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Nancy Grace
Second Female Jogger Found Dead; Three Girls Fall from Ferris Wheel at Tennessee Fair; Ten-Year-Old Boy Killed at Kansas Water Park. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired August 09, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:00] NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: Breaking news tonight. Murder rattles the small town of Princeton when a second jogger, 27-year-old Vanessa
Marcotte, found unclothed, attacked, murdered, her hands, feet and facial features, basically all her identifying features, burned after she goes
jogging on a rural route just a half mile from her mom`s home.
Is Vanessa`s murder connected to Karina Vetrano, a gorgeous young 30-year- old who vanishes while she`s jogging not from her own home? And in Karina`s death investigation, new evidence emerging as we go to air.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A K9 officer discovered 27-year-old Vanessa Marcotte`s body in some woods just off the road.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The body was found about one half mile from her mother`s home, in a wooded area.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do not know if this was a random act.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Screams erupt at a Tennessee fairground when three little girls freefall from the top of a ferris wheel, this on the heels of a family
afternoon outing turned deadly when a Kansas senator`s 10-year-old little boy goes airborne and dies on the so-called`s world`s tallest water slide
named the Verruckt, German for "crazy." We learn just months ago, another couple suffer a terrifying near-death close call when the so-called safety
harness on the same slide comes loose.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three children were thrown from this ferris wheel at the Green (ph) County Fair in Tennessee. Authorities say they fell 30 to
45 feet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`ve got three kids that have fell from the ferris wheel, three kids.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The movement. I see blood coming from their mouth.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That accident to the latest on the 10-year-old boy killed at a Kansas water park.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just boom, boom. I knew immediately that somebody had fallen off the ride.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. Murder rattles the small town of Princeton when a second jogger, 27-year-old Vanessa Marcotte, found unclothed, attacked,
murdered, her hands, feet and facial features, basically all of her identifying features such as fingerprints, footprints, facial features, an
attempt at dental records, all burned, after Vanessa goes jogging on a very rural route just a half mile from her mother`s home.
Is Vanessa`s murder connected to the murder of Karina Vetrano, a gorgeous young 30-year-old who also vanishes while jogging not far from her home she
shares with her mother and father. And in Karina`s death investigation, new evidence emerging as we go to air.
Straight out to Rachel Crane, CNN correspondent joining us. First of all, I want to talk about the new evidence in Karina`s investigation, her death
investigation. We know that DNA was found in or on her body. But tonight, what are we learning about a possible DNA match?
RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Nancy, there was just a press conference given, and the authorities would not go into the details of the
condition of the DNA samples or her body. We do know that an autopsy was performed, and we do know that additional testing is being performed right
now.
GRACE: Joining me right now is Lindsay Corcoran, reporter with Masslive.com. What can you tell me -- speaking of burning the body,
Lindsay, what can you tell me about Vanessa`s attack?
LINDSAY CORCORAN, MASSLIVE.COM (via telephone): Well, Nancy, I think what we`re hearing right now from sources on Vanessa`s attack is that they`re
investigating a couple of possibilities. They`re investigating a possibility of a sexual assault. They`re also saying that she did suffer
burns on parts of her body, largely her face, her hands and her feet.
GRACE: Take a listen to what police have just told us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, everyone. Just by way of a brief update, a little information that we can give you with regards to what`s been going
on today. I want to thank the media for getting out the tip line. We`ve had hundreds of tips that have been coming in with regards to this. Once
again, that number is 508-453-7589. That`s our anonymous tip line.
We want to ask anyone that was in the vicinity from 1:00 to 4:00 on Sunday that may have been walking, seen a woman walking, may have been driving by
at that time to please call the tip line. Any information that you have may be relevant to this investigation. Again, the investigation is
ongoing.
[20:05:18]We`re still early in the investigation. We`re taking the information as it comes in. There`s not too much more I can say with
regards to that. We`re still approaching this from every angle. We don`t know if this was a random act. We cannot speak to that right now.
Again, we`re asking the citizens of Princeton to use an abundance of caution with regards to this. They`re still working on cause and manner.
They`ve given us some preliminary information that I can`t disclose at this point, but we do believe it was a homicide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: For those of you just joining us, murder rattling the small town of Princeton after a second lady jogger has been found dead. It`s Vanessa
Marcotte, a 27-year-old Google employee. She was visiting her mother in this very, very rural area. I wouldn`t even call it a subdivision.
Take a look at this aerial video we`ve got for you. It was there that her body was found. Her body had been dragged into a densely wooded area off
the path. And we are learning tonight that her hands, her feet, and her face had been burned.
Dr. William Morrone joining me out of Madison Heights, forensic pathologist. What`s so disturbing about that, Dr. Morrone -- this had to
be a local, in my opinion, because who else would have known about that jogging route? It was 1:00 PM in the afternoon, broad daylight, broad
daylight. The police are pinning her murder around 4:00 PM. Now, she left around 1:00 o`clock. And we don`t know how they`re pinning it to 4:00 PM,
but they are.
So Dr. Morrone, it seems very clear to me that the perpetrator thought he had enough time to not only molest her -- she was completely unclothed --
kill her, drag her body into the trees, densely wooded trees, and set fire to her hands, her feet and her face, clearly in an attempt to cover up her
identity, Dr. Morrone.
DR. WILLIAM MORRONE, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Right. Well, the sexual assault is probably almost 100 percent preserved. The external damages are
not going to be a problem with an internal criminal sexual sampling. A sexual kit, the kind we use in rape victims, will be used in autopsy.
And semen or sperm from the vagina is inside the victim. It`s protected from any damage from the fire or the heat. So they`re going to have DNA.
And they`re going to have a cause and a manner of death.
GRACE: Well, you know, what I`m getting at, Dr. Morrone -- and I agree with you. I hear what you`re saying about DNA being possibly inside her
body. I agree with you on that. I`m talking about the second lady jogger, Vanessa Marcotte. But what I`m saying is it`s so obvious to me that the
killer was trying to hide her identity. He burns her face. He burns her hands -- fingerprints. He burns her feet -- feet prints.
I mean, this is actually very sophisticated. It is someone that knows she can be identified from facial features or fingerprints. That`s what I`m
getting at.
And Dr. Morrone, how difficult is it out in the middle of nowhere to burn a human body?
MORRONE: It takes a lot of planning because you have to have an accelerant and you have to bring it out into some rural area, and then you have to set
it up so somebody burns -- burning a naked body is a lot harder than burning a body with clothes. Planning -- there was a lot of planning that
went into this, so there was a lot of premeditation.
GRACE: Yes. And that`s why I`m saying I don`t think this one is necessarily random.
You know, another thing I`ve been thinking about -- to Lindsay Corcoran with Masslive.com. In this case, the fact that this was such a rural area
on this running route -- we know that Vanessa ran full-on half marathons, long races. We also know that the other jogger, Karina Vetrano, dedicated
runner.
I wonder if any of them were in runners` clubs, runners` associations. Is that how they two were identified? Are they, in fact, linked?
I mean, Lindsay Corcoran, listen to this. They`re both in their late 20s, early 30s, both avid runners, both visiting their parents` home. Both, we
believe, endure a sex attack.
[20:10:03]Both put up a struggle, both attacked in broad daylight within a mile of their parents` home, both attacked in a secluded area off a running
path, both dragged away from the running path. It just goes on and on and on with the similarities, Lindsay.
Do we know if Vanessa`s phone has been recovered?
CORCORAN: I`m not sure if her phone has been recovered. Police were doing an extensive search yesterday of the woods, all up and down Brook Station
(ph) Road, where her body was found.
It sounded like they were looking for something that could have possibly been thrown from the road or thrown from a moving car. You know, they were
only a few feet into the woods on both sides of the street, you know, walking in a grid.
GRACE: Right.
CORCORAN: They did not find anything as far as we saw when we were out with them yesterday afternoon. They told me today that they did not search
an expanded area, but that there was some additional crime scene services work being done on the scene.
GRACE: To Ben Levitan, telecommunications expert. I find it very, very interesting that both women were dragged. We know that the Karina Vetrano
was dragged away from the running path where she was there at Howard Beach because of the way that the tall grass had been stamped down when her body
was dragged.
Also, in this one, one of the victims is actually clutching -- it was Karina Vetrano -- clutching grass in her hand, and weeds, where she was
trying to hold on, trying not to be dragged. And then we`ve got the second victim, Vanessa, dragged off into the woods.
So that leads me to the phone, the cell phone. I wonder if police are not mentioning it because they have not recovered it, Ben Levitan. Does that
mean the killer has her cell phone, and can they trace him that way?
BEN LEVITAN, TELECOMMUNICATIONS EXPERT (via telephone): Nancy, if the killer has the cell phone, that would be fantastic because police could
simply ask the cell phone company to ping that phone, send a message to the phone that would return its GPS location that probably would be good to 100
feet. And that would settle this immediately, Nancy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:15:14]UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Marcotte was Google executive. She was visiting her mother here in Princeton when she left for a quick run and
walk on the tree-lined route.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The body of the missing person, Vanessa Marcotte, found by one of the Massachusetts State Police K9 units.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police are now warning people in the area to be careful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Murder rattling the small town of Princeton when yet another lady jogger has been found dead. Now, another jogger has gotten virtually no
media attention at all, and her name is Allie (ph) Brueger. She is out of Oakland County, Michigan, Allie Brueger also jogging near home when she is
attacked and shot. Still no leads in that.
So what is happening? You know, one of my fears -- to Chloe Carmichael, Dr. Carmichael, clinical psychologist -- is that a copycat effect is taking
place, that you hear about a lady jogger being attacked, and suddenly, it gives people the idea, predators, the idea to do this. What do you think?
CHLOE CARMICHAEL, PSYCHOLOGIST: Absolutely, Nancy. You know, we can`t underestimate the power of suggestion. Also, when people who may have had
these types of fantasies or ideas see other people enacting them, and so far, unfortunately, getting away with them, it can set the stage for
copycats.
GRACE: I find it very difficult to believe that Brueger is attached to or connected to in any way Vetrano or Marcotte. However, Vetrano and Marcotte
-- that`s only about 190 miles apart. The similarities are staggering.
What we are learning tonight regarding Karina Vetrano is that, yes, they got DNA, but they can`t match to it anybody. What does that mean? That
means that this person is not in the APIS (ph) system. That does not mean her attacker has never been arrested. It simply means that their DNA is
not in the APIS system.
Joining me is Rachel Crane, CNN correspondent. I want to talk about the circumstances surrounding Vanessa Marcotte`s disappearance. When was she
last seen?
CRANE: She was last seen on Sunday at her mother`s home. She decided she wanted to go for an afternoon run. She left the house at around 1:00 PM.
Her mother and family started getting concerned when she hadn`t returned. So at around 3:00 PM, they called the authorities. The authorities then
went searching for her, and at 8:20, they found her body actually just a half mile away from the mother`s home, right off the same road.
GRACE: You know, another interesting question to you. Rachel Crane, I know that they said that Vanessa Marcotte was found unclothed. Where were
her clothes?
CRANE: You know, we can`t confirm that she was unclothed, but what we do know is that she was found just a half a mile away from her mother`s home
in a heavily wooded area.
Now, the K9 units were called in also to help find her body, and they were extremely instrumental in finding her because this area was so heavily
shrouded. That`s why it was very easy for somebody to hide in this area because it is so -- there are so many trees there.
GRACE: Yes. You`re right. We just showed an aerial view, Rachel, as you were talking. You`re absolutely right. Look how dense those trees are.
They had to bring the K9 units in.
To Lindsay Corcoran, reporter at Masslive.com -- I haven`t heard anything about her clothing. Where is her cell phone? Where is her clothing? Did
the killer take that, those belongings as some sort of a trophy? What do we know, Lindsay?
[20:20:04]CORCORAN: We haven`t heard anything either in regards to her clothing or her cell phone in this case. I think it`s honestly too early
to speculate. All authorities keep stressing is that, you know, we`re only about 48 hours out from the murder, and they don`t have much to provide us
at this point.
GRACE: Listen to what police are telling us tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are concerned about the safety of our town residents and the visitors that come to our town. We would ask people to
pay attention to their surroundings. If you see anything suspicious or out of place, please contact the Princeton Police Department or the
Massachusetts State Police.
Also, if you`ve seen anything in the past 24 hours that appeared suspicious or out of the ordinary, please contact us, Princeton Police Department,
978-464-2928, or the Massachusetts State Police.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:25:00]UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Vanessa Marcotte was visiting family near Boston. She went for a run, but body was found hours later.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The investigation has focused on a timeframe when Vanessa went out for a walk on Brook Station Road and when her body was
found.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: What has become of Vanessa and Karina? Tonight, police in a desperate search for their killers.
To Ben Levitan, telecommunications expert. Ben, we know that portions of Vanessa Marcotte`s body were actually burned. Police are not saying
anything about where her clothing is or her cell phone.
Question to you. If her cell phone had actually been destroyed, say burned, for instance, would there be any indicia of that? Is there any way
that that could be proven?
LEVITAN: Nancy, we don`t need the cell phone to do cell phone investigation. That`s kind of a myth. The forensic on a cell phone will
dump deleted text messages and things like that.
The main records that we use in cell phone investigations come from the phone company. Every time you use your phone, the cell phone company keeps
an extremely detailed record of that activity. If you`ve ever tried to quarrel with the phone company over a call you think you didn`t make, you
probably ran into that.
All the evidence we have has been conserved, Nancy, especially this close after these incidents. There`s plenty of information about exactly where
that phone in both these cases was located.
GRACE: Yes. To Matt Zarrell, on the story. Matt, do you get the sense that police believe that at least one of these killers, if they`re not the
same person, is watching media coverage?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Yes. Absolutely! In fact, one of the officers who`s working the Karina Vetrano case was asked
what the source of the DNA was that was reportedly found on Karina, and he would not say where it was. And he explained, saying whoever did this may
be watching. And he actually pointed to the TV cameras in the back, and he said, I`m not going to let you know what I have because I don`t want to let
the killer know what I have.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers, Kenya Johnson, Atlanta, Robin Ficker, defense attorney out of Maryland. You know, Robin Ficker, in those jurisdictions,
Massachusetts and New York, you can kill as many people as you want to, and you`re still not going to get the death penalty. Why?
ROBIN FICKER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, there are many states that don`t have the death penalty, unlike Florida, where there are hundreds waiting to
be killed. But here, this reminds me of Chandra Levy, where they`re searching years later for the killer. The difference is that...
GRACE: It`s only been 48 hours, Robin Ficker.
FICKER: The difference...
GRACE: How could that possibly remind you of Chandra Levy?
FICKER: The difference is, is that these ladies were very active on social media. They may have had phony friends who learned intimate details about
them. People are releasing a lot of very personal information on social media these days, and perhaps they were known to guys far away who came in
to go after them.
GRACE: You know, I find that an intriguing proposition, that they were followed or stalked, so to speak, on social media. I don`t know if I buy
into that, but there are -- I will give you this, Robin Ficker, there are startling similarities between these two cases. Their common link is that
they were both young, female, brunette, avid joggers, both jogging in rural or bucolic type settings, to the eye anyway.
And you would think, especially in Vanessa`s case, this has to be a local because I mean, look at your monitor, Robin Ficker. Look at the density of
that growth, those trees. Who was going to know about that route other than a local?
In fact, police begging for witnesses. Isn`t that true, Lindsay Corcoran, police begging for witnesses in Vanessa`s case, anybody that may have seen
a man walking, jogging around this time. Is that right, Lindsay?
CORCORAN: That`s absolutely right. Again tonight, you know, or this afternoon, when they were addressing media, they asked us to again seek the
public`s input here, anybody that was in the vicinity of the area from 1:00 to 4:00 PM. That`s the time window they`ve put out there.
They`re asking for anybody, you know, who just may have been there or possibly seen Vanessa Marcotte walking or running along the side of the
road. I mean, they`re really asking for anybody that knows anything to call in. They set up a specific, you know, anonymous tip line for folks to
do that.
GRACE: Back to Rachel Crane, CNN correspondent. Have we got an official cause of death, a COD, on either Vanessa Marcotte or Karina Vetrano?
[20:30:03] CRANE: Well, we do have an official cause of death with Karina Vetrano. We know that the cause of death was strangulation. We also know
that she was, in fact, sexually assaulted.
The autopsy on Marcotte was just conducted and we do know that authorities are doing additional testing, but we do not know the cause of death in that
case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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.
GRACE: My proceeds to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, go to murderinthecourthouse.com. Amazon books` Books-A-Million
pre-orders come with an autographed manuscript page from "Murder in the Courthouse".
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:35:00] GRACE: Screams erupting at a Tennessee fair ground when three little girls free fall from the top of a Ferris wheel. This on the heels of
a family afternoon outing turned deadly when a Kansas senator`s 10-year-old little boy goes airborne and dies on the so-called world`s tallest water
slide named the Verruckt, German for "crazy."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`s been at least three fall out of the Ferris wheel, one is unresponsive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators say one of the passenger cabins with the three children rose in the sky, it got caught against the cabin directly
below it. The cabin with the children turned more than 90 degrees, was hanging nearly upside down horizontally when the children spilled to the
ground.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The little kids. They just screamed a little bit and then they hit the ground and just lay in there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And from that accident to the latest on the 10-year- old boy killed at a Kansas water park.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s been devastating. It`s been devastating at every level.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: That is from ABC`s GMA. And what we are learning is that amazingly, there`s virtually no legislation covering amusement parks and amusement
park rides. Why? How many children will it take before our representatives and senators actually do something other than focusing on their own re-
election? Take a listen to what an eyewitness had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was like just spilling a glass of water. It was like, I would say, 180-degree, and it spilled them out. As they fell, I watched
them -- then -- they were en route of going up, come (ph) the structure. And then they fell, bouncing off of some tubing, steel tubing. They
bounced. One fell, bounced off, the other one fell immediately behind, bouncing off and then hitting the concrete, bouncing off the concrete.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Jean Casarez, CNN correspondent, joining us. Jean, I could hardly take it in. Do you know how many amusement parks I`ve taken the twins to?
Rides I urged them to get on? I was saying that we were just down at Universal at the Harry Potter World which was fantastic, extremely safe.
And I was trying to get them to go on the Gringotts Bank Ride with me and they were afraid. I`m like, `it won`t be -- it won`t be scary. Come on,
I`ll ride with you.` And now, I`m just -- I don`t know what parent in their right mind now would put a kid on a water slide or the top of a Ferris
wheel. What happened in this case? Let`s start with the Ferris wheel.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: let`s start with the Ferris wheel. First of all, it was three young women, a 16-year-old and little girls, 10 years
old and 6 years old. The 10 and the 6 were sisters. It just happened last night, Nancy.
And it is a bucket, right? It is a Ferris wheel, they`re calling it a bucket. And as they went up, it turned on its side, 90-degree angle. The
three of them fell 25 to 45 feet to the ground.
But here`s the saddest news of all, Nancy. The little 6-year-old, the youngest one, she is intubated with a traumatic brain injury, in critical
condition, right now, as we speak, at the hospital.
The 16-year-old has been in critical condition all day. Finally, is stable condition. And then the 10-year-old is in stable condition. But one young
little girl is fighting for her life.
GRACE: You know what, Jean? I just want to take a moment right now and send up a prayer for this little 6-year-old girl who is now intubated, which
means a breathing tube down her mouth and throat to her lungs, breathing for hers and has had brain injury.
It`s almost too much to take in because you know, Jane, the family is there, they are with them and they see -- they call it a gondola, but it`s
like a bucket that goes -- that rocks back and forth. And this gondola is at a 90-degree angle. It is like you`re pouring eggs out of a frying pan
and they tip over. Jean, how did it happen?
CASAREZ: Well, that`s why investigation is ongoing right now, because the state is bringing in an inspector. The amusement -- the fair itself is
bringing in an inspector. This ride was inspected last in June in Indiana. So you see, it is a traveling Ferris wheel, it doesn`t stay in one state.
The company that actually operates the rides, they were having their permit end in August. Now, we don`t know if that`s renewable but the investigation
to see where the responsibility lies, is it the attraction? Is it the operator? Is it the person that should have inspected it on a daily basis?
You know, what actually happened here?
[20:40:00] GRACE: Jean, I`m absolutely sick because you know I did not want to tromp through Harry Potter Land for, you know, two straight days in the
heat. OK?
Do you know why I did it? Because my children wanted to do it, and I wanted to show them a good time just like these parents. It`s awful. And they were
there ...
(CROSSTALK)
CASAREZ: The parents were right there, Nancy. They were on the ride. The parents were there.
GRACE: And you know how it is, Jean, when you -- you want to make somebody else happy and I want to see the children smile and have fun, that`s just
what these parents were doing, not having any idea that this would happen and they`re there on the fair.
(CROSSTALK)
CASAREZ: It is the 67th year of the county fair. One week every summer. Everybody goes.
[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: What is happening and why is there no legislation to control these amusement parks and rides? Last night we told you about a little boy, dead,
on a water slide. Dead on a water slide.
Now, three little girls plunge out of a Ferris wheel. Joining me right now in addition to Jean Casarez is Detective Captain Tim Davis with the
Greeneville Police Department.
Captain, thank you so much for being with us.
DETECTIVE TIM DAVIS, GRAYVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT CAPTAIN: Thank you, Ms. Grace.
GRACE: One question I have. Do you believe the little girls were strapped in and came out? Or were there straps in the buckets?
DAVIS: To my knowledge, there are no straps and no seatbelts in the -- in the gondolas.
GRACE: So the rocking back and forth, it would be very easy for somebody to fall out. And Captain, I`ve never seen a Ferris wheel in my life that
people were not rocking on it. What do you believe happened? What are the facts, detective? Captain Tim Davis with us, surrounding the three girls,
falling out with their gondola, their bucket was at a 90-degree angle.
DAVIS: Ms. Grace, I -- we`re still waiting on the inspectors to finish their report and get it to us. We have -- I was hoping to have at least
preliminary results by now. But I`ve not received anything as of yet.
And the problem for us is we`ve got to -- we have to have their report before we can determine how we need to investigate this, how we need to go
forward with it because we don`t understand the mechanism of this machine. As I`ve told other people, if it is a stabbing or a shooting, we understand
those kinds of mechanisms.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Exactly.
DAVIS: We don`t understand this.
GRACE: I`m with you. You know, I`ve prosecuted -- I don`t even know how many homicides and aggravated assaults. I hear you. I know what to do with
a shooting or a stabbing or a strangulation, but with this? It is a whole different animal. Detective Captain Tim Davis with us. Were you able to
speak to even any of the girls yet?
DAVIS: No. No, ma`am, I have not.
GRACE: So it is really going to be until you can probably talk to that 16- year-old to really figure out what was happening in that bucket. With me, Detective Captain Tim Davis on the case. I want you to hear this 911 call.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: recue command, we`ve had a major incident at the fairground at the Ferris wheel. There`s been at least three fall out of the
Ferris wheel, one unresponsive. Y`all need to get somebody started that way and we`ll get EMS in route.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Request to launch two helicopters to the fairground and have the med unit to come in the back gate.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Got a Ferris wheel accident. Three -- three fell from a high height from the Ferris wheel. They are assigned one, they`ve also
called for two helicopters, two med units.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: we`re going to be putting a (inaudible) in operation. We`re going to need engine one to set up a ladder. We`ve got I don`t know
how many people in a car that`s sideways on top.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ve got three kids that have fell from the Ferris wheel. Three kids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: This is striking a chord with every parent that hears it. Every parent that tries to take your child and do something fun with them, make
them smile, make them laugh, make them have a good time.
The parents down on the ground as the children are up in the Ferris wheel. When these girls plunged down out of their bucket, now this is on the heels
of another disaster, and that is a 10-year-old little boy dying on the so- called world`s tallest water slide.
I mean, Jean with me, CNN Correspondent Jean Casarez. Jean, its name is the "Verruckt", which is German for "insanity" or "crazy". Is there a height
requirement? But I don`t think if there was an age or a weight requirement. There used to be a 14-year-old age requirement. Not anymore. What are the
updates of that? How did this little boy die, Jane?
[20:50:00] CASAREZ: Here are the minimum weight requirements. It is a raft that you go down and it is 167 feet high and you go down.
And Nancy, listen to this. There has to be a minimum of 400 pounds in the raft of three people when you go down. And this was a little 10-year-old
boy. We know the other two people were two adult women who got facial injuries.
How did they get facial injuries, Nancy? People go up and down that all the time. They don`t get injured. Now, all three, one deceased, two facial
injuries.
GRACE: I understand that one of the women had bones broken in her face. Stitches. Hey, Justin, I`m about to go to a special guest, Erica Conrad,
but I want to you pull up that video when they were test riding that thing. That sand bag flying off.
Erica Conrad is joining me, an eyewitness at this very same water park. Hold on, watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: This very same water park to an incident that -- oh, dear Lord. Look at that. And you are going to put a 10-year-old little boy in that? Erica
Conrad, you were an eyewitness to an incident on this same slide. What did you observe, Erica?
ERICA CONRAD, FRIEND HAD CLOSE CALL ON WATER SLIDE: Well, I had -- we`ve been going to Schlitterbahn for several summers in a row and we have never
had any issue with Schlitterbahn, I just want to, you know, make that clear.
The slide is -- we were waiting at the bottom of the slide, taking photos. My husband, his best friend and my little cousin who is 12 years old, they
were getting ready to go down. We had our cameras ready.
They took off and you could hear our friends, you know, having fun and screaming and having a good time. They get to the bottom and I overhear my
friend say `my harness came off. My seatbelt came off the whole time from the beginning.`
And you know, we were all kind of shocked and like, what did you just say? And when he met him, when he got off, that is when he was like, my seatbelt
was off the whole time. It came off, like, the moment he began the ride.
You know, and there was a lifeguard at the very end of the slide who clearly heard and seen that the harness was off. And he was like, `oh,
you`re fine.` He was like, this seatbelt is really just for show. It is really just to make you feel safer. And, you know, that`s basically all
that that is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVIS: The inspectors have found that there is a mechanical issue with this ride behind me, and that they believe led to the incident at hand, but it
looks at this point that it was a mechanical failure that caused this and we will -- the insurance companies and the company, the manufacturer,
they`ll all be contacted ..."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: One little boy, just 10 years old, dead, from an amusement park water slide. Reports we`re trying to confirm right now that there was a
neck injury or even a decapitation?
Three little girls plunge from a Ferris wheel? With me, Walter Reiss, amusement park ride inspector and safety consultant. Question, what type of
legislation governs these rides?
WALTER REISS, AMUSEMENT PARK RIDE INSPECTOR: Well, in most cases you have got the ASTM F-24 that`s either been adopted in whole or in part by the --
by heir legislators, and that is actually incorporated into their law. OK?
There are safety standards that for design, manufacturing, inspection, operation, etc. Everything from regular amusement rides, water rides, go-
karts, etc. But you know, the problem is that there are a number of states that have not taken correct the action and adopted these existing standards
into their law, and Kansas is one of those.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Kenya Johnson, Atlanta; Robin Ficker, Maryland.
Kenya Johnson, somebody is going to be held responsible for this. What is your defense?
KENYA JOHNSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: We`re going to have to look at the inspectors and see if there was any negligence in the inspection process.
But these types of fair accidents are America`s dirty little secret. These are the things that we don`t want to talk about ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: It`s not a defense.
JOHNSON: ... who`s got to legislate that.
GRACE: It`s a secret.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Somebody is liable, Ficker. Somebody is liable for this.
FICKER: We had a Ferris wheel at the world`s fair in Chicago in 1893. We`ve always had these. These kids are acting unruly. They`re swinging wildly.
They may be taking off their seatbelts, if there is a seatbelt.
So, you`ve got to look and see what the ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: That`s right. You know what Ficker?
FICKER: ... you can`t station someone at the top of the Ferris wheel to keep an eye on the riders.
GRACE: That`s right. Blame the 6-year-old. OK. That`s your defense. Good luck with that.
Let`s remember American hero Captain Lowell Miller, II, 35, Flint, Michigan. Bronze Star, Purple Heart. Remembered for an ability to motivate
and love of country. Brother Patrick, sister Janice, mother Linda, father Lowell, daughters Danielle and behind Alexandra, stepchildren Jessica and
Jordan. Widow, Angela. Lowell Miller, II, American hero.
And tonight, an 83-year-old great grandma, Dorothy Dow brutally beaten, even set on fire by four home invaders, survives and crawls to safety. You
stay strong.
And get well, to our superstar, Stacey Newman. Stacey, we are praying for you.
Thank you for being with us tonight inviting us into your homes. 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
