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Crime and Justice With Ashleigh Banfield

40-Year Sentence for Killing Daughter`s Abuser/4-year-old Killed in Robbery Attempt; Mom and Daughter Shot in Armed Robbery; Man Vanishes in NYC Party, Body Found in Shallow Grave. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired November 17, 2016 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JEAN CASAREZ, GUEST HOST: A man who shot and killed his daughter`s long- time sex abuser will spend decades behind bars because he does not want his daughter to have to relive the trauma of being abused as she was.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASAREZ (voice-over): A father shoots and kills the man who molested his young daughter. Now he`s sentenced to 40 years in prison to shield her

from more pain and suffering.

JULIA MAYNOR, VICTIM: For the first time in my life, I do not feel scared.

CASAREZ: A mother of three is shot in a robbery as she unloads groceries from the car. In her hospital bed, she gets absolutely devastating news.

Her 4-year-old daughter was killed in the attack.

And a man sets out for a night on the town, and something goes horribly wrong. He disappears from a party and is later found in a shallow grave.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was stabbed 15 times in the chest area.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CASAREZ: And good evening. I`m Jean Casarez, in for Ashleigh Banfield. Welcome to PRIMETIME JUSTICE. Thank you so much for joining us.

You know, heaven forbid that this would happen to anybody out there, but just think about it for a second. How does a father react when he finds

out that his little girl, his daughter, was sexually abused for years by someone who was actually her step-grandfather, her adopted grandfather?

Hay Manor, an Alabama man...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) three shots. My wife was hollering, No, no, no, no, my son didn`t deserve it. Raymond went to prison. He served

27 months with no problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Jay Maynor, an Alabama man, fatally shot Raymond Earl Brooks, who had years earlier pleaded guilty to sexually abusing Maynor`s daughter,

Julia, about age 4, 4 through 8 or 9, and that was too long for this father.

Raymond Brooks`s victim, Julia, is now a grown woman, a mother of three. And the latest twist in this whole saga -- her father wanted to spare Julia

from having to tell a courtroom full of jurors what she suffered. And now he has just accepted a plea deal and a sentence of 40 years in prison.

Does the time fit the circumstances of the crime? Let us go straight out to Dave Mack. He is syndicated talk show host joining us. You know, Dave,

there are so many aspects to this case, but I first want to start with the sexual assault victim. Her name is Julia, and HLN and CNN -- we do not

list the names of a sexual assault victim, but Julia has stepped forward herself. She`s actually going to join us in a little bit.

But what happened to this little girl?

DAVID MACK, SYNDICATED TALK SHOW HOST: You know, she only remembers her life of being abused and didn`t even realize it was wrong until she was

almost 8 years old. That`s the really sick part of this. And then she`s had to live with that the rest of her life, knowing that the guy spent 27

months in prison after years of just abuse from the earliest memories.

CASAREZ: And you know, let`s put it out there the way it is. This little girl was raped. She`s now a grown woman. She`s a mother of three, but she

was raped from the age of 4 to about 8 or 9, is what she remembers. Now, we do know that the victim in all this -- a little confusing. He`s now

deceased. But Raymond Earl Brooks actually pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting her all those years. What happened to him?

MACK: He spent 27 months in prison, and then he got out. He stayed on probation. He paid his fines, and in 2009, everything was clean. He did

have to register as a sex offender, but every day, Julia had to think about this guy. She said, after this happened, at least she finally gets some

peace. All these years, she hasn`t had any. That guy was walking the face of the earth just free and clear. Everybody says he was a good guy. How

good can you be when you terrorize a child? And they never (INAUDIBLE) that. You never get your life back after that.

CASAREZ: And everybody, this was a community in Alabama. Everybody knows everybody. And Dave Mack, he was a registered sex offender, Raymond Earl

Brooks. He served two years in prison, five-year sentence, but actually served 27 months, two years, for sexually assaulting this little girl. And

Jay Maynor, that`s her father -- tell me about him because he lived with this for many, many years, didn`t he. But what happened two years ago?

MACK: You know, we can all put a lot of things aside, but I think it just finally came to a head when Julia got a little bit older and started

remembering more and more things that kept coming back to her.

[20:05:05]And then he had a stepdaughter, that she seemed to be in an abusive relationship. And everything started to come to a head.

Finally, Julia said something to him -- and I`m hoping she`ll talk to you about this in a little bit. She said something, she said, that just

tripped a wire in him. And that was it. You know, he lived with it as long as he could. As a dad, you`re supposed to protect your kids, and I`m

sure he did everything he could. But he just didn`t know. And when he found out, it was too late. It`s every dad`s fear (INAUDIBLE)

CASAREZ: And Dave, we want to talk with Julia Maynor right now. Julia is joining us out of Alabama. And Julia, thank you. I know it takes a lot of

courage to talk about this, but you have wanted to.

I want to take you back to two years ago. Your father had known what had happened to you when you were 4 to 8 or 9 years old. Did you guys have a

conversation before he went out and shot the man who had raped you as a little girl?

JULIA MAYOR, VICTIM (via telephone): We had a conversation over the phone, yes, ma`am.

CASAREZ: And what was that conversation, do you remember? What did you say to him?

MAYNOR: I was on the phone with him (INAUDIBLE) me and my other sister was arguing about her (INAUDIBLE) and then I just asked him why care about her

when he never protected me as a child.

CASAREZ: So you have these emotions inside of you. Tell me about your life as a sexual assault victim. What did this man, now deceased because

your father killed him -- what did he do to your life?

MAYNOR: He took my innocence away. He took, I guess, what was a normal life away from me. He took everything away from me, my pride and my

dignity, everything.

CASAREZ: And your father knew this?

MAYNOR: He knew it. Yes, ma`am.

CASAREZ: So you guys have a conversation, and then the next day -- and he did some other things, too, which we can get into, but he went and he shot

and killed the man who sexually assaulted you so many years ago. Why do you think he did it?

MAYNOR: It was the same day, actually, and to protect me, because I said he never protected me before.

CASAREZ: So you believe that he wanted to protect you now.

MAYNOR: In his mind, he was protecting me.

CASAREZ: He was protecting you. So what did your father do? After he shot and killed Raymond Brooks, the police were called. What did your

father do?

MAYNOR: Well, the police actually met him, I think. I`m not really sure. I wasn`t there. But he named -- I know that when he was asked what did he

do, he said protecting me (ph). And then (INAUDIBLE) all five of his children and (INAUDIBLE) grandchildren.

CASAREZ: So your father fully confessed to this.

MAYNOR: He don`t remember confessing, but that`s what we was told that he said.

CASAREZ: Right. Fully confessed to this, saying he intended to do this, but it was for your honor, to protect you. Am I summarizing...

MAYNOR: (INAUDIBLE) well, like, yes, but he don`t remember doing it.

CASAREZ: Right. Now, your father...

MAYNOR: (INAUDIBLE) snapped.

CASAREZ: Snapped.

MAYNOR: Yes.

CASAREZ: All right. That`s a terminology that a defense lawyer can use in court. He snapped. Mentally, he snapped.

MAYNOR: Yes.

CASAREZ: But your father was just sentenced to 40 years in prison.

MAYNOR: Yes, ma`am.

CASAREZ: Julia, that`s basically the rest of his life.

MAYNOR: I hope not. I hope he lives to be 150.

CASAREZ: How do you feel that your father is going to be in prison for the next 40 years?

MAYNOR: Well, it kills me (INAUDIBLE) but he done what was right in his mind at the time. He was protecting me.

CASAREZ: Now, I know that your father told you he didn`t want this to go to trial.

MAYNOR: No, ma`am.

CASAREZ: Why did he say that? Why did he make that decision?

MAYNOR: So that I didn`t have to relive the nightmares and being on the stand in front of all those people, reliving the worst nightmares of my

life that will never go away.

CASAREZ: Did you ever think in your heart or say to him, I`ll do it, I`ll testify before a jury, or did you just agree with what he said?

[20:10:20]MAYNOR: Agreed? I mean, I didn`t want to go. I mean, I know it would have been for him, but I didn`t want to go relive all of that. And I

appreciate that he didn`t make me relive all of that.

CASAREZ: So he is sacrificing his life truly for you at this point.

MAYNOR: Yes, ma`am.

CASAREZ: All right, we`re going to have more with Julia and also the attorney for Jay Maynor just in a moment.

But first, I want to update you on other stories that we are tracking on PRIMETIME JUSTICE tonight.

A federal appeals court has blocked the release of Brendan Dassey. He is one of the subjects in Netflix "Making a Murderer." It is a win for

Wisconsin`s attorney general, who wants him to stay in prison during the state`s appeal of a judge`s decision to overturn Dassey`s murder and sexual

assault and conviction. The judge says Dassey`s rights were violated before and during the trial.

And in Colorado Springs, a judge says the accused shooter at a Planned Parenthood is still not fit to stand trial. Robert Deer is charged with

killing three people, including a police officer, at the center last November. He has been undergoing treatment at a psychiatric hospital.

And in Tennessee, a statewide endangered child alert for 8-month-old Xavier Billings. The TBI says he was last seen with his biological parents,

Andrew and Abiana (ph) Billings. And that was this morning. Agents say the pair are wanted for manufacturing meth and aggravated child abuse.

Call the tipline on your screen -- you see the number right there, 615-215- 3000 -- if you have any information about this missing little boy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:16:07]CASAREZ: (INAUDIBLE) county sheriff (INAUDIBLE) 41-year-old Jay Maynor is the one who came to this home and shot and killed Raymond Brooks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was out to kill somebody. (INAUDIBLE) My wife was hollering, No, no, no, no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: A father did not want his daughter to relive the sexual assaults she suffered by having to testify in court. So instead, he settled on a

40-year sentence in the murder of his daughter`s abuser.

Joining us tonight is Thomas Drake. He was Jay Maynor`s former attorney. Mr. Drake, thank you very much for joining us. First, I want to ask you --

there was a plea negotiation here. He confessed, plea negotiation. What was negotiated? What did he give up? What did he gain?

THOMAS DRAKE, JAY MAYNOR`S FORMER ATTORNEY: Well, the first thing is, I`m of the opinion that Mr. Maynor should have tried the case. A few days

after the murder, Mr. Brooks, the second alleged victim, came into my office and signed an affidavit under oath that he did not want Jay Maynor

prosecuted.

Now, that`s the fellow who had brutalized his daughter and had beaten her up, and all of these things were the catalysts that led Mr. Maynor down the

path to right some wrongs. The fact of the matter is...

CASAREZ: And Mr. Drake, let me stop you for just a second. I`m going to stop you for just a second...

DRAKE: Sure.

CASAREZ: ... so we can clarify this because what you`re talking about is important here. On his way to the home of the man who sexually assaulted

his daughter when she was 4 to 9 years old, he also knew about another young man who allegedly was abusing his stepdaughter.

So he actually -- and this is confirmed -- he fired some shots in this young man`s direction, didn`t hit him, and then he drove on and shot and

killed the man who abused his daughter so many years ago.

So you`re talking about that young man who survived, missed the shots. He went and said he didn`t want him prosecuted?

DRAKE: Yes, that`s correct. And the sad thing is, is not only did Mr. Maynor receive a 40-year sentence on the murder, which he was not guilty of

-- if anything, he was guilty of manslaughter at the most, OK? Then you have the next case where he pleads guilty and receives a 20-year sentence.

And this is a case where we had an affidavit within days of this where this alleged victim comes to my office voluntarily. We didn`t invite him. He

came in voluntarily, showed up. We drafted an affidavit with his consent where he says, I don`t want to prosecute this man under any circumstances.

He was actually ashamed of what he`d done to this man`s child.

So you have all these factors that combine. You have a child under the age of 12 who was molested. Then you have Mr. Maynor, who is ashamed of this,

feels like he`s to blame, where he`s not to blame and feels like he`s failed this child. And then a 20-something-odd-month sentence for this

pedophile.

He`s back on the street. And while this child and my client think about this every day of their lives, they also see this guy.

CASAREZ: But the net result is he`s in prison for 40 years. Stacey Honowitz, you are a prosecutor of sex crimes, and there was a sex crime

here. But there`s also something called vigilante justice. And this man committed a crime and he`s paying the price for it.

STACEY HONOWITZ, PROSECUTOR: Look, I mean, everybody who hears about this case is going to think to themselves, What if it was me? What if it was my

kid? And why couldn`t I do what he did and get away with it?

[20:20:02]But just like you said, Jean, you`re talking about being a vigilante. We can`t have that. We are not in the Wild West. If you

excuse this behavior and you say it was OK for him to do this, then it opens the Pandora`s box for everybody to go ahead and try to fight back and

revenge on anybody that`s done wrong to them.

There was a case years ago where a little boy was molested, and in the courtroom, the mother of this little boy took out a gun and shot the

molester, who had confessed. Everybody thought she should have gone to jail. Well, she did go to jail, and it was because you cannot be in that

position where you decide to take it upon yourself to kill or murder somebody else because...

(CROSSTALK)

CASAREZ: But Stacey, on the other hand -- Brian Claypool is joining us now, famous defense lawyer. Look, the man that abused this little girl got

two years in prison. And this man, who believed he was doing it to save his daughter, is getting 40? There`s something wrong with this.

BRIAN CLAYPOOL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, Jean, the punishment doesn`t fit the crime here. We have a law on the books in Alabama called "heat of

passion." And this is a poster child case for heat of passion. What that means, in effect, is that Mr. Maynor was provoked. He was provoked by the

conversation that he had with his daughter. And within the same day -- we had -- just had Julia on. She said on the same day, he went and killed Mr.

Brooks.

He was provoked. And what that means is that excuses the murder. It reduces the murder to a manslaughter. Mr. Drake is right. This should

have been a manslaughter.

CASAREZ: But that wasn`t done.

CLAYPOOL: Right. He had ineffective...

CASAREZ: So anything to do now?

CLAYPOOL: Absolutely. I mean, I believe Maynor had ineffective counsel with this public defender. And if I was representing him -- and I would

volunteer to help this man. He should file a motion to revoke this plea deal based on a violation of his constitutional rights of ineffective

counsel.

CASAREZ: All right. Thomas Drake, any response to that before we go?

HONOWITZ: (INAUDIBLE)

DRAKE: Well, no, I would agree with that 100 percent. After Mr. Maynor was indicted, that`s when I had to withdraw on the case. I had essentially

put in $20,000 of my own money to prosecute at least three mandamuses and interlocutory appeals on his behalf to obtain bail, where he had been

denied bail and they had set a cash-only bond of $500,000, and here`s a man of modest means. That bail was set for one reason, and that was just to

leave him in the jail. There`s no way he could mount a defense that way.

CASAREZ: Stacey Honowitz, I`m going to give you -- Stacey Honowitz, I want to give you the last word.

HONOWITZ: No, I was going to say, listen, I don`t know what the plea negotiations were. Certainly, the defense attorneys make good points.

There`s jury pardons, if it would have gone forward. There is heat of passion. There`s provocation. And certainly, anybody looking at this is

going to say he doesn`t deserve more time than the molester, but a life was taken.

And so all of these things need to be taken into consideration. Let him file a motion saying he was kind of railroaded into taking this plea to

murder and see what comes of it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:27:12]CASAREZ: Four-year-old Ava, her 10-year-old sister, Betsy, and their mother, Diana Gomez, were all shot as they returned home. They were

in the parking lot of the Mission Falls apartments when deputies say two men demanded the mother`s purse. When she didn`t hand it over, the robbers

shot them.

As soon as she woke up in the hospital after the terrifying armed robbery, Diana Gomez asked for her little daughters. The unbearable truth was that

her 4-year-old girl was gone, a victim in a senseless, deadly crime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t -- I don`t understand why. Over a purse? The sound of her voice, just to see this angelic voice you could hear...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: When the attack took place, Gomez was unloading groceries from her car in the parking lot of a Houston apartment building. A group of men

demanded her purse. She said no, and the shooting began.

Welcome back to PRIMETIME JUSTICE. I`m Jean Casarez, in for Ashleigh Banfield.

I want to go out to Jeffrey Boney right now, who is the associate editor of "Houston Forward Times." You know, Jeffrey, this could happen to anybody.

You go to the grocery store. You`ve got your kids with you. You`re getting the groceries out of the car where you live, at your apartment

place. This just happened. Just tell us again exactly how did this come down?

JEFFREY BONEY, "HOUSTON FORWARD TIMES" (via telephone): Well, Jean, this all started close to around 9:00 PM on Monday night, when 27-year-old Diana

Gomez was headed to her sister`s house to pick up her kids after carrying out, like you say, one of the usual routines, going grocery shopping for

the household.

Well, after she left her sister`s house with the kids, she got to her apartment complex, exited out of the vehicle to take the groceries in,

along with the children. And it`s at that time that investigators say that at least two men in what we now know was a black Honda Accord pulled up to

them, got out and reportedly demanded Gomez`s purse and tried to steal her SUV.

But she refused and struggled to fight them off. She was so worried about her children, her motherly, of course, instincts kicked in. She puts the

children behind them (ph), but she didn`t realize what was about to happen next. They were shot at very close range with at least nine shots being

fired.

She was shot in the stomach. Of course, her 10-year-old daughter, Betsy, was also shot. But her 4-year-old daughter, Ava, was fatally shot in the

head. All three of them were taken to Houston Northwest Hospital. But because of the seriousness of Ava`s condition, she was taken by life flight

to Memorial Herman Hospital, where she later died from that gunshot wound.

CASAREZ: And Jeffrey, we want to tell everybody that the people or persons, men, that did this are at large. They haven`t been caught. This

just happened several days ago. And Jeffrey, I want to ask you -- originally, it was thought that they were just trying to steal her purse,

but now it`s believed that this was an attempted car-jacking, right?

BONEY: Absolutely. it`s been stated that they were looking for -- they were taking off with the vehicle, because she had one of those cars where you

have to push the button and step on the brake. Her keys were in her pocket and they were unable to find the keys and take off with the vehicle. Of

course, they got upset and ended up shooting and killing Ava.

CASAREZ: Unbelievable. With us tonight everybody is Julie Gomez, it`s her sister, Diana Gomez, who is one of the victims of this. Julie, thank you

for joining us. I know you`re at the hospital tonight with your sister. We first want to ask you how is she?

JULIE GOMEZ, SISTER OF DIANA GOMEZ: She`s in stable condition, but she`s still in ICU.

CASAREZ: How many times was she shot, Julie?

GOMEZ: She was shot seven times.

CASAREZ: Seven times. And was it all in the abdomen area?

GOMEZ: it was the chest, abdomen, and I believe one bullet that grazed her right arm while she was trying to shield her children. And we believe

that`s the fatal shot Ava received.

CASAREZ: Oh, my goodness. We see Ava on our screen, this beautiful, precious little girl. When your sister came to in intensive care, I

understand the first thing she did was ask about her children.

GOMEZ: She asked for Ava and Betsy, because she knew that they were injured. She remembered they were injured from the incident that happened.

When she first asked for them, I don`t think she realized Ava had passed.

CASAREZ: And I know that you had to tell her just what you just said that she passed. How did you tell her? I mean the courage you had to have at

that moment.

GOMEZ: It was actually in the room, myself, my brother, Ava`s father, my husband, the doctors, the chaplain. it was the doctor that explained to her

what happened. He explained to her her injuries, Betsy`s injuries, and then he had to break the news about Ava.

CASAREZ: That must have been shocking, incomprehensible. What was her response?

GOMEZ: She was still somewhat sedated. She still had the breathing tube, so she wasn`t able to speak at the time. All she could do was cry. She just

cry. You just saw the pain in her face.

CASAREZ: Julie, I know that she was able to give a statement to police I believe yesterday was the first time she was able to do it. Do you know

what she told police happened in her own words?

GOMEZ: I believe what she told them was the same thing she told me, it was an attempted -- they were trying to steal her vehicle originally. She said

it was three men, three black males. Two went towards the vehicle, the gunman went straight to her. He had his face covered. The only thing he

could see was his eyes. She said he had a big gun. She got scared.

Her first attention was -- she was trying to shield her children. She was trying to protect them. She was trying to put her kids behind her. When he

tried to pull her purse, she was wearing a purse, not the cross body purse, but he couldn`t take it off of her. She said he didn`t even give her the

chance to take it off. He started shooting.

[20:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(START VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I don`t understand why. Over a purse?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Investigators say there were three people involved. A gun similar to the one used in the robbery was recovered, along with other

evidence to be tested.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And those three people are still on the run, and they need to be found. A mother and her children are attacked in an armed robbery outside

their own apartment building parking lot. And a senseless crime leaves a community grieving. We all do this, we go to the grocery store, you come

back, you unload the groceries.

We want to tell you about the vehicle that these three alleged perpetrators were in. I want to show everybody, if you have seen this vehicle, it`s a

black Honda Accord, Texas license plate GBV-0987. One of the three black males is believed was wearing a type of bandanna to cover his nose and his

mouth. Could only see his eyes. But if you have seen that vehicle, please call authorities immediately.

I want to go out to Art Roderick who is a CNN law enforcement analyst with us this evening. Art, first of all, if someone gets themselves in a

situation like this, because Diana Gomez would have given her purse to these men, but she had it on the way you`re supposed to wear it, right? The

long way, so it just can`t be taken off your shoulder, she couldn`t get it off, and the shots started coming, what do you do?

ART RODERICK, FORMER ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, U.S. MARSHALS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I think when you look at this particular case, Jean, I mean,

when I first started looking at this case, it is horrible. This is obviously a horrendous crime here. From a law enforcement perspective, you

have to sort of try to, as best you can, remove your emotions from it.

And the first thing I thought of this, this was a very desperate act by these perpetrators to possibly get her vehicle or her purse, and the first

thing that came to mind is what other crime have they committed just prior to encountering Ms. Gomez and her family? Because there is absolutely no

need for this type of shooting to have occurred.

I just thought absolute desperation, absolute desperation. Now, I think the key here is going to be connecting that vehicle, which I`ve heard reports

that that vehicle is possibly stolen from another location, and then brought to this location. And if they can connect...

[20:40:00] CASAREZ: A previous carjacking, Art, earlier in the evening is what they think.

RODERICK: Yes. And I think if they can connect these two, that carjacking to this particular crime, and it sounds like they`re going to have to do it

through video, video from the apartment complex, video from traffic cameras, from toll areas, from security cameras.

If they can piece that together, then the key part is if they can figure out who these individuals, are and then park two kicks in of actually

trying to apprehend these individuals.

CASAREZ: Julie Gomez, the sister of Diana Gomez, I know you`re at the hospital, your sister is still in intensive care tonight. First of all, two

questions. How is Betsy? Because Betsy is your other niece, Diana`s daughter that was grazed by a bullet. And when is Ava`s funeral?

GOMEZ: Betsy is doing well. She`s at home with her father. She was released from the hospital Tuesday evening. She actually stopped by with her other

little brother, Isaiah, to visit mom today. They were here quite a while. As far as Ava`s funeral, we still haven`t planned. There is no arrangement

yet. My sister said -- she said please don`t start anything yet. She wants to see her baby.

CASAREZ: We are so sorry. We are so sorry for this senseless crime, Julie. And we hope that they find these people, find this vehicle, and get justice

for your sister who is a victim and also little Ava. We`ll be right back.

[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(START VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sources now believe 26-year-old Joseph Comunale was stabbed to death. A weekend party turned murder scene with police

ultimately finding his body today some 60 miles away in a shallow grave. Investigators removed bag of evidence including a luggage cart that sources

say contained blood evidence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have two persons that we are going to prefer charges.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: 26-year-old Joseph Comunale was last seen on Sunday and was reported missing the next day. Police focused their investigation on a

Saturday night party Comunale attended at a luxury apartment building in the heart of New York City. After an exhaustive search, his body has been

found buried in dirt in a shallow grave in a wooded area in New Jersey. Comunale`s father is trying to process this.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

PAT COMUNALE, FATHER OF JOSEPH COMUNALE: He`s a great kid. He was never in trouble. He was the life of the party. He was -- look at his friends here.

Friends from all over the country here that are coming home to pay their respects to this kid.

This is not something that was -- this is -- we`re in denial. This is not something that happens to kids like this. This was -- I don`t know if it

was premeditated. I don`t know how it happened. His friends say the most. That`s what all I have left, is his friends.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Two men in their 20s, James Rackover and Lawrence Dilione, are charged with second degree murder in Joseph Comunale`s death. Now that his

body has been found, the big question is, why would these young men, a part of the glamorous night life of New York City, want to do something like

this?

Joining us right now is Ethan Harp. He is the reporter for NBC News Radio. Thank you very much for joining us. You know, I noticed the name here,

James Rackover is one that has been charged with the second degree murder. in fact, it was his apartment, right? He is associated with James Rackover,

who is a -- the jeweler to the stars?

ETHAN HARP, REPORTER FOR NBC NEWS RADIO: This is another of the bizarre twists in this case. The elder Jeffrey Rackover has done jewelry for Oprah

Winfrey and J-Lo and Melania Trump. Reports earlier on have said that the suspect James Rackover was the son of the elder Rackover, but today a

private investigator, Bo Dietl who knows the elder Rackover came and said, no these guys met about 3 1/2 years ago.

James became like the son that the elder Rackover never had. So James, the younger man who came from Florida, had a different name, wanted to change

his name and the elder Rackover said go ahead. You are now James Rackover.

CASAREZ: And he was living in an apartment, in a luxury building. it`s a rental, I understand. Just go back a couple of nights ago. What are the

facts?

HARP: We know that this young man, Joey Comunale, came down here from Stanford, Connecticut to have a night of fun with his friends. He somehow

gets separated from them, follows another group over to this luxury apartment what is known as Sutton Place area, very exclusive part of New

York City.

They`re partying into the wee hours. There may have been an argument. Whatever happened next was bloody. The police say that the victim was

stabbed at least 15 times and then dumped down at the Jersey shore. Not a quick trip. Left in a shallow grave.

And by the way, they found bleach in the apartment, they found gasoline down the scene where the body was left. It looks like whoever killed this

young man also wanted to destroy the evidence.

CASAREZ: So let me get this straight. New York City, high rise apartment. This young man, Joseph Comunale, stabbed 15 times?

HARP: Yes, that`s what the cops have said.

CASAREZ: Blood all over the place.

HARP: Right.

CASAREZ: What about the cart, the luggage cart? Because here in New York City in an apartment building, you have a luggage cart. If you want to take

luggage up and down, you get the cart.

HARP: And that`s one of the questions. How did they get this victim out of there? You got security cameras. This is a neighborhood where people keep

their eyes open. How would you get this person down from the fourth floor of a high rise and then down the New Jersey shore some 60 miles away.

Another big question tonight.

[20:50:00] CASAREZ: All right. And they found blood on the luggage cart.

HARP: There and blood inside the apartment. And they got the body down in South Jersey.

CASAREZ: So he`s buried in a shallow grave. We are going to go to break in just a minute. But I want to get the facts out and then we`ll go to the

lawyers. So, he was taken 60 miles away, how far?

HARP: Something like that. That`s not easy to get out of New York City. How they were able to do this? The second suspect who comes from Jersey City

may have worked in construction. May have been familiar with that area.

CASAREZ: Very interesting. Shallow grave though, right?

HARP: Absolutely, about a foot deep.

CASAREZ: Only a foot deep. All right.

HARP: In the woods.

CASAREZ: All right. A horrific crime. It is just beginning, just happened. We are going to be right back. And we are going to talk to the lawyers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CASAREZ: And voting is now under way for the CNN hero of the year. Here is one of the year`s top 10 heroes. Meet Sheldon Smith.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

SHELDON SMITH, ONE OF TOP CNN HEROES: Being a dad has taught me to overcome, because I didn`t have any father figure around that taught me

what being a dad is. Fatherhood doesn`t come with a map. Fatherhood doesn`t come with a manual. And sometimes you can learn from others or you learn on

the fly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m in this program trying to do better so my son don`t have to go through what I went through.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amen.

SMITH: Seventy percent of African-American children grow up in a single- parent household. So what I want to do was figure out how to provide these men with the skills and tools that they need to stay involved in their

children`s life and really support the next generation of children.

My goal at the end of the day when I started the Dovetail Project was to break the cycle, because I grew up in a community where a lot of young men

face the same issues that I was facing, and no one was doing anything about it.

There aren`t too many places where a father can go and get the help or support that he actually needs, being able to have those resources that you

actually need in order to make an impact on your child`s life, like employment or some type of assistance is key and very important. I really

wanted to be the person who built the hub for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And vote for Sheldon or any of your favorite top 10 heroes right now at cnnheroes.com.

[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(START VIDEO CLIP)

COMUNALE: It would be self-serving for me to tell you guys what a great kid my son was. He was loved by all, as you can see by the guys here. This is

not something that I want to do and I put making a statement off for two days now.

But he was loved by everybody. He had hundreds of friends. He didn`t deserve this. I don`t know what else can I say. But it`s a total loss. He

touched everybody. Everybody that came in contact with this kid loved him. He was one of a kind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: That is the father who lost his son in the blink of an eye from one night to the next. Police are trying to figure out how and why Joseph

Comunale was a part of the New York night life. It was this weekend he came and he ended up in a shallow grave. Thank you for joining us.

Brian Claypool, defense lawyer, we do know that they were all at a party, a big nightclub in New York City, went to the upper east side to an

apartment. Three girls, with three guys, and then he left, I`m talking about the victim, Joseph Comunale, he left with the girls but then he came

back.

BRIAN CLAYPOOL, DEFENSE LAWYER: Right. I find that fact to be very, very important in this case, because why would he leave with the three women,

then come back after that? That triggers in my mind that possibly there was a dispute that he had with Rackover.

And I think finding his phone, looking at text messages might lead to why he came back, and I personally think that this might have ended in some

kind of confrontation, and I think Rackover, if I`m representing him, he`s going to have to step up, maybe cooperate with the police and he`s probably

going argue that this was self-defense.

CASAREZ: Stacey Honowitz is a prosecutor joining us from Florida. You know, this is second degree murder, that`s what it`s charged as. But here in New

York, second degree murder is life in prison. It is an intentional act in most respects here. Your thoughts on this?

STACEY HONOWITZ, PROSECUTOR: Listen, we have to piece together. Right now, there`s two people in custody. We don`t know the theory of what happened

and Brian is right, the idea that he left with these women could be very important. Because they might have given statements as to what was going on

in the apartment beforehand.

Maybe they told him something that led him to go back to the apartment. Maybe these girls told him something that was going on. So for now, we`re

going to have to see how the evidence pieces together. I wouldn`t be surprised if one flips on the other to try to get a better deal. I think

that`s probably what we`re going to see in the long run. Flipping against the other.

CASAREZ: Right, which is so common. Ethan, James Rackover, we`ve been told, has not been cooperating with police.

HARP: That`s what police said today.

CASAREZ: But somebody led them to that shallow grave.

HARP: Right. Might have been Lawrence Dilione. We know one of the suspects told cops where to go. Dilione lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, worked in

construction, apparently knew that area, so logic would dictate he would have a better sense where to lead people. Better question is, what was he

doing knowing to dump a body down there if he did that?

CASAREZ: All right. NYPD today held a press conference. We still have no idea why, right? Why this happened.

HARP: Maybe an argument. Maybe a simple argument.

CASAREZ: All right. Brian, last word.

CLAYPOOL: Fifteen stab wounds, that means to me that this was a crime of rage, which means this probably was a fight.

CASAREZ: All right. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for watching. We will see you back here Monday at 8:00 for "Primetime Justice." "Forensic

Files" starts right now. Thank you so much.

[21:00:00]

END