break, a preview of my show tomorrow, where we meet troubled children, much earlier in age than Chester Stiles, that are at risk of becoming adults in conflict.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "DR. PHIL," COURTESY PETESKI PRODUCTIONS, CBS TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION GROUP)

MCGRAW: Do you think he was trying to get rid of people?

Do you think he was trying to kill people?

TORI, POISONED BY 6-YEAR-OLD STEPSON: I think that he was trying to get rid of us. But the thing about that is, I don't think he realizes the concept of death.

MCGRAW: Because he fessed up, right?

He said, "Yes, I poisoned them."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

MCGRAW: I put stuff in the food.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MCGRAW: Dr. Phil in for Larry King tonight.

We're talking about the Chester Stiles' situation with the young girl that was sexually assaulted on tape in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Joining me now is Angela Shelton.

She is a sexual abuse survivor, activist and filmmaker of "Searching For Angela Shelton.

By the way, you can learn more about that film on the Internet at Angelashelton.com.

Now, Angela, thanks for being here.

Let's talk about this film.

You started this with a different purpose in mind, correct?

ANGELA SHELTON, SEXUAL ABUSE SURVIVOR, FILMMAKER, "SEARCHING FOR ANGELA SHELTON": Yes.

MCGRAW: Tell me about it.

SHELTON: Oh, boy. I just wanted to survey women in America and see how we're doing as women in America. And I chose my name simply as a vehicle, because I didn't want to just go knocking on random doors.

MCGRAW: All right.

And what happened?

What did you learn once you got into it, because you came across some very disturbing realities very early on?

SHELTON: Yes. Seventy percent have been victims of child sexual abuse, rape or domestic violence.

MCGRAW: OK. Seventy -- I mean you're just knocking on random doors up and down the street in America and 70 percent of the people you talked to had been victimized in some way -- rape, assault, sexual assault or domestic violence?

Were you shocked by that?

SHELTON: Well, it's horrifying to learn that. But I was not so shocked because, you know, I know most of my friends have been victims. Many of my family members have been victims. My...

MCGRAW: And the truth is, you're part of that 70 percent?

SHELTON: Yes.

MCGRAW: What can you tell us?

I mean -- and I do want to know, because I want people to be able to relate and understand that you can survive this.

Tell me what happened -- without being too graphic -- what happened about your abuse situation?

SHELTON: I was sexually and physically abused from ages of three to eight with my stepbrother and stepsister. We were all three victims. And then when I was 15, I was the victim of date rape.

MCGRAW: OK.

Was this a stranger or a family member?

SHELTON: When I was a child it was a family...

MCGRAW: Yes?

SHELTON: It was actually three family members.

MCGRAW: Three family members. So you had multiple abusers...

SHELTON: Yes.

MCGRAW: ...at that point.

Now, was this something that you were traumatized by at the time, between the ages of three and eight?

Or, as we're talking about now with this young girl in Las Vegas, was this something that didn't register with you then, but later?

How did it work with you?

SHELTON: It showed up later, many of the abuse symptoms. When I was a little kid, honestly, I went through the desire to have my family members -- you know, to have -- to be close to people, to not tell, to not come forward.

You want to keep people safe, you know?

You love them.

MCGRAW: Right. So you're taking care of other people at the time, even though you were the victim at the time?

SHELTON: Exactly.

MCGRAW: What goes through your mind when you see all of the media barrage about what happened to this precious child in Las Vegas?

SHELTON: Well, my heart breaks for the mother and for the child. And I see the heartbreak that the mother is going through. And I just -- I want to give her a big squish, because I know the guilt that she's going through.

And I've really got to say to you, thank you for having this on, because you're really just skimming the surface. Because when I made this movie, I've gotten thousands and thousands of e-mails -- and still to this day. And this, really, you're just skimming the surface. This is an epidemic.

MCGRAW: Well, of course it is. And, you know, I know you've heard the comments that I made to the mother. I strongly believe you do the best you can with what you have at the time. And it's hard for people who have not been the victim of this to wrap their minds around it. It's hard for us to go to that dark of a place and imagine that people could do this sort of thing.

Did you come forward and talk about this with regard to your family members?

Did you ultimately do that?

SHELTON: Ultimately, I did. When I was young, I didn't. It was actually my stepbrother -- he was older -- who told and reported it.

MCGRAW: All right.

And why -- and so you came forward at the same time and said yes, I've been a victim, as well?

SHELTON: Yes, we went to family -- a family court hearing...

MCGRAW: All right.

And...

SHELTON: ...and it turned into a custody battle.

MCGRAW: What made you decide to go forward and are you glad that you did?

SHELTON: Going forward as an adult, I will -- I'm...

MCGRAW: No. I probably said that wrong. I mean coming forward and reporting the abuse.

What made you decide at that point that you didn't want to talk about it before, but you would talk about it then?

SHELTON: Really, it wasn't my decision. Other people made that decision for me.

MCGRAW: Are you glad?

SHELTON: I am glad. I wish in hindsight that it had been a criminal case, because they didn't put -- they didn't push criminal charges because they thought that -- they didn't want to put the little kids on the stand. And in hindsight, I think we should have been put on the stand.

MCGRAW: What do you say -- as a survivor of this, what do you say to the young women in America that are listening to this now?

Do you tell them to go -- come forward with it, to talk to someone about it, or do you -- what do you say to them?

SHELTON: Definitely to report it. I think we should all report it on the same day, actually, to show that this is a huge epidemic.

MCGRAW: So it was a mistake to wait. But you're 3-years-old, 4- years-old, 5, 6, 7, 8.

SHELTON: Yes.

MCGRAW: I mean you don't know at that time.

But you're glad you came forward with it?

SHELTON: Yes. Absolutely.

MCGRAW: Well, I want to say again, this movie -- go to Angelashelton.com, because I'll tell you what, this -- Angela is right. She is a courageous young woman. She is shining a bright light on this.

I'm going to invite her to be on my show and talk about this some more in the future.

Coming up, we're going to have more with Dr. Lawlis on how this little girl's adulthood could be affected, how he feels about the blank look on her face.

Ed Miller with more on how Stiles may have hid from cops.

Plus, the D.A. who's heading up the case against Stiles.

All that when we come back on LARRY KING LIVE.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS (voice-over): On the run for more than 10 days, 37-year- old Chester Stiles, according to police, told them he was "sick of running" after getting pulled over just outside Las Vegas, driving this car without a license plate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We didn't believe his story or who he was. He finally told us, hey, I'm Chester Stiles. I'm the guy you're looking for. And at that time, he said, "I'm sick of running."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MCGRAW: Don't adjust your set. It is LARRY KING LIVE, but it's Dr. Phil in for Larry tonight.

We're talking about what happened with Chester Stiles and the young girl that was victimized in Las Vegas. And it was all recorded on tape.

Joining me now are Sheriff Tony Demeo, Nye County Nevada Sheriff; Bob Beckett, Nye County District Attorney. Ed Miller is back from "America's Most Wanted." Elaine Thomas and her attorney, Conrad Claus are still with us. And I have asked Angela Shelton to stay with us as well from last segment.

So we are all here, we're talking about what has happened. I would like to go to Sheriff Demeo if I can. I'm particularly interested in some comments that you made earlier, sheriff, when you talked about wanting to capture this individual alive despite the fact that he had said he would not be taken alive. You said, and I believe it is a quote, "that he was a link to the dark world in Las Vegas." Tell us what you meant by that.

Well I think he is a link to the dark world of child pornography, not only in Las Vegas, but probably other areas as well. I mean, we have a lot of child pornography in our country, worldwide. It's a growing industry, unfortunately.

And we know -- we don't know how all of these children become victimized. I think that what Chester Stiles has done is probably what some of the other child predators have done, is get themselves in situations where they are very close to the kids and entrusted with these kids and then they abuse the kids, make their videos, take their pictures, put them on the Internet.

And the problem we have, Dr. Phil, as you know, is that we never really identify these suspects. So we don't really identify the victims. This is a unique case in many aspects.

We were concerned about the child's safety, but also trying to catch this predator. And that's what I meant, is that we have -- this is a unique opportunity for law enforcement to take a look at child pornography and its production, find out how this industry is growing by leaps and bounds and why we have thousands of victims in our country, hundreds of thousands of victims worldwide.

MCGRAW: You -- how do you feel about the decision to show the victim's face in an effort to try to find her? To try to identify and locate her to be sure that she was OK?

SHERIFF TONY DEMEO, NYE COUNTY: As my -- when our leads were running dry as far as what we can do to try to identify, maintain confidentiality, I sat restless nights thinking what our next move would be.

And my concern was for the child's safety. We did not know if she was safe or not. I have handled many child abuse cases and I have saw some violent investigations back in Jersey City when I was a detective with NAMBLA. And you know, we didn't know what was going to happen to the child, we didn't know if she was safe, if she was still in the same environment. Because that video proved that it was pretty recent. It was only a couple years, we figured, that this video was shot.

And it was a heart-rendering decision, but it to be a decision I had to make and it had to be a timely decision, because we didn't - we had the suspect and we wanted to make sure that the suspect, if he was still in contact with the child, didn't do any harm to the child.

So it was one of the decisions you look at the plus and minuses, and one of the minuses about this is if the child was OK in a safe environment which we found out she is, what would be the initial, what would be the tragedy and the emotional things to the family. We made our decision. And turned out to be a right decision overall. MCGRAW: I applaud your decision to do that. D.A. Beckett, let me ask you with this videotape -- is this a slam dunk? Is this an open and shut case?

BOB BECKETT, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, NYE COUNTY: Well, interesting enough, my 13 years of prosecuting and six years of defending cases, I have never seen a slam dunk case. But this is probably going to be the closest to slam dunk as I think we will ever see.

MCGRAW: Yeah, well it certainly would seem so. And you know, Sheriff Demeo, I'm curious, a lot of your investigators have had to look at this tape in order to prepare this, these indictments, the case against this individual -- how has it affected the officers that have had to look at this, including yourself?

DEMEO: I didn't look at the video. I chose not to look at the video from the descriptions of my detective. Only a couple detectives looked at it. It wasn't shown to a majority of detectives, only investigators that are actually close to the case saw the video.

It affected the investigator, one investigator, the lead investigator, has a brand new baby. It ripped his heart out. It ripped, everyone that was associated to this felt for the child and felt for the family that, you know, that was -- that was victimized by this predator. And it's something we'll never forget. It's fortunate that it was taken and I believe that Chester Stiles, if he chooses to cooperate, will have a lot of light to shed with what's going on with child pornography.

MCGRAW: Well certainly, Elaine Thomas is still with us. Elaine, as you see all of this unfold, are you just shocked that this is some body you had a relationship with? Does it seem like you are talking about another person when you talk about all of this?

THOMAS: In a lot of ways, yes. It has been very surreal. I can't begin to describe it. From the moment that I saw and recognized his pictures on the news that night to right now, this whole thing has been very much nightmarish and surreal.

And it does kind of feel like I am looking at it from the outside in. Or, looking at it as -- hard to describe, as it is happening to somebody else.

MCGRAW: Well, it has got to be surreal. I think that is a good word for it.

We are going to take a break. We're going to have more interesting facts from Ed Miller on the investigation. We are going to hear more from Angela Shelton, Dr. Frank Lawlis, plus Geragos and Honowitz square off on how they might handle the case from a legal perspective.

And we're going to see some more footage of my conversation with the mother of this child when she broke her silence for an interview on my show today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MCGRAW: Chester Stiles is off the street. He has been arrested. He is in custody in Las Vegas. We are talking tonight about what happens now. There is so much aftermath when something like this happens. I have talked to the mother of the victim. Here is a clip of the conversation that appeared on my show today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCGRAW: You understand that the man that is accused of this sexual assault with your daughter has been arrested and is now in jail, what is your reaction?

MOTHER OF VICTIM: Relieved. Better if we found him dead. But relieved they got him.

MCGRAW: Just knowing he is off the street.

MOTHER: Yeah.

MCGRAW: What was your first reaction when you heard the news and how did you hear it?

MOTHER: My boyfriend actually called me and told me.

MCGRAW: OK. So he heard about it and alert you'd to it?

MOTHER: Yep.

MCGRAW: Yeah. At this point, if this proceeds to trial, do you have any reservations about what, whatsoever, about testifying against this individual?

MOTHER: I will testify against him.

MCGRAW: As difficult as I know it is to be dragged back through that and relive some of that time in your life that happened some years back, you would step up, look him in the eye and do what you needed to put him behind bars?

MOTHER: Absolutely.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCGRAW: OK. Now, Ed, before we talk to the defense and prosecutor, lawyer representatives in this, we are dealing with a bad guy with a bad history here, right? Tell us what you know.

MILLER: This is what we have been able to uncover. He grew up in a household supposedly of free love where they performed sex on the coffee table in front of the child. He himself experimented with sex. Many, many of his girlfriends talked about that. He fancied himself quite the lady's man. He always dated older women that were slightly overweight. They treated him as a god. They worshipped him, I'm assuming because they had a younger guy hanging around. In reality, he may have been looking, not so much at the mother or -- but rather as the child. We also know he attended sex parties in Las Vegas that the acts were so graphic that we can't even talk about them on television in any way, shape or form. Very unorthodox sex, he liked to watch sadism and masochism.

MCGRAW: This wasn't a regular guy just going through. Mark Geragos, how do you defend against something like this? I know you are not going to do it. But how does someone defend against this?

MARK GERAGOS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You know if the facts are as reported, and I always want to say that. If the facts are as reported, generally you are going to go to somebody like Stacey, tell them how cute they look and you're going to beg for mercy to get some kind of a soft place to land.

You are going to try to appeal to law enforcement and say, look, it is better off, entering a plea, cooperating trying to give I think as the sheriff would indicate, an eye into or a window into the world.

See if there is some way that you could provide information that is going to lead to some other arrests or, stop the flow of these kinds of things. But this is not a case that has a whole lot of jury appeal.

MCGRAW: All right. Stacey, will they turn this loose? Or is this something that you take to trial, you take to verdict, so you can make an example?

STACEY HONOWITZ, FLORIDA ASST. STATE ATTORNEY: Well, every case is different. But certainly in a case like this, there is no reason not to go to trial. You didn't have to put a child on the stand. Simply stating the videotape speaks for itself.

So certainly you know it is very interesting that everybody is so up in arms about seeing this case. People don't realize that we see this stuff, I see this stuff every single day.

I meet with three, four, five kids every week who have been through this. Now, thankfully she doesn't have those memories and she doesn't remember what happened.

But there is millions of kids out there that go through this type of experience that do remember everything. So this is a case that nothing is a slam dunk like the prosecutor said before, but this is the closest thing to it when you have a tape.

MCGRAW: OK, I want to hear more from the lawyers when we come back as well as Angela Shelton on what this child is likely to go through. "ANDERSON COOPER 360" is coming up at the top of the hour. He is standing by elsewhere here in L.A. with a preview. Anderson?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Dr. Phil, thanks. We're getting some breaking news in about a potentially deadly group of storms hitting a large chunk of America. We've already heard reports of a tornado strike, we're going to get the latest from our severe weather expert.

Plus, as most of us suffer through flight delays and crowded terminals, the politicians are spending your tax dollars on small airports near their favorite vacation spots. You won't believe this. How did they get away with it? We're keeping them honest.

And it may be killing more people each year than HIV and it could be hiding in your kid's school locker room. We'll tell you what you need to know about a deadly super bug going across America. All that, raw politics and more at the top of the hour. Dr. Phil?

MCGRAW: Thank you, Anderson. And coming up next, more on the man Dog the Bounty Hunter has dubbed Chester the molester.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL COSBY, COMEDIAN: There is not much to making a child feel good about him and herself except saying "you can do it, that's correct."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MCGRAW: Dr. Phil in for LARRY KING LIVE tonight. We're talking about Chester Stiles, the accused sexual assaulter of the young girl in Vegas. We just heard Ed Miller talking about the fact that he had a sordid and bizarre sexual past. On my show today, I actually talked to his biological son, who told me what his experience of his father had been. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCGRAW: You say that he was quote "a best buddy" to you and a really funny guy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

MCGRAW: Did you ever see any indication of him being overinvolved with any children, any, any inappropriate behavior at all?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not at all. That's why it is such a shock to me.

MCGRAW: If this is true, what do you want to see happen with him -- what do you want to see happen with him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want him to go away for a long time. Long, long time.

MCGRAW: Has he ever been inappropriate or violent with you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MCGRAW: Angela, you are hearing him talk about this as a good guy. Were the people involved in your violation nice people aside from that? Were they nice people or were they monsters?

SHELTON: Of course -- of course they're nice people. They're highly manipulative. And it's not just my story. It's the story of thousands of people I speak to. I am a voice for survivors. I hear it every day. They're manipulative, they're charming, they tend to be good looking. They come into your life and manipulate you.

MCGRAW: Stacey Honowitz is with us, she's assistant Florida state attorney. Stacey, were you surprised THAT he wasn't cleaned up in trial and trying to put together, in the courtroom, and trying to put together a better image that that least a public defender didn't get to him and try to clean him up and make him look more presentable?

HONOWITZ: No, I'm not surprised at all. Really, him coming in clean shaven in a three-piece suit looking great isn't really going to take away from what everybody knows about it.

I think why this is so important for the media to be so involved in this is because as Angela was saying earlier, maybe she didn't tell. So many kids don't tell about this type of behavior. And so much of this behavior like I said earlier goes on. This isn't a shock. It is a shock when people walk into the courtroom and see this guy because they know what they did.

And parents and schools have to take a very active role in all of this and unfortunately, a lot of times they don't because parents feel very uncomfortable talking about this subject and schools feel very uncomfortable talking about this subject.

MCGRAW: Of course it is, and that is an intimidating factor to parents. Mark Geragos, you've heard Stacey say I wouldn't plead this out. Take it to trial. I have no reason to settle. What do you say about that?

GERAGOS: Trust me, there isn't a public defender around who is going to represent him that's going to relish taking this case to trial. The fact is that they're going to try, beg, borrow or plead, to get a, to find a soft police to land in this case.

And as far as cleaning him up or not, in a lot of cases a public defender doesn't have the opportunity to get to the client other than five minutes before you get into the courtroom.

So they're very limited in what they can do to begin with. And part of it is also is the -- the kind of the perp walk. This is part of what goes on in the criminal justice system.

Stacey is right to the extent that she says it goes on every day. You can go into any arraignment court anywhere in the United States and you will see this case or this kind of case on the calendar on every single day.

MCGRAW: So there clearly you have a tape here that is a huge weapon. And I guess my question at this point is if he pleads guilty, Stacey, what is he likely looking at with the charges that are against him now?

HONOWITZ: Oh, I don't think he is getting out. The guy has 24 charges against him. He has got promoting sexual performance by a child, possession of child pornography, all the sexual battery charges.

This guy is not going anywhere. No one is going to plead this guy to anything less than life in prison. You might walk up to me and as much as I love to be told, Mark, how cute I am, it's really not going to make a difference, you know, what you say to me.

This guy is not permitted and cannot be on the outside. He is a repeat pedophile, there is another case pending against him in state court. So this guy is not going anywhere. No one is going to let this guy go anywhere.

MCGRAW: What we know statistically, it's estimated that 88 percent of these crimes go unreported and that some of these predators have as many as 400 victims in their life. It is absolutely inconceivable. Some final thoughts when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MCGRAW: Some final thoughts on the Chester Stiles situation. At this point, he is under arrest, if you haven't heard that. He has multiple charges against him and is looking at some serious time if he is convicted of these things, as many people think he certainly will be.

My concern is at this point, obviously, for the little girl and her family. Dr. Frank Lawlis is with us. Frank is the author of "Mend the Broken Bond." A clinical psychologist and colleague of mine for many, many years. Frank, this little girl has a blank look on her face in this video. She is not -- she doesn't look traumatized. She doesn't look happy. She looks very blank. What's likely going on there?

LAWLIS: Well, first of all you have to understand that he is very manipulative. So she is basically being mesmerized by him and under his total control. She has got, she is trusting him with everything that she has. So, consequently she is being objectified but on the other hand she is in his total control. That makes this so dangerous because it really creates this mass problem in terms of trust.

MCGRAW: Angela, that is disturbing to you to see, I know.

SHELTON: They're not only manipulating the children, they manipulate the parents. The parents need to really watch out for people who want alone time with your children.

MCGRAW: Well, of course. The problem is that these people. Dr. Lawlis, talk to us about what parents need to watch for. We know that the predators that are probably the most dangerous today are not the guy in the trench coat down on the corner by the school yard, but instead those people that are offering help with families that are in distress. What do parents need to watch for?

LAWLIS: Well, they need to look for the manipulators like was said before. They need to look for the guy who is basically severing as a helper, but really is trying to edge his way into using the child and getting away from other people's vision.

That's the most critical thing is that these people operate in secret. So what you want to watch out for are those people who are trying to corner the child away from other people's observations.

MCGRAW: I think one of the disturbing things that I have to say to all the parents out there is these are the people that come and they will prey upon a family that has stress, maybe a single mother that doesn't have anyone to take the child to the park, pick them up from school, take them to the mall.

And it's very hard sometimes to distinguish a truly caring and helpful family member or friend who wants to help, versus somebody that is trying to worm their way into the situation. And it just means that we do have to be hypervigilant. We do have to pay attention. They're your children and tragically, we have to watch them very, very closely.

That's LARRY KING LIVE for tonight. I want to thank all of my guests here and elsewhere around the United States. But most of all, thanks to Larry King for letting me sit here tonight. Larry is back tomorrow night with Bill Cosby.

Also a quick reminder to check out Larry's Web site. It's CNN.com/LarryKing. It's there that you can download his brand new podcast, Stephen Colbert. Other upcoming guests are listed there too. It's all at CNN.com/LarryKing. Stay tuned now as we hand things over to "ANDERSON COOPER 360." Anderson, the floor is yours.

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