Return to Transcripts main page
Nancy Grace
Cops Search for Oregon Mother
Aired July 28, 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, Oregon. The loving husband of a missing mother of two begs, Mommy come home, as police say
they have run out of leads. The gorgeous young mother of two goes missing 6:00 PM, broad daylight, running errands.
Bombshell tonight. In the last hours, grainy surveillance video at a local Circle K gas station emerges, as police hit a dead end. Tonight, the
search by land by air, by water. Is mom of two Jennifer Huston still driving her green Lexus SUV? And where is she?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jennifer Huston hasn`t been seen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My hope is that we can find her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huston was last seen on surveillance video filling up her SUV with gas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s totally devoted to her kids. This is very uncharacter-like of her. She would never do this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, Florida, a young Harvard-trained FSU law professor shot dead execution-style in his own home. Who wanted this young law
professor dead? What did he know that somebody wanted kept secret?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A terrible tragedy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Authorities determine the murder is targeted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: FSU law professor Dan Markel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shot at his Tallahassee home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police are looking at this vehicle of interest leaving the area.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gunned down in his own home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gunshot wound to the head.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police have yet to name a suspect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And then live, Vermont. Mommy goes to work, leaving her 2- year-old baby boy with her loving boyfriend. But before Mommy can even get home from work, tragedy. Mommy`s baby boy is dead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vermont Police say 2-year-old Aiden Haskins (ph) was killed by his mother`s boyfriend, who allegedly gave five different
stories about what happened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Aiden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was not an accident.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That video from Facebook.
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. To Oregon, the loving husband of a missing mom of two begs, Mommy come home, as police say they`ve run out of leads. The
gorgeous young mother of two goes missing in broad daylight, running errands. But in the last hours, grainy surveillance video at a local
Circle K emerges. Oddly enough, police are not releasing the video.
Now, we all know of many, many times that we have gotten video released. Take a look at the many times cases have been solved from
surveillance video. For instance, Lisa Irwin (ph), BP gas station surveillance -- it goes on and on and on -- Carly Bruscia (ph), car wash
surveillance cracked that case, Michael Stanley (ph), Seattle gas station surveillance, Michelle Young (ph), gas station still solved the case, a
smash and grab caught on tape, a gas station, a boy fights the thief at a gas station and cracks the case.
But tonight, oddly enough, Oregon police still holding onto that grainy surveillance video that allegedly captures a young mom of two,
Jennifer Huston, as she pulls in, broad daylight, to run errands. Now, ironically, Oregon is one of, I think, only two states in the country that
requires somebody pump the gas for you. Now, if this had been self-serve, we would have had a lot more information. Was she using a debit card,
credit card? We probably would have gotten more surveillance because she`d be having to get in and out of her car.
Right now, we don`t know if she was alone at that gas station or not. But what we do know, the search on tonight for Mommy of two as the husband
begs, Mommy come home.
Straight out to Dan O`Donnell joining us, WISN. Dan, what do we know?
DAN O`DONNELL, WISN: Well, we know that Jennifer disappeared on Thursday immediately after going to that gas station. Her credit card has
not been used since. Her cell phone has not been on since. Everyone who knows her say this is completely out of character. It`s a complete and
total mystery. She`s just vanished off the face of the earth.
GRACE: Joining me right now is a special guest out of Dundee, Oregon, Bill Turner. This is Jennifer`s father joining us. Mr. Turner, thank you
for being with us. What are cops telling you at this hour?
BILL TURNER, JENNIFER`S FATHER (via telephone): Well, I`ve been in contact with law enforcement every day since the disappearance, and there
is leads out there that they`re working on. It`s just -- a lead is just basic information that all law enforcement works on. They`ll work up and
down the street for all businesses. They have cameras facing the highways, the highway 99 Portland (ph) Road, and try to see where the vehicle turned
left, right, what direction it went in. So there will be more video develop during the day.
GRACE: With me, everybody, is Jennifer`s father, Bill Turner, joining us out of Dundee. Mr. Turner, again, thank you for being with us.
Look at the shots you`re seeing of Jennifer. There she is, this young and beautiful mother of two missing, goes missing broad daylight, running
errands. Now, she leaves around suppertime. She`s got two young boys, ages 2 and 6. She dashes out to go to the grocery store. That`s around
6:00. By 10:00 o`clock, her husband is frantic. He starts looking for her. She`s reported missing because four hours just to go to the grocery
store, way, way too long.
And I got to tell you, we`ve been looking at the timeline here, and the timeline fits the husband`s story because there she is getting gas in
the vicinity of the grocery store at the time he says she leaves.
To Bill Turner, her father. Bill, do we know what grocery store she typically goes to?
TURNER: There`s three major grocery stores in Newburgh (ph), three or four, and she frequents them all for different items that they need.
GRACE: Well, that`s interesting that you say that...
TURNER: But we believe she was...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: What? You believe what?
TURNER: We believe she went to the Fred Meyer`s (ph) grocery store.
GRACE: You know, that`s interesting that you said she goes to different stores for different things. I do the very exact same thing.
There`s only one grocery store around here where I can get a particular star (ph) pasta my twins like, so I got to go there for that, to this one
for this, to that one for that.
So you think that she was going to Fred Meyer. Mr. Turner, has Fred Meyer released the grocery store video?
TURNER: Law enforcement is working on that today. I know that Fred Meyer`s has great cameras due to some -- their line of business. And so we
hope they`ll either see her coming or going from the store.
GRACE: OK, I couldn`t make out what you said. You said Fred Meyer`s grocery store has great cameras, but I lost you after that. What did you
say?
TURNER: They have good cameras because (INAUDIBLE) because of the (INAUDIBLE) crime that affects their business, and so I know they have good
imagery in their stores. It`s just getting the detectives down there and having them go over that timeframe from 6:00 to, say, 9:00, 10:00 o`clock.
GRACE: OK, exactly when did she go missing? I`ve got July 24th, 6:00 PM. That`s Thursday. Today is Monday. And they`re just getting to the
grocery store right now, the detectives are?
GRACE: I think it`s a timing issue with resources and such. The active investigation really kicked off well on Saturday. We were talking
to the police as early as 3:00 or 4:00 o`clock on -- 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 o`clock on Friday morning. So it was no delay in it, but you know, they`re
always cautious to think, well, maybe she just wanted to blow off steam, or whatever. They always want to look at all the other possibilities first
before they (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: OK, you know, that`s really interesting that you would say that, too, Mr. Turner, because it`d be a cold day in H-E-double-L that I
blew off steam while my children were waiting at home. And I think -- to my understanding, that`s exactly how Jennifer felt. She would never leave
her children at home.
Now, I know the husband was there with them, but has she ever left before to blow off steam, as you put it?
TURNER: No. That`s a comment that was made (INAUDIBLE) sometimes they want to deflect (ph) a little bit and say, Give it a little bit more
time, give it a little bit more time.
GRACE: OK, I got you. Mr. Turner, I got you, and I think that that is a major, major error by police. And Mr. Turner, don`t get me wrong.
I`m a former prosecutor. I`m on the police side, all right? I believe them pretty much over everybody else. But when a woman goes missing and
the husband says she`s been gone four hours to go to the grocery store, this is not normal for her, they need to hit the ground right then. So
let`s hope that they can play catch-up.
With me is the father of Jennifer Huston, everybody. We`re trying to find this young mom as her husband cries, begs, Mommy come home, your boys
need you. And they do need her.
Mr. Turner, what have the boys been told thus far about where`s Mommy?
TURNER: We`ve tried to minimize the exposure that they have to this. We basically told them that Mommy is on a little vacation. We will
coordinate with medical professionals and the people that can properly deliver the message. If she doesn`t come home soon, they`re going to have
to be told something.
GRACE: To Dan O`Donnell joining me, WISN. Dan O`Donnell, when was she reported missing to police?
O`DONNELL: She was reported about four hours after, as I understand it. Her husband called when it took her so long to just run out and do a
couple of errands, pick up some stuff from the grocery store.
GRACE: OK. Everybody, take a look at Jennifer Huston. She`s missing, last seen driving a dark green `99 Lexus LX-470. Let`s see a look
at that vehicle. Everybody, please help us. There is a 2-year-old boy and a 6-year-old boy who want Mommy to come back home -- last seen at a Circle
K gas station.
Unleash the lawyers. Joining me, Robert Schalk out of New York and Areva Martin out of LA. Areva, husbands and wives, but particularly
husbands get very, very sensitive when they`re the immediate focus of an investigation, but they really shouldn`t because that`s where all
investigations start.
So far, to what I`ve seen, everything this father is saying, this husband, is checking out. Specifically, she`s caught on surveillance video
right around the time he says she left the home, that she was going -- that she was going to the grocery store. She stopped at the Circle K very near
the grocery store. I don`t have any reason right now to doubt anything the father says.
But they`re always -- the husband, the lover, the boyfriend, the ex, they`re always the starting point of an investigation. Why?
AREVA MARTIN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, they should be, Nancy, because what we know about these missing folks cases or people who go missing is
often, it is someone very close to them, a spouse, a partner, a relative, an acquaintance. So the police are doing the right thing by talking to the
husband. Hopefully, he`s not involved, but we see...
GRACE: Right.
MARTIN: ... too many of these cases where it is the husband that`s been involved with the partner (ph).
GRACE: You know, Robert Schalk, she`s right. But in this case, I`ve got one little problem, and you know I am a prosecutor, always have been,
and I almost always side with the police. But I find it very unusual they`re not releasing the Circle K video.
ROBERT SCHALK, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes.
GRACE: Now, they`re also saying they`re not sure that she was alone because the surveillance video is so grainy. And because Oregon is one of
a handful of states that makes somebody pump the gas for you, She doesn`t get out of the car. We don`t see her, if she`s talking to somebody in the
car. We don`t see her get out. We don`t see if there was a man in that car, and there`s no evidence that there was. We don`t see him get out and
pump the gas for her.
So because of that, our view, if we had the video, is going to be very restricted. They can see very little on this video. But one thing they
could see, Schalk, is which way she went out.
SCHALK: Absolutely.
GRACE: What if she did go to a different grocery store?
SCHALK: Right.
GRACE: We`d have a much better idea of where to look.
SCHALK: Absolutely, Nancy. And they`re going to need the public`s help because let`s just say she goes to the right and there`s traffic
cameras down the block or she goes into a separate (INAUDIBLE) parking lot, exactly like you`re saying. Have we spoken to the individual who pumped
the gas? Has that person been questioned by the police?
After you spoke to the father, I`m obviously concerned about the speed in which these detectives are looking for this woman. I mean, there are
active leads out there that they could be getting, and they`re just not seeking anyone`s help right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Everyone, in the last hours, we hear that grainy surveillance video has emerged of this young mother of two running errands at a local
Circle K gas station, on her way to the grocery store, goes missing. Her husband reports her missing about four hours later. Tonight, he`s begging,
Mommy come home, cops telling us they have run out of leads.
To Dan O`Donnell joining me, WISN. Dan, what can you tell me about red lights, stop signs, any toll booths in the area? Are cops retrieving
that video? Because, you know, many, many red lights now have cameras on them. We could track where she`s going if we`ve got that video or those
shots. But I don`t know how long they`re kept.
O`DONNELL: Well, that`s the issue. I mean, time is clearly of the essence here, and police are being very tight-lipped about what
surveillance cameras in the area they are searching, what red light cameras nearby they might be searching. So far, they haven`t really made a whole
lot of that information, if any of it, public.
GRACE: Straight out to Stacey Newman. Stacey, have they found the car? Let`s take a look. It`s a dark green `99 Lexus LX-470. That`s what
we`re looking at, this car. It`s a Lexus four-door SUV, 1990, tag WXH-011. What do you know, Stacey?
STACEY NEWMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: They have not found the car, Nancy. But here`s the other thing. Back to your your point about the
surveillance video. All they released was a mock-up of the SUV. Why not release the surveillance video so we could see the actual make of a truck?
Police are also pinging her phone on an hourly basis, and they`ve also come up with dead ends with pinging the cell phone.
GRACE: OK, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Right -- right there. Thanks, Stacey for reminding me.
Bill Turner is with us. This is Jennifer Huston`s father. Bill, what were her texting habits and her cell habits? I mean, when I get in the
car, if I don`t have the twins, I put that phone on speakerphone and I get down to business. Was she the kind of person that uses speakerphone as she
was driving? Did she make frequent calls? How often did she check in with you?
TURNER: She checked in with us -- with me personally about at least once a week or so. My wife had the most contact with her on a daily basis.
She wouldn`t use the phone a lot when she was driving. The phone, we know now, is powered off. Whether it`s been broken or just batteries died on
it, we don`t know. But...
GRACE: OK, Bill -- OK, go ahead and clarify.
TURNER: Yes, the police do have video of her a couple of minutes prior to her getting to the gas station. I just discovered that this
afternoon when I met with the public information officer. And he`ll be releasing a little bit more details later on today. But she was alone in
the car. She had to reach out to do something, and they had very good, clear video of her, and there was nobody else in the vehicle whatsoever.
GRACE: OK, that is a new development. Bill Turner, Jennifer`s father, is telling us she was alone in the car, as we suspected. She had
to reach out. What the cops told us was that the video was so grainy, they couldn`t tell if anybody was in the car, but Mr. Turner is getting a more
recent update.
Mr. Turner, you state that cops are telling you they`ve got video surveillance of her just prior to going to the Circle K?
TURNER: Yes, at another location, which I won`t disclose that (INAUDIBLE) investigative purposes.
GRACE: OK.
TURNER: But they do have a clear shot of her just minutes before getting to the Circle K. And I have seen the Circle K video. It`s fairly
poor quality. I`ve seen the shot of the car driving by, one of the cameras (INAUDIBLE) pulling into the station. And it is -- I can see her hair
color in the window.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Welcome back, everybody. We`ve got breaking news in the search for a missing mom, Jennifer Huston. We are now learning from her
father that she has been spotted on surveillance video just before she gets to the Circle K. We can`t tell you where that -- where the location is for
investigative reasons for police, but we do have surveillance video of her just before that.
I want to go back to the father, Bill Turner with us. Bill, you stated that your daughter, Jennifer, mother of two -- the boys are age 2
and 6 -- is in very frequent contact with her mother. Did she speak to her mother that day?
TURNER: No.
GRACE: So that...
TURNER: I`ve pulled the phone records. I have full access to all the communications back and forth, and there`s nothing there.
GRACE: Did your wife remember speaking to her even on a landline?
TURNER: No landlines at all involved. So it`s all by cellular phone records.
GRACE: Now, was that normal for her? Because you say she`s in frequent contact with your wife.
TURNER: Yes. Yes. There`s times when she`s been running (ph) our grandsons -- the older grandson to some sort of summer activity, and so
there are just times when she`s not available. And my wife, Deborah (ph), she`s a full-time caregiver to another grandchild, so they both have their
own small children running around the houses.
GRACE: And Bill Turner, why do you know her cell phone has been turned off? And is that normal for her?
TURNER: It`s not normal for her whatsoever. We went as far as to do all the things through "Find my iPhone" applications and such, and that`s
the information that came on through that application. The phone -- they`ve tried pinging it. There`s no response from the pings. So we know
that the phone is turned off. But it just doesn`t give us the information as to when it was turned off.
We can track phone calls as late as 3:30 in the afternoon when she and Callen (ph) spoke before he got home. They were in communication twice
that afternoon before -- one incoming call from Callen and one outgoing call to Callen. So it`s just -- it`s normal routine (INAUDIBLE) Hey,
honey, I`m on my way home, just many (ph) things, and that type of conversation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Welcome back, everybody. Now live to Florida, a young Harvard-trained FSU law professor shot dead execution-style in his own
home, recently divorced, then suddenly murdered after he just gets a brand- new girlfriend. Who wanted the young law professor dead? What did he know that somebody wanted kept secret? And is his bitter custody battle a piece
of the puzzle?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: FSU law professor Dan Markel was gunned down in his own home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A new police report reveals the father killed in his own garage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An assassin lay in wait, shooting him in the side of the head through the window of his car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His life cut short by a bullet to the head.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Authorities determine the murder is targeted. Why?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Sean Rossman with the Tallahassee Democrat. Sean, thank you for being with us. This is what I know right now, it`s a
targeted hit. This is not random. There was no forced entry and the young father, this law professor`s home, he clearly knew the person that he was
opening the door to. It was in his garage, that`s where he was shot execution style, one shot to the head. Whoever it is not very good because
even the shot to the head did not kill him immediately. What more do we know, Sean?
SEAN ROSSMAN, TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT: Well, we know that the incident report does indicate that the incident did happen in the garage. We`re not
quite sure at this time what type of gun was used and who the person or persons were at this time.
GRACE: OK. That much I know. Sean, what`s interesting to me, everybody, Sean Rossman joining me from the Tallahassee Democrat, is police
are not releasing the caliber of the bullet, because either there was an entry and an exit wound and the killer got the bullet so there can never be
a ballistics match, the bullet is still in his head, which I doubt because he`s gone to the hospital, or the bullet is still there in the home. Is
there a reason, Sean, that police are not releasing the caliber?
ROSSMAN: They haven`t given a reason why they`re not. They haven`t any information on the caliber of the gun, whether one was found as all. They
haven`t given any reason at all.
GRACE: Well, let`s go to the police, Sean. With me right now the PIO of the Tallahassee Police Department, David Northway. Officer, thank you so
much for being with us. What is the caliber on the murder weapon?
DAVID NORTHWAY, PIO OF THE TALLAHASSEE POLICE DEPARTMENT: Unfortunately, Nancy, we`re not going to be able to release the caliber of
the weapon simply because that`s an intimate detail of the crime and we would not able to put that out. We believe that the person who did this or
persons who did this would know exactly what they were doing when they did it -- information not released so that we can make sure that we bring this
case to a close as quickly as possible for the Markel family.
GRACE: OK, one thing that you just said I don`t understand. You believe the person that did this knew exactly what they did when they were
doing it. What does that mean?
NORTHWAY: I simply meant that the information in the case shows that this was not a random act, and the person who was there with the gun in
their hand would know exactly what caliber they had and what they were doing.
GRACE: Got it.
NORTHWAY: So, we`re not releasing the caliber of the weapon at this time.
GRACE: But you know the caliber, correct?
NORTHWAY: I`m sure our investigators do, yes, ma`am.
GRACE: OK. So, that tells me that the bullet was recovered. Now, everybody, as you probably know, all you legal eagles, when you get the
bullet, you can match it up to the gun like a fingerprint. And this is why when guns are made, it`s made out of, of course, metal. And as it cools
from being molded, it has striations on the inside, marks or disfigurements on the inside of the barrel. When a bullet hurls down the barrel, you know,
so quickly, it marks the bullet as only that gun can. So, when you get the bullet, you then get what you believe to be the murder weapon. You shoot a
bullet through the murder weapon into, say, a barrel of water or into a bed mattress. Then you compare the known bullet from the crime scene to the one
you just shot under a microscope and those marks on the bullet will match perfectly. Now, you do have a problem, Dr. Michelle DuPre, medical examiner
and pathologist out of Columbia, and that is if the bullet is ruined as it passes through bone, tissue, if it hits a wall, it deforms the bullet.
Sometimes that makes it a little bit harder to get a ballistics match. Would you agree, Dr. DuPre?
DR. MICHELLE DUPRE, MEDICAL EXAMINER AND PATHOLOGIST: Yes, absolutely, Nancy. If those striations that you talked about are deformed in some way,
then we may not be able to get a match.
GRACE: Dr. DuPre, he lived, the law professor -- this young law professor, Professor Dan Markel actually lived, he lingered in the
hospital. How can that happen when you`re shot in the head?
DUPRE: Nancy, sometimes that happens, especially with small caliber weapons like a .22. Sometimes it also happens because of the trajectory. If
that bullet doesn`t strike something of vital importance, that person can live for a while.
GRACE: Hey, let`s talk about the wound itself. To David Northway, the PIO of the Tallahassee PD, where in his body was she shot exactly? We`ve
got the head, but that could mean anything.
NORTHWAY: Yes, ma`am. And again, that`s gonna be one specific place. We have released that it was a gunshot to the head and we have not talked
specifically about where it occurred.
GRACE: OK.
NORTHWAY: The killer knew where exactly where.
GRACE: Well, our sources are telling us he was shot in the side of the head. Now, depending on whether that`s higher or lower, even possibly the
neck region could explain why he lingered, why he wasn`t killed and die immediately. Also, our sources are telling us, he was actually on the
phone, on the phone when he was shot dead. Sean Rossman, Tallahassee Democrat, what do you know about that and who was he talking to?
ROSSMAN: I actually don`t know anything about that at this time. There`s been a rumor that`s been going around but I haven`t been able to
confirm anything like that at this time.
GRACE: OK. David Northway, I`ve got a feeling I know what your answer is going to be, but was he on the phone when this law professor was shot
dead?
NORTHWAY: Unfortunately, we have not released any details about what Mr. Markel was doing at the time of his death.
GRACE: OK, David Northway, I appreciate that. Everybody, the PIO is playing it close to the (inaudible), as he should. Clark Goldband, what do
you know?
CLARK GOLDBAND, CNN PRODUCER: Well, I can tell you that ABC News is exclusively reporting right now that in fact he was on the phone as he was
reportedly driving into the driveway. So, that certainly is a new wrinkle in the investigation, and, Nancy.
GRACE: Wait a minute, Clark, being on the phone as you drive into the driveway.
GOLDBAND: Yes.
GRACE: And then getting in. You close the door because, remember, he opened the door. There`s no forced entry and knew who he was opening it to.
Was he still on the phone?
GOLDBAND: Well, Nancy, according to this ABC News report, he may have said to the person that he was on the line with, that he noticed someone in
the driveway. That`s still not clear at this time.
GRACE: What?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A neighbor calls 911 with reports of a loud bang.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A gunshot wound to the head.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A source telling ABC News the killer waited for Markel in the driveway.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police have yet to name a suspect in the case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who killed respected law professor and father of two, Dan Markel?
(END VIDEO TAPE)
GRACE: OK. Also to Sean Rossman, welcome back, everybody, Tallahassee Democrat, now he was divorced from another FSU law professor. They had the
two young children together. Now, isn`t it true, Sean Rossman, that as recently as two months ago, there were filings going back and forth in
court for sanctions over the custody? A custody battle was ensuing hot and heavy. She wanted to move reportedly for another job as a law professor. He
didn`t want her to move and he won. Isn`t that right, Sean Rossman, she could not move that area -- from that area with children?
ROSSMAN: Well, we know it was a contentious divorce for sure. We know that it ended in July of 2013 and they were still discussing parenting time
and certainly their financial aspects of the divorce as well.
GRACE: You know what`s interesting, Clark Goldband was this -- according to what we found right there in the courthouse, they`re still
fighting about custody. This is a year after the divorce. They`re still -- and you know two law professors aren`t going to agree on anything, but this
is still going on. Now, according to our sources, the ex-wife is, quote, distraught over this whole thing. It was just in the end of May, if I
recall it, Clark Goldband, that they`re still fighting hot and heavy over the divorce, right? Over the custody?
GOLDBAND: Well, Nancy, that`s what our researcher was able to obtain. He saw a very busy court docket even since the divorce. I can also tell you
we combed through those divorce documents and he had to pay over $120,000 from his savings to his now ex-wife once the divorce took place. They set
up a whole visitation schedule, custody schedule and all sorts of things you see on a divorce run-of-the-mill, but, Nancy, one more important point
to bring out here. Authorities say that a witness in the neighborhood heard a loud bang. As far as we can tell, it was one loud bang. And authorities
are now asking anyone who may have seen what they`re terming a vehicle of interest, a gray or silver Prius, they want to know if you saw this car to
call them.
GRACE: Hold on, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. A Prius.
GOLDBAND: Yes.
GRACE: All right, to David Northway, the PIO of the Tallahassee Police Department, David, what can you tell me about a Prius, we think it was a
Prius leaving the area, at the time of the gun shot?
NORTHWAY: That is correct. The neighbor that called in the call to 911, actually said he did hear a loud bang. He came out of his house, went
over to Mr. Markel`s house, saw Mr. Markel in the garage and immediately called 911. And then, he also (inaudible) that he saw a green or silver-
colored Prius, it`s almost a metallicy color looking type vehicle leaving the area. We`re not sure where the Prius was leaving from, where it was
exactly leaving from, but it was in the area. We`ve obtained some video surveillance of that car and we released that and we are looking for any
information anybody has on that vehicle. We have not named it as a suspect. We just would like to talk to the people who are in that car.
GRACE: OK. So, you have released the video of the Prius, correct?
NORTHWAY: No, not the video, a picture -- an image of it straight from the video that was taken by one of the community partners in the
neighborhood area. Where Mr. Markel lives is right off of a main road, about 500 yards from where his house is, and we were able to obtain some
video surveillance.
GRACE: Hold on. Justin, let me see the shot of the Prius again because that photo down at the bottom, I believe that is actually -- if you could
iso that for me, that`s actually -- the still photo that Officer Northway is describing. That`s it, the one down at the bottom. Not the showroom
Prius, Justin, the one down on the bottom was taken, that`s the still of it. Now, OK, maybe -- there you go. Thank you. This is just a
generalization. Patricia Saunders, Clinical Psychologist, I don`t see a professional hit man driving a Toyota Prius. I mean, how fast do they go,
60 mph? I mean you`ve got to think about who is the killer, Patricia. Who would want him dead? A, it`s targeted, it`s not random, it is not a sex
attack, it is not a robbery. It`s somebody he knew that either had access to that garage or that he opened the garage to and they may be driving a
Prius, all right. Put it all together, spit out your analysis, Patricia.
PATRICIA SAUNDERS, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: He might have had a secret now on something that somebody did not want known.
GRACE: So, if a hit man is involved in this, all right, that`s going to get out pretty quickly, all right, because this Prius right here cops
are honing in on, that`s the best information that they have got. But Patricia, why do you say it`s not random?
SAUNDERS: There was no sign of a struggle. He opened up the door, so it looked like he knew this man. The third factor that nobody has mentioned
is that this is a high-profile law professor with a very well-known blog in his legal scholarship. He wrote about the DP. Now, when you`re a high
celebrity person -- a high profile person with a high profile blog, you leave yourself open to every nut job who`s out there. And it`s remote, but
it`s a possibility that somebody read something in his blog that they just fit into their delusional system they didn`t like.
GRACE: OK, everybody, at this moment no person of interest, no suspect, no target, nothing. Who wanted this young law professor dead?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Welcome back, everybody. And now, live to Vermont. Mommy goes to work leaving her 2-year-old little boy Aidan with her loving boyfriend,
Joshua Blow, but before mommy can even get back home from work, tragedy. Mommy`s baby boy is found dead. Straight out to David Hodges with CNN
affiliate WFFF-TV. David, what can you tell me, the boyfriend is with the tot, how does the tot die? What is the cause of death?
DAVID HODGES, AFFILIATE REPORTER WFFF-TV: Well, Nancy, we`re not exactly sure at this point from what police have told us but what we do
know is police have gotten a lot of different stories from this boyfriend, Joshua Blow. It was really early on the morning, July 22nd, when he did, in
fact, call the neighbors that were his girlfriend`s grandfather, the grandmother, and came over with the baby that was in not good condition.
Eventually, when he ended up talking with police, he gave several different stories about what first happened.
GRACE: Wait, back it up, David Hodges, WFFF. You said that he brings the little boy over to neighbors and the little boy is already in bad
shape?
HODGES: In very bad shape at that point from what police had told us. Blow laid the child on a swing, and when police got there he was giving CPR
to the child who police described is already pale in color at that point. They`ve been transported the child to the hospital to try and obviously
revive him but they said he was in bad shape from the beginning. Poor little (inaudible).
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: What are his different stories you alluded to? We`ve got blunt force trauma to the head, neck, and fractured vertebrae, kidney
lacerations, significant bruising, completely inconsistent with an accident. What are the different stories? Hold on that, Justin, please.
David Hodges, what are the different stories he gave?
HODGES: Well, police say that at first, Blow, started talking to them about tripping over a cat. He said that he had picked up Aidan and took him
to the kitchen to get a drink from the fridge and that when he stepped backwards while holding Aidan that he tripped over a cat and twisted
sideways and then landed partially on Aidan`s head. And I`ve been talking with police several times after that, like you said, Nancy, they just said
that none of the -- that that could not have happened. There`s no way that those injuries could have been caused by an accident. So, several times he
changed his story. Right after the cat, he said that he went to the bathroom with Aidan to wash his own face and then slipped and fell on a
bathtub. Then later he told police that he was going down to the basement to get to the marijuana pipe to bring with him to work.
GRACE: What, wait, wait. His marijuana pipe?
HODGES: His marijuana pipe. That`s one other fact that I think police keyed in on here from what they tell us is that after talking with the
girlfriend, apparently Joshua Blow with snap sometimes when using drugs. So, they do know he has a drug history, was even wanted out of Florida for
felony drug charge, but the story about the marijuana pipe that Blow told them was that he was walking down the stairs to the basement to get this
pipe to bring with him to work with Aidan in his hands, turned around to close the door, and then when he turned back around, let Aidan slip and
fall down the stairs, but that still wasn`t the last story according to the police. Eventually, he told a story about another set of stairs that he
fell down, but through all of those stories police and the medical examiner say that those injuries could not have been caused by any of those
accidents that Blow described.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Welcome back, everyone. A young mother goes to work but before she can even get home, she finds out her 2-year-old toddler boy is dead.
Tonight, we find the live-in boyfriend giving at least five different stories about how the child died, all by accident. To Dr. Charles Sophy, he
is the medical director of the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services and author of Side By Side. Doctor Sophy, it`s great
talking to you. Here is my question, DCFS, Department of Children and Family Services was called in when this child was first born, called in on
the mom, and that could be anything. It could be low birth weight. The baby could have had alcohol in its system when it was born. It could have been
anything. But I don`t think DCFS has followed up on the child and followed the child. Should they have?
DR. CHARLES SOPHY, AUTHOR OF SIDE BY SIDE: Well, absolutely. There`s a protocol we follow no matter what reason we enter that home, we have to
ensure the safety and that there are no risks for this child before we back out. So, if we backed out before we should have, that`s not any good. If we
backed out and then this happened after the fact, there`s nothing we can do at a certain point because we can`t oversee everybody all day.
GRACE: And quickly, Matt Zarrell, what does the mother have to say about leaving the child alone with a guy with a drug history. Was he high
on pot at the time?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, police are still looking into that, but from what the mother said, he was a very loving fatherly
figure for the boy.
GRACE: Everybody, this child is dead while mommy is at work, and we`re not letting it go until we see justice. But let`s stop and remember
American hero Marine Sergeant Matthew Mendoza, 24, San Antonio, Texas. Purple Heart, national defense service medal, combat action ribbon, loved
football. A park in his hometown named after him. Parents Ron (ph) and Elizabeth, Brother Timothy, widow Valerie, son, Matthew Jr. Matthew
Mendoza, American hero. And tonight, happy birthday to little McKenzie, loves outdoors, fishing with daddy, and little sister, starts the third
grade next week. Isn`t she gorgeous? And tonight a special thank you to Miss Sue Ellen for giving John David and his mommy, me, a ride at the
beach, we had been driving bicycles for over two hours when John David tuckered out. I had to flag the woman down. She picked us up in a pickup
truck and drove us to safety. Thank you so much, Miss Sue Ellen. Everybody, Dr. Drew is up next. I`ll see you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern and
until then, good night, friend.
END
