Return to Transcripts main page
Nancy Grace
New York Kayak Murder Interrogation Tapes/Nine-Year-Old Killed in Dog Mauling. Aired 8-9:00p ET
Aired December 28, 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: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. We go live to a deadly kayak tragedy, where groom- to-be Vincent Viafore slips between the icy waters of the local Hudson River, his bride-to-be devastated.
Bombshell tonight. After a string of unusual Facebook postings, police hone in on the bride. Tonight, we obtain secret interrogation video
of the bride.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can`t get to him! It`s very windy, and the waves are coming in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) and now he`s gone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you kill Vince?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That day?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn`t kill him. I loved him. I didn`t do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That from ABC`s "20-20."
And live, Elmont, a 9-year-old girl mauled dead on a play date?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now the family of 9-year-old Amiyah Dunston is making funeral plans.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say when officers arrived on scene, the dog was still attacking the 9-year-old.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m not going to get into the details of what took place, but it was a violent attack.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, Indian River. Donald Hudson (ph), shopping at Walmart, gets a chilling call from his teen daughter. When he doesn`t
believe her, she sends her dad a confirmation text -- of her mother`s dead body! Yes, she kills her mom and texts Dad a photo.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police tape surrounded this home on Osborne (ph) Avenue. Detectives say Rachel Lee Hudson (ph) shot and killed her mother,
Susan Lee Hudson (ph), just before 4:00 AM.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kind of in disbelief. I was real shocked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, the shocking moment a (INAUDIBLE) worker allegedly poisons her co-worker`s water with deadly acid caught on grainy video. We
have the video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I ingested poison. I told him, Somebody put something in my drink.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Surveillance video allegedly shows Lemonfield (ph) unscrewing Santa Cruz`s (ph) Fiji (ph) water bottle only to then pour in a
chemical-based beauty product.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I take the bottle of water and I just start drinking, and it just felt -- I felt like entire burning my throat. All
the way down, I felt it. I couldn`t breathe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And to Ocala, a church usher caught red-handed on video stealing from the offering plate.
Hello. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell right now. We go live to a deadly kayak tragedy, where the groom, the groom-to be, Vincent Viafore, slips between the icy water of the
local Hudson River, his bride-to-be devastated.
After a string of unusual Facebook postings, police hone in on the bride. We obtain secret interrogation video of the bride. I want to start
off by showing you that, the secret interrogation video we got of the bride, including her doing yoga poses to relax. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) emotion knowing that this is about to happen, that when you`re going...
ANGELIKA GRASWALD, ACCUSED OF MURDER: Like, ripping in two halves (ph), you know (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what`s the demon side saying?
GRASWALD: The demon side -- oh, it`s not a good side. (INAUDIBLE) the bad side was telling me -- this is going to happen. But the good side
(INAUDIBLE) save him (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why did the evil side win out?
GRASWALD: (INAUDIBLE) because the way he treated me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You watched him drown. I know it`s difficult. I know (INAUDIBLE)
GRASWALD: No, I didn`t just watch him drown. I tried to do something about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, did you really want to save him?
GRASWALD: Yes. Somehow. But he did not say, Call 911. I would have (EXPLETIVE DELETED) paddled the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out myself and got to
him somehow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s a little different from what you told me earlier, though. Why? Why did you change in what you`re saying? You`re
confusing me.
[20:05:03]GRASWALD: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that`s a -- that`s an issue for me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why did you do that? What`s the real reason why you did that? What did you want them to think?
GRASWALD: That I was trying to save him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
GRASWALD: That I was doing everything I could.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s from ABC`s "20-20."
Straight out to Chris Spargo, reporter, Dailymail.com. She is insisting that she`s completely innocent, she had nothing to do with her
groom-to-be`s death as he slips between the icy waters of the Hudson River.
Explain to me how the whole tragic accident occurred, Chris Spargo.
CHRIS SPARGO, DAILYMAIL.COM (via telephone): So Angelika and Vincent were out for a romantic kayak trip. They rowed out to an island in the
Hudson, and early that evening, they began to make their way back to shore to go home. And sometime around 7:15, his kayak slowly began to sink into
the water, which was about 48 degrees. He wasn`t wearing a life vest. He wasn`t wearing a wetsuit. And by the time help arrived, both him and the
kayak were gone.
GRACE: Well, OK, Chris Spargo, Dailymail.com, you kind of rushed through that. So I don`t understand why she`s even under suspicion. If
they`re out for a kayak trip -- there they are, photos of them together. They`re out on the water. How did it suddenly go from a deadly kayak
accident to murder? Did you leave out some facts, Spargo?
SPARGO: So after his kayak went down around 7:15, she waited about 30 minutes to call for help. And when she didn`t call for help, she said that
she had been trying to help him when he fell into the water. First responders who saw her, though, said that she actually jumped into the
water when they saw her coming.
GRACE: So they don`t know if she was wet from before, from trying to help him or whether she jumped into the water when she saw them coming.
You`re still -- I`m not convinced, Chris Spargo. Something is missing from that fact scenario to show that this woman killed her fiance on a
kayak accident. But this is what I do know. We have obtained secretly recorded interrogation tapes. Let`s see what she says.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you watched him in the water, was a part of you saying, My worries are going away now, and I`m free?
GRASWALD: Uh-huh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And were you almost...
GRASWALD: Euphoric?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Euphoric that he was going to be gone?
GRASWALD: I just (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You felt that way?
GRASWALD: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He always wanted sex (INAUDIBLE) sexual things.
GRASWALD: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
GRASWALD: He wanted threesomes (INAUDIBLE) everything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
GRASWALD: And I was not ready.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s from ABC`s "20-20."
And I`m trying to figure out -- to Frank Morano, talk show host with "The Answer." Frank, what first led authorities to be suspicious of her?
FRANK MORANO, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST (via telephone): Well, authorities are saying it was the inconsistent statements that she was making.
Apparently, there were varying misstatements that she made about how exactly the kayak capsized and what she actually witnessed.
Apparently, she said at one point that she saw him fall into the water, and then at another point, she said she may have been unconscious
and didn`t actually see him falling into the water. That`s apparently what police and prosecutors are saying first led to her suspicion.
GRACE: Justin Freiman, what more do we know about inconsistent statements?
JUSTIN FREIMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): We know she says that she was trying to help him. And you even hear her saying that
she needs help when she`s on the 911 call. And then finally, as rescuers start to approach, that`s when she actually gets into the water because you
hear the phone dropping into the water.
GRACE: You hear the phone dropping into the water? Frank Morano, did you hear that? You hear the phone drop into the water. What more do you
hear?
MORANO: Well, the other thing that is a serious question is how exactly this kayak filled with water in the first place. Police say that
she unplugged the device that caused her fiance`s kayak to fill with water. And she may have even forced her own kayak to capsize in order to make sure
she was avoiding suspicion. But that coupled with the phone falling into the water, it does seem pretty suspicious.
GRACE: Let`s take a look at her doing yoga again. Liz, if you could pull that back up. Here she -- OK. Alex Sanchez, Robin Ficker. You`re
veteran defense attorneys. This is from ABC`s "20-20."
What is she doing, Ficker?
ROBIN FICKER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: She`s grieving. Her lovely fiance has just died. They interrogated her for about 11 hours.
GRACE: She`s playing hopscotch.
FICKER: No wonder there`s some inconsistent statements after that time. It was an inherently dangerous situation in that cold river up there
by West Point...
GRACE: OK...
FICKER: ... and he didn`t have on a lifejacket.
GRACE: You say she`s grieving, I say she`s playing hopscotch.
I want to hear more of the secretly recorded interrogation tape. Could you roll that, Liz?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:10:08]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He wanted (INAUDIBLE) sexual things?
GRASWALD: Well, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
GRASWALD: He wanted threesomes, four, everything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
GRASWALD: And I was not ready.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How long before you guys went on your kayaking trip did you take that ring? Was it the same day?
GRASWALD: I didn`t take the ring.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You killed him.
GRASWALD: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And he had a life insurance policy.
GRASWALD: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you were on it?
GRASWALD: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That was from ABC`s "20-20."
Joining me right now, Todd Johnstone-Wright, professional kayak instructor. Todd, thank you for being with us. Explain to me what she`s
saying, what they are saying about the plug and unplugging the kayak.
TODD JOHNSTONE-WRIGHT, PROFESSIONAL KAYAK INSTRUCTOR (via telephone): Well, Nancy, the plug -- it`s actually a drain plug, and it`s on the top of
the kayak in the rear, in the stern of the boat, and it`s meant for getting water out of the boat. It`s not designed as an intake area because it`s on
the top of the deck.
The challenge with that specific model of kayak is that it doesn`t have a bulkhead. It doesn`t have a barrier that separates the cockpit,
where the paddler sits, from the rear hatch.
And so in -- with winds and waves and any kind of water coming over the deck of the boat, all that water will enter through the cockpit, then
drain into the back of the boat, which makes the boat inherently unstable.
So the plug itself is above the waterline, but as water begins to flood into the cockpit, that lowers the waterline, and then water can get
in through the air.
GRACE: Right.
JOHNSTONE-WRIGHT: But then also, more water can get in through the cockpit, which is a much larger hole.
GRACE: Justin Freiman, are they saying also they believe she may have tampered with the oar to the kayak?
FREIMAN: That`s right, Nancy. The oar or the paddle, they say that she tampered with that by removing one of the rings that connected two
halves of the paddle. So of course, without that, that`s one more strike against him as his kayak is filling with water and possibly flipping over.
GRACE: I`m not really sure I`m understanding the motivation here. They`re not even married. What is she going to inherit? There`s a
possibility of a life insurance policy.
Let`s see what we can learn from the 911 tapes. Take a look at her. Did this bride-to-be murder her fiance in a kayak accident? Listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GRASWALD: I don`t see him. Oh, my God.
911 OPERATOR: Can you see the kayak still?
GRASWALD: No, the kayak went under water. Oh, my God!
911 OPERATOR: We`ve got a boat in the water already heading down to you, OK?
GRASWALD: OK. The water is very cold. I`m afraid he -- oh, my God!
(INAUDIBLE)
911 OPERATOR: OK. Where did you guys go into the river?
GRASWALD: The boat is coming towards me right now!
911 OPERATOR: Where did you guys go in at? Angelika?
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s ABC`s "20-20."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
[20:17:03]GRASWALD: I can`t get to him! It`s very windy, and the waves are coming in.
I wanted him dead, and now he`s gone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you kill Vince?
GRASWALD: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That day?
GRASWALD: No. I didn`t kill him. I loved him. I didn`t do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: From ABC`s "20/20."
Did the bride-to-be use a kayak accident to cover up an actual murder of her groom-to-be? They look so loving in all of these photos, but does
the forensic evidence tell a different story?
Question to you, Chris Spargo, Dailymail.com. Has Vincent`s body ever been found?
SPARGO: Yes, Vincent`s body was found, but it took them over a month until after he was gone until they finally found it in the Hudson River.
GRACE: Now, that leads me to my next question. To Dr. Devi, assistant professor, NYU School of Medicine. Dr. Devi, after your body has
been in the water that long, would you be able to tell, for instance, if he was dead before he went in the water?
DR. DEVI NAMPIAPARAMPIL, NYU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: You might be able to tell. You can also see if there are signs of a struggle, for example, if
there`s something under the fingernails.
But the problem is, with the water being -- you know, water kind of facilitating the decomposition, people sometimes lose their fingernails and
other forensic evidence.
GRACE: Let`s take a listen to the 911 call. What can we learn?
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GRASWALD: I can`t get to him. It`s very windy, and the waves are coming in. And I can`t paddle to him.
911 OPERATOR: All right. Stay on the phone with me.
GRASWALD: He`s getting further and further away from me. I -- he`s going to drown! Hold on, baby!
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s from ABC`s "20/20."
To Alex Sanchez and Robert (sic) Ficker. OK, to you, Sanchez. It seems as if she becomes frustrated in her interrogation with police and
basically says, OK, fine, if you want to make me give a statement, I`ll give a statement.
But at that point, I really think the cops should have just dropped it because now the defense can argue that her whole statement was basically,
you know, If you say so, that kind of statement.
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, I was very troubled by listening to that entire interrogation because the cops were consistently trying to
put words in her mouth and trying to get her to agree with what they were saying. She never at any point...
GRACE: So?
SANCHEZ: She never at any point admitted that she killed him. That`s number one. Number two, the fiance in this case bears some responsibility
because he goes in ice-cold Hudson River without a wetsuit, without a life jacket. And he was drinking.
GRACE: I don`t know. I don`t know what really happened, though, because isn`t it true, Frank, that we don`t know the circumstances about
him getting into that kayak. We don`t know why he was there. We don`t even know if he was sedated. We know nothing about him being in that
kayak, do we? Or do we?
MORANO: No, that`s right. That`s exactly right. And we know both of them had a history of kayaking previously. While they had never kayaked
this particular body of water together before, both of them clearly enjoyed kayaking. So that`s exactly right. We don`t know that.
[20:20:14]GRACE: You know, Justin Freiman, let`s talk about a potential motive. Why would she want her groom to be dead? I mean, they
haven`t had years of a bitter, acrimonious marriage. So what`s the point?
FREIMAN: Well, she does say there was an issue about him wanting to have sex often, wanted a threesome...
GRACE: Well, then break up!
FREIMAN: ... and something that she wasn`t that into. And he was possibly going to be ending the marriage because of this, or the marriage-
to-come.
GRACE: OK. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on. So she`s saying he wanted threesomes and weird sex, basically. That`s what she`s saying.
OK, that`s where you break up. What would be a motive to murder him? That`s my question, Justin.
FREIMAN: Well, there was also a $250,000 insurance policy.
GRACE: Oh, OK.
FREIMAN: So that could have also been one.
GRACE: Now, you know, Justin, don`t hold out the banner, the headline. Is that true, Spargo, there was a quarter million dollar life
insurance policy on this guy?
SPARGO: That`s correct. Even though they weren`t married yet, she was on his life insurance policy and did stand to collect $250,000.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Live to Elmont, a 9-year-old girl mauled dead on a play date.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:25:17]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) she was phenomenal.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The young girl was playing with two friends in the back yard of this home when a pitbull mauled her to death.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The woman in the house went outside and attempted to pull the pitbull off the girl, but she could not do it. She called 911.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Dan O`Donnell joining us, anchor, reporter, WISN. Dan, thank you for being with us. I don`t understand. Am I correct that when police
got there, the dog was still attacking the 9-year-old girl who had just gone over for a play date?
DAN O`DONNELL, WISN: Yes, that`s right. It was a truly shocking story. Neighbors say the dog simply went berserk, started attacking the
little girl and would not let go until police were called and arrived. Eventually, one of the officers had to make a loud noise to get the dog`s
attention. It was only then that the dog actually let the little girl go.
GRACE: Oh! Oh! Joining me right now is the uncle of the little victim, and it`s 9-year-old Amiyah Dunston. This beautiful little girl
goes over for a play date, a play date with a friend, and she is mauled dead.
With me, her uncle, Qumaine McGhee. Mr. McGhee, thank you for being with us.
QUMAINE MCGHEE, UNCLE (via telephone): Thank you. I appreciate it.
GRACE: Sir, I know this must just be a horrible, horrible shock. I mean, when my children go on a play date, I never imagine a family pet
would maul a child dead. Was there any warning? I mean, had this animal ever attacked before that you guys knew of?
MCGHEE: Not that we knew of. But you know, from people who knew, you know, the dog, and the dog owner, you know, said that the dog was, you
know, a beast, as the owner described it. The dog was 80 pounds and just roaming free in their back yard unchained. So to us, you know, it was
unexpected, but it was just a matter before, you know, it happened.
GRACE: Well, I`m just curious. Justin Freiman, I know the dog owner is shocked, but had this dog ever attacked anyone before?
FREIMAN: No, Nancy. They say this dog hadn`t attacked anyone before and that the girl was actually familiar with this dog.
GRACE: OK. This isn`t really fitting together for me. With me, Dr. Grey Stafford, director of conservation, Wildlife World Zoo in Arizona,
author of "Zoomility (ph)." Grey, something is not sitting right with me about this. I find it hard to believe that a dog -- what was this, a
pitbull?
GREY STAFFORD, WILDLIFE WORLD ZOO: I believe it was a pitbull or pitbull mix, yes.
GRACE: That knew the little girl, had never made any advance on the girl or anybody else before, just suddenly first time, he kills the girl?
He wouldn`t even let go of the girl after the police got there?
STAFFORD: I agree with you, Nancy. I think there are some details that we`re missing here because, as you say, the girl may have known this
dog, but even so, there had to have been some sort of change in environment that would cause such a violent reaction in the dog.
GRACE: What do you mean by that?
STAFFORD: Well, I saw one news report that suggested that the dog had recently had puppies. I don`t know if that`s accurate or not. But
certainly, that`s a huge different environmental context, and maybe she felt like she was reacting out of protecting her young, if in case she had
had puppies.
GRACE: You know, Dr. Gray, can I just put it to you straight? You never hear of, for instance, a Jack Russell terrier or a Doberman or a
poodle mauling a child dead, or an adult. Why do we always hear about pitbulls and Rottweilers mauling people dead?
STAFFORD: Well, you know, a lot -- aggression is possible in any animal. But certainly, these are medium to large-size dogs, so that the
outcome of that aggression is always more severe than it would be for something like a Chihuahua. But Chihuahuas have a high rate of biting
their owners and other people. But the outcome, obviously, is much less severe.
GRACE: To the uncle of little Amiyah, Mr. McGhee. Mr. McGhee, when Amiyah went there for the play date, did anybody know there was an 80-pound
pitbull in the back yard?
MCGHEE: To my understanding, you know, yes. It was known that the dog was there. She was in fear of that dog. She never, you know, went
near the dog.
GRACE: Did you say she was in fear of the dog?
MCGHEE: Yes. She didn`t like the dog.
GRACE: Well, then, there was a history.
MCGHEE: She`s afraid of dogs. So she knows to stay away from that dog, so it`s kind of, you know, shocking to (INAUDIBLE) she got, you know,
attacked by the dog because she would have stayed as far away from the dog as possible because of her fear.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... but, you know, with their -- in fear of that dog, she never, you know, went there near the dog.
GRACE: Did you say she was in fear of the dog?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. She didn`t like the dog.
GRACE: Well then, there was a history.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s afraid of dog, so she knows to stay away from that dog. So it`s kind of, you know, shocking to what that she -- she
got, you know, attacked by the dog because she would have stay as far away from the dog as possible because of a fear.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Live to Indian River, Donald Hutson shopping at Walmart gets a chilling call from his teen daughter. When he doesn`t believe her, the
daughter sent her father a confirmation text, "From mom`s dead body".
Yes. She killed her mother and text dad a photo.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police takes (ph) surrounded this home on Osborne Avenue. Detective saying Rachel Leigh Hutson shot and killed her
mother, Susan Lee Hutson just before 4:00 a.m. Friends visited the home and told (inaudible), the family did not want to say anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was surprised. I was kind of in disbelief. I didn`t think (inaudible).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Bob Matthews, News Director WNIS. Bob, I`m having a hard time taking this enemy (ph). She`s got such a little baby face. She got a
little chubby baby fat right there. She looks like she`s, you know, 13ish.
So, let me understand this. Her father is shopping at Walmart. And he gets a text that she`s, I guess, angry with her mom. He doesn`t believe
her. And she sends a pic -- she takes a picture of her dead mother and text it to her father at Walmart. Did I get that correct, Bob?
BOB MATTHEWS, WNIS NEWS DIRECTOR: You did, Nancy. She texted him the picture and he thought it was some sort of a bad joke.
Apparently, on the three of them had some sort of an argument the day before she even lose her computer privileges because of the, you know,
having a messy room. So, he thought that this was just her way of somehow acting out.
One of the interesting things though is, when -- I think -- when she send him the pictures, he didn`t initially call 911, and call the police
because the daughter also said that she was suicidal. He was actually afraid that, you know, the police (inaudible) before he did.
GRACE: Suicidal.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: OK. Hold on. Hold on. You`re giving me so much information. Drinking from the fire hydrant, let`s lower down. OK.
Bob Matthews is joining us, News Director, WNIS. I want to get back to my original questions. So, the father is minding his own business,
shopping at Walmart. He gets a message, doesn`t believe it and she actually then takes -- this teen girl takes a picture of her mother`s dead
body and text it to her father. Is that much correct, Bob?
MATTHEWS: That`s absolutely right.
GRACE: OK.
MATTHEWS: That was the testimony in court.
GRACE: Stacey Newman, how do we believe she killed her mother? Did she shoot her? Did she drown her? Did she strangle her? Did she
bloodshed (ph) her? How was her mother found dead?
STACEY NEWMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, police revealed that this was a gunshot wound to the chest. The mother was found lying in her bed
and a pullover blood, Nancy. And the shot was at close range.
GRACE: And another thing, Stacey, that Bob was just telling us from WNIS. This is a detail that had a state to me. So, she had her computer
privileges takes away, so she shoots her mother? She had a messy room, really? That`s why the mother is shot dead at close range over a messy
room, Stacey?
NEWMAN: Well, there`s also another components to this, Nancy. This mother had suffered various illnesses and was kind of like, in the chaos,
you would say. And the daughter has to take care of the mom. She was her caregiver and neighbor said the girl was growing tired of having to take
care of her mother.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Alex Sanchez, Robin Ficker, Ficker, the state of attorney of Maryland, Sanchez out of New York.
All right. First to you, Robin Ficker. Now, I`m getting to the crotch of this. OK. Now, I`ve got the fly in the ointment, she`s having
to take care of her mother. Her mother that gave birth to her, her mother that took care of her through thick and thin, sicknesses, problems, braces,
dimness (ph), (inaudible) shots the works. But when she on the other foot seeker (ph), when she has to take care of her mother, she`s had it and she
shoots her dead. Help me out Ficker.
ROBIN FICKER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Girls love their mother not precise very unusual. She was taking care of her mother from the time she was 9
years old. It may have been assisted suicide.
GRACE: OK. Did you just say assisted suicide?
FCKER: It may have been.
GRACE: I`m just surprised. I`m looking at you. I`m having a hard time understanding how you just form those words and I just came out of
you mouth like silk, assisted suicide. OK.
Sanchez, certainly, you`re not going to dance now on the trail with Ficker. You`re not going to get with assisted suicide. Are you? Please
take note.
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You know, I want to tell you, when I first started reading the story.
GRACE: What?
SANCHEZ: I thought I was reading a story about ISIS for a second. You know, you have to agree with me on something, Nancy. This woman is an
absolutely nut. She`s crazy.
GRACE: No, I don`t agree.
SANCHEZ: I don`t know why. I don`t even know why she`s doing 18 years in jail.
GRACE: OK. No, I don`t agree.
SANCHEZ: The lawyer should have put insanity and they should have did some more alternative sessions there.
GRACE: Hold on. I don`t agree that she is a nut.
SANCHEZ: Oh, come on.
GRACE: To you, Stacey Newman, I want to go through the facts as we know then it showed she plan this. What do we know? And remember, Stacey,
as you and I discuss many, many times under the law, premeditation to form a crime, can be formed in an instant, in a twinkling of an eye. In a time,
it takes me to raise a gun and pull the trigger. That is long enough under the law for premeditation, in other words, to playing your crime.
NEWMAN: And that`s right. And what we know is that, daddy left the home, as you said, to go to Walmart. So she had an opportunity there to
shoot the mother. Shoots the mom, calls the dad and said, "I shot mom". He thinks she`s kidding. He actually called his wife`s phone and the
daughter picked up the mother`s phone. And he -- she told him again, "I shot mom." He still didn`t believe her. And that`s when she sent him the
text message of her dead body.
You know, Ben Levitan, based on what Stacy Newman has just said, telecommunication expert. How can authorities prove? Because I want to
close this legal loophole, how can authorities prove that Rachel Hutson is the one who actually sends that message? That it`s not somebody else that
has done this deed and killed the mother and sent the message. How can I do that?
BEN LEVITAN, U.S TELECOMMUNICATION EXPERT: The lawyers will tell you, there`s no way to prove who actually used the phone. That was the picture,
it`s going to have a time stamp on it, and it`s going to have an exact location on. That`s all we can say.
I can never go on the stand and testify who actually used the phone.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Now live. The shocking moment, a spa worker allegedly poisons her coworker`s water with deadly acid and it is all caught on grainy video.
We have the video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SOFIA SANTA CRUZ: I ingested poison. I told him, somebody put something in my drink.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Surveillance video allegedly shows Lemonfield unscrewing Santa Cruz`s Fiji water bottle only then to pour in a chemical-
based beauty product.
SANTA CRUZ: I take the bottle of water and I just start drinking and it just -- I felt an entire burn on my throat. All the way down, I felt
it. I couldn`t breath.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: With me is Dianah Gibson, the News Director of WFMD, joining us. Dianah, thanks for being with us.
I want to look very carefully at this video first. Here you see this spa worker. Oh, there she goes. She takes a deadly mixture and poison --
pours it into Fiji water of a coworker. Then carefully screws the top back on. Dianah, explain to me what was the argument she was having with the
coworker?
DIANAH GIBSON, NEWS DIRECTOR FOR WFMD/WFRE: They haven`t really released that. But obviously, there was differently something going on.
Because it was really malicious, what Lux Lemonfield did.
I mean, you can see it on our new video tape. She goes and she unscrews the cap, and she pours the liquid in, puts the cap back on, and
then the poor victim, you know, Sofia Santa Cruz goes and drinks it. And then she ingests this poison. But there`s definitely something going on.
You know, the victim doesn`t know what happened, why it prompted Lux Lemonfield to do this. But there`s definitely something underlying taking
place.
GRACE: The poison she pours in is a very active and poisonous ingredient in acne lotion. And you`re saying there -- let`s stay on that
video just for a moment. Let`s take that in full. Anybody that claims that this is not premeditated, look how long it`s taking her to do this.
We were just talking about the premeditation that can be formed in an instant, the twinkling of an eye. But look at this spa worker. How long
is taking her to meticulously open up for a coworker`s Fiji water, pour in the poisonous mixture. Look, there you go. And then, she`s going to put
the top back on.
She`s standing there at the counter where you sell beauty products, lotions and cleansers, exfoliaters. She`s right there.
Dianah Gibson, I know she`s got her back to the camera. Do you think she believes she was covering up from the camera what she was doing?
GIBSON: Oh, absolutely. Because why would you do something like that if you thought you were going to get arrested for it.
And see, the thing is that mixture that she put in, it had glycolic acid in it. It had sulfur, alcohol and glycolic acid. You know, you use
that and the spas use it because they want to remove the dead cells on the epidural layer of your skin. When you ingest that like this -- like Sofia
did, it causes burning and irritation.
GRACE: Glycolic acid.
GIBSON: I mean, it could burn the layers of your skin going all the way down to your stomach.
GRACE: Let`s go to assistant professor of NYU School of Medicine, Dr. Devi Nampiaparampil. Dr. Devi, glycolic acid? The woman drank glycolic
acid.
DR. DEVI NAMPIAPARAMPIL, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, NYU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: But luckily, at least she felt the symptoms right away, enough to stop
drinking it.
GRACE: But what is glycolic acid? What is it?
NAMPIAPARAMPIL: Well, it`s a toxin. It`s sort of similar to alcohol, but much more deadly. So it can burn the inside of the gut, basically.
And then in the long-term, if you had enough of it, it`ll actually destroy your kidneys and cause you to go into kidney failure and then perhaps die
from that.
GRACE: Matt Zarrell, what more do we know?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, we know also that part of this video, in addition to putting the acid in the bottle, she then puts
the bottle underneath the table for a few minutes before coming back and putting it back on the top of the table, where it was initially located.
So she realized she put it in the wrong place, and actually had to go back and put it in the place where she had it originally.
GRACE: You know, Matt, take it from the beginning. Tell me what happened, as I`m watching this video.
ZARRELL: OK. So what happened is that the victim is actually doing her mother`s makeup, when cops say that Lemonfield laced the drink with a
chemical-based facial lotion. And that as the victim drank the water, she immediately felt a burning sensation in her throat after taking a swig of
water. She couldn`t breathe, she runs to the bathroom. She uncontrollably vomits and she realizes at that moment her drink was spiked.
GRACE: Sanchez and Ficker. Ficker, what`s your defense?
ROBIN FICKER, LAWYER: This is like putting a little hot sauce in some kid`s drink as a joke. This acne solution goes into the bloodstream when
it`s put on the skin. It can`t be deadly.
GRACE: Alex?
ALEX SANCHEZ, LAWYER: The only question I have, Nancy, is whether or not this woman was mixing chemicals for some, you know, cosmetic related
purposes and for assault related purposes.
I would need to have that in hand the results. She may have taken that bottle. She may have thought it was abandoned. She was going to mix
up some chemicals. They have some undisclosed reason but not for the purpose of committing an assault against another individual. I think that
needs to be cleared of.
GRACE: OK. Matt Zarrell, why do we know that theory is false?
ZARRELL: Well, one of the things that we should point out here is that when the woman was arrested she told cops, "Well, I guess it didn`t
work then.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Lived in Ocala, a church usher, of all people, caught red- handed on video stealing from the offering plate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A church usher is in trouble with the law. Mario Condis was arrested on a grand theft charge after allegedly taking money
from the offering basket while worshippers are deep in prayer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: OK. Now, who, who wait, I got to see that video a little bit more Charles (ph) because how do I know he`s not putting it in church on
envelope to be taken directly to the bank for deposit.
Do I actually see him put it in his pocket? He is about -- yeah, OK. Sorry. Sorry. Ficker and Sanchez, I was going to help you out there.
Justin Freiman, what happened?
JUSTIN FREIMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: There was some money missing. They place some cameras and they caught him red-handed as you see here.
And then later on, police got a warrant and once again setup cameras and this time put in money with serial numbers that they could track when they
approach it.
GRACE: OK. Now, hold on. You said that money had gone missing. Justin from that very sparse rendition of the facts M.I. to assume is that
happened before?
FREIMAN: Yes. It did happened a few times and that`s what why the authorities were called in.
GRACE: Look at him. Look at this guy. What was everybody else doing while he`s stuffing his pockets?
FREIMAN: Well, Nancy, he would bring this to a kind of secluded area thus the collection plate and then wait and when everybody was bowing their
heads in prayer and many of them had their eyes close that`s when he would go and stuff his pocket, according to police.
GRACE: OK. Sanchez, Ficker and Dr. Patricia Sanders, all right. Sanchez, give me your defense that is how he don`t even start with insanity
which is your favorite thing to say, in all circumstances you claim mental defect.
Notice how he is picking right through the checks.
SANCHEZ: I tell you.
GRACE: Not interested in them.
SANCHEZ: I`ll tell you exactly what I would do. I will bring them to that church have them standup in front of everybody tell him the devil made
him do it, but that he saw already he`s seeking guts forgiveness. But if you can`t get forgiveness in the church, where can you get forgiveness?
GRACE: OK. Sanchez put me up please. Sanchez, we`re not in the church right now. This is the Nancy Grace Show. Hey, I don`t like thieves
and the last thing I like is the thief in the church. OK.
Ficker, you know, don`t drag the church or the devil into this. Just try and give me a defense.
FCIKER: Desperate people go to church to try to find peace and here when you pay us money in front of the desperate person, what greater
temptation does God have.
GRACE: OK. I can think of one or two. So Patricia Sanders, I take it that everybody else had their eyes closed in prayer at the time. Can we
see the video? Everybody else is praying, Patricia.
Look at this guy.
PATRICIA SANDERS: He is really grabbing away. It looks like it`s in a little alcove where other people might not be able to see it but one
thing, he certainly deficient in his conscience.
GRACE: You know what, that`s a whole another can of worms for you and me, Dr. Sanders, about what is a conscience.
SANDERS: Yes.
GRACE: Guys, this is in church while everyone else had their eyes closed and their heads bowed in prayer to heaven, this guy steals all their
money. Carefully, leaving behind the checks and they`ll looks at them with a straight face.
You know what I`m so glad they busted this guy. Mario Condis, 60 years old, old enough to know better, right? Well, maybe he can learn a
new trick behind bars.
Let`s remember American hero, Army Staff Sergeant Ayman Taha, 31, Vienna Virginia, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Berkley Grad, spoke four
languages, set to earn his PhD. He loves traveling.
Parents Abdel and Amal (ph), two sisters, widow Geraldine (ph), daughter Summer (ph). Ayman Taha, American hero.
Thanks to our guest 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 then.
END
