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Nancy Grace
The Curling Iron Murder
Aired November 05, 2012 - 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. An 18-year-old star swimmer heads to college, but just weeks into classes, co-ed Alexandra Kogut discovered dead in her own dorm room. Cause of death, blunt force trauma. Weapon, her own curling iron!
Bombshell tonight. As a mystery tweet surfaces from Alexandra just hours before her death, cops zero in on a suspect, a star college hockey player.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An 18-year-old college freshman with the world ahead of her is dead, suddenly murdered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Found in her dorm room beaten to death.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The medical examiner says she died of blunt force trauma.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bad things can happen anywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Authorities say she was allegedly brutally beaten to death by her 21-year-old boyfriend inside her own college dorm room.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I killed my girlfriend. I kept hitting her over and over with my fists. I didn`t want the girl I loved to suffer, so I started beating her with the curling iron until the noise stopped."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was a great guy. I didn`t -- it`s so weird to think about...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I wasn`t even drunk. I just snapped."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty-one-year-old boyfriend arrested over 100 miles away. Tonight, he`s charged with second-degree murder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I killed my girlfriend. Made me mad. Stupid stuff. She started pushing me and yelling at me."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, the bride-to-be just hours away from walking down the aisle, and instead of a wedding, friends and family tonight making plans for a funeral, Vendeli Smith (ph) found slashed to death, face down in a pool of blood on her own bed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vendeli Smith, eight months pregnant, found stabbed in her apartment just hours before her baby (INAUDIBLE) scheduled.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just down the block from the crime scene, the church where Vendeli was supposed to have her wedding.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Members of the congregation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With an outpouring of unspeakable shock and horror when they learned of the vicious murder of this expectant mother and bride- to-be.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are living in perilous times, a time of troubles! And there is no (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The victim`s oldest daughter reportedly screaming, I just want to see my mom! Family members who had come to Brownsville (ph) for a baby shower and a wedding will now attend a funeral to mourn a mother and her unborn child.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. An 18-year-old star swimmer heads to college, but just weeks into classes, co-ed Alexandra Kogut dead in her own room, blunt force trauma. Weapon, her own curling iron. Cops zero in on a suspect, a star college hockey player.
We are taking your calls. Liz, please cue up what we know of his statement.
Out to Alexis Tereszcuk, senior reporter, Radaronline.com. Alexis, what do we know about this girl? That`s where you start the investigation.
ALEXIS TERESZCUK, RADARONLINE.COM: Alexandra was 18 years old. She was a freshman in college. She had been a star swimmer in high school. She was enjoying everything, was having fun with friends. She was dating this boyfriend, Clayton. They had actually a long-distance relationship. He did not go to the same university that she did. And he came to visit her. And they were really excited.
She is the type of girl -- she tweeted everything, so excited he was going to bring her cookies. She`s also a girl who spoke on the phone to her mother multiple times a day, and that is who actually realized that something was wrong. Her mother could not reach her, desperately panicked, called the school. They went to her dorm room, and that is where they found her dead on the floor.
GRACE: Dave Mack joining us, morning talk show host, Clear Channel. Dave, what more do we know about her? Wasn`t she sending a lot of tweets just before her murder?
DAVE MACK, CLEAR CHANNEL: Apparently, she tweeted a lot of the time, and she was tweeting that evening. As a matter of fact, about two-and-a- half hours before he was picked up by police, she had tweeted something then that was probably one of her last tweets, that was indicative that something was not right.
GRACE: You know what? You`re right, Dave Mack.
Ellie Jostad, let`s go through the tweets. Liz, let`s put up our mock-up of tweets exchanged between the victim, this young college co-ed, and the man cops have zeroed in on.
Ellie, what can you tell me about this tweet?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right, Nancy. Well, in the days that were leading up to Clayton Whittemore`s visit to his girlfriend`s college campus, they were tweeting things to each other like, Can`t wait to have pancakes, Going bring you cookies, you know, all kinds of things, I can`t wait to see you, looking forward to the visit, type tweets.
However, on the night -- or actually, the early morning hours that she was found dead -- her body found at 12:45 AM on a Saturday morning. Just a couple hours before, at 12:13 AM, Alexandra Kogut tweeted, Should have known. And that was the last tweet sent from her account.
GRACE: Ellie, what is the condition of the body? What do we know?
JOSTAD: Well, unfortunately, the police say that there was severe trauma to her body. Cause of death is blunt force trauma, trauma to her entire upper body. They said severe trauma was apparent as soon as they arrived at the scene.
GRACE: Let`s hear what we know so far about statements made by a star college hockey player.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I killed my girlfriend. Made me mad. Stupid stuff. She started pushing me and yelling at me. So I pushed her back against the wall to get her to stop. She wouldn`t stop pushing me, so I started punching her, and I just snapped. I kept hitting her over and over with my fists."
"Her breathing sounded bad, like there was blood or something blocking her breathing. I didn`t want the girl I loved to suffer, so I started beating her with the curling iron until the noise stopped. I wasn`t even drunk. I just snapped. Yes, last night after I did it -- I mean after I committed the crime.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: "I didn`t want the girl I love to suffer," so he finished her off with her own curling iron? Alexis Tereszcuk, explain.
TERESZCUK: Apparently, what happened was is, he was -- they were arguing. He said she was shoving him. Instead of walking away from the fight, he started punching her. He punched her so many times, she was struggling to breathe. And he heard that and he says, Oh, I didn`t want her to suffer. So he picked up the curling iron that was in her dorm room and beat her with it.
A curling iron is not that big. They really don`t even weigh that much. So for the force that he used to cause her death had to have been immense. So he kept hitting her and hitting her until she stopped struggling and stopped making any noise. And then he knew she was dead, and he left her there. He didn`t alert anybody. And in fact, he fled. He was caught 100 miles away. He was not there to take care of her.
GRACE: Out to the lines. Norm, New York. Hi, Norm. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. This is just a comment. (INAUDIBLE) you know, it was definitely, like, murder. It was, like, he didn`t snap at all. That was, like, premeditated.
GRACE: Why do you say that, Norm?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because it seemed like it was a crime of, like, passion or rage. Like, he beat her with the curling iron. If they`re having a fight or a disagreement, just be a man and walk away, even if she pushes you. But you know, attacked her (INAUDIBLE) just wanted to make sure that she was dead. So that definitely was murder. He didn`t snap at all.
GRACE: Well, you know, Norm, here`s the other thing. If those statements are correct and they don`t get suppressed out of evidence by some defense lawyer, it shows that he had a chance to save her, that she was having difficulty breathing.
Cue that back up, Liz, please. He describes that there`s blood or something in her throat. She`s having difficulty breathing. So instead of helping her, he puts her out of her misery and does a mercy killing. So there you have a break in whatever passion or anger he is feeling.
Let`s take a listen, Liz. Play it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I killed my girlfriend. Made me mad. Stupid stuff. She started pushing me and yelling at me. So I pushed her back against the wall to get her to stop. She wouldn`t stop pushing me, so I started punching her, and I just snapped. I kept hitting her over and over with my fists."
"Her breathing sounded bad, like there was blood or something blocking her breathing. I didn`t want the girl I loved to suffer, so I started beating her with the curling iron until the noise stopped. I wasn`t even drunk. I just snapped. Yes, last night after I did it -- I mean, after I committed the crime."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kogut`s mother called campus police to say she couldn`t get in touch with her daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We all know that bad things can happen anywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They found her dead in her dorm room.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s really hard to think about her and not (INAUDIBLE) like, saying hi to her in the hall.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She died of blunt force trauma.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Never had a bad thing to say about anyone. She was just a great person.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alexandra was just five weeks into her freshman year at SUNY Brockport (ph). Police called the killing brutal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An 18-year-old college freshman with the world ahead of her is dead, suddenly murdered. Authorities say she was allegedly brutally beaten to death by her 21-year-old boyfriend inside her own college dorm room, law enforcement trying to determine how long the boyfriend was inside the dorm, the 21-year-old boyfriend arrested over 100 miles away. Tonight, he`s charged with second-degree murder.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. To Rachel Kent, joining us right now. Rachel, you`re the expert of social media. What`s happening?
RACHEL KENT, NANCY GRACE SOCIAL MEDIA PRODUCER (via telephone): Well, most people are very upset about this. They think that something was brewing for a long time. They`re not buying this suspect`s alleged offense, which would be that he just, quote, "snapped."
But there are a few people that are saying that, You know what? People do have a tendency just to snap and there`s a difference between a normal snap and a murder snap, which they`re equating to sanity versus insanity.
GRACE: OK. Let`s break that down as to how the law really applies to the "snap" defense. Eric Schwartzreich, Miami, Burke Strunsky, LA, Jason Oshins, New York.
Jason, there`s really no such thing as a "snap" defense. I guess the closest thing to that argument would be heat of the moment, heat of passion.
But what he`s describing in his statements to others, to his father, to others, to police, it doesn`t sound like that`s going to work because he says in the middle of him beating her, he hears her breathing, shallow breathing. It sounds like she`s congested with blood and he stops. And instead of helping her, he decides to finish her off by clubbing her to death with her own curling iron.
JASON OSHINS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, there are mitigating factors within...
GRACE: Really?
OSHINS: ... within the charge of murder.
GRACE: What?
OSHINS: Well, certainly depraved indifference, anything that might mitigate that in terms of...
GRACE: Wait, wait, wait...
OSHINS: Yes?
GRACE: ... wait, wait, wait!
OSHINS: Yes?
GRACE: Jason?
OSHINS: Yes?
GRACE: You`re -- I`m not in pre-K, all right? You can`t mix up legal theories and think I`m not going to notice. Depraved indifference is not a mitigating factor. It is not less than what happens. In fact, depraved indifference goes to murder one!
OSHINS: Nancy...
GRACE: Premeditated!
OSHINS: I`m not talking about -- I`m talking about specifically about murder charges within the state of New York.
GRACE: Yes?
OSHINS: There are...
GRACE: You said mitigating!
OSHINS: There are different elements...
GRACE: Depraved indifference is not going to help!
OSHINS: There are different elements that can go to ultimately what the charge is by the prosecutor. But more importantly...
GRACE: Such as?
OSHINS: ... to your initial question about the insanity rule...
GRACE: So you`re going to, like, erase what I was just saying because...
OSHINS: I`m not erasing...
GRACE: ... it`s not really working out.
OSHINS: ... what you`re saying. I`m just saying that...
GRACE: What you`re saying!
OSHINS: Nancy, absent a charge of murder one, there are other elements that could come into play of facts unknown, specifically towards this defendant. But more importantly, I don`t think it rises to the level of an insanity defense. The fact that he snapped and using that term really is a red herring to this defense.
GRACE: All right. Jason Oshins, you have just drawn a perfect circle.
OSHINS: Thank you.
GRACE: You start off saying, Oh, there are all of these mitigating factors.
OSHINS: I said there can be.
GRACE: For those of you...
OSHINS: I said there can be.
GRACE: For those of you just joining us, mitigating factors are factors that go to lessen the offense, like you`re insane, like you were under...
OSHINS: You were defending yourself. There was a fight going on. There are other...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Excuse me. As I was saying...
OSHINS: Sorry.
GRACE: ... there are a lot of factors. And then you blurt out depraved indifference. Now, depraved indifference to human life goes to murder one in most jurisdictions. So what, may I ask you, in this fact scenario, Jason Oshins, is a mitigating circumstance?
OSHINS: Let`s just say we`re talking about the facts as they`re being told to us today...
GRACE: Name one!
OSHINS: ... not all the facts that are known.
GRACE: Name one.
OSHINS: This could have been a crime of passion. They could have been having a fight. He could have seen her with someone.
GRACE: So what? We`re having a fight right now. Hey, can you hand me that .38, OK? I`m having a fight with Oshins. I`m just going to blow him away because we`re in the middle of a fight.
OSHINS: That can be a mitigating factor. Crime of passion.
GRACE: That is -- Strunsky, talk to him!
BURKE STRUNSKY, SR. DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: OK. This is a prosecutor`s dream, this statement. This statement -- defendant foreclosed all of his defenses in this statement. He said, I actively made a decision to kill her during this fight, which it surprises me this isn`t a first- degree murder case, it`s charged as a second. He stops, he thinks about it, he then picks up a curling iron, ends her life.
So not only isn`t this a mitigating case, this case seems to be undercharged to me.
GRACE: You know, Schwartzreich, I want to hear what you`ve got to say about this. You`re the big defense lawyer in Miami. So Schwartzreich, if I`m lying on the side of a road from a car accident and I`m having difficulty breathing, what is a jury going to do when you come up with a curling iron and just go ahead and finish me off? Why is it any different that this was his girlfriend? Is her life worth less?
ERIC SCHWARTZREICH, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Grace, let`s stay focused here. There`s a difference between...
GRACE: Yes, I am!
SCHWARTZREICH: ... murder one, murder two. Premeditation is the difference. The issue is, is we don`t have a tape of those alleged statements. Every statement has to be knowing, intelligent and voluntary. Did he make those statements? They are not taped. That`s why you have someone reading those statements.
If those statements get thrown out, that can help the defense. But those statements that we have, they are...
GRACE: OK, let me just...
SCHWARTZREICH: ... going to going to murder two, not murder one.
GRACE: ... give you a little more...
SCHWARTZREICH: That`s what those statements...
GRACE: ... information, Eric. He spoke not only to police, he spoke to his father.
Alexis Tereszcuk, Radaronline.com, he made statements to a lot of people beside police.
TERESZCUK: He did. You`re absolutely right. He spoke to his dad. He explained basically everything that the police are saying that he said. He hasn`t wavered at all.
His story is very black and white. It is, She started pushing me. I started punching her. I heard her struggling to breathe, and I hit her with a curling iron. He hasn`t changed his story from his dad or his minister, anybody.
GRACE: In fact, isn`t it true that he calls his dad as he`s fleeing the jurisdiction and says Hey, Dad, I did something really bad. I killed somebody.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An entire college campus on edge after a beautiful 18-year-old freshman student is murdered. But who would want her dead?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "She started pushing me and yelling at me. So I pushed her back against the wall to get her to stop. She wouldn`t stop pushing me, so I started punching her and I just snapped."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: News of her death spread quickly on campus, found in her dorm room beaten to death.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. I`m going to go straight out to Toya in New York. Hi, Toya. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. First off, I just want to say early happy birthday. It`ll be my birthday, too. I`ll be 38 years old.
GRACE: Happy birthday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. And God bless you and your beautiful twins.
GRACE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a miracle baby of my own I had last year. My question is, what the heck kind of curling iron was it that it was able to withstand the force he used to strike the surface of her body that it was able to kill her? Are they sure that was really the weapon that was the cause of her demise? I`m a little perplexed.
GRACE: That is a good question, Toya in New York. Let`s go out to Dr. Vincent DiMaio, former chief medical examiner, forensic pathologist. What about it, Doctor?
DR. VINCENT DIMAIO, FMR. CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER (via telephone): It does sound far-fetched. But what they`ll do is they`ll compare the iron to marks on the body that were inflicted by the blows. But it sounds more likely that we`re talking about her being repeatedly punched and the head banged either the floor or wall, rather than the hair iron.
GRACE: Isn`t it true, Dr. DiMaio, that she could have been in the throes of death at the time he was hearing probably that gurgling sound that murder victims make just before their death, and when he whacked her on the head with the curling iron, that may not have been the ultimate mortal blow, but instead his punching her with the fists.
DIMAIO: Yes, I think that`s more likely. I think she was in agonal breathing, barely alive. And he just decided he didn`t want to hear the sound, so he figured he`d try to kill her quickly.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. A gorgeous young star swimmer goes off to college, and in the weeks of her very first classes, she is found dead there on her own bed. And now police zero in on a prime suspect, a star college hockey player.
Out to the lines. Ivan in Texas. Hi, Ivan. What`s your question?
IVAN, CALLER FROM TEXAS: Hi, Nancy, I think you`re being so hard on this kid. He snapped and that`s mental illness. He is obviously insane. I mean if you look at the tweets, they were getting along fine. There`s no premeditation. So obviously he doesn`t belong in jail, he belongs in a mental institution.
GRACE: Please hold, Ivan in Texas. Ivan, are you a doctor?
IVAN: No.
GRACE: Are you a psychiatrist?
IVAN: No.
GRACE: So if I just snap listening to what you`re saying right now and then come give you a little finger necklace until you can`t breathe anymore and your face turns blue and you die, that`s not murder one?
IVAN: Nobody heard them fighting. Nobody talked about anything. It says that -- you know --
GRACE: What do you mean nobody talked about anything? What do mean talked about?
IVAN: There`s no history of them fighting or having a bad relationship.
GRACE: No, you said nobody talked about anything. What are you talking about?
IVAN: There is no evidence of a rocky relationship.
GRACE: So?
IVAN: Nobody -- because he obviously was getting along with her. If you look at the tweets and he just snapped. And that is a mental illness.
GRACE: OK. Ivan in Texas, are you familiar with the Scott Peterson case?
IVAN: Yes.
GRACE: All right. By all accounts, Scott Peterson and his wife Lacy had a wonderful relationship, did they not?
IVAN: Yes.
GRACE: So do you disagree with his murder conviction? Because they had a great relationship until he killed her.
IVAN: I -- he didn`t snap.
GRACE: But, but, but.
IVAN: He said he snapped.
GRACE: So? I`m supposed to believe him? He beat her to death and finished her off with a curling iron and you want me to -- you know? I hope you don`t get jury duty.
Back to you, Burke Strunsky. Explain why I got mad and killed somebody is not a defense.
BURKE STRUNSKY, SENIOR DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY, AUTHOR OF "HUMANITY OF JUSTICE": Insanity defense depends on -- the defense attorney being able to show that the defendant did not understand the difference between right and wrong. What`s obstructive here is when you look at these statement, the defendant clearly knew what he did was wrong. And therefore I just snapped is not going to play and there won`t even be an insanity defense at trial.
GRACE: Well, in addition to insanity, Burke Strunsky, what I`m getting at -- because there is no history whatsoever of any mental illness or emotional instability in his entire history. What I`m getting at is by him saying I got mad and killed her, they`re going to try and get that reduced down to voluntary manslaughter. But every time -- Jason Oshins, just take off your defense hat just for a moment and go back to the days when you are pure and you were in law school. All right? Before you started making all that money as a defense lawyer.
JASON OSHINS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Right.
GRACE: Just because you get mad that doesn`t reduce a murder down to a voluntary manslaughter. I mean every time a murder happens, somebody is upset or angry, you don`t murder because you`re happy with the situation. You murder because you hate somebody or you want revenge. That does not reduce the crime to voluntary. And that`s straight where this is headed. Because he said he was mad.
OSHINS: Right. You want -- you want --
GRACE: I don`t care if he`s mad, Jason.
OSHINS: Right.
GRACE: I`m mad.
OSHINS: I understand and we feel your passion, Nancy. And I think all I`m saying is that there can be other mitigating factors that reduced from either a murder one or inside a murder two that when you cut a plea deal, can work out for the benefit of the defendant. And certainly --
GRACE: I`m not talking about a plea deal.
OSHINS: Nancy, I`m just talking about --
GRACE: I`m talking about why shouldn`t this be murder one? That`s what I`m saying.
OSHINS: Right. Because I don`t think at the moment we see enough as premeditation. I think when more facts go out and ultimately this -- this defendant is indicted he can be indicted for a higher charge. I don`t now that he`s been indicted yet.
GRACE: Jason.
OSHINS: Yes, Nancy.
GRACE: Isn`t it true that premeditation under the law can be formed in the twinkling of an eye. In an instant. In the time it takes you to lift the gun and pull the trigger.
OSHINS: Yes. Yes.
GRACE: Premeditation can be formed in that sort of a time.
OSHINS: You`re -- absolutely.
GRACE: So after he`s beating her, beating her, beating her with his fist, and then he pauses for a moment to reflect and here`s the blood gurgling in her throat, Strunsky, isn`t that enough time for premeditation?
STRUNSKY: Yes, it is, Nancy. In a second --
OSHINS: Yes. OK.
GRACE: Strunsky?
STRUNSKY: In a second he could have weighed the consciousness of his decision. He could have said -- weighed the consequences of doing the crime versus not doing the crime.
GRACE: Yes.
STRUNSKY: A split second --
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: OK, Schwartzreich, agree or disagree?
ERIC SCHWARTZREICH, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I`m going to agree to disagree. Premeditation can happen in a second like that.
GRACE: All right.
SCHWARTZREICH: But that tape, that was an orchestrated by defense attorneys. This is what he allegedly said, assuming these statements are true. There is no defense attorney pulling the marionette strings here. While you might not like it as a former prosecutor, Nancy, the law assesses certain mens rea, certain intent, absence of mistake, whether it`s heat of passion or premeditation. It`s a difference between 15 years, 25 years to life or death. That`s the law. That`s the law we all live by, Nancy.
GRACE: Eric Schwartzreich. Let me see Schwartzreich.
SCHWARTZREICH: Nancy Grace. Yes, Nancy Grace.
GRACE: This isn`t about what I like or don`t like. OK? I`m a crime victim. I don`t like murder. I don`t like --
SCHWARTZREICH: No one likes murder, Nancy. I hate murder.
GRACE: You can cut his mic now. This isn`t about what any of us like or don`t like. This is about the facts. And the facts are that he says he was angry that he started beating her to death with his fists and stopped when he heard the blood gurgling in her throat and then finished her off with her curling iron.
Now to you, Ramani Durvasula, clinic psychologist, let`s hear your thoughts.
RAMANI DURVASULA, PH.D., CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: You know, one thing I`m thinking is that this could very well be an impulse control disorder. Something that we think like intermittent explosive disorder. He flies into a rage and he can`t control it. It was almost like the worst case of road rage possible.
And so what this feels like is anger out of control. However, that`s not going to be a defense. I mean that`s the bottom line. It`s not -- it doesn`t sound like psychosis or a past history of mental illness. This sounds like an explosive anger disorder that went completely out of control. But he know -- he knew what he was doing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Vendali Smith, eight months pregnant, found stabbed to death in her apartment, just hours before her baby shower is scheduled.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Just down the block of the crime scene, the church where Vendali was supposed to have her wedding.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Members of the congregation driving an outpouring of unspeakable shock and horror learned of the vicious murder of this expectant mother and bride to be.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are living in perilous time. A time of trouble. And there is no safety.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The victim`s oldest daughter reportedly screaming, I just want to see my mom. Family members who had come to Brownsville for a baby shower and a wedding will now attend a funeral to mourn a mother and her unborn child.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Straight out to Jean Casarez, legal correspondent, "In Session."
While all the family was set to be there at her wedding and she walked down the aisle, instead they`re suddenly planning a funeral, Jean.
JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": You know, the body of this woman, Nancy, was just found. She was supposed to get married the very next day. Her baby shower was that evening. And her body was found in her bed face down. It was a very bloody scene. There were stab wounds, slash wounds to her neck. And a note under her body saying that a pregnant mother-to-be would have to be killed every single week until Lee Boyd Malvo, the D.C. sniper, was released from prison.
GRACE: So it sounds like to me, to Juliet Papa, with 1010 WINS News, sounds to me like somebody went to the effort to stage the scene. I mean this woman has no connection to the D.C. sniper. That went down years ago.
JULIET PAPA, REPORTER, 1010 WINS NEWS: Yes. In fact, the law enforcement sources that I was speaking to today seem to think that that`s a red herring. What that relationship is is a little strange. So they think that was something to maybe throw police off the track. But you can believe that they`re looking for somebody who knew her. Obviously knew where she lived. It was a basement apartment that she lived in. So they had to know where to go in that building and where to find her. And she was only living there for several weeks. She did not have the most stable of environment. She moved around a lot. She had fights with a previous neighbor but we were told that was several months ago. So the police are looking at people who are fairly close to her.
GRACE: To Brett Larson, investigative reporter, in addition to Juliet Papa and Jean Casarez. Bret, what more do we know?
BRETT LARSON, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Well, you know, Juliet brought a great point there that she did live in this basement apartment which his where she was found. Now her landlord says when he went down to find her that the key that`s normally had been broken off, and he actually had to go get a duplicate key made before he could get into that apartment.
GRACE: Out to the lines, Randy, in Texas. Hi, Randy. What`s your question?
RANDY, CALLER FROM TEXAS: Hey, Nancy, thanks for taking my call. I`ve been following this story online. And I`ll just be honest, it seems like she probably had a boyfriend. I don`t think it was a fiance. But could it have been a boyfriend?
GRACE: Randy in Texas, are you a father?
RANDY: I am not.
GRACE: OK. Let me tell you something. She was just a few weeks away from giving birth. I can promise you her head was not in carrying on a sex affair with a boyfriend while she`s got a fiance. I mean there is a such thing as too many men. I guarantee you she was not in the market for another man.
RANDY: Nancy, do they know who the father was?
GRACE: Yes, I believe they know who the father is. But Randy in Texas, why are you trying to blame her by somehow suggesting she`s whoring around?
RANDY: Well, I`m not saying she`s whoring around. But --
GRACE: Yes, you are. She`s pregnant. She`s got a fiance, she`s got a wedding planned that she`s -- all the family and friends are getting -- are coming to the wedding. And there you`re saying she`s got a boyfriend on the side? Is it -- that is what you`re saying, isn`t it?
RANDY: Maybe. Something just doesn`t add up.
GRACE: So that`s maybe what you`re saying. Let`s try to identify, Randy in Texas, what it is you`re actually saying.
What are you trying to say?
RANDY: I`m saying it sounds like she had a boyfriend.
GRACE: Why? What sounds like she has a boyfriend to you?
RANDY: Well, I mean it wasn`t the fiance. It was probably someone that was close to her. I mean they were planning a baby shower the very day that she was murdered. A fiance wouldn`t do that. The wedding was the next day.
GRACE: A fiance wouldn`t do that. I was just talking about Scott Peterson. He killed the mother of his first child. Remember? Connor? Any of that ringing a bell? So why do you think the fiance would not do it?
RANDY: It`s just hard to believe that close to the wedding.
GRACE: OK. Jean.
CASAREZ: Yes.
GRACE: The fiance that she`s about to marry is married.
CASAREZ: Quite possibly. Quite possibly. Which gives someone motive, right? So that`s why police have questioned him. They released him. But they find that very curious. But then there`s another interesting issue. She had just left an apartment complex, moved into this basement apartment because she got into an altercation with somebody that was her neighbor and he threatened her life. Saying he was going to kill her and her family.
GRACE: And everyone, this was a surprise sent to me on my BlackBerry. And I want to give it to you. It`s very special. It`s from the twins. And they are singing the "Lord`s Prayer."
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Smith, eight months pregnant, found stabbed to death in her apartment.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Just down the block from the crime scene the church where Vendali was supposed to have her wedding.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: An outpouring of unspeakable shock and horror. Vicious murder of this expectant mother and bride-to-be.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are living in perilous time. A time of trouble. And there is no safety.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The victim`s oldest daughter reportedly screaming, I just want to see my mom. Family members who had come to Brownsville for a baby shower and a wedding will now attend a funeral to mourn a mother and her unborn child.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Out to Kelly in Florida. Hi, Kelly, what`s your question?
KELLY, CALLER FROM FLORIDA: Hi, Nancy. I want to send my love and support to you and your family. And Lucy and David John. My question is, will this guy get the death penalty?
GRACE: Well, I can only hope, Kelly in Florida, because he not only kills the mom, but her unborn child. Although now that I think about it I`m pretty sure in that jurisdiction they don`t have the death penalty. You can basically kill as many people as you want to, as horrifically as you want to, and it doesn`t matter. She`s two weeks away from giving birth. Already has her wedding scheduled. And now I`m finding out from Jean Casarez, Juliet Papa, 1010 WINS News, that`s a pretty big fact that her fiance is married.
PAPA: Yes. There are several news accounts that say he`s married and I think in another state. So you have to wonder why -- apparently police questioned him. You know there are quite a few avenues they`re exploring here. The other neighbors who were very angry. Her past was like. She had some contentious relationships with other family members. Apparently her sister supposedly warned her about being involved with this particular gentleman. Saying he was a married man.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Hey, hey. The show is not over. We`ll be back in 60 seconds. But we remember American hero, Army Private First Class Matthew England, 22, Gainesville, Missouri. Bronze Star, Purple Heart. Loved snow boarding, lakes, muscle cars, computer whiz. Parents Pamela and Joseph. Daughter Daphne.
Matthew England, American hero.
Back in 60 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: To Jean Casarez. Jean, it seems like it`s more than a neighbor in an old neighborhood that was angry with her. I don`t -- I don`t see that as a motive for murder.
CASAREZ: No, you need motive. Now here`s something that we`re learning. This note that was found underneath her body which it is believed to be a red herring, saying that all pregnant mothers-to-be, one per week, are going to be killed in this country until Lee Boyd Malvo, the D.C. sniper, is released from prison. There may be a bloody fingerprint on that note. That could be the key to this case.
GRACE: Yes. You`re seeing Malvo right there. They`re not -- there`s no connection here. It`s a red herring and it says to me, Steve Kardian, that the killer thought through it enough to try to plant a bogus tip.
STEVE KARDIAN, FMR. POLICE DETECTIVE, SELF-DEFENSE EXPERT, LEAD INSTRUCTOR AT DEFEND UNIVERSITY: Yes, Nancy. And there has to be some connection. Did he follow that case? Is he from D.C. originally? There is connection to him just pulling that case out of a hat. It just didn`t happen that way.
GRACE: Agree. Dave in Michigan, what`s your question, dear?
DAVE, CALLER FROM MICHIGAN: Yes. Now that we know that he is married, are they checking his wife?
GRACE: OK. It would be extremely rare, Brett Larson, for another female to commit a crime like this in this manner statistically but not unheard of.
LARSON: You know, Nancy, and that`s an interesting point. But so far the cops have been completely tight lipped about who this guy is that she was supposed to be married to. Only these leaked few reports we have that this guy was apparently already married even though the day after this horrific crime goes down they were supposed to get married.
GRACE: Out to the lines. Marlene in Georgia. Hi, Marlene. What`s your question?
MARLENE, CALLER FROM GEORGIA: I was wondering if they had did any DNA test on the note they found?
GRACE: Good question. What do we know, Jean?
CASAREZ: There may be a bloody fingerprint on that note. It was a very, very bloody scene. She was stabled in her neck, she was slashed in her neck. That was the cause of death. And that finger print, if there is one that note, who care if it`s bogus. It could help solve the case.
GRACE: Everyone, tip line 800-577-TIPS, T-I-P-S. 8477.
Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
