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Nancy Grace
Pastor`s Wife Stabs Daughters to Meet Jesus; DUI Mom Kills 12-Year- Old Son; Mom Pulls Daughter`s Hair Off Her Scalp
Aired October 16, 2014 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight, live, upscale Illinois suburbs. Bombshell tonight. A pastor`s wife, Pam Christensen, comes to the front
door covered in blood, claiming she dresses her three girls all in white, then Mommy brutally stabs them she says so the girls can, quote, "meet
Jesus."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: According to police, Pamela Christensen told them that she tried to kill the girls because she wants to send them home to meet
Jesus. Christensen allegedly stabbed two of her daughters, then stabbed herself in the chest and abdomen. Why would a mother do such a thing to
her own children?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, Raleigh. A mom drunk just in time to pick up her 12- year-old boy from school, Mommy`s blood alcohol four times the legal limit. That equals 10 drinks. 3:45 PM, just after school, Mommy plows her Chevy
Suburban off the road, slamming multiple trees, tearing the bark clean off the trees, leaving her 12-year-old little boy, Antony, dead, a quiet
community devastated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A mom crashes her SUV, killing her 12-year-old son.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someone just ran off the road and hit a tree. The car`s totaled!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Authorities say Mom`s blood alcohol level was four times the legal limit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) there`s a child in the back. Somebody needs to hurry!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, upscale Conway suburbs. When her 1st grade little girl couldn`t count all the way to 12, what does her Mommy, 25-year-old
Brittany Roca (ph), do? Instead of helping her count, cops say Mommy pulls her 6-year-old`s hair so hard, it rips the scalp from the little girl`s
skull, causing blood to pool in the child`s eyes, all because the 1st grader couldn`t count to 12?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say Roca got frustrated, grabbed her daughter by the hair and threw her into a corner, causing severe head trauma,
grabbed her by the hair again and dragged her across the floor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The separation between the scalp and the skull.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, at this hour, a 10-year-old little boy accused of holding down a 90-year-old lady with her own cane, then beating her dead
with his own fists. Tonight, that little boy in isolation as his parents say, "Keep him. We don`t want him home."
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight, live to upscale Illinois suburbs. A pastor`s wife, Pam Christensen, comes to the front door covered in blood, claiming she dresses
all three of her little girls in white, then brutally stabs them so they can meet Jesus.
Straight out to Erika Wurst, reporter with "The Beacon News." OK, I`m confused because, typically, the first thing that`s going to happen in a
case like that is Mommy is going to get a mental evaluation, but Mommy has not been evaluated. There`s no claim Mommy`s insane or mentally ill. She
stabs her daughters so they can meet Jesus?
ERIKA WURST, "THE BEACON NEWS" (via telephone): Well, actually, that kind of changed today. She was in court this morning, and while there`s no
formal order for a mental health evaluation, the judge did say, and I quote, "Clearly, the defendant`s mental health status is an issue in these
proceedings." So obviously, that`s probably going to get brought up at some point.
GRACE: Wow. Pat Lalama, investigative reporter -- so Mommy methodically dresses all three of her daughters in solid white to prepare them to meet
Jesus -- her words, not mine -- then proceeds to stab them. Now, this is after she has tried to force them to drink some type of a lethal, poisonous
concoction made of dishwashing detergent. What -- you tell me. What more do you know, Pat?
PAT LALAMA, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: OK. So she`s decided that -- well, you need to understand one very important thing. Let`s back up a little
bit. There`s a back story. She`s getting divorced from her former pastor husband. She claims -- she`s telling cops that he called her and said, The
end of the world is coming. Get the girls ready to meet Jesus.
Then she tries to force this concoction made of dishsoap on them. They refuse to drink it. Then she continues -- then she starts with the
stabbing of two of them. One of the poor little girls is trying to call 911 twice and hangs up. Sounds to me like the mom`s not letting her get
through. And then the woman stabs herself.
And when police come to the door, she drops to her knees and said, I was preparing them for Jesus.
GRACE: Everybody, you`re seeing video of Pam Christensen`s husband, as Pastor Vaughn from YouTube and Heritage of Faith, HOFC.
OK, Pat Lalama, when the police get there, she makes no bones about it. She says immediately that she has stabbed her girls so they can meet Jesus.
But here`s the problem. There is no indicia of insanity, no indicia of mental illness at all.
LALAMA: Right.
GRACE: Take a look at this home. This is where they all live. This is where the three girls live. This is where the three girls were dressed in
white, and then she stabs her daughters so they can meet Jesus. Now, the intent to feed them the poison -- what exactly did you say was in the
drink?
LALAMA: The only -- they`re testing it, but what they know is they believe there was some sort of dishwashing concoction. But Nancy, we can`t forget
that this family was unraveling on all different kinds of levels, and I think that may play into it. She`s had a restraining order on her ex-
husband, whom she claims was getting more and more violent. They were in the process of a divorce. He suddenly up and quit his job as a pastor.
There have been many police calls to this house regarding suicide attempts, all kinds of emotional dysfunction, psychological dysfunction.
And I`m just wondering -- I don`t know, but I mean, suddenly, she`s got these problems and she`s saying he says, Get them ready for Jesus? I don`t
know what`s going on.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Joining me, Robert Schalk out of New York. Also with me, Diana Aizman, defense attorney out of LA.
Diana, first to you. It sounds as if there`s going to be some type of a defense kind of suggesting it`s the father`s fault, the pastor of this
Heritage Church of God. That`s not going to fly under the law. It can`t possibly be his fault. What -- what`s the theory, that he drove her to it?
DIANA AIZMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I mean, it depends on what the circumstances are within their marriage. If she has mental health problems
that were fueled by his abusive nature or the abusive nature of their relationship, possibly that could play into, you know, her ultimate
decision, being an insane one at that, to end the life of her children.
GRACE: OK, now, you`re taking a lot of liberties with the facts there. If she has a mental illness, if they weren`t getting along and it, as you say,
Diana, fueled her mental illness.
We don`t have any suggestion at this point, Robert Schalk, that she has any treatment whatsoever for mental illness. She was upset about her husband
leaving her. There have been a lot of calls back and forth to police. So she decides to stab her girls after dressing them all in white so they can
meet Jesus.
How are you going blame that on the pastor? He wasn`t even at home.
ROBERT SCHALK, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: As Diana said, what you need to do is you`re going to have to check e-mail accounts, text messages, phone calls.
Are there any voicemails? If the husband said the end of the world is coming and she rationally believed that because of her diminished mental
state, she`s going to get evaluated. We`re going to see whether or not she has treatment...
GRACE: Wait, wait, wait! Why do you two keep talking about diminished mental state?
SCHALK: We don`t know, Nancy.
(CROSSTALK)
AIZMAN: I mean, it`s crazy behavior, obviously.
GRACE: Guys, I -- I don`t know how many homicides that you guys have actually prosecuted...
SCHALK: Dozens.
GRACE: ... but the reality is -- good, I`m glad to hear it -- that every murder is crazy, in the street sense. No murder makes any sense. But you
guys are having a kneejerk reaction that because a mother kills or tries to kill her children that she must be legally insane. That is not the
legal...
AIZMAN: It`s the method.
GRACE: What -- what do you mean the method, stabbing them?
AIZMAN: I mean it`s -- no, it`s so ritualistic. I mean, she dresses them in white and she does this whole -- they`re going back to Jesus. And it`s
all very crazy. I mean, I understand the behavior itself, if it`s true, is obviously insane.
GRACE: Put her up, please. Diana Aizman, so are you suggesting that murdering your child by dressing them in white and stabbing them is somehow
worse than, for instance, buckling them in a car and rolling them into a lake, like Susan Smith did, or drowning them in a bathtub, like Andrea
Yates did?
AIZMAN: No, no...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... slippery slope right there.
AIZMAN: ... taking any kind of -- absolutely. What I`m saying is, obviously, any violence against your child is wrong and horrible and
horrifying. What I`m saying is the way in which she`s acting, it signifies to me that there`s something wrong with her mental state. And that`s sort
of -- that`s supported by the fact that there have been 911 calls in the past, as Pat said, to the -- for suicide reports. We don`t know who was
actually the person that was possibly committing suicide...
GRACE: OK.
AIZMAN: ... or attempting suicide. But it`s clearly -- there were issues in the family.
GRACE: Let`s go to the lines. Hi, Michelle. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nancy, can I please say -- hello? I`m sorry?
GRACE: Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can I please say, I`ve heard so many stories over the years where, unfortunately, moms kill their kids. If it`s really where
they don`t want them, then number one, why do they have them? And number two, if so, why don`t they just bring them to a police station?
GRACE: You know, you`re so right. Michael Christian, I mean, if she was at the point where she didn`t want to take care of her girls anymore, why
not hand them over to her husband, the pastor? I mean, is it that important to her that she keeps custody of the children? Why not let him
take the children?
MICHAEL CHRISTIAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Well, as part of the divorce, Nancy, she had filed for an order of protection against her
husband. And she says in there in the application that two of the children had complained that the respondent -- meaning the pastor -- had "bumped his
hand along their bottom" -- that`s a direct quote from that document -- and that they feel uncomfortable when he`s in close proximity to them. So if
that is true -- and certainly...
GRACE: OK, wait. Are you...
CHRISTIAN: ... that`s what she wrote in the application...
GRACE: Are you saying...
CHRISTIAN: ... it may just be for their safety.
GRACE: Michael, are you saying he spanked them or he sexually molested them? Where are you going with that? I don`t even know what that means.
CHRISTIAN: Yes, I can only tell you what it says, but it says that...
GRACE: OK.
CHRISTIAN: ... they complained that he had bumped his hand and that they felt uncomfortable when he was close to them.
GRACE: Everybody, you`re seeing video of Pam Christensen`s husband. This is Pastor Vaughn. We`re getting it off YouTube and Heritage of Faith,
HOFC. There is the father we were just showing you. We`ve reached out to him. We don`t have a comment.
Well, all of that aside, let me ask you this, Pat Lalama. Mommy`s in jail for stabbing her daughters. Where are they tonight?
LALAMA: The children are all with her father, and that was a judge`s ruling that they would best be suited to stay with him at this point.
Let`s hope he`s in good shape mentally.
GRACE: Out to Michelle Golland, clinical psychologist. Michelle, thank you for being with us. It seems that every time a mother commits murder,
kills her children, tries to kill her children, we all, kneejerk reaction, think she must be crazy. And I can`t really just blame the defense lawyers
because that`s my immediate reaction, too, until I remember all the years of felony prosecution. Legal insanity is much different than saying, Oh,
that`s just crazy. Insanity means that you don`t know right from wrong at the time of the incident.
MICHELLE GOLLAND, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Right. I don`t think it has to be legal insanity for us to discuss what her mental health issues are.
Clearly, there is something dysfunctional going on within that house and within the couple. The thought that I have is delusional disorders. This
-- also the folie a deux, which is that system between a couple where they have a delusional system. That`s what I`m wondering about the two of them.
He`s the one who said -- according to her -- the end of the world is coming and be prepared. So here they are, if that is the case, that they`re
caught in that system.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A pastor`s wife is behind bars, charged with attempting to murder her three daughters. Why would a mother do such a thing to her
own children? According to police, Pamela Christensen told them that she tried to kill the girls because she wanted to send them home to meet Jesus.
Christensen allegedly stabbed two of her daughters, then stabbed herself in the chest and abdomen. Luckily, her children suffered only minor injuries.
Christensen`s bail has been set at $1 million.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: And now live, Raleigh. A mom drunk just this time to pick up her 12-year-old son from school, Mommy`s blood alcohol four times the legal
limit. That equals about 10 drinks. It`s 3:45 PM, just after school. Mommy plows her Chevy Suburban off the road, slamming into four trees,
tearing the bark clean off them. Mommy leaves her 12-year-old little boy, Antony, dead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say a mom was drunk, four times over the legal blood alcohol limit, when she wrecked her SUV.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think there`s two people in the car. I don`t...
911 OPERATOR: Do you know if they`re pinned or trapped in their car?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think they`re pinned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Killing her 12-year-old son at the end of a school day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were driving very erratically before they ran off the road.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She swerved off the road, hitting a speed limit sign, trees, and rolling the SUV over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And the irony is they both had on seatbelts, but Mommy`s crash was so devastating, it claimed the life of her only child, 12-year-old Antony.
What do we learn from the 911 call? Other motorists on the road were calling 911 because she was driving so erratically, she nearly hit several
drivers head on -- Mommy drunk, four times the legal limit at 3:00 o`clock in the afternoon.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: There`s a child in the back?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were driving very erratically before they went off the road. I mean, very erratically, like (INAUDIBLE) almost got hit by
them before they ran off the road.
911 OPERATOR: OK, remember, we already have paramedics on the way. Just stay on the line. I`m going to tell you exactly what to do next.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
911 OPERATOR: Now, if you can get to them, just don`t (INAUDIBLE) injuries. Don`t move them unless they`re in danger. And the fire
department`s already on the way, so they`ll be able to get them out of there...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so, so much!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: To Justin Freiman. This is just after school when this whole thing happens. So how did Mommy get up to a .32 blood alcohol? And I`m just not
sure -- where was the father? Why was she getting the boy? What do we know about what happened? And what is her condition tonight?
JUSTIN FREIMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Nancy, we know that she is currently in serious condition at the hospital. I mean, she had a
very high blood alcohol level, as you said, four times the legal limit. That`s the equivalent of 10 shots of liquor or 10 cans of beer.
GRACE: The reality is, though, she`s fine. Her 12-year-old boy dies in this horrific crash. And I`m also hearing, Justin, for the first time that
she is facing just 60 days behind bars? Is that true? How can that be?
FREIMAN: Nancy, that is true. She is currently charged with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle. That carries a max of 60 days.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: (INAUDIBLE) 911, what is the location of your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m on Creedmoor Road, just past (INAUDIBLE) going towards the mall. I`m right at Creedmoor and Kendrenth Court. And someone
just ran off the road and hit a tree. The car is totalled. It`s on the right side, Chevy Tahoe (INAUDIBLE)
911 OPERATOR: Verify the intersection you`re in.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, sorry, say it again?
911 OPERATOR: Just verify the intersection that you`re at.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, Creedmoor and Kendrenth Court.
911 OPERATOR: And your name, ma`am, and the phone number you`re calling from?
So a Chevy Tahoe struck a tree and then rolled over on its side?
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: Everyone, are you hearing the 911 call after a mom just after school time picks up her son, four times the legal blood alcohol limit at
.32 -- the legal limit is .08 -- slams her Chevy Suburban off the road, hits four different trees, completely stripping them of their tree bark.
After crashing into the fourth, the car rolls over, leaving her son dead, her innocent son. And now to add insult to injury, we learn Mommy only
facing 60 days behind bars.
Pat Lalama, how can that be, 60 days behind bars for a vehicular homicide?
LALAMA: It has to be upgraded. There has to be some sort of aggravating factor here. I can`t imagine! And you want to know something, Nancy?
Every time I look at that little boy`s face, I become undone. Imagine what those last moments in the back seat of that vehicle were like for that poor
boy, who was beloved in his classroom, by the way, the teacher in tears today. He was a passionate writer, a sweet boy. Every day, he went into
the classroom and hugged her. Hugged her! That`s how sweet this kid was.
GRACE: We have reached out to those teachers and students at Ligon Elementary School where he went and have learned that they had to bring in
grief counselors after the death of Antony, he was so beloved and just the loveyest kid in his class, all the other children devastated there at Ligon
Middle.
A 12-year-old boy has been left dead after Mommy has him just after school, four times the legal limit. That`s at least 10 shots of alcohol, then
getting behind the wheel.
With me right now, Sandy Heverly, executive director, victim advocate of Stop DUI. Sandy, I`ve read and been told so many times by experts that for
every time you`re caught DUI, you have been DUI I think around 60 or 70 times.
SANDY HEVERLY, EXECUTIVE DIR., VICTIM ADVOCATE STOP DUI (via telephone): Well, actually, Nancy, the number is 87 times. We know nationally, on
average, a person, a DUI offender drives drunk 87 times before ever being caught the first time.
And this particular situation, I`m telling you, it just absolutely breaks my heart because there`s no excuse for it, absolutely no excuse for it.
The behavior is heinous and despicable. And again, it just didn`t have to happen.
GRACE: What do you make of her being .32, four times the legal limit? How many drinks is that?
HEVERLY: Yes, well -- you know, I would say it would be closer to 15 drinks in that period of time. But I can tell you what that tells me.
What that BAC level says to me very clearly is this was not her first rodeo...
GRACE: What do you mean by that?
HEVERLY: ... absolutely not her first rodeo. And we can only, only speculate how many times this child, this beautiful little boy, had been
subjected to this dangerous and deadly behavior. How many times was he in that vehicle with his mother when she was under the influence?
And as your other guest had mentioned, as well, trying to imagine the terror that child must have felt in that speeding and swerving vehicle
before he was killed.
GRACE: Yes. She was going up in the 70s, I think 75 miles an hour, veering toward other cars. They were the ones calling in to 911 and saw
her plow off the road with the little boy in the back seat.
Sandy Heverly with me, executive director of Stop DUI. Now, what do you make of the maximum time she can serve is 60 days? 60 days!
HEVERLY: Well, I have to say, Nancy, I`m stunned by that. I`m absolutely stunned by that. It`s been my experience that when a situation like this
occurs, they charge the highest count that they can. You can always reduce the counts, but what concerns me as if this woman, this Miss Smith, has an
attorney right away, they can go ahead and plead to that misdemeanor and that`s the end of it.
GRACE: What do you mean by that, Sandy? You mean before the charges can be upgraded if they are upgraded?
HEVERLY: Yes, correct. I mean, I don`t know -- that`s what we deal with here. That`s why when we have that situation, they are charged with -- in
here, in Nevada, it`s called a felony DUI. You can reduce those charges to lower charges at some point if you can`t prove that felony. But why would
you start out with a misdemeanor and have it go on and on and have an opportunity for the perpetrator to go ahead and plead to that misdemeanor,
and once that`s done, it`s my understanding the case is over.
GRACE: You know, to Dr. Michelle Dupree, medical examiner, pathologist out of Columbia.
Dr. Dupre, four times the legal limit? What does that mean, Doctor?
DR. MICHELLE DUPRE, M.D., MEDICAL EXAMINER & FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Nancy, that is incredible. When you think about it, at 0.35 is surgical
anesthesia. You`re in a coma. At 0.30, you are severely impaired. It is remarkable this person was even awake to drive. It`s incredible.
GRACE: OK. Hold on. You just taught me something I didn`t know, Dr. Michelle Dupre. What did you say at 0.35 you are -- that`s the equivalent
of a medical coma?
DUPREE: That`s correct. You are at surgical anesthesia. That is the approximation.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers, Robert Schalk, Diana Aizman.
All right, Robert Shaw, why 60 days? That`s about 1400 hours behind bars. Her boy, the 12-year-old innocent boy in the back seat, can you imagine
what he went through before he died?
ROBERT SCHALK, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No. No. Nancy, this is not going to be --
GRACE: Sixty days?
SCHALK: This is definitely going to be upgraded. There`s no doubt. Sandy was correct. Even if the lawyer try to --
GRACE: Well, hasn`t been yet.
SCHALK: Well, what`s going to happen is even if they try to come in and plead guilty, they`re probably waiting for a certified breath card or
certified documents with regards to the blood alcohol reading or the blood reading. This is definitely going to be upgraded.
And Nancy, you got to be -- understand that people need to realize is that these DWI cases, some states including in New York where I am, they`re
charging murder in these types of cases for depraved indifference. And the higher courts are upholding them. So this mother --
GRACE: Well, I agree with you. That`s why I don`t understand.
SCHALK: Yes.
GRACE: What he means by that, everybody, depraved indifference, this is an example I always give juries. It`s like driving 90 miles an hour through a
street fare full of people.
SCHALK: And if you think about --
GRACE: Indifference to human life. OK.
SCHALK: And that`s what she was doing.
GRACE: Diana, what do you make of the 60 days? You guys keep saying it`s going to be upgraded. Well, it hasn`t been. It has not been upgraded.
The max she can face is 60 days behind bars.
DIANA AIZMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Right.
GRACE: This could be a murder charge.
AIZMAN: Yes, I mean, definitely, especially if she has any kind of prior DUI then obviously it would be charged as murder. But I mean -- not
excusing at all any of this behavior, this is heinous and horrible, especially if it`s proven beyond a reasonable doubt that this woman
actually was driving with a 0.32 or any elevated blood alcohol level with her son.
But what that tells me is that is there insufficient evidence at this point to charge her with the felony? Why not file the felony charge now? What
are they missing that they can`t file it now?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Live to upscale Conway Suburbs, when a first grade girl couldn`t count all the way to 12. What does mommy do? Instead of helping her
little girl, cop say, the 25-year-old mom pulls her daughter`s hair so hard she rips the scalp from the little girl`s skull causing blood to pull in
the child`s eyes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PRIOLO, POLICE OFFICER: The head injury was described as -- in medical terms, was traction. It is a separation between the scalp and the
skull. So it creates a void which fills with blood. The blood ended up pooling around the eyes, giving the female raccoon eyes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Candace Trunzo, senior news editor, mailonline.com.
When I first read your headline, that`s where I found out about this case, I couldn`t believe it. That she pulled the child`s hair so hard it
literally ripped her little girl`s scalp off?
Did you know my twins, Candace, are 6 years old? I cannot even imagine.
CANDACE TRUNZO, SENIOR NEWS EDITOR, MAILONLINE.COM: I know, Nancy, no. It is -- just amazing that a mother could do this to a child. I mean, that
anyone could do it to anyone, of course. But -- and for -- and for what reason? The child was asked to spell -- to count to 12. She could only
count to 10, and the mother got so angry that she pulled her hair to the point that she separated her scalp from her skull.
GRACE: Now, it`s actually called traction, Candace. In all the years I prosecuted all sorts of aggravated assaults, murders, sodomy, molestation,
I never heard of traction which is when you separate the scalp from the head.
TRUNZO: Unbelievable. And causing blood to rush to the child`s eyes so it her eyes were pooled with blood. I mean, she was in the hospital for nine
days.
GRACE: OK. Straight out to Dr. Michelle Dupre.
Explain to me this phenomena.
Look at this mom. This mom is like the all-American family. She actually says something like, well, my mom pulled my hair, and look at me. I`m still
here. What?
DUPRE: Nancy, we do find that a lot in abuse cases. Oftentimes the abuser has themselves been abused. It`s no excuse. But as she said, she reverted
back to that. Traction, we find traction alopecia with chronic cases of hair pulling where a line will actually be in the scalp where hair will be
missing from this tightness of the hair from being pull so much.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say Ruck pulled her 6-year-old daughter`s hair several times.
PRIOLO: It creates a void which fills with blood giving her female raccoon eyes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really disturbing to hear it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The child told them Ruck grabbed her by the hair and threw her dragged her causing severe head trauma.
PRIOLO: The mother thinks she hasn`t done anything wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: OK. There`s no if, ands or buts about it, this 25-year-old mom is going straight to hell. But I want to make sure she`s got a little pit
stop behind bars.
Tonight, we learn that when her 6-year-old little girl -- that`s the age of my twins -- could not count from one to 12, what does mommy do? Sit down
and work with her? No. She grabs the child, yanks her hair so hard, she rips her scalp off her head.
Matt Zarrell, what more can you tell me?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Yes, Nancy, the cops actually referred to it visually as the child had raccoon eyes. The child was brought to the
hospital with the injuries, and the mother -- cops tell us that the mother told doctors the injuries occurred from another child in the school. The
police -- the doctor did not believe that and immediately contacted police.
GRACE: So she lied. So she knew what she did of wrong because she lied.
ZARRELL: Yes. The cops say that the treating physician reported that the victim`s injuries were most consistent with violent hair pulling. There
was also an impact to her left ear. She was in the hospital for nine days.
GRACE: OK. Candace Trunzo, senior news editor, mailonline.com.
Candace, it`s my understanding that this woman actually believes, as of right now, tonight, that she did nothing wrong. She allegedly gave
statement to police that, my mom pulled my hair, and I`m still here. She actually does not think she did anything wrong.
TRUNZO: Exactly. To her, it was -- it was just punishment as she saw you fit for doing something that any mother would say, as you said, listen, sit
down and let`s count and learn how to count to 12 together. No. I mean, she pulled her out of her hair chair, pulled her hair so hard that she
ripped her scalp from her skull.
GRACE: Dr. Michelle Dupre, medical examiner, Columbia, South Carolina, explain to me what is traction -- apparently that`s what that`s called when
you yank the -- scalp off of the skull. The eyes fill up with blood, you get something called raccoon eyes. What is it?
DUPRE: Yes, Nancy. When the scalp is very tightly attached to the surface of the skull and it`s very, very difficult to separate that. So she pulled
the hair with enough force to cause a separation right under the scalp where blood filled in and filled down to the eyes giving her that raccoon
eye appearance.
GRACE: Take a listen to this. When the mother -- after she grabbed her hair, she says, it`s so sad, she didn`t do anything wrong, and she had to
bear the brunt of pain. The mom still suggesting she did nothing wrong.
Unleash the lawyers, Robert Schalk, Diana Aizman.
All right. Robert Schalk, at least in the first story where the pastor`s wife stabbed her three daughters so they could meet Jesus, at least she
didn`t lie about it. Now that goes to the defense that she didn`t realize what she had done was wrong. OK, that could be argued.
In this case, this mom grabs her little 6-year-old girl who`s a very, very tiny child, we`ve been told, yanks her head -- her hair so much she rips
her scalp off her skull and then lies about it. Tries to blame a little kid on the playground at school, Schalk. Now you know lying is indicia of
knowledge of wrongdoing.
SCHALK: Yes, she didn`t help herself by lying, Nancy. But what needs to happen here in this case is the court system needs to use resources to help
her become a better mother and a better person. She needs to be punished but rehabilitated, probation resources to the court. But obviously she did
not help herself by making any these of lies.
GRACE: OK. Hold on -- you`re making my head -- actually I think that I`m -- I think I`m going blind right now you. Did you -- you said probation
and help her?
You know what, she can be helped behind bars, Diana Aizman.
SCHALK: What does that going to teach her about parenting?
GRACE: How about -- punishment, she`s never going to get those kids back. She does not need to know how to parent. She needs to go to jail.
SCHALK: She had a very --
GRACE: And stay there.
SCHALK: -- child very early in life and clearly a mother who didn`t know how to parent her. The courts need to rehabilitate her so that nothing like
this ever happens again.
GRACE: They need to put her in jail like keep her there, and so she`s no longer of child-bearing age, Diana. That`s my suggestion so she can`t hurt
anymore children. Take these children away and keep her in there until she hits menopause. What about that?
AIZMAN: Take them away and put them where? Into the system?
SCHALK: Right.
AIZMAN: I mean, what`s going to happen there?
GRACE: No. Give them to family.
AIZMAN: There`s all kind of horrible abuse that happens in the system, too.
GRACE: There is family.
AIZMAN: They didn`t know what -- well, OK, but what family, the mom that used to abuse her?
SCHALK: Who? The mother now?
AIZMAN: Exactly. I mean, like --
GRACE: Put them up. Put them up. So --
AIZMAN: Yes.
GRACE: What, your idea is to give them back to the mom? That`s better than other relatives?
SCHALK: The courts are always going to rule in favor of keeping the parental house together.
AIZMAN: My idea is to -- right. My idea is to make sure that somebody is working with this mom to explain to her, because clearly she doesn`t have
any idea how serious this is that her conduct is completely reprehensible and unacceptable and that she needs to learn how to deal with obviously
deep rooted anger issues in a different way.
GRACE: And now, CNN Heroes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON BURNS, CNN TOP TEN HERO: The atmosphere of the World Cup is like nothing else. It`s electric. You get that rainbow of kaleidoscope of all
the different nations that come together. Football, this the only worldwide sports really. It`s 2004 that was in a full stadium. I suddenly
saw all the fans around me. It`s like this little untapped army.
Some of the children that love football the most are in the very poor areas. And I started asking myself, what could I do if we could mobilize
some of these people to do some good?
So at Lionsraw, we bring people to the World Cup. They get to watch games but for a huge chunk of our time, we find local charities that are working
with children and asked how can we help you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over there is going to be three classrooms. So come and to do this for us, for the children. This is the World Cup spirit.
BURNS: In Brazil, we`ve got about 300 volunteers here from about 12 countries. Within a couple of days they`re just part of a team full of fun
and working really hard.
When we invest in the place, it`s for the long-term. Lots of guys come and kind of get it in their bloods. That`s what we`re about.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And this is my second go. This time my son has come with me, a bit bonding and just building things together.
BURNS: I know you`re not good every morning, you`re tired out, but look how far we`ve come in a week. Fantastic.
Football has always had the ability to break down barriers. We`re taking it a step further to try to harness the passion of football fans to make a
difference.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: You just heard defense lawyers argue that this mom, who rips the scalp off her 6-year-old`s skull, she get probation and treatment and
counseling.
Matt Zarrell, this is not the first time this mom has abused this child.
ZARRELL: Yes, Nancy. We`re actually talking about two separate incidents here. The criminal complaint the doctors got from police said that the
girl told her mother -- the girl told police that her mother pulled her out of a chair by her hair for the counting. The day after that, so after the
attack, the day after that, the child told police the very next day her mother pulled her into a corner, also by her hair. So she`s done it
multiple times.
GRACE: The little girl in the hospital after allegedly suffering horrific abuse at the hands of her mother. This woman right there, posing for her
glamour shot, according to police, Candace Trunzo, mailonline, yanked her 6-year-old girl`s head so hard she pulled the scalp off the skull. This
was not the first time it had happened.
The other children have been placed with other family members at this time. There are two other children younger than the 6-year-old.
You know, Candace, you hear the defense lawyers saying well, she just didn`t know how to be a good mother. You know what, if a man had done this
or it had been done to a stranger or one of these two defense attorneys, they would be screaming for aggravated assault charges. But because it`s a
mom, and her little girl that has her scalp yanked off, somehow it should be probation and treatment.
TRUNZO: I don`t agree. Aggravated assault, child endangerment. This woman ought to go to prison, and these kids, you know -- there are family,
the 6-year-old is staying with a paternal aunt. The other children are staying with other family. I hate that the kids would be separated, but I
think that they can work something out so for the time that the mother is in jail, they can stay with loving family, not a mother who abuses them.
GRACE: The mother pulls her hair to throw her in a corner the day -- within 24 hours of pulling her scalp off her skull.
Repeat, mommy, you`re going to hell. Your only choice is do you want to go straight to hell or do you want to stop at the jail first? Those are the
choices, as I see it.
Let`s stop and remember, American hero, Army Sergeant Kevin Akins, Burnsville, North Carolina. Bronze Star, Purple Heart. Parents Don and
Elizabeth, step parents Herbert and Kara, five sisters, two brothers.
Kevin Akins, American hero.
And happy birthday to my brother, Mack. A top sales rep in the whole country, husband, father of two boys. Both of whom he and his wife put
through college. A fitness freak and also the greatest brother in the world.
Happy birthday, Macky.
And everyone, today is GLAAD Spirit Day. Go purple and make a stand against bullying in support of everyone -- lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender. All youth that endure bullying for who they are. For information, go to glaad.org.
Everyone, thank you for being with us. Drew up next. Good night, friend.
END
