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Nancy Grace
The Sabrina Aisenberg Mystery
Aired December 30, 2014 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Marlene Aisenberg videotaped her baby girl for the first time.
MARLENE AISENBERG, SABRINA`S MOTHER: That`s a pretty girl. That`s a pretty girl. She`s so smart.
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": It was November 24th, 1997, Marlene and Steve find their daughter`s crib empty in their Hillsborough
County, Florida, home. They have an older son and daughter were safe in their beds. Here is the 911 call that Marlene Aisenberg made to the
Hillsborough County, Florida, dispatcher.
911 OPERATOR: 911.
MARLENE AISENBERG: I need the police! My baby`s been kidnapped!
911 OPERATOR: All right, ma`am, calm down.
MARLENE AISENBERG: OK.
911 OPERATOR: All right, take a deep breath. What do you mean your baby`s been kidnapped?
MARLENE AISENBERG: I just got up to wake my son up! The door was wide open! (INAUDIBLE) my door was wide open and my baby`s gone out of her
crib!
911 OPERATOR: How old is the baby?
MARLENE AISENBERG: My baby`s 5 months old! Oh, God help me!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was someone watching? Did someone know? Did someone see the birth announcement and watch for five months later, watch
for an opening and went for the child?
MARLENE AISENBERG: Sabrina, come crawl to Mommy!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Baby Sabrina disappeared from her crib sometime through the night as her mother, father, young sister and brother slept,
and not even a bark from the family dog.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, the mother got up to get some of the other children ready for school. And she had walked by the infant`s room, and
like any parent would check on the infant at that point, and discovered her missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anyone who was -- if it was someone who was scoping it out, if that`s the word, to see the situation, if they were
around enough times, it wouldn`t have took them long to figure out that they were apt to leave the garage door open.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope and I pray and I hope everybody that`s watching is on their knees praying, and the person that took this child,
bring her back.
MARLENE AISENBERG: Tonight, we came here to pray for Sabrina. Tomorrow, we want to talk to the person who has Sabrina. Thank you for
coming here to be with us!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE HOST: I remember when I first heard about the disappearance of 5-month-old Sabrina Aisenberg. And even to this day,
without looking at a -- an Internet photo or the TV monitor or a newspaper, I recall exactly what 5-month-old Sabrina looked like, with those big eyes
and the dark hair.
Sabrina`s disappearance was highly, highly unusual. It wasn`t like she went missing at a crowded mall or was outside playing unattended at a
park. She was in the home, in the home with her parents, Marlene and Steve Aisenberg. They`re not far from Tampa, Florida, in Valrico, Florida, an
upscale neighborhood. The parents seem to be well-educated, affluent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She knocked on our door at five or six minutes until 7:00 this morning. And I said, what`s wrong? I`m still in a
nightshirt. And she says, My baby`s gone. My baby`s gone. What do you mean, your baby`s gone, you know? And she said someone came in and took
her baby. The baby was gone, not in her crib.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have had peeping toms and we have had people try to open doors late at night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ll be looking for a disturbed soul and anything of that nature that might clue me to put the dog there. If the dog hits on
something, obviously, we`ll check it out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Sabrina Aisenberg`s disappearance was really shocking because this was right before Thanksgiving. This was a
family who said, you know, they watched a Disney movie with Sabrina and their other two children, who were just 4 and 8 years old. The family went
to bed. Mom checks on Sabrina in her crib at around 11:00, 11:30 that night. She said, you know, everything`s fine.
The family goes to sleep. They don`t hear anything during the night. Nothing seems unusual until that morning, when they wake up at about 6:30
and Sabrina is not in her crib.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They just came in the house and took the baby from the crib.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BETH KARAS, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": An unidentified hair in Sabrina`s crib. There was a footprint left on the dust ruffle of her
crib not matching anyone. There was a tracking dog who tracked Sabrina`s scent across the yard of the Aisenbergs. There was a neighbor who awakened
in the night to say that her dog was barking -- not loudly, but her dog was barking. Another neighbor saw headlights coming into their cul-de-sac.
There were unidentified fingerprints at points of entry to the Aisenberg home.
MICHAEL CHRISTIAN, SR. FIELD PRODUCER, "IN SESSION": You know, this was every parent`s worst nightmare. You know, over the last decade, couple
of decades, we`ve had lots of cases where babies went missing. Unfortunately, most of those cases are resolved, and unfortunately, in most
of those cases, the baby turns out to be dead. We just don`t know here. This case was a mystery in 1997 and it`s just as big a mystery today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE AISENBERG, SABRINA`S FATHER: When your 8-year-old son asks when the next time he can come home and see his little sister smile at him as
she crawls to him, what do you say? When your loving wife wonders aloud, How could this happen to us, how do you give her the strength and the hope
for the future?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The parents are the victims. And they have more information of who may have done this than anyone else, and so that`s the
reason for extensive interviews with them is to find out anything that they may be able to tell us as who may have done this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The story didn`t make sense to me, and I don`t think that the parents` story made sense to police, either. The Aisenbergs said that they
had gone to bed, that Mommy checked on her 5-month-old baby girl around 11:00, 11:30 PM, that everything was quiet through the night. And then
around 6:30 AM, she checked and Sabrina was missing.
Now, here are the other factors which just rubbed a lot of court watchers and a lot of legal eagles the wrong way. The Aisenbergs said that
they left the kitchen door unlocked. The kitchen door led to the garage. They said the garage door was up. They also said the alarm was turned off.
The dog that lived inside -- it was an indoor/outdoor dog -- never barked.
JOSTAD: Immediately, they called 911. Marlene Aisenberg even said, you know, she was so hysterical, so upset that she was, you know, losing
control of her bodily functions.
GRACE: I think because of their story, because the statistics weighed against the Aisenbergs, police, like me, raised their tentacles. It didn`t
fit together. All of that didn`t make sense at first blush.
Police then focused almost solely on the Aisenbergs. And that does make sense that they would. They went to a grand jury, where in the matter
of their missing 5-month-old girl Sabrina, they both pled the 5th Amendment. They invoked their right to remain silent as the grand jury
investigated the disappearance of baby Sabrina.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARLENE AISENBERG: Someone came into our home and took our baby, Sabrina Paige, out of her crib and took her out of our home. And I`m
begging that person to please bring our baby back to us. She needs her mother and her father.
My baby is 5 months old, and she knows who we are. She knows her Mommy. She knows her Daddy. She knows her sister Monica and her brother
William. And we all miss her and love her very much, and we need her to come home to us, please. And I`m just begging that you please bring her
home to her family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: It all went sideways with the cops` enthusiasm, let me say, for solving the case. They got a warrant, as they should have, to put in a
wiretap in the Aisenberg home. Now, the wiretap existed in the bedroom, the Aisenbergs` bedroom, and their kitchen, where police rightfully
believed that most conversations would take place.
From that point on, the case went right down the tubes because apparently, on the wiretap were two rookies that had never done wiretaps
before. So as the police built their case on the wiretaps, what they said they could hear, nobody else could hear that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE AISENBERG: Basically, we woke up one morning, and Marlene noticed that Sabrina was missing. She screamed. I came, and we saw that
she wasn`t there. We quickly called 911, as we thought we should do to get the police over to help us find our daughter. And then shortly after that,
the police were sitting across from Marlene, accusing her of having something to do with our daughter`s disappearance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On this, the 73rd day since Sabrina Aisenberg`s disappearance, her parents, Marlene and Steve, came here to the federal
courthouse in Tampa under subpoena from a grand jury investigating the baby`s disappearance. But their lawyer successfully convinced a federal
judge there were doubts about the legitimacy of the subpoenas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: When the police tell the prosecutors, We hear them talking about cocaine. We hear the Aisenbergs talking about, It`s your fault, you
did it, talking about Sabrina`s disappearance and death. Nobody could hear that on the wiretaps. They were so -- for lack of a better word --
staticy. Nobody, not two judges, not anybody else could make out exactly what the Aisenbergs were saying.
So it all fell like a row of dominoes because of one bad wiretap. It all, the whole case, just fell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This agency, along with the FBI and FDLE, have traveled to 31 states. We`ve conducted over 1,600 interviews, followed up
on 1,100 leads, and that`s not what you consider a non-professional investigation.
MARLENE AISENBERG: They literally -- it was that same day, and they said, We believe you know where Sabrina is or what happened to her.
They just basically said that statistics show, you know, that it`s the parents that do these things, or know what happened to their children. And
so basically, they came in with that preconceived idea and they stuck with it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: When you inspect the things that were suspicious about the Aisenberg family, there are cogent explanations for what we or others
assumed were odd scenarios. For instance, they said the home alarm had been hooked up, was in place when they bought and moved into the home, that
they had never used it. Hence, it was not unusual they didn`t have it on that night.
They said they never locked the kitchen door and they frequently forgot to close the garage door. Now, I don`t forget to turn on my alarm
and I don`t forget to lock all the doors, but you know what? That`s just me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE AISENBERG: We had an alarm, but we never set it. We never used the alarm at all.
KING: So it was never on?
STEVE AISENBERG: It was never on. It`s something that came with the home and we just never used it. As far as the garage door and the door
leading to the garage from the home, we never locked the door going from the home to the garage. It just was never locked. We never checked it to
see if it was locked. It was just...
MARLENE AISENBERG: That`s how the kids would come in and out of the house...
STEVE AISENBERG: Come in and out of the house.
MARLENE AISENBERG: ... during the day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Also, a lot of people believe that their demeanor was highly unusual. I recall the Aisenbergs sitting on a sofa and speaking to the
camera, where they were extremely calm. The mother was calm. The dad was calm.
According to the Aisenbergs, cops told them to be calm because it was going to be videoed and would be use in the search to help find Sabrina,
possibly a public plea. So they had to remain calm. So their counter is, Cops told us to be calm, so we were doing what we thought was best for
Sabrina.
Police and prosecutors also said that the mom was not hysterical when she called 911, that she was very calm.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: Ma`am, calm down.
MARLENE AISENBERG: OK!
911 OPERATOR: All right, take a deep breath. What do you mean your baby`s been kidnapped?
MARLENE AISENBERG: I just got up to wake my son up! My garage door was wide open! (INAUDIBLE) house to my door was wide open, and my baby`s
gone out of her crib!
911 OPERATOR: How old`s the baby?
MARLENE AISENBERG: My baby is 5 months old!
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: Two judges reviewed the 911 calls and said she was not calm at all, that at one point, she even handed the phone over to her husband while
she got on the other phone with her mother and ultimately said, Mom, I can`t talk right now. I`ll call you back, and hung up.
It was all a matter of objectivity. It depended on who was looking at the evidence, which suddenly makes it no longer objective. It became
subjective.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE AISENBERG: There were fingerprints on our back slider that do not match Marlene or mine. There was a footprint on a bed ruffle in
Sabrina`s room that doesn`t match any of the shoes or size foot of mine...
MARLENE AISENBERG: There was a hair.
STEVE AISENBERG: ... or in our family. There was a mysterious hair in her crib. Also, on the first day, and I believe the third day, they
brought dogs out to our house that sniffed and indicated that somebody went out through our back door and over a back fence with Sabrina.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Aisenberg, it`s been nearly four years now. Can you describe for us how your family has progressed since then? And
have you been able to make a new life here in Bethesda?
STEVE AISENBERG: Once again, we think about our daughter every day and the most important thing to us is her safe return home. And we`re
trying to focus all our efforts on that and our other children. And as a matter of fact, right now, we`re having a tea party with our daughter
Monica and some of her friends. So I want to get back to that, and enjoy our family time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Now, a lot of defense attorneys will argue that polygraphs are inadmissible in a court of law. That is not true. If both parties
stipulate beforehand that the polygraph will be taken and admitted in evidence, regardless of the outcome, they can come into evidence. And they
routinely come into evidence in civil trials.
Interesting, Marlene Aisenberg says police told her not one but two polygraphs were inconclusive. She also says police told her that that`s
understandable because of the degree of stress she was under at the time of the polygraphs.
Frankly, whenever you take a polygraph is stressful. You don`t take a polygraph in any other circumstance except a bad circumstance. You don`t
take a polygraph when everything`s going great. You take a polygraph when something`s gone horribly wrong. That`s when you get strapped up to a
polygraph. So everybody has stress when they take a polygraph.
The father apparently passed his polygraph, which I find very interesting. Now, those were police polygraphs. Were other polygraphs
taken that they passed or failed? We don`t really know.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Polygraphs are part of the overall investigation, and you don`t hang your hat totally on the results. I`ve seen both false
positives and false negatives come out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Now, the Aisenbergs insist that they did take a private polygraph and that they passed it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARLENE AISENBERG: There were also two other incidents, attempted break-ins in our neighborhoods within two weeks before ours, and also homes
with babies.
KING: Now, the terrible tragedy, Marlene, is usually, if there`s no note, there`s no kidnapping kind of thing -- and you weren`t major
candidates. You`re not multi-millionaires. This is obviously a child apprehension for someone who wanted a child.
MARLENE AISENBERG: Right.
KING: So the odds are the child might well be alive, but the odds are, being raised by people who wanted her.
STEVE AISENBERG: That`s what we believe happened or...
KING: I mean, that`s the most -- in child missing, right? Usually, it`s taken by -- when it`s not a kidnapping and the parents didn`t do it,
it`s someone who wanted a baby or a child.
MARLENE AISENBERG: Exactly. That`s all we can believe in our hearts, too. We have to believe that. And that`s why it`s so important for people
that may have had a baby come into their home just one year ago, two years ago, three years ago, look at this child at a friend or a relative`s,
somebody that just can say, You know what? They had a child come into their family a year ago, and she looks like this baby. That`s what we need
to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIAN: Both Steve and Marlene Aisenberg, Sabrina`s parents, were charged eventually with federal charges of obstruction of justice and
conspiracy. Now, those charges were eventually dropped. They were based on federal charges. They were not state charges. And they were eventually
dropped. The state of Florida has never lodged charges against either of the Aisenbergs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARRY COHEN, AISENBERGS` ATTORNEY: Well, the police have a right to investigate the parents. That`s a natural, responsible thing to do. In
this case, however, they continued to stay focused on the Aisenbergs without looking for any other leads. And they became obsessed with the
conclusion that the Aisenbergs were responsible.
And when they couldn`t find facts to support that conclusion, they literally made them up to the extent that they lied to a state judge to get
a wiretap. And as you well know, the wiretap produced absolutely no incriminating evidence whatsoever, despite the fact that the prosecutors
said all of these terribly bad things in the indictment, and absolutely nothing there. The judge said it was pure fiction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KARAS: The award of almost $3 million in legal fees came as a result of their having to defend these charges, which were ultimately dismissed,
charges that were based on what the judge perceived to be misconduct, overreaching on the part of the government, and as a result, they had to
pay.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARLENE AISENBERG: I believe it`s because of Susan Smith and the JonBenet Ramsey case, and they just figured, you know, this has got to be -
- this has got to be what`s happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was someone watching? Did someone know? Did someone see the birth announcement and watch for five months later, watch
for an opening and went for the child?
MARLENE AISENBERG: Sabrina, come crawl to Mommy!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Baby Sabrina disappeared from a crib sometime through the night as her mother, father, young sister and brother slept,
and not even a bark from the family dog.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, the mother got up to get some of the other children ready for school. And she walked by the infant`s room, and like
any parent would check on the infant at that point, and discovered her missing.
MARLENE AISENBERG: Sabrina`s crawling. It is November 21st or 22nd, right? Right, William? The 22nd. And Sabrina`s crawling!
That`s a pretty girl. That`s a pretty girl. She`s so smart. She`s looking around. What`s she going to get to next? And there`s big sister
Monica running away! And there she is, crawling.
911 OPERATOR: 911.
MARLENE AISENBERG: I need the police! My baby`s been kidnapped!
911 OPERATOR: All right. Ma`am, you need to calm down.
MARLENE AISENBERG: OK.
911 OPERATOR: All right, take a deep breath. What do you mean your baby`s been kidnapped?
MARLENE AISENBERG: I just got up to wake my son up! My garage door was wide open! (INAUDIBLE) door to my house was wide open! My baby`s gone
out of her crib!
911 OPERATOR: How old is your baby?
MARLENE AISENBERG: My baby is 5 months old! Oh, God help me!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are hopeful that the law enforcement authorities will continue to cover every aspect of this investigation and
not just focus on one particular area.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, Lord, you are Sabrina`s refuge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A prayerful candlelight vigil for Sabrina`s return, a signal, some say, that neighbors and friends are standing with
the family. Many of these folks don`t even know the Aisenbergs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... because it`s hard, and I know if it was anybody close to me, I would be completely devastated.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I opened the door and she said, My baby`s gone. My baby`s gone. I said, What do you mean your baby`s gone? And I put my
arm around her shoulder. And she said, Somebody came in and took my baby.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The fact that a mother and a father took the 5th Amendment and invoked their right to remain silent in a grand jury proceeding that was
investigating the disappearance of their 5-month-old little girl has been construed by many, many legal analysts as highly unusual.
They immediately hired an attorney to protect them. Now, the Aisenbergs claim they hired a lawyer because their brother is a lawyer and
advised them to hire a lawyer and that they were acting under his advice.
The entire investigation really rested on those wiretaps, which were in place for a substantial period of time. Because the wiretaps were
improperly done, we`ll never know what the Aisenbergs said. We`ll never know what evidence was lost.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
STEVE AISENBERG: (INAUDIBLE)
MARLENE AISENBERG: (INAUDIBLE) set the table.
STEVE AISENBERG: (INAUDIBLE)
MARLENE AISENBERG: (INAUDIBLE)
STEVE AISENBERG: (INAUDIBLE)
(END AUDIO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Now, the most damaging thing, publicly at least, no one`s ever heard these tapes and apparently, the judge says they were inaudible. But
someone in the indictment put down two statements, one by Marlene, one by Steven. I`m going to put the statements up on the screen, read them. And
then what do you make of this, since someone said they couldn`t make out what the tape -- this is what reportedly was said.
Marlene, they report you saying, ``The baby`s dead and buried. It was found dead because you did it. The baby`s dead no matter what you say, you
just did it." And then Steven says, according to the indictment, "Honey" - - and this was a federal indictment -- "Honey, there was nothing I could do about it. We need to discuss the way that we can beat the charge. I would
never break from the family pact on our story even if the police were to hold me down. We will do what we have to do."
All right, Steve what did you make of that?
STEVE AISENBERG: Well, there are statements that neither of us have ever made. All I can make of it is that the authorities had a very vivid
imagination, and maybe from their years of dealing with less than desirable people, this is the scenario they came up with, or maybe they just watch
too many police shows.
KING: And then they have another one of you later saying, a month later saying, "I wish I hadn`t harmed her." You deny saying that, too.
STEVE AISENBERG: I never said any of that.
KING: All right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: To this day the case of Sabrina Aisenberg has never been solved. Now, her parents, Steve and Marlene Aisenberg, say they believe
she is alive somewhere and being raised by a family who wanted a baby.
And we have seen instances where children are taken out of their home by intruders. They`re very rare, but they do happen. So as of tonight,
the disappearance of baby Sabrina Aisenberg remains a mystery.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: In the midst of the search for baby Sabrina, a red flag. A baby girl was up for adoption with no birth certificate, no real positive
ID on her. Many states, like (ph) in Illinois. The Aisenbergs seemed to be convinced that that baby girl was, in fact, going to be Sabrina, and
police went to the great extent of having the tiny baby DNA-tested. It was not Sabrina.
CHRISTIAN (?): The day that Sabrina went missing, her parents recorded a message for the media, spoke to the media an in effort to get
help to find their daughter. That was a very heartfelt, or seemed to be a very heartfelt message.
It was certainly a message that chilled any other parent out there thinking, Oh, my God, this could happen to me, too. But it was certainly
what you might expect from parents who had just lost their daughter. It put the fear of God into a lot of other parents.
KARAS: There was a huge search starting with just a five-mile radius and eight or nine ponds and branching out. I mean, this was an effort by
multiple law enforcement agencies collaborating to dive in a lot of bodies of water in Florida. We`re talking about an area about 20 miles outside of
Tampa. And so there are a lot of lakes and areas to be searched. There was a massive search effort for this child.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: According to the Aisenbergs, the police, the Hillsborough County Sheriff`s Department, did not do nearly enough
immediately to search for their daughter. But as with any missing child, police asked questions. Police talked to neighbors. There were searches.
There were other locations that were checked out.
The problem was, again, according to the Aisenbergs, the sheriff`s department just didn`t do enough. That there was much valuable time and
possibly valuable clues that were overlooked or lapsed simply because of the time lapse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARLENE AISENBERG: We need Sabrina home. She needs to be with me and her father, her sister Monica, her brother William. We love her very much
and need her to come home! We don`t care who you are! We just want you to do the right thing. Look inside yourself, please, and drop her some place
safe and call someone and tell them to come and get her so that she can come home to us!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Just to add it into the mix, as if we needed, you know, another unusual ingredient, the Aisenbergs insist police did not carefully
and thoroughly investigate the crime scene forensically. And the Aisenbergs point to a blond hair that was found in baby Sabrina`s crib.
Neither parent has blond hair. The child, Sabrina, baby Sabrina, had very dark hair.
They also point to what they claim was a bootprint on the skirt, the bedskirt of baby Sabrina`s crib. For those of you that are not familiar
with a bedskirt, it`s just simply a cloth covering like a ruffle that goes from the mattress down to the floor to cover the gap between the bed
mattress and the floor. They say a bootprint was there that had not been there, that they had not noticed the day before.
There was a neighbor that claimed to have heard a baby crying in the wooded area behind the homes in that neighborhood. In the middle of the
night, actually, he had let his dog out. He claimed to have heard a baby crying. Interesting that the neighbor did not call 911.
Now, Mr. Aisenberg, Steve Aisenberg, was a realtor, and during their search, the police was very thorough. They actually went and dug up the
yard around a home in which he had been involved in the sale of that home.
So clearly, they honed in on the Aisenbergs almost immediately. And statistically, the police were right because, normally, when a child goes
missing, a member of the immediate family is involved in the disappearance. Statistics are not admissible in court. They do not prove a case. You`re
not convicted on what statistics may prove in black and white in some statistics book. That doesn`t matter in a court of law.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anyone who was -- if it was someone who was scoping it out, if that`s the word, to see the situation, if they were
around enough times, it wouldn`t have taken long to figure out that they were apt to leave the garage door open.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope and I pray and I hope everybody that`s watching is on their knees praying and the person who took this child will
bring her back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tonight, we came here to pray for Sabrina.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The search on the cartilage (ph), or the outlying area of the home, was extensive. Police searched several bodies of water in the
neighborhood, including deputies shoulder to shoulder searching the bottom of ponds with their hands for a tiny 5-month-old baby`s lifeless body.
They searched the entire neighborhood, they searched bodies of water, all within a five-mile radius of the Aisenberg home. They turned up
nothing.
While the cops` instincts may have been correctly placed, their follow-through bungles the case forever. And there`s no do-over in the
Aisenberg case. That`s it.
KARAS: Marlene and Steve Aisenberg continue to believe that their baby, who would now be 15 years old, is still alive and being raised by
someone else. They are holding out hope that their family will be united some day.
The investigation is still open. Investigators continue to look into tips and leads they get. I don`t know if it`ll ever be solved, but
miracles have happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE AISENBERG: It`s been a rough few years, so -- but we try and concentrate on our other two children and we try and get Sabrina`s picture
out every opportunity we can to...
KING: You moved away from Florida, though, right?
STEVE AISENBERG: We moved back to Maryland.
KING: Any particular reason?
STEVE AISENBERG: To live in the house that I grew up in. My dad is allowing us to live there, so...
KING: Is the best bet, then, rather than being harmed, she was taken to be raised?
MARLENE AISENBERG: Definitely. I can`t believe anything else. But she still needs to be...
KING: It`d be pointless to harm her, right?
MARLENE AISENBERG: Right. But she still needs to come home to us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Interesting, even after all these years, the family still releases age progression photos of what they believe little Sabrina would
look like.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARLENE AISENBERG: Also, it`s very important, if somebody sees a child that looks like Sabrina, they need to take note of who she`s with.
They need to take note of what that person looks like, if they`re driving in a car, the license number, if they can follow them to a home or get an
address, because it`s the public who brings home our children.
KING: And call your local police, too, right?
MARLENE AISENBERG: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I say interesting because the Aisenberg family is doing that, but not police. It could suggest police believe baby Sabrina is dead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This tiny infant`s death was no accident. It was manslaughter. Slamming her so hard into a bed, it caused brain trauma.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I`m going to go back to Marty in Kentucky.
Marty, I think I need you because I`m about to unleash the lawyers. Joining me, Dan Winslow, former judge, New York. Darryl Cohen, former
prosecutor, now defense attorney, Atlanta. And Richard Herman, renowned defense attorney, tonight joining me out of Las Vegas.
All right, so, Marty, what do you think about that? He breaks down in court. Then he starts crying, boo-who, I didn`t mean to. But I want to
remind you, Marty in Kentucky, that at first he claimed that the baby fell off the bed. And he only told the truth that he essentially beat the baby
to death after the medical examiner ruled that this was no accident, Marty in Kentucky.
MARTY, CALLER FROM KENTUCKY: Well, our society has become so selfish and so self-centered that all they think about is I, me, I. And they don`t
think about, you know -- they don`t think about the obligations and responsibilities that they take on when they take on a child.
GRACE: You know, Marty in Kentucky, I`m going to -- I`m going to hold on to your words as I unleash the lawyers.
All right, Herman, weigh in.
RICHARD HERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, first of all, you don`t think I`m a snake, do you, Nancy? Please, come on. You love me. Come on. Say
that. Say it, Nancy, come on.
GRACE: Go ahead. Weigh in.
HERMAN: All right. Listen, this Judge Walker should be praised. He should be praised for his actions here. He takes the cue from the
prosecution. A plea deal was entered into with this prosecutor. He knowingly deleted the child abuse cause of action. He deleted that. All
that was before this judge was a manslaughter leading to the death and accidental homicide. Accidental maximum four years.
He took into consideration the age, 19 years old. A young man. Got to live with the rest of his life knowing that as a result of his actions,
his baby is dead. This judge did the right thing.
GRACE: He doesn`t care.
HERMAN: He took the cue from the prosecutor.
GRACE: He doesn`t care.
Seth Meyers, clinical psychologist, why would Richard Herman believe he actually cared about his 6-month-old child? Because while the child is
sick, what is he doing? Is he asleep with the child, in the bed with him or next to him taking care of her? Giving her her medicine? No. He is up
partying all night, drinking booze and smoking pot with his buddies, watching a horror movie in the next room.
Why do I think he cares anything about this child? And the mother parades into court and defends the killer.
SETH MEYERS, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, I couldn`t agree with you more. You know, the truth is, I`ve worked on many cases with child
protective services, and so often, this is not -- when the violence gets to the point of death. This was not a single incident. That there were
episodes before of aggressive gestures toward the child. So that`s what I`d like to know. My guess is that this was not the first time he did
something aggressive towards that baby.
GRACE: You know, Darryl Cohen, you`re a former prosecutor before you became a defense lawyer. And I`ve been thinking back over all the child
molestation and all the child murders. All the child abuse cases I ever prosecuted. And I cannot recall one case where the child`s mother took the
side of the state. They always took the side of the husband, boyfriend, live-in, ex, whatever it was. Always. Is that your experience?
DARRYL COHEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, it`s my experience but that`s also the battered woman`s syndrome. She thinks there`s something wrong
with her and she`s transferring that to him. But in this instance, in my view, this young man is going to be punished for the rest of his life and
you and I both know --
GRACE: In your experience.
COHEN: -- that punishment comes in many, many forms. And he has probation.
GRACE: Your -- what punishment would that be?
COHEN: And it`s a long history. Punishment he has to think about that child that died as a result of the fact --
GRACE: So you think he is thinking about it.
COHEN: I absolutely think it.
GRACE: You think he feels that --
COHEN: If he is not now -- if he is not thinking about it now, Nancy --
GRACE: Really?
COHEN: He will think about it as he grows older and grows more mature.
GRACE: So was he thinking about it when he lied to police and he tried --
COHEN: He`s just scared.
GRACE: -- to get out of the murder?
COHEN: Nancy, he was --
GRACE: No, he was trying to save his own skin.
COHEN: Every defendant -- Nancy, with all due respect, he was afraid. Every defendant is afraid when they`re arrested and they don`t know what to
do. So he did the wrong thing.
GRACE: Every defendant is afraid they`re going to get in trouble. They`re not sorry they did it. They`re sorry they got caught. You know,
whether you guys are going to admit it or not, and I don`t expect you to. When I was prosecuting, I noticed that there seemed to be a pattern of
pleading cases down from murder to manslaughter when a child was the victim.
And I don`t know why. I don`t know if it is the majority of the prosecutors are men and they don`t have to deal with children as much as
moms do. And don`t start the whole dad thing with me, OK? Maybe they`re not as equipped dealing with crying children. Maybe they get frustrated.
Maybe they take out their frustrations in a different way than women do.
I don`t know. And frankly, I don`t care. But what I did notice is that when the victim is a child or an infant that can`t speak for itself,
more often than not I would see murder cases pled down to voluntary manslaughter. I don`t know why. But I observed it myself. I saw other
people doing it, Dan Winslow.
DAN WINSLOW, FORMER JUDGE: Yes, well, nobody can speak for a child in the criminal justice system. And for that reason, oftentimes the interests
of the child don`t come to the fore. And that`s a darn shame. And that`s why the judge needed to step up in this case.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: The last sighting we have of Sabrina alive and well was over 48 hours before she`s actually reported missing. Deputies shoulder to
shoulder searching the bottom of ponds with their hands for a tiny 5-month- old baby`s lifeless body. Now, her parents, Steve and Marlena Aisenberg, say they believe she is alive somewhere and being raised by a family who
wanted a baby.
The case of Sabrina Aisenberg has never been solved.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And this mom arrested for criminal mischief. Two groups of middle school students, toilet papered each other`s houses
but it ended with hurtful graffiti and other damage to this stucco home. Police have video of her with eight kids at this Wal-Mart where they bought
more than 100 rolls of toilet paper just before the incident. According to the arrest affidavit, the kids who vandalized the home were under Tara
Mooney`s supervision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A lot of people wake up in the morning with a jolt of morning coffee. But how about raw chicken? Apparently used tampons and sanitary
napkins. Filthy language written all over your home and your yard and your driveway, and this mom, a 41-year-old mother, apparently caught on tape
stocking up on ammo for her night`s evildoings?
We are taking your calls. Out to Michael Board, WOAI, joining me.
Michael, this woman, ketchup smeared tampons and pads strewn, struck to windows? You open up your kitchen window in the morning and there right
stuck is apparently a bloody maxi pad?
Hello. Good morning.
MICHAEL BOARD, REPORTER, WOAI NEWSRADIO: Yes. A toilet that was stuck in the driveway. This woman is 41 years old. How old do you have to
be to know better to do this? Now, she is not -- you know, there`s no hard evidence that puts her at the scene of doing this. But there is evidence
that she supported this. She condoned it. She even took the kids out. She must have said it`s OK, you can do this, because she was taking them
out to buy some of the supplies for this.
Nancy, these are really, really expensive homes. The homes in this neighborhood go for $600,000, $700,000. These are mansions in this Dallas
suburb. They estimate the cost of the damage of this at about $6,000.
GRACE: Well, how did a ketchupy maxi pad equal $6,000 damage?
BOARD: Well, there was writing on the driveway. They used condiment --
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Why am I seeing a peanut butter sandwich? Oh, yes. There was a slew of condiments. There were ketchup, mustard, peanut butter. But
what`s the $6,000 worth of damage? What did you say, Board?
BOARD: Six thousand dollars. They wrote words like sluts, and whorehouse on the stucco walls of this house. That`s all going to be --
have to paint it. In the Texas heat, the writing off with these condiments on the driveway, you can`t just wash that out. That`s stuck on there so
they`re going to have to redo the driveway --
GRACE: Ouch.
BOARD: That was housed --
GRACE: I`m taking a look at that house. OK. So nice house. I`m sure over a million bucks house.
But, Ellie Jostad, you got to write with more than ketchup to get $6,000 worth of damage. I`ll get into the bill later. I want to hear
about this mother. A 41-year-old mother, Tara Mauney. Mom of a middle school girl in the home that was vandalized. Doesn`t the little girl live
there and somebody writes whorehouse on the front of the -- of the -- what?
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE CHIEF EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Right, Nancy. This was actually a slumber party thrown by a 12-year-old girl. It was a
bunch of her little middle school friends that apparently, you know, caught this group of vandals in the act. And actually, Nancy, one of the little
girls says that as they`re chasing this group of people who threw toilet paper and maxi pads all over the yard, she recognized an adult with the
kids and it was Mrs. Mauney, a child`s mother who she recognized from school events.
GRACE: OK. And isn`t it true, Ellie, that the little girl, the 12- year-old girl who lives in this house was having a sleepover that night?
JOSTAD: Right.
GRACE: And the mother, the 12-year-old mother`s was with them. And they`ve got a pool in the backyard.
JOSTAD: Right.
GRACE: And there -- I know it`s late. It`s 2:00. And all the little girls are up. All right? They`re all outside and they`re in the pool.
And they see a boy`s head poke up over the fence. Around the pool. And they all get scared and they run in. And they look out and according to
them they see this 41-year-old mother with a possie of middle schoolers running away and they chased them, Ellie.
JOSTAD: Right.
GRACE: They chase Mrs. Mauney, according to them.
JOSTAD: Right. Well, these kids say that they followed this group and Mrs. Mauney to the Mauney`s house which is only about 120 yards away.
One of the girls actually says that Mrs. Mauney said to the group of pursuing kids, can I help you? And one of the girls said, yes, you can go
clean up that mess you made.
Well, according to that girl`s mother, their house was also pranked that night. They got a house full, a yard full of toilet paper.
GRACE: Out to the lines. Jeannine in Connecticut. Hi, Jeannine. What do you think?
JEANNINE, CALLER FROM CONNECTICUT: Hi, Nancy. I just want to say that your twins are just gorgeous and I watch your show all time.
GRACE: Thank you.
JEANNINE: But any way, my question is, or actually my comment is, I don`t understand what kind of mother does this. I have teenagers myself
and I just don`t understand it -- what is going through her mind.
GRACE: You know, I`m just wondering, aside from the example that she is setting or allegedly is setting, what`s going to happen regarding a case
against her. She is free on bail right now. She has been charged with felony criminal mischief, two years in a $10,000 fine.
Isn`t it true, Pat Brown, she`s now claiming that wasn`t her? So isn`t she caught on tape at a local Wal-Mart buying all of the stuff like -
- how many -- how many rolls of toilet paper did she buy at Wal-Mart?
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER, AUTHOR OF "ONLY THE TRUTH": She clearly is going to be nailed for this one. And she`s a bully. That`s what she
is.
GRACE: A hundred and eight. Pat, 108 rolls of TP.
BROWN: Right. Right. She helped these boys commit a crime. She encouraged them to commit a crime. She is a bully herself. It is a crime.
She was a bully. I don`t know why she did it. Maybe (INAUDIBLE). She hates the neighbors. I don`t know but she`s a bully.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are scared girls that told the story. Said that they wouldn`t be involved and they want to blame it on the adult.
Have some kids sneak out in the middle of the night and they go down and they do some terrible things at the neighbor`s house. But Tara had
absolutely nothing to do with any criminal behavior.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are back and taking your calls. Unleash the lawyers. Dan Winslow, Darryl Cohen, Richard Herman.
What about it, Richard?
HERMAN: Felony. Criminal mischief. Felony for this, Nancy? Come on. They toilet papered some houses. It`s going on in the community.
It`s not a big deal. They`ll plead it off.
GRACE: Aren`t you leaving out --
HERMAN: They`ll take care of it.
GRACE: -- slut and whorehouse written in black on the wall?
HERMAN: Well, the mother that was -- these are kids. The mother didn`t know that. And as for the chicken, you know, a little Paula Dean
recipe or some Shake N` Bake, it`s all good, Nancy. Come on. It`s just not that bad. Please.
GRACE: You know, Richard, I understand what you`re saying. I know that in the big scheme of things compared so many the cases we talk about
that this is light.
HERMAN: Right.
GRACE: This is, you know, felony light. But the reality is the homeowner is stuck with slut and whorehouse written on the front of their
home, Darryl Cohen. Forget the lost chicken and maxi pads.
COHEN: Well, Nancy, so what do you do? You take these kids, not the mother.
HERMAN: Right.
COHEN: And you take the kids, and you make them do community service. You make them realize that what they did is wrong. But as far as this
woman buy toilet paper at Wal-Mart and helping the kids, it`s a prank that went wild and had a life of its own. That`s all that happened. This is
not a big deal. It happens all the time. How many of us had toilet paper on our trees?
GRACE: I never did.
COHEN: Maybe the white cloud, who knows? Well, I did. And I didn`t like it, but we waited for the first rain and then it went away.
GRACE: Did it cost $6,000 to clean up your house? What about it, Dan Winslow?
WINSLOW: What I think what we have to do is jump over the issue of guilt or innocence because there`s open questions here. Get to the issue
of what do we do about it? And what we do about it --
GRACE: What about the photos of her at Wal-Mart, Dan Winslow.
WINSLOW: Well, that`s fine.
GRACE: With all the kids. They actually took a picture of themselves.
WINSLOW: Right. Buying 108 rolls of toilet paper. So it may have been a prank gone wrong.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: American hero. Dustin Wilson, 24, Palm City, Florida. Purple Heart. Meritorious Mast. An artist. Loved baseball, "Star Wars."
Parents Fran and Lance. Brother Chris. Sister Jamie Ella. Widow Hanna.
Justin Wilson, American hero.
And a shout-out tonight to friends, Kimberly and Sharon. Thanks for being big show fans.
Back in 60 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tara had absolutely nothing to do with any criminal behavior. Absolutely nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: According to the arrest affidavit, the kids who vandalized the home were under Tara Mauney`s supervision. Toilet-
papered each other`s houses. But it ended with hurtful graffiti.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Out to the lines, Wendy in Pennsylvania. Hi, Wendy, what`s your question?
WENDY, CALLER FROM PENNSYLVANIA: Hey, Nancy, how are you doing today?
GRACE: Good.
WENDY: Good. Hey, I just want to say that this is setting a bad example for our children. And that to me is another case of bullying.
These things are just going way too far. The little things that used to be just little pranks are now turning into outrageous things. And this woman
has set a poor example for the children and the community.
GRACE: To Seth Meyers, clinical psychologist. What about it?
MEYERS: This situation is so upsetting to hear about, because yes, it is bullying. And we have a lot of data now about bullying and the effect
that it has. This poor girl who lived in this vandalized house, she`s got to go to school the next day and she`s not going to be the girl who has
slut and whorehouse written on her house.
So this is something she will carry with her for years. This is something that could lead to depression, substance abuse, possibly self-
injurious behavior.
GRACE: What would you do? It`s the question we will be asking beginning Sunday night 9:00 Eastern. When ABC`s hidden camera hit hosted
by John Quinones. "What Would You Do?" comes to HLN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN QUINONES, HOST, "WHAT WOULD YOU DO?": We wondered. How will people react when they see a toy traditionally meant for girls end up in a
boy`s hands?
To find out we bring our hidden cameras to Meyer`s. A family owned toy store in Livingston, New Jersey.
The moment our father and son actors walk through the door, the boy heads straight for the dolls.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why do you want to get a Barbie doll? You got to be kidding me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But I love Barbies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You love Barbies? Since when do you like Barbie dolls?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love Barbies. They`re my only (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh no. You got to be kidding me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want this then.
QUINONES: And then there`s this woman. It only takes a second for her to notice what`s going on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put it back up there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But, Daddy, I want it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Absolutely not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you believe it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No fair.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you do something for me? Would you allow your son to play with a Barbie doll? You would?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I was a kindergarten teacher.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And some of the kids, you know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of the kids.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They go through a stage where they like to do that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where they like to play with --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, my concern is, is like, he`ll play with it -- yes, he`ll play with the dolls now and then next thing you know, you
know, start to wear like pink dresses and stuff like it. Probably not?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Probably not? This is very natural for a 5- year-old to want to engage and play with the dolls and they want to be the chefs in the kitchen.
QUINONES: You saw this as a kindergarten teacher.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I -- Yes, I saw that.
QUINONES: And parents, what should they do?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just encourage them to explore. Explore whatever they want to do. This is the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: "Dr. Drew" is up next, everyone. I`ll see you tomorrow night. 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
