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Nancy Grace
Teen Girl Burned Alive; Former Model Hatches Plan to Kill Husband`s Wife; Did Mother Murder Toddler Son with Benadryl?; Corporal Nate Carrigan Killed in Line of Duty. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired February 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, HOST: Breaking news tonight. Police and EMTs race to the scene to find a teen girl burning alive in a horrific lighter fluid attack.
Bombshell tonight. Just before her death, does the girl whisper her killer`s name to police?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dosed with a flammable liquid...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was set on fire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Burned alive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who would want to do this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Incredibly, despite her suffering, Chambers whispered something to firefighters. Many believe it was the name of her attacker.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have ripped everything I have!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who could have done it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Did a gorgeous model hire a hitman to kill her husband`s ex-wife, then feed the ex`s body to a wood chipper?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A former model proves beauty is only skin deep. Tara Lambert (ph) hatches a dastardly plot to kill her ex-husband`s wife, the
mother of Lambert`s two stepdaughters. Authorities say she even tried to hire a hitman to do the job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Did a 34-year-old mom murder her to son with a lethal dose of Benadryl, 10 times the normal dose? Then does Mommy sob and snort, snoring
for hours after killing her son?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Michigan mother is on trial for the second degree murder of her 16-month-old son after prosecutors say he died of an overdose
of Benadryl. Elizabeth Long (ph) told police that she gave her son a teaspoon of Benadryl the day he died, but forensic testing later revealed
that the little boy had almost 11 times the normal dosage of Benadryl in his bloodstream.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. Police and EMTs race to the scene to find a teen girl burning alive in a horrific lighter fluid attack. Bombshell tonight. Is
there a crack in the case? Just before her death, does the girl whisper her killer`s name to police?
Joining us, CNN correspondent Martin Savidge. Martin, I understand this all occurred in connection to her car. Now, hadn`t she just been at a gas
station when this happened? Liz, do we have that gas station surveillance? Martin?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She had been. In fact, it was really the main reason that her family says she went out that evening, to fill the
car up. She was also going to a grab a bite to eat there. And then -- you know, she was casually dressed, so it looks like she was intending to
return home pretty quickly, but she did not. And as we know, her car was later found in flames on a rural road not that far away. The question is
what happened?
GRACE: Everybody, you are seeing shots right there of Jessica Chambers, the young teen girl. She lives with her mom and dad. She goes out to put
gas in the car. There she is. Take a look. We`re watching her. It`s not that late at night. She goes in. She pays. She pumps her gas. There she
is. Let`s take a look at her. Nothing wrong. Nobody approaches her. She`s not robbed. She`s not threatened.
If you look at her car -- and we had to close in on this -- nobody is in the car with her. Look at this. There she is acting normally the night
that she is killed.
So Martin Savidge, after she`s spotted here on this grainy surveillance video, what do we believe happened?
SAVIDGE: Well, I talked to the manager of that gas station. He also says, Look, I talked to her. I know her. And there was nothing out of place in
her demeanor or her attitude. But then a short time later, a call comes in to the fire department. This is Courtland, Mississippi, a very small town.
And they`re saying, There`s a car on fire out here on this road.
So the fire department responds. They get there. They do see a car off the side of the road in flames, and they get ready to extinguish the fire.
Out of the...
GRACE: Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on, Martin. Look at your -- can you go back to the car, please. Look at this car. She was -- was she in the car,
Martin? Was she burned alive in the car, or was her body out of the car?
SAVIDGE: Her body was found outside of the car. In fact, she was walking down the street towards the EMTs. This is what I`ve been told talking to
investigators.
GRACE: Oh, my stars!
SAVIDGE: She is burned from head to toe and collapses on the ground. They immediately begin rendering aid, but it was a horrific scene. She managed
to get out of that vehicle.
GRACE: Oh, my stars! So you`re telling me -- Martin Savidge with us, CNN correspondent -- the fire had to start in the car. I mean, look at that.
So she must have been in the car when she was attacked with the lighter fluid.
[20:05:10]In addition to Martin Savidge, CNN correspondent, who knows this story like the back of his hand -- tonight, is there a break in the case?
Also joining me, breaking news reporter with "The Clarion Ledger" and correspondent with "USA Today" Therese Apel.
Therese, thank you for being with us. So do you believe, Therese, that she was attacked inside the car?
THERESE APEL, "CLARION LEDGER": At this point, it`s hard to tell just from the information that we have. I do believe she was attacked inside the
car. If you look at those photos closely, you can see that the passenger seat is laid back. So at some point, I believe her killer was in the car
with her.
GRACE: With me, Therese Apel and Martin Savidge. So Martin, she`s attacked with lighter fluid in the car. This is all we know about her
possible killer. Liz, roll it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were expecting to be just a normal car fire. I realized who the victim was, and it was just shocking.
SAVIDGE: Despite her suffering, Chambers whispered something to firefighters. Many believe it was the name of her attacker.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can`t really disclose any of that information at this time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was it ever determined what she said to first responders?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know what she said, but we`re not commenting on what she said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Did she whisper her killer`s name? That we don`t know. But isn`t it true, Therese Apel, that she was burned over 98 percent of her body?
And if what Martin Savidge believes is true, she somehow managed to get out of that car and start walking towards the EMTs. Therese, we believe she
said the name of her killer.
APEL: That`s what I`ve been told, that she did say a name. However, one of the problems -- one of the reasons officials aren`t committing to
anything is because she had those significant airway burns from inhaling the fire and the heat. So anything she said would have been hard to
understand because she was so severely burned through her mouth and her trachea and her nose.
GRACE: OK, back to you, Martin Savidge. I want you to take a look at this video surveillance. We`re going to show this one more time, see what we
can learn from it. She`s not approached by anybody. She doesn`t have a conversation with anybody. She doesn`t come back out of the gas station
with anybody after she pays. Nothing. It gives me no clue whatsoever.
Did you learn anything from this surveillance video, Martin?
SAVIDGE: No, and it appears that authorities didn`t find much else, either, from it. They have looked at it. They`ve gone over every aspect
of it. I`ve talked to them in great detail about it. But there is nothing there that has given them an indication of exactly what happened next or
who may have been involved.
One thing, as you point out, in addition to the burns that were on her body, there was also a gash in her head...
GRACE: Oh!
SAVIDGE: ... suggesting that she either hit something or was struck by something. It raised the initial thoughts that maybe this was a car
accident, but further evidence showed it definitely was not.
GRACE: Oh, yes. I`m going to go to the fire investigator in just a moment, but Martin, after years of homicides by arson, I can look at that
and tell an accelerant was poured on it.
With me, telecommunications expert out of Raleigh Ben Levitan. Ben, they found her cell phone there on the scene. I`m not sure if it was burned or
not. If it were burned, what could we learn from it?
BEN LEVITAN, TELECOMMUNICATIONS EXPERT (via telephone): Nancy, there`s nothing we`re going to get out of that phone. It was burned. And you
know, if you`re going to destroy a phone, that`s the way to do it.
But what we do know -- this is a rural community. Basically, there`s one cell tower in this city, and Jessica, whoever she communicated with, it`s
very easy to find out. This is how police did it. They found out who she communicated with.
Remember, she left her house. She must have communicated with someone. She was walking out of the gas station. Somebody called her. Those are
all -- you know, those are all digital bentcoms (ph). We know who she communicated with. We know if they were in the same area because everybody
in that area would have used the same cell tower.
All they had to do or what they did was they tracked everybody who was in contact with her, and apparently they tracked them all the way to Iowa and
all the way to Tennessee, and one by one, they were able to figure out who did this, Nancy.
GRACE: Whoa! That is a Herculean task. What we are learning, Ben, is that this guy may have asked her for a ride. That`s what some of the
reports are.
Also with me in addition to Ben Levitan, telecommunications expert, is Tim Wilhelm, senior fire investigator with Robson Forensic.
Tim, take a look at the burn patterns on this car. What do you think happened? Is it accelerant.
TIM WILHELM, SENIOR FIRE INVESTIGATOR, ROBSON FORENSIC (via telephone): Nancy, I`m sure that the investigators took -- were very meticulous in
taking (ph) samples from both Ms. Chambers`s clothes and from the car itself to determine exactly what the ignitable (ph) liquid was. But it`s
obvious that there was some kind of accelerant used on the vehicle.
[20:10:17]GRACE: But hold on. This is what we`ve learned from the father.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN CHAMBERS, FATHER: They said that as far as they could tell, like, they squirted fluid down her throat and up her nose because it just burned her
on the insides so bad.
The doctor told us there wasn`t nothing we could do. You know, she was burnt 98 percent of her body!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Oh! Oh! Every time I hear that -- Joe Scott Morgan, certified death investigator, professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University
-- tonight, is there a crack in this case?
We`ve been watching it ever since Jessica Chambers, this teen girl, beautiful girl, graduated with honors -- look at her little gold vestment
on her indicating she`s graduating with honors -- burns alive, burns covering 98 percent of her body.
Joe Scott Morgan, somebody squirted lighter fluid down her mouth, in her nose, and it seems to me by looking at the patterns of burn patterns on the
car somebody came up to her window. She must have slowed down for somebody. They squirted her in her mouth and lit her on fire. That`s what
I think happened.
JOE SCOTT MORGAN, CERTIFIED DEATH INVESTIGATOR: Yes, quite possible, Nancy. Also, I think that at some point in time, after looking at these
images, she was -- if not having it squirted down her mouth, she was certainly engulfed in flames at that particular time.
GRACE: Oh, dear Lord!
MORGAN: She`s inhalating (ph) this intensely hot, hot air. We see this many times with the mucosa or the soft lining of the esophagus and the
airway just being burned away. I`m amazed that she could even whisper anything whatsoever.
GRACE: You know, Martin Savidge, also, there are burn marks along the other side of the car. How was this car positioned when the police found
it? Had it rolled over? Was it pulled off to the side of the road?
SAVIDGE: It had gone off the side of the road. It appeared to have gone up a slight embankment and then smashed into the base of a very large tree.
The tree itself was severely burned, which gives you an indication of the intensity of the fire. But it`s unclear as to whether this had been, say,
a struggle and then going off the road, or if somehow, someone was trying to stage the scene.
GRACE: Tonight, is there a crack in this case finally? We have the latest. A teen girl literally burned alive, attacked by lighter fluid down
her mouth, into her nose. Tonight, we believe we know who did it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:17:16]UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nineteen-year-old Jessica Chambers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Burned alive inside of her car.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Engulfed in flames.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Quinton Tellis indicted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For capital murder.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s currently serving time in Louisiana for using a credit card that belonged to an exchange student...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... found stabbed to death.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Evil. They deserve far more than what they did to her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Quinton Verdell (ph) Tellis, age 27. That is who we believe committed this horrific crime, a horrible death by lighter fluid on a
beautiful young teen girl.
Joining me right now is a special guest. It`s Ben Chambers, his daughter, Jessica, the victim that we are showing you right now.
Mr. Chambers, thank you for being with us.
CHAMBERS: Yes ma`am.
GRACE: Mr. Chambers, I`m a crime victim, as well, and I cannot imagine the pain it would be to lose your child. I thought I knew all about being a
tangential murder victim, but the thought of losing a child is more than I can even imagine.
Do you remember the moment when you heard your daughter was a fire victim?
CHAMBERS: Oh, yes, ma`am. I mean, it`s like it was yesterday, you know? It was -- I just didn`t want to believe it at first when they called me.
You know, I thought maybe, you know, she was just burned just a little bit, you know, didn`t -- couldn`t imagine the scale it was, you know? And I
asked Barry (ph), was she OK? And you know, he got real silent. And he said, No, Ben, she`s not. And that`s when my whole world fell, you know?
GRACE: Where were you, Mr. Chambers, when you learned?
CHAMBERS: We just come home from Memphis. We had been Christmas shopping or whatever that day. We hadn`t been home maybe 10 minutes when he called.
GRACE: And what did you do?
CHAMBERS: He told me -- he wouldn`t tell me exactly where it was at. He wanted me to stay there at the house. And the sheriff and him come to my
house. In about five minutes, they was at the house. And he told me, you know, how bad she was burnt and they was flying her to Memphis. As a
matter of fact, when we was standing out in the yard, the helicopter come over to pick up her up.
And so I took off to Memphis. We beat the helicopter to Memphis, which is only about 50-something miles from our house. We beat -- we beat the
helicopter to there, you know? And...
[20:20:00]GRACE: Let me ask you something. I just went through that, flying, driving, as fast as I could to get to my father before he passed
away. What do you remember about that drive to try to get to your daughter?
CHAMBERS: It was just -- you know, I was just praying to the lord that she`d be OK, you know -- you know, just begging her, you know, to not take
her, you know, because I just lost my son a year before she got killed, you know, in a car wreck. And my whole world shut down, you know?
GRACE: I mean, just hearing you talk, I remember that, that crazy attempt to get there before he passed away. When you got there, when you got to
the hospital, what happened?
CHAMBERS: Well, when I got to the hospital, I didn`t even park my vehicle yet (INAUDIBLE) pay to get in and park. I just parked in the middle of the
street, took off running in the hospital or whatever. And of course, when I got in there, didn`t nobody know nothing about her or anything.
You got to get a badge. And finally (INAUDIBLE) Where is the (INAUDIBLE) the burn center? And you know, they said, Well, it`s upstairs, down the
hall or whatever. I just took off running, you know? And a matter of fact, I went in places I wasn`t even supposed to be, you know, trying to
find her.
GRACE: And did you find her?
CHAMBERS: They didn`t know anything about it. And of course, then they started calling around and they said, Well, wait a minute. The helicopter
is landing right now, you know?
And we had to wait, wait, wait, you know, wait on a doctor. It seemed like it was eternity, you know? (INAUDIBLE) doctor. The doctor come out said
he couldn`t do nothing for her, you know? She was burned too bad.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:26:23]GRACE: A beautiful teen girl, the apple of her parents` eye, dead, a horrific lighter fluid attack. She burned to death, 98 percent of
her body burned. We believe the lighter fluid, the fire, went down her throat and breathed it in.
And with me right now, her father, Ben Chambers, describing his desperate attempt to drive the nearly 60 miles to get to the hospital where she had
been air-lifted to try to save her life, as tonight, we learn there is finally a crack in this case. We believe the killer has been found.
And joining me is Jessica`s father, Mr. Ben Chambers. Again, Mr. Chambers, thank you so much for being with us.
CHAMBERS: Yes, ma`am.
GRACE: When you finally -- you run in the hospital, you`re running up and down the halls, you`re trying to find her. You get there before the
airlift brings her there, and you finally see her, What did you see?
CHAMBERS: Well, I didn`t get to see her right then, you know? It was about two hours before we got to go back there, you know? And the doctor
come out and he told me, he said, Mr. Chambers, you don`t want to see your daughter. I said, Yes, I do. He said, No, she`s unrecognizable, you know?
You know, she`s unrecognizable.
He said he`s never seen somebody burned that bad that lived as long as she did. He said she had a strong heart. I mean, she had no veins or nothing
up where they even could put IVs in or nothing, you know?
GRACE: Mr. Chambers, did you get to speak to her before she went to heaven?
CHAMBERS: No. No, ma`am, I did not.
GRACE: Did you get to see her?
CHAMBERS: No. No. (INAUDIBLE) we got ready to go into the room or whatever, my sister and her mother, Lisa (ph), walked in the room and -- to
see. They was in there maybe about 30 seconds and she passed away.
GRACE: I can tell you this, Mr. Chambers. I believe with all of my heart that she knew that you were there. I tell you -- I`m just thinking back,
that race to the hospital, running into the room and trying to speak to my dad. To this day, I don`t know if he could hear me or not.
Could you tell me your reaction when you learned that a guy had been apprehended. He has been apprehended.
CHAMBERS: You know, I`m so glad they caught him, you know? It`s bittersweet. But what my whole problem is, why was he even on the street?
He should have never been (INAUDIBLE) the jail, you know? The crimes he had committed and the things he done while he was in prison, he should have
never been out. He only got out of prison in October, and he killed my daughter in December. But he should have never been on the street. That`s
my problem!
GRACE: I don`t understand it. I don`t understand.
(CROSSTALK)
CHAMBERS: How do you get an eight year sentence and serve for a year and had three years before that, you know?
GRACE: Mr. Chambers, I don`t know why. I don`t know why he was out, but I can promise you this, I`m going to stay on this until this trial is done.
And God willing until justice is served.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Did a gorgeous model hire a hitman to kill her husband`s ex-wife? And see the ex-wife`s body to a wood chipper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:34:58] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ex-model Tara Lambert says she`s not a monster after plotting to have the mother of her young stepdaughter`s
robbed out. Lambert claimed it was only a joke but that`s not how lady justice sees it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Whoa, whoa, whoa. This is not just a joke. Did a gorgeous model hire a hitman to kill her husband`s, ex-husband, I mean, operative word,
ex-wife, kill his ex-wife? They`re divorced. Why would you do this? But listen to these phone calls.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TARA LAMBERT, ACCUSED OF CRIME: Did he give an idea of what he would want?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He hasn`t said anything yet. He just told me to talk to you and he wants me to find out how much you got and, you know, all the
details.
LAMBERT: Like what do you think is a good amount per se?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Honestly, I don`t know. I mean, you know, it just depends on what you`re wanting done.
LAMBERT: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, I mean, if you`re wanting to go all the way, I mean, he`s not going to charge you outrageous, but he would probably want a
little more.
LAMBERT: Well, obviously. Oh, girl. The bottom line is if we`re only going to hurt her then I want her to be hurt like more permanent. Know what I
mean?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes.
LAMBERT: Disabled.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. But if we want to go all the way, then I want it to look like an accident, obviously, because of what I`ve gone through with
her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
LAMBERT: I would be like the first suspect, I`m sure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Well, I mean, your hands are obviously going to be clean.
LAMBERT: Yes. Does he have a preference on how he does that like all the way?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
LAMBERT: Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, I forgot something. He just called me and told me to tell you to make sure that you bring a picture of her because he`s
going to need a picture and then he`s going to need like her address and stuff like that. Just anything that you have on her that`s going to make
his job easier to find her.
LAMBERT: Easier. OK. Did you talk about how he`s going to do it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
LAMBERT: Like for tomorrow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like all I know is I told him that you said you wanted it all the way, and he said that after we meet with him tomorrow our
hands are tied. We`re done and over with. Whatever he does from there on out isn`t going to tie back to me or you or either one. So, I rather not
ask too many questions.
Do what?
LAMBERT: I think we should probably meet at like -- yes. I know like everything about her. I can even tell you what size her implants are.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow. Bitch, I`m jealous. She has implants, you`re kidding me? Maybe he can take them, too right?
LAMBERT: Maybe he can get them out for me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
LAMBERT: On the specific weekend where like I have my girls or something.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. Yes. You definitely don`t want the kids there.
(CROSSTALK)
LAMBERT: Like an alibi.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Oh, yes.
LAMBERT: Right, right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers out of Atlanta, Parag Shah, defense attorney, author of "The Code," also David Lee Windecher, defense attorney, author of
"The American Dream Historian in the Making."
Gentlemen, thank you for being with us. OK, Parag Shah, did you hear that? Because she is saying I want to go all the way. Can you tell me how he`s
going to do it?
PARAG SHAH, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, you know this woman is joking around. She is blowing off some steam. You know, she`s clearly got some issues with
this woman and I don`t think you can take any of this seriously. She`s just talking. Nothing is happening here.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Really?
SHAH: There is nothing being exchanged or anything.
GRACE: Attorney Windecher -- Windecher. They go on to agree to meet in a fast food parking lot to exchange money. How can that be a joke, even
though she is giggling and laughing in the background, how is that a joke?
DAVID LEE WINDECHER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Life has been a fantasy for this woman since an early age. She was living with her boyfriend in tenth grade.
Her lawyer said these things. I mean, she hasn`t had quite the expectation of reality that most people have.
GRACE: And?
WINDECHER: And so...
GRACE: That`s your defense. She is...
WINDECHER: I don`t think she wanted to really make it happen. I don`t think she really wanted to go through with it. I think she was saying it
because she was upset with the ex-wife.
GRACE: So, she meets the go between in a fast-food parking lot and gives him money and actually plans to put the husband`s ex-wife through a wood
chipper.
To Amanda Plotts joining us out of the Circleville Harold, also with us Sheriff Robert B. Radcliff, the Pickaway County sheriff. Sheriff, thank you
so much for being with us.
ROBERT RADCLIFF, PICKAWAY COUNTY SHERIFF: You`re welcome, Nancy.
GRACE: Sheriff, it`s amazing to me how you guys manage to set up this sting on her. But what I don`t get, this woman has it all. She is a model.
She`s beautiful. She got the guy. This is his ex-wife that she wants fed to a wood chipper.
[20:40:05] Sheriff, why do you believe she wanted the ex-wife dead?
RADCLIFF: Well, there had been -- there had been ongoing battles in court with the children as the children got older and it developed into more and
more and the suspect felt as though they were -- they didn`t have a life like the potential victim.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A former model proved beauty is only skin deep. Tara Lambert hatches a desperate plot to kill her husband`s wife. The mother of
Lambert`s two stepdaughters. Authority says she even tried to hire a hitman to do the job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:45:00] GRACE: Why would this model hire a hitman to murder her husband`s ex-wife? And she says later on, and she`s caught on tape, thanks
to Sheriff Robert Radcliff, there at the Pickaway County Sheriff`s Office, saying, hey, and if her husband is home at the time, kill him too, fine no,
problem.
Whoa. Sheriff Robert B. Radcliff, so it was no problem for her if the ex- wife`s new husband died, too. Why? Why did she hate him?
RADCLIFF: Well, I think that she just felt that it would take care of all the problems. The ex-husband, the new husband of the ex-wife never came up
until they met with the undercover in the car.
GRACE: Joining me right now out of L.A., Dr. Charles Sophy, a psychiatrist and author of "Side by Side." These photos from Nancy Radcliff, Circleville
Herald. To Dr. Sophy. Dr. Sophy, not only murder but she wants the ex-wife fed to a wood chipper. Whoa.
CHARLES SOPHY, PSYCHIATRIST: Yes.
GRACE: What does that say? You`re the shrink. I`m just a lawyer.
SOPHY: Yes. It takes more than a shrink let me tell you. She is a very disturbed woman. She`s entitled and all wraps around selfishness and
entitlement because she probably has gotten mostly everything she wanted in life. It`s not working for her, so she wants to do this woman in because
she`s in her way.
GRACE: Oh, man. Sophy, Sophy, you`re killing me, Dr. Sophy because you just unwittingly I`m sure, threw a bone to the defense lawyers, David
Windecher and Parag Shah, who are saying she lives in an alternate universe of her own reality. And therefore she never thought any of this was going
to happen.
But sheriff Radcliff, she absolutely wants the ex-wife fed to a wood chipper. Didn`t she say that? Isn`t she caught on tape?
SOPHY: She made the statement to the undercover officer in the vehicle that she wants to put her in a lumberjack -- lumberjack chopper, that was
her statement.
GRACE: A wood chipper is pretty radical. These photos from Nancy Radcliff of Circleville Herald. I mean, imagine putting a body through a wood
chipper. That`s what she wanted. Amanda Plot, Circleville Herald, what exactly did Tara Lambert want done? How did she want the ex-wife murdered,
Amanda?
AMANDA PLOTTS, CIRCLEVILLE HERALD REPORTER: Well, she did make the statement to the undercover officer that she wanted to put Kelly in a
chopper like one of those lumberjack things.
GRACE: Whoa. Here is a shot of Tara Lambert, the model and the ex-wife, Kelly Cook. And not only was Kelly a target but her new husband as well was
on the list to go. Was it over custody, child custody arguments, Amanda Plotts? Was that the motive?
PLOTTS: I believe so. In fact, they were in court that day before she met with a hitman for a custody issue.
GRACE: Whoa. Everybody for those of you that think your eyes are tricking your mind, oh, yes. Beauty can be just skin deep. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like all I know is I told him that you said you wanted it all the way. And he said that after we meet with him tomorrow our
hands are tied. We`re done and over with, whatever he does from there on out isn`t going to tie back to me or you either one. So, I would rather not
ask too many questions.
LAMBERT: Huh?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do what?
LAMBERT: I think we should probably meet at like -- yes. I know like everything about her. I can tell you what size her implants are.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow. Bitch. I`m jealous. She`s got implants, you`re kidding me? Maybe he can take them too, right?
LAMBERT: Maybe he can get them out for me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
LAMBERT: And you can have them. On a specific weekend where like, I have my girls or something.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. Yes. You definitely don`t want the kids there.
LAMBERT: Like an alibi.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Oh, yes. Right, right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: What you are seeing and that we`re showing you right there on the screen is actual video surveillance. Sheriff Radcliff, when you do it, you
do it right. You have not only audio but video, too.
This is of Tara Lambert, the 33-year-old model who hires a hitman to kill her husband`s ex-wife, and by the way, if her new husband is home, just go
ahead and wipe him out, too.
Matt Zarrell, question, there was a lot more to this. Didn`t she ask for the whole murder to be set up to look like a home invasion?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Yes. She actually told the undercover officer on the tape to make it look like a home invasion gone wrong. She
told the hitman to take whatever expensive jewelry he wanted from the home to make it look like it went bad and the victim was killed.
She also told the hitman that he should commit the crime while the children were gone on visitation with their father which happened every other
weekend. She wanted to do that to set up her alibi. And I should note, Nancy, that after the statement about the lumberjack chopper, she can be
heard on the tape giggling while telling the undercover she is kidding but that is how much she hates the victim.
[20:50:03] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Did a 34-year-old mom murder her tot son with a lethal dose of Benadryl? Is this an accident? It`s 10 times the normal dose. Then she
snores, goes to sleep and snores for hours after killing her son.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sixteen-month-old Lucas Long is dead. Is his mother to blame? Elizabeth Long has been charged with second degree murder after the
toddler died of an overdose of Diphenhydramine, the active ingredient in the commonly used medicine Benadryl.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: No, I am not buying it. Jim Gemmell -- James Gemmell, News director of WJRW, because, yes. I`ve dealt with Benadryl were tots. It was a nervous
wreck. I wouldn`t even do it with a teaspoon. No. I got this plastic syringe which I use to this day that tell you 2.5 ml, 3.0 ml, so you are
absolutely accurate.
But, yes. You can make a mistake. For instance, what if your husband gives the Benadryl and you don`t know it and then you give it the Benadryl. But
10 times the dosage? Jim, what happened?
JAMES GEMMELL, WJRW NEWS DIRECTOR: Well, a lot happened. Apparently she had been doing a lot of sleep walking. And, you know, her son got killed
and supposedly she was asleep at the time. At least according to witnesses showed up they found little Lucas. Mom told the investigators she put a
teaspoon of Benadryl in the bottle and later found him allegedly warm but stiff on the couch like he had been sleeping on it.
GRACE: Well, there is something missing from that story. And I know that`s not your story, James Gemmell. That`s the story she is telling because that
little boy. Poor little Lucas Long. A 16-month-old tot. Didn`t go get Benadryl. Break into the child safe top and -- that didn`t happen. Somebody
gave this child the Benadryl. She is the only adult home. Michael Christian, what`s missing from this scenario?
MICHAEL CHRISTIAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: As you say, Nancy, she was the only adult home. You know, they found in his system 710, 710 Nano grams of
this particular Benadryl. A normal dosage would be 60. So, there is no possible way even a teaspoon could possibly have come up to that level.
GRACE: Well, what`s the active ingredient, Michael?
CHRISTIAN: It`s called. I have here in front of me...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Diphenhydramine.
CHRISTIAN: Yes. Thank you. I`m sorry. I`m helpless with that.
GRACE: That`s OK.
CHRISTIAN: That`s it.
GRACE: You`re a reporter, not a doctor. I`m just a J.D.
CHRISTIAN: Diphenhydramine.
GRACE: So, you know what. Let`s get in to the depth investigation. And for -- I`ve got for the tongue twister to him. Joseph Scott Morgan, certified
death investigator, professor of forensic set at Jacksonville State University. So, Scott, come on, 10 times.
And after she kills the baby she (snores) snores for hours. She even snored through police questioning her. It`s caught on tape. She snores. They
thought, they say it is just hours after her baby -- where is Joseph Scott? I`m looking at a baby bottle. Joseph Scott, the baby is pronounced dead.
And the mom goes to sleep where the police and starts snoring.
JOSEPH SCOTT MORGAN, CERTIFIED DEATH INVESTIGATOR: Yes. In my opinion there are a lot of parents out there that in the past have taken Benadryl
and dosed their children with it as kind of a quasi-sedative. Because as you know it has this kind of sleep -- you kind of sleepy when you take it.
This is way beyond the norm. As a matter of fact, you`re not actually supposed to be giving kids under two years of age, Benadryl in the first
place without direct supervision by physician. This is way out of the ball park, Nancy. This didn`t happen by accident. My part is if she`s
complaining of sleep walking she may have dosed this kid with this high level so that she could get some sleep potentially. This is beyond the
normal...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Joseph Scott, Joseph Scott.
MORGAN: Yes?
GRACE: Please.
MORGAN: Yes?
GRACE: Now you have thrown a bone to the defense lawyers. Look up, look up. You know what they are about to argue. I`m ready for it. That she was
sleep walking when she O.D.`d the baby. Here it comes. Go ahead. Line it up. Parag Shah, defense attorney, author of "The Code." David Lee
Windecher, defense attorney and author of "American Dream, History in the Making." All right. Windecher, what`s your best defense? Don`t go with
sleep walking.
WINDECHER: Thank you, Morgan. I appreciate it.
GRACE: Ten times. Ten times.
WINDECHER: Look, you know what, it`s not about sleep the walking. It is about her addiction to prescription meds. She was on oxycontin, morphine,
Xanax, suboxone, you name it. She took it all. She even admitted taking her dog`s medication to get high. She didn`t know what she was doing.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Second verse, same as the first. Parag Shah, voluntary ingestion of drugs or alcohol is not a defense. That`s the law.
SHAH: Look, I`m not ruling out accident. And guess what? She was sleepwalking. I`m going to go with sleepwalking.
GRACE: Well, I think you have a better shot with accident. Let`s remember American hero of Colorado Corporal Nate Carrigan, 35, killed in the line of
duty. Served Park County Sheriff 13 years. Coached high school football and baseball. Outstanding service award.
Leaves behind a grieving mom, a beautiful girlfriend, and children. Corporal Nate Carrigan, American hero. Special good night from Georgia
friend, Ashley. Isn`t she beautiful?
Next on Drew, the former President of Mexico`s message for Trump. Thank you so much for being with us, everyone. Inviting us into your homes. Nancy
Grace, signing off. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8 o`clock sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
[21:00:02] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
