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Nancy Grace
Tattooed Home Intruder Caught on Video Denies ID; Hailey Dean is Back in "Murder in the Courthouse"; Mom Accused Of Killing 11-Year-Old Daughter, Two 5-year-Old Nieces in Deadly Crash; Desperate Search for Missing Mother of Two, Chanda Smith; CNN Hero Helps Escaped Refuges Build Better Lives; Remembering Air Force Airman First Class Elizabeth Jacobson. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired June 30, 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. The nannycam shows it all. A mother and child sit together watching TV, when suddenly, a 230-pound
tattooed home invader bursts in the room, viciously beating Mommy to the floor, raining down one deadly blow after the next as the little girl
watches in horror as Mommy is brutalized.
Tonight, he`s insisting, That`s not me. Bombshell tonight. Are defense lawyers hatching a scheme so he walks?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Caught on a nannycam mercilessly beating a mother inside her home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brutal punches and vicious kicks that sent her flying.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Attacking the mom as her 3-year-old daughter sat helplessly on a couch clutching a blanket.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A mom of two leaves a play date with her little girl and two nieces in the family SUV. But just two blocks from home, Mommy spins out
of control, crashing into an oncoming truck, her little Lydia dead upon impact, the two little nieces dead. Cops say cell phone records show Mommy
chatting, texting on Facebook at the time of the deadly crash.
Outrage tonight! In a stunning verdict, Mommy walks free!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A deadly crash leaves three little kids dead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was just a beautiful soul.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prosecutors say Carrie (ph) Millburn 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 desperate search for a missing mom of two.
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. The nannycam shows it all, a mother and her little girl sitting together watching TV when, suddenly, a 230-pound tattooed brute, a
home invader bursts into the home, viciously beating Mommy, punching her to the floor, raining down one deadly blow after the next, the little girl
watching in horror as Mommy is brutalized.
Well, tonight, he`s insisting, That wasn`t me. But tonight, defense lawyers hatching a scheme so he walks free?
Let`s take a look at state`s exhibit number 1. Run it in full, if you don`t mind, Justin, taking it from the top. Here he comes in, no warning,
no connection between these two. Oh, he comes down the steps after going upstairs looking for things to steal. Graphic video for those just joining
us, a tattooed home invader, a 230-pound brute.
Look at the little girl. She`s seeing all of this. You think she`s not going to remember? Oh! There he is going through her wallet he got from
upstairs, kicking her, throwing her to the -- ow, right to the face! Mommy tries to ward him off. No use. He`s not letting up.
Can you imagine this guy, no connection to -- oh! -- to your home whatsoever. He`s punching her full on as the baby cowering on the couch,
not knowing what`s going to come next. You know what? This guy`s got a one-way ticket to hell, and I hope he stays there, dragging Mommy off again
as the beating continues. You can still hear the beating in the background.
And believe it or not -- look at that! OK, business done. Mischief managed. I`m out of here. And the little girl still sitting there,
cowering on the sofa.
Tonight, he is still insisting, That`s not me. He is even wanting an appeal bond to get out of jail, the defense busily hatching a scheme to set
him free.
Bert Baron, morning talk show host, WCTC. Bert, thank you for being with us from New Brunswick. Bert, take it from the top. Tell me what happened.
BERT BARON, WCTC RADIO (via telephone): Wow. Well, Nancy, just seeing that video again is giving me chills all over again, just when I stopped
having nightmares about this incredible home invasion. Just unbelievable.
2013, a home invasion. The videotape doesn`t lie, a break-in and just one of the most savage, brutal beatings I`ve ever seen in my life.
[20:05:00]I mean, this is worse than anything I`ve seen in a movie, in a television show, and this is real stuff, the beating that this woman
endured with her daughter right there on the couch cowering, this is the stuff nightmares are made of, Nancy, and just -- just pure evil, a pure,
pure monster.
GRACE: Pure evil is right. And how he can stand up and argue, That`s not me. I mean what, am I supposed to believe him or my lying eyes, my two
lying eyes? A 230-pound tattooed home invader brute attacks a mom in front of her child for what? What did he want, Bert Baron?
BARON: Well, who knows. But the most critical thing, Nancy, that this monster stole was this woman`s sanity and peace of mind. To this day, she
feels like she`s constantly a prisoner. She can`t open up a window in her own home anymore just because of fear of what happened to her as a result
of this, this hideous, hideous monster.
GRACE: Look at her, Bert. Bert Baron, look at her. She`s trying to stand up and she keeps falling back down. She can`t even get up, the blows he
rained down on her head almost too much for her to take. That kick right there -- that`s the second or third kick to the face and head.
To Joe Scott Morgan, certified death investigator, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University. Joe Scott, thank you for being with us.
That kick, that last kick we were just showing to the head, where her neck snapped back like that -- what does that do to the human body, especially
from 230 pounds of leverage?
JOE SCOTT MORGAN, CERTIFIED DEATH INVESTIGATOR: This is amazing, Nancy. It`s absolutely disgusting. Let me compare this to something that somebody
at home can understand. This as if this woman has been traveling in a vehicle at about 75 miles per hour and head-on was struck by another
vehicle traveling at about the same rate.
This is the type of injury she sustained. She`s got head, neck, back. Her mouth has been injured. These are injuries she`s going to have to live
with for the rest of her life. She`s going to have neurological deficits, probably an inability to straighten up and walk correctly. Absolutely
devastating physically.
GRACE: You know, she says that she can`t feel portions on the right, entire right side of her body because this thug comes in and attacks her.
You know, Stacey Newman, what are his arguments as to why he should not be convicted? What is he going to try? Because he`s kind of stuck with those
arguments. So what did he argue before the trial judge as to why he should not be convicted because that`s what he`s going to be hatching up from
behind bars to get out of jail? What are his arguments?
STACEY NEWMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, first of all, they`re saying there are absolutely none of his fingerprints in that house, even though
this person`s, the suspect`s, hand is running along the banister on the stairs.
GRACE: Whoa. Whoa. Wait, wait!
NEWMAN: So first of all, no fingerprints.
GRACE: Stacey, Stacey -- put her up! Stacey, don`t look at me and say there are no fingerprints, OK? Maybe they didn`t find his fingerprints.
That doesn`t mean his fingerprint is not in the house. So you`re telling me, as I`m looking at him going up and down those stairs with her wallet in
his hand, that because there`s not a fingerprint, I cannot identify him? Is that what you`re saying, Stacey Newman?
NEWMAN: That is exactly what he`s saying. His fingerprints aren`t there at the crime scene. We also have him saying there is blood that came on
jeans. They found jeans in his apartment, and they`re saying those jeans are his. He says, No, those are not my jeans, they`re women`s jeans.
GRACE: Wait a minute. So is the victim`s blood on his jeans?
NEWMAN: It`s the victim`s blood on his jeans...
GRACE: It matches her?
NEWMAN: ... but he is saying those are not his jeans.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Joining me out of Atlanta, Parag Shah, defense attorney, author of "The Code," out of New York, veteran trial
lawyer Alex Sanchez, defense attorney.
OK, Alex Sanchez, he`s saying those are not his jeans. It`s got her blood on it, the victim`s blood on the jeans. What`s your argument, that police
planted it?
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Listen, the only monster that was in that apartment that day was the monster of mental illness. That`s the only
legitimate defense here. This guy`s...
GRACE: He`s saying it`s not him!
SANCHEZ: ... uncontrollable -- he may -- he can say...
GRACE: He`s not saying he`s insane!
SANCHEZ: Wait a minute!
GRACE: His lawyers are saying it`s not him!
SANCHEZ: He can say whatever he wants, but his lawyer should be advancing the argument that this is a guy that`s so out of control, his emotions are
so out of control or he has some other mental illness issues going on, that he should be found...
GRACE: Parag Shah...
SANCHEZ: ... not guilty by reason of insanity.
GRACE: ... what his lawyers are arguing is that it`s not him. That is their argument. What, are you going to attack the eyewitness
identification?
PARAG SHAH, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I think, you know, if we talk about the jeans, like you said, they`re women`s jeans. Do the O.J. defense. Do
those jeans even fit? And I bet they don`t. And the identification...
[20:10:02]GRACE: Wait. You bet they don`t fit, right?
SHAH: I bet they don`t fit.
GRACE: And I bet you didn`t think that glove fit O.J. Simpson, right?
SHAH: That glove did not fit O.J. O.J. is innocent.
GRACE: OK.
SHAH: And yes, in terms of the identification, I`d like to know if that woman in there, in this video, actually IDs him.
GRACE: Hold on! Bert Baron, WCTC morning show host, she did identify him, right? Did I miss something?
BARON: No, absolutely. I`m just trying to get over the insanity plea. What about the other 38 arrests and 17 felony convictions, where he
claimed...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Stop the show! Stop the show. What did you just say? How many arrests?
BARON: 38 arrests, 17 prior felony convictions for this monster.
GRACE: For what? What are his felony -- oh, my stars, burglary, handgun. Thank the Lord, thank God in heaven he didn`t come in with a handgun.
Violated parole, eluding police. It just keeps going on- theft, burglary. See, that`s what I bet he was doing, Bert Baron. I bet he thought he was
coming in -- why did he get a halfway house in 2006 with a rap sheet like this?
I bet he thought he was coming in to burgle, and it turned out she was in there quietly watching TV with her child. Oh, there`s -- there`s the home
invasion. Released from prison 2012. He had hardly done any jail time at all on the 2011 burglary. It was a revolving door!
And now this woman can`t feel anything on her right side. Take a look at this. Let me warn you it is graphic video. You can hear the mom screaming
in the background as her daughter watches. Ow!
Well, tonight, behind bars, he and his defense team is plotting to get out of jail. Will Lady Justice stop it?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:15:58]UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This surveillance video caught the entire attack on camera, disturbing footage that shows Custis beating up the woman
multiple times as her 3-year-old daughter watched.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She made a conscious decision to take whatever the intruder dished out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I knew that if I started screaming, my daughter would, too. And I was afraid he would shoot (ph) at her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: To this day, this victim is too afraid to even answer her door after this beating. Imagine sitting there with your children -- like I do
every night, right between the two of them. Sometimes we go in Grandmommy`s room and get all propped up on her bed and watch a movie, OK?
Can you imagine a guy bursting in, a 230-pound thug covered in tattoos with 38 arrests, 17 prior felony convictions and beating you until you cannot
feel your right side?
And now a plan is being hatched behind bars for him to walk free. He even wants an appeal bond, according to sources, that would let him out until an
appellate court rules.
Stacey Newman, how can he say that this woman couldn`t identify him? Didn`t she pick him out of a lineup?
NEWMAN: Well, actually, she had problems identifying him in a photo lineup of six pictures. She didn`t pick him out. But there`s four women, two of
them are his girlfriends -- by the way, he was dating two women at the same time. They both identified him as the man in the surveillance video.
GRACE: OK, so there`s a problem right there. I thought when this goes to trial that she identifies him at trial. And you`re telling me in the
original photo array that she didn`t pick him out.
Bert Baron, WCTC, did she ID him at trial?
BARON: Absolutely. And as was mentioned there, numerous -- numerous tips came in as soon as that video was made public. Nancy, there is no doubt
that it is him in the video. There`s no argument. It is absolutely him, and he needs to be put away and put away for life.
GRACE: You know, if this guy gets out on these lame arguments -- what is happening with him behind bars, Stacey Newman? What are some of the
amenities that he can enjoy when he goes to one of the 12 CIs, correctional institutes? What`s going to happen, Stace?
NEWMAN: Well, he can be in education programs, and some of them are even for college credits at some of our esteemed universities. He has TV
privileges, recreation time, and he also, Nancy, can have a job behind bars.
GRACE: Security threat group management. I mean, he should be the one being studied!
Bob Leonard, Sr., covert camera expert with Spy Store in New York City -- Bob, thank you for being with us. Bob the accuracy of this camera -- I
mean, what kind of camera do you believe, in your expertise, that was used because it`s a pretty good picture?
BOB LEONARD, SR., COVERT CAMERA EXPERT, SPY STORE (via telephone): Yes, you know, it was a decent picture, for sure. And I think he`s definitely
identifiable. And unfortunately, this happens all the time, so it`s not a rare case. So happens -- with our new cameras in the last year or two,
which would increase that resolution greatly, and there would be absolutely no wiggle room for him.
GRACE: Bob...
LEONARD: But just so happens that camera could be a year or two old.
GRACE: ... I do not think there`s any room for doubt now. And you`re telling me, Stace, that his own girlfriends turned him in? Stacey, are you
there?
NEWMAN: Oh, yes. I`m sorry. Yes, there were four women who IDed him. Two of them was his girlfriends and one of them was a girlfriend`s
daughter, Nancy, who she saw it on the local news and came upstairs to say, Hey, aren`t you on the news? And he says, That`s not me, and disappeared.
[20:20:02]GRACE: Unleash the lawyers, Parag Shah, author of "The Code," Alex Sanchez, defense attorney, New York and multi-state jurisdictions.
So Sanchez, even the little girl -- the little says, Hey, get up out the bed, man. Isn`t that you on TV? He goes, No. Even the little girl can
identify him, Alex. And you know, your argument that he`s insane, mentally ill -- that`s a pipe dream. Don`t put that out there because that is
simply not true. He`s got 38 arrests, 17 felonies, and you`re trying to tell me not to believe my lying eyes, that I should believe him?
SANCHEZ: Nancy...
GRACE: What?
SANCHEZ: ... the fact that he has 17 arrests or 38 prior convictions, to me, that`s evidence the guy does have some mental health issues going on.
There may be...
GRACE: Now, that shows that he is a convict, a con.
SANCHEZ: No, there may be -- no, there may be no doubt about the identification of this individual, but there is a lot of doubt about this
man`s mental stability.
GRACE: You know what?
SANCHEZ: And I don`t see how come you don`t see it or the audience doesn`t see that this man...
GRACE: Or the jury or the judge or his defense attorney. Yes, he`s disturbed, but being mean does not equal legally insane.
Judith Zackson, Dr. Zackson, clinical psychologist out of New York, is there any shred of evidence to support Sanchez`s claim, Doctor?
JUDITH ZACKSON, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: I don`t think so. You know, to me, he is a psychopath in the real form (ph). He is premeditated. He`s done
it many times before. He knows exactly what he`s doing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:25:40]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A young mother of two attacked by an intruder.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The suspect kicked and punched the mom over and over again. He also tossed her downstairs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her little girl was in the room watching her mother struggling with stranger who kicked his way inside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Now he insists she could not identify him. And this is what he`s basing it on. He`s basing it on the fact that when police first showed her
an array -- it`s called a photo array -- of six different people, out of those photos, she didn`t think that photo looks like him.
Let`s see some of his mugshots, please Justin. I want to see what his mugshots look like compared to what he looks like today because some of his
photos were taken as mugshots a long time ago. Now, look at those, and now especially the one on the far right. Let`s look at him as he is today. It
could have been one of 38 mugshots. Let`s see a shot of him today in court and see if he looks the same as he did in the earlier mugshots. There he
is. Take a look at that.
Bert Baron, WCTC, some of his mugshots don`t really do him justice when you see him in the flesh. But when you see him standing up and his height and
his tattoos, his weight, his gate, that makes it much easier for a victim the identify someone.
Another thing, Bert Baron. I very rarely, when I prosecuted, used a photo array. I only did it when I had to. For instance, if I had to go to a
victim or a witness and they couldn`t come in to a lineup or they couldn`t come to the courtroom, I would use a photo array because photos don`t
always come across the way the perp does. Some of those photos are 10, 12, 15 years old.
BARON: Yes, exactly. In this monster`s case, as well, Nancy. You know what it means when you have old mugshots. It means you`ve been a crook and
a criminal for a long time. And there`s nothing good or nothing redeeming about that.
So if this guy has all these mugshots and all these previous arrests and previous convictions, he`s a monster. Hopefully, this is the last time
that anybody ever has to deal with this monster again and he`s put away for good and society is better place with him behind bars.
GRACE: Warning, this video is graphic. You know, another issue, Bert Baron, her injuries -- Bert joining me from WCTC. At the time, he`s
beating her in the face, in the eyes, punching and kicking her in the face. She had a lot of trauma around her eye area. But that does not mean he
should walk free!
BARON: Definitely not. And you include the broken bone in her back as a result of being thrown down a flight of stairs, and just the mental torment
she will go through for the rest of her life and the fear that she will live in. There`s no punishment good enough for somebody like that, Nancy,
that would inflict a beating like this on another human being. I`m sorry.
[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: A mom of two leaves a play date with her little girl and two nieces in the family SUV, but just two blocks away from home, mommy spins out of
control, crashing into oncoming traffic, a truck.
Her little Lydia, dead on impact. The two little nieces, both dead. Cops say cell phone records show mommy chatting and texting on Facebook at the
time of the deadly crash. Outrage tonight, in a stunning verdict, mommy walks scot-free.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I am stunned, Meredyth Censullo, investigative reporter, that a jury totally let the mom walk. Maybe it was a sympathy verdict that they feel
that she has already suffered enough.
She`s lost not only her child, little Lydia, but the two little nieces, Laynie Jo and Clara. The son, the 3-year-old son lived and the mom lived.
But Meredyth Censullo, after reviewing the evidence at trial, there was no doubt that she was Facebooking, chatting, texting at the time of the crash.
[20:35:00] MEREDYTH CENSULLO, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Yeah, that was pretty obvious. I mean, they even had the recipient of those messages in court.
Now, he didn`t want to relive the conversation. In fact, he says he doesn`t remember it.
But we had him, we had the messages. They were talking about meeting up for a lunch date. It was pretty obvious that this was a conversation between
two grown adults and not as, at least, some, the prosecution, or rather the defense tried to argue that maybe it wasn`t her that was texting at all.
Maybe it was her daughter. But that ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Whoa, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Let`s see those texts again. Parag Shah, Alex Sanchez, how could they possibly argue somebody else is
doing the texts? There`s cursing. "I will meet u for lunch." Friend, "B.S." Milberg, "HaHaHa!" "U r nervous I just may meet ya." "I`m nervous." "Takes
a lot to get me nervous." "I am 2! Kinda bad!" "I`m not nervous."
What are they even talking about? What are they, hooking up on a date? What is this, Parag Shah?
PARAG SHAH, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I mean, it doesn`t sound plausible, but they have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: What, the 3-year-old little boy did it?
SHAH: ... that is was her that did it. The state always has the burden and that`s one of the things they have to prove, that she actually did that.
GRACE: Put him up. Alex Sanchez, I don`t think it`s that hard to prove she did it. Who else is setting up a lunch date with a grown man, what, the 3-
year-old little boy?
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, I hate to tell you this, but this case was an absolute slam dunk for the defense.
GRACE: Why?
SANCHEZ: Because you know there are two legal theories. One theory consisting with guilt and the other consisting with innocence, the jury
must go with the ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: You didn`t finish that quote ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Please put him up.
SANCHEZ: ... consisting with innocence. And they proved ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Put him up.
SANCHEZ: ... in this case, that the tires ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Alex, that`s not the law.
SANCHEZ: ... they proved that the tires were bald and they also proved that there was a lot of snow around. And that was the cause of the accident, not
the fact that she was on Facebook. This case is a little ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: I`m waiting for you to finish.
SANCHEZ: ... from the beginning.
GRACE: OK. Let`s just back it up. Number one, you misquoted the law. The portion that you said is absolutely correct. If there are two -- and this
is what you left out -- equal theories -- equal theories, one of guilt and one of innocence with circumstantial evidence, the jury must acquit.
However, if the state overcomes the equal nature, like I`ve got two points for guilty, two points for not guilty. Circumstantial evidence, the jury
must acquit. However, in this case, Ben Levitan, telecommunications expert, the fact that her tires are bald and she`s driving in the snow means she
could be even more careful, not texting and flirting with some high school friend from way long ago about a lunch date on the phone.
She should be even more careful. Can`t they prove to the minute, Ben, what happened? Isn`t that possible?
BEN LEVITAN, TELECOMMUNICATIONS EXPERT: Nancy, the fact is -- the number one fact is if you are talking on a cell phone while you`re driving, it`s
the same as being drunk at .08. Add the bald tires, add the snow and all that is irrelevant, Nancy.
Talking, Bluetooth or not, is the same as being drunk. Texting or manipulating a device is six times worse than that, Nancy.
GRACE: Well you know, another thing about that Ben Levitan, talking hands free, in my mind, is not as dangerous as using your hands to text while
you`re driving. I don`t think either is good. But in this case ...
(CROSSTALK)
LEVITAN: I`ve testified on this in court far too many times. The headset doesn`t matter. When you are using a phone, your head is not in what you`re
doing. It`s a cognitive impairment, Nancy, just like being drunk.
GRACE: Let me ask you this, as far as proving what happened, Ben. They tried to argue, one of their arguments was that one of the children were
actually writing those texts.
And then when the friend -- the so-called friend comes into court, he says, `I don`t have any recollection of these texts. I have no memory of them
whatsoever.` I find that a little hard to believe. This was her phone ...
(CROSSTALK)
LEVITAN: Grab her phone. If you grab her phone, that will prove everything. That phone was not destroyed. Also, the phone that she was using while
driving has her finger prints all over it. That doesn`t take a cell phone expert. That just takes some fingerprint powder, Nancy.
[20:40:00] GRACE: So, Matt Zarrell on the story, what was their defense? How in the world did they convince the jury, mommy was not texting and
Fecebooking while she was driving these icy roads?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, the -- Milberg`s attorney put the blame squarely on the poor road conditions and the worn tires. He argued
that she`s a single mom raising two kids doing everything she can and she didn`t get new tires when she should have, and that is not a crime.
He also got on cross-examination many of the state`s experts or state`s witnesses to admit that the road was very snowy at the time of the crash.
GRACE: But in my mind -- to Corporal Dwaine Parker, accident reconstructionist and former traffic homicide investigator, Corporal
Parker, to me, when you`re riding on -- you`re driving on -- that just kills me to even look at that, to look at Lydia and Laynie Jo`s grave site.
And I see the third one down at the bottom, the third victim in this case, that would be Clara, Laynie Jo and Lydia.
To me, Corporal, when you have icy roads, it`s snowing, it`s late in the afternoon, it may be getting dark, that`s all the more reason you should
not be texting and Facebooking and chatting.
CORPORAL DWAINE PARKER, ACCIDENT RECONSTRUCTIONIST: You`re absolutely right, Nancy. You know, just to text or be distracted while driving, it`s
like putting a blindfold over your eyes and driving down the roadway, and nobody in their right mind would ever do that and think that they would
have a great outcome out of it.
And to have that combination and do that, that`s crazy. The accident started when the vehicle went out of control and began to spin. And so, as
an investigator, you have to ask yourself, what driver input did she make to cause that vehicle to spin out of control? And that`s where everything
came apart from there.
[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Tonight, the desperate search for a missing mother of two.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This visitor to New Orleans, 38-year-old Chanda Smith, missing from the Sheraton Hotel on Canal Street. Louisiana police are
asking for the public`s help in finding her. Last seen wearing an emerald green eyelet sun dress and white cardigan sweater with quarter-length
sleeves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Jeff Crouere, WGSO. Jeff, if you can keep the picture of this missing mom as much as you can. The tipline to find her,
504-658-6080. 504-658-6080. That`s the 8th District, New Orleans Police Department.
It`s Chanda Smith. She is 5`2", just 110 pounds. Medium build. Beautiful green eyes. Brown, straight, shoulder-length hair. Take a look at her.
To my understanding, she was last seen wearing an emerald green eyelet lace dress and a white cardigan quarter-length sleeves which come about to your
elbows, a little below your elbows. Has anyone seen her? Jeff Crouere, talk show host, WGSO, Jeff, why was she in New Orleans with her mother, to start
with?
JEFF CROUERE, WGSO TALK SHOW HOST: She was here for a convention, Nancy, called the Junior Beta Club Convention. It`s a convention that recognizes
achievements of young people in high school. It brings in a lot of people from around the region. And it`s a big deal. It`s one of the big
conventions that we host here in New Orleans.
GRACE: Well, you know what, Beta Club is a big deal. That`s when you`re at the very top of your class, like middle school, high school.
CROUERE: Right.
GRACE: The Beta Club, those are the brainiacs. So, she`s basically here for a school function with her mom. Now, where were her two children when this
happened?
CROUERE: From what I understand is the two children were with the mother. They were here safely. The children were safe. Her mom was safe, that at
1:00 a.m...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Oh, my stars. Wait a minute, hold on. So her children were with her? So, Chanda Smith, her two children and her mother are all there. I mean,
how much more safe can you be?
You`re in a very secure Sheraton Hotel with your mother, with your two children at a Beta Club school event. And then she goes missing. She left
without a cell phone. There`s no activity on her debit card.
Now, that evening -- that night, apparently, Jeff, she and the mother, sharing a room and they have a fuss about, I guess, her cell phone going
off or somebody`s cell phone going off and what happens?
CROUERE: Well, at 1:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, she walks out of the Sheraton Hotel and she is not seen again until that afternoon, Nancy when
she is spotted, boarding a Greyhound Bus for Baton Rouge.
GRACE: Well, Baton Rouge is not that far away from New Orleans. And I`m very curious. Is this caught on video? Was anyone with her? Had anyone
threatened her? And is there any indication, Michael Christian, also on the story, did she ever get off the bus?
MICHAEL CHRISTIAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Nancy, authorities are looking for more security video to see if they can establish that fact. They`d like to
know if she got off in bus in Baton Rouge or if she continued on and went somewhere else after that.
[20:50:00] GRACE: Wait a minute, Michael, Michael.
CHRISTIAN: Yeah?
GRACE: Now, Jeff Crouere, WGSO, has just told me they know she got on the bus, or they think she got on the bus ...
(CROSSTALK)
CHRISTIAN: Right.
GRACE: ... to Baton Rouge.
CHRISTIAN: Right.
GRACE: You know in all the bus stations, there`s video surveillance. All right? It`s like going in a Vegas casino.
So, if they didn`t see her get off the bus, and we don`t have any indication she got off the bus ...
CHRISTIAN: Right.
GRACE: ... what happened to her? And she has never been known -- isn`t it true, Michael Christian, to ever leave her children before?
CHRISTIAN: Not that the police have told us about. Police just are baffled by this. It`s a mystery.
GRACE: You know what, Michael, I would say that it`s more than just a mystery. You know, a mother of two goes missing out of New Orleans? We
think she may be gone on a bus, she`s never done this ever in her life.
You know, Jeff Crouere, WGSO, there is something very wrong with this story. This woman was not keen on taking buses.
CROUERE: Right.
GRACE: We don`t have any indication of why she would do that, and if she did get on the bus, she never got off. It doesn`t make sense to me, Jeff.
CROUERE: It doesn`t make sense to me, either, Nancy. But you know, what? When I heard that she boarded the bus, I felt that was a positive
development here because I was worried that she could have been the victim of a criminal activity in the New Orleans area, because in those
neighborhoods around that hotel, that`s some pretty shady areas. I was worried that maybe she had drifted off into a bad area and becomes a victim
of crime. I was pleased when I heard that she got on the bus.
GRACE: But Jeff, I`m not sure she really got on that bus. No ATM activity. No credit card activity. She didn`t take her cell phone with her. How do I
know that`s her getting on the bus? She didn`t use a credit card or an ATM. How do I know that`s her?
Everybody, please, look at this mother of two. Tip line 504-658-6080. and the other thing, if you get on the bus, you got to get off. So what
happened?
Everyone, refugees who escape their war-torn homes hope to build a better life. The transition not easy especially children who struggle to fit in.
That`s something Luma Mufleh understands. She`s this week`s CNN Hero.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUMA MUFLEH, CNN HERO: There`s so many things stacked against them. For you to be successful, you`re competing against all these other people that are
ready like, 10 steps ahead of you. So, how are you going to catch up? How are you going to stand out and how are you going to contribute
successfully? We`re getting people from all over the world from all different faiths to come together to do something great.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: For all the children she helps, it begins on a soccer field. To see where it goes, watch her story, CNNHeroes.com. Nominate a 2016 CNN hero.
[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you seen this woman? Chanda Smith is missing, reportedly observed leaving her New Orleans hotel but hasn`t been seen
since. Smith is described as a white female, 5-foot 2 inches tall and weighing 110 pounds. She has green eyes and brown straight, shoulder-length
hair.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Never before has she been known to leave her children. So, what happened to the missing mom, Chanda Smith? Now, police are saying they
think she got on a bus? Jeff Crouere, WGSO, why do they think that?
CROUERE: Well, from what I understand, there is someone who reported that they saw this lady, Chanda Smith, get on the bus and that information was
then passed on from the NOPD to local media this afternoon at about mid- afternoon. And then from what I understand, Nancy, they are now working with the Baton Rouge Police Department and the state police to obtain that
surveillance video to find out did she get off in Baton Rouge or did she go on to another city?
GRACE: Let me see that map again, please Justin. Jeff, I saw that there was video surveillance of her getting on to the bus, but now, it`s eyewitness?
CROUERE: Yes, from what I understand, it`s some eyewitness saw this ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: So, she had to go 1.1 miles to the Greyhound Bus Station, walk the whole way and then get a bus? Why would she -- why would she go to Baton
Rouge? Is that her home?
CROUERE: No. Maybe it`s on the way back to Union, Mississippi, which is where she`s from. Baton rouge is about 80 miles no5rth of New Orleans.
GRACE: Now -- OK, I don`t understand this. So, Michael Christian, that doesn`t make sense to go somewhere that -- why would she get on a bus to
Baton Rouge? Leave a Beta Club Convention she`s at with her mom and her children and walk a mile and a half, or 1.1 miles through New Orleans in
the middle of the night, 1 o`clock in the morning and get on a Greyhound Bus to nowhere? Not that Baton Rouge is nowhere. What I mean by that is
that`s not her home. Why go to Baton Rouge? I don`t think she was on that bus.
CHRISTIAN: We were told by a police spokesperson, Nancy, that they had seen surveillance video that they believe was her on that bus -- or getting on
that bus.
GRACE: So you`re saying there is surveillance video? You know what ...
(CROSSTALK)
CHRISTIAN: That`s what the cops told us.
GRACE: This is what I know. Tipline 504-658-6080 -- 8-0. There are two little children that want mommy to come home.
Let`s remember American hero Air Force Airman First Class Elizabeth Jacobson, just 21. Riviera Beach, Florida. Bronze Star, Purple Heart. The
first female airman killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Dreamed of a career in law enforcement. Parents, David and Marianne. Three sisters, one
brother. Elizabeth Jacobson, American hero.
Thanks to our guests, but especially to you for being with us tonight. 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)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The song is called "The Cheater". It`s Bob Kuban and the In-Men.
(APPLAUSE)
PETER THOMAS, "FORENSIC FILES" NARRATOR: In the 1960s ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
END
