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Nancy Grace
Couple Charged in Kidnap, Abuse of Amish Girls; Mom of Four Struck by Huge Rock During Road Trip Vacation; Student Suspended for Saying "Bless You"
Aired August 21, 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. To Amish country, a quiet and peace-loving community torn asunder after two little Amish girls kidnapped,
snatched from their parents` roadside fruit stand.
Bombshell tonight. In the last hours, perpetrators, a 39-year-old man and his 25-year-old lover, in court for the kidnap and sex attack on two little
Amish girls. Look at her! Sources in the investigation reveal the two girls neither the first nor the last these two intended to molest. The
lawyer for the female accused of molesting the girls claims a "50 Shades of Grey" defense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The girls were mysteriously dropped off, apparently by the suspects.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The arrests of Stephen Howells, age 39, and Nicole Vaisey, age 25.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Still in their Amish clothes, barefoot, cold and hungry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The motive was to victimize these girls.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, heart-breaking tragedy. A beloved teacher, breast cancer survivor, mother of four, goes on summer vacation with the whole
family when out of nowhere, the car`s front windshield destroyed by a huge rock the size of a soccer ball, shattering the mom, Sharon Budd`s, face and
head, now breathing through a trach tube, facing man-made skull implant and prosthetic eye surgeries, hoping the mush that was once her face and jaw
can be molded back. Tonight, we uncover this was just the tip of a crime spree iceberg!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The four teenagers accused of throwing rocks off an Interstate-80 overpass walked into the Union County courthouse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pushed an eight-inch boulder from an overpass through the car window, her face smashed. She lost an eye.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A Dire (ph) County school girl suspended, booted, when a classmate sneezes and she dares to say, "Bless you," the teacher suspending the girl,
claiming her language is, quote, "godly." Where are we living, communist China?
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. To Amish country, a quite and peace-loving community torn asunder after two little Amish girls kidnapped, snatched from their
parents` roadside fruit and veggie stand. In the last hours, two perps, a 39-year-old man and his 25-year-old lover, in court for the kidnap and sex
attack on the two little Amish girls.
We are taking your calls. Pat Lalama, investigative reporter, what is so stunning to me is this guy, this freak, and his 25-year-old girlfriend, who
is now claiming some kind of "50 Shades" -- there they are. There they are! And my understanding is the man has three children of his own. She`s
claiming some kind of a "50 Shades of Grey" defense. Now, I haven`t read the book and I haven`t seen the movie.
PAT LALAMA, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Me, either.
GRACE: Sorry! Raising children and working. So I haven`t had time to see that. But long story short, I know it`s about sex and bondage, and blah,
blah, blah, blah. That`s her defense, that this guy, this perv, Stephen -- alleged perv -- Stephen Howells, Jr., age 39, her boyfriend what, made her
do it?
Put Lalama back up. There you go. Let me see Pat Lalama.
And when the police get there, they find all this video recording equipment? They had actually bound the two little Amish girls together
with a chain or with some sort of binding device and recorded the sex attack on two little Amish girls? My first question to Pat Lalama is, how
long will they burn in hell?
LALAMA: Not long enough. Not long enough.
GRACE: Good answer.
LALAMA: And guess what, Nancy? She`s trying to claim -- by the way, let`s go back a little bit. She was an honor student psychology major who
studied the impact of pornography on rape in women. Now, this honor student now claims, Oh, gee, it`s a master-slave relationship. My
attorney`s going to tell you that I was coerced into this, that it`s all his fault, that you know, years and years of abuse with this man -- and
it`s even a prisoner of war defense!
GRACE: Years and years? She`s only 25. How many years could she have been with him?
LALAMA: Exactly.
GRACE: And another thing. They weren`t married. It`s not like she`s stuck in a relationship she can`t get out of. She could just, like, get
her pocketbook on her shoulder and walk out the front door.
LALAMA: Of course.
GRACE: You know, and all of that -- I don`t know how that`s going to apply to tormenting, kidnapping and sexually abusing two little Amish girls.
Let`s go to Amish country. I`ve learned that this particular area of Amish country is one of the most conservative Amish sects. In fact, we have
learned that the reason we had such a hard time publicizing this story -- and we were one of the first ones to do it -- we didn`t have photos of the
two little girls because they believe that taking photos violates the 2nd Commandment, "Thou shalt have no graven images before God." And they
believe that that is being prideful, showing -- making photos or paintings of yourself. That is how humble and unassuming these people are.
And I will never forget it -- look, just like the front porch of my grandmother`s home -- the night these two little girls were take, we were
begging truckers and anybody that was watching our program to help us find the two girls. We didn`t have their pictures.
The front porch -- Liz, if you could pull that up -- the front porch of this home, all the Amish in the community were there on the front porch in
video and you could see them. They didn`t know what to do or which way to turn or how they could help find the little girls.
Pat, how did they find the girls to start with?
LALAMA: There was a big, big search. And as you mentioned, there were no photographs. But what happened was, the two little girls were dumped off
at a neighbor`s house, 15 miles from where they were found. I guess that wouldn`t be neighbors, but a family 15 miles away. They were cold, they
were hungry, they were barefoot. They brought the two little girls in, and then they had to bring in the police to...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... there`s the roadside stand we were just showing...
LALAMA: Yes.
GRACE: ... where they were snatched, right there. The parents were right inside, in the barn near the home.
LALAMA: Right. Right.
GRACE: And the car pulls up to the roadside stand. And then the witness looks out, and the girls ran out to see the car, and the girls were gone
when the car takes off. That was the first hint. We didn`t even know the make and model of the car. We thought it looked like a white four-door
Honda, like an Accura or Civic.
LALAMA: Right.
GRACE: So how did they get -- how did they get found? How did they catch these two pervs?
LALAMA: Well, my information is that when they were able to talk to these little girls, that they were able to provide crucial information to the
police. And they brought in a sketch artist. And the sketch artist had to be one that spoke the German dialect of Pennsylvania Dutch, and that they
were able to give enough information that the police were able to track down this couple. "Crucial information" were the words that the police
used in terms of what these little girls were able to provide.
GRACE: To Matt Zarrell. It`s my understanding the little girl at some juncture, one of them managed to get free and bring the other one with her
-- the two little girls just ages 7 and 12. And they actually show up on a nearby front doorstep. Is that right, Matt?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Yes. In fact, Nancy, what authorities are saying is that the suspects actually released them,
dropped them off near this home. And they walked up to the home begging for help, begging for a ride home.
GRACE: Out to Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst and author of "Dealbreakers." Bethany, how is this 25-year-old woman claiming "50 Shades
of Grey" as her defense?
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: Because she`s desperate to not face life in prison. I mean, Nancy, the real truth is that this female perp is a
sadist. She hates children. She sexualizes them. They`re just objects. She uses them to her own purposes. She acted in concert with this male
pedophile.
And the scary thing, Nancy, is this male pedophile has three children in his home! So if they were acting in concert to abduct and sexually abuse
these two little girls, what was going on with the three children who were already in the home?
You know the saying, Where there`s smoke, there`s fire. I bet other victims are going to come forward. But they in concert chose the most
vulnerable members of our society, not only two children but two children who don`t have their pictures taken, who are of a highly religious
community, who are unable to defend themselves and were completely vulnerable.
GRACE: That`s "50 Shades of Grey" trailer from focus features.
Unleash the lawyers, Jeff Gold out of New York, Patrick McDonough, defense attorney out of Atlanta. First to you, Jeff Gold. The woman accused of
sexually abusing the two little Amish girls with her boyfriend studied the psychology of rape in college and even wrote her senior thesis in the
subject. In her final year there at Mercyhurst (ph) College, she researches whether porn changes perception of rape. And she goes on and on
and on about blaming the victim of rape.
Now, Jeff Gold, she is claiming -- she`s just been in court in the last hours before we go to air. I`m sure she`s going to enter a not guilty plea
and try to blame her boyfriend for the whole thing. What, she wasn`t there when he chained the two little girls together before he sexually abused
them?
JEFF GOLD, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I hope she turns and helps the state convict him, and especially if there`s other children. But I don`t know
whether or not she really was under his spell or not. She did write that paper. And it said about pornography affecting these people and their
views of rape. We don`t know. She may have just been very susceptible to this kind of thing, and then this man took advantage of her. We don`t know
the full story. I hope she turns on him, though, because I bet you he is the real actor.
GRACE: Patrick McDonough, look at this woman, OK? She`s no idiot. She`s got a college degree, all right, in psychology. She was there with this
guy. She was in the car, according to police and to the two little girls, when he kidnapped them. That makes her a kidnapper, as well. At any
point, she could have called police. She could have left. She could have saved the girls. But no, she probably helped set up the recording
equipment to record the sex abuse on these two little Amish girls.
No way would I take testimony from her. The state doesn`t need her. They`ve got the two little girls and their statements they`ve given to the
police. No way would I cut a deal with this she-devil!
PATRICK MCDONOUGH, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, probably could or would if she set the camera up. We really don`t know. The real question is do they
have equal culpability. Clearly, he is -- he`s in serious trouble. But was she also a victim? That`s the real question. Has she been abused...
GRACE: Haven`t you heard of co-defendants? Do you understand what that means under the law?
MCDONOUGH: Clearly understand, but you clearly understand that people can commit a crime and one can be more culpable than the other.
GRACE: No, no, no, no, no!
MCDONOUGH: And one can be punished more than the other. The triggerman often is the one who goes for life and the person who (INAUDIBLE) in the
getaway car gets a lighter sentence. But the point is...
GRACE: Really? I`ve never given the getaway driver a lighter sentence.
MCDONOUGH: Well, it clearly happens every day around here. Every day.
GRACE: Well, I don`t know what...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... you, she had every opportunity to save these two Amish girls.
For those of you just joining us, in the last hours, a woman in court, Nicole Vaisey, 25 years old -- her lover also in court. They`re both
pleading not guilty to the kidnap and sex assault of two little Amish girls, ages 7 and 12, complete with chaining the two little girls together
and recording the entire attack.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were really scared.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were targeting opportunities.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say the vehicle pulled up and took the girls.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We knew instantly it had to be the ones that were missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wouldn`t had to have been just -- just an Amish child.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back. For those of you just joining us, in the last hours, the lover of this guy right there, a registered nurse, Stephen Howells,
Jr., age 39, his 25-year-old female lover, Nicole Vaisey, in court, claiming "50 Shades of Grey" defense, that she was his sexual slave,
claiming a master-slave relationship with him -- OK, that`s going to help in court -- to charges that she kidnapped two little Amish girls, chained
them together, along with her lover, and sexually molested them, all on video, the little girls managing to escape to save their own lives and
managed to make their way to somebody`s front door.
Now, tonight, the parents of the Amish girls say that they do not feel anger, that they are not angry. You know what? I`m going to do that for
you. They say they actually feel sorry for the couple. You know what? I appreciate that sentiment, and I wish I could attain that level of
kindness. I haven`t gotten there yet.
Straight to Pat Lalama. Pat, hold on. The lines are backing up. Sharon in Texas. Hi, Sharon. What`s your question, dear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, Nancy. Thanks for take my call. I`m sorry, I don`t have any compassion for those people, either. I just can`t do that.
And I`m just so thankful those children are back safe and sound. But a defense? They have a defense? What defense do they have? Oh, come on,
now. It just gives me chills. I don`t know what else to say. There`s just no words.
GRACE: Well, you know what? Hold that thought, Sharon in Texas. Unleash the lawyers, Jeff Gold and Patrick McDonough. So explain to me, Jeff Gold,
what the "50 Shades of Grey" defense is going to be to kidnapping these two little girls at an Amish fruit stand, chaining them together, sexually
molesting them and recording the whole thing. Now, how does "50 Shades of Grey" fit into that?
GOLD: Well, she`s going to have to say that she didn`t have free will, that, really, what was happening in this master-slave relationship is that
she...
GRACE: You left something out.
GOLD: What? She...
GRACE: You left out that to claim she was acting not of her own free will is to say that she did it. I did it, but I was acting as a what, a sex
slave?
GOLD: Yes, I think that`s what`s going to happen. I mean, I think she`s going to have to zone in on intent. This is a hard case, for sure. But
that`s what she`s going to say. She`s going to say, In this type of relationship I was like a captive to him. I was his slave. I did what he
said, for whatever psychological reason she had. Whether it`s good or not is not the question. That`s what she`s going to say.
GRACE: And to you, Patrick McDonough. Why would she say that? Oh, yes. That reminds me. The two little girls were given prescription sedatives
during the whole ordeal, Patrick McDonough. It just seems to get worse and worse.
MCDONOUGH: Yes. I mean, her best chance, obviously, what she`s trying to do, is to separate herself from him. The farther she can get away from him
and the more she can become a victim -- and we don`t know. Did he abuse her? Did he tie her up? Was she chained up? Was she emotionally abused
all the time? The more she can portray herself as a victim and separate herself from him, the better she is off. And that`s what their defense is
clearly trying to do.
GRACE: You know, Pat Lalama, the little girls were lured into the car. And this is one of the oldest tricks in the book...
LALAMA: Right.
GRACE: ... about a puppy. Can you help me find my puppy? Or...
LALAMA: Right.
GRACE: ... Look, do you know this little puppy we just found? And of course, a 7-year-old little girl`s going to jump right in. Of course, they
are.
You can`t tell me that that is not premeditated and that she, this woman, this 25-year-old, basically, monster didn`t understand what was happening.
She`s in the car, luring the children in with a puppy.
LALAMA: Nancy, it seems to me that it`s obvious these two were on the prowl. And the thing that I think about -- because one of the other things
that police say they found is that this jerk was building a soundproof room in the basement of his home and that they had a history of recording sexual
events. So Lord only knows how many potential other victims they (sic) may be!
And what really concerns me is that this guy is someone that has three (INAUDIBLE) has three young children of his own! There have got to be --
and I`m so sick to think about it. There have to be more victims. This can`t be the first time they`ve used a puppy to get little unsuspecting
children into their car!
GRACE: You are seeing the shot we were just showing you of the home, Stephen Howells, Jr.`s home, his girlfriend, Nicole Vaisey, age 25. He`s a
registered nurse. She is a college graduate who actually wrote her thesis on rape. Take a look at these two. The little girls somehow managed to
turn up 15 miles from where they were taken.
We are taking your calls. Kelly in Arizona. Hi, Kelly. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. I was just wanting to know, how do these defense attorneys actually defend somebody like this? I mean, you got to -- you`re
being honest when you`re up there defending these people, so you think. And how can they honestly believe that there`s any excuse for these people?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kidnapping charges of the two Amish girls.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cold, wet, barefoot and starving. Investigators zeroing in on a house, confiscating cars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was planned out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a lot of thought process went into this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Two people in court, in the last hours, 25-year-old Nicole Vaisey in court answering charges that she kidnapped and sexually molested two
little Amish girls, ages 7 and 12, along with her registered nurse boyfriend, Stephen Howells, Jr., age 39.
You are seeing the roadside fruit stand where the two little girls were snatched as their parents were inside, the car coming up to the stand, the
two little girls running out and then lured into the defendants` car, according to police, with a little puppy.
Tonight, we learn -- after Nicole Vaisey just appearing in court, we learn that there are at least three more child victims. Look at these two. He`s
got three children. They weren`t home the night of the incident. She is his long-time girlfriend.
She`s claiming a "50 Shades of Grey" defense, that she was his sex slave, that they had a master-slave relationship. Well, you know what? That`s
good. Because she`ll probably have that same relationship with somebody else behind bars.
We are taking your calls. Back to Pat Lalama. At least three other victims, and it`s my strong suspicion they determined that, Pat, by looking
at the videos these two had taken of prior sex attacks.
LALAMA: Yes. There`s probably a gold mine of evidence in that basement in that house. And I know they were trying to find any kind of forensic
evidence, anything that could relate to this particular crime, but then while there, find this Fort Knox of other deviant behaviors. And that`s
why I`m saying if they keep digging, I`m sure they are going to find more. This wasn`t the first time they said, Let`s get a puppy and go find some
little girls. These people have a pattern. They were prowling. They were stalking. They knew exactly what they were doing.
GRACE: This set off a massive search in a quiet, peace-loving Amish community. We were all hampered by the fact that no photos existed of the
two little girls, the family of 14 very, very distraught, even tonight not lashing out at the alleged pervs.
Matt Zarrell, in the last hours, the female in court. Why?
ZARRELL: Nancy, she has a preliminary hearing, where the prosecution was introducing probable cause to keep her detained on no bail. As of now,
there are kidnapping charges and additional sex charges. More federal charges could come, Nancy, and additional charges if they locate more
victims and prosecute further.
GRACE: Everyone, in the last hours, this female sex attacker in court. She`s charged with kidnapping with intent to inflict sex abuse and injury.
And we believe additional charges will be coming down the pike. Another thing, Pat Lalama, her claim that she was coerced to do all this, forced to
do all this -- you know what, I guarantee you, the state does not need her testimony. They`re going to be tried together in court. And these two
little girls are going to have to come in front of a jury and testify. That`s what`s going to happen.
LALAMA: Right. Yes. Well, you know what`s interesting to me is that the defense attorney goes even further than that. He says besides the "50
Shades of Gray" idiotic defense is that she was -- she has the prisoner of war mentality, that she succumbed to this man and he`s actually researching
prisoner of war syndrome.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Heart-breaking tragedy. A beloved teacher, breast cancer survivor, mother of four goes on summer vacation with the whole family when out of
nowhere the car`s front windshield destroyed by a huge rock the size of a soccer ball, shattering mom, Sharon Budd`s face and head.
Tonight we uncover this was just the tip of a crime spree iceberg.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Keefer, what do you say about all this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no comment at this time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But you had -- you said that you threw rocks before. I mean, what do you --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no comment.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: He told the court, quote, "We were all laughing thinking it was funny. We laughed, tossed out rocks and drove home."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very, very malicious, violent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: In the last hours we learn one of the perpetrators is testifying against the others, I guess trying to save his own skin. Listen to the
injuries on this mother. I`m talking about a mom of four, Sharon Budd, middle school teacher, breast cancer survivor. On a family vacation, she
loses sight in the right eye, has already undergone two surgeries, one which saved her life. She is looking at a complete restructuring of her
skull with man-made material.
They`re going to have to try and put together her face, what was once her face. It goes on and on. She`s speaking through a trach right now or
breathing through a trach.
Straight out to Sarah Bartlett with WKOK.
Sarah, how did this whole thing happen?
SARAH BARTLETT, REPORTER, WKOK: Nancy, it started when we heard that a rock was thrown off an overpass. And once we heard about Sharon`s injuries
we realized that this was much more serious than we thought.
Now we have four 17- and 18-year-old boys who admit that they threw the rock over the overpass.
GRACE: Now Keefer McGee is apparently testifying against the other two. This is what the father, Randi Budd, tells us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were all awake. And all of a sudden it`s as if somebody would have put a grenade in that car, that`s what it sounded like.
I mean it just was an explosion. And none of us. We didn`t know what happened. I looked up and just saw a big, big hole in the windshield. I
still didn`t know -- my daughter started screaming. She goes, dad, what should I do? What happened? And I said -- and so I talked to her over to
the side of the highway.
We came to a stop. She turned the lights on and saw her mom`s head sideways and saw the most gruesome thing that probably anybody could ever
see with her head split open with her base of her skull and her brains visible. Kayley screamed and ran from the car. I immediately ran around
to the car to see what she saw. And oh, my god, it was gruesome.
I called 911 immediately. Kayley, she`s so strong. She came right back in. So I was -- I was on the passenger side. Kayley climbed in in the
driver side and we just -- we just held her hand. That`s what we thought at the time when she was just bleeding out. There was blood coming out of
her nose, her mouth, her brain. And then she came to. And when I mean came to she started moving. And she was just moving all over the place and
trying to grab at her face.
I don`t know if she remembers it. We were trying to keep her hands down so she didn`t injure it more. And then she started -- she started gurgling in
her own blood. And we just kept waiting and waiting for the ambulance. The only way she could breathe was through her brain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: To Dr. Bill Manion, medical examiner, forensic pathologist joining us out of Philly tonight.
Dr. Manion, they spent a large amount of time cleaning pieces off her skull that were jutting out of her brain. They had to actually remove a portion
of this mother of four schoolteacher brain. They`re having to replace her whole skull with a man-made skull. Can she ever -- can she ever make a
comeback, Dr. Manion?
DR. BILL MANION, M.D., MEDICAL EXAMINER, BURLINGTON COUNTY, NJ: Well, frankly I`m surprised she lived. I mean, there are so many blood vessels,
arteries, middle (INAUDIBLE) artery, I`m amazed that one of those arteries wasn`t hit and she didn`t bleed to death from that tremendous injury. The
brain has great plasticity and recoverability. And sometimes the left side of the brain can take over what the right side of the brain did. So all we
can do is pray and be optimistic. She`s a fighter. She`s been through breast and she sure has strong family support.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Jeff Gold, New York, Patrick McDonough, Atlanta.
First to you, McDonough. They`re of course being charged as adults as they should be. They`re 17- and 18 years old. But you know the law presumes
you intend the natural consequences of your act. I once told my juries, what that means is, I take a piece of fine China. I throw it to the cement
floor. The law presumes I mean to break it. So when you throw a boulder the size of a soccer ball off an overpass onto a car, the law assumes you
mean to injure someone. What about it?
PATRICK MCDONOUGH, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes. Sure. This was a tragic event. But according to you, everybody`s the same.
GRACE: So tragic an event it`s a crime.
MCDONOUGH: All four are equally the same. And you`ve got one of these co- defendants, one of these kids that wasn`t even out of the car when this took place. There`s no information or evidence that says they all got
together and said let`s take this boulder and drop it off. You`ve got one kid that did that.
GRACE: Wait, wait.
MCDONOUGH: One of the kids isn`t even out of the car.
GRACE: What do you mean there`s no evidence they didn`t all plan it?
Also with us is Clark Goldband.
Now this is a 4 to 8-pound boulder the size of a soccer ball. Weren`t they all on the overpass, Clark?
CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: Size of a cantaloupe, Nancy. It`s not clear who was in and out of the car. It
really depends who you believe. In fact, Nancy, one of the kids`s attorneys that`s charged say he shouldn`t be facing any charges because he
never actually got out of the vehicle. What`s interesting is how these suspects were caught.
GRACE: You mean out of the vehicle on the overpass? What?
GOLDBAND: Correct.
GRACE: In other words he`s behind the wheel as the other three throw the boulder over? You know, Clark, I`m actually surprised that you even
repeated that.
GOLDBAND: But, Nancy, what`s interesting is how these kids got caught.
GRACE: Why do you keep saying kids? They`re 18. They`re being tried as adults. This was part of a crime spree.
GOLDBAND: Yes. Yes. OK. How these suspects got caught, Nancy, they went back to a home, started to watch a movie. But then they went back to the
scene not once but twice according to authorities. And when police noticed the second time a car driving slowly, an officer took down the license
plate and then went to the home. That`s how he tracked them down.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I called 911 immediately. Kayley, she`s so strong. She came right back in. So I was -- I was on the passenger side. Kayley
climbed in in the driver side and we just -- we just held her hand. That`s what we thought at the time when she was just bleeding out. There was
blood coming out of her nose, her mouth, her brain. And then she came to. And when I mean came to she started moving. And she was just moving all
over the place and trying to grab at her face.
I don`t know if she remembers it. We were trying to keep her hands down so she didn`t injure it more. And then she started -- she started gurgling in
her own blood. And we just kept waiting and waiting for the ambulance. The only way she could breathe was through her brain. She would breathe
heavy and it would come out of her brain. And it was -- oh, my god. It was terrible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: This mom of four was on summer vacation, the whole family there on a road trip. They`re in the car.
You know, we just came off our summer vacation. And it was a road trip. And we were all in the car. And I can only imagine if my children were
sitting in the backseat and saw this happen to their mother or father.
Sarah Bartlett, what are the charges that these four young men are chasing after dropping this rock bomb on the mother of four?
BARTLETT: The four are facing felony counts, aggravated assault, criminal conspiracy, criminal trespass. And Keefer McGee on the stand this week
said that they planned to go out and be bad. Drive through corn fields, they smashed a window of a house. And then they got to the overpass where
two of them threw the rock.
GRACE: And right now, "CNN HEROES."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADAM GREEN, ROCKING THE BOAT: The Bronx River is really one of the most hidden gems of New York City. If you look in one direction you`ll see very
industrial sites. If you look in another direction, you`ll see tons of birds and fish and all kinds of native plant life.
I grew up in New York City which is an island that`s surrounded by water. But I wasn`t a boater at all. I ended up volunteering at a junior high
school in east Harlem. We built a little 8-foot dinghy. I benefitted just as much as any of the students did from the sense of oh, wow, I can put my
energy into something and actually see a result.
That experience inspired me to create this organization, Rocking the Boat.
You know what`s a good trick for that? Just drop this on.
Our kids come from the South Bronx, one of the poorest places in the country. Their block is all they`ve ever known. Kids learn how to build
boats. They are sailing, they`re rowing, they`re restoring the river.
We open the kids up to new possibilities really to become someone they would never be able to otherwise.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The program has taught me that I can take on any challenge and applied so many of the skills that I learned here. Now I`m
going to a good college. I probably would not have gotten there if not for the Rocking the Boat.
GREEN: And when did you guys see high tide?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s pretty ugly.
GREEN: They can really go anywhere and do anything. They`ve already got what it takes. They just need for it to work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Bless you. Apparently there`s a schoolteacher that has a problem with those two words. A schoolgirl booted, suspended when she says, "bless
you" after a classmate sneezes.
To Ben Ferguson, CNN contributor, radio host, and Dan Barker, co-president of Freedom from Religion Foundation.
Thank you for being with us.
Dan Barker, why is this schoolgirl suspended from class for saying "bless you"?
DAN BARKER, CO-PRESIDENT, FREEDOM FROM RELIGION FOUNDATION: The student was disruptive. I think the teacher did the right thing. The teacher has
every right to establish order during instructional time. She might have chosen the word Gesundheit. But when the students are taking a test
they`re asked to be quiet. And the teacher said keep quiet. Didn`t matter what the content of the speech was.
GRACE: Well, actually, Dan Barker, what the teacher said was, "I`m not going to have godly speaking in my class." That is what she said.
BARKER: You don`t know --
GRACE: She didn`t say you`re being loud, you`re being disruptive. That`s what she said.
BARKER: You don`t know what she said. We don`t have all the facts. But it looks like she was trying to say this is not a Sunday school class.
This is not a church. This is a public school and we`re not going to talk about religion during instructional time. She`s within her rights to
control the class in that way.
GRACE: Ben Ferguson, that sounds like a whole bunch of B.S. to me.
BEN FERGUSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes.
GRACE: And --
FERGUSON: Yes. It sounds like a whole lot -- it sounds like a whole lot of hatred and bigotry. You have this young girl who said bless you, which
is actually being a nice and kind person. I know people who say it that aren`t even religious and they do it because they actually have a soul.
And what you have here is you have a teacher that obviously hates God and religion and decided to take it out on an innocent 17-year-old girl here
that was just being polite.
It`s a lot better than most of the things we hear kids say in view today in American society. This little girl should be praised for doing this, of
actually being courteous and kind. It`s what we should be wanting in this country. We shouldn`t give a girl detention for doing this. This is
straight up bigotry by a bitter, hateful teacher I can`t even imagine what else she teaches her kids in that classroom.
GRACE: Well, I think she should be fired, Dan Barker, because I`m a Christian and I do not appreciate another young Christian being persecuted
for saying bless you.
FERGUSON: Amen.
GRACE: If she were any other religion, any other religion, nothing would have been said. But because she is a Christian, she`s being attacked. I
don`t like it and in a time in the world for Christians all across the world, and I`m referring to Iraq, are being persecuted and now this girl
gets suspended for saying "bless you" in America?
FERGUSON: Amen.
GRACE: I can`t believe it.
BARKER: You have no idea what the facts are of this case. In many cases these students are being abusive with these words.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Abusive with the word bless you?
BARKER: What if the students during the test wanted to stand up and say the "Lord`s Prayer" or Allahu Akbar --
FERGUSON: That`s -- but that`s not what she did.
BARKER: You don`t know that it was --
FERGUSON: That`s not what she said. Somebody sneezed and she said, bless you. Someone sneezed and she said bless you.
GRACE: Now of course the school is denying any wrongdoing. They`re denying any suspension.
BARKER: Of course they are.
GRACE: Of course they are. But long story short, this student said when classmate sneezes at a time where people all over the world --
BARKER: You don`t know that. You don`t know that.
GRACE: Witnesses said that. You think you know more than the witness?
BARKER: Well, what the story that I read, the student yelled "bless you" during quiet instructional time which she was told to keep it quiet.
FERGUSON: She didn`t yell it.
BARKER: Not say such a thing.
GRACE: You know what, and this is not just about Christians. This is about religious persecution all around the country. Whatever your
religion.
BARKER: Are you kidding?
GRACE: Or your non-religion. And you are attacking the girl.
BARKER: You poor persecuted Christians. You have this complexion that the secular world is against you. That teacher had every right to establish
order in her class classroom.
FERGUSON: Why do you hate it so much?
GRACE: It`s not just Christians. It`s all religious that are being persecuted.
FERGUSON: Nancy --
GRACE: What?
FERGUSON: But this is a classic example of bitter and hatefulness toward a 17-year-old girl, a kid in high school, in high school, who is just saying
to someone after they sneezed "bless you." That is not a crime. You don`t go to detention for that.
GRACE: Well, as we sign off, gentlemen, let me just say, including you, Dan Barker, bless you.
BARKER: Bless you.
GRACE: Let`s stop and remember American hero, Army Corporal Lester Roque, 23, Torrence, California. Loved cars, movies, video games. Bronze Star,
Purple Heart, brother Antonio, mother Clarissa, father Antonio, fiancee Katherine.
Lester Roque, American hero.
A special good night from California and Colorado friends, Liz and Mark. Aren`t they a fine looking pair?
Everyone, Drew up next. I`ll see you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern and until then, good night, friend.
END
