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Nancy Grace
Did Florida Mom Kill Tot With Salt?
Aired June 18, 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, Valhalla (ph). When a beautiful 5-year-old little boy dies in the hospital, heartbreak for a
grieving mom who chronicles her son`s final days over social media. But tonight, police ask, did Mommy inject a lethal dose of salt into her own
little boy`s feeding tube? In the last hours, murder charges handed down as salt mom`s defense declares she`s innocent!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A 5-year-old boy died only days after being rushed to a hospital emergency room. The doctors treating him find that the child
has extremely high sodium levels.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now in shackles for killing her own son, 5-year- old Garnett Spears.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, Valrico. At this hour, police believe a registered sex offender on the run with a missing Florida girl.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To be honest, I am absolutely positive that they are together.
GRACE: He has with him a Florida girl, Ashley Lyon (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The arrest warrants that they put out for him...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Lyon family passed out fliers to area businesses, pleading for help from the community.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Terrified, and we just want...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And TV star from hit reality show "Jersey Shore" Mike Sorrentino, AKA "The Situation," thrown behind bars.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you believe The Situation got arrested in his New Jersey tanning salon?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what is your name, sir?
MIKE SORRENTINO, "JERSEY SHORE": Situation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Has allegedly gotten himself into a situation!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike, how long would you work at night when you stripped (ph)?
SORRENTINO: Three hours.
I think I`m a little misunderstood.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That video from MTV`s "Jersey Shore."
And tonight live with a shocking claim. A teen high school girl, a softball star and honor student dead on a beach vacation after drinking
energy drinks all day instead of water. How can that be?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Arizona teen suddenly dies of a heart attack during a beach vacation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We all love Lana (ph). She`s the greatest girl.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lana`s freak fatal heart attack happened drinking energy drinks on the beach all day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to Lana Hammond (ph)?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. To Valhalla. When a beautiful 5-year-old little boy dies in the hospital, heartbreak for a grieving mother who chronicles
her son`s final days over social media. But tonight, police ask, did Mommy herself inject a lethal dose of salt, salt into her own little boy`s
feeding tube? In the last hours, murder charges handed down as salt mom declares "I`m innocent."
When you take a look at the blogs this mom posted -- for instance, "Garnett is sick with the flu but feeling well enough to try out his new
homemade paint. He was admitted to Nyack Hospital. He had a seizure. Feels well enough to do laps around the pediatric floor, awaiting a
neurologist visit. He`s completely back to himself. Still no word on lab results." I guess they weren`t checking for table salt. "Please, please
send G some love. We went from fine to really sick in minutes. Pray for Garnett. He`s on life support and being life-flighted. 11:40 and sedation
meds have nearly worn off. G is screaming in pain, screaming his head hurts. We laid his bed flat and just wait to see what happens. Garnett
stopped breathing and is back on the ventilator. Please pray. My sweet baby Garnett has been declared brain dead. It can`t even be possible.
That`s my baby boy. I`m not ready to let him go. Sometime tomorrow, I will have to make the decision to remove his life support." And last,
"Garnett the great journey onward today at 10:20 AM."
This is so upsetting to even read it in light of the claims tonight! Out to you, Jean Casarez, CNN correspondent. Amidst (ph) the claims that
the mother herself is the one that killed this child by injecting his feeding bag with sodium, salt, table salt, Jean!
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Cause of death, poisoning by salt. That is what prosecutors are alleging. This little 5-year-old boy, Nancy,
had been taken to the hospital by his mother 23 times in his small span of life.
And right at the end, what prosecutors are saying is that he was admitted into the hospital because of alleged seizures. Mother stayed by
him in the hospital room. He had that feeding tube into his stomach. The next day, his sodium levels were so much higher than they should be. And
doctors said this is not metabolically possible for those sodium levels to go naturally that way. They treated it. Happened again. They air-
flighted him to a hospital, and he died.
GRACE: I`m looking at her. Look at this mom! Please leave the mom up. I want to look at her. Look at all of these! Jean, you know I share
pictures with you of me and the twins or just the twins. All of these pictures she`s taking -- that`s him and her lying in the grass. That`s him
and Mommy. Look at this! All of these pictures she takes of the baby, all of the fun they`re having, all the smiles.
But this is what we know, Jean. I just got this as we`re going to air. She was actually investigated in 2011 -- 2011 or 2012 -- in Florida,
Jean, because the report -- and I have the intake report right here -- says the mom would slap the baby over and over in the face, this baby, Garnett,
until the baby would start crying, and then the Mommy would start crying.
And then it also says, Jean, that as far back as 2011 -- yes, 2011 -- I`m looking at it -- that the child was, quote, "medically neglected." I
don`t know what that means, medically neglected in this particular case. But if that had been pursued -- and I`m not blaming them, I`m just saying -
- if this case (INAUDIBLE) I`ve got in my hand out of Florida had been pursued, this child might be alive today. It`s not their fault. It`s the
mother`s fault, according to police. That is what we`re learning right now. Jean Casarez with me, CNN correspondent.
Joe Gomez, KRLD, what more do you know?
JOE GOMEZ, KRLD: Well, what we understand, Nancy, is that she was desperate for attention. That`s what prosecutors say. This mother had a
little blog where she would blog about how sick her child was. If her child was so sick, why would she take the time to actually post on
Facebook, take pictures, put that on her blog, instead of just helping her little boy?
GRACE: You know, another thing about that, Joe, when your child is sick, you`re not thinking about Facebooking.
This picture right here -- could you go back to that picture with his hair, that -- sticking up? The twins love when we`re taking -- they`re
taking- I`m giving them a bath and I put their hair in all kind of crazy Dr. Seuss-like curls and spikes, like we were just showing you. It just --
I guarantee you I would put that jury full of mothers!
Now, take a look at Garnett here. He`s sick here. There he was on a pacifier, and she was feeding him at home, Jean Casarez, with a feeding
tube, claiming the reason for the feeding bag was failure -- there`s the shot I was telling you about -- failure to thrive.
Hold on, Jean. Out to the lines. Gina in Georgia. Hi, Gina. What`s your question? I think I`ve got Gina in Georgia on the line. Gina, are
you there?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I am.
GRACE: Hi, dear. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I was just calling about the child that was murdered by the mother in the hospital.
GRACE: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I was listening, and he had been coming to the hospital for 23 times? I was (INAUDIBLE) to see why the hospital
didn`t step in to see about maybe child abuse? And what motive does she have to even kill that little boy? It just breaks my heart.
GRACE: You know what they`re saying, Gina in Georgia, is that she had Munchausen by proxy. Caryn Stark, in a nutshell, what is Munchausen by
proxy?
CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: Munchausen by proxy, Nancy, is when a mother creates illnesses for her child that require this kind of constant
care, in and out of the hospital, just to get attention.
So it has nothing to do with the child. She needs the focus to be on her, and so she makes her own child, believe it or not, sick. And it`s
often someone who`s a pathological liar because they`re capable of fabricating a disease.
GRACE: Well, as of right now, as of tonight, she`s saying, I`m innocent, I`m not guilty. She`s not saying, I did it because I have
Munchausen by proxy because guess what? That does not elevate to a legal defense of insanity.
This is a very rare phenomenon, Munchausen by proxy. For those of you just joining us, this loving and devoted mom just got murder charges. Did
she poison her little boy and blog about his illness, poison him with salt in a feeding bag, even doing it in the hospital?
It`s so unusual, even movies have been made about it. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mrs. Jordan (ph), you need to calm down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right here. Take my (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s losing oxygen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m her mother. I`m going with her!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clear!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She cannot die! (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have already lost one child. I can`t go through this again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bob Keller from social services. We have an order of protection for Hillary Jordan (ph). We need to remove her from the
premises.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did you do to her?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you suggesting?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m her mother!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cheryl (ph) is slowly poisoning your children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am the best mother you ever had!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That video from YouTube, Lifetime movie "The Good Mother."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Tonight, murder charges handed down against an apparently loving and devoted mom after police say she poisoned this little boy to
death using table salt, sodium, even chronicling his fight to live on Facebook, claiming, "It`s 11:40 and sedation meds have nearly worn off.
Garnett is screaming in pain, screaming his head hurts. We laid his bed flat and just wait to see what happens."
Unleash the lawyers. Joining me, Rene Sandler, defense attorney, Washington, D.C., Peter Odom, defense attorney, Atlanta.
All right, Odom, what`s your defense on this?
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, the first thing that a good defense attorney is going to do is take a look at all the evidence and make
sure that the police have eliminated all other possible causes of this sodium poisoning. You know, poisoning is...
GRACE: So you`re conceding sodium poisoning is the cause of death.
ODOM: Actually, take a look at the evidence and see what it says. You know that accidental mis-medication is a very common cause of death in
hospitals.
GRACE: Well, accidental mis-medication...
ODOM: It happens every day.
GRACE: You said in hospitals. But this started outside the hospital. I`m already, like, tearing you up!
ODOM: No, like I said, Nancy...
GRACE: But what about attacking cause of death?
ODOM: ... it`s the first thing that you`re going to look at, is attack the cause of death and eliminate anything else.
GRACE: I just said that.
ODOM: Only then would you go back and look for a mental defense because remember, mental defenses concede the act while denying the mental
state. So you`re going to look at everything else first.
GRACE: So I think what you just said is something about the hospital, even though this started...
ODOM: Eliminate all other causes.
GRACE: ... before he went to the hospital, so...
(CROSSTALK)
ODOM: But he died at the hospital. He died at the hospital.
GRACE: OK, let`s talk about that, Rene Sandler, defense attorney out of Washington, D.C. Here`s the deal. The little boy was fine when people
were there visiting. In fact, he begged them not to leave. You saw that in the information at the get-go. And then within an hour after everybody
leaves and he`s alone with his Mommy in the hospital, then suddenly, boom, he`s in pain so bad that he`s screaming.
RENE SANDLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Look, you can`t jump to a conclusion, just like Peter said. You need to look at the history, the totality, all
of the medical records. He was under the care of this hospital, treating providers, who can shed light on his history and ultimate cause of death.
GRACE: His history. Well, let`s put -- actually, put them back up, please. Let`s talk about his history. Let`s talk about this, marked
"confidential." This is what we got our mitts on out of Florida. It`s called an intake report. This is an investigation on Mommy back in 2011
that she would slap, slap, slap this child in the face until the baby would cry. And then once she saw the baby crying, she`d start crying. And
medical neglect charges. And sadly, after interviewing Mommy, police decided, Oh, she`s a great mom.
What about that? You`re talking about history, Rene.
SANDLER: Well, where`s child protective services?
GRACE: No, no, no!
SANDLER: Where`s the safety plan?
GRACE: Let`s talk about...
SANDLER: Where are the supervisors...
GRACE: ... her. No, no!
SANDLER: ... who are supposed to oversee her?
GRACE: That`s not working with me.
(CROSSTALK)
SANDLER: That`s the law.
GRACE: Yes, well, then you`re talking to yourself because I`m not -- they weren`t there when this child died. Mommy was there. Florida
officials were not there, Peter Odom. Peter? Response?
ODOM: The response to what, to your screaming my name? Let me respond to exactly...
GRACE: Yes, no, to what I said about this.
ODOM: About that? That doesn`t prove anything. That doesn`t...
GRACE: Well, you`re the one -- you guys are the ones that brought up history, and I`m showing you the history in black and white. You only want
your brand of history. You don`t want the truth.
ODOM: Well, Nancy, first of all...
GRACE: What?
ODOM: ... you don`t know how much of what is in that report is true or not true.
GRACE: Oh, the cops are lying.
ODOM: She`s never had -- she`s never had -- she`s never had a chance to respond to it. And secondly, it doesn`t sound as if it`s in any way
similar to poisoning the child. It`s the medical evidence that`s going to drive this.
GRACE: Put him up!
ODOM: It`s the medical evidence that`s going to drive this, not your circumstantial evidence...
GRACE: You know, I actually said...
ODOM: ... that she did something three years ago that somehow means she killed her child recently. It doesn`t add up.
GRACE: OK, let`s talk about what the law is. As you both know, when you have, for instance, a domestic homicide -- though I loathe to use the
term -- it is allowed in court if the perp, for instance, beat his wife over a period of years. Is that the same as murder? Of course not. Does
it go to course of conduct, frame of mind, motive, modus operandi? Yes, it does. And that is why it is allowed in a court of law. So this is highly
pertinent to the charges at hand.
ODOM: Well, that`ll be up to the judge, and I doubt that a 3-year- old...
(CROSSTALK)
ODOM: I doubt that a 3-year-old report from DFACS...
GRACE: Really?
ODOM: ... is going to be allowed in court.
GRACE: Really? Is that what you doubt?
ODOM: It`s highly prejudicial.
GRACE: Because that`s not the law!
ODOM: It`s what we call preponderance evidence, and the law is very restrictive about that. I doubt that comes into evidence.
GRACE: Listen to you two! I hear an echo. I heard Rene going, yes, yes. Well, it`s...
SANDLER: It`s prior bad acts!
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... many, many homicides? This absolutely will come in as a similar transaction.
ODOM: I`ll take that back. I`ll take that back because I don`t think it does.
SANDLER: I don`t think it does either, Nancy.
GRACE: All right, actually -- actually, I didn`t place a bet because I`m talking about a child`s life.
Jean Casarez, let`s get back off of her 2011 slapping incidents and back on the alleged poisoning incidents. What exactly do we know she said
to a neighbor when she called the neighbor from the hospital?
CASAREZ: Critical fact, Nancy, critical. When her little 5-year-old was dead or dying in the hospital, according to prosecutors, she called up
her neighbor and said, You know that bag that I have at the house that I use to feed him through his feeding tube? Get rid of it. Well, according
to records, the neighbor took it but didn`t get rid of it and then gave it to prosecutors once the charges were filed.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: We were just talking to Jean Casarez about what Mommy said to the friend when she called her from the hospital about throwing out her
child, Garnett, now dead`s, feeding bag she was using at home.
And I could hear in the break Peter Odom said, What was in the bag? Salt! Salt was in the bag that she thought -- well, her child`s in the
hospital. And she calls a friend, Hey, go to the house and make sure that feeding bag is thrown out.
Salt -- can I see Peter Odom`s face? Salt was in the bag. No one had instructed her to use a feeding bag, no doctor. She was doing that for
failure to thrive, although friends would say when the little boy was away from Mommy, he would eat like a horse.
ODOM: According to whom?
GRACE: According to the neighbor.
ODOM: The neighbor.
GRACE: You think she`s in on the conspiracy with the Florida police?
ODOM: Who knows? Did anybody investigate? Isn`t that the kind of question you want to ask?
GRACE: You know what?
ODOM: It`s all based on whether the evidence is credible or not.
GRACE: I wish, I hope they do that at trial.
Hold on. I`m hearing in my ear, joining me right now is Autumn Hunt, a friend of Lacey Spears. Spears said Hunt`s son was her son on MySpace.
Autumn Hunt, thank you for being with us. I don`t even understand this. What, she would post pictures of your son?
AUTUMN HUNT, FRIEND OF MOTHER (via telephone): She would. She kept him for me a lot because I worked and she also worked at the day care that
he went to. So they were together a lot. Me and her were best friends at the time, and we were together a lot. And she would put pictures of
Jonathan on MySpace.
And one day, a person contacted me through MySpace (INAUDIBLE) mutual friends with, and asked me was that son. I said, Yes, it is. And she
said, Well, you know, she`s telling people that that`s her child. And I said, you know, Well, maybe she didn`t mean it like that. Maybe she`s just
saying, you know, That`s my baby, something like that. I didn`t think that she was actually portraying herself to be his mom.
And so she (INAUDIBLE) that had contacted me said, No, you know, you can go look on this picture and see (INAUDIBLE) And she said yes. So of
course, I went and looked, and there was a conversation where the girl said, He`s beautiful, is he yours? And she said, Yes, that`s the love of
my life, born February 14th, which was (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: OK. What was your reaction to that, Ms. Hunt, and you reaction when you found out her son, Garnett, 5 years old, was dead of salt
poison?
HUNT: As far as in reference to my son, it was more shock than anything because that`s just -- was something that I would never imagine
myself doing. But I just felt like it was more of a cry for attention for her, that she just wanted the attention of being a single parent.
When I heard that Garnett was sick and that Garnett had died, at first, I thought that it was just more attention-seeking mechanisms. I
really did not want to believe that he had actually died. But when I found out for certain that he had, it was just utter disbelief.
GRACE: With me is Autumn Hunt, a friend of Lacey Spears.
Out to the lines, Kelly. Hi, Kelly. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. My question is -- you know, you`re speaking of history. Does this woman have any past, you know, with CPS
involvement, any psychological testing, you know, pointing towards any Munchausen by proxy disorder?
GRACE: Good question, Kelly. Let`s ask Jean Casarez. Jean, I don`t believe she`s ever been mentally evaluated, right?
CASAREZ: Not that we know of, no, not at all. But the children and family services in Florida did begin that investigation in 2011 because of
two complaints by her friends and neighbors. And that investigation was closed.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: The TV star from hit reality show Jersey Shore Mike Sorentino, aka The Situation, thrown behind bars.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike, what was the fight about?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m a customer (inaudible) and my (inaudible) owner is here. Him and his brother are in a fistfight.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mike Sorentino, as you might know from the Jersey Shore.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reports police go to the salon after allegedly fighting with his brother.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: So is there a jersey shore curse? They can`t help themselves? They have to get arrested?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jersey Shore stars have also run into police before. Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi was fined $500 by a judge for interfering
with the quiet enjoyment of the beach. That incident flew to the top of the headlines. Dina arrested for allegedly dancing in the road. She pled
guilty to a lesser offense of not using a sidewalk and paid a $106 fine. Ronny was arrested after allegedly assaulting a man at a bar, but
reportedly entered a pretrial intervention program and completed the program without conviction. John "The Unit" Manfree was charged for
allegedly trying to bring drugs into a shore house. He reportedly pled guilty to a disorderly person offense and paid a fine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Alan Duke, CNN digital reporter, what is it the curse of Jersey Shore? Practically everybody who has been on that reality show has
been arrested. What happened this time with The Situation? Didn`t he just get out of rehab and swear he was going to be on the straight and narrow?
ALAN DUKE, CNN DIGITAL REPORTER: Well, he swore he would be sober and focus on his family. For the last couple of years. In fact he was
focusing apparently allegedly his fists on his family. His brother, the co-owner at the Boca tanning salon in Middletown, New Jersey. It was a
family fight. But get this. It`s also part of a reality show, which debuts next month. They`ve been filming it at the tanning salon. I don`t
know if the cameras were rolling during the fistfight yesterday, but it certainly helps promote.
GRACE: Let me see Allan Duke, please. Alan Duke, CNN digital reporter, you`re saying there`s going to be what -- I couldn`t compute
because it`s not a legal thought. Are you telling me there`s a Jersey Shore spinoff? Is that what you said?
DUKE: Yes. It`s called "The Sorentinos" on the TV Guide network, I believe. Debuts July 15th. We got the plug in, and we`re talking about it
because of this fight.
GRACE: And suddenly he has a fistfight with his brother who would never rat him out. And it`s at their tanning -- is this Boca tanning
salon?
DUKE: Yes. They opened it in March. Three of the brothers owning it together as part of a franchise. Of course tanning very important to The
Situation`s image. And they`re doing a lot of the filming at this tanning salon in New Jersey. And it`s just coincidental or is it that this
fistfight breaks out just as they start the countdown to their reality show debut.
GRACE: Okay now, we don`t have evidence that this was a stunt. And if it was a stunt by The Situation, I guarantee you TV Guide Network had
nothing to do with it. Kim Serafin, senior editor, "In Touch Weekly," because if this is a stunt, this could end up in a police report for
falsifying a complaint. Kim?
SERAFIN: Yes. It`s interesting. Because as we remember if you watch Jersey Shore, there were lots of hot-headed fights, people flying off the
handle. There was that incident with Snooki where she was arrested for behavior, drunken behavior on the beach. As Alan just mentioned, they do
have this reality show. They`ve been filming it since April. It`s about the family opening this tanning salon. It does appear on TV on July 15th.
So this is very good timing if it was intentional in any way.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Rini Sandler and Peter Odom. Peter Odom, so this guy actually, if this is a stunt, there`s a 911 call. Police
come out. All hell has broken out in this tanning salon owned by The Situation of the Jersey Shore. He gets taken in. What did he make? Was
his bail, something really low?
GOLDBAND: Nancy, his bail was $500.
GRACE: Just $500.
GOLDBAND: $500 was the bail amount, Nancy. But it`s also important to point out while we`re talking about money, check this out. According to
reports, just a few days ago, employees apparently were complaining even to law enforcement that they were shortchanged because their checks were
bouncing. Now, according to reports, employees complained. It got sorted out, apparently was a payroll processing issue. But the amount that they
were not receiving, Nancy, between $100 and $200.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers, Rini Sandler and Peter Odom. We get a 911 call. Police come to the scene, they make an arrest. People are in
there screaming and carrying on. If this is a stunt, they need to be charged with falsifying a report. Those police are supposed to be
responding to rapes, dope dealings, child molestation, bank robberies, not The Situation getting a little too much what is it, GLT or GTL? What is
it, Clark?
GOLDBAND: GTL. Gym, tanning, laundry. That`s what you do, GTL.
GRACE: And he calls the police out? I`m all for them making a living however they want to. But when you drag the police into it away from the
street where they need to be, I`m not down with that.
ODOM: Well, the reality is, Nancy, first of all, his bail`s $500. As you and Clark point out, nobody really took this too seriously.
GRACE: Really? Because the police had to go out. What if they were needed somewhere else? What about that?
(CROSSTALK)
SANDLER: Nancy, look at his face. He got beaten up.
ODOM: Hello. $500 bail. Hello.
GRACE: I`m not talking about bail, Odom. I`m talking about the fact that somebody has to call 911, police had to leave other police business to
come deal with him to be what, part of his reality show? I don`t like it!
ODOM: Add to that, Nancy, the fact that he`s a celeb, he put this town on the map. No one is going to take it as seriously as you do, I
guarantee it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: And now we go live with a shocking claim. A teen high school girl, a softball star and honors student, is dead on a beach vacation after
drinking energy drinks all day instead of water. How can that be?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lana Hammond was on a beach vacation with her friend`s family and spent the day walking the shores while reportedly
consuming energy drinks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m never drinking another energy drink as long as I live.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shortly after, Lana had a heart attack which took her life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It scarred us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now her family is left to wonder how this all happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Greg Paul, news director at the Patriot. Greg, thank you for being with us. I don`t understand what happened. So
she was on a beach vacation, and reports are she drank energy drinks all day long. Then what, died of a heart attack? She`s just 16, right?
PAUL: That`s right, Nancy. It was a freak fatal heart attack. She was drinking these energy drinks on the beach. Her friend said she wasn`t
drinking water all day. On Saturday night she told her friend`s father she wasn`t feeling well and then had the heart attack. Looks pretty bad.
Doctors here in Phoenix are talking about energy drinks. And apparently each energy drink is equal to four cups of coffee. Some doctors say it`s a
massive dose.
GRACE: Okay, this is my only experience with an energy drink. Greg, don`t move. To Dr. Nina Radcliff, physician joining me. The one time I
had an energy drink, it was right before my first dance on "Dancing With the Stars." And I`m telling you, I got out on the dance floor. About a
third of the way through it, I completely just blanked. And I never do that, Dr. Radcliff. I never blank. It totally just boom, everything.
Well, I ended up in jeopardy. I was nearly thrown off the whole show. But long story short, Dr. Radcliff, why? What`s in energy drinks? And another
thing, they won`t tell me what energy drink it is. But what`s so bad about energy drinks, Dr. Radcliff?
RADCLIFF: Well, I want us to think of energy drinks as caffeine on steroids. The caffeine levels are just sky high. And let`s get an idea of
this. Regular soda contains approximately 15 milligrams of caffeine, whereas energy drinks can contain two to ten times as much. My heart is
racing just thinking about it. We know that caffeine makes us awake, makes us alert, but it also increases our blood pressure and our heart rate. In
this case this was dangerous levels and actually fatal levels.
GRACE: Joining me, Jean Casares. Jean now, we don`t know which energy drink Lana had when she died on her beach vacation, this chart we`ve
been showing is the breakdown of caffeine levels. What`s found in a lot of popular energy drinks that are on the market now. Jean, I know you`ve been
researching this since early this morning. What else do you know?
CASAREZ: There have been a lot of investigations. There have been alleged deaths because of energy drinks. Let`s bring it back to this case.
I don`t know if there has been a causation from an energy drink to her death. Her mother, who was in the United States while her daughter was
vacationing in Mexico with another family, said it probably caused her death. It probably caused her death? She was drinking them. That was
found in an autopsy report. But as far as causation, I think that`s an open-ended question.
GRACE: But the other thing about that, Jean Casares, she`s a star softball player.
CASAREZ: Yes.
GRACE: She`s in peak physical condition.
CASAREZ: That`s right. In Arizona.
GRACE: No heart history at all.
CASAREZ: In Arizona, Nancy, where it is so hot and so they know to drink. They know to drink water, that it`s important when you`re in hot
temperatures.
GRACE: Okay. Listen to this. With me right now is Marcy Short, a close family friend. She`s known Lana since Lana was a baby. Marcy, thank
you for being with us.
MARCY SHORT, FAMILY FRIEND: Thank you.
GRACE: I`m stunned. A lot of people might try to allege this girl used drugs and had a heart attack. That`s not true. Nothing could be
further from the truth about Lana. Lana was an athlete. She was a star softball player, great student. Never had any trouble at all. What are
you learning about the connection with energy drinks?
SHORT: That if anything, Nancy, can come good out of this, let the kids think about what they`re putting into their bodies. Parents, I mean,
I see parents all the time when it`s my own children at baseball games that my son plays hand them an energy drink. Because they have three games to
play today. And they need that hit.
GRACE: Let me ask you this, Marcy. Did Lanna have a history of drinking the energy drinks?
SHORT: She would have some, yes.
GRACE: What was she doing that day, the day that she died at the beach?
SHORT: You know what, Nancy, we don`t know. We weren`t with her. Only she knows that. We do know from what we`ve heard she was just
enjoying the sun and Rocky Point and the beach and volleyball and everything that they to do on the beach.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers, Rini Sandler and Peter Odom, also with us, Jean Casares. Rini Sandler, people are going to claim that this girl
used drugs. An autopsy was performed. No indication that she was using drugs at all. She was a health fanatic. She was an athlete. Except for
that day guzzling energy drinks, Rini. Why shouldn`t the company be sued?
SANDLER: The company will likely be sued. But what Jean said earlier, there has to be a nexus. There has to be causation. They had to
have a duty, they had to have breached that duty, there has to be a legal cause to her death with that energy drink.
GRACE: Well, just hold on right there. When you`re saying they had to owe her a duty. First of all, if you take a very close look at contract
law, there is what is called, Peter Odom, an implied duty of merchantability. An implied promise of merchantability when you sell
anything, much less a consumer product. And the level of scrutiny is heightened when you have a consumer product that is a consumable, an edible
or a drinkable. So when you put that on the market, you are implying that it is fit to be consumed.
ODOM: Nancy, correct.
GRACE: When you don`t put a warning on it, you`re in trouble. You`re in trouble, Peter.
SANDLER: There is a warning on it.
ODOM: First of all, there is a warning on all these things saying too much caffeine can hurt you. Second of all, these drinks do what they`re
supposed to do in millions and millions of cases every single day. They give you energy. They are not supposed to be used to hydrate.
GRACE: Jean Casares, is there a warning on energy drinks?
CASAREZ: Nancy, I`ve never touched one in my life because I`m concerned because of what I hear. But you know, Nancy, this is a minor.
She was in the hands of another family. And if she was on the beach drinking these drinks all day and no water, which is what the allegation
is, then what duty is there of the family that were her chaperones, really?
GRACE: Jean Casares, everyone, was contacted this morning around 5:00 a.m. by me. My father went into the hospital. Let`s show Jean, not me,
please. And I frantically begged her to -- she was up, by the way, working at that early morning hour to fill in tonight if I couldn`t make it back
from the hospital. And she put away her other work at CNN for the moment to come fill in tonight. And Jean, thank you.
CASAREZ: You`re welcome.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: And now live to the Tampa area, Valrico. At this hour, police believe a registered sex offender on the run with a missing Florida girl.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lyon`s family believes she may be with this guy, 41-year-old Stephen Myers, who is a registered sex offender.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Apparently left her bedroom between 2:30 and 4:30, in the afternoon. They found the screen outside, the window was open. She
was gone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Myers drives a 1989 Ford Ranger pickup with flames painted on the hood and the inside doors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Take a look at this man, registered sex offender Stephen Patrick Myers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It angers me that someone feels that they can take my daughter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Roger Schulman, Tampa reporter. Okay. Tell me what we know. I know this guy is a registered sex offender. I know he
has a conviction for child molestation. We`ve called and called and called the Forsythe County court reporter and clerk`s office. We don`t know the
details. They won`t tell us the details of his last child molestation conviction. I know that he had a probation violation, parole violation.
Look at this guy. Whoa. Are all of those book-in pictures? How many times has this guy been arrested and for what?
SCHULMAN: It looks like it`s a mystery as far as his last arrest. We know he was in prison for 14 years, from 1999 to about 2003. Then he was
in prison again during the late 2000s. And that`s where it kind of dries up. We`re having trouble with the court reporter too. We do know there
doesn`t seem to be a violent history for him that we can find out.
GRACE: Roger Schulman, Tampa reporter, you`re always right on your facts, but I got to disagree with you. If a guy does 14 years hard time on
child molestation, I can guarantee you, I don`t even have to look at the facts to tell you that was a serious child molestation. If he did 14
years, he was sentenced to 20 to life on the child molestation. He did 14 years hard time? Now, to me, that`s a violent crime, Roger Schulman, and
this little girl is with him, Roger.
SCHULMAN: This is definitely not a good situation. Nancy, I`ve got to agree with you. This is a very bad situation. But no murders, no
injuries to anyone that we know of.
GRACE: Okay. Wait. Wait. Roger, I`m not, I`m truly not picking on you. But for a child to be raped or sodomize, that`s an injury. That`s a
physical injury. It counts.
SCHULMAN: I`m going to have to stand corrected on that one. You`ve got me there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: At this hour, the search for a Florida girl has turned desperate. We believe she`s with this man. Her name, Ashley Lion, his
name Stephen Patrick Myers, a registered sex offender. Joining me right now, Ashley`s parents, Michelle and Roger Lyon. Thank you so much for
being with me. I know that you are sick. Could you just tell me what your night was last night worrying, thinking, up, trying to call police. What
did you live through last night with your daughter gone?
ROGER LYON, FATHER: Being with this guy, it just sickens me to my stomach. That is not what my daughter deserves.
GRACE: Everyone, with me, Michelle and Roger Lyon. Back to you, Roger Schulman, I`ve heard so much about the vehicle. It is apparently an
`89 purple Ford Ranger pickup truck, or black. The family is telling me black. What do we know?
SCHULMAN: The sheriff`s office told me, I talked to the public information people, they are very concerned and disturbed that it hasn`t
been found now, such a distinctive vehicle. We don`t know if he changed the color or painted over the flames or switched the vehicle.
GRACE: Or switched the tag. Right now we believe it`s a Florida tag, CSJM45. Also, Roger Schulman, Tampa reporter, where do police think he`s
headed? Where is he headed with the Florida girl?
SCHULMAN: The sheriff`s office initially thought maybe some campgrounds. There`s plenty of those in Central Florida where somebody can
pull in and kind of get lost. But then there`s the possibility he went to his mother`s in Georgia or somewhere in Georgia or a relative in Texas.
There`s three possibilities.
GRACE: With me, Michelle and Roger Lyon, Ashley`s parents, and Roger Schulman. Tip line. 1800-873-8477. There is a reward to bring Ashley
home.
Let`s stop and remember American hero, Army Staff Sergeant William Hasenfelt. 38, Bradenton, Florida. Army Commendation Medal, National
Defense Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, also served the Navy. Loved family vacations and singing Christmas carols. Parents Jane and Earl.
Widow Judith. Three daughters. William Hasenfelt, American hero.
Everyone, again, thank you very being with us. Drew up next. I`ll see you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, friend.
END
