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Nancy Grace
500-Pound Sex Offender Complains About Room and Board; Video of Mom Drinking Iced Tea Laced With Lye
Aired October 06, 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. A 500-plus-pound convicted sex predator whines and complains about food and bedroom at the Peninsula
Center, all the while taxpayers, you and me, footing that bill to house and feed the 500-pound sex felon, an estimated $10,000 a month.
Bombshell tonight. The supersized slacker, convicted of a violent sex attack, claims the taxpayers aren`t giving him enough to eat. And he also
complains his bed`s not comfy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A convicted sex offender is complaining about his bed and food that`s being paid for with your tax dollars. Kenneth Harvey,
who admits to being broke and homeless, was placed in a medical center, where he says he isn`t treated right. Harvey, who weighs over 500 pounds,
says his bed is too small and he isn`t being fed enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, upscale Salt Lake suburbs. A mom of three unknowingly gets a supersized sweet iced tea at a local fast food
restaurant. Little does Mommy know that sweet tea poisoned, laced with lye, and it`s all caught on tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I think I just drank acid."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As soon as Jan Harding took one sip from the drink, she immediately knew something was terribly wrong.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) fryer cleaner was mixed into the sweet tea dispenser.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But how did a deadly substance like lye ever get into the iced tea in the first place?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And Nevada, 27-year-old Margay Edwards found dead on a popular dirt trail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Margay Edwards, just 27 years old, in the prime of her life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Margay Edwards was found dead in the Nye (ph) County desert, 45 miles from Las Vegas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A cause of death has not yet been released.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Edwards was staying in a hotel in Las Vegas, but it`s unclear if she was alone or with friends.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And Phoenix, a school girl goes missing on her morning walk to the bus stop.
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. A 500-plus-pound convicted sex predator whines about his room and board at the Peninsula Center, all the while taxpayers,
you and me, footing his bill. The bill to house and feed a 500-pound sex felon -- it`s about $10,000 a month. The supersized slacker, convicted of
a violent sex attack, claims you and I, the taxpayers, just aren`t giving him enough to eat. And he also complains his bed isn`t comfy.
OK, Dave Mack, syndicated talk show host joining us. But first, joining me right now from Far Rockaway, Kenneth Harvey. He is the
convicted sex offender complaining about the Peninsula.
Mr. Harvey, thank you for being with us.
KENNETH HARVEY, 500 POUNDS (via telephone): Hi. How are you?
GRACE: Mr. Harvey, what is your complaint?
HARVEY: First of all, since I`ve been here, I`ve been without a sufficient bed. The bed is a single bed, and the mattress is so thin that
the metal frame protrudes in through the mattress into my back. The bed is so small that I`m falling off it halfway, almost. In addition to that, I
have to wait four or five hours...
GRACE: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
(CROSSTALK)
HARVEY: ... a lot of time, OK?
GRACE: Your bed is too small. Is that what you said? Isn`t it a size for a regular adult male?
HARVEY: Yes, for a single size, right. And...
GRACE: OK.
HARVEY: ... the mattress itself is so thin that the metal frame was protruding through the mattress, and the bed is so small that when I lied -
- when I went from side to side, my stomach was falling off. It was very painful to sleep in this thing for about four months. In addition to
that...
GRACE: Well, can I ask you something, sir? How much are you paying in rent for that?
HARVEY: Well, they`re charging Medicaid $10,000 a month. And they`re taking my $800 a month in Social Security, so...
GRACE: How much are you paying, sir?
HARVEY: They`re taking my $800 a month in Social Security money.
GRACE: Your $800 of taxpayers` money, your Social Security?
HARVEY: They`re taking $10,000 off of Medicaid taxpayers` money in addition to that.
GRACE: Why are you on -- let me -- I don`t understand. Why are you on Medicaid to start with?
HARVEY: I have asthma and I have some other medical problems, and...
GRACE: Well, I`ve got asthma. Everybody`s got asthma. So what is your ailment? Why are you on Medicaid to start with?
HARVEY: Because I`m unable to -- I have -- because of my severe weight problem, I`m unable to walk, barely. I have to sit down after five
minutes. I have trouble (INAUDIBLE) with my knees. I have what they call neuropathy in both my ankles.
GRACE: Is that because of...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Is that because of your weight? Your knees and your ankles are buckling because of the weight? You have bone and joint ailments?
HARVEY: Yes, and I have trouble breathing, and so I`m unable to really get around. I`m not very mobile.
GRACE: OK. Hold on. Now, what about the food? Are you getting enough to eat?
HARVEY: No. First of all, I asked for a low-calorie, low-fat diet. I got that. That`s no problem. But they give me sometimes two slices of
bread, little bit of lettuce, tomato, and hardly anything. So I mean, it`s a very...
GRACE: Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Mr. Harvey, when I was growing up, and to this day, that`s what we call a lettuce, tomato
sandwich. So are you telling me you get two slices of bread a day? That`s what you get to eat the whole day?
HARVEY: No, no. I`m saying that on certain meals, or a lot of meals (INAUDIBLE) each meal is very little. They give me very little for each
meal. You understand what I`m saying?
GRACE: And how much are those meals costing you? Just curious.
HARVEY: It doesn`t (INAUDIBLE) it comes out of the -- Medicaid is paying them -- they`re charging Medicaid $10,000 a month.
GRACE: So...
HARVEY: And it doesn`t cost me anything. It`s costing me -- you know, my $800 in Social Security a month is taken from me. But the
$10,000...
GRACE: OK, sir, wait, wait, wait! Can I ask you a question?
HARVEY: Yes.
GRACE: Why don`t you get a job? Because then you could afford more food and a bigger bed.
HARVEY: I can`t hear you. What, Nancy?
GRACE: Have you thought of getting a job?
HARVEY: I tried to get -- first of all, I don`t have the energy. Yes, I tried many times to get a job (INAUDIBLE) but I`m in a wheelchair.
I don`t have a lot of energy. When I tried in the past, people didn`t want to hire me.
GRACE: Is that because of your weight or because of your sex conviction?
HARVEY: That`s probably both, but more likely the way I look. I mean, at 500 and some odd pounds, at 6-foot-3, 500 and some odd pounds, I`m
not a very attractive person. In addition to that...
GRACE: Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Whoa, whoa, wait. If you can`t get a job because you`re overweight, then -- but you`re
complaining you`re not getting enough to eat. So I don`t understand that.
HARVEY: I`m also -- listen, I lost about -- I was 700 pounds about a year-and-a-half ago, and I lost 200 pounds in the hospital. I -- and now
I`m...
GRACE: Well, you know, that`s what they do at those fancy expensive clinics. Actually, that`s a pretty good success rate. You`ve lost 200
pounds. You`re doing good. You better stick to that diet.
HARVEY: Yes. But the other reason I -- what happened was -- I want to speak about this also, Nancy. "The New York Post" -- I didn`t give them
permission to put the picture in the article in for the following reason. What happened was, I called them initially on the phone to make a complaint
about what was happening to me here, right? The girl...
GRACE: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait! When you say you got to make a complaint about what`s happening in here -- you`re at the Peninsula Center.
You`re not paying for anything. Me -- me, my mother, who is an 82-year-old piano teacher and still working -- we`re paying for you to be there. And
you`re complaining about what`s going on. What exactly is going on in there, other than your bed and you don`t like the food?
HARVEY: Well, hey, the real serious problem was the bed, was -- what happened was, for four months, roughly, while I was here, right, from May,
June, July, August and September, right -- for that period of time up until a couple days ago, the bed -- it was very painful for me to go to sleep.
And I just finished telling you earlier that the mattress was so thin, the metal frame was protruding underneath the mattress into my body, and the
bed was so narrow that I was -- that my stomach was falling off on either side.
So what I`m saying to you is I called "The Post" initially to get the proper bariatric bed in here. Now, it`s kind of ironic that as soon as
"The Post" got here (INAUDIBLE) a half hour after they got here, we got a brand-new bed in the room. (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: Well, wait a minute. Then how can you complain about "The New York Post," but yet because of their cover story, which I believe the cover
was "Fat (EXPLETIVE DELETED)" -- OK, I can understand how that might be a little hurtful. But isn`t it true because of that cover, you got the bed
you wanted? You`ve got a deluxe bed. I bet it costs more than my bed.
HARVEY: No, no, Nancy, that`s not true. Can I speak for a second?
GRACE: Yes.
HARVEY: They came here -- that`s not true. Can I finish talking, please? They came here on Friday, OK, before the article was even going to
appear, right? And they told me that they weren`t going to put my picture in, and I could use a phony name when they first got here, right? Then
they called me on the phone later on, they said, Listen, we already got your picture and we`re going to use your real name, whether you like it or
not.
Then I called (INAUDIBLE) that point, I don`t want you to put -- I said, We had an agreement. I said, I don`t want you to put the picture in,
I don`t want the ad (ph) in because they told me they weren`t going to put the picture in, and they told me they weren`t going to use my real name.
So that was on Friday. On Sunday, they published it anyway against...
GRACE: I mean, if you`re going to...
HARVEY: ... my will, against my wishes.
GRACE: ... complain to the newspaper, you can`t really get mad when they use your real name and your picture. But sir, do you know that there
are a lot of people that think you should still be in jail because of your sex offense?
HARVEY: Nancy, we made an agreement not to use my picture and not to use my real name (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: I didn`t. Are you talking about "The Post"?
HARVEY: I`m talking about "The Post." We made an agreement that they would not use my picture, my real name, and I said, OK, fine. Then they
told me they were going to go ahead and use my real name and my picture. I said, No, I`m not agreeing to it. I don`t want it in "The Post." You hear
me?
GRACE: OK, let me ask you a question about your sex offense. You know, a lot of people hearing your story are not on your side...
(CROSSTALK)
HARVEY: ... right now. I was framed. I didn`t do what I was charged with. (INAUDIBLE) tried to extort money from me, and she told me if I
didn`t give her the X amount of dollars -- it was, like, about -- I think it was $700, that she was going to frame me with the police, OK?
When she went to the hospital, the hospital technician said there was no evidence of any rape, and all this came down to was her word against my
word. The problem was that since I was running an escort service and since I was a lot bigger than her and since also...
GRACE: Whoa! Wait a minute, Mr. Harvey. OK, I think I hear you saying that the rape victim, as you`re saying, made the whole thing up to
extort money. Did you just say you were running an escort service?
HARVEY: Yes, I did. Yes.
GRACE: OK. You do know that`s against the law, right?
HARVEY: Yes, I did.
GRACE: OK. So how do you compare the Peninsula to that room and board you had in the jail?
HARVEY: Well, I don`t think there`s any comparison. There`s no question about that. But the thing is this. I told you I was framed. I
didn`t do this crime. And it shows one thing in America can happen to you. If you`re doing something illegal, like running an escort service...
GRACE: You know what? You run an escort service, all right? You claim you get framed by a prostitute. I don`t know about that. But you
are a convicted sex offender. You said you got framed. Now you`re getting $120,000 a year tax benefit, and you are still complaining about your food,
your room and board.
HARVEY: Nancy, I`m not getting $120,000 a year. I`ve been here four months. That`s the cost -- the nursing home is getting that. By the way,
it`s not worth (INAUDIBLE) the way I`ve been treated. I`m in pain for four months here because of the bed, you know what I`m saying?
Nancy, as of right now, this conversation is over with. Thank you for having me. Bye-bye.
GRACE: OK, unleash the lawyers. With me, Darryl Cohen and Shireen Hormozdi. OK, Darryl Cohen and Shireen Hormozdi -- first of all, to you,
Shireen. According to me, this guy is a convicted sex predator. He should still be in jail, and he is complaining about his food. Granted, he`s lost
200 pounds, according to him, but he`s actually complaining about "The New York Post" that did an article about him. I mean, why isn`t he still in
jail, Shireen?
SHIREEN HORMOZDI, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, this story illuminates the systemwide problem with welfare. And attacking Mr. Harvey personally
because he`s a sex offender does nothing to solve the problem.
GRACE: OK, do you hear what you`re saying? Attacking him because he`s a sex offender does not solve the problem. OK, hold on just a moment.
Dave Mack, syndicated talk show host, weigh in, please.
DAVID MACK, TALK SHOW HOST (via telephone): Nancy, first of all...
GRACE: He`s making about 150 grand a year out of my and my mom`s and my whole family`s pocket, who`s working like dogs, and actually complains?
MACK: The sickest part of all of this, Nancy, is that this FB (ph) beat a woman, raped a woman. He was sentenced to prison for four to eight
years. He comes out and he`s still a victim from that. He was set up. He didn`t do it, even though he admits running a sex ring.
On top of that, we`re the ones footing the bill for this FB (ph) to now go on fat camp! The guy lost 200 pounds! He should be thanking us!
He should thank the rehabilitation center. We shouldn`t have to sit here and let him cowardly hang up on you and say, This interview is over.
What`s wrong with this country?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: And now to upscale Salt Lake suburbs. A mom of three unknowingly gets a supersize sweet iced tea at a local fast food
restaurant. But little did Mom know that sweet tea poisoned, laced with lye, and it`s all caught on tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What turned a glass of iced tea into a lethal liquid?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jan Harding knew right away when she took a sip of her sweet tea that something wasn`t right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Immediately coughed it out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An iced tea that turned out to contain lye.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The degreaser to clean deep fryer restaurant equipment, and is made up of 67 percent sodium hydroxide.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The employee put six cups of this white powder substance into the iced tea mixer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Believe it or not, there is video, and we have obtained the video of the fast food employee putting the lye -- if I could see that
video? -- into the sweet tea. Watch this. There you go. He`s going to take a deep, deep serving. There you go. And it`s not over yet,
essentially putting in the poisonous ingredient into the sweet tea.
Jim Kirkwood, talk show host, KTKK, what happened? How did lye get into the sweet tea at a fast food restaurant?
JIM KIRKWOOD, KTKK (via telephone): An employee a few weeks earlier had discovered it and burned herself, so put it in the manager`s office.
But it was in a sugar bag, Nancy. And then the manager quit the day before. So this is just a horrible series of coincidences and errors.
GRACE: Let`s take a look at the video one more time, everybody. For those of you just joining us, a mother of three drinks sweet tea at a local
fast food chain. Unbeknownst to her, it was laced with poisonous lye. There you saw the employee -- there it goes. There goes the poisonous
mixture, going to put straight into the iced tea.
Then Jan Harding comes along, mom of three. Watch this. Oh! Oh! Oh! The burning started with her tongue, the inside of her mouth, the
upper part of her mouth, her gums nearly burned away, all the way down the esophagus, basically drinking pure lye.
Straight out to Dr. Michelle Dupre, medical examiner. What is lye? Let`s start with that. What is it?
DR. MICHELLE DUPRE, MEDICAL EXAMINER: Nancy, lye is actually an alkaline. It`s a very, very caustic substance and extremely, extremely
dangerous.
GRACE: What does it do to the body?
DUPRE: Well, it does a lot of things. Depending on the type of -- either inhalation, ingestion, or even touching it -- touching it can burn
you, blister you. If you ingest it, as she did, it typically burns your entire mouth, your esophagus, even your stomach. It`s very severe.
GRACE: OK, back to you, Jim Kirkwood, KTKK. I still don`t understand how this mom goes to get iced tea and ends up drinking lye. And everyone,
it`s caught on surveillance video. A mother of three unwittingly drinks down sweet iced tea. Immediately, she knows something`s wrong.
Hey, Michael Christian, what happened immediately after she drank the tea?
MICHAEL CHRISTIAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): She said she took one sip, Nancy, and she immediately knew that there was something
wrong. She said it was like drinking acid. So she kept taking water and trying to rinse out her mouth, but she got it in her mouth, her throat, and
as you say, down her esophagus.
GRACE: OK, when it went down her esophagus, it basically burns through all the tissues in her mouth and her esophagus.
Unleash the lawyers, Darryl Cohen, Shireen Hormozdi. This woman had to be airlifted to a different hospital. The first hospital she went with
knew that it was deadly. What`s the defense in a case like this? To you, Darryl.
DARRYL COHEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: My defense is we didn`t know, we thought it was gone, and the manager quit. That`s our defense. Simple.
GRACE: Shireen?
HORMOZDI: The issue`s foreseeability, that this accident as not foreseeable and that an employee went rogue...
GRACE: Wa-wait! Shireen...
HORMOZDI: ... and accidentally put the lye in the iced tea.
GRACE: But that`s not the truth because isn`t it true, Jim Kirkwood, you just told us that, like, a week before, they discovered there was lye
in a sugar bag and nobody ever threw it out.
KIRKWOOD: Yes. The employee burned her finger and her tongue and then put the bag of sugar -- she -- you know, that it was labeled, in the
manager`s office. And then, of course, the manager quit, and a Dickey`s corporate employee stepped in to keep the place running, and he didn`t
know. I mean, this is just a horrible series of coincidences and mistakes.
GRACE: Everyone, you are seeing video of when the poison is placed in the iced tea. You know, Michael Christian, the injuries that she has
suffered -- incredible. It basically burned through all of the tissue. At the first hospital she went to, they realized it was more than they could
handle. Where did she go from there?
CHRISTIAN: She went to University Hospital in Salt Lake City. She was airlifted there, Nancy. She was there for two weeks. The first week,
she was in critical condition.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She said, I think I just drank acid.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This morning, in a "GMA" exclusive, the family is sharing the shock of something so unusual, they don`t quite understand it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The terror in her eyes. And I looked down and said, I love you. And she couldn`t really even talk at that point. She
just mouthed, I love you, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say Harding got the iced tea at this Dickey`s Barbecue Pit. Preliminary investigations show that a heavily
toxic industrial cleaner was mixed in with the iced tea in large quantities. The cleaner, made up of sodium hydroxide or lye, is known to
cause severe burns to the mouth, throat and stomach, if swallowed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her memory is taking that sip and her mouth and throat being on fire, and spitting and gagging and doing everything she
could to get that out of her mouth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That is from ABC`s "GMA."
For those of you just joining us, a mom of three goes in and gets a large sweet iced tea, and this is what happens. She immediately knows
something`s horribly wrong. She has consumed lye, pure lye, put into the iced tea, as opposed to sugar.
Michael Christian, Dickey`s Barbecue Pit -- there are about 400 of those in 40 states. What do they have to say?
CHRISTIAN: They said that this was a unique incident, that they`d never had anything like this happen before, and that, basically, they just
don`t really know what happened.
GRACE: OK, to Dr. Michelle Dupre. What are the long-term effects of swallowing lye?
DUPRE: Nancy, we really don`t know at this point what her long-term effects will be, but they can be very severe. Again, they can erode the
tissue down very far, and it may be very difficult to heal. There can be scar tissue that can cause all kinds of problems. It`s really just going
to depend on this case.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: And now to Nevada, 27-year-old Margay Edwards found dead on a popular dirt trail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 27-year-old Margay, whose body was found decomposing in the Nevada desert.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Margay touched so many lives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The couple Margay knew in Pharump (ph) may hold the key to the investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep their children close, whether they`re 5 or 25, because you don`t get a second chance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We first highlighted this case last week, but still, no answers in the death of this beautiful young 27-year-old woman. Her body
found on a popular dirt trail. When we first told you about this story, we were on the lookout for a blue 2004 Hyundai Accent rental car. It`s been
found. The California plate 7ESZ7996 was found intentionally crashed we believe several miles away from where Margay`s body was found. That`s only
adding to the mystery about what happened to Margay. Straight out to Selwin Harris, reporter with Pharump Valley Times. Tell me about the
discovery of the blue Hyundai.
HARRIS: Yes, Nancy, thanks. Margay`s 2014 Hyundai was found Saturday afternoon, that was a joint effort between the Las Vegas Metro air
officials and Nye County sheriff`s detectives. The car was discovered as you mentioned roughly three miles from where Margay`s body was found, and
sheriffs actually had to use ATVs to reach the car due to the raggedness of the area. Nothing but creosote bushes and desert sage and whatnot. But
obviously I`m writing this story, the follow-up story, so I still have many unanswered questions around here.
GRACE: Well, that brings up a very disturbing issue. Joining me right now, special guest, Sheriff Tony De Meo from the sheriff`s office.
Thank you so much for being with us there in Nye County. Sheriff, something that Selwin Harris just told us about the terrain that you guys
had to get through, get over, to get to the car, which means somebody else had to get the car to that location and crash it.
SHERIFF TONY DE MEO, NY COUNTY SHERIFF`S OFFICE: Well, let me just say thank you for having us on the show.
GRACE: Yes, sir.
DE MEO: The -- it`s not been determined yet. We just know the vehicle was taken to the desert. The vehicle was not intentionally crashed
from the evidence that we see. The vehicle was driven in (inaudible) the desert. When you say three miles, everybody doesn`t understand that the
three miles is not a straight run. And we have a lot of ravines, a lot of obstructions that we had to actually overcome in order to find the trail
that the vehicle took in order to get from the location where it rested.
GRACE: Sheriff, question, let me ask you a quick question right there. Where the car was crashed, is it where cars normally drive?
DE MEO: This vehicle was in an area of the desert where even quads and ATVs have not yet been for I would say at least a decade. From the --
GRACE: Okay.
DE MEO: There is no trail that led to -- there was no cross trails, no vehicle traffic that was present.
GRACE: Then my question goes back, Sheriff, if it`s a place where cars don`t even go, ATVs don`t even go there, you don`t think someone had
to intentionally take the car there to get the car there?
DE MEO: We`re investigating how the car got there. That is part of the investigation. When we recovered the vehicle, I was part of the search
team that went out Saturday. When we found the vehicle, we immediately preserved the vehicle, put up the evidence tape, sealed the vehicle, and
the vehicle was taken to our location, an enclosed building with the Nye County sheriff`s office. Today the vehicle was forensically examined by
the detectives, and then after that, we had taken inventory of the vehicle contents.
GRACE: Is it true the airbag went of off?
DE MEO: I`m not discussing the parts of the vehicle. I am not discussing what was inside the vehicle, but I would say the vehicle was not
traveling at a great high speed. It came -- there`s a very deep ravine where the vehicle was. It hit some rocks. That`s where the front end
damage of the vehicle took place from what we can see at that time.
GRACE: Okay. That`s why I don`t understand, Sheriff De Meo, and you, of course, know better than me, but why you`re saying the car was not
intentionally crashed? Because to drive it that far off of the trail, where even ATVs don`t go, and then run it down a ravine and crash it, and
we`ve been told by other sources that it set off the airbags, yet nobody went to the hospital and her dead body`s found far away from there. I
mean, you have to take the car intentionally to that location and run it down a ravine. Otherwise the person that crashed it would be in the car.
DE MEO: Right. People are going to make some presuppositions about what occurred.
GRACE: Okay.
DE MEO: The investigation, we`re investigating the case, and we`re investigating how the vehicle got to that location. The vehicle was not,
in our opinion, the vehicle was not intentionally crashed in the ravine. What we believe is the vehicle went off road into that ravine. If you`re
not very -- if you`re not very familiar with the area --
GRACE: I`m not.
DE MEO: Yes, if you`re not -- I was born and raised in New York, so I understand that, some people may have some misconceptions about the desert
being flat. The desert is not flat. The desert actually has a lot of deep ravines in it.
GRACE: Well, I understand that, Sheriff. I`ve hiked -- I`ve hiked in that area many, many, many times. But what I don`t understand if this is
not a road where cars normally drive, and you`re telling me it`s where ATVs don`t even go, and nobody`s been back there for years, someone would have
had to intentionally taken that car back there off the road to dispose of it.
DE MEO: I think that the vehicle was intentionally driven. We`re investigating how the vehicle went -- how the vehicle came to rest at the
location where we found it. That`s part of our investigation. There`s not too many details we`re going to share with that at this particular time.
GRACE: Okay.
DE MEO: That is part of the investigation. The reason why we had an intense search for the vehicle (inaudible) valleys is the fact of the
matter we believe the vehicle -- we know the vehicle is going to be a key to what occurred and --
GRACE: What about her phone, sheriff? Everybody, with me, Sheriff Tony De Meo from the Nye County Sheriff`s Office. We`re talking about a
27-year-old woman found dead on a popular trail. With me, not just the sheriff, but also her father, joining me is Jeff Edwards. Mr. Edwards,
thank you for being with us.
JEFF EDWARDS, FATHER: You`re welcome.
GRACE: Mr. Edwards, we`re trying to figure out what happened to your daughter, and why. And I`m not understanding the connection between her
and the car. Obviously she wasn`t in the car when it crashed. But we know her body, your girl`s body, turns up dead on this dirt trail. A great
distance away from the car. Mr. Edwards, what do you believe happened?
EDWARDS: All I know is that I was contacted on Saturday afternoon around 4:30 by Detective McGill (ph) of the sheriff`s department, and he
indicated that the automobile had been identified, and that`s really all I know right now. I`m going to leave it to the professionals and Nye County
--
GRACE: Yes.
EDWARDS: -- to complete their work.
GRACE: You know what, that`s a very, a very wise thing to do. And let me go to that professional. Sheriff De Meo is with us. Sheriff, what
about her cell phone? Has that been discovered yet?
DE MEO: We found -- we found items in the vehicle. What we found in the vehicle, first of all, I understand that the family lost their
daughter, and our obligation, as I state to my detectives first of all is the family of Margay Edwards, to give them any information that we come
across before we share that information with any news sources.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Margay was at their home in Parumph in early September. And I know she was there on Sunday the 14th.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep their children close. Whether they`re 5 or 25. Or 50. Keep them close. And love them. Because you don`t get a
second chance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jeff Edwards reflects on the life and sudden death of his 27-year-old daughter, Margay, whose body was found decomposing in
the Nevada desert near the town of Parumph just outside Las Vegas. While she was never reported missing, alarm bells went off when Margay Edwards
stopped responding to her mom`s text messages. Jeff Edwards says the couple Margay knew in Parumph may hold the key to the investigation.
Edwards says he`s in constant contact with the lead detector of the Nye County Sheriff`s Department that`s handling the investigation. He and
Margay`s entire family struggle to cope.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: What happened to Margay? Her dead body found on a popular local dirt trail. You`re seeing shots of Margay now. Last week we begged
for information on a car, a blue 2014 Hyundai. That car found crashed down a remote ravine. Some distance away from the body. Back to Selwin Harris
joining me from the Parumph Valley Times. you mentioned a couple, that she knew a couple. Who are they, and what`s their connection to her?
HARRIS: Right, Nancy. I don`t want to yet reveal their names. Of course, I understand Sheriff Tony De Meo`s concerns --
GRACE: Yes.
HARRIS: -- about possibly tainting their investigation. It`s interesting this couple, even though Nye County is the third largest county
by area in the United States. This couple that Margay was visiting lived within a mile from where her body was discovered by the ATV`ers on
September 25th. I`d just like to -- I`d like to know what they told detectives. What this couple had to say. How long Margay was visiting,
what they told detectives. What did neighbors see or hear?
GRACE: Do you believe they were the last ones to see her?
HARRIS: Well, I spoke with Margay`s father, Mr. Edwards. That`s what he mentioned. He said--
GRACE: Okay. Got it.
HARRIS: The male side of this couple --
GRACE: Back to Sheriff De Meo. Sheriff, do we know a cause of death yet?
DE MEO: I think we are having the forensic autopsy completed by the Clark County coroner`s office, which we actually have a contract with.
They`re extremely well organized, well -- professional, medical examiner`s office, one of the most professional --
GRACE: Do we have a cause of death?
DE MEO: Not yet. I mean --
GRACE: Okay. That`s unusual.
DE MEO: I understand, let me just say right now, the couple that we interviewed, because the press doesn`t know that, we`ve been trying to give
that information to the press, they were very cooperative with us during the investigation.
GRACE: That`s good to know. My question is about the cause of death. I prosecuted many, many homicides, and you know a cause of death usually by
looking at the body. Unless you`re waiting on toxicology. You know, a stabbing, gunshot wound, asphyxiation, suffocation, mutilation. That`s
very obvious, the cause of death. So I`m interested that there is no cause of death yet. Question, are there any suspects or persons of interest,
Sheriff?
DE MEO: I`ve been in law enforcement for years. You don`t make, you don`t automatically come to a conclusion about the cause of death until you
get the results from the autopsy. What I`m saying right now is that`s being investigated with the Clark County coroner`s office. I actually
spoke to the coroner himself in charge of Clark County this morning, giving him updates on the case.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: I`m going to take that as there is no POI. Is there a suspect?
DE MEO: Right. I`m the coroner of Nye County. So the investigation, I will determine the cause of death once the investigation is completed.
GRACE: Is there a suspect or a person of interest yet?
DE MEO: That`s under investigation.
GRACE: Okay. Clark Goldband, what more do we know? We want to help and we want to get the information out there. Do you have anything else
that you can help me with?
GOLDBAND: Nancy, I can tell you how this body was found, and it may help shed some light on your question. Authorities say once these ATV
drivers found the body, it was so badly decomposed from being out in the heat and in the elements, it look four days to just identify quickly, even
though her driver`s license was found on the body. Nancy, I can also tell you that law enforcement is processing the car right now.
GRACE: Okay. You know, that may explain some of it. To Dr. Dupre, medical examiner, forensic pathologist. Because of the degree of
decomposition, maybe that`s what is holding up the cause of death.
DUPRE: Absolutely, Nancy. A body out in the desert like that, I imagine it`s probably mostly skeletonized. That`s going to make a very
different cause of death determination. It will be more difficult. There will be no tissue. We`ll have to look at the bones.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: And now tonight to Phoenix, a schoolgirl goes missing on her morning walk to the bus stop.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lidia Stevens (ph) is missing. Vanished on her way to school. Walked to her bus stop, but she never got on the bus and
never arrived at school.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re worried about her. We want her to come home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: To Greg Paul, the news director at the Patriot. Thank you for being with us. Isn`t it true in the same area, two other girls,
schoolgirls were approached by a white male I think in a pickup truck, one was groped around a bus stop. The other one, the guy pulled up, maybe said
something to her and started masturbating in his truck?
PAUL: Nancy, you`re right, yes. It was last week this happened. It was Horizon High School and another high school called Shadow Mountain High
School in the Northeast Valley. Not really close to the area, but close enough to worry some people, because a 16-year-old, a lot of people
desperate for answers, but they haven`t seen or heard anything from her since last week.
GRACE: Marc Klaas, president and founder of KlaasKids Foundation. Marc, I`m very concerned that these are connected. I don`t think we`ve got
a sketch yet of the white male in the pickup truck.
KLAAS: No, Nancy. I think what has to be done is law enforcement has to look at all of the possible scenarios. They can`t write this off as a
runaway.
GRACE: Dr. Ish Major, board certified psychiatrist, author of "Little White Lies." Dr. Major, I don`t know how you could even send your child to
the bus stop knowing that within literally one week, actually just five days, three schoolgirls are -- one is approached and groped, assaulted.
The other, the guy masturbates in front of her. This is a schoolgirl walking to the bus stop, and the other disappears en route.
MAJOR: Yes, and it`s very suspicious. Nancy, you would think there should have been some type of a buddy system in place with the families in
the area or some type of system instigated by the school to be on the lookout on alert for this thing. Because that type of situation, we look
for patterns of behavior when it comes to this, and that sure sounds like a pattern to me.
GRACE: Darryl Cohen, Shireen Hormozdi, Darryl, before you became a defense attorney you were a felony prosecutor, what`s the first thing -- to
me, the first thing is to get that sketch out there if they can make a sketch.
COHEN: Nancy, what they have to do is make a sketch. They have got to run through and see where she was, who she was with, who is the last
person that saw her, and then they begin to figure out did she run away or did she get kidnapped.
GRACE: Everyone, tip line, 602-534-2121.
On another note, the deadly Ebola virus killing over 3,000, infecting 7,000 more. The first case hits U.S. soil. I want to help. If you also
want to help, here is how. UMCOR, United Methodist Corps of Relief fighting the battle against Ebola. 100 percent of donations goes to
relief. Go to umcor.com.
Let`s remember American hero, Army Staff Sergeant Robert Paul, 43, Dolls (ph), Oregon. Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service
Medal. Loved the North Pacific wilderness, kayaking, trail running. Parents Esther and Sheldon. Two sisters, one daughter. Robert Paul,
American hero.
Drew up next. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
