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Nancy Grace
Pianist`s Wife Charged in Children`s Deaths; Judge Sides with "Killer Bride"; Prime Suspect in Murder of Natalee Holloway to Release Book. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired March 23, 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, live, Texas suburbs. A world- renowned concert pianist comes home to find his two little girls, ages just 5 and 1, dead, murdered in their own beds, his wife covered in stab wounds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Vadym Kholodenko is accustomed to being in the spotlight, but not like this.
GRACE: Dad comes home. It`s about 9:30 AM, the door unlocked. He finds both of his little girls dead, murdered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He found the mother in an extreme state of distress.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The cause of their deaths still unknown.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A Florida beach beauty marries her dream man, set to live happily ever after. But what the bride doesn`t know -- the hitman she allegedly
hires to murder her groom is a cop. That`s right, cops sting the bride on video, breaking down in hysterical tears, crying over the dead husband.
But the killer bride now claims it was all a reality show acting gig.
Tonight, the killer bride, Dalia Dippolito, in hot water after she breaks all the rules, again, doing a star turn on ABC`s "20/20." But in the last
hours, believe it or not, the judge sides with the killer bride. Even though she breaks bond, the judge still lets her free!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DALIA DIPPOLITO, CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED MURDER: I never wanted to (INAUDIBLE) I never paid anybody (INAUDIBLE) I`m very thankful for having
been given a second opportunity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you afraid during this undercover investigation?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
DIPPOLITO: I didn`t do anything.
Yes, I was afraid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Tonight, stunning turn of events. The prime suspect in the murder of American beauty Natalee Holloway, Joran Van Der Sloot, who also murdered
another young girl, Stephany Tatiana Flores, set to make a bankroll, a money ball (ph), on a juicy tell-all book. And even more disturbing, Joran
Van Der Sloot hatching a plan to get transferred to a cushy life here in the United States or even Aruba! And it`s all caught on video. We have
the video!
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight.
Bombshell tonight, live to the Texas suburbs. A world-renowned concert pianist comes home 9:20 AM in the morning to find his two little girls --
they`re just 5 and 1 year old -- both dead, murdered in their own beds. He says -- and we find this in police affidavits -- that they looked like they
were asleep. He finds his wife, also a concert pianist, covered in blood, covered in stab wounds. She is still in the hospital.
Straight out to Chris Spargo, reporter with Dailymail.com. Chris Spargo, thank you for being with us. Tonight, we go inside the crime scene
investigation, getting details from sources that went into the murder scene.
Justin, if you could show me the first tear we get off police documents. The officer notices a child lying on the master bedroom bed. Hold that!
Hold that! Master bedroom because, Chris Spargo. So one of the children is dead in the pianist`s bedroom. Is that right, Chris?
CHRIS SPARGO, DAILYMAIL.COM (via telephone): That`s correct. The 1-year- old daughter, Nika, was found laying in the master bedroom with a onesie on.
GRACE: A onesie zipped up fully closed. This was not PJs. The child later identified as, Michaela, the 1-year-old, Michaela lying on her back.
There was a light-colored fluid running out of her mouth. OK, what can we learn from that? The little girl`s skin described as ashen in color, cold
to the touch.
Can I see that tear again, please, because I`m about to throw this to a medical examiner. Michaela cold to the touch, signs of rigor mortis, fully
dressed.
With me out of Kansas City, Dr. Lee Norman, the chief medical officer at University of Kansas Hospital. Dr. Norman, what does that tell you? This
child is fully dressed and she is cold to the touch. She`s ashen in color. She has fluid coming from I believe it was her nose or mouth. And rigor
has already set in.
[20:05:04]What does that tell you, Doctor, about the time of death?
DR. LEE NORMAN, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS HOSPITAL: Well, it helps to tell you that it`s been at least a number of hours. The fluid coming from the mouth
and the nose could be either the stomach contents, because the child could have vomited, it could be saliva or nasal discharge, but it`s probably...
GRACE: OK, Dr. Norman...
NORMAN: ... one of those three.
GRACE: ... I hold you in the highest esteem, but help me out, Dr. Norman, please. The child is already in rigor. She`s cold to the touch. She`s
inside. The ambient air is heated, and she`s already stiff. That should give us some idea as to how long she`s been dead.
NORMAN: Yes. It`ll give -- certainly, the number of hours would be indicated by that amount of rigor.
GRACE: Well, are you talking about...
NORMAN: The amount of...
GRACE: ... 2 hours or 24 hours?
NORMAN: No, probably something between there, probably more like 10 to 12 hours.
GRACE: OK, that is disturbing, Chris Spargo, Dailymail.com, because the mother, we have learned, is ambulatory at the time, but she has not called
911. Now, if she`s been attacked, maybe that explains why. We understand when police get there, she`s hiding in a closet. From who? Her attackers?
Let`s go back to the police documents we managed to obtain, get our mitts on. Rigor mortis, full dressed. That says to me, was she killed before
nighttime? She did not have on a gown. The cop enters the bedroom identified as the children`s room.
There`s Nika, the other little girl, lying on the other bed, covered with a pink sheet, the bed was, her head near a pillow covered with a pink
pillowcase, an additional pillow resting on top of her pillow, covered with a brown pillowcase, with biological fluid on the brown pillowcase. The
brown pillowcase matches linen from the master bedroom.
OK, hold it right there. Chris Spargo, Dailymail. com, sources are telling us the children were asphyxiated. Are you -- are you hearing the same
thing, Chris Spargo?
SPARGO: That is correct.
GRACE: OK, so Chris Spargo, we`ve also learned -- take a look at this -- additional pillow resting on top of Nika`s pillow matched linen in master
bedroom.
Dr. Lee Norman joining me, University of Kansas, if they were asphyxiated, Dr. Norman, would that explain why a fluid is coming out of their nose or
mouth and they`re lying there on their backs?
NORMAN: Yes, it well could because after death, the sphincters and the tissue`s relaxed enough that fluid continues to percolate out for a little
bit of time.
GRACE: OK. I didn`t see anything in there about the vomiting, as you alluded to, Dr. Norman. So what would this fluid be?
NORMAN: It would probably be either nasal secretions or saliva.
GRACE: OK, let me go to Robyn Walensky, senior news editor with The Blaze Radio Network. Robyn, I want to ask you a very narrow question. We are
being told from sources inside the police investigation that the husband had planned all along to come back to the house that morning at 9:20 AM.
Everybody knew he was going to be there at 9:20 AM. Is that correct, Robyn?
ROBYN WALENSKY, THE BLAZE RADIO NETWORK (via telephone): That is correct. There`s a 12-hour window that this could have happened, where her baby-
sitter leaves and then he was (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: Right. Right. Unleash the lawyers, Robin Ficker, defense attorney out of Maryland, Troy Slaten, defense attorney out of LA.
Robin Ficker, first I want to get down to the fact the mother is still hiding in a closet, covered in blood, when the pianist, the world-renowned
concert pianist, gets there. She`s still barricaded in a closet.
Both children are in the bedrooms, dead, the younger one in the master bed, her bed. And coincidentally, it is her husband`s pillow that has the
biological fluid on it from the child who`s dead. The other girl, the 5- year-old in the other room, is fully clothed from her clothes from the day before, it`s my understanding, Ficker.
So if this was an intruder and it happened the day before, what`s she still doing hiding in the closet?
ROBIN FICKER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: This may well be a botched reconciliation with the estranged husband. She is in great fear and anguish because these
children she bore for nine months, and then cared for for years after that, have been murdered. She`s in a psychological upset.
GRACE: Let -- let me understand what you just said.
FICKER: It could well be a third party lover that came in and tried to hurt her by killing her children.
GRACE: Matt Zarrell, is there any evidence that there is a lover in this scenario at all?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): No, there is not.
[20:10:00]GRACE: OK, and Ficker, what are you talking about a botched reconciliation? What do you -- the police have already told us the father
is clear. They don`t think he had anything to do with this. What are you talking about?
FICKER: Well, the police haven`t investigated this fully. We don`t even know the cause of death yet. So I think they`ve ruled him out a bit too
quickly. The first one I`d look at would be an estranged spouse.
GRACE: OK, Matt Zarrell, what more do we know about the crime scene itself? Again, there`s no evidence whatsoever that there was a botched
reconciliation. I mean, if you`re going to argue that at trial, Robin Ficker, you might as well argue little green men from Mars came in through
the attic and did it.
So what do we know about the crime scene and the condition of the little girls, Matt Zarrell?
ZARRELL: Well, one thing I want to talk to you about is the father in this situation because the police say that his reaction was genuine shock. It`s
what you would expect. And we do have documents that say that the children were suffocated -- at least one child we know for sure was suffocated by
homicidal violence. The other was killed by homicidal violence, which is unknown to the police. At this time, they`re still working on figuring out
why.
GRACE: Tonight, the mystery is deepening about the cause of death of two little girls. When this concert pianist comes home, Vadym Kholodenko, he
finds both of his girls dead, the mother stabbed brutally, hiding in a closet.
Question. Matt Zarrell, what can you tell me about the phone call the mother has the night before with her husband?
ZARRELL: Yes, at 9:00 PM the night before, the husband and the wife talk about him coming to pick up the kid that morning at 9:20 to take her to
school. Both parties knew he was going that morning, and the wife`s call with him, conversation with him, confirmed it.
GRACE: Chris Spargo, Dailymail.com, we are getting in now just what Matt is saying. We do have the cause of death. They have just been reported,
the cause of deaths on these children, asphyxiation. Now, there`s a little confusion. There may be more than one cause of death, but are you learning
the same thing, asphyxiation?
SPARGO: Yes, we`re learning that it was suffocation through homicidal violence, like Matt Zarrell just said.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:16:21]GRACE: A world-renowned concert pianist comes home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Kholodenko was the person who initiated the 911 call.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 5-year-old Nika and 1-year-old Michaela were both found in bed.
GRACE: Both of his little girls murdered, his wife covered in stab wounds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: It would be a cold day in H-E-L-L that I would keep hiding in a closet if I thought my two children were on the other side of that closet
and in danger. But that apparently is exactly what the mother in this scenario did. Sofya Tsygankova hid in a closet. She herself, however, is
covered in stab wounds and blood. Blood everywhere.
Tonight, we are getting information from inside the police investigation. The house was covered in blood. There was even blood in the car outside.
What`s the mom going to claim? Is she going to claim an intruder came in and did this thing? Because I`m not buying that. I want to find out more
about the home.
And another thing. To Matt Zarrell, what do we know? Whoever killed the children, they tried to murder them twice, two times over, because isn`t
there evidence that there could be another cause of death?
ZARRELL: Yes, Nancy. So now when the police investigated the scene, they found the car in the garage. And inside the -- on the driver`s seat in the
car were linens that were soiled with blood and other biological fluids. Those linens appeared to be from the master bedroom.
And in the back of the car, there was a red suitcase that was stuffed under the rear bumper area of the car. The suitcase appeared to have been used
to brace a rag that had been stuffed into the vehicle exhaust tailpipe.
GRACE: Large amount of blood in and around the car, linens in the car soiled with blood and other biological fluids, a suitcase stuck up under
the bumper to brace a rag stuff into the exhaust pipe.
Unleash the lawyers, Robin Ficker, Maryland, Troy Slaten, LA. So Troy Slaten, whoever this intruder is, armed with a knife, takes the time to try
to murder the children with carbon monoxide? And when that doesn`t work, he uses -- they use Daddy`s pillow from the master bedroom bed to murder
the two children? That doesn`t make sense.
TROY SLATEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Although it would be easy to wrap it all up and say, Oh, this is just another case of a mom killing her kids. I think
Robin Ficker`s onto something here. I think the reports show that she suffered stab wounds. Are we saying that she stabbed herself with a knife?
GRACE: Yes. I`m going to go out on a limb. That`s what I`m saying.
SLATEN: I think the...
GRACE: That is exactly what I`m saying!
SLATEN: Nancy, I think the fact that there`s other people involved here is something that we definitely have to look at.
GRACE: Troy Slaten, do you have children? Just yes, no.
SLATEN: I do.
GRACE: Would you hide in a closet in your nightgown while you think your children are being killed in the bedroom? Would you do that?
SLATEN: If I was mentally unstable and someone...
GRACE: Oh, dear Lord!
SLATEN: ... had just come in maybe that I was...
GRACE: OK. Know what?
SLATEN: ... having an affair with or some other type of intruder, yes!
GRACE: What is it with you men?
SLATEN: And I`m scared to death that my...
GRACE: Every time...
SLATEN: ... my family was just whipped (ph) away?
GRACE: ... a woman, a grown woman is part of a scenario, you immediately say she`s a tramp, sleeping around. You know what? Try to come up -- go
back to your voodoo kitchen and cook up something else.
You know, Chris Spargo and Robyn Walensky -- isn`t it true, Robyn Walensky, senior news editor with The Blaze, that a baby-sitter was in the home up
until 8:50 PM the night before? Everything was fine, isn`t that true, Robyn?
[20:20:09]WALENSKY: That is correct, Nancy.
GRACE: And then isn`t it true that the phone call to the husband was at 9:00 PM, arranging his visit the next day at 9:00 -- him coming to the home
at 9:20. Isn`t that true? And she said she just put Nika to bed and Michaela was asleep in the bedroom.
WALENSKY: Everything in order at the 9:00 o`clock hour.
GRACE: OK, everything in order at the 9:00 o`clock hour, but it doesn`t make sense to me that somebody broke into the house, tried to kill the
children with carbon monoxide, and when that didn`t work, asphyxiated them. And if you look at that timeline, Chris Spargo, Dailymail.com, that`s
impossible.
The other girl still has on her clothes from the day before. Why would the mother have put her to bed in her clothes, Chris?
SPARGO: Exactly, and there was no signs of forced entry.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:25:16]UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A world-renowned concert pianist, Vadym Kholodenko is accustomed to being in the spotlight, but not like this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two deceased children, ages 5 and 1.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The cause of their deaths still unknown.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Tonight, we are learning the cause of death of these two little girls, ages just 5 and 1. When Daddy gets back to the house, 9:20 AM, they
are both dead. Asleep -- they look like they`re asleep in the beds, he says. Mommy hiding in the closet, covered in blood.
Straight out to Matt Zarrell on the story. Matt, what did the mother say about a bad dream?
ZARRELL: Yes. So the wife apparently made several mentions when she talked to police about a bad dream that she had that night, but she was
unable to elaborate fully about this dream.
GRACE: Isn`t it true she kept asking about her children?
You know, I don`t get it. Robin Ficker, Troy Slaten, you remember, of course, when O.J. Simpson said that he had a, quote, "bad dream" about the
death of his wife, and then also when Amanda Knox said she had a bad dream about the death of her roommate, and she could hear the roommate screaming
in the other -- what a coincidence, Robin Ficker, that now this mother has a bad dream about something bad happening to her two daughters. And whoa!
What is she, clairvoyant? You think she`s clairvoyant? Because her children are dead.
FICKER: Nancy, you have two lovely children. If your children were injured...
GRACE: Keep them out of this!
FICKER: ... you`d have some bad dreams, too. This is the most traumatic thing any woman can experience...
GRACE: No. She had the bad dream before the children were dead.
FICKER: ... in her life. She is having all sorts of delusions and bad thoughts at this time. She doesn`t know her world has ended, these two
beautiful children that she has taken care of for so long.
GRACE: Oh, here you go with the nine months, bore the children for nine months.
FICKER: Absolutely.
GRACE: Slaten -- Slaten, she says that she had a bad dream regarding the children, and then suddenly, they`re dead. That doesn`t ring a bell, O.J.
Simpson, Amanda Knox?
SLATEN: Just because she says that she had a bad dream, even if she`s in the throes of a psychotic episode doesn`t necessarily...
GRACE: I was just waiting on that.
SLATEN: ... mean that she killed her kids.
(CROSSTALK)
SLATEN: It still could have been somebody else!
GRACE: Let`s follow your line of thinking through. She has a psychotic break. Can I see the lawyer? Oh, dear Lord. That`s the little baby right
there. That`s the 1-year-old child found dead.
Let`s follow your train of thought through, Troy Slaten. She has a psychotic break. Isn`t it odd, isn`t it quite the coincidence that she`s
fine at 8:50 PM when the baby-sitter is there? She acts completely normal when she`s on the phone with the husband? Completely normal? And then
suddenly, she has a psychotic break and kills the children? And to add to that...
SLATEN: Normal? She`s rocking back and forth.
GRACE: To add to that...
SLATEN: She`s acting crazy. There`s soiled linens in the car. A suitcase is in the car. And if you`re going to try and kill yourself by
asphyxiation, do you stuff the tailpipe with things? No, you want the exhaust to fill the garage, fill the room. This sounds like it may have
been somebody else trying to set it up to look like she was trying to kill herself.
GRACE: Robyn Walensky, senior news editor with The Blaze -- Robyn, isn`t it true that this coming Friday, the lawyers were supposed to exchange
financial documents? The money train, her husband, Kholodenko, the concert pianist, the winner of the Van Cliburn contest, the Olympics for pianists -
- the money train`s pulling out of the station. He`s leaving. He is leaving her.
(CROSSTALK)
WALENSKY: It was over, and she knew it.
GRACE: Over and she knew it, and the money was going right down the tubes, Robyn Walensky. Isn`t that true? What do you know?
WALENSKY: Yes, the sister knew that she was depressed and upset about it. And this was going to be the end of the checks and the money trail. He
moved out back in August.
[20:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: A Florida beach beauty marries her dream man, set to live happily ever after, what the bride doesn`t know the hitman she allegedly hires to
murder her groom is a cop.
That`s right. Cops sting the bride on video. Breaking down in hysterical tears, crying over her dead husband, but what the killer bride now claims
is that all that, that was just a reality show acting gig.
Well, tonight, the bride, Dalia Dippolito, in hot water after she breaks all the rules again and gets a star turn in an ABC "20/20" interview.
Well, in the last hours, believe it or not, the trial judge sides with the killer bride even though she breaks bond, trying her best to take that jury
pool with this "20/20" interview, the judge lets her free.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DALIA DIPPOLITO, ACCUSED OF HIRING HITMAN TO KILL HUSBAND: It was a murder- for-hire episode. They were accusing me of trying to have my husband killed and I -- I didn`t.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So your husband is in on this all along?
DIPPOLITO: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:35:00] GRACE: That is from ABC`s "20/20" where you see Dalia Dippolito, so-called "killer bride" doing her star turn.
You know, I`m trying to get a figure on how many millions of people watch "20/20" on the air and then you can watch it online, you can read about it
on the internet. So, there she goes, Dalia Dippolito reaching a potential jury pool. This, after the judge tells her, you`re on house arrest, OK?
You`re going to go to trial for trying to murder your husband, and what does she do? She goes straight out and does an interview in her lawyer`s
cushy office to taint the jury pool.
For those of you just joining us, in case you can`t remember, here is Dalia Dippolito in her star turn ...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANK RANZIE, BOYNTON BEACH POLICE OFFICER: Ms. Dippolito? I`m Sergeant Ranzie. I`m the one who called you. Thank you for coming. I`m sorry to call
you. Listen, we had a report of a disturbance at your house and there were shots fired.
Is your husband, Michael? OK. I`m sorry to tell you, ma`am. He`s been killed.
DIPPOLITO: (CRYING)
RANZIE: He`s been killed, ma`am.
DIPPOLITO: No! (CRYING)
RANZIE: Try to calm down. Right now we need to get you to the police station. I can`t let you go in there, ma`am. We have to do our job. We need
you to calm down. You need to go to the police station, OK? You need to go with these officers. Is there anyone who want to hurt ...
DIPPOLITO: (CRYING)
RANZIE: OK. Is there anyone who wants to hurt him? (Inaudible) that he saw a black male running from here. I can`t let you see it ma`am. Ma`am, I
cannot do this right now. Ma`am, I can`t.
DIPPOLITO: (CRYING)
RANZIE: I need you to take her to the station.
DIPPOLITO: (CRYING)
RANZIE: I can`t ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Keep it going, because I want them to see her walk to the car.
RANZIE: ... if you want to help your husband, you need to go to the station with these gentlemen and tell us everything you know about who he knows ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Ring it.
RANZIE: ... who he`s connected to.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Ring every drip out.
RANZIE: ... right now. Everything is under control, and we`ll take care of everything else, OK? Thank you, guys.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Make way. She`s going to start crying again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are they in it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t know.
RANZIE: Hey, (Dan), are her keys in the truck? OK.
GRACE: There she goes.
RANZIE: Make sure we secure that. Just secure it for now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s my favorite part. And how many times do you think the jury`s going to rewind that and play it over and over? My favorite part is they
try to get her in the car, she pops up again and then goes hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo and starts crying again.
That is her and in a moment I`m going to play for you her star turn on "20/20". Daphne Duret, Criminal Courts Reporter with "The Palm Beach Post"
in court.
I can`t believe the judge says, yeah you violated bond. You totally violated bond, I`m going to let you stay free, anyway. What happened? Who
is this judge? There he is, Glenn Kelley. What`s with him?
DAPHNE DURET, "THE PALM BEACH POST" CRIMINAL COURTS REPORTER: Well, what the judge said was that her traveling to Miami to have that interview with
"20/20", that very obviously she would not have done that knowing that she was breaking the terms of her house arrest without first consulting with
her lawyers about it or at the very least doing it with her attorney`s blessing ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: OK, hold on.
DURET: ... and so he ...
GRACE: With me right now, Daphne Duret from "The Palm Beach Post" is her lawyer, or at least one of them, she`s got a whole fleet. Brian Claypool is
joining us. Claypool, why did you taint the jury pool?
BRIAN CLAYPOOL, DALIA DIPPOLITO`S ATTORNEY: Hey, Nancy.
GRACE: Don`t "hey, Nancy" me, OK? Don`t.
(CROSSTALK)
CLAYPOOL: Yeah. First of all ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: All right? Why did you let her taint the jury pool?
CLAYPOOL: Dalia Dippolito is not a killer bride, first of all. Second of all, the judge yesterday, by the way, who is very fair, he made it clear
that Dalia is allowed to do an interview with the media. She just has to do it within the confines of her house arrest.
So, this is not a gag order. I`m allowed to talk about the case. She`s allowed to talk about the case, as long as we follow the rules. So that`s
what happened yesterday that`s why ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: And she did not follow the rules.
CLAYPOOL: ... she is not incarcerated.
GRACE: She did not follow the rules.
CLAYPOOL: Well she did -- well she - here`s what happened. The judge -- the judge determined that she did not violate the terms of her house arrest
because myself and co-council implied to her ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: She blamed it on you.
CLAYPOOL: ... that it was OK to do -- it was OK to do the interview ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Always somebody else`s fault.
CLAYPOOL: ... in Florida. Dalia -- Nancy, Dalia didn`t do anything willful and she`s had -- and she`s had a record of not breaking any of her house
arrest terms. Six years she`s had ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: You know what?
CLAYPOOL: ... a clean record. So the judge considered ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: I appreciate that, Brian Claypool ...
CLAYPOOL: ... the judge considered mitigating factors.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... but I don`t know what she has to do to go to jail. Number one, her husband lawyer says that she tried to kill him before with poisoned
tea, chai tea, from Starbucks. You know what? You said she didn`t do anything willful? Listen to this, Claypool.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:40:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it`s not done by Wednesday then I`ll call you. If it`s done by Wednesday, the only thing you`re gonna hear from me is
to collect, all right?
Which is why I said that between now and when it`s done, you know, you`re not gonna have an option to change your mind. Even if you change your mind,
I`m (inaudible) ...
(CROSSTALK)
DIPPOLITO: There`s no changing -- no, there`s no like, I`m determined already.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, are you sure you wanna do this?
DIPPOLITO: I`m positive, like 5,000 percent sure. Like ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
DIPPOLITO: I was stressing when you told me you were going to come up here and then I`m like looking at the time. I`m like (BEEP) he`s not coming,
he`s not this, you know, it`s like all this stuff or whatever. Like no, when I say I`m gonna do something, I`m gonna do it. Like as soon as you
told me listen, I need the money from you, I went. I grabbed it right away, like we were good to go. Like with me, you`re not going to have a problem.
You`re not going to have an issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining me is a renowned body language expert, trial consulting group, Aaron Brehove, joining me out of Washington, D.C.
Aaron, thank you for being with us. You have studied, frame by frame, every clip of this woman, who is now claiming that all of this caught on video
was really just a reality show acting gig, they were going to put it on YouTube. What do you make of her lawyer, Brian Claypool, claiming none of
this was willful?
AARON BREHOVE, BODY LANGUAGE EXPERT: Yeah, I mean, it`s -- clearly everything she`s done is willful. The confidence she had in the car when
she was with the undercover cop. The cops even -- even mentioned how calm she was, how with it (ph) she was, and she said she was 5,000 percent sure
she wanted this done.
Even when confirming that she wanted her husband killed, she was still calm. She was still collected. But at the time ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: OK, hold on, Aaron. I want you to look at another clip. Justin, can you get me the "20/20" clip where she says, I did not want him dead?
Because I want you to see that, Aaron. Take a look at her on "20/20", Aaron.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMY ROBACH, ABC`S "20/20" NEWS JOURNALIST: Did you want your husband dead?
DIPPOLITO: No, absolutely not.
ROBACH: Did you hire a hit man to kill your husband?
DIPPOLITO: No.
ROBACH: How do you explain what we have all seen and heard on those video tapes?
DIPPOLITO: I`d like to be able to explain that to you right now, but I can`t because the attorneys legally have told me that we`re saving that for
our day in court.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: OK, that`s from ABC`s "20/20", and did you hear that? That`s called parsing words, Aaron Brehove, because you just heard her lawyer say, she`s
allowed to talk about the case, that`s Brian Claypool, but she just said, oh, my lawyers won`t let me actually get into the facts.
That`s total B.S. What do you make of this "20/20" interview.
BREHOVE: It`s standard concealment. So, once you -- she lies by saying, no, very simply saying no, she didn`t want to do something, where it says
something different on the video. But then when she wants details about it she`s able to reconcile all this. So she conceals -- she says, you know
what, trust me, just like she said to her husband, trust me. Just come down here and meet me. In the prison calls. She tries ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: OK.
BREHOVE: ... to conceal it, tries to push it aside.
GRACE: You know Stacey Newman, also on the story along with Daphne Duret. Stacey, what does this woman have to do? The lawyer for her ex says she
tried to poison him with chai tea from Starbucks, OK?
Then you`ve got her planning a hitman -- hiring a hitman, paying a hitman, now she breaks bond by trying to taint the jury pool with the "20/20"
interview. What does the judge want, a billboard on Third Avenue going, "I hired a hitman"?
STACEY NEWMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: And Nancy, that "20/20" interview was seen by at least 5 million people and don`t forget, her conviction was also
overturned. So, she seems to constantly be lucky. Let`s see if this works again in front of another jury.
[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Tonight, a stunning turn of events. The prime suspect in the murder of American beauty Natalee Holloway, Joran Van Der Sloot, who also murders
another young girl, Stephany Tatiana Flores, set to make a bankroll, a money ball on a tell-all juicy book.
And even more disturbing, Joran Van Der Sloot hatching a plan to get transferred to a cushy life here in the U.S. or even Aruba, and it`s all
caught on video. We have the video.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just when you think you`ve heard the last from Joran Van Der Sloot, prime suspect in the death of Natalee Holloway, he surfaces
again.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s from the "National Enquirer" and "Radar Online". Take a look at Joran Van Der Sloot talking about his juicy tell-all book, the money
he`s going to make and his plans to do a deal to get transferred to the U.S. or even Aruba. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JORAN VAN DER SLOOT, PRIME SUSPECT IN THE DEATH OF NATALEE HOLLOWAY: ... that I`d like to cooperate, so that we can discuss an arrangement.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cooperate with what?
VAN DER SLOOT: It is possible, I`ve been looking at it and even now in the Netherlands it`s possible to make a deal with the Justice department if you
work with them. I think that when that book gets published I will be extradited to Aruba.
That`s true, but I will be gone here in a few months anyway.
If I were to be in Aruba, I wouldn`t mind giving my story first to the authorities there, before releasing it as a book so they can confirm
everything. That would give much more priority to the book. I wouldn`t mind doing that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That is from "National Enquirer" and "Radar Online", both joining us tonight. You just saw the prime suspect in the murder of American beauty,
Natalee Holloway.
Mike Walker, Senior Editor at "National Enquirer". It just never ends with this guy. And now he`s going to make money on a tell-all book? How can that
be? And he says it`s going to be 500 pages and give the details of Natalee`s murder!
[20:50:00] MIKE WALKER, "NATIONAL ENQUIRER" SENIOR EDITOR: It`s a chilling video. And what`s chilling about it is you can see the charm that this guy
has. It`s inescapable. Here, he murders one girl, he gets away with -- talks his way out of that. He then goes and gets the girl`s mother, Beth
Holloway, to give him $25,000 to reveal where her body might be.
Well, he takes the money, he escapes, he goes to Peru, meets another girl who adores him and he kills her.
And you see that he`s sitting, in our video, with another woman. And this is a woman who used to come to the prison to visit, you know, another
inmate, and ended up marrying him and he has a child by her.
I mean, the guy`s charm is inescapable. Now he thinks what he`s going to do with this book, is he`s planning to use this to talk his way out of prison
in Peru, which is a hellhole and to get to Aruba, or even the United States.
GRACE: You know, I want to follow up on something you just said, Mike Walker, Senior Editor with "National Enquirer," Alexis Tereszcuk, Senior
Reporter, radaronline.com.
Alexis, Mike was just talking about that woman sitting there holding his hand. Who is she? Does she think she`s along for the ride and she`s going
to come to the U.S. or the tropical island of Aruba? Because that ain`t happening, OK?
ALEXIS TERESZCUK, RADARONLINE.COM SENIOR REPORTER: Absolutely. That`s his wife. He`s married. Joran is amazing ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: I know he`s married.
(CROSSTALK)
TERESZCUK: And not only married.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: And how do I know that`s not his girlfriend?
TERESZCUK: I believe that`s his wife, actually, in the video.
GRACE: So how -- he`s going to use his tell-all book as a confession of sorts, to then get transferred back to Aruba to be in a jail cell there,
and the possibility of coming to the U.S.? That`s what he`s doing.
TERESZCUK: You`re exactly right. And what he thinks is that he can tell a story that will be so outrageous, that the authorities will want to talk to
him in person and then so they`ll work out a deal with the Peruvian government to bring him back to Aruba.
Meanwhile, he`s sitting in jail, he has a lengthy sentence, and there is no way but -- Joran ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: That did not look like a jail cell to me, Tereszcuk. He was sitting in a comfy, looked like a den with a sofa and pillows and some woman
holding his hand.
Guys, hold on. I`m just being joined out of meridian by Dave Holloway. This is Natalee`s father. Dave, long time no hear, friend. And I`m just stunned
that this guy will sell a book, he says a juicy tell-all book, about Natalee`s murder, and using that as a quasi confession to get sent to Aruba
or possibly even the U.S.
DAVID HOLLOWAY, NATALEE HOLLOWAY`S FATHER: Yeah, that`s unbelievable. He`s written one book in the past and sales from what I understand, it was a
failure. You know, he`s got 22 years to go in Peru, and I don`t think the parents of Stephany Flores is going to allow him to circumvent the Peruvian
court system to allow him to leave and go to Aruba or United States.
[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The man suspected in Natalee Holloway`s disappearance ...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That killer dumped Natalee`s body.
VAN DER SLOOT: ... that I`d like to cooperate, so that we can discuss an arrangement.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cooperate with what?
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: Tonight, a stunning turn of events. The prime suspect in the murder of American beauty, Natalee Holloway, apparently hatching a plan to sell a
tell-all book and get a huge money ball, get transferred to the U.S. or even Aruba. You`re seeing this from "Radar Online" and "National Enquirer".
Listen!
VAN DER SLOOT: ... that I`d like to cooperate, so that we can discuss an arrangement.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cooperate with what?
VAN DER SLOOT: It is possible, I`ve been looking at it and even now in the Netherlands it`s possible to make a deal with the Justice department if you
work with them.
I think that when that book gets published I will be extradited to Aruba.
That`s true, but I will be gone here in a few months anyway.
GRACE: OK, bottom line, Mike Walker, Senior Editor, "National Enquirer", you remember his father, the judge? Let`s see the picture of him running,
where you don`t see anything but his rear end and his elbows.
Strings have been pulled in -- that`s where his dad, the judge, was being asked questions. They pulled so many strings before, I wouldn`t put it past
Aruba to get it back to Aruba. Mike?
WALKER: It could happen. It would be -- even his own lawyer has voiced some doubts about that, but it could happen. Believe me, in situations like
that, and again, I go back to ...
GRACE: Right.
WALKER: ... you`ve seen this guy. He is loaded with charm.
GRACE: Tiffany Sanders joining me out of Chicago. What do you make of it? And how will this make the victims` families feel that he`s set to make
money?
TIFFANY SANDERS, PSYCHOLOGIST: Absolutely. It`s despicable, Nancy. This guy is a psychopath. He`s manipulative and he uses his charm to get away with
things. And he keeps ripping the Band-Aid off of the family`s wound, pouring salt.
What type of despicable person will do that? No one but a psychopath. He really needs to stay in jail and not make any money off this book.
GRACE: Let`s remember American hero Indiana Deputy Sheriff Carl Koontz, just 27, killed in the line of duty. Howard County Sheriff`s School
Resource Officer. Dedicated to students. Widow, Kassandra; baby boy, Noah. Carl Koontz, American hero.
And tonight, parents asking for prayers and postcards for their beautiful hero angel, Ellie, battling brain cancer. She can`t travel, loves reading
postcards. Please, send postcards to this address. Ellie, say strong, my sweet.
"Forensic Files" next. Thank you to our guests, but as always, to you, for being with us. Nancy Grace, signing off. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8
o`clock sharp, Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
[21:00:00]
END
