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Nancy Grace
Kentucky Girl Vanishes After Stepmother Found Murdered; Mystery of Jacob Wetterling is Solved; Girl Vanishes from Evansville, Indiana, Home. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired September 07, 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, live to Danville and the search for a teen girl who mysteriously goes missing after her
stepmother is found murdered in her own home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When police found the body of Rhonda Oakley here at her Boyle County home, they knew it was foul play, a murder. Missing in
action, her 15-year-old stepdaughter Jenna Oakley, who he was found 1,200 miles away in New Mexico along with 20-year-old Kenneth Nigh of Indiana.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kentucky State Police tracked them through a cell phone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Eleven-year-old Jacob Wetterling riding his bicycle with his brother and a little friend when a masked gunman kidnaps him. But tonight,
after 27 years, the mystery of Jacob Wetterling is solved.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) favorite color is blue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For nearly three decades, the Wetterling family held onto hope. Now their worst fears becoming a reality.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bones consistent with a juvenile male, teeth that would eventually be matched to Jacob`s dental records.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jacob, I`m so sorry! It`s incredibly painful to know his last days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. Live to Danville and the search for a teen girl who mysteriously goes missing after her stepmother is found murdered in her own
home. You are seeing photos now of the teen girl we`re talking about, her mother, Rhonda Oakley, found dead, the stepmother gruesomely murdered. As
a matter of fact, when police come in, they know immediately it was not natural causes. The girl, Jenna Oakley, the victim`s stepdaughter.
Straight out to Will Clark, anchor with WHAS. My first question to you, Will, is specifically who found the victim`s dead body?
WILL CLARK, WHAS (via telephone): They are saying that it was somebody who had come home after school, another child, possibly...
GRACE: OK, hold on. Michael Christian, I thought it was her stepbrother.
MICHAEL CHRISTIAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: It`s actually Jenna`s brother, and the mother, the woman who was killed, was their stepmother.
GRACE: Oh, I understand. Their stepmother.
CHRISTIAN: Right.
GRACE: So her brother comes home from school -- and he`s young himself. He was at school, too -- comes home to find the mother, the stepmother,
dead.
And Michael Christian, they won`t tell us the cause of death. They`re keeping that under wraps. But isn`t it true the moment that police and
authorities see this body, when the little boy calls police, they know immediately she did not die of a stroke or a heart attack. She was
murdered.
CHRISTIAN: That`s right, Nancy. The county coroner said that this was not a self-inflicted wound. There`s really no question that she was killed by
someone else.
GRACE: Will Clark, WHAS, what can you tell me about the neighborhood? From what we can tell, very low crime rate. There had been no burglaries
in the home before, nothing to suggest an outside intruder broke into this home and killed the stepmother. Is that correct?
CLARK: Yes. Danville and Boyle County is generally a pretty calm and quiet part of the state. It`s just a little bit south of the Lexington
area, so it`s in kind of horse country. So it`s not the kind of place you would expect to get call on a homicide.
GRACE: Horse country. What do you mean by that, Will Clark, in the middle of horse country?
CLARK: A lot of the horse farms, thoroughbred horse farms, the horses you see in the Kentucky Derby, come from the farms that are around the
Lexington area in central Kentucky.
GRACE: Wow. So this is a very -- I`ve seen the landscape there. The terrain is beautiful. So it makes sense. This is where horse breeding
goes on, a lot of horse farms there. It`s not a big urban area. There`s not a huge population where she was murdered.
So Will Clark, WHAS, have you heard any information about how the mom was murdered?
CLARK: I spoke with a spokesman from the Kentucky State Police Richmond post, which is the district that handles Danville and Boyle County, and
they`re not releasing the cause of death as part of the ongoing investigation. All they`re saying at this point is that it was a homicide.
GRACE: Back to Michael Christian. Michael, I know the brother comes home and finds the mom dead in the floor. Now, how long -- do we know how long
she had actually been the girl`s stepmother? Was this a new marriage?
[20:05:00]CHRISTIAN: We don`t know that, Nancy. But I can tell you that the coroner believes she had been dead no more than an hour when the
stepson came home, the brother.
GRACE: Wow!
CHRISTIAN: That`s based on neighbors who saw her coming home from work or wherever she had been that afternoon.
GRACE: Interesting. Interesting. So Will Clark, WHAS, what about the girl, the stepdaughter? Did she go to school that day?
Because just think about it, Will Clark. The mother is found dead by the brother, the little brother. And he`s coming home from school, so we can
put him coming home between, say, 3:15 and 4:00 o`clock.
She, the mother, the stepmother, had only been dead for about an hour. So what happened? How was she killed the hour before school let out? Was she
ambushed? Was she killed by surprise? Was there a verbal argument? Was she hit from behind?
Will, we`re not getting any clues to cause of death, but if they can tell immediately that this was a homicide, it had to be a bludgeoning, a
stabbing or a shooting.
So given those, what can you tell me about the girl disappearing? When did police realize, Hey, not only is the stepmother dead, the teen girl is
gone?
CLARK: Oh, they realized that the night of the homicide, that Thursday night that she didn`t come home, and then they kind of put two and two
together that the victim`s car was missing, as well. And that`s when they started to put on a search and cell phone (INAUDIBLE) search of Jenna
Oakley`s cell phone. That`s what took them to New Mexico, where they found...
GRACE: Now, hold on.
CLARK: ... her and the boyfriend, Kenneth Nigh.
GRACE: You know, I want to get into the boyfriend. The boyfriend is Kenneth Nigh. And he`s much older. He`s a grown man. So how did he meet
the 15-year-old girl?
CLARK: That is still a question we`re trying to get an answer on, exactly how the two of them knew each other. Danville and Boyle County`s in the
middle of Kentucky, so it`s not like it`s a border county with Indiana. So you`d have to believe that there`s some sort of internet connection or some
sort of on-line connection that got them together. But it`s unclear how they knew each other and why the two of them chose to take what New Mexico
police has called a stolen car down...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Wasn`t it the stepmother`s car?
CLARK: Yes. It was the stepmother`s car, but when Kentucky turned it in in the missing person`s report, they put it in as stolen. So now New
Mexico is holding Jenna Oakley in a facility...
GRACE: Wow! Wow!
CLARK: ... on a stolen car charge.
GRACE: Hold on just a moment. I want you to hear what police have to say.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
ASST. CHIEF PETER RIVERA, TUCUMCARI, NEW MEXICO: Officers went to the local truck stop. They didn`t locate anybody, but they had the description
of the vehicle and the occupants (INAUDIBLE) happened to pull into one of our local motel parking lots. The officer discovered them and put
everything together, ran the plate and checked it, and it came back stolen. And they were the people. It has been sealed up and kept here at our
facility under watch. They may want to come down and do some forensic work on it.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining us is special guest Assistant Chief, Tucumcari. Joining me, Peter Rivera. Sir, thank you for being with us.
RIVERA: Thank you.
GRACE: Chief, Assistant Chief, I`ve got so many questions about the case. So the brother comes home, finds the stepmother dead. When will the cause
of death be released?
RIVERA: I`m not sure the -- I`m from Tucumcari. I`m not actually there in Kentucky.
GRACE: So not knowing the cause of death, what can you tell me about the girl? How were authorities able to locate Jenna Oakley?
RIVERA: She was in the vehicle that was reported stolen from the jurisdiction there, and Mr. Nigh.
GRACE: Wow. And so that was her own stepmother`s car that she was in?
RIVERA: Yes, apparently so.
GRACE: What happened when the officers got to that truck stop where her Civic had been spotted? This is Mom`s car, a 2014 white Honda Civic -- had
been spotted at a truck stop. Who spotted it, by the way? Were there alerts along the highway? Very often, you`ll see a tag number and a car
make and model overhead as you`re driving down the interstate.
How was the car spotted? Who saw it first?
RIVERA: We actually -- we were notified by the investigating agency that they had pinged one of the cell phones to this area, one of those local
truck stops, and they notified our officers of it. And the officers went to look, and by the time they got there, they had obviously moved. But it
was just a matter of searching around the area and the motel`s probably a couple miles from those truck stops.
But the officers were diligent, and went out there and looked around, and sure enough, they found the vehicle. They had already had the description.
They had the plate. They had everything they needed there. And they found the vehicle and were able to apprehend the suspects.
[20:10:05]GRACE: And what happened when the officers approached Mom`s vehicle?
RIVERA: I`m not sure. I wasn`t there with the officers. My understanding is that the incident went off without any problems.
GRACE: You know, I`m interested about that particular juncture. Michael Christian, what have we learned happened when the officers approached Mom`s
vehicle?
CHRISTIAN: Nancy, according to a court document, the officer went to the passenger side, which is where Kenneth Nigh, the boyfriend, was sitting,
and asked him to please roll down the window. Well, apparently, instead, Kenneth Nigh locked the door, and apparently, Jenna Oakley actually started
the car. She was in the driver`s seat.
GRACE: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Put Michael Christian up. You`re telling me the little girl we`ve been talking about was driving the mom`s stolen
car?
CHRISTIAN: Yes. It had just pulled into a parking lot at a Motel 6.
GRACE: Hold on. Unleash the lawyers, Hugo Rodriguez, Miami, Alex Sanchez, New York. You know what? Sanchez, I know what you`re going to be arguing,
that this teen girl was under the influence of a much older man and that she was being, you know, played like a puppet. She`s driving her
stepmother`s car! Her stepmother is left, most likely, in a pool of blood back at the home. She`s driving the car! She`s the Bonnie to his Clyde.
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: By the way, I might make those arguments you suggested. But one of the first questions I`d like to -- perhaps you
can answer. Why is she being charged with possession of a stolen car? How do we know that car was stolen? How do we know that the mother, before she
was unfortunately a victim of a crime, did not give permission to her or Mr. Nigh to use this car? It sounds like police are making assumptions
they should not be making.
GRACE: I would love to hear you argue that to a jury. You know, I`m going to throw that...
SANCHEZ: No, this is a legal issue. Legal issue, Nancy...
GRACE: ... to Assistant Chief...
SANCHEZ: That`s argued before a judge, and you know that.
GRACE: ... Peter Rivera. Assistant Chief Rivera, you know, that`s the kind of question that will be asked in court. Why has she been suspected
of a stolen car, driving a stolen car. I mean, to me, it`s obvious. The mother`s found dead. She`s taken off in the car! Did you hear the
question, Peter?
RIVERA: Yes. (INAUDIBLE)
GRACE: OK, could you explain why she`s suspected of stealing the car, being in possession of a stolen car?
RIVERA: I can`t explain for the officers there in Kentucky, what their investigation led them to believe. But there was a reason they believed
that that vehicle was stolen and that she may be in possession of it or somebody else.
GRACE: OK, you know what? I`ll make it easy for you. Put up Rodriguez and Sanchez. I`m pretty sure, Alex -- and I admire you for making the
argument with a straight face. I really do.
But the mother is slaughtered dead. She is off with her much older boyfriend, 2,000 miles away at a truck stop and then pulling into a Motel
6. She`s driving the getaway car. There is nothing to suggest that the mom gave her permission to take the car.
SANCHEZ: Yes, but is all this...
GRACE: What, your theory is she let her take the car and then some little green man from Mars...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Rodriguez, I see you want in. What, are you going to -- you`re going to echo that?
HUGO RODRIGUEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Who cares about the car? She hasn`t been charged with any homicide. She hasn`t been charged with any heinous
crime. We don`t know what happened. Maybe she`s a runaway. I don`t know. But we don`t have those charges before us, speculation as to anything else.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:17:52]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The couple, court documents show, believed to be in a car stolen from Oakley`s stepmother, Rhonda. She was found two
days earlier murdered in the family`s home. A criminal complaint filed in the case shows an offer asked Nigh to roll down the window of the car, but
instead, he locked the doors. Oakley was sitting in the driver`s seat, and even started the vehicle. Officers say the car was eventually turned off,
and the couple was arrested.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: To Dr. Charles Sophy, psychiatrist and also runs the LA County Department of Children and Family Services, author of, "Side by Side."
Charles, question to you. The arguments made by the defense attorneys are legal arguments. They`re legal technicalities. And they do have a point.
How can you legally, technically prove the mother did not give the girl the permission to use the car? Well, of course, it doesn`t make common sense.
No jury is going to believe that, all right?
But what I want to talk do you about is this scenario. You`ve got a teen girl, a 20-something-year-old boyfriend. He shouldn`t have been with her.
He`s too old. And you find the stepmom bludgeoned, stabbed, shot dead in the home. They won`t release COD yet. And this young girl has the
psychopathy to then hop in her mom`s car, her stepmother`s car and take off?
I mean, at that age, frankly, I was afraid -- I wouldn`t have even snuck out of the window at night. I don`t know what I thought would happen to
me, but I just wouldn`t have done it. It would have broken my parents` heart. I don`t know what would have happened, but I`m sure I would get in
trouble.
So what is going on in the mind of such a young girl that she could be 2,000 miles away going into in Motel 6 with a boyfriend in Mom`s car, and
Mom`s lying cold on the floor?
DR. CHARLES SOPHY, PSYCHIATRIST: Yes. No, I understand fully what you`re asking. And the bottom line is, oftentimes, I see this in families that
have a stepparent or there`s been a divorce. There are children who get kind of fallen through the cracks.
[20:20:02]They`re looking for love. They find it in these older kind of guys on the internet, or women, and they fall in love or they think they`re
in love and they feel safe and they take off.
And they`re under a spell, basically, and they`re doing things you would think are, as we see, out of their mind.
GRACE: With me also, Ari Zoldan, technology analyst with Quantum Networks. Ari, thank you so much for being with us. I would like you to weigh in on
what everyone is saying, her being lured in by a older guy, you know, that maybe she meets on the internet. Of course, they`re going to read all the
texts between the two of them. You can`t have a teen girl without texts, all right?
All that aside, how can the texts and the possible meeting of these two on a Web site prove this is a murder?
ARI ZOLDAN, TECHNOLOGY ANALYST: Sure. Hey, Nancy. The answer to that is that there`s going to be a very, very clear paper trail, whether it`s via
social media or via text or any other form of communication. I mean, again, Nancy, we know this is the most powerful tool out there. It`s
trackable. And people still aren`t -- people are still not familiar with it.
And it`s scary on the other side of it because parents -- you know, they leave their kids out there. They`re communicating with people...
GRACE: Right.
ZOLDAN: ... on the internet without fully being educated on what`s on the other side of that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:25:28]UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kentucky state police haven`t said how Rhonda Oakley died. One thing is certain. Police want to know why Jenna
Oakley ended up in New Mexico.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oakley`s stepmother, Rhonda, murdered in the family`s home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jenna Oakley is in a juvenile jail facing unknown charges in New Mexico possibly related to her stepmom`s stolen car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Why did this girl end up in Mommy`s stolen car, Mommy dead on the floor? Now, as of tonight, she has not been charged with murder. She has
formally not been named a suspect. But I can tell you she is in custody.
To Peter Rivera, joining me, assistant chief with Tucumcari. Peter, again, thank you for being with us. Where is she tonight, and why?
RIVERA: She`s currently at the Curry (ph) County detention facility. They have a juvenile facility, which is about 80 miles south of us. And she`s
being held there, I believe, on charges of possession of stolen property, which would be the car.
GRACE: OK, so why has she not been released to her family? Because she`s been formally charged in juvie?
RIVERA: Yes. Yes. Because she does -- she has pending charges here in New Mexico. So therefore, she can`t go with her family until the juvenile
probation system or the officers will release her.
GRACE: You know, I`m curious. In that jurisdiction, with a murder case, would a juvenile be bound over and treated as an adult, Peter?
RIVERA: I think it would depend on the circumstances, and every jurisdiction`s different. It would just have to depend on the
circumstances with the district attorney.
GRACE: And Will Clark, WHAS, what about him, the boyfriend? Where is he?
CLARK: We understand that he is out of jail there in New Mexico and in a Texas hospital after attempting to take his own life.
GRACE: Whoa! Hold on. Rodriguez and Sanchez -- unleash the lawyers, Rodriguez and Sanchez. First to you, Rodriguez. So your theory, your
(INAUDIBLE) theory is that Mommy allows them permission to take the car, and when they`re caught, he tries to kill himself over a joyride? Really?
He tried to kill himself.
RODRIGUEZ: I don`t think either one of us said that it was over a joyride. I think we`re losing focus here...
GRACE: You said the car was -- they were allowed to drive the car. That`s your theory.
RODRIGUEZ: No, well, I know, but we`re losing focus on the homicide. We don`t know what happened...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... brought up the car!
RODRIGUEZ: Well, that`s fine, because you brought it up. But we don`t know if he put her in the car. We don`t know if she was submissive. As
the doctor said previously, children in these set of circumstances are easily led. Maybe he was involved, maybe he wasn`t. That`s what I`m
saying.
GRACE: You know, I`m going to spare you, Sanchez, because your whole theory that she allowed them to take the car has just flown out the window
with the news that the boyfriend tried to commit suicide when he was apprehended.
SANCHEZ: I`d like to know, Nancy -- maybe you can sting (ph). Give one solitary piece of evidence linking this girl to the offense, just one.
GRACE: You know what? Dr. Tim Gallagher, forensic pathologist, when the police go in the home, they immediately rule this a homicide. Immediately,
there on the scene. If that is true, then do you believe there is going to be DNA and/or blood evidence?
DR. TIM GALLAGHER, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST (via telephone): Most likely, Nancy, especially if the cause of death is a stabbing or a hanging by
ligature. They`re going to leave trace DNA evidence. They`re going to leave evidence of their hair. They`re going to leave evidence of some part
of them that will prove that they were in that house at the time of her homicide.
[20:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, CNN HEADLINE NEWS HOST: Exciting news tonight. This week, everybody`s favorite magazine, the "National Enquirer," featuring an
excerpt from the new Hailey Dean murder mystery, "Murder in the Courthouse."
All of us here in the show, huge fans of the "National Enquirer" who has joined us in so many crusades for justice, the search for missing people,
highlighting unsolved homicides, joining us here on the air.
Well, the "National Enquirer" and the Hailey Dean sneak peek is on the newsstands right now.
A reminder, portions of proceeds from this book, "Murder in the Courthouse" go to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Pre-orders
come with an autographed manuscript page. Thank you "National Enquirer."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The certain knowledge that Jacob, 11 years old at the time was murdered by a sexual predator ...
ANDREW LUGER, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY FOR THE DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA: Danny Heinrich is no longer a person of interest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was pure hell. There is nothing I can tell them. I have no information whatsoever.
LUGER: Is the confessed murderer of Jacob Wetterling.
PATTY WETTERLING, JACOB WETTERLING`S MOTHER: Taught us all how to live, how to love. His legacy will go on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:35:00] GRACE: Eleven-year-old Jacob Wetterling, riding his bike with his brother and a little friend. A masked gunman kidnaps Jacob.
But tonight, after 27 years, the mystery of Jacob Wetterling is solved. You know, this job comes with a lot of heartache. I wish that I could report
that Jacob was found alive and well living his life somewhere else. That he had been kidnapped and taken in by some family. That`s not what happened.
That`s not what happened.
Jacob was murdered. An 11-year-old boy was snatched off his bicycle, assaulted and murdered. And one of the facts that is so heartbreaking is
that before the little boy was murdered, he kept asking over and over "what did I do wrong? What did I do wrong?"
After 27 years of wondering what happened to their son, now they know. But tonight, Jacob`s family says our hearts are broken.
To Rosa Flores, CNN correspondent, joining me in Chicago, tell me about the day that Jacob went missing.
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Nancy, it was a chilly October day in 1989 and from what his father had said, they went fishing that day.
It was a normal day. It was chilly.
Jacob liked playing football, so he played with him football that day. And then as night fell, the family went to a dinner party. So, mom and dad went
to a dinner party and Jacob stayed behind with his brother and a friend.
And so they decided to go get a movie and they called their parents, Nancy, before actually leaving their house and asked for permission, to make sure
they had permission to go -- take their bicycles and go rent a movie that day, and the parents said OK.
Well, now we know what happened. Now we know that this masked man approached them. He asked the three of them to get on a ditch and then
allow two of them to run away and told them run, do not look back, except for Jacob. And like you mentioned, he asked "what did I do wrong? What did
I do wrong?" he didn`t let him -- let him leave after that, of course you know that.
GRACE: You know, Rick Thornton, FBI Special Agent in charge, joining me from Minneapolis tonight.
Rick, I want to thank you so much for being with us because you know, I`ve often wondered, night after night after night after my fiance was murdered,
what did he endure? What happened? What did suffered -- what he go through?
And it`s torturous. And I almost wish, Rick, that we had never even found Jacob because now that we know what happened to him and thinking of the
little boy going "what did I do wrong? What did I do wrong?" and this guy taking him and assaulting him and murdering him, I almost wish they didn`t
even know, Rick.
RICK THORNTON, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: It is heartbreaking. But I firmly believe that, you know, the - finding Jacob will bring Patty and
Jerry Wetterling and the rest of the Wetterling family some closure over time. I`m sure they are grieving now but I think in time, you know, knowing
what happened is a good thing.
GRACE: I know. I know. You know, what, Rick? I know that you`re right. It`s better to know than to wonder your whole life. It`s better to know no
matter how bad it is.
You`re right, Rick, and -- I want to go -- Rick, don`t go anywhere. Rosa, stay with me.
Mary Divine, reporter with the "St. Paul Pioneer Press," was in court when this guy, Danny James Heinrich, described kidnapping little Jacob at
gunpoint and assaulting him. What did he say in court?
[20:40:00] MARY DIVINE, "ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS" REPORTER: Heinrich said that he had -- was out that night. It was very dark. He was out on this
dead-end road in Paynesville. And he noticed three boys with a flashlight.
He said he pulled into a driveway and then waited for these boys to come back. They were on their way to the store, to the Tom Thumb convenience
store to get a movie, and he actually laid in wait for them on their way back and then he stopped them. He said after about 20 minutes or so they
came back, he stepped out of the car, put on a mask and reached for his revolver. (AUDIO GAP) ditch with their bicycles, I asked their names and
their ages. And as Heinrich said, he let two of them go but for some reason he made Jacob stay.
They tried to just give him the movie as sort of a, you know, here, why don`t you take this and then just let us go. He said that he knocked that
down. They tried to shine a flashlight in my face. He said, I told them not to. And then we know what happened next.
GRACE: No, we don`t. What did he say happened next?
DIVINE: He said that he handcuffed Jacob`s hands behind his back and then forced Jacob into the front seat of his car. He was monitoring traffic. He
had a Regency 50 channel police scanner, he said, in the car with him as they drove away from the scene. And he said he told Jacob to duck down,
lean forward in the seat. He could actually monitor the kidnapping on the police scanner. Wand then when they got out of town, he told Jacob that he
could get up.
[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACOB WETTERLING, ASSAULTED AND MURDERED (A VIDEO RECORDING): My favorite food is steak. My favorite color is blue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For nearly three decades, the Wetterling family held onto hope. Now, their worst fear is becoming a reality.
LUGER: Bones consistent with a juvenile male. Teeth that would eventually be matched to Jacob`s dental record.
WETTERLING: Jacob, I`m so sorry. It`s incredibly painful to know his last days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Should this guy have already been behind bars? Straight out to Matt Zarrell. Isn`t it true that he was suspected in other cases, and as a
matter of fact, there are eight other cases similar to this one?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Yes. Nancy, there`s one in particular that he actually had DNA matched to which was a 12-year-old who was
abducted and assaulted about six months prior to Jacob. But in the two years prior, they have seven, excuse me, eight different incidents, seven
victims similar pattern.
Police described the description of the attacker is the general description of Heinrich. Each assault was less than a mile from his home. It involved
an assailant approaching boys about 12 years old who are either in a public place, walking or in a bicycle.
The assailant would grope them. A few times the assailant would ask the boys their age, just like Jacob. A few times they would threaten to kill
the child, just like Jacob and the attacker usually wore a mask, just like Jacob.
GRACE: With me, FBI Special Agent in charge, Rick Thornton joining us out of Minneapolis. Tonight, again Rick, thank you for being with us.
When I was just speaking with Mary Divine who was in court and heard the suspect divulge what happened to Jacob Wetterling, we left off with Jacob
in the backseat of the car, handcuffed. What happened then?
THORNTON: So, out of respect for the family, I`m not going to talk about anything that was not ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Yes.
THORNTON: ... told ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Agreed.
THORNTON: ... by Heinrich in court. But basically, they drove around for approximately 30 minutes then arrived at a location there in Paynesville,
ordered Jacob out of car, unhandcuffed him, sexually assaulted him and then Danny Heinrich shot Jacob twice with a .38 caliber revolver and killed him.
GRACE: Rick Thornton, I agree. We don`t need to hear all of the details about what happened to Jacob. What I don`t understand, I guess, what I`m
getting at is why did he feel he had to shoot the boy dead? Because if it`s true, Rick, as I believe it is, that he is responsible for at least some of
the eight other incidents. Those boys were not killed. Why Jacob?
THORNTON: As best we can piece together, and this is based on what, you know, I think what we -- what we know from a variety of sources, it
appeared that Heinrich just -- he -- he panicked, basically.
He saw a police cruiser drive near where he was with Jacob and decided that, you know, that this had to end at that time. He -- again, he shot and
killed Jacob, left him there for dead.
GRACE: And where -- what jurisdiction was it? Where was the body left?
THORNTON: Initially, it was left in -- in rural Paynesville, Minnesota, which is - which is in Stearns County.
GRACE: And let me understand something, matt Zarrell, they don`t have the death penalty in Minnesota?
ZARRELL: No, they do not, Nancy.
GRACE: So Rick, I know this got to be a frustrating part of your job. He can molest or kill as many boys as he wants, and he will never get the
death penalty, ever, in Minnesota.
THORNTON: Danny Heinrich is 53 years old. He`s going to federal prison for most likely a 20-year sentence and with a possibility of civil commitment
thereafter. You know, this, I believe, is effectively a life sentence for him, you know, as far as a lack of a death penalty, that is what the state
legislation ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: You`re right. You`re right Rick.
THORNTON: ... of Minnesota has agreed to.
GRACE: You are right. I want you to listen to Jacob Wetterling`s mother. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WETTERLING: I want to say to Jacob I`m so sorry. It`s incredibly painful to know his last days, last hour, last minutes. He`s taught us all how to
live, how to love, how to be fair, how to be kind.
He speaks to the world that he knew, that we all believe in and that it`s a world that`s worth fighting for. His legacy will go on.
[20:50:00] GRACE: His legacy is going on, and I know that tonight Jacob Wetterling is finally at peace.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jacob Wetterling`s mother confronting a reality that she has dreaded for 27 years, the certain knowledge that Jacob, 11 years old
that the time, was murdered by a sexual predator.
The 53-year-old Danny Heinrich confessing that he kidnapped Jacob on a rural road in October 1989 then sexually assaulted and murdered the boy.
Heinrich agreeing to confess to the killing and lead authorities to Jacob`s remains as part of a plea deal. Officials describing the grizzly details of
what was found.
But the discovery came at a cost. Heinrich now set to receive just a 20- year sentence for possession of child pornography. Authorities agreeing not to charge him in Jacob`s death saying that the plea deal was the only way
to bring closure in a heart-wrenching decades-long case. Something the family signed off on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:55:00] GRACE: I agree with Rick Thornton that this will effectively be a life sentence for the perpetrator. I feel that the prosecutor`s hands
were tied given the laws in that jurisdiction. This guy is responsible, I firmly believe, for more attacks on young boys that remain to this day
unsolved.
Matt Zarrell, isn`t it true he went back and moved Jacob`s remains?
ZARRELL: Yes. He actually waited a year, a year later, Heinrich says he returned to the area and noticed the makeshift grave was becoming
noticeable. He actually saw Jacob Wetterling`s red jacket visible. He gathered the human remains, he put them in a bag and transported across the
highway to a field and reburied the remains in a grave about two feet deep using an army entrenching tool. He put the bones in the grave, put the
jacket on top and covered it up.
Now, last week, he brought authorities to the grave site. Authorities dug and uncovered a fragment of that red jacket that matched Jacob -- what
Jacob was wearing when he disappeared. Then after they re-interviewed him they went back, they located bones, teeth and a T-shirt with the name
Wetterling stenciled inside.
GRACE: To Dr. Tim Gallagher, forensic pathologist, I understand the T- shirt, really, is a major, major find. But based on the remains themselves, how could they positively say this was Jacob?
DR. TIM GALLAGHER, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIOST: They can look at the teeth and they could use photographs of him when he was alive to compare the teeth,
and that would give positive identification. Otherwise, they can look at some of the bone structures and get his approximate age for their
conviction that this is Mr. Wetterling.
GRACE: You know, tonight, I`ve been going back and forth about whether it would have been better to never know what happened. I agree with Rick
Thornton that in the end, it is better. Dr. Sophy, how can the parents possibly get beyond this? How can they? How can you ever?
DR. CHARLES SOPHY, PSYCHIATRIST: It`s very difficult to get past it. But at least this information will allow them the closure and to fully mourn the
loss of their son because as of until this information came in, they were stuck in a mourning process.
GRACE: And I have reason to believe that part of this plea deal, which seems way too light to me, was predicated on the fact that he would take
them and the parents could finally have Jacob`s remains.
Everyone, switching gears. The search for missing Indiana girl.
To Kyle Peltz, right now, tonight, what do we know?
KYLE PELTZ, NANCY GIRL PRODUCER: That`s right, Nancy. Nineteen-year-old Aleah Beckerle, she vanished from her home in Evansville, Indiana. She was
last seen around 9:00 p.m. on a Saturday night and her mom found her missing from her bed Sunday morning.
Now, authorities believe she was taken from her home by unknown individuals, and right now police are saying she may be in grave danger.
GRACE: I feel so urgent about this girl. Maybe it`s because we`re just covering the Jacob Wetterling case. Is there a chance to still find her?
Kyle (Cresher), why are they so convinced she`s in such grave danger?
KYLE (CRESHER): Well, one major concern is that Aleah is severely handicapped and can`t move on her own. She uses a wheelchair, but that
wheelchair was reportedly not taken from her home and is still in the living room. She`s also unable to speak and requires regular medication
procedures.
GRACE: Justin, can you please put up the tipline. There you go, 800-78- CRIME. Please, please, help us find Aleah. She`s in desperate need of medical attention.
Let`s remember American hero Army Specialist Ernest Dallas, Jr., 21, Denton, Texas. Bronze Star, Purple Heart. A park named in his honor. He
loved baseball. Favorite player, "Pudge" Rodriguez. Dreamed of being a cop. Parents, Charlene and Ernest, Sr.; stepfather, Manuel. Ernest Dallas, Jr.,
American hero.
A special thank you tonight to Teresa and all our new friends at Ruby Falls in Chattanooga. Here are the twins in their mining caps with Ms. Teresa.
There was just a lot to like called the "Angel`s Wings". Beautiful. Deep down in the tavern. Here we are just after we come out from underground
taverns at Ruby Falls, and I got to tell you, it was a Labor Day I will never forget.
Thanks to our guests but as every night, thank you for being with us. Nancy Grace, signing off. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8 o`clock sharp, Eastern.
And until then, good night friend.
[21:00:00]
END
