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Nancy Grace
Affluenza Teen Sent Back to U.S. Missing Mom of Two, Body Found Unclothed and Decomposing Not Far From Her Home. Married Schoolteacher Caught Having Sex with a Special Needs Student. This Week Marks Holocaust Remembrance, Commemorating Victims of the World War II Holocaust. Aired 8- 9p ET
Aired January 28, 2016 - 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, a rich kid high on weed and Xanax mows four people down dead, a fifth paralyzed for life. He gets
straight probation for killing four people. Then he`s caught on video playing beer pong. He and his mommy go on the run, believe it or not, to
Mexico, living it up at a beachside resort, blowing $2,000 on strip clubs.
Bombshell tonight. In the last hours, affluenza teen Ethan Couch deported back to the U.S. to face Lady Justice. Hey, she`s been waiting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brand-new video of Ethan Couch leaving Mexico, heading back to the United States. This is the first video we`ve seen of
the teenager since he fled across the border with his mother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a -- a day I said many times that I would finally breathe a sigh of relief when they were both locked up in Tarrant County.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Missing mom of two Nique Leili`s both found unclothed, decomposing under reeds (ph) not far from her upscale home she shares husband and two
daughters. Why wasn`t Nique reported missing immediately? As focus turns on Daddy, Nique`s own daughters take to YouTube to defend him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Matthew Leili told police they had gotten into an argument.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My husband refuses to let me leave the house.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And that his wife left and didn`t come home. Searchers found her naked body in some woods near the couple`s home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He not only covered up her body, but he tried to cover it all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the recordings that the police have are before my parents went to therapy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A married school teacher caught by a high school hall monitor having sex with a special needs student. Tonight, we uncover 13,000 secret
text messages between the two. Didn`t her husband notice his wife texting nonstop? And catch this. She`s still on the payroll getting paid!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: School administrators confirm Lafave (ph) was charged by school police. The allegation, sex acts with students. Lafave was
caught having sex with her student in the class. Hall monitors spotted the two in the act during school hours.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody`s been really, really nice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. A rich kid high on weed and Xanax mows four people down dead a fifth paralyzed for life. He gets straight probation for killing
four people. Then he`s caught on video playing beer pong. He and his mommy go on the run to Mexico, living it up at a beachside resort, blowing
$2,000 on strip clubs.
In the last hours, affluenza teen Ethan Couch deported back to the U.S. to face Lady Justice. Hey, Couch, she`s been waiting!
Joining me right now at the Texas border, Ed Lavandera, CNN correspondent. Ed, thank you for being with us. We`ve got this feed coming in from
Mexico. It shows Ethan Couch, affluenza teen. There he is in kind of a blue camouflage hoodie. Now he`s covering his face.
He was not covering his face that night at the strip club. He wasn`t covering his face that night, Ed, when he was stealing booze out of a
Walmart. There you go. He`s not covering his face when he`s looking at the pole dancer at the Harem Club.
So Ed, what`s the latest? Is this him coming across the border?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it`s not only him, but he`s already back here in Texas in a juvenile detention facility in Ft. Worth, and where
authorities are expecting him to make a court appearance, initially either within Friday or Monday. It`s not exactly clear when it`s going to happen
just yet. But that will determine what will happen with him over the course of the next couple of months.
GRACE: Wait a minute, Ed Lavandera!
LAVANDERA: He turns 19 in April.
GRACE: Ed, Ed, Ed! What are we waiting on? I`ve already lived through his sentencing for straight probation. I`ve lived through him playing beer
pong, OK? Beer pong, Ed. Do you know what that is? That`s where every -- it`s a big drunk. That`s what it -- can I see the video, please, Liz?
Now, this is after he`s drunk, high on weed, Xanax and booze and kills four people. He gets straight probation, and here he is yucking it up, getting
drunk again with his buddies. OK. Now, he goes on the run, lives in a posh Mexican beachside resort with his mom, blows two grand at a strip
club.
[20:05:09]Why do we have to wait? What`s the hold-up? They didn`t know he was coming?
LAVANDERA: Well, no. He`s in custody here. Let me be clear. He`s in custody here. The hearing now -- this initial hearing will be exactly to
determine what to do with him between now and April, when he turns 19 and essentially out of the juvenile system.
Remember, prosecutors here in Texas are trying to move his case from the juvenile system into the adult system. The hearing for that is scheduled
for February 19th. And depending on what the judge does there will determine just exactly how much more time he might spend in jail. But it
appears that at least he`ll spend -- he`ll be in custody until his 19th birthday. What happens after that is very much up in the air.
GRACE: Hold on, Ed. Hold on, Ed. I`ve got a little problem with my executive producer, Liz. So Liz, are you showing me his jail cell to what,
make me feel bad? Can I see the jail cell, please? What, I`m supposed to feel bad that he`s here? That`s his juvenile detention center, Liz. He`s
not even in real jail. What, that`s a private room, Liz. That`s a bed, that`s a mattress, a blanket, two blankets, a pillow and something else,
and a urinal and a sink.
No, I don`t feel bad that he is in a juvenile detention center. It`s like a dormitory. So showing those pictures to me is not bothering me, Liz, so
you can keep showing them.
OK, so Ed, let me understand this. He`s 18 years old. He`s going to turn 19 in about three months and he is in juvenile detention?
LAVANDERA: Yes, that`s the best authorities here in Texas can do. His case is still under the jurisdiction of the juvenile system here in Texas,
where he was given that 10-year probation sentence for the drunk driving accident that killed four people, which obviously sparked...
GRACE: Did you say "accident"?
LAVANDERA: ... a ridiculous amount of outrage...
GRACE: Did you say "accident"?
LAVANDERA: Well, accident, whatever you want to call it.
GRACE: Crash? Crash?
LAVANDERA: The ruling, the crash -- the -- obviously, when you talk to many people who are angry about -- you know, many people are just angry
about the sentence that he received from the judge in that case of 10 years probation, and they would like to see him spend a great deal of time in
jail.
However, what has happened here is a violation of his probation, and there`s not much more authorities say they can do with him.
GRACE: Well, hold on just a moment. Let me understand how he`s finally back from hiding out in Mexico. Liz, could I see that beachside resort
where he and his mother were staying? You`ve already shown me the strip club. Thank you, Liz.
Here you go. Now, this is where affluenza teen was bunked up after he fled the jurisdiction when he was caught playing beer pong, getting drunk, which
is against everything his probation calls for. This is where he was staying.
You know where his victims` families are, Ed Lavandera? They`re around the graves of their children and their sisters and their wives. That`s where
they are, while he`s here at this strip club and this beachside resort.
Now, I thought, Ed Lavandera, his lawyer in Tijuana told me he had filed a writ of habeas corpus because his rights were violated when he was
arrested. Why is he here? What happened to that?
LAVANDERA: Well, that same attorney just several days ago put up -- just gave up that fight. What exactly was behind that, we don`t really know.
But all of a sudden, everything they said -- You know, We`re not going to fight this deportation anymore. And we confirmed that just a couple of
days ago, and now -- that`s what paved the way to bring Ethan back here today.
GRACE: Candace Trunzo joining me, in addition to CNN correspondent Ed Lavandera, Candace Trunzo, senior news editor, Dailymail.com.
Candace, I`ll tell you the legal maneuver I think that went down. It`s called sitting for two or three weeks in a Mexican jail cell and suddenly
deciding your rights were not violated when they arrested you and it`s better to be in a U.S. jail cell. That`s what happened, Candace.
CANDACE TRUNZO, DAILYMAIL.COM (via telephone): Well, we believe that there`s definitely something afoot here. There`s a reason why he has -- he
did not want to be extradited back to the United States, and now he has. So there`s something afoot.
But you know, at the end of the day, Nancy, the most he can serve for this is 120 days. Even if they try him as an adult, 120 days is all he gets in
jail.
GRACE: Out to Colleen Sheehey-Church, the national president of MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving. You know, Colleen, as much as I love Ed
Lavandera, I still get burned up whenever I hear anybody say a drunk driving accident because it is no accident to get drunk. You take one
drink after the next after the next. That in itself is not a crime.
[20:10:03]But then to get your car key out of your pants or your pocketbook, to walk to your car, to open the door, start the ignition, back
it up, put it in drive, head out onto the highway -- that is not an accident. That`s a drunk driving crash.
Four people -- Liz, could I see the victims, please? Thank you. One pastor, a youth pastor, was stopping to help Breanna Mitchell, who got a
flat tire. Hollie Boyles and her daughter, Shelby, come out to help Breanna, as well. This guy, Ethan Couch, runs them down, mows them down
dead and paralyzes a fifth. The fifth victim can only see -- can`t speak, can`t eat, can`t move, can only see what`s going on around him.
So Colleen Sheehey-Church, 120 days? That`s what Candace Trunzo said.
COLLEEN SHEEHEY-CHURCH, NATIONAL PRES. OF MADD (via telephone): You`re absolutely right, Nancy. That`s what he said. And I can`t agree more
with, you know, your statements. I mean, it`s -- it`s -- this is an egregious case. We`re frustrated. We`re mad. We`re angry.
I mean, Ethan Couch is not a child. He should not be treated as a child. It should be -- it should be, you know, transferred over from the juvenile
court case to an adult court case, and he needs to see prison instead of presents for his 19th birthday in April!
GRACE: Justin Freiman, you mean to tell me if another person -- let`s just say an African-American or a Hispanic or a white guy that`s not -- parents
aren`t millionaires, they kill four people and paralyze a fifth at age 18 - - are you telling me that that`s treated in juvenile court? That doesn`t make sense to me.
JUSTIN FREIMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Well, if it`s at age 18, he would probably be treated as an adult. But because in this case,
this happened as a juvenile, it actually stays within the juvenile system until the 19th birthday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:16:30]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ve reached a great milestone. I`ve said all along this is the day we look forward to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ethan Couch (INAUDIBLE) back here and into the custody of Ft. Worth, Texas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Finally, now justice can be served for the four victims and their families.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: For those of you just joining us, as we go to air tonight, the so- called affluenza teen, Ethan Couch -- he and his mommy go on the run to Mexico after he`s spotted playing beer pong, apparently completely drunk,
this after he mows down and kills four people leaving a fifth permanently paralyzed -- drunk. Well, he`s back. He`s back from Mexico and his
beachside villa he shared with his mom.
Very quickly out to Pat Lalama, managing editor, CrimeWatchDaily. If he violated his probation -- which he got, like, 10 years probation -- why
can`t the whole bulk of the probation be revoked? Why is it just 120 days?
PAT LALAMA, CRIMEWATCHDAILY.COM: Well, I think that`s something they`re going to have to look at. The law is the law in Texas, and that may be the
parameters that they have to live with based on the law.
GRACE: OK, I don`t understand that. Candace, if he got 10 years probation and he, A, apparently, drank (ph) playing beer bong, left the jurisdiction,
failed to report to his probation officer, all of that, violation of probation, why can`t the whole 10 years be revoked?
TRUNZO: You would think that it would be, but they have to adhere to the law in Texas. And the law in Texas is, even if they move him and he is
tried for leaving the country as an adult, 120 days is the max. It`s incredible.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers, Robert Schalk and Randy Kessler. First to you, Randy Kessler, I`m not arguing with you...
RANDY KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Oh, sure you are.
GRACE: ... whether this theory is right or wrong. But is that your understanding of the law? Because typically, when probation is revoked,
the prosecutor can recommend how much of the probation they want revoked. Say, OK, I want five years revoked, that means he gets five years jail
time, five years left on the 10 years of probation.
KESSLER: They can, but there are statutory limits. And apparently in Texas, that`s the statutory limit. I mean, the bottom line, Nancy, is
you`re retrying the original crime. You`re mad at him about what he originally did...
GRACE: You said apparently. You said apparently.
KESSLER: No, clearly.
GRACE: Do you know that it`s a Texas law?
KESSLER: No, I do not practice in Texas.
GRACE: OK. Justin, Justin, look it up for me real quick and find out because that doesn`t make sense to me, Ed Lavandera. You get 10 years
probation and you violate your probation and you get 120 days?
LAVANDERA: That`s -- the way the DA has been and the prosecutors have been telling us all along is that those are essentially the parameters they have
to work with.
GRACE: Oh!
LAVANDERA: And unless the law were to be changed, that`s the only thing that they can do. And that`s why they`re trying to get his case moved into
the adult system because if he were to violate his probation again, then they could come back at him and make him face severe jail time in the adult
system, which would be up to 10 years in prison, which they could stack on top of all four of the deaths...
GRACE: Got you.
LAVANDERA: ... and essentially make it 40 years, if they wanted to do that.
GRACE: Well, I can tell you right now, Candace Trunzo, he`s going to violate it again. I mean, when you don`t know a horse, look at his track
record! Of course he`s going to violate it again. He can`t go 10 years without violating probation.
[20:20:00]TRUNZO: His track record is really bad. And here`s the other thing. I mean, he has parents. I mean, who knows where his father is.
But you know, his mother enabled him. She enabled him to leave the country...
GRACE: I know where...
TRUNZO: ... and go to Mexico.
GRACE: ... his father is!
TRUNZO: She enabled him...
GRACE: Hold on!
TRUNZO: ... go to a (INAUDIBLE) and hang out with hookers.
GRACE: I know where the father is.
TRUNZO: I mean...
GRACE: The father...
TRUNZO: ... who says it isn`t going to happen again?
GRACE: ... is working to foot the bill for all of this. But you`re right. Say they do let him out, Candace Trunzo. If they let him out of jail,
who`s he going to go to? His mom`s already under house arrest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(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: Not only that, not reporting for probation, not adhering to the terms of probation then fleeing the country with Mommy, dyeing his hair and
his mustache black so he wouldn`t be found, Mom taking out $30,000 cash for the trip and bunking up at a beachside luxury resort -- I would say that`s
violating probation.
[20:25:09]Is it true, Justin Freiman, that after this hearing that`s going to go down in about 24 hours, he could actually walk free again?
FREIMAN: Yes, Nancy. That`s right. There are three possibilities. He could be released with terms, he could be ordered to stay at the juvenile
facility or be taken to an adult jail.
GRACE: Colleen Sheehey-Church with me, the national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Colleen, you know, I feel like I just can`t win for
losing. There`s Mommy right there. She enabled this whole thing. Take your own son to Mexico and run up a $2,000 bill on strippers and hookers
while you`re on the run from four homicides? Really?
SHEEHEY-CHURCH: Really. Really, Nancy. You can`t make that stuff up. And I mean, we just left the juvenile detention center just a little while
ago to try to sneak a peek at this kid, and he obviously went in a side door so we didn`t get a chance to take a look at him.
But you know, parents are the number one influencer of children. And obviously, you know, affluenza aside, you know, he killed four people,
really, really harmed and injured, you know, others, and the fact is, he should be held accountable. And we are going to stay here as long as we
have to to make sure that he does go from juvenile court system to the adult court system so he can be watched a heck of a lot closer.
GRACE: I just saw a picture of Shelby Boyles, I think, graduating from high school. Everybody that has a child, imagine this. Your child run
down by a drunk driver, who then goes on the run to Mexico with his Mommy and hangs out at a strip club.
You know, just sometimes, no matter how hard you fight -- I just want to go lay down, Colleen, just lay down on the front steps of the courthouse and
just cry! That`s what this makes me feel like, Colleen.
SHEEHEY-CHURCH: I know, Nancy. I know, Nancy. There`s been -- it`s an egregious case. It was 100 percent preventable. You know, he just
blatantly just disregarded the law. And with the petition that we started, we`re looking for, you know, more people to sign it so that we can...
GRACE: What petition? Is it on line?
SHEEHEY-CHURCH: ... just show, you know, that we`re supporting prosecution.
GRACE: Whoa, whoa, whoa! What petition? Is your petition on line?
SHEEHEY-CHURCH: It`s on line, MADD.org/fightaffluenza.
GRACE: Wait. MADD.org...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... /fightaffluenza -- MADD.org/fightaffluenza to sign the petition for the judge. Who is the judge on this, Colleen?
SHEEHEY-CHURCH: The judge on this case is not the same as the one before.
GRACE: Yes, it`s not because that judge retired.
SHEEHEY-CHURCH: (INAUDIBLE) you know, I apologize. I don`t know the name...
GRACE: It may be...
(CROSSTALK)
SHEEHEY-CHURCH: ... the current judge that`s going to be taking...
(CROSSTALK)
SHEEHEY-CHURCH: ... it`s Tim Menikos, M-E-N-I-K-O-S.
GRACE: You know, a lot of times it just is who`s on duty that day to hear the...
SHEEHEY-CHURCH: Could be.
GRACE: ... 24-hour hearings.
But you know what? Liz, if you could, could you pull -- there`s Mommy in Mexico on the run, I think, from ABC exclusive. Can you pull up the video
of them stealing from Walmart that set this whole chain of events in motion? This guy goes in with his friends to Walmart, steals booze, gets
drunk, high on weed and Xanax, kills four people, paralyzes a fifth.
And now we`re going to hear what a Texas judge does in just 24 hours, now that he`s finally back. We`ve got the video of him setting foot on U.S.
soil from hiding in Mexico.
[20:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NANCY GRACE, CNN HEADLINE NEWS HOST: Missing mom of two, Nique Leili`s body found unclothed and decomposing under leaves not far from her upscale
home she shared with her husband and two daughters.
Why wasn`t Nique reported missing immediately? Why did the husband wait? As focus turns on dad, Nique`s own daughters take to YouTube to defend him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just saw a huge big pile. It just looked -- it looked like it was covering up something, so I just started kicking away at
it and then saw her body and her hair.
AMANDA LEILI, NIQUE LEILI`S DAUGHTER: The police who had searched for her body for a week, it`s their job to find missing people, and Alex and her
sister, Amy, managed to get a search party together and find her body in seven minutes and the news crews happened to be there to find this all? And
I just -- I find that really suspicious and really off-putting.
GRACE: That video from daughter Amanda Leili`s YouTube page, it seems as if she`s suggesting there was a big conspiracy about the media finding her
mother`s body.
Instead of being upset about finding her mother`s body, the two daughters, now taking to YouTube, to defend their father against mounting evidence, he
had a hand in his wife`s death.
Now, there is a third daughter from another man, from a previous marriage, that is not taking daddy`s side. Let`s go straight out to Mike Duffy,
joining us there on the scene. Mike, what can you tell me about audio recordings?
[20:35:00] MIKE DUFFY, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Nancy, the State admits that one of the reasons it took so long to bring charges in this case, is that
they needed the technology to uncover the data that Matthew Leili had tried to destroy.
They said they have this technology, and what they`ve uncovered is a plethora of audio recordings that all point toward murder. So, what are we
hearing? Well, we`re hearing Nique Leili had a conversation with her sister about Matthew Leili putting his hands around her neck and pushing her up
against the wall.
We`re also hearing that he tell her sister that the marriage is over. And one of the most interesting things to emerge is Matthew Leili recording
himself making commentary about his own recordings.
GRACE: What a nut. Unleash the lawyers. Robert Schalk of New York, Randy Kessler, Atlanta.
OK, Robert Schalk, he`s recording -- secretly recording his wife, and she`s telling her sister he tried to strangle me, he threw me up against the
wall, he tried to strangle me. Now, he gets the recording and then he interjects.
He starts making kind of like, burning his own C.D. and interjecting in their conversation. And you`re telling me she just disappeared on her own
and somebody else killed her, Schalk?
ROBERT SCHALK, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: So that video proves he committed murder? No. That video proves that he clearly didn`t trust his wife. He obviously
had a reason for making those recordings.
And there`s no proof, other than that, there`s no physical proof that that physical altercation took place. No police report, no marks, no photos, no
anything. So, again, this is circumstantial at best for the prosecution.
GRACE: Well, OK. Can I ask you something, Robert Schalk?
SCHALK: Sure.
GRACE: Isn`t it true that the law says in black and white, circumstantial ...
(CROSSTALK)
SCHALK: So does direct evidence, sure.
GRACE: I`d like to finish. That circumstantial evidence is equally as probative as valuable in court as direct evidence, is that correct?
(CROSSTALK)
SCHALK: That is correct, but ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: What is the law? Is that the law?
(CROSSTALK)
SCHALK: Yes, that`s the law. But for presenting it to a jury ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Yes, it is. So don`t try to pretend ...
(CROSSTALK)
SCHALK: ... presenting it to a jury ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... that that`s not the law.
SCHALK: ... presenting it to a jury and convincing 12 people, proof beyond unreasonable doubt is a different thing than just saying it`s the same.
GRACE: Well, unlike some defense attorneys, I have not had a problem with circumstantial evidence.
SCHALK: You`re 100 percent successful circumstantial evidence?
GRACE: As a matter of fact, knock on wood, yes, I have been at trial. As a matter of fact, now that you asked.
Let me ask you, Randy Kessler, aside from my tiff with Robert Schalk, I mean, let`s look at the scenario, can we just use common sense? And I know
your job is to defend. I get it, all right? That`s what you do, and you`re both consummate at that.
But, can I just apply a little common sense to this? So, let`s look at the scenario. She`s telling her sister in a secret phone call, this marriage is
over. He tried to strangle me. He`s recording her and then he makes his own C.D. out of it.
As a matter of fact, this is what he says. You hear his voice going, wait for it, wait for it, and then she says -- the wife just says, he`s an
asshole. I mean, you hear him recording in the middle of their conversation. He is a kook.
ROBERT KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, when you say ...
GRACE: So who else is going to come kill the wife?
KESSLER: You know, when you say "common sense," let`s use "common sense" ...
GRACE: OK.
KESSLER: Let`s say, let`s use speculation. Let`s just jump -- because we don`t have evidence, so let`s use common sense instead of evidence. You can
use common sense but you need evidence. You don`t convict on common sense. Everyone`s got different common sense.
GRACE: OK. You know what? I`m glad you said that. Let me go out to Matt Zarrell on this to talk about a little hard evidence. Let`s talk about DNA
and hair evidence. Matt Zarrell, was anything found in his -- Matthew Leili`s pickup, his SUV?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Yes, there was. An examination of his car found three blond hairs consistent with Nique`s. The hairs were found
on the back of the third row seat on a floor board. And get this, Nancy, in the locking mechanism to the back rear tailgate.
GRACE: OK. Hold that screen up there, Liz (ph). I want to make sure that Randy Kessler, Atlanta defense attorney and Robert Schalk, New York defense
attorney, just drink it in for a moment. All right, you wanted evidence? There it is.
Now, Schalk, let me have another round to -- with Schalk. OK, Schalk, I know what you`re going to say about the back seat, that she has been in
that car ...
SCHALK: Exactly.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... common for her hair to be in the back seat. But here`s the kicker, it`s not on the seat. It`s back in the truck and it`s tangled up in
the locking mechanism, obviously where he pulled her body out of the back of the SUV.
SCHALK: Yep. Obviously, there`s no blood, there`s no other forensic evidence indicating that there was a struggle or that she was bleeding or
that she had deceased in that vehicle.
So you can sit here and say all you want that the hair is proof that this murder took place but she lives with him, they lived together their whole
life, she`s in that car every single day. I`ll take that evidence and fight with the jury about it. There`s no blood, there`s no weapon. Again,
circumstantial evidence.
[20:40:00] GRACE: You know what? I would say, as I`ve said to many, many juries, what do you want? A video of the murder? And you know what? Kara
Stockton, WYAY, I might have a video of the murder but, coincidentally, at the time Nique goes missing, somebody logs into their security system and
cuts off the video. Now, isn`t that a coincidence?
KARA STOCKTON, NEWS RADIO 106.7 WYAY REPORTER: Yeah, he actually claims that when she left, that she disabled the camera, and that he went looking
for her afterwards.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Matthew Leili told police they had gotten into an argument ...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIQUE LEILI, VICTIM: My husband refuses to let me leave the house.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then his wife left and didn`t come home. Searchers found her naked body in some woods near the couple`s home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He not only covered up her body but he tried to cover it all up.
A. LEILI: All the recordings that the police have are before my parents went to therapy.
[20:45:00] GRACE: For those of you just joining us, Nique Leili`s body was found naked and decomposing, hidden under leaves and pine straw, not far
from the upscale enclave neighborhood where they lived.
She shared her home with her husband, Matthew, and their two daughters. She has a third daughter from another marriage.
I want to go out now to Joe Scott Morgan, Certified Death Investigator, professor Forensics but first, on the scene, Mike Duffy. Mike, what can you
tell me about alleged sex problems?
DUFFY: Nancy, we`ve seen a sex theme emerge here in court in the last couple of days. As we discussed, Matthew Leili told police at the last
conversation, the last argument, he had with his wife before she vanished was about how he wanted her to wear a sexy outfit and have sex with him.
Then, today in court, Nique`s father told about how Matthew had called him a few months before her death to talk about marital problems, sex problems,
they were having.
Now, Nique`s father says that he thought this was inappropriate. He told Leili this was inappropriate, and asked Leili not to call him again. Now,
in a bombshell from the State, we learned that Nique Leili had elevated levels of GHB, commonly known as the "date rape drug" in her system at the
time of her death.
GRACE: GHB, gamma-hydroxybutyrate, Joe Scott Morgan, Certified Death Investigator, Professor of Forensics at Jacksonville State University.
Joe Scott, let me understand this. She had GHB still in her body at the time her body is found. Her body is found several days after she goes
missing. Doesn`t GHB metabolize in about 12 hours?
JOSEPH SCOTT MORGAN, CERTIFIED DEATH INVESTIGATOR: Yes, it does, Nancy. It metabolizes very quickly. That`s one of the difficulties that we had in
detecting this in this date rape scenarios that we hear so much about.
This is key relative to time since death. If it was still in her system, one of the things forensically that we can kind of hang our hat on is that
the body in its living state did not have time to process the GHB through its system. Therefore, she died prior to that 12-hour period.
GRACE: So she was given GHB just before her death. Matthew Dempsey, Psychotherapist, joining me out of L.A. Matthew, did you hear what Mike
Duffy there on the scene said?
He said that the husband, now under suspicion in his wife`s death, called his father-in-law to talk about their sex problems. Okay. What is wrong
with that picture?
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEW DEMPSEY, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Yeah. I mean, this is not (inaudible) a big issue. Well, there`s a lot of wrong with that picture and this is ...
GRACE: What`s the big issue?
DEMPSEY: ... something that would probably fall in line -- the main issue here is voyeuristic disorder, I would say because just the fact - first of
all, the that there`s this extensive surveillances in their house, constantly recording his wife, constantly staying in touch with other
family members, his father, about what`s going on, conversations about what`s happening sexually, it all points to voyeurism.
GRACE: Another thing, let me go out to you, Schalk and Kessler, about this. When you heard Mike Duffy say that he was demanding her to wear a sexy
outfit and have sex with him, OK, think about it just a moment. Try to wrap your two defense -- male defense attorney minds around this.
So he -- according to her, throws her against the wall and tries to strangle her, then wants her to put on a, "negligee" and have sex with him,
and he`s angry because she says "no."
KESSLER: Uh-huh.
GRACE: What do you mean, "uh-huh?" You don`t see a problem with that?
KESSLER: I mean, uh-huh, I mean, I don`t like that. I think that sounds bad but it doesn`t sound like murder. It doesn`t sound like evidence to convict
somebody of murder. That sounds like something that -- you know, I`m a divorce lawyer, too, and I see a lot of stuff that`s a lot worse than that
in marriages that don`t end up in divorce.
GRACE: Go to the next step, Schalk. Think about his attitude toward her. The way he is treating her and objectifying her. She`s no more than a piece
of meat to him. So -- I mean, put two and two together and you keep getting five.
SCHALK: But you`re dealing, still, with all of this hearsay. There`s no concrete proof that these arguments, that these fights, that these requests
were made. They are coming from third parties. So whether they are even going to be admitted into evidence and what weight the jury gives them, we
don`t know.
GRACE: Okay. Kara Stockton, WYAY joining us, we`ve got the secret videos, we have the negligee, we got the sex problems, we got the surveillance, but
I believe this may truly be the first real clairvoyant that I`ve seen, because isn`t it true, Kara, that before her body is found, he tells people
I`m going to need help raising our children.
[20:50:00] STOCKTON: Yes, he did (inaudible).
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... because he knew she was never coming back.
STOCKTON: Yes. And he knew -- and he knew two days later when he filed for divorce that she was already gone.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: A married schoolteacher caught by a high school hall monitor having sex with a special needs student. Tonight, we uncovered 13,000 secret text
messages between the two. Didn`t her husband notice his wife texting nonstop? And catch this, she`s still on the payroll getting paid.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JILLIAN LAFAVE, ARRESTED FOR MOLESTING SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENT: Everybody has been really, really nice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is Jillian LaFave, public broadcaster, celebrated on television for her service as a teacher. Clark County school
administrators confirm LaFave was charged by school police. The allegation? Sex acts with a student. All monitors spotted the two in the act during
school hours. Valley High parents were not happy.
LAFAVE: There`s a special education shortage so my phone was blowing up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:55:00] GRACE: That is Jillian LaFave on Vegas PBS. With me right now, two special guests, Warren Geller, Jillian LaFave`s lawyer out of Las
Vegas, a very well-known lawyer in jurisdiction, and Len Connell from KLAV in Vegas.
Warren, first to you. How in the world can you explain 13,000 texts between this married teacher and a special needs boy student?
WARREN GELLER, ATTORNEY FOR JILLIAN LAFAVE: Well, first of all, Nancy, those texts have not even been examined in entirety by the police. So,
right now, we`re just dealing with information as it`s coming in a mere 13 days after the arrest.
The police, in their own declaration of arrest, indicate they haven`t gone through all of them. So, at this point, the contents of the text messages,
who sent them, where they were sent, from whom, etc., all those details have yet to come out and the first court date in this case is not until
March the 30th, so obviously, there`s a lot of evidence that ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: OK. OK. Well said, Warren Geller. Len Connell, from KLAV, joining us out of Vegas.
Len, thank you for being with us, but still 13,000 texts, I don`t care what they`re talking about. That`s excessive. And there are allegations that she
admitted to police she touched the boy`s penis. There`s no way that could be innocent, and told the student, don`t call me "mommy" while we`re having
sex. OK, Len, help me out.
LEN CONNELL, KLAV LAS VEGAS HOST: Well, it seems that what happened was that they had gotten together in October of this year. She helped him get a
date for a homecoming dance and then he started texting her back and forth, the alleged 13,000 texts, 150 today -- to each day. Eventually, they got
more and more sexual in nature.
She waived her Miranda rights and she said when she was arrested that she admitted that she had kissed him a number of times. She admitted that he
touched her breasts accidently. She admitted that she accidently touched his crotch once and she also admitted that he touched her crotch and by
guiding her hand down there and then she had to pull it away.
So there were some other witnesses. There was another student, Manuel (ph), who was also a teacher. By the way, these kids are 16-1/2 years of age and
he said that the preferential treatment that he saw Jillian LaFave are giving the student by lending him things and giving him paper, different
supplies, whatever else. In his mind -- in his mindset, it looked like something was going on.
GRACE: OK, hold on. To Warren Geller, Jillian LaFave`s defense lawyer out of Las Vegas, that`s a whole lot of accidents. I accidently touched his
penis. He accidently touched my breasts. I accidentally touched his crotch. That`s a lot of accidents. You got to explain a way if she actually did say
all of that.
GELLER: Well, my understanding is that he forcibly grabbed her hand and placed it down into his pants, and I`m hearing a lot of allegations on the
news, "Daily Mail" that said that they had sex.
And she is not charged with any crime associated with rape or having sex with the individual that`s alleged in this criminal complaint that was
filed just earlier this week.
So the allegation and what she admitted to was merely that he grabbed her hand and put it down her pants and you`ll see, I believe in the text
messages when they surfaced, that she repeatedly was telling him, back off. We cannot be doing this. This is inappropriate.
So that`s going to be obviously something that you`ll see as the case proceeds through discovery, but I believe that there`s going to be that in
her audio recorded statement to the police after and before Miranda.
GRACE: Ben Levitan, communications expert, how do you analyze 13,000 text messages?
BEN LEVITAN, COMMUNICATIONS EXPERT: Well, send it to a cell phone expert. He`ll do that in 15 minutes. He`ll be able to tell you where each of those
text messages were sent from. We`ll be able to know if these were all done at school, or was he at home and was she at school? When were these
conversations taken place? Nancy, this school is obsessed with text messaging. Average teenager sends 110 text messages a day. She`s sending
144.
GRACE: Whoa. OK. You break it down, Ben Levitan.
Everyone, this week, marking Holocaust Remembrance, commemorating victims of the World War II Holocaust. Six million Jews including over 1 million at
Auschwitz. Survivors, many around the world honor their memory. And not only that, struggle that this may never happen again.
And tonight, on a happy note, happy birthday to my dear friend, Linda (inaudible). This is her favorite childhood photo. We love you so much,
Linda. And happy 12th birthday to sixth grader Xavier who loves math. A transplant survivor, cannot wait to attend the donate live transplant games
this summer. God bless you, Xavier.
Thanks for being with us, everyone. Nancy Grace, signing off for tonight. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8 o`clock sharp, Eastern and, until then, good
night, friends.
[21:00:00] DREW PINSKY, "DR. DREW" SHOW HOST: Welcome, everyone. There are hundreds in line, maybe many more inside. they`re all waiting to hear from
Donald ...
END
