Here is the full transcript from Nancy Grace's show.
Click here for the latest news and Twitter updates on the Michaela Bruce case.
NANCY GRACE
Ohio Girl, 14, Kidnapped by Pedophile
Aired February 27, 2014 - 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, live, Springfield, and the desperate search for a little 7th grade girl cops say kidnapped by a 44- year-old pedophile. Bombshell tonight. Help us find Michaela.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This man is a predator with a child.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I lost my daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fourteen-year-old girl...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Michaela Bruce missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This man is a pedophile.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Possibly armed with knives and guns.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don`t know what he will do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And to Houston. An eagle-eye maintenance worker spots a white plastic trash bag when he hears a baby animal in the dumpster. It`s a baby, all right, but not an animal. It`s a newborn baby boy, umbilical cord still attached,+ thrown in a dump like he`s trash!
Breaking news tonight. Mommy says she gives birth in a bathtub and throws away her baby boy because she says she thought he was dead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An innocent child in a dumpster.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Inside a cinched trash bag.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who left him in the dumpster?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Clues among the trash found in the same bag.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: School papers with the name of the 16-year-old mother.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: And to Highpoint (ph), a 3-year-old girl little girl mauled to death by the family pet, even after Mommy`s desperate fight to wrestle the pet off little Braelynn (ph). Neighbors say they`ve been so terrorized by the family pet, even keeping their children and pets indoors. Tonight, criminal charges against Mommy and Daddy?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I need (INAUDIBLE) police (INAUDIBLE) immediately. I have a child with me that was attacked by a dog.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three-year-old Braelynn Coulter (ph) was mauled to death by the family`s pitbull.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m going to kill the dog or it`s getting shot, put down, whatever, I don`t give a (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A dad of two goes to pay phone and threatens to blow up Hershey Arena when he can`t get tickets to One Direction? Daddy, a bomb threat? You`re busted!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After failing to secure concert tickets, 47-year- old father of two William Klein (ph) phones in a very deadly threat, reportedly saying if One Direction plays tomorrow, the stadium will blow up!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. To Springfield and the desperate search for a little 7th grade girl cops say kidnapped by a 44-year-old pedophile. Tonight, help us bring Michaela home alive.
Straight out to Dave Mack, talk show host. Dave, this is not the first time he`s targeted this little girl. But what happened this time?
DAVE MACK, SYNDICATED TALK SHOW HOST (via telephone): Well, she has somehow been brainwashed by this family friend to believe that he loves her. And they`ve got to save her from this guy.
GRACE: Joining me right now, Sheriff Gene A. Kelly, Clark County sheriff`s office. Sheriff, thank you for being with us. When were they last spotted?
SHERIFF GENE A. KELLY, CLARK COUNTY (via telephone): Well, Nancy, it was actually on Tuesday evening. He was in a rental car and she was with him. And they had rented a motel room...
GRACE: Oh, dear Lord in heaven! They rented a motel room? That`s not good, Sheriff.
KELLY: No, it`s not. He was in this rental car with Kentucky plates. We tried to make a traffic stop. He took off, started driving through red lights and stop signs. We called off the stop. A short time later, the car was found abandoned. They left behind their cell phones, so they must have taken off running. In Ohio, it was minus-10 degrees. There are several vacant houses where they abandoned this car, and we brought in our K9. We searched, and we have not been able to locate them since that time.
GRACE: Everyone, for those of you just joining me tonight, the desperate search for a 7th grade girl, braces and all. Police say she is with a pedophile, a 44-year-old white male. He is on the run with this little girl. Tonight, we need your help. Tip line, 973-328-2560.
Clark Goldband, what more can you tell me?
CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, you just heard from law enforcement that they thought they were in a hurry (ph) leaving that Knight`s Inn motel room. And let me show you what else they think. They believe they`re still in the county. Here`s why.
You see that hotel from the home, just about 2-and-a-half miles, the car abandoned about two-and-a-half miles away. Now, law enforcement does not think they have substantial cash or credit cards on them, so in order to travel, Nancy, they either, A, would have to be getting help, or B, have to commit some other crime, according to authorities.
GRACE: Take a listen to this 911 call.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: What is your name?
TAMMY BRUCE, MOTHER: Tammy. I`m her mother -- Tammy Bruce.
911 OPERATOR: What is his name?
BRUCE: His name is Mark Edwards. He`s got her. And God, I hope this...
911 OPERATOR: You think he has her?
BRUCE: I`m almost positive.
911 OPERATOR: How old is your daughter?
BRUCE: She`s 14. She doesn`t know anybody out there!
911 OPERATOR: What is her name again?
BRUCE: Michaela Bruce. Oh, my God!
911 OPERATOR: Do you know what your daughter was wearing today?
BUSH: She had shorts on and a shorty top. She was just hanging around the house with her cat. And she goes to school on line, and I had to take her out of Northwestern because she was being bullied.
911 OPERATOR: What color shorts?
BUSH: I think they were, like, leopard print.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: You are listening to the mom`s desperate 911 call when she realizes her 7th grade girl is gone. Alert. At this hour, Michaela believed to be with a 44-year-old white male cops say is a pedophile.
Take a look at this guy. Mark Edwards, age 44, 5-1, 135 pounds, black hair, brown eyes, believed to be armed and dangerous, a known survivalist.
With me right now, Tammy Bruce. This is Michaela`s mother. Tammy, thank you for being with us.
BUSH: Yes, ma`am.
GRACE: I`m just sick, sick about this. Your little girl was being home schooled, correct? Because she was being bullied at school, you took her out?
BUSH: Yes, ma`am.
GRACE: So she does not have a lot of -- I don`t know how to put this -- social skills dealing with other people. She`s just been taken out of school for being bullied, correct?
BUSH: Yes. She was being bullied about the first time that he took her.
GRACE: Everyone, what Ms. Bruce is talking about -- this guy apparently has tried to target this same child before. He was stopped. There were criminal charges against him.
Clark, what happened to that case?
GOLDBAND: Well, Nancy, it all occurred in the span of about 90 minutes. Authorities say this gentleman took the girl from her bus stop, was tracked down 90 minutes later, and when they got to his truck, authorities say they were shocked at what they found.
Take a look behind me. This is the hall haul that authorities took in. You can see a taser there, guns, survival equipment. This guy is a survivalist. But perhaps most disturbing, Nancy, authorities also found condoms as the girl was hiding under a blanket.
GRACE: To Sheriff Gene A. Kelly, Clark County sheriff`s office. Sheriff, again, thank you for being with us. Charges were brought against him that time. Some judge let him out on a low bond. He gets out and goes after the same girl again.
When he was found, after your people busted him the first time, somebody lets him out on bond. He comes back after the same girl again. And in his truck the first time he takes this girl, they find rubbers. They found a whole host of evidence.
I`m just sick he got out of jail and he goes out after the same girl again, Sheriff!
KELLY: Well, he was currently out on $50,000 bond. He had a pretrial hearing on Tuesday, and a plea was offered. He refused that plea, and he is supposed to go -- or is supposed to go to trial next Tuesday. And tomorrow, we have a bond revocation hearing. He has an opportunity to be present, and we had to go through ALL the legal process to make sure that his attorney, at least, would be notified. I hope he does show up, but I doubt that he will unless he is in the Clark County jail.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a missing child. This man is a criminal. He had rented a motel at the Knight`s Inn. There was a machete found in the motel room. There was a book bag found in the motel room. Her identification was in there.
BUSH: I hope it comes out safe and that she`s OK and that he knows he`s going to be found and it ain`t going to be good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Where is Michaela? A 7th grade girl is with a 44-year-old pedophile, according to police. We are trying to help find her at this juncture. He already has one criminal charge against him, a felony charge, for abducting the same girl. He goes to jail. He gets out on a low bond. He goes right after the girl again.
In fact, isn`t it true, Sheriff Kelly, that when you approach his wife, she gives you his rental car information? She says he went and rented a car.
KELLY: That is true. She gave us the information and the license plate number. It had Kentucky plates. And we spotted it and tried to stop it, and he took off. And we called off the pursuit so we didn`t harm her, Michaela, or any other citizen.
GRACE: Joining me right now, in addition to Michaela`s mom, Tammy, Fred Stegner, joining us tonight. He spotted Michaela with the guy, with the pedophile, walking along the road.
Fred, thank you for being with us. What did you see, Fred?
FRED STEGNER, WITNESS (via telephone): Well, you know, I was driving along and I kind of turned my head because it was so cold out. And when someone`s walking along on the sidewalk, you kind of wonder.
And these two -- the girl was walking in front of the man. And of course, are not your average height. They`re, I think, 5-1, 5-2, something like that. And they were bundled up and they were just walking down the sidewalk in the cold weather.
So I run a soup kitchen, and right now, we`re in a warming center. I have a warming center for homeless. And they came in later on and asked for some food and something hot to drink, but then just turned around and went out. And of course, we didn`t know who they were at that time.
GRACE: With me is Fred Stegner, who is the director of this Springfield soup kitchen. Fred, when you observed them, how was the girl acting?
STEGNER: She was just complacent, just walking in front of the man. But when they came in the soup kitchen, the man was in front of her. So we really didn`t get a good look at her.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Joining me, Trent Copeland, LA, Peter Odom, defense attorney, Atlanta.
OK, Peter, what`s your defense? He`s already taken this girl once. He was apprehended. He was arrested, felony charges. Some -- let me just be blunt -- idiot let him out. Now he`s going after the same girl again, Peter Odom!
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, it sounds as if he`s going to try the defense of, They can`t prove the case because the witness isn`t going to be there to testify against him.
GRACE: What do you mean?
ODOM: And I will tell you...
GRACE: You mean he`s going to kill her?
ODOM: No, no, no, no, no. He was probably trying to make her unavailable. And I`ll tell you, that`s going to be the biggest problem for...
GRACE: He had rubbers in his front seat!
ODOM: Nancy...
GRACE: That doesn`t sound to me like that`s what he`s up to, Peter!
ODOM: But if she doesn`t testify against him, they`re going to prove nothing.
GRACE: Disagree. Completely disagree. We don`t need her...
ODOM: Where`s the evidence -- but where`s the evidence...
GRACE: ... to testify -- well, you just heard...
ODOM: Where`s the evidence without her?
GRACE: ... Fred Stegner, who spotted them! We know she`s with this pedophile!
ODOM: It`s not illegal to go to a warming center and it`s not illegal to have rubbers in your car. And if she doesn`t testify...
GRACE: Well, what about taking a child...
ODOM: ... they`ve got no case.
GRACE: ... without her parents` consent? What about that, Peter Odom?
ODOM: If she doesn`t show up for trial, there will be no trial. The charges will be dropped.
GRACE: Well, there`s only way she`s not going to show up for trial.
TRENT COPELAND, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Oh, wow. Wow.
GRACE: And that`s if he takes her out of the jurisdiction. What are you "Wow, wow, wowing" about, Copeland?
COPELAND: Well, look, I got to disagree, respectfully, with my defense brethren (sic) here. I mean, of course there`s going to be a trial. You can`t take a child without the custodial consent of the parent. You just can`t do that.
GRACE: So what`s your defense?
COPELAND: The defense is not going to be much of one unless this guy turns himself in very quickly. And when he does turn himself in, God willing, he comes back with this child.
I think what`s going to have to happen is that this guy, at the sentencing of this case -- he`s going to have to argue -- the lawyer`s going to have to argue that, look, this guy`s got some sort of diminished capacity. This guy`s...
GRACE: Put him up!
COPELAND: ... got some sort of arrested development.
GRACE: Put him up!
COPELAND: Some sort of arrested development.
GRACE: He had...
COPELAND: Arrested development. He`s 5-feet-1.
GRACE: ... the wherewithal to go rent a car...
COPELAND: There`s no question about that.
GRACE: ... to run from police, nearly killed a girl trying to get away from police, to hide her behind him when he goes in the soup kitchen, to get out, not stay there, not have a conversation.
COPELAND: Yes, no question about that.
GRACE: He doesn`t have diminished capacity!
COPELAND: No question about that. Just because, Nancy...
GRACE: Then why did you say it?
COPELAND: ... you`re able to -- just because you`re able...
GRACE: Then why did you even...
COPELAND: ... to carry out...
GRACE: ... bring it up. It`s not true!
COPELAND: Just because you`re able -- no, it is true. And just because you`re able to carry out some kind of plan, some systematic plan, doesn`t mean...
GRACE: People like you...
COPELAND: ... you don`t have diminished capacity.
GRACE: ... is why he`s out...
COPELAND: I think there`s going to be...
GRACE: ... to start with!
COPELAND: ... some sort of -- no, that`s not true, Nancy, because...
GRACE: Yes, it is true!
COPELAND: ... believe it or not, I believe that this judge made a mistake by having that bail so low. I think the bail should have been higher. But the reality is, a lawyer`s going to have to argue something, and the argument is going to have to be that this guy...
GRACE: Really?
COPELAND: ... has some sort of...
GRACE: Why does the lawyer...
COPELAND: ... arrested development.
GRACE: ... have to argue something? Do you all have a gun on you, trained on your head?
COPELAND: Because that`s what we do. That`s what we do...
GRACE: Yes, but does that...
COPELAND: ... in our legal system.
GRACE: ... make it right? Does that make it right?
COPELAND: That`s what we do in our legal system. It doesn`t make it right, but the reality is, there`s -- on both sides of that V (ph), on both sides of that equation, there`s a prosecutor, there`s a defense lawyer.
GRACE: Out to Bethany Marshall, Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst, author of "Dealbreakers." Bethany, my head is spinning when I hear the lawyers just making up arguments where there`s not a scintilla of evidence to support he has diminished capacity or -- what does that mean, he`s crazy?
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: Oh...
GRACE: This guy goes and gets this little girl. The parents try to keep him away. He`s arrested. He`s got felony charges. He is a pedophile, according to police. He gets out and goes straight after the same little girl!
MARSHALL: Nancy, I so disagree with my friend, Trent. This guy does not have a diminished capacity. He had condoms with him, a taser, a machete. He groomed this girl over time. The sad fact is, he has a sexual preoccupation with her. He is a pedophile. He`s a sex offender. And the poor prognosis for this situation lies in the fact that he`s a survivalist. And what that tells me is...
GRACE: I agree, Bethany.
MARSHALL: ... he`s anti-society, and he has brainwashed her to feel that the two of them are...
GRACE: And another thing...
MARSHALL: ... in it together...
GRACE: Bethany...
MARSHALL: Yes?
GRACE: Do I have to bring up Elizabeth Smart? Because people that saw Elizabeth Smart with Wanda Barzee and her crazy husband that took Elizabeth Smart -- they didn`t realize what was going on because the child was conditioned not to speak. So when people see these two together, they`re not even going to think there`s a problem.
MARSHALL: Well, not only that, but the owner of the motel thought that she was an adult, thought she was his wife. So apparently, she`s quite mature-looking.
GRACE: Hold on. Tammy Bruce -- Tammy Bruce is Michaela`s mom. How disgusted were you when you learned this guy`s out on bond?
BUSH: I was very concerned. And that`s -- she`s 14 years old. She`s in the 9th grade. Yes, she looks maturer than she is.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That evening that our 14-year-old child disappeared, he had rented a car. His wife actually rented a car that had Kentucky plates. She gave us that information. We started canvassing all the hotels and motels in Springfield, found where he rented a motel at the Knight`s Inn, and we actually backed our cars off, hoping that he would return with her...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining me right now is the sheriff in that jurisdiction, Sheriff Gene Kelly. Sheriff, what`s so disturbing about this is not only was he arrested the first time he went after this girl, put in jail on felony charges, thanks to your people, he gets out on bond, parents distraught, he goes after her again. And there`s a restraining order against him, correct?
KELLY: There was a court-ordered protection order that he was to stay away from her, have no contact with her. And apparently, he had made contact, and she was in contact with him probably almost daily.
GRACE: Everyone, tip line, 937-328-2560.
And back to you Clark Goldband. What more do you have?
GOLDBAND: Well, Nancy, authorities are combing the area even with K9s because here`s the thing. They didn`t think they could get that far away from this few -- mile radius in Ohio. But they`re urging the public that if you do come into contact with either of these folks, to call authorities right away, should be considered extremely (ph) armed and dangerous.
GRACE: Tip line, 937-328-2560.
When we come back, a maintenance worker spots a white plastic trash bag after he hears a baby animal. It`s a baby, all right, but not an animal, a newborn baby boy in a dumpster!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: And now to Houston. An eagle-eye maintenance worker spots a trash bag after he hears a baby animal in the trash. It`s a baby, all right, but not an animal, a newborn baby boy, umbilical cord still attached, thrown away in a dumpster like he`s trash!
Right now, we learn Mommy says she gives birth in a bathtub and thinks her newborn baby boy was dead, so she throws him away!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The person who left a newborn to die.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stuffed into an overflowing dumpster. Police located her. Neighbors suspect it was the same young woman who appeared pregnant but tried to hide it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She need to go to jail and serve her time for her child.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: She thought the baby was -- was dead, so she throws the baby away into the dumpster. OK. Mommy says she didn`t know she was pregnant. That she gave birth in the bathtub, she thinks the baby is dead, so she throws him away like he`s trash.
Justin Freiman, did I get that right?
JUSTIN FREIMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Nancy, you`ve got that right. She actually told the CPS workers that she gave birth in a bathtub and cut the umbilical cord herself and then placed the baby in a dumpster.
GRACE: Everyone, you are seeing the dumpster where an infant child was found, umbilical cord still attached, and tonight the mom says she thought the baby was dead so she throws the baby away.
Joining me right now, Nik Raikovic from KTRH.
Nik, thank you for being with us. Explain to me how she didn`t snow she was pregnant.
NIK RAIKOVIC, NEWS REPORTER, KTRH RADIO: All we know, Nancy, is that she explained to police that she was gaining weight but didn`t think anything of it. That`s all she`s told authorities so far.
GRACE: Well, when you give birth, that is a pretty good idea that you`re pregnant. And when you go for eight months without a menstrual period, I mean, Nik, that never popped into her mind?
RAIKOVIC: Apparently not. But I think, as we learn more details about the father in this story, maybe we`ll learn a little bit why she didn`t tell anybody in the first place.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Trent Copeland, Peter Odom, also with us, Dr. Bethany Marshall. Dr. Bethany.
All right, Peter Odom, she said she didn`t know she was pregnant. She thinks the baby is dead. So she throws the baby away.
PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes.
GRACE: Thoughts?
ODOM: Well, my thoughts are that this is just so horribly tragic. No one is going to believe that story, Nancy. I mean, as you point out, it`s patently false. What troubles me about this case so much is how isolated this woman was in her pregnancy. The father had abandoned her, her own parents had abandoned her, she was living with an aunt, and imagine she`s giving -- she is a high school student and she`s giving birth alone in a hotel room. And she did the ghastly desperate, desperate thing.
GRACE: OK. Hold on. Whoa, whoa, back it up. Back it up. I understand that you are garnering sympathy for the mother. I understand that.
ODOM: I`m just talking about the facts of the case, Nancy.
GRACE: The fact that you seem to be leaving out is that she tried to murder a baby.
ODOM: Yes.
GRACE: That`s a problem, Peter.
ODOM: Nancy, I mean, those are the facts of the case.
GRACE: So the fact that --
ODOM: What she did was horribly --
GRACE: She had abandonment issues in her past, I feel bad about that.
ODOM: Well --
GRACE: But the answer to -- Bethany, the answer to abandonment issues is not to try and murder an infant child, I don`t think.
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": And this wasn`t just an attempted murder, this was an aggressive attack on a child. I so disagree with Peter Odom about the fact that early abandonment and lack of support and all of this led to this.
Women who commit infanticide notoriously deny the presence of the -- of the fetus in utero. They do not want to know they`re pregnant. They lie to the people around them and by the time they give birth to the baby, they think of it as an "it" or a thing. They`re not even bonded or attached with the infant.
Just to put this in context, not only did she give birth in a bathtub, she cut the umbilical cord herself. The baby was probably crying like newborns do. She stuffed it in a trash bag while it was crying. It`s an aggressive attack.
GRACE: Out to the line, Pamela in Pennsylvania. Hi, Pamela, what`s your question?
PAMELA, CALLER FROM PENNSYLVANIA: Hi, Nancy, my question is, what was she thinking? I mean, the baby was obviously born alive, then she -- even if she thought the baby was dead, why didn`t she reach out for help?
GRACE: To Dr. William Morrone, medical examiner and forensic pathologist, joining me out of Madison Heights.
Dr. Morrone, thanks for being with us. I mean, the first instinct a baby has is to cry, to gulp for air and cry. The baby was crying in the dumpster. It was crying. It was totally wrapped up and tied in a white plastic bag and the baby by that point was purple when the maintenance worker found the baby. The baby was dying. It was crying. So she had to hear the baby crying. She knew the baby wasn`t dead.
DR. WILLIAM R. MORRONE, MEDICAL EXAMINER; FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST, TOXICOLOGIST: The first instinct is to maintain life, to cry, to scream, to take air in, and for somebody to not know that that is truly diminished capacity but beyond the baby she had to deliver a placenta and that`s -- you could hurt yourself.
Nobody knows how to deliver. Midwives have been doing it for thousands of years, but individually, teenagers don`t know how to do this. This is a -- this is tragic.
GRACE: Well, the tragic part is that -- it is a now turning 17-year-old girl. But to say she thought the baby was dead so she just threw it away.
Trent Copeland, that doesn`t even make sense. The fact that she`s lying suggests that she knew she was doing something horribly wrong.
TRENT COPELAND, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, look, Nancy, you know, I can`t believe what I`m hearing on the panel tonight. I mean, look, there is a possibility that when she gave birth to the child, that the child did not take a breath in her mind and that the child did not make a sound in her mind, that sounded like the life of a child. That sounded like a child who had some life. So there is a possibility, although remote, that this child could have been, in her mind, born stillborn and maybe dead.
Now look, it`s a leap. It`s a tough sell for a defense lawyer but I think this is what this lawyer is going to have to argue on her behalf. And remember, she gets a defense, too. And the truth is she was a teenager giving birth in a bathtub to a child. It very well could have been that she had a difficult time.
GRACE: Joining me is Nik Reikovic from KTRH.
Where is the baby tonight? The father is 22 years old. I hope he`s not with the father. I hope he`s away from both of these people.
RAIKOVIC: No, Nancy. The father, as you said, is 22 years old, the girl claiming she hasn`t spoke to that man for six months but a judge yesterday did grant temporary custody to the Child Protective Services here in Houston. They are trying to find out whether they`re going to give it to a family member or what`s going to happen next to this young baby.
GRACE: What is the condition of the baby tonight, Nik?
RAIKOVIC: At last check, the baby is doing fine and well. Just a normal bouncing baby boy.
GRACE: And where is the mother that threw the baby in the dumpster and left it for dead?
RAIKOVIC: Well, the mother was taken to the hospital probably because of complications because of giving birth by herself.
GRACE: Right.
RAIKOVIC: And so last I checked, she was still in the hospital. She was due to get out soon, though.
GRACE: Guys, look, I`m not coming down -- Bethany, I feel sympathy for the mother, I do. But the sentence is not to throw a helpless child into the dumpster like it is trash and leave it to die. That is not the answer.
MARSHALL: I do not feel -- I don`t feel sorry for the mother. She had resources, she probably had a pediatrician, a doctor, a nurse, she had friends, she had teachers, didn`t she have a grandmother she was living with? The person to feel sorry for is this little baby.
A 16-year-old has the capacity with empathy and to bond and to care about a little life so I think we are focusing on the wrong person here.
GRACE: When we come back, a 3-year-old little girl mauled to death by the family pet. Even after mommy`s desperate fight to wrestle the pet off little Braelynn. Tonight criminal charges against mommy and daddy?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Once again we hear about a little child mauled to death by a dangerous dog.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The boy, playing video games with his brother one moment then savagely attacked by the family`s pit bulls the next.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This is the pit bull Boulder City Police say bit off four of a one-month-old baby`s toes.
GRACE: A South Carolina community in shock after four pit bulls maul a 1- year-old baby to death.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Three-year-old Braelynn Coulter was mauled to death by the family`s pit bull.
GRACE: Pit bull`s a deadly weapon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A 3-year-old little girl, a toddler, mauled to death by the family pet. This is after mommy`s desperate attempts to save the child, even being mauled herself trying to save her child.
Tonight we hear that neighbors claim they`ve been afraid of the family dog, a pit bull, for some time. Even keeping their children and their pets inside. And recently a neighbor claims the dog attacked their dog viciously.
Are charges being considered against mommy and daddy?
To Rita Cosby, investigative journalists -- Rita, what do you know?
RITA COSBY, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST, AUTHOR OF "QUIET HERO": Well, it`s such a terrible story. Three-year-old Braelynn Coulter goes outside to play with the family dog, two pit bull terriers and her mother hears her screaming and is being brutally attacked all over her abdomen and when mom desperately tries to pull the dog off of her she was attack so that mom had 17 stitches. It is just a horrible story.
GRACE: Everyone, we are taking your calls. Tonight we learn that within the neighborhood the neighbors claim they were afraid of this dog. They kept their children and their pets indoors.
Justin Freiman, what do we know?
FREIMAN: That`s right, Nancy. We`ve been told from neighbors that they actually were scared of this dog. And when they saw that the dog was outside, some of them would actually make sure they kept their kids inside.
GRACE: Everyone, you are seeing a shot of the home. It is a beautiful neighborhood. The 3-year-old little girl mauled dead by the family pet.
Out to the lines. Amanda in Maine. Hi, Amanda, what`s your question?
AMANDA, CALLER FROM MAINE: Hi, Nancy. I just love your show. Let me say that.
GRACE: Thank you.
AMANDA: But I have more of a comment. My son was also attacked by a pit bull when he was 3 and had to undergo facial reconstructive surgery. He is now 7 but the scars have forever changed his life, you know, they`re very apparent, and I feel like if the family knew this dog was a danger, they should have gotten rid of it because even though it may be like a family member, it could still, of course, do something like this and it`s very tragic and sad.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Trent Copeland, L.A., Peter Odom, Atlanta.
I hear what the caller is saying, but this mother risked her own life to save the daughter. She just couldn`t. The pit bulls` jaws are like a vice. You can`t get them open. She was attacked herself trying to save her daughter. I don`t think criminal charges are appropriate.
COPELAND: Nancy, I don`t have a problem with this. Let me play prosecutor for a moment. I happen to believe, and look, my sympathies go out to this family, they`ve lost their young daughter. But the reality is, this dog is just like a loaded weapon. If the neighbors have enough sense to keep their children indoors because this dog has demonstrated propensities of violence and people know that this dog is out there and is vicious, then clearly these parents have to know that this dog has got some problems. So the reality is --
GRACE: Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute.
COPELAND: Look, I`m looking at criminal charges in this case.
GRACE: There is a dog in my neighborhood --
COPELAND: And I think those criminal charges are proper.
GRACE: -- that I don`t like and it is a pit bull and I stay away from it. I keep the children from it.
COPELAND: Well, why don`t you like the dog?
GRACE: Because I know it`s a pit bull. But the fact that I don`t like the dog and I don`t like the children being around it, it has never done anything. The fact that neighbors were afraid of this pit bull does not put the parents on notice.
COPELAND: Of course it puts the parents on notice.
GRACE: No, it doesn`t.
COPELAND: Because we don`t know exactly what was happening in that neighborhood. If these parents clearly knew that this dog has had problems --
GRACE: You`re trying to blame the parents to something the dog did.
COPELAND: No, no, I`m trying to blame the parents for having a vicious animal in their home when they`ve got a young child and that animal has demonstrated propensities for being vicious towards even the neighbors. The neighbors knew well enough to keep that dog indoors.
GRACE: Everyone, when we come back, a dad of two goes to a payphone and threatens to blow up Hershey Arena when he can`t get tickets to "One Direction". The boy band? To threaten to blow up the whole stadium from a payphone?
Daddy, really, a bomb threat? You`re busted.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A dad takes matters into his own hands because he couldn`t get the tickets he wanted. He decides if he can`t go with his kids, no one can.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: So he threatens to blow up Hershey Stadium.
Clark Goldband, what do you know?
CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: Nancy, you`re talking about chocolate town, Hershey, Pennsylvania, and Hershey Park Stadium, 17,000 fans can fit into this place and everyone was pumped for the One Direction concert but then suddenly authorities get a call.
It`s a bomb threat. They say there is a bomb in the facility. It immediately goes on lockdown. Authorities search every single customer coming to this concert. But it`s important to point out that this dad and his two daughters weren`t going to the concert because he could not get tickets that he promised his daughters.
GRACE: To Thomas Thornton, defense attorney for William Klein, the dad who`s accused of a bomb threat.
Thomas, what happened?
THOMAS THORNTON, ATTORNEY FOR DAD WHO MADE BOMB THREAT: Well, it`s a -- it`s a difficult situation and when you have children and I know many people do, and you have daughters especially, and they become infatuated with a certain band, the stress they feel becomes very real to the dad and when they start complaining to the dad and telling the dad that they will never speak to him again if he doesn`t get the tickets that he had promised months ago, sometimes people make bad decisions.
GRACE: A bad decision, OK. What you should do, Thomas, is if this gets to trial, load the jury with parents.
Rita Cosby, so dad can`t get tickets for his kids to One Direction boy band, see, to me, maybe that`s a blessing. I don`t know. But he goes -- of course he doesn`t use his own cell phone, he goes to a payphone at a gas station with no surveillance camera. There is no way to trace this thing and makes a bomb threat on Hershey Stadium. Problem.
COSBY: Yes, huge problem. And also, Nancy, they were able to trace that call to a 7-Eleven. He said that he was just driving there and then suddenly he was so distraught and is even using the uncontrolled teenage rage defense. But as a result of him making this call, they did get it on surveillance video. The whole stadium had to have everybody`s bags checked. Imagine the terrible inconvenience.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Authorities put a Pennsylvania concert venue on lockdown. 47-year-old father of two William Klein tries to solve the problem with a bomb threat. Promising to blow up the stadium.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I`m telling you, no jury would ever believe that was a motive for a bomb threat. But long story short, all of you parents who went to the line too long on Ticketmaster, or wherever you`re waiting to get those tickets, this dad doesn`t get tickets to boy band One Direction for his children, he calls and makes a bomb threat threatening to blow up Hershey Stadium. So he went to a payphone. There wasn`t a surveillance camera there.
So, Clark Goldband, how did cops figure out it was this dad?
GOLDBAND: Well, Nancy, here`s the deal. He`s driving into the 7-Eleven, decides to purchase some lotto tickets, and then it hits him, that he`s going to call in this bomb threat. But here`s the thing, the box office traced that number. Gave the number to authorities, authorities were then able to determine it came from a payphone outside the 7-Eleven. He couldn`t see Zain, Harry and the boys in One Direction and that`s how authorities tracked him down.
GRACE: No, wait, this is what I don`t get. So they track it back to a payphone, but how do they know who was at that phone at that moment or was it that immediate, Clark?
GOLDBAND: Well, Nancy, it appears they were able to determine through surveillance they could I.D. this gentleman according to reports. He purchases lotto tickets at this location.
GRACE: Whoa. Whoa. He was busted because of his lotto tickets?
GOLDBAND: Well, he was going there --
GRACE: So he buys lotto tickets and makes a bomb threat at the same time?
GOLDBAND: According to reports, Nancy, you hit the nail on the head.
GRACE: OK. Dr. Bethany, I`m not even going to bother going to the lawyers, but the reality is he just needs anger management, that`s what he needs.
MARSHALL: I hope he goes One Direction, straight to jail, because I wouldn`t want to be on this guy`s bad side.
Seriously, Nancy, I mean, I would think about intermittent explosive disorder, some psychiatrically driven condition like bipolar, something like that but --
GRACE: Everyone, let`s stop and remember, American hero, Army Staff Sergeant Mark Stets Jr., 39, El Cajon, California, Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Army Commendation medal, Army Achievement medal, loved motorcycles, parents Mark and Nancy, widow Nina, daughters Jessica, December and Rachel.
Mark Stets Jr. American hero.
Drew up next. I`ll see you tomorrow night. 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
