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Nancy Grace
A History of Attempted Abductions; William Shatner`s $170 Love Child Claim; Manhunt for Mom`s Lover After Two-Year-Old Found Dead. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired March 29, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: Breaking news tonight, live, Jacksonville. A desperate mom calls 911 after her 8-year-old daughter vanishes from a
Walmart superstore. After a frantic search, authorities locate Cherish`s tiny body bloody, half-clothed, submerged in murky water. Does video and
just obtained 911 calls leave behind clues in the 8-year-old girl`s disappearance?
Tonight, we go deep inside the investigation. We discover disturbing details, including two previously hidden critical calls that could help
crack this case, and the shocking possibility Cherish could have been saved.
And tonight, joining us live, the little girl who got away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAYNE PERRYWINKLE, MOTHER: (INAUDIBLE) wanted to kill her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The desperate 911 call she made from the Walmart where she last saw her 8-year-old daughter, Cherish.
PERRYWINKLE: And I don`t understand why he would (INAUDIBLE) unless he`s going to rape her and kill her. That`s the only reason.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Newly released surveillance video shows him with that family and then casually walking out of the store with Cherish next to him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Breaking right now, "Star Trek" star`s $170 million love child claim. The son of an actress mom boldly goes where no man has gone before,
firing torpedoes in the courtroom that the "Star Trek" superstar, Captain Kirk, is his bio dad, that the lead star of the "Star Trek" franchise,
"Boston Legal," "T.J. Hooker," and of course, Priceline, has an affair with his mom, and now, years later, demands nearly $200 million. But is he
trying to live long and prosper from a fake connection?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Captain Kirk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The amount of integrity in both universes, Mr. Spock.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: William Shatner is being sighed for $170 million by a man claiming to be Shatner`s long lost son.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So when I see this guy, I should call him out on the air.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I mean, I don`t know what he`s doing or why he`s doing that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s from CBS TV distribution and 102.5 The Bone (ph) radio.
Breaking right now. Mom`s lover goes on the run. A massive manhunt follows when a 2-year-old little girl found, according to doctors, dead
from severe child abuse. So what about Mommy? Where was Mommy during all of this? Did she lie to cover up, even accepting Gofundme donations?
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight.
Bombshell tonight, live to Jacksonville. A desperate mother calls 911 when her 8-year-old little girl goes missing in a Walmart superstore. After a
frantic search, authorities locate the tiny body of Cherish. She is bloody, half-clothed, submerged face down in murky water, under a log.
Does video and a 911 call leave clues in the 8-year-old girl`s disappearance?
Tonight, we go deep inside the investigation and discover disturbing details, including two previously hidden critical calls that could help
crack the case. And tonight, the shocking possibility that we have been wrestling with. Could Cherish have been saved? And tonight, another
little girl who got away.
I want to go straight out to Larry Hannan, court reporter with "The Florida Times-Union." But first, Larry, watch your monitor. I want to pull up the
video that we`re talking about, the heart-breaking video of little Cherish.
There`s her mom, and there`s who we believe to be the killer, in the black outfit, short sleeves, long pants, whitish baseball cap. See him honing in
on Cherish? She`s the 8-year-old little girl with the long, dark hair. See, he follows her, not only with his body but his eyes, wherever she
goes, even into the changing room.
Now, he meets the mom at a Dollar store and he sees the mom is having difficulty paying -- and there they go out the door. The mom thinks
they`re just going inside the store to the McDonald`s located in the Walmart superstore. But instead, he lures her out to his car.
[20:05:07]Watch. Watch him. Keep your eye on the video. See him targeting her, ignoring the mom and the other two little girls, following
along with her? Now, they met earlier at the Dollar store. They come to Walmart. He sees she can`t pay for the children`s clothes, offers to pay,
says he`s waiting on his wife. But when they get to the McDonald`s, look, the McDonald`s is just off to one side, to the left. They go out the door.
Keep watching. They go to his white van.
Now, Larry Hannan, I want you to hear one of the two phone calls that we uncovered. And let me tell you, everybody. This is getting extremely
complicated. We have learned that police officers have been thrown out of the homicide unit, that they have been reprimanded, that they have been
suspended for getting to the scene, not reporting this as a kidnapping to the superiors for hours, not telling the media for five hours. All this
time, the little girl`s life could have been saved.
But what about this 911 call? Listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: Jacksonville 911 (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, we are calling about a suspicious van over here, a white van. It was parked behind some bushes really deep. And then we
heard that it was...
911 OPERATOR: The nearest crossroad?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, ma`am. I know it`s a white van. It`s not there anymore. But we don`t know if he dumped anything because (INAUDIBLE) got
abducted from Walmart.
911 OPERATOR: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So we are not sure that`s the van, but a white van was pushed all the way to the back of the bushes this morning.
911 OPERATOR: Near some bushes?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right behind the church.
911 OPERATOR: And how long ago did you see it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, man (INAUDIBLE) this morning about 7:00 o`clock (INAUDIBLE) yes, 7:20. It was parked there. We didn`t (INAUDIBLE) we
didn`t even know anything before just now.
911 OPERATOR: All right. You said it`s now gone?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, ma`am.
911 OPERATOR: But you think he may have -- just in case he might have dumped something?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right. We don`t know, but just in case. It looked suspicious because it was all the way to the back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Larry Hannan, court reporter, "Florida Times-Union," that call makes me sick. And I`ll tell you why. Did you hear them say, We just
found out a little girl was kidnapped. We`re just hearing it. But we saw this way, way, way back, hours ago. It`s gone now.
If this had been handled properly, they would have heard the Amber Alert. They would have known about the Amber Alert. Everybody would have. They
saw the white van! That is where he raped and murdered this little girl, in the back of his van. They could have stopped this, had they known. Did
you hear the caller, Larry, say, We just heard about the little girl?
LARRY HANNAN, "FLORIDA TIMES-UNION" (via telephone): Yeah, the one thing I should point out is these were the early morning hours. It`s quite
possible these people wouldn`t have been awake or seen the van before then. But you know, the sheriff took action after this incident and disciplined
several officers for not responding quickly enough.
GRACE: Larry, I appreciate that, but the girl is dead, OK? And I`m glad the sheriff, the elected sheriff, did the right thing by disciplining all
these officers, but that doesn`t change anything. Five hours passed before the media was alerted. The Amber Alert was all messed up.
And not only that, when police got there, they didn`t -- they acted like they didn`t believe what the mother was saying. She was standing there
saying, My daughter could be being killed and raped right now. Did you hear her saying that over and over? She`s not getting any action. They`re
acting like she`s making the whole thing up.
Here are people seeing the van go by and nobody knows. The child is in the van. If you look at the inside of the van, that is where the child was
raped and murdered, for Pete`s sake!
Hold on. I`m being joined right now by two special guests. I mentioned when we first said good evening that there is a little girl that got away.
Several years ago, this little girl was stopped by the same guy.
And when you hear white van -- I see you crying. I see you, Mommy. I cannot imagine sitting beside my daughter or my son right now and reliving
this!
Tell me, why are you crying? What about Cherish`s story is impacting you this way? Your girl is safe now. Ma`am, what has moved you to tears?
STEPHANIE THORNTON, MOTHER: It`s sad. It feels like nothing`s being done about none of it!
[20:10:04]GRACE: Tell us in your own words, Chrystina, what happened when you had a brush with Donald James Smith. What happened?
CHRYSTINA THORNTON, GIRL WHO GOT AWAY: All I can remember is when he called my grandmother and called me and started asking me all these
sexually (sic) questions and stuff. (INAUDIBLE) call himself DCF and stuff.
GRACE: Ms. Thornton -- with me is Chrystina and Stephanie Thornton. It is a mom and a daughter. And her terrible encounter with the same man
happened when she was just 9 years old.
Ms. Thornton, what happened? Stephanie, how did -- I still don`t understand how he got your daughter`s number, figured out who she was. He
had to be stalking her, to start with. But tell me what happened when you picked that phone up.
S. THORNTON: Well, it started with -- he called my oldest son, Chrystina`s brother, and asked for Chrystina Hand (ph). And my son said that she lived
with her mother. He asked for my number. My son gave it to him because he said he was a DCF worker, that his sister had been abducted by her
grandfather so he needed to speak with her.
So he gave Donald Smith my phone number. Donald Smith contacted me that morning and said he was with Department of Children and Families. He read
me a -- like, a badge number. And he started telling me that my daughter had been abducted by her grandfather. There had been allegations called in
that her grandfather was sexually molesting her.
I had argued with him for a while on the phone and told him that I didn`t believe that. And he just started -- I mean, he sounded so professional,
so professional.
GRACE: And let me understand this, Stephanie. He wanted to get your daughter on the phone, right?
S. THORNTON: Yes, ma`am.
GRACE: So ultimately, he -- at that moment, she happened to be at the grandmother`s house, right?
S. THORNTON: Yes, ma`am. She was in Callahan (ph) at her grandmother`s house.
GRACE: So he called the grandma`s house.
Justin, do you have the tears of what he was saying to Chrystina on the phone? I really don`t want to ask her.
Chrystina, could you tell us as best -- you know what? I`m going to ask your mom. What did he say to your daughter on the phone, Ms. Thornton?
S. THORNTON: Her grandmother put her on the phone, and his first words for her was, Do you wear a bra? Then his second words was, Do you have hair
down there?
GRACE: She`s 9 years old? She`s 9 years old?
S. THORNTON: Yes, ma`am.
GRACE: Then what happened?
S. THORNTON: And she started crying. She handed the phone to her grandmother. And she hadn`t said nothing to her grandmother of what was
said to her. And her grandmother was talking to Donald Smith on the phone, and he said that they had to meet at McDonald`s so they could meet up, that
she had to go to Fernadina (ph) hospital to be checked out to see if she had been messed with.
GRACE: And let me guess, Ms. Thornton, he was going to take her to the hospital? So he got the grandmother to actually -- did she bring Chrystina
to the McDonald`s?
S. THORNTON: Yes, ma`am. She met him up there. And -- but in the mix (ph) of that, while she got dressed and everything to get her up there, I
had got on the phone with DCF. I called them because something was telling me in my mind that DCF...
GRACE: Thank God!
S. THORNTON: ... doesn`t call. They come to your house.
GRACE: That`s just what Cherish`s mother said, I thought something was wrong, but I didn`t trust myself. So you go to McDonald`s, right?
S. THORNTON: I contacted DCF first. They said there were no allegations made against my child. So I called JSO (ph) as I was getting in my vehicle
to go to Callahan because the grandmother done said that she was meeting him up there. So I got into the McDonald`s parking lot. I was flying. I
got there. And there was a white van sitting two cars over from her and her grandmother. So I kind of locked them in...
GRACE: A white van. I cannot believe this, the same thing as with baby Cherish!
I want you to hear what he said to police when they questioned him about luring yet another little girl in a white van. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have not come up with any reason why you might have been in contact with this family -- on the west side or...
[20:15:01]DONALD SMITH, ACCUSED: None whatsoever.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... on the west side or...
SMITH: None whatsoever. I don`t know anything from Adam or Eve. Never even heard of her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No?
SMITH: Never heard of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That man offered to take them to Walmart and buy her family some clothes, and they appeared to be down on their luck and he
could help them out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After hours of shopping, police say Smith offered to buy Cherish some food while her mother continued to look around.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They walked to the front of the Walmart towards the McDonald`s and did not stop at the McDonald`s.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Instead, police say Smith put Cherish in his van. As mother realized what happened, a citywide manhunt begin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Tonight, we are learning that there is a very strong possibility that Cherish`s life could have been saved. Now, they met originally at the
Dollar General, and it was there -- and we have the surveillance video. Here you see Cherish and the little sister. There they are in Dollar
General when he first meets them, gives them a ride to Walmart superstore and offers to help buy the family school clothes and the things that they
need. These weren`t things for the mom. She was getting things for her daughters and she could not afford it.
[20:20:00]He claims his wife is coming to meet them. The wife never shows up. And in the end, he takes Cherish, and we believe he is the man that
kills her.
Joining me tonight, two special guests, a little girl who miraculously got away at age 9. She`s joining us, Chrystina, with her mom, Stephanie. To
both of you, thank you for being with us.
I hope -- I don`t want to upset you more than you already are, but you need to realize what a miracle it was that Chrystina got away because, you know,
Mom, you said you went to the McDonald`s to head this thing off, and he was there in a white van. Did you know that in the space of about 15 years, he
had four assaults on children? Four! And he never did any real time!
One, masturbating in front of two little girls 5 and 8. That`s the first one. Then he sees a little girl, chases her, he`s in his van, tried to get
her into the van with some pornography, chased her. And she was running. She runs to a park and hides under, I don`t know, a swing set or something
until he finally leaves. Then later approaches two other little girls, shows them porn, tries to lure them into his death van, and they run away.
And yet he`s out again to kidnap and murder Cherish. That`s what we believe. He claims he`s innocent.
I want to go back, Ms. Thornton, to what you were saying. So you find out the grandma, Chrystina`s grandma, is taking her to meet this official, this
government official that`s going to take her to the hospital for an exam to see if she`s been molested. Of course, she had not been molested.
So you fly to McDonald`s. When you get there, Ms. Thornton, what happened?
S. THORNTON: I had pulled in behind her grandmother`s car. And something had caught my eye with a gentleman with, you know, gray hair looking over
out the side of the white van. And I just -- I grabbed my daughter, and I made her get in the car and lock the doors.
And time I got on my cell phone to call the cops, he had done left out the parking lot. He knew that I had caught on, you know,to what was going on.
But I wasn`t for sure that that was him. Then when I got...
GRACE: Chrystina, what is your memory of this? Do you remember your mom grabbing you and putting you in the car and locking you in the car?
C. THORNTON: Yes, ma`am.
GRACE: And then Mommy turns around to go face off with this guy.
C. THORNTON: Yes, ma`am.
GRACE: Looking back, do you have any idea how close you came to being attacked and maybe even murdered?
C. THORNTON: Yes, ma`am.
GRACE: Ms. Thornton, when you first heard about Cherish, what was your reaction?
S. THORNTON: Honestly, I was shocked that Donald was even out of jail. I didn`t even know he was out. We had -- nobody contacted us to let us know
that he had been released or anything. Then when I heard that he had done abducted another little girl, it was -- I was more heart-broken than
anything, anything. I reached out to the family (INAUDIBLE) as soon as we found out that he had done got out and had done -- this was the same guy
that tried to abduct my daughter.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:27:56]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police went to the Walmart and searched for the little girl and Donald Smith, a known sex offender driving this white
van. They arrested Smith on I-95.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we is calling about a suspicious van over here, a white van.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An hour later, after a tip, they found Cherish`s body in a creek behind a northside church.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I am not letting this go until there is justice for this little girl and her family.
Tonight, joining me, the girl who at age 9 miraculously got away from this child molester and murderer.
Rory O`Neil, Iheartradio, I just don`t understand how he keeps getting out, Rory!
RORY O`NEILL, IHEARTRADIO (via telephone): Well, Nancy, he did about 14 months for this incident involving the Thorntons. And as she said, they
weren`t even notified about his release. And it was three weeks after his release, he`s now accused of abducting Cherish Perrywinkle.
GRACE: Oh! Just three weeks, Rory O`Neill!
To you, Chrystina and Stephanie, I want you to hear what he says about your case and what you`re claiming. Of course, he says you`re lying. Listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SMITH: (INAUDIBLE) 23.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the phone?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I called and I said, Look here, man, I says (INAUDIBLE) somebody had my phone. And if any of you know anybody that had
my phone during the time you had my phone, please let me know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: You know, Chrystina and Stephanie Thornton, he is claiming he loaned his phone out to somebody, and it had to be that guy that called you
and asked you, at age 9 -- you just were turned 9 -- were you wearing a bra? Did you have pubic hair. I mean, tried to abduct you from a
McDonald`s parking lot. He said, Oh, that was somebody else, Ms. Thornton, not him.
S. THORNTON: That`s what he told me on the phone is, well, I kept him on the phone for about 45 minutes talking with him. What I had did, after I
got back from McDonald`s, I kept calling the number back that he called from because I had called the police. And he wouldn`t answer the phone so I
kept calling the number. I called from my neighbor`s phone and he happened to call that phone back.
GRACE: The other thing, Mike Duffy is after all of this, the prison itself says, don`t let this guy out. Please have him committed. He is a violent
child sex predator. And DFAX says, oh, no, no, no, he`s fine. Isn`t that true? They let him out and he kills Cherish.
MIKE DUFFY, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Yeah, Nancy. DCS` own psychiatrist decided that he did not meet the criteria so they couldn`t give him
involuntary commitment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:35:00] GRACE: Breaking right now. "Star Trek" superstar`s $170 million love child claim. The son of an actress mom boldly goes where no man has
gone before, firing torpedo claims.
The "Star Trek" superstar, Captain Kirk, is his biological father. That`s the lead star of "Star Trek" "Boston Legal" "T.J. Hooker" and of course,
"Priceline", has an affair with his mom.
And now, years later, he is demanding nearly $200 million. But, is he trying to live long and prosper from a fake connection?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a newly revealed lawsuit, a Florida man is claiming "Star Trek" hero, William Shatner, is his biological father and is
demanding he take a paternity test.
WILLIAM SHATNER, "STAR TREK" SUPERSTAR: No, no, he`s apparently a lovely man who is in need of a father.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s our CBS T.V. Distribution and 102.5 "The Bone Radio". With me Alexis Tereszcuk, Chris Spargo, Matt Zarrell and Peter Shatner who says his
father is William Shatner, aka, Captain Kirk.
First to you, Peter Shatner. You claim William Shatner is your father. Now, are you going by Peter Sloan or Peter Shatner?
PETER SLOAN, CLAIMS WILLIAM SHATNER IS HIS FATHER: Peter Shatner, essentially is my stage name, if you will. My legal name is Peter Sloan.
GRACE: I just wanna give you a word to the wise. Don`t say that in front of the jury, OK. Because if you say Peter Shatner is my stage name, that is
going to suggest that you are acting and they are not going to like that.
Let`s go all the way back to your mom. Why do you think Shatner is your dad, Mr. Sloan?
SLOAN: Well, in 1984, I had basically gotten back together with my first adoptive father, George Oreck (ph), who at the time was a writer for ABC
News "20/20." And George had suggested that perhaps it would be interesting to find out who my natural parents were.
And so that eventually led to finding my mother in Canada, in Toronto, Canada and then my mother told me that my father was William Shatner.
GRACE: Everybody, you`re seeing "Star Trek" from CBS T.V. Distribution. With me, the man, Peter Sloan, aka, Peter Shatner, who says that Kirk is
his father. You know what? Let`s see a little "Star Trek". Roll it, Justin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One ...
GRACE: That is "Star Trek" from CBS T.V. Distribution. OK, Alexis Tereszcuk, senior reporter radaronline.com. What do you make of the claims?
And that`s a fine, how do you do -- hi, dad, can I have $200 million.
ALEXIS TERESZCUK, RADARONLINE.COM SENIOR REPORTER: It is. I mean, it`s a huge claim. And not only is he suing his dad, he`s suing his publicist, you
know, the production company all around him. But it seems to me that he doesn`t have any evidence that he`s provided. That he has no birth
certificate, anything that would connect it to William Shatner.
GRACE: That`s "Star Trek," the CBS T.V. Distribution. Let`s see some "T.J. Hooker" or some "Boston Legal." OK, Mr. Sloan, did you hear what Alexis
Tereszcuk says? She says you don`t have any proof. But your answer, let me guess is, if you take the DNA test, I might have some proof.
SLOAN: Well, it`s obviously, you know, it`s obvious that a DNA test would confirm it. But, that`s not why I think that. I think it because my mother
said so and I think it because since 1984, I have done my own background check to find evidence, whether it be positive or negative and every step
of the way, it`s indicated that he`s my father. There`s no question ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Now ...
(CROSSTALK)
SLOAN: ... about it including ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... there have been claims ...
(CROSSTALK)
SLOAN: ... right down to the person who ...
GRACE: You go ahead, sir.
SLOAN: Including right down to the very moment that it happened.
GRACE: Everybody, there`s William Shatner on "T.J. HOOKER," Sony Pictures T.V. Chris Spargo, dailymail.com also joining us.
Chris, now, isn`t it true, while Mr. Sloan says Shatner, Captain Kirk, invited him to the set, another guy in the business says that`s not what
happened at all. That they set up a meet and greet, and the photos that Mr. Sloan has is from a meet and greet, not of Shatner meeting his long lost
son.
CHRIS SPARGO, DAILYMAIL.COM: That`s true, yes. More recently, photos that`s produced of Peter and his alleged father, Mr. Shatner, were from a meet and
greet that if he need money he can get according to representatives of Mr. Shatner.
GRACE: There`s the photo. Dr. Morrone, how difficult would it be to take a swab? Isn`t it an oral swab? It`s like putting a Q-tip in your mouth,
that`s how you get the DNA test?
[20:40:00] WILLIAM MORRONE, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: That`s exactly what we do. We go inside the mouth, we whip it around. You get cells from inside
the mouth then on those cells you send them off. DNA from the nucleus of the cell is sent off and we would compare ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: So that`s all there is to it. You know, let`s see Shatner and "Boston Legal". Roll it, Justin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In a man`s room. Don`t you just love that? Another family value, Dad. They kept looking to use another man`s private part ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I wonder who that`s supposed to be. That`s a clip from "Boston Legal" 20th Century Fox. OK, this is what I don`t get. Mr. Sloan, I know
that Shatner has, I think, three daughters and he is very loving toward them. Why do you believe he would refuse to acknowledge you?
SLOAN: I have no idea, frankly. In 1984, I met with him in his trailer on the set of "T.J. Hooker" and he embraced me, in fact, and then invited me,
the following week, to go on set for another filming of "T.J. Hooker."
So everything seemed like it was on a good track at that point. And it wasn`t until I came home from L.A. and, you know I called him at home. I
had his home number and I was kind of rebuffed and he hung up.
And then within a few days, I got a call from a representative, a Mr. Brody (ph), who basically said that although they believe the story to be true,
that it would be devastating for Mr. Shatner, and me, for whatever reason, if it were to go public. And so I kept quiet about it for years.
GRACE: Now, Matt Zarrell -- oh, everybody, that is William Shatner from priceline.com. Matt Zarrell, it seems to me that Captain Kirk, aka William
Shatner, has a response to everything Sloan is claiming. What does he -- what does he say happened in that trailer at that meet and greet?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, what he says is that he says he is completely not the father. That there`s a whole discrepancy over the
meeting in L.A., whether it happened the way that Mr. Sloan says it does, Shatner has reiterated repeatedly, he is not the father of Mr. Sloan.
GRACE: And another thing, a tough question, Mr. Sloan. Peter Sloan joining us, also known as Peter Shatner. Mr. Shatner -- let me see Mr. Shatner,
please, or Mr. Sloan.
Question, you are suing for $170 million. Now, if you really believe this is your father, why would you do that?
SLOAN: Well, this is pretty much the only option I have left. Frankly, since the article came out that was written by Paul Guzzo in the "Tampa
Tribune," I have got nothing but attacked by him and his handlers and including his publicist. And I`ll be darned if I`m going to sit by and
stand for people calling me a liar.
[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Breaking right now, mom`s lover goes on the run. A massive manhunt follows when a 2-year-old little girl found, according to doctors, dead
from severe child abuse. But what about mommy? Where was mommy during all of this? Did she lie to cover up, even accepting GoFundMe donations?
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When Macy Grace Ditty arrived at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, she was unresponsive and suffering life-threatening
injuries that authorities say were consistent with child abuse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Macy Grace? No. You`re in trouble.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A mother and her boyfriend have been charged in the death of 2-year-old Macy Grace Ditty who was found covered in bruises.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: That video is from the mother`s Facebook page. I want to go straight to Boz Profit, program director, WFNC. Thank you for being with us. The
little girl gets to the hospital and apparently the mom says that all of her bruises are from an accident?
BOZ PROFIT, NEWSTALK 640 WFNC PROGRAM DIRECTOR: Thank you, Nancy, for having me. I think they are kind of confusing about her story that he had
told police that she called her boyfriend when her daughter wasn`t feeling well.
She said that her boyfriend came over and checked on her daughter and he said that she appeared to be fine. But apparently 25 minutes later, he said
that he heard the child making some strange noise, sounding like Macy was appearing to choke on vomit.
GRACE: Joining me, Boz Profit from WFNC, and right now, we are being joined out of Strasburg, Pennsylvania, Michelle Serfass Smith, the aunt of Macy
Grace Ditty who helped raise the child.
Ms. Smith, thank you for being with us.
MICHELLE SERFASS SMITH, MACY GRACE DITTY`S AUNT: Hi, Nancy.
GRACE; Ms. Smith, the document that we have received suggests that there was a lacerated liver, that there were multiple bruises on this baby`s body
and that there were injuries to the brain. What can you tell us, Ms. Smith?
SMITH: I can confirm that those reports you are receiving are true. I received photos of Macy from Jeanie -- when Macy Grace was in the hospital
on life support.
Macy had bruises in her hairline, on her jaw, her ear, her chest, her arms are actually so swollen above the grip marks and her arms are black and
blue. Her fingers are swollen. Her wrists are black and blue. I don`t understand how that happened.
[20:50:00] GRACE: Ms. Smith, I just don`t understand how a mother can either do this to their child or stand by and let it happen. But I can tell
you, Dr. Morrone, there is no way this baby has all of those bruises, four bleeds to the brain from an accident. Even if, let`s say the inside of the
home if we get those photos, even if you fall down stairs, you`re not going to have bruises all over your whole body like that.
MORRONE: What happens is in real accidents, bruises accumulate on the shins, the lower legs or the arms. In abuse, people abuse the torso. They
punch. They squeeze. They slam, and the torso takes bruises and that`s one of the key hallmarks of the difference between legitimate accidents and
abuse, and lacerating the liver, look, half the liver is protected by bones in the rib cage. That`s impossible to be an accident.
GRACE: Joining me right now in addition to Dr. William Morrone, is Sunny Jo. Now, let me explain to you how he fits into it. He is a photographer,
joining me out of Hazleton, and he was approached by Macy Grace`s mom shortly after Macy passes away.
And he was asked to create keepsake photos of the little girl. Justin, can you show me the photos that Sunny Jo created? He actually takes a hologram
of Macy and puts her into the photo that the mom has created.
I believe there is a couple more. Look at this. The mom actually has these photos made of a hologram of her child in the picture with her.
Sunny Jo, we`re looking at your photography from Sunny Jo Photography and what is more stunning than the fact that I have reason to believe the mom
stood by and let the baby be killed and did absolutely nothing to save her, but she tells you a completely different story about what happens. What did
she tell you, sir?
SUNNY JO, CREATED KEEPSAKE PHOTOS OF MACY GRACE DITTY: She came - first, I want to say thank you so much for having me, but second, she came to me and
she said basically the baby had a stomach virus and then she gave the baby a banana and that caused the baby to choke and then the baby vomited and
then she lost oxygen to the brain and she tried to help to resuscitate the baby, but it was too late and then the baby passed away.
[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Breaking news right now, a lover on the lamb is now in custody after this little girl turns up covered in bruises and dies. A 2-year-old little
girl, Macy Grace.
Unleash the lawyers, David Lee Windecher, defense lawyer and author of the "American Dream, HisStory in the Making", Carissa Kranz, multi-state lawyer
joining me out of New York and special guest, Ashley Wilcott, Certified Child Welfare Law Specialist.
First of all, to you, Windecher, what`s your defense? What`s mommy`s defense?
DAVID LEE WINDECHER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, let`s -- let`s remember they have the presumption of innocence here and they are charged with
first-degree murder, which is a specific ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: The defense is what I asked you, so let`s just ...
(CROSSTALK)
WINDECHER: ... specific intent crime, and a specific intent crime requires premeditated conduct, meaning that the wanted to bring about the result,
here the result being death.
I don`t think that this was an issue that she wanted to kill the baby. Maybe she was disciplining her, took it too far, and this is what we`re at
now.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Took it too far, lacerated liver and four bleeds to the brain. Carissa Kranz, what do you have for me? Give me your best defense and don`t
start with the presumption of innocence, please.
CARISSA KRANZ, MULTI-STATE ATTORNEY: If she really wanted her daughter dead, she wouldn`t have taken her daughter to the hospital to begin with.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: OK. OK, Ashley Wilcott, you and I -- can I see Ashley, please -- both know that premeditation can be formed in an instant. This child was
beaten dead as she was with her mother the 24 hours in which it happened.
ASHLEY WILCOTT, CERTIFIED CHILD WELFARE LAW SPECIALIST: There is no way around the fact that there were multiple bruises, laceration to the liver.
She abused this child to the point of death. She should be held responsible.
Let`s talk about what happened right in this case, Nancy. What happened right in this case is, law enforcement immediately sought an arrest warrant
once homicide was ruled as the cause of this death of this child and the good news is they were both incarcerated and are now facing the appropriate
charges.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: You know what is interesting, Dr. Charles Sophy, Psychiatrist, joining me out of L.A. Could you explain to me why mommy would not be
responsible here to stand by and watch this happen?
CHARLES SOPHY, PSYCHIATRIST, L.A. COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES: I can`t. I mean, she is responsible, whether she was passively
responsible or actively responsible, it`s her child. It`s her job to protect that child, and she didn`t.
GRACE: What about this, Dr. Charles Sophy? She took money or allegedly from a GoFundMe account, people were giving her money. They felt so sorry for
her after the death of the baby.
SOPHY: That says it all right there. She`s actively involved in the death of this child and there is some benefit for her now.
GRACE: Everyone, let`s stop and remember American hero Susan Farrell, Des Moines. Her lifelong dream of being a police officer fulfilled. Loved
hunting and family. Leaves behind husband, Jesse and 2-year-old girl, Ryleigh. Susan Farrell, American hero.
"Forensic Files" up next.
Thanks to our guests, but especially 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
