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Nancy Grace
5-Year-Old Missing After Fatal House Fire. Aired 8-8:30p ET
Aired June 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, a beautiful 5-year-old little girl Brittany Balcer, goes missing after a deadly house fire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A house fire leads to a dead body, a missing 5-year-old and possibly arson. Emergency responders arrived at the home, which was
engulfed in flames. A dead adult was found, but the little girl, 5-year- old Brittany Balcer, was gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That video from Lakeland Public TV.
A young bride-to-be, former college field hockey star, found murdered just before her wedding while her fiance reportedly away at his own bachelor
party.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say 27-year-old Amanda Strauss (ph) killed after someone set an apartment on fire with Strauss still inside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The last thing I actually got to say to her was, I love you and I`ll talk to you later.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being us with.
Bombshell tonight. A beautiful 5-year-old little girl goes missing after a deadly house fire. I want to go straight out to Jay Thomas, host of "The
Jay Thomas Show," WDAY. And I want to take it from the beginning. What do we know about the fire? Jay Thomas, who lived in the home?
JAY THOMAS, WDAY (via telephone): Well, the woman that lived in the home, we know that she was a close friend of little Brittany`s family. Family
members say she was like a (INAUDIBLE) like a godmother to Brittany. And at this point, the names are -- the name is not being given of the victim.
GRACE: Really? Everyone, you are seeing video right now of the home of her godmother. This is video from Lakeland Public TV. The little girl
goes missing, a 5-year-old little girl, and the house that she`s in with her godmother is burned down. And there is an adult body in the house, as
well.
Now, we are getting breaking news on the little girl`s whereabouts. A 5- year-old girl goes missing.
You know, what I want to find out, though, Joe Scott Morgan, certified death investigator and professor of forensics at Jacksonville State
university -- Joe Scott, the adult who -- they`re not releasing a name, Joe Scott, but I`m willing to put money on it that it`s the godmother. It`s
her home. The little girl was staying with her for the night. The little girl goes missing. It`s got to be her.
But how can we tell if the house burned down on its own, or if she was dead, somebody came in, killed the godmother to take this little girl?
JOSEPH SCOTT MORGAN, CERTIFIED DEATH INVESTIGATOR (via telephone): Yes. Hey, thanks for having me tonight, Nancy. Listen, this is what we would
normally do. We`re going to examine every bit of evidence but particularly the body at the autopsy. And one of things they`re going to do is look --
one of the tell-alls here is specifically looking for soot in the airway. If we can find in the airway and in the lungs that there is, in, fact soot,
we`re going to know that she was, in fact, alive at the time that she was inside that house and the house was burning. She was inhalating this
debris.
We`re also going to be looking for other trauma on her body that may have occurred, say, prior to the start of the fire, any kind of bruises,
contusions, broken bones, this sort of thing, and most importantly, things like stab wounds and gunshot wounds, as well.
GRACE: And I guess it depends a lot on whether the godmother`s body is totally consumed with fire and all we got left are charred bones. Like in
the Stephen Avery (ph) case and Teresa Hallback (ph). All we had we are her bones and her teeth. That`s all there was left.
So if there`s no soft tissue, if there`s no stomach, no chest, no thorax, nothing but bones and teeth, we`re not going to be able to tell
specifically about a stabbing unless, for instance, the knife nicked one of the bones.
Guys, we are getting breaking news. Hold on. First, what are the police saying? Let`s hear it, Justin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At approximately 3:30 AM, the Bemidji Police Department, Bemidji Fire Department were dispatched to a report of a house
fire in the 3900 block of Irvin (ph) Avenue.
On arrival, they discovered the house was fully engulfed in flames. After the fire department gained control of the fire, an adult body was
discovered deceased inside that residence. The body has been sent to the Ramsey (ph) County medical examiner`s office for positive identification.
That information will be released after proper family notification.
[20:05:06] Additionally, during that investigation, it was discovered that 5-year-old Brittany Rose Balcer had been visiting the residence the evening
that the fire occurred. After complete processing of the fire scene by local law enforcement and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal (INAUDIBLE)
crime scene team, Brittany was not located.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Can you imagine letting your 5-year-old little girl spend the night with her godmother, and then you find out the house has burned down, the
godmother is dead, and your daughter is missing after an innocent one-night spend the night with grammy, spend the night with Godmother? Well, that`s
what`s happening.
OK, we are now learning that the child may have been found. Let`s go straight to the police presser, Justin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A search of the area, including a large wooded area and swamp area that surrounds this neighborhood, was conducted by more than 50
law enforcement officers and volunteers from the Bemidji Fire Department, Beltrami County posse, the civil air patrol, citizen patrol and the Bemidji
Police Reserves. The search was unsuccessful in locating Brittany Balcer.
Officers also canvassed the neighborhood, talking with residents who may have seen anything suspicious or may be able to provide information that
was valuable to this case. In the late evening hours of June 22nd, Jacob William Kinn, age 32, was identified as a person of interest.
Kinn voluntarily came to the Bemidji Police Department to speak with our detectives. After this conversation, Bemidji -- or excuse me, BCA agents
traveled to an area near Big Fork, Minnesota, and located Brittany Balcer. Jacob William Kinn has been arrested for kidnapping and is currently
incarcerated in the Beltrami County jail awaiting formal charges.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The little girl has been found. Jay Thomas, WDAY, what were the conditions of her discovery?
THOMAS: The father was saying that she was, of course, found, thank God, safe and tired. But Nancy, you and I and everybody that watches your show,
we know safe and tired -- this little girl is probably scared to death. God only knows what happened in those hours she was missing. But at this
point, she`s safe and she`s tired, according to her father.
GRACE: Stacey Newman, where was she found? I`m understanding from reading the wires that we`re getting right now, she was some kind of a pop-up
camper? What`s that?
STACEY NEWMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Yes, we just learned, using cell phone tracking and witness interviews, police headed about 72 miles north
and located Brittany in a pop-up camper, Nancy, and were able to follow fresh tire tracks in the middle of the woods to the pop-up camper, and the
little girl was there.
GRACE: You know, Stacey, what`s so disturbing is, from what I can determine, the godmother is murdered to get the little girl, OK? The
little girl is found 72 miles north, is what you`re telling me right now, in a pop-up camper.
Marc Klaas, Marc, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation -- Marc, what do you make of it?
MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION (via telephone): Well, I think it`s pretty clear that this whole thing was planned out, that he had his eye on
this little girl, that he was trying to erase evidence and that he knew exactly where he was going to go with her.
Thank goodness law enforcement was able to intervene and figure out where she was and rescue her before any further damage could be done.
GRACE: And so bottom line, Marc Klaas, the way they did it is through a cell phone. But there had to be something that connected this guy, Jacob
William Kinn, 32 years old, to her. And I`m wondering what the connection is, or otherwise, how would they have known to track his cell phone?
Stacey, do we know?
NEWMAN: Well, what we heard from police is after she went missing, witness interviews led them to a person of interest, which was this man, Kinn, and
he voluntarily came in to the police department for questioning. And after that interview, plus the cell phone tracking, they ended up at this pop-up
camper in Big Fork, Minnesota.
GRACE: You know, unleash the lawyers. Joining me, Brian Claypool out of LA, Alex Sanchez out of New York. The story changing so rapidly, going
from a 5-year-old little girl missing to a dead body is found in a burned- down house, turns out to be her godmother, to now in the last hours, her being found alive in a pop-up camper all alone with a 32-year-old man.
OK, Sanchez. If this had been innocent -- for instance, if he had found the arson with the little girl wandering in front of it -- why wouldn`t he
have just called police? Why wouldn`t he call 911 instead of making off with the little girl?
[20:10:10] ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I have no idea. And hopefully, he`ll be able to provide that information. But you know, I think you made
a major assumption. You said this woman was murdered. How do we know that? There`s been no information about the cause of death. When the
police officers announced what they -- when they found the body, they said she was deceased, not murdered. We don`t know if this was an accident or
she died from some other means.
GRACE: Good question. Joe Scott Morgan, this is your line of business. You`re a death investigator. The reason I think she was most likely
murdered is because the baby is kidnapped in the middle of the night. Her home is burned down, and she`s been left behind.
So if we play through Alex Sanchez`s theory, what, there was a grease fire in the kitchen and the house burned down, and he happened to drive up and
find the little girl unharmed and kidnapped her? Is that the logical scenario that Sanchez is advancing?
MORGAN: Well, I guess honorable counsel can make any comment like that and say that little green men came down from Mars, as well.
But what`s the likelihood that you`re going to have this woman that`s deceased in the house and the little girl is missing? I can guarantee you
this. In the course of this case, the police will do a very thorough job of investigating, and the medical examiner will, as well.
We have one thing on our side. We`re going to be doing a thorough exam in a controlled environment involving X-ray. We will look for any injuries on
this woman`s body. If there are metal fragments in there, we`re going to find them. And that`s going to have to be explained by someone.
GRACE: Well, all I can is my hat`s off to the police department because they most likely saved this girl`s life.
Alex Sanchez, Brian Claypool -- I mean, Claypool, are you going to be a little more realistic with me than Alex Sanchez is? Because this little
girl -- if he would kill the godmother, what would he do to a 5-year-old little girl he`s got in his pop-up camper?
BRIAN CLAYPOOL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, what`s odd about this is if Kinn is a child abductor, why would he then voluntarily walk into the
police station and pretty much give himself up? That leads me to believe that there`s more to the story here because most -- most abductors who want
to take a child want to do that for a reason. They want to sexually molest that child or possibly kill that child. But this man came forward and
actually cooperated with the police. So I think there`s more than meets the eye here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:16:56] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five-year-old Brittany Balcer was dropped off at the home of a close family friend. In the early morning hours,
authorities respond to a house engulfed in flames. They find the body of an adult in a burned house. Investigators couldn`t find any signs of the
girl at the scene of the fire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The little girl has just been found. Five-year-old Brittany Rose has just been found all alone in some pervy dude`s pop-up camper 71 miles
away from where she was having a sleepover with her godmother. The godmother has been found dead. We believe that`s the body in the home.
This video from Lakeland Public TV.
One adult body found in the home. One person lived in the home. One adult female lived in the home. So two plus two equals four. It`s got to be the
godmother. The godmother has not been seen or heard from since this all went down. What happened?
But what we do know, as the defense attorneys Brian Claypool and Alex Sanchez are advancing that this is a good guy that turned himself in -- not
so fast!
Stacey, doesn`t this guy Jacob William Kinn -- I called him a perv. There`s a reason I said that, Stacey. Enlighten them.
NEWMAN: Yes. Our crack researcher, Kyle (ph), just got his hands on a probable cause statement, and it`s showing us he was caught with six videos
of child pornography in a white Chevy van and was convicted of possession of child porn.
GRACE: OK, unleash the lawyers, Claypool and Sanchez. Not quite such a good guy, Claypool. That was your last argument before a commercial cut me
off.
Long story short, he`s not a nice guy. And the fact that he walked into the police station, according to you, does not change the fact this guy is
convicted of child pornography, then he takes this little 5-year-old girl and her godmother is dead, Claypool. Dead.
CLAYPOOL: Well, Nancy, he still hasn`t been convicted of any kind of sexual molestation...
GRACE: Good fallback.
CLAYPOOL: ... of any kids, first of all. Second of all, we don`t know any background on the godmother. It is possible that maybe Kinn was trying to
remove her from a situation that he thought might be dangerous for the child? That`s why he took her away, and then he turned himself in to the
police?
GRACE: OK, let`s just follow that through. When you throw something out like that, you think I`m not going to catch it and analyze it? Because if
he thought this child was in a bad situation, which he has yet to explain on a one-night sleepover with grammy godmother, then why didn`t he take her
to child service or to the police? Why did take her off almost 75 miles in his pop-up camper? What about that, Claypool?
CLAYPOOL: Well, that`s a great question. But what, one day later, he`s approached by the police? Most child molesters, Nancy, you know, and I`ve
worked on child abuse cases -- most sexual molesters of children hide this. They don`t want to let anybody know what`s going on. And they let it go on
and on.
[20:20:06] This guy walks in and says, Hey, here`s where she is. I -- you know, Go get her. So that leads me to believe that it`s possible that he
might have been taking her for a reason unrelated to sexually molesting her or for his own sexual pleasure.
GRACE: Well, maybe he thought that a possible murder conviction was enough. Hold on. Jay Thomas, WDAY, did he go turn himself in? And if so,
why?
THOMAS: Well, from what we know, he turned himself in. That`s what we understand from the investigation, that he turned himself in. But we`re
not hearing why he turned himself in, why he voluntarily came to the police department to speak with detectives.
I mean, I`m with you, Nancy. Who the hell -- if you`re worried about a kid, a child in a bad situation, why would you go -- and I know the area.
Why would you go 71 miles north in a pop-up camper, stick the kid, and then you`re going to come back? That`s a bunch of garbage! I`m not buying any
of it!
GRACE: You know, Marc Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation, what`s your understanding of him, quote, "turning himself in"?
KLAAS: Well, I think he took a calculated risk, Nancy, and I don`t believe that he gave this little girl up to anybody. I believe that they tracked
the cell phone to the location or near the location where they found the little girl.
And I think we have to be really clear here. People don`t come into houses and steal young girls for any other reason than perverted sexual
gratification. That`s what this was about. That`s what it`s always been about. And I think they`re going to uncover that very, very quickly. In
fact, they`ve already started to do that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:25:48] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was discovered that 5-year-old Brittany Rose Balcer had been visiting the residence the evening that the fire
occurred.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once the fire was brought under control, a dead adult was found.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After a complete processing of the fire scene, Brittany was not located.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: OK, Stacey Newman, the defense lawyers, Brian Claypool and Alex Sanchez, are trying to hijack our program tonight with some falsehoods.
Notice I`m not saying "lies" because I would never put their names in the same sentence with "lies." But this guy did not prance into the police
station and turn himself in. He didn`t walk in and say, Cuff me. That`s not what happened. What happened, Stacey?
NEWMAN: No, this was earlier in the investigation, after the house fire and they knew little Brittany was missing. They were questioning people,
and in that questioning, he became a person of interest. They just wanted to talk to him. So he voluntarily went to the police department. And then
the cell phone tracking and other witness interviews -- that`s when it led them to the pop-up camper, and now he`s been arrested.
GRACE: So he was arrested at the pop-up camper.
NEWMAN: We`re not sure if he was there in the pop-up camper with her. That hasn`t been clarified. But you know, she was there and she was safe.
GRACE: So he did not willingly, like Daniel, walk into the lion`s den. They went looking for him. They asked to question him. He submitted to
questioning. Then time passed, they do the phone check, the cell phone check. It leads them to the pop-up.
You know, Brian Claypool and Alex Sanchez -- put them up. Why do you lie? I mean, no offense, but do all men lie? Wait a minute. That`s a big
rhetorical question that`s too big for tonight.
But that`s not what happened, Claypool. He didn`t go turn himself in. He went in for questioning, and he had the girl. He had the girl! And he
left the police station, and then they track him to where the girl is. That`s what happened.
CLAYPOOL: Right. Right. Well, nobody`s lying, Nancy. What I`m trying to say, though, is once he was contacted -- you tell me how many defendants
who are suspected of kidnapping a child and molesting a child are going to say, Oh, sure, I`ll be right down and I`ll come and talk to you in the
police station? 99.9 percent of the time, that never happens.
So the fact that he voluntarily goes in there suggests to me that maybe he didn`t have all of these nefarious ideas that everybody else is
propagating.
GRACE: OK. So you know, Alex, you`ve been extraordinarily, unusually quiet. So now you know the guy has a kiddy porn conviction. Then he went
in to talk to police at their request. Voluntary means simply they come to your house and they go, Can you come talk to us? What can you say? Oh,
no, I`m going to hide under the bed?
The whole time, Alex, he has the girl. He goes in, cool as a cucumber, talks to police, and it`s only after that he leaves. He takes the girl 71
miles north. Then they find him. OK, now, do you want to revise your position?
SANCHEZ: Well, first of all, your statement about before that I think he`s a nice guy -- I mean, let`s face it, I never said he was a nice guy. This
guy, it may be a bad character because...
GRACE: That was Claypool.
SANCHEZ: ... it`s one thing to be charged with murder and it`s another thing to be charged unlawful imprisonment of a child. There may be some
evidence that he was -- he had unlawfully imprisoned this child. Hopefully, he didn`t hurt her. But there`s no evidence right now that he
murdered anybody. And the police basically said that...
GRACE: I`ll tell you what. You know...
SANCHEZ: ... they only found a deceased body, not the victim of a homicide. So...
GRACE: Both of you have children, I think. And can you imagine your 5- year-old -- remember when they were 5 -- being alone up in some Campground of America or wherever they were in a pop-up camper with a 32-year-old perv
with a child pornography conviction?
You know, Marc Klaas, let it go. What`s going to happen?
KLAAS: Well, they`re going connect the dots is what`s going to happen, and what they`re going to find is that this individual with a child pornography
conviction had kidnapped that little girl...
GRACE: Awful.
[20:30:00] KLAAS: ... because he wanted to rape the little girl, and he murdered that woman so that he could cover up the evidence. That`s what
this is going to be about.
GRACE: It`s my belief that this child, Brittany Rose Balcer, was found in the nick of time, the nick of time. And thank God the police did their job
and they found this little girl before there were two homicides. You`re seeing video, Lakeland Public T.V.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Early this morning, two BCA agents were canvassing an area north of Bemidji where they believed Mr. Kinn had been. They
discovered fresh tire tracks. They followed the tire tracks through wooded area where they located a pop-up camper.
Inside they found Brittany. She has been taken to a medical facility for examination and treatment.
[20:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Crime-victim-turned-crime-fighter Hailey Dean is back in "Murder in the Courthouse."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The unstoppable prosecutor digs in to track down a killer, but could she wind up the next victim? Find out in the third book
in Nancy`s best-selling series.
GRACE: Portions of proceeds go to Help Find Missing Children!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Preorder your copy now on Amazon, barnesandnoble.com and more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A young bride-to-be, former college field hockey star, found murdered just before her wedding while her fiance reportedly away at his
own bachelor party.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Parents of 27-year-old Amanda Strous, who were preparing for their daughter`s wedding in July, are instead planning her funeral.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amanda Strous killed after someone set an apartment on fire with Strauss still inside.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her fiance won`t have the wedding they planned next month.
CORY MCCLEAF, AMANDA STROUS` FIANCE: I just didn`t believe it. I couldn`t take it in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her dad got the worst news.
ERIC STROUS, AMANDA STROUS` FATHER: She made me a better dad, better man, better husband. She was the light of my life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That is from ABC`s "Good Morning America." what a story. What a heartbreak. What a case.
What happened to this beautiful young girl just before her wedding? Her body is found. She is murdered. The fiance, at his own bachelor party, when
she is murdered.
To Joey Hudson, host of WGTK joining us in Greenville. Joey, take it from the top. Why were authorities first alerted to her apartment in the first
place?
JOEY HUDSON, WGTK 94.5 HOST: Well, Nancy, a fire was reported around 5:30 on Saturday afternoon, June the 18th and there was smoke and fire there so
they responded, went into the apartment and they found Strous`s body in the apartment.
GRACE: Do we know the mode of death, Joey Hudson? Was she strangled? Was she stabbed or did she die -- could she have died from the house fire?
HUDSON: Well, initially, Nancy, she was transported to a local hospital. Later, authorities announced that they pronounced her dead there.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Oh no.
HUDSON: And the information has been a little sketchy.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Hold on. Hold in just a second.
HUDSON: Although her father has reportedly said that he has been told that she was dead and that the fire was too ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Hold on, guys. I`m hearing in my ear, we have a little more update on the fire itself.
Matt Zarrell, joining us on the story in addition to Joey Hudson, WGTK. So, I`m always curious about how authorities were first brought to a scene
because very often that is a clue to the perp.
Now, there`s always an outside chance this was an accident. Have we been able to confirm, and I believe we have, that the fiance was absolutely not
on the scene. He`s been ruled out, correct, Matt?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Yes, he has.
GRACE: Let me ask you this, Matt, where in the home is she found?
ZARRELL: We do not know exactly where in the home she was found, but we do know that the fire started in the living room of the home.
GRACE: Everyone, Amanda Strous, 27-year-old bride to be, a field hockey star, is found dead in her apartment. The fiance has been ruled out. He`s
out at his own bachelor party when this happened. Back to Joey Hudson, WGTK, do I have Katie with me?
Katie Pufnock is joining me, a very dear friend of Amanda`s. Katie, thank you for being with us.
KATIE PUFNOCK, AMANDA STROUS` CLOSE FRIEND: Absolutely.
GRACE: Katie, when did you first learn that Amanda had died?
PUFNOCK: I got a call around 10:30 on Sunday morning.
GRACE: Who was it?
PUFNOCK: It was another one of our college teammates on the field hockey team.
GRACE: And that is how you knew Amanda from the field hockey team?
PUFNOCK: That`s correct.
GRACE: And, Katie, I believe that the fiance has definitely been ruled out. Where was Amanda`s fiance that weekend? Was it his bachelor party?
PUFNOCK: Yeah. He was away at his bachelor party and it was really the only weekend that she was going to be alone. She had a roommate down there, one
of our other teammates from the field hockey team. And ...
(CROSSTALK)
[20:40:00] GRACE: So you get a phone call that she is deceased. What did they tell you and what was your immediate reaction?
PUFNOCK: I remember -- I remember my teammate saying to me that Amanda died and I remember asking her to repeat herself because there was just no way
that what I am hearing was right.
At which point, she repeated that Amanda died and I think from that point I gave the phone to whoever I was standing near. And I got sick physically
because I had just RSVP`d to her wedding two days before so I was talking to her and just couldn`t accept, I guess that this was real.
GRACE: You know, you`re bringing back so many memories to me, Katie, when I first learned my fiance had been murdered, well, was dead. It never dawned
on to me that he could have been murdered.
In fact, for a couple -- for an hour at least, I thought well there had to be some accident. And if I could get to him, maybe this is wrong. And maybe
it is an accident and he`s at the hospital and he might die.
And then, you know, I found out not only was he deceased but that he had been murdered. Katie, when did you find out that your friend Amanda was
actually murdered?
PUFNOCK: It was -- it was either -- it was late -- it was late that night. It was late that night and as I just started to calm down, my friends and
family felt more comfortable giving me a little bit more detail, you know, as much as they either knew or felt comfortable giving me. But I don`t
really think that it sank in until probably Monday morning.
GRACE: Everyone, we are learning that there is a person of interest. Matthew Thomas Benner, a 28-year-old man.
Katie, how would Amanda have known this guy? He`s described as socially awkward but with a job, with an education. Why in the world would he become
a suspect? How would she know him?
PUFNOCK: It is a strange thing, I think, when you have neighbors, either people that live next to you or above you. You`re -- essentially, you`re
still divided by, you know, four walls and windows.
And I think that, you know, I`ve been reading some of the questions like, you know, were they friends or did they spend time together? And the only
thing I can say about that is, you know, she didn`t know him from what I understand, well at all.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: It`s my understanding he was just a neighbor that always ...
(CROSSTALK)
PUFNOCK: Just a neighbor ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... seemed ...
(CROSSTALK)
PUFNOCK: ... you would see when you park your car and give him the head nod and say good morning.
But, unfortunately, people that work a 9:00 to 5:00 and people that, you know, have a seemingly normal life, they still hide behind four walls, and
what goes on behind those four walls is, in this case, terrifying.
GRACE: Right now, police honing in on a neighbor that always seemed to be around when Amanda would get in and out of her car, coming with groceries,
going to work.
This neighbor, Matthew Thomas Benner, is attracting police attention. John Walsh calls Oscar Menjivar-Herrera a real life monster, wanted for sex
assault on a minor. Join "The Hunt", bring him to justice, Sunday night, 9:00 p.m., Eastern, HLN.
[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A 27-year-old Amanda Strous, killed after someone set an apartment on fire with Strous still inside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you need police?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fire.
MCCLEAF: The last thing I actually got to say to her is I love you and I`ll talk to you later.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That was from ABC`s "Good Morning America." Can you think of what the fiance is going through?
He`s away at his bachelor party. The last thing he says is I love you. I`ll be right back.
He never sees her alive again. He finds out that her murdered body is consumed in a house fire at her apartment, and now police honing in on the
so-called socially awkward neighbor who always seemed to be trying to hang around Amanda. And the irony is that she would always be super nice to him.
Say hi, make conversation, ask him how was his day?
To just be friendly and nice and now she is dead. Joining me right now in addition to Joey Hudson, WGTK, is Sheriff Sharon Wehrly, the Nye County
Sheriff`s Office who tracked down this person of interest.
Sheriff Wehrly, thank you for being with us.
[20:50:00] SHARON WEHRLY, NYE COUNTY SHERIFF: Thank you.
GRACE: Is it true that this is the guy, Matthew Thomas Benner who actually calls 9-1-1?
WEHRLY: Now, that I don`t know.
GRACE: What can you tell me about how he was tracked down?
WEHRLY: Well, we received a phone call from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg P.D., about 0400 a.m. on June 20th. They explained what was going on and they
said that they had been pinging his phone and a location came up with him from Nevada. We were given that location. And several deputies started
actually looking for the car.
GRACE: So he was tracked down then, Joey Hudson, WGTK, through his cell phone, is that correct?
HUDSON: That`s what we`re told, Nancy. Through the GPS of the cell phone, local authorities some 2,000 miles away in Nevada we were able to find him.
GRACE: Wow! They may call him socially awkward but he knew how to put the pedal to the metal and get the hey out of there.
Matt Zarrell, what made them suspicious of him?
ZARRELL: Well, part of it is because neighbors actually claimed that they saw him outside of her burning apartment, and reports say that he actually
had blood on his hands and fled the scene before officers arrived.
GRACE: Oh! Oh!
Everyone, this week`s CNN Hero is a remarkable young man from Columbia, Jeison Aristizabal, grew up with a serious disability. Obstacles seemed
insurmountable. But today he is in law school dedicated to helping other children just like himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEISON ARISTIZABAL, CNN HERO: I have cerebral palsy. A doctor told my mom that I would amount to nothing. What we`ve been able to accomplish through
our work is to change that story. We have transformed the lives of thousands of children with disabilities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: What a hero. See how this guy is changing lives. Watch his story. CNNHeroes.com and nominate someone you think should be a CNN hero.
[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: A beautiful young bride-to-be is murdered just before her wedding. Her fiance, actually at his own bachelor party. You know what`s
interesting, Matt Zarrell, isn`t there going to be evidence regarding a diary in this case?
ZARRELL: Yeah. Apparently CNN affiliate WSOCTV reports that when police searched Benner`s apartment, they found a diary he had kept which contained
some troubling entries. We do not know what those entries mean but the affiliate says the diary could help prosecutors build their case.
GRACE: To Dr. Ramani Durvasula, Clinical Psychologist joining us out of L.A. Dr Ramani, why would anyone write down incriminating details in their
diary and leave it behind?
DR. RAMANI DURVASULA, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: You know, again, in a story like this, we actually don`t know what his level of insight was. I mean, I
think when inside ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: I`m sorry, but do I care? His insight? She`s dead.
(CROSSTALK)
DURVASULA: I know. None of us care. But this is the tragic end, but at the end of the day, we`re assuming that this is logical. Somebody keeps a
diary, they wouldn`t write this.
Clearly logical went out the window in this kind of a case. So, for him, he was likely watching her. He may have even in his mind, Nancy, thought they
had a far closer and, you know, maybe even romantic relationship that ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Dr. Ramani, please don`t go there. They were hi and bye.
DURVASULA: But again, it very well could have been playing out in his own mind. It doesn`t matter to what we think. It was what he thought. And he
may have taken it to this absolutely tragic conclusion.
GRACE: So, Brian Claypool, Alex Sanchez. First to you, Sanchez, is there going to be a problem getting the diary in a trial?
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I think it might be, because the defense lawyers have a right to challenge the admissibility of any evidence if the
police did not have probable cause to search their apartment.
GRACE: Claypool?
BRIAN CLAYPOOL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Nancy, I`m focusing on three fundamental facts that are missing for the prosecution. Number one, motive.
Number two, what was the cause of the fire? And number three, what was the cause of this beautiful young lady`s death? We don`t have any of that
information yet.
GRACE: Let`s stop and remember American hero Louisiana Deputy David Michel, Jr., killed in the line of duty. Served Jefferson Parish Sheriff`s Street
Crimes Unit. Remembered as dedicated and cheerful. Leaves behind a beautiful, grieving widow who also worked with the sheriff`s department.
David Michel, Jr., American hero.
Moving America forward, 9th Annual Troopathon today. I join my friend Rita Cosby raising money for care packages to our Armed Forces. Go to
tropathon.org.
And thank you to Ms. Wendy Williams. Wendy, I hear that you like my handcuff necklace I gave you? Guess what? I got a bracelet, too. And it`s
coming your way.
WENDY WILLIAMS, "THE WENDY WILLIAMS SHOW" HOST: Abby, do you know that your -- I have your bubblehead in our kitchen? No, no, no. No. There is a little
area with a cute mess. And so there is Abby`s bubblehead. And I have it stabilized by my handcuffs that were given to me by Nancy Grace. You know,
Nancy loves the handcuffs.
GRACE: Yeah. Girl, I never said I didn`t. And P.S., there is a keychain, too.
Good luck to our superstar, Christo. Last day with us, but he is staying in the HLN family. Isn`t he precious? Look back, walk show and hurry back,
friend.
Thanks to our guests, but especially 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]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER THOMAS, "FORENSIC FILES" NARRATOR: In 1989, a 4-year-old girl was rushed to a Texas hospital.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
END
