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Nancy Grace
Cops: Mommy Murders Husband Found Tied Up In Closet, Fakes Home Invasion; Mom Vanishes After Buying Gas, Sighting of Mommy?; Mom Sets Husband on Fire
Aired August 04, 2014 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: Breaking news tonight, live, suburban Renton, Washington state. At this hour, a young mom thrown behind bars after she
sets her brand-new husband of just two months on fire. Bombshell tonight. She set her husband on fire, all right, but she says she had a reason, that
her brand-new husband sex-molested her 7-year-old little girl and that a bullet was just too good for him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The security camera shows him stumble into a Skyway convenience store, screaming for help. The customer looks on as Vincent
Phillips drops to his knees, clearly in agony.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, upscale Texas suburbs. Police race to the scene of a deadly home invasion to find the husband and father, Jim Melgar (ph),
brutally stabbed to death, his wife dazed, confused, tied up, locked in a closet, this after the couple had planned a big anniversary party at their
home that very night. But as we go to air, cops hone in on Mommy. Did she murder her husband, tie herself up and fake a deadly home invasion?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A bizarre crime. He had been stabbed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Neighbors initially thought Jaime Melgar`s (ph) death was the result of a home invasion gone wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tied herself up to make it appear that she was a victim, as well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don`t know what goes on behind somebody`s closed doors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That video from ABC`s "GMA."
And then to Oregon. Police say they`ve run out of leads after a young mom two of goes missing, broad daylight, pumping gas. After secret
surveillance video emerges of Mommy, and Daddy takes a polygraph, In the last hours, has there been a sighting of the missing Oregon mom?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A new lead in the case of missing mom Jennifer Huston.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My hope is that we can find her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s possible she made the nearly 300-mile drive from outside Portland to Anacortes, Washington, where she hopped a ferry for the
San Juan Islands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, sex-molestation on a Delta flight?
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. To suburban Renton, Washington state. A this hour, a young mom thrown behind bars after she sets her brand-new husband of just
two months on fire. She sets her husband on fire, all right, but she says she`s got a good reason, that her brand-new husband sex-molested her 7-
year-old little girl and that a bullet was just too good for him.
We are taking your calls. Straight out to Joe Gomez, KRLD. Joe, what happened?
JOE GOMEZ, KRLD (via telephone): Nancy, reports are that Vincent Phillips ran into a 7-Eleven with burns all over his body, saying that his wife had
set him on fire. Cops went to his apartment and found his wife, who, in fact, didn`t deny that she did set him on fire. She said that she -- she
said that shooting him would have been too nice.
So what did he do to deserve all of this (INAUDIBLE) His wife alleges that Phillips molested her 7-year-old daughter. So then she allegedly confessed
to police to pouring gasoline on her husband while he was in bed, then lighting a match, Nancy, and watching him burn.
GRACE: OK, let me get this straight. Everybody, you are seeing the video where his head, at the home (ph), was literally on fire. And a friend was
in the home when he stumbles out, puts a blanket or something over his head, gets rid of the flame. He stumbles nearby to a gas station, and he`s
screaming something. What is he screaming, Joe Gomez, when he comes into the gas station?
GOMEZ: He`s screaming, Help me, help me. He`s begging for help. He`s saying that his wife has set him on fire and he has severe burns all over
his body.
GRACE: OK, we`re also showing you video. Let`s rerack the video just before he comes in screaming with his head on fire. There`s Mommy. She`s
filling it up, filling it up with gas to take home, and according to police, set her brand-new husband on fire, she says for sex molesting her
7-year-old little girl. It is not his natural child the Mommy`s talking about. It is her child. This is a new husband. There you see, she`s
going into the gas station and she is filling up.
Matt Zarrell, what more can you tell me?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Well, the friend who was actually on the scene, Nancy, described it straight out of the movie
"Ghost Rider" with Nicolas Cage, that there were flames shooting from his head, and that he was desperately screaming for help.
GRACE: OK. You`re referring to a movie "Ghost Rider." OK, what are you talking about, Matt?
ZARRELL: Yes, there`s a Nicolas Cage movie based on a comic book called "Ghost Rider," with a character whose head is covered in flames. And that
is how the witness says Vincent Phillips appeared inside the apartment when he was lit on fire.
GRACE: OK, we`re just showing you what the witness was talking about. She sees the father, the husband, come out of the bedroom. Police come back to
the scene. They say that before they can even get into the home, they smelled the smell of gasoline. The bed was soaked with gasoline.
This is not the first time that a parent has taken action when they believe that their child has been sex-molested. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, help! Help! I`m on fire! Please! Help! Help! (INAUDIBLE) Please! Help! Help!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Prosecutors say McBride (ph) admitted to having sex with the teen at North Attleboro middle school.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: While in the music room in between rehearsals of other students.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Having sex with the teen in a car at the Emerald Square Mall.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at me, you (EXPLETIVE DELETED)! Look at me! Look at me!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Marc Klaas, I know it`s wrong, but I only wish that you got your hands around his neck. I only wish --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had to pay my dues. So should you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Burn in hell, Davis! (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down, boy! (ph) (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An inappropriate emotional relationship.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Texts on her daughter`s cell phone between the 15- year-old daughter and this teacher.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For a report of a disturbance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The teacher showed up at the home uninvited. There was an altercation between him and the father. The father struck him with
a baseball bat.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This 47-year-old man attempting to rape his 5-year- old daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This guy was raping my daughter. I beat him up. (INAUDIBLE) I didn`t know what to do!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Took the girl out into some brush and attempted to molest her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her father went to look for her and found her half naked.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pulled this guy off his daughter, punched him repeatedly in the face and the head, and ended up killing him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Forty-one-year-old Jay Mainor (ph) is the one who came to this home and shot and killed Raymond Brooks (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Charged with gunning down the man who molested his daughter over a dozen years ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Marc Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation. OK, Marc, you of all people can identify with this. Now, yes,
we`ve got a mother who sets her-brand new hubby on fire as he lay sleeping, as he`s in the bed, anyway. And she says she did it, all right, but
because he molested her 7-year-old little girl.
And according to the witness, at the time she put the gas on him, the witness who was there in the home when it happened, says, You hurt my baby.
You hurt my baby, before the fire breaks out. That`s what she said to him, according to a witness, an impartial witness at the scene.
I want you to weigh in. Why does the parent get in trouble when they act on someone they believe molested their child?
MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: Sure. Well, there`s a couple of things going on here, I think, Nancy. Number one, when we`re in a position to
exact immediate revenge on somebody that does harm our child, whether it`s a sexual abuse situation or some other kind of a situation, we`re going to
take advantage of that opportunity and do it.
Secondly, I think that people resort to vigilante solutions when they feel that justice will not be served in a court of law. And if you look at what
happens to child molesters oftentimes in this country, they do get a slap on the wrist. They are given a minimal time in prison and are then able to
go on with their lives and repeat those crimes again and again and again.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers, Deborah Blum and Patrick McDonough. First to you, Patrick McDonough. Weigh in.
PATRICK MCDONOUGH, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Here`s the problem. We don`t even know if this really took place. We know all kinds of parents that think
their kid can do wrong or they can`t lie. We don`t know if this even happened. She`s not a forensic interviewer. She`s certainly biased. They
didn`t do a physical exam. I mean, to rush to this type of judgment and to take this back (ph) is just uncalled for at this stage.
GRACE: OK, so you think that a mother is willing to risk -- she`s in jail! She`s charged with a felony over this! This Mommy is behind bars tonight.
She did this because she says her brand-new husband of a couple of months molested her 7-year-old. So you think she wants to do this and go sit
behind bars?
MCDONOUGH: No, I`m not -- she might even believe that. The problem is, it may not be true. The 7-year-old might not like Stepdad, might like Dad to
come back, might make something up. And that`s the problem. Mom might believe her, but it might not have happened. And now you`ve got somebody
who`s committed arson, almost attempted murder, when we don`t even know what happened.
GRACE: You know what? Number one, by the way that guy walked into the gas station, it`s not attempted murder. I don`t have a fear he`s going to die
behind bars. And number two --
MCDONOUGH: When you pour gasoline on somebody`s head and set them on fire, I`m telling you that is grounds for attempted murder.
GRACE: OK --
DEBORAH BLUM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, she had no intent --
GRACE: -- you may say she admits attempted murder, but this guy is not going to die. Now, how many times, Deborah Blum, have I heard in court,
Oh, the child`s making it up? Oh, the child doesn`t know right from wrong. Oh, the child doesn`t know the truth from a lie. You know what? That is
BS. And every time I`ve had a case in court that I prosecuted, I proved it was BS and the child was telling the truth!
BLUM: Well, just to go back to the last point, we know that Mom`s intent was not to kill him. She wanted him to feel pain. She didn`t want to
shoot him and kill him and end his life because she wanted him --
GRACE: Where are you getting that? She said a bullet was too good for him. That doesn`t mean she didn`t want him dead.
BLUM: Well, I think that by saying that, she means that she wanted him to suffer and feel the pain of the flames going on his body. I don`t think
she actually wanted to kill him. I think she just wanted to severely injure him. So I think the prosecution was right here in not charging as
an attempted murder.
GRACE: I think you`re right. I`m on the side of the mom tonight. I am not on the side of the husband because I don`t think a 7-year-old girl made
it up.
Out to the lines. To Lisa. Hi, Lisa. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. Quickly, I`ve been watching your show for 10, 11 years every night, and I still will.
GRACE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And my opinion is that -- or question, actually -- sorry -- is that, OK, I understand that the mother did what she did.
However, is there a chance now she`ll lose custody of her daughter?
GRACE: There absolutely is a chance she`ll lose custody of her 7-year-old child. Right now, she is behind bars.
Out to Joe Gomez. Who has the 7-year-old little girl?
GOMEZ: Well, at present, Nancy, we understand that she`s in protective custody of some kind, perhaps with a relative or what have you.
But we -- let`s go back to what actually happened that set this -- all of this into motion here. This woman claims that her husband had molested her
7-year-old girl. And she took matters into her own hands and put gasoline on this man while he was in bed and set him ablaze.
Now, I don`t know any parent out there who would not just feel such rage if their child came up to them and said, You know, Mommy, that man has been
touching me inappropriately. I can understand the rage any parent would feel.
GRACE: OK. Just hearing you say that, my -- I`m actually getting tingling in my hands thinking of someone touching one of my two twins. Oh! Oh!
Hell would know no fury like that!
Everybody, for those of you just joining us, tonight, a young mom has been thrown behind bars. She set her brand-new husband on fire. She says it`s
because he sex-molested her 7-year-old little girl. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, help! help! I`m on fire. Please! Help! Help! I`m on fire. I`m on fire! Please! Help! I`m on fire! I`m on
fire!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, help! Help! I`m on fire. Please! Help! Help! I`m on fire. Please! Help! Help! I`m on fire! I`m on fire!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Tonight, a young mom in the last hours thrown behind bars after she sets her husband on fire. She said she did it because she believes he sex-
molested her 7-year-old little girl. It`s not the first time a parent has suffered for speaking out against a perceived child molester. Take a
listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at me you (EXPLETIVE DELETED)! Look at me. Look at me!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: You are hearing the voice of Brian McBride (ph). He was once a course teacher. He got a job at a little girl`s school as guidance
counselor to be closer to her. Then her father finds all these suggestive videos and text messages on the child`s phone and confronts him in court,
after that guidance counselor shows up on their doorstep at some crazy hour of the morning.
Out to the lines. Beth in Washington. Hi, Beth. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. How are you? I wanted to make a comment about the mother who set the man on fire. Where`s the justice for the little
girl if the police lock the mother up for protecting her and her father -- he should be the one in jail, not the mother. Any mother would do the same
for her --
GRACE: You know, Beth in Washington, it`s so hard for me to convince these two defense attorneys of what you are saying. But when you believe your
child has been harmed in this manner, which -- you can never fix it. The child will grow up and may go on to lead a productive life, but you`ll
never get over the scars of a sex-molestation, absolutely never.
Please rerack Brian McBride in court, please, Justin. Everyone, take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at me, you piece of (EXPLETIVE DELETED)! Look at me! Look at me!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: To Marc Klaas. Marc Klaas, do you remember the night you came on with us after the father is getting thrown out of court? Can we see
McBride, please? The father is the one getting thrown out of court when he is the one who confronts the course teacher texting the daughter suggestive
messages. And then the father is the one that gets in trouble!
KLAAS: Sure. I remember that night well because I was in Connecticut at a crime victims conference dealing with other parents who had gone through
similar situations.
I`d like to go right back, though, to this little girl. She is the forgotten victim here. She may have been molested by this man. She has
been separated from her mother. The mother`s in prison. The stepfather`s in the hospital. Even one of your own guests has suggested that this
little girl may be a liar. And I think that we have to really focus in and remember this is an innocent little child that needs to be protected now,
not accused.
GRACE: Everybody, with me is Marc Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation. Rerack what you were just showing, please, Justin.
Marc knows exactly what we are talking about. Take a look at what happened to Marc Klaas when he`s thrown out of court, when he confronts the man who
took his daughter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would also like to state for the record that the main reason I know that I did not attempt any lewd act that night was because of
a statement the young girl made to me when walking her up the embankment, Just don`t do me like my dad. I have to pay my dues. So should you.
KLAAS: Burn in hell, Davis!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jacobs, do you have any comments you want to make?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m on fire! Please! Help! Help! I`m on fire. I`m on fire!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back, everyone. For those of you just joining us, a young mom behind bars tonight. She claims that, yes, she set her brand-new
husband on fire, her husband of just a couple of months, but that she did it because he sexually molested her 7-year-old little girl. So let me ask
you, do you blame her?
With me right now is Beth Carey, also on the story. Beth, you actually got through to the father in the hospital. What did he say?
BETH CAREY, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): That`s right, Nancy. Let me start by saying that Vincent Phillips did say he was on pain
medication and spoke with slurred speech. He said he did not touch the child. He was not home half the time. He thinks a psychiatrist needs to
talk to this child. He said the child did call him Dad and loved him like a dad.
GRACE: So he claims that he never touched the child. OK, so let me just ask you this, Beth. I haven`t found any criminal history on the mother.
Is there a criminal history on the father, the husband?
CAREY: Yes, I believe so, Nancy.
GRACE: OK, Matt Zarrell, what can you tell me about this guy`s criminal history?
ZARRELL: Nancy, he has got a lot of arrests, and I mean a lot of arrests dating back to 1992. Most of it involves drugs and vehicle issues, and one
domestic violence assault conviction in August of 1999, as well.
GRACE: OK. So he claims that she`s the one who is paranoid and it`s all her fault and she doused him with gasoline. She is squeaky clean, has
never had -- does not have a criminal history, to my knowledge.
OK, to Dr. -- oh, I`m hearing that she does have something. I`m going to get that for you. Dr. Lolly (ph) McDavid joining me, medical director of
child advocacy and protection. Dr. McDavid, what type of exam, or is there an exam that can reveal whether the 7-year-old girl has been molested?
DR. LOLITA M. MCDAVID, RAINBOW BABIES AND CHILDREN`S HOSPITAL: Well, actually not. What we do is, we take the child`s word for it. The best
thing to do is to do a good forensic interview. Departments of children and family services have people who are trained to do that. We have people
here who are trained to do that. We`re at a major pediatric hospital -- to do the interview. And you don`t continually interview children. Children
are very suggestible.
GRACE: OK, let me ask you --
MCDAVID: So you just interview them --
GRACE: -- this, Dr. McDavid. What a pelvic exam? Wouldn`t that reveal whether the child still has a hymen or not? And if a child of 7 years old
does not have a hymen --
MCDAVID: The hymen is not --
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: -- molested?
MCDAVID: The hymen is not a guard-all shield over the opening of the vagina. The hymen a rim of tissue around the opening of the vagina --
GRACE: Right.
MCDAVID: -- and so it`s not a covering. It is not something that --
MCDAVID: Correct.
MCDAVID: -- goes away when you have sex. Now, if there`s been traumatic sex you may be able to see a tear or a scar. But people often, we call it
grooming children. So they groom them. They don`t immediately do something sexual that would hurt them. They start with sitting them on
their lap and fondling them and giving them baths a little too long and wanting to put the lotion on. And just testified in a trial two weeks ago
in this county where the perpetrator was found guilty where he did that. He just took his time. And so we don`t know how long this had been going
on.
GRACE: OK. Very quickly, I want to go out to Marc Klaas, president and founder of KlaasKids Foundation. Can I see Mark please? Mark, every time
I prosecuted a child molestation case, there would be -- if there had been penal penetration, there would be no hymen, there would be indicia the
child had been molested, a girl, same with the boy, there would be physical indicia that there had been molestation. So, you know, I prosecuted over
100 cases. Not all of them are child molestation. Some were murder. Some were arson. I believe that an exam of the child may very well reveal
whether there had been a full-on sex encounter, a rape of the child. Now if that is revealed, don`t you think that that will help the mother`s case?
MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: Well, if the jury is aware of why the mother did this, it`s going to help her case. They`re
going to have sympathy for a mother who took revenge out protecting her child from the sexual molestation any of man, let alone her stepfather.
GRACE: And I am seeing right here that the mom does have a couple of encounters with the law. Back around `98 and `04 dealing with, it looks
like prescription drugs. That`s what we know tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: And now live, Texas suburbs. Police race to the scene of a deadly home invasion to find the husband and father Jim Melgar brutally stabbed to
death. His wife dazed, confused, tied up and locked in a closet. This after the couple had planned a big anniversary party at their home that
very night. But as we go to air, cops hone in on mommy. Did she murder her husband? Do it herself? Tie herself up? And fake a deadly home
invasion?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Shocking.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Sandra Melgar is facing a murder charge.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: They found Sandra Melgar tied up in her closet.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: She and her husband were found tied up in separate closets.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: He had been stabbed.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Authorities now claiming her story is an elaborate ruse. Sandra Melgar stands accused of a bizarre crime, charged with murder in the
death of her 52-year-old husband Jaime Melgar. Allegedly faking a home invasion to cover it up. On December 23rd, 2012, the couple planning to
celebrate their 32nd wedding anniversary with family and friends was found by relatives tied up in separate closets of their Texas home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That reporting and investigation from ABC`s "GMA." Straight out to Adela Uchida joining me there in Houston. Adela, thank you for being with
us. So she tie -- she, according to police, murders her husband the night of their anniversary party, ties herself up, locks herself in a closet and
waits for the party guests to arrive to find them? The husband dead in another closet?
ADELA UCHIDA, NEWS 92 FM REPORTER: Yes, Nancy. That appears right now that`s exactly what happened. Relatives coming over to celebrate their
32nd wedding anniversary. This is just two days before Christmas. Relatives discover Jaime Melgar stabbed to death in a closet. Sandra tied
up in a separate closet. Now, she allegedly claimed that she had blacked out. She claimed that robbers did it but investigators say, no valuables
were taken.
GRACE: With me is Adela Uchida, joining us from Houston. You know, this is an upscale Houston neighborhood. What more can you tell us, Adela? I
mean, it`s just very hard to take in that she is now suspected of stabbing, brutally stabbing her husband to death then dragging his body into a
closet, then tying herself up and locking herself in a closet. And waiting.
UCHIDA: It was a brutal crime. She is charged with murder by stabbing the complainant with a deadly weapon, mainly a knife. It`s a fairly nice
neighborhood in Northwest County which is on the outskirts of Houston. And at this point, her attorney isn`t commenting. So we don`t know what led
them to think that she was the one who did it.
GRACE: OK. Out to Matt Zarrell. Matt, what can you tell us?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, this was the day of their party for their 32nd year wedding anniversary. Family and friends were actually
coming over to the house that day to celebrate their nuptials. And that is when family and friends found Jaime Melgar and his wife in separate
closets, both tied up.
GRACE: OK. But, Matt, this is what I don`t understand. I`ve read and read about it. Why do they believe she did it? What do they have to show
that she`s the one that murdered her husband? She tied herself up and got in the closet and waited for party guests?
ZARRELL: I think the biggest thing the cops are focusing on Nancy are the reports that her story just didn`t make sense. That she claimed that it
was robbers that are responsible. The problem is nothing was taken from the house.
GRACE: Wait. Now didn`t she say something about, Adela Uchida -- didn`t she say something about she blacked out in the bathroom. She was in the
bathroom with her husband and she blacks out, that`s the last thing she remembers?
UCHIDA: She claimed that she had blacked out and I believe it was neighbors who told them that they kind of doubted her story based on the
questions investigators asked her but her attorney not saying anything at this point.
GRACE: So, let me get this straight. Matt Zarrell, she says she`s standing in the bathroom with her husband and I guess as they are getting
ready for the party, their wedding anniversary party, and she blacks out in the bathroom? Do we know, what did she have low blood pressure? Why does
she black out in the bathroom and that`s all she remembers?
ZARRELL: Well, she claims that she blacked out around 1:00 a.m. the night before. That she actually sat in the closet tied up for 12 to 14 hours
before the family came around 3:00, 4:00 in the afternoon and found them inside the closet. It was 1:00 a.m. the night before in the bathroom.
GRACE: Wait, wait, wait. That is a new fact, Matt, that I didn`t pick up on. So she claims she`s standing in the bathroom with her husband and
blacks out at 1:00 a.m. the night before? And that she`s been in the closet blacked out for somewhat medical reason since 1:00 a.m. the night
before?
ZARRELL: Well, apparently for some odd reason, I guess she decided that it was best that these cops believed, she decided it was best to act like she
was still tied up since they believe she tied herself up.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Deborah Blum, New York. Patrick McDonough, Atlanta. All right, to you, McDonough. What`s the defense here?
PATRICK MCDONOUGH, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, the state better have a lot more if they`re going to prove something beyond a e doubt. There could
have been a home invasion. Something could have gone wrong before --
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: No, not something could have gone wrong.
MCDONOUGH: Anything could have gone wrong --
GRACE: But that`s your defense, nothing went wrong?
MCDONOUGH: We don`t even need a defense. They don`t have a case right now. All we know now is that this person blacked out --
GRACE: Her story alone is enough for the prosecution because it doesn`t make any sense.
MCDONOUGH: Just because something doesn`t make complete sense, doesn`t be able to prove someone beyond a reasonable doubt. Home invasion, somebody
breaks in.
GRACE: Somebody breaks in for what?
MCDONOUGH: They take off. Maybe they were going to steal something.
GRACE: But they didn`t?
MCDONOUGH: Well, maybe they heard something.
GRACE: So they go to the effort to kill the husband, hide him in the closet and they hear something and then leave?
MCDONOUGH: Maybe something goes wrong.
GRACE: Put him up, please.
MCDONOUGH: Maybe something goes wrong.
GRACE: She murdered her husband. That`s what went wrong.
MCDONOUGH: And they decide, hey, we need to get out of here. Maybe they didn`t even know they were there.
GRACE: They already committed murder. What are they afraid of?
MCDONOUGH: We don`t know. That`s the point. Nobody knows what happened.
GRACE: Your defense doesn`t make sense. Robbers come in. They murder him, put her in a closet. Why don`t they murder her? She`s blacked out on
the floor. Why do they have to do anything? She`s blacked out.
MCDONOUGH: She easily could have passed out. Maybe she fights back.
GRACE: She could easily pass out?
MCDONOUGH: And they ended up killing him. And then decided they were going to steal something and take off.
GRACE: Why would she easily -- she has no medical history of passing out.
MCDONOUGH: Well, first of all. We don`t know that. Right? We don`t know what their medical history. We don`t know if they put something over her
mouth that could have made her pass out.
GRACE: She didn`t mention that.
MCDONOUGH: We don`t know that.
GRACE: Yes, we do. We do know, to you, let me go to you, Deborah Blum. She said she`s standing in the bathroom with her husband and blacks out
around 1:00 a.m. The next thing she knows, the partygoers are showing up at their house. They`re opening the door where she`s tied up and her
husband is dead in another closet. Please, try to make some sense out of that from the defense perspective, Deborah?
DEBORAH BLUM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, the prosecution has not introduced the motive here. So, we don`t know the theory of their prosecution.
GRACE: Wait. The state doesn`t have to show motive.
BLUM: Well, actually the state has to prosecute the case. The defense has no burden. The only time they --
GRACE: Excuse me. Please address what I just said. The state is never required to show motive in any criminal prosecution.
BLUM: Well, the state is required to prosecute the case. So they have --
GRACE: I know that.
BLUM: No theory of prosecution and --
GRACE: Yes. The theory is she murdered her husband and she faked home invasion. That`s their theory.
BLUM: How did she hang herself?
GRACE: Well, how did she hang herself? She tied herself up and hid in a closet. OK. Greg Cason, psychologist and former star of Bravo`s "L.A.
Shrinks," Cason, why resort to murdering your husband, faking a home invasion? Why not just get a divorce? Let me just throw that out there.
GREG CASON, PSYCHOLOGIST, FORMER STAR OF BRAVO`S "L.A. SHRINKS": Yes, that would be the easiest solution, but that -- the number one reason people
don`t get divorced in situations that if this is the case that she did murder her husband. The number one reason is they feel powerless and they
feel that if they did divorce their husband, they`d lose in the end.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: And now to Oregon. A young mom of two goes missing broad daylight after pumping gas after secret surveillance video emerges of mommy and
daddy takes a polygraph. In the last hours, has there been a sighting of the missing Oregon mom?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Very uncharacterized like of her. She`s a very regimented person. She sticks to a schedule.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Telling her husband she was heading out to run some errands. Bits and pieces of the puzzle of what happened next have been
stitched together through this surveillance video.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Nothing that says there was anybody else in the car.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: She`s a very good person.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Somebody has to have her.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: No solid tips until the ferry sighting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining us now from WISN, Dan O`Donnell. Dan, I understand she has possibly been spotted on a ferry with a bandage on her face?
DAN O`DONNELL, ANCHOR REPORTER, NEWS/TALK 1130 WISN: That`s right. A couple said that they spotted a woman who matched Jennifer`s description
entering in a car that matches her vehicle that she was last seen in and had a two to three-inch white bandage on her left cheek. Now, this is a
ferry to the San Juan Island in Washington State, that San Juan Island about 300 miles from Jennifer`s home.
GRACE: Everybody, take a look at this dark green `99 Lexus LX 470, tag WXHO 11. Now, tell me about the ferry itself, Dan O`Donnell.
O`DONNELL: This is a very large ferry, it is known as a super class ferry, it can hold up to 2,000 passengers and 144 cars and it doesn`t just go to
the san Juan Island, but rather, a group of islands known as the San Juan Islands and police say it is possible that she could be on any one of
these. Of course if this woman was, in fact, Jennifer.
GRACE: Well, the thing is, Stacey Newman also on the story, she could not be living off just trail mix and a couple of over-the-counter sleeping
pills. That wouldn`t happen. So, what has back of her and isn`t it true, Stacy, wouldn`t there be surveillance videos on that ferry?
STACEY NEWMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Oh, absolutely Nancy. There is security cameras all over this boat, on the deck, on the cabins, on the
ferry landings, even on the island. So, cops are narrowing down this window between 8:30 a.m. and 10:15. They want to see that surveillance
footage to see if this is actually her.
GRACE: Now, this is about 300 miles from where she was spotted pumping gas. And Stacey, I know that she was spotted on video getting her tank
topped off. Would her car, the Lexus SUV, with that get her 300 miles on one tank?
NEWMAN: Police did confirm that tank would take her anywhere from 300 to 350 miles. So, she definitely could have made it to that ferry.
GRACE: Now, here is the danger. Out to Marc Klaas, president and founder of KlaasKids Foundation. If this sighting is not correct, and I don`t mean
the person`s making it up, I mean, the person spotted somebody and they think it`s her. If this -- they`ve already called off a large portion of
search for this mom, OK? The aerial search is over. They are scaling back. If they believe this sighting and it`s not true, that means that
she`s still out there, that she is still out there, likely taken by someone. And where she was going, Marc Klaas, is very -- let me just say
rustic. There`s only a few places to go on that island they are talking about, on the other end of the ferry ride.
KLAAS: Well, they should be able to make the determination as to whether or not it was her through that surveillance tape and through other
eyewitness accounts in a very short amount of time. There`s four islands that the ferry could have gone on or that has given ferry service. The
other scenarios include that she is a victim of crime or that she -- she drove her car off of the road and if she did drive the car off of the road
and into a deep body of water, we may never know the answer.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Tonight, sex molestation on a Delta flight?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: A woman claims she woke up during an international flight to find the stranger next to her had his hands in her pants. A 19-
year-old woman was on a Delta flight and says she was asked by the man seated next to her if she wanted to watch a movie with him. She declined
and fell asleep.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Charlie Langton with WWJ. Sex molestation on a Delta Flight? What happened?
CHARLIE LANGTON, REPORTER, WWJ NEWSRADIO 950: Yes, that`s what happened. This happened back in 2012 on a Delta flight. Apparently, this 32-year-old
sat next to a 19-year-old, they wanted to watch a movie, she said no. She fell asleep and then he apparently -- she, rather, was awakened to find his
hand down her pants, underneath her underwear and rubbing his private parts. And at the same time, he had his -- he had put her hand on his
erect penis. He was questioned after the flight and denied any sexual conduct.
GRACE: To Stacey Newman, OK, when I`m on a Delta flight, every time I look up from whatever I`m working on, there`s somebody standing right there, in
line to go to the bathroom, stretching their legs. I don`t understand the scenario. What is the allegation about a sex molestation on a Delta
flight? What exactly happened?
NEWMAN: Well, just as Charlie described, she fell asleep after she declined to watch this movie and woke up to the man with his hands down her
pants and her hand on top of his erect penis. But Nancy, back to your point, this is what experts are describing as a crime of opportunity. It
is a late-night flight, a red eye flight, you don`t have as many flight attendants walking around, so this gives ample opportunity to the person
next to you reached over, if you`re sleeping and fondle you in some way and that is what seems to have happened on this Delta flight.
GRACE: Stacey, what has become of it? Have charges been brought against the alleged perp?
NEWMAN: Yes, we just learned he has just actually been arrested in Florida and he is facing federal charges of sexual contact, Nancy.
GRACE: Let`s stop and remember American hero, army private first class Ara Tyler Deysie, just 18, Parker, Arizona, bronze star, purple heart,
National Defense Service medal, a member of the Colorado River Indian tribe. Parents Erik and Lori, four sisters. Ara Tyler Deysie, American
hero.
Everyone, again, thank you for being with us tonight. Drew up next. I will see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern and until then, good night.
END
