Return to Transcripts main page
Nancy Grace
Nancy Grace Mysteries: Hot Car Deaths, BTK Killer, the Menendez Brothers
Aired July 18, 2014 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry Mommy took so long, sweetie. Did you have a good time listening to your tape? Here you go, baby. Mommy got you a
treat. What`s the matter? Sweetie, look at Mommy. Look at Mommy, sweetie! Sweetie, what`s the matter? Somebody help me! Baby, talk to
Mommy! Somebody please help me!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It smelled like there was a foul odor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would it have been a painful death?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Upset, erratic, yelling and screaming, no tears.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looked like he was trying to hyperventilate himself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every time I turn to my right, there`s the carseat. When I look into my rearview mirror, there`s the carseat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you be surprised to know that Ross is completely deaf in his right ear?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did not know that.
NANCY GRACE HOST: He may be deaf in one ear, but what about the other ear?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: It was a hot Wednesday afternoon around 4:00 o`clock, a little after, that the world first realized that 22-month-old toddler boy Cooper
was dead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No parent wants to believe this could happen to them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A crucial warning, with the hottest days of the year still to come.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff`s deputies discover her 18-month-old son was left in the family car for four hours, a body temperature of 103
degrees. Michelle King`s (ph) being charged with child neglect.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police discovered Morgan`s 6 and 9-year-old children in the car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was in excess of 100 degrees inside the car.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Morgan faces other risk of injury to a minor charges for allegedly driving drunk with his same two children in the car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The tragic death of a 15-month-old boy. The infant was left unattended in a parked vehicle for an extended period of
time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say the parents left their 5-year-old daughter in a sweltering truck for about an hour in a Home Depot parking
lot. It was 90 degrees.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Shelton (ph) mother, police say, went shopping, as well, leaving her 3-year-old in a car.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The doors were looked, so I kind of got one of the windows down and I just took her. I was burning up. Like -- and the
car is in the sun. I saw what he did, and I wouldn`t want my baby to die in a car. I wouldn`t want anybody else`s either, so...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The children`s mom apparently said she had left him there only temporarily so that she could get a haircut. Now, no one
here called the police. In fact, we are told the mom came outside and pleaded with everyone and said that she had just made a terrible mistake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The father, Ross Harris, pulls into parking, parks, and leaves. According to the father, he works from about 9:00-ish that morning
until a little before 4:00 o`clock. He is supposed to go to a movie, an early movie with his friends from work.
And it is en route to that movie, about seven red lights away from work, that he suddenly realizes that baby Cooper has been in the car all
day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The child, when he was removed from the car and placed down on the ground -- the child was in rigor mortis, according to
the medics on scene. The head was kind of up, the feet were kind of cocked back. You could see lividity starting. The child`s eyes were half closed,
the lips were discolored, and it appeared as if his tongue was protruding from his mouth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Cooper Harris`s father, Justin Ross Harris, had taken Cooper that morning to Chick-fil-A. He took the child into Chick-fil-A. It was
very close to work. They noted in Chick-fil-A that he took the child out and put Cooper in a rear-facing carseat in his Hyundai Tucson and headed
out to work.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was there anything of note that he noticed an hour and 20 minutes after, with the door open?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, there was a foul odor or a stench coming from the vehicle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you executed that search warrant and you went inside that vehicle hours later, did you notice anything?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it smelled like there was a foul odor. It smelled like decomposition, or death.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We have learned that the positioning of Cooper`s carseat places Cooper in a rear-facing carseat basically at his father`s elbow.
Every time his father would look to his right, there`s Cooper`s head right there beside him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every time I turn to my right, there`s the carseat, there`s the head. Now, if I would look out my back window, once
again, there`s the head, there`s the carseat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did the defendant appear, and how did he act when he pulled over and got over the car?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The witnesses there (INAUDIBLE) described that he pulled into it at a high rate of speed, and they heard squealing tires when
the vehicle came to a stop. And Justin immediately exited the vehicle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But when I got closer, I thought it was a doll. And about three or four feet away, I noticed that it was the body of a
toddler.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is shocking, but much more common than you might think, children left in cars when temperatures are soaring.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This happens to the most loving and caring parents. Literally, we have had a veterinarian, a doctor, a dentist, a
professor, a school principal, and even a rocket scientist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right then, my heart dropped because I saw this -- this precious boy laying there lifeless.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His behavior was considered erratic by many of the witnesses. He would be yelling and screaming, Oh, my God, what have I
done? My child is dead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Daniel Gray (ph) was just sentenced to four years in prison, pleading guilty to manslaughter after leaving his infant
in a car for three hours during a hot Arizona summer. And Shanissa Taylor (ph) of Scottsdale left her child in the car in March, with the windows
cracked open, while she went on a job interview. She is being charged with felony child abuse. She has pleaded not guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are an average 38 per year children who die in a hot car. It`s 38 children too many. It`s too much of a tragedy
for these families.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: According to San Francisco State University study, since 1998, there have been 619 heat stroke deaths of children left
in cars. More than half were forgotten by their caregiver, while 18 percent were left on purpose. Another 29 percent were playing in an
unattended car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His cries and his desperation for his son to be revived...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of the messages we try to get across to parents is that no one is immune to this. It really, truly could happen to
anyone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How quickly does the temperature rise inside of a car, even if it`s not that hot outside? "The Journal of the American
Academy of Pediatrics" conducted a study, and the results are stunning. Even on a cool 73-degree day, the temperature goes up an average of more
than 3 degrees every five minutes, faster in the first 30 minutes as it quickly shoots above 100 degrees.
Even in relatively cool vehicles, temperatures reached upward of 117 degrees. And this might surprise you. Even cracking the window didn`t
help much. The temperature continued to rise.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then he would stop and he would just have a blank look on his face and just stand there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, he was saying, Oh, my God, oh, my God, my son is dead. Oh, my God, my son is dead. He was yelling, he was
hollering, he was screaming.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When they put the child on the pavement, he said it looked like Justin was messing around. He didn`t know what Justin was
doing. And he`s, like -- he goes, We need to do CPR. We need to do something for the child. Justin kind of looked at him and then he just
stopped.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trapped in his safety seat for close to seven hours in 90-plus-degree heat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Several marks on the child`s face.
GRACE: Hoping the child would have been given Benadryl, anything to lessen the torture he went through!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The child appeared wide awake and happy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What he was doing during that day while his child was out in the car?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was having up to six different conversations with different women.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sexting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No tears, no, you know, real emotion (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Photos being sent back and forth between these women and the defendant during this day while the child`s out in the car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, there were photos of his exposed penis, erect penis being sent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, the 16-year-old girl, OK, did she send him a picture that day?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She did.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She sent a picture of her exposed breasts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And did he send any pictures to her?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did. He sent a picture of his exposed penis, erect penis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He also did a search, How to survive prison.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) sub-Reddit. It was called child-free, and child-free is a -- people who advocate living child-free. He wanted to
live a child-free life, or there`s evidence to suggest that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Many people noticed that Justin Ross Harris showed no emotion whatsoever during the bind-over hearing until it was brought out that he
was sexting six different women and sending photos of his naked penis from work while Cooper died. That`s when he first sat up in alarm. A few times
after that, his nose got red, typically when they were talking about him.
And his eyes did tear up later on. That was well into the hearing, and that was the first display of emotion that he had, when the sexting
came up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are believed to be the words of Justin Ross Harris written one year ago on line are now taking on new relevance as
Harris is charged with killing his son. "Killing a person in the sense of abortion is selfish and malicious, with the intent of only satisfying your
own personal agenda." They`re on the social media site Reddit, where Cobb County detectives say Harris read suspicious topic pages also known as sub-
Reddits.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He visited several sites and these sub-Reddits. It was people who die. He went to a sub-Reddit. It was called child-free.
He did -- also did a search, How to survive prison.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hundreds of comments spanning three years under the screen name Roscoua (ph), the most recent posted just hours before
Harris`s arrest. Roscoua offered a Reddit user advice on how to avoid arrest in the context of DUI. The post, marked three months ago, reads,
"Refuse to answer any questions and asked if you`re being detained. If not, leave." He goes on, "Everything a police officer does during a
possible DUI traffic stop means he is trying to build evidence against you. You should do everything in your power to prevent this."
There are posts about gratitude. One year ago, about a new life in Georgia, "I am now in my dream job, have a beautiful 6-month-old son, and
love going to work every day. I couldn`t be happier." Also posts about difficulties, like the surprising (ph) challenge (ph) suggested during
Harris`s probable cause hearing, and defense attorney Maddox Kilgore will almost certainly revisit it during any trial.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you be surprised to know that Ross is completely deaf in his right ear? Did you know that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did not know that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roscoua explains, "I had a bottle rocket explode in my ear that was shot by a friend. It caused me to have vertigo,
terrible balance and facial paralysis for a long time. Thankfully, after two surgeries, I have no outward issues. I`m just deaf in my right ear."
Potential evidence investigators are scouring to better understand this father charged with killing his only child.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why are excessive temperatures so lethal for a child? Both children and adults can suffer from hyperthermia. It starts
when the body`s internal temperature rises above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
But a child`s body is less equipped to deal with rising temperatures. The smaller the body, the less surface area the skin has for cooling off.
A child`s body temperature can increase five times faster than an adult`s. The more humid, the worse the situation, as sweat covers pores that need to
stay open to shed heat.
In the first stage of hyperthermia, there are muscle cramps and spasms. These cramps typically start in larger muscles and move their way
down. Eventually, the tongue protrudes forward. Next is a mild state of shock and profuse sweating.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The medical examiner autopsy report reveals that baby Cooper died of hyperthermia, heat stroke, as it`s commonly called. He, the baby,
had scratches, unhealed scratches on his face, where he had scratched himself in frustration at trying to get out of that carseat. We learned
that there are abrasions all along the back of his head where he likely banged back and forth, trying to free himself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The high profile on other similar situations that are happening, it seems as it`s like, an epidemic, where parents are
just leaving their children in the car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About what time did they get to Chick-fil-A?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Around 9:00 o`clock.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Left Chick-fil-A at 8:55 AM and drove to Harris`s place of employment, less than half a mile away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you confirm what time the defendant arrived at work?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Around 9:25.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Harris would have needed to make a right turn out of the parking lot, then a U-turn just in front of the Home Depot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is to his right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would have been the carseat, which is visible in between the two seats.
GRACE: Kyle Peltz, what else have we learned?
KYLE PELTZ, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Well, Nancy, a couple other interesting things that we found on line, starting with this
dad`s Flickr account. When you look at the photos of him and his wife, his wedding ring is on and very visible. But then we took a closer look at the
photos from Dad on his Scout profile. This is a dating site, Nancy. And his wedding ring is gone. So no wedding ring for those urinal selfies.
GRACE: You know, I like the way you refer to it as a urinal selfie. I`ve never really thought of them that way. What else did you learn, Kyle
Peltz?
PELTZ: We also combed through more posts on Reddit, which is the site Harris seems to visit most, and found some comments that this dad was
making, apparently bewildered about how someone could leave a laptop in car outside of a popular stadium in Atlanta, saying he`ll never understand it.
And there are just more stunning posts where he reveals details about his personal life, including his past love life, saying, "My girlfriend of
three years dumped me because her parents didn`t think I was going anywhere in life. I can`t wait to call them when I`m promoted to VP of a Fortune 50
company."
GRACE: Wa-wait! "My girlfriend of three years dumped me because her parents didn`t think I was going anywhere in life. I can`t wait to call
them when I`m promoted to VP of a Fortune 50 company." I guess that would be Home Depot. They were 29 in 2010. Oh, don`t worry about that! I think
they`ve heard enough of you right now, that poor old girlfriend probably just sobbing tonight she didn`t marry you!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was 95. It was on August 22nd. It was a very hot day. And I remember running in the back or the garage door,
seeing her lay in the foyer, and just begging them, Don`t stop. Please don`t stop, and that I wanted them to not stop trying to revive her. And
it was too late. Our experience could have been avoided if the car was locked. So please, always lock your car door.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don`t understand what`s happening. You just know that your body is getting so overheated that you could be in real
danger. I mean, this kills. And it`s a lousy way to die.
GRACE: A dramatic courtroom showdown, where horrific details of the tragic death of 22-month-old Cooper, seemingly left alone for hours in a
baking hot car by Daddy. But tonight, was the tot actually murdered?
Stunning and damning new details emerge, Daddy in a court of law, there, listening, sitting stoically until evidence comes out he`s sexting
six different women, sexting, sending pictures to six different women of his erect penis as his toddler boy, Cooper, bakes dead in the car at the
same time, evidence indicating the baby`s scratching his own little face, crying out loud, abrasions on the back of the child`s head as he likely
rocks, banging back and forth, calling out for Daddy!
Bombshells in court. And I was watching him like a hawk, Haisten (ph), and he sat there stoically, no movement, nothing until it came out he
was sexting six different women after he leaves his child the car! That`s the first time he snapped up and started talking to his lawyer. And the
lawyer, Maddox Kilgore, jumps up and objects. That`s the first time he showed emotion, Haisten.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I picked up on that, as well. He didn`t seem to be bothered by some of the revelations about the child, some of that kind
of thing. But when it came to things that were about his own life, that`s when he seemed to be bothered the most.
GRACE: OK, let`s go in the courtroom. Listen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you uncover anything of what he was doing during that day while his child was out in the car?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. What did you uncover?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was having up to six different conversations with different women, it appeared from the messages from Kick (ph), mostly,
which is a messaging service.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And is that a computer-related messaging service?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And these conversations he was having with these females, were these -- of what nature were they?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most common term would be sexting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were photos being sent back and forth between these women and the defendant during this day while the child`s out in the
car?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, there were photos of his exposed penis, erect penis being sent. There were also photos of women`s breasts being sent
back to him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, did you actually -- have you located every one of these girls that he`s had contact with?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you located any of them?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ve located...
GRACE: OK, take a look at the defendant. The first time he registers any emotion is when all this comes out. Now he`s starting to look around.
And while that was happening in that parking lot, where nobody could hear it, the windows rolled up tight. Daddy was inside sending pictures of his
erect penis to six different women, including one that had just turned 17.
Well, that`s a fine "How do you do," but that doesn`t necessarily show intent to kill. What would show motivation would be a nearly $30,000 in
life insurance that they had taken out, that he, the father, had taken out on a 22-month-old child, the fact that he went to multiple Web sites to
watch people in the throes of death under all sorts of circumstances -- suicide, dying in Iraq, multiple circumstances, but actually viewed people
as they died.
He also went to sites about living a child-free life, how to survive in prison, and to me, most significantly, about the temperature needed for
a child to die in a hot car.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, I remember when I was in the courtroom for the sentencing hearing of the BTK killer in Kansas. It
is something I will never, ever forget. And it was bind, torture, and kill. That`s why he called himself, BTK, Dennis Rader, the family man, who
viciously murdered at least 10 victims, taunting police for 30 years by sending cryptic messages to news stations while hiding in plain sight.
But what was it like living next door to the BTK killer? Tonight, our special look at the killer next door.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Went ahead and tied her up, and then put a bag over her head and strangled her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The killer calls himself BTK, which stands for "Bind them, torture them, kill them," a pattern he has followed with most
of his victims.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: BTK stands for bind, torture and kill.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Answered the door, asked me were my parents home. I was telling him, yes, my mom. She`s sick in bed. So he proceeded to
come on in, started pulling down the blinds and turned off the TV and pulled out a gun. I looked over to the door in the crack, seen my momma
being stripped, taped, plastic bag over her head, rope tied around her neck.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people who are most able to get away with these crimes for years are the ones that look beyond suspicion, who blend
in well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then I killed them.
GRACE: With me now is a special guest, Donna Barry (ph). Donna is actually the neighbor of the BTK serial killer, Dennis Rader. You knew
BTK, as we call him, Dennis Rader -- bind, torture, kill -- since you were 4 years old. You grew up with his children. Your back yard backs up to
the Raders`. What did you observe during those years when you were actually a serial killer`s back (ph) door (ph) neighbor?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Typically, a family man when he was with his wife and his children. He was an -- he was just an all-around great guy,
great personality, easy to get along with. But as soon as he put on that compliance uniform, it was like his personality would just change.
GRACE: And you know, I believe that he committed a lot of murders in his compliance uniform.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You will find the homicide at 843 South Pershing (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) She was a wonderful person. And I did -- I did track her just like a predator. She was a wonderful young lady,
well organized, hard worker, and I took her life.
GRACE: What do you think about that, having a serial killer next door?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s scary because the Park City has always been known for being a very quiet town. Everybody knew everybody. You know,
you could leave your doors unlocked at night and not have to worry. And then you find out something like this, and it gives the whole shock and awe
factor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want him to suffer as much as he made his victims suffer! But then when I think about that, in his sick, perverted
way, he`d probably find that as some kind of pleasure or reward!
GRACE: Is it true that your friend saw BTK pull a 12-gauge on an animal, I think it was a kitten?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, at the city pool. And a bunch of kids playing at the park leaving the pool saw him pull out a shotgun and shoot
and literally blew up the kitty.
GRACE: I remember when I first learned about BTK, I actually verbalized, I wonder if he ever attacked animals. And then when I found
out he was a dog catcher, you`re really putting the pieces of the puzzle together for me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He killed dogs and cats in that setting, but he`d never been able to take a human being into a barn and either take
photographs or do whatever he wanted to do. He puts the plastic over the windows so that nobody can see him. He tacks it up. He has a camera with
him. And he takes her nude body in the church and poses her in various bondage positions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She screamed, and I jumped on the bed and strangled her manually.
GRACE: I know his home has been torn down. Why was it torn down? And how did that make you feel?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s sad because I knew his kids. I knew his wife.
GRACE: Is it something you carry with you? Because in my line of business, I`m always suspicious. I`m on guard. I`m protective of my
family, my children, overly protective. And I always wonder, and now I`ve got you -- does it make you look at the world a different way to find out
that someone that you thought you knew so well could carry out heinous, horrible acts on other people?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just don`t expect it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First of all, Mr. Otero was strangled, or bag put over his head and strangled. And I thought he was going down. And I went
over and strangled Mrs. Otero. I thought she was down. Then I strangled Josephine until she was down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sort of gives you a whole new perspective on the world, that it can be anybody at any time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, she was pretty upset, What`s going on? So I came back, and at that point in time, strangled her with a death
strangle at that time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With your hands or what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, with a quart (ph), with a rope.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely shocked. One would think someone that was so intense in enforcing the law would not be one that would break the
law.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had never strangled anyone before, so I really didn`t know how much pressure you had to put on a person or how long it
would take.
GRACE: Do you ever consider that he could have targeted you or your family?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We had a compliance issue with my husband, and he literally told my husband, he goes, Well, let`s take it inside your
house and we`ll settle this in there. He could have killed my husband at that time. Luckily, my husband was a big enough man (INAUDIBLE) on my
property.
GRACE: I think that both of us better leave right now and we better get down on our knees and thank the Lord that he didn`t get into that
house, kill your husband and wait for you to get home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: BTK is arrested.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now that I`ve confessed, put myself out and let everybody know what`s going on, I expect to heal (ph) (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don`t let this monster have any comforts as he lives out his remaining years in prison! He isn`t worthy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When the stories about him began to surface, he wanted to take advantage of that, and that was his vulnerability. He
wanted to be famous, and this was his big shot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Finally, (INAUDIBLE) apologize to victims` families. There`s no way that I can ever repay them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CASAREZ: The Menendez brothers, their trial making national headlines, Erik and Lyle Menendez, just 18 and 21 years old when they
ambush then shoot and kill their own parents in their Beverly Hills mansion. But what was it like living next to the sibling murder suspects?
Tonight, the killer next door.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Privates security guards have surrounded the Menendezes` mansion. They say they are here to protect the couple`s two
sons, Erik and Lyle, because, quote, "the killers may come back for the boys."
911 OPERATOR: Beverly Hills emergency.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, police.
911 OPERATOR: What`s the problem?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
911 OPERATOR: What`s the problem?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The police department received a frantic call from Lyle Menendez.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The night his wealthy parents were murdered in Beverly Hills.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) killed my parents!
911 OPERATOR: Pardon me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
911 OPERATOR: Were the shot?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!
911 OPERATOR: (INAUDIBLE) shot?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s saying that his parents had been killed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These people were cold-bloodedly slaughtered by their two sons.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just burst in the doors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And just walked into the room. I just started firing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He came home and (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) my mom and dad!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I started firing. I just started firing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Things shattering, and the noise was phenomenal. We fired lots -- you know, many, many times.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did you do after you reloaded?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I ran around, shot my mom. You could hear things breaking, and you could hear the ringing noises from the booms. And it was
the smoke from the guns, just chaos.
GRACE: Alicia Hertz (ph), you were neighbors with double murderers. Why would they kill Kitty and Jose Menendez?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Perhaps an accumulation, as we now say, of post- stress disorder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In court, defense attorneys presented nude pictures of Lyle Menendez and his brother, Erik, which were allegedly taken
by their father.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the bedroom, we`d have what we called object sessions, and just slide my pants down or take my pants off. Sometimes, it
would be a short, short period of time, sometimes longer. Just lay me on the bed. He`d have a tube of Vaseline, and he just played with me. I just
told him that I didn`t want to do this, that it hurt me! And he said that he didn`t mean to hurt me. And he loved me!
GRACE: When you were around Erik and Lyle, you never felt threatened. You felt that, if anything, they were the victims of their parents?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, and the victims of other kids bullying them, perhaps, because they were so different, so, so different.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mrs. Menendez had not wanted to have children at all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And for how long a period of time would you have to remain in the closet after she had put you there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Until she let me out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And how long would that sometimes be?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes it would be an hour. Sometimes it would be all day, when she left, seven hours. Sometimes I fell asleep in there
overnight.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said your mom made it sound like the worst thing in the world. Did your father make gay jokes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did your father call you a particular name associated -- a negative name for...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he called me a faggot. He hated gay people. And he absolutely refused to accept that what was happening between us. He
just said that it wasn`t any of that.
GRACE: Do you remember the dinner party? Jose Menendez started showing you child pornography. That`s what really surprised me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, after dinner, that was their entertainment.
GRACE: You described it as racy pornographic video of children engaged in sex acts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What part of your body did he shave? Or what hair did he shave?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My pubic hair.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did you feel at 18 about the fact that your father was having sex with you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hated it. I hated it. I hated it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He threw me on the bed and went to get a knife and put it at my throat.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Put the knife to your throat?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And was there sex with your father that day?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
GRACE: A lot of people think that because they ran out and bought so many luxury items with their parents` money after they killed them, that it
was all about money. But I don`t know if that was not a manifestation of their hatred of their parents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You indicated that your father said no as you entered and started to shoot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you mother ever say anything?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, she never said a word.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She didn`t have a chance to say anything?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I guess not.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Prosecutors say self-defense was not the real reason the brothers killed their parents. They hated the wealthy couple,
according to prosecutors, and wanted to get their hands on their money.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I felt like I had just killed my parents, and now I was getting all of their money. And I -- I felt -- I felt sort of guilty
about that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The kids would have had a lot of money if they had left everything alone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They certainly weren`t grieving at all. They were unstoppable with spending money.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I walked in the room, I was panicking and I just fired every shot I had. I didn`t stop to take a look at what I was
doing after each shot. I just fired until there was nothing left.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Erik said he looked in and saw his parents sitting on the couch. And Lyle swung the door open and shot his father and looked
at Erik and said, Shoot Mom, and Erik said he shot his mom as she was standing up and yelling.
GRACE: Did you ever imagine that Erik and Lyle Menendez had murdered their parents, before they were actually arrested?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I could not, Nancy. I could not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw my dad on this side of the coffee table (INAUDIBLE) I saw my mom on the other side. And then I saw the smoke and
the fire of my gun. I only thought that they were going to kill us, and at that last moment, I killed them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
END
