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Nancy Grace
Brutal Beating Caught on Video; Random Supermarket Murder; Sex Crime on 6-year-old at a McDonald`s Bathroom; Deadly Battery Acid Attacks on Dogs. Aired 8-8:30p ET
Aired September 07, 2015 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: Breaking news tonight, live, Wicker Park (ph). Five affluent teens born with silver spoons in their mouths -- a couple
look like Ralph Lauren models. But don`t judge these books by their covers. Bombshell tonight. The teens caught on tape in a brutal and
savage beating. Over what? Ow! A bike.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The victim being dragged, lashed about as he clings to his own bike. Another part (ph) attacked with a bat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Then live, upscale Saco suburbs. In a deadly grocery store attack, a mom of four murdered in the frozen food aisle at random.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wendy Boudreau killed inside a Saco grocery store.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was -- I was certainly shook up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Live, Jacksonville. How many times does a whole family go to McDonald`s for a shake, fries, a Happy Meal? Reports tonight a 6-year-old
little boy sex attacked in McDonald`s bathroom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say the child`s father quickly (ph) saw his son in that stall adjusting his pants. He chased the suspect on Emerson (ph)
Street, but the attacker got away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, warning, graphic photos, the shocking twist in a string of deadly serial battery acid attacks.
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. Live to Wicker Park. Five affluent teens born with silver spoons in their mouths -- a couple of them look like Ralph Lauren
models. But don`t judge these books by their covers. These teens caught on tape in a brutal and savage beating. Over what? A bicycle. A bicycle.
I mean, beating someone brutally with a bat, ganging up on an innocent guy to steal his bike, beating him half dead. Look at this! What`s so
overwhelming is these guys look like a Ralph Lauren and Abercrombie & Fitch model! Why? Why did they do this?
Geoff Pinkus, talk show host WCGO, what happened?
GEOFF PINKUS, WCGO (via telephone): Nancy, allegedly, these four -- five young men -- four 18, one was under age 17 -- went to meet this young man.
He posted on Facebook that he...
GRACE: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Wait! Hold on! Hold on, Pinkus! What are all these people doing at the gas station? They`re just standing
there, pumping their gas...
PINKUS: No...
GRACE: ... while this guy gets brutally beaten with a bat to all of his extremities, his head, his back, his shoulders, his arms, his legs, his
kneecaps. They just keep pumping their gas. What?
PINKUS: What happened was, like I said, the ruse was that he put it on Facebook. One of these kids, one of the 18-year-olds now claims that that
bicycle was stolen. So him and his four other buddies went there...
GRACE: Wa-wa-wait! He`s angry about his stolen bike when he pulls up in a Mercedes SUV? How much does that cost, $70,000?
PINKUS: Easy.
GRACE: What, a Mercedes...
(CROSSTALK)
PINKUS: Easy. And they checked the serial number on the bicycle, and they obviously found that the serial number that was stolen was not this young
man, who`s a junior going to Northern Illinois University, trying to raise extra money to pay his tuition. And these thugs beat him merciless (sic).
GRACE: So these five affluent teens pull up in their Mercedes SUV and then decide to attack this innocent victim...
PINKUS: Yes.
GRACE: ... beating him half dead.
PINKUS: With two baseball bats, a metal pipe and mace, five on one.
GRACE: Joining me right now, Dr. William Morrone, forensic pathologist, medical examiner, toxicologist. Dr. Morrone, using a metal pipe or a metal
baseball bat, the injuries to this victim -- and they all were, like, basically dancing around -- I mean, they`re caught on video beating this
guy to a pulp. What does it do -- what did it do to the victim?
DR. WILLIAM MORRONE, MEDICAL EXAMINER, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: This is the equivalent of a hate crime. You cannot take a pipe, a bat or a piece of
steel to the human body and say, I didn`t know what it was going to do. That is not self-defense.
[20:05:07]It`s the kind of thing that will damage internal organs, create internal bleeding and make fractures that ruin your life for the next 10
years. It`s the same thing as a car accident, but standing still.
GRACE: Everybody, let`s look at this video -- the crushing of bones, the crushing of cartilage by five honor students who beat a man half dead,
honor students Patrick Moran, Carter Coates with a 4.3 GPA, Andrew Patterson and Michael Kralis. Look at these guys.
And here they are. They drive up in a Mercedes SUV, spot this man trying to sell a bike for college money and beat him nearly dead.
Michael Christian, where did the video come from? Where did we get this surveillance video?
MICHAEL CHRISTIAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): You know, as you say, Nancy, it does appear to be a gas station. It`s a commercial
intersection. And so there were security cameras in the area.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Alex Sanchez, Anne Bremner, Troy Slaten -- Sanchez, New York, Bremner out of Seattle, Troy Slaten out of LA.
Give me one good reason, Anne Bremner, why these four spoiled brats shouldn`t go to jail for what they did for a 20-year sentence on ag
assault.
ANNE BREMNER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, it`s a tough question, Nancy, but I`m going to defend. I mean, the fact is they`ve never been in trouble
before. They have great records...
GRACE: How do you know that? How do you know that? They`re juveniles.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: We can`t get their records.
BREMNER: Well, they`re not all juveniles now. And the fact of the matter is, one is 17, but the other ones aren`t, and...
GRACE: 18, 18, 18 and 18. So anything they`ve done up until now...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Look at this guy!
BREMNER: They`re adults now, but...
GRACE: Look, all of them!
BREMNER: But you know that the juvenile stuff will come in, Nancy. If they get charged now, they`ll look back on the juvenile in terms of how
they`re going to be sentenced...
GRACE: I know that...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: But for you to say none of them have a record is total BS, all right, because we don`t know that...
(CROSSTALK)
BREMNER: ... legal term, BS? Like, Nancy, we know that -- we don`t know of any trouble so far. We know --
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: It may not be a legal term, Ann Bremner, but I know it when I smell it.
BREMNER: I know you do, Nancy.
GRACE: OK?
BREMNER: I totally know you do.
GRACE: So don`t tell me these guys don`t have a record because if they do, their daddies have paid off if they do have a record, so we`ll never --
look at them! They`re chasing him down like a dog!
All right, Sanchez, give me your best shot. Why no ag assault, 20-year sentence on these guys?
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, there are -- there are basically two words to describe any potential defense in this case. It`s called damage
control. You know, clearly...
GRACE: That`s well put.
SANCHEZ: ... if they can identify the people on this tape, these kids are going to be in trouble. Now it`s a matter of damage control.
GRACE: They`re not kids. They`re 18 years olds in their daddy`s SUV Mercedes.
SANCHEZ: OK. Right, but what interests me is what are the injuries? So far, you`ve speculated what the injuries might be. I`d like to know what
the actual injuries are because that could drastically affect which way this case is going and what potential punishment may be imposed.
GRACE: You know what? You`re right about that because -- Dr. Morrone, you`ve got the MD, I`ve got the JD. So here`s the deal. There`s
aggravated battery and there`s aggravated assault. Aggravated battery in many jurisdictions means the losing of use of a limb or a part of your
body. For instance, if your eye is damaged permanently, if you lose use of your fingers, your arm, if part of your body is severed, that`s aggravated
battery and can be even more serious than aggravated assault.
When a metal pipe is swung into your rib cage and bones are breaking or cartilage in your nose, what -- what -- what -- how do you consider that?
How is that treated?
MORRONE: Well, cartilage in your nose doesn`t sound bad. But when bones break in your head, they go up into the sinuses, terrible damage. And if
they go back, they can go into the brain. They can cut the optic nerves. It can change your vision, and optic nerves on the face can change your
hearing.
GRACE: From now on...
MORRONE: These can change your senses...
GRACE: From now on. That`s never going to come back.
MORRONE: Forever.
GRACE: Look at these guys. Look at them. Just hold it. I want to watch this. Watch this -- beating the guy to a pulp with two bats and a metal
pipe. They pile out of their Mercedes SUV and attack this guy, who`s on his way to sell his bike for college money, claiming the bike is theirs.
Well, it`s not. The serial numbers don`t match up.
Look, the guy`s trying to hold on. He`s trying to get his bike. And they beat him to smithereens.
OK, Troy Slaten, haven`t heard you. Are you second verse same as the first, or do you have a new argument for me? Why shouldn`t they go to
jail?
[20:10:06]TROY SLATEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, if they truly thought that they were recovering stolen property, then they`re allowed to use enough
force that`s sufficient for the recovery of that property. But look...
GRACE: What?
SLATEN: ... if it wasn`t, and if that was really a ruse...
GRACE: You`re -- you`re -- you`re...
SLATEN: ... then they are going to be going into damage control.
GRACE: OK, the four of us know what you just did. But I want the viewers to know what Troy Slaten just did. You took the theory of self-defense,
which is the law allows you to use enough force necessary to defend yourself. For instance, if Sanchez pulls out a fly-swatter at me, I can`t
go get my Uzi and blast him to Mars, OK?
SLATEN: But you`re also allowed to defend property.
GRACE: That`s excessive force. No, you are not allowed to defend property in this manner. That is not the law.
Sanchez, are you going to stand by and let that distortion of the law stand? I mean, that`s not true.
SANCHEZ: No, I can`t. I`m with you on this one, Nancy.
GRACE: Beat a man in the head with a...
SANCHEZ: Nancy...
GRACE: ... metal pipe over a bicycle...
SANCHEZ: Nancy...
GRACE: ... which is not even yours?
SANCHEZ: Nancy, I`m with you on this one...
SLATEN: You can`t use excessive force, obviously.
SANCHEZ: Nancy...
GRACE: Sanchez...
SANCHEZ: ... I`m with you on this because even if this guy had a stolen bicycle, if he stole it previously, you do not have a right to go steal
that bicycle back. That`s what the police are for.
GRACE: Slaten, I`m more ashamed of you than I normally am, Troy Slaten. But good try.
I want to get back to the reality. Geoff Pinkus, talk show host, WCGO -- Geoff, are all of these guys bonded out?
PINKUS: They are, $75,000 apiece.
GRACE: Which means $7,500 because you have to put down a tenth.
PINKUS: Yes, $75,000 -- right, 10 points. And also, the judge said -- and I don`t know if I understand what she meant, but she said -- you might,
you`re the attorney here -- said something about she`d rather have them be in school than on electronic monitoring, so whatever that is (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: Well, you know what, Geoff Pinkus? Being in school hasn`t helped them so far. Look at this.
Let me understand. So the judge gave them all low bonds after seeing them beat this innocent guy with two metal baseball bats and a metal pipe over a
bicycle they claim the guy stole, which he didn`t, and the judge just sent them back to their classes?
PINKUS: Yes. That is correct.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are four of the men police say severely beat a 20-year-old Chicago man for his bike, one on his way to Cal Tech, another
with a scholarship to the University of Michigan, a third got a 27 on his ACTs, and the fourth was attending DePaul. Now all four plus a 17-year-old
are facing two felony charges.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:16:43]GRACE: Live, upscale Saco suburbs. In a deadly grocery store attack, a mother of four murdered in the frozen food aisle at random.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thirty-one-year-old Connor McCalister is escorted into York County superior court for his first appearance before a judge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Lee Daintry, reporter, WGAN. I don`t understand how this happened. She`s at -- a mother of four is at a grocery store.
There are other family members there. Here we go at the grocery store. And out of the blue, she`s slaughtered?
LEE DAINTRY, WGAN (via telephone): Yes. She`s going to buy ice cream, and out of nowhere -- because she gave someone -- she just looked at someone,
was just killed for no reason.
GRACE: Hold on. Put that -- put the mug shot back up. Lee Daintry joining me, WGAN news reporter. We`re seeing Connor McCalister -- Connor
McCalister. Is that a man or a woman, Lee?
DAINTRY: That is actually a woman who is now a man.
GRACE: OK, so she`s transitioning into a man?
DAINTRY: Yes, transgender right now.
GRACE: All right. Explain to me what happened. Did this person, Connor McCalister, a woman transitioning into a man -- did she know the victim,
the mother of four, Wendy Boudreau? Did they know each other?
DAINTRY: They have never met ever. Basically, McCalister was upset with life and just wanted to take out her problems on people. She -- he
originally planned on killing at least several people.
GRACE: OK. For those of you just joining us, we are live in Saco suburbs, where a mother of four is slaughtered, knifed, stabbed dead in a deadly
grocery store attack, allegedly by this person, Connor McCalister.
So Lee Daintry, WGAN, the victim, Wendy Boudreau, mother of four, goes into Shaw`s grocery store, and what exactly happens? What`s the sequence of
events?
DAINTRY: Boudreau shows up at the grocery store in the parking lot. She makes eye contact with McCalister. McCalister looks at her, follows her
into the store. She`s in the ice cream aisle. Just goes from behind her and stabs her twice and just stands over the body while people run over and
hold McCalister back, and police are called to the scene. It`s as simple as that, and a sad situation.
GRACE: So they didn`t know each other at all.
DAINTRY: No. The plan for McCalister was to find someone that was the easiest-looking victim, someone that wouldn`t fight back and would have the
ability to get away from them.
GRACE: So this mom of four is just taking her cart along the aisle at the grocery store and then is attacked by this person you`re seeing. The
funeral of the mom of four, Wendy Boudreau -- her only mistake that day was going to the grocery store to shop for her family when she was attacked by
Connor McCalister, allegedly angry at life.
And looking at the criminal complaint, Lee Daintry from WGAN, and I see that Connor McCalister had been planning the attack for the past month?
[20:20:13]DAINTRY: Yes, for some -- just letting it stew, honestly, just was letting it build up. And again, the original intention was to go and
kill at least several people just because of the upset and how angry he was at life and had anxiety issues, was sitting there and just planning this
ordeal, just going in there with a knife and finding as many victims as he could.
GRACE: The relatives there in the store hear screaming, run around to see the mother of four on the floor covered in blood with another seemingly
woman, it says here, dressed in camouflage standing over her. She`s immediately questioned, why did she do this? And Connor McCalister
answers, She looked at me wrong.
Unleash the lawyers, Alex Sanchez, Anne Bremner, Troy Slaten. To you, Anne Bremner, she looked at me wrong?
BREMNER: Yes. Well, I mean, when you hear that, you look at her or him -- I mean, it`s so hard to look into those eyes. I`m sure that the decedent
looked, like, Oh, my gosh, you know, before the slaying happened.
But you look at the eyes, like Adam Lanza, like James Holmes, like Jared Loughner, and you think, This is crazy. It`s an insanity defense.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:26:18]UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wendy Boudreau killed inside a Saco grocery store.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: An innocent mother of four at the grocery store shopping when this person, Connor McCalister, who`s in the middle of transitioning to become a
man, angry at the world, has been planning this for a month, according to the criminal complaint I`ve got in my hand, looks for prey. It`s like a
predator looking for the weakest victim.
Corporal Dwaine Parker, Collier County sheriff`s office, with me. Corporal Parker, you know, a lot of grocery stores and establishments, movie
theaters and so forth, have guards, off-duty police. But even if Shaw`s grocery had that guard, I don`t know what they could have done, this was so
sudden and unexpected.
CPL. DWAINE PARKER, ACCIDENT RECONSTRUCTIONIST (via telephone): You`re absolutely right, Nancy. There`s really no way you can plan to try to
protect your customers for a situation like this. This is a senseless death.
And although the grocery stores and the movie theaters -- well, the grocery stores usually have security there to prevent petty theft or shoplifting --
even if there was a police officer there, it would have been way too late for him to even try to save her life. All he could have done at that
point...
GRACE: Right.
PARKER: ... is just take the suspect into custody.
GRACE: Michael Christian, what more do we know about how the whole thing went down? We`re now learning that the perp had it planned for a month?
CHRISTIAN: That`s right, Nancy. And what actually saved this from being much, much worse than it already is, is that there were two EMTs at the
store at the time. They were just shopping. This was about 3:00 o`clock in the afternoon. And they immediately heard the commotion, rushed over.
And they are the ones who collared Connor McCalister and pinned him down. So otherwise, he would have been free to walk on and kill someone else.
GRACE: You know, take a look at Connor McCalister right now in the -- in the women`s or the men`s jail. I`m not sure where Connor McCalister is
being held.
But Michael Christian, did the victim, Wendy Boudreau, have family in the grocery store? Weren`t they a couple of aisles away and they heard the
mother screaming?
CHRISTIAN: That`s right. And her daughter kind of rushed over to see what was going on and turned the corner in the ice cream freezer aisle and
apparently saw blood and then, according to a relative, said, Oh, my God. That looks like my mother`s purse.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:32:44] GRACE: Live, Jacksonville. How many times does the whole family go to McDonald`s for a shake, fries, a happy meal? Tonight, reports
a 6-year-old little boy, sex attacked in McDonald`s bathroom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This McDonald`s off Emerson and 95 was a sex crime scene. A boy just 6 years old went into the bathroom. A sexual attack on
a local child.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That grown man had no business in there with that little boy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Out to the general manager of the "Florida Star" newspaper, Opio Sokoni, thank you so much for being with us. You know, there`s a constant
struggle about whether you`re going to take your child to the bathroom every single time they need to go when you`re in a public place. But
McDonald`s is known for Happy Meals, for their play areas, for Ronald McDonald. What happened, Opio?
OPIO SOKONI, GENERAL MANAGER, FLORIDA STAR NEWSPAPER: Thank you, Nancy, for having me on. It seems that a family of four went to a McDonald`s
close to a busy section, close to 95 Freeway on Emerson here in Jacksonville, Florida. Two of the children went into the restroom, ages 6
and 7, both males. One came out of the restroom, the 7-year-old, and went and sat back with the family.
The 6-year-old is still in the restroom. The father noticed that. Seems like he thought the child was in there playing in the restroom. He went in
there and as he goes in -- this is a small restroom with one urinal and one sit-down stall. A guy dressed in dark clothes walks fast past him. He
looks in the stall and sees his son pulling up his pants --
GRACE: Oh, my stars.
SOKONI: And -- right. So he turned around and he goes after the guy that walked past him because he had noticed that the boy was -- his son was in
the stall with the boy. And so he went to chase him on foot. Then he ultimately gets in his car and the guy goes out of sight, he`s not able to
find the guy.
GRACE: OK. Let me tell you something, Opio Sokoni joining me, the manager at the "Florida Star News." I have two children, they`re 7 1/2. And I
often think, Opio, when they go somewhere together, they`re OK because they`re together. For instance, to the -- well, I don`t let them go to the
bathroom. And I`ll tell you, this is why I don`t let them go to the bathroom by themselves. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:35:16] UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A sex offender locked himself inside a Wendy`s restaurant bathroom with a 10-year-old boy, stabbing the boy
multiple times as the child fought back.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Law enforcement says a 29-year-old man sexually assaulted a 15-year-old boy in the bathroom of a Texas McDonald`s.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A 9-year-old girl was allegedly beaten and nearly killed in the women`s bathroom at a Florida Best Buy.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say a Wal-Mart worker lured a 5-year-old boy into a store bathroom, allegedly sexually abusing the boy.
GRACE: A 9-year-old Matthew Checkey.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This young child was brought to a public restroom at a campground when he was with his family by an aunt.
GRACE: How was she supposed to know Brandon Wilson was in there? He slit the child`s throat from ear to ear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That is why, Opio Sikoni, my children do not go in the bathroom by themselves because of cases just like this.
You know, the kicker is, Justin Freiman, you and I covered this together, the case of Matthew Checkey, the little boy who was at a picnic reunion
with all of his family in Florida. The aunt even takes him to the bathroom, waits outside for him to run in. He never comes out. A guy
murders him. This guy slits his throat, kills Matthew Checkey in the bathroom for no reason whatsoever. And it goes on and on and on.
Justin, do you recall Matthew Checkey?
JUSTIN FREIMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: I do. And I remember how terrifying the story was that actually when he walked out of the bathroom, he smiles
at the family member and then keeps going. So she actually sees the person who killed the child. It was horrifying. Problem is, these bathrooms,
especially in public places, have a lot of private areas in them.
GRACE: Yes, there`s always like different -- see that faux wall there where the soap dispenser is so when you come in, you can`t see everything
that`s going on. Then you have the handicap bathroom, several different areas within a McDonald`s. And all of them, not just McDonald`s.
Back to Mr. Sokoni, joining us, the manager at the "Florida Star News." So how long did the incident take? I don`t think very long at all.
SOKONI: No. You have to realize from the time the boy sat down until the father went in the restroom, it couldn`t have been a very long time. But
can you imagine seeing your child in a restroom right after this kind of scary at this point looking guy who runs out and then you turn to go get
chase now this guy has gone? So it`s pretty amazing. Some witnesses the next day after they had found this guy in a dumpster, they say he`s a
homeless guy. They found him in a dumpster.
And they said that this guy -- he ultimately is in jail now because they caught him with marijuana. But now they have him with a sexual battery
charge. So he`s in the Duvall County Jail right now.
GRACE: Everyone, the guy`s name is Keith Andre Sykes, 33 years old, allegedly sex assaults a 6-year-old boy in McDonald`s bathroom.
OK. Dr. William Morrone, there`s no delicate way to put it. But how do we determine the severity and the nature of the attack on the little boy?
MORRONE: That little boy has to go immediately to an emergency room and be served by a criminal assault team, usually a sexual criminal assault
trained nurse, physician, and there has to be one planned evaluation including the psychiatrist-psychologist to reduce the trauma. And then
there has to be a really good physical exam including X-rays and chemistry. This should all be done to reduce the trauma all at one time.
GRACE: How do you determine how severe the sex assault is on the little boy?
MORRONE: Well, in a full exam, it would include all genitals, all orifices, and swabs of private genital areas for DNA and trauma. You
cannot --
GRACE: I mean, the reality of what you`re saying -- to Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst -- is this little 6-year-old boy is going to have
to go for a rectal exam and an exam of all of his private parts and he`s going to remember this the rest of his life.
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": Well, not only has he been traumatized once, but he`s going to be re-traumatized and he`s
going to be questioned. It`s very -- such a frightening thing for a child.
And Nancy, I never let a child go into a public restroom. I mean, you know, just like an alcoholic hangs out in a bar, where is a pedophile going
to hang out? In a public bathroom, at a school? I mean, there are certain places where they congregate. Public bathrooms are not safe places for
children. We cannot put the burden --
[20:40:09] GRACE: And, you know, you`re tricked. You`re tricked, Bethany, because you think McDonald`s --
MARSHALL: Yes.
GRACE: Because you think McDonald`s or -- and it`s not just McDonald`s. All right. It`s all public restrooms.
MARSHALL: Right.
GRACE: And there`s a friendly facade. You think it`s a family place and some parents let their child go. And this is what happens. A 6-year-old
boy has now been sexually molested in yet another public restroom, this time at McDonald`s.
This is the warning, the warning tonight, whether it`s inconvenient, whether they don`t want you to come with them, whether your son doesn`t
want to go in the women`s bathroom anymore, I get it. But here`s the reality, you can`t let them go by themselves. That`s over. Those days are
gone.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:45:13] GRACE: Warning, graphic photos. The shocking twist in a string of deadly serial battery acid attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Severe burns and bald patches lining his back suffered through horrific abuse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`re looking at some sort of malicious injury that`s been induced by some type of a chemical burn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Who would throw acid, who would torture animals, beloved pets, with battery acid?
Dr. William Morrone, what happens when you pour -- when you hold a dog down, an animal, a human down, and pour battery acid on them? What
happens?
MORRONE: The kind of burn that comes from battery acid is related specifically to the acid like the sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid that
literally melts protein. It literally melts and destroys -- we call it de- naturing skin and muscle. And the longer it stays in contact, the worse it gets. And it really doesn`t stop when you rinse water. It`s very
catastrophic.
GRACE: When you say it won`t stop when you rinse it with water, what do you mean by that? You can`t get it off once it`s on you?
MORRONE: It`s -- well, it usually is very concentrated. But water is H2O. Hydrogen and oxygen. And the hydrogen ion adds catalyst, adds more
hydrogen, that`s part of the burning of the acid.
GRACE: OK. You`re talking Greek to me right now. I`m trying to figure out what it does to the victim. What does it do to the victim?
MORRONE: It`s going to burn nerves, burn skin, burn muscle, burn connective tissue and disfigure.
GRACE: Out to Justin Freiman on the story. Justin, what happened?
FREIMAN: What happened is, these dogs are being found all over the area with these burns. And it`s not just one incident. And that`s what makes
this terrifying, Nancy.
GRACE: OK. Tell me how it all started, Justin. Take it from the top.
FREIMAN: Some of these dogs had been taken over to the animal shelter with these severe burns. But since there`s been more than one, people are
starting to put the numbers together and realized there`s something going on here, possibly some -- one person doing this.
GRACE: OK. So multiple dogs have been found. You`re looking at the area right there. And the number of acid attacks on family pets is growing.
I`m very curious. Do the owners like go to work and their dog is left in the yard? Is the dog running free? Is the dog snatched? How do they get
the dogs? Where are the dogs coming from, Justin?
FREIMAN: Most of them are actually being found on the streets already.
GRACE: So they`re already out running free. But they`re pets. So I don`t understand. So the dogs are out free, they`re not in the home, they`re not
in the yard and they`re getting picked up and tortured.
Unleash the lawyers. Alex Sanchez, Anne Bremner and Troy Slaten. I mean, we`ve got to look at the facts as they are, Alex Sanchez. So someone is
going to the trouble of patrolling, searching, hunting for the animal, getting the animal. They`re not doing this right there in plain view.
They`re taking the animal away somewhere where the attack is hidden from view, and getting battery acid and pouring it on the animal. And if you
look at the animal`s injury, it`s a perfectly straight line. One of them down the animal`s back. And the animal starts burning.
SANCHEZ: Nancy --
GRACE: Look at the area that`s affected. It`s a wide area. So they`re holding -- or restraining the dog and then pouring battery acid down the
animal as the dog is screaming, yelping, barking, whining in pain. But it`s clearly restrained. And I see that because the scar -- the burn is
straight down the animal`s back. If the animal could move or try to get away, it would not be that burn mark, Alex.
SANCHEZ: Nancy, this story horrifies me. I have two dogs, a Siberian husky and a poodle. And I`m friendly with a lot of other dogs because of
my spare time. But even that --
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: You`ve got friends that are dogs?
SANCHEZ: I hang out at a dog park.
GRACE: Good. Tell me about this -- tell me about the offense.
SANCHEZ: Yes. The idea that somebody would hold a dog, that`s a very specially deranged person that would torture dogs. And I can`t believe
that somebody doesn`t know who these people are. These people must stand out in the community.
GRACE: Well, I`m also wondering, if you look at the injury, Troy Slaten, if you look at the injury, it may very -- it might be very possible there`s
more than one person at a time doing it, someone to hold the dog down, someone has got to catch the dog. The golden retriever set on fire, for
Pete`s sake, with battery acid, there could be more than one person involved. And if that`s the case, I`m surprised neither one of them have
blabbed, Troy.
[20:50:12] SLATEN: This is especially horrific, Nancy. I, too, am a dog owner, Great Danes myself. This is horrific. And this is obviously the
work of somebody who`s had more than two scoops of crazy in their breakfast cereal.
GRACE: OK. So here we go with insanity.
SLATEN: This is a deranged person --
GRACE: OK.
SLATEN: -- that needs to be caught and needs help.
GRACE: Dr. Marshall, question. This does not scream insanity to me. This screams pure evil. So what`s the psychology of somebody that would do this
to a helpless pet? I mean, burning them alive with battery acid.
MARSHALL: Nancy, this is not two scoops of crazy, as my new friend, Troy, just said. This is someone who is a psychopath, somebody who loves cruelty
and to inflict cruelty on other people --
GRACE: What is a psychopath?
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Why do you say that?
MARSHALL: OK. So a psychopath is a sociopath with the addition of cruelty. Sociopath on speed. So the sociopath is detached, callous,
remorseless, lying, cunning, manipulativeness, parasitic lifestyle. But when they graduate to psychopath then they love to inflict cruelty on
others and usually they begin by practicing on animals and then they graduate to human beings. So my concern is, is this a budding serial
killer? In other words, somebody who is practicing on dogs but then the next step is that they`re going to graduate to human beings, so it`s very
important that this perpetrator be caught.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It`s nearly breakfast time for Fergus. A happy and lovable, one and a half year old Golden Retriever. And if it weren`t for
the severe burns and bald patches lining his back, you would never know that he suffered through horrific abuse.
A good Samaritan found Fergus wandering the streets of Lancaster and brought him into the shelter there a week ago. A day later the Southern
California Golden Retriever Rescue Group was able to bring Fergus to Dr. Alan Schulman (ph) at the Animal Medical Center in West L.A.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:56:17] GRACE: A sting of deadly battery acid attacks. We`ve got to look at the reality. Let`s go to you, Anne Bremner, high-profile lawyer
out of Seattle. What this means is that one or more, which is even scarier, that two people would collude to do this, are catching animals,
some of them pets, a couple of them strays, holding them down, and burning them alive with battery acid.
Now the penalty for that, believe it or not, is just 12 months. Unless it`s shown the perp has done it before. Here we`ve got a string of
attacks. It`s very difficult for me to believe that more than one group is responsible for the same attack happening in the same area in this short
period of time.
BREMNER: Well, absolutely. And you know, at some states, mind you, they have causes where they elevated these felonies. I mean, they`re the most
vulnerable dogs, cats, animals and the children. I mean, if you look at, oh my gosh, I`m a cat person unlike the other dog people but I can`t even
watch this. I know you can`t either.
GRACE: Well, as a defense attorney --
(CROSSTALK)
BREMNER: This act is incredible.
GRACE: All three of you are bound to represent and defend the defendant that is doing this.
BREMNER: Absolutely. Yes.
GRACE: And I don`t think you`re going to get away by claiming insanity.
I mean, Dr. Bethany Marshall --
BREMNER: I don`t either. I don`t either.
GRACE: Dr. Bethany Marshall, the reality is this is a planned attack.
MARSHALL: Yes.
GRACE: This isn`t insanity, this is some wild, deranged person. This is someone who enjoys inflicting immense pain on innocent victims.
MARSHALL: That`s right.
GRACE: Even binding or holding them, to burn them alive with battery acid.
MARSHALL: Someone who`s mentally ill would not be disorganized and thorough in their attacks. This is really what we call a personality
disorder. That`s what psychopathy is, it`s a personality disorder and psychopaths can be highly organized and highly systematic. So, you know,
mental abuse -- what I would really think about this, Nancy, is when you think of serial killers, don`t they always go for the most vulnerable
populations?
GRACE: Yes, they do, Bethany.
MARSHALL: Prostitutes, street workers. Right. So if this killer who`s going to graduate from animals to humans, he`s chosen the most vulnerable
populations in dogs.
GRACE: Dr. Bethany, listen to what the doctor here says, Dr. Alan Schulman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unfortunately this not being my first rodeo with dogs that are like this, it`s terrible to say but without a doubt, you`re
looking at some sort of a malicious injury that`s been induced by some type of a chemical burn. You can see it started on the head and thank God he
didn`t get his eyes burnt, he didn`t get his face burnt or any -- it could have been a lot worse. More unfortunate, the research has shown that they
sooner or later progress to doing this to people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Well, I know they could -- that one dog could have died but the reality is someone is targeting strays and dogs with owners and
systematically burning them alive.
There is a tip line. 800-222-TIPS. 800-222-8477.
Let`s remember American hero, Army Staff Sergeant Gavin Reinke, 32, Pueblo, Colorado. Bronze Star, Purple Heart, loved fishing with his little girl.
Parents Scott and Karen, brother Darren, widow, Carol, daughter, Kaylee.
Gavin Reinke, American hero.
Thanks to all of my guests but especially you for being with us. Inviting all of us into your home. Nancy Grace signing off. See you tomorrow
night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
