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Nancy Grace
Celebrity Chief Hires Hitman; Judge Grants Change in Venue in Case of Hot Car Dad; Searching for Missing Florida Mom?; Multimillionaire Reality Star Family on Welfare? Aired 8-9p ET
Aired May 02, 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. A celebrity chef gracing covers of magazines now suspected with cooking up a lot more than designer
recipes. This celebrity chef, the picture of domesticity, now suspected of hiring a hitman to murder her ex?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say it`s a unique murder for hire case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, rarely do they develop to this degree.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She wanted to kill Sutherland.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Buckingham owns the Bread and Breakfast Cafe in New Albany.
LAURA BUCKINGHAM, CHEF: (INAUDIBLE) bread and breakfast (INAUDIBLE) full breakfast and full lunch, and it`s just totally taken off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s from Bass Group Real Estate`s YouTube page.
Tonight, the search turns desperate for a young mom of a 2-year-old little girl, helicopters, marine units, bloodhounds, ATV units deployed into state
parks and beaches. Where is missing Florida mom Trisha Todd? (ph)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A community coming together in prayer for missing Hope Sound mother Trisha Todd.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I`m hoping to find my daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: According to the sheriff`s office, detectives found her car near her home in Hope Sound with the key in the ignition and her
purse inside the car, her ex-husband the last person to report seeing her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Multi-millionaire reality star of USA Network`s "Crisley Knows Best" known as the patriarch of perfection -- he`s made a living off his
ostentatious lifestyle in the lap of luxury as millions watch him week after week. But tonight, is his family actually receiving welfare?
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. A celebrity chef gracing covers of magazines now suspected with cooking up a lot more than designer recipes. This celebrity
chef, the picture of home life, domesticity, the new Martha Stewart, now suspected of hiring a hit man to murder her ex.
First of all, it`s really hard to take in. Take a listen to Laura Buckingham.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Laura, tell us just a little bit about how you got started. How did you get to New Albany and opening up this store?
BUCKINGHAM: Well, after my last deployment, I moved out to New Albany, Indiana, and I started selling bread on the side of highway 150 in Boytown
(ph). And then I started selling at different farmers markets and I just couldn`t keep up with the demand. About a year ago, I opened Bread and
Breakfast. We do full breakfast and full lunch, and it`s just totally taken off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s from an interview with the celebrity chef, Laura Buckingham, from Bass Group Real Estate`s YouTube page.
Chris Spargo, Dailymail.com, she`s too busy taking trips to the farmers market for organic food? Well, not according to our sources. She`s not
too busy to cook up a hit on her ex. What can you tell me? Who is this woman? I mean, I watch the Cooking Channel and Food Network, all of that.
But she`s a real up and comer.
Liz, let me see the picture of her on the front of that magazine. She`s on the front of "Southern Indiana." And they did a huge spread on her and her
little boy. Who would that think this celebrity chef, the new Martha Stewart, hired a hit man to kill her ex?
Who is she, Chris Spargo, Dailymail.com?
CHRIS SPARGO, DAILYMAIL.COM (via telephone): I mean, this is a woman who, from all appearances, really had it all, a young, beautiful, bright young
woman, had a very successful bakery, hundreds of people showing up to get this bread that she`s making, on the cover of a magazine, a healthy baby
boy.
Everything seems to be going great, and then underneath the surface, there`s this entire other thing we`re learning about.
GRACE: OK, wait, wa-wa-wa-wa-wait. Now, it looks like here she`s a sexy celebrity chef. There she is portraying the mom -- OK, there you go --
home and hearth cooking.
You know, interesting. Apparently, her specialty is baking, baking all sorts of organic bread. Hey, Liz, pull me up some more sound of this
woman. I`m feeling like I`m getting to know her, which is dangerous because then you can`t look at her without emotion. But I want to know
more about this celebrity chef, the new Martha Stewart. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUCKINGHAM: All my employees are -- they`re all gifted and very creative, and we just will take whatever is in season and we`ll just go with it. We
source a lot of our greens local, all of our flour (INAUDIBLE) our eggs are farm fresh. Most of our meats are from a local farm, antibiotic free,
hormone-free.
[20:05:00]And we just -- we try to stay healthy. You know, less is more. So veggie burgers instead of buying from the store. We make our own veggie
burgers. Right now, we`re going to have sweet potato veggie burger. We probably rotate them in and out.
We -- we really -- we just don`t have any limits. You know, none of us went to culinary school (INAUDIBLE) actually probably helped us because we
do what we want.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s no boundaries.
BUCKINGHAM: No boundaries.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No predisposed ideas, very creative here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s from Bass Group Real Estate YouTube.
Unleash the lawyers, Mindy Smith, defense attorney, Atlanta, Jeff Gold, defense attorney, New York. Hey, Jeff, did you hear that? She`s worried
about you having antibiotics possibly in your food, OK? She`s going to protect from you that with her organic cooking, OK?
She hires an ex to -- a hit man to kill her ex. What about that? That`s a little inconsistent?
JEFF GOLD, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It is inconsistent. But there`s things in her background that may explain it. I don`t know if they excuse it. She
was abused as a child. She did two tours of duty in Iraq. I mean, I don`t know exactly why she, you know, was doing this, but there may be things in
her background...
GRACE: So you`re just...
GOLD: ... that help explain it.
GRACE: ... let me say, Mindy Smith, grasping for straws?
MINDY SMITH, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Not necessarily. You know, first of all, Nancy, we have to look at the new boyfriend. This sounds like a classic
case of inducement, that she was induced...
GRACE: Inducement.
SMITH: ... into doing something that she did not...
GRACE: Put her up! Put her up!
SMITH: ... have a predisposition to do.
GRACE: Hold on. That`s a bread and butter ad on YouTube from Patrick Hogan (ph).
Hey -- hey -- put up the Mindy Smith and the Jeff Gold. Mindy Smith, you said inducement.
SMITH: Yes.
GRACE: Now, you do know that inducement is not in the criminal code. There`s no such defense as inducement. Now, coercion -- coercion, yes.
(CROSSTALK)
SMITH: Inducement includes mild coercion and persuasion. So as...
GRACE: Coercion under the law means if you kill somebody, that you have to be under threat of death yourself. In other words...
(CROSSTALK)
SMITH: ... or mild coercion.
GRACE: ... Jeff Gold, then I`m going to shoot you. That`s how that works on murder.
SMITH: And couple that with the fact that maybe she didn`t have the predisposition to kill him -- who knows what`s going on between her and her
new boyfriend. Maybe her new boyfriend brought this up.
GRACE: Can I ask you something? Who knows? Here`s my question. Who cares? What I`m worried about...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... is the murder that she arranged to go down in a parking deck. What she and her new lover are doing, I don`t care, all right. Probably
trying to cover her tracks.
Hold on. Chris Spargo wants in. Chris Spargo, reporter, Dailymail.com -- Chris, so this woman, the new Martha Stewart, as she has been billed -- she
had it all going for her, right? She had the Bread and Breakfast organic restaurant. She`s on the cover of magazines. She`s being begged by all
the food shows.
Why is she so angry at the ex?
SPARGO: Well, they share custody of her young son, it seems, and she had found a new boyfriend and she was getting very tired of the commute she
would have to make back and forth to bring the child back.
GRACE: OK, wait, wait, wait. Chris, could you repeat that?
SPARGO: She and her ex are splitting custody of their young son, and the commute between her new location and having to bring the son back every
week was getting to be a bit too much for her, it seems.
GRACE: Noam Laden, anchor, WABC -- let me understand, let me digest the motive for murder is she was getting tired of the out of town visitation?
She was tired of taking her son to see the daddy?
NOAM LADEN, WABC (via telephone): That was part of it. And I`ll throw in that she also said it was a financial hardship to drive, to drop off the
son and pick up the son every week.
GRACE: A financial hardship, what a gallon of gas, Noam?
LADEN: Well, it might have been a couple of gallons, but that was one of her claims is that it cost her too much money.
GRACE: OK, a couple tanks of gas. So let me understand. Chris Spargo, how far did she have to drive?
SPARGO: It was not -- it was a couple hundred miles, at most, both ways. It was not any sort of hours upon hours of driving to go back and forth
between these two locations.
GRACE: OK, I want to explore something Mindy Smith and Jeff Gold just said. Unleash the lawyers. You know, Mindy, as you know, the way to win a
case at trial is to anticipate what the other side is going to say and destroy it before they ever get to say it.
So your defense is the new boyfriend. And I don`t blame you for that, Mindy.
SMITH: Absolutely.
GRACE: I`d run with it, too, if I was forced to be a defense attorney at pain of death. But you`re saying that you would argue the new boyfriend
put her up to it, right?
SMITH: That`s what I would argue.
GRACE: OK.
SMITH: And to be honest, Nancy, the motive here is lacking. You`re going to expect 12 people to believe, Oh, her motive for killing her husband is
because she doesn`t want to pay for gas. I`m a divorce attorney. I handle a lot of divorces, as well. A lot of parents complain about taking the
child to the other parent. The prosecution`s got a lot of leg work to do...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Can you just hold that?
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Can you just hold that? A, the two of you know that the state doesn`t have to prove motive for murder. You don`t have to crawl...
(CROSSTALK)
[20:10:10]GRACE: ... more than that because, Chris Spargo, Dailymail.com, isn`t it true that she`s trying to talk her boyfriend into killing her ex,
and he rats her out to the cops?
SPARGO: That`s true. At first, he wasn`t sure how serious she was, but she kept talking about it so much that he finally started recording the
conversations because she was serious about this.
GRACE: Seth Meyers, Dr. Seth Meyers, joining me, clinical psychologist out of LA -- Seth, so the current boyfriend that she`s sleeping with, she keeps
talking and talking and asking him to kill the ex. Finally, he makes up a story going, OK, I think I know somebody that can do it, just to put her
off. And then she keeps on, so he starts recording her.
Now, what kind of fear must you be in to start recording your lover? I guess, what, She`s going to kill her ex, am I next?
SETH MYERS, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes, absolutely. I mean, he had to be thinking that he could end up behind bars if he really wasn`t careful
himself.
You know, when I think about this woman, I can`t diagnose her because I haven`t met with her, but what I can say is that the whole idea of her
paying somebody, you know, to kill another person is really consistent with a psychopathic anti-social personality trait. So he may have seen that in
her and he may have thought, you know, I better be careful.
GRACE: OK. Here is the new Martha Stewart. We`ve got her on tape. No offense, Martha Stewart. We love you. Listen, people. Did this woman
hire a killer to kill her ex?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUCKINGHAM: ... and I`m opening the Bread and Breakfast on Main Street in downtown historic (ph) New Albany. How all this started was after my last
deployment in the Marine Corps (INAUDIBLE) combat zone in northern Iraq, I came back and started a roadside bread stand.
So on Fridays, I would take all my breads, which I had a system where I could make 150 breads in my small little kitchenette, and I would load them
up in my car and drive down my long driveway and I would put them out on my table (INAUDIBLE) my canopy, which was alongside of an old country highway.
And as fast as I could put them on table, people would pull over and buy them up, and I couldn`t even keep up with the demand. So then I expanded
out to the farmers markets and CSAs, which is community-supported agriculture.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s from Buckingham`s Kickstarter site.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:16:40]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Laura Buckingham tried to hire someone to kill him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Buckingham is accused of baking up a murder for hire plot.
BUCKINGHAM: We -- we really -- we just don`t have any limits. You know, none of us went to culinary school, so it`s actually probably helped us
because we do what we want.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thee`s no boundaries.
BUCKINGHAM: No boundaries.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Predisposed ideas, very creative here.
BUCKINGHAM: It wasn`t really planned. I was selling breads on the side of a highway and a farmers market. And then I was also going to school, and
just started selling more and more bread. And then the farmers markets ended. And then I started living off of my bread. But then the farmers
market ended and I just -- I needed to open my doors as soon as I could, like in a brick-and-mortar.
I studied the local food economy in college. And originally, when I started selling bread, I wasn`t using local flour, but I consider myself,
like, a local -- kind of like a local business, and mentor -- my food mentor is Jeanine Wishy (ph), and she said, Well, you`re not really local
if you don`t use local ingredients. And it was an instant lightbulb.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That video from Indiana University Southeast Horizons YouTube page.
Wow, that menu is making me hungry, right? OK, it`s all organic, all locally grown. I don`t think she`s going to get much of that behind bars,
all right, if she ever goes to jail because tonight, she`s still walking free.
I want to go to Chris Spargo, reporter, Dailymail.com. We`re talking about the so-called new Martha Stewart, an up and coming celebrity female chef
now accused, suspected of hiring a hit man to murder her ex. Motive, she was sick and tired of the out-of-town visitations with her little boy and
the ex. She was tired of spending gas money, of driving back and forth a couple of hours to -- I don`t know where that picture is coming from. That
does not look celebrity chef-y to me.
So Chris Spargo, she sets up the murder with an undercover agent. And I guarantee you, Chris, it`s all on video. The whole thing has got to be on
audio and video.
How much was the total amount she was going to pay for the hit?
SPARGO: The total initial amount was just $3,000.
GRACE: To murder her ex. That`s quite a bargain, wouldn`t you say, Spargo?
SPARGO: That`s pretty cheap.
GRACE: Of course, if it works. But as we all know, her lover got squeamish and recorded her and gave the evidence to the police.
So Noam Laden, news anchor, WABC, I understand the hit was supposed to go down -- she set it up to go down in a parking garage?
LADEN: That`s right. She was going to have it take place in a parking garage. Her ex would be shot to death. And she`d give half of the money
up front to this hit man and then when she had pictures of him dead, she`d give him if other half.
GRACE: Whoa! So only when she got proof of the kill would she fork over the rest of the money.
Unleash the lawyers, Mindy Smith and Jeff Gold. To you, Jeff Gold. Now you two are arguing it`s the new lover`s fault. But remember, she did all
this while she was dating the old lover, remember...
[20:20:01]GOLD: I`m not...
GRACE: ... who recorded her?
GOLD: I`m not arguing that.
GRACE: Oh, OK, so now...
GOLD: I`m not arguing that at all.
GRACE: ... the defense bench is splitting.
GOLD: I`m telling you that she has stuff in her past, that she was abused, that she was in Iraq for two tours of duty. She`s a new businesswoman,
some kind of pressures on her. She cracked...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... before.
GOLD: ... you do this unless you crack.
GRACE: When she cracked?
GOLD: I`m not talking about the boyfriend.
GRACE: Wa-wa-wa, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Mindy Smith, nobody said she cracked.
GOLD: I said she cracked.
GRACE: This was a long and elaborate plan. She didn`t snap and start shooting. This is a well thought-out plan, and it`s all going to be on
audio and video, Mindy. So the new lover`s not even in the picture yet. That`s the problem with your argument.
SMITH: The new lover is the one that tipped off the police that she wanted to do this.
GRACE: That`s the old lover.
SMITH: That...
GRACE: Oh, you`re arguing about her old lover because, you know, now she`s got -- would you please put them up? Mindy, you`ve got to be clear because
she has a new lover now. You said her new lover. She`s got a new lover.
As a matter of fact, let me drop another bombshell on you, Mindy. She`s pregnant. She is pregnant. I just got to tell her -- the baby daddy to be
careful.
Back to you -- oh, hold on. I`m being joined right now by a special guest. Chuck Reaves is joining us, post-traumatic stress syndrome defense expert,
author of "Men in Nam," as in Vietnam, "Understanding the Cause of PTSD."
Chuck, thank you for being with us. Our illustrious defense panel has raised the theory that this woman, the new Martha Stewart celebrity chef,
planned an elaborate plan to kill her ex, her child`s dad, and they are arguing post-traumatic stress syndrome.
I mean, we`ve shown video, Chuck Reaves, of her in her organic restaurant, Bread and Breakfast. She doesn`t look stressed out to me, Chuck.
CHUCK REAVES, PTSD EXPERT (via telephone): Nancy, combat-related PTSD is a major issue for veterans. However, it`s also become a shameful form of
stolen valor. It`s easy to fake.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:26:24]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First he thought she was kidding. It was so unbelievable to him, he thought it must be a joke. But then she went a
second time and said, Yes, this -- I want him to go away.
BUCKINGHAM: ... learn (ph) not to complain. Like, that`s (INAUDIBLE) a 20-hour day and then you get right back up at 2:00 or 3:00 AM, and you
never really complain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s Indiana University Southeast Horizons YouTube.
The new Martha Stewart, an up and coming celebrity chef, hires a hit man to murder her ex? Those are the allegations. Now, we all remember the last
time we covered this scenario. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ms. Dippolito, I`m Sergeant Ramsey (ph). I`m the one that 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 -- I`m sorry to tell you, ma`am, he`s been killed.
DALIA DIPPOLITO, CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED MURDER FOR HIRE: Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s been killed, ma`am. Try to calm down. Calm down. (INAUDIBLE) I can`t (INAUDIBLE) do our job. (INAUDIBLE) We need you to
calm down. (INAUDIBLE) OK? (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s Dalia Dippolito caught on tape, audio and video, after she plans the murder of her husband. Of course, he was in on it. He helped
fake his own death.
In this case, same scenario, the husband goes, the ex goes along with the police, and he is there in the parking garage and takes part in the so-
called kill so the celebrity chef, Laura Ann (ph) Buckingham, pictured here, can get proof of the kill.
So it`s all going to play out in a court of law. The reality is, she is walking free right now. Even with all this audio and video evidence
against her, the celebrity chef is walking free on a low bond, insisting, I`m not guilty.
I`m hearing in my ear we have got breaking news right now in the case of Justin Ross Harris. Straight out to Michael Christian. Michael, a new
speed bump. Have they actually granted a change of venue this late in the game?
MICHAEL CHRISTIAN NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (voice-over): They have, Nancy. This is a shocking development. This trial was set to start as early as
possibly Tuesday or Wednesday with opening statements. But on Monday, the judge decided that she was going to grant a defense motion that they could
not find an impartial jury in Cobb County.
GRACE: In the last hours, the judge, Mary Stanley (ph), has granted a change of venue. But hold on. Unleash the lawyers, Mindy Smith and Jeff
Gold.
Mindy Smith, be careful what you ask for, for you will surely get it. You ask for a change of venue? You don`t get to pick the venue of your choice,
all right? They could be sent to an extremely conservative venue and wish they were back where they were. Isn`t that true?
SMITH: That`s true. But Nancy, I mean, if the judge thinks the jury pool is tainted, this is the best thing because, you know, as a defense
attorney, I want this guy to have the best trial ever, but if the prosecution does succeed, then they want their case to survive an appeal.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... now they tell us this far when you`ve got a jury ready to sit down in the jury box, they suddenly decide they want a change of venue, and
the judge has granted.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:30:00] GRACE: Now they tell us this far when you got a jury ready to sit down in the jury box, they suddenly decide they want a change in venue
and the judge has granted.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Tonight, the search turning desperate for a young mom of a 2-year- old little girl. Helicopters, Marine units, blood hounds, ATV units deployed into state parks and beaches and woodland. Where is missing
Florida mom Tricia Todd?
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just down the road from where Tricia`s ex was staying which, according to the sheriff`s office, is the last place she was seen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said he saw her leave and no one has seen or heard from her since.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But Rebecca Hasselbach says something must be wrong because there`s no way Tricia would leave her daughter, 2-year-old Faith,
behind.
REBECCA HASSELBACH, TRICIA TODD`S MOTHER: She was just everything to her.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: I just find it very difficult to believe that this young mom of a 2- year-old girl who was so doting on her little girl would ever leave voluntarily.
I just don`t believe it. Joining me right now, news director of WJNO, straight out of West Palm, Joel Malkin.
Joel, thank you for being with us. Let`s start at the beginning. When did this mom, Tricia Todd, go missing?
[20:35:00] JOEL MALKIN, 1290 WJNO NEWS DIRECTOR: Well, she went missing on Tuesday night. That was the last time she was seen and that was by her ex-
husband. They had taken the 2-year-old to the hospital, to the emergency room. She was sick.
They left the hospital together late that night. And then Tricia was called back to the home where the ex-husband had been staying. He was in town from
North Carolina at the time.
And she was called back there because he said that the little girl wasn`t feeling well still. She came back, comforted her child and left at 2:00
a.m., left the house at that point. That`s the last time she was seen.
GRACE: Everyone, you are seeing video of this young mom, a mother of a 2- year-old little girl, now missing. ATVS, helicopters, K-9s, all looking for this mom as the search turns desperate.
Also, Joel Malkin joining me, WJNO news director, explain to me about the search.
MALKIN: Well the search had begun in a wooded area near the home where the mom -- where Tricia had been staying, which was one of her brother`s homes.
It`s a wooded area where they said that she enjoyed walking, spent plenty of time in, so they started there and they looked in some state parks and
some beach areas and whatnot.
And there were reports that they were going to bring a search, an organization in, the same one that helped search for those missing teen
boaters from Jupiter, that they were going to bring a canoe in and search ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Something I`m not understanding Joel Malkin, WJNO. She had been at the hospital with the little girl, her 2-year-old little girl, but then
what, they think she went for a walk? That doesn`t make sense to me, in the woods or on the beach. That doesn`t make sense to me.
MALKIN: The wooded area was a spot where she was known to go when she was upset.
GRACE: Okay. When your child -- I don`t see her going on a walk. Hold on guys. Let`s go straight into the press. Roll it, Liz.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM SNYDER, MARTIN COUNTY SHERIFF: MCSO has obtained the last known photo of Tricia captured at the Hobe Sound Publix Tuesday evening.
As you could see, I think we`ve got Tricia pictures out there for you, she`s smiling and appears to be in good spirits through a number of
investigators working on different aspects of Tricia`s disappearance.
At this time, everyone involved in this case has been cooperative including her former husband. Tips have been coming in including walk in and
telephone tips.
We have received those tips from as far away as California. We have received as many as 10 to 15 to 20 tips, some are possible sightings of
Tricia. We`re continuing the ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: I`m not buying into possible sightings. Marc Klaas, president and founder of KlaasKids Foundation. Marc, this is your specialty. It`s not
fitting together for me. Also, Marc, her car was found with her purse in the car and her keys still in the ignition. The car was not locked. She was
going ...
(CROSSTALK)
MARC KLAAS, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER: That`s very problematic, Nancy. I think ground zero has to be the car. And I think that
the police will obviously be on the look out for any cell phone activity or any credit card activity and at least where those items might be or the
direction that they might have headed.
I would also suggest they bring the FBI in. It almost sounds like people are in a little bit over their heads.
GRACE: Joining me right now, Ari Zoldan, Technology analyst, CEO of Quantum Networks. Thanks for being with us. They have only got one cell phone tower
in that area. You`ve gone over what you know of the cell phone evidence. What did you make of it plus her cell phone being there?
ARI ZOLDAN, TECHNOLOGY ANALYST: Well, it`s still very early to tell but, again, you know, our cell phone is our digital footprint.
So if they could get into that phone they can charge it up, they could get access to it. It`s extremely, extremely telling.
Look Nancy, people would rather leave their house without their wallet than their cell phone. So there`s a lot, lot at stake over here and I think
we`re going to find a lot once we get access to that cell phone.
GRACE: Would it be problematic because there`s only one cell tower in the area?
ZOLDAN: No. Absolutely not.
GRACE: OK, good.
ZOLDAN: Absolutely not.
GRACE: Joel Malkin, let me go back to you. Mr. Malkin joining me from WJNO, where was -- has the cell phone been found?
[20:40:00] MALKIN: Not to my knowledge, the cell phone hasn`t been found. When detectives have called it, it goes right to voice mail as if ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: But they could still ping it. They could ping its last known whereabouts because I agree with Zoldan. I guarantee she has that cell
phone on her and I`m not buying into that theory that she went for a walk.
When your child is that sick that you`ve been at the hospital the night before, you don`t go for walk. You don`t leave that child`s side.
Dr. Leigh Vinocur joining me, Medical Director of MedStar Health. Dr. Vinocur, thank you for being with us. What evidence would you be looking
fort in the car and if her body is in that wooded area, would we be able to get a cause of death on it?
LEIGH VINOCUR, MEDSTAR HEALTH MEDICAL DIRECTOR: Well, yeah after an autopsy. Obviously, you`re looking for any DNA evidence, hair, blood, skin
that`s going to be different from -- from the DNA that is in there that`s her own.
Somebody that`s in the woods that maybe had an accidental death, found at the bottom of a ravine, I mean they`re not going to have, say fingernails
or tissue under the fingernails ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Right.
VINOCUR: ... like if they were working and fighting off an assailant. So those types of injuries, there are defensive injuries when you`re fighting
someone that are common. So if they find the body and are able to do the autopsy, that should tell us what`s gone on.
GRACE: The tip line is 772-220-7060. To Nathan Todd, the brother of Tricia, the search is turning desperate now in the efforts to locate Tricia.
Nathan, a question. With her daughter being that ill, I find it very difficult to believe that she would just take off for a walk in the woods
or along the beach.
I don`t think she left her car, unparked with the keys in the ignition and her purse in the car.
NATHAN TODD, TRICIA TODD`S BROTHER: See her, leave her child when her child needs her, that doesn`t sound right. I seriously doubt she would have just
left the child as well as I know her.
[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Multimillionaire reality star of "Chrisley Knows Best" known as the "patriarch of perfection," he`s made a living off his ostentatious
lifestyle, living in the lap of luxury as millions watch week after week. But tonight, is his family actually receiving welfare?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Meet Todd Chrisley.
TODD CHRISLEY, "PATRIARCH OF PERFECTION": This is my closet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Todd Chrisley stars in USA Network`s "Chrisley Knows Best." Chrisley lives with his family in a huge mansion and likes to show
off his money and buy fancy clothes.
CHRISLEY: In a year, we`d probably spend $300,000, sometimes more just on clothes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re not perfect.
CHRISLEY: But perfect should be something you should strive to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s "Chrisley Knows Best" from USA Network. To Alexis Tereszcuk, Senior reporter, radaronline.com. Alexis, I want you to watch this video.
This guy has made a living off his ostentatious lifestyle but tonight, we learned his family on welfare? Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISLEY: Welcome to our home. Come on in.
This is the home that my wife and I chose to bring up our children in. Although it`s much larger than what my wife and I ever anticipated owning,
it was very important to me for the house to not feel so grand.
This is our foyer. It`s the first room that you see when you walk into the home. So it is important for us to be inviting but at the same token still
have a certain amount of formality to it.
This is our library. We have a piano that no one in my home has enough energy to come and sit down and take lessons that I would pay for.
This is our formal dining room. It was very important for us to have a dining room that felt comfortable to our family. It makes me feel good when
I come down this hallway each day. When I walk by it, it kind of soothes me before I decide to go hang myself with a necktie by the time I get to my
(inaudible).
This is our formal living room, my wife worked on consistently. She wanted a room that truly was (inaudible) formal but at the same time was not to
the point that our kids did not feel like they could come in here and sit down and have a conversation.
Prints came from Coco Chanel`s Paris apartment. These bowls were made by Philip Maltra (ph). She purchased items that would be handed down to the
children, again when I`m dead.
With that being said, let me take you to where we live. So this is the kitchen. This is where all the magic`s made. Julia is a great cook. She
cooks everyday and it`s very important that she would have everything that we wanted in this kitchen.
This is our family room. This is where you can always find Chase stretched out on the sofa, texting on her phone.
This is the hub of our home. It`s living your normal life. It`s loving each other, hating each other and knowing that it`s always great to love each
other.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: OK. I really, actually am dumb struck. That`s Chrisley knows best from USA Network. Did you hear that? Private piano lessons on a grand
piano? Prints from Coco Chanel`s apartment? Look at this thing. Whoa! It`s just hard for me to take in that a member of his family is on welfare. It`s
very difficult to take in. I mean, Alexis Tereszcuk, senior reporter radaronline.com, how much is Chrisley worth?
ALEXIS TERESZCUK, RADARONLINE.COM SENIOR REPORTER: Oh, my gosh, he is worth millions of dollars. But you know what? He filed for bankruptcy ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: What? Wait, wait, wait a minute.
[20:50:00] TERESZCUK: ... and he was $46 million in debt.
GRACE: I know he filed for bankruptcy a couple of years ago but that is already over, and he didn`t go through with the bankruptcy, that`s old
news, number one. It was settled, number two, and millionaires always do that.
He still has millions and millions of dollars. He backs out on the bankruptcy. Here`s "Chrisley Knows Best" from USA Network.
And the reality is he is running up all this debt and living the high life. But he is still living the high life. But isn`t it true, Alexis Tereszcuk,
he still has his show.
TERESZCUK: He does have his show. He`s had two spin-off shows.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold it. Still screen. Look at your monitor, Alexis Tereszcuk. A half a million dollar wardrobe. That was
at the last count.
And that is just him. That`s not even for his wife. Put up Alexis Tereszcuk. I don`t see her. Where is she? He started to poor-mouth had
tried to declare bankruptcy.
That was just so he could get out of $46 million worth of debt. All right? So he could go spend more.
I`m talking about having a child, having family on welfare. And he has got a half a million?
You know what? I have been through so many housing projects looking for crime victims. And the way that they live there, nothing, nothing!
And this guy has a half a million dollar wardrobe? Look at this! Seth Meyers, Clinical Psychologist, what is it about an ostentatious lifestyle,
like living in luxury?
I mean, look at this place. This is hard for me to take in, that kind of living and then having family on welfare. There`s just - two and two
doesn`t equal four here.
SETH MEYERS, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Right. Well, you know, this kind of lifestyle is all about proving worth. It is all about a big show. And a lot
of times there`s insecurities these people have deep down, which is why they try to overcompensate so hard for them.
[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Todd Chrisley stars on USA Network`s "Chrisley Knows Best".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISLEY: I believe that our future is in our hands.
This is my wife`s closet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has even bragged that the family spends about $300,000 sometimes more on clothing.
CHRISLEY: This is my closet.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s "Chrisley Knows Best" from USA Network. And tonight, we find out that that the multimillionaire, Todd Chrisley, the "patriarch of
perfection", so it says on USA, is embroiled in welfare. Alexis Tereszcuk, senior reporter, radaronline.com. So is the grandchild that`s listed on the
welfare forms. Explain it to me.
TERESZCUK: So Todd has a granddaughter, Chloe. It`s his son -- his oldest son, Kyle`s, daughter. It is with another woman named Angela Johnson. She
lives in South Carolina, the Chrisleys live in Georgia.
This woman in South Carolina applied ...
(CROSSTALK)
TERESZCUK: ... for Medicaid ...
GRACE: You know, Alexis, that was actually a yes/no answer. Is it Chrisley`s, the "patriarch of perfection", is it this guy`s grandchild
that`s on the welfare forms?
TERESZCUK: Yes.
GRACE: Why? He has got all that money.
TERESZCUK: Because the mother of the child lied. And that`s what she`s been charged with and that`s what ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Wait, let me understand this. This is -- Alexis, I understand you`re blaming the mother. This is his grandchild, OK?
Now, he claimed he was $46 million in debt. He got out of that by paying $150,000. Forty million dollars -- $40 million of debt got signed off. And
he`s still spending like there`s no tomorrow.
I mean, Alexis, you know what? Alexis, radaronline.com. Take a listen to this. Listen to this lavish lifestyle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISLEY: This is where my youngest daughter sleeps and stirs with her cell phone, texting. This is Savannah`s bathroom. She sits in her tub for 30 to
45 minutes and runs up (inaudible) and then after that she goes to her shower and stays for another 30 minutes.
This is Grayson`s play room. We decided to add this ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: OK. That play room is, you know, bigger than a lot of people`s houses. That`s "Chrisley Knows Best" on USA.
Let`s stop and remember American hero Army Specialist Richard Hardy, just 24, Newcomerstown, Ohio. Second tour. Loved dirt biking, video games,
barbecue. Parents, Richard and Doris; sisters, Kristy and Jessica. Richard Hardy, American hero.
And happy birthday to miracle baby Jenna, mommy Jella (ph) beats the odds to give birth. Husband Pete at her side. Jenna loves grandparents Jamie and
Jane. Happy birthday, Baby Jenna.
And prayers tonight for friend of the show, Mike Hudgens (ph) fighting for his life. Stay strong, Mike.
"Forensic Files" up next. Thank you or our guests but especially to you, as always, 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.
END
