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Nancy Grace
Accused Serial Killer Lounges in Jail; Baby Sitter Drives Drunk with Four Children in the Car; New Facts Emerge in the Case Against Justin Ross Harris
Aired October 05, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight. A kidnapped woman, terrified her kidnapping lying right there beside her would wake up, makes a
desperate 911 call, leading police to not only her, but three dead bodies of women presumed missing, now known dead at the hands of an alleged serial
killer.
Bombshell tonight. Secret surveillance video shows the alleged serial killer sleeping in late, obsessively watching TV news coverage of himself
as tonight, more dead bodies emerge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In a solitary jail cell in the Ashland County jail, you can see when Grate sees that there`s a story that bodies were found,
the bodies of multiple women he allegedly killed. He puts down the remote and watches attentively.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Live, Florida. Police say a baby-sitter drives drunk with three unbelted tots in the car -- PS, she had on her seatbelt -- driving straight
into the path of a speeding truck, leaving a 6-year-old little girl dead. Can somebody tell me why isn`t that murder?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Authorities in Florida say a baby-sitter was drunk when she picked up her daughter and three other kids from elementary school,
drove to the liquor store, then got into a fatal wreck that killed a 6- year-old girl inside her car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The tragic death of 22-month-old toddler boy Cooper, seemingly left alone for hours in a baking hot car by Daddy. Damning evidence Daddy
sexting six different women at once, sending photos of his erect penis as baby Cooper bakes dead in Daddy`s car. He`s indicted on charges of murder,
but breaking tonight, damning details emerge as we go to air. The jury is shocked!
Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Bombshell tonight. A kidnapped woman absolutely terrified her kidnapper, who`s laying right beside her in bed, will wake up, makes a desperate 911
call, leading police not only to her to save her life, but to three more dead bodies of women police presume are just missing. Now we know they`re
dead at the hands of an alleged serial killer.
Well, tonight, secret surveillance video has emerged -- we have the video - - that this alleged serial killer is laid up in jail, obsessively watching TV coverage of himself. And tonight, we learn there are more victims.
What is the hold-up on the death penalty? How many people do you have to kill in Ohio, how many women, how many dead women does it take before
somebody seeks the death penalty?
How many women has this guy killed, preying on neighborhood women? According to one young girl, he started walking along with her and her
mother as they were leaving the laundromat, asking to come over, asking them to come to his house. And one woman gets a flat tire or car trouble,
and he helps her. Well, she`s never seen alive again. We`ve just located her dead body. The list goes on and on.
I could talk about it all night, but I want you to hear one of the victims. Listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: 911, what is the address to your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: By the 4th Street laundromat.
911 OPERATOR: What`s the problem?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`ve been abducted.
911 OPERATOR: Who abducted you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shawn Grate.
911 OPERATOR: Where`s he at now?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Asleep.
911 OPERATOR: Where`s he sleeping at?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the bedroom.
911 OPERATOR: In what bedroom?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`s two houses right by the laundry street, and it`s in one of those houses.
911 OPERATOR: But you`re at the laundromat?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I`m in the bedroom with him.
911 OPERATOR: Is there any way you can get out of the building?
[20:05:02]UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t know without waking him, and I`m scared.
911 OPERATOR: Is there a bathroom in the house?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, his bedroom is closed, and he made it so it would make noise.
911 OPERATOR: If you told him you had to go to the bathroom, he would do something to you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, because he had me tied up.
911 OPERATOR: Are you tied up now?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, but I kind of freed myself.
911 OPERATOR: Is he in the same room with you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
911 OPERATOR: Is it his phone you have?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Are they on the way?
911 OPERATOR: We have officers we`re sending.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please send them now.
911 OPERATOR: If you`re worried, you don`t have to talk. You can just set the phone down, OK? Are you upstairs or are you downstairs?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re downstairs. There`s a door, there`s a side door by the right of the last house, and what`s where we entered at.
Immediately, there`s a kitchen right there, and the bedroom is right -- right off from the kitchen.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: There`s more. I`m going to play it for you in just a moment. But that is one of the women that lived. Now, tonight, I believe the tally is
up to five dead women and counting.
But I want you to see the video that we have just obtained. Let`s see it in full. Here`s this guy, kicked back behind bars. He sleeps until noon.
I don`t ever remember in my whole life -- I`ve had two jobs at a time since I was 15 -- I ever got to sleep until noon, except when I was sick.
And Robyn Walensky, stay on this for me, senior news anchor with The Blaze Network. I was taking a look at some of the things he can order. He can
have balsamic shampoo. He can have that after he wakes up at noon -- French vanilla cappuccino. He can have Keith (ph) Colombian blend,
cinnamon buns, a wide assortment of sweets and cookies, chocolate honey buns, licorice (INAUDIBLE) granola bars. He can have all sorts of things
behind bars, pulled chicken, buffalo wings, you name it!
He`s sleeping until noon, and I`m raising two children and working a couple of jobs. How did that happen, Robyn Walensky?
ROBYN WALENSKY, THE BLAZE (via telephone): Seriously, I`ve never slept until noon, either. Listen, they`re calling this guy, Nancy, a charm with
a dark side. And he`s in the clink for a reason, because he is a serial killer, by all accounts, an accused serial killer. He hasn`t been found
guilty yet in a court. But from what I understand, he`s busy reading the Bible behind bars.
GRACE: He`s reading the Bible now. He wasn`t reading the Bible then. He apparently, Melissa Neeley, anchor with WLW, spends most of the day
watching himself on TV. He`s probably watching tonight because he has cable TV.
You know what? Unless he`s a speed reader, he`s not reading the Bible, he`s just looking at it.
OK, what is that? He`s still asleep, Melissa Neeley, as the bodies pile up. And you know, another thing, Melissa, a lot of these women were
presumed missing and police would say, Oh, we just think they went off with a boyfriend. They`re dead, Melissa.
MELISSA NEELEY, WLW (via telephone): That`s right, Nancy. So far, like you said, the bodies are piling up. The one woman, who we know her son had
said that she was -- got stranded by the side of the road, and apparently, she was found by this man and then wound up dead. And then another woman
also found at the same location where that 911 caller was.
GRACE: Out to Kyle Peltz, also on the story. Kyle Peltz, we`re up to five dead women linked to him, always dead women, always startlingly similar in
their appearance. Most of them have long hair that they wear it straight down. Many of them had it parted in the middle. They`re all white
females. Many of them have sandy blond or light brown hair. They`re all of the same build.
And he finds them in and about the neighborhood. He finds them coming out of the laundromat. He finds them stranded on the side of the road. I just
don`t understand, Kyle, how it got to this point, and he was not caught. I mean, how did it happen, five dead women? And I guarantee you there are
going to be more.
KYLE PELTZ, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Well, that`s right, Nancy, and from interviews of people who knew him or had come in contact
with him, this guy was quite the ladies man...
GRACE: What, what? What?
PELTZ: Yes, he was quite the ladies man, according to interviews.
GRACE: A ladies man?
PELTZ: Many women actually found this guy to be very charming, and apparently some found him to be very good-looking, too.
GRACE: OK. I`m looking at Shawn Grate, lying there until lunchtime, in bed, ordering Cinnabons and Colombian blend. I can`t order that from my
bed. He can. There`s nothing -- you said he`s attractive and he`s a ladies man? A, we happen to know that in the past, he has used hookers.
[20:10:04]I guess you mean that`s a ladies man? I happen to know that because I`ve looked at his record and looked at his past. I hardly think,
Kyle Peltz, that ordering up a hooker like she`s a pepperoni pizza and you pay her is a ladies man, all right? So go back and look up Dictionary.com.
That`s not what a ladies man is.
Kyle, did you say he`s attractive?
PELTZ: That`s what some women say, Nancy. They said he`s attractive...
GRACE: Really? Who? Who said that to you? Who said that -- let me see this guy`s face. Who said he`s attractive? He`s not attractive. He`s a
deadbeat.
PELTZ: Well, his mom told The Daily Mail, Nancy, yes, he`s good- looking...
GRACE: His mother?
PELTZ: ... but the devil`s good-looking, too.
GRACE: So you -- Kyle, if I were there, I would take that mike right off of your chest. Somebody`s own mother saying they`re good-looking and a
ladies man doesn`t count, OK?
Unleash the lawyers, Jim Elliott, city attorney in Warner Robins, Robin Ficker, defense attorney in the Maryland jurisdiction, and Margie Mow,
defense attorney out of LA.
OK, Ficker, I would hardly say that ordering a hooker like she`s a Chinese -- no, that -- like a Chinese delivery -- that is not a ladies man. When
you have to pay somebody to be with you, that`s not a ladies man.
ROBIN FICKER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: So he`s ordered a hooker. He`s an innocent charmer. I haven`t heard of any corroboration DNA evidence tying
him to any of these crimes. He may have a vivid imagination. That`s it. You can`t judge a book by its cover.
GRACE: OK, Margie Mow -- Margie Mow, you`ve got that deer in the headlights look going on, like, Oh, is she going to come to me? Yes, I`m
coming to you, Mow.
MARGIE MOW, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I`m ready.
GRACE: I`m coming to you. What Ficker just said is very interesting. The fact that we know for a fact, not these ladies that he murdered, but other
ladies -- he has ordered hookers, what does that mean? What does that mean to me? That`s how he views women, like, you know, that paper cup over
there in the trash can in the studio. They`re nothing. You pay for it, you use it, and get rid of it.
I guarantee you they`re going to find more dead bodies, and the fact that he has used hookers in the past tells me what he thinks about women!
MOW: I disagree. I mean, he used hookers. So what? That doesn`t -- he didn`t kill the hookers. You can have -- you can be a sexual deviant, that
doesn`t make you a murderer.
GRACE: Says who, you?
MOW: And like Mr. Ficker said, there is no evidence that he actually killed these people. Maybe he just wants to take credit for notoriety.
GRACE: OK, Jim Elliott, let`s give Margie Mow a little reality jolt. When they come and rescue the woman you just heard on 911, in the house with
him, Jim Elliott, are two of the five dead bodies of the women...
JIM ELLIOT, WARNER ROBINS CUSTODY ATTORNEY: Exactly.
GRACE: ... that have been assaulted and murdered, OK?
ELLIOTT: Two bodies...
GRACE: So how can she say he`s not connected? They`re right there in the room with him!
ELLIOTT: At least those two bodies, and I think he gave the exact location of at least a third victim. So it`s not -- I don`t think DNA evidence is
absolutely necessary under those circumstances.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:16:54]UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When a story about him and his alleged crimes comes on, he is immediately focused with rapt attention.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Grate confessed to killing more women, that he had found God and wanted to clear his conscience. And behind bars, a constant
companion is his Bible. He`s seen reading it, even marking in the margins as he wiles away his time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I`m just looking at the pages and pages of amenities on his menu that he can order. You know, Sheryl McCollum, former director, MADD
Georgia, crime analyst -- Sheryl, wouldn`t you love to sleep until noon and then order up, what is it, the Colombian blend coffee and a Cinnabon? I
don`t even remember the last time I had a Cinnabon.
SHERYL MCCOLLUM, CRIME ANALYST: Nobody...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... go to a mall and chill out. I mean, who? Obviously, this guy does. And what about what Ficker said about, Hey, just because he has
hookers all the time, that doesn`t mean -- that doesn`t tell me anything about how he feels about women.
MCCOLLUM: Sure it does.
GRACE: What about this, Sheryl? He could pay those ladies to be with him.
MCCOLLUM: Right.
GRACE: But these people that are dead, they didn`t want to be with him.
MCCOLLUM: Nancy...
GRACE: And now they`re dead.
MCCOLLUM: We`re going to be in the double digits very quick with this guy with victims. The local police right now are going to do a geographical
profile. They`re going to contact local authorities to look at all the missing people. And they`re also going to hook at all the unsolved
homicides.
GRACE: Put up McCollum! Sheryl, Sheryl, they`re going to. Have you ever heard the phrase, "Woulda, coulda, shoulda"? How about the cops did that
when these ladies were reported missing...
MCCOLLUM: Absolutely.
GRACE: ... instead of saying, Oh, she`s probably run off with her boyfriend?
MCCOLLUM: Right.
GRACE: No, she`s dead. She was raped and murdered, OK?
(CROSSTALK)
MCCOLLUM: Yes, that`s another reason serial killers look for the easy target, the people that are not going to be reported as missing. So a lot
of times, they`re going to, you know, get your homeless victims. They`re going to get your mentally ill victims. And they`re going to get your
prostitutes.
GRACE: You know, Dr. Patricia Saunders, clinical psychologist joining me out of New York, you hear what McCollum was just saying, Dr. Saunders. And
I think it`s incredibly telling that when he is with a hooker, he pays them to be with him.
These people, like the lady that had a flat tire, car broke down, like the woman the -- the woman and her daughter that he approaches and tries to
hoodwink coming out of the laundromat -- I mean, those are perfectly upstanding women. Not that one victim is more important than another
victim, but I`m saying is, when he can pay off a woman, that`s one thing. But when the woman doesn`t want to be with him and fights back, he kills
them. That`s what I think.
PATRICIA SAUNDERS, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, you`re assuming that he`s reacting in a normal human way. To him, I think you were quite right
before -- when he treats women as if they were pieces of furniture. That leads me to think that he is a psychopath with no capacity to see others as
individuals.
[20:20:04]Only his own needs count. He`s a predator. He`s an opportunistic predator. And his glorification of himself is shown in his -
- in his revelation, if not real pleasure...
GRACE: You know, another thing...
SAUNDERS: ... in watching himself...
GRACE: ... I want to get back to you on, Dr. Saunders -- you`re really good at this -- is whenever I prosecuted a case, I would look at the way
the body had been disposed. And we see some of these victims still tied up and ligatured dead, some of them under trash bags, equating them with the
trash.
Listen to this 911 call, Doctor.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: Are you injured?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A little.
911 OPERATOR: Do you need an ambulance? Are you bleeding from anywhere?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not anymore.
911 OPERATOR: What were you bleeding from? You don`t have to talk if you don`t need to, OK?
Do you know where he lives?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. Oh, (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Oh, (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I woke him up.
911 OPERATOR: You can set the phone down.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:25:00]UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shawn Grate`s life behind bars.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And much of the rest of his time he spends sleeping soundly, sometimes using the shirt of his jail uniform as a pillow, barely
stirring, waiting for his day in court.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Waiting for his day in court? He`s waiting for his Colombian blend and his Cinnabon. That`s what he`s waiting on while I`m paying for it!
What I want to find out right now, Robyn Walensky, senior news anchor with the Blaze Network, what`s with the death penalty? We`ve now got two more
bodies. That`s five bodies that we know of. What about the death penalty?
WALENSKY: Well, he`s going to be facing the death penalty for the two bodies of the two women that were found in the house.
I have to mention to you, Nancy, if you can believe it, this guy was married for a year. And he wrote to the now ex-wife, I`m preparing for the
grand finale, and if I can`t see my daughter, no one will. So she got a restraining order against him, and he can`t come within 500 feet of her.
GRACE: But Kyle Peltz, right now, there is a suspension, a moratorium on the death penalty in Ohio because they say they can`t get the drugs for a
painless lethal injection. My question to you, Kyle Peltz, is this. Who are -- what do we know about the two new dead bodies that have been added
to his list of victims?
PELTZ: Well, that`s right, Nancy. What we know -- the two new dead bodies00 one is a woman whose body was found in the woods early last year.
Her death was initially ruled an overdose, but now police have reopened the case after the arrest of Shawn Grate. And there`s also a former roommate
of Grate. Her name was Candice Cunningham. and on the day of his arrest, he told police where to find a woman`s body, and police did find a body
near the rubble of a burned-out home. And right now, that`s believed to be Cunningham.
GRACE: Melissa Neeley joining me, anchor with WLW. Melissa, where were the five bodies found? And I do not believe that this is the end of it.
NEELEY: No, I don`t think it`s the end of it. And that`s why we have officers and law enforcement from all over the state working on this.
Right now, of course, we know that we had Stacey Stanley, who was the mother who had her car break down. And she was found dead in that
abandoned home where the 911 caller called from and where she was kidnapped.
Elizabeth Griffith -- she was found dead. Her body was wrapped up in the closet, naked. And then also, as you just mentioned, the body found near
the burned-out house, and then another woman who -- this woman he had spoke about before and told police that she had been selling magazines to his
mother -- sold magazines to his mother and then didn`t deliver on that. And that was another alleged victim of his.
GRACE: Listen to the terror in this woman`s voice.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How much longer?
911 OPERATOR: Do you hear any officers outside?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
911 OPERATOR: OK, they`re in the area.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think they could come in the side door?
911 OPERATOR: Is there a padlock on the bedroom door, or is it just a regular lock.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I don`t even know if he locks it. (
911 OPERATOR: Can you get up and see if you can get out?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m afraid of waking him. I don`t even know if it`s open.
911 OPERATOR: Is there a window around there you can look out?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, but the floor squeaks and it`s right by his head.
911 OPERATOR: Are you laying down?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I`m standing right by the bedroom door.
911 OPERATOR: And you can`t open it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What?
911 OPERATOR: Can you open it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m afraid about making noise.
911 OPERATOR: Is the door to the house open?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t know. Probably. I don`t think he has a key. I`m not sure. I think he broke in here.
911 OPERATOR: Can you see out any window that you`re at?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. Curtains shut.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(START VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say a Florida babysitter drove drunk with four children in the car, resulting in a fatal crash that killed a 6-year-old
girl. Police say Shirley Coto was drunk when she picked up her 11-year-old daughter, along with three children she was watching, 4- and 6-year-old
boys and 6-year-old Ruby Meza. Police documents show the day of the crash. Coto made two trips to the liquor store including one trip with the
children just five minutes before the fatal wreck.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Live to Florida where police say a babysitter drives drunk with four unbelted tots in the car. She`s drunk. She`s been to the liquor store twice
that day including once with all the children in the car, I think. Picks them up from school, drunk. Then goes directly into the path of a speeding
truck, leaving a 6-year-old little girl dead.
Can somebody tell me why this is not a murder? As tonight, she is plotting and scheming to get out of jail on bond. I don`t want her on the road. I
don`t want her driving around while I`m out in the minivan with the twins. No, she needs to stay in jail. That`s where she needs to stay. Straight out
to Ray Caputo, reporter with WDBO. Ray, thank you for being with us. Explain to me exactly how this happened.
RAY CAPUTO, REPORTER, NEWS 96.5 WDBO: Well, it was late afternoon, Nancy, last May, and 40-year-old Shirley Coto. She is on babysitting duty, picks
up her 11-year-old daughter along with 6-year-old Ruby and her two young brothers. She had a car full of kids and mind you, she`s drunk, doesn`t
have a valid driver`s license. So what did she do?
She goes to the liquor store, buys more booze with the kids in the car and shortly after that, she tries to cross traffic and pull into a grocery
store parking lot. But a small pickup truck hurtling down the road is going over 60 miles an hour, runs a red light, and plows into the passenger side
of her car. Little Ruby is killed, the three other kids are hurt, one of them critically injured.
GRACE: What exactly was Shirley Coto doing at the time of the crash? Explain that to me, Ray.
CAPUTO: Well, she was apparently picking up the kids from an elementary school.
GRACE: No, I mean was she turning left or right or turning into the liquor store? Turning out of the liquor store or what?
CAPUTO: Well, the road is three lanes, and then there`s a fourth additional turn lane, okay, so the light turns red. My assessment is that she`s out in
the intersection a little bit and the light turns red, so she tries to pull into this parking lot. Now, mind you, the police had said she has no
obstruction. She should have clearly seen the speeding driver coming in the other direction.
Now, he`s not paying attention either. He runs a red light, had a good five seconds to stop, and plows into the passenger side of her car and t-bones
it. So even though he was at fault, the police are saying she should have seen it, she is at fault too.
GRACE: Why did she have the children unrestrained, unseat belted? She had her seat belt on. Hold on, unleash the lawyers. Jim Elliott, city attorney,
Warner Robins; Robin Ficker, defense attorney, Maryland; Margie Mow, defense attorney, LA. To you Ficker, what about the liquor store? You know,
at a bar or a restaurant, when you`re obviously drunk, they`re supposed to stop serving you. When somebody comes in drunk, why give them more liquor?
FICKER: Well, some states have Dram Shop laws which means that they`re liable if they sell to someone whose drunk. She`s just a DUI. The poor
woman needs treatment. She`s not at fault in this accident. Throw out the manslaughter. The other person ran the red light and was the cause -- was
the cause. That`s not murder. This is simply a DUI for a woman that needs treatment.
GRACE: Jim Elliott, the children were unrestrained in the car. Driving in that manner with them unrestrained is child neglect. That is a felony and a
death occurred. I assume you three have heard of felony murder. That is simply when a death occurs during the commission of a felony. Have you
heard of that, Margie? Felony murder?
MOW: Of course, I have, but you`re blowing this case completely out of proportion. First of all, the crime of DUI is committed when a person is
driving under the influence. At the time of driving, we don`t know what her blood alcohol content was. One of the possibilities is that like she said,
she went to the store, she bought liquor but she didn`t drink it. Maybe she had a couple of drinks before.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: . I`m hearing like a high-pitched sound. I think I`m gonna go into some type of a seizure. Jim Elliott, she was 0.09. She was 0.09.
MOW: Four hours later. Four hours later.
GRACE: She is probably 0.32.
(CROSSTALK)
ELLIOTT: I was gonna say 0.09, four and a half hours later. We can only extrapolate incredibly how high her blood alcohol would have been earlier.
And I think she didn`t go the liquor store that morning and buy those to stick in the bar.
GRACE: Good point. Sheryl McCollum is joining me, special guest, former director of MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving in Georgia. Okay, Sheryl,
could you please straighten out the defense lawyers.
MCCOLLUM: Absolutely. First of all, Nancy, she`s in a vehicle, she didn`t have permission to be in. There`s a felony right there. So she stole a car.
She doesn`t have a driver`s license. She doesn`t have insurance. She`s drunk. She doesn`t restrain the children. She is speeding in a school zone.
She is doing 62 in a 40. She is clearly out of control.
If she had just been going the speed limit, she wouldn`t have been there to even be hit. This woman needs to be charged with vehicular homicide, and
they need to go forward immediately.
GRACE: You know, Sheryl, I agree vehicular homicide. But to me, that`s an alternative count. I really think that when homicides of this nature begin
being treated like a felony murder, I mean, why is this 6-year-old girl`s life less important than some other felony murder victim`s life, say an
adult?
Now, think about it. She`s already been to the liquor store once. She goes to the elementary school, picks up these little children. I`m also
thinking, Sheryl, that schools need to do a better check when they let children just jump into the car. But that aside, it goes back to the liquor
store. I mean, it`s like a dozen eggs. Why does she have to go back? Because she drank all the other up, of course.
MCCOLLUM: Exactly. And, Nancy, she put the seat belt on herself, so she`s protecting herself. She didn`t care less what`s happening to them.
GRACE: Can you please respond, to Dr. Ken Redcross, board-certified internal medicine and concierge doctor, joining me out of New York. Dr.
Redcross, did you hear Margie Mow? No offense, Margie. Say she was 0.09 four hours later. Hello. That means that three hours before, she was
probably like a 0.28 or 0.32. She`s bombed!
KEN REDCROSS, BOARD-CERTIFIED INTERNAL MEDICINE DOCTOR, NEW YORK: Nancy, you are so preaching to the converted right now. You`re talking about 0.09
four and a half hours after. Keep in mind that when you take any alcohol, usually the first hour is when your blood alcohol concentration is at its
highest. So can you imagine what her levels were four and a half hours prior to then? She was absolutely loaded by that point.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: The tragic death of 22-month-old toddler boy Cooper seemingly left alone for hours in a baking hot car by daddy. Damning evidence, daddy
sexting six different women at the same time, sending photos of his erect penis, including sexting allegedly a 16-year-old girl, as baby Cooper bakes
dead in the car. Breaking right now, Justin Ross Harris in court, crying as damning new facts emerge. The jury in shock.
(START VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He got the child out of the car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His hands were clenched.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did the defendant ever come back to his child?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He never mentioned a son.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Straight up dead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining us at the courthouse is Natisha Lance. I understand that evidence has come in that, A, Justin Ross Harris, after he realized his
baby was dead in the car, he jumps out of the car and starts screaming and carrying on, then he shoots a bird at the police officer, tells them to "F"
off.
Then basically gets into the cop car and starts hitting on the lady police officer, basically saying, hey, how long have you been in law enforcement?
And this woman, Jackie, takes the stand and she says she was so uncomfortable with his conversation with her and the baby is lying dead
about 20 feet away, that she cut off talking to him about that. I mean, it was so uncomfortable for her. Do you remember her on the stand, Natisha?
NATISHA LANCE, HLN SENIOR PRODUCER: I do, Nancy. You`re talking about officer Piper, who arrived on the scene. The first responders have
responded before her, then she came on the scene, and she witnessed this altercation between Justin Ross Harris and another officer, where he used
this aggressive language. And that`s when they had to detain him and put him into the back of the cop car.
What you`re referring to is her ride with Justin Ross Harris down to the police station in the car. The prosecution describes it that he was
chatting her up as if they were just in a bar and having casual conversation with her.
She had to shut the conversation down because she said, you know, I know that you want to talk right now, baby, but I can`t talk to you. At that
point, Justin Ross Harris tried to exchange a few more conversations with her and then most of the ride was silent after that, Nancy.
GRACE: Okay. You know how creepy that is, Natisha, right? He`s basically hitting on her after he`s just left the body of his child. It only takes
something else, Natisha. I`ve been thinking about it ever since I was reading through the police reports this morning. You know, I recently lost
my father, you knew that. And when my dad passed away, everybody left the room and he`s still laying there.
And some nurse came in and told me to leave. I said, I`m so not leaving him. And they actually kind of were a little mean about it. I`m not leaving
my father here until our friends at the funeral home come and get him and I`m going to see him out of this building and into the car and make sure
he`s okay.
You know, I was thinking about that, Natisha, how Justin Ross Harris -- he was fine with leaving his baby. I mean, they also said that he gave two
chest pumps, two compressions, I think it was on his baby, trying to bring baby Cooper back, and then he`s like, ahh, I tried.
LANCE: That is what the first responders -- Nancy, you are accurately describing this. That is what the first responders said as well. They found
his behavior to be extremely odd. They said that he was pacing around, he was on the phone, that he had left his son.
When they came, they didn`t know who he was because he didn`t announce to them saying, this is my child, I`m the dad. They didn`t even know what was
wrong with Cooper. They thought that maybe he had choked because no one was telling them or giving them any information about what happened to this
child.
GRACE: On the phone, other than calling, I guess his wife, who else did he call, Natisha? Who else was there he needed to talk to on the phone?
LANCE: Apparently he had placed a call to his ex-wife, Leanna, and he had also tried to call the daycare. Not sure if those calls went through. It
doesn`t appear as if he talked to Leanna. But what the defense will say is that he was trying to get in touch with his wife to let her know what had
happened. Other witnesses who were on the scene said that Justin Ross Harris was screaming what have I done, oh, God, what have I done.
GRACE: Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, wait a minute, Natisha. All the screaming? I want to clarify something. Unleash the lawyers. Jim Elliott,
Robin Ficker, Margie Mow. Okay, to you, Robin Ficker, one the witnesses, I assume you`re familiar with Ron Burgundy, anchorman, and he would have fake
emotion and talk really loudly in a monotone.
She actually said on the stand that that is how Justin Ross Harris was talking, really loudly to sound like he had emotion, but as if he were
reading a script. And he left the baby, Ficker. He left the baby.
FICKER: You`re looking at the tea leaves and you`re not understanding that this man was in horror. The worst thing that could ever happen to a parent
just took place. He felt he may be responsible because he had forgotten the child. Give him a break. He did not do this on purpose.
GRACE: Forgot the child? Jim Elliott, I drove it myself. He takes the baby out, they go into Chick-fil-A that morning. They go in, drive through.
Everybody sees him. The is alert, alive, happy. Less than two minutes. And evidence came in today that the baby`s car seat was an inch and a half from
his seat. So he forgot the baby in two minutes, Elliott?
ELLIOTT: As a parent, I just can`t understand that. It makes absolutely no sense to me.
GRACE: And Ben Levitan, all this business about forgetting the baby, he was sexting women including pictures of his erect penis when he forgot the
baby. They can pinpoint that time, Ben Levitan, based on cell phone records, right?
BEN LEVITAN, TELECOMMUNICATIONS EXPERT: Nancy, they could look at his entire record. There`s no reason whether the call goes through or not, we
know who he was talking to right after he was pacing around. This is absolutely ridiculous. We have a digital history. We can make a digital
diary of this guy`s every movement, Nancy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Damning evidence coming off the witness stand, the jury in shock, in the Justin Ross Harris murder trial. His child literally bakes dead in the
car. Another fact came forward today. Is it true, Natisha Lance, joining me there at the courthouse, is it true that he gets into the police car and
actually complains that it`s too hot?
LANCE: That is true, Nancy. He did complain about the heat in the car, saying that it was too hot. The officer said that there was nothing that
she could do about it, that that was the best it was going to be. They also said that he was talking about other random things that didn`t make sense
at the time. As you pointed out, this particular officer said that his emotions just didn`t seem to fit other people who have been in similar
situations when she had been on the scene.
GRACE: Sheryl McCollum, the irony, his baby just bakes dead in his hot car, after he, according to police, looked up how long does it take an animal to
die in a hot car, child-free life and so on, and he gets in the back seat of the patrol car and complains it`s too hot for him.
MCCOLLUM: That prosecutor needs to show the jury exactly what happened second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour at 172 degrees.
GRACE: Let`s stop and remember American hero Ramona Valdez, just 20, the Bronx. Purple heart, combat action ribbon. Dreamed of being a highway
patrol officer. Parents, Louis and Elida. Two sisters. Widower, Armando. Ramona Valdez, American hero.
Thanks to our guests and especially to you for being with us. Nancy Grace signing off. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp eastern. Until then,
good night, friend.
END
