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Nancy Grace
Hernandez Kidnapper Charged
Aired July 29, 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 to Oregon. The loving husband of a missing mother of two begs, Mommy come home, as police say
they`ve 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, we get the video stills. As police try their best to recreate Mommy`s movements the day she disappears,
we do the same.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Something is not right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Completely out of character for her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She left their Dundee neighborhood to run errands.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have nothing to say that there was anybody else in the car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe she`s in a ditch somewhere. Maybe she can`t come home. She`s just a very good person.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somebody has to have her!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s from ABC`s "GMA."
And then live to Florida, a young Harvard-trained FSU law professor shot dead execution-style in his own home. Who wanted the young law
professor dead? What did he know somebody wanted kept secret? In the last hours, we obtain the actual dispatch info from the 911 call reporting the
young law professor shot dead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fatally shot in his home`s garage. A neighbor called 911 about a loud bang.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gunshot wound to the head.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`s still a lot of mystery surrounding it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police are sorting through clues to find his killer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And then, live, suburban Conway, New Hampshire. A school girl, Abby, walking home from school vanishes without a trace. The case
cracks wide open when a letter`s mailed to Abby`s mother from Abby. Is it for real?
In the last days, Abby found alive, emaciated, pale, and at this hour, still no confirmation as to how she was kidnapped in broad daylight. But
tonight, was the child held prisoner in this shipping container for nine long months? This we know. The storage box on the alleged kidnapper`s
property, 34-year-old white male Nathaniel Kibby, now surround by crime scene tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Abby was kidnapped.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After nine long months, she mysteriously returned home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The storage container that some refer to as an above-ground bunker in his back yard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s from ABC`s "GMA."
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. Live to suburban Conway, New Hampshire. A school girl, Abby, walking home from school vanishes without a trace. The case
cracks wide open when a letter`s mailed to Abby`s mother from Abby. Was that for real?
Well, in the last days, Abby found alive, emaciated and pale. At this hour, no confirmation as to how she was kidnaped, but was Abby held
prisoner in a shipping container for nine months? This we know, the storage box pictured here on the alleged kidnapper`s property, 34-year-old
white male Nathaniel Kibby, surrounded at this hour by crime scene tape.
That`s right, everybody, Abby Hernandez has been found alive, our program one of the first to highlight this child`s disappearance. And I
could have chewed nails in half when people discounted her disappearance, saying she was just a runaway! We all felt in our hearts this child was
not just a runaway.
And tonight, we know that storage box now surrounded in crime scene tape. Can you imagine being held out in the elements in this storage box,
in the heat, in the cold for nine long months? And still even now, people attacking the girl and her mother, claiming this is just to hide a
pregnancy. The mother has told us that is absolutely not true, somebody cooking that up because the girl has been gone for nine months. After all
she has endured? Still, people attacking the victim.
In the last hours, Abby, this child, just 14 when she is taken from her mother, has the backbone to go to court and stare down her alleged
kidnapper, white male Nathaniel Kibby.
Straight out to Brett Larson, investigative reporter. Right now, that storage container is a boxcar, essentially, that is positioned in his
backyard. It sits on about, I guess, an acre in a trailer park. What do we know, other than it`s surrounded in crime scene tape?
BRETT LARSON, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Well, Nancy, we know his neighbors refer to it as an above-ground bunker, this very large shipping
container that we can see is surrounded by police tape.
And you know, Kibby not a friend to many of his neighbors, who refer to him as just being -- or rather describe him, rather, as being scary. So
we know that this has been there for quite some time. And we also know he`s only 30 miles from where this girl disappeared from.
GRACE: Well, a lot of people have been asking me tonight, Brett Larson, why did it take -- she was -- escaped -- she escaped about seven to
ten days ago. Now, he was just arrested and he was just in court in the last hours. Well, it`s a very simple explanation to me. This child, Abby
Hernandez, was taken from her home en route from school. How is she supposed to know where this guy is taking her?
And Michael Christian, also on the story -- Michael Christian, we found out quite a bit about Nathaniel Kibby at this hour. This is not the
first time he`s been arrested, right?
MICHAEL CHRISTIAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): No, that`s right, Nancy. He has a record that goes back to his high school days in
the late `90s. In 1998, I believe, he was charged with kidnapping a sophomore or attempting to -- excuse me -- to assault a sophomore. He
grabbed her when she was trying to get on a bus. And he said that they had a close relationship, but she said they`d never been romantically involved.
He`s also had arrests for drugs.
GRACE: Wait a minute. Michael Christian, isn`t it true that this is when he was in high school? He`s a 34-year-old man. Coincidentally, it`s
the same high school where Abby attended, all right? She was going home that day. There you go. There`s Kennett High. Same high school, he
assaulted a 16-year-old girl, claiming they had a relationship. Whatever happened -- although she denies is in relationship. Whatever happened, it
was bad enough for him to be banned from the school for a year.
And that`s not his only brush with the law. What else do we know, Michael Christian?
CHRISTIAN: He has pled no contest to using false information to purchase an assault rifle.
GRACE: Whoa, whoa! Assault rifle? What does this guy need an assault rifle for?
CHRISTIAN: Well, we know that he`s a very pro-2nd Amendment guy. He`s written letters to the editor on that subject. And his friends, or at
least the people who know him, have described him as that. They`ve also described him as...
GRACE: Wait! Wa-wait! So it`s another white male, a loner, living in a rural area with a boxcar on his property, writing letters to the
editor about the 2nd Amendment? Do I have the facts straight?
CHRISTIAN: That`s right. He`s also known to have anti-government views, and as you say, loner. That`s exactly what a lot of people have
used to describe him. Another word people have used is "scary."
GRACE: OK. Everybody, in the last hours, Abby Hernandez shows up in court. Now, everyone had told us she was not going to come to court, that
she did not want to be in the same room with her attacker, her kidnapper, her alleged kidnapper. Well, this young girl could teach everybody a
little bit about backbone because she does come to court. She shows up and stares him down with her mother and sister at her side.
Let me ask you this. The charge right now is felony kidnapping class B, as in "brother," Brett Larson. Now, it`s my understanding that what
sets a kidnapping offense into a class B is that, opposed to class A, B occurs and you`re knocked down a notch when the victim makes it back safe
and sound prior to trial, right?
LARSON: That would be correct. And he did get felony kidnapping with purpose to commit an offense against her. And he`s now being held on a $1
million cash bail.
GRACE: Brett, what more do we know?
LARSON: You know, we also know -- and I`m glad you brought up the false reports of pregnancy, which I don`t believe for a second because her
mother said when Abigail -- when she finally did get home, she was very, very thin. Those are her mother`s words, very, very thin. She had lost
some weight. She was incredibly pale. And she had a look in her eyes her mother`s never seen.
GRACE: Everybody, I`m just hearing in my ear we`re being joined by Jack Heath, host on "New Hampshire Today," WGIR. Jack, thank you for being
with us. What more can you tell us, Jack?
JACK HEATH, WGIR (via telephone) (on-camera): Well, Nancy, first of all, it`s great to be with you. And I think your instincts were right. I
think your national viewers have to understand, though, there was a lot of anxiety.
This was the most exhaustive manhunt in New Hampshire`s history, modern-day history, therefore, probably history of modern record, where
police at all levels, Fish and Game, state police, FBI, when she went reported missing October 19th -- I`m sorry, October 9th, that search was
literally a line-to-line search in the North Conway area, everyone`s worst fear.
Then things went quiet. The FBI was involved. There were fund- raisers in the community. And then the rumor mill started. And then the letter came. And authorities were not saying if the public was in danger.
So part of the rumor mill I think was the authorities did not know what they were dealing with. And it really wasn`t until this past weekend,
several days after Abigail, amazingly, returned home, I`m being told by "New Hampshire Today" on our news talk station from veteran prosecutors
they`ve never seen a case in 30 years -- never seen a case where a kidnap victim was picked up in one spot and returned in the exact same spot alive.
So there are still some questions. Your correspondents there...
GRACE: Well, how do we know -- wait a minute! Wait a minute! Everybody, Jack Heath joining me from WGIR there in Bedford. Jack, how do
we know she was, quote, "returned"? How do we know she didn`t escape and make her way home? How do you know that?
HEATH: Well, because I work -- I`ve been in the state a long time, and my show`s the leading news talk show. I have good relationships with
the top law enforcement investigating this case, and there are also some people I know involved in the -- just the -- what`s been happening. And
last -- not this past Sunday, but the Sunday evening before, about 10:00 or 10:30, she literally appeared home.
I`ve been told -- the affidavits have not been released, but I`ve been told she was dropped off, literally dropped off in the same area of North
Conway where she says she was picked up by this man, who`s now been identified, charged and being held on bail, Nathaniel Kibby. And he had a
Chevy blue pickup truck.
So what`s not known -- and I think charges could be upgraded here, Nancy. I think you could see a more aggravated charge coming. They have
him now in the class B felony, a very high cash bail. He wants the affidavit unsealed. The judge is ordering them sealed. The investigation
continues.
I`m being told other charges are coming. They feel this is the guy. What they don`t know, Nancy, is just how she ended up going with him or
being kidnapped by him.
You said correctly earlier he went to the same high school, Kennett High School in Conway. Sources tell me he hung around in the area. His
home in Gorham is a mobile home park, the actual (ph) Gateway (ph) trailer park. It`s just about a 50-minute drive from North Conway. Was he a
predator hanging around the area? Did he know Abigail in some respect before? Had he lured her? Those are the questions that remain unanswered.
But she is an actual kidnap victim. Your instincts were right, Nancy, all along, despite the rumor mill. The poor thing. You can`t imagine the
physical and emotional trauma. She showed real strength today going to court with her sister, Xenia (ph), and her mother to face her abductor.
But the investigation will continue. I think the charges will be upgraded. And we`re going to learn a little more because Abigail -- it
took her days to start talking to police.
And for example, why didn`t anyone in that mobile home park see her? Was she allowed to come out at some time? Did she become afraid of her
captor and obey him? And did she know the area by sight? Because it was her information that led investigators back to his area and his arrest
yesterday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thirty-four-year-old Nathaniel Kibby is sitting in a New Hampshire jail, accused of felony kidnapping in the disappearance of
Abigail Hernandez, prosecutors saying he confined the now 15-year-old girl with the purpose of committing an offense against her. What offense is
still unknown. According to ABC affiliate WMUR, Kibby kept a storage container that some are referring to as an aboveground bunker in his back
yard.
Officials say a traumatized Hernandez, who family says is malnourished and unable to eat solid foods, is now helping investigators piece together
clues to understand where she has been. Kibby`s neighbors are shocked, wondering if Abby was held in that storage container all along.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Everybody, what you just saw is from ABC`s "GMA."
What`s happening? In the last hours, this young girl, then 14 years old, shows up in court to stare down her alleged kidnapper, a 34-year-old
white male, Nathaniel Kibby, a loner, lives in a rural area in a trailer park. Did he hold the girl in this storage box for nine long months doing
God only knows what with the child there?
When she was first arrested (ph), many legal eagles claimed she`s just a runaway? No! Her mother, heart-broken, spoke to us on several occasions
begging for her return, apparently unable to even eat solid food upon her escape?
Also, in the last hours, we learn that Kibby`s defense lawyer says he`s confused. He doesn`t even know what to tell his client he`s charged
with. Well, Kibby`s defense lawyer, if you`re listening tonight, I can tell you exactly what your client`s charged with. He`s charged with
kidnapping, felony class B.
And the only reason he`s not charged with class A, which is a much more severe sentence, is because she managed to live. She managed to get
out of this ordeal safe and sound. She`s emaciated, pale. She can`t even eat solid foods. She could hardly talk when she got back to her mother.
Unleash the lawyers. Joining me, Hugo Rodriguez out of Miami and Seema Iyer, defense attorney out of New York. First for you, Hugo. The
very definition of this form of kidnapping is confining a child with the intent to commit a crime. So I can guarantee you, Hugo, there`s going to
be another charged added to this. It`s not going to just be kidnapping.
HUGO RODRIGUEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Possibly. We don`t know anything about any alleged kidnapping. All we know is the charge.
GRACE: What?
RODRIGUEZ: Nobody`s released the affidavit.
GRACE: OK...
RODRIGUEZ: We don`t know anything about a kidnapping. We don`t know if this girl went with him voluntarily.
GRACE: She`s a child.
RODRIGUEZ: Kibby returned her voluntarily.
GRACE: She can`t consent.
RODRIGUEZ: She might have left voluntarily.
GRACE: We don`t know if she hitched a ride. We don`t know how she got back.
And to you, Seema Iyer. We don`t...
RODRIGUEZ: We don`t know how she left!
GRACE: She can`t even eat solid food. You want to tell me she wanted to live in a boxcar in the back of this guy`s mobile home, his trailer for
nine months?
SEEMA IYER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: There`s no evidence of that, Nancy. There is no evidence of that.
RODRIGUEZ: I`m not suggesting any of that. There`s no evidence -- there`s no evidence she was kidnapped. Zero!
GRACE: Can one of you give me any other theory as to why this boxcar on his property is surrounded by crime scene tape? Can anybody tell me
that? What about that, Seema Iyer?
(CROSSTALK)
IYER: There`s no forensic evidence at this point, Nancy, to indicate that that young woman...
GRACE: Why is the crime scene tape around it?
IYER: ... not a child, young woman -- because that`s what the police do. They put crime scene tape around everything.
GRACE: She`s 14! Put her up!
She`s not a child.
GRACE: Did you just say...
IYER: She is a pre-teen.
GRACE: ... she`s a woman?
IYER: She is a young woman, Nancy. She is...
GRACE: Wa-wa!
IYER: ... 14 and...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... read your law books? Because under 16 is a child under the law. You think you know better than the legislature?
IYER: Not in this day and age, Nancy.
GRACE: Yes, it is!
IYER: Let`s look at the facts here, OK?
GRACE: OK.
IYER: October 2013, the letter from the mother says, I want -- she speaks, the mother, and says, I want to say please come home. We miss you
so badly. November 2013, the dad writes an open letter and says, We don`t know if you ran away. And then it goes on to say, For whatever reason that
may have caused you to run away -- parental instinct, Nancy.
GRACE: Seema, I`m going to ask you...
IYER: They thought that she ran away. Not kidnapped.
GRACE: ... one -- one-word answer. What is the age of consent in that jurisdiction?
IYER: For sex?
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: The age of consent, yes, for sex in that jurisdiction?
RODRIGUEZ: For what?
GRACE: You`re not Seema Iyer.
RODRIGUEZ: There`s no allegation of sex!
GRACE: For consensual sex.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Answer my question.
IYER: Exactly. I don`t know. I`m going to play it safe. I don`t know.
GRACE: I`m going to tell you. The answer is 16.
And to Jack Heath, the host of "New Hampshire Today," WGIR...
IYER: And who is waiting until 16 to have sex?
GRACE: Jack, question.
HEATH: Yes, Nancy?
GRACE: Is there any allegation that this child is somehow being considered as an adult? She is 14 at the time she disappears.
HEATH: No.
GRACE: How can people now attack this victim and somehow claim that this little girl, age 14 -- that`s just eight years, not even eight years
older than my child, who is 6-and-a-half!
HEATH: No, Nancy, your...
GRACE: Like she...
HEATH: Your instincts are correct.
GRACE: It`s ridiculous!
HEATH: No, she`s being treated as a minor. This state would not have made the arrest yesterday and would not have held this guy for a million
dollars if they did not feel that she was held against her will and another crime committed. I think you`ll see charges upgraded.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: In the last hours, then 14-year-old Abby Hernandez is in court with her mother at her side, staring down the 34-year-old white male
accused of kidnapping her and holding her in a storage box. It looks like a train car in the back of his home, his trailer park.
Back to Jack Heath joining us from "New Hampshire Today," WGIR. You know, a lot of people are asking what took so long, almost a week, to find
this guy, nab him and arrest him. Bottom line, she probably had no idea where she really was if she`s been in a boxcar for nine months, Jack.
HEATH: Well, Nancy, you`ve always stood on the victim`s side. You were right on your instincts. This poor young girl, who knows the horrific
emotional and physical trauma.
Sources tell me she and her mother were not communicating with authorities all week because she was probably recovering. It wasn`t until
the end of the week when she released -- gave information for a composite sketch. Police put the word out. And then the next day, she must have
(INAUDIBLE) information over the weekend because she must have been able at some point go outside or have enough knowledge to know where that Gateway
trailer park was. They were able to go there yesterday and arrest her alleged abductor.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Welcome back, everybody. And now live to Oregon, a gorgeous young mother of two goes missing, 6:00 PM, broad daylight, running errands.
Well, in the last hours, we get the video stills, her last known stop when she disappears, police at this hour trying their best to recreate Mommy`s
movements the day she disappears, and we do the same.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A mother of two wouldn`t vanish on her own, that she would never leave her little boys just 2 and 6 years old.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Completely odd, completely out of character for her to disappear like this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was last seen on surveillance video filling up her SUV with gas, this Newberg gas station.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Continue the search, the (inaudible) is trying to keep things as normal as possible for his two young sons, desperate for
information.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
GRACE: To Dan O`Donnell, anchor reporter with WIFN joining us. Dan, what can you tell us? We know that police have found video surveillance of
her. We have a stills of that. Everybody, take a look at this. We are showing you stills from the gas station and what the dad told us last
night, absolutely clear in these photos, there`s nobody in that (inaudible), you can see through the sun roof over the picture to your
right. Also, we have contacted the (inaudible) today, and we have also learned that an intimate pumped her gas. There was nobody in that car with
her. Dan O`Donnell, what do you know?
DAN O`DONNELL, ANCHOR/REPORTER; NEWS/TALK 1130 WISN: Well, we do know that this surveillance video was from a bank where Jennifer stopped at an
ATM about 10-15 minutes before she stopped at that gas station. The blurry surveillance photos, video from that gas station, the last that anyone saw
her. As you said, Nancy, nobody with her at either stop, in either surveillance camera, both of those videos show her completely by herself.
GRACE: Everyone, even up until (inaudible) tonight, police are trying to recreate the route and the errands that she took that day, that she
completed that day, another piece of the puzzle that ATM stop. We do the same. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her husband says, he last saw her Thursday night around 5:45, when she said she was heading out to run errands. Huston was
last seen on surveillance video, filling up her SUV with gas at the Newberg gas station.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Five and half hour later, she swiped her debit card at the Circle-K gas station on Portland road.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that`s the last that she -- that anyone saw her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are three major grocery stores in the Newberg, three or four. And she frequents them all for different items that
they need. We believe she was going to the Fred Meyer`s grocery store.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say Jennifer stopped at a credit union and took out what they described a small amount of cash the night she vanished.
They say, it was minutes later that she then got gas at a Circle-K.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They do have a clear shot of her just minutes before pulling into the Circle-K. I have seen a shot of the car driving by
one of the camera`s fling into the station. I can see her hair color in the window.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
GRACE: Joining us right now, special guest at Newberg-Dundee Police Captain, Captain Chris Bolick. Captain, thank you for being with us.
CHRIS BOLICK, NEWBERG-DUNDEE POLICE CAPTAIN: Hello. Thank you.
GRACE: Captain, I know that many people believe that a dead end has been hit. I don`t think that that`s true and I don`t believe that your
department believes that. Tell me what is your department -- what are you doing at this hour to bring Jennifer home?
BOLICK: Well, the detectives are still diligently working the case. They`ve done so from the day we were made aware of Ms. Huston`s
disappearance. Currently, you know, the things that most folks would expect that we`re still looking for, surveillance video. They`re contacting local
businesses to see if she made any contacts or stops with them, interviewing people, still doing electronic investigations, things of that nature. We`ve
also been in contact with some of our local law enforcement partners to see if they could offer us any assistance. But that`s pretty much the things
that we`re doing currently at this moment and continue to do and have been doing.
GRACE: Captain Chris Bolick with us, Newberg-Dundee Police Captain. Captain Bolick, did she -- do we know whether she made it to the grocery
store from the Circle-K?
BOLICK: The best answer I can give you that we don`t believe that she went to the grocery store from the Circle-K, from the Fred Meyer.
GRACE: OK. Have you guys looked at the video?
BOLICK: If I could interject, I know that the Fred Meyer is kind of a focus area, but we don`t believe she made it to the Fred Meyer or went to
the Fred Meyer I should say from the Circle-K.
GRACE: OK. Now, I do think on what you`re saying that the direction or which she drove out of the Circle-K was not toward Fred Meyer. Let me see
that map please again, Justin. Captain Bolick, does the Fred Meyer grocery store have surveillance video, and have you -- have your people reviewed
it?
BOLICK: They do have surveillance video. They do have big cameras there. Review that is -- let me just say we`ve reviewed a lot of
surveillance video from differing businesses around not only Newberg through the downtown area but also in that area that you`re describing.
GRACE: We know that there are eight traffic lights between home and the gas station. Captain Bolick, did any of those traffic lights have
cameras on them?
BOLICK: Yes, they do.
GRACE: Great. Next, there were three gas station -- excuse me, three grocery stores she normally used, Fred Meyer and two others. What are the
other two? There`s a shot we`re showing right now, captain, of the camera at one of the red lights, which is a pretty obvious stop. And that would
have been en route from her home, we think, to the gas station. What were the other two grocery stores, captain?
BOLICK: The one that`s right close to the Circle-K is the Safeway. But as I can tell you, again, video and contacts have been made with the
surrounding businesses that may be connected to this investigation.
GRACE: Joining me right now is a very special guest, Jennifer`s mother, Deborah Turner is with us. Ms. Turner, thank you so much for being
with us.
DEBORAH TURNER, MOTHER OF JENNIFER HUSTON: Thank you for covering this.
GRACE: Ms. Turner, I like you have a daughter. And I want you to know that our prayers and our thoughts have been going up for Jennifer since the
moment we learned she was missing. Not only ours, but everyone that is loyal to our program, their thoughts and prayers are with you tonight and
with Jennifer and her children. I want you to know that. What is your message tonight, Ms. Turner, if you could speak to Jennifer right now what
would your message to her be?
TURNER: It would be you are so loved and so missed. And we want you home. We are doing everything possible to find you. We`ve got people all
over walking and looking and anything, everything, trying to turn over everything that we can. And we`ve got amazing support from the local police
department. If you can talk to somebody, get away, be strong, come home.
GRACE: Everyone, with me is Jennifer`s mother, Deborah Turner. Ms. Turner, what about her children? Who is taking care of them while everyone
is searching for mommy?
TURNER: I`m here. Julie, Kallen`s mom is here, and his sister is here and his brother and my son. I mean, the house is just filled with people to
take care of the boys and try and keep some normalcy as much as possible.
GRACE: Everyone with me also, Michael Gast, founder of the National Academy of Police Diving, Michael, we know the Willamette River is very
close by. With a river, whether it be white water or not, how would you advise the river be searched?
MICHAEL GAST, FOUNDER, NATIONAL ACADEMY OF POLICE DIVING: Well, depending on the direction that it flows and everything and the speed at
which it flows, you have to start from a point where there`s access to the water. And then from there you determine your distances and the sinking
times, the characteristics of what would happen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: And now live Florida, a young Harvard-trained FSU law professor shot dead execution style in his own home. Who wanted this young law
professor did? In the last hours we obtained the actual dispatch info from the 911 call reporting the young law professor shot dead.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The criminal law professor is now a crime victim. His life was cut short by a bullet to the head shot at his Tallahassee
home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They shot (inaudible). It`s a terrible tragedy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have yet to name a suspect in the case.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
GRACE: Straight out to Brett Larson, Investigative Reporter, a lot developing in the last 24 hours. What can you tell me about what we learned
from the 911 call?
BRETT LARSON, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: You know, Nancy, they did just release a very limited version of these transcripts. But what we`ve learned
very interesting. Now, the caller was the neighbor, and we`ve known that he had heard this loud noise, went out to see what was going on. According to
this transcript now, he said that the driver`s side window was bashed open, the driver was bleeding and unable to tell what was going on, that this is
the man who was shot, the lawyer who was shot. He said that he was not ever heard talking and that he was on his phone prior to being shot. So, some
interesting details, some of which we already knew but also that continue to just unfold this mystery of what happened and who did this crime.
GRACE: Clark -- Clark Goldband, what more are we learning from the actual 911 call, the original call?
CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, these are the dispatch records. And you can see in the transcript the caller mentions a
particular car. However, that part is redacted, so, certainly some questions there. Authorities we know, Nancy, are searching for this Prius,
silver or gray Prius.
GRACE: Whoa, don`t start on the Prius. I want to hear about what we`ve just gotten, Clark. We have gotten what was said in the 911 call.
GOLDBAND: Yes.
GRACE: What I`m talking about is this. It`s got to be a neighbor. It`s got to be a neighbor that goes up to the car. Because we learn now from
this 911 call that quote the glass on the car was broken.
GOLDBAND: Yes.
GRACE: We are learning now because of this 911 call that the law professor, the young father of two, is shot still sitting in his car. We
didn`t know that.
GOLDBAND: Well, Nancy, we`ve also learned, according to these transcripts, it appears that this victim was apparently moving around to
some degree. Now we know...
GRACE: You mean after he`s shot?
GOLDBAND: Yes. Now, we know he did not speak. That`s been reported. However, this would appear he was moving around. Authorities apparently
questioned this witness if he was speaking, and he was never heard talking according to the reports.
GRACE: OK. Everybody, this is what we`re learning from the 911 call. And police have redacted a portion of it, about what the car looked like
that drove away. But, (inaudible) put two and two together you`re going to get four. They take the car, make a model out of the 911 call. But then
they issue a bolo be on the lookout for this green Prius. Hello, what do we learn from the 911 call? We learn a neighbor hears a bang. He goes over.
This guy, the law professor, is still sitting in his car. He`s just pulled in it`s about 11:00 A.M. in the morning. People have said he opened the
door or opened the garage for somebody? I don`t know where they`re getting that, because he`s still sitting in the garage in his car. He was shot
through the window or the window was bashed in, and then he was shot. Now, we also know, this tells me that the person did not shoot the Prius or from
their car. It`s a point blank shot to the head. You can`t do that in a garage from another car. Dr. William Marrone joining me, medical examiner,
Madison Heights. Dr. Mareone, what do you deduce from what we`ve learned?
DR. WILLIAM MARRONE, MEDICAL EXAMINER: Well, anytime anybody`s shot in a car through a window, that is a high caliber weapon. And the glass is
designed because of accidents to break but not come apart, to stay in a web. So, in order to break that, I don`t think somebody tried to break it,
shoot it through. They shot him from the outside. And they will be able to tell by glass shards in the forensic evidence in the victim how forceful
that was. And glass doesn`t break that easy. It takes a lot of force to break glass. It stays together for safety.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Everybody, in the last hours, we have obtained the transcript notes from the actual 911 call of this young father of two, a law school
professor, Harvard trained, gun down in his own garage. Who wanted him dead? The professor shot execution style. Joining me right now, friend and
colleague professor Dan Markel, Doug Berman is joining us from Columbus. Doug, thank you for being with us. How did you...
DOUG BERMAN, FRIEND AND COLLEAGUE PROFESSOR DAN MARKEL: Thank you for having me, Nancy.
GRACE: Thank you. You know, I don`t want this guy Markel to be just another statistic. I want you to tell me about him. You two were very good
friends.
BERMAN: What was remarkable was how he continued working and being the productive dynamic law professor, doing the blogging he did, doing his
public writing, doing his professional academic writing even through his personal struggles. And so, it wasn`t until he confided in me that he was
having these personal struggles that I even realized it. His work hadn`t suffered. He was staying as dynamic and accomplished as he was throughout
all this personal stuff.
GRACE: When you first learned that he had been shot dead, what was your immediate thought?
BERMAN: Absolutely shocking, and you know, hoping that it was some, you know, horrible accident or something that could be explained, not
becoming this horrific mystery that, as you said before, he was shot execution style. Somebody obviously wanted him dead, and trying to
understand who that could possibly be and the challenge to figure out...
GRACE: Well, we`re trying to, Doug Berman, re-create his movements that morning. Clark Goldband, isn`t it true he dropped his two young boys,
ages 3 and 5, at playschool that morning around 9:00, typically staying to have breakfast with them there. So, he had dropped them off 9:00, 9:30,
probably ran errands, came back home 11:00 A.M. it seems to be the perp maybe knew that the children were not there. Didn`t they swap off week by
week as to who had the two children?
GOLDBAND: Yeah, Nancy, according to the documents we have obtained, him and the ex-wife shared a schedule that was one week her, one week him,
and that seemed to be the plan, but according to reports, the two children ages just 5 and 3-year-old, now without a dad, were both at the daycare,
Nancy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: As we go to air tonight, we obtained the actual notes from the 911 call, reporting Dan Markel dead, law professor, shot in the head. To
Dr. Ramani Durvasula, a clinical psychologist, his ex-wife is said to be devastated, distraught. Now, I understand that, maybe regrets, wishing
things had been different, but amongst her friends, there`s no doubt that she is distraught.
DR. RAMANI DURVASULA, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: I mean, Nancy, more than anything, her children lost their father. By all reports, he`s a wonderful
father. So, I mean, for her the most intense loss maybe the loss that her children went through. And obviously, this man was someone she loved,
someone she was married to, no matter how messy the divorce was. Once upon a time they had something real. So, this must be a tremendous loss for her,
and obviously, her children.
GRACE: But, you know what, I get it. You know, thinking about what could have been, what went wrong, now she`s never got a chance to fix
anything, and for their father to die in such a brutal way, very quickly, Clark Goldband, he had dropped the children off at play school that
morning. Do we know right now where he was coming from when he pulled into his garage?
GOLDBAND: No, we don`t. We know he was killed between 10:45 and 11:00 in the morning.
GRACE: Almost straight back from daycare. OK. We`re on it. Tip line 850-891-4462 there is a reward.
Let`s stop and remember American hero Marine Lance Corporal Andrew Whitaker, 21, Bryant, Indiana. Purple Heart, loved four-wheeling, lost his
life just before his spring wedding. Parents Susan and Ernie, stepmother Norma, Sister Ashley, fiancee Casey. Andrew Whitaker, American hero. >
And everyone, my friend and CNN Anchor Kyra Phillips new book The Whole Life Fertility Plan. Kyra (inaudible) director at NYU, explain what
impact starting a family and making your dreams of a family come true. Go to our website, Nancy Grace library.
Everybody, Drew is up next. I will see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern, and until then, good night, friend.
END
