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Nancy Grace
Woman Caught on Video Dragging Dead Body; Paris Hilton`s Brother Goes Berserk On An Airplane in A Drug-Fueled Meltdown; Babysitter Kidnaps, Tortures And Then Abandons a 2-year-Old Child. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired January 25, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: Breaking news tonight. When Simon Montalvo, his wife and two boys go absent, it`s all chalked up as a missing persons case.
Tonight, a bizarre twist in the case. Bombshell tonight. Does grainy surveillance video obtained by Fox 4 KDFW reveal a woman, a woman dragging
something, possibly a man`s body wrapped in sheets and trash bags -- dragging it out of an SUV? And is that woman Maria Montalvo? Tonight, we
have the video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say she drags his body wrapped in trash bags and a sheet off the patio and into the yard. She`s seen over and over moving
big rocks from different areas of the yard. At last, she hoses down the patio where police say she dragged her husband`s body.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s from Fox 4 KDFW.
And multi-million-dollar Hilton Hotel heir, Paris Hilton`s brother, goes berserk on an airplane in a drug-fuelled meltdown. He gets handcuffed to
his seat after he dismantles an airplane smoke detector so he can smoke weed. He threatens to kill flight attendants, screaming out, I will f`ing
own you, peasants.
Well, money talks. He gets straight probation, but then breaks into his ex`s home. Tonight, is there a secret petition to revoke hotel heir Conrad
Hilton`s parole and finally land him where he belongs, behind bars with the rest of the criminals?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prosecutors are seeking to put Hilton Hotel heir Conrad Hilton behind bars. It seems he hasn`t been able to follow the terms of
his probation. Next up for the Hilton heir, a court date to determine if his parole should be revoked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) a scumbag?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m a scumbag? I am a scumbag.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: She was born into money and breeding, lived in the most exclusive neighborhoods in affluent Topsfield just east of Boston, after living
abroad with her family in London, then attending the upscale Christian Prep Academy, the Master (ph) School in Connecticut, even a counselor at
exclusive Gordon (ph) College.
But tonight, she`s in court on charges she kidnapped a tiny tot girl, Linden (ph), in the night, the tot later found naked, covered in cigarette
burns with the tot girl`s head shaved, the child alone, shivering by the side of the road.
But tonight, her lawyers say she`s got mental problems. Well, not according to her Facebook!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re searching for a 2-year-old that went missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was found alive three miles away, naked, her head shaved, with burn and bruise marks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The toddler`s former baby-sitter is now in custody. Twenty-one-year-old Adiga Hannah (ph)...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) multiple psychotic symptoms, including auditory hallucination.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. When Simon Montalvo, his wife and his two little boys go absent, it`s all chalked up as a missing persons case. But tonight, in
a bizarre twist, does grainy surveillance video reveal a woman dragging something, possibly dragging a man`s body wrapped in sheets and trash bags
out of an SUV? And is that woman Maria Montalvo, his loving wife, the mother of his little boys? Tonight, we have the video.
Straight out to Frank Edwards, the program director at KKTX. Frank, thank you for being with us. First, Liz, if you could pull up that video?
That`s what I want to see. I want to see that grainy surveillance video.
Now, take a look at this. Here you see what we believe to be the victim`s body. Looks like it`s wrapped in trash bags, and she`s pulling it with a
sheet, kind of like a slingshot that`s been wrapped around it. At least it looks like a woman. You can`t really can`t tell right now. You`re seeing
this from Fox 4 KDFW. Keep going, Liz. I want to see the whole thing.
Now, one of the reasons that I believe this is a sheet wrapped around trash bags is when she pulls back, you can see the knot in the sheet trailing
behind. Now, keep looking. Keep looking -- pulling, pulling, pulling, pulling. Right there at the edge, you can see the train of the sheet, so
to speak, pulling behind.
[20:05:04]For those of you just joining us, keep your eyes on this grainy surveillance video. Is this the body of Simon Montalvo, the father of two,
wrapped in a trash bag and being dragged?
Liz, after the dragging video, isn`t there video of her hosing off a cemented area? Let`s see all the video. Is this the husband`s body? Is
that the tail end of her SUV? Is this, in fact, even a woman?
Now, look at this. Here you -- OK, that`s definitely a woman, dark hair, up in a bun. Keep looking. Keep looking. What is she doing? What is she
carrying? This also from Fox 4 KDFW.
Now, she`s turned into a neatnik, Frank Edwards. Now she`s decided to hose off the cement. So Frank Edwards joining me...
FRANK EDWARDS, KKTX (via telephone): Sanitizing the crime scene. And the whole time she lived in the house, she had to know that the cameras were
on.
GRACE: You know, it`s pretty amazing, Matt Zarrell, looking at this blow by blow, in the beginning of the grainy surveillance video, Matt, I
couldn`t make out whether it`s a man or a woman.
And also, it doesn`t look like she`s got on the same outfit. If you`re looking -- see, she`s got on a light color. Or whoever it is has on a
light-colored outfit. That could be her with her hair up, or it could even be a different person.
So Matt, what do we know about the surveillance video? Where did it come from?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Well, we know that it comes from the house surveillance security system. They have cameras that
are situated that point outside of the home. And we know that the video showing the dragging occurred on one night. And we know that the other
video showing the woman carrying items in her hand, heavy items, that occurred the next day, after this video took place.
GRACE: So that would account for any change in costume.
OK, you`re seeing the inside of the family home. Did the murder of Simon Montalvo happen here inside this very upscale home that she shared with her
husband and their two little boys? Take a look. Does this grainy surveillance video we obtained show her dragging her husband`s body out?
This video is from Fox 4 KDFW.
Now, Matt, again, in the original video of what looks to be possibly a human body wrapped in dark trash bags and a sheet -- you`re saying that
that happened, you believe, the night he`s killed?
ZARRELL: Correct. That is what police tell us directly is that is the night he was killed. The video you see later in the daylight, that is the
day after.
GRACE: Joining me right now, in addition to Frank Edwards and Michael Board, special guest Detective Will McGraw from the DeSoto police
department. Detective, thank you so much for being with us.
Detective, when was it first noticed that the father, Simon, was missing? Did he not report to work, or did his family notice?
DET. WILL MCGRAW, DESOTO POLICE DEPARTMENT (via telephone): Well, first off, Nancy, thank you for having me on and bringing some light to this
case, and hopefully, we can get some of the objectives accomplished here.
GRACE: Yes, sir.
MCGRAW: His family was -- did report him as missing, basically when they couldn`t get in contact with him. He runs his own business. So he is
very...
GRACE: What is his business?
MCGRAW: He has a trucking company.
GRACE: So running your own business, it`s not as if the people sitting around you in their cubies notice you`re not there for two or three days on
end. So ultimately, his family had not heard from him in how many days before they reported him missing?
MCGRAW: Well, they came to the police department on several occasions...
GRACE: Really?
MCGRAW: ... to continue to report that he isn`t showing up for work. You know, they haven`t heard from him. And so, you know, when it comes to an
adult being reported as missing, you know, there are certain criteria that has to be met. And at a certain point, you know, we believe that, yes, he
was missing. But again, you know...
GRACE: Well, you know, Detective McGraw, no offense to you men, but you know, a man says, I`m going to go get a loaf of bread and he doesn`t show
up for 10 years. That`s not unheard of.
So his family keeps actually coming to the police department saying, He`s gone, he`s gone, we can`t find him. But he`s a grown man. There`s no
evidence of any foul play other than his family saying he`s gone.
Matt Zarrell, we`re showing the video again. I don`t know if you can see it. But what makes you think, Matt -- you`re saying this was taken the
night he goes missing and that`s from the police department?
ZARRELL: Yes. The police say that this happened the night he goes missing and that this is her, allegedly the wife, dragging his body to the back
patio of the house.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:14:18]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say she drags his body wrapped in trash bags and a sheet off the patio and into the yard. She`s seen over
and over moving big rocks from different areas of the yard. At last, she hoses down the patio where police say she dragged her husband`s body.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s from Fox 4 KDFW.
Would a loving wife, the mother of two little boys, murder her husband while the boys are home? Is this her on this grainy surveillance video
dragging his body around?
In this particular video, it`s hard to make any type of an identification. But in a later video, we see her, Maria Montalvo, going back and forth with
very heavy bricks and cement or rock. Why?
[20:15:08]Joining me, Frank Edwards, KKTX, Michael Board, WOAI, and special guest Detective Will McGraw.
Matt Zarrell, isn`t it true -- hey, this video from FOX 4 KDFW -- Matt, isn`t it true the mom, Maria Montalvo, is later spotted on a manifest
flying out of the country?
ZARRELL: Yes. Police say that just a few days after the husband is last seen, she is seen on a flight April 30th on American Airlines from Dallas
going to Mexico.
GRACE: And let me guess, Matt. It was one-way.
ZARRELL: Yes, it was.
GRACE: OK. With me right now, special guest CNN aviation analyst, aviation lawyer Mary Schiavo. Mary, thank you so much for being with us.
MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST (via telephone): Thank you, Nancy.
GRACE: So Mary, I`m trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle. I`ve got him missing, his family going and going and going to the police
department, and they`re looking into it, and they really can`t prove how an adult male has disappeared except maybe he took a powder and left. So they
don`t have anything to really go on yet. But then suddenly, the wife shows up on a one-way ticket to Mexico.
What is a manifest? How is that tracked down?
SCHIAVO: Well, the airline manifest is basically the primary information about a flight, and what somebody does is going on that flight is have
identifying information, name, what your identification has to match on your card, where you`re going, and if you`ve traveled on that airline
before, it can pull up information about your prior flights by matching your name on the passenger manifest.
And of course, if once she got to Mexico, she connected on any other flight, if they had a code-sharing arrangement or they had any kind of a
share arrangement, a business agreement, then they could track subsequent flights.
GRACE: Let me ask you -- to go from the U.S. to Mexico on a flight, do you have to have a passport?
SCHIAVO: You do now, yes. The years are past where you could travel without that to Mexico are gone. You must have a passport.
GRACE: And let me ask you this, Mary. You`re our aviation specialist. The video surveillance -- airports are like casinos. They`re covered,
they`re dripping with video surveillance cameras. How long is that video surveillance kept?
SCHIAVO: Well, now, in this day and age, it can be kept for a very long time. Usually, what they try to do is get to the airport right away
because the airline`s video surveillance, they say that they reuse the tapes and they reuse them or erase them. It`s not really tapes anymore,
they`re CDs, but they reuse the data.
But actually, the TSA keeps them for literally weeks or months. And if there`s something that they`re looking for, they can go back and recreate
sometimes data beyond that. So it`s not like a continuous loop, where it just tapes over every night and they reuse it.
And by the way, after September 11, 2001, that video surveillance is mandatory throughout all U.S. airports. You have it at various points in
the airport, and they have to have it.
GRACE: Michael Board is joining me from WOAI news. Michael, thank you for being with us. Now, she`s got these two young boys by her husband, Simon.
It`s my understanding, Michael Board, the last day that they were in school was April 21. And then, suddenly, they were no longer in their school
anymore.
Do you know where the boys are now?
MICHAEL BOARD, WOAI: Well, we know that they are now with family members. They are out of the way of Maria or any other person who might be able to
do them harm.
GRACE: In addition to Michael Board, with me, Frank Edwards, KKTX. Frank, is it true that the mother takes off, takes her boys out of school and
leaves the boys with her relatives?
EDWARDS: Yes. They`re in Indiana. And she tells them -- they were asking, you know, where Daddy was. And she said, Oh, that, you know, he`s
-- he`s -- he`s gone. And so they took him with family in Indiana, and that`s where they`re at now.
GRACE: So she goes all the way from Texas with the boys -- she drives them to Indiana and leaves them there and tells the boys, what, Daddy`s at work?
EDWARDS: Basically, it`s what I gathered from the story, is that, you know, she said that, you know, Daddy`s -- Daddy`s not here because they
heard it. You know, the boys didn`t believe the mother. He woke up and heard the claps (ph) during the night, but the mom said that a cabinet had
turned over, and he didn`t believe her.
GRACE: OK, let me understand something. You`re saying, following up on what Michael Board, WOAI, is telling me, that the boys were home that
night. The boys say that they hear a clap, several claps in a row?
EDWARDS: They said three loud claps during the night. And then the mother told the boy that it was a cabinet that fell over.
[20:20:02]Well, he didn`t believe her. He said, How does a cabinet make three noises? He never saw his dad that morning or since, and assumed he
was at work. And Mom told them the next day that they had to go to Indiana.
GRACE: We are showing you video surveillance from FOX 4 KDFW. Now, right there, you can`t tell really exactly what`s going on, but in the following
video, you see Mommy dragging cement blocks and she`s stacking them up. Why?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police have obtained surveillance video they believe shows a wife dragging her husband`s dead body after she murdered him. At
first, police were searching for Simon Montalvo, his wife and their two children, who were all reported missing. That was until the body of Simon
Montalvo was found in his back yard, buried amid rocks, appearing to look like someone was trying to hide the body.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:25:18]GRACE: What became of Simon Montalvo, the father of two little boys? Well, tonight, we have found this grainy surveillance video. We got
it from FOX 4 KDFW. Is this Mommy Maria dragging the body of her husband? The little boys say they heard several loud claps that night while they
were asleep. They asked Mommy what was it. She said a cabinet fell over. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s the sound of gunshots inside a DeSoto home on Hubert Drive just after midnight, the audio recorded through a surveillance
system. Those gunshots start the timeline of Simon Montalvo`s murder and gruesome burial. Police say you`re looking at Maria Montalvo after she
backs her SUV up to the back yard patio near the back door of the home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) the hatch is open.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then police say Montalvo...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That from Fox 4 KDFW.
So Michael Board, WOAI, she tells the boys a cabinet fell over. Do they buy it?
BOARD: No, not at all. The youngest boy -- or excuse me, not the youngest boy, one of the boys who was asleep upstairs went down, tried to question
her (ph) mom about what that clapping noise was. And she tried to explain it away as a cabinet or a piece of furniture fell over.
GRACE: To Detective Will McGraw, DeSoto police department. Detective, again, thank you for being with us. Why do you believe Mommy is dragging
cement blocks across the back yard?
MCGRAW: Well -- and I don`t know the exact answer to that. I really believe and I have to speculate that when you go through the whole video,
it shows that she`s attempting to load him in the back of that car. I believe that him over there off to the side was plan B.
GRACE: Now, when you say "him off to the side," you mean underneath all of the cement blocks and rocks?
MCGRAW: Yes. That`s correct.
GRACE: As a matter of fact, did it -- was it made to look as if it were part of the landscaping?
MCGRAW: Well, when you go back and you look at that, it really just looked like a pile of debris. There was rubbish thrown over there. It just made
it look kind of like it was kind of a junk pile that at some point in time that they were possibly going to, you know, discard it or something like
that. But it wasn`t obvious. It wasn`t obvious that there was a body underneath there.
GRACE: Wow. So Matt Zarrell, is it believed she has sneaking back and forth into the U.S.? And if so, how?
ZARRELL: Yes, police believe that she has been actively trying to get her children. The children are in the custody of Simon`s family. She does not
have access to them. But police tell us she has come back and forth secretly trying to get the children.
GRACE: Tip line, 972-223-6111.
[20:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Multi-million dollar Hilton hotel heir, Paris Hilton`s brother goes berserk on an airplane in a drug-fuelled melt down. He got handcuffed to
his seat after he dismantled an airplane smoke detector so he can smoke pot, then threatens to kill the flight attendants screaming out, "I will
effing own you peasants."
Well, money talks. He gets straight probation, but then he breaks into his ex-girlfriend`s home. Breaking now, is there a secret petition to revoke
hotel heir Conrad Hilton`s parole and finally land him where he belongs -- behind bars with the rest of the criminals?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Conrad Hilton was sentenced to probation after his meltdown on an international flight and most recently, he was arrested
after showing up at his ex-girlfriend`s home. The Hilton heir could be trading his fancy lifestyle for a jail cell if his parole is revoked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any comments? Anything?
CONRAD HILTON, HILTON HOTEL HEIR: You`re a scumbag.
GRACE: Whoa, whoa, pardon my French, Alexis Tereszcuk. Was that Conrad Hilton calling somebody else a scumbag? Did i get that straight?
ALEXIS TERESZCUK, SENIOR REPORTER RADARONLINE.COM: It sure was. The privilege of this family is unbelievable. Yeah, he called a photographer a
scumbag. This is after he is the one who is in court. He is the one who`s been prosecuted. He is the one who`s been found guilty and he`s the one
that is yelling at other people.
(CROSSTALK))
GRACE: Arrogant. Sadly Alexis, being a scumbag is not a felony so, I`m going to let that slide. Let me -- let me get down to it, you know, Alexis,
if you had gone into the bathroom on a plane, in an international flight - London to U.S. -- tore down a smoke detector so you could smoke weed in
there and then throw such a fit, threatened to kill a flight attendant -- you`re so bad you get handcuffed to your own seat.
Then, you break into your girlfriend`s place, your ex-girlfriend`s place. Now, isn`t it true, Chris Spargo, Dailymail.com,that at the time he broke
in her place, she had a restraining order against him?
[20:35:00] CHRIS SPARGO, REPORTER DAILYMAIL.COM: That`s true, yes. They`ve been dating for a very long time and she was so concerned because he was
obsessed with her, showing up all the time so, she got a restraining order and he still broke it even though he was on probation.
GRACE: Could somebody explain to me, Chris Spargo -- why, when he broke in to his girlfriend`s place with a restraining order on him, he wasn`t thrown
into jail right then. What about it Spargo?
SPARGO: Exactly, and he even called his father to try to help him mitigate the situation. They really just treat this kid with kid gloves.
GRACE: Well, Justin, Spargo is not giving me an answer. Why didn`t he go to jail when he broke his probation?
JUSTIN FRIEMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well apparently, they say that he wasn`t actually served with the restraining order at the time, although she
had already got it.
GRACE: Whoa, whoa, wait. Unleash the Lawyers. Troy Slaton in L.A., Carissa Kranz in New York. Troy Slaton, even I know for Conrad Hilton - baby Conrad
Hilton is -- I mean all you have to do is look on TMZ. I`m sure he`s there mooning somebody or smoking weed on a plane. So, is the judge seriously
saying he was not served with his restraining order and that`s why his probation wasn`t revoked?
TROY SLATON, UNLEASH THE LAWYERS: Unfortunately Nancy, TMZ is not effective service of process. So yeah, the L.A. City attorney, the prosecutors here
in L.A. --
GRACE: Hey, hey. Don`t put him up. Nobody likes (ph)
SLATON: -- said that yes, it`s not effective service and they declined the prosecuting -- well, in order to get a restraining order to be valid, you
actually have to give it to the person. You have to hand it to them and that didn`t happen here. So, we have no evidence that he actually knew
about it.
GRACE: So, Carissa Kranz, he has been pestering the girlfriend, the ex- girlfriend forever. He`s obsessed with her. She finally gets a restraining order. Liz, don`t we have some sound, phone calls and messages where she`s
saying leave me alone, leave me alone?
Finally she gets a restraining order and he says he didn`t know about it? Okay, so that`s why he wasn`t put in jail that time after he threatened to
kill a flight attendant. So, why now Carissa? He`s never been put in jail before.
CARISSA KRANZ, UNLEASH THE LAWYERS: Well, I believe he asked his girlfriend to get a restraining order so he would stay away from him and ...
GRACE: Oh, but he didn`t know about it even though he asked her to do it?
KRANZ: This isn`t somebody that needs to be behind bars, Nancy. This is someone that needs psychiatric help. This is somebody that has a drug
problem and needs his dad to console him. This isn`t someone who needs to be behind bars like every other criminal. He really needs help.
GRACE: He needs his dad to console him? Hold on a moment, hold is this guy? Isn`t he 22 now, Justin? Didn`t he just turn 22 and he`s still claiming my
daddy could buy out all of your jobs and get you fired in 30 seconds flat?
FRIEMAN: That`s right, Nancy. That is what he claimed on that flight.
GRACE: Everybody, you`re saying Conrad Hilton -- right, there is Paris`s brother, in trouble again. With me, Adi Jaffe, addiction specialist out of
L.A. Weigh in Adi, what do you make of this? Whenever he gets in trouble, he throws his father`s name around and threatens to have people fired.
Sounds more like he`s a brat.
DR. ADI JAFFE, ADDICTION SPECIALIST: This isn`t a new thing when we have somebody, you know, with money and privilege running into sort of what
happens to everybody else on a commercial flight. For all we know he wasn`t really used to flying commercial and not being able to do whatever he wants
on a plane. But I think one thing that ...
GRACE: Wait, Adi, you`re saying he wasn`t used to flying commercial. Are you saying that ...
JAFFE: That was a joke.
GRACE: ... that`s his problem? I mean he got high and did dismantle the smoke detector.
JAFFE: Absolutely.
GRACE: You know, after 9/11, that`s not that funny.
JAFFE: Actually, one thing we didn`t point out that he actually had a probation violation or parole violation in the interim when he admitted to
smoking marijuana after reaching a plea deal on that exact offense.
GRACE: Mary Schiavo agreed to stay with us, CNN Aviation Analyst and aviation lawyer. Mary, dismantling the smoke detector so you can smoke pot
in first class? Threatening to kill the flight attendants? He had to be subdued and handcuffed to his seat. Then, he goes in and breaks into his
ex-girlfriend`s home with the TRO on him, a restraining order on him and he`s still walking free. Explain to me what would happen to ordinary people
that did that -- threatened to kill a flight attendant mid-air.
MARY SCHIAVO: CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, there are many cases -- there are myriad cases that explain what happens to ordinary people. What happened
here is he actually violated not one but two federal statutes. Breaking the plane, basically is 18 United States code 32. He damaged the aircraft.
That will get you jail time just with that alone, but then he added a second offense by threatening the air crew and not just being rude or awful
to them. He`s threatened to kill them which is certainly a very serious assault. So under the Federal sentencing guidelines, what happened the
first time around is they just obviously went after one and he got the lowest recommendation. But two offenses could carry 40 years if the
prosecutors decided to get tough.
[20:40:00]GRACE: Dr. Daniel Bober, forensic psychiatrist out of Fort Lauderdale with us. Dr. Bober, it seems that whenever anybody is in
trouble, they claim they have an addiction or some type of ailment. You know, every time I look at his Facebook pictures or look at tweets -- he`s
on a yacht drinking champagne with his rich friends. Seems to me he just has a phobia about going to jail.
DR. DANIEL BOBER, FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIST: Nancy, this is totally outrageous. I totally disagree with all your other guests. I think that he very well
might have an addiction and needs treatment, but he takes absolutely no responsibility for his behavior. He has a sense of entitlement that the
rules do not apply to him.
We know there was a study done at the Arizona State University that looked at this, that kids from affluent families actually have more problems with
depression, anxiety and substance abuse. So, this is a kid that needs a wake-up call. He very well might need to get into treatment but he also
needs to take responsibility for his behavior and realize --
GRACE: You know what, he`ll get dried out behind bars. It`s a perfect place doctor. But Justin Frieman, it seems that everytime he gets in trouble and
starts talking about how much money his daddy has, what can you tell us about the judge presiding over the case?
FRIEMAN: Well Nancy, it`s going to be a Federal judge that presides over this case, who has to make this decision. She actually served as a Chief
Magistrate for a while and she`s also been on the civil appeals.
[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: She was born into money and breeding, lived in the most exclusive neighborhoods in affluent Topsfield just east of Boston after living abroad
with her family in London. Then she attends the upscale Christian prep academy, The Masters School in Connecticut, was even a counselor at the
exclusive Gordon College, but tonight she`s in court. In court on charges that she abducts, kidnaps a tiny tot girl, Lyndon, in the middle of the
night. The tot later found naked, covered in cigarette burns with the little girl`s head shaved, all alone, shivering by the side of the road.
But tonight, her lawyers say she`s got mental problems. Well, not according to her Facebook.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police searched the Topsfield home of the suspect in the kidnapping of a 2-year-old.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her head had been shaven. She wasn`t wearing clothes and suffering a head injury.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The toddler`s former babysitter is now in custody. Twenty-one year-old Abigail Hanna of Topsfield.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (ph) hallucinations and she has a history of multiple suicide attempts.
GRACE: You are seeing a shot of the woman, a complete blueblood socialite beauty charged in the kidnap, the abduction and the mistreatment of a 2-
year-old little tot girl found covered in cigarette burns, naked, her head shaved, left alone on the roadside. James Gemmell, news director at WJRW.
Thank you for being with us. Tell me James, I don`t understand how somebody that has gone to all these prep schools, has lived abroad, has a job at
this exclusive Gordon College, how does she end up abducting a 2-year-old tot who is found naked covered in cigarette burns?
JAMES GEMMELL, NEWS DIRECTOR AT WJRW: Well allegedly, she`s got psychiatric problem if you listen to her defense attorney. Of course the prosecution
said that`s nonsense and so they are fighting it out in court.
GRACE: Let`s just take it from the beginning. What happened, Jim?
GEMMELL: Well, this little girl, 2 years-old, vanished from her home Nancy in South Hamilton early in the morning and later found naked by the side of
the road in Rowley, Massachusetts, abut eight miles from her home in South Hamilton. Her head was bruised and shaved.
Investigators say she suffered, as you said at the top, cigarette burns and also I found interesting, road rash which might suggest she was dragged and
supposedly this babysitter was found not only with dirt on her hands but even a twig in her hair.
GRACE: You know what`s interesting, Jim Gemmell at WJRW, is when police finally -- she led them on a wild goose chase for a while. When they
finally managed to catch her at home, she tried to hide bags full of children`s clothes or tot clothes that they got.
GEMMELL: Yeah, that`s right. You know, she tried to basically say that they had nothing to do with this particular alleged abduction.
GRACE: Dr. Tim Gallagher, forensic pathologist joining out of Daytona. Dr. Gallagher, thanks for being with us. How can you determine if a burn on a
tot`s body is from cigarette burns?
DR. TIM GALLAGHER, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Oh, that`s very easy to do Nancy. Normally it would be a round, circular shape that of the diameter of a
cigarette and typically they are very clustered together because people put them on the skin in a very specific cluster-type formation so, it would be
very easy to determine that.
[20:50:00]GRACE: Awful! Awful to do this to this baby girl, and what is road rash, Dr. Gallagher?
DR. GALLAGHER: Road cash is abrasions that occur on the skin after you`re rolling actually on the road on pavement, on concrete or a hard surface.
GRACE: Unleash the Lawyers, Troy Slaton L.A, Carissa Kranz Miami lawyer. All right Carissa Kranz, what`s your defense?
KRANZ: She`s mentally ill and she`s not capable to stand trial right now. Just looking at that video, she`s walking into the courtroom completely out
of it and if she`s not capable to stand, you know, to assist the attorney in her defense since she`s not really capable to stand trial right now.
GRACE: Well, hold on. Let`s take a look at some of her Facebook postings because she puts on an entirely different facade when she`s posting. There
she is picking apples with apparently a boyfriend. There you go. With a newer hair cut, oh, a tattoo. There she is with a pet.
Let`s keep it rolling. More shots of her there -- she is out boating. Yes, keep it rolling on that, please. Troy Slaton, you want me to believe this
girl is mentally ill? Seriously? When she tried to hide the kid`s clothes when cops got there? She knew exactly what she was doing.
SLATON: Nancy, mental illness knows no socio or economic boundaries. It doesn`t matter how much money you have. It`s typical for people at that
age, people that are young adolescents coming into adulthood, 21 to 25 years old starting to show signs of psychotic break.
GRACE: Coming into adulthood? She`s 21.
SLATON: You know, mental professional would think she can`t help with her own defense.
GRACE: Mark Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation -- it was a miracle this child was found. She was on the side of the road covered up
in leaves and a guy drove by and he said to his wife, "I think i just saw a baby doll. I`m going to turn around and see if it was a real baby." And to
put cigarette burns on this child, Mark Klaas?
MARK KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER OF KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: Yeah, this young child, this child of privilege kidnaps, tortures and then abandons a 2-
year-old child, yet she`s incompetent to stand trial? It`s a variation on the affluenza defense. It`s just a child, a young lady with a lot of money
that`s going to be able to buy her own form of justice.
[20:55:00](COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were searching for a 2-year-old that went missing.
GRACE: She was found alive three miles away, naked, her head shaved with burn and bruise marks. The toddler`s former babysitter is now in custody,
21-year-old Abigail Hanna.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (ph) including auditory hallucinations.
GRACE: So, I guess we`re going to take her word for it that she is having hallucinations. What`s disturbing, Jim Gemmell WJRW, is that if you look at
all of her postings and many of her postings have been recent. Look at her, I mean she`s taking these selfies and posting them. This is not a person
that even remotely resembles the person that is shown in the courtroom -- keep these going, please. So, Jim Gemmell ...
GEMMELL: Indeed.
NANCY: ... she don`t have to break into people`s home and she had babysat for them one time before, is that right?
GEMMELL: That is correct and then they gave her the heave-ho and then in fact, Nancy, Hanna`s listed by at least one publication as still being a
counselor at Gordon College, an exclusive establishment there in Massachusetts.
GRACE: You know, Marc Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation, you brought up a point about another form of the affluenza
defense. We can look at the way she`s portraying in her life and we can look at her movements that evening. Maybe she was mad she got fired from
the baby sitting job, I don`t know.
But she breaks into their home, takes the baby then discards the baby after burning her with cigarettes and abusing her. The baby is naked. I don`t
know what else happened to the baby. But then thinks enough to evade police when they`re calling her, trying to talk to her and then she hides all the
toddler clothes that she had secreted away.
KLAAS: Yes, she knows what`s going on. You know, this reminds me of a case we`ve had in northern California some years ago. A dangerous predator was
kidnapping and murdering little girls. One little girl, Michie Sanchez, ultimately got away from him, was able to point the finger at him and get
him arrested within a very few number of days.
As soon as he showed up in court, he was in a wheelchair, he was babbling, he couldn`t handle his own defense. Fortunately the justice system saw
through that and they convicted him and sent him to prison where he ultimately died after spending about 15 years behind bars.
GRACE: Mark Klaas with us, thank you. Tonight, we stop to honor American hero Philadelphia officer Jesse Hartnet, released from the hospital after
surviving an ambush attack allegedly by a man claiming he did it in the name of Islam. Hartnett, suffering three gunshots, multiple surgeries --
there you see a salute to him leaving the hospital. Jesse Hartnett, American hero. Thanks to our guests and to you for being with us. Nancy
Grace signing off. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp eastern. Until then, good night, friends.
[21:00:00]
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