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Nancy Grace
Bathtub Mom Drowns Sons; Playgrounds Booby-Trapped With Razor Blades; Deadly Mugging Caught on Tape; Deadly Morning Mugging of Young Dad Caught on Tape; Boy Starved, Locked in Closet; Death Row Story of the Murder of Ray Liuzza
Aired April 03, 2014 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight, live, suburban McCandless. A young mom runs a bathtub, but instead of playing bath games with rubber toys, Mommy actually sits on her two young sons to ensure they drown to death, one tonight still clinging to life.
Bombshell tonight. When police ask, Mommy claims, quote, "Crazy voices made me do it." Oh, really, Mommy? Who made you try to run your children down with a car last year? And who made you leave them locked in a hot car before that? What, the devil made you do it? Tonight, another killer mom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Forty-year-old Laurel Michelle.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She seemed, you know, fine. She seemed like herself.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But when police arrived at their McCandless home, her two youngest children, a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old, unresponsive on a bathroom floor. She said crazy voices were telling her to hold the boys under water.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, it started in Illinois, now it`s in suburban Pennsylvania, playgrounds for tiny tots booby-trapped, rigged with razor blades.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Razor blames placed strategically to do one thing, hurt kids.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Person or persons involved would have to be sick. I mean, little kids play here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s not a joke. That`s not funny.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sick and extremely dangerous, as well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, Indianapolis. A 24-year-old young dad-to-be goes out for an early morning walk. It turns deadly. While he`s out on foot for coffee and a newspaper, waiting at home, his young wife, Jennifer (ph), expecting their first baby girl next month, while he`s viciously attacked, mugged and killed by two thugs. And tonight, it`s all caught on tape. Take a look. Help us catch the morning muggers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police are looking at this grainy surveillance video over and over again, trying to find out who took the life of 24- year-old Nathan Trapuzzano. Two men approach Trapuzzano. The men attempted to rob him. Something went wrong, and someone pulled a trigger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And to Houston suburbs. An evil stepmother and the bio dad force their 5-year-old little boy to live in a dark closet under the stairs. For how long? We don`t know. But what we do know is that the boy was beaten and starved down to just 29 pounds at 5 years old, forced to live off just one slice of bread and a cup of water for the entire day.
Miracle -- his older brother objects, and somehow, miraculously, the 5- year-old, nearly starved, nearly dead, saved by police. But tonight, the evil stepmommy claimed she didn`t know the boy was starving because, and I quote, she "hadn`t seen him without a shirt recently." You know what, Mommy, Stepmommy? What you gave your 5-year-old to eat is more than what you`re going to get in hell!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t know what caused him to look like that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s an image that breaks your heart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a small four-by-four room under a stairwell.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police found this 5-year-old severely underweight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This 5-year-old boy was forced to live locked inside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The child was found to have serious injuries to his face and he appeared to be malnourished.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. To suburban McCandless. A young mom runs a bathtub, but instead of playing with a rubber ducky, Mommy actually sits on her two young sons to ensure they will drown to death. At this hour, one is still clinging to life. And when police ask her why, she claims, quote, "Crazy voices made me do it."
Oh, really? Really? Well, then who made you try to run them down with a car last year? And who made you leave them locked in a hot car before that? Who, the devil? Tonight, another killer mom!
Straight out to the "Rich Zeoli Show" host, Rich Zeoli with WPHT. Rich, I`m sick. You know, if I thought that this mother was truly insane, I would feel differently. But I happen to know that last year, she tried to run them down, back over them in a car. Then I know the year before that or a little bit before that, she left them locked up in a hot car. They couldn`t get out.
I don`t believe her claims of crazy voices. I don`t believe it, Rich.
RICH ZEOLI, WPHT (via telephone): No, Nancy, and it`s quite obvious that her attorneys are going to try to offer a not guilty by reason of insanity plea. You know, the latest update is that they`re asking the judge to allow a psychiatric evaluation of this woman, Michelle. And look, you know, she says that the crazy voices said the boys would be better off in heaven.
You know, this is the kind of thing that a person wants to say if they want to try to get out of this. But she was perfectly rational on the 911 call, even rationally trying to cover her tracks and tell a different story. That`s not somebody who`s crazy, that`s somebody who`s just a real killer.
GRACE: Out to Pat Lalama, correspondent with Investigation Discovery. Pat, thank you for being with us. Listen, I`ve had, quote, "crazy" people that I`ve dealt with before that have come to me on many an arraignment calendar, truly, I guess in the lay sense of the word, crazy, people that would try to tear their own eyes out, people that would swipe their own feces on their jail cell wall, people that would try to tear strangers` eyes out, just all kinds of activities that would -- behavior you would know the person is insane.
Now, up until right now, this woman was not deemed insane. It was only when she had had it up to here with dealing with three young children, all three boys, that she was fed up. She was fed up with the whining, the crying, the demanding. And with children, Pat, they come before you. And she was tired of her children coming before her, and so she tried to kill them. She did kill!
PAT LALAMA, INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY CORRESPONDENT: Well, and at least felt that she had to protect the older one and had to get rid of the younger two.
GRACE: Oh, Pat, please, stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! That little one, the 7-year-old -- he was lucky he had already gotten on the school bus. That`s why he lived because he wasn`t there!
LALAMA: Yes.
GRACE: What happened, Pat?
LALAMA: Think of the consciousness of guilt here. Well, all right, first, I`ll tell you what happened. What happened was she took the older one to the school. He got on the bus. He went to school. She takes the 6-year-old and the 3-year-old home. She tells them to get out of their pajamas, very, calculated. They get into the bathtub. Then she claims her crazy voices takes off her -- leaves her own clothes on, gets in the bathtub and was told by these crazy voices to sit on the children.
But Nancy, she had a different story to the dispatchers! She told the dispatchers that, Oh, I must have left the bathroom for a little while. And then she tried to hide her own clothes. Sounds like consciousness of guilt to me. You got two different stories. No, I don`t believe it.
GRACE: OK, you`re showing me something -- a fact. I didn`t know that she hid her own wet clothes. But let me tell you something, Pat Lalama, as you`re talking, you know what`s coming to my mind? Every evening when I say, OK, guys, chop-chop (ph), chop-chop (ph), go take your clothes off, hop in the tub, and you know, I make sure they don`t fall getting in, and then I`m, like, in the next room cooking supper or I`m getting their clothes out for the next day. And I`m just thinking as you`re saying, is she saying, Take your clothes off, hop in the tub? Every mother in this country has said that, Take your clothes off, hop in the tub.
And those little children trust her. That`s their mother. So what do they do? They take their clothes off and they hop in the tub so she can kill them.
Unleash the lawyers. Joining me, veteran prosecutor, death penalty- qualified Eleanor Odom, former senior attorney with the National District Attorneys Association. Joining me tonight out of Atlanta, defense attorney Peter Odom. All right, Peter. What`s your defense?
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, clearly, this case is headed toward a mental defense. And whether that works or not, Nancy...
GRACE: Why is that clearly?
PETER ODOM: Because she told the police that crazy voices...
GRACE: Because...
PETER ODOM: ... made her do it...
GRACE: Can`t make up anything else?
PETER ODOM: ... because all of her other behavior is consistent with someone that is going to claim...
GRACE: Really? What...
PETER ODOM: ... mental defense.
GRACE: ... other behavior?
PETER ODOM: Nancy -- Nancy...
GRACE: What other crazy behavior has she exhibited?
PETER ODOM: If I might finish my sentence? This is headed toward a mental defense. Whether it works or not is another question. And whether it works or not is going to depend on whether there is a documented history of mental illness. If there is, you better believe that there`s at least a chance...
GRACE: OK, here`s my question.
PETER ODOM: ... it`ll work.
GRACE: Eleanor...
PETER ODOM: Yes?
GRACE: Eleanor -- are you Eleanor? No, you`re not.
Eleanor, is there any history that we know of right now that shows mental illness? I can tell you there`s two other attempts on their lives, when she tried to back over them intentionally in a vehicle, an SUV, and leaving them locked in a hot car.
ELEANOR ODOM, PROSECUTOR: And there`s no evidence that she`s ever sought treatment for any type of mental illness. All the evidence you have points to planning and then trying to cover up the crime. And because you have those two things, there`s your intent, Nancy.
PETER ODOM: None of those are consistent with -- with mental illness -- are inconsistent with mental illness.
GRACE: Yes, no, you had it right the first time. I think that`s what they call a Freudian slip.
PETER ODOM: Well, you know what I meant.
(CROSSTALK)
PETER ODOM: Nothing that she did is inconsistent with someone that`s mentally ill.
GRACE: Yes, no, nothing is consistent with mental illness.
PETER ODOM: Well, I disagree.
GRACE: I think you have -- well, that`s what you said the first time.
PETER ODOM: And we`ll see -- and we`ll see what -- and we`ll see what the doctors have to say, Nancy, once they examine her.
GRACE: Yes, I`m sure we will. And I can guarantee you the defense lawyers will hire somebody that will say she`s crazy. Let`s see what the court doctor says that`s appointed by the judge.
Guys, this is not the first time we`ve had a killer mom. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Susan Smith -- she murdered her two sons, drove her car into a lake and drowned them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Latrice Brewer (ph), a mother of three, called 911 to say she had killed her children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The young siblings were stabbed and drowned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Andrea Yates -- well, she drowned her five children in a bathtub.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Deanna Lamy (ph) killed two of her children.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got Luke and I (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Darly Lynn (ph) guilty of capital murder in the death of 5-year-old son Damon (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Forty-year-old Laurel Michelle, crazy voices were telling her to hold the boys under water.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Now, what`s interesting -- back to you, Pat Lalama, Investigation Discovery -- when she tried to back over, run down her kids, I think it was in an SUV, and the time that she left them locked in the car when it was burning hot outside -- neither time was she ever charged with anything.
LALAMA: No, she wasn`t. Let`s first talk about the time of running over the children. It was in the driveway of her parents` home. She backs over the children. One of them sustains broken bones, the other one internal injuries. It was deemed by all that this was nothing but a horrific accident.
But you add that to 2009, when she leaves one of the children in a car registering, Nancy, at 112 degrees! She gives the police an apology, and she`s cited and pays a fine. Is no one registering a problem here, a pattern here? It all goes up in smoke as, Gee, I`m sorry?
GRACE: I think we need a shrink. Out to Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst, author of "Dealbreakers." Bethany, break it down for me since you know what I see is a mom that has a death wish to kill her children. And you know what, something Pat Lalama just said? At the first time she tried, she was living with her mom. You know, how many times do we see a parent kill the child when they`re having marital problems, problems in their marriage, and they take it out on the children?
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: Or in the case of Casey Anthony, they kill the child because parent, their own parent, the grandparent of the child, is trying to get them to take responsibility for their own child.
But what I think is interesting, Nancy -- she`s claiming to have what`s called a command hallucination, and that is a voice in her head that told her to do it. But the fact that she calls it a crazy voice means she`s not really crazy because she knows what to call it.
GRACE: And isn`t it true, Bethany, that when you hear auditory hallucinations, that is one of the worst forms, a manifestation of schizophrenia, when you hear auditory hallucinations, not that you think you see something, like a mirage, but you have an auditory hallucination, you`re really sick. And she had exhibited no signs of mental illness...
MARSHALL: That`s right.
GRACE: ... up until she hears a voice, right?
MARSHALL: Right. She would have other co-morbid symptoms.
GRACE: You know what?
MARSHALL: She would be disheveled. She would have, like -- there would be maternal neglect in many areas, bizarre speech, bizarre dress. She looks very intact in these pictures and some of the interviews she`s given. She went to bible study. She went to church.
I didn`t read in any report that the other parishioners reported that she was mentally ill in any way.
GRACE: You know what? Before we go, I want to ask everyone to send up a prayer tonight for 6-year-old -- the 6-year-old son, who is still reportedly in a coma. He has a chance to live.
When we come back, playgrounds for tiny tots booby-trapped, rigged with razor blades.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone duct taped razor blades to playground equipment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Little kids play here. I mean...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s not -- that`s not a joke. That`s -- that`s not funny.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: It all started in Illinois. Now it`s in suburban Pennsylvania, playgrounds for tiny tots booby-trapped, rigged with razor blades.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone duct taped razor blades to playground equipment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Person or persons involved would have to be sick. I mean, little kids play here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we`ve got a psychopath, and as a parent, you know, I don`t feel safe for my child.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why would that be something that would come into your mind, to put razor blades in a children`s park?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s not a joke. That`s -- that`s not funny.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Why would that come into your mind? Who would think of that, to attach razor blades -- look at that. That brings to mind the first time John David, and now recently, Lucy was struggling to do it -- went across the monkey bars, and I videoed it and videoed it and videoed it and videoed it. Can you -- can you believe this? This is going across the country, where some -- oh! Oh! Look at that! The child grabs the playground equipment, and the hands are just bleeding, blood running down the child`s hands.
To Rich Zeoli, WPHT. It`s hard for me to understand how or why someone would get the idea to booby-trap playgrounds for tiny tots with razor blades.
ZEOLI: Yes, it`s just sick. It`s really sick. You take your kids to a day at the park, they`re playing on the monkey bars, they reach down and there`s a razor blade there that slices open their hand.
Look, parents need to go and look at the playgrounds before -- do not let your kids -- I`m not trying to be an alarmist, but don`t let your kids use the equipment until you check. That`s what the local police outside of Philly is warning parents on their Faceboook page. Until they catch this sicko, parents need to check the equipment first.
It`s such a shame we have to say that in this day and age, check the playground equipment before your kids play on it. But it is the reality until they catch this sicko copycat.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sick and extremely dangerous, as well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone duct taped razor blades to playground equipment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why would that be something that would come into your mind?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s not a joke. That`s -- that`s not funny.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Persons involved would have to be sick. I mean, little kids play here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Multiple razor blades duct taped to playground equipment. Children grab ahold of the monkey bars or the swing. The parents are standing around, not having any idea of the dangerous situation, their hands ripped open inside. And it could be much worse. That`s why we`re warning you tonight.
Unleash the lawyers. Eleanor Odom, Peter Odom, joining me from Atlanta. You know, Eleanor, I`ve been thinking about a way that this perp could be caught because it`s to me clearly a copycat -- same duct tape, MO -- modus operandi, method of operation. Every time, they use duct tape. They use the same kind of duct tape. And it`s moving in a particular direction across the country.
Immediately, you think of fingerprints, but unless that person is in the fingerprint data base, we`re not going to get him. And of course, it`s a man.
ELEANOR ODOM: Well, I tend to agree with you, Nancy. You`re not going to get him through fingerprints unless there`s some that are really there (ph) because you have kids on that equipment all the time. That`s going to be hard. It`s going to be a little bit hard to find this person, so we have to be alert at these playgrounds.
GRACE: Well, what about this? What about this, Peter? And I`m not asking you to take a side of anybody right now. But when you are dealing with duct tape, there could be fingerprints on the sticky side of the duct tape, not where...
PETER ODOM: Nancy, either side.
GRACE: ... children could touch it -- I mean, on the other side, children are going to be touching it.
PETER ODOM: Right.
GRACE: But on the sticky side, they`re not.
PETER ODOM: Or on the razor blades themselves. Duct tape is a very good medium for fingerprints, either side, and...
GRACE: What about surveillance cameras?
PETER ODOM: And surveillance cameras. But I`ll tell you how I think they`re going to catch this person. He`s going to brag to someone or they`re going to catch someone near a playground with the unique equipment that`s used here. And I hope they catch him soon.
GRACE: You know, the other thing -- Michael Christian, what more do we know about the actual act, the actual taping up? I mean, it`s got to be done when nobody can see.
MICHAEL CHRISTIAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): That`s right, Nancy. And the question begs (ph), is it an adult who`s doing this, or is it, like, teens or older children goofing around, thinking this is funny.
GRACE: Well, Michael...
CHRISTIAN: Obviously, this isn`t funny at all.
GRACE: ... to me, it`s got to be an adult because it`s moving. It`s not in just one jurisdiction, it`s moving across the country.
Everyone, the warning tonight, razor blades being attached, booby- trapped in tots` playground equipment.
When we come back, caught on tape. A 24-year-old young dad-to-be goes out for a early morning walk, waiting at home, his young wife, Jennifer, expecting their first child, a baby girl -- in fact, the baby`s coming next month -- when he is viciously attacked, mugged and killed by two thugs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police are looking at this grainy surveillance video over and over again, trying to find out who took the life of 24- year-old Nathan Trapuzzano.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: And now to Indianapolis. A 24-year-old young dad-to-be goes out for an early morning walk. It all turns deadly. While he`s out on foot going for coffee and a newspaper, waiting at home, his young wife, Jennifer, expecting their first baby next month, a baby girl, when he is viciously attacked. He`s mugged and then killed, left dead by two thugs.
Tonight, it is all caught on tape. Take a look. Help us catch the morning muggers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police are looking at this grainy surveillance video, trying to find out who took the life of 24-year-old Nathan Trapuzzano.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ve got businesses all up and down 16th Street here with much better video than we have right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to catch this murderer and we want to bring him to justice as soon as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Steve Simpson, host, WIBC Morning News. Steve, thanks for being with us. I don`t get it. I mean, he`s going out for coffee and a newspaper. He couldn`t have had more than $35 with him. And it`s so early in the morning. People are getting up and going to work. It`s going on 6:00 AM. What do you know, Steve Simpson?
STEVE SIMPSON, WIBC (via telephone): Yes, like you said, Nancy, 5:50 in the morning. And you know, the other thing is, this is something that he apparently did every morning, or close to it. In fact, some of the businesses on 16th Street, some of the folks that own those businesses or work there, said, yes, they recognized him, didn`t know him specifically, but knew him enough to know, Oh, yes, that`s the guy that walks every morning.
So it`s like so many other people around the country, you know, you get up and you do your walk or you exercise or whatever. So yes, it is inexplicable.
GRACE: This hurts me so much. Look at them. That is his wife Jennifer. She is going to give birth to their first child, a baby girl, next month. She`s at home waiting for him to come back. He never comes home. He`s out for a morning walk, getting coffee and newspaper. She waits and waits, he never comes back. Why? Because two thugs attack him, viciously mug him and leave him dead.
And it all happens just like that. His life is gone just like that.
Clark Goldband, what more do we know?
CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: Well, Nancy, let`s try to set up the scene. You can see the surveillance there on your screen but law enforcement is now saying they`re hopeful they can obtain more surveillance and here is why.
You see, this is where the body was found, right here in front of Tron`s -- if I get out of the way. Tron`s Tire Shop. Next to that is LC Tires, a Taco Bell, an AVG Pub, and here`s the thing, law enforcement thinks they have possible surveillance footage from some of those stores, Nancy.
You know chains like Taco Bell have those places blanketed with cameras. So it will be interesting to see from other angles if law enforcement is able to piece this thing together. Also cops showing their presence on that very street, Nancy. They moved a mobile command center in the area, even taking a roll call out in the open. The mayor is there. The police chief is there. They want to find what happened to this man minding his own business.
GRACE: Look at these guys. They were college sweethearts. And they`ve been described as being so very deeply in love. And this guy was so thrilled, he was about to be a new father.
And joining me right now, Father Christopher Roberts, priest and friend of Nathan and Jennifer. In fact, he married them.
Father Christopher Roberts, thank you for being with us.
FATHER CHRISTOPHER ROBERTS, PRIEST AND FRIEND OF MURDERED HUBBY NATHAN TRAPUZZANO: You`re welcome, Nancy.
GRACE: Father, it`s just so good to hear your voice because I know that you know them both very well. Please tell me, what kind of guy was Nathan?
ROBERTS: Nathan was one of those young men you meet once in a very long time. He was -- I met him in his teens and two things really struck me. He was just a good man. People liked being around him. A great personality. Always trying to improve himself. And he was a man of deep and growing faith. He just tried to be a good Christian man. And in ways that for an 18 and 19-year-old just shocked me.
GRACE: You know, Father, I know you are confronted with this every single day and I`ve asked it so many times why it`s always the good and wonderful people that are cut down so young in life. Like this guy. He didn`t have an enemy, he adored his wife Jennifer. They were so thrilled, they`ve only been married a year and they`re soon -- and one month from now they are going to have their first baby, a little girl that`s going to grow up never once getting held by her father and this mom Jennifer is going to have to go through -- and it`s hard, guys.
I know you men think you`ve got it hard, but let me tell you, being a mother is not an easy thing and to have to do it all alone? You know, sometimes at the end of the day I can hardly put one foot in front of the other and that`s with a husband helping me. She`s going to do this all alone because of these two thugs.
Show them, Liz. The morning mugger. Please look, get any clue that you can. There you see Nathan Trapuzzano -- there goes the first one, right there. And we`re going to get more surveillance to show you.
If you want to help, first of all, there is Crimestoppers, 317-262-TIPS, there is a reward. But also to donate to the family for the funeral, or to help this child, go to www.gofundme.com/7zj4fo. If you can help.
But hold on, Father Christopher Roberts, are you still with me?
ROBERTS: I`m still with you.
GRACE: Father, how is Jennifer?
ROBERTS: Obviously she`s devastated and the family has really been supporting her because as you know from being eight months pregnant isn`t easy under normal circumstances. But she`s just -- there is a real focus on bringing little Cecilia into the world. And it is going to be a tough day for her on Saturday when the funeral takes place.
GRACE: To Dr. Joye M. Carter, chief forensic pathologist, Marion County, author of "I Speak for the Dead."
Dr. Carter, he was shot a single time in the abdomen. He had surgery around 6:00 a.m. He died at 7:40 a.m. What, did he just bleed to death? Is that what happened?
Let`s see the video. Loop the video, Liz.
Dr. Carter, did he bleed to death? Is that what happened?
JOYE M. CARTER, CHIEF FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST, MARION COUNTY, AUTHOR, I SPEAK FOR THE DEAD: Well, there are so many vital structures in the abdomen, injury to the liver, injury to the abdominal aorta, the kidney, smaller vessels, injuries to the gastrointestinal tract. The report is not done yet and those are not public in Indiana, but if he had injury to the liver, he could bleed out quite quickly.
GRACE: You know, I`m thinking about this guy, he leaves his wife, his unborn baby girl at home, goes out for coffee and a newspaper and he dies lying there on the pavement, rushed to the hospital. He didn`t make it.
I wonder what he was thinking. Was he thinking about her? Was he thinking about what would happen to his child, who would raise the child and he wouldn`t be there for a single Christmas tree, a single Easter egg hunt, nothing. All gone. Tip line, everyone, 317-262-TIPS.
When we get back, an evil stepmother for real. And the bio dad, the natural father, forced their 5-year-old boy to live in a dark closet under stairs. The boy beaten and starved to just 29 pounds. I can hardly say it because my children are six. This child is just 29 pounds. Forcing the boy to live off of one slice of bread and a cup of water for the entire day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`ve never seen him look like that and I`ve never seen him with his shirt off recently. I don`t want to be like everybody else and assume the worst.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The area under the stairwell.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a small, like square space that kind of slants down the stairs so it is smaller. Possibly if it was empty, not how it is now. I don`t know what caused him to look like that. So I mean, I don`t know if it is health issues or if it truly is something else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: You don`t know? Well, you`re the one raising him, you evil stepmother.
You were just hearing Tammi Bleimeyer and she`s a 33-year-old evil stepmother. I can hardly even look at these photos. I`ve actually physically turned away from them.
This is a 5-year-old little boy. First let me just telling you, he`s alive. OK. He lived, through a miracle. But what struck me, look at that, look at the -- the bruises and the cuts on this child`s body. His bones are literally sticking out of his skin. He was forced to live in a dark closet under the stairs. He`s 5. Five. Starved, beaten, locked in a closet.
The older brother continued to object and fight his parents about what they were doing to his little brother and I`m sure they punished him for speaking out.
Joe Gomez, investigative reporter, KRLD, I can only say thank God that this boy was found and taken out of that horrible home. But tonight, the evil stepmother is saying, I didn`t know, I didn`t do it. I just haven`t seen him without a shirt recently.
JOE GOMEZ, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, KRLD RADIO: That`s right, Nancy. She is saying that she`s not responsible for this. She doesn`t believe that the boy`s father is responsible for this. Well then who is responsible for this? I mean, this little 5-year-old boy was found in a soiled diaper, 29 pounds, he had bruises to his abdomen, bruises all over his body, skin peeling off of his back. You see these images, just graphic, vulgar images of child abuse. And what`s even more shocking here is that the stepmother, while she`s walking free right now, Nancy, she`s out on bond.
GRACE: What?
GOMEZ: She claims that she has -- yes.
GRACE: She made bond?
GOMEZ: She`s out on bond.
GRACE: OK, Liz, is it true we have video of her walking -- oh, dear lord in heaven. And she`s got two children with her. Oh, God help them.
With me is attorney for the mom, the stepmother, Julie Ketterman, joining me out of Houston.
Julie, how did she manage to make bond and what can you tell me about the divorce case?
JULIE KETTERMAN, ATTORNEY FOR STEPMOM ACCUSED OF CHILD ABUSE: Well, two things, Nancy. First of all, thank you for having me and good afternoon. The -- her bond, she made bond because the emphasis is not on her, the emphasis is on Brad Bleimeyer, the stepfather. She made bond because her bond was set at $2,000. So she only had to come up with 10 percent which was $200. So that is how she made bond.
GRACE: I`m shocked. You`re a great attorney by all accounts, Julie Ketterman. I`m just shocked that the judge set bond that low for her and that she`s prancing out of jail with two children with her.
Joining me right now, Chief Mark Herman, with the Harris County Constable`s Office.
Chief, it`s so great to have you with us. I know that you have a lot of bad days at work where you see all sorts of atrocities and crime, violent crime, but here you managed to save this child`s life because I`m convinced, Chief Herman, that if it had gone one more day, two more days, this child would have died. How did you find out about him?
CHIEF MARK HERMAN, HARRIS COUNTY, CONSTABLE`S OFFICE: Yes, we -- we you know, responded to a fight disturbance between the 16-year-old brother and the dad. And when we got out there, the 16-year-old told us he had let the 5-year-old out of the closet and the dad had been abusing him and, you know, keeping him locked in a closet.
We immediately started looking for the kid and we had found out -- from other witnesses on the scene that the stepmother had fled the location prior to our patrol units arriving with the 5-year-old child.
GRACE: So she took the child to hide him from you and you managed to find him any way.
Chief, I`m convinced in my mind that all of this came about to save the boy`s life. I imagine the 16-year-old got in a fight with the father because he had been speaking out about the treatment of the little 5- year-old brother.
Chief, I know you`re a law man, but can you tell us, is this boy going to make it? Can they save him?
HERMAN: Well, I`m going to tell you, I have been in touch, you know, with the --with the hospital through my personnel. I did speak with the biological mother several times. I know that I think yesterday they removed some IVs from him and he is eating on his own now because they had to be careful, you know, what portions and all that they give him but he is on his way to recovery. We did feel like he`s going to be OK and this is one of those deals where, you know, she had fled the location with the child.
We did have phone contact with her shortly after she left the residence and you know, she was totally uncooperative with us, would not come back. We ended up having to resort to other tactics to trace her cell phone and we eventually found her at a motel with him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: A 5-year-old child nearly starved to death living off one piece of bread, one cup of water a day at the hands of his natural father and his evil stepmother.
With me Chief Mark Herman, the Harris County Constable`s Office.
Chief, again, thank you for being with us. And I truly believe that angels intervened in the form of you guys and you saved this child. You just said the evil stepmother was not cooperative and you actually had to track her down. She wasn`t trying to save the little boy?
HERMAN: Yes. She -- as I said, she had left the location prior to our patrol deputy`s arrival. And we did have cell phone contact with her shortly after that asking her to come back to the scene so we could check the welfare of the child. She would not do that. It went on for about 16 hours before we were finally, you know, able to bring her to the police by tracking, you know, her cell phone to a motel in another city right next to the (INAUDIBLE).
GRACE: Chief, is it true that she actually said, it wasn`t me, I didn`t know what bad shape he was in because I haven`t seen him without his shirt recently? Is that true?
HERMAN: Yes, you know, I don`t know what she said or what she didn`t say. I mean, I know what she said to us and that`s nothing. She would not cooperate with us. Give us any kind of statement or anything like that. So I`ve heard she`s talking now, but again, we want to focus on the child. We`ve got the next phase of our investigation start to making the doctors pulling the medical records and things together and bringing this thing to some finality in our criminal justice system.
GRACE: A miracle, a miracle, Chief, thank you for being with us, Chief Mark Herman.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Tonight, "Death Row Stories," twists and turns of capital murder cases. We remember the victims.
Tonight a hotel exec from a New Orleans family gunned down in a late- night robbery.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN SARANDON, NARRATOR, DEATH ROW STORIES: On December 5th, 1984, Ray Liuzza, a fun loving 34-year-old bachelor from a prominent New Orleans family, was out on the town celebrating his promotion to vice president of one of the city`s biggest hotels.
Late that night, as Liuzza returned to his Garden District apartment, he was approached by someone in the dark.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was then robbed at gunpoint. He complied with the perpetrators, giving them up everything that he had. He asked them not to shoot him. And they did five times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining me right now is Ray Liuzza`s sister Maureen.
Maureen, thank you for being with us.
MAURINE LIUZZA, SISTER OF VICTIM RAY LIUZZA: Oh, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to speak on such a personal cherished memory that I hope I`ll be able to share with you as well as everyone viewing so that they can connect as much as I do about the love that we had for our dear brother Ray.
GRACE: Everyone, we are talking about a young man, Ray Liuzza, who was brutally murdered of his way home just after a big promotion that he`d been celebrating.
Maurine, let me ask you, your response on the release of the man convicted in your brother`s murder?
LIUZZA: Actually, there were two perpetrators that were arrested, Kevin Freeman and John Thompson.
GRACE: Thompson, 14 years behind bars, found guilty of murder and robbery but then exonerated.
I`d like to focus on Ray. Could you tell me your most vivid memory of your brother.
LIUZZA: Oh, I have an enormous amount of vivid memories. He was an intelligent man. He graduated from St. Aloysius High School at 15, accepted into Harvard. He worked so hard. My parents couldn`t afford to send him there, so he went to the Harvard of the South, which is Tulane University. He worked his way through college, helping to pay for his tuition by working at a locally owned and operated haberdashery clothing store located on Canal Street.
He was giving and kind. He was cultured. The love that he had for our city was enormous. He loved culture and arts. He loved giving enormous amount of presents to his five -- four brothers and two sisters. That`s what I remember most about him was his giving to anybody he met. Anyone he met, they fell in love with him. He was charismatic, he was charming, he was handsome, but most of all he was kind hearted.
I still think today 30 years later if I meet someone and say that my last name is Liuzza, their heart aches by this brutal murder that occurred but also knowing what a wonderful man he truly was.
GRACE: You know, Maurine, the way you speak about your brother, I can tell that all of this feels like it just happened yesterday.
Maurine, our prayers and condolences go to you as we look back on this "Death Row Story." Thank you, Maurine.
Everyone, this Sunday 9:00 p.m. CNN "Death Row Stories."
Let`s stop and remember American hero Army Sergeant Christopher Rudzinski, 28, Rantoul, Illinois. Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Army Commendation medal, from a military family. He loved cars, fishing and Walt Disney World. Parents Michael and Natalie, one sister, three brothers, widow Caroline, son Ryan.
Christopher Rudzinski, American hero.
And happy birthday to our friend Mica, a child play therapist and legal eagle. Happy birthday.
Everyone, Drew up next with more on the 5-year-old.
Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
