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Nancy Grace
Person of Interest in Missing UVA Student Case Disappears
Aired September 23, 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. Grainy surveillance video emerging after a teen co-ed seemingly vanishes into thin air. Tonight,
after combing through hours and hours of tape, a mystery man spotted following along with co-ed Hannah. He refuses to speak with police. And
still no sign of missing teen co-ed. As cops swoop in for a second search warrant in the last hours, will DA confirm Hannah last in a nearby
apartment? Tonight, where is Hannah, and who knows what happened?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know Hannah was downtown. We know Hannah was (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the search for Hannah Graham, the investigation is focusing on Jesse Matthew, who police believe is the last
person to be seen with the University of Virginia sophomore.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I hope he comes to help us find Hannah. That`s what this is about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And to Sabine (ph) parish, Louisiana. Mommy puts her toddler boy in the back seat of her Oldsmobile SUV. The baby strangles himself in
the partially opened window.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A 19-month-old child is dead after being trapped in a car window. Mom says she parked the car, took the keys out, and
that`s when the window rolled up and trapped her son.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, to Plymouth township, suburbs, a 22-year-old Michigan woman`s body found folded up and stuffed in a 55-gallon drum
corked with cement. Who killed Teresa Dekaiser? (ph)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stuffed in a 55-gallon drum with cement board (ph) over here, fetal position.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tips led them to the storage yard, where they found a 55-gallon drum.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, the newly crowned Miss America caught in a hazing scandal?
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight.
Bombshell tonight. Grainy surveillance video emerging after a teen co-ed vanishes into thin air. Tonight, after combing through thousands and
thousands of surveillance tape, a mystery man spotted following along with co-ed Hannah, the man refusing to speak with police. And still no sign of
Hannah.
At this hour, cops swoop in for a second search of the mystery man`s apartment. And in the last hours, will DNA confirm Hannah last in a nearby
apartment? Tonight, where is Hannah, and who knows what happened?
Straight out to Jean Casarez, CNN correspondent joining us there on the scene in Charlottesville. Jean, I understand a second search warrant
was executed, cops swooping in. And is it true they took out clothing?
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That`s what we`re being told, that that second search warrant was executed and what they took out was
clothing. They`re not confirming if they first took out clothing, the first round, the first search warrant. But obviously, one would think they
would. Now clothing again.
At the same point of time, Nancy, we`re waiting for these forensic results, the DNA results on testing from articles in the car and articles
in the apartment. I just got off the phone with the Department of Forensic Science here in Virginia. They tell me that they are continuing to analyze
this potential evidence, that they`re working around the clock. It is priority now ahead of all of the other cases in Virginia. But as of yet,
they`re waiting on answers.
GRACE: Everyone, joining me is CNN correspondent Jean Casarez there on the scene in Charlottesville. As we got to air, we learn police execute
a second search warrant on the apartment of the mystery man, this mystery man caught on video with the co-ed the night she goes missing. There you
see police leaving with multiple bags of evidence. Why?
Now we also have been told -- Talya Cunningham joining us, WCHV -- Talya, that police went in with certain clothing in mind. Now, let`s think
this thing through. If they had in their mind what clothing they were looking for, it had to be one of two things, the clothing the nursing
assistant mystery man was wearing that night -- take a look, light shirt, light pants just below the knees, tennis shoes, socks -- or her clothing.
We know that she was wearing dark pants with a gold tube top, a gold sleeveless top with black mesh inserts. Take a look.
We believe that some of the clothing may have been found, and we`re deducing that from the fact that we know reports state clothing was taken
from the mystery man`s apartment.
Cops refuse to say what clothing was taken. But we know, Jean Casarez, they went in with specific clothing in mind, and reports are
saying clothing was taken out. For all I know, Jean, it could just be his clothing that he was wearing that night.
CASAREZ: Quite possibly. You know, when I spoke with the lab, they would not comment on this case, but they`ve told me the testing they
generally do in that lab is for stains, stains on clothing, stains on other types of materials. They`re looking for biological stains. That can be
bodily fluids, blood, anything like that, they can analyze for DNA.
GRACE: Also, everybody, let me remind all you legal eagles no suspect has been named. We`re looking for this guy, last seen with her leaving
that restaurant and bar. Take a look. Pull the screen up. Look at his altered appearance. Look at his altered appearance.
Tonight, police don`t even know where this guy is. He came in to the police station with family members. He talked to a lawyer very briefly.
He took off, flying like a bat out of Hades! We haven`t seen him since. We also believe he is no longer in his own car, possibly in his sister`s
blue Nissan.
Back to Jean Casarez. Jean, you mentioned that the clothing taken out of the mystery man`s apartment in the last hours is going to be subjected
to DNA testing for fluid. Now, they`re going to be using a test called short tandem repeat analysis -- repeat, short tandem repeat analysis. This
is DNA testing.
Straight out to Dr. Michelle Dupre, medical examiner, forensic pathologist. Dr. Dupre, we all know about DNA testing. We know it`s a
match of bodily fluids, that it is one of a kind. You have a genetic fingerprint. Nobody has one like you -- some argument about identical
twins.
So what is the short tandem repeat analysis test?
DR. MICHELLE DUPRE, MEDICAL EXAMINER, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Well, Nancy, in our DNA, we have a series of markers, and those markers are
repeated every so often. And that short tandem repeat is what we would be looking for in an STR analysis.
GRACE: Now, one thing that I had to work with -- Jean Casarez joining me there at the scene, along with Talya Cunningham -- Jean, is that very
often in the crimes that I prosecuted, I would have a small amount of DNA. And when you say "tandem," that means you take that small amount of DNA and
you can replicate it exactly, so you create enough of the DNA, you extend it, so you have enough to perform a test on it and get substantial results.
If clothing was, in fact, taken out of the home, how long will it take -- I mean, Jean, you can do a field test on DNA and get an immediate
result. That`s been used by the Red Cross and our government identifying bodies lost at war for decades.
So how long is the crime lab saying it will take to analyze these clothes?
CASAREZ: I wasn`t given a timeline at all. And remember, he would not comment on this case. But I`m reading between the lines. I know the
testing they do at the lab, and it`s not difficult to understand what they`re doing in this case. But he said, You know, sometimes it`s not
black and white when you do this type of tandem testing, and it takes a bit longer. But they`re working around the clock, and it is priority. They
want to find Hannah, too.
GRACE: Yes, it takes longer because you have to recreate or grow additional DNA. You have to extend the DNA you`ve got to have enough to
take the test.
For those of you just joining us, we learn a second search warrant has been executed, police swooping in to the apartment of the mystery man last
seen walking along with the missing co-ed. We understand that items have been taken out of the home, clothing, according to reports. Police say
they went in looking for specific clothing. They came out with clothing. Is it this, what the mystery man was wearing? Or is it actually Hannah`s
own clothing?
Straight back to Talya Cunningham, WCHV. Is it true that his car is still in impound? What can you tell me about his car?
TALYA CUNNINGHAM, WCHV (via telephone): Well, Nancy, we know that his car was impounded by police on Friday, and there was probable cause from
the search warrant from the car that led to the search of the apartment. So we do know that there was possibly some evidence found in the car,
whether...
GRACE: Wait, wait, Talya! Wait a minute. Everybody -- hold on, Talya. Look at this car. And if you can show me the front right passenger
side fender -- front right, if you`re sitting in the car, passenger side fender -- because a big chunk of it is missing. If we could ever turn that
car around and get the other side, it`s extremely distinctive. It looks like he maybe had a fender-bender on the other side of the car.
OK. So what do you know about this car? Is it still in impound, Talya?
CUNNINGHAM: We do know that the car still is in impound by the police. Like I said, they are (ph) actively sent out tips to the people
here in Charlottesville and everywhere, to be -- if anybody saw that vehicle the night of, to call the tipline. They are still -- like I said,
they had probable cause on Friday, which is why they searched his apartment on Friday, as well. They had probable cause...
GRACE: So are you telling me, Talya, they found something in the car that gave them probable cause to search the apartment? Is that what you`re
saying?
CUNNINGHAM: Yes.
GRACE: OK, everybody, take a look at this vehicle. We also understand he`s no longer in the vehicle.
But I want to talk about something extremely important. Jean Casarez, CNN correspondent joining me there on the scene -- the video -- let`s take
the surveillance video one at a time. Liz, when you`re putting it up in four boxes, I can`t focus on any single one of it, and I want to look at it
very carefully. This cannot be haphazard.
Is there any video, Jean Casarez, that actually shows them getting into the car?
CASAREZ: Good question. That`s the exact question that I asked the police chief and his assistant. And they confirmed with me they had
substantial proof, i.e., video, of them coming out of the restaurant Tempo, which is right behind me, by the way. And they would not discuss with me
anything about getting into the car.
GRACE: You know what that may mean? It may mean that...
CASAREZ: Yes.
GRACE: ... the car was parked where there was not surveillance video, but for some reason, they think they got in the car. Either the mystery
man told them they went off in the car and then parted ways -- something is placing her in that car, it sounds like, because they got a search warrant
for the car.
Now, hold on. If we don`t have video of the car, we don`t have surveillance video, what do you think, Jean? Here`s the Tempo restaurant,
everyone, the last place that witnesses see Hannah with the mystery man. Then what leads us to believe he was in the car with her?
CASAREZ: Because they haven`t heard anything else. They haven`t had anything else come to their attention. And remember, there are
eyewitnesses. This place was packed on Friday night...
GRACE: Exactly.
CASAREZ: ... packed with people. And they`re looking at what people are telling them, too.
GRACE: All right. So there may be witness substantiation they got in the car. Where I`m going with this, Jean, is the legality of the search.
They had to have PC, probable cause, to search that car. Somebody had to tell them the girl was in the car.
All right, now let`s move on to the next car. He`s now apparently in his sister`s blue Nissan.
CASAREZ: And you know, Nancy, I`ve spoken with the family, and they won`t talk. They say that Jesse`s attorney tells them they cannot speak.
They are obviously distraught because they know his life is at risk right here. But it`s a blue Nissan, and police are going even farther by saying
that he has contacts in Virginia, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York. So they`re not excluding the possibility that he could be
out of state.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The FBI now joining the search for missing Hannah Graham.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This picture and this wanted poster of Jesse Matthew.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We still need to talk to him about Hannah because he was the last one with her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This as more than 1,000 volunteers spent the weekend scouring the city for clues.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police believe Matthew can provide answers that Graham`s grieving parents need to know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All we want to do now is to bring Hannah home safely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A teen co-ed seemingly vanishes into thin air, this while the mystery man she is last spotted with on video surveillance also goes
missing. Apparently, he has connections in multiple states, including New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland.
Joining me, Jean Casarez, there on the scene in Charlottesville, Virginia, this as a second search is conducted when police swoop in on the
mystery man`s apartment. I`m understanding, Jean Casarez, that he had, I think, two roommates and a dog, I believe a pitbull. The tomato plants are
still there, but the pitbull is gone.
CASAREZ: And we understand that the other roommates have moved out, also. So there may be no one in the apartment anymore as they execute that
search. But there must have been something to take out because they did come out with bags after that second search warrant was executed.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers, Hugo Rodriguez, Miami, Parag Shah, Atlanta, author of "The Code." All right, Hugo and Parag, we know the
police have not named a suspect, all right? They have named this guy a person of interest. What we do know is not that he`s responsible for her
disappearance. We know that he`s the last one seen with her.
But I`ll tell you this much -- let me throw this to you, Hugo Rodriguez, former fed with the FBI. Hugo, when police come up behind you
on the interstate, do you put the pedal to the metal and take off at 90 MPH, or do you slow down, possibly pull over and say, Hey, what is it? You
want to talk to me? Just -- that`s a quick answer. Which one do you do?
HUGO RODRIGUEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Is it a police cruiser or an undercover car.
GRACE: I`ll go with cruiser.
RODRIGUEZ: Is it an undercover car or a police cruiser?
GRACE: I said cruiser. Repeat.
RODRIGUEZ: I`d pull over.
GRACE: All right, so...
RODRIGUEZ: I`d pull over.
GRACE: ... why is it, then, that this mystery man, who is not a suspect, won`t speak to police? Let`s also see his altered appearance,
please, Liz, because he may very well have changed his appearance by now.
RODRIGUEZ: No one has to speak to the police!
GRACE: Well, I know that, but...
(CROSSTALK)
RODRIGUEZ: I`ll help you. I will help you. He doesn`t have to speak to the police. They`ve conducted two search warrants.
GRACE: I already know that.
RODRIGUEZ: They say they had probable cause. They have no probable cause to arrest him. Why should he talk to them?
GRACE: That`s not what I asked you.
RODRIGUEZ: Why?
GRACE: To help find the girl. Oh!
RODRIGUEZ: Possibly. Maybe he had nothing to do with it.
GRACE: Have you thought of that, to help -- OK, fine. If he has nothing to do with it, Parag Shah...
RODRIGUEZ: Well, maybe not nothing to do with it.
GRACE: ... why not talk to the police?
RODRIGUEZ: Why are we jumping to this?
GRACE: Are you Parag Shah?
PARAG SHAH, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I don`t think we should be blaming him.
GRACE: I`m not blaming him!
SHAH: He obviously has a lawyer.
GRACE: I`m asking why is he not talking to the police.
SHAH: He`s taking the advice of his lawyer, and his lawyer has instructed him not to say anything.
GRACE: So that -- you think that answers everything, Because my lawyer told me to do it.
PARAG: Look, I`ve represented a number of clients, and they...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... a little boy on the playground convinced my son to eat a leaf...
PARAG: They -- they may want to...
GRACE: ... and he said Nicholas made me do it.
PARAG: ... come forward...
GRACE: I didn`t buy that.
PARAG: But until we see the evidence, it is hasty for him to make any statements, and his lawyer is protecting him, which is his job.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say Matthew was the last person seen with 18-year-old University of Virginia sophomore Hannah Graham.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s important we talk to Jesse Matthew.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to find out what happened to Hannah and make sure that it doesn`t happen to anybody else.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want to bring you home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Back to Jean Casarez, standing by there at Charlottesville. You know, the mystery man holds the key one step further in the search for
this co-ed. He is not a suspect. But he was last seen with her. He knows -- if he`s not involved, he knows where he parted ways with her and where
she said she was headed.
Jean, let`s talk about the possibility of finding out from the family where this guy is. You`re saying the family is not speaking, right?
CASAREZ: No. No, they`re not -- they`re not talking at the request of his lawyer. And remember, he didn`t walk into the police department by
himself on Saturday. He walked with his family. They all went in to the police department. So I agree with you. He`s close to his family.
GRACE: And that means -- and I think it was his mother was with him in the car when he took off like a bat out of Hades! And he actually got a
warrant on him for unsafe driving leaving the police station, which to me is another big red flag. Again, he`s not a suspect.
Joining me right now, telecommunications expert out of Raleigh, North Carolina, Ben Levitan. OK, here`s the answer, Ben, a wiretap on the
family`s house. I know what you have to do legally to get a wiretap. I`ve gotten a million of them from judges and magistrates. But how does it
technically work? How do you tap somebody`s home phone? Can you tap an area, like a front porch or a den? Could you tap a cell phone?
BEN LEVITAN, TELECOMMUNICATIONS EXPERT (via telephone): Nancy, you can -- in order to be able to offer telephone service in this country,
every company must be able to wiretap on demand. The only thing law enforcement has to do is issue a search warrant in to the phone company,
and instantly, they`ll put that number into their system, and instantly, you`ll be wiretapping -- you`ll have a wiretap on that phone. It`s that
easy nowadays, Nancy.
GRACE: So Ben, there are cases where -- I recall specifically a mob case -- we`re showing you surveillance video right now -- where the mobster
would go out on his back stoop of his apartment. He lived in a highrise. It was a fire escape. And the feds put a tap on the fire escape.
There are other cases -- a specific case where a graveyard, a cemetery plot was tapped, and the killer was caught speaking to the dead victim at
their grave, all right? So it goes on and on. A place such as a den, a bedroom can be tapped. A landline can be tapped, and a cell phone can be
tapped. Problem with cell phone, Ben Levitan, you don`t always get good results. Sometimes it`s very grainy. You can`t hear it.
LEVITAN: Well, Nancy, the quality you get on a wiretap is exactly -- what happens when you create a wiretap on a cell phone or a landline phone,
all it does is create a conference bridge (ph) to law enforcement. You don`t even have to -- you know, in the movies, we`re used to seeing, Well,
wait -- you know, Keep him on the line 30 seconds. That doesn`t happen, Nancy. That wiretap starts before the phone even rings for the other
party.
GRACE: Yes, I think the whole 30 second thing is to identify the exact location of where the call is being made. But what I`m saying here
is, if this mystery man is calling his family, calling his mother, tap the line. Find out where he is. Listen to what he says. Now, very quickly,
Ben Levitan, how long would it take us to track down a ping on his cell phone or to identify a landline that he`s calling from?
LEVITAN: It`s instantaneous, Nancy. The technology is in place today that it`s instantaneous. You`d know if you called 911. The 911 operator
can find you instantly. It`s the same technology.
GRACE: With me now, Jean Casarez, Talya Cunningham, C.W. Jensen and Marc Klaas. Quickly to Jean Casarez, it`s a light blue Sentra, right, and
it belongs to his sister?
CASAREZ: Right. 1997. That`s what they believe he may be driving. That`s on the wanted poster for the misdemeanor reckless driving charges.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: And now to Sabine Parish, Louisiana. Mommy puts her toddler boy in the back seat of her Oldsmobile SUV. The baby strangles himself in
the partially opened window.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mom says she approached the car keys out, and the window rolled up and trapped her son. The little boy`s neck was crushed
between the SUV`s window and the door frame.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: You know, it`s not as if this is the first time this happened. Take a look at baby Tabitha Inch (ph). Her mother goes into a home,
reports are she went in and did a client`s hair. The mom denies that. Leaves the baby in the back of her `95 Caddy. That baby strangled to death
in an electric window. Now it happens again. And here`s the rest of that story on Tabitha Inch. The mom got a suspended sentence. Suspended. She
got ten years suspended. In other words, no jail time whatsoever for this child`s death in the back of her Caddy. Leaves the baby alone, the child
strangles to death in an electric window. To Michelle Southern, assistant news director, Louisiana Radio Network, Michelle, what happened this time?
SOUTHERN: Well, this time it was a little 19-month-old boy where the mother reported she left the residence and then, you know, we`re not
exactly sure of the time, he was unrestrained in the back of the car and got his neck lodged between the car window and the door frame when he
(inaudible) the button for the electric door window.
GRACE: I don`t -- it`s a non sequitur, that doesn`t follow there. Unleash the lawyers, Hugo Rodriguez and Parag Shah. Parag, children can
push a button. Okay? To say -- you put your baby in the back seat, you don`t put it in a seat belt, you have electric windows, what do you think
is going to happen?
SHAH: Well, you know, a lot of these cars have a lock where they are unable to roll down the windows. You know, that lock should have been in
there.
GRACE: What did you say?
SHAH: There`s a lock so that the window can`t be rolled down.
GRACE: It`s called a child lock.
SHAH: And it should have been activated.
GRACE: But it wasn`t, was it?
SHAH: Well, she forgot to restrain her child. We don`t know why she didn`t restrain her child. But it was based on that negligence --
GRACE: Let`s start in the beginning. You put your child in the back seat not in a seat belt, No. 1. No. 2, you don`t have the safety lock on
your window. Rodriguez, I see you shaking your head and turning in your seat. What?
RODRIGUEZ: It`s unfortunate this baby died. It`s unfortunate. It was an accident. It wasn`t intentional. She had no intent, and I`m sorry
the baby died, but there`s nothing that should happen to the mother. I`m sure that she`s grieving and in a total loss for her child. She didn`t
intend for that child to push the button and get his neck stuck. It was an accident.
GRACE: Okay. Have you ever heard of unintentional child abuse? Let me refresh you with the case of --
RODRIGUEZ: This is not child abuse. Quit stretching it. It is not child abuse. It was an accident. The child pushed the button
accidentally.
GRACE: Where the father says he accidentally left the tot in the car, Justin Ross Harris, let`s see a picture, Liz, to refresh everyone`s
recollection. And the baby died. Now, if you take his own admission, he accidentally left the baby in the car, that is called neglect. Felony
child neglect. To put your child in the back seat, an infant, not in a seat belt with electric windows could be construed as child neglect.
To psychotherapist Leslie Austin, joining me out of Sarasota. Leslie, in that case, Justin Ross Harris, baby Cooper, he said he forgot the baby.
Now, this mom says she couldn`t see what the baby was doing in the back seat as she drove from point A to point B.
AUSTIN: Right. Look. Bottom line, do not leave your child unattended in a car ever, ever, ever, for any reason, not even for 15
seconds. You can`t plan what a child will do. I`m sure this was a tragic accident. I don`t know how guilty she should be held, but you never, ever,
ever leave your child unattended in a car, or an animal, for that matter.
GRACE: Everyone, we are bringing you the latest in the case of baby Robert Lynch. This just happened with baby Tabitha Inch. That baby left
alone in mommy`s `95 Cadillac as mommy reportedly went in to do a client`s hair. She denies that. Whatever. She left the child. It strangled to
death. To Justin Freiman, is it true that the Inch mother, this baby`s mother, basically got no jail time, whatever, after the death of this baby?
And now it`s happened again with baby Robert.
FREIMAN: That`s right, Nancy. The mother in the other story actually did get a ten-year suspended term for the child`s accidental death.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: And now live, Plymouth Township suburbs, a 22-year-old Michigan woman`s body found folded up and stuffed into a 55-gallon drum.
The drum was filled with sand and corked with cement. Tonight, who killed Theresa Dekeyzer?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 22-year-old Theresa Dekeyzer`s body that was found by police stuffed inside a barrel at a Plymouth Township storage
yard. Tips led them to a storage yard where they found a 55-gallon drum filled with cement. X-rays revealed the body of a woman inside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining me, anchor with WWJ Mary Osbourne. Thank you for being with us. It`s my understanding the police actually x-rayed the drum
to discover the woman`s body, her body was folded up and stuffed inside?
OSBOURNE: That`s right. They had to x-ray that drum. They were led there to that location by a couple of tips so they wanted to see what was
inside that drum before they opened it. And that`s when they discovered the remains of a woman. They could see that there were some tattoos and
some jewelry on this body.
GRACE: With me is Marie Osbourne from WWJ. What do we know about Theresa Dekeyzer? I know she didn`t have any children yet. She was only
22 years old. Where did she live? What did she do? What do we know about her life?
OSBOURNE: She was one of eight children, Nancy, the middle child in fact of eight children. Her father had died a couple of years ago. She
lived in the suburb of Warren, which is about 10 to 15 miles away from where her body was found. She worked at a donut shop, and one of the tips
that police had that something here had gone very wrong was the fact that she had not gone to pick up her last check at that donut shop. She
disappeared on June 16th.
GRACE: Theresa Dekeyzer`s body has just been found folded over and stuffed into a 55-gallon drum. All right. Here`s the thing about that.
To Dr. Michelle Dupre, medical examiner and pathologist joining me out of Columbia, the perp went to a lot of effort to get her body inside a 55-
gallon drum. Not only that, then filled the drum with sand and corked it with cement and put it in a storage container, an RV storage. So how do
you get a human body, a 22-year-old woman into a 55-gallon drum? How is that possible, Dr. Dupre?
DUPRE: Well, Nancy, she was likely perhaps already deceased or at least sedated. It`s really not that difficult to stuff a body into a 55-
gallon drum. As you said, it was folded up and stuffed in and then covered up.
GRACE: Now, you`re saying that she was possibly sedated at the time? That she could have been alive when she was stuck in the drum?
DUPRE: It`s possible. She could have been unconscious, she could have been sedated. Most likely she was not, she was probably deceased.
But we don`t know at this point in time.
GRACE: For those of you just joining us, a 22-year-old woman`s body found folded over and stuffed into a 55-gallon drum. Then stored in
storage. Police actually having to use an x-ray device on the drum to determine if a woman was in there, if a body was in there because, joining
me, Justin Freiman, when they get the tip, they go to the storage spot, they see the drum. But it`s full of sand and it`s corked with cement. So
they can`t just lift the top off and look inside, right?
FREIMAN: That`s right. They did have to x-ray it. Once they figured out there was a body inside, it took them hours to get the body out. They
had to be extra careful not to disturb too much. And keep the evidence.
GRACE: I guess the only way to really do that, Dr. Dupre, is to destroy the drum. You can`t pull the body out without ruining the body`s
evidence, forensic evidence on the body. So I guess you would have to fingerprint the drum. Do DNA testing on the drum to get whatever forensic
evidence you can. And then destroy the drum in order to get to the body. I mean, I don`t see how you can do it any other way, doctor.
DUPRE: Yes, Nancy, that`s probably exactly right. You would likely cut the drum off and then very carefully you would have to extricate the
body from the cement or the sand that it was encased in.
GRACE: Everybody, tonight, we want you to join the investigation. Tonight, the desperate search for Jacob and Sarah Hogel (ph). Go to my
facebook and twitter right now. Share this photo with your friends. It is urgent. Let`s get their faces out there and bring these two toddlers home.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Tonight the newly crowned Miss America caught in a hazing scandal?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m so excited.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The newly crowned Miss America admits that she was kicked out of her sorority at Hofstra University. But she is saying
that it was not for hazing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My platform is called love shouldn`t hurt. Protecting women against domestic violence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Okay. Joining me, a reporter for the New Jersey Advance Media Star Ledger, Amy Kabrinski, thank you for being with us. Miss America?
Hazing scandal? That doesn`t seem right. Oh, everybody, that`s the Miss America pageant from ABC you`re seeing right now. Amy? Hazing scandal?
What?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, what happened was that an unnamed source told the website Jezebel that (inaudible) participated in the hazing of
pledges. They claim she was dismissed from the sorority for this reason.
GRACE: Michael Christian, the hazing incident, my goodness. It`s not as if she beat anybody or tortured them or humiliated them. It is my
understanding that what she did was they did overnight crafting? It was that, like making pot holders? Overnight crafting? That`s the torture?
CHRISTIAN: According to the website, Nancy, that is making these allegations, the new pledges were called names. They were --
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Whoa, whoa, back it up. Whoa, whoa, wait! Michael, Michael, how do I know it`s not a sore loser making these allegations? Who is
making the allegations? Where did it come from?
CHRISTIAN: Yes. That`s absolutely correct, Nancy, it is from a website called Jezebel and it is unnamed sources.
GRACE: All right. I`m not buying it. If they won`t give me their name, I`m not buying it. Amy, I`m not a huge fan of pageants. But
overnight crafting. Is that equated to making people`s lives living hell?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It certainly doesn`t sound right, does it? But this is what the new Miss America says, that there were activities that
might broadly be considered to be hazing, because maybe it was crafting to the point of exhaustion, losing sleep over this. Being (inaudible) menial
tasks. She admits that they did that, just as part of the culture there.
GRACE: I`m not saying that I`m happy about that. But when I think of a crime of hazing, I think of people being humiliated, tortured, being
physically beaten or abused. Not making pot holders all night long. I mean, really. I`m going to take away her crown because Alpha Phi kicked
her out? Are you serious? All right. Let`s just hold judgment on Miss America, all right? Let her enjoy her crown for a few more minutes.
Let`s stop and remember. American hero Army Sergeant David Stephens, 28, Tulahoma (ph), Tennessee. Bronze Star, Purple Heart, loved Bob Dylan.
Father Charles, widow, Megan, daughter, Sienna. David Stephens. American hero. Drew up next. I`ll see you tomorrow night at 8:00 sharp Eastern.
Until then, good night, friend.
END
