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Nancy Grace
Missing Infant Found Dead
Aired February 25, 2015 - 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. We go live to Yolo County suburbs. All hands on deck for a desperate search into the night for 20-
day-old baby boy Justice Rees.
Bombshell tonight. As we go to air, we learn, we confirm, baby Justice`s body has just been found, mommy Samantha Green found beaten,
bruised, scratched, clothes tattered, disheveled. Tonight, was Mommy kidnapped? And who left baby Justice for dead?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About 10 minutes to 10:00 this morning, deputies from the Yolo County sheriff`s office marine patrol search and rescue unit
located the body of an infant.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The majority of the baby`s stuff was -- was, like, at the house, formula, blanket that she normally has with him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like, she knows people all over. She`s not reached out to any of them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I been talking to the detectives, everybody I can.
(END VIDEO CLIP) .
GRACE: And live, Texas suburbs, the trial of the man who guns down national hero, American sniper. The jury hands down a verdict of guilty,
rejecting the shooter`s insanity defense. Tonight, we get our hands on the video confession that`s being kept secret, and we hear from the killer
himself in his own words. Is this a clue why the jury convicts him?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A swift verdict.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was the most lethal sniper in the United States military history, is what the publisher wanted to put.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Routh, while being questioned by police, would later admit killing both Kyle and Littlefied.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The murders took the jury here in Stephenville (ph), Texas, here less than 2-and-a-half hours.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) each other, a kiss and a hug like we always did!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, Casco (ph), a horrific case of road rage erupts on icy roads, reports the rager so out of control, he rams his victims off an
icy bridge, plunging them over the edge, the family`s SUV crashing below.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The passengers of the SUV claim road rage is to blame. They say a man in a pickup truck was trying to push them off the
road for a few miles, and succeeded.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. We go live to Yolo County suburbs. All hands on deck for a desperate search into the night for 20-day-old baby boy Justice
Rees. As we go to air tonight, we learn baby Justice`s body has just been found. Mommy, Samantha Green, has been found beaten, bruised, scratched,
her clothes in tatters, disheveled. Tonight, was Mommy kidnapped? And who left baby Justice for dead?
Straight out to Brett Larson, investigative reporter. I don`t understand exactly what the fact scenario is. Yesterday, we hear -- we`re
desperately searching for Justice. He`s only 20 days old. Now, Mommy has been found separately from the baby. And they`re about a mile away from
her SUV, and Mommy is completely bruised, scratched, beaten. her clothes in tatters.
How was the baby found separately from Mommy, Brett?
BRETT LARSON, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER (via telephone): You know, Nancy, as you said off the top, this is a developing story. This is just
such a sad development tonight that the baby was found so far away from the mother. The indication suggests this was a kidnapping...
GRACE: OK, hold on Brett. Brett, let`s go straight into the presser, the police speaking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About 10 minutes to 10:00 this morning, deputies from the Yolo County sheriff`s office marine patrol search and rescue unit
located the body of an infant over on the Ridgecut Slough east of county road 102, not too far from where the missing person was located last night.
It`s too early to tell from the investigation if there was any foul play. Personnel from the Yolo County sheriff`s office coroner`s unit are
responding to resume the investigation and recover the body. I don`t have any other details for you at this point.
What happened last night, between the area where her vehicle was located, which is somewhere behind me, and over where she was located,
without the baby, the logical thing to do was to go ahead and resume or initiate a search in that area. They were hampered last night with dark
conditions, but they`ve been on this all night long.
Then at daylight today, they resumed -- or they kicked up the search even more. And unfortunately, that`s where they located the body. It was
located in a thicket of brush just right off of the slough. In fact, they`re going to have to use some tools to cut a path to get in there to be
able to continue the investigation.
I don`t have (INAUDIBLE) if the baby was clothed or wrapped or anything. The coroners are going to do the investigation. They`ll be able
to tell us more.
From what I understand, last night she was extremely traumatized when she was found. She has only been able to give limited information at this
point, but we do have investigators there and they are continuing to talk with her.
QUESTION: Was she under the influence of alcohol or drugs or anything like that that -- right before she lost track of her own baby?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t have that information, so I don`t know. I do know that it was difficult getting information out of her. But I mean,
if you were separated from your child for whatever the reason -- we`re still trying to determine -- I`m sure you can imagine that would be pretty
traumatic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Tonight, we are analyzing the timeline. But this is what we know. Baby boy Justice went missing. He`s only 20 days old. In the last
hours, we learn Mommy is found completely scratched up, bruised, beaten, disheveled, her clothes in tatters. She is over a mile away from her own
SUV, and the baby is found.
Clark Goldband, what more do we know about where the baby is found and what happened to Mommy? Who took them.
CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Yes, Nancy, that`s the million-dollar question tonight. And this is a fast-breaking
story, a lot of changes over the last few hours. Our producer, Christo Calciani (ph), spoke with the paternal grandma of this missing child, and
she tells our show, Nancy, that this mom apparently had left to go pick up some other children she shares a house with and never returned.
The family became very, very worried, called authorities, and that`s when the manhunt with law enforcement agencies across the state of
California, including search dogs and boats, started to try to find these two, Nancy.
GRACE: You know what I don`t understand, Clark Goldband, is where is Mommy? How is Mommy found in relation to the baby? And why couldn`t she
get it out? What do we know about what she says happened to her?
For those of you just joining us, we are hearing about a desperate search for a 20-day-old baby boy, baby Justice, Justice Rees. The baby
goes missing, along with the mother. The mother is found beaten, bruised, scratched up, her clothes in tatters, disheveled, wandering. She is almost
incoherent. The baby has been found dead.
Clark, where is the baby? Where`s the mom? And what -- who found the mom?
GOLDBAND: Sure, Nancy. Here`s what we know. There was a man mowing his lawn near what`s being called as a slough. It`s like a swampy type
area. And as he was mowing his lawn, according to reports, he heard a woman frantically yelling and screaming. He called authorities, and then
went to go check on the woman.
Law enforcement arrives, and according to this man, she had scratches all over her body, said she had been abducted and was afraid her baby had
been dead, this all according to this witness who has spoken to the local press there, Nancy, certainly a series of confounding events. As soon as
law enforcement arrived, they transported the woman to a local hospital, but the search continued through the night for this young child.
GRACE: Everyone, you are seeing pictures of the scene and pictures of baby Justice.
Out to Marc Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation. Marc, you know, it is very odd, this scenario that we`re hearing. But the
mother was screaming and yelling for help.
MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: Well, Nancy, this is very difficult to get your arms around. Certain questions have to be answered.
First of all, who took her? Was it somebody that she knew, or was it a stranger.
Second of all, why would they kill the baby and then leave her alive? If she has information that will bring them to a baby killer, that
individual is going to go to prison for the rest of their lives and be the most hated individual in the institution. There are just too many
unanswered questions to draw any conclusions at this time.
GRACE: And Brett Larson, investigative reporter, you`re telling me we don`t know the cause of the death of the baby. Where exactly was the baby
found?
LARSON: Yes, the baby was found in a thick brush area near -- well, not near, a good distance away from where the mother was found by the man
mowing his lawn.
GRACE: OK, Clark Goldband, what do you mean thick brush? Was in this some kind of swampy area? And why were they in a swampy area? And where
was Mommy`s SUV?
GOLDBAND: Nancy, here`s the thing. It`s not clear why she was in the this area. This is a little, tiny town, according to reports, the
population just about a thousand people. Now, this woman apparently lives about 10 miles away.
So Nancy, it was a thick underbrush surrounding a swamp. And as I understand it, law enforcement was scouring the immediate area using search
boats. And it was law enforcement on one of those search boats that then discovered the body of this child.
Now, Nancy, your second question. You asked about the car. Here`s what we know. It was a white Chevy SUV, a Chevy Traverse, and was found
abandoned about a mile away. The grandma of this child tells our show that the child`s seat was still inside of that car.
GRACE: OK, I`m sorry, I couldn`t hear you. The child`s what was still inside the car?
GOLDBAND: The child car safety seat was still inside that Chevy Traverse.
GRACE: Let me just try to sort this thing through. I`m not pointing any fingers right now. I`m trying to digest what I know. Mommy says she`s
kidnapped. The baby is dead. She cannot explain what happened. Her car is found about a mile away from her, her Chevy Traverse, and the baby is
dead in a watery, swampy area.
OK, Clark Goldband, you`re telling me we don`t know the cause of death of the baby. Were there any obvious injuries to the baby? What do we know
exactly?
GOLDBAND: Well, Nancy, we don`t know the cause of death. And technically, we don`t even know if this is the 20-day-old baby authorities
were searching for baby Justice...
GRACE: OK, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Stop. Clark...
(CROSSTALK)
GOLDBAND: ... I think would suggest that there`s not many young infants found in this swampy area on a regular basis. Unfortunately, at
this time, law enforcement still conducting tests. We know that the office of the county coroner was out there as soon as the remains were found, and
we hope to have those answers soon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About 10 minutes to 10:00 this morning, deputies from the Yolo County sheriff`s office marine patrol search and rescue unit
located the body of an infant.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The majority of the baby`s stuff was left at the house -- formula, a blanket that she normally has with him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like, she knows people all over. She`s not reached out to any of them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ve been talking to the detectives, everybody I can.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They`ve been on this all night long. Then at daylight today, they resumed -- or they kicked up the search even more.
And unfortunately, that`s where they located the body.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: This little baby`s body was actually found by people in a boat, which suggests the body of the baby was there in a swampy area
between land and water. The mother was found rambling, wandering. She is bruised, beaten, bloody, disheveled, her clothes tattered. Who kidnapped
Mommy and who leaves her baby for dead? The family SUV found about a mile away.
I noticed -- Dr. Michelle Dupre with us, forensic pathologist out of Columbia -- that when we just went to the sheriff`s press conference, I
noticed that the coroner`s vehicle was there recovering the baby. How do they determine on a baby whether there`s been foul play?
DR. MICHELLE DUPRE, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Nancy, much the same way that we do on an adult. We do a physical examination, where we look for
any type of injuries whatsoever. Then we also do an internal examination, looking for the cause and manner of death. So we do a complete autopsy on
a baby or a child just as we would do an adult.
GRACE: But Dr. Dupre, they`re saying they don`t know cause of death. It seems to me if you look at a baby or a body -- anyone, adult human body
or a baby -- that if you don`t see outward signs of injury, I mean, that really narrows down the possible causes of death. And with children, it`s
typically asphyxiation.
DUPRE: Yes, Nancy, oftentimes, it is. And there are very subtle things that can happen to children especially, that we won`t see just
looking at them outwardly. And you actually need that autopsy to determine that.
GRACE: Everyone, we are talking about baby Justice -- baby Justice Rees, just 20 days old, found dead.
You know, to Caryn Stark, psychologist. It`s very disturbing that the mom can`t really recount anything of what happened.
CARYN STARK, PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, if she was traumatized, Nancy, that wouldn`t be a surprise at all because she`s still in shock. It really
depends on what happened. It`s such a strange story. But I wouldn`t expect the mom to be able to talk about it if the baby was taken from her
and she was beaten.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Joining me, Richard Herman and Kirby Clements. All right, Richard, she was yelling and screaming for help, a
guy mowing his lawn -- that suggests to me it`s in a neighborhood. He`s out mowing his lawn, and Mommy turns up?
RICHARD HERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Hey, Nancy, first of all she needs to lawyer up right now because some prosecutor with tunnel vision is going
to look to pin this on her. So she needs to lawyer up. She needs to get...
GRACE: Let me just clarify...
HERMAN: ... legal protection right now...
GRACE: ... one thing, Richard Herman.
HERMAN: ... to protect her rights.
GRACE: Let me just clear one thing up...
HERMAN: You know about those kind of prosecutors, right?
GRACE: Nobody is trying to pin anything on anybody.
HERMAN: They will.
GRACE: But when an infant...
HERMAN: When they get frustrated, they will.
GRACE: ... turns up dead, it is our duty to find answers. So what I`m saying is if the mom could speak and yell for help on her own behalf,
why couldn`t she explain what happened?
HERMAN: Well, you -- Dr. Caryn Stark just told you. She`s traumatized. It`s a horrible situation. But she needs to have a lawyer
now. Mama needs a lawyer bad.
GRACE: OK, Kirby Clements, obviously, Herman is not going to answer. I`d like to hear your attempt.
KIRBY CLEMENTS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, my attempt is actually what the -- the doctor just gave it to you. This woman was found out in the
cold. She`d been traumatized. The neighbors say she looked just whipped. She was scratched, bruised and battered. And you want her to suddenly
start talking articulately, Oh, I was abducted by a man 6-foot-4, 245 pounds, green eyes. That`s not going to happen. This woman`s life was
just almost ended, and her baby was killed. And now she`s just struggling.
GRACE: OK, hold -- hold on.
CLEMENTS: That`s what happens.
GRACE: Hold on. Hold on! Clark Goldband, on the story, along with Brett Larson, investigative reporter -- I didn`t hear anything about
Mommy`s life almost ended. I mean, is she in the hospital? Clark?
GOLDBAND: She is in the hospital, Nancy. She was transported to the hospital right away.
GRACE: OK, you know what? Then he`s right. Do we know what her injuries are?
GOLDBAND: No, that has not been released.
GRACE: OK, Brett Larson, what do we know about Mommy`s injuries?
LARSON: That is -- as Clark said, that information is not released. We do know that she is in the hospital, though.
GRACE: OK, Marc Klaas, the fact that Mommy is in the hospital to me adds a whole `nother dimension to this because if she`s in the hospital and
she remains in the hospital, that means she had a critical injury. I don`t think that would be self-inflicted.
KLAAS: No, I think not, either. Generally, when people inflict wounds upon themselves, they tend to be very, very superficial. I think
that we really need to get to the bottom of this case and get some justice for baby Justice.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s where they located the body. It was located in a thicket of brush just right off of -- right off of the slough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Everyone, the search, the desperate search for baby Justice has come to an end. We find out that he, the baby, just 20 days old, is
found in a watery, swampy area by searchers on boats. Mommy is about a mile away, as I understand it, found by a guy that is mowing his yard and
he hears her calling out for help, the car itself about a mile away from there.
Tonight, I`m learning that the mother actually has been taken to the hospital. She is found scratched, bruised, her clothes in tatters,
claiming that she was kidnapped and worried that her baby was dead.
To Clark Goldband. Tell me this. Where did the mom and the baby go missing from? Who`s the last one to see them? Do we have any kind of a
timeline on this thing?
GOLDBAND: Yes, Nancy, it`s a rough timeline. Here`s what we know. We`ve learned from the paternal grandma of Justice that Mom and Justice
went missing some time that morning because they were last seen on Monday morning. They were supposed to go run some errands and pick up some other
children they shared a home with from school. That apparently did not occur. And that`s when the family became afraid and called police.
GRACE: OK, unleash the lawyers, Kirby Clements, Richard Herman. Let`s look at this timeline. So she is last seen with the baby around
11:00 AM, as I understand what Clark Goldband just said. Let`s assume that they do school pickups around 3:00 to 3:30. So sometime between 11:00 AM
and 3:00 PM, everything goes sideways.
We don`t have any suggestion as to where she was during that time, any other errands. But the fact that we`ve confirmed what you guys were
saying, that she was taken to the hospital, that really bolsters Mommy`s claim, Richard Herman.
HERMAN: Yes, it bolsters her claim she was probably attacked, kidnapped, who knows. You know, a 20-year-old (sic) child, it wouldn`t
probably have taken too much for that child to die without food or any kind of care if it was left outside for several hours. I`m not sure about that,
but it would seem to me that`s...
GRACE: Yes, sure.
HERMAN: That`s an infant, newborn.
GRACE: So what we`re talking about is, if her story`s true, if she is attacked, why would they throw the baby into a swampy area and leave it for
dead? That doesn`t make sense to me.
HERMAN: Nancy, this is...
GRACE: And why wouldn`t Mommy go back to get the baby unless she was taken to another location or doesn`t know where the baby is, Richard?
HERMAN: We don`t know, Nancy. It`s wild speculation right now. Let the CSI -- let them do their investigation. Let them interview people, see
if there`s any witnesses, anybody that can corroborate her timeline and -- but she`s got to keep her mouth shut right now. She`s got to work through
a lawyer. She can`t be interviewed because...
GRACE: Wait, wa-wa-wa-wait!
HERMAN: ... like I said, some overzealous...
GRACE: Are you trying to tell me...
HERMAN: ... prosecutor is going to go after her.
GRACE: ... Richard, that Mommy, who may be able to aid in finding the person that murders her baby...
HERMAN: And she should.
GRACE: ... should not speak to police?
HERMAN: She should protect her rights and do it through an attorney. That`s what she should do, and she should help them.
GRACE: Clark Goldband, basically the lawyer is just saying, even if mommy holds the key to who killed the baby, she should be quiet. Are you
agreeing with that, Kirby Clements?
CLEMENTS: I`m agreeing that mom should talk through a lawyer. Because anything she says can be twisted and used against her. But the
lawyer`s words, that information that the lawyers want to provide, can still be utilized to help the police, but police twist people`s words all
the time.
GRACE: The police are evil, right. OK.
CLEMENTS: Not that they are evil, but they are so zealous to try to find a killer.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Live Texas suburbs and the trial of the man who guns down national hero, American sniper, guilty according to that Texas jury,
rejecting his claim he was insane at the time he gunned down American sniper Chris Kyle and friend Chad Littlefield. In the last hours, we get
our hands on the video confession that`s been kept secret. And we hear from the killer himself in his own words. Is this a clue why the jury
convicted him?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For several different reasons for what motivated Routh to turn the guns on the two men that tried to help him.
ROUTH: Okay. We`re shooting pistols here. Okay. I guess that`s pretty much saying duel mother [ expletive ]. You know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She texted him, are you OK, I`m getting worried. Chris Kyle never responded.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Ed Lavandera, CNN correspondent standing by at the courthouse. What a scene when that verdict was handed down. Explain.
LAVANDERA: It was an emotional scene. In fact, Taya Kyle was not in the courtroom when it all unfolded. At the end, she had left in the middle
of the arguments, closing arguments being presented by defense attorneys. But family members for Chad Littlefield hugging each other. Other family
members hugging each other. Incredibly emotional evening.
GRACE: Everyone, you are seeing video of American sniper from Warner Brothers. We`ve all been trying to figure out what tipped the jury? What
struck in their minds to reject the claim the killer was insane at the time he gunned down American hero, the American sniper? Take a listen to what
we just obtained. This is the killer in his own words.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what happened?
ROUTH: I keep talking to Chris, you know. There`s a few dozen Chris`s in my world. And it`s like [inaudible], it was like talking to th wolf,
you know. The ones in the sky are the ones that fly, you know, the pigs. (inaudible).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Back to Ed Lavandera standing by at the courthouse. When that guilty verdict was read, what was the reaction from Routh, the killer?
LAVANDERA: Nancy, no reaction. He just stood there next to his attorneys. Took it all in, and he really -- that`s really the way he`s
been throughout this entire trial. Most of the time he has had no reaction to any of the testimony, and he just sits there and just writes page after
page after page of notes of the trial testimony.
GRACE: Everyone, we actually heard from the jury as to what went on in this deliberation room. The deliberations didn`t last very long at all.
The jury returning a guilty verdict. Let`s hear it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I say there is a pattern that we saw it was, you know, he would be -- he would get intoxicated, get in trouble, and
then the police would show up and he would say I`m a veteran, I have PTSD, I`m insane.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s from our friends ABC, GMA.
Also with us, special guest, Dr. Michael Arambula, and I`m sure you remember that name. He evaluated Eddie Ray Routh for the state. He
basically said once alcohol is introduced into the scenario, the insanity defense is kaput. What did you make the killer Eddie Ray Routh`s claim
that he was insane?
DR. MICHAEL ARAMBULA, MD: Well, it didn`t add up. As I stated in court, any time you start adding voluntary intoxication into the picture,
then the game is essentially over. And there was enough evidence to form the basis that Mr. Routh had smoked a couple of bowls of weed. And he
smoked a joint even before that. He drank some whisky. And all of this occurred about a half hour before he left, so given the time that it takes
for marijuana to get into the system, that would have put him right at the -- when they were at the shooting range.
GRACE: We`re showing you range photos right now. These are the photos that the jury saw. And I want to warn you, some of these photos are
graphic in what you are seeing. There you see where Eddie Ray Routh leaves the bodies of American sniper Chris Kyle and friend Chad Littlefield. In
fact, some of the evidence was that even after one of the victims was shot dead, he continued to shoot the victim in the face. You are seeing now
courtroom footage of the weapons that were there on the scene. Dr. Arambula, who testified for the state, what really knocked me out, Doctor,
is that there was the specter that Routh had actually smoked wet weed the morning he shot these two guys dead. Wet weed, which is weed soaked in
embalming fluid, formaldehyde.
ARAMBULA: That`s right.
GRACE: Once I heard that, I mean how can you smoke weed soaked in formaldehyde and then claim you have PTSD and went crazy and killed people,
when you just smoked formaldehyde for pete`s sake.
ARAMBULA: Exactly. That was the part of the case that was pretty straightforward to me. As I explained to the jury.
GRACE: And Doctor, what do you make of the fact that he was caught speaking to his mother on a secretly recorded jailhouse phone call about
this episode of Boss Hog`s reality show, and in that episode they were talking about half pig, half human, and that became his defense?
ARAMBULA: Yes, it was very peculiar. Because even though he had talked about pig feces in the interview with Ranger Briely (ph), it took
several weeks to months before the half pig, half man so-called delusion arose. And that was during the time period that he was watching his
favorite show like Seinfeld, the hogwash -- I forget the name of that show.
GRACE: "Boss Hog."
ARAMBULA: So that was the suggestion where maybe that`s where he got the idea.
GRACE: Joining me is Brandon Webb, former Navy SEAL, who trained the American sniper, Chris Kyle. Brandon, thank you for being with us. I`d
like to hear your immediate reaction when you heard the news, guilty.
WEBB: A sense of relief. And this is a family, both the Kyle family and the Littlefield family have been through so much with the media
attention and the trial. So I`m just relieved for the family that they can finally get some closure and start the healing process and just put this
behind them as much as they can.
GRACE: Tell me what Chris Kyle was like.
WEBB: Chris was an amazing guy. He`s a true American hero. And this is someone who had a lot of success outside of the SEAL teams. And still
chose to go help veterans. And I think the big moment I had in all of this was really, what would Chris want in this situation? He would want people
to focus on the problems that we`re having in the VA, especially in Texas, which has some of the worst ranked VA hospitals in the nation. And let`s
get together as Americans and fix that problem and really honor Chris that way.
GRACE: Well, what was so disturbing to me about the whole thing was that this guy Eddie Ray Routh never saw action.
WEBB: Yep.
GRACE: And to then claim he had PTSD because of his military service is a disservice to veterans all across our country. Candace Trunzo, what
happens now, what happens with Eddie Ray Routh?
TRUNZO: Well, he goes to jail for life. There is -- there may be appeals. But I seriously doubt that anything is going to come of those
appeals. I think this jury really nailed it. In two and a half hours, they brought in a verdict of guilty. Guilty of capital murder. And he`s
going to be put away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Live, a horrific case of road rage erupts on icy roads. Reports the rager so out of control, he rams his victims off an icy bridge,
plunging them over the edge. The family`s SUV crashing below.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An SUV driving down a road in Maine ended up going off a bridge into the icy waters of the river below. Now, police want to
know why.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Dave Mack, syndicated radio talk show host. Dave, I don`t understand. Why was the road rager so angry he rams these
people off of the bridge?
MACK: Nancy, it all started when the truck -- the guy driving the struck sped around and cut off the SUV and then slammed on his brakes.
They rear into him, and that`s what apparently set him off into a serious rage.
GRACE: Hold on. The alleged road rager passes the victims or the victims pass him?
MACK: The truck driver passed the SUV and then slammed on his brakes so they rammed into the back of him. They pulled alongside of him and
said, hey, pull up to this gas station and we will talk about it. On their way, that`s when the truck allegedly got in the shoulder of the road and
tried pushing the SUV into oncoming traffic.
GRACE: Good gravy. Justin Freiman, what more do we know? Did you see that? Road rage escalating to a point where the alleged road rager
rammed the victims off the side of an icy road. They plunge down the side of the bridge landing here -- to Corporal Duane Parker, accident
reconstructionist, former traffic homicide investigator, where do you start with something like this? If you are just looking at the forensics, when
you can`t speak to the victims, what do you do?
PARKER: In this particular case, Nancy, I would focus primarily on the 911 call that was made by the passenger in the back of the SUV. Also
the video that was taken from a parking lot that they had passed during the road rage incident.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Road rage escalates to the point where victims are rammed off an icy bridge, plunging down the side of the bridge. There you see the
scene of the crime. I want to go out to the lawyers. Kirby Clements, Richard Herman, Richard, claiming I was angry and rammed the victims off
the bridge is not going to cut it. I was angry or I snapped defense is not going to work.
HERMAN: Nancy, the SUV hit the truck in the rear, then the SUV would not stop and pull off to the side of the road. The truck could have
followed him. The SUV could have lost control on the icy bridge, caused their own accident, and looked to blame it on the truck driver. There`s a
lot we don`t know right here. The truck driver is not speaking. I want to hear his version of events.
GRACE: Dave Mack, isn`t it true that the victims were so afraid they were calling 911 from the back of their car?
MACK: Yes, ma`am. (inaudible). The roads were not in any kind of bad condition. They were petrified. They called 911 saying they were
scared and trying to get the guy to meet them in a lighted area. That`s how afraid they were.
GRACE: I`m missing a link here. Justin, give me the scenario again. What happened?
FREIMAN: Nancy, the people in the SUV say the man in the red pickup truck cut them off, hit his brakes. Then they rammed him from behind.
They were afraid to just pull over. They rolled up to him and said we will pull over at a gas station, which is about a quarter mile up the road.
Then as they proceeded up the road, apparently there was a bit of pushing and shoving. And this SUV ended up going off a bridge into the icy waters
below.
GRACE: Dave Mack, from what we are hearing, the guy rams them and they go over the bridge.
MACK: Yes, ma`am. The car actually landed on top of the ice. The river was -- the creek or whatever was frozen. The car went through the
ice, submerged. The three people were all having to be treated for hypothermia, because they had to swim in the freezing water to get out and
save their lives.
GRACE: Richard Herman, hypothermia, trying to swim to save their own lives. You are saying what now? You are saying it`s the victim`s fault?
HERMAN: It may be. We don`t hear the truck driver`s version. We hear one side. There`s another side to the coin.
GRACE: The side that called police.
HERMAN: Maybe when they hit him in the rear, something went wrong with their car. Maybe they lost control on the bridge. There`s a lot more
to this. I`m not taking one version here.
GRACE: To Corporal Parker. In light of the fact that the bridge is covered in ice, what can you really get forensically, what can you learn
from the scene?
PARKER: The video clearly shows that there was a parking lot available after they crossed the bridge. That driver in the SUV could have
pulled into the parking lot of the area there and sat there and waited for police to respond. But instead, he continued down the road and it became a
cat and mouse kind of thing between the two vehicles until the vehicles made contact, and then one went off the road into the creek. So by
investigating the vehicles themselves, it will show you how many times they had contact among each other, and then identifying the black box will tell
you the speed and what brake applications were done. At this point, I think the driver of the SUV had plenty of time to pull over. He escalated
the event. It continued down the road until it came to the final rest of being in the creek.
GRACE: Let`s stop and remember American hero, Army Private First Class Theodore Cody West, just 23. Richmond, Kentucky. Bronze Star,
Purple Heart. An active 4H`er. Loved camping, outdoors and life as a cowboy. Inspired the Cody and Friends Project, sending supplies to
deployed troops. Parents Bill and Mary, three brothers, one sister, widow Jennifer. Theodore Cody West, American hero.
Tonight we remember Martha Cobb Brinson. Devoted wife, mom of six, grandmother, great grandmother. Longtime hospital employee, foster
grandparent, program volunteer. Martha Cobb Brinson. Good night, beautiful friend. Everyone, I will see you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp
Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
