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Nancy Grace
Investigators Search for Clues in Mississippi Burning Death; Mom`s Body Found at Stepfather`s Home
Aired December 11, 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, Courtland, Mississippi. Police and EMTs race to the scene to find a teen girl burning alive in a
horrific lighter fluid attack. Just before her death, does the girl whisper her killer`s name to police?
Bombshell tonight. With us live, the district attorney joining us, begging you for tips, taking your calls as new details emerge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doused with a flammable liquid.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was set on fire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Burned alive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who would want to do this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Incredibly, despite her suffering, Chambers whispered something to firefighters. Many believe it was the name of her attacker.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have ripped (ph) everything I have!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who could have done it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, after 33-year-old mom of three, Jessica Padgett, vanishes on her break at Duck Duck Goose child care, Jessica`s body
discovered in a shallow grave on the property of her own stepfather! Stunning details emerge that the young mom of three was targeted for sex
post-mortem. Translation, police believe Mommy sexually molested after she was murdered. And he videoed it?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aside of abuse with a corpse, Graf is also accused of shooting and killing his stepdaughter, Jessica Padgett, inside his Allen
(ph) township home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. Live to Courtland, Mississippi. Police and EMTs race to the scene to find a teen girl burning alive in a horrific lighter fluid
attack. Just before her death, does the girl whisper her killer`s name to police?
With us live, the district attorney joining us, begging you for tips and help, and taking your calls, as at this hour, new details emerging.
Straight out to Steve Taylor, co-host "Gulf Coast Mornings." Steve, we`ve learned a lot since we first learned about the story, still no arrest.
I`ve got a lot of questions.
Liz, could you show me where Jessica went down the embankment in her car? Everyone, you are seeing shots of Jessica. She had just gotten out of high
school, planning to study nursing in college. She was spotted by a motorist walking along the side of the street, on fire. Someone, some
cruel devil, put lighter fluid down this girl`s nose and mouth, down her throat, setting her on fire, her father telling us that the only spot on
her body that was not burned, the bottom of her feet.
Steve Taylor, I am intrigued with what I`m learning about the crime scene. That embankment, someone -- she had to be wrestling with somebody in her
car to go down this embankment, to be forced off the road and her cell phone found outside the car. I know she didn`t throw it out.
So why is her cell phone outside the car? Is it burned? Is it not burned? Can information be recovered from it? What do we know, Steve?
STEVE TAYLOR, NEWSRADIO 104.9 (via telephone): You know, Nancy, at this point, where Jessica Chambers was found on highway 51, outside of this very
small community in north Mississippi, it was obvious to those people that Jessica had not been in her car for maybe some few moments at the time the
emergency workers arrived to come to her aid on the side of that highway, highway 51, her car burned out.
As we talked about last night, Nancy, somebody had to have been in that car with her, the inside of that car burned out at this time, and authorities
not only seeking evidence on Jessica herself and her body and -- but her cell phone not on her body, not in the vehicle. It may have been a piece
of evidence that just simply didn`t get cleaned up by the person that did this.
And as we heard already at the beginning of the show tonight, Nancy, she may have said to those emergency responders exactly who it was...
GRACE: Oh! Oh! Steve, right now, we are showing a shot of the burned-out car.
For those moms and dads out there listening tonight, can you imagine giving birth to your child, raising your daughter, getting her through elementary,
then high school, all the dramas, the ups and downs -- Jessica was a cheerleader -- getting her through that, seeing her graduate. When I look
at this girl`s high school -- there she is as a cheerleader.
When I look at her high school graduation, I can hardly stand it because just after she graduates, planning to go study nursing, some cruel, cruel
attacker puts lighter fluid down this girl -- she`s barely out of being a child, this is a teen just out of high school -- down her throat, down her
nose and set her on fire? They airlifted her, they tried to save her life. The fire people, the police, they did everything they could to save her.
But tonight, we join the search for her killer. I`m hearing in my ear we`re about to go out to John Champion, the elected district attorney, but
first to a police presser. Let`s listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re working with rumor control also. I know I`ve talked to several of you, and you know, things get started that we don`t
have control of. But a lot of what`s being said is not any truth to it. We`re, you know, going through the coroner, we`re going through the medical
examiner. And as far as some of the stories on accelerants and all this stuff, we`re -- we`ve ruled them out. And like I said, that`s -- that`s
where we need the most help is helping rule (ph) the rumor control. We can`t verify any of that.
I want assure you, as soon as we get full information, ma`am (ph), we`re going to be jumping up and down (INAUDIBLE) ready to give you all the
information that we can. I appreciate your patience.
And you know, you can be of benefit to us, too, on any information that you can, you know, (INAUDIBLE) We`re following up on every single tip,
regardless of how minute it is. And we`re working on this thing. We`ve got some determined investigators here. I`ve worked with a lot of them
before, and I can assure you that we`re not going to ever give up on this. My heart...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We`ll take you right back to that presser, but joining me right now, the elected district attorney, John Champion from the 17th district
joining me from Courtland. Mr. Champion, thank you for being with us.
JOHN CHAMPION, DISTRICT ATTORNEY (via telephone): Thank you for having me.
GRACE: I know that you and your people are joining with law enforcement asking for tips. Everyone, the tip line 800-729-2169. There is a reward
tonight -- Jessica`s family devastated not only with her death, but the horrific nature of her death.
Mr. Champion, I heard the comments about accelerant and that there have been a lot of incorrect rumors about accelerant. Was accelerant used?
CHAMPION: Well, right now, I can`t say for sure on this. We are in the process of getting everything analyzed by our state crime lab, as well as
the ATF lab, who -- ATF is assisting us in this. And you know, just -- I just really don`t want to speculate at this point...
GRACE: OK. I understand that.
CHAMPION: ... as far as whether or not...
GRACE: I understand that, Mr. Champion. I know you`ve got to keep your facts close to your vest. What can you tell us? What are you doing on
your end of the investigation to find this girl`s killer?
CHAMPION: Well, we`ve got a -- I certainly have a group of officers who are very dedicated to solving this case. We`ve got local, state and
federal law enforcement that are all working on this case.
You know, we`re trying to leave no stone unturned at this point. We`ve got a lot of information that has come into us. We`ve got a lot of forensic
evidence we have to go through, and also the (INAUDIBLE) data and other information, social media stuff that we are combing through right now,
trying to find who did this.
GRACE: Everyone, you`re seeing video that we obtained from a local gas station. Jessica stopped here minutes before the attack. These are some
of the last people that we know of that spoke to her. Everything was fine, no problem whatsoever. The district attorney and police even hunted down a
man that she waved at and spoke to briefly. He has been questioned and cleared. They identified him from the surveillance video.
With me taking your calls, the elected district attorney, John Champion. Mr. Champion, you mentioned the fact that you were looking at social media.
What do you mean by that?
CHAMPION: Well, I mean we`re following her -- you know, obviously, we`re following her Facebook page, Twitters that have been sent out, Twitter
messages that have been sent out. You know, we`re combing through all of that just looking for maybe a clue in there that may help us understand
what happened. You know, obviously, her cell phone records were obtained, as well as others, and...
GRACE: Right.
CHAMPION: ... we`re combing through those with the assistance of the marshals. And you know, obviously, it`s just -- as I said earlier, it`s
just a "hit the pavement" type of case right now. We`ve got to get out and...
GRACE: Mr. Champion, was her cell phone burned?
CHAMPION: No, the cell phone was not burned. It was located outside of the vehicle.
GRACE: That`s interesting that her cell phone was unburned and ejected from the vehicle.
Let`s take a look inside of her car again. Mr. Champion, as you have, I have prosecuted many, many arson cases. This was a quick-spreading fire,
which I know you`re not going to give me the answer to, bespeaks of accelerant. It was so fast, however (ph), we see it did not get to the gas
tank of the car because the car itself did not blow up from the inside out. It`s a surface fire, which suggest that a struggle went on inside the car
and Lighting her on fire happened inside the car.
Mr. Champion, you said her cell phone is outside the car. How far away from the car was it?
CHAMPION: It was in the -- I don`t have the exact measurements. It was just right there by the vehicle. And you know, as far as whether or not
accelerants -- we`re certainly of the belief that one was probably used, but until we get absolute...
GRACE: Right.
CHAMPION: ... verification of that from the lab, we can`t say for 100 percent sure.
GRACE: Absolutely. You know, you can always look at the carpet fibers and the upholstery, what`s left of it, to get traces of accelerant, where you
may not be able to get it off of the paint or the metal part of the car.
With me, everyone, John Champion, who`s taking time in the middle of the investigation to speak with us briefly, asking for your help. That`s why
he`s here, asking for your help to put this case at rest, to find the killer of this young girl, a horrific lighter fluid attack, we are told.
Also, Mr. Champion, question. Regarding her body, I know that about 98 percent of her body suffered serious burns. Was she clothed?
CHAMPION: I can`t comment on that at this point. You know, we`ve got the video from about an hour-and-a-half we know that she was, and everything
was collected from her body, and also from the surrounding area of the crime scene, has been submitted. And we`ll get a better idea of that, you
know, once we get, you know, some of the test results back.
GRACE: Was her -- the rear of her car damaged in this incident, or was that previous damage?
CHAMPION: We`re still checking into that right now. I do believe it`s going to probably be something previous.
GRACE: Everybody, with me the elected DA.
Back to Steve Taylor, host of "Gulf Coast Mornings." Steve, so many questions swirling right now. But are we sure that she suffered burns down
her throat and nose? Because if so, that absolutely indicates that an accelerant was used.
You know, Steve, you can tell that as an arson investigator or prosecutor. You can actually see the pour pattern. Many of the arsons that I`ve had,
Steve Taylor, you could see -- it looked like maybe dried up Coca-Cola or dried up Pepsi on the floor, which was actually the burn pattern from the
accelerant. You can see it to the naked eye, maybe on the carpet, maybe on the upholstery here.
This had to take a pretty good dousing for this, Steve Taylor.
TAYLOR: Yes, it does indeed, I think, Nancy. One characteristic of lighter fluid and any accelerant like that is, if you`ll remember from your
basic science class, when you light a match or a candle, it`s the outside edge of that flame where it`s blue, where it`s warmer, hotter, and the same
can be said with an accelerant and the way that it burns and oxygenates so rapidly, and that it`s that blue area of that flame. And it doesn`t have
to be blue in the case of an accelerant, but it burns so hot, so rapidly, you`re right, you can see the trail of where an accelerant was put down.
It is Jessica`s father that was first to say out loud that Jessica had had an accelerant poured all over her body, into her mouth, into her nostrils.
And that`s -- that was her own father saying that. I would hate to think that he was wrong in that.
But if you remember, the Panola County coroner has said the preliminary cause of death is thermal injuries. We don`t know how far -- we don`t know
if they`re internal. You know, an autopsy report`s not going to be released for several days. And Nancy, I would suspect in your own
experience in dealing with arson investigations and deaths involving fire, this may take several more days before we get concrete evidence.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have ripped (ph) everything I have!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s torn my heart out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There wasn`t nothing we could do, you know? She was burned on 98 percent of her body.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nobody deserves what she went through.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I realized who the victim was, and it was just shocking. I just -- I hate it for the family.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The teenager was discovered next to her car on a rural road in Panola County near Courtland. Investigators say someone
poured an accelerant on Chambers and set her on fire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: To all of you parents out there, this is a parent`s worst nightmare. She very simply went to go get gas, grab a bite to eat. This
is just a girl just out of high school planning to go to college to study nursing. That will never be. Someone targeted her, dousing her, forcing
we believe to be lighter fluid down her mouth and nose and setting her ablaze, one of the most horrific and painful deaths there are.
With me, Robert Rowe, arson investigator, president of Pyrocop, Inc. Robert, it`s easy to tell if an accelerant has been used. And by that I
mean gasoline, lighter fluid, ethyl alcohol, anything like that. You can tell pretty much with the naked eye.
Now, the district attorney, John Champion, is crossing his T`s and dotting his I`s. He`s not going to go with that until he has it from the lab.
They`re probably going to do a mass spectometer (ph). They`re going to do a lot of chemical tests to determine what exactly it is.
But please, let`s just get real for a moment. You can look at a fire and tell if an accelerant has been used. Please explain.
ROBERT ROWE, ARSON INVESTIGATOR (via telephone): Well, you know, you can. You can tell, you know, by looking at burn patterns on the floor. You can
tell actually by just odor that comes off of that fire if there`s been some form of an accelerant. It`s not lab-type test results, but it is
observations that investigators make in the field to make that determination.
GRACE: And then the use of a mass spec is, you know, a gas chronometer in the crime lab verifies that chemically. So I think the question is, what
is the accelerant? What is the fluid. Is it lighter fluid? Is it gasoline? I`m telling you, Robert, if it were gasoline, they`d be able to
smell it because the entire accelerant is not consumed in the fire when it`s gasoline.
ROWE: That`s correct, Nancy. It`s sometimes more difficult to identify other types of products, such as alcohol or some of the lighter fuels.
Gasoline is fairly obvious in its odor. But there are other products out there on the market...
GRACE: Oh! Oh! Oh! Robert, let me tell you something. Every time I look at these pictures, I imagine this girl in that car right there,
sitting in that car, on fire. I imagine her. She had this beautiful face and skin, walking along the side of the road, literally on fire down her
throat and her nose.
I`m hearing in my ear I`m just now being joined by a special guest. In addition to the elected DA, Cori Crawford Morton with us. She contacted me
on our Web site, Nancygrace.com, and has come forward to speak out.
Cori, thank you for being with us.
CORI CRAWFORD MORTON, FRIEND (via telephone): Thank you for having me.
GRACE: Cori, when did you first learn that your friend had been murdered?
MORTON: I learned -- I want to say about Sunday morning at about 3:00.
GRACE: What happened?
MORTON: I was just told that she had passed away, and then I was given details that she was possibly set on fire.
GRACE: It`s so hard to take in that someone is set on fire.
MORTON: Yes, ma`am.
GRACE: What have you learned? We have studied and researched and made calls. We can`t find a single enemy this girl had. What do you know?
MORTON: She never had one throughout the years I`ve known her, which has been about 10. I have never heard anybody talk ugly about her. She was
just the light of the room. I just -- I don`t know who could have done it or what happened.
GRACE: Another fact that I keep going back to is that, somehow, her cell phone was thrown out of the car or dropped, maybe by the perpetrator, not
far from the car. Why? Why wasn`t it in the car? Why wasn`t it burned? She was burned. Why not it? What did that have to do with it?
Whoever got in this car with her or forced themselves into the car had to have the accelerant with them. Why? Why would you have accelerant with
you if you had not planned this attack?
Also, I can tell you this. This is not random. This is not random. To pour this down her mouth, to pour this down her nose -- that is not random.
Explain, Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst and author.
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: Well, the reason it`s not random is, as you said, think about it. She left to get some gas and I think to get a
sandwich, and then this happens on the side of the road. It bears the markings of more of an intimate situation, where perhaps somebody lured her
out of her house with the thought that he was either going to overcome her, rape her, seduce her, and that if she resisted in any way, then he would
attack her.
That`s the scenario I have in my mind. Who would that be? Somebody that she met on line, somebody she knew, maybe somebody that she had some brief
acquaintanceship with. But I think she was lured there, the person got into the car, she resisted, and then he attacked.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 19-year-old whispered something to first responders before she died at the hospital.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know what she said, but we`re not commenting on what she said.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators believe a text or last call could be key, especially if it links to her last whispered words.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back. A teen girl brutally and horrifically murdered. She is spotted by a motorist walking along the side of a road. On fire. Her
body, 98 percent burned. The only part of her body, according to her father, not burned are the soles of her feet. In fact the killer actually
poured what we believe to be lighter fluid down her mouth and nose.
And tonight we are joining the police and the family trying to find her killer. We want justice.
We are taking your calls. Joining me right now, telecommunications expert Ben Levitan.
Ben, thank you for being with us.
Ben, we hear that her cell phone may hold the key to the case. And I was just listening to what Dr. Bethany Marshall, our psychologist, our
psychoanalyst, said that she was lured in the car. It was her car. So someone had to make her believe it was OK for him to get in her car or to
force his way into her car or hide in her car and surprise her.
Let`s talk about what we can learn from this cell phone, Ben. I had thought that it had been burned. I`m learning today it was not burned.
But what if data has been deleted by possibly the perpetrator?
BEN LEVITAN, TELECOMMUNICATIONS EXPERT: Nancy, we`ve talked about this before. You are absolutely right, the cell phone holds the key. And it`s
kind of a surprising reason why this might be the key.
The cell phone evidence is not in the cell phone. It`s back in the telephone network. It -- you know, for some reason perpetrators think that
if they take the cell phone off of the victim then that`s going to destroy the evidence. And we know that`s not true. All the evidence is stored at
the phone network. And part of it is used for billing.
But here`s what`s really interesting. Obviously if she was meeting someone, there had to be communications. There had to be communication on
her cell phone, on Twitter. You know, somehow. And that`s what police are going through right now. But what`s really interesting here is -- is that
I`ve seen this before where perpetrators take the phone. It seems to me like he might have grabbed the phone and just inadvertently dropped it as
he ran away from the car.
That`s really interesting because if he did that, there`s got to be DNA on the phone. We`re not even talking about really cool cell phone evidence.
We`re talking about just plain DNA where the perpetrator touched the phone, dropped it, it did not get burned and police were able to retrieve that,
bag it and actually get DNA off the phone.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were expecting it to be just a normal car fire. I realized who the victim was and it was just shocking.
SAVIDGE: Despite her suffering, Chambers whispered something to firefighters. Many believe it was the name of her attacker.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can`t really disclose any of that information at this time.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Was it ever determined what she said to first responders?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know what she said, but we`re not commenting on what she said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Everyone, this teen girl burned alive. What we are trying to find out is who, what, where, why, when, and identify the person that killed
her. We believe that lighter fluid was poured down her mouth and nose.
This girl, just out of high school, a cheerleader scrubbed in sunshine, headed to nursing school, was her dream, that will never be. Her parents,
so devastated they can hardly speak tonight.
We sift through the clues left behind. We are asking for your help. The tip line, 800-729-2169. There is a reward for information.
Also joining us tonight in addition to her dear friend, Cindy Crawford Morton, and the district attorney. I want to quickly ask about Steve
Taylor, the question I asked the D.A., was she clothed? What are your sources telling you? Was this a sex attack?
TAYLOR: You know, there`s been conjecture about that along with conjectures about, was it a racially motivated thing? Just on the sound
bite, it was just on prior to us coming back, Nancy, authorities, they know what she said. They know if she was clothed. They`re not giving those
details out. They`re not allowing the emergency people to do it.
But here`s what we know. Her body was 98 percent burned. She was doused in some sort of accelerant as we`ve been talking about today.
And, Nancy, 98 percent of her body severe burned. I don`t know, you`ve dealt with these things, doesn`t that sound like maybe her clothing was on
fire or that she just -- you know.
GRACE: Well, I`ve thought about it, Steve Taylor, and I`m going to go to Dr. Bill Manion, medical examiner and forensic pathologist.
Dr. Manion, I`ve been trying to figure out as it relates to who attacked her, was she sexually assaulted, because if she were sexually assaulted,
that could lean toward a random attack. All right. And someone set the car on fire to cover up the evidence. But they also put lighter fluid down
her mouth and nose which sounds like a more targeted attack, that she knew her attacker.
Let`s talk about was she clothed. If her clothing were doused with lighter fluid, Dr. Manion, and set on fire, that would burn her body just as if she
didn`t have any clothes on, correct?
DR. BILL MANION, M.D., MEDICAL EXAMINER, BURLINGTON COUNTY, NJ: That`s correct. And as the clothing clings to the skin, it causes even more
damage, especially if it has the -- it`s soaked in the accelerant.
GRACE: What is exactly -- when you say somebody dies of burns, what -- why do they -- what`s the medical reason they died? Does their heart give out?
Why do you die from burns?
MANION: Well, usually people will survive like 50 or 60 percent of their body burned and be taken to a burn center. If it`s greater than 50
percent, oftentimes they`ll die of infection, in spite of the best efforts to keep them alive. In this case, her body is completely burned. That
accelerant was put down her neck and throat. She may have choked to death or her lungs may have been burned with severe edema.
There may be smoke inhalation. But just because she`s burned 98 percent doesn`t mean she should die at that moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: After 33-year-old mom of three, Jessica Padgett, vanishes on her break at Duck Duck Goose Child Care, Jessica`s body discovered in a shallow
grave on the property of her own stepfather.
Stunning details emerging that the young mother of three targeted for sex postmortem. Translation, police say mommy sexually attacked after she`s
murdered. And he videoed it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a first case of what we`re now starting to shape up to be necrophilia homicide. It`s a bizarre type of homicide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight to Dave Mack, syndicated talk show host. How do we know that he targeted her for sex after her death? Sex with this lady`s dead
body?
DAVE MACK, MORNING TALK SHOW HOST: Because he actually -- when the police were investigating, they found discrepancies in his -- what he was telling
them. They were investigating the house, they saw the video cameras, they looked at his computer and they were able to connect all the dots.
GRACE: OK. Unleash the lawyers. Kirby Clements, Trinity Hundredmark, both veteran defense attorneys.
First to you, Trinity. According to our sources, he used not one but two cameras to video sex with his own stepdaughter`s body. And according to
sources inside the police investigation, it was very clear in the videos that he not only took but saved on his home desktop that she was absolutely
dead at the time.
TRINITY HUNDREDMARK, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, I mean, he clearly is not very smart in his defense here. It sounds like he has admitted most of this.
But, Nancy, clearly this is an individual that has a problem. I mean, necrophilia is a mental illness.
GRACE: OK. You know what.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Let`s hold that about necrophilia being a mental illness.
HUNDREDMARK: It is. It is defined in --
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: OK. Trinity, I`d love to listen to you talk about how he needs treatment. And here, Kirby Clements giving the second verse same as the
first. I`m just being joined by John Morganelli, the Northampton County district attorney, who can give us some answers.
John, thank you for being with us.
JOHN MORGANELLI, NORTHAMPTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Sure. It`s nice to be with you again, Nancy.
GRACE: Mr. Morganelli, you know what, I prosecuted I don`t even know how many cases, thousands. I never dealt with a sex attack on a lady`s dead
body, all right? That`s one I never did. Why are police so sure that this was his intent all long? I mean, first, let me start with the basics.
Where were the cameras?
MORGANELLI: Well, Nancy, first of all, I have not personally viewed the video footage, but I was-- did receive a summary from the officers who did.
It appears that this defendant gave a statement early on stating that he wanted to have sex with this victim and immediately decided to kill her
first. And then after she was deceased, these sex acts were performed. The cameras were set up. I`m not certain if these were handheld cameras or
were they were on some tripod, I`m still waiting for that information.
But there were two cameras from which footage was viewed and clearly from what I was told, this is the deceased body of the victim and the defendant
is performing various sex acts upon the deceased body.
GRACE: Mr. Morganelli, just to understand the sequence of this. Do you believe -- not that it`s going to matter in the legal sense, that he set up
the cameras after she was dead? If they were handheld, he had to be holding them after she was dead?
MORGANELLI: Yes, again, you know, I need to have the police show me this in person. You know, right now the investigation is still continuing,
quite frankly, looking at more on his computer. And I don`t know what else we`re going to find, who knows, as we move forward on this. But again,
what I do know is that there were two cameras, footage on two cameras. Clearly based on the descriptions, these constitute what would be
considered sexual intercourse under the crimes code as well as indecent contact under the crimes code.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. In addition to the elected district attorney prosecuting this case, John Morganelli, Kirby Clements and Trinity
Hundredmark, both veteran defense lawyers with me.
OK, Kirby, give me one good reason this should not be a death penalty? This is a woman he knew. This is his own stepdaughter. He`s married to
her mother. He knows her children.
KIRBY CLEMENTS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, the one good reason, your -- I`m about to call you your honor. The one good reason, Nancy Grace, is because
it doesn`t meet the statutory definition. Abuse of a corpse is a misdemeanor.
GRACE: Says you.
CLEMENTS: And -- well, says the law in that state. Abuse of a corpse is a misdemeanor.
GRACE: Well, what about the kidnapping? Do you think she went into that room willingly? For all I know it was on the marital bed that he shared
with her mother. Think about it, Kirby.
CLEMENTS: That`s right. For all you know. And that`s what the law does not allow. It does not allow speculation.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: You know, you only have to drag somebody that far. It`s called asportation for it to be a kidnapping.
CLEMENTS: We have no evidence of that here.
GRACE: And that is a felony. Well, if there`s signs of a struggle, we may have evidence. What about that?
CLEMENTS: Well, thus far, I have not heard about sign of a struggle. Now it`s a horrible case to be sure but it does not meet the definition of a
death penalty case and therefore it won`t be.
GRACE: You know, I hope your children are not watching this, Kirby. I really hope that they do not know --
CLEMENTS: We watch it together as a family.
GRACE: -- that their father is taking that position on a man that kills his stepfather and had sex with her body.
I`m going to be right back with you and Trinity Hundredmark. And John Morganelli joining us tonight. But now, CNN Heroes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: And congratulations. You`ve just been named CNN Hero of the Year. Were you surprised?
PEN FARTHING, 2014 CNN HERO OF THE YEAR: Surprised is an understatement. I`m absolutely amazed. This is such an honor and I just feel so proud of
everybody involved because it`s just amazing.
COOPER: Tell me about the idea, I mean, when did you first come up with the idea for this organization?
FARTHING: I was in a supermarket when I had finished my tour, and I just - - I was like -- I was getting mortared and shelled at, like, two days ago and now we`re shopping.
COOPER: Right.
FARTHING: And it just -- what did I leave behind? You can`t just forget about it. And I just felt I wanted to do something more.
COOPER: Was the idea initially just to reunite soldiers with animals they had met?
FARTHING: Yes, you`d come off patrol and it didn`t matter how bad the patrol had gone, this little dog (INAUDIBLE) was like wagging away and he
was happy to see me. It was just normality in some place. It`s just totally crazy.
COOPER: Bringing an animal back that they met while there, I mean, it helps with their transition coming home, too.
FARTHING: Wives who`ve come to us after and said well, you know, my husband come back from Afghanistan, there was a little bit of him he didn`t
kind of bring back. And, you know, I`ve sat, and I`ve looked at him, he`s not kind of responding. And then he would just get up and take the dog out
for a walk. And when he comes back, he`s the old guy I used to know.
COOPER: Do you know what you`re going to do with the money? I mean, it was $25,000. Now you`re getting an additional $100,000.
FARTHING: Over a thousand Afghan kids due each year just from rabies.
COOPER: Wow.
FARTHING: They`re bitten by stray dog. Within 24 hours of being bitten you need to be vaccinated, otherwise that`s it. We`re trying to humanely
control the stray dog population. So this $100,000 is going to go a long ways helping Afghan kids actually avoid being bitten by a rabid dog in the
first place.
COOPER: Well, congratulations. It`s really awesome.
FARTHING: Thank so much. This is just absolutely amazing. Thank you, CNN.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: We learned that a mother of three`s body has been found in a shallow grave on the property of her stepfather and mother. Her mother,
out of town in Florida at the time, that her stepdaughter -- that her daughter`s Jessica Padgett, went to the family home for a business purpose
-- they all work for the same fencing company -- to send a fax. She never made it back to her job at Duck Duck Goose Child Care.
With me, John Morganelli, the Northampton district attorney.
John, again, thank you for being with us.
John, it`s very difficult for me to reconcile that having sex with your stepdaughter`s body is not going to end up with a death penalty. I`m just
thinking about it and thinking of the heinous nature of the crime, which is an aggravating factor or possible kidnapping or asportation from one room
to another.
What do you think, John?
MORGANELLI: Well, I -- Nancy, listen, I`ve tried many cases, probably 24, 25 murder cases. And since my last two trials I did obtain a death penalty
verdict in two cases. My last two were a baby case which you had on your show.
GRACE: That`s right.
MORGANELLI: A little baby found here. So that was not death penalty but we qualify. That the problem here is the Pennsylvania law suggests, and
it`s pretty clear that once the body is deceased, anything that happens at that point is only abuse of corpse. And so we looked at this careful. I
am not shy about asking for the death penalty. I`ve obtained, as I said, the last two. Trials, definitely verdict --
GRACE: I know you`re right. I know you`re right. I`m just struggling with it.
MORGANELLI: We wish we could. We think it should be one.
GRACE: Because you know the old saying, if that`s the law, then the law is an ass. I`m pretty sure you`re right, that is the law.
So, Kirby Clements and Trinity Hundredmark actually win one today. But don`t worry, God willing, there`s always tomorrow.
Let`s stop and remember American hero, Army Private 1st class Joseph Jefferies, just 21, Beaverton, Oregon. Purple Heart, National Defense
Service medal. Army Service Ribbon. Loved racing cars, basketball, skiing. Dreamed of being a firefighter or cop. Parents Lauric and Linda,
sisters Heidi and Terry. Widow Betsy and unborn child never got to meet.
Joseph Jefferies, American hero.
Happy birthday tonight to one of the most beautiful girls in the world, my mother.
And also happy birthday to our superstar, Madia.
Everyone, Drew up next. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp. Until then, good night, friend.
END
