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Nancy Grace
Affluenza Kid Caught Playing Beer Pong; Ohio Sisters Try to Strangle Mom. Aired 8-9:00p ET
Aired December 08, 2015 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight live, Texas suburbs. A rich kid gets drunk and high on weed and Xanax, then mows down four people dead,
leaving two more paralyzed.
After getting straight probation for killing four people, the family still mourned the fiery deaths of their children, bombshell tonight. After
a sweetheart plea including no jail time whatsoever, the DUI four-time killer allegedly caught on video, yucking it up, playing beer pong!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s the kid who killed four people when he was 16 driving drunk and was only sentenced to 10 years probation and rehab
because his attorney claimed he was influenced by affluenza. This video, allegedly of the now 18-year-old Couch playing beer pong, was posted to
Twitter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, Willowick, two sisters, Jennifer and Joanna, skip the turkey and dressing and head straight to murder, reports the two evil
sisters smother and strangle their own mother Thanksgiving morning, using whatever they could get their hands on, telephone cords, towels, pillows
turned murder weapons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sisters Jennifer and Joanna Barnes made a plan for the holiday to strangle their mother. Police say the sisters actually had
plotted to kill their mother on Thanksgiving, and that morning went through with their plan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, Oakland County, caught on video, the most graphic video ever released by Oakland sheriffs. Two perps, cowards, film
themselves viciously beating a defenseless man afflicted with cerebral palsy, that man lying prostate on a cement floor of the stairwell while the
thugs kick and pummel him, scream profanities and racial slurs as the victim fights for his life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beatdown of a man with cerebral palsy in the stairwell of his apartment building.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say the suspects entered the victim`s apartment, taking his phone. When the victim followed to try and get the
phone back, that`s when police say the beating began.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, the Grinch is alive and well, and he`s headed to jail if we have anything to do with it, Christmas vandals stealing
everything from lanterns, inflatables, even the family Christmas tree out of the front yard. One makes off with Christmas lights. Another steals
Christmas trees from a Boy Scout troop. And they`re all caught on video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s -- it just makes you angry. I mean, you feel violated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s kind of unsettling to think that they stole Christmas decorations. What kind of person would do that?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And Fredericksburg. A teen girl`s family drops her off for a flight, but she never makes it. Instead, teen girl Caitlyn Aiken`s (ph)
luggage found thrown down a drainage ditch.
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight, live to Texas suburbs. A rich kid gets drunk and high on weed and Xanax. Then he mows down four people dead in a souped-up
red truck, leaving two more paralyzed.
He gets straight probation for killing four people, the family still mourning the fiery deaths of their children, that sweetheart plea including
no jail time, the DUI four-time killer allegedly caught on video tonight, yucking it up, playing beer pong.
Straight out to Robin Walensky, senior news anchor with The Blaze network. Robyn, thank you for being with us. This guy is Ethan Couch.
And as I recall, he had been at his parents` second home. They were nowhere around, and he was partying, getting high on booze, weed, Xanax, I
don`t know what else. And his parents let him go there and party, and he had free rein to use whatever drugs and booze he could get his hands on.
Then he`s got this incredibly souped-up red four-wheel-drive truck, mows down four people dead, leaves two more paralyzed.
What I didn`t get to start with is why he got straight probation, why the judge allowed that. Four dead people? That`s actually mass murder in
most jurisdictions. He gets straight probation?
[20:00:05]Tell me about the video we found tonight.
ROBYN WALENSKY, THE BLAZE (via telephone): Hi, Nancy. Well, this case is absolutely outrageous. People here in Texas are totally ticked
off. No justice, as you`ve said. He pled guilty to the four counts of intoxication, manslaughter and to two counts of intoxication assault. The
judge in this case has a history of leniency...
GRACE: Hold on just a moment, Robyn.
WALENSKY: (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: Liz, can you show me the picture of the crash, those mangled- up cars? I`m sorry, Robyn. Go ahead.
WALENSKY: Nancy, this case is absolutely outrageous. People here in Texas are totally ticked off. No justice in the case, as you said. Couch
pleaded guilty to four counts of intoxication manslaughter, two counts of intoxication assault.
He got in the car that night with seven friends. He stole beer from a Walmart, and then he was doing 70 in a 40, and he crashed into two cars and
killed four people.
The bottom line is this. He could be going to prison for up to 10 years, if on this video, he is seen drinking. The six seconds of the video
that we have seen, he is standing and clapping at the beer pong party. But so far, we have not seen any video of him actually taking a beer and
drinking it, Nancy.
GRACE: From what we are understanding, there are several witnesses at the party. Guys, a bunch of guys playing beer pong is obviously not a
felony. What`s so disturbing about the video that you`re seeing right now is that it appears to be Ethan Couch. We covered this at the time of the
incident.
Unleash the lawyers, Robin Ficker, Troy Slaten -- because what his parents claim -- and you`re about to hear from his mommy -- is that he
suffered from affluenza, that he had been so rich and so removed from the rest of the population, he didn`t really know how to interact.
And I guess he didn`t know, Ficker, that boozing and drugging and driving don`t mix and he killed four people, paralyzed two others. What
about the affluenza defense, Ficker?
ROBIN FICKER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, it seemed to work because he didn`t get jailed. But he went into a very expensive treatment program, an
in-patient program. Evidently, it wasn`t long enough because nothing propinks (ph) like propinquity. If he`s hanging around the beer, it`s
going to make its way into him.
GRACE: OK, Slaten. Weigh in.
TROY SLATEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Oh, my gosh, Nancy. You mean an 18- year-old boy is at a party? With other people? I mean, come on here. You know, he -- he has been punished. He entered his plea. The court has...
GRACE: He wasn`t punished.
SLATEN: ... decided it.
GRACE: He was never punished.
SLATEN: So it`s not fair to relitigate it here.
GRACE: He was never punished!
SLATEN: He`s on 10 years of probation! He`s got jail hanging over his head like a sword of Damocles, you know? And there`s no evidence that
he was drinking anything. He`s allowed to be around other people. He`s allowed to be around his friends. He`s allowed to be around even alcohol
and drugs. There`s no evidence that he has taken any.
GRACE: To Sheryl McCollum, former director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, MADD, Georgia, now with the Cold Case Investigative Research
Institute.
Sheryl, it pains me because I have lived through so many DUI homicides, vehicular homicides, where the victim`s family can`t make head
nor tails of what happened to their loved one.
It`s almost as if this guy, Ethan Couch, and our two defense attorneys, Robin Ficker and Troy Slaten, seem to think that a DUI crash --
this is four fatalities, two other people left paralyzed the rest of their lives -- is an accident.
And that is why, Sheryl McCollum, former director MADD Georgia, I never say a DUI accident. I say crash because it`s not an accident that
you choose to get drunk or high. It`s not an accident that you take your car keys, that you walk to your vehicle, that you insert them in the
ignition, turn, start the car, put it in reverse and then drive forward.
None of those are accidents, Sheryl McCollum!
SHERYL MCCOLLUM, FMR. DIR. MADD GEORGIA: Absolutely, Nancy. And this kid has not been punished. He`s had absolutely nothing pressed upon him to
the severity of what he`s done. And I`m going to tell you something. They`ve made him bulletproof, and he`s going to figure out what rich boy
tone (ph) is in prison when they take a turn to try to get it in.
GRACE: You know, and another thing. Look at the victims. I`m showing some of them to you right now, these people, dead -- dead -- two
others paralyzed for life because this guy, high on weed and Xanax and booze, drives.
Now, to rub the victims` nose in it, to add insult to injury, he`s caught on video playing beer pong, yucking it up, when he should be in
jail.
[20:10:03]I want you to listen, Sheryl McCollum, to what was said in secret depositions that we obtained.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Do you remember any occasion where your dad punished you by making you walk to work?"
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "No. I don`t remember ever having to walk to work."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "What action did you take?"
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Ethan walked back and forth to work for a month.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I`ve taken valium, hydrocodone, marijuana, cocaine, Xanax, Vynase (ph), and I think I tried ecstasy once. Pretty sure
that is it."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Walks back and forth to work for a month? Right there, his father says under oath he made Ethan Couch`s son walk back and forth to
work for a month. Then when Couch, him, the DUI driver that killed four and paralyzed two -- when he`s under oath, he said, I never did that. That
didn`t happen.
I mean, Sheryl, it`s a whole lifetime of covering up for him, putting a silver spoon in his mouth. Now there are four dead, and he`s on video
playing beer pong, McCollum.
MCCOLLUM: They are doing more damage every single time they get him out of trouble. Nancy, we`re going to see him over and over. He`s learned
nothing. He`s apologized for nothing. He is not sorry about anything. This kid is a disaster.
GRACE: You know, Robyn Walensky, senior news anchor with The Blaze network -- Robyn, what can be done? Now that this video has emerged of
what appears to be Ethan Couch yucking it up, playing beer pong with all his buddies when he should be in jail -- if this kid was not rich and
white, he would have been behind bars. This is a four-time homicide! And he got straight probation, straight probation! Two others permanently
paralyzed.
What can be done now? Is this enough to trigger -- if there`s a witness that says he was drinking, is this enough to trigger a probation
revocation and put him in jail?
WALENSKY: Yes. Not only witnesses, but Nancy, we are hearing that there is more video that may have been forwarded to the Tarrant County DA`s
office. I know the six seconds was forwarded, but there may be more. There is a tweet on Twitter that says, Your boy, Ethan Couch, violating
probation. I got more if you want. So there is possibly more out there, and that could send him to prison.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:16:36]GRACE: Live to Willowick. Two sisters, Jennifer and Joanna, skip the turkey and dressing and go straight to murder, reports the
two evil sisters smother and strangle their own mother Thanksgiving morning, using whatever they could get their hands on, computer cords,
towels and pillows turned murder weapons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanksgiving is usually a time for getting together with family for quality time. But for one family, it was
allegedly killing time. Sisters Jennifer and Joanna Barnes attacked their mother. Police say the sisters used USB cables, towels and a pillow to
strangle their mother.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Candace Trunzo, senior news editor, Dailymail.com. Candace, while most people were worried about their turkey,
this mother was being attacked by her own two daughters! Now, Candace, you and I have talked about this a lot. I`m going to take this up with our
shrink, Dr. Ish Major (ph). But patricide or matricide, which is slang for killing your parent, parenticide, is extremely rare. And these two are in
their 20s. They totally look possessed to me.
Let`s take it from the top, Candace Trunzo. Let`s start on Thanksgiving morning. What do we know happened?
CANDACE TRUNZO, DAILYMAIL.COM (via telephone): Well, we know that these two sisters were preparing turkey, doing whatever they were going to
do, and then all of a sudden, they...
GRACE: Wait a minute. Whoa, whoa, wait, wait! Candace, Candace, you`re telling me they were actually cooking the Thanksgiving meal, and
they what, took a break to murder their mother?
TRUNZO: Yes.
GRACE: They were cooking?
TRUNZO: They were preparing dinner, and then they told their mother something was wrong. The toilet was leaking down in the basement. So they
brought their mother down to the basement, and then they proceed to try to choke her with three USB cables, twisted together. One pulled on one side,
the other pulled on the other side. They pulled and pulled, and the mother was able to break free. And then that wasn`t enough and...
GRACE: Well, hold on. Wait, wait! I want to tell the viewers what they`re seeing right now. You`re seeing inside the home of these two evil
sisters, Jennifer and Joanna Barnes. The victim Carrie Nostasi (ph), their mom, she gave them a home. She worked her whole life to take care of them.
This is their cozy little home where she was raising the two girls. They`re in their 20s now, 22 and 24.
Candace Trunzo just described how they get computer cords and basically braid them and one -- they wrap it around Mommy`s neck. Then one
pulls one side and the other pulls the other.
Stacey Newman, why? Why do they hate their mom so much? What did she ever do to them?
STACEY NEWMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, we know when the mom calls 911, she said there was no fight before this. They just attacked
her out of nowhere and snapped. And she said her daughters had been in a funk lately. But she was fighting for her life and had to escape through a
window.
GRACE: OK, take a listen, Stacey just describing the 911 call, where the mom tries to save herself. Her own daughters attack her, smother her
and strangle her. Listen to the mom.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: 911, what is your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, ma`am. My name is (DELETED) I live at (DELETED)
911 OPERATOR: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My daughters are both mentally ill. They were in a state mental institution for about a year-and-a-half apiece. And they
have been in a little funk lately, and they tried to kill me this morning. And I crawled out a window and drove to my daughter`s house. I grabbed my
keys and drove to my daughter`s house.
[20:20:16]911 OPERATOR: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I`m concerned. They`re in the house still, as far as I know. They may have tried to kill themselves or...
911 OPERATOR: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They just snapped.
911 OPERATOR: Where are you at right now?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m sitting at a gas station in Painesville...
911 OPERATOR: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... with my other daughter. I went and got my other daughter.
911 OPERATOR: Was the encounter this morning with them physical?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. They got a rope and they tried to choke me! They almost succeeded.
911 OPERATOR: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I -- they -- we weren`t fighting at all. They just snapped.
911 OPERATOR: How old are they?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They`re 23 and 24.
911 OPERATOR: Do we think that they`re under the influence of anything?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, ma`am. No.
911 OPERATOR: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are just very mentally ill.
911 OPERATOR: OK, I understand. OK, I just wanted to make sure that there wasn`t any -- anything involved that way. Is your other daughter --
is your other daughter there with you right now?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. She drove. I didn`t even have contact lenses in. I didn`t have my phone. So I went straight to her house. I
didn`t know what to do!
911 OPERATOR: Are you guys on a pay phone?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: To Chief Michael Lazor with the Willowick Police Department. Chief, thank you so much for being with us. I know that it has been kicked
around that they`re mentally ill. But they had a very well-orchestrated plan. They planned it together to kill their mother.
Now I don`t know if they were in a depression. I don`t know if they had a drug problem or an alcohol problem. But none of that means insanity.
These two, from what I`m understanding, had a concerted attempt on their mother`s life. I mean, they wrapped that cord around her neck. One pulled
one way, the other pulled the other way, Chief.
CHIEF MICHAEL LAZOR, WILLOWICK POLICE DEPARTMENT (via telephone): Yes, they definitely had the intention to kill their mother. And when she
called us that morning, even though she told us that they had tried to kill her, her main concern was the welfare of her daughters.
She did say that she felt they were suicidal, depressed. There`s been a long history, and I believe it was even in the 911 call about the fact
that they`d been in a mental institution for well over a year. So they had post-stress disorder, bipolar disorder.
GRACE: What? Post-traumatic stress disorder? They told their own mother, Get down, bitch, you`re going to die tonight. That doesn`t sound
crazy to me, Chief Michael Lazor -- Chief Lazor joining us from Willowick Police Department. That just sounds downright evil!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:26:46]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sisters Jennifer and Joanna Barnes made a plan for the holiday to strangle their mother. Police say the sisters
actually had plotted to kill their mother on Thanksgiving, and that morning went through with their plan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: You know, these two daughters, ages 22 and 24, are now trying to claim they have a mental illness. But they had the wherewithal to
attack their mother, strangle and smother her on Thanksgiving.
They pretended as if they were cooking the Thanksgiving meal and said that there was a leak or some problem in the basement. They got their own
mother down there and then attacked her, using the words, Get down, bitch, you`re going to die tonight. You know what? That doesn`t sound crazy to
me. It sounds downright evil.
Dr. William Morrone, renowned forensic pathologist joining us out of Madison Heights. Dr. William Morrone, I`m thinking about that braided
cord, that phone cord, computer cord. They had it wrapped around her neck. One pulled one way, one pulled the other. How much pressure was on her
neck, Doctor?
DR. WILLIAM MORRONE, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: When you use a cord, you always have to remember these things look like rubber, but there`s wire
inside. And the amount of pressure you need to press wire on the neck and choke somebody is the same amount of pressure as it takes to slice a loaf
of bread. Even if it`s just a USB cord, there`s wire inside this. Wire is what professionals use in assassination to kill other people.
GRACE: You know, also -- to Chief Michael Lazor, Willowick Police Department. Chief, I know that you`re not going to comment on the
evidence, but it`s leaked out that they admitted that they tried to kill their mother. They strangled and smothered her. But now they pled not
guilty. So I guess now this thing is marching forward to trial. They`ve got to go with insanity because they were caught red-handed.
What was the evidence that you found at the scene?
LAZOR: Basically, they were able to recover the USB cords at the house, as well as, I believe, the towel that they had tried to use to kill
their mother. The girls were very forthcoming in admitting what they had done.
The surprising thing is, I know they`ve had a preliminary hearing and a pretrial. They`ll -- they are currently in Lake County jail, will be
there for some time until they actually get to a point where there`s a trial, if there is one.
And in truth, pleading not guilty to a felony charge like this of attempted murder is not uncommon so that, actually, they can prepare and
see what`s best in terms of getting help for them and for the victim, the mother, who has really been going through a grinder here.
GRACE: You know, Chief Lazor, again, thank you for being with us. When they were giving their statements, which is all public record now, did
they give a motive as to why they wanted to kill their own mother right in the middle of the Thanksgiving day meal preparation?
LAZOR: Well, they`ve been carrying with them a lot of resentment to their mother. The girls had apparently had -- dealt with abuse when they
were younger and had blamed her, misguidedly, I believe. But that was their main motivation, that they blamed her for the abuse that they had
suffered as younger children.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: And now, live to Oakland County. Caught on video. Some of the most graphic video ever released by Oakland sheriffs. Two perps,
cowards, film themselves viciously beating a defenseless man afflicted with cerebral palsy. The man lying prostrate on a cement floor of a stairwell
while the thugs continue to kick him, pummel him, scream profanities at him and racial slurs. As the poor victim fights for his life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say two attackers stole a 23-year-old disabled man`s cell phone, then filmed themselves beating the victim. He
gave chase and caught up to them in the stairwell. They shot the video with the victim`s phone, and then posted it to his Facebook and their own.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Chris Renwick joining us, anchor, WJR. Thank you for being with us.
CHRIS RENWICK, WJR: Thanks for having me.
[20:35:00]
GRACE: Who are these thugs?
RENWICK: Well, both a pair of 20-year-olds. Nikey Walker and Shadeed Bey. Both from Pontiac.
GRACE: Everybody, you are seeing the two guys caught on video. Attacking a victim with cerebral palsy. Let`s take it from the beginning.
Tell me, Matt Zarrell, how this landed online for us to see?
ZARRELL: What happened is that police say that the suspects, after beating this man, went and posted the video on the victim`s own Facebook
page, as well as their own Facebook pages, and police were alerted that the man was lying in the stairwell, fighting for his life. They went to see
him, and that`s when they did an investigation and discovered the posting of these videos on the different Facebook pages.
GRACE: To Chris Renwick, WJR. Chris, what prompted this? Or did anything prompt it?
RENWICK: Well, it`s really still unclear as to maybe the relationship that Walker and Bey had with the victim. But they came to the home, took
his cell phone, which the 23-year-old ran after them, because it was his cell phone, his property. Ran after them, and they met in the stairwell,
and that`s when the beating happened.
GRACE: So let me understand this. Matt Zarrell, they -- oh! They steal his cell phone, he tries to chase them, and then they catch him in
the stairwell. And this beating goes down. Is that how it happened?
ZARRELL: Exactly, Nancy. They stomp him, they injure his eye, they actually spit on the man. And after they beat him, the video shows him
lying there in the stairwell, not moving.
GRACE: So to Dr. William Morrone, what can you tell us about the kicks this guy took to the stomach?
MORRONE: Any time you hit somebody as blunt force injury that has a chronic disease like that, there`s less muscle to absorb and less fat to
absorb the shock. You`re more likely to create organ damage, or broken bones.
GRACE: This victim also suffered from cerebral palsy. Listen to what the -- literally the poster boy for cerebral palsy says.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the most shocking thing about this case was how brazen it was. Not only did they assault this 23-year-old man, but
they filmed it with his own cell phone, and then they uploaded it to their own Facebook pages, as well as his Facebook page. That`s to make you
wonder, did they think there were going to be any repercussions at all? Did they think they were going to be punished at all? It almost makes one
believe they thought they could get away with this. I think that`s probably the most shocking part of all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: To Dr. Ish Major, psychiatrist and author of "Little White Lies." Dr. Ish, to attack someone that is disabled, he had cerebral palsy,
which has a plethora of physical problems that you are besieged with. To attack basically an invalid, this guy was, anyway, and steal a cell phone.
The poor guy tries to chase after them. And this is what happens. The thinking of not only beating someone mercilessesly like this, but a
handicapped person?
MAJOR: Nancy, this is a horrific video that I`m watching. And listen, this kid`s mom named him after a sneaker. So that gives you an
idea of the dysfunctional environment they were probably born into. How insignificant does your life have to be in order to try to make yourself
feel better and get some type of accolades by doing this type of thing to someone with a disability. That is lower than low. That is despicable.
I`m just disgusted by looking at this, Nancy.
GRACE: It seems to me, there`s got to be -- and I`m not saying it rises to any type of mental defect that can be used at trial, as a defense,
but some type of disassociation with the harm and the injury you`re causing your victim. Isn`t there a name for that?
MAJOR: Well, you know what, Nancy, there are all types of names for it. These kids are obviously out of touch with reality. What`s the
reality that you could think you could get away with something like this, post it to social media and not have any consequences. So there`s
something else going on here. I wonder if there is any type of drugs going on, or some type of gang affiliation, Nancy.
GRACE: Well, I don`t -- I don`t even know why you`re saying gang affiliation. We`ve heard nothing about that whatsoever. But apparently, a
psychopath is someone that does not associate, does not share the same emotions as regular people. Unleash the lawyers. Robin Ficker and Troy
Slaten. All right, Ficker, give me your best defense for this.
FICKER: I think there may well have been some kind of sexual relationship here, and --
GRACE: What?
FICKER: What you see is retribution.
[20:40:00]
GRACE: What, whoa, whoa, whoa. Where are you even getting that?
FICKER: Well, you`re asking me for a best defense. I think that`s a good defense if indeed it happened.
GRACE: Should it have a shred of truth to it?
FICKER: It may well have happened.
GRACE: You know, Ficker, you never cease to amaze me. Troy, give me something better than that, please.
SLATEN: You know, Nancy, sometimes as a criminal defense attorney, we`re called upon to defend the indefensible. What I would be doing is
looking for any kind of mitigating factors. I would be taking one of the clients -- I couldn`t represent both of them -- I would be taking one of
them and trying to get them to cooperate and, you know, reduce any potential penalties and punishment by cooperating with authorities,
potentially, in order to mitigate the punishment that looks like it could really happen in this case.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:45:00]
GRACE: The Grinch who stole Christmas is alive and well. And he`s headed to jail, if we have anything to do with it. Christmas vandals
stealing everything from lanterns, inflatables, even the family Christmas tree out of the front yard. One makes off with Christmas lights, another
one steals Christmas trees from a boy scout troop. And they`re all caught on video.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From the cameras in the yard, we were able to see that somebody had come in and taken all the kids` Christmas decorations.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Which serves as a reminder, as the holidays get closer, grinches like this guy are out there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: It seems that the greed increases the closer we get to the season of love. Take a look at this!
(MUSIC)
GRACE: That`s "You`re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," from Warner Bros. TV, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." Straight out to Dave Priest, morning
show host, WRNN. What happened?
PRIEST: Well, it`s just amazing that these people come in, and they think that nobody is looking, and they truly are grinches. But it`s really
interesting to see the things they take, the care they take to try to steal some of these individual lollipops, the lights, the inflatables. Whatever
they can get away with, and they just don`t seem to care.
GRACE: David Priest is with us. Officer Terrence Perkins from the Mobile police department in Mobile, Alabama family shocked to discover
their Christmas things stolen. What happened in your case, Officer Perkins?
TERENCE PERKINS, MOBILE PD: That is correct, Ms. Grace. A family woke up to discover their Christmas decorations stolen from their front
yard.
GRACE: You know what? That is a low. Officer Perkins, any idea who did it?
PERKINS: Well, after reviewing the videotape that the family had availing their front yard, they were able to see the grinch come into their
yard at approximately 3:25 a.m. and remove two Christmas trees, two lanterns, as well as two inflatables.
GRACE: The inflatables! The inflatables. One was a Dora the Explorer. Officer Terence Perkins joining us from Mobile, Alabama.
Detective Misty Holly is joining us from Portsmouth Police Department. What happened in your case, Detective Holly?
MISTY HOLLY, DETECTIVE: Hi, Nancy. In our case, it happened just after Thanksgiving. The family had already put up decorations in their
home and on the outside of their home. One morning, they wake up and they notice that some of the decorations were missing. They reviewed their
security footage, and they saw where a man gets out of a vehicle, walks right up into the yard, looks at their decorations, unplugs them from the
extension cord and walks off with their decorations and drives away.
GRACE: And another thing, Michael Christian, the case that shocked Ohio, where a man steals a Christmas tree from the boy scout troop.
CHRISTIAN: That`s right, Nancy. It was Boy Scouts set up selling Christmas trees in a grocery store parking lot. The day after
Thanksgiving. The theft happened at 6:00 in the morning. Somebody helped themselves to two of them.
GRACE: And what about Middleton, Ohio. Dave Priest, WRNN. In that one, a Christmas display was stolen right off the front lawn.
PRIEST: Not once, but twice, Nancy. Melinda Forthing (ph), a mother there, put up a display for her 6-year-old twins, Aiden and Abigail. They
loved them, but unfortunately, not once but twice was she hit up. Once she got a Santa.
(CROSSTALK)
PRIEST: -- stolen and the second time they came back and took more.
GRACE: There is a woman grinch! I`m looking right at her. There is a woman grinch unplugging the candle and stealing Christmas decorations off
the front yard. Which case is this? Michael Christian, who is that?
[20:50:00]
CHRISTIAN: This is a woman who has just been identified. There`s a warrant out for her arrest. This is in Middletown, Ohio. She stole some
lollipops. She`s been to this home twice apparently.
GRACE: Whoa. This is the one in Ohio?
CHRISTIAN: Middletown, Ohio. The Boy Scouts were also in another town in Ohio.
GRACE: Look at this. Who is this woman? Look at her stealing. Come on, everybody out there. You`ve got to be able to identify this one. If
not her, at least the things she`s stealing. She probably put them in her own front yard.
Everybody, you`re hearing "You`re a mean one, Mr. Grinch" from Warner Brothers TV, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:55:00]
GRACE: Live to Fredricksberg. A teen girl`s family drops her off for a flight, but she never makes it. Instead, teen girl Katelynn Akin`s (ph)
luggage is found thrown down a drainage ditch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A frantic mother looking for answers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s scary. You don`t know what to think.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lisa Sullivan wondering where her daughter seemingly disappeared to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re dealing with this as a missing person right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Michael Christian, let me understand what happened. I know the teen girl was headed to the airport, D.C. Reagan Airport, and the
father, the stepfather drops her off at the train station and she goes on. But then her luggage is found thrown down a drainage ditch and she never
makes her flight?
CHRISTIAN: That`s right. Originally the reports were as you said, the stepfather had dropped her off at the metro station. Later reports
said he had actually dropped her off at a nearby mall in Springfield, Virginia. That mall is pretty much right next to the train station. That
would be theoretically possible. Police I know are looking at surveillance video from both the mall and the train station, but that`s a very tedious
process, and right now they have nothing.
GRACE: Everybody, you are seeing photos of teen girl Katelyn Michelle Akins. Blond hair, blue eyes, 5`4, 122 pounds, on her way back to college
in Arizona. The family says they dropped her at a train station and then on to the airport. There was some confusion -- did she want to go to the
mall first to pick something up? The thing about that, to Robin Ficker and Troy Slaten, you know, Robin Ficker, the malls are covered in surveillance
video. If she was ever at that mall, there should be video of her coming in and leaving.
FICKER: There would definitely be seen on video. The malls have cameras everywhere. I would start searching for the young men that she`s
had relationships with in the past.
GRACE: We don`t know of any.
FICKER: She may very well have run off with one of them.
GRACE: We don`t know anything about her being with any young men, as you phrase them. As a matter of fact, she was on her way back to school.
Troy Slaten, there are nearly 400 registered sex offenders within a two or three mile radius of that mall.
SLATEN: I would want to be looking at all of her electronic devices. I`d want a full electronic scrub of all of her social media, her Facebook,
Twitter, Snapchat, everything to see who she`s been talking with. Maybe she was going to meet up with somebody there and maybe she had her dad, her
step-dad drop her off at the mall in order to meet with some guy who turned out to be a really bad person.
GRACE: Yes. No, Troy. Can I ask you a question, Troy Slaten. Do you have even a scintilla of evidence at all to suggest she was meeting
somebody? Are you just like grabbing for straws?
SLATEN: We don`t know anything. That`s why it would be so important --
GRACE: So no.
SLATEN: -- to look at all of her electronic devices. Kids these days are married to their phones.
GRACE: I`m not saying you shouldn`t look at her electronic devices, but to suggest that she has really run off with someone, that doesn`t seem
to be the case. Michael Christian, have you ever noticed every time a young girl goes missing, the defense attorneys want us to believe she`s off
with some man? There`s nothing to suggest that whatsoever. And also, Michael, isn`t it true that her ticket, her wallet, all of that were in the
luggage?
CHRISTIAN: Yes, that`s right, Nancy. According to her sister. And this luggage was 40 miles away from the mall and the train station. They
found her wallet, ID, cash, old glasses and a plane ticket.
GRACE: Tip line, 040-582-7115. Help bring Katelyn home.
Let`s remember American hero, Army Specialist Cheyenne Willey, 36, Fremont, California. Bronze Star, Purple Heart, National Defense Service
Medal. Loved martial arts, hiking, biking. Mother Patsy. Sister Stacy. Cheyenne Willey, American hero.
Thanks to our guests, but especially to you for being with us. Nancy Grace signing off. I`ll see you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern. And
until then, good night, friend.
END
