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Nancy Grace
Georgia Mom Shot Dead by Mother-in-Law; Dance Mom Star Pleads Guilty in Federal Bankruptcy Case; deadly Crash Leaves Three Kids Dead. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired June 27, 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, kindergarten teacher, mom of two little boys, gunned down dead in the kitchen floor of the upscale home.
Tonight, cops hone in on none other than her own mother-in-law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Murder of a 35-year-old Cobb County teacher.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say Jenna Wall was shot and killed by her own mother-in-law. It happened inside this Powder Springs home while her two
young children were inside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were inside the residence at the time that this was going on, the shooting was going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, "Dance Mom" reality star Abby Lee Miller`s (ph) slap-fest caught on Lifetime TV cameras. Bombshell now. The "Dance Mom" gets a
sweetheart deal after she cheats the tax man nearly $1 million amid claims "Dance Mom" coerces friends to stuff wads of cash in plastic bags to hide
from the feds?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go out of the room.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s the "Dance Mom" with the outsize personality, and now she`s in trouble with the law.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What`s going on?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After accusations she pulled a few fast moves in her bankruptcy filings and more.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. My name is Abby Lee Miller, and a woman just grabbed and pulled my hair.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s on Lifetime`s "Dance Mom."
And Prescott (ph), Wisconsin, a young mom of two leaves an indoor play space with her little girl and two nieces in the family SUV. But as the
children laugh and play in the back of Mommy`s Saturn, just two blocks from home, Mommy spins out of control, crashing into an oncoming truck, her
little Lydia (ph) dead on impact, the two young nieces dead. Tonight, Mommy heads to trial as damning cellphone records show Mommy her chatting,
texting on Facebook at the time of the deadly crash.
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Breaking news tonight. Kindergarten teacher, mom of two little boys gunned down dead in the kitchen floor of the upscale home. Tonight, bombshell.
Cops honing in on none other than her very own mother-in-law.
You know, Candace Trunzo, senior news editor, Dailmailonline.com -- Candace, I`m stunned. Can I see the mom? There she is. This is totally
the mom of the year, a kindergarten teacher, a loving mom of two little boys.
She`s gunned down in the kitchen floor after her children are lured outside? Let`s start at the beginning, Candace. Why do we believe it`s
her own mother-in-law? Let`s start with the forensics. Where was she shot?
CANDACE TRUNZO, DAILYMAIL.COM (via telephone): You know, I don`t know, Nancy. That`s a very good question. All of the -- all of the court
records that I saw didn`t say exactly where she was shot, but it was certainly on point. She was dead as soon as authorities got there.
GRACE: Michael Christian, it`s my understanding that she`s gunned down dead in the kitchen floor of this upscale home. Is that correct, kitchen
floor?
MICHAEL CHRISTIAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: That`s absolutely correct, Nancy. And we don`t know how many times she was shot. Part of the arrest record
says she died of a gunshot, singular wound. But we heard from the sons, her two young sons, that they had heard gunshots, plural. So we don`t know
at this point what was fired.
GRACE: So back to you, Candace Trunzo, Dailymail.com. So she`s gunned down in the kitchen of this upscale home. Now, the boys, the two little
boys, are they ages 7 and 8? Is that correct?
TRUNZO: Yes, 7 and 8. And the mother-in-law was taking the boys to the mom, dropped them off and then stayed there, brought the boys back outside,
put them in her pickup truck, went back in. And that`s when the little boys, 7 and 8, heard the shots. We don`t know how many shots.
But the mom was found in the kitchen, on the floor, and the -- her mother- in-law was sitting in the living room with the gun at her head when she was found.
GRACE: Oh, my stars! So you know, unleash the lawyers, Misty Marris, New York, Randy Kessler, Atlanta.
Randy Kessler, when the husband comes in and he finds his own mother sitting there in the living room, doing what, Kessler, holding herself
hostage with a gun to her head?
[20:05:02]RANDY KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes. I mean, what else is -- how are you going to explain this? There`s a lot that we don`t know.
Nobody was there. Who are the witnesses? We don`t know anything about this situation. It does look very bad, and there may be a plea just
because it looks bad.
But we don`t know what happened. We don`t know why this happened. We don`t know her psychological condition. There`s a lot more to go in this
investigation before we can jump and say she`s automatically going to get convicted.
GRACE: Did anybody ask you if she`s going to get convicted? Because I never heard that question posed to you.
KESSLER: You didn`t ask me any question, so I told you what I think.
GRACE: OK, so let me try with you, Misty Marris. So is there really any other suspect? Because when the husband comes in, his wife is shot dead,
we think in the head, on the kitchen floor, this kindergarten teacher, mom of the year, mother of two little sons. They`re outside, sitting in a
vehicle where the mother-in-law has brought them so they wouldn`t be there when she murders the mom.
And the mother-in-law is sitting there, I guess, in a wingback chair in the living room, holding a gun to her head. So who else could it possibly be,
Misty Marris?
MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, at this point, the police haven`t said whether or not there are any other suspects. But we don`t know the
circumstances of what happened inside that house. Maybe there`s a self- defense argument. Maybe there`s an emotional distress argument. We don`t know what other defenses exist because we simply don`t have the facts.
GRACE: Joining me right now, in addition to Marris and Kessler, Scott Kimbler is joining me, with newsradio. Scott, thank you for being with us.
What did police find when they get to the home?
SCOTT KIMBLER, NEWSRADIO 106.7 (via telephone): What they find is the husband, who was actually called to the scene by the grandmother. We
understand that he was on the phone with her and she says, Come collect your children. So when he gets there, he`s the one that finds the mother,
his mother, with the gun to his (sic) head and the wife, who actually understand...
GRACE: Wow.
KIMBLER: ... shot multiple times, standing over her. And he talks the mother into giving up the gun, from what we understand. And that`s when
the father called 911 to report that his estranged wife was dead and that his grandmother was the -- or his mother was the apparent killer.
GRACE: Everyone, joining me on the scene is Mike Duffy. Mike Duffy, what do we know?
MIKE DUFFY, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Nancy, Jenna and Jerrod Wall were allegedly in the midst of a contentious divorce when last Thursday,
Elizabeth Wall, Jerrod`s mother, came to this home here in Powder Springs, Georgia, where Jenna was living.
According to a police warrant, Elizabeth went inside and retrieved Jenna and Jerrod`s two young boys, ages 7 and 8, and brought them outside to a
waiting vehicle. Elizabeth then returned inside the home, where Jenna was, and shortly thereafter, the boys reported hearing gunshots fired.
When authorities arrived at the scene, they found Jenna deceased of an alleged gunshot wound.
GRACE: We are on the scene with Mike Duffy. He`s there in the front yard. You can see the house behind him. It`s a beautiful home. And this is a
family that seemingly had it all, a young husband, a young wife, a kindergarten teacher, beloved at her school, raising the two little boys,
when everything goes sideways.
Back to you, Mike Duffy, there in front of the home. What more can you tell me?
DUFFY: Nancy, last Thursday, Jerrod Wall received a call from his mother, Elizabeth, saying that he needed to come to the home you see behind me.
She abruptly hung up, and when he tried to call her back, she didn`t answer.
As he was on his way, his called his son, who happened to be sitting in a vehicle parked just outside this home. He asked the boy what happened, and
the boy said that his mother and grandmother were inside and that he had heard gunshots fired.
When Jerrod arrived at the hoe, he found his mother sitting in the living room, holding a black revolver to her head, and his wife dead in the
kitchen.
GRACE: To Seth Meyers, clinical psychologist joining me out of LA. I mean, what`s the point of the big production with the mother-in-law staging
herself in the living room? I can just see her with the piano and the wingback chair and the coffee table, and she`s sitting there with a gun to
her head, I mean, as I said, holding herself hostage. For what? She never pulled the trigger. What she did was she murdered the mother of these two
little boys, according to police.
And defense attorneys Kessler and Marris, you can get as mad as you want to at me, but these are the police words, not mine. I`m reporting on what we
know. You`ve got Duffy at the scene, who was there interviewing people and fact finding.
And that`s what we know, that the two of them in the home, Seth. The mom of these two little boys is dead. I mean, Seth, I can`t imagine somebody
else raising my children. Not that they wouldn`t be perfectly equipped to do that, but nobody loves their children like their mother. Nobody! Be it
bio mom, adoptive mom, foster mom, nobody loves children like their mother!
[20:10:12]And I have to tell you another thing, Seth, while I`ve got you. I was recounting earlier the murder of my fiance just before our wedding.
And you know how you can hear one little thing and it sticks with you forever? I will never, ever forget, at his funeral, the pastor, God bless
him, referred to me repeatedly as Mary Grace. It was an honest mistake.
But I remember that moment, and I remember every sound, everything that happened when I learned he had been murdered.
These two little boys sitting outside -- they heard the gunfire. They heard it. And in their little minds, maybe they thought it was fireworks.
I don`t know what they thought. The rest of their life, they`re going to remember sitting in that car when they heard Mommy being murdered by
Grandma.
Weigh in, Meyers.
SETH MEYERS, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes, so the first that I`m thinking is, you know, this is obviously a psychological trauma that these boys
experienced, and you`re right, Nancy, they will never forget that moment as long as they live.
Now, the only good news here is that there are actually some really good evidence-based therapies for kids who experience a trauma like this. One
of them is trauma focus cognitive behavior therapy. Another is called child-parent psychotherapy. There are ways that these kids can get help...
GRACE: Well, I can only pray...
MEYERS: ... but they will never, ever forget that sound.
GRACE: ... but you know, after you hear your mother murdered in the kitchen floor by your grandmother, I don`t know how you`re going to therapy
your way out of that. I only hope that you`re right, Seth Meyers.
I want to go back to Candace Trunzo, joining me from Dailymail.com. So Candace, now we learn, now that we find the kindergarten teacher dead in
the floor with the little boys outside waiting in the car, Grandma holding the gun -- we now learn that a divorce proceeding was in effect. She had
filed for a divorce. I guess, you know, in that jurisdiction, you don`t have to give a reason. There`s no-fault divorce.
But then the husband comes back and says, You`re having an affair. So there`s a lot of animosity going about claims this young victim was having
an affair, Candace.
TRUNZO: Yes, indeed. And you know, we can only speculate on any motive on the part of the mother-in-law. But in addition to...
GRACE: Excuse me, Candace...
TRUNZO: ... the issues that the two of them had, an affair, they were also having problems in terms of the custody of the kids.
GRACE: Hold on. Candace, now, you`re the senior news editor at Dailymail.com. I assume you can add, correct?
TRUNZO: Yes.
GRACE: So two plus two equals...
TRUNZO: Yes.
GRACE: ... four!
TRUNZO: It equals a motive. And the motive may have been that the wife, as wonderful as she was, was giving the husband a hard time about seeing
his kids. He complained about it to his mother-in-law...
GRACE: Wait a minute! What about the affair?
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... nothing to make a mother angry like the fact that her son is getting a divorce because his wife was having an affair, and she may not
get to see her grandchildren as much. What about that, Candace?
TRUNZO: Exactly. Exactly. You know, cheating on her son, number one. Not letting her son see her kids, or in effect, not letting grandma see her
grandchildren. I mean, it all adds up to the same thing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:17:24]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jenna Wall was a kindergarten teacher at Kemp Elementary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say she shot and killed her daughter-in-law, Jenna, at this Powder Springs home just feet from Wall`s two grandsons.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ve been able to get a good bit of information from them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A young mom of two, a kindergarten teacher beloved by everyone at her school, has been found dead in the kitchen floor of an upscale home.
Tonight, cops honing in on none other than her own mother-in-law. This as we dig deep to find out the two were looking at a divorce. She is going
forward with the divorce with a no-fault or not naming a reason for the divorce, the husband apparently firing back with a claim his young wife was
having an affair with her high school boyfriend.
Scott Kimbler joining me, Newsradio 106.7, is that true?
KIMBLER: We understand that that is true. According to the divorce filings, she had been having an affair with a boyfriend that she knew from
high school, and also that she has gone through a history of denying visitation to the father, but at the same time was asking for spousal
support, saying that she was financially unable to take care of the children.
In fact, her house -- where she lived is the home of her parents. It`s not her home or the home of the father. She had gotten herself in a situation
where she had moved in with her parents.
GRACE: Now, let me ask this. Is that, Scott Kimbler, where the mom was murdered?
KIMBLER: From what we understand, yes. That would be her parents` home.
GRACE: Oh, no. Oh, no! So what was the scenario, Candace Trunzo, Dailymail.com? What, the grandmother was coming to pick up the children,
drop off the children? Which one?
TRUNZO: I understand that she was dropping off the children. In fact, she took the children inside the home, and then at some point, she brought them
back out, put them into her -- what I understand is a pickup truck and then went back in.
That`s when the boys heard the shots. The mother-in-law called her son. He`s an investigator, believe it or not, with the DA`s office. And he
called 911 right away. He then tried to get his mother-in-law (sic) back, couldn`t. Finally, he got his son. His son said he heard shots. And the
father rushed to the scene, as did police.
GRACE: OK, unleash the lawyers, Misty Marris, New York, Randy Kessler, Atlanta.
Randy, do you hear the significance of what she just said? This means the grandma, the mother-in-law, had to bring the gun with her.
[20:20:05]This is not her son`s home. This is the daughter, the mom, the kindergarten teacher`s parents` home. She wouldn`t know the layout of that
home from Adam`s housecat. That means she brings the gun with her. She came with the intent to kill, Randy.
KESSLER: OK, well, you`re jumping to conclusions again. It does look bad, but you know what? She could have carried a gun anywhere she wished...
GRACE: Why do you keep saying it looks bad?
KESSLER: Because it does look bad.
GRACE: You know, I happen to know...
KESSLER: That`s a tough case to defend.
GRACE: ... you have a JD. And you`re very well respected in your jurisdiction. So it looks bad. It looks bad.
KESSLER: Right, or you wouldn`t...
GRACE: Let`s focus on the facts. How can you explain away the fact that she, the mother-in-law, apparently brings her own gun?
KESSLER: Do you want me to just guess? I mean, people carry guns everywhere in Georgia. People have them with them all the time. It`s not
that unusual...
GRACE: I don`t.
KESSLER: ... for someone to have a gun with them. Well, you don`t, but you`re not the average person in Georgia. You know what?
GRACE: And why would she carry the gun into the home?
(CROSSTALK)
KESSLER: ... leave it in the car with the kids? Is that even better?
GRACE: Oh, oh, oh. Now I see where you`re heading. Please put him up. So Randy, let me understand this. This is where you`re heading. She
carries the gun, which is constitutional, doesn`t want to leave the boys in the car with the gun, so she takes it out and then coincidentally guns down
her daughter-in-law in the kitchen floor and holds herself hostage.
KESSLER: None of us were there. But you just asked me why would she carry the gun into the house. And it`s a good explanation that she would not
leave it there with the children in that truck.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:25:40]UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shot and killed by her own mother-in-law, Elizabeth Betsy Wall.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s really shocking and stunning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More questions surrounding the murder of a 35-year- old Cobb County teacher.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is disturbing to know that they were inside the residence at that time that this was going on, the shooting was going on.
We`ve been able to get a bit good of information from them. They are safe. They are sound.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A beautiful young mom of two, a kindergarten teacher, has been found gunned down in the kitchen floor of an upscale home. What happened?
You know, a lot is coming out, Scott Kimbler, Newsradio 106.7, because of the divorce filings. What do we know?
KIMBLER: Well, we know from that filing that this was a pretty contentious divorce, one that was not going well at all, with the accused affair of a -
- with a gentleman that she knew from high school, and also that she was not doing emotionally or financially well and had moved in with her
parents. And apparently, there was a history of her denying visitation to him, but at the same time asking for increased spousal support because she
was financially unable to...
GRACE: Those, apparently, in her defense...
KIMBLER: ... care for the children.
GRACE: ... are claims on his part to -- I mean, we see that the grandmother, the mother-in-law, is bringing the boys back. So obviously,
there is visitation going on.
Joining me, chief medical examiner from Richland County, Dr. Bradley J. Marcus joining me. Dr. Marcus, thank you for being with us. I want to
talk to you about the weapon. It`s a revolver. And regardless of which revolver you pick up, you still have a trigger pull. It`s not as if this
is an automatic weapon and you`re going to fire by accident.
What do you know about trigger pulls on a revolver? I`m going toward premeditation, Doctor.
DR. BRADLEY J. MARCUS, CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER, RICHLAND CO., S.C.: Well, you know, on all revolvers and all guns, there`s always a trigger pull, and
it takes a significant amount of force for that to happen. And you know, it also depends on the range. You know, hopefully, she`s not thinking it`s
an accidental death where a gun just went off because the range there would be very important to look at.
[20:30:00] (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: Dance mom, Abby Lee Miller, slap fest, caught on Lifetime T.V. cameras. But breaking now, the dance mom could be getting a sweetheart
deal. This, after she cheats the tax man nearly $1 million amidst claims the reality star coerces her friends to stuff wads of cash in plastic bags
to hide it from the Feds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABBY LEE MILLER, DANCE INSTRUCTOR: Go somewhere else. Take your money, take your kid, take your socks, find another school.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Dance Mom" star, Abby Lee Miller, pleads guilty in a federal bankruptcy case involving huge sums of money. What fancy legal
footwork is keeping the over-the-top reality star from spending major time behind bars?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That`s from Lifetime star "Dance Moms." You`re all familiar with "Dance Moms." it`s a runaway hit. There are spinoffs. They are raking in
the money. As a matter of fact, take a look at this clip from "Dance Moms."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY HYLAND, DANCE MOM: ... looks miserable. So maybe we should put her in her place.
MILLER: No, I never said that.
HYLAND: Yes. you most certainly did.
MILLER: No, I didn`t, dingbat. Listen. I said Brooke, is your mother for you ...
(CROSSTALK)
HYLAND: Get your finger out of my face.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Girls out the room. Girls out the room.
(CROSSTALK)
HYLAND: Yeah, do anything (BLEEP).
Get away from me. Get away from me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Girls out of room.
HYLAND: Who do you think you are?
(CROSSTALK)
Girls, out of room. All of you. Out of the room.
MILLER: You are nuts.
HYLAND: No, you`re nuts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now. Maddie, you too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, all of you.
MILLER: She`s crazy.
HYLAND: No, I`m not crazy. You`re eating my face.
MILLER: I gotta get out of the room.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely not.
MILLER: Call the police right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Let`s go to Abby Lee Miller, coming out of the courthouse. The reality star is guilty. And to Alan Duke joining me, editor-in-chief,
leadstories.com, -- there is the dance mom leaving the courthouse.
So, Alan, apparently she could walk now in just 24 months. And By our estimation, she could have gotten up to 100 years behind bars. What`s going
on?
[20:35:00] ALAN DUKE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF LEADSTORIES.COM: She did a plea deal. You know, she was originally charged with 20 counts of fraud relating to
bankruptcy case and then this other thing with the $120,000 in cash that she now has confessed to sneaking into the country from Australia using her
friends. She faced a lot of time but she decided to own up to it, at least, and take a plea deal.
GRACE: OK. Justin Freiman, let me understand what`s happening. What are these claims that she was coercing, I guess, colleagues and friends to
stuff wads of cash down plastic bags so she wouldn`t -- she could escape the Feds?
JUSTIN FREIMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right, Nancy. The accusations are that she was actually in Australia, on a tour, making a bunch of money and
she brought a lot of that money back.
Now, as you know, the law says if you bring $10,000 or more back, you got to let the government know about it. Well, she had a lot more than $10,000.
So, apparently, they say she spread the wealth around, had other people bring it in their bags.
GRACE: But when you say `spread the wealth around,` did she get the money back when she hits U.S. soil or did she give the money away? What do you
mean she `spread be wealth around?`
FREIMAN: Well, no. She only spread it around to get it back and then -- to the States and then she had the money.
GRACE: You know, I`m trying to figure out how this whole thing got started. Justin, I understand that she was before a federal judge on either
bankruptcy and then it unraveled into tax evasion. And she was claiming she only made X amount of money then the judge, guilty pleasure, was at home
and sees all these spinoffs for "Dance Moms" and realizes, hey, I didn`t know anything about that. She lied to me. What happened?
FREIMAN: That`s right, Nancy. You know, it`s tough when you are a reality star . When you`re reality star. You`re on the T.V. and you are out there.
She was declaring bankruptcy and as you know, when you do that, you`re claiming you don`t have much money. But there she is on television, earning
lots of money, and the judge saw it.
GRACE: So Alan Duke, editor-in-chief leadstories.com, what was it the judge saw that got the judge so crazy? I mean, he`s been hearing all these
proceedings where Abby Lee Miller`s claiming I make X amount. Then he click a channel and finds out she`s got spinoffs that he didn`t know about?
DUKE: Yeah. Yeah, he saw these crazy shows that this woman whose bankruptcy case reorganization he was just about to approve, and she had only claimed
that she was making less than $9,000 a month.
And the judge saw those shows, saw all the promos for them and knew something was up and basically went to the prosecutor`s -- or at least to
the other lawyers and the trustees in the case and said, is this fraud?
GRACE: So, Justin, what was she doing in Australia dragging in plastic bags loaded with wads of cash? How did that happen?
FREIMAN: Well, the "Dance Mom" show has become so popular that she actually goes overseas at times and she has different programs going on there where
people actually pay money to be there.
But then, they`re able the buy items. Those items are purchased with cash that goes to her.
GRACE: You mean like "Dance Moms" T-shirts and key chains and things like that?
FREIMAN: Most likely that`s the stuff they`re selling at her events.
GRACE: Wow. And probably dance leotards and dance outfits. I mean, the whole gamut is my guess.
So let me get this straight. So she does a reality T.V. show "Dance Moms" tour. I remember after "Dancing with the Stars," there were all these
tours. They go around the country, they go to Vegas and the dancers, you know, put on a show. So I guess she`s putting on a "Dance Moms" show in
Australia, selling all of her T-shirts and dancewear, I guess. And then who does she get, Justin, to stuff wads of cash down bags to hide it?
FREIMAN: Well, apparently, she had people that were in her group doing this for her.
GRACE: Oh, man. Oh, man. So, with me right now in addition to Misty Marris and Randy Kessler, Shayna Steinfeld, bankruptcy expert, joining me out of
Atlanta.
Shan, thanks for being with us. Now, bankruptcy is an animal all to itself, all right? Explain to me in regular people talk, Shana, regular people
talk, what did the dance mom do and why is she going to walk after 24 months when she could have gotten a hundred years.
[20:40:00] SHAYNA STEINFELD, BANKRUPTCY EXPERT: What she did is when she filed bankruptcy, she was absolutely required to disclose everything she
had. When you`re in bankruptcy, your financial underwear is on display, and she took it upon herself to hide her finances and the bankruptcy judge
caught her in it.
So the bankruptcy judge didn`t approve her bankruptcy plan. So they indicted her on bankruptcy fraud. So what they`ve done is they`ve pled to a
plea deal which compromised it down so they could reach an agreement that saved the taxpayers the trial and guarantees that she will do time because
in bankruptcy fraud and bankruptcy indictments, only half the time do people ever go to jail. So this is a compromise between the government and
the bankruptcy system.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: That`s the last thing you want to do is lie to a federal judge. Take a look at "Dance Moms."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MINISTER DAWN CHECK, DANCE MOM: May I speak to you a minute?
MILLER: No. I`m rehearsing.
CHECK: I want to speak to you. You don`t throw my kid out of class. I paid for class.
MILLER: She`s not dressed appropriately.
CHECK: I`m looking at every single kid out here, Abby. They all look like children. Isn`t that crazy the children look like children? She`s dressed
appropriately.
MILLER: You`re a minister. Act like one.
CHECK: Yes, I am a minister. Let`s play the bible game, Abby. When Jesus saw things that were wrong, he went after it. And I`ll tell you what,
you`re not going to do this to my kid.
MILLER: Out the room. Out. Out. Regan, good-bye. Out. Out.
CHECK: You`re not throwing her out.
MILLER: Oh, yes I am, and you with her. Go.
CHECK: No, you`re not.
MILLER: Yes. Every week we put the trash out. Go.
CHECK: Then take your stuff out because you`re the biggest piece of trash there is.
MILLER: You cannot take acrobatic class in socks. I told you the clothes are tight (ph) your two-piece costume. There`s a big difference. How can
you remember that and you can`t remember to turn your feet out?
(END VIDEO CLIP) GRACE: That`s Lifetime`s "Dance Moms."
[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Prescott, Wisconsin. A young mother of two leaves an indoor play space with her little girl and two nieces in the family SUV, but as the
children laugh and play in the back of mommy`s Saturn, just two blocks from home, mommy spins out of control, crashing into an oncoming truck.
Her little Lydia, dead on impact; the two little nieces, both dead. Tonight, mommy heads to trial as damning cell phone records show mommy is
actually chatting away, texting on Facebook at the time of the deadly crash.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED ALE: A mom, accused of killing her 11-year-old daughter and her two 5-year-old nieces in a deadly crash.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s unimaginable.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say Kari Jo Milberg was using Facebook to message people when her SUV spun out of control, slamming into a truck.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She absolutely, absolutely a beautiful, beautiful person. And she would do anything for those kids and did do anything for
those kids. And Clara puts smiles on people`s faces. She was a smile-maker. She was just a beautiful soul. Most thoughtful, caring person. It`s
unimaginable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Can you imagine the suffering of these parents? Their two little girls dead. They allowed the mom, the girl`s aunt, to drive them never
imagining that mommy would be texting and chatting away on Facebook, according to cops, veering into oncoming traffic, crashing into a truck in
the other lane and then careening toward a cliff.
Straight out to Meredyth Censullo, investigative reporter. Let`s take it from the beginning. How did all these girls, these little girls, end up in
her car?
MEREDYTH CENSULLO, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: So Kari had her two children. She had an older daughter, Lydia, as well as a small son and then their
cousins. So, two other little girls both belonging to Kari`s other sister.
So we have three family members represented here. She was driving them home. They had been out to play at an indoor play center. She was two
blocks from home and then all of a sudden, her vehicle swerved directly into the path of a very large truck. And that`s where the story ends, as
far as we know. but then we find out a lot more really happened after the facts.
GRACE: When I look at that mangled car and imagine all these little children in the car at that -- look at street. That`s a curve. The
conditions are icy.
You know, the ice, it brings me to another issue. Justin, what happened to her cell phone upon impact?
FREIMAN: Well, what happened was it actually ejected from the vehicle. It wasn`t until months later when the snow melted away that they actually
found the phone.
GRACE: This crash, this mangled mess containing these three children now dead, and others.
You know, Ben Levitan, telecommunications expert, mommy is going to trial. And number one, they`re saying that she was on Facebook. Backup. Her 11-
year-old little girl was on Facebook or she hit an icy patch.
Let`s talk about forensics, Ben Levitan, telecommunications expert joining me out of Raleigh. What can the state really prove once they get that phone
out of the ice?
[20:50:00] BEN LEVITAN, TELECOMMUNICATIONS EXPERT: Nancy, we don`t even need the phone. That`s what people are missing here. All the records are
kept at the phone company. We know who she was texting with. She was on a Facebook message chat. We know who that other person is. That person is
probably the witness, number one, who was using that phone. We have the times of the chat messages.
GRACE: You know, can you pull that up? Can you pull up, for instance, whether she was texting and driving when she was, for instance, taking the
children to school? When she was going to work? How can we pull that up, Ben, to show this pattern?
LEVITAN: I do this everyday, Nancy. What happens is we`ll get records of somebody who was in an accident. We`ll see -- remember, when you`re using
your cell phone, you always connect to the closest cell tower.
If over a ten-minute period, you send three text messages or four text messages and each time that -- your phone uses a different cell tower
that`s miles apart, it doesn`t take a lot to convince a jury that you use four different cell towers that were 10 miles apart over a period of 10
minutes. We, as experts, can never say a specific person was using a cell phone. All we can say is that the cell phone sent these text messages.
GRACE: Yeah. But if they`re, you know, 20 miles apart in 15 minutes, they have to be either driving or riding.
Corporal Dwaine Parker, now joining me, accident reconstructionist, former traffic homicide investigator. Corporal, thank you for being with us. How
could you piece this together to determine whether mommy is actually chatting and texting on Facebook at the time of the deadly crash?
CORPORAL DWAINE PARKER, ACCIDENT RECONSTRUCTIONIST: What I think is relevant here, Nancy is the fact that there were three other cell phones in
the car and none of them left the car after the accident.
The only cell phone they found outside of the car was Kari`s cell phone. So, if she was holding the phone, as the investigators are saying that she
was doing and she actually was texting at the time of the crash, and she was ejected out of the vehicle, then it stands to reason that she`s holding
the phone, the phone gets ejected with her and that`s why that phone left the vehicle and the others didn`t.
[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A deadly crash leaves three little kids dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was just a beautiful soul.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And, now, the mom of one of those kids is accused of causing the wreck. Prosecutors say Kari Milberg was on her phone using
Facebook. While she was driving her SUV, swerved into oncoming traffic, smashing into a truck.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The deadly crash, according to police, is because mommy is chatting and texting on Facebook while driving on this icy road. We also know that
upon impact, her cell phone flies out and is basically buried under ice and only recovered many, many weeks later.
When it was recovered, the deadly Facebook text and messages were revealed. Meredyth Censullo, investigative reporter, joining me. What happened in
court today? This is day one of the trial.
CENSULLO: Day one of the trial basically had both the prosecutors and the defense attorneys laying out the argument that weather was a big factor,
where the prosecutors saying that weather shouldn`t play a role in this; defense saying that it should.
So that was a big point today. Also, though, the woman who witnessed the crash driving right behind Milberg, she told her story of what happened.
She said, basically, she saw what appeared to be Milberg make a U turn directly into the path of that oncoming truck.
GRACE: Misty Marris, Randy Kessler. Misty Marris, those icy patches can really be awful if you`re chatting on Facebook.
MARRIS: The defense is going to argue that it doesn`t matter whether or not she was using the phone. These deaths would have occurred regardless due to
the icy conditions on the road.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: You think the jury is going to buy that, Kessler, that it wouldn`t have mattered if she had both hands on the wheel?
KESSLER: You know, I think the jury is going to have some issues because this lady has already been punished more than any jury could ever punish
her. She`s already suffering, and the question is how did the accident happen? No witnesses.
GRACE: Let`s stop and honor American hero, Claudia Vargas. Convenience store manager calls 911 to stop a kidnap. Two children left in an SUV.
Daddy runs inside. Suspect walks up, takes off with the tots. The 911 call has police there in minutes to rescue the children. Claudia Vargas,
American hero.
Father of three, math teacher, living his dream to run 50 marathons, 50 states by age 50. Next go, continents. Go to George Yam`s GoFundMe.
Proceeds to a no kill animal shelter.
And tonight, we remember Georgia friend Mike Hudgins who have just passed away after battling cancer. Loves sports, hunting, fishing, horses.
Survived by a beautiful, grieving wife, Joan, three children, two step, two grands, six step grandsons and three greats.
Thank you to our guests, but especially to you. 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
