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Nancy Grace
Houston Man Charged in Child Porn Case; Mom and Two Children Missing
Aired November 14, 2013 - 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, to Houston suburbs. A random house cleaning reveals stunning and horrific DVDs. Tonight, cops say the head of a child porn ring also moonlighted, baby-sitting and running a day care service in metro Houston! Tonight, we uncover at least 15 child victims as young as 4 years old, many of the little children dressed in Disney PJs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is 42-year-old Tad Costin, the man authorities say videotaped and photographed himself while he committed unspeakable acts against as many as 15 little girls dating back to 1999.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They`re disturbing. The images are of clearly the defendant engaging in sexual conduct with these young girls.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Costin`s girlfriend`s parents discovered a computer memory card full of disturbing images. Investigators say they later found hundreds, if not thousands, of similar images at this home in Pearland. Authorities say the girls ranged in age from 4 to 7 years old. Most were wearing Disney nightgowns and appear to be asleep or either drugged.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: And tonight, to Deltona, Florida. A mother and her two children, just 8 and 9 years old, vanish into thin air, at this hour, search teams scouring dumpsters and a 200-acre heavily wooded area. Tonight, the chief suspect refusing to tell police where they are. At this hour, are they dead or alive? And where?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If anybody sees my grandkids, please, and my daughter, turn (ph) into to me, please!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I haven`t heard from my daughter since last night. (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somewhere in that short distance, Yosinia Suarez (ph) and her children disappeared into thin air.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`s not a day that goes by that I don`t think about them!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tomorrow`s a new day, and we`ll be beginning again tomorrow. We`re not stopping.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lius Toledo (ph), Yosinia Suarez`s husband, has now been named a person of interest in the case.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You think maybe she`s endangered by her husband?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, ma`am.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) please find it in your heart to grant us what you have taken from us by letting us know where we can find Jesse (ph), Talia (ph) and Michael (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where are they? All believe this man has those answers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. Off the top, to Houston suburbs. A random house cleaning reveals stunning and horrific DVDs. Tonight, police say the head of a child porn ring also moonlights baby-sitting and running a day care service in metro Houston! Tonight, we uncover at least 15 child victims, some as young as just 4 years old, many of the little children dressed in Disney PJs.
Straight out to Michael Board, anchor, reporter WOAI. Michael, what happened?
MICHAEL BOARD, WOAI: Start from the beginning with this, Nancy. A family in the Houston area were cleaning out their home. They found a memory card, one that was used in a camera, that their daughter had left behind. She had moved out of the house.
They popped that memory card into their computer, maybe hoping for some cute little photos of their daughter. What it turned out to be was child pornography, and they recognized the house as the home of their daughter`s boyfriend.
So obviously, like any parent, they immediately went to the police. The police checked this out. They went to the man`s home...
GRACE: Oh!
BOARD: ... this Tad Costin. And they went to his home. They found boxes of DVDs...
GRACE: Oh! Oh!
BOARD: ... all (INAUDIBLE) raping girls between the age of 4 and 7 years old.
DOBBS: How old is this daughter? Let`s start with her. Who is she? What`s her story? How old is she?
BOARD: She`s 26. Her name is Julia. She`s a wannabe porn star. She`s got a profile on a Playboy Web site. That`s her, I guess, ambition in life is to take off her clothes. And she had hooked up with this guy. She`s 26, he`s 42, to give you some idea. And she right now...
DOBBS: OK, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait, wait, wait! Back it up! Back it up! You`re talking about 26-year-old female Julia Lack, a white female out of the Houston area, girlfriend of the child porn ring head, mom to a 5-year-old son, now charged with one count of child porn.
But hold on. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Back it up! Clark Goldband, isn`t it true that on these videos, that this perv, Tad Jeremy Costin, took, it`s not -- the camera`s not on a tripod. Somebody`s holding the camera? In fact, you can see their finger at one point. And there may have been more than one person helping him shoot videos of him having full-blown sex with children as young as 4 years old. So somebody`s in it with him.
CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right. Yes, according to the reports we`ve seen, all of these home videos, so to speak, Nancy, are not still. The picture`s not still. It`s moving. And that can only mean one thing, according to investigators. Other people were videoing these alleged acts.
GRACE: You know what? I want to take that cowboy hat off his head and give him a little finger necklace right now! Look at this guy! This guy also ran a day care baby-sitting service. His name is Tad Jeremy Costin. He is now 42, and we think this goes way, way back.
This is another scary part. Not only is he running a day care baby-sitting service, all right, but a case went to a grand jury just a couple of years ago. He started dating one of his maids, is the way I understand it. She goes downstairs to clean. He always encouraged her to bring her 5-year-old little girl over when she would come and clean house.
Something told Mommy to go upstairs. Mommy goes upstairs, and according to her, she sees this man on top of her 5-year-old little girl, OK? She sees the little legs, the 5-year-old girl`s legs poking out on either side.
This goes to a grand jury. What happened to that, Alexis Weed? What happened to that?
ALEXIS WEED, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Nancy, the grand jury decided not to indict this guy. These charges were dropped. However, police are telling me that this woman, this mother of the 5-year-old child -- she`s willing to cooperate as much as needed for this current investigation.
GRACE: OK, I feel like I`m going to vomit right now. I`m just -- I`m sick. This guy -- we know of at least 15 child victims. I`m hearing in my ear right now, I am being joined out of Pearland, Texas, special guest, Lieutenant Onesime Lopez. Lieutenant Lopez, thank you for being with us.
LT. ONESIME LOPEZ, PEARLAND POLICE DEPARTMENT (via telephone): Thank you, Nancy.
GRACE: I`m putting this guy`s picture up, Lieutenant, because I want every mother and father out there to see him. If they know him, if their child has ever gone to his baby-sitting or day care service, they`re on alert.
Is it true, Lieutenant Lopez -- you`ve seen the videos -- that the children look like they were either asleep or drugged while he raped them?
LOPEZ: That`s correct. And we definitely ant to get his image out there. We want anybody involved -- that may be involved with that baby-sitting service to please come forward, to contact us so we can work on identifying the -- all the kids involved. Up to this point in the investigation...
GRACE: Oh!
LOPEZ: ... we can only identify one child. And we`re looking for more parents to come forward and (INAUDIBLE) identify those other kids.
GRACE: Lieutenant, do you have any idea -- and I`m not asking you who. Do you have any idea who was behind the camera, who was -- what sicko would hold the camera while this 42-year-old man rapes children dressed in Disney PJs? What freak would do that?
LOPEZ: At this point, we don`t know. We`re still working up (ph) on (ph) the investigation to try and identify everybody that was involved with the production of these videos because we want to hold them all accountable for this heinous act.
GRACE: Thank God you`re on the case. And I tell you what. That Julia Lack, the 26-year-old girl, what she knows, she better start talking! That`s all I can tell you. There she -- there you are, Miss Playboy Bunny on the Playboy Web site.
We are live and taking your calls. Out to Frankie, Florida. Hi, Frankie. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. How about a one-way ticket to hell for this guy because there`s no way ever -- that is so inconceivable. Parents across the nation, we have to pay attention to who our children are going to, who we`re having baby-sit, meet the whole family, because if you`re just meeting -- Mom, Dad and the baby-sitter, meet who else lives in the house. Do background. Find out about the people that you have your children staying with because this right here -- this is awful. And I pray for all the children. Just awful, Nancy.
GRACE: I do, too. I do, too.
Unleash the lawyers. Joining me out of New York, Sue Moss, family law attorney, victims` rights advocate. Also with me, out of Atlanta, Darryl Cohen, former prosecutor turned defense attorney. And a new guest joining us, Eric Custer, defense attorney out of the Atlanta jurisdiction.
All right, first to you, Sue. Weigh in.
SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: There is nothing as vile as a pedophile! But in this case, I think the most important thing is for us to find out everyone who knew and everyone who supported him and everyone who was part of the process! This is going to be a conspiracy case! And we`re going to get everybody who had their little hands in helping this happen, not only the person with the camera, but everyone else who knew or should have known and helped this man do these horrible crimes!
GRACE: All right, out to you, Darryl Cohen. And no offense to either you or Guster, but you`re a defense lawyer, and it`s your job, if you choose to take the case, to represent somebody like him. What do you do?
DARRYL COHEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, it`s not easy. It`s an egregious case. We`ve...
GRACE: I don`t know how you do it. How do you go home at night?
COHEN: Well, we do it because this is what the Constitution says that we must do. We must look at the evidence...
GRACE: That you must get child pornographers off the...
COHEN: No. No, Nancy, we`re not trying to get the child pornographer off the hook. We have to make sure that the evidence is that he`s proven guilty beyond and to every reasonable doubt. And how do we do that? The police have to do their job, and then we look at the evidence.
GRACE: I don`t know why you`re bringing the police into this.
COHEN: I would represent him saying that he was actually out of his mind, guilty but insane...
GRACE: Well, he would have been out of his mind...
COHEN: ... or not guilty by reason of insanity.
GRACE: ... back into the `90s.
COHEN: Absolutely.
GRACE: I want to go back to Lieutenant Onesime Lopez joining me out of Pearland. Lieutenant, we`ve got this one girlfriend where the DVD was found in a box in her room, that her father found. And God bless the father. A lot of parents would have destroyed it because it would implicate their daughter. But he knew that child victims are out there and brought it in to you.
Now, that`s this girlfriend. Wasn`t there an ex-girlfriend that was also involved in baby-sitting and day care?
LOPEZ: Well, the latest information we have on the ex-girlfriend is that she was directly involved with the baby-sitting service. Tad Costin was actively going out and soliciting business from -- he was targeting single mothers that worked at night, that had children that needed to -- that needed care. So he would offer his services at a nominal fee, I`m sure, to get those kids into his care so he could do what he did.
GRACE: Eric Guster, defense attorney, this could be a lot bigger than 15 children because you know about child pornography. You know the big deal about it is they trade it on line and sell it like baseball cards. So the images of these children have probably gone all over the world. This is much bigger than the 15 victims that we know of. This has been going on for years.
ERIC GUSTER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, the problem in this case is this man may have a mental disease or defect, Nancy. When people do things like this...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... working on his car (ph)?
GUSTER: When people do things like this, they`re typically victims themselves. And this man needs help if he`s guilty of this.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: I want your face. Put up Guster`s face! Liz, I`m sure you hear me. I want to see Eric Guster`s face. There it is. He says the alleged child pornographer having sex with 15 children needs help. Did you just say that? (INAUDIBLE)
GUSTER: I did. And the problem that we have is that we lock people...
(CROSSTALK)
GUSTER: We look people into -- we people up in prisons without giving them mental help, and that is the issue. When this person goes to -- goes into something like this, they`re typically victims themselves, and they need...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Fine, if he was a victim, so be it. I hate that, but he needs to go to jail. I wish he could get the death penalty.
To Alexis Weed. Alexis, just please tell these two defense attorneys what was found out in his back yard, the hot tub in the shed.
WEED: Yes. He has in his home, his has this ginormous hot tub in a shed of his home. There, there were child bathing suits with tags on them hung up in this area.
This guy has an extensive Web site. So I don`t know if he has a mental defect, but he certainly is able to go on and on about what he thinks about different Italian sculptures, cars on his Web site. He`s got all kinds of writings out there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They seize hundreds, if not thousands, of other child porn images at Costin`s Pearland home, charged him with four counts of sexual assault of a child. Investigators say there are as many as 15 other unidentified victims dating back to 1999.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back, everyone. We now believe that a man charged with child pornography, likely to be the head of a child pornography ring, also ran a day care baby-sitting service in metro Houston.
OK, I want to get this straight. Back out to you, Alexis Weed. So in his back yard, he has a shed with a hot tub or a little pool in it.
WEED: Right.
GRACE: And all around the top are hanging little girls` swimsuits with the tags still on them to give to little girls to get in his pool. He also has a couple of TV monitors out there, so he can watch his own porn?
WEED: Yes. In this shed, there`s also -- there are TVs and a projector. So I guess he wants to project some sort of larger images bigger than a TV within the shed where the hot tub`s located.
GRACE: Straight out, caller Emily, Colorado. Hi, Emily. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actually, Nancy, I don`t have a question. I was calling because I knew both of these individuals. Well, I knew Julia, the girlfriend, my whole life. And Tad was actually a long-time customer of mine at a bar that I used to work at back in Houston. So...
GRACE: What do you -- are you surprised at what you`re hearing tonight?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, actually, about a week ago, the story broke in my area, and everyone that I knew -- and I was shocked, literally almost to the point of tears because Julia was a childhood friend of mine. We grew up together. You know, I lost touch with her after high school, but she does have a 5-year-old son.
And knowing that that kid was living in the same house, and then Tad was -- I would have never in a million years saw this coming. I mean, he was the type of guy that you really could see yourself leaving your kids with. I don`t have kids personally, but looking back, I`m going, Oh, my God, you never really know people. It`s insane.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Welcome back, everyone. The head of a child pornography ring, according to cops -- tonight we ask is he connected to a baby-sitting and day care service in metro Houston? Back to caller Emily in Colorado, long- time friends of not only him, Tad Jeremy Costin, age 42, but his girlfriend, Julia Lack, now held -- she`s just 26 -- for possession of child pornography.
Emily, what kind of a baby-sitting or day care service did he run?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, actually, I -- this is the first that I`ve heard of that. It really doesn`t surprise me so much because he was the type of guy that you would think you could trust. So I do understand why, you know, people may have left their children with him. But this is really the first I`ve heard of a baby-sitting ring. The only access to children that I was aware that he had was Julia`s son, who`s 5 years old.
GRACE: Back to special guest Lieutenant Onesime Lopez. Lieutenant, question. What happened on that last case, when a grand jury in the Houston area no-billed a case where the mother witnessed him on top of her 5-year-old little girl?
LOPEZ: Well, as you know, the proceedings of the grand jury are sealed, so we can`t know exactly what was going through their minds or any of the discussions that went on in that grand jury. But the only thing that we can do is accept that ruling and just -- and move on and try and build a better case for the future.
GRACE: Yes. Lieutenant Lopez, the DVD that you have, why do you believe the children were drugged, the children that he was raping?
LOPEZ: Well, in many of the videos, the children are obviously not responsive at all to what he`s doing to them. And so because if they were awake and aware of what was going on, then you would expect them to be struggling, to be fighting, to not -- try and not let this happen to them.
But in the videos, he is -- the children are not moving. They`re not responding. They`re just very nonresponsive. And we do believe that they had to have been drugged for him to do this to them.
GRACE: To Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst, author of "Dealbreakers."` Bethany, I know he`s a perv and he`s going straight to hell with a pit stop in jail or the penitentiary. But what about these women that would help him?
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: Sadly, Nancy, these women value their relationship with him more than the relationship with their own child, than the relationship with themselves. These are women who are love-obsessed.
And I so disagree with Guster. This guy does not have a mental defect in the psychiatric sense. You`re right, he`s a perv. He has a perversion, and his whole life is organized around his perversion. The five perversions -- frauterism (ph), rubbing up against an unsuspecting person, pedophilia, exhibitionism, voyeurism. And everything in his life is devoted to that. That`s why he seems trustworthy.
GRACE: To Lieutenant Lopez, Lieutenant Onesime Lopez joining us from the Pearland Police Department -- I`m going to ask him for a tip line number.
For all of you seeing the picture of this man, Tad Jeremy Costin, age 42 now, now charged with sexually assaulting multiple little girls. He`s on $4 million bond. In a video, at least 15 children identified as young as 4 years old that he ostensibly drugged and raped with the help of somebody behind the camera, moonlighting with a baby-sitting and day care service.
To Lieutenant Lopez. Is there a number? If people recognize him tonight and their children were kept by him, who do they call?
LOPEZ: They can call up the Pearland Police Department at 281-997-4100, and we`ll take their information. We are definitely wanting to identify all the victims that are involved, and anybody that has tips...
GRACE: And here`s the kicker, Lieutenant. A lot of the children may not even remember what happened.
So mothers, fathers, if your child was with this man, in his care, tip line, 281-997-4100 -- 281-997-4100.
When we come back a mother and her two little children just 8 and 9 years old vanish into thin air. At this hour tonight, search teams scouring dumpsters and a 200-acre heavily wooded area. At this hour, the chief suspect refusing to tell police where they are. Tonight, are they dead or alive? And where?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Teams from Texas EquuSearch fanned out in hopes of finding them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s frustrating, you wake up every morning, thinking that -- today we`ll find something and at the end of the day you come up empty.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Michael, the 8-year-old who loved baseball and Nintendo, and 9-year-old Talia who was really good at writing and drawing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now this is a time for a community to come together. It`s time for a community to help this family in this great tragic time in their lives.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: At night they pray, but when the sunrises they search. It`s a painstaking task but the family says they won`t give up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please find it in your heart to grant us what you have taken from us. By letting us -- by letting us know where we can find Jesse, Talia and Michael.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Please help us. Tonight to Daytona, Florida, a mother and her two children, just 8 and 9, vanished. At this hour, search teams scouring dumpsters and a 200 acre wooded area. The chief suspect refusing to tell police where mommy and children are.
Are they dead? Are they alive? And where are they?
Straight out to Dave Mack, morning talk show host, Clear Channel. Dave, what`s the back story?
DAVE MACK, MORNING TALK SHOW HOST, CLEAR CHANNEL WAAX RADIO: The back story is we`ve got a married couple that`s having a lot of problems, and the husband has a history of violence and has been violent toward his wife. She`s involved with a co-worker. And he`s confronted them at her place of business where he smacks her around the night before they all go missing.
GRACE: OK. This is what I don`t understand. He beats her at her place of work and nobody calls police or does anything about it?
MACK: Well, they did call police, Nancy. They arrived but by then the husband had already split. Toledo was gone. And they took a report, and that`s what actually led to them being able to hold on to him the next morning when they showed up on a well fare check.
GRACE: OK. Here`s my question. They did not arrest him that night? They couldn`t find him?
MACK: Right. They couldn`t find him that night, Nancy, It was the next morning after her mother called and said, would you please do a welfare check? I`m concerned about my daughter, I can`t get in touch with her, and they showed up, nobody was home. But while they were there, Toledo showed back up with a crazy story that he had been there earlier and that left his wallet at home. And that`s when he detrained him on the previous day`s smacking around.
GRACE: OK. Good move by police. Take a listen to this 911 call.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: 911. Where is your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Hi. I need for a cop to go to --
UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: OK. What`s going on?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I haven`t heard my daughter since last night. I know she was having some issues with her husband . And she was going to stay home but then he came and they talked. Whatever. And she went to the house but I haven`t heard from her since then. And I`m calling the house and no answer. I`m calling his cell phone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining me tonight. Special guests, Ben Johnson, Sheriff Ben Johnson from the Volusia Counties Sheriff`s Office, the elected sheriff. Also with us, Ruben Perez, the stepfather also with me, Felicia Perez, her daughter and grandchildren missing.
Thank you so much, Ruben and Felicia. First to you, Ruben. What happened, where do you think they are?
RUBEN PEREZ, STEPFATHER OF MISSING MOM AND KIDS: That`s the question that we`re all trying to figure out. Where did Louis put our daughter and grandkids?
GRACE: I mean, at this hour, they could actually still be alive. They could be being detained somewhere. There is a chance they could be saved.
Out to you, Felicia your daughter, grandchildren missing. Have there been domestic abuse? Had he been beating her long before this?
FELICIA PEREZ, MOTHER OF MISSING MOM AND KIDS: Well, three days before this accident, I know she had told me that he had put a knife on her, and, you know, she said, mom, it was very close to my face. And I said, what do you do? And she said, I put a canvas picture, and he just scraped the canvas picture. And I said, you`re not scared? And she go, no, mama, he will not do anything to hurt me.
GRACE: Guys, please, please, help this family. We are looking tonight for a 28-year-old Yasimia Suarez, also for Talia Otto, her 9-year-old little girl. Michael Otto, her 8-year-old little boy. They are only 8 and 9 years old.
The tip line, 888-277-TIPS, T-I-P-S. 277-CRIMESTOPPERS. There is a reward for help in finding the mom and the children. Look at their faces. We need your help tonight.
Out to Sheriff Ben Johnson, the Volusia County sheriff.
Sheriff Johnson, thank you for being with us. Why do you believe he is the prime suspect?
SHERIFF BEN JOHNSON, VOLUSIA COUNTY SHERIFF`S OFFICE: Mr. Toledo one thing told us that he had a violent confrontation with the victim, Yasimia, and he actually told us that he had killed her with a strike to the throat. And we have other physical evidence that indicates also that the children are also dead.
GRACE: Oh, Sheriff. Sheriff, I`m just -- I`m just sick. If there is --
JOHNSON: Well, that`s the way we all feel here watching this man. We grieve as they are and just -- you know, this thing has to come to closure, and it`s a shame. The one person who could do something about bringing this to closure is the suspect. And he`s a pure coward.
GRACE: Louis Toledo.
JOHNSON: He`s admitted to the fact that he killed them. He`s being a coward for not coming forward and telling us where the body is so we can bring closure to this family.
GRACE: Everyone, take a look at him. This is Luis Toledo, age 31. He is either killed mom and children, or he knows where they are. There is a chance. There`s a slim chance they`re alive tonight. Tip line, 888-277- TIPS. Their family is asking for your help.
As we go to break, case alert, Marietta, in the last hours, a white male, aged 25 to 35 tries to kidnap a 9-year-old little boy trying to get off the school bus. There at Ridge Point Apartments, Marietta Georgia.
Take a look, if you have information or can I.D. this suspect, please call 770-794, 6990. He will strike again.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
R. PEREZ: Maybe we`ll find something out here.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Four weeks of searching in Volusia County turned up nothing. For weeks, Suarez`s mother and stepfather call 20 days of hell.
R. PEREZ: It`s frustrating you wake up every morning thinking today we`ll find something and at the end of the day, you come up empty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Tonight we are looking for mom, her name is Yasimia Suarez, age 28, and her two children, Talia and Michael, ages 8 and 9. There is a reward for helping find them.
With me tonight Felicia and Ruben Perez, it`s their daughter and grandchildren.
To you, Mrs. Perez, they had an argument, a big argument about a week before they go missing. What was the argument about?
F. PEREZ: Well, Jesse had told me she wanted to divorce him, she said, mom, I`m tired, you know, Talia was lowering her grades. He was -- I mean, he was supposed to stay home with the kids and watch them while Jesse work and go to school. And -- but he was just playing his games, and Jesse said, mommy, I`m tired, he`s not doing what he`s supposed to do with the kids.
I better do it by myself and have you help me with them. And that`s -- for the last three weeks that`s what I was doing. Picking up my grandkids from school, bringing them home, feeding them, doing homework until my daughter came from work.
And he was just I guess going crazy because Jesse wanted to divorce him. You know. And she said, mommy, I know I can do this by myself. You know. And I mean, I agree with her. I said whatever you want to do, I supported her. You know. And -- but that night she was supposed to stay home with me and she just ate. After he came over like at 6:00 and we talk and stuff, I asked, I said to him, Louis, please don`t you ever hurt my daughter and my grandkids. And he go, mama, I would never hurt them for nothing, I love them.
And he left. I even gave him food to take home for him. And then my daughter just stayed home. And then at 8:00 she goes, mommy, I want to go home. And I said, mama, just stay with me. But no, she wanted to go and sleep in her bed. You know. And (INAUDIBLE) with my daughter. I was, you know, I`ve been thinking, where did she sleep that night. You know.
And that`s when Wednesday morning, she used to call me every morning to touch base, saying, you know, mommy, you going to pick up the kids. And you know just to talk. I was waiting for that call every day, every day around 8:00 in the morning. As 8:00 I never heard from my daughter.
GRACE: And she didn`t call. And you knew, you`ve had to know right then that something was wrong, that 8:00 a.m. phone call didn`t happen.
Her daughter not only mother to two, and working also, in school, in college.
To Mr. Perez. Mr. Perez I`m just trying to figure out how everything went bad so quickly. Do you believe that there is a chance your daughter is alive tonight, Ruben?
R. PEREZ: You know, Nancy, I want to take the opportunity to thank you for having us. And we`re out here and we`re a very Christian family, and we have hope that we will find her. Every day our hope dwindles a bit. But every morning I wake up and I tell my wife, today`s the day that we`re going to find them. Today is the day.
I made a promise that I would continue searching for her because we are a family and they`re part of our family, and they`re missing, and without them life is not the same. And I hope like she tells me, maybe one day they`ll come running up the driveway and open the door.
It`s not easy. Every morning we wake up with this battle that we have. This monster that we`re dealing with. I say we have this huge army out there versus one person and it all could be over just by him helping us and giving us what he took back from us.
GRACE: To Dr. Vincent DiMaio. Dr. DiMaio, is there a chance that they could still be alive? It`s been three weeks.
DR. VINCENT DIMAIO, M.D., FORMER CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER, BEXAR COUNTY, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Realistically, no. You know, he admits killing his wife. And the police have evidence of apparently injury to the children. At this point, no. I`m sorry to say that. I`d like to say something different, but no.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Everyone, tonight, a desperate case. We need your help. A mother and her two children are gone. Take a look. Yasimia Suarez, her two children, Talia and Michael, just 8 and 9.
Tip line, 888-277-TIPS. We are taking your calls. Lisa, Ohio. Hi, Lisa, what`s your question?
LISA, CALLER FROM OHIO: Hi, Nancy. This is a very heartbreaking story. What do we know about this guy with the violent history?
GRACE: Good question. Out to you, Justin Freiman. What do we know?
JUSTIN FREIMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: We know that the night before they went missing, he went to her workplace, confronted her, and actually slapped her. So he`s been violent. And as you heard her mother saying, he`s had a violent history with this woman.
GRACE: Not only that, he pulled a knife on her, according to Yasimia a couple of days before they go missing, but is there a rap sheet, Justin, or is he clean?
FREIMAN: Oh, no, he does have a rap sheet. He`s been taken in for vehicle theft, burglary, resisting arrest. He`s been taken for a number of things.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Sue Moss, Darryl, Cohen, Eric Guster.
First to you, Darryl, you and I prosecuted in the same courthouse in inner city Atlanta, and I recall every time that I would get even a car theft or a simple burglary, I would be afraid that that person would get out and the next thing they would do is they would hurt someone. Because you know if it turns out anybody`s at home during the burglary, they become a crime victim. An unintended crime victim. But it happens.
So we see this guy`s rap sheet, theft, burglary, this or that. And it seems like he never did any hard time. And he finally graduated to this.
When you prosecuted, Darryl, did you feel that same burden? I mean, I was always afraid if I gave a light deal, if I gave straight probation, it would be on me. If that guy who just stole a car shot somebody the next time.
DARRYL COHEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, what I`ve always tried to do is hit them and hit them hard. And if we could take a young person, teach him or her a lesson, maybe it would never happen again, but here, let me make a suggestion. We want to do something that we don`t need -- we need to do something we don`t want to do, let`s give him a deal. Let the state attorney`s office talk to him, maybe then he will then tell us where the kids are.
GRACE: Eric?
ERIC GUSTER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: The defense lawyer`s job in this case is to save this man`s life. Plain and simply. So he needs to get a deal, tell the people where these children are, and save his own life.
GRACE: Sue?
SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY & CHILD ADVOCATE: Oh, my god. I mean, we`re not only talking about the murder of a woman. We are probably talking about the murder of two young children. This guy has got to be punished to the full extent.
GRACE: You know what? Bethany Marshall, this guy is not going to talk, I say wait, have police find the mom and the children, whatever -- wherever and however they are found, and seek the death penalty on this guy. I would not ask for his help or advice or whereabouts. Forget it. No, I would not cut a deal with him.
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": Nancy, you know what, we don`t need him anymore and they don`t need him anymore. He is not divulging where his wife and children are because he`s trying to hide evidence. And also he is a control freak. He believes that they still belong to him. He`s not going to help anyone out. Women are at the greatest risk for violence when they`re about to leave a relationship.
GRACE: To Felicia Perez, Mrs. Perez, have you guys tried to speak to him to ask where they are?
F. PEREZ: Yes, I`ve been trying to go and talk to him. I wrote him a letter, and send him pictures with him and Talia and Elijah -- I mean, Michael.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Would he talk to you? Do you think you could get him to talk?
F. PEREZ: I hope. I mean, I`ve been trying to see if he can tell me because he promised me he would never hurt them. So -- I mean, if he promised me that, he hurt them, so why he cannot tell me what he did with them?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: With me tonight, in addition to Ruben and Felicia Perez, lawyers, Darryl Cohen, Sue Moss, Eric Guster.
Straight out to you, Dave Mack, morning talk show host Clear Channel.
Mack, let me ask you this. Is there any chance they`re going to cut a deal with him for him to explain where Yasimia is, along with Talia and Michael?
MACK: I don`t think so, Nancy, just because of the fact that you`ve got a finite period of time that he had to do everything he was going to do. And it goes about six hours long between last contact with Yasimia.
GRACE: Right.
MACK: And the next morning when he wakes up his neighbor and says hey, follow me in the Honda so that I can dump the car. So for a brief period of time there they`ve got --
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: So you say no.
MACK: Yes. They`ve got a search area.
GRACE: Out to Sheriff Ben Johnson, the elected sheriff of Volusia County.
Sheriff Johnson, again, thank you for being with us. Does he have a lawyer? Have you tried to get his lawyer to get him to tell?
JOHNSON: He does have a lawyer and we have not discussed it with the lawyer. He is still talking to us. We are hoping that he will show some remorse and tell us where this family is. I mean, this is a terrible situation for the family.
GRACE: I`m just sick. I`m sick.
JOHNSON: We`ve done extensive searches in two counties. And extensive wood searches. And even now we`ve got Texas EquuSearch still searching for us. And we have just about exhausted all of that, but we`re hoping that he -- as we said earlier, quit being a coward and tell us. You`ve admitted to killing her. Do the right thing. Come forward. Tell us where this family is so we can put closure to this. So we can help the family heal.
GRACE: I want to -- Sheriff Johnson, thank you. Tip line, 888-277-TIPS. And to Ruben and Felicia Perez, our prayers are with you tonight, and with the police and sheriff that are looking for your daughter and your beautiful grandchildren.
Everyone, we remember American hero, Army Specialist Jessie Reed, 26, Orefield, Pennsylvania. Bronze Star, Purple Heart, loved Tom Petty and the New York Jets. Parents Dolores and David, sister Sharon, widow Heather, sons Dylan and Jesse Junior, daughter Brianna.
Jesse Reed, American hero.
And tonight, happy birthday to Florida friend Ann, not only a nurse and wife, but a mommy who loves riding her Harley. Happy birthday.
Dr. Drew up next, everyone. I`ll see you tomorrow night at 8:00 sharp eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
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