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American Morning

Interview with Richard Douglass, Lewisville Police Department

Aired April 17, 2002 - 07:28   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now we're going to turn our attention to something that happened in Lewisville, Texas. That is a town about 20 miles outside of Dallas, Texas. There, police investigators are trying to figure our how 6-year-old Jackson Carr was killed, and what role his two older siblings may have played in his death.

Police say the boy's 15-year-old sister and 10-year-old brother have confessed to killing him. His body was found in the woods behind the family's home. He was buried in mud and had a puncture wound on his neck.

The news shocked one neighbor, who said the sister spoke with him while the police searched for Jackson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HOUSER, NEIGHBOR: She said something like, "If they don't find him, I think I'm just going to scream." She was talking to me and my mom like she had no idea. And then to wake up this morning and find out she was the one that was behind it, it's devastating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: And now both sibling suspects are being held in a juvenile detention facility. And joining us now with some details on the investigation, Lewisville police officer, Richard Douglass -- thank you very much for joining us this morning, sir.

RICHARD DOUGLASS, LEWISVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: Good morning.

ZAHN: So, Mr. Douglass, what can you tell us about the confession the sister made?

DOUGLASS: Well, police had been at the scene for several hours, as you know. We were out there from 6:45 PM until early that morning. And about 12:00, developments started happening in the house, where the investigators of the Lewisville Police Department were talking to the sister, and she said -- I believe to one of them -- "I think I know where my brother is." And they said, "Well, can you show us where he might be?" And she said, "Yes, I can."

When she walked out the back door, they went about 100 yards out in the yard and she pointed to a shallow grave, which was about two foot under the mud and debris, and said, "That's where I buried my brother. I killed him earlier."

We shortly after that talked to the 10-year-old brother, said, "Did you have any involvement in this?" He said, "Yes, I helped hold him down while my sister killed him."

ZAHN: So what does that mean? How did his sister kill him?

DOUGLASS: Well that's part of the motive, Paula, and we're not going to speak to that right now, because our investigation is still ongoing. This is only a day or so old. And we want to try to get our whole package together for our district attorney's office. So we're really not commenting on that right at this time.

ZAHN: Were there any reports police have ever gotten before about this family and any problems the family might have been having?

DOUGLASS: Well we did a search on that particular address, and we had not have any calls to the particular address that we responded to on the missing child.

ZAHN: And we reported at the top of your introduction that there was a puncture wound of some kind found on Jackson Carr's neck. Has the medical examiner made a determination about what caused that wound?

DOUGLASS: Well we usually get a preliminary report from the ME's office, and that's still forthcoming for the Lewisville Police. We did report the puncture wound, but we're going to wait for the cause of death for the ME to give us that result.

ZAHN: Have you had any conversations with the parents of Jackson Carr, and, of course, the parents of this 15-year-old who has admitted to killing her little brother, along with the help of our 10-year-old brother?

DOUGLASS: Well the police investigators that were at the scene, we had discussed with the parents the whereabouts of the missing child. Once we found the body, there was interviews with the parents. And, of course, the trauma that's there yesterday with these parents, if you'll just imagine, they had three children, now they have one that is deceased and two that are in juvenile detention.

So yesterday was a pretty tough day for them. Investigators will be talking to them further today and as the week folds out.

ZAHN: I know you said the part of the investigation examining the motive is pretty confidential, but is there anything you can share with us this morning about what the parents might have said to you that will help you with your investigation?

DOUGLASS: Well, I really can't. As I said, this is unfolding almost as we speak, yesterday and forth going today. And the investigators will be speaking to the parents and interviewing other people around the neighborhood today. So that may come out later on today or tomorrow.

ZAHN: And at this point, there is no reason to doubt this little girl's confession, is there?

DOUGLASS: No. We have every reason to believe that the 15-year- old made the confession to the police at that time and at that point of the night that these two children are the ones that committed the act.

ZAHN: All right. Richard Douglass, thank you for being as candid as you could this morning. We know this is a horrible time for your police department and for your community. Thank you again for your time.

DOUGLASS: Thank you very much.

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