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Nancy Grace
Three Bodies Found After Amber Alert; Texas Woman`s University Co-Ed Murdered and Dismembered; Search for Heather McDonald. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired September 27, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JEAN CASAREZ, HLN HOST: We begin tonight with breaking news out of Indiana, where an Amber Alert for two kidnapped children leads police to
three bodies and a mother behind bars.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The kids were in danger. They issued an Amber Alert in hopes of being able to locate the children and the mother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But that Amber Alert was ended, and that`s because these two children were found dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She advised them that there were two deceased people in the back seat of her car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: A Texas women`s university co-ed found murdered and dismembered in a kiddie pool set on fire in a local park. Surveillance video shows the
murder victim`s final hours as shocking search warrants reveal what was found in the suspect`s home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police recover weapons and a possible bone fragment from the home of the man accused of murdering a college co-ed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello, everyone. My name is Jacqueline Vandergrift (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dismembering and burning her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Search warrants reveal Bryant (ph) had a handgun and shotguns in his home, as well as a shovel, hacksaw and lighter fluid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: A 23-year-old Texas woman vanishes from a shopping mall moments after this surveillance video shows her walking with a man in a parking
garage. But tonight, will Christina Morris`s (ph) alleged kidnapper get off with just probation?
Good evening. I`m Jean Casarez, in for Nancy Grace. Thank you so much for joining us.
Tonight, a desperate search in Indiana. It starts with an Amber Alert for two kidnapped children, then leads police to three bodies.
Let`s go straight to anchor/reporter Dan O`Donnell with Newstalk 1130 WISN. Dan, it started yesterday morning with an Amber Alert for all of Indiana.
Why? What happened?
DAN O`DONNELL, WISN (via telephone): Well, the Allen County (ph) Sheriff`s Department was called to the home on Highway 33 just about 6:00 o`clock
Monday after they received a report that two young children, a 6-year-old and a 7-year-old, were taken by their mother.
Now, the mother does not have custody of these two children. The children`s father has full legal custody, and when reached for comment
later said that the mom had battled drug addiction and that he`s had full custody for a little more than a year. And after that Amber Alert was
issued, police made a very tragic discovery when the mother essentially drove to the police station to turn herself in.
CASAREZ: All right, here`s what I want to ask you. Yesterday morning, Amber Alert. The children are home with her father, who`s got the custody.
And wasn`t his wife there, too? I mean, why wouldn`t they know that, suddenly, she`s banging in (ph) the door and taking kids?
O`DONNELL: Well, that is the question, and that`s what investigators are looking into thus far. We don`t have too much information about the
circumstances, about exactly how these children were abducted.
CASAREZ: All right. Matt Zarrell, NANCY GRACE producer, you`ve got more information on this. What can you tell us?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Yes. The grand father told CNN affiliate WANE that Pasztor he kicked in the front door of the
home after he had already left for work around 6:00 AM, and his wife was actually asleep in the back of the home and did not hear anything.
Now, one thing I should note is there are actually three children that were in the home, a 6-year-old, a 7-year-old and a 3-year-old all belonging to
this mother. The mother took the 6 and 7-year-olds and did not take 3- year-old. He was left behind.
CASAREZ: Wow! Amazing, Matt. So all day yesterday, Amber Alert. They`re searching for a vehicle. They`re searching for these two young children
and who they believe abducted them, the mother that didn`t have the custody. What can you tell us about the vehicle? Was it her vehicle?
ZARRELL: No, it was not, Jean. It was actually a neighbor`s vehicle. When the cops issued the Amber Alert, the police said that the mother was
believed to be with a neighbor, 65-year-old Frank Macomber, and they were last seen in Macomber`s car, which is a `99 Mercury Mystique that had
Indiana plates. They had -- now, they were looking for the car and they believed that they were all traveling inside the car.
CASAREZ: OK. So then finally, Matt Zarrell, take us to last night. It has become public. What happened last night? And it is shocking. Matt?
ZARRELL: So the Amber Alert is issued around noon. Now, about five hours later, 70 miles away from where the abduction took place, there`s an
Elkhart, Indiana, police officer. He`s leaving his station, off-duty. He`s going to his car to go home. And he`s approached by this mother
inside her car, and she proceeds to tell him, according to police, that there are two deceased people in the back of her car.
CASAREZ: All right, now I have a question, Dan O`Donnell. I`m looking at the screen right here, and I`m seeing what appears to be probably the
mugshot of this mother at this point. She`s got dark hair. But I`m looking at this picture right here. This is the same woman. She`s got
blond hair. So Dan, when the change?
[20:05:08]O`DONNELL: Well, they don`t know. They -- the father`s family doesn`t know when exactly she dyed her hair. It`s believed to be in
anticipation of this crime.
CASAREZ: All right, Matt Zarrell, do we have any comment at all from the grandfather or his wife as to what color hair she had the last time they
saw her?
ZARRELL: Well, the last time they saw her, she had blond hair. But both of them have reportedly said that they have not seen her for some time.
CASAREZ: All right. Well, we`ve got a press conference right now. We want you to listen to a little bit of this. It`s when the news broke last
night that those children had been found dead. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Allen County Sheriff`s Department issued an Amber Alert, where two juveniles were abducted. They believed at that time they
were abducted by their mother. On a little bit later this evening, at one of -- an Elkhart police officer was leaving the police station. As he
crossed the street behind the police station, he was kind of waved down by a female driving a vehicle.
When he made contact with that female, she advised that there were two deceased people in the back seat of her.
A little bit of investigation was done at that time. We were able to determine that there were two deceased juveniles, a male and a female, in
the back seat of that car.
At that time, we were able to also determine that that vehicle was one that was connected to the abduction which led to the Amber Alert. Our
detectives now are on scene. Our investigators are here. We`re working with Fort Wayne. At this time, we can -- we do know that Amber, the one
that was alleged to have taken the children, is currently with us, being detained pending some further investigation. Allen County Sheriff`s
Department is up here right now working with us so that can kind of figure out and determine what led up to the deaths of the two children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: So here`s what you just heard. She`s driving the car and she`s got her children, police are saying, in the back seat. And they`re
deceased. And she pulls up to the police station. She pulls up to one of the police officers that`s leaving for the day and tells him, Oh, I`ve got
two dead children in the back seat.
Matt Zarrell, there`s one piece that`s missing to all of this, the neighbor, all right, Frank Macomber. This is a man we understand that was
retired, that lived near her. They were friends. But where is he?
ZARRELL: Well, what happened was is that after they found the children, they spent all night searching for the neighbor at his home and near the
home where the children were abducted. And we`ve learned that early this morning, a body was found in a wooded area about a mile-and-a-half from
where the children were abducted. Police now confirm that body is Frank Macomber and that he was shot to death.
CASAREZ: Oh, my goodness. So Matt, this elderly man here, 65 years old, that we understand was just a prince of a man -- his body was found in a
wooded area. Her children were with her, deceased in a car about 70 miles away. It`s just a little difficult to fully understand here the reasons
why. But we have someone here that is brave enough on come on the air and talk with us. I say brave enough because this is Frank Macomber`s son,
this man who was retired, who was just a good person from everything we understand.
Thank you so much, Mr. Macomber, for joining us. This is your father we`re looking at. And you just found out this morning that your father had been
murdered.
FRANK MACOMBER, SON OF VICTIM (via telephone): Yes, thank you. Yes, that`s correct. I found out earlier this morning that he was found in the
wooded area, as the reports that -- came out with.
CASAREZ: Tell us first about your father. What kind of person was he like? Where was he at in his life right now?
MACOMBER: Best way I can (INAUDIBLE) I mean, he was -- you know, to me, he was my hero. He was my friend. He was -- you know, he was a great father,
a great grandfather. He always put his family at top priority. He was just a great human being.
CASAREZ: Such a great human being that we have heard that Amber Pasztor, the mother of the two children -- she would ask him to do a lot of things
for her.
MACOMBER: Yes. I was told. My sister had a -- let me know a lot of information that she was coming around. She lived right behind my father
in the trailer court. She was always, I guess, needing cigarettes or a lighter or something. But she was always in need of something.
CASAREZ: She didn`t have a car, right?
MACOMBER: Not that I`m aware of, no.
CASAREZ: So she always needed transportation.
[20:10:04]MACOMBER: I believe so. I believe he probably gave her a ride here and there.
CASAREZ: Right. Now, was your father recently widowed?
MACOMBER: No, just recently divorced.
CASAREZ: OK. All right. But he was alone and obviously had been through a lot. So do you think that Amber Pasztor used your father to hitch rides,
or have him do what she needed to get done?
MACOMBER: Well, right now, a lot of these details of the case are, you know, still missing pieces, and we`re still trying to put everything
together here. But I believe that it is very possible that she used him for the vehicle or somehow coerced him into taking her somewhere. It`s
hard to say. I mean, it`s hard to say what the conversation was or what transpired to the event.
CASAREZ: What have police told you? She is not charged in anything in relation to your father at this point. But what have they told you in
regard to finding him and where was he found? And shotgun wound, right?
MACOMBER: Yes. They -- a lot of the information we`re having to find out on ourselves. We weren`t given any information really from the police for
anything. We`re pretty much having to find. We found out a lot of information on social media and through newspapers that were posted and
stuff on line. I mean, it`s just -- we`re just having to dig for ourselves to get a lot of the information. It`s with an ongoing investigation. You
know, they mentioned that they`re not going to release too much detail about the case since they don`t want to jeopardize, you know, anything.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:16:28]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A statewide Amber Alert ends tragically when two missing Indiana children are found dead in the back seat of a car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was leaving. He`s was actually done working for the day when she stopped him and explained to him that there were two deceased
children in the back of her car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mother is taken into custody and is charged with two counts of murder.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez, in for Nancy Grace. Absolutely a bizarre state of facts at this point, prosecutors saying those two children right there -
- they were killed, murdered by their mother. She`s now been charged with two counts of murder.
But there`s an innocent person involved in all of this, a gentleman that lived behind her, a retired man, 65 years old, recently divorced, starting
a new life, just such a good person, we understand, that he probably just didn`t realize what he was involved in.
Frank Macomber is the man, and his son is with us. Mr. Macomber, thank you for joining us. Your father -- I mean, how does it -- he seemed to be in
the wrong place at the wrong time. And why do you believe that she would be involved in his murder?
MACOMBER: Well, for one, the vehicle that they were in was my father`s vehicle. So -- and his body was found pretty close to where the abduction
took place. So I mean, the connection there to me just seems too coincidental.
CASAREZ: Matt Zarrell, I want to ask you, do we have timing at all? Do we know at all when Mr. Macomber was murdered by somebody -- and she`s driving
his car -- and when the two children were murdered?
ZARRELL: Yes.
CASAREZ: Any timeline?
ZARRELL: Yes. We do believe, at least according to authorities, that Mr. Macomber was killed sometime before the children were actually abducted.
Now, we know, obviously, since it was his car, that he had to have assisted her at some point in getting in the car and getting to the abduction
location because his body was found close to that area. But the police believe he was killed before she went into the house to abduct the
children.
CASAREZ: All right, so what you`re saying, Matt Zarrell, is that the motive there would be -- and remember, Amber Pasztor is not charged at all
in relation to Mr. Macomber. But she needed transportation. If you want to abduct somebody and get out of town, you need a car. And that`s what he
had, was a car.
Dr. William Morrone, forensic pathologist joining us tonight from Madison Heights, Michigan. Are you able to tell the time of death at all in any
way from any of these bodies, Mr. Macomber or the two children?
DR. WILLIAM MORRONE, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: If they get to the bodies soon enough, they take core temperatures. In a core temperature, they would
insert a probe likely into the liver, and they take body temperature and use a formula and they calculate down the number of hours from when that
body was at a true physiologic temperature, and it decreases to room temperature or outdoor ambient temperature.
And that`s the rough guide of how that`ll be. It changes when it`s really, really cold and really, really hot. But in normal weather, it seems to
hold up.
CASAREZ: What about stomach contents? Is that a myth, that you can look at their stomach contents and determine?
MORRONE: Well, but then you have to known when they ate, and certain things, fatty foods, digest much slower than carbohydrates or liquids. So
it`s influenced by what they ate.
[20:20:09]CASAREZ: Right. Alex Sanchez, defense attorney joining us out of New York, I want to ask you a question here, though, because you`re an
investigator at the same point. We`ve got her driving a lot. And there is a wooded area. There is 70 miles away where she ultimately ended up with
the children. How do you track a vehicle to see exactly the route it went? Is there a way to do that?
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes. I mean, there`s plenty of ways. The police have access to, you know, tolls. They have photographs at tolls,
videotapes at tolls. They have -- perhaps she had a cellphone. They could track where she was driving at that time. So I don`t think it would be
impossible for the police to determine when she left and what time she arrived. That`s just standard police investigative practices.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An Indiana mother is under arrest after the bodies of her young son and daughter are found in the back seat of a vehicle. Police
say the woman flagged down a police officer who was just ending his shift and told him she had two dead kids inside her car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:25:14]CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez, in for Nancy Grace.
A horrific case. Matt Zarrell, we know that this morning, the autopsies were done on these two children. Are there any results at all?
ZARRELL: There are not, but the authorities are saying that the manner of death is for sure homicide. They have not released cause of death. She is
going to have a probable cause hearing tomorrow, and we are expecting some more information to come out about that. And we do know that the neighbor
was shot to death.
CASAREZ: We do. Was a gun recovered?
ZARRELL: We have not heard anything about a gun recovered at the scene as of now.
CASAREZ: All right. Troy Slaten, defense attorney joining us out of Los Angeles. So she drives up to the police station with the two deceased
children in the back seat. That`s something you can work with. I`m sure if you were her defense attorney, you would have a psychologist,
psychiatrist in there with her right now to get her state of mind because you`re going to say that she has issues with her, probably competency, and
also that she was just out of her mind when she did this.
TROY SLATEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Not necessarily, Jean. Maybe she was trying on protect her children. When you talk about a parent, a bond
between a mother...
CASAREZ: Is that normal?
SLATEN: ... and her children...
CASAREZ: She`s trying to protect her children so she murders them?
SLATEN: She may have been.
CASAREZ: That`s a person that`s in her right mind, that knows right from wrong?
SLATEN: We don`t know for sure whether she murdered them, Jean. She is charged with their murder. We don`t know if she did it. We know that
there is another man, this neighbor, who was often trying to help her, who also went missing around the same time. So it seems like there may have
been something strange, a strange relationship between this 66-year-old recently divorced man and this 29-year-old woman.
Now, she went to the police on her own. She wasn`t necessarily turning herself in. Maybe she was going there for help.
CASAREZ: OK. Dr. Ish Major, you are a psychologist (sic). Put this all together for us, all right? A mother doesn`t have custody of her children,
so she takes them and she murders them! You take them, you want them. You don`t want to kill them!
DR. ISH MAJOR, PSYCHIATRIST: Well, if you take them, you want them. What this tells me, Jean, is the urgency, the property destruction -- that tells
me she was in an agitated state, right? And so the question is why.
Now, we know she`s got a history of drug use, and we know she lost custody of those children. So it`s not uncommon for folks, either under the
influence or as a result of that, to have paranoid delusions, to have command hallucinations, hearing voices telling them to do things.
I had a woman in the hospital just a month ago. She almost beat her mother to death while she was high under the influence of methamphetamine, telling
her her mother was a demon. So we don`t know what type of state she was in. But my hunch tells me it had something to do with under the influence
of drugs.
CASAREZ: And that`s what I`m saying. You`d want a psychologist, psychiatrist in there to see the state of mind at this moment. Thank you
very much.
A manhunt for the suspect who kidnaps a 2-year-old Rocky Mount, North Carolina, girl. The girl has just been found safe. Nevaile Richardson
(ph) sitting alone in a 2004 green Mitsubishi Endeavor left running in the driveway, the suspect jumps in, drives off around midnight. The suspect
described as an African-American male with a goatee in a white shirt. Nevaile found safe in the same SUV, abandoned in Sharpsburg. The tip line
is Rocky Mount Police, 252-972-1411.
[20:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CASAREZ: A Texas Woman`s University co-ed found murdered and dismembered in a kiddie pool inside a local park. Police say surveillance video shows the
victim with the alleged killer just before she`s murdered.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Security video seemed to show Vandagriff and Bryant walking into a bar leading up to the night police say Bryant murdered
Vandagriff, and inside drinking, laughing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Authorities searched Bryant`s home and found a variety of guns, a hacksaw, lighter fluid, possible blood samples, a shovel and a
possible bone fragment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: Let`s to go Senior News Anchor Robyn Walensky with "TheBlaze" Radio Network. All right, now Robyn, I know that we have a search warrant.
There is amazing information of what was retrieved from his home.
But let`s just remind our viewers. First of all, there was a police call that there was a fire going on in a park. Just give us the beginnings of
this.
ROBYN WALENSKY, "THE BLAZE" RADIO NETWORK SENIOR NEWS ANCHOR: Right. The police were called to what`s known as Grapevine Lake, and there was a fire
going on and the firefighters determined that it was a body -- a woman`s body that had been chopped up, Jean.
And these two had met at a bar and then started to bar hop. They went to multiple bars, and they`re seen on videotape at all the bars. And the
police have tracked her pin (ph) to this man`s house.
CASAREZ: Right. And you`re looking at some of that surveillance video right there. Jacqueline Ray Vandagriff. A student at Texas Woman`s University.
She was from Frisco, Texas. This just happened last week. I mean, this is brand new. It just happened. School is in session. She goes out to have a
nice night out, and she`s never seen again.
All right. So now, we`ve got Charles Dean Bryant, Jr., the man you saw on that video. Robyn, what was found from the search warrant, the return on
the search warrant?
WALENSKY: Well, here`s the thing. They got three cell phones from him, Jean. They also got a computer and they also had an iPad. And they were
able to determine that they believe that he has kiddie porn on his devices.
[20:35:00] CASAREZ: OK. Now he has not been charged. He is not a suspect in this. But upon -- you never know what you will find when you execute a
search warrant, so they find this. What else did they find Robyn, in relation to Jacqueline?
WALENSKY: Well, they found lighter fluid in the house. He had purchased a shovel at a Walmart in the wee hours. I mean, there are a lot of things
that are quite suspicious that if you connect the dots, he really does not look good.
CASAREZ: Right. And what about a hacksaw?
WALENSKY: Yes. And there was also a hacksaw in the house and she was found in the kiddie pool dismembered, so, you know, one and one is making two.
CASAREZ: You know, in that hacksaw Robyn, I read that myself, not only the hacksaw but it appeared to have a bit of hair on the hacksaw.
These are horrifying details. Absolutely horrifying. But investigators and prosecutors use them as exhibit "A" to link up exactly what happened to
this woman.
Now, what about the backyard? Because there was a kiddie pool at the park but a similar kiddie pool in his backyard, Robyn?
WALENSKY: That`s right, Jean. The neighbors were saying that he was known to have two blue kiddie pools in his backyard, and one of them was missing,
that shows up where her body was found. And you can see in the grass the imprint of that pool was actually there, the second pool, in his backyard.
Next thing you know, it`s gone.
CASAREZ: All right. Tell me about the bone fragments before we leave what was found at the house.
WALENSKY: Oh, terrible, yeah. The detectives found fragments of a burned, charred remains that are most likely hers.
CASAREZ: All right. I want to go to Ben Levitan. You are the expert for telecommunications. So you can see that through the execution of this
search warrant, they`ve got evidence for what they believe is a case of not only murder but also disposing of a corpse.
But the three cell phones, the computer, and these other electronic devices that found kiddie porn, what would you do with that as an investigator?
BEN LEVITAN, TELECOMMUNICATIONS EXPERT: Well, Jean, when you look at some of these devices, it`s a reflection of their entire life. You look at their
search history, the photographs they have. This is going to give police basically a digital diary of this person`s life and - you know, what his -
what his motives are, what he does.
This kind of forensic is tremendously valuable. What`s also valuable is he`s got three phones, we know the location and movements of that phone.
This phone went 24 miles north of his home to get to that bar, and then they traveled back. What we haven`t heard yet was that phone at the lake?
Did that end up at the lake (ph)? If it did, what else - you know, what else do we need for proof here?
CASAREZ: So you were just saying, Ben, this phone right here, these electronic devices can not only help the case that is being prosecuted now
but it help potential victims that are out there -- children that are out there of discovering who they are and having the evidence to prosecute him
allegedly on other crimes?
LEVITAN: Absolutely. If there is -- has alleged child pornography on these phones, those pictures are going to have what we know as metadata on them.
Buried inside the pictures is an indication of the location those pictures were taken.
The phones that took that, the phone numbers of the people who took those pictures, and this could lead to an entire web of victims and other
perpetrators of child porn.
One picture may be able to draw in dozens of other people who are potential child - you know, trading child pornography because that`s what these
people do. They trade this material. And the phone would be able to point directly to those people, Jean.
CASAREZ: Dr. William Morrone, this young, beautiful co-ed from Texas Woman`s University was not only burned but she was dismembered. They
actually I.D.`d her from her fingerprints.
What does that tell about the burn? Was it -- because I would think fingerprints would burn, too, if you are igniting a body?
MORRONE: Except people go for what`s easy. They put lighter fluid on hand and keep it there, is very hard. People usually put lighter fluid on the
body or the face and the head because that holds the accelerant to burn, and that tells me that the hands didn`t burn.
So the hands or the whole arm will carry forensic data from the saw blade and the type of dismembering instrument, but the fingertips were preserved.
And that`s really important.
[20:40:00] CASAREZ: Dr. Ish Major, very quickly, what is the motivation? This man is innocent until proven guilty. But what is the motivation to
pick someone up in a bar and ultimately, according to prosecutors, murder them, dismember them and burn them?
DR. ISH MAJOR, PSYCHIATRIST: Yes. So, it looks like, Jean, we`re dealing with a psychopath here, OK. We`ve got -- first we`ve got the kiddie porn,
now we`ve got some sexual deviancy. But what are his motivations really? We really won`t know until he gives it to us, but this is a sad story.
Everybody loses here and what we do know is you got a history of this type of behavior. So, this type of dysfunction, there are always clues, so we
just got to follow the bread crumbs ...
(CROSSTALK)
CASAREZ: And ultimately the elimination of a witness. You don`t want anybody alive that could help be that witness for prosecutors and where -
and he has not been charged in relation at all to kiddie porn or any of those things that allegedly were found on his computer.
Well, the search for a missing mother of three in Cartersville, Georgia, Heather McDonald, last seen September 18th, reportedly staying with a
friend, but last Sunday, her rental car was found abandoned at a courtesy inn off of highway 411.
All of her belongings were inside the vehicle. The car keys were lying on the ground. Now, McDonald is 5 feet 2, 100 pounds with brown eyes and brown
hair. The tipline is Cartersville Police at 770-607-6227.
[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CASAREZ: Twenty-three-year-old Texas woman, Christina Morris, vanishes from a shopping mall moments after this surveillance video shows her walking
with a mystery man in a parking garage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The last person seen with her leaving that Plano Shopping Center.
ENRIQUE AROCHI, CONVICTED OF KIDNAPPING CHRISTINA MORRIS: I had nothing to do with her disappearance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know anybody who could have anything to do with it?
AROCHI: I have no idea.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... just nightmares that we all live in ...
AROCHI: We walked through (inaudible) we split, after that, I saw my car. I went to my car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Video of the victim and him walking from a bar in Plano. Her DNA in his Camaro and cell phone video (ph) unravel the web of lies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: Associate editor Jeffrey Boney joining us from "Houston Forward Times". All right, we`ve got some major updates in this case, but I first
want to ask you, this beautiful young woman, Christina Morris, you see her on the surveillance tape.
She`s been with friends that evening. She is walking with a man who we now know is Enrique Arochi, but they were high school friends. They had known
each other. Explain that to me, Jeffrey Boney.
JEFFREY BONEY, "HOUSTON FORWARD TIMES" ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Well, in August of 2014, then 23-year-old Christina and her friends, they were all hanging out
at the start of Labor Day weekend.
They attended this party on the evening she went missing. And on the night of her disappearance, Jean, Christina asked her boyfriend, Hunter Foster,
to come and join them but he chose not to because he wanted to stay home before and he left to go to Dallas the next day on sell some drugs.
He was a major drug dealer. But based on several text messages, you see that he avoids her. And while she is out with friends, one of the mutual
friends in the group, 26-year-old Enrique Arochi, who left that party with Christina around 3:30 the next morning, they walked together to their cars,
which were parked across from each other and the two were seen on surveillance video walking side by side, and then all of a sudden,
Enrique`s 2010 Camaro was spotted on surveillance video, pulling out of the garage a few minutes later but Christina`s vehicle remained and Christina
has not been seen since.
CASAREZ: Wow. Now, what you`re looking at here -- now there is the vehicle right there of the suspect. Amazingly, now, this is The Shops at Legacy. It
is a very ritzy area of Texas, and it is outside of Dallas.
And it`s where there are shops and there are apartments and it`s just a very high-end place, and she was there that night with her friends from
high school and this guy she had known.
Now, Stacey Newman, I want to keep going with the story here because I want the audience to understand this.
So, her car is in the garage. His car is in the garage and he was a gentleman to walk her to her car, right? But that`s not really what
investigators have found.
STACEY NEWMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, yeah. Initially when she went missing and she was reported missing, cops quickly zeroed in on the
surveillance video we`ve been showing our viewers.
However, he claims that when he got to his car, he separated from her and never saw her again that night. But the surveillance video shows only his
car leaving the garage, her car never left the area. She was never heard from again. And then cell phone evidence indicates that he went in a total
different direction than what he had told police.
CASAREZ: Right. Now, I think we`ve got some sound from Enrique Arochi because the Dallas community realized this is the person that was last with
her. She is missing. Let`s listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you have anything to do with her disappearance?
AROCHI: I had nothing to do with her disappearance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know anybody who could have anything to do with it?
AROCHI: I have no idea.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know where she is?
AROCHI: No. We walked and we split. After I saw my car, I went to my car. I don`t know where she went or if she went to her car. I just went to my car
and left. I didn`t see anything. I went on -- just walking to my car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:50:00] CASAREZ: All right. So he talks to the television cameras, and Stacey Newman, it is found out as you have said, he didn`t walk to his car
and her to her car. They both went to his car.
She was never seen again, but then they questioned him, then they find discrepancies in what he is saying. So then they`re able to get a search
warrant. What did they find, forensically speaking, in his car?
NEWMAN: Well, this is where the story again fell apart. They found her DNA in his trunk. There were two spots in there with her DNA on the mat and on
a water seal lining the trunk in the back.
However, this has been confirmed that it is not just touch DNA gene, they are saying that this is some bodily fluid, like saliva or blood.
CASAREZ: All right, bingo. So there it is. A normal person does not drive in the trunk of the car -- ride in the trunk of the car. So Christina
Morris, it was believed that she was abducted.
So this guy that you just saw who is innocent until proven guilty, he was charged with the abduction, there he is in court right there, of Christina
Morris. Stacey, have we had the trial?
MORRONE: We have had the trial. And just recently after 17 hours of deliberation, this jury found him guilty of aggravated kidnapping.
CASAREZ: But what about murder?
MORRONE: That`s the shocker in this case. There was no murder charge even though we have the DNA evidence in the trunk, she didn`t just jump in the
trunk and ride along with him. How did she get there? They decided not to go forward with the murder charge.
CASAREZ: All right, Alex Sanchez, there was so much more evidence that came out in the trial, for instance, cell phone tower evidence. You don`t have
to have a body to charge somebody with murder. Why did they only charge him with kidnapping?
SANCHEZ: I wish I knew the answer to that question. There seems to be an overwhelming case. It appears though that either substantial injury or
death, they could charge him with murder at a later date if they discover a body. But, you know, he`s got this worked out from any -- it`s a very
scary-looking (inaudible), he seemed like such an innocent, honest, decent guy and yet he was convicted of this crime, and it indicates to me he is a
monster.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK RUSCH, DISTRICT JUDGE: Mr. Arochi, if you would please stand for me, sir. Verdict formally reached (ph) as follows. We, the jury, find the
defendant guilty of aggravated kidnapping as charged in the indictment, and it is signed by (inaudible) as presiding juror.
Members of the jury, at least the 12 of you who participated in the deliberations, if this is your individual verdict in this matter, meaning,
this is the way you voted in this case, would you indicate that to me please by raising your right hand? All right, I have got 12 right hands.
You guys can put them down. Mr. Arochi, you can have a seat.
[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 26-year-old denied he had anything to do with the disappearance of Christina Morris. But the Collin County jury found
otherwise.
RUSCH: ... we, the jury, find the defendant guilty of aggravated kidnapping as charged in the indictment ...
ANNA MORRIS, CHRISTINA`S STEP-MOM: It`s not over. It`s far from over, Christina is still missing. I hope that this will possibly get us the
information we need to bring her home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: Let`s go to Stacey Newman. Stacey, the sentencing of this guy convicted of kidnapping, taking place this week was supposed to happen on
Monday, didn`t happen. Supposed to happen today, didn`t happen. When is it going to happen?
And in Texas, a jury can sentence, right?
NEWMAN: Yes. In Texas, a jury can sentence. We`re hearing that this is going to happen Friday. But there`s a twist to this now, Jean.
In the last hour, the suspect said he now doesn`t want the jury to sentence him; he wants the judge to sentence him. And he could have walked, believe
it or not, with just probation. Now with this change, he could be sentenced to jail for at least a minimum of five years.
CASAREZ: All right, Troy Slaten, why switch from having a jury sentence you to a judge sentence you?
SLATEN: Well, a judge tends to be less able to be, you know, impassioned and subject to impassioned and prejudice, like a jury who is not
experienced hearing these sources of things.
So, it may be a very smart defense strategy because this judge has probably seen and heard it all. Anything that the prosecutors will bring won`t be as
shocking.
CASAREZ: And a jury could say, I think he murdered her and they could give him the max, which is life, in Texas, and a judge has to actually follow
the law.
Also, let`s wait to see if there`s some kind of deal because her family and prosecutors, they want to know where she is and he may have the answers.
Tonight, we remember American hero Marine Lance Corporal Ryan Kovacicek, 22 years old from Washington, Pennsylvania. He was a military family and
studied criminology at Indiana University, Pennsylvania. He was a hockey player, he loved golf and skiing. His loving family includes parents
Joseph, Sr. and Cathy (ph); his sister, Renae, Ryan Kovacicek, an American hero.
"Forensic Files" is coming up next. I`m Jean Casarez, in for Nancy Grace. Thank you so much for being with us. Good night, everybody.
[21:00:00]
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