Return to Transcripts main page
Nancy Grace
Married Veterinarian Charged With Murder of Vet Tech Lover
Aired March 25, 2011 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight, live, Pennsylvania. A beloved young 25-year-old vet`s assistant, two months pregnant with a baby boy, goes missing, her body later found thrown down a deep, wooded ravine at a remote nature preserve.
Bombshell tonight. Why was ammo, a 9-millimeter handgun, baby wipes, black garbage bags and duct tape found in the vehicle belonging to the vet? Yes, the married veterinarian that she worked for.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twenty-seven-year-old Jennifer Snyder went missing the day before she was scheduled to have her first ultrasound.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were already, you know, talking about baby shower.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two days later, Snyder`s body was found wrapped in trash bags, bound by duct tape.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was, you know, exciting for her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was shot three times.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And really, she was just so happy to be a mom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Court documents say while she was excited to be pregnant, her married boyfriend, 30-year-old David Rapoport, was angry about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to pregnant vet tech Jennifer Snyder?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was about 11:00 AM when pregnant vet tech Jennifer Snyder left the home, telling her roommate she was leaving to meet her boyfriend, veterinarian David Rapoport, and planned to spend the night at his place.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Snyder`s car is found in Schnecksville, covered in broken glass, blood and human tissue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Discover surveillance video showing a tall man with a medium build and dark hair leaving Jennifer`s car at the office park and throwing items in a nearby dumpster.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two days later, Snyder`s body was found wrapped in trash bags.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to pregnant tech vet Jennifer Snyder.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, live, Florida. Since starting her police training, a gorgeous young police cadet never misses a single class until now. Young cadet Kelly Rothwell vanishes seemingly into thin air after a girls` weekend of yoga and lunch at Chili`s. She hasn`t been spotted since, her green Subaru found parked on a tree-lined street just two miles from her condo. In a bizarre twist, we learned Kelly`s live-in, a former corrections officer, cop, moves out of the condo they shared and drives home to New York. That`s driving from Florida to New York and just 72 hours after she goes missing.
Breaking news tonight. In the last hours, police execute search warrants on Kelly`s condo. Evidence also collected from her car. We learn the boyfriend`s son enters the condo to remove a box of Kelly`s belongings. Why? And tonight, the last person to see her alive with us live. What did Kelly tell her in the moments before she vanishes? Tonight, Kelly`s friend taking your calls. Where is Florida beauty police cadet Kelly Rothwell?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thirty-five-year-old police cadet Kelly Rothwell is missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was so excited about the police academy.
GRACE: Misses class and then goes missing entirely.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rothwell had lunch with a girlfriend at Chili`s in Clearwater.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was talking about the next steps of her life, and those steps did not involve her boyfriend, David Perry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened after that lunch? A mystery.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kelly Rothwell and her boyfriend share this Indian Rocks Beach condo.
GRACE: The downstairs neighbor hears a series of loud thuds around the time Kelly disappears.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody, like, threw something heavy on the floor three or four times. And then it got real quiet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Their lunch ended around 3:30, which would have been about an hour before the neighbor tells us he heard those noises at the place where they lived.
GRACE: Your mom has packed up her belongings in the belief that your sister has perished. Why?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s kind of hard to continue having, you know, hope that we`re going to get good news anytime soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. A beloved young 27-year-old vet`s assistant, two months pregnant with a baby boy, goes missing, her body found thrown down a deep, wooded ravine at a remote nature preserve. Why was ammo, a 9- millimeter Glock handgun, baby wipes, black garbage bags and duct tape found in the vehicle belonging to the vet, the married veterinarian she worked with?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty-seven-year-old pregnant vet tech Jennifer Snyder allegedly told her roommate her married boyfriend, veterinarian David Rapoport, had become very angry when he learned Jennifer was pregnant. But the roommate says they made up after several days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was about 11:00 when pregnant vet tech Jennifer Snyder left her home, telling her roommate she was headed out with her boyfriend, the vet, and was going to spend the night with him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But the next morning, misses her first ultrasound appointment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops find Jennifer`s Plymouth Neon at an office park, a window shattered and blood inside the car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police discover surveillance video showing a tall man with a medium build and dark care leaving Jennifer`s car at the office park and throwing items in a nearby dumpster before walking out of view.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two days later, Snyder`s body was found wrapped in trash bags bound by duct tape.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to Jennifer?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls live. Straight out to Matt Coughlin, police reporter at Phillyburbs.com. Matt, thanks for being with us. What happened?
MATT COUGHLIN, PHILLYBURBS.COM: Well, Jennifer was last seen about 11:00 AM on the 16th. And as we know, her roommate last saw her leaving to go spend the night and the afternoon with David Rapoport.
GRACE: Now, David Rapoport? Who is he? Wait. I`m seeing a shot of him right now. Who is David Rapoport?
COUGHLIN: David Rapoport is a veterinarian, reportedly worked with Jennifer at a veterinary hospital in Lower Macungie up until some point last year. And he left that veterinary hospital and began working at another supposedly because they were having an affair. Clearly, that affair continued after that.
GRACE: OK, Matt, how long had Rapoport been married?
COUGHLIN: Well, Rapoport has been married at least four years, from the court records I`ve seen.
GRACE: Got any children?
COUGHLIN: No children.
GRACE: No children, got a wife. And Rita Cosby, investigative reporter, author of "Quiet Hero," when did this relationship spark up with Jennifer Snyder, the 27-year-old soon-to-be mom?
RITA COSBY, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Well, it started, apparently, when they were working together, and it got very serious. In fact, as you pointed out, she was pregnant. She was two months pregnant. And she told her roommate that it was his child. And in fact, I`m told -- we were hearing that the roommate apparently had some argument with her, was talking with her about it. Apparently, Jennifer said that Rapoport wanted her to get rid of the baby but that she told Rapoport, I`m going to keep the baby, whether you like it or not.
GRACE: Whoa. OK, Ellie Jostad, our chief editorial producer. Ellie, what was his reaction when he realized, or do we even know, that she was not going to abort the baby boy?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, Rita`s right. One of our producers talked to the roommate, the person last known to see her alive. And the roommate said she was there when they were talking about her having this baby. And she said he flipped. He got really angry. Apparently, they didn`t speak for a few days. Then he called her back, tried to smooth everything over, said that, you know, he was happy. And she thought everything was fine.
GRACE: OK, we know that she was what, two months pregnant, Ellie?
JOSTAD: Right. She was about two months pregnant. Autopsy showed she was about 10 to 12 weeks, so a little over two months.
GRACE: So I`m assuming, Rita Cosby, they only learned upon autopsy the gender of the baby?
COSBY: That`s exactly right. They determined that it was a baby boy, a fetus of a baby boy 2 months old.
GRACE: OK, we are taking your calls. We have learned a 27-year-old vet technician, a veterinarian`s assistant, beloved by all of her clients - - and that would be all the animals and their owners -- suddenly goes missing, her body found thrown down a deep and wooded ravine. What was the COD, the cause of death, Matt Coughlin?
COUGHLIN: The cause of death was three gunshot wounds, two into her mouth and one in the back.
GRACE: Wa-wa-wa-wait. Put up Coughlin. You mean she was shot into her mouth, through her lips?
COUGHLIN: That`s what police told us, twice in the mouth and once in the back.
GRACE: OK. Unleash the lawyers, Eleanor Odom, Washington, D.C., Richard Herman, Las Vegas, Peter Odom, Atlanta.
Eleanor, that is cold. That is cold. Not only a murder, but to put the weapon in the victim`s mouth and pull the trigger?
ELEANOR ODOM, NATIONAL DISTRICT ATTORNEYS ASSOC.: Nancy, that`s so cold-blooded, and it is certainly one of the aggravating factors in which the state can seek the death penalty. Also, he knew she was pregnant. That`s another aggravating factor to seek the death penalty. This is a death penalty case.
GRACE: You are taking a look at the married boyfriend, David Rapoport, age 30, the victim`s boyfriend. We know that he didn`t have any children. But when police came to talk to him, to question him about this, Ellie, wasn`t he standing out in the front yard with his wife?
JOSTAD: Yes. That`s right. He and his wife were in the driveway. Police say when they approached him, at first he said he hadn`t had contact with Jennifer in the past few months. They confronted him with some known contact, and then he admitted it.
GRACE: He admitted that he had had contact with her, and very recently.
JOSTAD: Right.
GRACE: Out to the lines. Dorene in Pennsylvania. Hi, dear.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. How are you?
GRACE: What`s your question? I`m good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m a huge fan. I watch you every night. You`re an angel from above! You`re beautiful! God bless you, your family (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: I`m not any of that, but I appreciate...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes, you are, honey. I`ve been wanting to call for a long time. My question is -- they told me I had to hurry up. My question is -- I`m calling about the married vet who killed the pregnant lover, Jennifer Snyder?
GRACE: Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why would the boyfriend have poured bleach all over the body, is my question.
GRACE: Is that correct, Rita Cosby? Was bleach poured all over the body?
COSBY: Yes, that`s what we understand. Bleach was poured. Also, remember, garbage bags and duct tape. So it sounded like whoever it was, indeed, was trying to hide this. And also, body found at a ravine in a nature preserve.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twenty-seven-year-old Jennifer Snyder went missing the day before she was scheduled to have her first ultrasound. Court documents say while she was excited to be pregnant, her married boyfriend, 30-year-old David Rapoport, was angry about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty-seven-year-old pregnant vet tech Jennifer Snyder allegedly told her roommate her married boyfriend, veterinarian David Rapoport, had become very angry when he learned Jennifer was pregnant.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twenty-seven-year-old Jennifer Snyder went missing the day before she was scheduled to have her first ultrasound.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were already, you know, talking about baby shower and this is, you know, exciting for...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The day before she`s supposed to have an ultrasound, she goes missing. I want to unleash the lawyers, Eleanor Odom, Richard Herman, Peter Odom. Peter Odom, bleach poured all over her body, to my understanding, including her face. Was that an attempt to disguise her identity? And if so, wouldn`t that be an aggravating circumstance, in your mind?
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It would certainly show that the person that did this knew that their conduct was wrong. It would certainly undermine an insanity defense. It might have also been an attempt to wipe out some kind of other biological evidence, heaven knows what. Only the forensic experts will be able to tell after they analyze everything.
GRACE: Well, Richard Herman, it screams to me that she is not a random murder because, listen, if some guy walks along the street, goes boom and picks you off, he`s not going to bother to hide your body, throw it down a ravine and then cover your face and body in bleach.
RICHARD HERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No, Nancy, this is not random. And I tell you, I think he loved her tremendously. They made up. Even though she disclosed she was pregnant, he was upset initially, the accounts are that they made up and he accepted that. Nancy, I would look very carefully at his wife. If she found out about this relationship, if she found out about the affair, I`d look at her cell records...
GRACE: The wife.
HERMAN: ... I`d look at her Internet, everything.
GRACE: OK. The wife. That`s -- that`s...
HERMAN: Right.
GRACE: OK, that`s the best Richard Herman in Vegas can do tonight. Bethany Marshall, please, help me out. Throw me a bone here.
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: Well, Nancy, the reason he put the gun in her mouth, he wanted to make sure that he hit her in the brain stem. He really wanted her dead. He was a medical professional, and he used that knowledge in a sadistic, cold-blooded way.
And I`m struck that some -- one of the reporters said that they had a big fight. The roommate said they had a fight and then they made up and he smoothed things over. He didn`t smooth things over, he lured her in so that he could kill her.
And we divide killers into two types, organized and disorganized. He is extremely disorganized because he parked the car where there was surveillance. He poured bleach on the body as if he could disguise the evidence. This was not thought out. It was hasty and disorganized.
GRACE: We are taking your calls. A young and beautiful 27-year-old veterinary tech goes missing. She`s pregnant two months with a baby boy her body found down the end -- at the end of a deep and wooded ravine.
To Stella in Utah. Hi, Stella.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I have a question.
GRACE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were Jennifer and her boyfriend known to have prior domestic violence issues or no?
GRACE: Good question. What do we know about that, Rita Cosby?
COSBY: We have not heard any issues of domestic violence. We do know that he was very upset when he found out that she was pregnant, again, wanted her to quote, "get rid of the baby." So it sounds like there was some tension, but we don`t know of any other something that rose to the level of any arrest records or any sort of history between the two.
GRACE: OK, let`s talk about the arrest. Rita Cosby, what happened when they confront the veterinarian? This is a guy she took orders from. They worked together. What happened?
COSBY: Well, first, they go over -- initially, as we heard earlier, they go over to say to the guy, Look, what`s your communication with this woman? And he said, No, we hadn`t been in touch for a while. Then he `fesses up that they had communication. The first thing authorities do -- remember, first of all, they found her car. And in her car, they found blood. They found also two shell casings. They also found a bashed-out window. It looked like the window had been bashed out, but there was no shattered glass around, which is interesting. Maybe the car was moved also to that location, rather than where the incident took place. But then when they went to him, they found a gun that matched those shell casings.
GRACE: What else can you tell me, Ellie Jostad?
JOSTAD: ... as well, in the car, they were able to find -- or I shouldn`t say in the car. They contacted Target. They were able to find a receipt with some items that were purchased with someone using his credit card, one of those items being bleach.
GRACE: Bleach, duct tape, bullets, a 9-millimeter Glock. OK, Richard Herman, what were you saying about look at the wife? All of this is in his car...
HERMAN: That`s right.
GRACE: ... not her car.
HERMAN: Yes. Hell hath no fury, Nancy. And I would also look at that video -- I would look at that video and distinguish who that man is by the dumpster. I would distinguish that person from Rapoport.
GRACE: Well, Peter Odom, he used his own credit card!
PETER ODOM: Well, Nancy, the police are going to have to look and see if they can identify who did this. It looks bad for him, but none of the evidence has been analyzed yet.
GRACE: So you`re saying maybe the wife masterminded the whole thing...
PETER ODOM: No, no, no, no, no.
GRACE: ... used his credit card and planted evidence?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was about 11:00 AM when pregnant vet tech Jennifer Snyder left her home, telling her roommate she was leaving to meet her boyfriend, veterinarian David Rapoport, and planned to spend the night at his place.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But Jennifer never seen or heard from again, even missing her first ultrasound appointment the very next morning!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops find Jennifer`s Plymouth Neon at an office park, a window shattered and blood inside the car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to pregnant vet tech Jennifer Snyder?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Out to Joyce in Illinois. Hi, Joyce.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. My question...
GRACE: Hi, dear. That`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is, what exactly did Jennifer`s roommate tell police?
GRACE: Good question. To Matt Coughlin, police reporter at Phillyburbs.com. Matt, do we know specifically what she said?
COUGHLIN: Well, she said that she had last seen Jennifer leaving the apartment at 11:00 AM. She said they had -- the two had fought. Interestingly enough, the day that they discovered Jennifer`s car, that afternoon, after having spoken with her roommate, the roommate told police she received a text message from Jennifer`s phone.
GRACE: What did the text message say from her phone?
COUGHLIN: Well, it said that the doctor had not met her the night before.
GRACE: No, no, no. That`s not what it said.
COUGHLIN: It said "Dr. Dumbass" had not met her the night before.
GRACE: Well, Matt Coughlin, you`re a police reporter. Certainly you`ve said "dumbass" before! I mean...
COUGHLIN: Yes. Yes.
GRACE: ... that`s quoting, please, all right? But when you cover the courthouse, you got to be ready to spit it out, just like defendants do. So somebody -- let me get this straight. She`s dead down a ravine with acid poured on her face, two months pregnant, and somebody is thinking to text from her phone? And they say what?
COUGHLIN: They said that "Dr. Dumbass" had not met her the night -- the night she was supposed to meet David Rapoport.
GRACE: OK. So the text says "Dr. Dumbass" had to work tonight. He never met me. Eleanor Odom, that`s like taking out a billboard on 5th Avenue. Hi, I`m Dr. Dumbass, and I did it.
ELEANOR ODOM: I know, Nancy. The evidence in this case is very strong. And for a prosecutor, you have to take all of these pieces and put it together. And it shows the guilt of this person. I mean, we`ve got flight. We`ve got denial. We`ve got purchase of bleach, the gun in his car. I mean, it doesn`t take a rocket scientist to figure this one out.
GRACE: A 27-year-old pregnant veterinary tech goes missing, her body later discovered thrown down a deep ravine, her body covered in acid! Now who`s the suspect? The married veterinarian she worked for.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Covered in broken glass, blood and human tissue. Surveillance video from the area shows a man abandoning the car in a parking lot and throwing away a bleach bottle, a towel and some of Snyder`s medical documents in a nearby dumpster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thirty-five-year-old Kelly Rothwell -- she`s disappeared. And her 46-year-old boyfriend, David Perry.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sheriff`s investigators say he`s refusing to cooperate.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Has left the state of Florida.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Won`t allow detectives to search his car.
KRISTEN ROTHWELL, SISTER OF MISSING POLICE CADET, KELLY ROTHWELL: We felt that he was overbearing, maybe at times, and a bit possessive and controlling.
GRACE: She was, in fact, going to break up with him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So I went up to the condo. And I definitely feel like there was activity that happened in the backroom.
KEN WILLIAMSON, NEIGHBOR OF MISSING WOMAN, KELLY ROTHWELL: If something did not go his way, he became volatile. Very confrontational.
GRACE: You are seeing surveillance video.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The video is the last-known footage of her.
WILLIAMSON: You can tell that it was something that there was substantial void when it hit the floor.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Her live-in, as opposed to staying to look for her, moves out of the condo they share, and goes home to New York. It`s a 22-hour drive.
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER, AUTHOR OF "THE PROFILER": He hasn`t been named a suspect.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: They did not find any evidence of a fight or any blood.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Out to Alexis Weed on the story.
Alexis, a mysterious box. A box taken out of her condo. This is after she goes missing. The boyfriend, a cop, a corrections officer, has hightailed it to New York from Florida to New York. This is within 72 hours after she goes missing. He`s not sticking around to wait for her to look at the front door. And apparently he sends his grown son to go retrieve items from the home. What`s in the box?
ALEXIS WEED, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right, Nancy. He`s in -- he`s still in New York but his son, his 21-year-old son was there at the condo when police were there, taking a look, checking things out.
The police see him leaving with a box. Police will not tell us what was in that box. But they did confiscate it from this young men.
GRACE: And to David Lohr, crime reporter, AOLNews.com. The friends even called in a psychic. What did he learn?
DAVID LOHR, CRIME REPORTER, AOLNEWS.COM: Well, that is a matter of opinion with the psychic. If you believe in what psychics have to say. But you know he seems to think there was a scuffle in the house. And you know, whatever happened. But you know the more interesting part, I think right now is the search warrants that have come out. And the fact that they processed evidence inside the home tonight.
GRACE: Well, I would assume that they process evidence inside the home. But there`s a problem with evidence inside the home.
To Dr. Vincent Dimaio, chief medical examiner, Bexar County forensic pathologist. Joining us out of San Antonio.
Doctor, for instance, if they find her hair, her fingerprints, her blood in the condo, that could be explained through completely innocent reasons depending on the nature of how it is found. Explain.
DR. VINCENT DIMAIO, M.D., FORMER CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER, BEXAR COUNTY, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: It`s -- she lived there. She could bleed. She could lose hair. So this would be not unusual to find. In addition, even -- he`s living there so if you find his DNA all over, it doesn`t mean anything.
The only thing that would be important is if you found a large quantity of blood or large piece of hair that had been ripped from the head. Then you might have some evidence that you could use.
GRACE: Dr. Dimaio, I also believe that the location of where you discover the blood, for instance, if it is blood. It doesn`t always have to be a lot of blood, but say if you find blood splatter thinly sprayed, maybe even invisible to the naked eye, on the ceiling. You know that that comes from a throwback.
Yes, go ahead, Doctor.
DIMAIO: Someone swinging a blunt instrument and hitting a person repeatedly and then the blood gets on it and then you when you whip it back, it goes on to the ceiling. And if there`s a carpet, you want to rip up the carpet because someone may clean the blood off the carpet itself. Blood will seep through into the underlying padding. So you want to examine the padding. Not just the carpet.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Joining us from our nation`s capital, Eleanor Odom. From Vegas, Richard Herman. From Atlanta, Peter Odom.
Eleanor, to get blood out of carpet and I asked the downstairs neighbor very carefully last night, was her bedroom, was her condo carpeted, and he said yes.
To get blood or bodily fluids out of carpet is really hard.
ELEANOR ODOM, FELONY PROSECUTOR, DEATH PENALTY QUALIFIED: Yes, it is, Nancy. And it`s really easy to find if you`re the forensics technician because you can also cut out the sections of the carpet and examine those from microscopic spots of blood. So there could be some good evidence from that apartment.
GRACE: So to Peter Odom and Richard Herman, let me guess your defense is we haven`t found a body. So what? She`s taken off with another man.
Peter Odom, are you going to try that again tonight?
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No defense needed, Nancy. They haven`t made an arrest. Under our system of justice the state has the burden of proving anyone`s guilt for any crime. And nothing has been proven. They don`t even call him a person of interest at this point. It might be suspicious but let`s --
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: OK. Question -- wait a minute. Wait a minute. Whoa, whoa.
Peter, who is he?
P. ODOM: Let`s at least have an investigation.
GRACE: Wait. Who`s he? Who`s the he you`re talking about?
P. ODOM: The boyfriend.
GRACE: Oh, because nobody has said anything about him being a person of interest except you.
P. ODOM: I`m just saying --
GRACE: Listening. Not hearing.
P. ODOM: Nancy, can we at least have an investigation before we condemn this person?
GRACE: Right. Until you start talking as if he`s the target. What about that, Peter Odom? Why did you do that? Nobody said it but you.
P. ODOM: I think our system of justice presumes him innocent.
GRACE: Uh-huh. All right.
P. ODOM: I think our system of justice presumes him innocent, Nancy. You know that .
GRACE: You know, you should enter the Olympics in swimming. The backstroke.
Weigh in, Herman.
RICHARD HERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, they`re going to do luminal testing in that room. You know if the noise was so loud the night before, why didn`t the neighbors call the police? Why didn`t they call them then?
GRACE: I asked him that. And he had an explanation. He said and he was very, very believable and credible. To my knowledge, to my understanding, I heard him and question him. He said they heard a series of loud dull thuds, and he went, something is wrong. But then they heard the routine vacuuming.
And I`m glad you brought that up, Herman. Hold on. Hold on.
Bethany Marshall, the downstairs neighbor told me that this guy vacuums. He`s alone up in her condo. He`s living in her condo. And he would vacuum like five times a day all by himself up there.
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": Doesn`t it speak to how extremely obsessive he is? And think about it, she`s a beautiful young woman. She`s about to graduate, to complete a degree, to launch her life, to have her freedom. What is that going to do to a personality disorder, control-freak, obsessive male?
It`s going to make him homicidal. And what we see in this situation is normally you have an extremely personality disordered man paired with a normal woman who wants her freedom. And when she`s just about to get it, that is when the guy becomes destabilizing, becomes homicidal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Detectives are calling David Perry a person of interest.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Detectives said he`s not talking.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has elected not to discuss anything to do with this case or provide us any background.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It`s suspicious behavior. They`re fearful something bad may have happened.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She`s disappeared.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Kelly Rothwell seen on surveillance video.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Friendly nature and a (INAUDIBLE) smile.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Forty-six-year-old boyfriend David Perry has left the state of Florida.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Suspicious behavior.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A report surfaces claiming neighbors heard loud banging noises and vacuuming hours after Kelly was last seen.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She enrolled in the police academy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s very regimented. She would show up every day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The fact that she did not show up for class raised huge red flags because she hadn`t missed a class.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Theresa in California. Hi, Theresa.
GEORGIA, CALLER FROM FLORIDA: Hello?
GRACE: I`m sorry. I went out of order. Georgia in Florida. You know, that kind of threw me off. Georgia in Florida.
Hi, Georgia. What`s your question?
GEORGIA: Hi, I was just wondering how would investigators look for blood evidence in the home?
GRACE: That`s a great question. To Bill Majeski, former NYPD, now president, Majeski Associates, joining us out of New York.
In a nutshell, how do they look for blood?
BILL MAJESKI, FMR. NYPD DETECTIVE, MAJESKI ASSOCIATES, INC.: They will send in a team of forensic examiners to go in to the apartment and go through it with a fine-tooth comb. There is going to be something there that can be ultimately used in a prosecution of the person that killed her.
In terms of the investigation itself, they should be sending a team of people to the New York area to discuss with all of the people associated with David and his past and find out about him. Also getting a warrant for his cell phone.
GRACE: And they also need -- and they also -- they said he would not agree for them to search his car. Hello? Get a warrant.
MAJESKI: Get a warrant. Absolutely.
GRACE: Get a warrant. That`s all they`ve got to do.
MAJESKI: Yes.
GRACE: Joining me right now -- speaking of the police -- Pinellas County, Florida, County Sheriff`s Office, Detective Michael Bailey.
Detective, thank you for being with us.
DET. MICHAEL BAILEY, PINELLAS CO. SHERIFF`S OFFICE: Yes.
GRACE: Detective, so let me get this straight, and I don`t want to ask you anything that could jeopardize the investigation. Just tell me if it`s the wrong question.
The boyfriend`s son, the boy who`s taken off to New York. The boyfriend`s son, adult son, comes into the condo to retrieve a box?
BAILEY: Yes. He had come back to the residence. We actually responded out there and spoke with him briefly. He basically advised us his dad had told him to go water the plants, and -- which he did do. And he did retrieve a box, which we retrieved from him.
GRACE: He was with -- OK. That doesn`t sound like watering the plants to me, Detective Bailey.
BAILEY: Well, I`m certain that he also did that in addition to obviously trying to retrieve this box. The contents of the box, obviously, we know what they are, whether that proves to be something beneficial or not is undetermined at this time.
GRACE: What`s in the box?
BAILEY: Again, it`s part of our investigation. I obviously can`t disclose that. Like I said, it may or may not have any bearing on this just yet. Let`s just -- let`s see how this unfolds.
GRACE: Whatever is being removed at the behest of the boyfriend, I would think is significant. And also, if he believes that she is about to walk through the front door, why is he removing belongings?
Detective Bailey, did he pack up everything he owned when he left?
BAILEY: No, he did not.
GRACE: So he left some of his stuff.
BAILEY: The house is virtually intact as he had left it.
GRACE: And what was the reason he gave for going to his original home in New York?
BAILEY: He never did give us a reason. Just that he is there. He provided a very brief statement to the investigating deputies at the time the initial call was taken. Very brief. And that he`s basically in New York. And when the deputy tried to pursue further questioning, the call was terminated.
GRACE: Out to the lines. Theresa in California. Hi, Theresa.
THERESA, CALLER FROM CALIFORNIA: Hi, Nancy. I have a quick comment and then a question.
GRACE: OK.
THERESA: Number one, I love you. I love you on "SWIFT JUSTICE" and this. I rush home to see you.
GRACE: Thank you.
THERESA: And eight years ago, I lost my daughter to a violent crime. And -- so what I`m thinking is about the car because my daughter was placed in the trunk.
Have they searched the car? And -- you know, I know -- I think I heard they need a warrant or whatever. But, you know, luminal and all those things, I just think of all those things. Nobody would have known my daughter was in the trunk, but when it was set on fire, they popped the trunk. And that`s how they found my daughter. So he could have transported her which is what they did with her.
GRACE: Theresa in California, I am so sorry to hear what you went through.
THERESA: Thank you.
GRACE: They haven`t found anything in his trunk yet because they haven`t searched it. They say because he hasn`t given permission. But if they`ve got enough reason, they can get a search warrant to search that trunk. So, no, they have not searched his trunk. Yet they do have her vehicle.
Joining me right now from Clearwater, Donna Scharrett. This is Kelly`s friend. The last person to speak to her that we know of before she went missing.
Donna, thanks for being with us. What did Kelly tell you?
DONNA SCHARRETT, FRIEND OF MISSING POLICE CADET, KELLY ROTHWELL, LAST TO SEE HER ALIVE: Kelly specifically told me that she was going home to break up with Dave. Get some of her things and move out and start her new life.
GRACE: Why was she breaking up?
SCHARRETT: In her words, it was suffocating.
GRACE: What did she mean by that?
SCHARRETT: He was very controlling. He would alienate her from friends and family. Really just very dominating.
GRACE: How did he alienate her?
SCHARRETT: How did he alienate her?
GRACE: Yes.
SCHARRETT: By telling her things like, you know, take your MySpace down and you shouldn`t be on Facebook. And you know, just controlling.
GRACE: Was she afraid of him?
SCHARRETT: Yes. Yes.
GRACE: To Kristen Rothwell, this is Kelly`s sister. Now that you are hearing all this, are you surprised?
ROTHWELL: I am not surprised. I am actually surprised to hear that Kelly was scared of him. Not that she shouldn`t have been. Just that Kelly was such a strong -- she was such a strong woman. I can`t imagine her being scared of anything.
GRACE: Everyone, the tip line, 727-582-6200.
And now "CNN Heroes."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNO SERATO, CNN HERO: I came to this country 30 years ago. I love to cook. But to be in the restaurant business you must love the people.
How`s your lunch, ladies?
In 2005, my mom was here on vacation from Italy. I said, mom, let`s go to the Boys & Girls Clubs. And this little boy, 5 years old, eating potato chips for his dinner. He was a motel kid.
I find that a poor family who has nothing else live in a motel. The motel environment is pretty bad. Drugs, prostitution, alcohols. It`s all of them. When they go back after school, there`s no dinner. There`s no money.
My mom said, Bruno, you must feed them the pasta.
I`m Bruno Serato. I listened to my mama, now my mission is feeding hungry children. Six years ago we start feeding the kids. When the recession came, customers dropped and the children doubled.
I don`t give the kids leftovers. I prepare fresh pasta.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bruno brings the tray in, and all the kids. They start getting excited.
SERATO: Are you hungry? Are you hungry?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s good to (INAUDIBLE).
SERATO: Right now we are between 150 to 200 kids seven days a week.
Who liked the pasta?
CROWD: Me.
SERATO: My mom, she made me start. Now I could never stop. I see you soon. They are customer. My favorite customers.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: What a week in America`s courtrooms. Take a look at the stories, and more important, the people who touched our lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GLORIA ALLRED, VICTIM`S RIGHTS ATTORNEY, CHILD ADVOCATE: Lawrence Taylor was sentenced by New York Supreme Court justice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lawrence Taylor was charged with rape in the third degree.
ALLRED: Criminal sexual act in the third degree, sexual abuse in the third degree.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Lawrence Taylor has been added to a list, that of a registered sex offender.
GRACE: You`ve got a tenth grade girl, who was beaten. Now she says she is not a hooker. I believe her. You know why? Because if she is a hooker, why did they have to beat her and drug her on ecstasy to get her to have sex with a 52-year-old man?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The case of a missing army wife, 21-year-old Bethany Decker, pregnant with her second child, vanishes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a missing person.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s living a double life.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Her army husband, 21-year-old Emile Decker.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Named persons of interest by police.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Ronald Roldan, 30 years old, the alleged boyfriend.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Law enforcement reportedly names Ronald Roldan person of interest in the case.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never thought it could happen. Never. You never think it could happen to you until your best friend is murdered.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Hyde Park Police say they find Filiberti`s body off Green Tree Drive.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sources tell Eyewitness News that the 18-year- old girl was stabbed in an attack.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Friends say she is last seen in Hyde Park, leaving a party.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Only four and a half weeks? But to be honest with you, we have a lot left to do.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thirty-five-year-old police cadet Kelly Rothwell is missing.
GRACE: In a bizarre twist, we learn Kelly`s live-in, a former corrections to officer, moves out of the condo they shared, and drives home. To New York. Get it?
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Let`s stop and remember Army Specialist Matthew Gibbs, 21, Ambrose, Georgia, killed Iraq. Died just weeks before his 22nd birthday. Awarded Purple Heart, Bronze Star, several Army Commendation medals. Loved fishing, hunting, time at home with family.
Loved making people laugh. Leaving behind grieving wife Ragan, daughters Arianna and Arissa.
Matthew Gibbs, American hero.
Thanks to our guests, but especially to you.
And a special congratulations to Georgia friends, Jacquelyn and Jack. Getting married tomorrow. Aren`t they beautiful?
Jacquelyn, one of the world record holders in women`s freestyle formation diving. She with 181 brave women across 31 countries skydived for breast cancer awareness, raising nearly $1 million.
Congratulations, you two.
And a special good night from the New York control room. Let`s take a look. There`s Brett, Liz, my goodness. They certainly cleared out for the weekend. You two put the show on all by yourself? Woo.
Everybody, I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, goodnight, friend.
END
