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Nancy Grace
Missing Detroit Boy Found in Dad`s Basement; Dad Finds Out Missing Son Alive on Live TV
Aired June 26, 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. To Michigan. After we report the case of a desperate father literally running door to door, begging for
help to find his little boy after seemingly nobody will help the dad, the case takes a stunning turn. Daddy`s polygraph inconclusive. Mommy refuses
a local police polygraph.
Bombshell tonight. Last night, we break the news to the dad right here on our show his boy found alive in Daddy`s basement. That little boy,
Charlie, missing nearly two weeks, alive, well, hungry, barricaded in the basement behind boxes, furniture, very heavy furniture, and a 55-gallon
drum. At this hour, police say they are not ruling out child abuse charges.
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. To Michigan. After we report the case of a desperate father literally running door to door, begging for help to find his boy
after seemingly nobody will help the father, the case takes a stunning turn. Daddy`s polygraph inconclusive. The stepmother refuses a local
police polygraph.
Last night, we break the news to the dad right here his boy, his child, alive, found in Daddy`s basement, the little boy, Charlie, missing 11 days,
found alive, hungry, but barricaded in the basement behind boxes, furniture, a 55-gallon drum. At this hour, police say they are not ruling
out child abuse charges.
With me right now, a special guest. Charlie`s father is with us, Charlie Bothuell. Charlie, thank you so much for being with us. Also with us,
joining me is Kimberly Craig (ph), local affiliate reporter. Charlie Langton with us, also joining us, with WWJ News.
To Charles Bothuell. Charles, stunning, stunning -- your child alive. What have you learned? How did he get in and out of that basement?
CHARLES BOTHUELL IV, FATHER OF MISSING BOY (via telephone): Nancy, I just want to thank you for bringing the attention to the search for my son. It
really made a difference. I have no idea how that happened. And you know, on the advice of counsel, the lawyers have told me to, you know, basically
be quiet at this point. And I`m going to, you know, follow my lawyer`s, following my attorney`s advice.
But in as much as you cared when you didn`t have to and took the time out to bring attention to my son`s plight, I just -- you know, couldn`t just
not say thank you and address that...
GRACE: You know what, Charlie?
BOTHUELL: ... and I promise you, as soon as the attorneys say that I can talk, you`ll be the first one I talk to.
GRACE: Charlie, thank you so much. Don`t move a hair, Charlie.
Joining me right now, Kimberly Craig, reporter with WXYZ. Kimberly, thank you for being with us. What have you learned?
KIMBERLY CRAIG, WXYZ: Well, this is what`s crazy. Today, we have learned that the uncle of Mr. Bothuell`s wife, Charlie`s stepmother, actually lives
three doors away from them, in the same building here, the same building that the basements are connected by this hallway underground. And there`s
access to each unit in and out of that hallway right down there.
I asked Mr. Bothuell -- and you can ask him again -- if anybody -- if he has any knowledge of anybody shuffling Charlie back from his condo to his
wife`s uncle`s condo three doors away. He said, That`s absurd. We had no information. I asked Mr. Bothuell, Mr. Bothuell, have you told police --
did you tell police that there is a relative who lives in this same building? He would not comment.
GRACE: But you know -- with me is Charlie Bothuell, the father of the missing 12-year-old. It doesn`t make sense to me that they would be
shuttling the child back and forth, and the father go to the FBI and the police looking for the child, and come on our show, where he could fully
expect to be grilled like a barbecue if he were intentionally hiding the child.
But I will ask him. Mr. Bothuell, do you have the relative living there in the same row of the townhouses?
BOTHUELL: Nancy, I`m going to, like I said, respect what the attorneys said and just say that I have no comment. You know, my call today was to,
you know...
GRACE: OK.
BOTHUELL: ... literally thank you for taking the time to care about my son because your care and attention did make a huge difference. And I promise
you, as soon as the attorneys say it`s OK to talk, that you will be the one that I talk to because you took time to help find my son.
GRACE: Can you just tell me whether you have seen little Charlie yet?
BOTHUELL: I have -- I have not.
GRACE: I know that`s got to be breaking your heart. Why won`t police let you see the boy? Where is he?
BOTHUELL: You know, I`m breaking a no comment rule. But I was briefly on the phone with him when he called my mother. And I -- I need to go now
because I`m not listening to the attorneys...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Charlie...
BOTHUELL: ... emotional...
GRACE: ... I understand. I understand what you`re saying. And I wish your son and all of you the very best in this matter that is still
perplexing so many people. With us just then Charlie`s father, Charles Bothuell IV.
OK, Kimberly Craig with us, WXYZ. Kimberly, it`s not fitting together for me. Now, I understand that hallway connects and that he could have gone in
and out to various condos. There`s a great shot of it. But Kimberly, also, we`re learning that there were bloody clothes in the hall, PVC pipe
that was allegedly found in the boy`s room.
If the boy left on his own, what caused it? What was the tipping point? What was the precipice that made the boy run away? Why?
CRAIG: Well, we understand that police did find blood in that house. Now, we don`t know whose blood that is. That is still being tested right now.
Police and a lot of people are working on the assumption that it may have been Charlie`s blood. We don`t know.
But remember, a volunteer cadaver dog -- not the Michigan State Police cadaver dog, but a volunteer cadaver dog actually detected that blood, and
that is what police are working on right now.
That is why yesterday, just hours before Mr. Bothuell appeared on your show -- that`s why police were saying -- one of the reasons why they were saying
that they are not ruling out that he could be the victim of a homicide. And as you know, we later found out just a few hours later that Charlie
Bothuell was hiding in the basement.
Now, one thing police are telling me also today, they are saying that sources say that they believe the stepmother, little Charlie`s stepmother,
had knowledge that he was in that basement, that he was being held prisoner and that he was being held captive and that he could not leave on his own.
They said this almost like a containment area that he was in, is nothing -- our sources are telling us, nothing that child could have constructed by
himself.
GRACE: Well, I believe you completely, Kimberly Craig, I mean, because it`s apparent -- oh, darn, we`ve lost our satellite. Let me know when I
get her back.
Charlie Langton also joining us, WWJ news. Charlie, I understand that the barricade involved a dresser, that it involved a lot of boxes, that it
involved a 55-gallon drum. We first learned that he had cereal and soda. Now we learn that they found fresh chicken and Gatorade?
I mean, do you believe there`s a chance the father kept the boy there on purpose, was punishing him in some way and keeping him in the basement?
CHARLIE LANGTON, WWJ NEWS (via telephone): Well, Nancy, sources are telling us that the father, as well as the stepmother, are at least being
investigated for child abuse for a couple of reasons. The focus really, though, is on the blood, the blood found both in the boy`s room and on the
kids`s clothes that were inside the townhouse. That`s different than where the boy was found in the basement.
But also, the police found a PVC pipe that the police may believe was used as a weapon of some kind. We`re getting reports that the father was very
regimented with his son, that he made his son work out and do chores, and if the son didn`t follow the father`s directions, that the son would be
beaten by this pipe. Now, the police have taken this PVC pipe as evidence and they are analyzing as right now.
But you`re right, in the basement, there was, like, an underground tunnel, a makeshift bed was there, partially eaten food. All of these point to the
fact that the kid may have been hiding and there may have been cooperation. That`s what the police are telling us tonight.
GRACE: OK, it`s all so confusing. Charlie Langton, WWJ, joining us. Why would the father then dare to come on this show and subject himself to a
grilling? And why would he go to FBI and police and search for his son if he was the one holding the boy captive in the basement?
LANGTON: Well, there may be a coverup here. He may be trying so (INAUDIBLE) innocent on the surface, but maybe there`s some deep-seated
trying (INAUDIBLE) he`s trying to protect himself by being so open and honest.
And remember, there was a polygraph taken. It was inconclusive. It did not rule him out as a person of interest in this case.
Who knows what`s the motivation. Maybe he had second thoughts. Maybe he - - he -- we don`t know at this point. The police don`t know at this point in time. That`s why there`s an ongoing investigation with this.
But it certainly -- it is shaky. It didn`t add up. And now he`s got a lawyer and now he has lawyered up, so to speak, so now he is not answering
the questions that we want to know about. And it would seem strange to me that he would let himself -- the son go for 11 days. And when he found out
even on your show yesterday, he didn`t ask right away, How`s my son?
And the minute that he got out -- went from your show back to his home, he didn`t ask originally, Where`s my son? Where can I see him? How is he?
He was talking to the media. It does seem a little strange around here in Detroit right now as to this father`s involvement. No question about that.
GRACE: Susan Candiotti joining me now, in addition to Charlie Langton. Susan, what appeared to be genuine happiness when he gets home, now all
these questions are being fired at the father. It begs for it (ph), Susan Candiotti. I mean, how can your child -- I mean, you saw the way I was
talking to him last night. How can your child be missing in your basement?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it`s all so confusing, isn`t it, Nancy? I`m listening to the conversation before you came to me, as
well, and one person is saying that the boy was hiding, and another person is saying that he was being held captive. I suppose that could be a
combination of two, but you see we`ve got a lot of different things going on here.
We do know this, that when they went to search that place again yesterday afternoon with a search warrant -- we don`t know exactly what prompted it.
But what I do know, according to police, is that in the middle of that search, something -- and they won`t say exactly what it was -- directed
them in the middle of that search to go back to the basement, where they had been before.
Now, was it something new, or was it that piece of PVC piping, or was it, in fact, the bloody clothes? We don`t know. And why did he have the
snacks with him behind that barrier, some soda and some cereal with him behind that barrier? It`s confusing, to say the least.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Welcome back, everyone. Stunning developments. After this man tells us his child is missing on air last night, we learn while I`m
interviewing him his child is found alive in his basement? Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Out to the father of the missing 12-year-old boy, Charlie. With me is his father, Charlie Bothuell. Charlie, we are getting reports that your
son has been found in your basement. Sir? Mr. Bothuell, are you...
BOTHUELL: What?
GRACE: Yes. We are getting reports that your son has been found alive in your basement.
BOTHUELL: What?
GRACE: Yes. If you can hand me that wire very quickly? Yes, we`re getting that right now from -- from -- yes. How could your son be alive in
your basement?
BOTHUELL: Oh, (INAUDIBLE) I have -- I have no idea! I...
GRACE: Now, this is just a report that we are hearing out of Detroit that we`re trying to confirm.
BOTHUELL: Yes, please...
GRACE: Everybody in New York please get on it? Let me know when we get Charlie Langton from WWJ.
Sir, did you check your basement?
BOTHUELL: I checked my basement, the FBI checked my basement, the Detroit police checked my basement, my wife checked my basement. I`ve been down
there several times. We`ve all been checking. How...
GRACE: OK, this is what we are hearing, that the missing 12-year-old boy has been found alive and well in his father`s basement. Now, this is what
-- I don`t understand why you guys would have reported he`s missing and all our viewers have been on the lookout for him?
BOTHUELL: We`ve been -- we`ve been on the lookout for him. We searched that entire house repeatedly. The FBI searched. The Detroit police
searched. We`ve all searched. Oh! Oh! God, they brought dogs, everything. Everybody has searched. What -- oh, God, my son!
GRACE: Have you checked your cell phone?
BOTHUELL: My cell phone is dead. And I actually -- getting down here, I left it in the car charging because it had -- it had -- it had died on me.
Oh, God!
GRACE: And you`re telling us that you searched your basement and your wife searched your basement.
BOTHUELL: I searched my basement, my wife searched my basement, the FBI searched my basement, the Detroit police searched my basement. We`ve all
searched my basement multiple times. I mean, we -- yes. They had the dogs search. We`ve all searched the basement. The dogs searched my basement.
Oh, God!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Welcome back, everyone. We are speaking with little Charlie`s father, who has just told us -- very interesting, Susan Candiotti -- that
when the child. who was with his mother, his biological mother right now -- that he called his grandmother. He called his grandmother, not the father.
We`re just all talking about that here on the set.
What do you make of it? He`s found, and he`s been with police overnight. They`ve been examining him at a hospital. He -- first thing, the first
person he sees, naturally, is his mother. And then the second person he talks to is his father. Did you hear the father just say he talked to the
boy, who called his grandmother?
CANDIOTTI: You know, it`s not what you might expect, to say the least here. On the other hand, the last time that we spoke with the lawyer
representing the father, he said that he himself -- this is as of most recently -- that he had not yet spoken to the father again and was still
waiting to talk to him.
So if the -- who is the boy calling? Is he calling the grandmother? Is he calling the father? Is he calling the stepmother, the biological...
GRACE: He`s calling the grandmother.
CANDIOTTI: Right.
GRACE: He said he called the grandmother. The father just told me.
CANDIOTTI: Right.
GRACE: In addition to Charlie Langton and Susan Candiotti on the story, unleash the lawyers. Joining me, Jeff Gold, defense attorney, and Seema
Iyer (ph), defense attorney out of New York.
First to you, Jeff. You immediately flagged it when you said the boy called his grandmother. Now, listen, when I saw the father laughing and
crying at the same time, that he had been going door to door looking for the boy, that spoke to me that he legitimately is looking for the child.
But I mean, reality check! How can the child be missing in the basement of your house? Where`s he getting the food? Did they have the boy barricaded
as some kind of punishment in the basement?
JEFF GOLD, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You know, there`s really no evidence of that. I thought he was very believable that he was shocked by what you said last
night. I think there`s no evidence that`s come out that`s clear that he`s done anything at all. An inconclusive polygraph...
(CROSSTALK)
GOLD: But I did notice that when he spoke to you just now, after he said his lawyers didn`t want him to talk to you, you got out of him a very
interesting thing, which was the boy called the grandmother, not him. So that does give you some pause, although there`s really no evidence that
he`s done anything.
GRACE: You did. You flagged it immediately. But Seema Iyer, the thing is this. I thought when I first asked him the question last night, that I
said, Your boy`s been found alive in the basement -- no! I`ve watched the replay. I said, because I was learning it at that moment...
SEEMA IYER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Right.
GRACE: ... I said, Your son has been found in your basement. But he didn`t say, Is he alive?
IYER: You know, Nancy, from being a former prosecutor, that people react differently. You have a rape victim on the stand. One will cry, one
won`t.
And I`m telling you, that boy did not call the father, he called the grandmother because he was probably scared of getting in trouble. He had
built this fort. He was hiding out for 11 days, going through the tunnel back and forth to the relative`s apartment, maybe getting food, maybe using
their bathroom. He came back completely fine. That`s your answer, Nancy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Welcome back, everyone. For those of you just joining us, this father, Charlie Bothuell IV, with us last night, had reportedly been going
door to door, banging on doors, trying to find his 12-year-old little boy, Charlie. Well, that spoke to me. I wanted to put it on the air for you to
see Charlie, to help us find Charlie, to bring him home.
Last night, the craziest thing goes down in the middle of the show. We learn the child has been found in his basement! Now more questions than
answers. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Out to the father of the missing 12-year-old boy, Charlie, with me is his father, Charlie Botheull.
Charlie, we are getting reports that your son has been found in your basement. Sir? Mr. Botheull, are you --
CHARLIE BOTHEULL, FATHER OF MISSING 12-YEAR-OLD BOY: What?
GRACE: Yes. We are getting reports that your son has been found alive in your basement.
BOTHEULL: What?
GRACE: Yes. That`s -- if you can hand me that wire very quickly. Yes, we`re getting that right now from -- yes. How could your son be alive in
your basement?
BOTHEULL: I -- I have -- I have no idea.
GRACE: Now this is just a report that we are hearing out of Detroit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: OK. To Cheryl Hunter, trauma recovery expert, author of "Lucid."
Very quickly, Cheryl, you`re a crime victim. I mean if -- I think if it had been my child I would have said, is he alive? Where is he? Where is
she? What happened? Is she OK? Is he OK? What do you think?
CHERYL HUNTER, TRAUMA RECOVERY EXPERT: Try to get the facts. I didn`t see any of that happening. And some of the things that worry me, Nancy, is
that he`s run away before.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Who has run away before?
HUNTER: I`ve read that little Charlie has run away before. This is not the first time.
GRACE: OK. That is not entirely true. I read the same thing. But let me tell you what that`s all about, Cheryl. This may change your mind. His
mother, his biological mother, lives within two miles away. Take a look at this if you can see it on your monitor. And Charlie has been missing one
time before. I was told between hours and a day. Now I`ve investigated and found out it was for a couple of hours, and he was found right beside
his mom`s home.
He was going to see his mommy. This child is not unruly, is not a behavior problem, and is not a runaway. That changes a lot to me. This child is
not a runaway.
Hold on, Cheryl Hunter.
Out to the lines, Debbie in Kentucky. Hi, Debbie, what`s your question?
DEBBIE, CALLER FROM KENTUCKY: Hi, Nancy, first I want to say that your quest to be the truth is to be commended. I love your show.
GRACE: Thank you.
DEBBIE: First of all, I watched your show last night. And I kind of have some mixed feelings on dad`s reaction. But I do not think if the dog
searched and they did not find him, I did not think he was there then. But my concern is, the stepmother would not take a polygraph test. Would that
not be the first thing you would do so they could move on and look for other people that may be involved?
And second of all, my theory may be that that child had this area fixed in the basement so when there`s things going on in that home he had a place to
hide to be aware from that. And maybe there`s something there that dad`s not even aware of.
GRACE: You know, Debbie in Kentucky, hold on. First of all let me address, you said a cadaver dog came and did not find the boy. It was a
cadaver dog that looks for dead bodies or human tissue. It did hit interestingly, Debbie, on the bloody clothes, and I think the PVC pipe.
But I know the bloody clothes. That`s why the police first thought this is going to be a homicide case. Because they find bloody clothes and the dog
hits on it, the cadaver dog.
Now, even if the dog had hit in the basement that Charlie had been there, that would have been normal because the child lives there. But I`m
wondering, was this some kind of bizarre and awful punishment to keep the child barricaded down in the basement? But then why go through all the
machinations of reporting it to the FBI and the police and knocking door- to-door. That`s what doesn`t make sense to me.
Joining me right now Mark Smith, former detective, polygraph expert, joining me out of Compton Plains.
Mark, thanks for being with us. Let`s address Debbie in Kentucky`s issue on the polygraph. The father said that he wouldn`t take a local polygraph
because he didn`t trust the police, and that lawyers told the stepmother not to take a polygraph.
You know what, if my child was missing, I -- you`d have to chain me up to keep me from taking a polygraph so the investigation could move on. Why
would you get an inconclusive, Mark Smith? Could he have lied about something tangential that is not bearing on this. Like a lot of people
because maybe they smoked pot in the past or maybe thye did something in the past that they`re covering up that is not relevant to this case?
MARK SMITH, FORMER DETECTIVE, POLYGRAPH EXPERT: Yes. Inconclusive results are actually fairly rare. We only expect to see that about 10 percent of
the time. And when that happens there`s usually a couple of reasons. One, could be a serious medical condition. Could be that the wrong questions
were asked. I don`t know what questions they asked but they may have asked, did you do anything to harm your child?
And maybe he didn`t but he had put him in the basement. I don`t know that. But it also could be an inconclusive result because he`s not cooperating
with the test.
GRACE: Very well put, Mark Smith. And I`m very disturbed by the stepmother refusing to take a local poly. Now they`ve said she never
refuse an FBI poly. I don`t know the truth of that.
But Charlie Langton, WWJ, I mean, it really also depends on the questions asked. If he failed on a tangential or collateral issue, we don`t care
about that. We care about, did he lie about this child living or being forced to be in the basement? Or did he have anything to do with it?
What do we know about the pollys, Charlie, and where is the boy tonight?
CHARLIE LANGTON, REPORTER, WWJ: The boy tonight is at the biological mother`s home. He was kept overnight at the local hospital, he was checked
out, but he was determined that he was in good mental health, good physical condition, and they released him but not to the father, not to the
stepmother but to the mother.
Now we don`t know a whole lot about the mother right now. And -- but the police are telling us, though, that everyone is still of interest here.
Now also we`re getting a word there`s at least -- there were at least five different search warrants we believe and the police and the FBI have been
to that home at least five times. So it appears that the child was not in the basement at least all the time.
And maybe hidden somewhere else. So obviously if you go 11 days without food or minimal food, it`s going to come up in one night in the hospital.
GRACE: Well, I can tell you this, Charlie Langton. He was not using the bathroom in that basement area. He was not. He would had fresh chicken
and Gatorade when police found him.
And very quickly, Mark Smith, I do know the dad, Charlie Botheull IV, has a defib, defibrillator. Would that in any way affect the poly? I`ve never
heard of it affecting a polygraph.
SMITH: It shouldn`t -- it shouldn`t affect the test. But if he wasn`t cooperating by following the directions sitting still or answering yes or
no then that certainly would affect the test.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Welcome back, everyone. For those of you just joining us, the morning after more questions than answers. This father with us right here
last night when we break the news to him his son is alive and in the father`s basement.
Now this is what we know now. The child has not been given back to his father. The child was taken by police to the hospital where he was
medically evaluated overnight. He was then given to his biological mother. We know from the father himself he has spoken to the child one time when
the child called his grandmother, not him.
We also know this. A barricaded area was found in the basement. In that - - in that barricade which was created by furniture which was difficult to move, boxes and a 55-gallon drum, was a pallet of sorts for the boy to
sleep on. We also find out he had cereal, soda, Gatorade, and now as of a few hours ago, fresh chicken. Where did he get it?
We also learned that this is a series of townhouses that are co-joined by a hallway, by this storage area. Let`s see that, that storage hallway. Now
could the boy have gone from the basement into this hallway and somehow entered into other homes? Did he sneak upstairs and get food and drink
while his parents were gone? We know he did not use the bathroom, urinate or defecate in the basement. We also learned bloody clothes have been
found in the home and PVC pipe.
Charlie Langton, WWJ, the police insist they are not ruling out child abuse charges. What does that mean?
LANGTON: It means that the police are obviously looking at the father, the stepmother and perhaps the mother. You just don`t find blood in a room.
You don`t find blood on kids` clothes. You don`t find a barricade in a basement. You don`t find makeshift food, and certainly you don`t find your
kid missing for 11 days, the father going on all kinds of television shows and he doesn`t know anything and the kid is found in a basement?
There are way more questions than answers and the police originally thought this was a homicide case. Now they`re looking at child abuse. Believe me,
this is not over yet.
GRACE: No, this ain`t over yet.
Everyone, we`ll be right back with the latest on that breaking story. But right now, "CNN HEROES."
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Welcome back. For those of you just joining us. Tonight drama is playing out based off answers and discoveries from last night`s show.
This man, the father of Charlie V, Charlie Bothuell V, now says he`s stunned his little boy was found barricaded in the basement.
Back to Susan Candiotti.
I mean, Susan, obviously, it escapes us all how a child can be hiding in the basement all this time. But what I want to know is about the bloody
clothes. I want to know who was giving the child food. And is it possible they shuttled the boy in and out when police were brought to the scene?
But, Susan, why would they bother?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
GRACE: Why would they go through all this? If they were keeping the boy hostage in the basement as some kind of a bizarre punishment, why call
police?
CANDIOTTI: Well, you know, you`re asking all the questions, I have the same questions that you do, none of it seems to make sense. But I tried to
get some answers a short time ago from police. Just spoke with them. And they`re telling me that, in fact, the -- the psychologist did talk with the
child, that he -- they did, therefore, after that, take a statement from him. And I tried to find out what the statement was.
They`re not giving up anything, other than to say that they`re not ruling anything out. That, certainly, they are -- that includes the possibility
of child abuse. They are not -- I got no comment, however, on my questions about whether they have any evidence or signs of child abuse.
However, I`m not being steered away from local television reports there, that they`re looking at the possibility that the boy may have been
disciplined, may have been beaten, at home. And they`re taking a look at that right now.
The youngster right now has -- as of now, has not spoken with his father. Police say that is protocol, standard protocol in investigations like this,
of course.
GRACE: Right.
CANDIOTTI: They`re keeping them apart from each other. He is with his biological mother right now.
GRACE: Charlie Langton joining us, WWJ. Hold on, Charlie, out to the lines. Angela, North Carolina.
Hi, Angela. What`s your question?
ANGELA, CALLER FROM NORTH CAROLINA: Hi, Nancy, I`m a little bit nervous, so bear with me. When I heard you say that it was baffling about, you
know, why the boy was missing like that, I recalled a case down in Mississippi about 12 years ago and it was very similar circumstances. It
was a 10-year-old little girl with a stepfather and a mother in the home. And I heard the father say that the stepmother`s no longer in the home.
What they found out in this case was that the child had been beaten and it takes about 10 days for bruises to lighten up and for the little girl to be
presentable. The stepfather had been beating the child and I get the feeling like you did that the father`s hiding something. But in this other
case, the mother, you know, was not -- did not know where the child was. The child was staying in a friend of the father`s shed, in his backyard.
I don`t know if this is, you know, similar or not, but it sounds like possibly the child may have been in a condition and didn`t want the father
or anybody else to see him, and so she decided to hide him.
GRACE: To Dr. Bill Manion, let`s follow up on Angela`s question. Manion, medical examiner, joining me tonight out of Philly. What about that
regarding bruises? Is it possible the child had been beaten and that would be explain the bloody clothes and now they don`t see the bruises 10 days
later, 11 days?
DR. BILL MANION, M.D., MEDICAL EXAMINER, BURLINGTON COUNTY, NJ: Oh, yes, it`s very easy to have the bruises and even like a laceration, small, thin
cuts, especially from a belt or a paddle or something. And so over days, the bruises evolve. First, they`re reddish, then they become yellowish,
greenish. They evolve over several days and the lacerations would take a week or so to heal, before he`d be completely healed. So that is a viable
theory, that there may be injuries that they wanted to hide. Hopefully the psychologist will elicit that information from the boy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: You know, I have been carefully studying Mr. Bothuell`s reaction when he got off our show last night and got home, laughing, crying, hugging
reporters at the same time. But my question is this, Charlie Langton, why didn`t he run in the home? Why didn`t he ask, where`s my son? Where is
he?
I -- I`m having a problem interpreting the way he acted. At first, I thought it seemed as if he was genuinely overjoyed, but now I`m wondering,
why didn`t he ask those important questions?
LANGTON: Go back to your interview yesterday. When you told him on your show that the boy was found, you didn`t say that the boy was alive. You
said the boy was found, your son was found. Dead silence. I`m -- what`s he thinking? The first question I would have is, is he alive? Is he OK?
Where is he? Can I see him? None of that. And even when you said, he`s alive, he didn`t really give any kind of reaction of any emotion. It`s
like, oh, my god, someone foiled my plan, that`s at least what could be taken from that interview yesterday.
GRACE: Well, I`ll tell you what`s disturbing me, is those bloody clothes and the father`s reaction to me on the air. And it seems to me today there
are more questions than answers, and it shouldn`t be that way. It shouldn`t be that way.
Everyone, we`re on the story and we want the truth.
Let`s stop and remember, American hero, Navy Hospital Corpsman, 3rd Class Eichmann Strickland, 23, Arlington. National Defense Service medal, Global
War on Terrorism Service medal. Dreamed of being a physician`s assistant. A medical mission to Africa. Winning the lottery. Parents Yali and Ken.
Eichmann Strickland, American hero.
Everyone, thank you for being with us tonight, as justice unfolds in our American system. Drew up next. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp
Eastern, and until then, good night, friend.
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