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NANCY GRACE

Break in Behl Disappearance Case?; More Confusion in New Orleans

Aired September 19, 2005 - 20:00:00   ET

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


NANCY GRACE, HOST: Tonight, breaking news in the mystery of Virginia Commonwealth University student Taylor Behl, Taylor Behl`s car just found with illegal Ohio license plates. The case stymied with university police until local law enforcement stepped in. But tonight, still no sign of the 17-year-old girl.
And more confusion in New Orleans, confusion that could cost lives.

Good evening, everybody. I`m Nancy Grace. And I want to thank you for being with us tonight.

Tonight, the so-called jet-ski murder out of California. Thirty-five- year-old Corbin Easterling (ph) says he tried to help his wife, Jennifer (ph), survive after their jet-ski allegedly got stuck in, quote, "tidal mud." Well, for 24 hours in the chilly waters of San Pablo (ph) Bay, he lived, she died. We`re headed to court.

And tonight, a new lead in the case of missing Virginia Commonwealth University student, 17-year-old Taylor Behl`s car is found, with license plates switched. No sign of Taylor.

But first, breaking news. New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin halts residents returning to New Orleans. Nagin orders those who have returned to leave again. Why? Tropical Storm Rita.

Let`s go straight out to New Orleans. Standing by, Sean Callebs. Sean, bring us up to date.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they fully expect Rita to become a hurricane, and it is moving into the Gulf area. And if it hits Louisiana, and especially the New Orleans area again, it is going to be punishing. In the words of the Army Corps of Engineers, it`s a frightening action.

We are right now on the London Avenue levee. This is one of two major breaches on this levee. If you can just look out this way, Nancy, you can see water is only a matter of feet from the top. What happened at the height of Hurricane Katrina, water came down this canal, just pushed from Lake Pontchartrain. As it got down, it eroded the bottom portion of the canal, simply washed this area away. And if you look over this area, these homes were simply devastated. This was in spot A as the water came rushing in.

Now the big concern, as this tropical storm, soon to be a hurricane, roars into this area, there`s concern that this levee system simply is not stable enough to handle any more rain. They`ve done projections, the Corps of Engineers and other officials, what would happen if three inches of rain came, what would happen if six, what would happen if nine. Well, that is the reason the mayor reversed himself and after encouraging residents to come back for the past week, just a short while ago, the mayor said, We`re going to halt everything. Indeed, everybody who came to the city, we`re now going to evacuate you back out.

And on top of everything else, Nancy, we just got word that they are going to put people on buses and take them -- where else -- the convention center.

GRACE: No! No! No! Not the convention center again!

CALLEBS: That`s exactly what the word is. But this time, it`s a much different situation. We know there are thousands and thousands of U.S. troops on the ground here. That place has been cleaned up.

But it`s just a scenario that has to frustrate a lot of residents. They planned over the weekend to come back in, and we know that some residents in the Algiers section began coming back in today. The mayor held his news conference just about two hours ago to tell people he was reversing himself, and this after a whole weekend of federal officials, including Vice Admiral of the Coast Guard Thad Allen, the individual overseeing FEMA`s work here on the ground, said this isn`t a good idea. He basically pulled the welcome mat out from underneath those residents this past weekend, pointing out there are all kinds of environmental hazards.

I wish you could smell what this area smells like, Nancy, because there is everything imaginable in this water, in flood waters still in areas of the city. We know the pumps are working, but there are more than 340 miles of levee systems surrounding this city. There have been three major breaches. And the unknown, just what areas have been weakened to the point where another storm would cause another breach. Federal officials tell us they are not going to know that until at least December, and they don`t expect to have this levee system back up the way it was until June of `06.

We`re still in hurricane season, so the challenge is on. There`s a sense of urgency, with crews working more than 12 hours a day, trying to get this levee system shored up, to make sure this area doesn`t get another disaster -- Nancy.

GRACE: What a whopping mess! First of all, lives lost during the initial evacuation. Then the mayor orders everybody to come back, welcomes them back. For a week, everybody`s saying, Don`t do it, don`t do it, don`t do it. What about Hurricane Rita? What about Hurricane Ophelia.

Here`s what the mayor had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR RAY NAGIN (D), NEW ORLEANS: We are suspending all reentry into the city of New Orleans as of this moment. I am also asking everyone in Algiers to prepare to evacuate as early as Wednesday.

This is a different type of event. Our levee systems are still in a very weak condition. Our pumping stations are not at full capacity. And any type of storm that heads this way and hits us will put the east bank of Orleans parish in very significant harm`s way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Sean, before I let you go, what is the government doing, if anything, to help these residents re-evacuate?

CALLEBS: Well, the good thing is, legions of residents didn`t come in. Those who came in over the weekend basically came in to get a good look at either their home, business, and then if they could take anything of significance out, and then went back out. There aren`t a great deal of residents.

Buses are being made available to help those who came back in. We didn`t see long lines at the checkpoints on the interstates and major thoroughfares leading into the city. So if there is a hint of good news in all this, that is it. But without question, this certainly is a mess, Nancy, and it is not going to go away anytime soon. What they`re hoping for, a glancing blow from Rita, not a direct hit.

GRACE: Aren`t we all? Aren`t we all? Sean Callebs joining us from New Orleans. Thank you, friend.

We are switching gears now and going to a mystery that is swirling around a 17-year-old girl, a student at Virginia Commonwealth University. Let me go straight out to Jamie Stockwell, "Washington Post" reporter. Jamie, what`s the latest on Taylor Behl?

JAMIE STOCKWELL, "WASHINGTON POST": Well, today, Nancy, investigators have said that they are encouraged with the discovery of her vehicle in the city of Richmond because that brings a more intense focus to the city limits. Now that they have found the vehicle, they can begin, you know, looking in that immediate area, which they had done prior to the discovery, but now they`ve got a much more concentrated focus.

GRACE: Elizabeth (ph), do we have a map of where the car was found? We do? OK, let`s put that up for the viewers. Jamie, where was the -- OK. Now, you know what? Ellie (ph), can you hand me my magnifying glass? "Car found" -- I think that`s up on the top left -- Elizabeth, hold on -- a mile-and-a-half away from Virginia Commonwealth University. That`s "car found" over on the left. I think those are resembling trees in the middle. There`s VCU in the middle, straight up the interstate.

Back to Jamie Stockwell with "The Washington Post." How many miles away was the car found from the university?

STOCKWELL: About a mile-and-a-half, in a really nice residential area, not at all far from the university.

GRACE: Who discovered the car?

STOCKWELL: An off-duty police officer who was walking his dog early Sunday morning -- I`m sorry, Saturday morning -- discovered it. And you know, it had Ohio license plates. It didn`t have Virginia license plates. And so he was struck immediately by the fact that it was a Ford Escort, even though noting that it was the wrong -- from the wrong state. But it did still have the northern Virginia decals up on the windshield. And so that led him to look a little bit more closely.

GRACE: Very quickly, to Thomas Barnes, private investigator. Thomas, the fact that the license plates had been switched out on that car is very significant to me. What does it mean to you?

THOMAS BARNES, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: Well, it tells me that this is not just the normal missing person. This is -- there`s some criminal element involved in this by the mere fact that stolen plates were put on the car. It tells me that there`s more to this than just a missing person, and we need to find out what that other issue is. And so far, we can`t get it from the police.

GRACE: Well, I`ve got to agree with you. I was hoping that Taylor Behl had just gone on walkabout. But when I find out that her car has been located with Ohio plates put on it, her Virginia Commonwealth University tag still there...

Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RODNEY MONROE, RICHMOND POLICE CHIEF: We have over 150 different leads that we`ve been tracking down over the last 48 hours, and quite naturally, it takes quite a bit of time to do that and to organize those type of efforts.

We are at this time conducting a track with a dog that has been brought into the area, and he is actually out trying to track her scent from the vehicle. After that is done, we have a team of about 20 detectives that would embark upon this neighborhood in order to start a canvass. That`s where we are at this point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Joining us now is a very special guest. Taylor`s father is with us. Matt Behl. Sir, thank you for being with us.

MATT BEHL, MISSING GIRL`S FATHER: Thank you, Nancy.

GRACE: Sir, what was your reaction when you learned that her car had been found?

BEHL: Elation. We were at the hotel in Richmond and went down to the site where the vehicle was located, although the police had secured the vehicle and it had been taken away from the scene by the time we had gotten down there.

GRACE: And the last time you spoke to your daughter was on her way to school?

BEHL: Right. She had stopped by my house in southern Fairfax County right before she left because my house is the closer of the two houses to Interstate 95 for her to go straight down to school.

GRACE: Anything at all unusual in her conversation? Was she worried about anything, afraid of anything?

BEHL: No, not really. Taylor, I think, was excited to get back to school. She had come by just to give me a poster from a movie that we had watched together. She had also given me a picture that was taken of her receiving her diploma from her graduation.

GRACE: Matt, I know you were elated when you first learned her Ford Escort had been found, but the fact that someone had put false, illegal tags on it, does that change the scenario for you?

BEHL: It clouds it. I don`t understand why those tags were on there. There`s more to it than Taylor just missing now. There`s certainly -- we know nobody from Ohio, so I don`t know why those tags would have been placed on that vehicle.

GRACE: Here`s what Taylor`s mom had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET PELASARA, MISSING GIRL`S MOTHER: They have worked, I know, 24 hours a day since they took over the case and have been working non-stop, followed every lead that they`ve had. They have people on their tip line 24 hours a day. They have just been absolutely incredible.

She`s not a druggie. She`s just a good kid -- good, clean, fun kind of kid, and smart and beautiful. And missing!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: That`s Taylor`s mother on our show last week.

Back to Taylor`s dad. Matt Behl is with us. Now, Taylor had her cell phone with her, and it`s my understanding -- I know up until Friday night, when we covered this story, you could dial her number and you would get a ring, as if the phone were on, and then it would go into voice-mail. You know, Mr. Behl, when a phone has cut off or it`s gone dead from lack of battery, you go straight into voice mail typically. That was not happening. But what`s happening now when you dial it?

BEHL: The last -- when I called it, actually, on Thursday, it did go directly to voice-mail. We tried -- her mother and I tried it again on, I believe, Saturday, and it did go directly to voice-mail again but was not accepting any more voice messages, as the mailbox was filled.

GRACE: You know, that`s very interesting and significant to me, Thomas Barnes, our private investigator, because you know, she went missing on Labor Day, about 10:00 PM that evening. She went out to go skateboarding with some friends, hasn`t been seen since.

Everybody, we`re talking about Taylor Behl, a 17-year-old girl missing out of Virginia Commonwealth University. And Thomas, it seems to me that her cell was kept charged. Her cell phone, although unused, was kept on and charged for a very long period of time, well over a week. What do you make of it?

BARNES: Well, I make -- the whole thing is very suspicious in the fact that we`ve got a girl with a profile here that is not a runaway type of a profile. They`ve put a spin on this that she may be afraid to come back. I don`t really believe that she`s afraid...

GRACE: Oh, you mean like Jennifer Wilbanks, dare I mention the name?

BARNES: And I don`t think that she left on her own volition. I think the problem is we need to find out where the tags and what were the circumstances around these stolen vehicle tags. And secondary to that, the cell phone itself depends on the provider, and there`s a lot of information that can be gleaned from cell phones.

I am very surprised at the amount of investigation that`s going on. I mean, I was taken back when I found out that there were 10 investigators, and then hearing recently now that the chief of police has said that he`s going to put 20 investigators on this case is phenomenal. I do tip my hat to the police department at the university, who were smart enough to back out of this and give it to a larger department -

GRACE: Wait, wait, wait, wait! Before you start handing out congratulations, they sat on it for 11 days before law enforcement came in and took it over.

When we come back, I want to find out from not only our criminal lawyers who will be joining us but the private eye and the reporter, can you track a cell phone simply by it being on in a certain location and emitting waves, or does there have to be communication, do there have to be incoming, outgoing calls to track where is Taylor Behl`s cell phone?

As we go to break, "Justice" magazine reports repeat sex offender Joseph Duncan, accused of kidnapping children Shasta and Dylan Groene, videotaped Dylan -- videotaped Dylan! -- before allegedly murdering the little boy. Authorities refuse to reveal the details on the videotape. Duncan also accused of killing Shasta and Dylan`s 13-year-old brother, their mother, and her boyfriend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MONROE: Approximately 8:30 this morning, an off-duty Richmond police officer, while out walking his dog, spotted a white Ford Escort. The Escort did not bear the tags that we were looking for. He continued to search further. The car had a Vienna, Virginia, sticker on it. He ran the VIN number of that vehicle, and it came back listed to the Behl family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Welcome back, everybody. I`m Nancy Grace. And we are hot on the case of 17-year-old Taylor Behl, a Virginia Commonwealth University student. She`s been missing since Labor Day. Eleven long days passed before law enforcement finally stepped in.

Straight back out to Thomas Barnes, private investigator. What can you tell me about cell phone activity? If a phone is -- not a phone with some extraordinary chip in it, but just a regular cell phone that is turned on, can they get cell phone emissions to determine where the phone is?

BARNES: No. It depends on the carrier, but for all practical purposes, there`s no way that they can locate that cell unless it`s transmitting. We`re all used to the O.J. Simpson and how they traced O.J. Simpson with his cell transmissions. If the phone is transmitting, they can locate the transmission tower. It won`t give the location, but it`ll give where the transmission tower`s at.

GRACE: But wait. You`re telling me that there has to be a phone call in or out for that to work?

BARNES: That`s correct. Now, the only exception to that is some phones have GPS or satellite...

GRACE: (INAUDIBLE) chips in it.

BARNES: -- positioning -- yes, the chip in there. And these are the phones that will actually tell you where the phone is at, at all times.

GRACE: Got you. I want to go back to Taylor`s father. Matt Behl is with us. Matt, take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Has the phone been used since she disappeared?

MONROE: I`m not sure I understand what you`re saying.

GRACE: OK.

MONROE: We do have a time that the phone was used.

GRACE: Well, was that after she disappeared?

MONROE: When did she disappear? I mean, you`re not actually asking me a question that we have...

GRACE: OK, then let me rephrase. Let me rephrase, judge. Since she was last seen alive, has her cell phone been used?

MONROE: We don`t know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Mr. Behl, has her phone been used since she went missing on Labor Day?

BEHL: Not that I know of.

GRACE: Are they sharing information with you?

BEHL: Excuse me?

GRACE: Are they sharing information with you?

BEHL: Absolutely.

GRACE: And sir, I know that they have been looking at a person of interest, he has not been named a suspect, a 38-year-old photographer that apparently had some photos of her. And everybody, she`s fully clothed, standing outside, I think, in front of a tree, doing some shots for this guy. I understand police did a search warrant at his -- who is this guy?

BEHL: His name is Ben Folly (ph), and he is a -- as you say, a 38- year-old photographer in Richmond.

GRACE: And what do we know about him? What was their relationship?

BEHL: Actually, he was the roommate of a VCU student that Taylor went down to -- when she went down to visit the school in February, he was the roommate of a boy that went to school there at VCU.

GRACE: We`ll all be right back. We`re talking about a missing 17- year-old girl out of Virginia Commonwealth University, Taylor Behl.

Very quickly, "Case Alert." A psychologist says the man who tried to assassinate President Reagan and gunned down and paralyzed White House press secretary James Brady, John Hinckley, Jr., should be allowed to leave the mental hospital he`s in to visit his parents in their upscale Virginia neighborhood. The shrink says he no longer suffers from all that depression he had when he tried to kill the president in 1981. Hinckley found not guilty by reason of insanity in the shooting of Reagan, his press secretary, James Brady, and two others.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PELASARA: She left her room, her dorm room, at 10:00 o`clock and told her roommate she`d be back in a couple hours. She`s just a good kid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We consider this case very, very serious. She`s one of our students. We want her back in school.

PELASARA: Good, clean, fun kind of kid, and smart and beautiful. And missing!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: She`s only 17 years old, no history of running away, no juvenile history of dope, pot, shoplifting, nothing -- nothing, no history, a good girl, 17 years old, Taylor Behl missing.

To Raymond Giudice, defense attorney. Ray, serious lapse -- 11 days, 11 days! Do you know how much heck I gave Aruba for waiting 11 days to do something? Eleven days before cops took this away from the university police.

RAY GIUDICE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, Nancy. After three days -- I mean, people just don`t take off anymore and disappear for two weeks. This young lady was in school. She was enrolled. She`s going to classes. She`s talking to her friends and her parents. By 11 days, I mean, that investigation was 10 days too late. There`s a lot of work that needed to be done. They can get into her computer and look at that hard drive, see who the last people she e-mailed to, get those phone records.

I just want to go back to one thing. I am much more pessimistic about the nefarious nature of that tag. That is an indicator of a car-jacking or a serial car thief that was perpetrating felonies.

GRACE: I don`t see a car-jacking because what car-jacker trying to make off with a car would bother changing the plates?

GIUDICE: Yes, but he -- they take those plates and put it on another car...

GRACE: Yes.

GIUDICE: ... that they`ve already hijacked. I mean, that`s -- that`s -- that happens all the time here in Atlanta, or they`re in the commission of a crime and they swap cars. They steal another car and they switch plates. So no matter what twist you want to put on it, the switching plates is not a good sign.

GRACE: But it could also indicate that they were more into getting the plates, getting the car, than getting the girl.

Everybody, we`ll all be right back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIE FULLER, VCU POLICE CHIEF: To date we have accessed every regional and state police resource that we could in order to determine if we can find her. When she left, she left with her car keys and her car and credit card. She left other belongings in her dorm room. Her roommate last saw her the previous Monday night at approximately 10:20 p.m. and that was the last time that anyone has seen her to date.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Every resource available. Excuse me, officer? Her car was only a mile-and-a-half away.

To Jamie Stockwell, with the "Washington Post," what took 11 days before they issued an Amber Alert for the car? Once they did that, boom, somebody recognized the car in about 48 hours.

STOCKWELL: And, actually, when the investigation first got under way with the University Police, they did have some representatives from the Richmond Police Department, from the FBI, from the State Police as well. And an Amber Alert, from what I understand, from what the police told me, it wasn`t issued initially because it didn`t meet all of the criteria, and that is that there wasn`t that probable cause, I suppose, that she had been abducted or that she had met up with foul play in any way.

GRACE: You know what, Mr. Behl, this is Taylor`s father, that just doesn`t make sense to me. Had she ever runaway, ever?

BEHL: No, she had never runaway before.

GRACE: Then why the 11 day lag on issuing an Amber Alert?

BEHL: I`m not sure what the criteria is for an Amber Alert to be set. I was just very happy when they finally did it, to find her.

GRACE: Yes, I agree with that.

Jamie Stockwell, you said that there were representatives of local police, but the University Police were still handling the investigation at the beginning.

STOCKWELL: True, yes, they were the lead investigating agency because she was believed to have been on the campus on Monday night at about 10:00 p.m. with her roommate.

And that`s a very good question and one that will continue to be asked over the course of this investigation.

GRACE: Well, I`ve been asking it since last week, and nobody seems to want to answer it.

Michael Molfetta, defense attorney out of Newport Beach, look, I`ve dealt with University Police on many, many cases, and they have very good intentions. They are trying their best. They simply do not have the resources that state police have.

MICHAEL MOLFETTA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I`ve dealt with them too, Nancy, but that`s back when I was in college.

But, you know, they just dropped the ball. The fact of the matter is this: the Amber Alert is there to get people looking, to enlist the eyes and ears of the community so they can help law enforcement.

The car was a mile-and-a-half away. Issue the Amber Alert. Find the car and then determine whether or not it was something that was innocent or something that was not innocent.

The fact that the license plates are there, Nancy, I disagree with counsel. It`s not a carjacking. But what it shows me is that somebody knew she had a car or somebody took the car after they did something with her and wanted to hide it. It is very, very troubling and it tells me that somebody went through some planning and we need to find out where these tags were originally, what car they were affixed to, where that car was parked, and then backtrack.

The tags do not bode well for what occurred in terms of it being an innocent outing by a college student. It seems to make it a little more sinister -- a lot more sinister.

GRACE: Mr. Behl, she was leaving that evening, Labor Day, to go skateboarding with some of her friends.

BEHL: Correct.

GRACE: Did she have to go to the car to meet up with them or were they there on campus?

BEHL: The car was located across campus and it`s my understanding that where she was getting the skateboard was very close to the car. So that she picked up the skateboard and got in the car.

GRACE: Anybody, any tips on Taylor Behl, toll free, 1-877-244-HELP. 877-244-HELP.

Very quickly, to Matt Behl, Taylor`s father, what now? What do you think should be done now?

BEHL: I would just ask, because the police, I think, are doing as much as possible. I`m still waiting for the results of the forensic tests being done on the car by the FBI. Look around. This child is out there someplace.

GRACE: And you know what? She is a child. She is 17 years old. And I have researched this American beauty. No juvenile record, no bad grades, a good girl, out skateboarding. How many parents wouldn`t pray to have a girl this age, that her idea of fun was to go skateboarding.

And to Robi Ludwig, this girl has no history of any runaways, nothing. It just doesn`t make sense that she would just disappear for fun.

DR. ROBI LUDWIG, FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIST: I`m in complete agreement with you, and statistics also show something scary. That teenagers are most vulnerable to stranger abduction and that it tends to be males that are sexually preoccupied with these women. As we know, adolescents are at the height of their attractiveness. We don`t know who was seeing her in the area. And, again, whatever was going on with the car indicates some kind of deliberate criminality, and we don`t know what happened, but one thing I can say for sure, it doesn`t sound like this girl just deliberately decided to go somewhere without telling anyone.

GRACE: Mr. Behl, we are not letting go of the case. Everybody, that toll free number, 877-244-HELP. This is Taylor Behl. Please help us find her.

I want to quickly switch gears to another case that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. We`re going to San Pablo, California. In that location, a man and his wife go jet skiing all day long. He says they get stuck in tidal mud for 24 hours. When the Coast Guard finally get there, he`s alive and she is dead?

Very quickly, to crime reporter with the "Vallejo Times Herald," J.M. Brown. Sir, thank you for being with us.

What is this case all about?

J.M. BROWN, "VALLEJO TIMES HERALD": Well, the police say that it is murder. The authorities, when they arrived on the scene, found her deceased, and he told them that she had died some time overnight when he fell asleep, after the two --

GRACE: Say what? Wait. He falls asleep out in the water, and during the time he was asleep, she died.

BROWN: That`s correct. He said that there was some sort of malfunction with the jet ski and that they were unable to call for help and that he tried to keep her afloat on the jet ski, but he fell asleep, and when he awoke, she was dead.

GRACE: Now, what is the cause of death -- Mr. Brown.

BROWN: Well, the forensic pathologist --

GRACE: Wait, wait, wait. Another question, before you answer that, I`m seeing him taken out of the courtroom in a wheelchair, but my reading of the documents says he has no injuries.

BROWN: That`s right. When he was taken to the hospital, right after they were rescued, he did not have any significant injuries.

GRACE: So, Michael Molfetta, please tell me you`ve never put your client in a wheelchair and rolled him around the courtroom for no reason.

MOLFETTA: There`s always a reason. I`ve never done it for no reason.

No, but I`ve dressed them certain ways before --

GRACE: And not just to put it over on the jury.

Hey, Elizabeth, or Renee, can you play me him getting wheeled out of the courtroom in perfect health? Oh, you know what, that hurts me. That - - OK. Michael Molfetta, just hope a jury doesn`t get wind of this.

Ray Giudice, what do you make of it?

GIUDICE: Well, Nancy, this is a tough case.

GRACE: For you.

GIUDICE: Thanks. Yeah, I haven`t used the wheelchair, with or without oxygen, in many a year. And, you know, somebody needs to explain why that is going on. If I was the judge, I think I might inquire into it.

GRACE: Look, there he is, walking. There he is, walking. He got well really quick.

GIUDICE: It could be the shock of being indicted. But, you know, this is going to be an interesting case, and I think there is going to be a lot of expert witnesses on both sides in this case.

I think the cause of death should be able to be solved. What the water temperature? Was she wearing a wetsuit? My understanding is she had some alcohol in her system. There is a history of methamphetamine. I don`t know this personally, I`m just going by what I read on the newswires today, which could have accelerated her ability to be subject to the temperature and the wind and the rain and die.

GRACE: Now, that`s unique. He`s trying, everybody. Give him credit for at least swinging at that ball. I don`t think that prior alleged drug use can make somebody colder in the water than they would normally be.

Back to J.M. Brown, crime reporter with "Vallejo Times Herald."

Before I was stunned at the improper use of the wheelchair, I was asking you about the cause of death.

BROWN: That`s right.

A forensic pathologist testified during a preliminary hearing in April that Jennifer Easterling (ph) died of suffocation.

GRACE: Is it true, Mr. Brown, that she had bruises and cuts to her head and body?

BROWN: Yes, that`s right, according to the pathologist`s report.

GRACE: I`m sure the defense is going to bring in their own medial examiner. But she was wearing a life jacket, right?

BROWN: That`s right.

GRACE: Have you ever tried to force yourself under water wearing one of those things?

BROWN: No, I haven`t.

GRACE: Well, I have. And this woman`s stomach -- is it James or Jim, Mr. Brown?

BROWN: Jim is fine.

GRACE: Her stomach was full of mud and water, brown water, that she had actually ingested, and I don`t get how that happened with her wearing a life jacket.

BROWN: Well, that seemed to confuse the pathologist also, and that`s why he determined, I suppose, that a forced drowning had occurred.

He also noted that her life jacket was -- she was wearing it properly.

GRACE: Quick break, everybody. We`ll all be right back. We`re taking you out to California and a very unusual cause of death. It`s called the so-called jet ski murder.

But to trial tracking. Today, an Atlanta jury finds Paul "Butch" Hinton guilty of the murder of 19-year-old college student Shannon Melendi. Testimony revealed Hinton was obsessed with Melendi. Her body, never found. This is Hinton`s fifth alleged female victim. Hinton accused of kidnapping women on three other occasions, actually served 15 months in prison for kidnapping a 14-year-old girl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YVONNE MELENDI, SHANNON`S MOTHER: This was Shannon`s day in court and I know that she is so proud of us for pushing it through for her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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GRACE: Thirty-five-year-old Corbin Easterling (ph) says their jet ski caught on fire, they were in the water overnight, 24 hours. He miraculously survived, unscathed. His wife, DOA, dead on arrival.

Welcome back, everybody. I`m Nancy Grace.

Straight back out to Jim Brown, crime reporter with the "Vallejo Times Herald."

Now, I`m getting conflicting stories on the cause of death, but I also have a statement from the district attorney`s office that says: "We believe we have a case that will convince a jury of Mr. Easterling`s (ph) guilt."

They are very carefully, Jim Brown, not commenting on the facts of the case, but they are ready to go to trial. What`s the hold up?

BROWN: We`re still waiting to learn that. It`s not exactly clear.

Back in the preliminary hearing, in April, a forensic pathologist testified to her cause of death, saying that it was quite unlikely that she would have just drowned under normal circumstances, that it appears to be a forced drowning.

GRACE: In the beginning, Jim, there was some reluctance on the part of the district attorney`s office to go forward with an indictment. Why? Woops, there goes that wheelchair again.

BROWN: Well, there apparently wasn`t enough evidence to bring charges the first time and he was released and then he was arrested again months alter.

GRACE: Well, you know, Michael Molfetta, they are out in the water, there are only the two of them. That certainly reduces the pool of suspects.

MOLFETTA: It would seem to reduce the pool of suspects, and you compound that with the fact that he apparently had some methamphetamines in his system -- whether or not they were metabolized or not, I don`t know, but that doesn`t really help one fall asleep who is floating on a jet ski in the middle of the water.

GRACE: Hold on, hold on. Somebody is kicking up a ruckus. What -- Ellie (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t know that we know that he had methamphetamine in his system. There were reports that he had used it in the past.

GRACE: OK. Reports they had used it in the past, Michael. She had alcohol --

MOLFETTA: No. I`m reading something from you guys that said he had some morphine and that there was the presence of amphetamines, methamphetamines and opiates.

GRACE: Oh, yeah. At the hospital they did give him morphine, which reminds me -- I`m glad you mentioned that, Michael -- talk about behavioral evidence. According to the "Chronicle," one of the nurses says -- and he was having a morphine drip, you`re absolutely correct about that, at the hospital -- that he would be perfectly fine when nobody was in the room, but the nurse noticed he would always start shivering when a visitor would come in, as if he were still cold from the water, but then he would kind of forget to shiver once the visitor left.

MOLFETTA: Right, it`s the type of coldness that comes and goes.

GRACE: Yes, intermittent shivering.

MOLFETTA: You know, it can happen for you, especially when you have all those other sorts of things running around in your body.

You know, it`s an interesting case, though, Nancy. When you talk about the cause of death and you talk about what they say, as they`ve opined, it`s a combination of asphyxia and drowning. There are no wounds on his hands, which you would expect to see if he was holding his hand over her mouth, which is something that they have alluded to. Also, if he held her down in the mud, because there was that mud and water in her stomach, you would expect to see some kind of mud on her life vest or other parts of her, which apparently wasn`t found either.

GRACE: You brought up another interesting point, to Ray Giudice, on the inside of her mouth, the inside, it was all cut up and bruised on the inside, suggesting to me, if I`m going to analyze it, she was biting the inside of her mouth while the mouth was being held shut -- Ray.

GIUDICE: Right. Counsel just referred to what we would consider to be defensive wounds, in other words wounds on the assailant as the victim was struggling for her life, but those wounds inside of her mouth are consistent with your theory, that he was -- that someone was holding her mouth shut. She was trying to bit him, his hand, or perhaps get her mouth or jaw open, and that is interesting.

I know that the defendant has already offered some explanations for that.

GRACE: To Robi Ludwig, what do you make of Easterling`s (ph) behavior in the hospital?

LUDWIG: Well, it sounds like he is malingering and a big faker, which doesn`t do a lot for his case. Also, their marriage was described as contentious by the victim`s father. We do know that a lot of husbands like the idea of a dead wife, and if somebody is doing drugs, they might be more likely to act in a primitive, aggressive way.

Of course, I would need to hear more forensic evidence to determine whether in fact I consider this an actual homicide. It certainly sounds suspicious, though.

GRACE: I say they`ve got to get the jet ski and determine the real reason, or if there was a reason for the jet ski to stop working. Did it really catch on fire, or was this all just a big setup?

Everybody, stay right there.

Quickly, to tonight`s all points bulletin. FBI and law enforcement across the country on the lookout for this man, Christopher Harrison, wanted in connection with the `99 murder of 25-year-old Michael Anthony Jones in Memphis, Tennessee. Harrison, 33, 6`1", 280 lb, black hair, brown eyes.

If you have any information on Christopher Harrison, call the FBI, 901-747-4300.

And we want to tell you about some success stories tonight from our effort to bring fugitives to justice.

Rodger Craig Ewing, wanted for murder in Mississippi, featured on the show May 18. May 21, bam, the Ashville, North Carolina`s Sheriff`s Office received a call from a viewer. The caller said he knows Ewing, gave a location. Result: Ewing arrested.

Donald Earl Crawford, wanted for molesting a 12-year-old girl, featured on the show June 8. Right after the program, a viewer calls the FBI in Seattle, gave Crawford`s whereabouts, arrested that night.

One person can make a difference. Thank you.

Local news next for some of you. We`ll all be right back. Remember, live coverage of the baby arsenic poisoning trial, 3:00 to 5:00 Eastern, Court TV.

Stay with us as we remember Corporal Lyle Cambridge, 23, an American hero.

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GRACE: Welcome back.

We at NANCY GRACE want so much to help reunite families torn apart by Katrina. Take a look at Marcel Farrell Colar. He spent four days on the I- 10 bridge in New Orleans with his family after Katrina hit, but then he got separated by rescue workers because Marcel needed medical attention. He`s got Alzheimer`s and Parkinson`s. His family is very worried.

If you have any information on this gentleman, Marcel Farrell Colar, please call Felicia Colar, 504-913-4351.

I am going to go quickly out in our remaining moments back to crime reporter with "Vallejo Times Herald" Jim Brown.

Mr. Brown, what is the defense saying? What is their response to all of this? It`s very incriminating.

BROWN: They haven`t said much so far. As you may know, there has been a switch in defense attorneys and the public defender now has the case. But his first lawyer had said that the drowning -- there were several other reasons why the drowning could have occurred, including that Jennifer actually took the jet ski and went off on her own and that the drowning may have occurred some point after that.

GRACE: Say what? I mean, the whole thing they said was the jet ski caught on fire and they went down in the mud and they were holding on for dear life. Now they`re saying she went off on the jet ski all on her own and left him floating there?

BROWN: He said that was a possibility at the time, yes.

GRACE: Oh, oh, oh, better watch out what defenses they float.

Do you really think this is going to trial any time soon -- Jim.

BROWN: Yes, it`s scheduled to go to trial early next month and there is another hearing prior to that at which time they`ll decide whether they are going to go forward. But after quite some time, I think it will go to trial.

GRACE: Well, some advice, Jim, if you talk to the defense: don`t be wheeling him around in that wheelchair and then let the jury see him walking across the courtroom like we just saw him walking across the parking lot.

Thank you, Jim, and thank you to all of my guests.

But tonight, like every night, my biggest thank you -- our biggest thank you -- is to you for being with us, inviting all of us into your home.

Coming up, headlines from all around the world, Larry, on CNN. I`m Nancy Grace, signing off for tonight. Hope to see you right here tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp, Eastern. And until then, goodnight, friend.

END

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