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Nancy Grace
Teen Girl Kills Her Mother, Texts Dad a Photo; Catholic Priest Suspected in Beauty Queen Murder; Prep School Rape Trial Update. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired March 15, 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. Dad shopping at Walmart gets a chilling call from his teen daughter. When he doesn`t believe her, the
daughter sends her father a confirmation text, a photo of her mom`s dead body. That`s right, she kills her mother and texts dad a photo.
Bombshell tonight. We obtain the chilling and stunning statements she makes about her own mother`s brutal murder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Susan Hutson lying on her bed in a pool of blood, dead from a shotgun blast.
RACHEL HUTSON, CONVICTED OF MURDER: I was sorry that this was what had to happen, and she told me I was crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened next?
HUTSON: I shot her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A Catholic priest suspected in the murder of a 25-year-old beauty queen, her body discovered face down in a canal just after the priest hears
her confession. Well, in the last hours, the so-called killer priest shows up to court pushing a walker!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Irene Garza (ph) was raped and murdered, raped, beaten on the head and suffocated. There was a suspect, a Catholic priest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you commit the murder of Irene Garza?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Interesting question. The answer`s no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A young teen girl victim breaks down in tears on the stand as she describes an elite prep school rape, all part of a virginity-taking contest
where male students keep scores written on the walls behind the washer/dryers of the names of their victims.
After the jury hands down a stunning split verdict, tonight we learn the elite prep school sex perv violates bail a staggering eight times, but
still he escapes jail.
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. Dad shopping at Walmart gets a chilling call from his teen daughter. When Daddy doesn`t believe her, the daughter sends him a
confirmation text of her mom`s dead body, a photo of the crime scene. She kills her mother and texts her dad a photo.
Tonight, we obtained the chilling and stunning statements she makes about her own mother`s brutal murder. Is all of this jailhouse interview her
ploy, her attempt to get an order modification? In other words, a reduction in her sentence?
Before I go out to Bob Matthews, WNIS, and Chris Spargo joining me from Dailymail.com, I want you to hear with your own words what this girl says,
this girl who shoots her mother dead, then sends her father a text picture of her mother`s dead body lying in a pool of blood.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take me through that moment. You turn into her room. You`re carrying the shotgun. What happened?
HUTSON: Then she said something along the lines of, Oh, great. She was saying, like, Just wait until I tell your dad about this. And she thought
I was being over-dramatic. She thought that I was doing something like a cry for attention.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So she said, Oh, great, wait until I tell your dad?
HUTSON: Yes. And I told her that I was sorry, that this was what had to happen, and she told me I was crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened next?
HUTSON: I shot her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did she realize what was happening?
HUTSON: I don`t think so.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was she looking at you?
HUTSON: No. She was looking for her phone to call my dad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was looking away when you shot her?
HUTSON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you shoot her to keep her from making that phone call?
HUTSON: No. I wasn`t really concerned with her finding the phone or not. I didn`t think that it was going to matter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because you were going to kill yourself anyway?
HUTSON: Yes. It was like I was pushing all those thoughts away because I felt like it was going to interrupt with me trying to kill myself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Yes, that`s exactly why she shot her mother dead, because she didn`t want any rules put on her by her mom and dad. That was from Dr.
Phil from Peteski Productions and CBS Television distribution.
[20:05:08]Straight out to Chris Spargo, Dailymail.com. Chris Spargo, let me understand this. This young girl has changed her story so many times as
to why she guns down her mother in cold blood. Now she gives this behind- the-scenes jailhouse interview, and I`m pretty convinced that she`s doing this, Chris Spargo, because she wants to mount some sort of a claim to get
an order modification to get out of jail early.
Isn`t it true, Spargo, she was only sentenced to 18 years? She could have got 38 years behind bars. The judge showed leniency and gives her 20 years
less than she could have gotten, Chris.
CHRIS SPARGO, DAILYMAIL.COM (via telephone): Yes, that is correct. She was sentenced -- the judge just sentenced her to 20 years in jail. Two of
them already served, so she only is serving 18 more years in prison.
GRACE: So let me understand that night -- or that morning, when she shoots her mom dead -- to Bob Mathews, WNIS -- Bob, thank you for being with us.
Isn`t it true that late that night, the father had come in her room around 1:00 AM and said, Why are you still up? She was up on the computer. And
he fussed at her. What happened next, Bob?
BOB MATTHEWS, WNIS (via telephone): Well, he took her computer privileges away, according to court testimony. And the defense said that that was
part of what led to the kind of the straw that broke the camel`s back, that he was upset at her not just for being on the computer at 1:00 in the
morning, according to the testimony, but also that her room had become so messy. And that led to the fight that precipitated the shooting in the
home later that day.
GRACE: You are seeing footage of the crime scene, and we have obtained crime scene photos. Let me warn you, some of these are graphic. Hold that
shot. This is of the mom`s dead body. This mom was already suffering from congestive heart failure and a kidney problem. She`d been ill for many,
many years. So this mom, 58 years old, really couldn`t put up a fight against her daughter.
The daughter says she goes to the cabinet, unlocks it, gets out a gun, loads it and shoots her mom as her mom is frantically looking for the phone
to call the dad. But before she could make that phone call, she guns her mother down in cold blood.
Unleash the lawyers. Joining me out of New York, Seema Iyer, defense attorney, and out of Atlanta jurisdiction, Randy Kessler, defense attorney.
So let`s hear your take on this because we all know what this is about. Dr. Phil goes and speaks to her, and she`s totally playing him, Randy
Kessler, because what she`s going to do, she`s going to argue that she had a mental defect and she wants an order modification. She wants a lighter
sentence, Kessler. That`s what this is about.
RANDY KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It may be. And maybe she`s a little more rational now that she`s on medication, now that she`s a little more stable.
But it`s clear she has mental issues and she had mental issues. What`s wrong with...
GRACE: Really? What issue is that?
KESSLER: Who knows. I`m not a psychologist or a psychiatrist.
GRACE: Oh. So...
KESSLER: But she certainly had crazy issues. Her mom called her crazy. She shot her mom. She thought about shooting herself. She was not a
normal person.
GRACE: Not a normal person. Let me remind both of you, please don`t mislead the viewers. "Not normal" is not a defense under the law. This
girl, Seema Iyer, under our test, which is the old McNaughton rule, which means, do you know what`s wrong at the time of the incident -- she knew it
was wrong because she said, Mom, I`m sorry. This is the way it`s got to be. I`m sorry. That`s what she said.
SEEMA IYER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, we`re not talking about insanity as a defense. We are talking about mental illness in the mitigation sense.
Now, you shouldn`t be misleading the viewers. This was not a cold-blooded murder. You, someone who is a child advocate, you should recognize that at
that age, she was so prone to a psychotic break, and there`s so much corroborating evidence. Her sister even says that she was suffering from
mental illness.
GRACE: No.
IYER: The father says...
GRACE: That`s not what the sister said. The sister said, You know what? I always thought she had some type of mental illness, always suspected that
because she was so...
IYER: And it`s true!
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Whoa! Whoa! Because she was so mean.
Now, let me understand something. To Stacey Newman. Isn`t it true that she pled guilty -- a guilty plea, correct, under oath? Isn`t that true,
Stacey?
STACEY NEWMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Yes, she did plead guilty. But Nancy, back to this conversation we`re having with the attorneys. Before
this plea agreement, the judge determined she was competent to stand trial.
[20:10:00]GRACE: Put the two of them up. And Stacey, while I`ve got you, and what was the specific offense she pled guilty to?
NEWMAN: Murder one and a firearm charge.
GRACE: Oh! OK, let`s see the two defense layers again, Seema Iyer, Randy Kessler. So the judge gives her an incompetency hearing to see if she
understands what`s going on, and they hear from experts and the shrinks say she`s competent. She fully understands what`s going on. And her lawyers,
her defense lawyers, like you two, say she`s guilty of murder one.
Now, Kessler, any lawyer in his right mind is not going to plead to murder one if they have a mentally defect -- a mental defect defense. That`s not
going to happen, Kessler.
KESSLER: That`s not true. Sometimes the evidence is so overwhelming that it looks like they`re going to be convicted and sentenced to a much longer
time. You take a plea sometimes because you can`t get a better deal from a jury, despite what the facts may be.
She was competent to stand trial. Doesn`t mean she was competent at the time she committed the murder.
GRACE: OK. You know what?
KESSLER: Competent at trial is different.
GRACE: Let`s hear it from the horse`s mouth, OK?
KESSLER: OK.
GRACE: Liz, please roll the sound from this girl that murders her mom in cold blood, then texts her father a photo of the dead body.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you shot your mother, did she die instantly?
HUTSON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How far away from her were you?
HUTSON: Probably a couple feet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you just shot her one time? Were you surprised that you actually did it?
HUTSON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A shotgun blast in a closed room is an overpowering sound. Did it disorient you?
HUTSON: I couldn`t hear anything. It made my ears ring. And that`s kind of how my thoughts were for a while, was just the ringing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you go to her to see if she was dead?
HUTSON: No. I could tell.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How could you tell?
HUTSON: She wasn`t moving.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you touch her?
HUTSON: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you say good-bye to her?
HUTSON: I told her I was sorry. That`s -- I just kept saying I was sorry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: All because her parents take away her computer privileges and fuss at her about a messy room. Now Mommy is dead.
That`s from Dr. Phil and Peteski Productions, CBS Television distribution.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:16:19]UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After Rachel killed her mom, she called her father to tell him. He didn`t believe it. So that`s when Rachel texted
the grisly photo from her mom`s phone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you shoot her to keep her from making that phone call?
HUTSON: No. I wasn`t really concerned with her finding the phone or not. I didn`t think that it was going to matter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because you were going to kill yourself anyway?
HUTSON: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: It`s amazing how she didn`t manage to kill herself, only murder her mother.
Tonight, she gives a jail cell interview, and many legal eagles believe it`s because the daughter who murders her mother in cold blood wants an
order modification. She wants less time behind bars. She`s already gotten just 18 years out of a possible 38. She`s got 18 years left to do. She
could have done 20 more years but got a lenient sentence. But even that is too harsh, in her mind.
With me, Bob Matthews, WNIS, Chris Spargo with Dailymail.com. Bob Matthews, take me back to the time of the shooting. What exactly happened?
Why did the judge agree that this is first-degree murder of her mother?
MATTHEWS: Well, a lot of it had to do with the mental state. You know, if you look at the testimony, just the fact that she was -- she came out, she
surrendered. You know, she was somewhat -- she was somewhat unemotional when -- you know, at the scene of the crime there. And the fact that the
judge believed, you know, she was under some sort of mental duress when the entire thing happened.
GRACE: Well, it`s interesting, Chris Spargo, Dailymail.com, the judge agrees that this is murder one. At the time of the shooting, Chris, what
exactly unfolded?
SPARGO: Well, she walked into the room where her mother was and she held up the gun, and the mother looked at her and said, What are you doing? Are
you crazy? I`m going to call your father. And at that moment, she just fired the gun pointblank at her mother`s chest.
GRACE: And this is all for the father and mother reprimanded her about a messy room and away computer privileges?
SPARGO: That`s correct.
GRACE: OK. Take a listen. Let`s hear from the horse`s mouth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUTSON: Everyone had been really tense and upset lately in my family. Like, we were all under a lot of stress, and we had been, you know, fussing
and fighting a lot. And we had promised that we were going to get along better. And around 1:00 in the morning, my dad called me into his room and
he asked me what I was still doing up. I told him I had been on the computer, and we started arguing.
And I remember just at that point, it -- it felt like nothing was ever going to get better. Nothing was ever going to change. It`s always going
to be just stress all the time. Like, I knew things weren`t going to get better once my mom passed. I just knew I had bad years ahead of me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you lose hope in that moment?
HUTSON: In that moment, it just really hit me. Everyone was just under tremendous pressure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was the pressure from?
HUTSON: My mother.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The pressure was from her being a brat. And just so you know, she was 19 years old at the time. If she wasn`t happy at home, get a J-O-B and
move out. What about that scenario? And again, her story has changed so many times as to why she murders her mother.
That was from Dr. Phil and Peteski Productions, CBS TV distribution.
[20:20:02]I want to go to Ben Levitan, telecommunications expert. Again, everyone arguing she didn`t know what she was doing? Well, she had the
wherewithal, Ben, to go to the gun cabinet, unlock it and get a shotgun out, a long gun, load it, go into her mother`s room, argue with her, shoot
her mother dead, call her father and then send him a photo of her mother`s dead body.
How can that be used to argue, Ben Levitan, that she knew perfectly well what she was doing? And how can we identify, for instance, the location,
the time, the circumstances surrounding this photo she sends her father as he`s shopping at Walmart?
BEN LEVITAN, TELECOMMUNICATIONS EXPERT (via telephone): Nancy, this is crazy. This is just another case of, you know, criminals creating digital
diaries of their activity. I mean, if a lawyer`s going to argue that this was a joke or a setup, this is easy to find out forensically. She took a
picture. When she took a picture, embedded in that picture is the phone number of the phone that took that picture, the location and the time and
the date.
All you have to do is easily pull those out, show to a jury, this picture was taken at this time on this date by this phone. It`s pretty easy,
Nancy. I don`t know why -- this is another case of people asking to be caught.
GRACE: And they`re caught electronically. Stacey Newman, isn`t it true that she claims, she has complained she shouldn`t go to jail at all and
that she was concerned about pet chickens -- not about her mother, who she just kills...
NEWMAN: Yes.
GRACE: ... the mother that gave birth to her, raised her her whole life, sacrificed for her. Forget about her. She`s worried about some pet
chickens, Stacey? Really?
NEWMAN: Yes, well, after her arrest, she`s sitting in the back of the police car and she`s asking them, How long is this process going to take?
When they say this is going to be a while, she`s, like, I want to speak to my dad to tell him I`m sorry but also to tell him to take care of my pet
chickens.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:26:16]UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rachel Lee Hutson shot and killed her mother, Susan Lee Hutson, with a shotgun.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you shot your mother, did she die instantly?
HUTSON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How far away from her were you?
HUTSON: Probably a couple feet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you just shot her one time?
HUTSON: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Are we all getting played by this woman? Now 21 years old, she shoots her mother in cold blood after her parents reprimand her over her
messiness and take away computer privileges. Her response, kill mom. Then she texts a photo of Mommy`s dead body to her father.
We have just obtained the 911 call. Listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: Chesapeake Police fire and rescue. How can we help you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. How`re you doing. I need police at my house.
911 OPERATOR: Can you tell me exactly what happened?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My daughter has killed my mother -- my -- my -- my wife. She`s killed her mother.
911 OPERATOR: Tell me exactly what happened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She -- I went off shopping, and she texted -- she called me and...
911 OPERATOR: How old is your daughter?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s 19.
911 OPERATOR: OK. Just stay on the line with me, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
911 OPERATOR: And you`re sure she`s beyond any help?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, ma`am. I went in. I didn`t touch her because I don`t want to touch nothing. I emptied the gun and that`s it, and calmed
her down. She was going to kill herself. She had a gun. The gun has been taken away, and I`m outside with her. Can you please just not come with a
bunch of lights and stuff? This is going to be bad enough.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: He has just lost his wife. He finds her dead of a shotgun blast. And isn`t it true -- to you, Chris Spargo, Dailymail.com -- that she
changes her story multiple times about why she shoots her mother?
First of all, she says she was going to commit suicide, but oops, she ends up shooting her mom instead. Then she says that she`s going to shoot
herself but she kills her mom so her father wouldn`t come home and find them both dead and then kill himself, that in some warped reality, this was
to protect her father?
SPARGO: That`s absolutely right. She said afterwards that she thought that if her father came home and found his both wife and his daughter dead
and saw that there was a household, she was afraid that he would take his own life, and that`s something she could not deal with.
GRACE: Bob Matthews, WNIS, she`s already gotten a sweetheart deal for cold-blooded first-degree murder, but this sounds like a play to get a
lighter sentence. Any chance of that, Bob Matthews? Do you think the judge is going to fall for it?
MATTHEWS: Well, traditionally, in murder cases here in Virginia, especially southeastern Virginia, no. The judges have been pretty strict
when handing out sentencing when they have the prerogative to hand it out, when it`s a bench trial.
They`re going to make that case, as we`ve been saying, about diminished mental capacity, that she was suicidal and depressed and all that, but in
all the cases that I`ve covered over the years in court here in the area, no.
Generally, it would be very unusual to see a judge actually reduce a sentence. But the way the law is in Virginia, a judge can pretty much do
whatever a judge wants to in their own courtroom. So there is a chance it could happen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:30:00] NANCY GRACE, HLN NANCY GRACE SHOW HOST: A Catholic priest suspected in the murder of a 25-year-old beauty queen. Her body discovered
face-down in a canal just after the priest hears her confession. Well, in the last hours, the so-called killer priest shows up to court pushing a
walker.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She had beautiful, shiny hair. She had this natural effervescent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After fondling her breast, he took her to the basement. He put something over her head. She was saying, I can`t breathe. I can`t
breathe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The body of this inspiring woman was found face-down in this canal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: This mystery has plagued her family. Now adding insult to injury, the so-called killer priest actually shows up in court pushing a walker.
Joining me is CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman. But first, I want you to hear the evidence that Tuchman uncovered.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He offered to take her to the rector.
[20:35:02] GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: About sexually assaulting her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After fondling her breast, he took her to the basement.
TUCHMAN: About keeping her bound and gagged.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He put something over her head.
TUCHMAN: About her struggle to live.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was saying, I can`t breathe. I can`t breathe.
TUCHMAN: And about dumping her lifeless body at the canal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the way over there, Father Feit said he patted her on her breasts. She was in the back seat and was saying to her, Irene,
everything will be OK. Everything will be OK, Irene.
TUCHMAN: Even though John Feit knew she was dead?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes.
Well, I knew about the murder so I asked and he would respond to questions and I would ask him, is it true? Yes, it`s true. What did you do? How did
it come about? Well, he heard the woman`s confession in the priest house and after the confession, he then subdued her and took part of her clothes
off from the waist on up and then fondled her breast.
Before he left, he put Irene in the bathtub and as he was closing the door of the bathroom, he heard her saying, I can`t breathe. I can`t breathe. But
he left anyway. I asked him one time, why are you here and not in prison? And he said, I was protected by the church authorities and I believe I was
protected by the legal authorities and by the confession seekers.
I told the people John McAllen that I was sorry that I was part of the cover-up for all of these years. I believe he killed her and I believe back
then, I have no doubt about it, because he said he did.
TUCHMAN: So, you have no doubt at all that John Feit killed Irene Garza?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining me, Analise Ortiz, a KGBT and Gary Tuchman, CNN national correspondent who interviewed a former priest and who has uncovered so much
evidence in this case. Gary, thank you for being with us.
TUCHMAN: Thank you, Nancy.
GRACE: Gary, I was a little put off when I find out the so-called killer priest who has enjoyed 56 years of freedom since this woman was sexually
assaulted and murdered. And let me just point out, Gary, you reported, this was not his first sex offense on a woman that would come into their church.
But he`s been out all these years as the family has suffered and now he wants a bail reduction and, not only that, he shows up pushing a walker.
Thoughts?
TUCHMAN: Well, Nancy, I`ll tell you, I`ve interviewed John Feit twice, once in 2007 and once about two years ago. And he was walking fine two
years ago. I don`t know what`s developed over the last two years, but I will tell you now, yes, they asked for a bail reduction.
The judge during his arraignment yesterday, in which he pleaded not guilty gave him a $1 million surety bond, which means that he will be able to pay
to percent, about $100,000 and get out and family members are coming to South Texas to be with him. So, it does appear that John Feit, this accused
murderer of in this horrible crime in 1960, Easter Week in 1960, precisely 56 years ago, will be getting out of jail until his eventual trial.
GRACE: You know, it`s amazing to me, Analise Ortiz, KGBT, in the courtroom, that up until quite recently, he had no problems walking at all
and suddenly shows up in court with a walker. He`s been free all these years and now he wants a lower bond. It`s stunning to me.
ANALISE ORTIZ, KGBT REPORTER: Yes, Nancy. He walked in with that walker walking but very slowly. He couldn`t even stand up throughout the entire
arraignment hearing. About six minutes in, he had to take a seat and his attorney told Judge Luis Singleterry of 92nd District Court in Hidalgo
County that he is now suffering from bladder cancer, stage 3 kidney diseases and spinal stenosis.
So, he does have some of these disabilities. The attorney tried to use that as to try to get that lower bond but again, ultimately, the judge did
decide on the $1 million bond.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Seema Iyer and Randy Kessler, I understand him making his physical ailment complaints but the last time Tuchman saw him,
he was up and about and no need for a walker. And even if he does have ailments, he`s doing a lot better than Irene Garza.
Wouldn`t you say, Kessler? At least he`s on the right side of the grass. Did you get what I mean? The topside?
RANDY KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes. Well, this is all a distraction. The bottom line is, you`re talking about prejudgment incarceration. You`re
saying he should be in jail because he was accused. You go to jail when you`re convicted.
[20:40:03] What does it matter? He`s not running away. Bond is not a problem. He`s not going anywhere for 50 even years though he`s been under
cloud...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Not running away -- hold on. Hold on.
KESSLER: He`s been under cloud of suspicion for 50 years and he`s been able to been found. Why did he...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Maybe because he confessed to a priest.
KESSLER: Right.
GRACE: I mean, you`re not going to believe a priest? Hold on. Michael Christian, talking about escaping justice, he`s not going to flee, isn`t it
true, Michael Christian -- you know what, I`ll let you explain how he has been protected all of these years, even given a special job. What was his
job, Christian?
MICHAEL CHRISTIAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Nancy, he worked at a retreat that was put out by his religious order where he actually worked with
priests from other diocese around the country who had been sent there because of troubles.
GRACE: Keep him up. I want to see Michael Christian. Michael Christian, let me understand what you`re saying. So, they put a man, a priest, who has
confessed -- and this was not his first time at the rodeo, OK? Because there was another lady that was praying in church that he apparently snuck
up on and tried to put I guess her petty coat or something over her head and molest her as well.
Right there at the altar. OK. That nothing happened? So, you`re telling me, that after this woman is sexually molested and murdered, face-down in a
canal, he is sent to a compound and what is his job description, Michael Christian?
CHRISTIAN: He basically was a supervisor and this is a retreat where they sent parishes all over the U.S. at that time, sent other priests who had
quote/unquote "troubles in their parishes," including assaulting children, sexually assaulting children.
GRACE: That`s the blind leading the blind, Michael Christian. He`s suspected of rape and murder and he is counseling priests who may have
assaulted children?
[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the day before Easter, Irene Garza disappeared; the apparent abduction of the 25-year-old school teacher frightened the
community of McAllen, Texas. Police still hold the evidence discovered during the search which includes Irene`s petty coat and her handbag. Five
days after she disappeared, her body was found in a canal.
GRACE: Joining me right now, special guest, Father Michael Manning. Father Manning is host of "Word in the World" TV program. Father, thank you for
being with us.
MICHAEL MANNING, WORD IN THE WORLD SHOW HOST: Thank you.
GRACE: Father, I know that this is a wound to the heart of everyone that tries to be a person of God because...
MANNING: Amen.
GRACE: ... when you put a pastor or a priest up in the pulpit, they`re held to a higher standard. Now, the double-edged sword of that is it`s very
difficult for people to believe a priest, a pastor, a nun, anyone with the indicia of holiness on earth would do such a thing. It`s very difficult for
people to take that in. I`d like to hear your response to that.
MANNING: Well, what I find exciting is that the church today, especially I live in San Bernardino, all of the children in the Catholic schools, all of
the people that work with children are very much screened and trained that if there`s anything, anything that goes wrong -- of course, we`re talking
about any kind of abuse but we can also talk about anything with murder in this case, things have changed. They have changed. There`s a greater -- a
strong concern to make sure things like this don`t happen again.
GRACE: You know what`s interesting -- Father Manning, I do believe things have changed and I`m glad of that and want more change.
MANNING: Yes.
GRACE: To Dr. Tiffany Sanders, psychologist joining me out of Chicago, why are so many people reluctant to believe a man of God, so to speak, if this
is true, he`s anything but, could do anything wrong and then show up in court with a walker, for Pete`s sake. He didn`t have a walker the last time
Gary Tuchman saw him.
TIFFANY SANDERS, PSYCHOLOGIST: Right, Nancy. When you see a father or a priest or a religious person with that collar around their neck, you give
them or afford them privileges that they are not going to do you no harm that they are going to uphold the Ten Commandments, "Thou shall not kill.
Thou shall not lie."
And so, we`re embedded and we believe those thoughts. So, it`s very difficult for us to switch our mindset and now say this person could
possibly do us harm. So, that`s the disconnect between the two.
GRACE: Right. Gary Tuchman, I want to hear the secrets of events that day. But quickly, Dr. Carter, is there any evidence we could obtain from the
body now?
JOYE M. CARTER, MARION COUNTY CHIEF FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Well, only if they would exhume the body. They certainly may go back and look at the
clothing for any evidence of DNA material that would not have been detected back when this crime occurred. That certainly could be looked at again and
they could find even smaller amounts. If there`s any clothing left and stored, they could possibly try to find the condition of the body. They
were to attach and exhume it.
GRACE: I do know, Gary, joining us, CNN national correspondent, Gary Tuchman, that she had two very badly bruised eyes. She had, I guess punched
her in the face. Can you take me back to what we know about the sequence of events that day? She was raped actually while in a coma.
TUCHMAN: That`s right, Nancy. Irene Garza went to confession on the day before Easter in 1960. John Feit was hearing the confession. He was the
last person to see her.
[20:50:03] She was found in that canal five days later. In the canal was also a portable slide viewer. It was John Feit`s slide viewer. Prosecutors
will allege that it was used to help anchor her down in the canal. Also found in the canal, a candelabra.
What I can tell you, Nancy, is that a lot of people, a lot of detractors say this is an old case hard to prosecute. I will tell you, I`ve covered
lots of cases over the last 33 years. This is a very strong case.
There are a lot of direct evidence and there is a lot of circumstantial evidence including two priests who say that John Feit told them that he
committed the murder. One you saw earlier, Dale Tachney, who was a monk in that monastery that John Feit was sent to and another priest who was since
passed away but his voice is on tape recording where he says that John Feit told him the same thing.
GRACE: Gary, what`s amazing to me are the naysayers and no, I`m not jubilant that a Catholic priest is being charged. I`m sad. But what is
worse is a lack of justice regardless of him being a priest. That doesn`t matter under the law. What matters is the truth. Why are naysayers saying
you can`t prosecute this case? You can prosecute this case.
TUCHMAN: You absolutely can prosecute this case. We don`t know what a jury will eventually do. It`s up to the 12-member jury to decide whether he is
guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: A young teen girl victim breaks down in tears on the stand describing an elite prep school rape, all part of a "virginity taking
contest" where male students keep scores. Tonight, we learned the elite prep school sex perv violates bail a staggering eight times but still, no
jail.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: New trouble for Owen Labrie, the prep school teen convicted of misdemeanor sexual assault on a 15-year-old classmate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OWEN LABRIE, TEEN ACCUSED OF SEXUAL ASSAULT: I was aroused. I had an erection, and we reached the point where I was on top of her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: OK. The elite prep school rape case. Remember this?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Why did you think it was your fault?" "Because I didn`t kick scream or really push but I did say no. I said no three times
and I don`t know in that moment, I don`t know how I could have made it any more clear."
GRACE: Joining me right now special guest investigative reporter contributor for "Vice" Susan Zalkind. Susan, thank you for being with us.
SUSAN ZALKIND, VICE INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Thanks for having me.
GRACE: Susan, I understand that you were on a train and you encountered Owen Labrie. Tel me what...
(CROSSTALK)
ZALKIND: That`s right.
GRACE: Tell me what happened.
ZALKIND: That`s right. I was on the train, I was on my daily commute. I ran into Owen Labrie. Now I covered his trial extensively last summer for
Vice magazine, so I recognized him instantly. And I introduced myself. I told him I was a reporter, and I waited to see if he would talk to me, and
he did.
GRACE: And from what you learned, Susan, with me, Susan Zalkind, contributor for Vice, investigative reporter, he has apparently violated
the terms of his bail. He didn`t go to jail for any of his convictions regarding this incident with -- how old was the girl, 13 or 14 at the time?
ZALKIND: Fifteen, 15 at the time.
GRACE: Fifteen. Thank you. And got no jail time so far. He`s out on basically an appeal bond. Is it your understanding he has allegedly
violated his bail conditions eight, eight times and nothing has happened?
ZALKIND: That`s right. Well, I published a story about my encounter with Labrie who was on the train visiting his girlfriend. He`s supposed to be
living with his mother in Vermont. He`s under strict curfew, 8 a.m., 5:00 p.m.
Now it was the middle of the afternoon when I ran into Labrie but apparently, my story and my tweet sparked an investigation and
investigators say that he violated his curfew, the perimeter of his curfew eight separate incidents.
Now there is going to be a rush hearing at the end of this week on Friday where we`ll learn more about what investigators say those violations were.
Did it happen before, after I spoke to him? There are eight separate I incidences, what are the other occasion, where they found he wasn`t home
either before 8 a.m. or after 5 p.m.
GRACE: With me Susan Zalkind, contributor for Vice, why do sex offenders continue to escape jail?
Let`s remember American hero, Maryland police officer, Jacai Colson, 28, killed in the line of duty. His birthday this week. Undercover in narcotics
officer of Prince George`s County. His grandfather also served, played college football, community volunteer, infectious smile. Parents James and
Sheila. Jacai Colson, American hero.
And we remember tiny angel Madison now in heaven. Please keep her parents Nick and Andrea, baby sister McKenzie and their family in your thoughts and
prayers. Baby Madison, good night sweet friend.
Forensic Files is next. I want to thank my guests but especially you for being with us. Nancy Grace signing off. I`ll see you tomorrow night 8
o`clock sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, friend.
[21:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
