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Nancy Grace
4-year-old Shot Dead in Road Rage Incident/Woman Dies During Rough Sex. Aired 8-8:30p ET
Aired October 21, 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, live, Albuquerque, a manhunt under way after a horrific incident, a 4-year-old little girl shot in the head
and killed during a road rage attack, the gunman on the loose right now after he shoots the tiny girl riding along with her mother and father.
Bombshell tonight. BOLO -- be on the lookout, the killer still at large.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone fired a gun into a family`s vehicle, hitting a 4-year-old girl, all the result of some kind of road rage.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Frantic father says his 4-year-old daughter was shot during a road rage incident.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... are begging for the community`s help. This should have never happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, Florida. An absolutely gorgeous young leasing agent, 31-year-old Maria Nemeth, found dead in her upscale apartment,
spattered in blood. Her boyfriend claims Maria dies during, quote, "rough sex," but tells others he became infuriated when she called out her ex`s
name in bed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (INAUDIBLE) Like, I don`t know, man, she`s not breathing! I mean, like (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He even told police he turned into a monster. Lopez mutilated her with such force, he ripped out her intestines.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, upscale Orlando. We obtain just-released closed- circuit TV images of beautiful 27-year-old Sasha (ph) smiling happily after dinner with girlfriends. Just hours later, she`s found murdered in her own
apartment. We analyze the clues left behind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty-seven-year-old Sasha Sampson-Diem (ph) was found dead in her third floor apartment. Investigators say this image was
captured just before 2:00 AM, what happened the seconds before and after still a mystery.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, there are cameras outside of every door on the outside, but on the inside, I don`t believe there are any cameras.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, Bradenton. Has a missing 5th-grade girl, Genia Thomas (ph), been found dead in a freezer? In the last hours, stunning
developments straight from police files.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They believe they found the body of Genia Thomas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now authorities believe her body was stuffed inside a freezer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got sick to my stomach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That body was located in a freezer at a relative`s house.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, Denver airport. Caught on video, a man running onto the tarmac after the door closes on his flight to his 40th high school
reunion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And there are a few things you should not do if you miss your flight. This is one of them -- tried to stop a plane from
taking off. He opened an emergency exit, ran onto the tarmac, then tried to get a truck driver to stop towing the plane.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight, live, Albuquerque, manhunt under way after a horrific incident, a 4-year-old little girl shot in the head, killed during
a road rage attack, the gunman on the loose after shooting this tiny girl riding in the car between Mommy and Daddy. Right now, BOLO -- be on the
lookout, the killer still at large.
With me is Eddy Aragon, general manager at KIVA. Eddy, thank you for being with us. I`ve got a lot of questions. I understand the alleged
perpetrator is driving a, quote, "sedan." Now, I`ve got a lot of identifying factors about this sedan to help us find this guy. Look at the
Toyota Corolla on the left, spoiler on the front, dark, tinted windows.
I understand also, he had college logo all over his car. We`re going to learn a lot about this, the Lobos, University of New Mexico tag and a
Lobos a sticker, from what I`m understanding.
But Eddy Aragon, KIVA, what I don`t get -- the little girl is sitting between her mother and father in this pickup that you`re looking at right
now. I`ve heard through sources police find a bullet hole in the back windshield.
How could someone at sedan level, which is lower than the truck, shoot inside the back of that truck and get it through the back window?
[20:05:03]EDDY ARAGON, KIVA (via telephone): Yes, it would have to be all speculation at this point, Nancy, because the investigators at the
Albuquerque Police Department are still trying to figure out, you know, the details. And it`s still a very, you know, live incident.
But that`s a good question. He must have had the gun outside of his vehicle. They were obviously driving erratically for one-and-a-half to two
miles. There were other witnesses...
GRACE: Whoa, whoa, whoa! He had his gun outside of his vehicle, Eddy Aragon? He had his gun -- what -- what is this, the wild, wild West? He`s
got his gun outside the vehicle?
ARAGON: It probably had to be outside of his vehicle, I think, and sort of aim behind. The vehicle that was in front of him, the Dodge pickup
truck, would not allow the Camry, who was behind -- - 2014, 2015 -- and again, this is all speculation at this point based upon eyewitness reports.
They fired at the -- through the back windshield from behind the vehicle, which is how the 4-year-old girl was killed and shot in the head. So
that`s what`s happened, and that`s what we`ve known so far.
You`re absolutely right in terms of the identification. There is a University of New Mexico Lobo plate, which really narrows it down, Nancy.
When you`re looking at the number of plates that are issued, you know, throughout the -- or throughout the state -- excuse me -- there`s only less
than 10,000. And of those, there`s only a number of people who have probably filed on line, and you have to register on line to get that type
of vanity plate. So they do have that identifier, even right down to the number.
I believe there`s an eyewitness who was also -- the eyewitness who was there moved away because the altercation was so erratic, she was actually
concerned about endangering herself.
So this is an altercation that went on between one-and-a-half to two miles, from what we know. They shut down the incident about a mile-and-a-
half, two miles back so that they could collect casings, other types of evidence.
There`s a lot of information kind of still live at the scene, but the traffic incident -- or excuse me, the traffic was shut down for six hours
to collect evidence during that one-and-a-half, two miles.
GRACE: You know, I`m trying to take all this in. Eddy Aragon with me, the general manager there at KIVA. I want to go quickly to Jonell
Tafoya, with us tonight explaining what was observed at the scene, witnessed the road rage incident.
For those of you just joining us, a little 4-year-old girl is dead over road rage! Road rage!
Thank you so much for being with us. Why were you on the highway at that particular time when the shooting occurred?
JONELL TAFOYA, WITNESS (via telephone): Hi, Nancy. I actually was heading home to take my daughter -- I had picked her up from school to drop
her off at home. I was actually at lunch, believe it or not, and we were heading westbound on I-40, the highway in Albuquerque.
And right when we approached Rio Grande, which is a crossroad, we noticed some erratic driving. It was a red truck that was not allowing a
small red sedan to pass on a very clear highway. I mean, the highway was not full of traffic at all.
We were quite close. I had my daughter, 15 years old. I kind of tried to stay away. I thought it was kind of silly that they were playing
this game because, again, it`s a very clear highway.
As we were approaching another major crossroad, which is Coors (ph) Boulevard, the lanes that they were in actually kind of merged into two.
And I witnessed that the truck had kind of paralleled itself alongside what looked like a white SUV that was just driving along on the freeway. minding
their own business. They weren`t involved.
But that person in the truck got alongside this SUV almost kind of to create, like, a wall that would not allow the red vehicle to pass again.
GRACE: Well, I`ve got a question. Everybody`s speeding on the highway anyway. Is it that big of a deal you can`t get around one truck,
you`ve got to take out your gun and start shooting?
And what you just said, Ms. Tafoya -- everyone, with me, is Jonell Tafoya, who witnessed this road rage incident. Every morning, I think, OK,
the safest possible way for my children to get to work -- get to school is for me to drive them. The safest way for them to get home is for me to
drive them.
They`ll be safe with Mommy because I`m going to stop at every stop sign. I`m going to do everything you`re supposed to do. I`m going to
watch out for other drivers.
Here`s a little 4-year-old girl between Mommy and Daddy. She`s shot dead in the head by this moron, by this maniac, who gets angry on the road
and takes out a gun?
[20:10:04]Jonell, when did you first realize a gun may be involved?
TAFOYA: You know, honestly -- and you make a good point. You know, I had my 15-year-old daughter, who is getting ready to drive. And the first
thing I told her was, Do not ever do that. This is crazy. I just thought it was bananas. I didn`t even realize there was a small child in any of
the vehicles.
I didn`t -- by the time we actually got off of the freeway -- I got off the freeway right away because I just thought this person -- these
people were going to create an accident. I thought it was going to be a traffic accident, believe it or not.
And we were able to get off on the major crossroad, Coors Boulevard. And as we were getting off, we were able to see the vehicles continue on.
GRACE: Oh!
TAFOYA: I will tell you right now, I didn`t witness the shooting at all. However, it happened instantly after we got off the road. You know,
thank goodness we weren`t in that situation. However, I feel horrible that I didn`t get more information because I didn`t even realize there was a
child in the vehicle.
GRACE: Oh! Oh! Jonell, do you realize how that could have been you and your daughter?
TAFOYA: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And last night, we talked, and I said, You know, we could have probably done more if we knew. But you
know, at the same time, why are we putting ourselves in danger? And you know, you made a good point. Why are we -- why are we creating danger on a
highway that is, one, clear as can be, and two, for what reason are we...
GRACE: What (INAUDIBLE) there`s three lanes.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: I don`t get it, Jonell. There`s three lanes. I don`t understand why he couldn`t pass. And how fast were they going? Were they
going faster than you?
TAFOYA: Well, I would say we were probably going about 65, 70. The traffic flow was fairly good. I mean, it wasn`t like there was too many
people on the highway, so -- but they -- I would say they were picking up speeds of about 75, maybe even 80.
GRACE: Crazy. Crazy...
TAFOYA: What was incredible...
GRACE: ... 80 miles an hour...
(CROSSTALK)
TAFOYA: ... was just clearing lanes.
GRACE: And Eddy Aragon, KIVA general manager, so you`re telling me that the guy was driving with the gun outside the car? Was the victim to
the shooter`s right or left?
ARAGON: Oh, there`s -- again, that`s all speculation. There`s no way for me to directly answer that. Again, details are just coming out...
GRACE: Well, what are you hearing?
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: What are the details you`re getting in?
ARAGON: Go ahead, Nancy.
GRACE: What are the details you`re getting in? I mean, I know you weren`t there, OK?
ARAGON: What we -- we have the details...
GRACE: What are you hearing?
ARAGON: ... in terms of the suspect. They`re able to identify, in spite of his dark, tinted windows, 25 to 30 years of age. He had a Lobo
license plate, of Hispanic origin, from what we can determine. But then again, that`s 55, 60 percent, you know, of the population here when you`re
talking about males. You need to kind of look at overall at what happened here...
GRACE: All I`m getting is a white male with short, dark hair. And another thing is, how are you going to tell how tall he is?
ARAGON: Right.
GRACE: For Pete`s sake, he`s in a sedan and he`s going 80 miles an hour. Christopher Robinson is...
ARAGON: Right. No, exactly. And Jonell was good to move away from that. That`s five lanes across that particular stretch of highway right
there. And for those two to engage in that, and especially with, you know, a mother and a child, and you know, this guy who doesn`t really care about
his own life, much less...
GRACE: Whoa, whoa, whoa!
ARAGON: ... the life of his family...
GRACE: Hold on!
ARAGON: You look at this...
GRACE: A lot we don`t know -- there`s a lot we don`t know, though.
To Christopher Robinson, firearms expert, Chris Robinson, Forensics, former crime lab director. Chris, thank you for being with us. A lot we
don`t know. For instance, it may look like they`re playing a game of chicken, but what if the victim`s father goes by and sees this guy`s got a
gun? Well, I wouldn`t let him go around me, either. You`re darn right, with my children in the car? I would do everything I could to stay away.
I mean, I don`t know if there was a game being played per se, or what.
But I want to talk about the clues we know because this guy is still out there, one of the reasons we`re doing this right now. Christopher
Robinson, let me ask you this. If they find -- I don`t know if they`re going to be able to get the actual bullet that killed the little girl.
Maybe they can. I don`t know if there was an exit anywhere in that car. But can they match that up to that particular gun?
CHRISTOPHER ROBINSON, FIREARMS EXPERT (via telephone): Yes, ma`am. They can also (INAUDIBLE) on the database, the NAVIN (ph) database, which
is the ATF-ran database that keeps track of all weapons that are fired, and they keep a record of all those.
If it`s a newer gun, all the new manufacturers now are test-firing the guns before they leave the factory. So if they have the bullet, they can
run it and track it back to the factory and see where it was sold and maybe even track it back to the individual that purchased the weapon.
GRACE: I think -- you know, Christopher, we`re going to have a better shot at figuring out who this vehicle belongs to, this sedan. How can you
identify by looking at the taillights, the make of the car, the year that car was made?
[20:15:06]If you know the year, then you can get the name of the color, you can -- especially with this vanity tag that Eddy Aragon was
talking about. How are we going to get this guy based on the vehicle alone?
ROBINSON: You can examine, again, the color, the taillights and the orientation. Are they oblong? Are they square? Are they circular? All
these things will limit that, will give you the year. Again, as you said, the Lobo tag. You have the numbers 2-0-0 in the tag. That`s going to
limit even more. So that should be -- should allow them to track the person back to the actual owner of the car.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:20:16]GRACE: Live to Florida, an absolutely gorgeous young leasing agent, 31-year-old Maria Nemeth, found dead in her upscale
apartment spattered in blood. Her boyfriend claims Maria dies during, quote, "rough sex." Then he slips up, changing his story, telling others
he became infuriated when Maria called out her ex`s name in bed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lopez told police he and Nemeth were drunk off tequila and began to have sex. Lopez says that`s when she blurted out her
ex-husband`s name twice, enraging him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Karen Curtis, news anchor, WFTK (sic). His stories are all over the map. But somehow, I find it very difficult to
believe that this woman consensually engaged in rough sex to the point where she is dead and there is blood all over the walls. There is a
broken-out sliding glass door. The door to her closet is off the hinges. There`s a big pool of blood in her closet floor.
You know what, Karen Curtis, WFTK? I`m going to let you tell me. What was found in the apartment where the, quote, "rough sex" occurred?
KAREN CURTIS, WFTL (via telephone): I`ll tell you. I`m with WFTL, by the way, like in Ft. Lauderdale.
GRACE: Thank you.
CURTIS: But I`ll tell you, initially, they were having rough sex, so she was consenting to this sex. They had had about a half bottle of 1800
tequila, and the sex was consensual in the closet.
But then she blurted out twice the ex-husband`s name, and he became enraged and became, as he said, a monster, and things got out of hand.
That`s when she became unconscious.
But he went on a rampage and put his fist through the wall, ripped the closet door off, shattered the sliding glass door. Neighbors heard two
hours` worth of screaming. This went on for a couple of hours. But what happened was, he went on to disembowel her in the closet...
GRACE: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait! Wa-wait! Karen Curtis, news anchor, WFTL -- thank you for telling me that, Karen.
CURTIS: No problem.
GRACE: So during rough sex, she`s disemboweled? Did I hear the word "disemboweled"?
CURTIS: Yes.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (INAUDIBLE)
911 OPERATOR: (INAUDIBLE) get help (INAUDIBLE) now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (INAUDIBLE)
911 OPERATOR: OK. (INAUDIBLE) something with an address on it so we can (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (INAUDIBLE)!
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: Karen Curtis, WFTL, you were saying something about the apartment?
CURTIS: Well, the apartment was a mess. When finally, the police arrived at the scene, they noticed that there were two scenes, one in the
closet that -- Lopez tried to cover up that scene after he called 911. There was blood in the closet and actual tissue in the closet.
Then her body was lying in the bathroom, where he had doused her face with water trying to revive her after he went out and had a cigarette
before he called 911.
And there was a hole in the wall where he put his fist through the wall. The door of the closet was off its hinges and the glass door was
shattered out on the patio. So he had gone on a rampage after she had called out the name of her ex-husband twice during rough sex.
GRACE: Let`s take a listen to that 911 call.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: 911, what is your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello? (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (INAUDIBLE) my girlfriend is in the bathroom! (INAUDIBLE) (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
911 OPERATOR: (INAUDIBLE)
(END AUDIO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:28:48]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (INAUDIBLE)!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lopez told police while Nemeth was unconscious, he sexually assaulted her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (INAUDIBLE)! (INAUDIBLE) (EXPLETIVE DELETED)!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: "Oh, baby"? He`s yelling out, "Oh, baby" now? This woman that you see, this gorgeous young woman, Maria Nemeth, was disemboweled
after she called out her ex`s name in bed. The floor of her closet, where I believe, Karen Curtis, WFTL -- where I believe she was hiding in the
closet because that closet had a pool of blood on the floor, but the door was ripped off, Karen.
CURTIS: Yes. And there was actual tissue from her insides on the floor of the closet that he tried to cover up, according to the police
report. And then when he took her body into the bathroom is where her body was found with more blood in the bathroom. That`s where he left her. And
he tried to put some water on her face to revive her. That`s where he called 911. He has been charged with first-degree murder and sexual
assault.
STACEY NEWMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: And also, what`s working against him is after this horrible murder, he went outside on the porch and smoked
a cigarette before he even called 911.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Misty Maris, New York, Kirby Clements, Atlanta. Both defense attorneys. Misty Maris, he doesn`t have a
snowball`s chance in h-e-double l. Give me your best defense.
MARIS: No, Nancy. He does. This is a classic heat of passion defense. The defense is going to argue he was provoked by that comment, he
was already intoxicated, and that caused him to lose control.
GRACE: Voluntary use of drugs or alcohol is not a defense.
MARIS: Voluntary use of drugs or alcohol is not a defense to negate intent.
GRACE: Not a defense.
MARIS: However, it can be used to show that he was provoked in the context of heat of passion defense.
GRACE: Put her up. If that were a defense as you are suggesting, everybody in Sing-Sing would be, I was drunk. I was drunk.
MARIS: That`s not it, Nancy. Voluntary intoxication is not an affirmative defense to the intent factor, however, when you are talking
about a heat of passion crime, you have to show adequate provocation. Adequate provocation is the comments made by the girlfriend about her ex.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: She said her ex-husband`s name.
MARIS: The defense will argue that he spun out of control.
GRACE: They can argue all they want to. Dr. Bradley J. Marcus, chief medical examiner, Richland County. I would like for Misty Maris and Kirby
Clements to hear you describe her injuries.
MARCUS: Based on the reports, her injuries show that part of her bowel was removed from her body, and the only way that could have probably
happened was some sort of foreign object was put inside of her that ripped the vaginal wall, and that`s how those intestines could come out. So
that`s -- those are her injuries, so she probably most likely bled to death.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:36:00]
GRACE: Live to Orlando. We obtained just-released closed circuit TV images of a beautiful 27-year-old Sasha smiling happily after dinner with
girlfriends, but just hours later, she is found murdered in her own apartment, and now we have the very last images of her just before her
murder while we analyze the clues left behind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Orlando police releasing this image captured from a surveillance camera at the Uptown Place apartments in downtown Orlando.
What happened in the seconds before and after still a mystery. Police remaining tight-lipped saying the department still is waiting for autopsy
results to determine how she died, only saying it was a homicide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Ray Caputo joining me from WDBO. Thank you for being with us. It`s so eerie that we have managed to get the very last image of this young
lady alive, smiling as she walks through -- I guess that`s the lobby of her upscale Orlando apartment. She had just been out with friends,
girlfriends, they had had dinner. I think they had watched a game or something on one of the TVs where they were eating, and she comes home.
Everything is fine. We`ve been doing a lot of digging in and around that apartment, and there, we believe, are other closed circuit TV monitors as
well. Ray, also WDBO, police said when they first walked in her apartment, they couldn`t tell it was a homicide. That says to me maybe she was
asphyxiated? What do we know, Ray Caputo?
CAPUTO: You`re right, Nancy. When they came in, they didn`t come out and say she was murdered, but it also didn`t take a long time for that
determination. This is very perplexing, because they`re being tight-lipped about what they found in that condo. They haven`t released any 911 calls
that could give us clues, they haven`t released any preliminary autopsy results. In fact, it could be 10 weeks before those results come in. One
thing they do say, though, and they`re confident that Sasha Samsodine (ph) did not die of natural causes, she was murdered.
GRACE: With me now, Sergeant Wanda Ford, the PIO of the Orlando PD. Sergeant, thank you for being with us. This is very eerie for me to look
at the photo of Sasha and know this is the last image of her taken of her in life, clearly unsuspecting anything was going to happen. That`s a
pretty safe apartment building. Very upscale. Are there any other surveillance cameras in the building, Sergeant?
SGT WANDA FORD, PIO, ORLANDO PD: Hi, Nancy, thank you for having me today. Yes, there are other cameras we`re currently reviewing now.
GRACE: What more can you tell us, Sergeant, about the death of Sasha Samsudian?
FORD: Right now at this point the manner of death is a homicide, and to release any cause of death would jeopardize our case. This is the
tragic death of a young lady who lost her life.
GRACE: Were there any signs of a break-in?
FORD: No, what I can tell you is there were no signs of forced entry, and that`s what I can tell you.
GRACE: So if the cops walk in, Matt Zarrell, and they don`t immediately realize it`s a homicide, that says to me this. That the place
was not ransacked, that there had not been a sex attack that we could tell, because apparently she looked as if she were sleeping. And I`m deducing
this from the fact that at first they did not realize a homicide had occurred. Tell me this, Matt. You`ve been digging around for information
about this apartment building. What do you know?
[20:40:00]
ZARRELL: Okay, so we know about one key here is security, as you were talking about, both to enter the building itself and to get into the
apartment, there are separate keypad accesses that Sasha would have had to enter in order to get into the building and then into her apartment. Also,
there are cameras outside. Pretty much our understanding is there are cameras outside every door on the outside. But on the inside, there may
not be cameras in certain locations. We`re trying to determine if there were cameras in the elevator, and one thing that`s important here, Nancy,
is the timeline. Police are reportedly focusing on a time between 10:00 p.m. Friday and early Saturday morning. We know she got home about 1:45
a.m., so maybe it`s possible that they believe someone was waiting for her when she got back to her apartment. Why they would focus on the attack
starting at 10:00 p.m. when she didn`t get home until 1:45 a.m. remains a mystery.
GRACE: You know what? That`s interesting that you caught that fact, Matt Zarrell. Did I also hear you say there was a separate keypad to get
into the building and onto the elevator?
ZARRELL: Separate keypad to get into the building itself and then into her own apartment.
GRACE: I see. So who would have had that keypad access? How did they get into her apartment and they were not caught on CCTV, closed
circuit TV?
Everyone, you are looking at Sasha Samsudian and the last image taken of her in life. Just hours later, she`s dead. Tip line, 800-423-tips.
There is a $5,000 reward, and caught on video, a man is -- a serious breach of security, runs onto an airway tarmac after the door closes on his flight
to his 40th high class reunion. Breaches airport security, running onto the tarmac, insisting he gets on the United Airlines flight as the thing
pushes back from the gate. Look at that! They practically do a body search on me every time I take a flight, and this guy is running up -- look
at this! He`s on the runway! Look at him. How did he do it? Where is TSA? That`s my question.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:46:00]
GRACE: Live to Bradenton has a missing fifth-grade girl. Janiah Thomas then found dead in a freezer. In the last hours, stunning
developments from police files.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The freezer was locked, and when the family members saw the news article about the missing child --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Neighbors tell us the family is in shock.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Roger Schulman, news director from ACC The Answer. Roger, I am so distraught about Janiah. Now, the spokesperson for
the school superintendent called us after we did the story last time to make sure we -- can you please put up that timeline -- to make sure we
understood the school did what was, quote, the law required. You got to back it up.
June 2013, Janiah was in school. As I`ll recall without seeing it up there, in August she`s out of school, so September 2014, school sends mom a
letter requesting submission of student evaluation. The mother never responds. January 2015, the school sends a notice. She responds three
days later saying the child has been moved from the state. Is that the end of it? Or is there more? Because her body is found dead in a freezer.
Let`s start it over from the beginning with the timeline, please, so we can follow along to see what the school superintendent did. She
finishes third grade. She`s registered in August as a home school student. They send a letter asking for student evaluation. The mom never responds.
January 2015, they send a notice. Later the mom says, she`s moved from the state. So, Roger Schulman, over a year goes by, from June 2013 until her
mom said she`s moved out of state, January 2015. The other three children, her brothers and sisters, are in the school. So how can they just take it
hook, line and sinker that this little girl, who has been gone a year, nobody has heard from her, has moved out of state. How does that work,
Roger?
SCHULMAN: Well, families divorce, certain family members will sometimes move out of state. As we mentioned before, it is a transient
state. People come and go.
GRACE: But what about these people? I mean, to just say, Florida is a transient state, I doubt the residents of Florida, the citizens of
Florida are too happy about that comment. These people, the whole family attended this school. There are people that live there in Florida their
whole lives. I mean, how can a student get this lost in the system, where a year and a half goes by and we have no idea where the child is. How how
does that happen?
SCHULMAN: I don`t know. It is not ideal, but I think it is more common than you think. Not every child is found in a terrible circumstance
like Janiya was.
[20:50:00]
GRACE: Isn`t one enough?
SCHULMAN: There are divorces, family changes, things happen.
GRACE: I mean, isn`t one child dead in the freezer enough? When I look at this child, it just looks like her eyes are looking at us, asking
us to do something, and nobody did anything. She was out of school a solid year with her brothers and sisters going. Nobody knew where she was.
Michael Christian, you have delved into police records. We have gotten statements from the siblings. What did we learn?
CHRISTIAN: They told Child Protective Services investigators, Nancy, they did not know where Janiya was. Her 12-year-old brother said I don`t
know where she is. One day we went to school and came back and she was just gone. When he was asked, the same brother, what in his gut did he
think had happened to her, he said, quote, I think she is dead or something.
GRACE: Dr. Terry Lyles, psychologist, author of "Crack the Stress Code" joining me out of Miami, Dr. Lyles, we learned the mother, according
to the siblings, would lock the little girl in the bathroom. She had an ailment where she would use the bathroom and she couldn`t stop herself, and
when she would do that, her mother would lock her in the bathroom for weeks on end and barricade the door, make her eat in the bathroom, and the mom
would beat her if she tried to get out of the bathroom.
LYLES: This whole story is just appalling, Nancy, I mean, when you think about it, you just talk about the scenario that`s there. People have
learning disabilities. They have all kinds of physical problems they deal with, but regardless of what was going on in this young girl`s life,
there`s plenty of help out there for people to get. I mean, the school offers help. The community offers help. There`s a lot of resources.
There was a very troubled mother and a protective family that seems to have covered up a lot of this. How do you not know a child is missing but not
missing? It sounds a little bizarre to me, and then sadly enough to find her a year later.
GRACE: Roger Schulman, Terry Lyles with us out of Miami, Roger Schulman, director of 860 the Answer. Roger, is the state going to seek
the death penalty on this mother that did this to this child?
SCHULMAN: I don`t know if they are or not. You would hope so in this case. The governor even got involved. He wants an investigation and he
wants to get more Child Protective Services people.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:57:00]
GRACE: Tonight, deadly malaria on the upswing, killing children.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A different kind of killer, malaria. Almost half the world`s population -- more than 3 billion people -- are at risk of
malaria. Every year more than 1,500 cases of malaria are diagnosed in the U.S., according to the CDC.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining me is the chief of CDC`s malaria branch, medical epidemiologist, Dr. Patrick Kachur. Dr. Kachur, thanks so much for being
with us. I understand people always think that malaria is an outbreak of illness far away. Give it to me in a nutshell. How does this happen, and
why is it still a worldwide epidemic?
DR. PATRICK KACHUR, CDC: Sure. Malaria is caused by a parasite and it`s transmitted or carried by mosquitoes. Until the middle of the last
century after World War II, malaria transmissions still occurred here in the United States. In fact, CDC started as the federal government`s effort
to help the states eliminate malaria here in the U.S.
GRACE: You`re not going to believe this, Dr. Kachur, my father actually contracted malaria. Okay? It`s so easy to prevent. How do we
prevent it, doctor?
KACHUR: Sure. If you`re traveling where there`s malaria, you can take medicine to prevent it before, during, and after your trip. If you
live in a malaria endemic area, as millions of people do in Africa and Asia, the simplest and most effective technology is to sleep under a
mosquito net.
GRACE: Let me give you some information. For all of you that want to stop the deaths of children, you can go to -- you can text malaria SC to
27722 or go to imaginenomalaria.org. Please help us stop malaria.
American hero, NYPD Randolph Holder, killed in the line of duty. Also served NYC housing development, native Guyana. His grandfather and father
also police. Set to buy a home just before his death. High school sweetheart Mary. Randolph Holder, American hero.
A special good night from our friend Jessica. And the boot campaign, national nonprofit dedicated to military community. I`m joining. #bootson
to support 1.4 million men and women serving. Here I am with retired Staff Sergeant COO Joey Jones, wounded in combat. Go to bootcampaign.org.
Again, one more time, imaginenomalaria.org. Thanks to our guests, but especially to you for being with us, inviting us into your homes. Nancy
Grace signing off. See you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
