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Nancy Grace
Missing Woman`s Body Found Buried at Stepfather`s Home; Two-Year-Old Arkansas Boy Vanishes
Aired December 01, 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, after a manhunt launched to find 33-year-old mom of three Jessica Padgett, who vanishes on her break at work
-- Jessica steps out briefly from the child care center Duck Duck Goose Goose (sic) Child Care, Northampton, and seemingly vanishes. Bombshell
tonight. As we go to air, has Mommy`s body been discovered in a shallow grave on the property of her own stepfather?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just come home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She wouldn`t not return back to work.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But she never returned to work.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She wouldn`t not tell anybody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An intense investigation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s just not who she is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That`s all we ask at this time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please bring him (ph) home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Search and rescue teams --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Searching everything from drains to ditches. Still no sign of 2-year-old Malik Drummond (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He didn`t have no coat on. He just had his shoes on and a T-shirt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, Percy (ph), Arkansas. A 2-year-old baby boy vanishes from his own home.
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. After a manhunt launched to find 33-year-old mom of three Jessica Padgett -- she disappears, she vanishes on her break at work,
she steps out briefly from the child care center where she works, Duck Duck Goose Child Care, she seemingly drops off the face of the earth -- but as
we go to air tonight, has Mommy`s body been discovered in a shallow grave on the property of her own stepfather? Her own stepfather!
Straight out to syndicated talk show host Dave Mack. OK, let`s take it from the beginning. She works at Duck Duck Goose Child Care, and she steps
out briefly, I think to make a cell phone call or to send a fax or something. What do we know?
DAVE MACK, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Nancy, she actually left the day care center to go to her stepfather`s home to send a fax. She was only going to
be gone for a couple of minutes, and that`s when she went missing.
GRACE: OK, that`s what I don`t get right there. Why did she have to -- she`s working at the child care center, Duck Duck Goose. Why did she have
to leave to send a fax?
MACK: Had something to do with the business that her stepfather and her mother run that she`s also a part of, a fence-building business. So there
was actually a reason for her to go to the residence to send a fax.
GRACE: Everybody, for those of you just joining us, a young mom of three seemingly drops off the face of the earth. She apparently has two jobs.
She works at a child care center named Duck Duck Goose, named after a child`s game, and she also works at a fence company that her mom runs with
her stepfather.
All right, Dave Mack, syndicated talk show host joining us. Dave, she steps out. Now, see, I heard conflicting reports that she was calling her
husband on her cell phone or that she was leaving to send a fax, that maybe the one at the day care center didn`t work. But she steps out.
Now, you`re telling me she goes over to the home to send the fax. But where was her car discovered?
MACK: OK, she left the day care center because the fax machine at the day care center wasn`t working. She was going to her stepfather`s home to send
the fax. Her car was found 10 minutes after she left the day care center, parked in the parking lot of a Dollar General.
GRACE: OK, hold on. Let me take it that far.
Clark Goldband, also on the story -- so she`s working at the child care center.
CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Yes.
GRACE: She steps out to send a fax. Have we confirmed the fax at Duck Duck Goose didn`t work?
GOLDBAND: Yes, Nancy, we have. They told one of our producers that the fax machine was down.
GRACE: All right, she goes to send a fax. Of what? What was the -- why was it so urgent, she had to leave one job to go send a fax for the other
job.
GOLDBAND: Well, according to reports, Nancy, it was related to the fence company. She apparently had two jobs, one being at Duck Duck Goose Child
Care and the other at the fence company that`s run by her stepfather.
GRACE: OK. All right. I`m getting it straight. Between the two jobs she`s working, trying to support these three children.
Out to the lines. Kelly in Kentucky. Hi, Kelly. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I`m wondering if there have been any allegations of the stepfather molesting the stepchild and that is why he
had to get rid of her? Was he molesting her?
GRACE: OK, Question. Kelly, you know what? You`re just like me. Whenever I find out that there`s a suspect within the family, I always
wonder why. Now, Kelly in Kentucky, as you know, prosecutors do not have to show motive to prove a crime because prosecutors are not expected to get
into the head of the killer or the perpetrator, whatever the crime may be.
However, Kelly, practically speaking, prosecutors look for a motive to give a jury so the whole thing makes sense.
OK, Dave Mack, let`s talk strictly about Kelly`s question. Is the stepfather -- have there ever been allegations or concerns that he had
molested a stepchild? Do we know anything about that? I have not heard that.
MACK: No, ma`am. We don`t have anything like that on record.
GRACE: OK, I want to go in order here. So we`ve got -- the car is left at a Dollar General. Then how would she have gotten to the stepfather`s
place?
MACK: Actually, the video that we have, the security video, Nancy, shows somebody not matching her description actually exiting her vehicle at the
Dollar General. It was not her dropping the car off. It was a figure matching a man, and that man pulling out of that parking lot in a truck
matching the stepfather`s vehicle, leaving the parking lot 30 seconds later.
GRACE: OK, I want to go back to what you were just talking about about a potential sex molestation. This is not on the stepchild. Tell me what you
know, Dave Mack.
MACK: Well, the investigators are saying that they are investigating this murder as a potential sexual assault, as well. And so backtracking from
that, they`re saying if there`s a sexual assault involved in this murder, they`ll charge him -- they`ll go for the death penalty. That`s what`s been
mentioned in the case with regard to a sexual assault. She called him her -- she referred to him as her dad two years ago on Facebook.
GRACE: Everybody, for those of you just joining us, we`re showing you shots right now of a young mom of three, Jessica Padgett, holding down two
jobs to help support her three children, one at Duck Duck Goose Child Care Center, and then she also worked for the family fence company, a company
her mother and stepfather ran.
As we go to air tonight, has her body just been found buried at the stepfather`s home? Dave Mack, what can you tell me about the location of
an alleged shallow grave?
MACK: It was found directly behind a shed out in the back yard, on the stepfather and her mother`s property. That`s exactly where the grave was
found.
GRACE: Well, where`s the mother during all of this? Where is Jessica Padgett`s mother?
MACK: Jessica Padgett`s mother is in Florida, where she and the stepfather were building a new home.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Joining me, Randy Kessler, defense attorney out of Atlanta, Alex Sanchez, defense attorney in New York.
First of all to you, Alex Sanchez. If this is correct that Jessica`s body has been found at the stepfather`s home that he shared with her mother, and
her mother is in Florida overseeing a job construction site, that looks pretty bad for the stepfather.
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, it may raise some questions, and certainly, the police should investigate this. But unless I`m missing
something, I haven`t seen or heard any evidence so far linking him to this alleged crime. So if you have evidence, state your evidence, and let`s see
whether or not it links to the stepfather.
GRACE: OK, her body has just been found in his back yard?
SANCHEZ: All right, that`s bad, but it doesn`t mean he`s the one that put the body there. What else do you have?
GRACE: OK, so you`re suggesting somebody else kills her, or does she commit suicide and fall into the grave?
SANCHEZ: No, I`m saying that the evidence that you presented right now is very weak and does not definitely indicate --
GRACE: OK. Yes, I heard that.
SANCHEZ: -- that he`s behind the crime.
GRACE: And I`m asking you --
SANCHEZ: That`s what I`m saying.
GRACE: I hear you. I heard you the first time. But my question to you is, at first, you said that raises a concern. Well, I`d be very concerned
if there`s a dead body buried in my back yard. But I`m asking you, Alex Sanchez, what -- let`s follow through with what you say. You can`t just
throw it out there and it just disappears. Let`s follow through with your theory that he is not involved. So what would the theory be, then? Did
she commit suicide and falls into a grave, that somebody else kills her and buries her in his back yard and he doesn`t notice?
SANCHEZ: First of all, I didn`t propose any theory that he didn`t do it.
GRACE: Yes, I`m asking you.
SANCHEZ: What I`m saying is that the evidence that you have outlined so far is certainly not enough to bring any charges against him. Is it enough
for the police to conduct a further investigation? Absolutely. But with the information so far, this case is not going anywhere against him, let`s
face it.
GRACE: You know what? You might as well take out a billboard on Madison Avenue that says, Feel free to bury a dead body in my back yard, signed,
Alex Sanchez.
SANCHEZ: Nancy, let me ask you, would you go to the grand jury with the evidence that you have right now? Yes or no?
GRACE: Yes, I would, as a matter of fact.
SANCHEZ: I don`t think you would. I don`t think you would.
GRACE: Because she says she`s -- when she leaves work, Randy Kessler, when she leaves Duck Duck Goose Goose (sic), she says she`s going to send a fax
from the stepfather`s home, all right? That`s what we know. So then she ends up dead in the stepfather`s yard in a shallow grave. And the mother,
the only other occupant of the home, is in Florida.
RANDY KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Right. And Alex is right. It looks bad. Of course, it looks bad. But you don`t just put someone to death because
it looks bad. We need a lot more -- we need evidence. You have to do a full investigation.
GRACE: OK.
KESSLER: You need to exclude --
GRACE: All right --
KESSLER: -- every possibility before you put somebody to death for a crime.
GRACE: OK. Who said death? Who said death penalty?
KESSLER: One of the reports --
GRACE: You brought it up, not me. I did not bring it up.
KESSLER: The reporter said if it`s a sex crime, they will seek the death penalty.
GRACE: OK, you know what? Hold on. Let`s go to John Morganelli, I`m hearing in my ear is joining me right now. He is the elected district
attorney in Northampton County. Mr. Morganelli, thank you so much for being with us.
JOHN MORGANELLI, NORTHAMPTON CTY. PA DISTRICT ATTORNEY (via telephone): You`re welcome. It`s a pleasure to be with you.
GRACE: You know, Mr. Morganelli, when I first focused on this case, when I first heard about Jessica, it was right as you guys had launched the
manhunt, had first launched the manhunt for this missing mom of three.
Mr. Morganelli, was it snowing on the day that she went missing or just cold?
MORGANELLI: It was just cold, and no snow at that time. Snow started to fall at or about the day before the body was discovered.
GRACE: OK. Let me ask you this. You heard the defense attorneys, Mr. Morganelli -- everybody, we`re taking your calls. You are seeing a shot of
missing mom of three Jessica Padgett. She`s working two jobs, one at Duck Duck Goose Child Care Center. She also works with her mom and stepfather
at a fence company.
She steps out of the child care center at lunchtime on her break. She`s not cutting out, it`s her break. She goes outside, we first thought to
make a cell phone call to her husband. Then we find out she`s traveling to the stepfather`s home, where he lives with the mother, to send a fax. Now,
the mother is in Florida at the time all of this goes down.
With me, the elected DA, John Morganelli. Mr. Morganelli, what makes you think as much, as you can discuss the facts with us, that there was a sex
assault?
MORGANELLI: Well, first of all, let me put the concerns of the defense counsel at ease. In addition to the information that you`ve developed, in
the affidavit for probable cause, which is a public document now, so I`m free to mention it, he`s the one who told the investigators where the body
was, where he buried this young girl, indicated he had shot her, described the caliber gun and gave some other additional information.
Based upon the nature of this crime, the body, the way it was discovered, and some other information which I`m not at liberty to disclose just yet,
we believe that there was a sexual motive behind this. And that sexual motive is still being developed, but it`s either during -- prior to the
murder, during or a desire perhaps to have sex with a deceased body.
GRACE: OK, hold on just a moment. With me is John Morganelli, the elected district attorney. And as he should, he`s playing it close to the vest,
cannot reveal all that he knows on national TV. But what I`m hearing is that the way the body was found suggests that either -- she had either been
killed during or after a sex attack, possibly the perp having sex with her, a forced sex attack in life or with her dead body.
Everyone, you are seeing a shot of the young mom of three, Jessica Padgett. There`s been a manhunt like no other for her. And as we go to air tonight,
we learn that the young mom`s body has been discovered buried at the stepfather`s home.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Family members say she was taking a break to drive to her mother`s house around five miles away to send a fax, but she never
returned to work. Family members do suspect foul play.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back, everybody. In the last hour, we learned that the body of a missing mom of three has been discovered in a shallow grave on
the property of her own stepfather, near the home stepfather shares with her mother.
Now, I`ve got in my hand here the affidavit of probable cause that was submitted by local police, and in it, it says that she tells her co-workers
at the child care center she`s leaving to send a fax, that she`s going to be right back. She never comes back. She seemingly disappears off the
face of the earth.
What we know is she told them she was headed to her stepfather`s house to send that fax. We know she never came back. But we also know her vehicle
was found parked at a local store, a Family Dollar, or a Dollar General, I think it was, Clark.
GOLDBAND: And what really concerned some of the victim`s friends here, Nancy, is that she was known for parking very close to the front of stores.
She always wanted a good parking place. But friends say her car was found towards the back of the Dollar General, and that set off a red flag. That
white Subaru Outback was not close to the front door.
GRACE: Yes, who would park that far away, walk around from the back to go into the Dollar General unless the parking lot was totally full?
Back to John Morganelli, the elected district attorney. Mr. Morganelli, is there surveillance video at the Dollar General?
MORGANELLI: Yes, we have some surveillance, and as one of your guests indicated, we did get information from the videos that shows and depicts
the victim`s vehicle being driven into that location where it was ultimately found by a police officer later. And then this individual gets
out of the vehicle and walks towards another location close by, and shortly, within 30 seconds or so, a truck fitting the description of the
defendant`s is then exiting that area.
We`ve now been able to establish conclusively that that was the defendant, Mr. Graf, that drove the victim`s car to that location and then picked up
his truck, which he had parked there earlier in the day, hauled (ph) back to his residence.
GRACE: Interesting that he parks a car there earlier in the day. If he parked that -- if he parked his vehicle nearby earlier in the day, before
she left the child care center, that would suggest that this whole thing had been planned out and it wasn`t a spur-of-the-moment homicide.
Out to the lines. Hi, Michelle. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy and panel. Can I just please ask a question? Was there any hints or signs that the stepfather gave that he
was going to kill the stepdaughter before he did it?
GRACE: Good question. What do we know, Dave Mack? Anything at all?
MACK: Not that I`m aware of in reading through all the documents so far, Nancy, no. There was nothing there other than a parental relationship with
her.
GRACE: Yes, you know, I noticed -- it was mentioned earlier, Mr. Morganelli, that about a little over a year ago, she posted on Facebook, I
love my two dads, her biological, natural father and the stepfather. And apparently, she was very happy in her relationship. There was no
suggestion at all she was sleeping with her stepfather, no suggestion whatsoever.
MORGANELLI: I think -- and of course, I did not know Ms. Padgett, but I believe that Jessica Padgett was a very nice young lady, trying to raise
her children, recently married. She`s a innocent victim here. I don`t believe there was any evidence that we have, nor do I expect any, that
there was anything improper that she did. She was an innocent victim. It`s a tragic situation that this occurred.
GRACE: Mr. Morganelli, I understand from the affidavit here, the police affidavit, that the manner of death was homicide. The cause of death was a
gunshot wound?
MORGANELLI: Correct.
GRACE: And then buried -- the body was found buried in a shallow grave. How close to the home, Mr. Morganelli, was that?
MORGANELLI: It was -- as far as the yard -- this is a very large property. It was, like, seven acres. But it was relatively close to the residence of
the -- on the property, and in a shed where we also found evidence of marijuana, manufacturing of marijuana was being done in this shed area. So
it was around that location, not too far from the residence, I`d say yards, you know, rather than miles. Seven acres is a lot of land, but this was
close by to the residence.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re hopeful that within the next hours and days that we will be able to find Ms. Padgett or that she will resurface somewhere
unharmed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: For those of you just joining us, a young mother`s body has just been found. It`s found buried in a shallow grave near her stepfather`s
home.
With me, the elected DA in that jurisdiction, John Morganelli. Mr. Morganelli, where was her mother during all of this? In Florida, but has
she surfaced?
MORGANELLI: Well, yes. The mother was -- was expected to -- she away from a Wednesday to Saturday. This all unfolded on Friday, November 21st. And
the mom was expected to come back the next day, Saturday. So this Mr. Graf, we believe -- knew that it was just him and his wife in this home, so
he had sort of a fair amount of time to be able to do what he did.
GRACE: You know, Mr. Morganelli, I know you`ve seen it all as a district attorney, but this really just defies common sense, common sense and any
feeling of familial love whatsoever to try and rape your stepdaughter, your adult stepdaughter, who`s got three children, in a new marriage, while her
mother, your wife, is out of town.
And there`s a whole `nother layer to this. Do you believe, Mr. Morganelli, that he had his car parked at this secret location, I`ll call it, before
the incident took place?
MORGANELLI: Well, we know that his truck was at that location before this took place, and we know that he drove the victim`s car to a location that
he could get out of the victim`s car and get into his truck easily and close by and go home.
Whether or not he planned this out starting in the morning, I can`t say yet. We`re still developing additional information. You are correct,
obviously, and it hasn`t been lost on me that if we can -- or you know, there certainly is evidence of premeditation. But as you know from your
own experience, we can prove premeditation in a short fraction of a second, even if that`s not the case.
But there is some evidence to suggest that the truck was placed there -- he told police that he was going to have it repaired by this garage, but the
garage people said that they had no contact with him that morning about making arrangements to bring his truck there for servicing.
GRACE: Well, right there, Mr. Morganelli, if he says he`s going to have it repaired by a garage, why didn`t he take it to a garage? Of where was --
where did he park it?
MORGANELLI: Well, it was close to this garage, but it wasn`t exactly at the garage. And the people who work there said that they were not aware
that he was dropping his truck off for any servicing that day. So there is an element --
GRACE: Well, you know, Mr. Morganelli --
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: It doesn`t make sense. if you`re going to have your car fixed, repaired, then you take it to the garage and leave it. Why park it down
the street from the garage, and I guess, what, walk home, and then wait for her to get there and drive her car to Family Dollar or Family General and
his car is nearby and you get in it and drive off. I mean, clearly he parked the car, his car, near where he was going to leave her car, and --
MORGANELLI: There`s no question that that`s a theory that we are definitely pursuing, and it`s not been lost, believe me.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. You know what this means, guys? This means if he took his car that morning and parked it near where he leaves his
daughter-in-law`s car abandoned at a Family Dollar that means he would have planned the whole thing. Do you get that, Counselor? Are you going argue
with me about that?
RANDY KESSLER, DIVORCE DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It`s a good theory and it may be a right theory or his truck was there or after this incident he knew where
his truck was so he drove the car to go get his truck. It`s a theory.
GRACE: Why, Sanchez, would he say he was leaving his car to get it fixed, but he didn`t leave it at the garage? He left it near where he dumped her
car.
KESSLER: You know, Nancy, if information presented by District Attorney Morganelli is correct, this case is going to prove quickly from guilt or
innocence to mitigation. So I would want to know a lot more information about this guy`s background because if he allegedly did that and there`s
evidence to prove it and he confessed this is the act of a madman and I would want a psychiatric background.
GRACE: A madman that knew how to dump her car, lie, bury her body --
KESSLER: His background would be important in determining ultimate sentence.
GRACE: I know his background. He`s got one offense back in the `90s of a dui or something like that. That`s it. He ran and owned this fence
company. And he had the where with all to do it while his wife, the victim`s mother, was away, and did it the day before she was to come back.
To Dr. Bill Manion, our medical examiner, forensic pathologist. Dr. Manion, how can you tell if someone has had sex with a dead body? How can
you tell the body was dead at the time of the sex?
DR. BILL MANION, MEDICAL EXAMINER AND FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST (via telephone): They`ll do a careful examination and look for any evidence of skin tears or
trauma. They will also do a DNA swab and look for sperm. Even if the person doesn`t make sperm, they can look for some seminal fluid chemicals
and --
GRACE: Dr. Manion, I`m going on the premise that we`re going to have either sperm or seminal fluid, which is emitted even if there`s not sperm.
Going with that, how do you tell if the woman was dead or alive at the time of the assault?
MANION: Well, it`s more difficult obviously with a dead person. They check if a lubricant was used or if there`s any trauma. There`s probably
more likely to be trauma in a forced rape like this on a dead body.
GRACE: To Mr. John Morganelli, I want to thank you for being with us.
MORGANELLI: You`re welcome.
GRACE: Mr. Morganelli, would the assault on a dead body constitute a felony in your jurisdiction to support a felony murder charge to seek the
death penalty?
MORGANELLI: It would not be considered in Pennsylvania an aggravating circumstance that would make this a capital case. And so that`s certainly
something that we`re looking at. We do have a separate charge, which is called abuse of corpse, which is relevant. It wouldn`t be an aggravator.
The murder that occurs during the course of a rape would be one, but case law talks about before, during or after the homicide but with a deceased
body, it would be difficult to make an argument that constitutes aggravating factor under our law.
We might very well have that here and we`re going to -- as your medical examiner has indicated, our pathologist here is not done yet. The body has
been autopsied, but you know, we`re still waiting for results from the protocol relative to sexual assault.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: And now live to Arkansas. A 2-year-old baby boy vanishes from his own home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Days of searching and still no sign of 2-year-old Malik Drummond.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He didn`t have a coat on. He just had a shoes and a t- shirt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he was hiding, we should have found him. So what else happened?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Regardless of what may have happened --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I ain`t going give up until that little boy is found.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to reporter from KARK-TV, David Goins. David, thank you for being with us. How do you disappear from your own home? I
understand that the father was asleep in the room where the 2-year-old boy was with his 2-year-old twin sister and the stepmom was taking a bath?
DAVID GOINS, REPORTER, KART-TV: Stepmom was giving Malik Drummond`s twin sister a bath. That`s the story from the stepmom and the father. That`s
the last time anyone saw Malik Drummond back on Sunday, more than a week ago now, eight days.
Really the development late this afternoon is that the police department is calling off the search telling volunteers who came out in the hundreds to
essentially go home because they think at this point he`s not out here.
They cannot believe that he`s hiding and waiting to be discovered anywhere in the area that he could have traveled on his own. The criminal
investigation has been going on as is nature of any missing child especially someone as young as two who would have limited mobility.
The FBI, Arkansas State Police along with the searching police department had been involved with that criminal investigation. I can say early this
evening they will say there`s only three scenarios they can look at, at this point.
One is that Malik indeed walked off from his home here in Searcy and someone picked him up or someone went into the home while the parents were
asleep or bathing that other child and took him out of the house.
The third is that somebody that the family knows took the child, but all three of those scenarios as you`re well aware, Nancy, are all crimes so
this is certainly a criminal investigation at this point.
GRACE: You know, everybody with me from KARK-TV, David Goins, reporter there on the scene. We`re all distraught. This is right around the
Thanksgiving holidays as we head into Christmas. And this 2-year-old baby boy, a twin, he`s got a twin girl sister vanishes seemingly into thin air.
David, if you don`t mind, for the viewers that are just joining us and don`t know the story about little Malik, please take it from the top. What
do the parents say happened that day?
GOINS: Essentially, Nancy, as we talked about, the girlfriend of the father was giving his twin sister a bath and then the father was asleep in
another room. Apparently Malik was unattended in the living room. That`s the last time anyone saw Malik Drummond was the living room of his home.
Now, they believe perhaps he may have walked away, but there`s no evidence to indicate that at this point. In fact, one of the things that makes this
so tricky for the police department and investigators, there`s not a lot of evidence of anything.
Dogs have been involved on the scent trail and they didn`t get very far from his home. Places that Malik would have been anyway, a 2-year-old
playing near his home.
Since then the search lasted for eight days extensively hundreds of volunteers throughout the Thanksgiving Day holiday weekend not wasting time
to do that, but no sign of him at this point and certainly a criminal investigation now.
GRACE: On the scene for a desperate search for missing 2-year-old little boy Malik was in his home with his mom, stepmother, and his father, his
father asleep in the same room where Malik was. The stepmother was giving the twin sister a bath. There you see the home. Back to David, David, was
there any forced entry in the home?
GOINS: No forced entry. There`s no sign of a crime at all. Let me clarify. His biological mother was not there at the time. Only two adults
were there, the stepmom and the father. So I want to be clear about that.
No sign of forced entry and really no evidence of a crime but given the lack of Malik`s whereabouts, Searcy police believe the only conclusion of
this case is a crime has been committed. They just don`t know by who and most importantly where that little 2-year-old boy is tonight.
GRACE: What was the temperature on the day that he disappeared? Was it day? Was it nighttime? And how cold was it outside?
GOINS: Near dusk and as is the case in the fall, Nancy, in this part of the country in the mid-south, there`s been a wild gradient of temperatures.
We`ve had mid 70s and right now in the mid-30s. We`ve had all of that over the last week, certainly conditions that no one would want to be out for
any extended period of time much less a 2-year-old toddler not wearing shoes and only brown pants and a blue shirt.
GRACE: Was there any evidence that he got out of the home? Were the doors locked when the parents went looking for him? Were any of the windows
open? I don`t think a little child could open a window, but he could certainly get out of a door at age 2.
GOINS: Searcy police have not shared whether or not a window was open or whether or not the door was unlocked. That`s unclear as far as forced
entry goes. Again, the speculation is from the stepmom saying I had his twin sister in the bath. His father was asleep. He was in the living
room.
My only conclusion is he got out and walked out the door but there`s no evidence. The last time anyone saw Malik Drummond, he was in that living
room on Sunday evening eight days ago.
GRACE: OK. David Goins with me. Are you near the home right now?
GOINS: We are near the home just about 20, 30 feet behind me and we`ve actually talked with Malik`s father this afternoon about the developments
related to the fact that the search has stopped. He said this is the first he`s hearing of it.
He didn`t have a lot to offer actually saying in previous media interviews he felt like his situation had been misrepresented so he didn`t want to
talk to us much beyond that. He said this afternoon when I showed him some of the newest information, it was the first he was aware of that the actual
ground search for his 2-year-old son had ceased.
GRACE: Let me ask you this, David. Liz, if you don`t mind, could you show the picture of the home where the 2-year-old little boy goes missing. Now,
if you take a look at the home, we see that the windows are very low down from the outside looking in. Is this a duplex? Are there two families
living in the home, David?
GOINS: It is a duplex. It`s a duplex, yes.
GRACE: OK. So did the people living on the other side of the home hear anything?
GOINS: Nobody heard anything and nobody saw anything. That`s what we`re dealing with right now is a lack of information and a lack of any sign and
we hate to use that word vanish because so often that`s not the case.
There`s an explainable reason why someone is missing, but at this point at least from police investigation and again the FBI and state police are
assisting, that word has been used to describe Malik`s disappearance.
Short of anyone else coming forward with information to clarify his whereabouts or what happened to him, that word vanish has certainly been
spoken.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Welcome back. The search is on for a missing 2-year-old Arkansas boy who seemingly vanishes from his own home. Straight out to Grant Carey,
host of "Wake Up Call" KSMD. This isn`t fitting together for me, Grant.
GRANT CAREY, CO-HOST OF THE WAKEUP CALL, KSMD (via telephone): Yes, Nancy. As everyone has hashed and rehashed, this has been an almost eight-day
search for this child and it`s really taken over this community, lots of volunteers coming out to help.
The announcement made this afternoon by Searcy police in a press release that the search efforts has been called off, right after they moved the
command center for the search effort from the church, which is close to Malik`s home, to the central fire station, which is two blocks south.
They made the announcement this afternoon at the press conference or press release that they`re calling off the search. The first time they`ve used
the term active criminal investigation.
GRACE: With me, Grant Carey, co-host of "Wake Up Call" KSMD. Let me ask you this, Grant. Have the parents of the family taken polygraphs?
CAREY: I don`t know if they have or not. That was something that came up in the last press conference, which was held the day before Thanksgiving.
GRACE: Right, right. What do we know, Matt, have they taken polygraphs?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police have said they issued polygraph tests to family members. They won`t say what the results or, but the biological
mother told us, Nancy, that she was not given one.
GRACE: Sheryl McCollum, what is your analysis?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They got something, Nancy. Something has taken a turn in this case and they`re on a trail, no question about it. And the
polygraph is such an excellent tool when it comes to the stepmother for father. Those findings have put them on the right track, no doubt.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Where is a 2-year-old little Arkansas boy who disappears from his own home? Cheryl McCollum is the director of the Cold Case Investigative
Research Institute. Cheryl, as you were saying when we went to break, what do you mean they`ve got something?
CHERYL MCCOLLUM, DIRECTOR, COLD CASE INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCH INSTITUTE (via telephone): In other words, this is no longer a search and rescue, it`s a
criminal investigation. Say in one of the polygraphs, someone showed deception or showed that harm was done to the child.
They`re going to stick with that. They`re going to search the home with black lights and dogs. You`re fixing to see a complete shift in this
investigation.
GRACE: Grant Carey, I show you heard Cheryl just then. Grant, what do you make of it? It`s a duplex and the neighbors didn`t hear anything. We have
a conflicting story. We were told that the stepmother was taking a bath and when she came out of the bath, asked where`s Malik, the little twin
sister, the 2-year-old points to the door. What is your understanding, Carey?
CAREY: Well, initially it was said that she was giving the other child a bath. Then it was said that the other child was in the room alone with
Malik. When she came out, she asked where did he go? So there`s been a little bit of conflict there. That`s one of the problems police have been
dealing with. They`ve been investigating the criminal aspect of this since the beginning.
GRACE: This is what I know, Grant Carey is I want this baby back home. I remember my children, basically helpless, boy-girl twins at age 2. I want
to bring Malik home.
Tip line, everyone, 5012683531. Let`s remember American hero Army Staff Sergeant Shane Cooley, 25, Wayne, Nebraska. Bronze star, Purple Heart, a
three-sport athlete. Military compound in Afghanistan named in his honor. Parents, Keith and Mary, two sisters, widow, Sheryl, daughter, Kylie, Shane
Cooley, American hero.
Everybody, it`s Cyber Monday. Are you looking for the perfect gift for your crime fighter? Go to nancygrace.com and use coupon code, proceeds to
child victims of abuse and neglect. Let`s don`t forget them at Christmas.
Drew up next. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, friend.
END
