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Nancy Grace
Toledo Toddler Vanishes From Home
Aired June 12, 2013 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Toledo police continue their search for Elaina.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One-year-old, Elaina Steinfurth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... the baby girl reportedly last seen by her mom around noon, after she puts her down for a nap.
ANGELA STEINFURTH, MOTHER OF MISSING CHILD: A nervous wreck. I just want her home in one piece. I want to know that she`s OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her father comes to pick her daughter up a few hours later, she`s gone!
ANGELA STEINFURTH: People are pointing fingers at me, when they don`t even know what`s going on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: FBI agents and Toledo police searching for the missing 1-year-old.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators combed through the wooded area along the river, while dive crews are (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No signs of Elaina.
ANGELA STEINFURTH: I just want my baby home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to know who in that house knows what and why somebody won`t just come up to say, Look, give me immunity, I`ll tell you what`s going on. Somebody`s got to know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: You bet. You bet your bottom dollar somebody`s got to know. Where is a missing 18-month-old baby girl?
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight, live, Toledo. It`s a parent`s worst nightmare, an 18-month-old baby girl last seen taking a nap, minutes later, she`s reported gone, Baby Elaina vanishing in broad daylight, this story developing minute by minute.
But bottom line, just how does an 18-month-old baby girl disappear from the family`s own bedroom in the middle of the day and nobody sees a thing?
I don`t believe it. I don`t believe that that`s possible. I do not believe that in the middle of the day, with people walking around in the home, a baby disappears in the middle of the day taking a nap.
I want to go straight out to Fred LeFebrve joining me, morning host, WSPD. Fred, something stinks. What happened?
FRED LEFEBRVE, WSPD RADIO, TOLEDO (via telephone): Well, and I think the police agree with you that something stinks. In our talks with the local TPD, they believe as you do...
GRACE: Whoa! Whoa!
LEFEBRVE: ... that somebody has to know something.
GRACE: The local what? The what? Oh, Toledo Police Department. Don`t confuse me, all right?
LEFEBRVE: Toledo Police Department. Yes, I`m sorry, TPD.
GRACE: I`ve been with the twins all day. TPD, all right, Toledo Police Department. Go ahead.
LEFEBRVE: Right. They believe that somebody knows something. And He echoed pretty much exactly what you said when the officer was on with me the other day. Nobody just walks into a house in the middle the day and walks out with a child without somebody seeing something.
There were adults on the front porch. There were adults on the sidewalk. There were adults in the house. Voices were heard in the house. There`s no way that a baby, and a baby that age, just disappears. Someone knows something.
GRACE: Well, I`m telling you what. Fred LeFebrve, morning talk show host, WSPD (ph), I`m not letting go of this. Take a look at this little baby. I can`t remember anymore exactly when my little girl, Lucy, started walking. Do we know, Fred LeFebrve, could Elaina even walk yet?
LEFEBRVE: I haven`t heard that she could yet. I know that she had a problem with walking with one of her feet and it may have been something that kept her from walking as quickly as some kids do. I mean, you know, you`ve had children, I`ve had children. They all walk at a different age. But...
GRACE: Well, mine didn`t have a problem. They just wanted me to carry them.
LEFEBRVE: Yes, and they just want to be with you...
GRACE: So they saw no reason to walk.
LEFEBRVE: At that age, they`re so trusting. Look at her face. She`ll do whatever you tell her to do.
GRACE: Look at this. Look at this baby! Look at that face. Look! To all of you mothers out there, do you remember when your baby was 18 months? Look at her. Is there anything more precious, more angelic and more defenseless, more trusting than an 18-month-old baby girl or boy? Look.
Joining me right now is a very special guest, in addition to Terry Steinfurth, Senior, the grandfather of the baby, Captain Brad Weis is with us. He`s extremely busy. He`s the Toledo police department captain. Captain, thank you for being with us. Captain Weis, what do you think -- let me take it at the beginning, Captain. When your people got there, Captain Weis, what did they observe?
CAPT. BRAD WEIS, TOLEDO POLICE DEPARTMENT (via telephone): Well, the original crews arrived -- and at that point, the story they were getting, it sounded like it was a custody dispute. But they immediately began to search.
GRACE: What do you mean by that?
WEIS: They searched the house and...
GRACE: What do you mean by that, Captain, when they got there, it sounded like a custody dispute? Yes, I had to actually do a diagram, Captain, a diagram so I could understand all the players in this thing.
Let`s show it, Liz. You`ve got Terry Steinfurth, who is with us, the paternal grandfather of baby Elaina. He`s out searching. He`s doing everything he can to find his granddaughter. You`ve got the mom, Angela. You`ve got her former husband, Terry. He`s the natural father of baby Elaina and a 4-year-old child. They have two children together. Now, they`re split up. The baby, of course, is Elaina Steinfurth.
Then you`ve got Steven King. He`s the person you`re seeing on the right. He`s mom`s ex-boyfriend. She was flopping there that night with her baby. His mom, July (ph) King. So you`ve got the Steinfurth bunch -- that`s the grandfather, the bio dad and the baby, Elaina Steinfurth, who`s missing. Then you have the mom, Angela Steinfurth, who`s staying over with her ex-boyfriend, Steven King, and his mom, July. So that`s the scenario.
So Captain Weis is with us. Captain, when you got there, the people - - your people say it sounded like a custody dispute? Explain.
WEIS: Well, they had (ph) original 911 call, where the father, Mr. Steinfurth, came over to pick up both children, and he was given the 4- year-old and told he wasn`t going to have -- allowed to take the baby, Elaina, home with him.
So he went home and retrieved his father, and they both went back and -- because his father was going to have surgery the next day. He wanted to see his granddaughter before that surgery. And at that time, the discussions were further about who was going to get the child, and the child was sleeping, she didn`t want to wake him (sic), and things of that nature.
GRACE: The child was sleeping and she didn`t want to wake him (sic) up for a scheduled visitation? All right, where did it go from there? Everyone, with me and taking your calls, Captain Brad Weis. He`s the captain of the Toledo Police Department.
Then what happened?
WEIS: At that point, through the discussions, the mother went in the house. And a certain time passed, and then her mom went in to check on her, and at that point, it was noticed that Elaina was no longer in the house.
GRACE: Now, let me get this straight, Captain. Wasn`t the baby sleeping in the bedroom where the mother was, the natural mother?
WEIS: They were originally in there, yes, but most of the discussions were taking place out on the front porch.
GRACE: Well, I don`t understand how the mom can go in, and she stays in there a long time open, and then later, 15 minutes later, it`s discovered the baby`s gone. I mean, when I walk in my children`s room -- they share a bedroom -- I can see that they`re there. It won`t take me 20 minutes to find out that they`re not in their beds, all right?
WEIS: I think the mother discussed that she was in the living room with some of the other children in the residence. She never entered the bedroom.
GRACE: OK. That make sense to me. Captain Weis -- Liz, let me see the front of the home, please. Was the baby`s bedroom where the baby was sleeping with the mom -- is it the front bedroom to the front? Is that the room?
WEIS: Unfortunately, I wasn`t at the scene and I haven`t been to the residence, so I can`t tell you the diagram of the residence.
GRACE: I`ve got to figure out which bedroom it is. There`s the bedroom. Keep it right there. Let me see the front door.
Let me go out to the grandfather. This is Terry Steinfurth, Sr. They called him in. Like most of us would get hold of our father to come straighten everything out. So they bring in Terry Steinfurth, Sr. Let me see the floor plan again, please, Liz.
Mr. Steinfurth, first question. Where is the bedroom where baby Elaina is supposed to be? Is it near the front door?
TERRY STEINFURTH, MISSING CHILD`S GRANDFATHER (via telephone): If you go in the front door of the house, you make a sharp left, and the door to the bedroom is right there.
GRACE: OK, let me see the picture one more time, Liz. Everybody, Liz is working 15 machines at once. She`s trying to get the picture up so I can look at it.
So what I`m getting at -- no, I want to see the actual picture of the home, Liz. What I`m getting at, Mr. Steinfurth -- and thank you for being with us.
STEINFURTH: You`re welcome.
GRACE: What I`m getting at is, how could -- again, I want to see the picture of the home, not the floor plan. How could somebody get into that window and get the baby out with no one noticing it? And when we see the home, I think the viewers will understand what I`m saying. I mean, it`s about -- leave it on the picture, Liz!
It`s about, I would say, 10 or 12 feet up off the ground, that window. And there`s a front porch. People are sitting on the front porch. So how could somebody get in that window, Mr. Steinfurth, and take the baby?
STEINFURTH: They couldn`t. There`s no way anybody walked past me to go through that window.
GRACE: Terry, if I may call you that, sir -- with me is Elaina`s paternal grandfather. He wanted to see the grandchild before he had surgery the next day. The son, the bio dad -- they were married when they had the baby. This is the child`s legitimate father. Later, they separated. The baby`s dad goes over to get the baby. Mom won`t give her up. He brings in the grandfather.
All right, Grandfather, Terry Steinfurth, tell me what happened when you got there.
STEINFURTH: When I first arrived to the house, the boyfriend`s mom and dad were sitting on the porch. I asked them if I could see Angela. I wanted to see my granddaughter. The boyfriend comes down the porch, not off of it. We had a slight confrontation. The mother sent him into the house. I talked with the mother and father. They yelled in...
GRACE: What did they say.
STEINFURTH: ... for Angela to come out. She wouldn`t come out. The boyfriend`s mother went into the house. Angela and her did come out, back out. The mother and I -- Angela and I argued that she wasn`t going to give me the baby because my son wouldn`t let her have her back if she did.
After a short period of time, she agreed to give her to me. She went back into the house. I was seated on the porch with the boyfriend`s mother and father. My son`s wife never came back out.
The boyfriend`s mother went in to get her, to find out what was taking her so long, as they said, to pick up a sleeping baby and carry her out to me. She went in the house. The father and I are out on the porch. I hear what I thought was the baby crying at first. I figured she had woke her up. And then I realized it was Angela crying and screaming that she was not going to give me the baby because if she did, she`d never see it again.
Fifteen, twenty minutes later, she come out of the house saying the baby was gone. And I don`t see how the baby could go out without somebody seeing them carry it out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s around 2:00 PM when the dad of 1-year-old Elaina comes to pick up his two daughters from their mother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her father came to this Federal Street home to pick her up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But Mom allegedly refuses to allow Dad to see Elaina.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bring her home safely to us. Just want to return her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And she allegedly goes back into the home for about 20 minutes, comes back out and says Elaina is missing.
ANGELA STEINFURTH, MOTHER: It`s very hard not having her around. My other daughter`s going insane without her sister. They need to be together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the East Toledo avenue where the toddler vanished, the search for clues into Elaina Steinfurth`s disappearance continued.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: This baby is just 18 months old. I just heard her grandfather telling me as we went to break that she is walking. But there is no way she could have gotten out that bedroom window. It`s too high up off the ground. There`s no way an 18-month-old child could have done that.
Where is baby Elaina? And I`m telling you, right now, these facts don`t add up to me. They do not add up. For those of you just joining us -- Michael Board, WOAI, what happened?
MICHAEL BOARD, WOAI (VIA telephone): Well, this was a child who was sleeping in a home. His (sic) father came over for a custody exchange. This happened about 2:00 o`clock in the afternoon. When that father came over to pick up a child from his ex-wife for a custody exchange, there was some sort of an argument, and that child, according to the mother just disappeared.
And you can imagine how frightening that must be for this 1-and-a- half-year-old child. One minute you`re put down for a nap, the next minute your whole world has been turned upside down. This 1-and-a-half-year-old - - I keep thinking about her and how terrified she must be because her entire world has completely been turned upside down.
GRACE: Clark Goldband, what more do we know?
CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: ... been extensive searches for this little girl, law enforcement searching nearby. About two thirds of a mile away, there`s a body of water. And the mom says she found a used diaper that takes (ph) on the same make and model as the one this 18-month- old girl...
GRACE: Wa-wa-wait! Stop! Stop! Clark, we don`t refer to babies` diapers as the same make and model, OK? Just FYI. Go ahead.
GOLDBAND: OK. Well, it was a diaper that was very similar to the one that this 18-month-old girl used. And law enforcement...
GRACE: Who found it, the mother?
GOLDBAND: The mom says she found it, according to reports. Law enforcement then responded down to scene, Nancy, and according to some of the local press in the area, two bags of possible evidence was taken away. We don`t know what was in the bags.
GRACE: Whoa! Wait! Wa-wa-wa-wait! Two bags of evidence taken out of this home?
GOLDBAND: No, of the area where the diaper was found, down by the woods and the water.
GRACE: OK. Hold on. Let me interrupt you one second, Clark. I`m going to come right back to you.
Dr. Vincent DiMaio, former chief medical examiner, Behar County, forensic pathologist, if you have a baby`s diaper, without the presence of blood, can you get DNA from poop or urine?
DR. VINCENT DIMAIO, FMR. CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER (via telephone): No problem at all. The child`s lying in a diaper. There would be not only something like poop you could do, but also just the cells wiping off the child`s butt. You can do it without a problem.
GRACE: Got it. Got it. Thanks, Dr. DiMaio. Be right back with you. Back to special guest Captain Brad Weis. He`s the captain of the Toledo Police Department. Also with us, baby Elaina`s grandfather. He wants her home.
We are taking your calls. Diane in Florida. Hi, Diane. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello?
GRACE: I think I`ve got Diane. What`s your question, dear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who was inside the home at the time when the baby vanished?
GRACE: Excellent question. To the paternal grandfather, who is here answering your questions tonight, Terry Steinfurth, Sr. Who all was in the home?
STEINFURTH: The adults that I know that were at the house were Steven, my son`s wife, Steven`s father and Steven`s mother, and there was a baby in a carrier on the porch with them, and there was a young infant child sleeping on the couch when I went into the house.
GRACE: So you`ve got the mom, Angela Steinfurth. You`ve got her boyfriend, Steven King, his mom, who owns the home, July King, a couple of other adults and another younger child and a baby in a carrier, is that right?
STEINFURTH: Correct.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANGELA STEINFURTH: A nervous wreck. I just want her home in one piece. I want to know that she`s OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just want to make sure that nothing is overlooked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police are using a grid pattern search to locate the toddler.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... going through every vacant house, every garage, every container.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: FBI agents and Toledo police have been going around the neighborhood, searching for the missing 1-year-old and trying to gather as much information as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back. Bombshell tonight. We are live in Toledo, looking for 18-month-old baby Elaina. With us tonight, her grandfather.
And I`d like to point out that we have called and called and called the mother to ask her to come on and tell you what she knows about baby Elaina`s disappearance. She has not returned calls at all. We`ve left messages and tried and tried and tried to get the baby`s mother to give some statement.
Let`s take a look at Elaina`s mother, what she has to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANGELA STEINFURTH: Well, if I had your support. I wouldn`t feel the way I do, but not when people are pointing fingers at me, when they don`t even know what`s going on. I need all the support that I can get to bring her home,
A nervous wreck. I just want her home in one piece. I want to know that she`s OK. It`s very hard not having her around. My other daughter is going insane without her sister. And they need to be together.
I don`t know how to explain them because there`s -- it`s crazy. I have been shaking for the last three days, and I just want my baby home. She has problems, and the only way they`re going to get handled is if me and her father can do it for her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Does she have on makeup?
Unleash the lawyers. Randy Kessler, past chair, family section -- family law section of the American Bar Association, Mickey Sherman, renowned defense attorney.
Mickey, I remember when my fiance was murdered, I don`t think I put on a lick of makeup for maybe, what, a year-and-a-half. I couldn`t think straight. Let me see her picture again. I don`t want to hear the sound, but I want to see her again. I think this mom has had the wherewithal to get her hair fixed, put on earrings and eyeliner. Shouldn`t she be out looking for her baby, Mickey?
MICKEY SHERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: She doesn`t exactly look like one of the Kardashians, Nancy. I think you`re overstating her appearance a bit. And you know, nobody knows how they would have reacted in a situation like this. You know, I think she feels, obviously, the loss of the child. That doesn`t necessarily mean she`s responsible.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Bring Elaina home" is the cry being heard around East Toledo.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... the baby girl reportedly last seen by her mom around noon, after she puts her down for a nap.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The father comes to pick his daughter up a few hours later, she`s gone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Family and friends say they`ve handed out over a thousand flyers with vital information about little Elaina Steinfurth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ve been everywhere in East Toledo. We`ve been all over Toledo. We`ve been -- we`ve had somebody as far as Monroe (ph) dropping off flyers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How does a 1-year-old girl just vanish? Police and FBI on the case tonight.
ANGELA STEINFURTH: I need all the support that I can get to bring her home, anything to keep me comfortable and from losing my mind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back. For those of you just joining us, 18-month-old baby Elaina goes missing from her own home. But the story surrounding Elaina doesn`t make sense to me. Back to you, Fred Lefebvre joining us from WSPD. Fred, explain to me how it went down one more time.
FRED LEFEBVRE, WSPD: The way that we understand it is that the father went to pick both of his children up, Kylie, the 4-year-old and Elaina. He was given Kylie but was refused Elaina. He went to get his father, who lives less than a mile away. They both came back to the house, where they requested that they have baby Elaina. The mom went in the house, and after about 20 minutes, they heard some noise in there, some crying and yelling, she came back out and told both Terrys, the Sr. and the Jr. that the baby was gone, just missing out of thin blue air.
GRACE: It doesn`t make sense to me. Terry Steinfurth Sr., the girl`s grandfather, went to the house immediately to try to get his granddaughter, baby Elaina, out of the home. Terry, if you don`t mind, could you go through with me exactly what happened when you got there and where did the mom say the baby had been? I thought the baby was napping in the front bedroom.
STEINFURTH, SR.: The mother was in the house when I fist got there. After we got the mother to come out, she argued with me, she wasn`t going to let me have the baby. She claimed the baby was in the house sleeping. After the argument, she decided to let me have her. She went back into the house to supposedly bring her out, and she never brought her back out. And 20 minutes later she came out saying the baby was gone. And I don`t see how the baby could just -- the baby couldn`t just walk out of the house. Somebody had to see the baby --
GRACE: When you confronted her with that, Terry, what did she say?
STEINFURTH SR.: While he was outside with me she was saying she wouldn`t let me have the child because my son would not let her have her back if he took her.
GRACE: Hasn`t your son had visitation with the baby before?
STEINFURTH SR.: The two - his two children were living with him. She had had them for that weekend because both my son and his girlfriend work third shift.
GRACE: OK.
STEINFURTH SR.: So she had them while they were working third shift.
GRACE: Well, I`m less concerned -- I`m speaking to Elaina`s grandfather. I`m less concerned about their custody problems as I am about what she said about where did the baby go.
STEINFURTH SR.: She told me she has no idea. She said somebody came in the house and took her baby.
GRACE: OK. And this happened at what time of the day, Terry?
STEINFURTH SR.: I arrived at their house shortly before 2:30. She came out and told me the baby was missing just shortly before 3:30. So my calculations, it`s supposedly happened, according to her, between 2:30 and 3:30.
GRACE: We are taking your calls. Out to Colleen in Virginia. Hi, dear. What`s your question?
CALLER: Hi, Nancy. My question is surrounding the diaper that was found. I know it was dirty. Was it found rolled up as if somebody had actually changed a diaper? Or was it found ripped? Was there anything surrounding that?
GRACE: Actually, that`s a very good question. Did it fall off by accident, did the baby tear it off, or was it taken off as if you`d change a baby then wrap it up to throw it away. To Captain Brad Weis is with us. The captain of the Toledo police department. Captain, what was the condition of the diaper, and where exactly was it found?
CAPT. BRAD WEIS: I can tell you the diaper was found along the river bank, but as to the condition or how it was found, that`s part of the investigation, so I won`t go any further with that.
GRACE: Is it being tested for DNA?
WEIS: Certainly.
GRACE: Captain, explain to me the water searches. I`m showing the viewers photos of them now.
WEIS: Well, the Monty (ph) river runs basically along the east side where the baby was missing, so we picked out some ideal locations going through our scenarios, and the one location seemed to pop out, so we brought the Toledo fire department dive team down, and they were just -- did an excellent job on a two-day search, but we still didn`t locate anything.
GRACE: Let me ask you this, to Tracy Sargent, k9 handler, search, rescue and recovery specialist. Tracy, can dogs smell or pick up a human scent in the water?
TRACY SARGENT, K9 HANDLER: Yes, they can, Nancy, and they do a very good job of that, and help investigators and searchers at least get to a general area where they can concentrate their search efforts.
GRACE: Captain, were dogs brought out?
WEIS: Yes, we utilized two dogs. And in fact, we`re having a third dog come in tomorrow to do the same search.
GRACE: Out to the lines. Frank in Indiana, hi, what`s your question?
CALLER: Yes, Nancy. This reminds me a lot of Kayly Cummings (ph) and Casey Anthony. I guess I`m just wondering, have the parents taken a polygraph, because something doesn`t add up. Now you`re saying the mom isn`t even returning your guy`s calls. You would think she would want to be out there getting all the help she can. It`s her daughter.
GRACE: Frank, you`re so right. We had no intention whatsoever of giving the mom a hard time. We wanted her to come on, explain to the viewers what happened, and make a public appeal for help. Instead we`re getting nothing, which I find very, very disturbing.
You know, to Captain Brad Weis with the Toledo Police Department. Captain, both the mother and apparently others say they`ve all taken polygraphs, police polygraphs and passed them. Is that true?
WEIS: No, that is not true.
GRACE: Have they taken polygraphs?
WEIS: One individual has taken a polygraph, and I can`t disclose what the results are, but I do have to say both the parents are cooperating, and they will come in anytime we ask them.
GRACE: Can I ask, did the mom take a polygraph?
WEIS: You can ask, but I won`t tell you.
GRACE: OK. Well, who -- Clark, who is saying they`ve taken polygraphs?
GOLDBAND: Yes. Nancy, according to the local press reports, we`ve seen both the mom and the ex-boyfriend have allegedly said they`ve both taken polygraphs and have both passed polygraphs.
GRACE: Well, that`s contrary to what the Toledo Police Department captain is saying. He`s saying one person has taken a polygraph and will not reveal who that person was or if they passed. So somebody is not telling the truth, and I doubt it`s the Toledo police captain.
Unleash the lawyers. Randy Kessler and Mickey Sherman, Randy Kessler, what do you make of it?
KESSLER: You know, strange parents do strange things. I`ve seen horribly strange things. When somebody is mad at their ex, they`ll withhold a child for visitation. They will say things have happened to the child which aren`t true. This may be something like that. You hate to accuse the mom, but it`s starting to smell pretty darn bad, and all eyes and all hands seem to be pointing at mom and her boyfriend and the boyfriend`s friend that was at the house. There`s something that`s there. But you`ve got to do a thorough investigation before you can accuse anybody.
GRACE: Randy, I know you have to do a thorough investigation, we all know that. We`re all trying to find the baby. The first part, though, I find very intriguing, and it is true. Very often in custody cases, Mickey Sherman, it`s like people lose their mind. They`ll do anything to keep the child away from the other parent, anything. They go crazy.
SHERMAN: And naturally everyone looks to the mother. And that`s why I don`t blame her for not coming on TV, because you will vilify her. I mean, you just can`t help but do that, because she`s the last person to see the child. So everyone is going to assume she`s the bad guy. And I think this thing adds up not to a murder. I think it`s a custodial interference of some sorts. So I think -- I don`t think this is going to have such a horrible ending, but it`s just a pain in the neck to get there when you`ve got people who are in different modes here.
GRACE: And I want to point out, nobody has been named a suspect in this case. All we want to do is bring home baby Elaina alive. Tip number 1-800-call-fbi or 419-936-8995. There`s a $10,000 reward.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How does a one-year-old girl just vanish?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No matter how small of a lead we hear about, we`ve been following up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to know who in that house knows what and why somebody won`t just come up and say what, give me immunity, I`ll tell you what`s going on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not when people are pointing fingers at me when they don`t even know what`s going on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to make sure that nothing is overlooked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody has got to know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who would want to harm a one-year-old girl?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bring her home, just bring her back to us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Bombshell tonight, an 18-month-old baby girl goes missing from her own bed, sleeping there in a home with everyone home, she goes missing in the middle of the day. We are taking your calls. To Ramani Durvasula, clinical psychologist. Dr. Ramani, why do people -- why would they rather hide the baby as opposed to hand it over for a visitation?
DURVASULA: Because, as you said, Nancy, custody is one of the most impassioned places that two divorced parents can find themselves. And I honestly think that it`s almost like you`re not getting this child. There is just no way. It just becomes an ego thing. Parents become crazy, and they don`t want to share that child.
I am guessing and I am hoping this child may be OK and this mother may have taken her away just so the dad can`t have him. It`s ego, it`s madness, and it`s custody.
GRACE: Out to the lines. Janeen in Connecticut, hi, Janeen, what is your question?
CALLER: Hi, Nancy. First of all, I would just like to say I watch your twins` pictures every now and then. They`re getting so big and they are beautiful. God bless them.
GRACE: Thank you.
CALLER: And second of all, I would just like to say, I don`t understand how a baby would get out of a house. My daughter, my youngest is seven, and I know where she is even at night. I mean, I`m just neurotic when you hear about all of these stories and stuff, so I`m even more cautious. I check in on her. You know, just something doesn`t add up to me and it`s just awful.
GRACE: Janeen, you think you`ve got it bad? After all the stories that I report on, I`m up all during the night, sometimes four and five times a night and go check on the twins just to make sure they`re there. Sometimes I get so tired of walking back and forth, I just go get in bed with them, because I`m too tired to go back and forth anymore.
CALLER: Exactly.
GRACE: And stories like this make you even more paranoid. I feel like I`m missing something. Fred Lefebvre, what are the parents saying now? And again, nobody has been named a suspect. What is the mother saying now? The father, the father, Steinfurth Jr., was not there. He went to go pick the baby up for visitation. That`s when all of this exploded.
But what -- I don`t understand what the mother is saying. What is she saying happened?
LEFEBVRE: The last thing that we`ve heard from the mom, from Angela is what you played a few minutes ago. The father has been silent and his dad has been doing the speaking for him. Because as you can imagine, he`s pretty torn up. But the last thing the mom said, as you heard in the cut you played, was mostly I statements and me statements. It was less about the baby and more about how I felt, and I need to be comfortable so we need to hurry up and find her, which I found pretty disturbing.
GRACE: Take a look at Angela Steinfurth. She claims she was home with her baby and other adults. The baby was put down for a nap at 12:30. And then at after approximately 2:00 when the dad came to pick the baby up, the baby mysteriously goes missing.
Clark Goldband, I want to get to the point in time, take me from 12:30 to 2:00.
GOLDBAND: Sure, Nancy. So when the dad arrives at 12:30, the four- year-old girl is there. He`s the dad of these two girls. The 4-year-old girl comes out no problem. Mom, according to the dad, refuses to let him see the one-year-old girl. At that point in time, dad leaves with the four-year-old and goes to get the grandpa, who is on our show this evening. They both come back to the house and they have this negotiation, if you will, with the people that are there. And then after that he finally is allowed to see the baby, but then that`s when the baby goes missing.
GRACE: Out to the lines, Pete in Florida. Hi, Pete. What`s your question? Do I have Pete in Florida?
CALLER: I watch your show every day. I just think something is wrong if a mom has to publicly deny any involvement. I mean, that isn`t right. A parent would scream from the rooftop if their child was missing. I mean, didn`t even Marc Klaas get flack and he still talked to the press?
GRACE: Pete in Florida, yes, Marc Klaas did not -- he did speak to the press. He didn`t get any flack. I don`t know what you`re saying by Mark Klaas getting flack. Police asked him to cooperate, and he did. He did everything they asked him to do. According to the captain, Captain Weis, the mom is cooperating. And I don`t know what you mean, Pete. Does she have to scream from the treetops, is that what you said? What do you mean by that?
CALLER: Why is she denying any involvement? She`s saying I didn`t do anything, but why would you have to do it unless you did do something?
GRACE: That is an interesting point. I didn`t know that she had denied involvement. Out to you, Michael Board (ph), WOAI. I haven`t heard the mom deny involvement. Did I miss that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I haven`t heard that either. But Nancy, we are missing one thing here in this picture. There is one person in this home who we may be forgetting about. What does the four-year-old big sister know? Kids at four years old, they`re pretty perceptive. They know what`s going on. They can tell if something is rotten in Denmark. Why aren`t police talking to the four-year-old? She may hold the missing clue in this. Ask that four-year-old was mommy talking about --
GRACE: Hold on. I don`t know that she hasn`t been interviewed. Captain Weis, I know it`s a difficult thing to do, but my children could recount what they had just seen at age 4. Has anybody spoken to the four- year-old child?
WEIS: Yes, all the children in the house were interviewed through trained forensic investigator that are trained to do the interview with the children.
GRACE: So, Michael Board, you`re right. The four-year-old may know something, has been spoken to.
Clark Goldband, what about the boyfriend? It`s his home. It`s his and his mother`s home. Where does he fit into all this?
GOLDBAND: Well, Nancy, he went out to go search for the girl. I just want to say, really quickly here, that the mom has denied involvement, and she says now when she finds her girl, she`s going to keep her on a leash.
GRACE: Wait, wait, did you say the mom has come out and denied involvement?
GOLDBAND: She has in some local reports. And she says she wants to keep her daughter on a leash.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: What did she say? No, I want to hear this. Because if somebody suggested that I hurt my twins, they would get a knuckle sandwich, no mayo. So what is she out doing denying involvement? I want to hear what she said. Tell me exactly.
GOLDBAND: OK, Nancy, I`m going to have to get you verbatim what she says, but she has been out searching, she has denied involvement, and says she wants her baby girl home.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Where is baby Elaina? Let`s go to her grandfather, Terry Steinfurth Sr. Is the mother denying involvement?
STEINFURTH SR.: As far as I`ve heard, I haven`t heard myself. I just --
GRACE: Have you confronted her and said where`s the baby?
STEINFURTH SR.: In front of the house, she told me that day she doesn`t know where the baby`s at or who took the baby. She just said somebody in that house, somebody took my baby. Not somebody in my house, somebody in -- just somebody took the baby. And I said, who? She said I don`t know.
GRACE: What was her demeanor?
STEINFURTH SR.: Myself, personally, from what I have viewed of her, I don`t think she`s showing any emotion over it.
GRACE: Out to Matt Zarrell. Matt, what do you know?
ZARRELL: -- said quote, "where`s my baby? I want her to come home to her mom and dad. I miss her. Give us back our daughter." And denied any involvement in her disappearance.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: We remember American hero, Army Specialist Gerald Jenkins, just 19 years old. Circleville, Ohio. Bronze Star, Purple Heart. Afghanistan Service Medal. Parents Karla and Roger, brother Shane, sisters Miranda and Kyra. Gerald Jenkins, American hero.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need all the support that I can get to bring her home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over 1,000 flyers with vital information about little Elaina Steinfurth. Toledo fire crews take boats on the Maami (ph) river. There were no signs of her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Still plenty of time, plenty of chances for that little girl to still be alive and well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back, everyone. The search is on for 18-month-old baby Elaina, taken from her own home. We are live and taking your calls. But to special guest, Captain Brad Weis with the Toledo Police Department and the paternal grandfather of baby Elaina, Terry Steinfurth Sr.
Captain, are the mother and father, the bio dad -- that would be Terry Steinfurth Jr., who was not in the home when the baby went missing -- are they actively looking for the baby? What is the mom`s involvement trying to find her baby?
WEIS: I believe everything I`ve seen on the news media that they are actively involved in doing the search and passing out the pamphlets.
GRACE: Is it true that there was no search for the baby over the weekend?
WEIS: No, that`s false.
GRACE: I`m glad to hear that.
WEIS: (inaudible).
GRACE: One of our callers just called in with that, and I was so disturbed. I know that the FBI has a big presence, and I know they`re helping. Tell me about the search this past weekend.
WEIS: Not only with the FBI and the Toledo police, but we also, all our regular police crews, and we have the bicycle unit assigned over to that area. And when they`re not responding to calls, they`re putting all the time they can into searching for little Elaina.
GRACE: And to Terry Steinfurth Sr., what are your words, what is your message tonight, grandfather?
STEINFURTH SR.: Our word is we are greatly appreciative to everyone that is out looking. We are passing out flyers. We just need tips. We need to find my granddaughter.
GRACE: Let`s get that number out there. 800-call-fbi or 419-936- 8995. Tonight, a big congratulations to HLN anchor Robin Meade on her brand-new sophomore album "Count on Me." It`s just hitting the racks now.
And happy birthday to a friend of the show, world-class coach Joan Hudgins (ph). Isn`t she beautiful?
Everyone, the search for baby Elaina goes on. Dr. Drew up next. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
