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Nancy Grace
Hulk Hogan Slams Gawker for $115 Million; Couple Starves 23-Month- Old Girl to Death; Youth Convicted in Prep School Rape Case Gets 12 Month Sentence; Olivia Newton-John`s Missing Lover, Patrick McDermott, Alive and Spotted with a New German Girlfriend. Remembering California Officer Nathan Taylor, Killed in the Line of Duty. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired March 21, 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. Hulk Hogan, six-time heavyweight champion, in court ready to tangle. Dressed in solid black,
cross necklace, signature bandana, Hulk Hogan declares war over a bootleg Hulk Hogan sex tape.
Bombshell tonight. In a stunning bout, Hulk Hogan versus on-line shock Web site Gawker, Hulk Hogan slams Gawker for a $115 million verdict. And it
ain`t over yet. Gawker demands a rematch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hulk Hogan taking on media Web site Gawker.
TERRY "HULK HOGAN" BOLLEA, PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER: It wasn`t about Hulk Hogan making a sex tape. That`s not what happened. They handed me a
condemn. (INAUDIBLE) You`re not filming this, are you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gawker published part of a Hulk Hogan sex tape.
BOLLEA: My problem is the videotape that you guys put out -- it`ll be there forever on the Internet. That`s the problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A seemingly normal suburban Uniontown couple starves their 23- month-old tot girl dead. Lovely on the outside? Well, police say this home is a house of horrors on the inside.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Little Lydia Wright (ph) was only 23 months old. She weighed just 10 pounds the day that she died.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her mother said the child was sick.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Andrea Dusha (ph) and Michael Wright, Jr., (ph) are charged with killing their young daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The child was ill. She was apparently starved by her own parents.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Superstar Olivia Newton-John goes public with the highly unusual disappearance of Newton-John`s long-time love after he goes on a fishing
trip off the California coast. Breaking tonight. Olivia Newton-John`s missing lover alive, spotted with a new German girlfriend? This after a
million-dollar search?
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. Hulk Hogan, the six-time heavyweight champion, in court ready to tangle. Dressed in solid black, cross necklace, signature
bandana, Hulk declares war over a bootleg Hulk Hogan sex tape. And in a stunning bout, Hulk Hogan versus on-line shock Web site Gawker, Hulk Hogan
slamming Gawker for $115 million verdict! And it ain`t over yet. Gawker demanding a rematch.
Straight out to Brian Stelter, CNN senior media correspondent, host of "RELIABLE SOURCES." Brian, thank you for being with us.
BRIAN STELTER, HOST, CNN`s "RELIABLE SOURCES": Thank you.
GRACE: $115 million? That`s even more than the Erin Andrews verdict.
STELTER: Yes.
GRACE: So question -- $115 million -- what, exactly, do you believe pushed the jury over the edge?
STELTER: You know, Hogan was only asking for $100 million. That`s what he sued for. This is amazing, to see the jury give $60 million for emotional
distress and $55 million for economic injury.
GRACE: Wait a minute! Wait a minute, Stelter! Put Stelter up there for a moment!
STELTER: Uh-oh!
GRACE: Stelter, you say it`s amazing that the jury would award Hulk Hogan more than he asked for...
STELTER: Well...
GRACE: ... because they put a bootleg sex tape of him with his best friend`s wife having sex. So Stelter, you don`t think it`s because you`re
a little jealous? Maybe you`re intimidated because nobody wants to video you in the bedroom?
STELTER: I think you`re trying...
GRACE: Why should it be so amazing that he gets a verdict? I mean, this is his best friend`s wife, true. Morally, that`s bad, but I`m not the
church lady. They violated his privacy. What`s so unusual about a big verdict?
STELTER: You`re trying to make me blush over here, Nancy. I think the $55 million just for economic injury? This has actually helped Hulk Hogan.
He`s back in the news. This might actually help his career. So the idea that he`s been so damaged that he needs over $100 million...
GRACE: Wait a minute!
STELTER: ... because of this report...
GRACE: Put him back up!
STELTER: ... it`s pretty hard to believe.
GRACE: Stelter, it`s not all about money. True, his marriage was on the skids at the time. But there`s a big difference between coffin-shopping
and putting the nail in the coffin. So you`re estranged with your wife and then a sex tape comes out with you and your best friend`s wife.
That is the nail in the coffin. There`s no hope for reconciliation after that. You`ve got your daughter, you`ve got a son, a daughter. You think
they want to see Daddy having a sex tape with Aunt So-and-So, best friend`s wife? No!
[20:05:00]STELTER: I`m happy to say I don`t know the answer to that question. But I do think, Nancy, this does have a press freedom component.
This does have a journalistic element here. He had talked so often about how much his -- you know, all about his sex life on radio shows and in
interviews. He even talked about this sex tape. Gawker was careful to only show a few seconds...
GRACE: No. No. He talked about...
STELTER: ... of the video.
GRACE: ... the sex tape after it became common knowledge that there was a sex tape. He was actually going out and he was pushing a new bout. He was
away from the WE, he was starting a new venture, and he was out and he was publicizing that new venture, and people, including Howard Stern, found out
about the sex tape and started asking him about it.
He didn`t want to talk about the sex tape, but he was stuck with either choosing the PR for his new business venture, or no PR if he wouldn`t
answer sex tape questions. So don`t -- you know what? Don`t put that on the Hulk, OK?
Listen to this, Stelter. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you kidding me? Do you think you come off bad in that tape (INAUDIBLE)
BOLLEA: ... honestly?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLEA: ... about 15 seconds of it.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLEA: It`s so -- it got me so sick to my stomach and my chest, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I`m telling you it has totally turned
my life upside down.
It wasn`t about Hulk Hogan making a sex tape. That`s not what happened. It`s never -- it`s never been about that. It`s -- you know, I`ve never had
a problem with the words that are said because you have to take the good with the bad. You get hit with it. And I never have had a problem with
the article, you know?
My problem is -- is, this whole -- the videotape that you guys put out that lives forever. It`ll be there forever on the Internet. That`s the
problem.
It`s kind of like a group hug, and then Heather just kind of started walking to the bedroom, pulling my hand. And I walked with her. It felt
really crazy.
And Bubba walked in right behind us and he goes, OK, you guys, I`m going to go to my office. And here`s a condom. Bubba handed me a condom. And it
was -- all of a sudden, it was just so weird and so crazy. My gut was telling me that this was off, this was wrong.
And like, from the feeling I had, I said, Bubba, you`re not filming this, are you? And he just lashed into me. What the hell`s wrong with you? I`m
your f-ing best friend. How dare you say that to me? I would never do that to you.
And it just kind of, like, froze me in my tracks. And that`s how I ended up staying in that situation. I just -- everything was just so surreal.
It just -- it -- that`s how it was.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: OK. Brian Stelter with me, CNN senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES." Meredyth Censullo joining me there in Florida.
Stacey Newman also on the story.
Brian Stelter, he keeps saying it was surreal. Bottom line, it wasn`t so surreal that he didn`t go ahead and jump in the sack with the woman, OK?
But that aside, again, this is not about the moral police. This is about invasion of privacy. Now, another thing to you, Stelter. You`re talking
about how, Oh, this is going to chill the media from reporting. Nobody cares about that except the media, OK?
(LAUGHTER)
GRACE: That would be you. Nobody cares. What people care about is somebody taking illegal bootleg sex tape of them and then putting it on the
Internet, all right?
Now, what about the money? Are they going to appeal this and it goes up on appeal and they never pay? You remember in O.J., O.J. Simpson -- remember
Fred Goldman sued O.J. Simpson? He got a $33 million verdict and he never saw a penny of it.
STELTER: Well, I think you`re right about that, that the press freedom issue here is only really among journalists. Others don`t care about that.
And clearly, this jury in Florida did not care.
Now, this jury in Florida -- you know, it seems like a disproportionate number, $115 million. The reality is Gawker only has to put up $50 million
in a bond right away.
(CROSSTALK)
STELTER: They did actually take out investment money in January, preparing for this trial they thought there was a really good chance they might lose
the first round.
GRACE: OK, Moneybags...
STELTER: But they`re focused on the appeals court now.
GRACE: OK, Stelter, Moneybags...
(LAUGHTER)
GRACE: ... they only had to get $50 million.
STELTER: I`m just glad this has happened because it`s taught us all not to get in bed with your best friend`s wife. Thank you, Hulk Hogan!
GRACE: And much less make a bootleg sex tape and put it on Gawker.
Meredyth Censullo joining me, in addition to Brian Stelter. So Meredyth, I think what Stelter is telling me is that even though they`ve a $115 million
verdict, right now, they`ve got to put up $50 million. They`re not going to appeal it and then not have to pay anything at all?
[20:10:00]MEREDYTH CENSULLO, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Oh, yes. They said Friday, We -- no matter what, we`re planning to appeal. They`ve already
started working that angle. Their argument is there`s a vast majority of evidence that was not brought into the trial, not considered in the
judgment.
So they`ve already started compiling all that evidence in anticipation of going back to court and appealing this until the end. So they`ve made it
very clear.
GRACE: Gotcha. So bottom line, Gawker demanding a rematch. So Brian Stelter, between you and Censullo, I think what I`m hearing -- let me
reinterpret this...
STELTER: Yes.
GRACE: ... is that Gawker has the $50 million that they scraped up. And they, I guess -- didn`t they take on an investor...
STELTER: That`s right.
GRACE: ... and some get money from that deal to prepare themselves for this? But what about the other $65 million? What about that?
STELTER: That`s right. I sat (ph) with the founder, Nick Jansen (ph), before this trial started. I`ve actually been over to his apartment here
in Manhattan. He has a very nice home. He has a lot of money. He is worth, you know, at least $100 million, according to the court testimony.
But make no mistake...
GRACE: Sorry, Stelter, the rest of us don`t run in your Upper West Side circles.
(LAUGHTER)
STELTER: Just doing reporting, Nancy. But I got to tell you, this is a hurt (ph) for Gawker, no matter what, even for Nick Jansen. You know, the
sources there told me on Friday this was much worse than they imagined. The prediction before the trial was that maybe the jury would go ahead and
say they`re guilty for $20 million. This is almost six times beyond that.
GRACE: Put him up. Put him up! So even after, Stelter, last week, 10 days or so ago...
STELTER: Yes.
GRACE: ... Erin Andrews brings home a huge verdict, multi-million dollar verdict, they didn`t see the writing on the wall? They thought it was OK
because Hulk is in the WWE?
STELTER: I would argue this is very different because Erin Andrews has a true expectation of privacy. Nobody in the world should expect to be
filmed in the privacy of their hotel room. But Hulk Hogan has talked about his sex life so publicly before, and he was over at his friend`s house,
who`s a radio host. I just think...
GRACE: Well, wa-wa-wait!
STELTER: ... it`s a very different story.
GRACE: That`s the same way I talk about murder and mayhem, but that`s not what I want in my private life with my children and my home and my husband.
There`s a big different.
As a matter of fact, listen to what Hulk Hogan says. And it ain`t over yet. They`re still in court.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLEA: He knew everything. He knew what I was going through. I told him everything that was going on with her. He encouraged me. (INAUDIBLE)
it`ll work out.
And it just got to the point where, you know, I was just -- you know, I was just -- it was, like, a low point in my life that when Bubba says, Hey,
man, come over to the house, you know, let`s talk, you know, I was just so desperate, I went over there.
One thing led to another. I just let my guard down. I felt like those people cared about me. I felt like I`d bottomed out. I felt like -- I
just gave up. I just gave up, gave in, let my guard down, and it just happened.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:17:08]BOLLEA: One thing led to another. I just let my guard down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They made a conscious decision to expose him naked and engaged in sex, getting (ph) (INAUDIBLE)
BOLLEA: Gave up, gave in, and let my guard down. And it just happened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`d absolutely publish it again in a heartbeat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Did you hear that? Did you hear Gawker say, We would absolutely publish Hulk Hogan`s bootleg sex tape again? This is after Hogan`s lawyer
called Gawker, said, Please take it down, wrote Gawker, Please take it down, had a judge tell Gawker, the shock Web site, Please take it down.
They said no, and then put it up again.
Well, maybe not now. A jury hands down $115 million verdict against Gawker. This is $15 million more than Hulk Hogan asked for.
For those of you just joining us, maybe this was why. Look at Hulk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLEA: Out of everything that I`ve been through, this one hit me probably the hardest -- lowest point of my life to the point where I want to kill
myself.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You were suicidal.
BOLLEA: Yes, I was. And I was very mad at my daughter, for really no reason. I was upset over a situation that happened between her and her
boyfriend. And I had no idea I was being taped.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s from ABC`s "GMA."
Straight out to Brian Stelter, CNN senior media correspondent, host of "RELIABLE SOURCES." Brian, thank you for being with us.
STELTER: Thank you.
GRACE: So Brian, a $15 million verdict greater than what he asked for. So why are they still in court?
STELTER: Because now they`re dealing with punitive damages, how much more to tack onto the total. And once that`s over, then the appeals process
will begin.
Now, Gawker is saying they have to appeal this. They always planned on appealing it because they thought they would lose initially with this
Florida jury of Hulk Hogan fans. Their argument is they`re in Hulk`s home turf, so they were always going to have an uphill battle here.
GRACE: So a little home cooking. You know what? Wah-wah. When they were asked to take that down, they should have taken it down...
STELTER: Whoa!
GRACE: ... right then. I mean, this...
STELTER: Whoa! have you read the post? Have you watched the video, Nancy?
GRACE: You know I have not sat there and watched Hulk Hogan having sex, OK? In fact, my line producer tried to put it up on me twice, and I told
them to take it down because for us to keep playing it, Stelter -- I mean, you may think it`s funny, but for us to keep putting it up...
STELTER: Right.
GRACE: ... to me is like insult to injury, salt in the wound.
STELTER: About the video, I agree. But here`s why I think the post is worth reading. It`s actually rather entertaining. The point Gawker was
trying to make was that, you know, celebrity sex life is like anybody else`s. You know the "US Weekly" column, "Celebrities Are Just Like Us"?
Basically, that`s what Gawker was trying to say...
GRACE: No. No.
STELTER: ... about his sex life.
[20:20:00]GRACE: I`m too busy to read columns about celebrities, Stelter. I have to work and raise children.
Hold on. I want you address this. First to Jeanne Salvatore, insurance expert, Insurance Information Institute, Jeanne joining us out of New York.
Jeanne, thank you for being with us. Here`s my question. Now, I`m a criminal trial lawyer, Jeanne. But from what I know of civil law, in civil
lawsuits, you are not allowed to mention to the jury, Oh, Gawker has insurance, so go ahead stick it to them. Gawker, like many celebrities --
hold on, let me get my list of celebrities, Jeanne. You`re going to love this.
Holly Madison`s breasts are insure for a million. Rihanna`s legs, a million, Julia Roberts`s smile, $30 million insurance. Dollar Parton`s
breasts, Heidi Klum`s legs $2 million, Bruce Springsteen`s vocal cords, Kylie Minogue`s behind, Daniel Craig`s whole body, James Bond, Mariah
Carey`s legs, Lopez`s behind, David Beckham and Cristiani Ronaldo`s legs, American (INAUDIBLE) teeth -- that`s a new one -- Jamie Lee Curtis`s legs.
Professional insurance is nothing new. Now, the jury doesn`t know about it, Jeanne Salvatore, but Gawker probably has insurance to cover this,
right?
JEANNE SALVATORE, INSURANCE INFORMATION INSTITUTE (via telephone): Most policies have a number of caveats there. I mean, it can`t be intentionally
false. You can`t do that. It can`t be criminal. It can`t be malicious. So there are some caveats there because otherwise, we would just be
encouraging bad behavior.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:25:40]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did Bubba Clem ever inform Mr. Bollea that the sexual encounter that you had with him (INAUDIBLE) filmed?
HEATHER COLE, WOMAN IN HOGAN SEX TAPE: I`m not aware of any conversation.
BOLLEA: And they confirmed that Bubba was on the tape and Bubba went up and turned the camera off. And Bubba told Heather that, This is for our
retirement, Heather. It just -- I just started violently shaking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Hulk Hogan wins a title bout against Gawker, a $115 million verdict just handed down, and it ain`t over yet, Gawker demanding a rematch, this
after Gawker publishes a bootleg sex tape of Hulk Hogan sleeping, having sex, with his best friend`s wife.
Issue -- Stacey Newman, isn`t it true that certain pieces of evidence were kept away from the jury, including information about Heather Cole, the
other woman?
STACEY NEWMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, that`s what Gawker is going to use in their appeal. As the jury was deliberating, troves of
documents were unsealed in this case, that technically, Bubba the Love Sponge did say earlier in an FBI testimony that Hulk actually knew he was
being recorded, then he changed his point of view in the deposition. So it`s this kind of stuff that Gawker is saying they will win on appeal.
GRACE: Oh, really? OK. Let me understand that this, Stacey. They argued before or it was put forward before that Hulk knew, and then the same guy,
Bubba the Love Sponge Clem, said he didn`t know. Clem has changed his story so many times, nobody would put him on the stand. He didn`t take the
stand, right, Stacey?
NEWMAN: He didn`t, and that`s what Gawker needed.
GRACE: Gotcha.
NEWMAN: They needed him to take the stand, and he didn`t in this case.
GRACE: Well, Brian Stelter, here`s the deal. What about her, the woman, Heather Cole Clem? Take a listen to her right here, Stelter, because I
found out from those documents that were just unsealed...
STELTER: Yes.
GRACE: ... that the husband, Bubba the Love Sponge, says something very revealing, OK? Hold on. Listen to Heather. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cole says she did not know her husband at the time, Bubba the Love Sponge Clem, was secretly videotaping the sex act in their
home.
COLE: (INAUDIBLE) encounter at our house with Mr. Bollea, Mr. Clem -- he showed me the videotape of myself (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: So Brian Stelter, at the end of some tape, and I think it`s the sex tape, Clem comes in the room and says to Heather to the effect that, If we
ever want to retire early, all we need to do is sell the sex tape. And she`s sitting right there and she hears that, and it`s on the videotape,
which leads me to my question to you, Brian.
Given that, A, why did they exclude that from the jury? And B, does it matter? Because even if she knew about it, even that statement suggests he
did not know about it. But I`m telling you, I did not buy all that crying on the stand. I didn`t believe her.
STELTER: You didn`t believe her? Well...
GRACE: Well, only because she knew she had been taped in the past. So what`s the big surprise? She knows the camera`s there. She sees the door
opened.
STELTER: When I`m watching her testify, I think to myself, I hope everybody had fun in this case because here it is years and years later
being hashed out in court, you know? I do think that`s Gawker`s argument in a nutshell, that there`s important information that was excluded from
this trial by the judge that will end up supporting the company on appeal some day.
But that`s going to be a long and arduous process. And I`ve heard from sources there, the staffers are very upset, knowing $115 million now hangs
over their heads.
[20:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NANCY GRACE, CNN HEADLINE NEWS HOST: A seemingly normal suburban union town couple starves their 23-month-old tot girl dead in the home. The home,
lovely on the outside, but police say a house of horrors on the insides.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When 23-month-old Lydia Wright was brought into a Uniontown Hospital ...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was only 10 pounds and was severely malnourished and dehydrated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her mother said the child was sick.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say the toddler was left overnight strapped into a car seat. Investigators say their home was deplorable. Her parents
arrested, now facing homicide charges.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
[20:35:00] GRACE: But first -- elite prep school sex perp led away in handcuffs to the slammer after violating bail at least eight times. But
right now he`s demanding, I want out of jail. Will the judge cave in? Kyle Peltz is on the story. Hold on. Kyle, we are talking Owen Labrie from that
elite prep school, right? Why was he revoked?
KYLE PELTZ, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Um, his defense team says his probation was revoked because he was visiting his lawyers to further his education
but it has actually stemmed from a conversation Labrie had with a reporter from "Vice" while on a train last month where he allegedly said he was
visiting a girlfriend at Harvard for brunch ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: OK, wait a minute. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. TMI. TMI, Kyle. Wait, wait, wait.
For those of you just joining me, Owen Labrie, the elite prep school sex perp has been revoked. Now, they are arguing he broke bail conditions by
refusing to obey the curfew because he was with his lawyers prepping for what? The case is over and at night, he`s prepping at night.
We find out through a "Vice" reporter, he was really visiting his girlfriend late at night, and then the lawyers argue in court he was
visiting the library.
OK, so Kyle Peltz, how much time is being revoked?
PELTZ: Twelve months behind bars. And I just found out, Nancy, with good behavior, he could be out in as little as just eight months.
GRACE: OK, we`ll be back with that. I want to take you now to Uniontown, where a couple is charged, is suspected of starving their 23-month-old
little girl, dead. On the story, Rita Cosby, investigative reporter, host WABC. Rita, Who are these people? What happened?
RITA COSBY, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, WABC HOST: Well, this couple said that they took the daughter to the hospital, Nancy. The daughter is 23 months,
little Lydia Wright.
They took her to the hospital. And when they took the daughter to the hospital they said that suddenly, the daughter was in her car seat, that
they gave her a combination of water, Gatorade and Pedialyte, and she just suddenly foaming at the mouth.
Well, things got obviously suspicious at the hospital. She died at the hospital. And cops noticed there was no trauma to the body but noticed that
she was severely malnutritioned and also was suffering from severe dehydration.
GRACE: OK, for those of you just joining us, suburban parents in Uniontown allegedly starved a 23-month-old tot girl, Lydia, dead. I want to see the
home, also before I go to our doctor joining us tonight, Joe Scott Morgan. Also with me, special guest William Lewis, Jr., Pennsylvania State
Constable who is familiar with the case.
You know, the home was lovely on the outside, not so much on the inside. What`s on the inside of the home, Rita Cosby?
COSBY: It`s a disgusting one. When authorities got it, they said it was covered with feces, baby toys that were just -- bottles of urine
everywhere, no running water, no sewage. It was just disgusting.
GRACE: I think it`s worse than that, Rita. Matt Zarrell, what have we found out about the interior of the home?
MATT ZARRELL NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: OK, so you`ve got toys covered in feces. Soda and juice bottles full of urine. In the bathtub was a child`s
highchair covered in feces, the toilet was filled with feces as well. There was a grocery bag on the bathroom floor filled with used tampons, a
hypodermic needle on the floor, pills and medication throughout the home, numerous dirty diapers throughout the home, no running water and no sewer
service.
GRACE: OK, what I don`t understand, let me go to William Lewis, Jr., the Pennsylvania State Constable. You are familiar with this family. This is
not the first time they trashed a house and leave, is it? What happened before?
WILLIAM LEWIS, JR., PENNSYLVANIA STATE CONSTABLE: Well, First Division I served on (ph), Ms. Dusha was in court, you know, in Carmichaels,
Pennsylvania -- the house was so deplorable, very dirty dishes, garbage in the house. About the same condition. Not quite as bad as the last of it
(ph).
GRACE: I want to go to Solomon Jones, WURD. Solomon, tell me again the condition of the baby. Isn`t it true they say they leave the baby over 10
hours in the car seat and the baby only weighs what, 10 pounds and she`s 23 months old?
SOLOMON JONES, WURD RADIO MORNING HOST: Yeah, that`s unbelievable. That`s less than half of what a child that age should weigh. A child that age
should weigh anywhere between 25 and 30-some pounds.
This child weighed 10 pounds and had obviously been suffering from malnutrition for a long time. This doesn`t just happen overnight. The
mother said she went out to run errands; the father was there, the father didn`t check on them. And then she comes home and checks on the child and,
you know, suddenly, the child is ...
(CROSSTALK)
[20:40:00] GRACE: Right.
JONES: ... in this condition.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Alex Sanchez, Marla Chicotsky. First to you, Sanchez, did you know this woman who wouldn`t feed her baby, actually put
up a GoFundMe page for plastic surgery so she could get her ear fixed?
She had a gauge ear where you put those giant -- oh, my stars-- where you put those giant earrings in your ear? And she wanted to get that fixed. And
by the look of her, in her perp walk, she got it fixed. She`s online, raising money for plastic surgery, but she doesn`t feed her baby.
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, you know, as interesting as that is, that doesn`t answer the question whether or not she starved her baby or the
child died because she had some inherent medical condition. But you know, you had a guest a little while ago, a state official who said they were
aware of this family. Well, if they were aware of this family ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Aware of their deplorable living conditions.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: That`s right. Then how come the state officials did not repeatedly go visit that family to investigate them to determine if there was some
improper activities going on with that family?
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Oh, so it`s their fault. OK ...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: It is their fault.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Ashley Willcott, Certified Child Welfare Law Specialist. You don`t just starve a baby overnight. This baby didn`t just have a reaction to
Pedialyte, OK? This was a conscious decision to starve the baby over a period of time, Ashley.
ASHLEY WILLCOTT, CERTIFIED CHILD WELFARE LAW SPECIALIST: Yes. Good evening, Nancy. I don`t disagree with you. First of all, you have got a whole host
of issues. You have got a condition of a home that is deplorable. You have got drug paraphernalia in the house. You have got a child that the mother
was interviewed and said interestingly, I was feeding the child a sippy cup of Gatorade, Pedialyte and water. If a mother thinks that that`s food for a
23-month-old, you have got a lot of problems with that parenting. You do starve a child over a period of time, not in one night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We heard your daughter was severely dehydrated and that your house conditions are deplorable. Is that true?
MICHAEL WRIGHT, LYDIA WRIGHT`S FATHER: What?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We heard your conditions of your home were deplorable, is that true?
WRIGHT: well, for one, we have been in contact with people. So, whatever news you are getting is wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Little Lydia Wright was only 23 months old.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She weighed just 10 pounds the day that she died.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her mother said the child was sick.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Andrea Dusha and Michael Wright, Jr., are charged with killing their young daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The child was ill. She was apparently starved by her own parents.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: Now, this is the kicker. These two have two other children. They were fine. They identify this tot girl, Lydia, just 23 months old and
systematically, according to police, nobody`s been convicted, starved her dead.
You know, a lot of babies are born at nearly 10 pounds, 7, 8, 9 pounds. This baby is 23 months old and she is only 10 pounds. Joe Scott Morgan
joining me, Certified Death Investigator, Professor of Forensics in Jacksonville State University. Joe Scott, what about the foaming at the
mouth and the nose?
JOSEPH SCOTT MORGAN, CERTIFIED DEATH INVESTIGATOR, PROFESSOR OF FORENSICS IN JACKSONVILLE STATE UNIVERSITY: Yeah, let`s talk about that a little bit,
Nancy. The reality is that this little child was essentially in congestive failure.
Her lungs were not functioning. A lot of this goes to the dehydration. But even a bigger point here is that she`s gotten into this position because
she`s been starved to death. Think about this. If you are not eating, your body literally, literally, begins to digest itself. That`s what`s been
happening to this child. And this is not a slow death, Nancy. This is something that takes an extended period of time. This child has probably
been without food maybe 20, 25 days, who knows? Who knows? Her muscles ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Unleash ...
(CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: ... are actually being eaten.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... the lawyers. Alex Sanchez, Marla Chicotsky. OK, Marla, let`s have your best defense.
MARLA CHICOTSKY, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, what you`ve mentioned is those two children, there was absolutely no signs of malnutrition. The toxicology
report has not been released yet. It will be interesting to see from a medical point of view what actually was wrong with the child.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: It was just released -- it was released this afternoon before we went to air. It`s negative. There`s no drugs -- there are no drugs in her
system. So there`s no overdose on Benadryl or anything like that.
No matter what you say there, you can`t get around the fact, Marla, that the baby weighed 10 pounds. She`s almost 2 years old. You know, my son, who
was extremely premature was 5 pounds. OF course, Lucy was 2 pounds. But I mean he doubled that in three or four months. This baby is 23 months. You
two cannot get away with the fact -- Sanchez, let`s go to you. The baby weighed 10 pounds. It speaks for itself.
SANCHEZ: I don`t think it necessarily speaks for itself. And the defense needs to hire an expert to re-examine the medical records and re-examine
the child`s body, if possible, to determine once and for all if there were other reason which possibly can explain the starvation of that child.
GRACE: I think this should be a death penalty case. This is not an overnight or an impulse thing. This child had to be starved over a period
of time. And Rita Cosby, WABC, isn`t it true that their tub was full of feces?
COSBY: Yeah, their tub was full of feces and also a car seat. The baby was found in the car seat and they believe that this baby, jut to tell you,
Nancy, was in the car seat from 9:00 p.m. at night until 10:30 and the temperatures were as low as 30 degrees.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: You know what? I need a shrink. To Dr. Sanam Hafeez, Neuropsychologist, joining us out of New York. Dr. Hafeez, what is with the
feces? There`s feces all over the home.
SANAM HAFEEZ, NEUROPSYCHOLOGIST: I think it just goes to how disgusting this, you know, this family was, and I think a child that age requires a
lot of care, round-the-clock care.
[20:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Superstar Olivia Newton-John goes public with a highly unusual disappearance of Newton-John`s long-time love. After he goes on a fishing
trip off the California Coast, breaking right now, Olivia Newton-John`s missing lover alive? Spotted with a new German girlfriend? This, after a
million dollar search?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Hollywood cameraman and the then-boyfriend of singing superstar Olivia Newton-John disappeared after going on an overnight
fishing trip. The Coast Guard made extensive searches for Patrick McDermott but never found a trace.
OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN, SUPERSTAR: Very painful topic. And it`s still an investigation. And I just -- I love him very much, and as you can imagine,
it`s an incredibly hard thing to go through.
[20:55:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, new reports have surfaced that claim McDermott has been living in Mexico. Is Patrick McDermott still alive?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s from ABC`s GMA. Philip Klein joining me, private investigator, author of "Lost at Sea: The Hunt for Patrick McDermott", and
Philip Klein Investigations and Consulting. Philip, thank you for being with us. This has stumped a lot of people. Because his whole story, Philip,
that he goes on a fishing trip and he falls off the boat. It was a very small boat. Nobody saw him go overboard. He had a lunch order that day, two
hotdogs and a soda. It was paid for just before the boat comes back into harbor. Which tells me he was alive. Every person on the "Freedom" was
interviewed. Nobody said they paid for his lunch. He paid for his lunch.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Go ahead.
PHILIP KLEIN, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: Yeah. Thanks, Nancy, for having me. Yeah. I mean, that`s what our investigation showed. Not only that, but as
we lay down the book in the investigation, he not only did that but he got off the boat and gave his fish away to a small young man.
I think what he did was I think he walked up on that dock and the deck and he walked into a life that he wanted to go into. I think his motivation,
which we were trying to figure out all along was, that he was never successful in Hollywood.
He was always known as Olivia Newton-John`s boyfriend. He was doing personal work around her house, and he didn`t have any money. And I think
finally, he just decided, well, I`m going to go start a new life somewhere else.
His only real problem right now is that he may have some legal implications back in L.A. ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Man, you`re not kidding. Hey, everybody. That`s "Grease" from Paramount Pictures. Rita COSBY, WABC, and investigative reporter. Rita, he
walked out on $10,000 child support and at that time his son was about 10 years old. So he had eight more years to look forward to child support. He
walked out on all of that.
COSBY: Yeah. He did, and he also had more than $30,000 worth of debt in addition to that, plus also he had filed for bankruptcy, so he had a lot of
financial problems, Nancy.
GRACE: Rita Cosby joining me WABC. Back to you, Philip Klein. That`s "Grease" from Paramount. There`s Olivia Newton-John clearly heartbroken
when he went missing. Philip Klein, what`s this business about being with a new German girlfriend in Mexico while his ex-wife goes it alone on the
child support?
KLEIN: Well, you know, he is always known for being a woman`s man, and when we missed him in Sayulita, Mexico by about 24 hours, he was seen with
another woman at that time. So, you know, he is kind of a woman`s man.
We know he is working on a yacht in the yachting industry, both in South America and up in Mexico. He seems to have free run. You know ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Next question. Philip Klein with me, author of "Lost at Sea: The Hunt for Patrick McDermott". Unleash the
lawyers, Sanchez and Chicotsky. Does the name Jennifer Wilbanks, the runaway bride, ring a bell? When she said she had been abducted and
kidnapped and assaulted? She had to pay for the search. Remember her? Why shouldn`t this guy be extradited back here on all that child support and
have to pay for his search, Sanchez?
SANCHEZ: Because in that case that you just referenced, she was alleging she was the victim of a criminal offense. This guy made no allegation as
the victim of a criminal offense, he just disappeared. Now, he may have to pay child support, but that`s not a crime. He may owe some money and the
bankruptcies ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Whoa! Whoa!
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: ... something up, but that`s not a criminal offense.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Being a deadbeat dad is a crime, Philip Klein. If you are a deadbeat dad, that is a crime. Here`s Paramount again with "Grease", there`s Olivia
Newton-John in her heyday. That`s a crime. Philip?
KLEIN: Sure. And that number -- and that number is going to climb to probably with interests and penalties, probably climb to well over $50,000
and that`s in -- in the State of California that`s a felony.
GRACE: I hope his new German girlfriend is rich.
Let`s stop and remember American hero California Officer Nathan Taylor, 35, killed in the line of duty. California Highway Patrol leaves behind
parents, two brothers, one sister, widow and three sons. Nathan Taylor, American hero.
And Goodnight to our favorite brownie, Caitlin, who came in to thank everyone for supporting the Girl Scouts and bought a hundred boxes of thin
mints. She loves dogs, dancing, gymnastics and her little brother, Christopher.
And congratulations to Superstar Rita Cosby, who wins two Gracie Awards for Outstanding Host and Outstanding Talk Show. Rita.
COSBY: To you (ph) also.
GRACE: "Forensic Files" up next. Thanks to our guests, but as always, thank you to you for being with us tonight and every night. Nancy Grace, signing
off. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8 o`clock sharp, Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
