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Nancy Grace
Next-Door Neighbor Charged in Kristen Edwards Murder; Dentist`s Secret Life Exposed; 47-Year Old Man Caught on Camera Trying to Kidnap Baby. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired August 22, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: Breaking news tonight. As we go to air, we confirm authorities identify a dismembered body found in a tote bag in the Green
River. It`s 22-year-old Kristen Edwards. Breaking right now. The so- called good guy, nice neighbor, quiet, unassuming -- under suspicion!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The murder of 22-year-old Kristen Edwards.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The dismembered body stuffed into a bag.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see a hand.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`s a monster out there. I thought about her last moments and if she suffered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take a pretty sick person to cut up a person like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A Tulsa, Oklahoma, dentist leading a double life behind the backs of his wife and four children has it all explode when his mistress`s tot
son found dead, the love rat dentist`s secret life exposed tonight, including claims he bilked a dental client out of $80,000. But tonight, we
get the damning video!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An Oklahoma City police detective testified that the video shows Franklin making a violent kicking motion toward where the
victim would be on the floor, and also picking up the victim and slamming him into the ground head first. Then the detective says Franklin can be
seen holding the limp baby in one arm as he comes into the kitchen and gets a piece of pizza.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And live, a 47-year-old man caught on camera throwing a 1-year-old tot boy over his shoulder to kidnap the child! This was the first time his
parents had ever put him down and let him walk in a store. We have the video.
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. As we go to air, we confirm the identification of a dismembered body. It`s found in a tote bag in the Green River. It is 22-
year-old Kristen Edwards.
But breaking right now. We now learn the so-called good guy, the nice next-door neighbor, very quiet, unassuming, always there to lend a helping
hand, is under suspicion.
Who is this guy? And what happened? To Jake Boswell, reporter with CNN affiliate WBKO. The first thing I want to do is find out who is Clark W.
Smith? How did he know Kristen?
JAKE BOSWELL, WBKO CORRESPONDENT: Nancy, Clark Smith is actually the next- door neighbor of Kristen`s grandmother. And Cave City is a town of about 2,000 people along Interstate 65 in Kentucky. She visited her grandmother
often. She lives alone in her apartment there in the middle of town, and Kristen would often visit Clark W. Smith to use his computer, according to
her grandmother, and Smith also came over and recently helped her grandmother hook up phone in her apartment.
GRACE: So this guy, this Clark W. Smith, he`s 53 years old, would come over to the victim`s grandmother`s home. You said he helped her set up her
phone and activated it, I believe?
BOSWELL: Yes, her grandmother, we spoke with her recently and she says that he would come over and help her with electronic things, and most
recently helped her with her phone in her apartment.
GRACE: You are seeing shots of the victim, just 22 years old, a mother of a little 2-year-old girl, a little 7-month-old boy. Her body was found
dismembered in a tote bag in the Green River. Children came up to the edge of the water and spotted the tote bag. A fisherman spotted it, as well,
and pulled it out of the water. Inside were the remains of Kristen Rae Edwards.
We still don`t know cause of death, but we do know this. She was absolutely dismembered because when the fisherman opened it up, he saw a
human hand, according to what he told me.
Back to Jake Boswell with WBKO. So you mentioned something about Kristen Rae Edwards, when she would go visit her grandmother, to use the computer,
she would go over to this guy`s house next door to use his computer?
BOSWELL: Yes, that`s what her grandmother told us. She said whenever they would interact, that`s the main interaction they had. She would go over
him visit him and oftentimes use his computer.
GRACE: Everybody, I want to let you hear what the fisherman who found Kristen`s body told us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the most beautiful rivers in the state. You`re expecting to go catch you some smallmouth bass and enjoy the river, and
then all of a sudden, you come up on something like that. It`s sitting right there on the edge of the river on the right side.
[20:05:03]I took my gaff that I use to pull fish in, and I reached and hooked the tote and kind of flipped it over and actually cut it just a
little bit more so I could see further into it. And when I did, I seen -- you could see a hand.
Hopefully, we find out who it was so that the families will have some closure, and hopefully, they catch whoever did it, and you know, that
person pays for what they done. I mean, takes a pretty sick person to, you know, take and cut up a person like that and do that to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: In addition to Jake Boswell and Rita Cosby joining us from WABC, joining me right now is a very special guest. It is Kristen`s mother. Ms.
Angie Ponce is joining us. Ms. Ponce, thank you for being with us.
ANGIE PONCE, VICTIM`S MOTHER (via telephone): You`re very welcome.
GRACE: Ms. Ponce, I`m a crime victim myself of violent crime. And I want to first tell you how sorry we are for what you and your family have been
through. I know it`s just been a living nightmare.
PONCE: Yes, ma`am, it has.
GRACE: When did you first discover Kristen was missing?
PONCE: It was approximately around the 20th, 21st that I noticed she hadn`t been updating her posts on Facebook. And I didn`t think much about
it because, a lot of times, there would be a week, or week-and-a-half that would pass. You know, we would miss each other on the phone or things of
that nature.
And I just started getting a little antsy because I hadn`t been able to reach her. And then now I was talking to a few friends and families that
hadn`t talked to her. And it was just getting a little -- I was starting to get a little suspicious.
GRACE: You know, Ms. Ponce, that`s interesting. Everyone, with me is Kristen`s mom. Kristen`s body has been identified as the body in that tote
bag. She leaves behind two little children, a 2-year-old girl and a 7- month-old little boy that will never have Mommy, extremely loving mother. And with me now, her mother Angie Ponce is with us.
You know, Angie, it`s striking me how you just had a gut feeling that something was wrong because it was not unusual for you to go, say, a week
without hearing from her. Y`all would stay in touch, texting, e-mailing, by phone. She had the two babies.
But something kicked in with you. You knew something was wrong. And you know what, Ms. Ponce? So many times in all the cases, the homicides that I
have prosecuted and covered -- so many times, somebody has a feeling, a gut feeling, and they just know. They know something`s wrong.
What did you do when you began to get suspicious?
PONCE: I really started panicking. I called a few friends. I called family. I got on her Facebook. And I just couldn`t shake the feeling, you
know? And then I heard about the body that was discovered in the Green River, and I just got this horrible feeling all over me that I could not
shake.
And that`s when I decided to report her missing. When I did so, the Kentucky State Police dispatched said that one of the officers would
contact me back by phone. However, I knew in my heart that they would not do so, that they would end up showing up, and that`s exactly what happened.
I tried to lay down. I tried to pray to shake this feeling. It was just - - I hated the feeling that I had.
And I laid down, and then I saw highlights shine through the window and I heard the car doors slam. And it was them. And I opened the door and I
just begged them not to have bad news. And unfortunately, they did, you know? And they had asked me why I called them and what was the reason for
it and what I was suspicious -- you know, why I would be suspicious of the body in Green River. And I told them it`s just like motherly instinct. I
just had this gut feeling that something was wrong with my daughter.
And so they continued to ask me questions, and they asked me if she had any tattoos or any way that I could identify her, you know? And I started to
name off the tattoos that she had. And they told me, you know, Unfortunately, that is your daughter, ma`am.
GRACE: Oh! When they said those words, what went through your mind, Ms. Ponce?
[20:10:08]PONCE: It`s undescribable. I really can`t put into words that feeling that -- I just remember hitting my knees and then, you know,
screaming at the top of my lungs and -- Why my baby? And knowing that that feeling was correct, you know, just a lot of anger and mixed emotions, just
like a bad nightmare.
GRACE: With me is the mother of this beautiful girl, Kristen Rae Edwards, just 22 years old when her life was taken. And she leaves behind two more
victims, a 2-year-old and a 7-month-old that will live their life, their entire life without their mother. They will likely have no recollection of
her whatsoever. Their memories of their mother will be based on what people may or may not even tell them.
And with me is Kristen Edwards`s mother, Angie Ponce. You know, I was told that the happiest time of Kristen`s life was when she was with her
children.
To Angie Ponce, Kristen`s mother. What do you know about this guy that is now under suspicion? Everyone thought he was this great neighbor. He was
always there when the grandmother needed help. He helped her set up her phone. He got services activated. When she needed help, he was there.
And very often, Kristen would dash over if she needed to use the computer while she was visiting her grandma. I mean, who is this guy, Ms. Ponce?
PONCE: Ms. Grace, I did not know Clark Smith. He was a neighbor. He was a neighbor of her paternal grandmother. And I didn`t know him at all,
didn`t know anything about him. But obviously, it was someone that Kristen and her grandmother trusted.
GRACE: Universally, he has been referred to as "the nice neighbor." But tonight, he is under suspicion in the murder and dismemberment of a
beautiful young 22-year-old mother of two.
Ms. Ponce, question to you about Kristen`s children. Who has her children tonight?
PONCE: They are with my sister at this moment.
GRACE: Do they know what has happened to Mommy?
PONCE: No. I can just see it in their eyes that, you know, they wonder why Mommy hasn`t come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:17:14]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who could have taken her life in such a heinous way? The tote bag in the Green River with Edwards`s dismembered
body inside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clark Smith was arrested after being taken from his apartment by Kentucky State Police. The man accused lived right next to
her grandmother.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Jake Boswell with CNN affiliate WBKO. Jake, thank you for being with us. Also with us, Rita Cosby, investigative journalist
with WABC. Special guest tonight, Kristen`s mother, Angie Ponce.
Straight out to you, Jake Boswell. This guy was known as Mr. Nice Guy, very quiet, very unassuming. What more do we know about him?
BOSWELL: Well, at this point, we know that he was unemployed. He did not own any property. He was living in those apartments in Cave City and had -
- as we know, at least for a little while, and actually was living next door to her grandmother. When we say next door to Kristen Edwards`s
grandmother, we mean right next door. These two actually shared a wall in their apartment units. So certainly, close in proximity. And from that
point on, we really don`t know much more else about the person.
GRACE: You know, another question. I noticed that the grandmother told us that very often, Kristen would go over to his place to use his computer
because the grandmother didn`t have a computer. I wonder if she found something on that computer, or if while she`s over there, he makes some
type of a move on her and she fights him and then everything goes south.
Jake, at this hour, do we know any motive for her murder?
BOSWELL: At this point, police have not released any type of motive, really not a lot of rumors around town in Cave City about the motive,
either. But he`s listed at 6-foot-2, 260 pounds. Kristen was just under 5 feet. So being inside of that apartment with him certainly at any point
could have been dangerous for her.
GRACE: No match. No match whatsoever. And you know, Jake Boswell, WBKO, he had to know she had children because not only did she go visit her
grandmother, she would bring her children, the 2-year-old and the 7-month- old, to visit, as well. I mean, he had to know this was a mom.
BOSWELL: Yes, and their relationship is still something we`re trying to figure out at this point. As far as we know, he was just a friend that
lived next door to her grandmother, and really at this point nothing more.
GRACE: To Rita Cosby, investigative journalist with WABC. Rita, thank you for being with us. You know, what`s interesting about this -- so far,
there is no suggestion these two had any relationship at all. And it makes me think back on so many other cases where the nice neighbor was the one
that ends up being the chief suspect.
[20:20:06]You remember BTK -- bind, torture -- OK, he was a dogcatcher. He went for years and years and years. Nobody had any idea, had the most
beautiful lawn, kept his house perfect, had a wife, children, the works. He had been attacking and murdering women for a long time, never suspected.
What do we know about this guy, Rita?
RITA COSBY, WABC: Yes, and at this point, we don`t know if this guy had any prior record. We don`t believe so at this point. But as you point
out, BTK, some of these others are silent killers.
The other thing, Nancy, that`s significant is the last Facebook post from her -- and remember, she used his computer -- was on July 14th. And she
did a posting and it says, Somehow, I know there`s more to life than this. But the timing of that posting could be very significant. It could be the
day that authorities believe she may have been killed.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Joining me, Kenya Johnson out of Atlanta, Troy Slaten, defense attorney out of LA.
You know, Troy Slaten, I`ve got a pretty good feeling that this went down in his apartment. And she`s found in a tote bag. And the night that this
body was found dismembered in a tote bag, my main idea on a clue was the tote bag and who we could connect her to, boyfriend, ex, I think I said
next door neighbors. But who would have ever thought a grandmother`s next door neighbor. That tote bag, I`m telling you, traced back to him.
TROY SLATEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Look, what happened to this woman is horrific. Nobody deserves to be killed and then mutilated like there.
GRACE: Straight out to Joe Scott Morgan, certified death investigator, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University.
Joe Scott, hold on. Rita Cosby, WABC -- yes/no. Do we have a cause of death?
COSBY: We do not have a cause of death at this point.
GRACE: OK. So Joe Scott, what do we do now? We don`t have a COD. You know, that`s going to be a critical issue at trial.
JOSEPH SCOTT MORGAN, CERTIFIED DEATH INVESTIGATOR: Yes, it will be, Nancy, and so will the physical connectivity of all of the evidence.
Keep in mind -- I`ve commented on this case before. It`s important to understand, just like you stated, this guy`s going to need privacy in order
to do this, an area where you can hole up and do this detailed work.
You`re going to have to deal with tool mark evidence and also any kind of physical evidence that may not have been diminished as a result of being
placed in this water-borne environment.
Also, this speaks to the individual that did this. Anybody that could do this -- and I`ve worked a number of dismemberment cases over my career --
this idea is that you can dehumanize a person to the point where you can literally treat them like a piece of garbage, dismember them and throw them
away like this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:26:58]UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has to live with the fact that he took a precious, precious woman from her children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A 22-year-old mother of two.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tell them all about her and how much she loved them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kristen`s body was found in the Green River.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will not let her life be in vain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back, everyone. I want to go straight back to Jake Boswell with CNN affiliate WBKO. This guy in court in the last hours -- what do we
know? What happened?
BOSWELL: So he appeared for his arraignment. It was the first time that Clark Smith appeared before a judge. The moment he walked in the room --
there were relatives of Kristen Edwards in the crowd, including her mother. And she immediately broke down and started crying just at the sight of him,
really the first time she had been able to see him since he was pinned for this crime.
A really brief court appearance. He was pleaded -- or rather, had a plea of not guilty entered on his behalf, charges of murder, abuse of a corpse
and tampering with physical evidence. And then he was quickly whisked out of the courtroom, walked feet in front of Kristen Edwards`s relatives,
really a tough day for them today.
GRACE: You know, Rita Cosby, it`s -- I`ve seen it a million times in court, Rita, where you bring in the defendant, and you think that`s going
to make everything better, that the perpetrator has been caught. Of course, he`s still presumed innocent until proven guilty. And the family
sees the person come in. The person gets arraigned. The person leaves, and then they`re just sitting there.
And the feeling, the empty feeling and the rage often, that`s when it starts to build up. Up until then, it`s about what happened, who did this?
Then you realize that doesn`t make it feel any better.
COSBY: And you know what`s so hard, Nancy, in this particular case -- because everybody in this small community was looking for the killer. When
they found her body, they were wondering who did it. And then to find out it is a neighbor, someone who lives among him, it`s just still so shocking.
And when they saw him today, they were overcome with grief and still so stunned at who it is.
[20:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: An Oklahoma dentist leading a double life has it all explode when his mistress tot boy is found dead. The love wrath (ph) dentist secret life
is exposed tonight including claims he milks a dental client out of $80,000 and not only that, tonight we obtain damning video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The board no longer feels that anyone can go into an office he`s in and be safe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, did you have anything to do with the death of an infant.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The detective says Franklin can be seen holding the limp baby in one arm as he comes into the kitchen and gets a piece of
pizza.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You`re a prominent dentist here in Tulsa. A lot of people are wondering what`s going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:35:00] GRACE: OK, this is overwhelming. Scott Mitchell joining me, talk show host, KOKC. Also with me is Rita Cosby on this story. I want you guys
to look at your monitor and see the video that we have obtained. Let`s roll it Liz. There`s the dentist. That`s his mistress`s tot boy. He`s getting a
piece of -- look at the baby.
Now, look at the baby. The baby`s feet and arms just hanging there. Look. No movement. Nothing. So he`s basically got a slice of pizza in one hand
and he`s got a limp baby in the other hand. Scott Mitchell, KOKC, where did this video come from?
SCOTT MITCHELL, KOKC RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Nancy, the prosecution presented this the other day in a bond hearing which he was -- the bond was denied by
the way. It`s another -- there are more depraved acts inside this bond hearing than you can just possibly imagine.
GRACE: You know, Scott, if you can dig up the name of the judge that denied bond because I`m always on so many judge`s backs about low bonds, light
sentences. Finally, a judge has the backbone to keep somebody behind bars where they belong. I mean, really? The facts behind the death of this tiny
infant are horrible.
Rita Cosby also joining me, WABC. Rita, take it from the top and then we`ll talk about the critical piece of tape police are not letting us see
tonight. OK, tell me what happened.
COSBY: Well first, we know this dentist, Bert Franklin. He`s well known in the community, looks like he`s leading a very much a double life, Nancy, on
the surface. He`s a successful dentist. He`s married. He has four kids and doesn`t look like he has any priors in his backgrounds.
GRACE: Rita, have you seen this guy`s house that he has with his wife? Now, this is the house he has with the mistress. Liz, pull up the crib this guy
lives in with his wife. I mean, whoa, OK. Is that the Taj Mahal? Oh no, it`s his house -- far, far away from the mistress. Wait until you see the
inside, Rita.
OK, look at that. I hope you can see this like I can. It goes on and on and on. It`s like out of a magazine, an architectural digest. So, he`s keeping
up the wife and the four children and the mistress with a baby from her previous husband. Then what happens, Rita?
COSBY: By the way, they don`t know about each other too, Nancy. He`s got this lavish lifestyle.
GRACE: He`s got a secret Facebook page.
COSBY: A secret Facebook page, and also they`re not aware of each other whatsoever. So then, the baby -- he`s watching the baby of his mistress.
It`s a 19-month-old baby boy. He`s downstairs with the baby and she hears a loud thud. She comes down and says what happened. He said that it was a
dog, that it was the baby kicking the ball, the dog -- that he was throwing the ball with the dog and that`s what the noise was.
She sees the baby at this point in his arms limp, as you saw, limp there and he says the baby is sleeping. So she goes back up and thinks it`s OK.
It was just a loud thud. That`s all it was. It was nothing attached to the baby. And then early in the morning around 2:00 in the morning, the baby,
she goes to wake up the baby and she notices the baby is having labored breathing and she rushes the baby to the hospital and at that point, the
doctors say this looks like abuse.
This does not look like something natural causes. This looks like a bump on the head and a drop.
GRACE: You know, and neither are saying -- you saw a video earlier from Fastbraces technology on YouTube. This is the dentist we`re talking about
doing his own commercial. OK, so, there you go hotshot. There he is making his own commercial, and I thank him for that so I can get a look at him.
And I got the name of the judge Scott Mitchell from KOKC. It`s Judge Cindy Trulong, and tonight, I want to do a shout out to Judge Trulong because
finally, a judge with a little bit chutzpah (ph) -- a little bit of backbone to not give in to what the defense is whining about and keep this
guy behind bars.
He is behind bars, no bond right now. He wants to get out. Don`t be fooled about that. So, Scott Mitchell, KOKC, I know you heard Rita`s rendition. I
think there`s one other thing and I`d like to confirm this. That at some point he actually says to the mistress, "Hey, your baby`s sleeping with its
eyes open."
MITCHELL: Lots of detail, and we found out that the dental board run by Susan Rogers here, they`ve been investigating this guy since February for
all kinds of depraved activity. This guy has had problems way before the murder. Bad, bad actor.
[20:40:00] GRACE: Scott Mitchell, now, when you come on the Nancy Grace show and you say all sorts of depraved activity. You know I`m not taking
that. What do you mean? A dentist, depraved activity? That`s kind of hard to put together, but what do you mean by depraved activity?
MITCHELL: Well, there is a lot in the bond hearing the other day and the Dental Board also uncovered this, he had patients under nitrous oxide where
he was working on them -- they weren`t knocked out -- they were just on nitrous and he and an assistant according to the testimony presented by the
Dental Board, were talking as she said, filthy activity and talking about sex acts while she was getting her teeth drilled. She was not sedated, just
under nitrous oxide. These stories go on and on and on, Nancy.
GRACE: Ugh. So, even a group of dentists were investigating him. I`m sorry that investigation did not reach fruition before this happened. To Matt
Zarrell, Matt, you know what`s interesting is this video we`re watching right now, that came off her home security video. It`s triggered by motion.
There`s a critical piece police are holding onto. They`re not letting us have it or show it. But isn`t it true Matt Zarrell, that about three hours
were deleted?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Yes, exactly. A police detective told the judge there was a three-hour gap around the time of this incident, and
the portions of the video that you`re seeing, this is part of the video clip that had to be recovered. There`s actually a system that saves an
encrypted DVR that records.
[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BRAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An Oklahoma City police detective testified that the video shows Franklin making a violent kicking motion toward where the
victim would be on the floor and also picking up the victim and slamming him into the ground head first. Then the detective says Franklin can be
seen holding the limp baby in one arm as he comes into the kitchen and gets a piece of pizza.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Now, you have heard the defense argue, argue, argue that the video would not prove anything. Unleash the lawyers. Troy Slaten, L.A. and Kenya
Johnson out of Atlanta -- Kenya, the dentist is walking around at the time the baby is injured with the baby and the baby`s hanging their limp.
KENYA JOHNSON, DEENSE ATTORNEY: Child abuse cases like this are very tricky because there are often other explanations for the trauma. Babies do
sometimes hurt themselves. They fall off of beds. Did you see how junky that apartment was?
GRACE: Right.
JOHNSON: That`s like mine (ph), anything could have happened while the baby was walking, moving.
GRACE: No, it does not look junky at all to me.
JOHNSON: We got to see the forensic on this.
GRACE: Put her up please. Put her up. Kenya, do you have children?
JOHNSON: I do.
GRACE: Well, then you know there`s toys everywhere. There are socks on the kitchen table. There are papers in the sink. There is a weird gooey thing
in the fridge so, that is not a defense to murder, Troy Slaten.
JOHNSON: But there could be another set of facts that...
GRACE: Are you Troy Slaten? You`re not. Slaten.
SLATEN: Nancy, I as a defense attorney -- Nancy, as a defense attorney, I like that video. That video there shows somebody who is carrying a child
and caring for it. He leans backwards when he`s grabbing the pizza. He`s careful as he adjusts the child in his arms. That doesn`t look like
somebody who was just beating the child.
GRACE: Really? Hold on. Matt Zarrell...
SLATEN: And there`s no evidence that he knows he`s being recorded. He doesn`t know he`s on camera there.
GRACE: What can you tell me, Matt Zarrell, speaking of knowing you`re being recorded, aren`t there three hours of deleted video? I have never once,
Matt Zarrell, tried to go back and delete my nanny cam. Not once.
ZARRELL: Yeah, and the three hour gap of surveillance the police say was around the time of this incident. Now, we have a source directly that tells
us the security system is called Vivint. Now, people can have remote access and all you have to do is just have an access indication sent from the main
pass (ph), you can delete things remotely.
Now a source tells us what Franklin didn`t know is that the camera is motion activated and there`s an encrypted DVR that records. So he thought
when he deleted it that was it, but police were able to get the encrypted copies.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Troy Slaten and Kenya Johnson, to either of you, have you ever gone back and deleted your nanny cam, ever.
SLATEDN: Who says that he deleted it, Nancy? Maybe the mom deleted it because she`s got something to hide.
GRACE: You`re doing this. I want you to do this. Question was, Troy Slaten, have you ever deleted nanny cam videos in your home?
SLATEN: No, of course not.
GRACE: OK, Kenya, have you?
JOHNSON: I have not.
GRACE: OK, I want to go to Mark Saltzman, technology expert joining us tonight. OK, Mark Saltzman, help me out. Throw me a bone with these two
defense attorneys. Explain how it`s going to be very simple to determine when someone goes in and deletes video of the nanny cam and how -- I heard
Matt Zarrell talking, but it just sounded like white noise to me.
I don`t what he was talking about. How do you then go back in? It was too advanced for just a lawyer. How do you go back in and then retrieve what
the perp deletes?
MARK SALTZMAN, TECHNOLOGY EXPERT: Well, if you put a digital forensics team on it, just because it was deleted off the DVR, if in fact that`s what
happened. He could have just as easily unplugged the DVR while the act was committed and then plug it in again by the way, but it sounds like he had
manually or somebody had manually deleted the video.
So, if you have digital forensic on the team, they can retrieve that off a flash card or a hard drive, a DVR, that you do not need, you know, you
don`t need a digital -- you don`t need a degree in digital engineering to do that, but forensic people can do that pretty easily.
[20:50:00] GRACE: Yes, I do. OK, you know, Matt Zarrell, this portion of what the police are not releasing, we have gotten a source that`s telling
us, in detail, what is on that video. What do we believe to be on the video they`re not letting us have?
ZARRELL: OK, so what the video shows is apparently Franklin enters the living area where you can only see the upper portion of his body because
it`s blocked by a dividing wall. Now, he appears to step over something. They say -- the prosecutors say he was stepping over the child and then he
turns around and appears to make a kicking motion towards the area where he stepped over something.
Almost immediately after, he bends over, appears to pick something up with both hands, turns to his right and throws something toward the floor. Now,
prosecutors allege that Franklin kicked the child in the head before picking up the child and slamming him head first to the floor.
GRACE: And if it is true, look at this guy. He`s just getting a piece of pizza. According to prosecutors, he slams the baby to the floor head first.
There is cement beneath the carpet. The baby is limp. Now what does he do? He goes and gets another piece of pizza and then he thinks to go back and
delete the DVR. Rita Cosby, WABC, what more do we know?
COSBY: Well, we know a lot about this guy`s background, Nancy. You were talking about earlier the allegations of him doing this sort of sex talk
when one of the patients was under the influence of, you know, the nitrous oxide. In addition to that, there`s also the severe allegations of the
dentistry board where two counts of felony fraud.
A patient told investigators that he asked to borrow $15,000 from her to get a loan on her credit card. He in turn charged $80,000. So there are a
lot of severe allegations against this guy.
GRACE: And isn`t it true, to Scott Mitchell, KOKC, he actually brings in the dog to this scenario?
MITCHELL: It`s just that there`s a long line of things about this guy that just don`t add up. Dogs. He`s writing prescriptions for people that don`t
need the drugs. He`s got his dental assistant drilling teeth.
I mean, this guy`s got a half a bubble off a plum. The phone is ringing off the wall at the dental board because they say after the murder is over
with, people are going, oh, yeah, this guy.
GRACE: Matt Zarrell, is he actually blaming the dog?
ZARRELL: Yeah. His lawyer actually said when the video was played in court -- his lawyer actually argued that this is what he was doing to the dog and
not the baby even though our sources you can see the little child`s leg in the air.
[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: A 47-year-old man caught on camera throwing a 1-year-old tot boy over his shoulder to kidnap the child. This was the first time his parents
had ever let the baby down to walk around in the store. We have the video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A young couple suffers a horrifying experience at a local convenient store when a stranger picks up their baby boy who had just
learned to walk and runs off with him. All caught on video as the terrible moment unfolds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Sandy Shack, talk show host WMEX . Sandy, thank you for being with us. Where did this happen?
SANDY SHACK, WMEX TALK SHOW HOST: It happened at the South Shore India Market in Braintree, Massachusetts. Mom and dad went for the first time
shopping for a while with their little boy. There about 10 minutes I guess, mom puts the baby down for the very first time as you said in the store.
Next thing you know, this guy walks in. We now know who it was, it was Stephen O`Brien, but he comes in shorts, no shirt, grabs the baby, throws
the baby over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
GRACE: Oh my stars. Hold on Sandy. We`re showing it right now. This is the guy we`re talking about, 47-year-old Stephen O`Brien. Comes in broad
daylight into the grocery store and grabs up a tot boy, a 13-month-old toddler, slings him over his shoulder as Sandy just told you like sack of
potatoes and walks out with him, starts running down the aisle with the boy. So Sandy, who is this guy?
SHACK: This guy is a real piece of work, let me tell you. He has a drug history. He was out on bail, $2,500 on bail because he was dealing PCP
angel dust. That`s what he was, and he walks into this market and grabs this little boy.
GRACE: To Dr. Tiffany Sanders, psychologist joining us out of Chicago. Dr. Sanders, its broad daylight. The parents are with the tot. What was he
thinking?
TIFFANY SANDERS, PSYCHOLOGIST: Nancy, he likely wasn`t thinking. My guess is he was high off of some drugs. Like she said, maybe the PCP or some sort
of angel dust, and so he was hallucinating. He thought he probably was in some sort of fantasy, grabbed the kid and ran out. And that is not very
typical of someone with a healthy mind. My guess is he was likely high off drugs.
GRACE: Well, Dr. Sanders, does that make a difference that he was high on drugs? That`s no defense that you steal a baby because you`re high on
drugs. You still stole the baby.
SANDERS: He actually stole the baby. It has no defense and it`s absolutely inhumane to take a child away from its mother and he`s likely was afraid
and scared and crying. He was panicky, but it really puts some context behind why he did it.
GRACE: If this guy doesn`t go to jail, he will do it again.
Let`s stop and remember American hero Army Sergeant Francis Straub, Jr., 24, Philadelphia. Loves hockey, wanted to be a cop. Parents Francis Sr. and
Linda, brothers Brian and Shawn; sister, Dana. Francis Straub, Jr., American hero.
Thanks for our guests but especially you for being with us. Nancy Grace signing off. See you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp eastern. And until then,
good night, friend.
END
