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Nancy Grace
Car Plows Into OSU Homecoming Parade/Baby Dies at Michigan Day Care. Aired 8-9:00p ET
Aired October 26, 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 right now. Four dead, including a 2-year-old. An Oklahoma State University homecoming parade turns into
chaos, killing four, injuring 47 others. Quote, "People were flying everywhere" when Stillwater resident 25-year-old Adacia Chambers, allegedly
DUI behind the wheel, plows through a motorcycle, and then into the homecoming parade crowd. Bombshell right now. As we go to air, her lawyer
says she, quote, "blacked out"?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can hear the horrific screams from the crowd as a car barrels through a homecoming parade in Oklahoma.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The bodies flying the air...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The car hit me, like, as it was stopping.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four dead, nearly 50 more injured.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, Grand Rapids suburbs. Daddy picks up 3-month-old Cooper Fales from day care after work, all bundled up in his carseat
against the cold weather outside. Little Cooper sleeps the whole way home. And it`s only then when parents unbundle baby Cooper they learn the baby is
dead. And the baby has been dead for hours and hours.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A 3-and-a-half-month-old baby boy is suddenly found dead. The woman who ran the day care allegedly told Cooper`s father
that the baby was asleep in his carseat when he was picked up. But when the father and son got home, Cooper`s parents found him to be cold and
blue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, Bradenton, Florida. Has a missing 5th-grade girl, Janiya Thomas, been found dead in a freezer? In a stunning twist, as we go
to air, did family members know 11-year-old Janiya abused and dead? And if they did know, why aren`t they in jail?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where is 11-year-old Janiya Thomas? Is she alive or dead? Investigators tell us Keishanna Thomas delivered a freezer to the
home, a freezer containing the body.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, Lorain. The so-called nightcrawler man allegedly opens the door of a crashed and mangled car to video the grisly scene
inside, including the dying teens. But is this ghoul actually a copycat of the box office hit "Nightcrawler," seen here from Open Road Films, with
screen stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Renee Russo?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Paul Pelton is facing charges for a crime you don`t hear of very often, vehicle trespass.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Most of the six-minute video Pelton posted on line is too graphic to show.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know I`m being demonized for not trying to help, but to be honest with you, there wasn`t really nothing I can do. I`m not a
medic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, Dallas, teen girl Zoe vanishes en route to church, broad daylight. But then she`s found murdered inside the family`s white
minivan. The case takes a bizarre twist. Are police eying a man who actually attends Zoe`s funeral?
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. Four dead, including a 2-year-old, an Oklahoma State University homecoming parade turns into chaos, killing four, injuring
47 others. Quote, "People were flying everywhere" when Stillwater resident, allegedly DUI, 25-year-old Adacia Chambers behind the wheel plows
through a motorcycle, then into the homecoming parade crowd. As we go to air, her lawyer says she, quote, "blacks out"?
Candace Trunzo, senior news editor, Dailymail.com -- Candace, can you just tell me what happened? Start at the beginning.
CANDACE TRUNZO, DAILYMAIL.COM (via telephone): Yes. It was supposed to be a fabulous day, Oklahoma State homecoming parade, an event everybody
in the town of Stillwater looks forward to. All of a sudden, out of nowhere comes this Hyundai Elantra. It hits a motorcycle, which flies into
the air, and then into the crowd.
People were scattered all over. It was a screaming, terrifying, horrifying time. Something that was supposed to be so happy ended up in
tragedy with four people dead, including a 2-year-old baby.
GRACE: Four dead at a homecoming parade. And at this hour, we understand the driver DUI behind the wheel. Her lawyer is claiming she,
quote, "blacks out."
[20:05:00]Now, I don`t understand when she blacked out because she was at work that day at Freddy`s frozen custard and burger shop. She worked a
regular day. She apparently got distraught at some time during the day and left early. So when did she black out? What does she remember? What
doesn`t she remember?
Also, we are learning this afternoon that when she is told that she has killed four people, including a 2-year-old, 47 others injured, she had
absolutely no remorse whatsoever.
Joining me now is Captain Kyle Gibbs, the PIO with the Stillwater Police Department. Captain Gibbs, thank you so much for being with us.
CAPT. KYLE GIBBS, STILLWATER POLICE DEPARTMENT (via telephone): Thank you for having me.
GRACE: I understand that Adacia has now -- Adacia Chambers, age 25, has just posted $1 million bond. I`m very curious, when do they claim that
she blacked out, Captain?
GIBBS: Well, I`m not exactly sure. I`ve only heard, actually, through the media outlets that the -- her attorney alleges that. So I have
to assume he`s talking about in the -- as she was approaching the crowd.
GRACE: You know, it`s interesting, police were actually part of this parade. They were right there on the scene. What did they say? What do
the police officers say happened, Captain?
GIBBS: Well, essentially, yes, the parade was coming to an end. The last four entries in the parade were the local sheriff`s office that had
several cars, the fire department, which had two of their apparatus, and finally, one of our police cars.
They were just coming to that termination point at the time this occurred. And the officers on scene, the motorcycle officer, who
fortunately was off his motorcycle -- he heard the noise. He heard the car approaching, turned to look just as it hit his cycle, and then went on --
the car went on into the crowd.
GRACE: Whoa! Look at this scene of devastation. The car making such a racket as it approached, the officers turned around to see it. We have
obtained the video.
Liz, if you`ve got that cued up, could you roll it, please, now? You`re seeing the homecoming parade, when out of the blue, there you see
the car coming through the crowd killing four, injuring 47. Oh! Many people believing it was some part of the parade.
I think I finally got Scott Mitchell on the phone, talk show host, KOKC. Are you with us?
SCOTT MITCHELL, KOCK (via telephone): Yes, I am, Nancy.
GRACE: Thank you for joining us. So explain to me what happened.
MITCHELL: Well, most people didn`t see it coming. Most people are describing a situation of carnage. But it`s basically people describing
being next to somebody, and they were just gone. So very few people had any inkling. It happened so fast. Most people just remember after the
shock and the horror.
GRACE: You know, what`s interesting to me, Scott Mitchell, KOKC, her lawyer is now claiming she blacked out. But didn`t she go to work as
normal that day? People at her job say she acted completely normally. And she did seem agitated and left early. She was upset about something and
left early. But no indication she had ever blacked out before?
MITCHELL: Well, that`s -- there`s some question about that. We`re hearing lots of different stories -- and of course, the arraignment just
happened probably within the last half hour. So the attorney in a really long presser yesterday said he just was not satisfied he was dealing with
somebody who was competent. And in fact, the judge today granted that motion for a competency hearing. So he says she doesn`t remember much.
GRACE: You know, that`s interesting. Unleash the lawyers, Robin Ficker, D.C., Andell Brown, Miami. First to you, Robin Ficker. It`s
interesting that her defense lawyer at this early juncture is talking about competency because competency is what is determined at the time of trial.
Are you at the time of trial competent to help your defense attorney and assist and aid your defense attorney during a trial? So it seems to me
they`re putting the horse before the cart here.
ROBIN FICKER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I agree. If he hasn`t talked to a competent person, how can he decide as a non-medical person whether or
not she`s competent? Have they looked at her cell phone records? Was she texting? We`ve all seen the commercials where someone is looking away from
the road while they`re texting.
GRACE: Well, their defense, Andell Brown, is that she blacked out. Now, how do you work all day long normally, and then suddenly, you black
out and kill four people, including a 2-year-old, and when you`re told about it, you show no remorse whatsoever?
[20:10:15]ANDELL BROWN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, I think it goes back to whether or not she`s competent. Her lawyer, from his initial meeting
with her, realized something was wrong. And I think the reason why he`s asking for the competency evaluation at this stage is because in order to
prepare an adequate defense for her, he needs to know that she`s engaged, she can communicate with him effectively in aiding and defending herself.
It starts from now.
GRACE: Wait a minute!
BROWN: It`s not just for trial.
GRACE: Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Competency is a hearing that must be had, but they are saying -- the defense lawyer is saying she
blacked out, all right? That`s what he initially said.
You know, to Dr. Ish Major, psychiatrist and author of "Little White Lies," I`d like to hear what you have to say about this because if you have
a history of seizures or blackouts, you are not allowed to have a driver`s license. She had a driver`s license.
So do they expect us to believe that this day, of all days, she has a blackout for the first time in her life? It sounds like a very convenient
defense to me, Dr. Ish.
DR. ISH MAJOR, PSYCHIATRIST: Well, Nancy, it could be a convenient excuse. However, if you do have seizure disorders, you`re not allowed to
drive for six months after a seizure. So depending on if that`s true and when she had it, she could be legally allowed to drive.
Now, there are other reasons for people blacking out. People black out where they`re under supreme stress, totally angry, or...
GRACE: Really?
ISH: ... they`re disassociated...
GRACE: Really?
ISH: ... because they`re having some...
GRACE: Dr. Ish...
ISH: ... type of alternative personality...
GRACE: Dr. Ish...
ISH: ... taking over.
GRACE: Dr. Ish, Dr. Ish, Dr. Ish -- please put him up. Have you ever personally in a moment of stress, just blacked out?
ISH: Well, Nancy, I haven`t, and certainly, you probably haven`t...
GRACE: OK, that`s a yes/no.
ISH: ... because we don`t have panic disorder.
GRACE: OK, that was a yes/no because I don`t know anybody that just passes out and blacks out and continues driving and they`ve never had a
blackout before.
And I want to go to Adi Jaffe, addiction specialist. What do you make of it, Adi?
ADI JAFFE, ADDICTION SPECIALIST: Well, one of the things we`re hearing now is that there might have been ongoing mental health struggles
for the last few years.
So there are a couple of questions that I want to answer before we can really go further. And one of those is, was she on any medication, because
we know blackouts can happen as a side effect of some medications? And if so, why was that not monitored as part of her ability to drive, as you
pointed out at the beginning.
But as Dr. Ish just pointed out, somebody can black out because of an extreme lack of sleep, because of extreme pressure...
GRACE: I never blacked out because...
JAFFE: ... or things of that nature.
GRACE: ... I didn`t get enough sleep. She was fine at work all day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:16:53]GRACE: Live, Daddy picks up 3-month-old Cooper from day care. He`s bundled up in his carseat against the cold weather outside.
Well, he sleeps the whole way home. And then it`s only then when they get home to Mommy they unbundle baby Cooper and learn the baby is dead. And
the baby has been dead for hours and hours.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His parents believe the death happened while the infant was at day care. But when his father picked him up a little before
6:00 o`clock PM, Cooper appeared to be asleep in his carseat. But when he got home, it turned out Cooper wasn`t asleep at all. He was dead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Awful! Awful! And what I don`t understand -- James Gemell, news director at WJRW -- are there any criminal charges in this?
JAMES GEMELL, WJRW (via telephone): ... in Michigan, Nancy, 11 violations allegedly of licensing rules saying that he was allowed to sleep
in that carseat. But you know, exactly how this is going to hash out in terms of the investigation going forward still remains a question.
GRACE: OK, Jim, I didn`t hear you at the beginning. Are there any criminal charges? I heard you say something about some violations. You
know what? For all I know, that could be a building code violation, all right? Are there criminal charges? The baby is dead.
GEMELL: Well, they are going ahead with the investigation on that, but whether or not they`re going to be able to make the charges stick is
still a question, Nancy. There`s a little bit of confusion as to whether they`re going to actually press these charges or amend them.
GRACE: What? OK. Hold on. Jim, James Gemell, news director, WJRW, don`t move. I`m not mad at you, Jim. I`m mad at the fact this baby has
been dead for a really long time when the Daddy picks him up all bundled up. The Daddy thinks he`s asleep. He`s covered, and gets him home, the
baby is blue. He`s dead. He`s been dead. And they gave him to the father dead, OK.
Benjamin Mills is with me right now, the lawyer for the victim`s family. Now, Gemell just told me, Mr. Mills, that they`re investigating.
Really? How long are they going to investigate because you leave a baby at day care, and they give you back a dead baby bundled up so you don`t know
until you get the baby home? What?
BENJAMIN MILLS, ATTORNEY FOR VICTIM`S FAMILY (via telephone): Well, yes, I understand that that is a question. And it`s certainly a question
that the family has as to how long the investigation will go on.
My understanding is that this has been investigated by the prosecutor, and it`s been determined at this time that there aren`t -- there isn`t
enough evidence to press charges here. And primarily, the reason why is because the manner of death, according to the medical examiner, is
undetermined because there were so many questions that they were asking Teresa Mowers, the day care provider, who wasn`t being forthcoming. So
there`s a lot of questions that are unanswered because they don`t...
[20:20:17]GRACE: OK, I don`t understand that, Mr. Mills. Joining me from Grand Rapids is a veteran lawyer representing the victim`s family.
Its Benjamin Mills.
So what you`re saying -- I know, Benjamin, you`re telling me accurately what has been said. But this doesn`t fit to me. It`s a non
sequitur. It means it doesn`t follow that you leave your perfectly healthy baby at day care when you go to work in the morning. You come pick it up,
the baby`s all dressed, ready to go, bundled up in it`s little coat and its hat. And it`s got a muffler on against the cold.
But the baby is handed to you dead. And the baby has been dead for many, many hours. I`ve got a problem with that.
Joining me is Dr. Devi Nampiaparampil, assistant professor at NYU. Dr. Devi...
DR. DEVI NAMPIAPARAMPIL, NYU: Hi, Nancy.
GRACE: If they can`t figure -- hey. If they can`t figure out why the baby died, then they need to bring in somebody else to figure out why this
child died.
NAMPIAPARAMPIL: Well, there could bring in other experts, but there are some difficulties. So if the baby had something called sudden infant
death syndrome, SIDS, that means that the baby might have just suddenly stopped breathing without anybody actually, you know, facilitating that or
causing that.
And sometimes, if a person has any kind of heart rhythm abnormality, which can happen in babies, too...
GRACE: Well, don`t you think...
NAMPIAPARAMPIL: ... there`s no sign of it.
GRACE: ... Dr. Devi, that if the baby had died of SIDS or heart problems, they would have noticed the baby`s dead before they bundle it up
and send it home?
NAMPIAPARAMPIL: Sure.
(CROSSTALK)
NAMPIAPARAMPIL: I would have hoped they`d call for help.
GRACE: There`s something extremely nefarious about that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:26:00]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did Cooper Fales die because of a day care center`s negligence? Cooper appeared to be asleep in his car seat,
but when the father and son got home, Cooper`s parents found him to be cold and blue. They immediately called 911, but little Cooper couldn`t be
saved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining me right now, the lawyer for Cooper`s family, Benjamin Mills. He`s a veteran trial lawyer out of Grand Rapids. Benjamin, thank
you for being with us.
OK, let me understand this. I know that that medical examiner says they cannot determine cause of death, OK? A, I`m not accepting that,
number one. But B, can they tell me how long baby Cooper had been dead, that he was dead at the day care?
MILLS: Yes, that`s something that`s pretty clear from all the medical evidence. When Cooper was discovered, he had advanced rigor mortis such
that the -- his jaw could not be opened to even start life-saving efforts. All the medical evidence and the medical examiner has told us that that
level of rigor mortis does not begin until at least two hours after the time of death.
So when Zach came home with Cooper at 6:10 PM, he had likely been deceased for two hours, potentially more because rigor mortis it takes
longer to develop in a baby. And so this means at 4:10 PM It`s likely that Cooper was passed away at that time.
Teresa Mowers, the day care provider. told authorities, investigators, that she gave him a bottle at 4:00 o`clock and watched him play until 5:00
o`clock, when she put him down in his carseat to take a nap.
Michigan regulations are very clear that she can`t put an infant in a carseat for sleeping. It`s not an approved sleeping location. And you
can`t cover the face of a sleeping baby or any baby.
And when Zach came to pick him up at 5:45 PM that day, he was covered by a carseat cover and was sleeping in his carseat. Both of those are
direct violations of Michigan regulations. We know that Cooper had already been deceased for an hour-and-a-half by that point.
GRACE: At the least.
MILLS: So either that suggests improper monitoring or negligence in terms of allowing him to suffocate. We think that suffocation is the most
likely cause of death here.
GRACE: You know, that`s interesting, Benjamin Mills, that you say that because, Dr. Devi, it would seem to me that with suffocation, the
medical examiner, the coroner, ought to be able to identify that. I mean, when you suffocate, you very often have hemorrhage in the petechiae, which
are the tiny, tiny blood vessels in your eyes. There are many ways to determine if a child suffocates.
NAMPIAPARAMPIL: There are ways, I agree with you, Nancy, but the thing is, sometimes, I mean, if you`re lucky, you might find some fibers in
the nose or in the mouth or some signs in the lungs of a suffocation, but you don`t always see it. So that might be why they`re saying that it`s
undetermined.
GRACE: So Benjamin Mills, I find it very difficult to believe they can`t determine cause of death.
MILLS: They can`t determine it -- that`s what the medical examiner determined, that it`s undetermined. And so it`s our job, and the reason
that we`re bringing this civil lawsuit is to try to get some answers. We don`t think Teresa Mowers has been forthcoming. We think she`s told us
things that were not true.
GRACE: Yes, her story does not...
MILLS: We want to get to the bottom of this.
GRACE: Doesn`t sound true, Benjamin. Her story does not make sense to me because we`re trying to apply logic to an illogical statement. For
her to say that the baby was alive and well at 5:00 o`clock, when the medical examiner says the baby`s been dead for two hours -- do I have the
timeline straight, Benjamin?
MILLS: Medical examiner said the time of death was prior to 4:10 PM. So it would have been 50 minutes at 5:00 o`clock. But yes, essentially...
GRACE: But she`s texting.
MILLS: ... that`s a long period of time.
GRACE: Hold on. She`s texting at 5:18, Benjamin. Let`s put that text back up. The day care owner is texting, baby -- "The baby, Cooper,
has been spitting up a lot today and sleeping a lot" -- 5:18 PM. So at 5:18, she is representing the baby is still alive, all right...
MILLS: Right.
GRACE: ... when the medical examiner is saying that`s impossible.
MILLS: That`s impossible by over an hour at that point.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Live. Bradenton, Florida, has a missing fifth grade girl. Janiya Thomas has been found dead in a freezer. In a stunning twist as we
go to air, did family members know the 11-year-old little girl Janiya abused and dead? And if they did, why aren`t they in jail?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 11-year-old Janiya Thomas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They actually broke open the freezer. Looked inside and saw a body. The child`s body inside the freezer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That`s a baby, an innocent child.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Common sense would suggest a missing girl`s mom would want to do anything to help authorities locate her daughter, not this
mom, she remains silent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:35:00]
GRACE: Joining me right now, Meredyth Censullo, investigative reporter. I understand we`re getting some very disturbing details about
the condition of her body.
MEREDYTH CENSULLO, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: That`s right. Just this afternoon, in fact. In fact, just about an hour ago, it was confirmed that
the body found in a freezer in Bradenton, Florida, is that of Janiya Thomas. We suspected this all along because her mother has never said
where the child was. It was confirmed this afternoon that it is, in fact, Janiya.
GRACE: You know what`s interesting, Meredyth Censullo, you don`t know what we have been through. We`ve been calling, calling, calling the
prosecutors, calling, calling, calling the judge. Because you can get a DNA match off mitochondrial DNA very quickly. I mean, it`s been used by
the Red Cross and the American government for decades to identify our fallen heroes on the war field, okay. So you can get that almost
immediately. The mom is in custody. So what, the system is too busy to identify the little girl in the freezer? They`re too busy? Why?
And another thing I`m hearing, Meredyth. And I want to know if you can confirm this, that whoever killed her -- and I`ve got my eye on her own
mother -- actually folded the little girl`s body up, like you`re folding a bath towel. Folded her body up and stuck her in a cardboard box and put
her in this freezer. That her body was essentially had little crystallized like icicles on her body. Is this true?
CENSULLO: Yes. All the court documents say that we now know it was Janiya, was folded into a cardboard box, that box was then placed into a
freezer. The only other thing found in the freezer were two boxes of baking soda in that freezer.
GRACE: Meredyth. Did you say baking soda? Two boxes of baking soda? So nobody could smell the little girl decomposing? So mommy thought --
thought through it, that she didn`t want her child`s body to smell.
Mark Klaas, joining me now, president and founder of KlaasKids foundation. You know what, Mark Klaas, I would put -- I would go in front
of that jury and hold up the two boxes of baking soda and say, you want to tell me this is not premeditated? I would demand the death penalty on this
mother, to do this to her child -- and then put baking soda in the freezer so nobody would smell the body of her baby girl? Are you kidding me? And
not only that, Mark Klaas, somebody brings me a freezer with a padlock on the freezer? I want to know what`s in the freezer, Mark.
KLAAS: Well, I think the only forethought this woman has ever expressed is the fact that she did put the baking soda in the freezer. She
seems to move forward in her life without consideration for the consequences of her actions. Her history with the Department of Children
and Families goes back over a decade. It seems to include sadistic behavior. Little children are always involved. And, in fact, this case
was brought to light over an abuse charge against another one of her children.
GRACE: Okay. Mark Klaas is with me. President and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation. He has championed children for years since his little
girl Polly was kidnapped and murdered. Mark Klaas, I feel like the prosecutor and the judge in this case is not hearing the victim. I mean,
look at her, Mark. Look at her eyes looking out at us. For us to do something. Mark, when you say this mother has this long history, explain
what you`re talking about.
KLAAS: Well, it goes all the way back to 2005, Nancy. And, in fact, this woman has been in trouble with the law numerous times during her life.
There have been multiple investigations open. They`re closed for whatever reason, without any real action being taken, and the result ultimately is
the death of this precious little child, at most likely her hands.
GRACE: This was -- unleash the lawyers.
[20:40:00]
Joining me, Andell Brown out of Miami and Robin Ficker joining me out of Maryland.
Robin, somebody had to fold the baby up, the little girl, and put her in a cardboard box. Somebody had to get the baking soda, open it up, and
put it in the freezer. The mother delivered the freezer to relatives padlocked. And Meredyth Censullo, I want you to listen to this, Ficker and
Brown. What did she tell the grandmother when she brought the freezer over there, Meredyth Censullo?
CENSULLO: She told the grandmother that she didn`t want anyone stealing her meat, which is why she padlocked the freezer, and she also
immediately plugged the freezer in, because she was afraid that meat would go bad.
GRACE: All right, Robin Ficker, how can you, with a straight face tell me that this was not premeditated?
FICKER: These iceboxes, freezers are attractive nuisances. How do we know how the child was contorted? She very likely fell into that freezer
herself, and then someone else padlocked it later. This mother is innocent.
GRACE: Okay. Hold on. I`m just taking just a beat to try to digest what you just said, Robin Ficker. All right. So you`re saying that the
girl contorted herself in a box and somehow got into the freezer, that it was an accident, and the mother covered it up?
FICKER: This contortion is a prosecutor`s contorted arguments. Why are we always told to take the lids, the doors off of iceboxes and
freezers? Because children go into them.
GRACE: Okay. Andell Brown, I really just don`t even know how to respond to that outlandish argument. I`ll give it to you, Ficker. All
right. You`re trying. She might end up hiring you to defend her. So to you, Andell Brown, the child cannot contort itself in this position. The
child was clearly dead when she was folded into a cardboard box. Andell Brown, are you there?
BROWN: Nancy, wait a minute, let`s first determine that we have a homicide. No one has determined the cause of death, how this young lady
died. Whether she died of natural causes, or not?
GRACE: You`re making a very good point.
BROWN: No one has determined that. And there`s also one more thing, Nancy, the fact that it was not just the mother, allegedly, that brought
this freezer to the family`s house. It was also her alleged boyfriend that was there.
GRACE: Let me just go right there.
BROWN: You don`t know who did what. So pointing a finger at her--
GRACE: Meredyth, this is --
BROWN: -- it`s not enough.
GRACE: -- the family friend she asked to help move the freezer. It was padlocked when he first gets there. And even if someone had something
to do with it, you`re going to hand your baby over in a freezer? In a padlock and not do something about it? Meredyth Censullo, why don`t they
have a cause of death yet? Is everybody dropping the ball on this girl? Are we the only ones that care about her?
CENSULLO: They did perform an autopsy late last week, they said it was inconclusive. They said they did expect to have a manner of death this
week. The fact that new information just came out a couple of hours ago, that they have in fact confirmed this was Janiya, it`s very likely we will
have a cause of death soon. But right now, they haven`t determined what that cause of death is.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:48:00]
GRACE: Live, Lorraine (ph). The so-called night crawler, a man allegedly opens the door of a crashed and mangled car to video the grisly
scene inside, including the dying teens. But is this ghoul actually a copycat of the box office hit "Nightcrawler" with screen stars Jake
Gyllenhaal and Renee Russo?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An apology posted by Paul Pelton after his shocking video of a teen dying in the aftermath of a car crash provoked
outrage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wanted to put the video out there so that other kids can see it and kind of learn from that mistake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to the "Morning Journal" reporter Kaylee Remington. Kaylee, this is awful. If this is true, this is awful. I
understand this guy goes up to a mangled car, creeps up on it, and starts videoing the people inside instead of trying to help them? What happened?
KAYLEE REMINGTON, MORNING JOURNAL: Well, Nancy, thanks for letting me be on the network.
Well, first of all, in the video, we see Pelton approaching the vehicle, and we see the driver and the passenger in the front, and you can
hear people around him, you know, telling each other to keep them still and not to move them. And according to Lorraine detectives (inaudible), Pelton
opened the back door of the vehicle and leaned in and continued to take video. He said -- he told Channel 5, he thought he saw movement in the
backseat, possibly someone back there that he could help.
GRACE: Oh, he could help them by videoing them? With me is Caylee Remington, also with me is Andy Kahan, victim advocate at the city of
Houston.
You monitor murderabilia. This is not a claim of murder, but this is eerily like the movie "Night Crawler." And you know who it reminds me of.
[20:50:00]
It reminds me of Wayne Williams, Andy Kahan, who claimed to be a stringer, a freelance videographer, photographer, and he would actually
show up at the crime scenes before the cops sometimes to video things. It turns out he was guilty of a string of horrible murders on little boys and
young teens. Now this. Andy, I want you to take a look at a clip from "Night Crawler" with Jake Gyllenhaal. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you my felon (ph) operator?
JAKE GYLLENHAAL, ACTOR: I don`t think so. I`m LaBloom (ph), I have some footage for sale.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A stringer?
GYLLENHAAL: What?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who do you work for?
GYLLENHAAL: At the moment I work for myself.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, see Frank out there the way you came.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you have?
GYLLENHAAL: Something I`m fairly certain you`ll be very excited about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That is "Night Crawler" from Open Red Films. Andy, what do you make of this case? It`s a real live "Night Crawler," it`s disgusting.
ANDY KAHAN, VICTIM ADVOCATE, HOUSTON: You know, Nancy, believe it or not, there is a market out there for crime scene photos. Am I surprised
and shocked at this? I wish I was. Am I saddened by it? Yes. One at the very least would hope any person with an ounce of humanity would have tried
to render aid instead of simply trying to cash in on a tragedy. Pelton`s behavior is totally repugnant, but again, it`s just another horrific
example of one trying to profit off crime in an insidious, despicable manner. He`s nothing but a river bottom catfish dweller, trying to cash in
on somebody`s tragedy.
GRACE: Andy, what`s so bizarre about it, is he claims he was trying to help the poor teens who were dying in the car. And he was videoing
them. And he actually goes up, Justin Freiman, doesn`t he go up to the car and actually open the door so he can -- they`re hanging upside down dying,
and he goes up, opens the door to get a better video of them dying?
FREIMAN: That`s right, Nancy, and the opening of the door is what really gets him in trouble, because that would be considered trespass. Had
he stayed a little further away, as awful as this is, he might not have broken any law.
GRACE: Andy Kahan, victim`s advocate, city of Houston, if you go on these murderabilia sites -- and no, this is not a murder -- but this is
ghoulish. What sort of things do people sell? What sort of things are people cashing in on death?
KAHAN: This is a burgeoning industry. I`ve seen this grow by leaps and bounds over the past decade. Anyone who can get their hands on actual
grisly crime scene photos, like it or not, is going to cash in with a hefty price.
I`ve seen items ranging from the mundane, to letters, autographs, pictures, hair samples, finger nail clippings. Even pieces of their
clothing. There`s nothing left to the imagination that can and will be sold on an open market as long as it`s directly related to crime.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:57:30]
GRACE: Live to Dallas, teen girl Zoe vanishes en route to church, broad daylight. But then Zoe is found murdered inside her family`s white
minivan. The case takes a bizarre twist. Are police eying a man who attends Zoe`s funeral?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where (inaudible) was found and the injuries that are consistent with her death would probably be known to people that may
have caused her death.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s a shame, a huge loss.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Matt Zarrell, I understand that Zoe was spotted at a Walgreens parking lot, and the guy that she picked up, she didn`t know. And she let
him drive the car. What is his history? Whose funeral did he attend?
ZARRELL: Based on his Facebook posts, it appeared he attended a funeral for someone he referred to as his mommy or mother. But just so you
know, this guy, Cochran, Antonio Lamar Cochran, he`s got an extensive criminal history. And Nancy, just this past January, he was acquitted of
sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl.
GRACE: Mark Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation. Why is this guy out walking around? Why is he out?
KLAAS: You know, that`s a great question. I think the answer is, that our whole country is moving much towards anything not involved with
incarceration, they don`t want to put people in jail, they want to have alternatives to it, they believe there`s some problem -- there is -- they
want to pursue rehabilitation, and it`s to the detriment of all of us, because crime rates are starting to rise.
GRACE: And now, Zoe Hastings dead, broad daylight on the way to church. Let`s remember American hero, Army Private First Class Angelo
Zawaydeh, just 19. San Bruno, California. Bronze Star, Purple Heart. Loved the family dogs, skateboarding. Wanted to go to college to become a
cop. Parents (inaudible) and April. Sisters Francesca and Nicole. Brother Dominick. Angelo Zawaydeh, American hero.
Thank you to our guests, but especially to you for being with us and inviting us in your home. Nancy Grace signing off, I`ll see you tomorrow
night, 8:00 sharp Eastern, and until then, good night, friend.
END
