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Nancy Grace
Search for Missing Bremerton 6-Year-Old; Missing Mom`s Body Just Found; Jodi Arias: I`ll Represent Myself as Trial Commences
Aired August 05, 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 Bremerton suburbs, Washington state. A beautiful 6-year-old little girl, Janise, snatched
from her own bedroom just past bedtime. Bombshell tonight. As the clock ticks down, we join the search. Where is 6-year-old Janise?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Desperate search for Janise Wright.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m hoping that she`s just spending the night somewhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last seen Saturday night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s really independent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By her parents as she went to bed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, our focus is on finding this child.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My head is just swimming with thoughts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That from ABC`s "GMA."
And then to Oregon. Police run out of leads on a young mom of two missing, broad daylight, pumping gas. Grainy gas station video emerges, as Daddy
passes a polygraph. When a sighting of the missing mom with a bandage on her face on a local ferry emerges, as we go to air tonight, we learn that
sighting is a bust, a big mistake. Tonight, we`re back to square one. Where is the missing mom?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dundee woman who vanished without a trace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since Jennifer`s disappearance, as of now, we still have no leads as to her whereabouts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People waiting in line to board the ferry began looking.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But the big question remains, where did she go? How could someone just disappear?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And to Mesa, Arizona. They meet on a work trip in Vegas, but when the flame burns out, they break up. It`s only then she moves 300 miles to
chase him, even converting to Mormonism to get her man. Twenty-seven-year- old Arias has wild sex with 30-year-old lover Travis Alexander all day, even photographing the sex. But just minutes after sex, she slashes his
throat ear to ear, shoots and stabs him 29 times, leaving his body to rot in his own shower.
Tonight, Jodi Arias`s retrial set to commence. But at the 11th hour, Arias fires her defense lawyers again and announces she will represent herself.
Word to the wise. A man who represents himself has a fool for a client. At this hour, apparently, Jodi Arias wants Hollywood superstar Angelina
Jolie to play her, Arias, on the big screen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want (INAUDIBLE) get closure, get peace.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) Travis is dead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never meant to cause them so much pain.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Images of our poor brother`s throat slit ear to ear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought my brother was bulletproof.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. To Bremerton suburbs, Washington state. A beautiful 6- year-old little girl, Janise, snatched from her own bedroom just past bedtime. As the clock ticking down, we join the search. Where is Janise?
Straight out to Carleen Johnson with KOMO. Carleen, thanks for being with us. Now, let me get this straight. She goes to bed. It`s summertime. So
10:00 o`clock is not crazy late. She goes to bed around 10:00 o`clock. And she`s there with her mom, the dad. She`s got, I think, three other
siblings in the bedroom with her. There`s a double set of bunk beds in that room.
What happened? Was there an entry at the window or the door? What do we think?
CARLEEN JOHNSON, KOMO (via telephone): No sign of any kind of a forced entry or struggle in the home, Nancy. But yes, Saturday night, she goes to
bed. Sunday morning, apparently, the family wakes up, notices right away that Janise isn`t there. But according to what they`ve told police, she
often wanders off for hours by herself, 6-year-old girl visits with neighbors and then comes back and checks in. They didn`t think anything
odd, didn`t report it to police until nearly 10:00 o`clock on Sunday night.
GRACE: OK, wait, wait, wait. Wait a minute! Let me get this timeline straight in my head. Carleen Johnson joining me, KOMO. Tonight, everyone,
we are joining the massive search for a 6-year-old little girl. She`s last seen that night around 10:00 PM going to bed, bedtime. She goes to her
bedroom, which she shares with her siblings. They`ve got two sets of bunk beds in the room.
Now, the next morning, Sunday morning, the parents wake up, and they think the little girl has just left to go out and play. She is very often
spotted -- according to the neighbors that we`ve talked to, she`ll knock on doors and say, Hey, can So-and-So come out and play, that she`s very social
in that way.
But still, Carleen Johnson, even so, 10:00 o`clock on Sunday night? That`s a full 24 hours later!
JOHNSON: They say that`s not the focus right now, though. They`re not trying to point, you know, any fingers at the parents. They just want to
find this little girl, clearly. It`s now it`s every door in this mobile home park where they live, 103 units, asking everybody who lives there,
Check your garbage, check your storage, any sign of this little girl, touching base with sex offenders in the area. You`ve got the FBI, you`ve
got the county, local police, Missing and Exploited Children, everybody hunting for this little girl now not seen since late Saturday night.
GRACE: To Justin. Justin, could you please show me the interior mock-up that we have made of the inside of the home? And let me see the video, as
well.
Here`s the floor plan we think we`ve got down correctly. You have the entrance area. Then take a look at this. To the right, you`ve got the
door going into the family room. We believe that would be the front door going into the family room. There`s a hallway, a possible door to the left
of that. There`s bedroom number two and the master bedroom.
Now, the girl vanished, we have information, from bedroom two, right beside the master bedroom where Mommy and Daddy are sleeping. Then you`ve got the
two bathrooms, the kitchen and dining area in one spot, and the living room to the far right. This is what we believe to be the layout of the rooms.
Now, according to the blueprint that we have, there is a window in Janise`s bedroom. Take -- let me see that one more time, that blueprint, please.
There is a window in her bedroom.
To Carleen Johnson, joining us from KOMO. Have police fingerprinted the window, as well as the door?
JOHNSON: Well, you can be certain they have. They didn`t tell us exactly what evidence they found, if any, from the house. They told us at the
press conference late this morning that they have taken some evidence from the home to the state crime lab. Now, that may well just be for, you know,
some DNA or something on this little girl. You know how these investigations go, Nancy. Polygraph test...
GRACE: Wa-wa-wa-wa-wait! Back it up! Back it up! What did you say about DNA?
JOHNSON: Well, they may, in fact, just have taken evidence from the little girl to the state crime lab. We were told today, We took evidence from the
home that was removed overnight to the state crime lab. We asked for specifics. What did you take? What did you find? Nothing given as far as
any specifics on that.
I want to mention, though, the polygraph test, everybody of course thinking of the parents. CPS had some history with this family. That`s why the 8
and 12-year-old siblings were take from the house yesterday, Nancy. They`re not telling us exactly what the history is. But the parents both
had polygraph tests yesterday. The results are back. They`re not telling us what they found.
GRACE: OK, I find that very unusual. C.W. Jensen, former police captain, joining me out of Cave Creek, Arizona. C.W., very often, when you pass a
polygraph, somebody is going to put that out there, even if it`s the mom and dad, although the mom and dad right now are really not doing that much
press, apparently, focused on finding the little girl.
But the fact that they took items out of the home does not sway me one way or the other because taking her toothbrush or -- that could be for DNA
purposes, taking items of her clothing or from her bed. That could be for purposes of a dog tracker to try to follow her trail. I mean, so far, I
don`t see anything nefarious about that at all.
But I would like to find out if they slept with their windows open, if the doors were locked that night, if the windows were locked that night. What
was the temperature? Would it have required the windows to be open? Did the siblings hear or see anything that night? Did they sleep soundly? Is
she a sound sleeper? Does she normally wake up? And does she sleep walk?
Those are just a few of the questions I would have. What about you, C.W.?
C.W. JENSEN, RETIRED POLICE CAPTAIN: Well, I think what`s disturbing the cops and what would disturb me in an investigation like this kind is -- I`m
guessing, Nancy, your 6-year-old doesn`t get to run everywhere they want to go, and I know most parents don`t. So that kind of bugs me, that a 6-year-
old just goes and hangs out? They have no idea where she was?
What I used to do on a polygraph is, I would have the polygrapher do the test, and then if the person failed, immediately, I would come in and get
on him. So it wouldn`t be a surprise that they took the polygraph, and then the detectives wanted to go in and confront them with what`s going on,
if they`re lying.
GRACE: OK. So we don`t have any confirmation there has been such confrontation at all. At this hour, no suspects, no persons of interest,
and no leads on where this little girl is.
So the fact that they waited 24 hours to report the little girl missing is disturbing. But their explanation in their defense is this. They put her
to bed the night before. She goes to bed. She very often will get up and go play. It was Sunday morning.
Now, for me, I take mine to church immediately on Sunday morning. But they that day -- they thought she was out playing in the neighborhood, that she
had gotten up before them, had gone out and was in the neighborhood. Now, why didn`t they look for her or call her? I don`t know.
You know, back to you, Carleen Johnson, KOMO. What`s the answer to that? What did they think she was doing? She`s just 6 years old.
JOHNSON: Well, now, we know that they did look for her. They were kind of going door to door, asking neighbors rather casually in those first hours
early afternoon, you know, Has anybody seen Janise? Did she stop by to play with your child? You know, that kind of more of a casual thing. And
then it became more frenetic later in the night and the neighbors report hearing the parents out screaming, you know, Janise, Janise, where are you,
you know, late on Sunday night and into Monday, when police finally got involved, but...
GRACE: OK, and also, another thing...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Another thing about that, Carleen Johnson, KOMO, is for all I know, people, neighbors could have said, Oh, yes, I think I saw her this morning
or a couple of hours ago. We don`t know what the neighbors were telling them. But the timeline is disturbing.
Everybody, we are joining the search for a missing 6-year-old little girl, Janise Wright, last seen Saturday night at bedtime. She went to bed around
10:00 PM. Sunday morning, they didn`t see her. They assumed she was out playing in the neighborhood.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More than 80 volunteers from seven counties combing the neighborhoods, checking the woods and looking from the air.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s really independent. She`s tenacious. She`s got her name written all over the house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An urgent search for 6-year-old Janise Wright, last seen by her parents as she went to bed in their Bremerton, Washington,
home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In case she was hiding there, but nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My head is just swimming, swimming, trying to stay focused.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police turn their search to the Wright home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: At this hour, we join the search for 6-year-old little girl Janise Wright, last seen at bedtime on Saturday night. She was reported -- almost
24 hours later, reported missing on Sunday night.
Clark Goldband, apparently, the parents believing when they woke up on Sunday morning, she had woken up before them and gone out to play.
CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, and they had some sense of security, according to reports because this, apparently, was a fenced-in
area in the neighborhood. So they believed she was really staying inside that fenced-in area. She had done this numerous times.
But Nancy, one point I want to bring up here, and it`s extraordinarily disturbing. In just a 7-mile radius, there aren`t 10 or 20 or 30 or 40 or
50 or 60 or 70 or 80 or 90, there are 97 sex offenders in just seven miles!
GRACE: Oh! Oh, man! You know, Carleen Johnson, KOMO, you said earlier they`re, quote, "touching bases" with the registered sex offenders. Do
they even have the manpower to put that many boots on the ground to touch base with nearly 100 sex offenders?
JOHNSON: Well, my guess is they`re going to start with the level 3s, and I doubt all those are level 3s, level 3 being, you know, the most likely to
reoffend. I don`t have numbers on the breakdown of (INAUDIBLE) dangerous some of these guys are. But yes, they`ll check with them. And you know,
the focus is on the family at this point and making sure that, you know, the parents aren`t somehow involved in...
GRACE: Yes. Well, you know, Carleen Johnson joining me from KOMO. To C.W. Jensen, retired police captain joining me out of Cave Creek, that`s
where every investigation starts. When you`ve got a missing person or a homicide, you start in the home. You start where they were last seen.
And when a child is last seen at bedtime, that`s where the investigation starts, and it moves out. If the child went missing at a mall, that`s
where the investigation would start. But this child went missing at home.
And we`ve seen it happen before. I don`t want to pooh-pooh the story because we`ve seen Elizabeth Smart go missing from her home. We`ve seen
many, many children taken from their home as they are literally sleeping. And so, you know, of course, the focus is going to start at home. I don`t
find that unusual, C.W.
JENSEN: Oh, no. I mean, you`ve got to start at, basically, ground zero, for lack of a better word. You start there. You start with the people
closest to the person. Now, if you`re out of state or something, that doesn`t apply, but you still are starting with the body, basically, or
where the person was the very last time they were seen.
I`m still very disturbed by the parenting style of these people. And I just wanted everyone to know that you can fail a polygraph, you can pass a
polygraph, and you can also be inconclusive. So they could be struggling with inconclusives.
GRACE: Back to Carleen Johnson, KOMO. Who put Janise to bed? Who put her to bed that night?
JOHNSON: Well, the parents, we understand. We didn`t hear any bedtime ritual played out, how that all went, but the family was at home. You
mentioned potentially three kids in the home. Our understanding was that the 8 and 12-year-olds were there, two older siblings, you know, not in the
home. So who all was actually in that bedroom with her when she went to bed, we don`t know. We just...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Let me just tackle one question at a time, Carleen. Everybody, we`re joining the search for 6-year-old little Janise Wright. OK, so
Carleen, we don`t know the bedtime routine, so we don`t know if one parent or the other put her to bed, or if she just went to bed on her own. We
think that there were two of the siblings in the bedroom with her.
Carleen Johnson, do we know if these two siblings have been questioned forensically?
JOHNSON: We don`t know what -- what detail and how thorough the kids have been investigated. I`m certain -- you know, you can bet that they were
questioned right alongside the parents from the onset and then removed from the home.
GRACE: With me is Carleen Johnson, KOMO. Of course, very often, you see action taken when siblings are in the home when a child goes missing, and
in this case, possibly because they thought it was neglectful not to report the child missing beforehand. We don`t know the truth behind that.
I want to go back over the timeline. But back to you, Clark Goldband. Do we know if either of the parents have jobs? Did they have to be anywhere
on Sunday morning, or were they at the home all day? When did the search begin door to door by the parents?
GOLDBAND: We`re still trying to shake out some of those details, Nancy. But what I can tell you is, according to local reports, the dad sent one of
the sisters around, around noon, so much earlier than when 911 had been called, to start searching for the 6-year-old girl.
What disturbed them and what showed up on the radar of the parents is the girl tends to check in in periods of two and three hours at a time. She
never checked in at all on Sunday.
GRACE: Well, I can tell you this. Nobody`s been named a suspect. Nobody`s been named a person of interest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The parents told authorities Janise often plays outside but checks in regularly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trying to stay focused, good thoughts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More than 80 volunteers from seven counties combing the neighborhoods, checking the woods and looking from the air.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back, everyone. We are joining the search for a 6-year-old little girl, Janise Wright, apparently taken from her own room at bedtime
on Saturday night, reported missing the next Sunday night around 10:00 PM after the family does their own search starting around noon on Sunday.
Based on what we know, we believe the mobile home looks something like this.
Unleash the lawyers, Alex Sanchez, New York, Jason Lamm in Phoenix. First to you, Alex Sanchez. The layout of the home is predictable. We know
essentially what the layout is. We know that the parents` room shared a wall with the children. Nobody heard anything. How can that be, Alex
Sanchez?
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY I have no idea. But I know one thing...
GRACE: Well, think about it!
SANCHEZ: ... that`s important. Police need to either rule them as suspects or determine they had nothing to do with this because a lot of
resources are being devoted...
GRACE: You`re right.
SANCHEZ: ... to determine what role the parents had. Those resources could be used to investigate those sex offenders. They could be used to
investigate, you know, other areas where the crime may have been committed. They need to determine, Did the parents do this or not do it? And what`s
the result of that polygraph test? That would be the first thing. I want to know the answer to that question so we can move on!
GRACE: Wa-wait! Wa-wait! Put Alex Sanchez up because every time I talk about somebody failing a polygraph, you say polygraphs are unreliable. But
tonight, suddenly, you want to know the results. I thought you didn`t trust them. That`s what you always say.
SANCHEZ: No, I don`t trust them, but they do have some value. And if they fail...
GRACE: Really? Because you know what? I`m marking this down. I`m going to pull this the next time...
SANCHEZ: Yes, you know what?
GRACE: ... you try to say they don`t mean anything because you can`t have it both ways, Sanchez.
SANCHEZ: They`re not allowed to be used in the court of law, Nancy.
GRACE: So?
SANCHEZ: You know that. But in terms of investigating whether or not...
GRACE: Well, I didn`t say they could!
SANCHEZ: ... the parents are credible or not...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: It`s a valuable tool. Let`s face it.
GRACE: Let`s just be clear that if both parties stipulate to its admittance before the polygraph, it absolutely can come into court.
SANCHEZ: Well, I`m not so certain about that.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: They haven`t been charged with offense yet. They don`t need to stipulate to anything.
GRACE: Nobody is referring to this particular case, Alex, but I`m clarifying what you just said about the admissibility of polygraphs. If
both parties stipulate, agree, up front that it will come into evidence, regardless of the outcome, then it does come into evidence. And it is also
allowed in evidence in civil trials.
SANCHEZ: That is only after a trial or after a person has been arrested. Nobody`s been arrested here.
GRACE: I didn`t say otherwise.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... for you to blanket say polys are not admissible is not entirely accurate!
SANCHEZ: No, it`s not admissible and it`s reasonably accurate...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: ... some investigative value.
GRACE: Cut his mike! Polygraphs are admissible in our jurisprudence if both parties agree beforehand that it will be allowed in at trial. They
are also brought in at civil trial under similar stipulations.
All right, now that we`ve got that out there, the bottom line is that Sanchez is correct, the parents have taken a polygraph, and we don`t know
the answer.
Jason Lamm, I`d be willing to just bet that if they had passed the polygraph, they would be saying so right now, although I haven`t seen the
mom anywhere. I`ve seen the dad give a couple of sound bites, like, I hope she`s out playing, something like that. I didn`t like that. But still,
he`s cooperating with police. I can tell you that much.
JASON LAMM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: They`re absolutely cooperating with police, Nancy. And don`t forget, not only are they agreeing to do a polygraph, but
they allowed for a consensual search of their home. They didn`t tell the police to get a search warrant.
GRACE: Put him up!
LAMM: They said, Come right in. And if the police say, Cooperate and don`t talk about the polygraph -- you know what? Maybe that`s a feather in
their cap and maybe that shows that there is no criminal activity.
GRACE: OK. On the other hand, Alex Sanchez, police could very well say, OK, we can do this the easy way and you give me consent, or we do it the
hard way, and I`m going to stand here outside your door while my colleague goes and gets a search warrant. Now, which way do you want to do it?
SANCHEZ: And you know what?
GRACE: What?
SANCHEZ: That is very accurate, what you just said, because quite often, police play that game.
GRACE: Well, it`s true.
SANCHEZ: We could do it the easy way and you go along with the program...
GRACE: Well, it`s true.
SANCHEZ: ... or we could do it the hard way.
JASON LAMM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: They`re absolutely cooperating with police, Nancy. And don`t forget, not only are they agreeing to do a polygraph but
they allowed for a consensual search of their home. They didn`t tell the police to get a search warrant. They said come right in. And if the
police say cooperate and don`t talk about the polygraph? You know, what? Maybe that`s a feather in their cap. And maybe that shows that there is no
criminal activity.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: OK. On the other hand, Alex Sanchez, police could very well say we can do this time easy way and you give me a consent or we can
do it the hard way and I`m going to stand here outside your door while my colleague goes and gets a search warrant. Now, which way do you want to do
it?
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: And you know, what?
GRACE: What?
SANCHEZ: That is very accurate what you just said. Because quite often police play that game. We can do it the easy way and you go along with the
program or we do it the hard way. And lesser people will collapse.
GRACE: I don`t even know what you`re talking about.
SANCHEZ: You know what I`m talking about.
(CROSSTALK)
It`s the old good guy-bad guy routine. You know what I`m talking about, Nancy. You know.
GRACE: Let me tell you what I`m talking about, Sanchez. I`m talking about the law. Not what you`ve seen on TV in some police story.
SANCHEZ: I don`t need to watch shows, no.
GRACE: I`m talking about the constitution that says a person can give consent to a search or police can go get a warrant. It`s fairly easy in a
missing child case.
SANCHEZ: Yes. But if you can give consent with a gun to your head. That`s not consent. They don`t put a physical gun to your head but they
threaten you.
GRACE: Where did a gun come into this? I don`t even know what you`re talking about.
SANCHEZ: You know. You know.
GRACE: CW Jensen, you are a retired police captain in a missing child case. It`s very easy to get a search warrant, is it not? It will take
about 20 minutes in front of a magistrate? Yes, no. Some places you can even get them on the phone?
CW JENSEN, RETIRED POLICE CAPTAIN: Yes, you can do that sometimes. I would actually say it was a mistake on investigators` part not to get a
search warrant, anyway. And they may have got a search warrant also. A lot of times people will want to cooperate because what`s your alternative?
You don`t have a gun to your head by the police, but you`ve got a gun to your head by the community. So you feel that you need to give consent.
But if it was my case I would have had a search warrant in my hand as well.
GRACE: And now to forensic pathologist, medical examiner Dr. Vincent Dimaio. Doctor, what would they be looking for in the home and where could
they get DNA from the child?
DR. VINCENT DIMAIO, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Well, the easiest place to get the DNA is from something like a toothbrush. And you could also get blood
from the mother and father and that will give you a complete DNA picture. In the house you would be looking for either evidence of a break in, or
maybe an assault with a lot of blood. But until you get more physical evidence all you have to do now is interview, interview, interview. You
just have to interview everybody in the family, the neighbors, and then the sex offenders.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Welcome back, everyone. As we go to air we can confirm that the body of the missing Oregon mother of two has been found. A property owner
finds Huston`s SUV, reporting it immediately to authorities. Police arrive. When deputies respond they find the 99 Lexus SUV Huston was last
seen driving. Immediately, deputies did not locate Jennifer`s body inside the SUV, but after making a sweep of the area they find the missing mom`s
body a short distance away.
Let me stress that at this hour there are no signs of foul play. What does that mean? We don`t know. Was she asphyxiated? Was she strangled? We
don`t know the cause of death. But what we do know, Jennifer`s body has been found. And at this time prayers going up for her family. Right now
let`s go to the police presser.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Our purpose is not to leave any unanswered questions for our investigation, for the family or for the public. When investigations
completed additional information will be released. The Police Department wants to pass on our condolences to the Huston family. They`ve asked for
privacy and do not wish to speak to the media. Additionally we`d like to thank all of our law enforcement agencies that have assisted us as well as
the general public throughout this investigation. Thank you. If you have some questions this would be a time we`d answer those.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Captain, were there any sort of weapons or bottles of medication or alcohol that were spotted in or around the vehicle or her
body?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: When I left the scene was still being processed by the Oregon State Police Forensic Division. So that I don`t know. I can`t give
you that answer right now.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Sorry?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: How much gasoline was in the tank?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: The vehicle is going to be processed, it hasn`t been processed, we`re going to move that to a separate location where it`s
easier processed for the forensic investigators.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Can you tell how long the car had been there?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I can`t say how long. Today was the first time that we were notified, obviously. But I can`t tell you with any certainty
exactly how long. The medical examiner may be able to give us a ballpark, but I don`t know at this time.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Captain, can you give as a better time at this how everything started town fold today?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Well, earlier today, detectives and I had met. We do a weekly and sometimes daily briefing certainly on this case. We were just
going over the day`s events, things that maybe we wanted to backtrack, go over again, maybe make some more phone calls. And we were contacted by the
Yamhill County Communications Center. That was just before 10:30. That a homeowner out in rural Sheridan, Yamhill County, had found the vehicle. We
were certain because the person read the plate to the dispatcher. That`s the information that was passed along to us.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: And what happened after that? Your detectives went out to the scene and then confirmed everything and then located her body?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: We asked for the Yamhill County deputy sheriffs to go to the scene and to see if we could render any medical. We didn`t have any
other information other than they found the vehicle but we wanted to make sure if she was in need, if the person was in need for medical assistance
we got that first.
GRACE: Police have confirmed, as we have all just heard, the missing mom of two from Oregon has been found dead. The search for Jennifer Huston has
come to an end. Now the investigation goes on. At this hour, prayers for her husband, her parents, and her little boys.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: And now to Mesa, Arizona. Jodi Arias has wild sex with her 30- year-old lover, Travis Alexander, all day, even photographing the sex. But just minutes after sex she slashes his throat ear to ear, shoots Travis and
stabs him 29 times, leaving him to decompose in his shower stall. Well, tonight, Jodi Arias` re-trial set to commence. But here at the 11th hour,
Arias fires her lawyers again and announces she will represent herself. Well, word to the wise, a man who represents himself has a fool for a
client! And at this hour, apparently Jodi Arias saying she wants Hollywood superstar Angelina Jolie to play her, Arias, on the big screen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JODI ARIAS, DEFENDANT: To this day I can hardly believe I was capable of such violence. It`s the worst thing I could ever see myself doing.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I don`t want to have to see my brother`s murderer anymore.
ARIAS: And for that I`m going to be sorry for rest of my life.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Do you feel that you deserve to die?
ARIAS: No, I don`t know that it`s about deserving. I just know that I just don`t want to hurt people anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: For those of you just joining us, as the trial set to commence, the retrial of Jodi Arias on the death penalty phase of her guilty verdict --
she was found guilty in the murder of Travis Alexander, her 30-year-old lover. She has announced she`s firing her lawyers, and she will in fact
represent herself.
Joining me is Brian Skoloff, author of "Killer Girlfriend: The Jodi Arias Story." Brian, thank you for being with us. What do you make of Arias`
decision that she will represent herself?
BRIAN SKOLOFF, AUTHOR, "KILLER GIRLFRIEND: THE JODI ARIAS STORY": Well, thank you, Nancy. It`s good to be with you. Obviously it`s an interesting
wrinkle as you said at the 11th hour here. Her current attorneys will stay on as advisory council because she has to have a death penalty certified
attorney with her but she will be serving as her own attorney at least as of now. She`s tried this before and changed her mind and went back to
having an attorney. So, there`s nothing saying that she may not do that again. But as of now she plans to represent herself in this second penalty
phase and hoping that she can convince the jury to spare her life.
GRACE: Let me ask you this, Brian Skoloff, author of "Killer Girlfriend: The Arias Story." What do you think was the tipping point? There`ll be
plenty of those makeup jobs before representing herself at trial in the upcoming penalty phase. What pushed her over the edge to make her fire her
lawyers again and announce she`ll represent herself?
SKOLOFF: You know, they have been at odds from the beginning over how to present the case, her and her own attorneys. And it sort of reached a
tipping point after her conviction when she gave multiple media interviews against the advice of her attorneys. And they were really not happy with
that. And it`s just -- the relationship has grown contentious from there. Kirk Nermy told the judge in court yesterday when the judge allowed this to
happen that he and his client have differing opinions on how to proceed with the case. So there`s clearly conflict between the attorneys. Jodi
has her own way that she wants to go forward with the case. Not in her best interests according to her attorneys. Even the judge told her that.
GRACE: Well, all along, Skoloff, she`s never followed her lawyers` advice. Remember the ill-fated post-verdict interviews she gave? They warned her
not to do it. They told her not to do it. She did it. It`s going to come in against her in court. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIAS: The worst outcome for me would be natural life. I would much rather die sooner than later. Longevity runs in my family and I don`t want
to spend the rest of my natural life in one place. You know, I`m pretty healthy. I don`t smoke. And I would probably live a long time. So that`s
not something I`m looking forward to. I said years ago that I`d rather get death than life, and that still is true today. I believe death is the
ultimate freedom. So I`d rather just have my freedom as soon as I can get
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: So you`re saying you actually prefer getting the death penalty to being in prison for life
ARIAS: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That interview from KSAZ. Unleash the lawyers. Alex Sanchez, Jason Lamm, if she`d rather have death over life then why are we having the
retrial, Sanchez? Let`s just go ahead and sentence her and be done with it.
SANCHEZ: Let me tell you something, Nancy. The person that`s most afraid of Arias representing herself is Mr. Martinez. Because he`s going to come
in with this fancy legal books and all his nice --
GRACE: Wait, wait, wait, wait. Fancy legal books?
SANCHEZ: Photographs and his videos.
GRACE: Books are bad. Burn books?
(CROSSTALK)
Did you just say fancy legal books? Did you say that?
SANCHEZ: And she`s going to come in. And she`s going to look pathetic. And she`s going to look troubled. And she`s going to look like the little
guy in this case.
GRACE: And she`s going to look like a killer which she is.
SANCHEZ: Yes. And you know, what? And the jury is going to sympathize with the little guy in this case.
GRACE: You know, what? Pull me on the pages of Travis please, if you could Justin, once I asked for a little while ago. She`s not going to look
like the person that got picked on the little guy, the underdog in this scenario. The underdog, let me just remind you, is Travis Alexander who
was found dead, his body rotting in his own shower, stabbed 29 times and shot to death at her hand. After she tried to clean up the scene, the cops
managed to piece it all together with a digital camera she had stupidly washed along with the bed sheets.
So back so back to the lawyers. Jason Lamm, she is not going to look like the underdog. Travis Alexander is the underdog.
LAMM: There is no question that Jodi Arias is a crazy sociopathic narcissistic --
GRACE: She is not crazy. She is not crazy.
LAMM: Nancy, it may be a brilliant moving creating a David and Goliath situation. Because of Juan Martinez is overly aggressive, one juror may
take a little pity on her. And I`m not disputing that they are bad facts but I`m going to tell you something. Right here and right now, another
juror may think that hey, you know, maybe she is a little crazy and that`s a mitigating circumstance. I will wager you right here right now, she gets
life. Take me up on it.
GRACE: Back to medical examiner, forensic pathologist, Dr. Vincent Dimaio, the defense lawyer is still talking about how Arias is going to be the
underdog. Travis Alexander was stabbed 29 times and shot. Slit throat ear to ear in eerie smile across his neck. How could she be possibly being
perceived as the underdog with those injuries?
DIMAIO: I don`t think there`s any way. She is just a pure psychopath. Extremely dangerous. And the best thing for society is to execute her.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(JODI ARIAS SINGING "OH HOLY NIGHT")
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: OK, she hit the high note. She scored big on that one. That when she won American Idol behind bars competition. That`s Jodi Arias. She can
certainly express herself well and she will be doing a lot of it. Because at the 11th hour as trial is set to commence in the death penalty phase of
her murder trial, she has announced, I will represent myself.
OK. Matt Zarrell, not only is she announcing she will represent herself at trial, but also, she is calling on Angelina Jolie to play her in the big
screen production of the life of Jodi Arias, is that correct?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Yes. Radar Online is reporting that a production company in California has been granted the exclusive rights to
Arias` life story. And the person who runs the production company wants to cast Angelina Jolie as the lead for this movie.
GRACE: Now back on representing herself, to Dr. Ish Major, joining me out of Miami, there`s not a very good track record of people representing
themselves. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Ted Bundy, sentenced to death for multiple murders. Collin Ferguson, suspect in the Long Island railroad massacre sentenced to
life in prison. Charles Manson, sentenced to death and later commuted to life in prison. Nidal Malik Hasan, sentenced to death. John Allen
Muhammad, executed by lethal injection.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: To Dr. Ish Major, what has possessed her to think she can represent herself in a death penalty face trial?
DR. ISH MAJOR, BOARD CERTIFIED PSYCHIATRIST: Well, Nancy for sure, you know, we`ve got poor judgment at play. And again, if we think about what
we know about her, that narcissistic personality, they think they are smarter than everybody else. They think they are special and in the end,
Nancy, they always think they`re going to win.
GRACE: You know, what? You`re right about that, Dr. Major. That really played out in her original trial. But you know, you hear the defense
lawyers tonight saying, it will going to make her look like the underdog. I don`t think that`s how it`s going to play out at all.
MAJOR: I would agree with you on that, Nancy. I don`t think it`s going to make her look like the underdog. But guess what? She already told us she
wants the death penalty. So, the other thing the narcissus wants is ultimate control of that situation, so this might be her way of insuring
the outcome.
GRACE: OK. You know, what? Regardless of what she says. Dr. Major, I really don`t think she wants to be put to death. But we can argue about
that on another day, Dr. Ish Major.
Everybody, let`s stop and remember. American hero, Army Corporal Jeremy Gullett. Just 22, Greenup, Kentucky. Army achievement medal, National
Defense Service Medal. A volunteer firefighter back home. Harold and Cheryl, brother Chester, sister Jennifer. Widow, Jeannette. Daughters,
Kay and Katie. Jeremy Gullett, American hero.
Everyone, thank you again for being with us tonight. Drew up next. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night,
friend.
END
